Category Archives: Immortality

On a quiet August Sunday afternoon, in front of a more-than-half-empty stadium, throwing for one unremarkable team against another, Drew Rasmussen nearly achieved history.

Unless you're a Tampa Bay Rays fan, or a really devoted Milwaukee Brewers fan, you probably have no idea who Drew Rasmussen is. Drafted in 2018, he made his major-league debut in 2020 for Milwaukee and got dealt to Tampa Bay early last season. He threw well enough to earn a spot in the Rays' rotation, but never even reaching the eighth inning of a start prior to Sunday. And then he nearly pulled off something that no MLB pitcher not Max Scherzer, not Justin Verlander, not Shohei Ohtani or Clayton Kershaw, nobody has done in 10 years.

Rasmussen took a perfect game into the ninth inning. In a game of positioning with the final AL wild-card spot at stake, Rasmussen faced 24 Orioles through eight innings, and set down all 24 of them, one after the other. He was dealing; he'd thrown just 79 pitches, and reached ball three on only two batters, both in the second inning.

And then, in one of those wrenching moments that make sports so glorious and so heartbreaking, he served up his first pitch of the ninth inning, an 86-mph cutter, only to watch Baltimore's Jorge Mateo rip it down the left-field line. Just like that, the perfect game was gone. Rasmussen would go on to get the win, and the Rays now have a crucial series win against Baltimore in the wild-card battle, but the chance for immortality vanished.

I mean, Ill take it, Rasmussen said after the game, per the Tampa Bay Times. Eight perfect [innings]. It helps our teams chance of winning. I wouldnt say it was disappointing. I came that close. Very few can say theyve done that.

He's right. There have been nearly 235,000 baseball games played at the major-league level since 1876 ... and only 23 perfect games. They arrive out of nowhere, and rarely from the pitchers you'd expect. Greg Maddux never threw one. Nor did Roger Clemens, or Tom Seaver, or Nolan Ryan. You know who has? Guys like Philip Humber and Tom Browning and Len Barker, pitchers who had everything working in perfect harmony for nine magical innings for one single day of their careers.

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No one in the majors has thrown a perfect game since Aug. 15, 2012, when Flix Hernndez did it for the Mariners. Rasmussen might never get this close to perfection again but then again, given the fact that he threw a perfect game in college for Oregon State, you never know.

What's maddening is how many perfect games seem to end, like Rasmussen's, in the ninth inning, with glory in sight but not yet achieved. Last year, the White Sox' Carlos Rodn lost perfection in the ninth when he hit a Cleveland batter in the foot. In 2015, Scherzer, then with Washington, plunked a batter with two outs in the ninth. Texas' Yu Darvish set down 26 batters before the 27th rolled a hit right back up through the middle. And in one of the worst officiating atrocities in sports, Detroit's Armando Galarraga lost a perfect game when an umpire incorrectly ruled a runner safe at first with two men out in the ninth. In all, 13 would-be perfect games have been spoiled by the 27th batter.

Baseball is the worst of all sports at getting hung up on its own mythology, the whole "Field of Dreams" treacle and nostalgia for bygone good ol' days always threatening to outshine the players and games of today. But in moments like this, when someone rises up to touch immortality, there really is something to all that "Baseball Is Life" jazz.

On any given day, you might achieve perfection. And if you don't, you get up the next day and start throwing again. Because you never know what might happen then, either.

This story was adapted from Read & React, Yahoo Sports' morning newsletter. To subscribe and get the newsletter delivered free to your inbox every morning, click here.

ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - AUGUST 14: Drew Rasmussen #57 of the Tampa Bay Rays reacts during the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Tropicana Field on August 14, 2022 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

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Contact Jay Busbee at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or on Twitter at @jaybusbee.

Continued here:
The agony of the nearly perfect game: Tampa Bay pitcher flirts with immortality - Yahoo Sports

That literary heritage ranged high and low, and included hymns and omens, but also, very old drinking songs. As in the Maya world, the link between writing and power was advertised through monumental inscriptions. Nabu-kusurshu's tablets were sustained and protected by an entire culture.

But there was, perhaps, also an element of individual choice. Nabu-kusurshu appears to have taken pride in his writing, and taken care to perfect it, given how exceptionally neat it was.

Crisostomo is scouring the world's museums for more of Nabu-kusurshu's tablets, of which about 24 have been found. He has studied every detail of the brewer's handwriting, from how he shaped his signs to how he spaced his lines. "It's things like that where you start to really feel like you know these people."

Despite his own love for written language, Crisostomo says his message for the future would probably be an image so that "it could transcend the need for language", and avoid the pitfalls of decipherment.

It appears, then, that a good rule of thumb is to make your message to the future either gargantuan enough that it can't be ignored, or so small that it slips through history almost unnoticed, perhaps protected by its low profile. A visual or contextual cue seems to help, be it by adding a picture, or placing it somewhere relevant to its meaning like a temple or monument. And the scholars appeared to find it obvious that it was better to use an existing language, than try to make up an artificial, future-proof one. After all, real languages have cultures to love and support them, providing future decipherers with a wealth of clues and meaning.

In fact, cuneiform is experiencing a renaissance these days, as a young generation of Iraqis learn and experiment with it. A similar spirit is infusing the Maya hieroglyphs with new life. Native Maya speakers use it to make art, and put up new stelae to commemorate important events.

That human connection and fellowship, across vast stretches of time, perhaps forms the final step for an immortal message. As much effort as we may put into it, we can only trust that at the other end of the line, there'll be another person hearing our faint voice, and caring enough to listen.

Crisostomo often remembers this when he works on ancient tablets, some marked by thumb-prints of long-dead scribes. "Sometimes you'll sit there and you put your thumb right in that same space, and you think, 'OK, maybe this person was holding this tablet just like this, 4,000 years ago, and they're holding it and they're writing it, and I'm sitting here, reading what they wrote.'"

* Sophie Hardach is the author of Languages Are Good For Us, a book about strange and wonderful ways in which humans have used languages throughout history.

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The messages that survived civilisation's collapse - BBC

In the Hindu myth of samudra manthan, when the ocean is churned, it expels both amrit (nectar that promises immortality) and vish (legal poison that holds the threat to destroy creation). Without getting distracted by details of how Shiva came to the rescue and swallowed the poison that turned his throat blue and how Jayant Indras son escaped with the pitcher of amrit denying the daityas their share to keep it exclusive for the devas, we shall do well to reflect on this metaphoric tale in the context of the grand finale of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

It is indeed a time of great rejoicing as we celebrate 75 years of independence. India has made great advances in diverse fields since 1947. The people owe it to those who sacrificed their lives during the freedom struggle and they should be gratefully commemorated. At the same time, we can not turn a blind eye to major flaws and failures, fissures in society. This should be a time of honest stock-taking.

A Dalit boy beaten to death in Rajasthan by a teacher allegedly for touching and polluting a pot of water kept for members of upper caste should make us all1.3 billion and morehang our heads in shame. In a state ruled by the Congressa party that never tires of boasting its secular, egalitarian, progressive credothis incident is revolting to say the least. Full-page tricolour adds with the CMs photo make ones stomach churn. Of course usual noises are being madethe guilty will be brought to book, harshest punishment will be meted out, and the law will take its course.

Those in power, regardless of the party they belong tochameleon-like change of colours has made a mockery of anti-defection laws in any casehave lost all credibility. This is not the first such case of casteist prejudice turning murderous. Decades after abolition of princely privileges, a toxic feud mindset continues to wreck the concept of rule of law. Due process stretches over decades and witnesses turn hostile, political power changes hands, and the accused, in many cases, walk out free. Most, protected by powerful patrons, are released on bail to live their normal barbaric lives. The brutalised, mostly poor and Dalit/tribals, are scarred for life, even if they survive.

At times, the Supreme Court intervenes and justice appears to be donetransparently. Another recent incident, though it didnt result thankfully in loss of life, should make us think hard about the price we pay for constantly celebrating on command. A foul-mouthed goon flaunting his affiliation with the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh vulgarly abused a womana fellow resident in an upmarket residential society, pushed her outraging her modesty, and was caught on camera doing all this. Then he fled and remained incognito when the police under pressure registered cases against him. Now, the community he belongs to has risen almost in revolt against political vendetta.

The honour of the entire community has been sullied. The local MP is being branded a villain. To cut a long story short, how long are we going to suffer this assault on rule of law? Why should the mobs of musclemen useful to their political masters be allowed to interfere with police investigation or court proceedings? CM Adityanath has become famous for the Yogi model to tame outlaws. The bulldozers he dispatches to demolish the dens of goons, who dare his might, are no less dreaded than ED, CBI and other Central agencies raids. Whether this man was a small-time neta or a big-time local racketeer is besides the question. Prima facie, the evidence against him is overwhelming. When the bulldozers razed his unauthorised construction, suddenly his supporters were reminded of due process not being followed. Equality before law of bulldozer wasnt an acceptable concept.

Fetters of caste and community and sectarian hate will not disappear as long as unreformed electoral politics holds sway. Add corruption (again tolerated and protected by vested interests ofa particular caste, community or religion) and we have a most explosive brew. The murderous attack on Salman Rushdie reminds us that passage of time is no guarantee that wounds will heal on their own. Blasphemy and freedom of speech are no less life-threatening in India today than in New York or Paris.

The PM has a gift for inspirational rhetoric. As the curtains came down on the Amrit Mahotsav, he shared his vision for coming decades as a run-up to an even more glorious centenary celebration of independence. The future appeared rainbow-hued even on a day overcast with dark clouds. Many of us will not be around in 2047. The aspirational young today would have become middle-agedmany with their dreams unfulfilled. It will be very sad if we havent drained the vish out of our minds to heal the body politic.

PushpeshPant

Former professor,Jawaharlal Nehru University

pushpeshpant@gmail.com

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Need to drain vish out of our minds to make the body politic Amrit - The New Indian Express

Each month local artists compete in an Artist of the Month competition for Weatherford Art Association. Competition occurs at the monthly meetings held on the fourth Monday of the month at 6 p.m., 125 S. Waco St. in Weatherford. Artists show their work in oil, watercolor, pastel, mixed media, acrylic and other mediums.

Winners at the last meeting at the end of July were Marti Bailey with her first place oil on canvas Violet Waters. This painting, along with other pieces of her work, can be found at the Doss Cultural & Heritage Center all month.

Second place went once again to Vikki Linderman for her acrylic on canvas titled Days End. Vikkis work is displayed at the First Bank Texas in downtown Weatherford.

Kathy Cunning, long time Parker County resident, won third place with her acrylic Reblooming Immortality. You can see her work at the Community Credit Union.

Weatherford Art Association has interesting demos each month that give techniques and skills to artists who are accomplished and those who are just beginning. In September Patsy Walton will present her impressionistic and abstract style in painting florals. In October, Jack Harkins will also show how to paint with an impressionistic style yet objects that are recognizable. Joan Frost Prine, wife of the late Doug Prine western artist, is also an upcoming guest. She is a self-taught artist in her own right who creates beautiful works of the old west. Meetings begin at 6 p.m. and are completed by 7:45 p.m.

The next show hosted by WAA is the Spirit of the West which showcases art from around the Southwest. The deadline for submission of paintings is September. For more information regarding this show, visit weatherfordart.com.

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Weatherford Art Association names Artists of the Month - Weatherford Democrat

Express News Service

The Sandman is a deeply meditative and reflective piece of art. If the scope of a story depends upon the extent to which it delves into various themes and emotions, then the canvas upon which The Sandman delightfully paints is one of the grandest to be put on screen.

Almost every episode follows a theme: sacrifice, humanity, lies, death, immortality, being consumed by wishes, and being trapped in the past. The show is laced with philosophical discourse, to an almost obsessive extent, and that could be overbearing for some.

The immensity of the world of dreams and its influence on people and their lives are laid bare from the very first scene, through the eyes of the lord of dreams, Morpheus himself. Tom Sturridge, who plays Morpheus/Dream in the show, is brilliant in the way he uses his voice and micro-reactions. His dreamy (pun intended) performance teeters right on the edge between subtlety and indifference, so much so that if he had done it even slightly wrong, it could have looked bland.

How do you make a relatable protagonist out of someone eternal, all-knowing, and lords over the destinies of all things that sleep and dream? You dont. Morpheus is introduced to us as someone who holds in high regard his responsibilities and yet fails to understand the emotions of the subjects who populate his realm. And that is where his arc begins, we see him question human emotions, their base desires, and fears throughout the series.

Towards the middle, we even see him break down under an existential crisis. This leads to an interesting episode where his sister, Death(Kirby Howell-Baptiste), visits him and helps him clear his mind through a therapeutic conversation laced with sisterly love and care. We often see Death represented as a terrifying hooded figure holding a scythe, and this decision to show Death as a warm and caring sister is a refreshing one.

We are introduced to two antagonistic figures in the beginning. One is Corinthian, a rogue nightmare and another is John Dee, the son of the man who kept Morpheus in captivity for over a century. While the Corinthian haunts the series like a recurring nightmare, punctuating his presence in the story through acts of shocking violence, it is John Dees ideological clash with the lord of dreams that becomes, well... the stuff of dreams.

John Dee (David Thewlis), is the exact opposite of everything that defines who Morpheus is. Every act of violence he metes out is borne directly out of his cold, hard, adherence to his black-and-white approach to morality. There is a brilliant bottle episode in which we see John unleash absolute carnage by sitting at the corner of a diner and using his powers to make people talk unfiltered.

Dream/Morpheus is said to have siblings, Destiny, Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium. We are introduced to Death, Despair, and Desire through brief moments that are laden with so much subtext. Dream relates to Death the most, and Desire and their twin Despair constantly scheme to destroy Dream.

Despite the expansive, mythical quality that pervades the show, it fails to weave a coherent narrative, but that hardly stops you from enjoying the show.Quirky characters like Merv the Pumpkinhead (Mark Hamill), Cain & Abel, and even (the mostly enjoyable) Matthew the Raven (Patton Oswalt) do not seem to affect the overarching story to a satisfactory extent. They merely exist to give us a peek into the possibilities for further seasons.

The show loses its steam halfway, both visually and storywise. The sequence set in hell is a perfect example of what went missing from the second half of the show. The jaw-dropping visuals of hell (ripped straight out of the graphic novel) and the battle of wits between Lucifer and Morpheus were truly sublime and the show could have used more of that.

Some episodes are like a dream, and much like a dream, the experience is immersive and deeply engaging while youre in it, but the moment you step away, youre left wondering what it was all about. But the episodes and the moments that do work end up making all of this worth it. Take, for instance, the episode in which Morpheus meets a young, hapless writer in an old English tavern in the 16th century. Morpheus overhears the man pining to his friend about his wish to make men dream through his writing.

A captivated Morpheus is then shown taking the man away for a chat. We are not shown what happens during the conversation until years later when it is revealed that the young writer was William Shakespeare. The show is peppered with interesting moments like these that might not necessarily work in the overall narrative, but thats okay. Not all stories need a tightly packed narrative.

With the aforementioned sequence with the bard, we are shown how the lord of dreams is also the lord of wishes and stories. In many of these moments in the series, there are layers and layers of subtexts. It is up to us to decide how deep we want to go. There are pacing issues, quirky characters that dont really amount to much, and jarring tonal shifts... but if the world of dreams and the exhaustive yet rewarding experience of ruminating on the layers of subtext and philosophy sounds engaging, then you need only summon The Sandman... for Season 2.

Series: The Sandman Season 1Streaming on: NetflixCreators: Neil Gaiman, David S Goyer, and Allan HeinbergCast: Tom Sturridge, Boyd Holbrook, David Thewlis, Kirby Howell-BaptisteRating: 4/5

Read more:
'The Sandman' review: A modern myth mounted on an epic canvas - The New Indian Express

Saraswati is the Goddess of learning, knowledge, speech, art and music. She is worshipped in three different formsas speech, as a river, and as a goddess. Saraswati is shown as fair-complexioned, with four arms. She is seated on a swan or a white lotus and holds a veena (stringed musical instrument). In her other hands, she holds a mala (prayer beads), a book symbolising the Vedas, and a water-filled kamandala (a small vessel with a handle). She is dressed in white and blue garments, befitting her status as a river. Unlike Durga, she does not carry any arms.

Saraswati is also known as Vidyadatri (Goddess who provides knowledge), Veenavadini (Goddess who plays the veena), Pustakadharini (Goddess who carries a book), Hamsavahini (Goddess who sits on swan) and Vagdevi (Goddess of speech). In Mahabharata, Saraswati is called the mother of Vedas.

Saraswati is the only Goddess of the tridevi (the other two goddesses are Lakshmi and Parvati) who is mentioned in the Vedas. It is remarkable that she has been able to retain her importance even though most Vedic gods and goddesses declined later. As a mighty and benevolent river, Saraswati had a unique place in the Vedic civilisationthe same place that the Ganga holds for modern-day Hindus.Kingdoms, ashrams and pilgrimage sites came up all along her banks. The Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rigveda like the Purus, the Bharatas, the Nahushas, the Turvasas and the Yadus had their settlements on the banks of Saraswati. In the Vedas, she is praised as the bringer of nourishment, fertility, wealth, vitality, children and immortality. She is mentioned as the origin of all pleasant songs and pious thoughts.

In the Puranas, there is a story about how Saraswati became a river. There was a terrible battle between the Bhargavas, a group of Brahmanas, and Hehayas, a group of Kshatriyas. Out of this was created an all-consuming fire called Vadavagni. At the request of the devas, Saraswati took the form of a river and carried Vadavagni to the ocean to save the world. Some studies have indicated that the river Saraswati later dried up due to movement in the earths tectonic plates. Despite numerous attempts in modern times, her past location remains uncertain.

Saraswati Puja is held during the festival of Basant Panchami, in late January or February, which marks the start of preparations for spring. On this occasion, young children are encouraged to write their first words. Many families study or create music together. Many schools organise Saraswati Puja for their students. Saraswati is the only one from the tridevi who is worshipped more than her husband, Brahma. Being the goddess of learning, Saraswati is frequently remembered by students on exam eve.

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The Goddess of learning - The New Indian Express