Thoughts

Blog posts, links to articles or videos I'm reading, reviews of this and that. This is a space for me to unload my mind.

You can find all the topics I've covered here.

  1. Changing Rules in My Favorite Sports

    My two favorite sports have introduced some changes this year. It’s early days, so I don’t have much to say yet but wanted to share my early reactions.

    Baseball - ABS System

    The Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System is pretty straightforward. If the pitcher, catcher, or batter feel that the home plate umpire has flubbed the call they can quickly tap their head to indicate they’re going to challenge that play. At that point, we all get to look at the big screen and see what the Hawk-Eye system tracked. You can challenge as many times as you like if you’re successful, but there’s only two wrong challenges allowed before you lose the privilege (at least until extra innings, where I believe you get one back).

    My take: I’m loving this system. It adds an element of suspense to big moments and (at least while a batter has challenges remaining) it stops some of the traditional pouting that batters want to direct toward the umpire at the end an unfruitful at bat. They don’t like the calls? Well, then they should have challenged. And limiting teams to two unsuccessful challenges is the correct move: if an umpire is really that inaccurate then the fans do want the system to be constantly correcting them to keep the game honest, but if the ump was the one who had it right than the limit prevents “games”, like a gassed pitcher challenging called balls just to catch his breath.

    Formula One - A New Formula for ‘26

    Every few years F1 rejiggers the formula (or ruleset) that the teams have to operate under when constructing their car. This year has seen one of the biggest changes to the rules in the history of the sport. Yet there’s really only one group of rules operating in tandem that I want to comment on here, and that’s the rules around the powertrain needing to be half electric motor, half internal combustion motor, coupled with an energy harvesting system that stores up electric power to be deployed with an “overtake” button.

    My take: I want to see a racing driver going flat out, using all their skill and bravery to bring a car to the absolute limit. What we’re seeing under the new formula is not that. I’m watching drivers deliberately going really slow through certain corners, or getting off the throttle long before a strait ends, or letting other drivers pass them deliberately, all to end of harvesting the maximum amount of charge for their batteries. Because if you’ve got 100% charge, guess what? You’re going to be able to leverage the full boost of the electric motor to enormously increase the power you can put out elsewhere on the track, and it’s been proven now that is the fastest way to drive these cars.

    I’m not saying the three races thus far haven’t been entertaining. I’ve enjoyed them immensely and we’re seeing some entertaining battles for position throughout the field. There is, however, an unmistakably artificial feel to the spectacle. Emphasis on that word because F1 seems to be pushing the entertainment value over the sporting value. It needs to be a balance and, with the rules as they stand today, it just isn’t.

    Topics: baseball, f1

  2. Recent Lego Purchases

    When I was kid my favorite toy was Lego. I would hold on to those mini-catalogues you’d get when buying a Lego set and dream of owning some of the larger ones, like the pirate ship or the full size castle. Sometimes my wish would come true and I’d get one, but the best part of Lego was that even if I didn’t, to some degree it was in my power to try to make for myself what I saw on the page. Given access to enough of the basic blocks, I could build just about anything.

    My son Conall is now old enough to start appreciating Lego and I’ve been doing everything my power to encourage that interest. In particular, there are two recent purchases I’ve made that I think are really stoking the flames for him.

    The Creative Vehicles Set, From the Classic Collection

    This 900 piece set gives you all you need to create cars, trucks, or other wheeled transport by including plenty of axles, tires, clear bricks for windshields and lights, etc. My son is obsessed with vehicles — honestly, it’s 90% of what he wants to build with me — so this really was the perfect set for him. There are instructions for some vehicles to get you started, but the set encourages you to free-form build, using the pieces however you like.

    Creative Vehicles

    We’ve had enough hours of fun already with this set to justify the purchase, yet knowing it will continue to have life for years with all these basic bricks to build on? That really sets this set over the top. So happy with this purchase.

    The Minifigure Factory

    One thing I’ve noticed with my son is that in his imaginative play he’ll use his stuffies as characters, having them play along with him. To help him feel like he could play that way with what he builds in Lego I decided to buy him a Lego version of his family.

    The Ruffes

    And he loves it! So cool that Lego offers this service now.

    Topics: Conall, recommendation

  3. Recommendation: That They May Face the Rising Sun

    Each year on St. Patrick’s Day Katie and I choose an Irish film to watch. Our choices needn’t be about Irish history or even focus on the nationality of the characters overmuch. The point is more to celebrate Irish culture through a product of that culture.

    This year’s choice was That They May Face the Rising Sun.

    You can read about the plot elsewhere. Here, I simply want to give a sense of where the film’s focus lies.

    This film will show you the peace and sense of community on offer in the lead couple’s rural Irish village, really highlighting the attractions of such a place. At the same time, the film subtly communicates how this way of life is fading. The couple has no kids. The village folk are old — dying in some cases, or in another marrying at too old an age to produce a new generation. A child is shown at one stage and it’s a powerful moment, linking generations. But it’s also the only time we see a child. Where are the youth? Again, the film is subtle, but implies most young folks have gone abroad for broader opportunities and will be raising their families there.

    Now, this is a movie set over four decades ago. It’s not necessarily depicting the contemporary rural Irish situation (though I imagine to some degree it is…), but as someone who lives in the rural Vermont of 2026 I found the theme here to be as relevant as ever. We live in a beautiful corner of the world: it’s safe, close to nature, full of community spirit. It is fading though. Vermont’s population is again in decline. Taxes and the cost of living are too high, good paying jobs are too few, and the political climate is hostile to business. Vermont consistently ranks among the oldest states in the country.

    Yet there are those of us who have moved or clung on to rural Vermont and rural Ireland despite the headwinds. That They May Face the Rising Sun does a marvelous job of illustrating why.

    Topics: film

  4. My Faith

    Another day
will come
when I walk to my truck
in the mid-afternoon sun,
feeling cool mountain air on bare arms.
I’ll open the door and sit.
Light will play on closed eyes.
The cab’s warmth will settle
in me.
A moment, maybe three,
and then I will fire the engine
and move forward,
listening
as the road’s gravel gives way.

It is
in those ephemeral episodes
that existence
earns its keep.

This is my faith.

    Topics: poetry