Expression of the Day
I will be taking it easy this week and just sharing expressions of the day! I hope you enjoy them!
Tyler Hamilton on Lance Armstrong
When Tyler Hamilton is asked by Scott Pelley about Lance Armstrong using performance enhancing drugs, we see Tyler give a contempt expression before answering. He says, “He took what we all took. I’d say there is really no difference between Lance Armstrong and the majority of the Peloton, you know. There was EPO, there was testosterone. And I did see a transfusion…a blood transfusion.”
Tyler’s expression of contempt here makes sense given the scenario. Everyone touted Lance Armstrong as the hero and Tyler knows he wasn’t. That breeds contempt.
Scott Pelley asks, “He was using EPO in the Tour De France in 1999?” Tyler thinks and says, “Correct.”
Pelley says, “He was using EPO in the Tour de France in the year 2000?” Tyler responds, “He used it before to prepare for the tour.”
Then Scott Pelley says, “And what about the tour in 2001?” Tyler responds, “He used it to prepare for the tour. I can’t say that he used it during the tour.” I believe Tyler when he says this. I think he is clarifying the truth here.
I think Tyler is conflicted to a degree in this interview because as some of you have pointed out, he didn’t see Lance Armstrong do the performance enhancing drugs all the time (athletes don’t have doping parties), but he knew it was part of the team regimen, he knew it was going on and he knew who was taking it through talking, but he may not have witnessed a lot of it. It makes me wonder if he embellishes some stories to become more believable, out of insecurities.
Tyler does give us a lot of shoulder shrugs and has a habit of shaking his head no a lot when he talks. It makes him a difficult read. If you watch Tyler in the beginning of the interview when he says if he could have deleted his memory, he would have. I believe this is a true statement, and yet, he gives us shoulder shrugs and head shakes. It could be Tyler’s insecurities that are shining through here. Who wouldn’t be insecure after doing something like this?
Outside of Tyler’s statements on 60 Minutes, there are many questionable elements to Lance Armstrong’s behavior that support Tyler:
1). Lance Armstrong was affiliated with a doctor, Michele Ferrari, through 2010 after the doctor was convicted of distributing performance enhancing drugs (though I believe that conviction was overturned).
2). Several other top athletes on Armstrong’s team support Tyler’s story. When more than one person comes out against someone, there is usually truth and merit in the story.
3). Lance Armstrong made donations to the governing body of cyclists, the UCI, which is unethical. He has contributed over $125,000 to the organization and according to 60 Minutes, no other cyclist has done this.
4). Lance Armstrong met with the director of the Swiss lab, where there was a supposed “suspicious” test result that disappeared.
All the evidence combined tells me there is definitely credence in Tyler Hamilton’s story.
Personality Identification at Zero Acquaintance
Science has been investigating what they call personality identification at zero acquaintance, and I find the subject fascinating. I believe we all have some ability to look at a person, and by looks alone, are able to identify personality traits of another person.
I have been keeping track of research that I find on this topic because I believe it is a tool I use every day when discerning the honesty of people. I call it facial profiling. While I don’t believe a face can reveal a liar, I do believe that expressions of emotions and facial features reveal information about a person. And that information through the process of logical deduction can help us identity people who have a higher propensity to lie.
In this study, researchers found that people were able to identify sexual orientation of people by listening to one monosyllabic word with an accuracy rate of 75%. Does that surprise you?
I believe we all have the ability to do this, but with all things, we just have varying degrees of talent.
Did George Anthony Sexually Abuse his Daughter?
Yesterday the Casey Anthony defense team dropped a bombshell. Not only did they say that Casey did not kill Caylee, but she didn’t even find nor dispose of her body. Who did? Her father, George Anthony. But it gets worse. Not only did she have nothing to do with the tragedy, but she now claims that she was a victim of sexual abuse.
We had heard about letters that Casey Anthony wrote from jail, but few people gave them any credence at the time because so much of what Casey Anthony said was lies. Do you remember those letters? In a letter to another inmate, Casey wrote after accusing her brother of inappropriate behavior, “I think my Dad used to do the same thing to me, but when I was much younger. I can see him in my room exactly the way it was when I was in elementary school and everything gets fuzzy.”
The words “I think” are important here. Casey doesn’t seem to have any clear memories, which I would expect if she is claiming in court that she was abused by her father. This is a red flag for me.
According to this MSNBC article (link above), Casey allegedly told the police she had intercourse with Lee for three years until she was 15. If her dad abused her, too, why wouldn’t she have said that then? Why would she throw Lee under the bus and not her dad?
In my eyes, Casey is not able to speak the truth and is willing to lie at the drop of the hat, so we have no reason to put any credence in this claim unless we see or hear something that truly gives this claim validity. In watching George, I don’t see any clues that he is lying, but I would like to see him or Casey talk more about this before I draw any final conclusions.
Dr. Mark Wrangler’s 911 Call
48 Hours profiled the story of Dr. Mark Wrangler and his wife, Kathy last Friday. Kathy ended up dying in the family home of carbon monoxide poisoning. Dr. Wrangler was an anesthesiologist, and was eventually convicted of killing his wife by directing the flow of carbon monoxide to the upstairs where Kathy slept. I have no doubts the jury got it correct.
I thought you might enjoy listening to his 911 call. It’s loaded with hotspots! Which ones do you see? There are many of them…