Reasons to look ahead to 2024

It's the final day of an eventful year – but we're on the brink of what might be worse.

If I ask you to name the biggest events of 2023, you might struggle, so here are a few you may have forgotten: Titan submersible implodes, killing five people;  school shooting; Trump indictment;  attack on Israel by Hamas and subsequent war; Russian attack on Ukraine continues; school shooting; Trump indictment; Barbie vs. Oppenheimer in summer movies; Kevin McCarthy ousted as House Speaker and chaos ensues; Maui wildfires; school shooting; Trump indictment; Dodgers collapse again in playoffs.

With many people expecting some terrible drama to unfold over the next 12 months – highlighted by what threatens to be the ugliest presidential election in American history – let's take a deep breath and consider some other things that will happen in 2024. 

Things that don't make you dislike your family members or neighbors. Things that don't make you angry or afraid whenever you think of them.

Remember these things as you are bombarded by frightening images and news over the next 12 months. It's not all bad.

1. There are people in your life whom you love and who love you. Even if it feels like everything is coming apart on a big scale, remember that there are people who are concerned about you and vice-versa. Everybody isn't fighting everyone else.

2. Technology causes concerns, but remember that you now have the world at your fingertips. We have more entertainment options than at any time in human history and we regularly participate in the miraculous (Mobile phones! Airplane travel! Microwaved food! GPS mapping!). Try to celebrate the amazing things you can do at least as much as you lament the problems of technology.

3. What do you call a one-legged hippo? A hoppo. See, even in the middle of a newspaper column, you can find pleasure (or anger. Let's say "you can find strong emotion.")

4. The Dodgers may have three of the five best hitters in baseball and an All-Star pitching staff, but they'll still probably lose in the playoffs. That feeling? Germans call it schadenfreude, which means "A Dodgers loss."

5. It's an election year, but it's also a Summer Olympics year. That means this summer's Paris Olympics (late July through mid-August) will give you another chance to care about beach volleyball, taekwondo, artistic swimming, weightlifting and more for the last time until 2028 (when the Olympics are in Los Angeles!). You will also get the opportunity to be proud of our country because we create great track and gymnastics performers.

6. You will do plenty of good things. A fact of life: When evaluating things, we look forward much more than we look back, which means we're much more aware of what we need to do than what we've done. That gets things done, but here's a suggestion for 2024: If you routinely make "to-do" lists, consider making a "done" list so you can reflect on what you've accomplished. In the next 12 months, you will undoubtedly do some major things and likely forget them.

7. You survived the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical people are reluctant to call the pandemic over, but let's face it: COVID killed 350,000 Americans in 2020, 460,000 in 2021 and fewer than 70,000 in 2023, likely dropping it out of the top 10 causes of death. You survived a pandemic that people will discuss for the rest of your life. If you were told in mid-2020 that you'd be fine in 2024, you would have taken it.

8. When you get stressed, see No. 1.

Reach Brad Stanhope at brad.stanhope@outlook.com.

It's beginning to look a lot like . . . my annual Solano quiz

"It's a Wonderful Life" on TV, the burning of the yule log, college football bowl games sponsored by companies you've never heard of, crowded shopping malls and shockingly early sunsets. All December traditions.

It's time for another, my annual Solano County quiz. I started this December tradition in the late 19th century, when Hezekiah McNaughton first launched the Daily Republic as The Weekly Wind-Blown Emporium and Newsatorium. It has appeared uninterrupted for the past 137 years.

The rules are simple. See how many of the following 20 questions about Solano County can you answer correctly. Googling is discouraged and educated guesses are encouraged. Correct answers are provided at the end.

If you live in the county, you should be able to get some of these right. Get your pen or pencil . . . I'll wait.

Ready? Go!

1. Name the seven incorporated Solano County cities.

2. Within five years, when was Fairfield incorporated as a city?

3. What was Solano County's largest cash crop in 2022?

4. Name the four Interstate freeways in Solano County.

5. Name the five state highways in Solano County.

6. Where have all the flowers gone?

7. Name the five counties that are adjacent to Solano County.

8. Within 100,000, what was Solano County's population in 2020?

9. What was the last presidential election in which Solano County voted Republican?

10. What month has the average highest daily temperature in Fairfield?

11. Within 200 miles, how long a drive is it from Fairfield to Fairfield, Connecticut?

12. How many public schools are in Suisun City?

13. Name at least two of the three members of the House of Representatives who represent parts of Solano County.

14. Of the two major prisons in Vacaville (California Medical Facility and California State Prison Solano), which had more inmates as of Dec. 1?

15. Based on the Census Bureau's 2022 estimates, is Fairfield among the 300 most populated cities in the United States?

16. In 2022, what Solano County did financial news and opinion company 24/7 Wall St. determine to be the "most diverse small town in America?"

17. In what cities are the two general aviation airports in Solano County?

18. Within 1,000, how many students attend Solano Community College?

19.  In what year did Brig. Gen. Robert Travis die in a plane crash at what was then called the Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base?

20. What is five times five?

ANSWERS

1. Benicia, Dixon, Fairfield, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo.

2. 1903.

3. Tomatoes (for the first time in seven years).

4. 80, 505, 680, 780.

5. 12, 29, 37, 84, 113.

6. Young girls have picked them, every one. When will they ever learn?

7. Contra Costa, Napa, Sacramento, Sonoma, Yolo.

8. 453,491.

9. 1984, when Ronald Reagan got 54.5% of the vote.

10. July, at 89.6 degrees (August is 89.2 degrees).

11. 2,916 miles.

12. Four (Suisun Elementary, Crescent Elementary, Dan O. Root Elementary, Crystal Middle).

13. Mike Thompson, John Garamendi and Doris Matsui (who represents a tiny slice of Solano).

14. California State Prison Solano had 2,594 inmates as of Dec. 1, 276 more than CMF.

15. Yes. It ranks 245th in the nation.

16. Vallejo, with a 77% chance that any two residents would be of a different census racial category.

17. Rio Vista and Vacaville.

18. 9,500.

19. 1950. The base was renamed for Travis a year later.

20. 25, in case you need a right answer to feel good enough to retake this quiz next year.

SCORING

15-20 correct: Brilliant.

10-14: Pretty smart.

5-9: Smart.

0-4: Resilient.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.

2023 was a year of miraculous changes in NBA, MLB

When sports historians look back on 2023, they'll consider it the year of miracles – not because of an incredible feat or unbelievable comeback.

But because the people who run to major American sports made brilliant decisions. That was previously unthinkable – especially when you consider one of the sports is baseball, which has a long history of short-sighted and or much-delayed decisions.

In 2023, the leadership of Major League Baseball and the NBA each made wildly successful changes, despite plenty of doubt about both moves before their respective seasons. In an era when it seemed like only the NFL could make good decisions (if you define "good decision" as "something that makes more people watch, thus making more money for the owners"), baseball and the NBA were brilliant.

Start with baseball, which instituted a series of rule changes to increase the game's pace and add action. Traditionalists were convinced that adding a pitch clock and outlawing the shift (where three infielders play on one side of the infield because data shows a hitter on the other team almost exclusively hits the ball that way) would be the end of the world. Because when Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Willie Mays played, those weren't the rules.

However, those changes and others (larger bases and a limit on pickoff throws by a pitcher to encourage base stealing), brought spectacular results. The games were faster and had more action.

The average game time in 2023 dropped by 24 minutes, from three hours, and four minutes to two hours and 40 minutes. Baseball in 2023 had the shortest average game time since 1985. Baseball also had more action, with more hits, more stolen bases and more runs. Meanwhile, attendance increased by nearly 10%, surpassing 70 million fans.

Shorter games, more action, more fans. 

These changes were made by owners who traditionally wait until something is a problem for a decade before they form a committee to look into appointing a blue-ribbon panel to study whether they should consider evaluating the situation.

Baseball got it right. And baseball kept the rules in place for the postseason, again getting it right.

Who knew Major League Baseball could make a collective good decision?

Meanwhile, the NBA – pushed by Commissioner Adam Silver – adopted an in-season tournament to build fan interest early in the season. Most observers mocked it, suggesting players wouldn't care and that fans would spend more time ridiculing it than following it.

Wrong and wrong.

The tournament – which ended last weekend when the Lakers beat the Pacers in Las Vegas – featured crazily-decorated courts, players who really wanted to win and fans treating it like a big deal (particularly teams like Indiana, which hasn't seen much success in recent years). The championship game felt like it meant something, with players absolutely locked in and the Lakers genuinely celebrating their championship.

The result? While the NBA remains far, far, far behind the NFL in attention from most fans, the sport garnered some attention ahead of the traditional Christmas games that generally serve to remind fans that the sport exists (despite the season being about one-third over by then).

There's plenty that went wrong in sports this year: Professional golf remains a mess, realignment of major conferences revealed the incredibly greedy underbelly of collegiate sports, the Dodgers got the best free agent in a generation and more.

But the leadership of Major League Baseball and the NBA made changes that had many people dubious. And those changes succeeded wildly.

Let's enjoy it while we can because history suggests this surely won't last.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.

Got a ricer in your kitchen? You're younger or a great cook

Do you have chopsticks in your kitchen? Do you use a mandolin (apparently not just a musical instrument!) as a utensil?

You probably watched "The Simpsons" growing up – perhaps in reruns. You're younger.

Do you have a ladle in your kitchen?

You probably watched O.J. Simpson while growing up. As an NFL star, not a defendant.

Your kitchen utensils reveal how old you are. Or vice-versa.

First, some definitions: "Young," means 44 or younger. "Older" means 45 or older. Those aren't my definitions, they're from the folks at  Yougov.com, whose job description should include, "providing data to help Brad with column ideas." Yougov.com recently surveyed 1,000 American adults about one of the pressing issues of the day: What utensils are in your kitchen?

First, the commonalities. Almost all of us – regardless of age and cooking ability – have some kitchen utensils in common: Measuring cups, can openers, spatulas and measuring spoons are owned by more than 90% of us. More than 85% of us own steak knives, colanders, cutting boards and tongs.

When it comes to kitchen utensils, those are the basics.

Deeper down the list it gets more dicey. The following items are owned by less than three-quarters of us: food thermometer, potato masher, rolling pin, ice cream scooper.
Don't feel bad if you don't have an ice cream scooper. About one-third of your neighbors don't, either.
The intriguing part to me was the list of items that tended to be owned only by people who consider themselves expert chefs or only by people 44 and younger since I'm neither (and Mrs. Brad is only one of them).
Among those items far more likely to be owned by people who consider themselves "great cooks" are such things as zesters, garlic presses, the aforementioned mandolin and ricers.
Apparently, a ricer is something that processes food by making it go through small holes the size of rice. Who knew?
The list of items more likely to be owned by people 44 and younger is remarkably similar to those who think they're great cooks, which suggests that most people who think they are great cooks are young. Apparently, those young great cooks don't realize that you shouldn't name a kitchen utensil a "mandolin" when there's already a great musical instrument with that name. It's like naming a type of food a drumstick when there's . . . never mind. It's like calling musical instruments spoons when there's . . . never mind.

I guess when it comes down to it, we have in our kitchen what we need. And over time, those things change.
When was the last time you saw someone with a breadbox? When did you last use a hand mixer? Heck, when did you last use a Pyrex container to keep leftovers?
Maybe someday, people will look back on the 2020s as the golden age of the ricer or talk about when grandma used a mandolin.
If people remember that, it won't change the fact that "ricer" is a weird name for a utensil, but what do I know? I'm old and not a great cook.

The proof? I don't have a ricer.

Reach Brad Stanhope at brad.stanhope@outlook.com.

'Asbestos of the 1990s': Whatever happened to carpal tunnel syndrome?

Sometime in the 1990s, I needed a wrist brace.

I was the Daily Republic's sports editor, which meant I spent five days a week typing and using a  mouse. My wrist and forearms began to ache.

It was concerning, but no surprise. Probably half the people in the newsroom faced a similar scenario. We were in the middle of the carpal tunnel syndrome epidemic.

It wasn't limited to newspapers. Virtually everyone who worked at a keyboard or who did anything that required repetitive motion with their wrists and hands was at risk. Stores had loads of wrist guards. People had surgery for the malady.

A decade later, in 2008, a newspaper article looking back at the era quoted an ergonomist named Bill Barbre: “Carpal tunnel syndrome was supposed to be the asbestos of the ’90s,” he said. “People were hearing that, potentially, just normal computer work was an insidious health hazard.”

It sure seemed like it. But it was also an opportunity for a showoff sports writer: I would often signal that I was taking a break (or going downstairs to check on how the sports pages were being put together) by standing, ripping off my wrist guard like Barry Bonds and firing it down on my desk.

It amused me. No one else noticed it, but I kept doing it.

Decades later, carpal tunnel syndrome is still a thing. The website of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons describes it thusly: "Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common condition that causes numbness, tingling, and pain in the hand and forearm. The condition occurs when one of the major nerves to the hand – the median nerve – is squeezed or compressed as it travels through the wrist."

But still . . .  how often do you hear about carpal tunnel syndrome? In 2023, people wear wrist guards, but it's usually for something else. I haven't heard anyone mention "carpal tunnel syndrome" for ages.

What happened?

Well, it's not entirely clear.

I did some research (by typing "whatever happened to carpal tunnel syndrome?" into Google) and found a series of articles over the past 20 years with a headline of "Whatever happened to carpal tunnel syndrome?" Most of them were musings on how the syndrome seemed to go away. By the middle of the first decade of the 2000s, carpal tunnel syndrome was a subject of nostalgia, not a crisis.

My favorite headline, by the way, is from 2008 on MSNBC's website: "Carpal tunnel replaced by BlackBerry thumb as new malady." Yeah, people were getting sore thumbs. From using their BlackBerry devices.

Carpal tunnel syndrome didn't disappear, but it became less prominent. The biggest reason may be the 1990s "epidemic."

In that era, keyboards came in one style. Many office chairs were from before the computer age. Almost no one talked about sitting correctly or how to position your body while doing repetitive motions. I'd never heard the word ergonomic.

In the past several decades, there's been a slow creep of better workplace ergonomics: Better keyboards, better chairs, instruction on how to sit and how often to take breaks.

Carpal tunnel syndrome may be less prominent for office workers in 2023 because it was so common in the 1990s.

Businesses had to make an investment to protect their workers. Maybe they wanted to help. Maybe it was costing too much in workers' comp claims. Maybe it was because businesses didn't want to hear employees complain.

I sometimes miss firing down my wrist guard like Barry Bonds, but I sure don't miss sore wrists.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.