February | 2023 | Bob Schwartz

February 22, 2023

Support the Arizona Diamondbacks by buying a Core429 IP Module 16-Channel 12.5/100kbps PolarFire/SmartFusion2/IGLOO2/ProASIC3 ($262,546.30) from their uniform sponsor Avnet

Major League Baseball has joined the NFL, NBA and NHL in allowing advertising on uniforms. This season, one of the first teams to take advantage is the Arizona Diamondbacks, who will be wearing patches for the Phoenix-based technology distributor Avnet.

D-backs President & CEO Derrick Hall says in the official press release:

“We are excited to partner with locally-based Avnet primarily because of our aligned values that include a real commitment to our employees and our fans (customers) as well as a dedication to making a difference in the great state of Arizona through our community support and investments.”

Avnet CEO Phil Gallagher adds:

“It was natural for us to partner with the Arizona Diamondbacks, a home-grown team that is as dedicated to Arizona and its communities as we are. As a global company, we’re dedicated to serving the communities in which our employees live, work and play, and we are excited to support the team’s work on and off the field while collaborating to make a difference in our community.”

When we watch D-backs players this season, the Avnet patch will be constantly in view. I love baseball and support our team. I wondered: How can I as a fan demonstrate that support?

When I visited the Avnet site, I knew. I, along with other fans, could buy products from Avnet. Just one problem. Avnet is a distributor of tech products to industry, not consumers. On top of that, as familiar as I am with some electronics, most of the products are way beyond my knowledge and understanding.

For the sake of baseball and the D-backs, I am not going to let that stop me. I have selected the following product to buy:

Core429 IP Module 16-Channel 12.5/100kbps PolarFire/SmartFusion2/IGLOO2/ProASIC3
Programmable Logic IP Core

This product sells for $262,546.30 (if I buy 500, the price per unit comes down to $221,425.00). I don’t know whether this is a bargain or a rip-off, and frankly I don’t care. If it supports the D-backs, no price too high. However, I may be looking for other fans to share the cost, because baseball or not, a quarter million dollars is still a lot of money.

Go D-backs! Go Avnet! Go Core429 IP Module 16-Channel 12.5/100kbps PolarFire/SmartFusion2/IGLOO2/ProASIC3! Play ball!

February 16, 2023

Kanye may be f***ed up but his art is unassailable

When Rhianna ran through her greatest hits at Super Bowl halftime, one of them was not actually hers. All of the Lights is a track from Kanye West’s album My Dark Twisted Fantasy (2011) on which she is featured. So Kanye made it to the Super Bowl through the side or back door.

That album is a masterpiece. Not just my favorite hip-hop album, but one of my favorite pop albums ever. A work of art in performance and production.

Whenever we hear the latest Kanye news, we are pushed to consider the tension between the artist as person, the artist as artist, and the art. So whatever you think about Kanye, listen without prejudice to this amazing work. I just did once again and I am, as always, blown away.

February 12, 2023

The joy and excitement of Sunday papers

This Sunday morning began, as mornings do, with a quick check of the online news sites. Some of them may still be known as “newspapers” because of their legendary legacy, but I haven’t read a paper edition of the New York Times or Washington Post in ages.

Sundays were not always like this. I have been reading newspapers as long as I could read. In my first life chapter, ours was a New York Daily News/New York Mirror/New York Post kind of family. Sunday meant a fat paper with all kinds of special sections, especially the color comics pages.

My Sunday papers story expanded when we moved to the suburbs. I was in junior high school and more interested in everything than ever. On Sunday I walked a few blocks to the convenience store and picked up one or two of the weightiest (literally) New York Sunday papers: often the Herald Tribune (in its various merged incarnations such as the World Journal Tribune) and every week the Sunday Times. You could spend hours working your way through the Sunday Times if you were a completist, learning about things you didn’t even know you cared about. Many New Yorkers did, and so did I, then and for years to come.

It’s been a while since Sunday started with a Sunday paper paper for me, fat like the Times or skinnier like some of the local ones. So many other options now that don’t weigh or cost so much. But trust me, there’s something about drinking coffee and holding all the inked news “that’s fit to print” in your hands, spread out on the table or floor. That’s not nostalgia, just a different way that has its unique values and charms.