Lower the Drinking Age?

100 University Presidents have signed a petition to lower the drinking age to 18.

Their rationale: it would help to curb the binge drinking that plagues college campuses. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 90 percent of alcohol consumed by people under the age of 21 is in the form of binge drinking.

I would not be completely opposed to lowering the age for the legal consumption of alcohol, though I do have worries about the "trickle down" effect of increased access to alcohol among high schoolers.

What I would like to see more, however, is more serious enforcement and consequences for those who abuse alcohol. Our current system is no deterrent. Our legal system has become a system for enabling abuse. There is no reason someone who has a blown over .08 BAC (by the way, Sweden has a .02 limit) should get to walk, much less drive again. My solution: first DUI - $500 fine, 5 days jail and 365 day suspension of license and your picture, name and address goes into the local papers. Second DUI - $1500 fine (or 30 days jail) and your license is revoked for the rest of your life, so please make yourself aquainted with public transit.

Track and Field observations

Update: 23 Aug - Angelo Taylor also wins gold in 4x400.

Three quick track and field notes:

1) I was thrilled about the medals sweep in the men's 400m Hurdles. Even more excited that the winner, Angelo Taylor (above, right), is a Georgia Tech alum. Congrats also to silver medalist Kerron Clement (left) and bronze medalist Bershawn Jackson.
2) Usain in INSANE. Not only did he sweep the 100 and 200, he set world records in both. And did you see him cruise the last few meters of the 100? Track and field has a new star. Not to take anything away from Phelps, but Bolt may be the better story of the games. Especially if Jamaica can win the 4x100.
I know Phelps won eight, but swimming offers more events (and styles). Yes, Phelps did break seven world records, but with the technology of the swimsuits, there should almost be two world records in swimming: BL and AL ("before LZR" and "after LZR", as in Speedo's revolutionary LZR swimsuit). Bolt alone shattered the two world records; there were races Phelps won where several other swimmers also bettered world record times. And what if Bolt were American? Again, I love what Phelps accomplished, but you have to admit that NBC has a huge media crush on the guy (and who can blame them?).

3) Team USA Track and Field has been extremely disappointing. A lot of pre-Olympic favorites have not shown up or performed poorly. You couldn't watch Lolo Jones (100m Hurdles) hit the ninth hurdle and not feel bad for her. Sanya Richards was supposed to win the 400 easily, but faltered at the end and wound up with bronze. Some people predicted a sweep in the men's shot, but the third best American heading into Beijing only got second and was the only American to medal. Women's 100 (where Jamaica swept) did not step up, Terrence Trammell (110 Hurdles) pulled out lame and the Bernard Lagat, our great middle distance hope, did not place in a deep men's 1500.

Go Canada!

It seems that all Canada had to do was be patient... or wait until an unassuming American visiting their country blogs about their lack of medals.

After Saturday's competition, Canada went from having zero medals on Friday to seven on Saturday. The medal haul included four medals in rowing (one gold, silver, two bronzes) and two in women's freestyle wrestling (one gold, one bronze). Their other medal was a silver in swimming in the 1500m freestyle.

Man, can those Canucks row; they medaled in the following rowing events: Men's Pair, Men's Eight, Men's Lightweight Fours and Men's Lightweight Double Sculls. I have no idea what most of those are, but I am nevertheless thrilled for my northern neighbors.
Now bring on the Winter Games: Curling, Hockey, Bobsleigh, skiing and skating... Canada can compete and win!

I miss...

…the train.
I am riding the Amtrak Cascades from Seattle to Portland is it sure is a lot of fun. I can walk around, get food and drink and the scenery out the windows is spectacular. It’s very comfortable and I would do it again. It makes me miss the train. I miss the Elon train (photo below, from wikicommons) and its late night whistles through campus. I miss the Ecusta train that used to run behind my property in the afternoons. With the closing of the Ecusta plant in Brevard, the train no longer makes its daily runs. I miss taking the train places like I did in the UK and through Europe and in Alaska (photo above, my own, on Denali Star Train) last summer.
The big downside to my journey today was Amtrak’s connecting coach from Vancouver. We were delayed at the border for 4 hours as Immigration and Customs could not quick enough process all the cars, trucks and buses that were heading into the United States. My previous experience with border crossing was much more expedient,… like 10 minutes. Note to self, next time entering or leaving USA, do so in the middle of the night or at a smaller crossing like Sault St. Marie, Michigan or Calais, Maine. I am all for homeland security and keeping Mad Cow out of the country, but there’s got to be a more efficient way of processing travelers than what I witnessed today. I missed the 2:20 departure from Seattle by two hours and had to instead get bumped to the 5:30 train.

I Wish I Could...

...speak better conversation Chinese.

I wandered down to Chinatown today in search of Dim Sum. Inevitably, people always try to talk to me in Chinese. One of the regrets I have growing up is that I did not do a better job of practicing and keeping my native languages. My Cambodian is non-existent and my Chinese is broken and I know no Mandarin or Cantonese.

On the bright side, the Dim Sum was terrific (even if I had to point to what I wanted).

Also, I blogged earlier how the Canadians were more laid back than Americans. I do have to say, however, that the Canadian press and the Canadians in the hostel are up in arms over the fact that Canada has yet to win a single Olympic medal through a week of competition. I think that the pragmatic Canadian realizes that their medal collection is going to come in Winter Olympics (curling, anyone?), but for a wealthy country of 35 million to not score a single medal is somewhat embarrassing. Come on, Togo, Mongolia and Tajikistan have more medals than Canada.

Jennifer's Journey

Here is a nice article on Jennifer (formerly Pharr) Davis, who is just a few days from a record setting hike on the Appalachian Trail.
Times-News article

Here's the link to her hiking blog that she and Brew on BlueRidgeOutdoors.com have been keeping along the way.
Jen's blog

Watching the Olympics

I stayed the last two nights in Victoria. Really nice city on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, the largest island in the west coast of Canada or the United States. Found some good eats, got a nice, free tour of the British Columbia Parliament building and biked around the city.

The Hostelling International hostel in Victoria has this tiny TV room. At one point last night, there were about 10 of us crammed in there watching the Olympics. Canadian broadcasting does a great job of televising the games. I was the lone American. There were people from Britain, Austria, Australia, Germany, Canada, South America. It was quite an international affair and a lot of fun. We were all thoroughly impressed with how easily the Chinese routed everyone in the men's gymnastics team event, all laughed when the presenter tried to put another medal around the neck of the Japanese gymnast he had just given a medal to, and were tranfixed by Phelps and how easily he won in the semis of the 200m Butterfly.

It was a great moment: an international room of spectators, watching athletes compete at the international level. We cheered when our home countries did well (Canada has yet to win a medal) but really we cheered for all countries because it was the Olympics.