Astral Facts, December 2008
Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.


Economic Bowl Out

Often we tend to dismiss cultural aspects, primarily in the fields of the Humanities Sciences, which have “entertainment value only.” The underlying message is somehow the “value” is not really so valuable after all.

This may be the case, but history shows us that the psychological benefits of “entertainment value only” help individuals cope with serious issues in their daily lives. This might explain why the movie industry is the greatest in India, where harsh conditions of poverty, homelessness, unemployment, hunger, and other indicators of human suffering have traditionally been equally high.

Likewise, we citizens of the USA also highly prize our entertainment dollar and we see intense competition in the entertainment industry to capture those entertainment dollars, especially in these current times of economic angst.

How else can we explain the recent contracts the New York Yankees have given this past week to two pitchers: $161 million for a seven-year contract and 82.5 million for a five-year contract! (That’s about $750,000 and $500,000 per game they pitch in!)

With all this in mind, we can at least assuage our anxious angst somewhat during this holiday season by escaping down the rabbit hole of the college football bowl competition. Here’s an opportunity to live your fantasy by competing in the college bowl fantasy games offered for free by ESPN on the internet. Here are the details:

This message is from Walter Lowe who is challenging you to play College Bowl Mania on ESPN.com.

This game challenges you to select the winners of each of the NCAA college football bowl games. You can play with a Confidence scoring system (assign confidence points to your picks) or Straight scoring system (just pick the winners!). Best of all, the game is FREE to play! Go to the main website, create a user name with a free account and join our group, “Washington State League” as explained below:

Get in the action now:
http://games.espn.go.com/bowlmania/group?groupID=537

Game Front:
http://games.espn.go.com/bowlmania/frontpage

Group: Washington State League

The first match takes place this coming Saturday, the 20th, so make your pick prior to that in each of the 34 games (and who cares if no one cares who wins!). You can drag each selection up or down the list (the one at the top of your list is worth 34 points if you get it right, the one at the bottom of your list is worth one point if you get it correct) and then you can have a reason to cheer on one of two teams you probably don’t really care about.

However, personal pride and self-esteem are on the line here!


Walter Lowe

Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.