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Peter Gail

Member since: Apr 11th, 2007

Peter Gail's Latest Comments

Blog Activity
Blog# of Comments
Switched1 Comment
WalletPop1 Comment
News Campus Blog1 Comment
Fanhouse NBA Blog6 Comments
Lemondrop1 Comment
Fanhouse - Jay Mariotti2 Comments

Recent Comments:

Dear Abby, Here's Why You Should Have Never Set Sail ... (Lemondrop)

Jun 16th 2010 5:48AM Lena, if you don't want to go out to sea at 16, then don't! That is your problem. But don't put limits on others who don't put limits on themselves.

It is absolutely amazing what kids can do. Amish children begin working in the family business at age 3 or 4, and by age 14 can run a complete household or farm pretty much by themselves. I had an 11 year old, helped by a 12 year old friend, put on a complete 7 course dinner for 50 people a few years ago when her mother was called out of town for a funeral, and the two of them did as good a job as her mother.

My father died when I was 9, and I had to go to work to help support the family. By age 12, I was a landscaper, with my own equipment and truck, and making as much as many adults while still going to school. At age 15, I was supervisor of a staff of 27 grocery sackers in a major independent supermarket in So. Cal, and in my 15th summer, a friend and I got into my pickup truck (still didn't have a driver license), drove from Pasadena California to the Redwood region in Northern California (about 1200 miles), and worked in the sawmills alongside adults all summer while camping along the Van Duzen River, cooking our own meals, and taking care of all our needs. By the time I entered college at age 19, I had a resume that looked like one a 40 year old would have, having been a horse wrangler at a YMCA camp. a logger, a landscaper, part of the management team in a supermarket.

Bottom line: Kids can do remarkable things, and if they are ready should be allowed to do it. I have always appreciated my mother for not standing in my way, and for encouraging and supporting me as I took on one adventure after another.

So, keep your mouth (and laptop) shut and listen instead of espouse. You may just learn enough about the accomplishments of young people to write a whole 'nother book!

Peter Gail, Ph.D.

Cavs Foolish to Pursue Stoudemire (Fanhouse NBA Blog)

Feb 16th 2010 8:36PM There is a very wise adadge floating around that says "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The Cavs ain't broke. Do NOT acquire Stoudamire,period.

LeBron James Right About No. 23, Stan Van Gundy Wrong (Fanhouse - Jay Mariotti)

Nov 14th 2009 7:48AM The Van Gundys of the world are emphasizing the wrong part of LeBron's message when they say "there have been other great players- Robertson, Magic, Chamberlain, Russell, etc"
That is NOT the point. The point is in the following portion of his statement:

"I just think what Michael Jordan has done for the game has to be recognized some way -- soon," James said Thursday night in Miami, where Jordan watched the LeBron-Dwyane Wade matchup at courtside with Heat boss Pat Riley. "There would be no LeBron James, no Kobe Bryant, no Dwyane Wade. You name all the best players in the league right now and the last 10 years, and none of us would be here if there wasn't a Michael Jordan first."

In many fields there are great people, but only one stands out as the one who inspired a whole new generation to take up and excell in the field. In my field of edible wild plants, there were many, like Brad Angier, who preceded Euell Gibbons and made the contributions that Gibbons drew upon, but it was Euell Gibbons who inspired whole generations after him to go into the field. He is the one who needs to be honored for the act of getting all the others going. So it is with Michael Jordan, just as LeBron says.

Wade Threatens to Steal MVP Away From LeBron (Fanhouse - Jay Mariotti)

Mar 10th 2009 8:47AM Memories seem to be very short. Last yesr LeBron was in the same position as Wade-- a weak supporting cast-- plus lots of injuries, holdouts, other disruptive influences, and he took his team to a 45 win season regardless, and then took the Celtics to 7 games in the playoffs, and almost won THAT game on Boston's floor. But Bryant won the MVP because "no team that doesn't win at least 50 games has ever won MVP for its star."

Individual accomplishments aren't what the MVP is all about. What it's about is how successful the team is because of his influence. This year, Wade is helping rebuild a team, next year, with maybe an addition or two of quality players like Mo Williams and Delionte West is for the Cavs, he might have a team that he helps lead to a 60+ win season (which is where the Cavs seem to be going this year). THEN it will be his turn. Truth is, James has a history of gradually taking a team from mediocre to superb, something the Cavs never would have done without LeBron. This year is his year.

Don't fall for that Amish heater if you want to save money (WalletPop)

Feb 16th 2009 5:20AM This is another case of non-Amish exploitation of the Amish, folks. Some greedy entrepreneur got the idea of contracting some Amish to make mantles for them, That is as far, I am sure, as the Amish involvement goes. On the other hand, there are Amish, and there are Amish. They are people like everyone else, and some are very entrepreneurial, are always looking for a way to make an extra buck. The non-Amish might well have one or more Amish collaborators in this venure, but it is unlikely that any good Old Order Amishman would collaborate in the actual marketing scheme, which is shady at best.

As far as the picture goes, it could be real. The Amishman facing the camera is wearing a trimmed beard, which would indicate that he is a member of a more progressive church district, and they sometimes don't mind having their picture taken, because they have a bishop who won't give them too much trouble about it if the picture appears in print. .

As far as electricity, the Amish work for non-Amish to make motorcoaches, cabinets, all kinds of things requiring electricity, and don't own the electric themselves. For themselves,they tend to be creative in their use of electrical things, mostly battery operated. There is no central Amish church dictating what people should do. Each church district democratically sets its own rules for what kinds of modern technology it will allow, and consequently, the Amish churches range from very conservative, using no electricity (The Swartzentrubers, Nebraska, Conewanga Valley Amish) to the most progressive (The Beachy Amish) who own cars, use electricity, etc. More conservative are called "low church", those that are more progressive are called "high church" Amish. You will find generators and greater electrical use among "high church" Amish, rarely among "low church" Amish. When Amish work in the building trades, as they do here in Geauga County Ohio, they hire drivers to take them to work. Many make arrangements for the drivers to have tools, cell phones, etc in their names, and allow them to use them. Many also own electric tools and use them in the customers electricity. Often it is in the form of plugging in an air compressor, which they use to run air tools, such as staplers. But deep cycle batteries, and portable 18-24 volt power tools, and tools with tiny gas engines (skill saws, chain saws, etc) are also very common.

So, how, then do they recharge these batteries? Becoming more common today, at least in our settlement, is the use of solar panels to recharge batteries of various sizes. Another way is to alternate two 12 volt batteries between a tractor which is used for certain power take off tasks but not in the field, and their buggies or tools, or with a generator, or by relying on their driver or a non-Amish neighbor, depending on what the rules of their church district allow them to get away with.

Republicans "Shocked and Appalled" by Obama Parody (News Campus Blog)

Jan 1st 2009 5:32PM Saltsmn's move was incredibly stupid ,given the public repudiation of all the partisan stupidity unleashed on us by Republicans over the last 8 years from the White House, the 8 years previous by the Republican congress, and the irresponsible idiocy that characterised McCain's campain. Given that foundation, and the desire, I assume, by some Republican leaders for the party to continue, the "intraparty backlash" was not nearly harsh enough. Blackwell's comments simply reflect what we Ohioan's have known all along--that he is just too stupid to get it. His intellectual density and gross incompetence led to his resounding defeat in the gubenatorial race last time.

If Republicans are to recover from the embarrassment they are causing themselves by letting idiots make public statements on their behalf, they had better become much better at providing forceful backlash to stunts like Saltsman pulled, or they won't even be around in 2012 to challenge the Democrats, who, frankly, could be beaten by people who come to the party with some degree of intelligence and ability. You put down the one man in 2008 who could have competed-- Mitt Romney. Get a few more like him, and the Republican Party might scratch their way back up the ladder to respectability.

Texting Students Force Professor to Walk Out of Class (Switched)

Apr 7th 2008 2:53PM The logic behind this is that peer pressure from those not texting who are losing out on the education will force those who are being disrespectful to stop texting. Same thing happens on tour buses. You get 50 people together on a bus, and two or three insist on talking, keeping the rest of the people from hearing what the narrator is saying. I am one of those narrators who just stops talking until the disrespectful ones quiet down. Usually it is the folks around them who show their displeasure at not being able to learn what they have paid good money to get out of tour experience. I am totally on the professor's side here. It is a community problem and the community has to take the initiative to impose order on those who are disrespectful.

NBA Finals: Four Reasons Why the Spurs Will Sweep the Cavaliers (Fanhouse NBA Blog)

Jun 7th 2007 2:30PM You DO have blinders on, don't you. I have to laugh at your naivety. Oh, well. A week or so from now you, like all the pundits who were saying the same things about what the Pistons were going to do with these inept Cavs, will find that things aren't like you project.

Maybe Stephen Jackson Just Needs a Few Coats of Paint (Fanhouse NBA Blog)

May 2nd 2007 9:20AM I don't think it is as much against people who "look like themselves" as it is people who ACT like themselves. There are significant cultural differences in behaviors between black and white cultures, with many of the prevailing black cultural differences tending to make whites uncomfortable. I think research looking into behaviors rather than looks will prove to be more useful and significant.

CTNBAA: LeBron James Is the Biggest Disappointment (Fanhouse NBA Blog)

Apr 17th 2007 2:19PM LeBron and the Cavs are a work in progress. A psychological gimmick for getting a bunch of guys to stop standing around and watching you play is to back off and let them rise to your level--to develop into a supporting cast. For whatever reason, that seems to be what LeBron was doing in the first half of the season, and it seems to have worked, because guys like Sasha and Andy, and Gibson, HAVE developed, and Hughes has come into his own as a point guard. If you are going to make your team better, you have to figure out what is holding them back, and then get at the root causes of that. Standing around with your mouth open watching LeBron's acrobatics does NOT make a team better. Easing them into the team play by backing down and letting them come to you DOES. Bully for LeBron, if that is what he was doing. If not, it still seems to have worked. They ARE moving in the direction of becoming the second best team in the Eastern Conference, even if they aren't there yet. As for Shoals, "angle" is what makes journalism. This is my angle. His clearly is focused on LeBron being a Kobe look-alike if he wants to prove his value. I don't buy that angle.