Olentangy Bike Trails and Adrenaline Junkies

This weekend was the perfect time to hit the slopes. I wish I had gone snowboarding. But, since we're in Central Ohio and I won't be out West till late Winter, I thought I would do the next best thing. I grabbed my red iPearl Zumi jacket and laptop and headed to Upper Arlington instead, to meet up with my friends, watch the Ohio State vs Michigan game (we won for the sixth time in a row!) and then go on a long ride down the Olentangy trail.

This trail is breath-taking in the Spring and Summer. However, it felt even more breathtaking this weekend since even though it is the end of November it feels like crisp, sunny Spring. Being on my Ventura felt even better this time around. What I like about the trail is that I get to soak in the green around me, the at-times tummultous water of the little river which accompanies the trail, as well as feed off the energy of the other bikers and runners. My most favorite thing to do on the trail however is to get to the bridge that crosses the 315 highway, ride my Ventura hands-free, look up and let the adrenaline run its natural course. What's underneath me is the highway traffic and cars going an average of 70/75 miles per hour and the river running parallel to the road.

No matter what I'm thinking before I reach this point of the trail, when I ride the bridge, I feel, to quote the Perks of Being a Wallflower, infinite. I am including pictures of the bridge and the trail and, if any of you are fellow adrenaline junkies, do try it. Ergo, the tip of the hat this week goes to the Olentangy Bike Trail for always making me sense of clarity and happiness.

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AMC's Show "The Prisoner" Delivers

"Nobody thought that dreaming would be such hard work," says the wife of Number Two in the AMC-produced remake of the old UK production of The Prisoner. The Prisoner is a very well-made remake of the original UK series from the 60's. Ian McKellen is simply stellar in it and the plot development is done cohesively.

You may view the first episode of this three-part series on the official AMC site. Tip of the hat to AMC for continuing to produce solid programming.

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Marry Well, Live Longer? New Study Says Yes

In a nutshell the study says that "... long life and good health have nothing to do with a man’s education and everything to do with his wife’s. Men married to smart women live longer — simple."

Another paragraph of note:

"However, before you ring up your girlfriend to tell her that the man who left her for a bimbo will drop dead of brain atrophy, this is not a victory for women’s intelligence in general. It would be nice if our stimulating observations about FlashForward and the Tory agenda were keeping our men alert and full of life. Unfortunately, it’s simply our skill at processing advice about healthy lifestyles, and passing it on. All it boils down to is that “educated” married women have long since banned their men from eating pork pies at every other meal. They instinctively know about the importance of breakfast, the downside of dips (men think hummus is a diet aid) and the virtues of Green & Black’s 85% (the chocolate that doesn’t count)."

Read more here.

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Assorted Links

1) Andrew Ross Sorkin is one of my favorite business journalists and his latest book Too Big to Fail was most impressive as well. Here's a gripping article on the 32-year-old writer.

The rise of Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times.

2) Here's a UK list of the best films of the decade. The number one spot went to Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke and his 2005 film Hidden (Cache). The number two spot went to The Bourne Supremacy/The Bourne Ultimatum both directed by Paul Greengrass. I was surprised to see Wes Andersen's The Royal Tenenbaums at number 88. More here.


3) Is older music crowing new music? A paragraph says: "Creative recession? This relative lack of need for current, innovative culture can cause, has caused, is causing - maybe - the innovative culture to slow down, much as an assembly line in Detroit slows down and lay-offs have to be made when the demand for a new model recedes."

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Tip of the hat to MR

New Books I Recommend

I would have to start with Barbara Ehenreich's new contribution, Brightsided. In this book, the author debunks the myth of positive thinking and how it needs to be examined more carefully and, most importantly, while remaining wedded to reality and common sense. I absolutely recommend this.


Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System---and Themselves is by New York Times writer Andrew Ross Sorkin. If you watch political commentary on cable TV, you will have undoubtedly seen and heard Sorkin's comments. Sorkin tells the story of the behind-the-scenes events that led to the economic crisis of '08. His analysis of the psychology of the people who work in the finance industry is gripping. The drama is captured comprehensively and the context appears to be well presented. Even though I'm not an economist or trained in the field of economy, the book is written in a way that it lends itself to being decoded with relative ease. I recommend this. I thought I would give it a chance since I like Sorkin's work on the Times and this, most certainly, didn't disappoint. And it is a hefty book but it reads relatively quickly.



Spring Flowers, Spring Frost by Albanian-born French novelist Ismail Kadare is a beautiful find. It inspired me to work on a article on the author who has been a Nobel Prize candidate for years now and whose work is translated in many languages throughout the world. Kadare's understanding of myth and mythology is astounding. The opening of the book made me think of Angela Carter's use of mythology in her short story the "Tiger's Bride." I highly recommend this. It's exotic and utterly realistic at the same time.



The Land of Green Plums by Romanian-born German author Herta Müller is another title I highly recommend. Müller is a beautiful writer. Her books are not the kind to pack in your suitcase and take to the beach, however. She writes about the social and familial ramifications of politics. Müller has the unique ability to talk about dictatorial regimes and systems by introspecting the quotidian lives of average folk. She reminds me of the poetry of Paul Celan in that hermeticism abounds in both. Only a few of her books are translated into English and I trust that will change shortly as she just received the Nobel for literature. I would recommend that you read her in German, however. It will be a good linguistic experience.


I also recommend Müller's latest book, Atemschaukel which details the life of a labor camp prisoner. The second sentence of the book says: "Alles Meinige trage is bei mir."
At that point, I knew I had to read on.

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Thinking Negatively Makes One Smarter?

Interesting study. The premise states that bad moods tend to make people less gullible as well as improve their ability to judge others.

""Whereas positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, cooperation, and reliance on mental shortcuts, negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking paying greater attention to the external world," Forgas wrote.

"Our research suggests that sadness ... promotes information processing strategies best suited to dealing with more demanding situations."

For the study, Forgas and his team conducted several experiments that started with inducing happy or sad moods in their subjects through watching films and recalling positive or negative events.

In one of the experiments, happy and sad participants were asked to judge the truth of urban myths and rumors and found that people in a negative mood were less likely to believe these statements.

People in a bad mood were also less likely to make snap decisions based on racial or religious prejudices, and they were less likely to make mistakes when asked to recall an event that they witnessed.

The study also found that sad people were better at stating their case through written arguments, which Forgas said showed that a "mildly negative mood may actually promote a more concrete, accommodative and ultimately more successful communication style.""

Read more here.

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Bikers Share the Street

I have recently converted to road bikes. My Cannondale served me very well but it was a tad ostentatious for the relief in Central Ohio as it is very flat. So, I moved up, as my biker friends would say, by getting a road bike. The thing is, (and I realize this is a tad bizarre) when living out West surrounded by high mountains, I also rode a fantastic road bike which would have been a better fit for Flat-landia. And the Cannondale would have served me a lot better there but irony is, after all, one of the things I live for, I'm told.

My current bike is not just any bike. It's a Jamis Ventura which when turned loose on the brand-new asphalt morphs into some kind of superhero. It flies and it seems to be saying that I better fly with it if I'm keen on staying on top.

Almost daily, however, I am observing that some drivers are a bit impatient with riders and one of them for instance, expressly told me to use the sidewalk. Now, if I had more time, I would have, politely of course, informed the car passenger that, in the event that he has a driver's license he should have already gleaned from the test manual that bikers are to be treated like other motorists. We share the road and both parties need to be aware of the rules of traffic. Bikers should NOT be on the sidewalk. However, all I could say to the man in the space of a second was, "Nah!"

And I went back to enjoying the superb piece of engineering that is the Jamis Ventura.

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Germany's New Conservative Cabinet

It consists of:

A Vietnamese immigrant, brought from that war-torn country as a tiny child.

A baron, the grandson of a princess, who lives in his family’s five-hundred year old castle.

A widow who once worked for the patent office.

A paraplegic.

A huffy gay man.

A former captain of paratroopers.

A mother of seven.

Read more here.

Hat tip to MR for the pointer.

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A New Take on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Well, folks, Disney is mad at this new 'spin' on the 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' fairy tale.
I personally think Disney is angry because a piece of its property is being reinterpreted sans its approval. Well, Disney, the thing is most people rather approve of satirical humor, you know, the kind we're bound to encounter daily in real life.

How dare people reinvent pre-existing myths, right? Well, I don't know where we would be without encouraging the instinct that the talented have to reinterpret literature, but Disney apparently, does not think so. As I look at this ad, I can't help but think of Bertolt Brecht, the master 'adaptor' of other folks' work.

Read more about the new Snow White here.

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Can One Delete a Facebook Account?

I've never really gotten into Facebook. I understand it in connection to Web 2.0 and how it is a good communication tool. However, I don't really need Facebook to communicate. Granted, good things came out of when I used it briefly this past year. I got to reconnect with people from the past and that was a treat. However, once you get in touch with people and you know how to contact one another, there is no use to being on Facebook. I don't see the point to reading people's status updates about this and that and who-knows-what. It's not a matter of time, really. It's simply a matter of interest. I'm just not into it.

A few months ago, I was told by people that various links to ads were being posted on their walls by me. The message that would randomly get posted on people's walls said something like "I thought you might like to read this" and then a link was attached to it. The links were usually to products and businesses. So, in short, my account got hacked or phished or whatever else they call it.

As a result, I tried to see about deleting my account. Only, you can't really delete your Facebook account. And I don't understand this. If I do not want a service I should have the right to reject it, right? I got another message today saying that my account had been recently reactivated which is very odd to me. So, I tried to deactivate it again. But then again, I don't know how long till the cycle will repeat itself.

So, my question to you all is, does anyone know how to delete a Facebook account?

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