Sidewalk Art

In case you haven't seen these, they're incredible. Julian Beever is renowned for his sidewalk art creations all over the world. These are really spectacular, especially the one of some of our politicians "going to hell."

I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I am.

Thanks for reading.

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WTF is RIGHT!

This just in: Oil prices fell sharply Thursday after the Energy Department reported unexpected declines in crude oil supplies last week but said the drop was due to temporary delays in unloading oil tankers along the Gulf Coast. The decline of more than $4 came as a stronger dollar and concerns about gas demand also weighed on prices.

Retail gas prices, meanwhile, rose to a new record above $3.95 a gallon. Here in western North Carolina, it's $4.09 for regular unleaded. The average national price of a gallon of gas rose 0.8 cent Thursday to a record $3.952, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Analysts and the Energy Department forecast prices will rise above the psychologically important $4 level soon on a national basis. Prices are already that high in many parts of the country, and are averaging more than $4 in 11 states and the District of Columbia.

Diesel prices are also soaring. The national average price of a gallon of diesel fuel rose 0.9 cent Thursday to a record national average of $4.787. Diesel prices are above $5 a gallon in some areas, and are pulling prices of food and consumer goods higher because diesel is used by most trucks, trains and ships.

In Washington, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) revealed that it is six months into a wide-ranging investigation of U.S. oil markets, with a focus on possible price manipulation. The CFTC also announced a handful of initiatives designed to increase transparency of the energy futures markets. The commission said it started the probe in December and was publicizing the investigation "because of today's unprecedented market conditions."

____________________________________________________

I think it's great that the CFTC has been investigating oil markets for the last six months. Really, I do. But as the song goes, how bout a little less talk and a little more action?



In a January 23, 2002 New York Times article: Congressional Memo; Senator Attacks Oil Policy As Top Democrats Jockey, John Kerry was talking about our country's lack of a comprehensive energy policy. Well guess what? Six years later, all up and down the campaign trail, we're still talking about it. We've been talking about it. Non-stop. This conversation isn't going anywhere.

It's time to stop talking and start doing. Do we really have to wait until the end of this year's presidential election cycle and prey that a democrat gets in office to make change? And if so, what is the new president going to do? I mean, really!

I'm beginning to be of the opinion that high oil prices are in our politicians' best interests because it gives them something to talk about and something to promise us to make us feel good as we plop down $5 for a Subway Value Meal Footlong Sandwich, which, if you get the chips and the drink costs $8.50 with tax. Not to mention the $4-6 you spent driving to the Subway and back on your lunch hour from work. That's almost fifteen bucks folks! For lunch! Five days a week, $75.00! I'm wondering what $75.00 would buy me in groceries at WalMart these days? But I digress.

TAKE ACTION!

It's not my intent to go over the top and rant, but really, enough is enough. I truly believe it's time that we did something ourselves. Let's do something right now. On my left sidebar, is a Take Action Widget. If you live in the United States, type in your zip code. You'll find a list of all your US Senators and Representatives and State and Local Officials.

I'm just asking you to write them!

You don't have to beg, you don't have to shout, you don't have to threaten, but you do have to raise your voice! Just write to them. Tell them that it's unacceptable that we don't have a national energy policy that makes sense. Tell them that it's unacceptable to have to be able to choose between food or medicine and gasoline for your car. Tell them that it's there responsibility to get this taken care of, and tell them the time for talk is over. Get the job done.

I promise you, that if all 300 Million of us who live in the US would just write to all of our representatives and ask for the same thing, our government will finally sit up, raise their eyebrows, and take notice. But if we don't raise our voices and make ourselves heard in the appropriate forum in a constructive way, then nothing will change and we'll only have ourselves to blame as we forgo that Memorial Day vacation travel once again, not to mention all the other sacrifices we're going to have to make on a daily basis.

Thanks for reading.

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The Tradition of the Octopus

Opening Night of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Detroit
The tradition of slinging the octopus onto the ice before a Detroit Red Wings playoff game originated quite humbly, and even logically. Back when there were the original six hockey teams, a team needed to win only two playoff series to earn the league's coveted Stanley Cup. On their way to sweeping Montreal in the Stanley Cup finals, the Red Wings of Gordie Howe and Sid Abel, et. al., won eight straight games in the spring of 1952, a rare occurrence. A couple of brothers and business owners from Detroit's Eastern Market decided to commemorate the feat.

Pete and Jerry Cusimano, because they owned a fish market, decided for the end of Game 4 on April 15, 1952, to toss an octopus onto the Olympia Stadium surface, with each of its tentacles representing a postseason victory.

"Octopus has a great flavor," said Kevin Dean, owner of the Superior Fish Company in suburban Royal Oak, MI, famed for selling more than 100 pounds of octopusses on a single Red Wings gameday, some even to ingest (in salad, spreads, dip and octochili). "You are what you eat, and octopi basically eat crustaceans, crabs, other mollusks. They'll dine on sharks. Even ducks."

And yes, even Penguins.


Al, the Octopus--stoked and ready for the Finals!
A hockey tradition unlike any other continued this week at The Joe--as Joe Louis Arena is affectionately known--where security guards reputedly attempted to stop cephalopod smugglers at the doors. Red Wings spokeswoman Lisa Hickok said at least three octopuses have been confiscated from ticket-holders through the first three rounds of the playoffs, and promptly pitched. Hopefully, not into the Detroit River beside the arena.

"Sometimes, they can smell them coming in on people," she said.

Sometimes?

Ms. Hickok said octopus tossers are, if possible, apprehended and taken to Detroit city police on patrol at The Joe. The tossers aren't usually escorted from the building, but they can receive a ticket and fine, she said. This was news to a Detroit police spokeswoman, who declined to give her name but said she never heard of such a thing. Could be a disorderly conduct charge, she offered. Or, maybe, if the object actually hit a player or official on the ice, assault with ... a deadly appetizer?

It is indeed "octomania," as eloquently phrased by Superior Fish's Mr. Dean, who runs the family business with his brother, David. The roof of The Joe is adorned in the postseason with a huge, inflatable octopus mascot named Al. Some Detroit radio stations hold contests for tickets such as bobbing for cephalopods or mollusk catching.

Earlier this postseason, the Nashville Predators raised a fuss about fabled building operations manager/ice-lord Al Sobotka whipping The Joe crowd into a frenzy by picking up a thrown octopus and spinning it over his head. As a result, the NHL--I couldn't make this up, either--threatened a $10,000 fine if Al Sobotka or anyone twirls around a mollusk anywhere on the ice surface.


Al Sobotka Wielding the Octopus
So Al Sobotka waits until he has returned to the safety of the Zamboni doorway, still within full view of the 20,058 Joe seats.

"I was kind of surprised by the rule, but what am I going to do?" said Sobotka, in his 37th season with the Red Wings. "The fans get a big jolt out of it. The TV people get a big jolt out of it."

And he shared his spinning secret: "You got to get a firm grip on it and kind of twirl it real fast, otherwise the tentacles hit you in the face."

Superior Fish offers a how-to guide and ice-pitching protocol the Dean brothers dub "Octoquette":

1. Boil the octopus for a half-hour to remove the natural moisture so the ice doesn't get slimed.

2. Hurl an octopus only after a Red Wings goal or at the completion of the national anthem. A Game 2 hurler noticed how somebody tossed one at the end of that Detroit victory: "It was a ... sea monster. The thing had to be 30 pounds. How the hell do you get that over the glass?"

3. Throw it "away from any players, officials and personnel," to quote the SuperiorFish.com Web site. "If you have any doubt in your ability [to hit such a target area], PLEASE refrain from propelling your Octopi."

Mr. Dean and his employees go so far as to ask potential hurlers for their seat assignment, physical shape and throwing ability when selling octopuses that normally range from 1 to 16 pounds. They also will set up buyers with a kit containing large plastic bags and gloves to deal with boiling and hiding the octopus. Thanks to Superior, it has become so easy that parents have been known to celebrate the end of Pee Wee hockey seasons with a ceremonial cephalopod fling.

Any Detroit fans who plan to attend any of the Cup games in Pittsburgh better stash their eight-legged friends in their carry-on luggage because they'll have a hard time buying them in Pittsburgh. (See article from the Detroit Free Press below.) Dan Wholey, owner of the legendary Strip District fish market that bears his family's surname, said that anyone trying to purchase an octopus during the Finals has to present a valid Pennsylvania ID. He said Wholey's will not sell their octopuses to visiting Red Wings fans; a sign above the store's octopus display says as much.


No Octopus For You
"Octopus is for eating, not for throwing," Mr. Wholey said. "It's a beautiful part of the seafood diet and we don't want any of ours on the Penguins ice, and that's a fact. The Penguins are going to win the Stanley Cup and we're strong supporters of them."

Game and mollusk on.
____________________________________________

Operation Octopus: Pittsburgh purchase try is firmly denied
BY BEN SCHMITT • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • May 28, 2008

PITTSBURGH -- The octopus police pounced almost immediately after I took 10 steps Tuesday into Pittsburgh's most famous downtown fish market. In my red-and-white Red Wings sweater, I strolled toward the octopi. They were packed in open freezer cases full of ice and wrapped neatly in plastic.

My undercover assignment: Test Dan Wholey on his proclamation that Red Wings fans can't buy the eight-legged creatures from his store, Wholey's Fish Market, located in the meat and produce warehouse area known as the Strip District. The mission was painful enough. I live and work in metro Detroit and cheer for the area's professional sports teams. But I grew up in Pittsburgh, and my heart remains with the black and gold. Now, I was the enemy in my hometown.

I walked into the 20,000-square-foot market, past a stuffed animal Penguin and a "Go Pens" sign, at 1:50 p.m. A model train rolled along tracks hung just below the ceiling.

"Dan Wholey, get him!" shouted an employee. "He's a Red Wing fan."

Pretending not to hear him, I walked right up to the octopi. I picked one up, ignoring the warning sign: "If you're from Detroit, you're not allowed to buy the octopus. Must show identification."

Moving toward the counter, Dan Wholey intercepted me.

"Excuse me, sir," he said.

"Hey, how you doing?" I replied.

"You're with the Red Wings, right?" he said in a soft-spoken tone.

"No, not with the organization," I answered.

He was polite, but serious.

"I can't sell that to you," Wholey said.

"What do you mean?" I retorted.

"Didn't you see the sign? C'mon, I'll show you."

He walked me back to the warning sign and pointed.

"You can buy anything else in the store," Wholey said with a sweeping gesture. "But I can't sell you an octopus."

He was very apologetic, but insistent. "I cannot."

I turned to leave, all in good sport. A few customers in the small crowd that had gathered cheered as I headed toward the door. Then I turned around with a chuckle and revealed my identity: Detroit Free Press reporter.

Wholey burst out laughing.

I was the first person to challenge him in person on his octopi-refusing stance, he said, one that made national news last week. "Boy, you scared me," Wholey admitted. "I thought, 'Oh God, here we go. I'm really going to have to deny someone.' " He lamented the Penguins' losses in the first two Stanley Cup finals games.

"My goodness, we are behind the eight ball," he said. "The Red Wings have the toughest defense I've ever seen."

Turns out the guy who alerted Wholey of my presence, Mike Hartman, carries the self-imposed title of head octopus cutter.

"That sign's been up for a week, and as soon as you walked in I thought: 'Someone from Detroit is trying to test us,' " Hartman said. "I wasn't really sure that someone would want to throw one on the ice of Mellon Arena. But you had me convinced."

Wholey said he planned to stand his ground and would continue to do so today if other Wings fans appear at his store as Games 3 and 4 shift to the 'Burgh starting tonight.

"I was nervous about the confrontation, but I really do stand behind the policy," he said. "It's not gonna happen, at least not from here."

We shook hands. I started to leave when a customer who witnessed the exchange pulled me aside. She quietly told me of another fish market, a half-mile away, that would sell me an octopus. I headed toward my car, still in my Wings sweater.

A man in a black T-shirt and jeans walked nearby as I crossed Penn Avenue. "That's a dangerous thing to be wearing today," he said.

I drove up to the next stop: Benkovitz Seafoods on Smallman Street.

I asked for octopus.

"Sold out," said a man behind the counter.

I asked to order some. A female employee chimed in: "No one's going to sell it to you in that shirt."

I pressed on and asked for the store manager.

Manager Devenee Schumacher was not only willing to sell it to me, she agreed to place an order because the store was out.

"I'll order it for tomorrow," she said.

The female employee protested, pointing out my clothing.

"I know, he's a Red Wing fan," Schumacher said. "What do I care?"

She wanted to know why octopi were so popular with metro Detroiters. I explained the tradition and how it originated because eight wins were formerly needed to win the Stanley Cup.

She wrote my name on a small order slip, next to the words "1-octopus."

"I don't believe in superstitions. I don't think it would hurt the Penguins in any way," Schumacher said. "I love our team dearly and I root for them."

Contact BEN SCHMITT at 313-222-4296


GO WINGS!

And thanks for reading.

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Almost Wordless Wednesday: Stanley Cup Finals

March of the Penguins



Et tu, Brute?



Jedi Knights (L to R: Henrik Zetterberg & Nicklas Lidstrom)



Tastes Like Chicken



Happy Feet



Nicklas Lidstrom: Not only the Captain of the Detroit Red Wings, but Lidstrom is also favored to win his sixth Norris Trophy--awarded to the best defenseman in the NHL. A win would move him past Defensive Great Ray Bourque and give him sole possession of 3rd place among the all-time winners of the Norris Trophy.


OCTOPI ARE EVERYWHERE!


The Other White Meat



Motor City Octopus



Penguins Running for their Lives



The Octopus That Ate Pittsburgh


EXPERIENCE MATTERS


Experience Is Everything. All eight Red Wings pictured in the background have hoisted the Stanley Cup over their heads previously as champions. Four of those pictured and six overall have been a part of three Detroit Stanley Cup Winning Teams. Detroit is half way to its eleventh championship as a franchise.



Henrik Zetterberg: Demise of the Penguins



Have Wings, Will Fly



Dawn of a New Day


Thanks to Chris Osgood's stellar goaltending--he's only the fourth goalie ever to begin the Stanley Cup Finals with two shutouts--and awesome defensive play and puck possession by the entire Detroit team, Detroit enjoys a 2-0 lead in this best of seven series. Game 3 begins in Pittsburgh at 8:00 pm tonight, and will be televised on NBC.

Thanks for reading.

Technorati Tags: detroit red wings, niklas lidstrom, chris osgood, henrik zetterberg, stanley cup finals, detroit, motor city, octopus, octopi, pittsburgh penguins, cartoons, humor, nhl, hockey, hockey humor, hockey cartoons
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Yesterday Once More

Last night was one of those nights when the sun sets like a neon floodlight and memories from a similar sunset 19 years ago came back, and so, here is the poem written for the one whose memory that neon sun evokes.

Goodbye, My Friend

Yesterday
I watched that neon sun go down
as a jet flew through
electric red and purple rays
dancing
in between soft clouds
pushed and pulled by the wind.

And as I watched, I wondered:
what happens to a cloud
when it is torn asunder in the winds,
almost like a loaf of french bread
in a game of tug-o-war
with the white blur of fur
that snatched it from the dinner table.

Does the cloud die
and fade to nothingness,
never to be seen again,
or do memories remain
like scattered breadcrumbs on the floor
after the tug-o-war?

**********

I remember
sitting with her in the waiting room.
She would walk back and forth on the tiled floor,
lie down under my chair,
get up and walk back and forth again—
bumping into a table covered with magazines…

Come here, girl!
Shake.
Roll over.
Don’t die.

Please!

**********

It is night now.
The sun has gone
and I no longer see the clouds.
So I lament
like that old McCartney song
of life and love and loss.

When I see that neon sun again
I’ll remember
the game,
and the breadcrumbs too.
I’ll watch the wind
blowing the clouds around
and feel
my gentle rain.



Tomboy Buffy, Age: 1


Buffy, Age: 7. All groomed and lady-like



And for those of you who thought this post was going to be about a Carpenters song...


...how 'bout a rare live cover of the song by Olivia Newton-John?

Thanks for reading.

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The Remarkables

An MTMD Guest Post from Dave at Is a mans world.

The Remarkables are an extremely steep, rugged mountain range that rise to a height of 2234 meters and dominate the Queenstown, New Zealand landscape. In 1857, a European surveyor gave the range its English name. They are located in the south-west of the South Island, or about 285 km (177 mi) west of Dunedin in the Otago region.

In pre-European times, the Queenstown area was a stopover for Maori prospectors on the fabled greenstone (a type of jade, called pounamu by Maori) route to the West Coast. European sheep-farming settlers arrived in 1860, followed two years later by gold miners seeking nuggets and powdered gold in the Shotover River. The gold rush that ensued lasted only until 1865, but small gold-mining ventures still remain which can still be explored by 4WD wilderness tours.

The mountains were allegedly named The Remarkables because they are one of only two mountain ranges in the world which run directly north to south. An alternate explanation for the name given by locals is that early Queenstown settlers, upon seeing the mountain range during sunset one evening, named them the Remarkables to describe the sight.

Queenstown is the South Island's premier tourist resort, and tourists agree that the Remarkables live up to its name by rising sharply to create an impressive backdrop for the lake waters that lap at the shore Queenstown is built upon. Queenstown is not only famous for jet boating, skiing (there's 220 skiable hectares accessed by three quad chair lifts within three sunny, wide open bowls. For the first timer through to the seasoned expert, skiers of all skill levels will be challenged by narrow chutes and rock drops;) bungee jumping, adventure sports, and spectacular scenery, but it's also famous for the filming of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.


Compare the mountains above in this still from The Return of the King with this daylight shot of The Remarkables below:


Can you tell that they are the same mountains? This same shot of The Remarkables was used over and over again throughout The Lord of the Rings and the various landscapes were digitally added at the base of the mountains and the features of Queenstown removed. Here's another view of The Remarkables just peaking out above the clouds. Shots like this were also used dramatically in the scenes where the beacons at Minas Tirith where lit and in succession from the White City to Rohan in the pivotal scene where Gondor calls on Rohan for aid.


The area contains a number of beautiful features, such as Lake Alta, a small lake nestled within a natural amphitheater at the head of a glacial valley and below the towering Double Cone peaks. Glacial tarns, schist outcrops and bluffs, waterfalls, unique flora and fauna, recreation opportunities and spectacular views over Lake Wakatipu draw large numbers of visitors to this special area. High points in the range include Double Cone (2340 meters) and Ben Nevis (2330 meters, which is named after a Scottish mountain of the same name).


If you are in New Zealand and you are looking for fun then you can't go past The Remarkables. The Remarkables are all about fun, families, freestyle and the love of the big mountain environment. Sitting high above Queenstown the scenery is stunning. The sun shines all day, and the fun & entertainment never stops. The emphasis here is on entertainment with live music on the decks of the ski resorts and the festivals such as The Remarkables Spring Carnival which attract a huge following. There are plenty of places to just kick back, fuel up and bask in the sun too. Then when you feel recharged, head to the UP&GO Terrain Park or go off-piste for extreme riding and skiing. For something a little different, try the Ozone Tubing Park.


Thanks Dave for an awesome post. For more like this, please visit the most awesome Kiwi I know! Cheers, Mate!


Thanks for reading.

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Red Wings Take Game One!

Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals began as a chaotic and nervous exchange on both sides of the ice. Both Goaltenders, Fleury of Pittsburgh and Osgood of Detroit had to make brilliant saves, but after a first penalty-filled period, the score remained tied at zero despite a brilliant shot by Niklas Lidstrom into the Pittsburgh goal that was waived off as no-goal in a disputed penalty by Thomas Holmstrom of Detroit.

In the second period, however, both teams settled and played cleaner. Kronwall from Detroit was everywhere with hard hits for those not paying attention, but ultimately Detroit scored first and the crowd of the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit erupted with raucous cheers and noise.

In the final period, Pittsburgh began to get sloppy--while on a powerplay, they allowed Detroit to score short-handed and go up 3-0 which sealed the deal, and Niklas Lidstrom scored a final goal after Pittsburgh committed a penalty with 1:52 left in the game.

Chris Osgood was absolutely brilliant and the packed SRO crowd at Joe Louis Arena were chanting Ozzie through much of the game. He made all the tough shots when he needed to. And he's going to need to. It's certain that Pittsburgh will regroup and come out fighting in Game 2 Monday Night!

Thanks for reading.

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NEW EntreCard Features

Within the last week, the folks at EntreCard have added lots of new features to make the site easier and more flexible for its users. If you are not a member of EntreCard but you are trying to increase traffic to your blog, I can honestly say that no blog promotion service has had more of an impact generating traffic to my blog than EntreCard, and I strongly suggest you check it out. For those of you who haven't been online in a while, here is a brief summary of the new EntreCard features:

ADD MULTIPLE BLOGS TO YOUR ACCOUNT
Now you can add all your blogs to Entrecard simply by going to your Dashboard and clicking "Linked Blogs" in your Dashboard navigation. You will be able to choose whether to link your account with another EXISTING account, or to register a NEW BLOG with Entrecard, and automatically link it to your account.

You can switch from one blog to another, and drop or advertise as either one, from the very top right of your Entrecard screen. Where your email address is displayed there will be a link to "switch" to another account of yours.

Add just one more blog to your account, and you're automatically entered to win 15,000 credits!

ENTRECARD OFFICIAL EBOOK

http://entrecard.com/static/entrecard_official_ebook.pdf

EntreCard's free ebook has arrived for everyone to download! If you're new to Entrecard, and wondering what to do first, this ebook will guide you along the way. And if you're an intermediate of advanced user, it's packed full of strategies you can use to get the absolute most from our service. Download from the link above

BLOG POST CONTEST - WIN 2000 CREDITS!
We are holding a contest to help us spread the word on our "add new blog" feature and our new E-Book, so anyone who posts on their blog, mentions our new "add a blog" feature, and posts a link to our new ebook on their blog wins 2000 credits. Just leave a comment on this blog post with the link for us to see.

Credits will be paid to all winners on June 25th

MULTI BLOG CONTEST - WIN 15,000 CREDITS!
We're giving away 15,000 credits to people who add new blogs to their accounts. We will randomly select one winner in each of the following classes:

2-5 blogs in account

5-10 blogs in account
10-15 blogs in account
15-20 blogs in account
20-25 blogs in account

We're giving away a total of 75,000 credits, as there will be one 15,000 credit winner for each class. All you have to do is use our new feature to add Entrecard to your other blogs, or simply link your other blogs together using the "switch" button in the top right of the site. Winners will be picked on June 25th

NEW HOMEPAGE
If you haven't been around in a while, then you haven't seen our new homepage! It automatically posts links to YOUR posts, every time you update your blog. You can also use it to see in real time what Entrecarders are talking about on their blog!

NEW CAMPAIGN PAGE TABS
On your "Campaign" page We added simple quick jump tabs to the campaign page, to easily see the newest, cheapest, and more at just the click of a button. The "Search" tab on the end of the campaign navigation will bring you to the browser that you are currently familiar with.

TOP DROPPERS RSS FEED
The people who visit your blog more frequently than any other members are known as your top droppers. We just created an RSS feed, found on your "Statistics" page, that will allow you to subscribe.

Whew, so that's what we've been up to. Our new E-Book and all these new features are designed to help you get MORE traffic, MORE exposure, and MORE value for your blog and your time. Don't forget to enter our contests by adding other blogs to your account, and posting a link to our new E-Book!

Entrecard Team
http://entrecard.com

Thanks for reading.

Technorati Tags:entrecard, blogging, blog traffic generator, blog tools, blogging tools
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MTMD Unveils New Look!

Hello, and welcome to the new look of MTMD!

After two years, it was time to update the design of the site. The site is now brighter and a little easier on the eyes to read, and with the addition of a right sidebar, some new sidebar icons, and some stylistic cleanup, hopefully it's more pleasing to the eye as well.

Zoe, at Chic & Sassy Designs has really done a remarkable job updating the site, giving it a brand new template, but maintaining and enhancing the design elements that have given Meltwater. Torrents. Meanderings. Delta. it's distinctive look and feel that bloggers have come to know over the last 2 1/2 years.

The major highlight of the update is the new set of 4 seasonal headers and footers. As it's spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, the Spring header is now front and center along with the summer footer--so make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom to check the footer out--it's gorgeous.

And to continue with the flowing water and change/evolution theme of the site, the header and footer will be staggered so that each season will flow into the next. The spring header will flow into the summer footer which will become the summer header in June, flowing into the fall footer, which will become the fall header in September and so on and so on. In December, as a special holiday gift to all of you, the new winter header will debut. I'm pleased to say that the winter header is the most striking header of them all and is derivative from the old MTMD header that's just been retired, but far more breathtaking and expansive.

Please leave a comment and tell me what you think of the new look! I've still got some tweaking to do, so please excuse the mess as all the widgets and sections of the sidebar move around a little, are deleted or replaced as befits the new theme. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience or disorientation, and I sincerely hope the site does a bit better at catching your eye.

Thanks for reading.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Memorial Day

The Vietnam Memorial


The Arizona Memorial


Arlington National Cemetery


Let Freedom Ring

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday that is observed on the last Monday of May (observed in 2008 on May 26). It was formerly known as Decoration Day. This holiday commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country. It began first to honor Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War. After World War I, it was expanded to include those who died in any war or military action. One of the longest standing traditions is the running of the Indianapolis 500, which has been held in conjunction with Memorial Day since 1911. It is also traditionally viewed as the beginning of summer.

Thanks for reading.

Technorati Tags:memorial day, vietnam memorial, arizona memorial, arlington national cemetery, freedom, liberty
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Teamwork Returns the Detroit Red Wings to the Stanley Cup Finals!

WOOHOO! Dominant in the regular season, superb again in the postseason, the Detroit Red Wings are headed back to the Stanley Cup finals!

Just when the Red Wings lost consecutive games and were starting to look vulnerable, they bounced back strong in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals, getting first-period goals from Kris Draper, Pavel Datsyuk and Dallas Drake on their way to knocking out the Dallas Stars 4-1 on Monday night.

Now Detroit goes from worrying about becoming the third team to blow a 3-0 series lead to trying to win its fourth championship in 11 seasons. The Red Wings will face the Pittsburgh Penguins, with the first two games at The storied Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The series opens Saturday, with the schedule following a Saturday-Monday-Wednesday pattern.

Detroit will be the home team because it had more regular-season points - most in the league, in fact. The Red Wings are the first recipient of the Presidents' Trophy to play for the Cup since they did so in 2002. That also was the last time they were in the finals.

As good as Detroit was the first 82 games, the Red Wings were even better for much of the last six weeks. They went nearly a month between losses, winning a franchise-record nine straight playoff games. It was the longest run by any team in 15 years and it put them a win away from eliminating the fifth-seeded Stars.

Dallas won Games 4 and 5 by limiting Detroit to a goal each game. The Red Wings exceeded that output in the first period Monday, with all three goals coming on uncontested shots right in front of the net. Henrik Zetterberg added a short-handed goal early in the second period and the series was all but over then.

Detroit's walloping knockout punch shouldn't have been a surprise. The Red Wings beat Nashville 3-0 to end the opening round, then crushed Colorado 8-2 to end the second round. In each game in the regular season, and now in each game of the playoffs, Detroit is performing better and better as a team. Each night, different Red Wings have contributed goals. In the last series against the Colorado Avalanche, Franzen scored more goals than the entire Colorado Team for the entire series. This series, Franzen has been out with injuries, so other players have had to step up.

Through it all, Chris Osgood has been superb. Osgood improved to 10-2 this postseason. It was his 100th career playoff game and his 55th victory - his 48th for Detroit, passing Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk for the franchise record.

Notes: The Red Wings and Penguins did not meet this season. They did the two previous years and Detroit won both. ... This will be the first Detroit-Pittsburgh finals. ... It also will be the first all-American finals since 2003, when New Jersey faced Anaheim.



ELSEWHERE ON THE ICE
Tonya Harding is coming out with a new book, The Tonya Tapes, in which she speaks frankly, if a bit confusingly, about the Tonya and Nancy Scandal. And about being abused during childhood, comtemplating suicide, having a gun placed to her head and getting raped. the book is a compilation of interviews with author Lynda D. Prouse conducted over eight years. In 1994, Harding's then husband Jeff Gillooly, helped plan an assault on Nancy Kerrigan that triggered a melodrama complete with headlines and huge television ratings at the Lillehammer Olympics.

AND OFF THE ICE
Kristi Yamaguchi scored a perfect 60 out of 60 in both her routines last night on Dancing with the Stars. She was far and away the best performer and is 7 points ahead of Christien and 8 points ahead of NFL Man of the Year Jason Taylor. We'll see if the scores hold up after the votes are all tabulated tonight at 9:00 pm on ABC.

Thanks for reading.

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8 Random Things About Me

I have been auto-tagged by Matt over at Matt-Speak with a Meme called "8 Random Things About Me". Actually, Matt was tagged, but he hasn't tagged anyone in return because he doesn't believe he knows enough bloggers to tag yet, so I'm auto-tagging myself to help Matt out a bit! ;-) For someone knew to Memes and tagging, Matt has an awesome philosophy. Matt says:

This is my first tag so I will do my best to uphold the tradition with honor, or in this case, with humility since I have to talk about myself. But how in the world do you decide which eight things about yourself, after spending a lifetime developing these characteristics, to list in such an exercise? I suppose they should be things that you would want other people to know about you, things that most closely describe the person you have become, and why. But, then, which things you decide to list will help people who do not know you well form their perception of you, so do you list eight funny things, or eight intellectual things, or a mixture of the two? I suppose our personalities are made up of many different character traits, so perhaps a hodgepodge of items would do the most to describe one's self to an unknowing audience.

I think Matt's a pretty smart guy, don't you?
Here are the rules:

* Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
* People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
* At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
* Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’ve been tagged, and to read your blog post.
* Go ahead and follow the rules if you want to, I normally don't perpetuate tags. But please, feel free to auto-tag yourself if this is something you'd like to post about.

1. I love whitewater rafting. They say that if you choose a job you love, you'll never work a day in your life. Actually, that was "Aristotle" who said that, not "They." Who is "they" anyway? I don't know. No matter. Anyway, I've had a lot of jobs: I worked in a public library for 17 years, I coached high school debate, I was a General Manager of a 21 screen mega-plex as well as Ryan's and a senior manager in several other restaurant concepts, most recently Applebee's. But when I had the chance to go to work for a rafting company, it was a like a dream come true. Reasonable hours, great play, physical exercise in the course of a day's work, travel opportunities, and all the stress of a fast-paced life and an hour-long commute one way melted away here in the mountains of western North Carolina.



2. I absolutely, wholeheartedly, and unabashedly love ABBA! ABBA is the greatest thing that happened to music since The Beatles. I can fill a whole year's worth of posts about ABBA if I wanted to, but to spare you, I won't. But did you know that the 7th highest grossing movie of 1977 (Star Wars was the highest) was ABBA: The Movie which documented their 1977 concert tour in Australia? I bet you didn't, because until recently the movie had never been released in the United States. That's right, #7 in the world without US Ticket Sales. Pretty impressive. There are many reasons why I love ABBA, but mostly it's because when I was a kid growing up in the '70s, my parents divorced. It was ugly. That's when I retreated in music. More than anything else, ABBA's song Knowing Me, Knowing You which came out at the time my parent's divorce was taking place in 1977, was a 4 minute and 2 second encapsulation of what was happening in my life. It's no coincidence that Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and ABBA's The Album thus became the first two albums I ever bought. Twenty-one years later, this paid off big time because when my brother Paul went to see Mamma Mia! with his wife April in Chicago, Paul realized that he knew all the words to the songs. Ah ha!



3. Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip is my favorite ice cream. Goes back to weekly one hour summer night outings with my brothers and Grandparents just to get ice cream. In metro-Detroit, it was Baskin Robbins. In Charlevoix, it was Dairy Queen.



4. I have never broken a bone in my body, and it's my mother's fault. I was a very picky eater when I was a kid. Mom used to make horrible food like stuffed tomatoes with couscous, salads with taboulli, casseroles with mushrooms in it, and all other dishes with peas in a white sauce and broccoli. Blechh! (I love all this stuff now by the way, except the mushrooms.) So for dinner, I would eat these gaint bowls of cereal with lots of calcium-rich milk. Consequently, my bones became really strong. And this sucked! Two years ago I was playing softball and fell on my shoulder. I separated it. 3rd Degree. Pretty darn bad. The irony is, I could have just as easily broken my collar bone, and if I had, it would have hurt more and took longer to heal, but when bones break, they heal back even stronger than they were prior to the break, or so "they" say. But because of all the cereal I ate growing up, with milk, my collar bone was just way too strong. It wouldn't give, so my shoulder ligaments had to. 3rd Degree Separation--much worse than the separations you hear about football players getting. Theirs are usually minor 1st degree ones that heal back just fine. I've got a permanent bump now on my left shoulder, I can't do push-ups or dips or lift a lot of weight over my head. But I've never broken a bone!



5. I was in a rollover car accident on a lonely Alaskan Highway in the middle of January at 6 am when it was 35 below zero outside. (The above photo shows the skidmarks on the highway and the tracks in the snow my rental car made as I left the road and knew I was about to die--but contrary to what "they" say, I never saw my life pass before my eyes.) Didn't get a scratch. The site of the accident was two miles away from the ONLY towing facility on the entire 300+ mile highway between Fairbanks and Anchorage. And less than 60 seconds after the accident, an off-duty police officer (James Brown--real name, I'm not kidding) from the University of Alaska Fairbanks pulled right over besides me to make sure I was okay, helped me, drove me to the next town to get to a phone because the guy at the towing facility wasn't there (he was at home in bed asleep--go figure), then he drove me back to the towing facility where AJ took over. Trust me on this, James Brown wasn't the only angel watching over me that day.



6. I like to go to movies alone. No, it's true. As much as I enjoy dates, and the company of others, the fact is, when you go to a movie with your friends, your mother, your father, your grandmother, your date, whatever, you have to compromise and be badgered. There's the incessant talking, there's the "I don't want to sit that close, let's go to the back row" from your father, there's the "I don't want to sit in the back row, let's move closer" from your date, there's the falling asleep of your mother or grandmother, there's the "Oh, would you go get me a drink," halfway through the movie right in the critical scene and you have to get up and not only miss the scene, but disturb everyone else getting in and out of your seat because you're sitting in the middle of the row, etc, etc, etc....



7. Whenever I go out to eat I ask for a glass of water with TONS of lemon. And I mean TONS. If a server brings back one puny wedge attached to my glass after I asked for TONS of lemon, like the server NOT PAYING ATTENTION at the Cracker Barrell yesterday morning, the server has lost half of his or her tip right there because I know that no matter what, this server just doesn't get it and my dining experience is in jeopardy. I like lemon. I like just a little bit of water with my lemon-flavored citric acid. It's not that I need the Vitamin C to ward off scurvy or anything dramatic like that, but that's the way it is. It's genetic. My brothers take a ton of lemon in their water and iced tea as well. I eat lemons straight. Don't try and play a prank on us by putting some kind of sour tasting substance in our food, it's not worth your time. We'd never notice it.



8. Finally, I'm a Sagittarius with a Scorpio Ascendant. Do you know what that means? "THEY" say that the Ascendant--the constellation that is on the horizon at the time of your birth is just as influential in your personality as your sun sign--or the constellation that the sun is in when you are born. Sagitarians are the nicest, most easy going people around and Scorpios have a sharp tongue and know how to use it and Sagitarians have no tact and say what they mean. What do you think that means for me? Sagittarius is a FIRE sign. Scorpio is a WATER sign. Fire and Water extinguish each other for God's sake! It's like Jekyl and Hyde. I'm an internal contradiction.
   Fortunately, I'm very passionate (FIRE) about WATER (whitewater rafting.) But I'm telling you, on any given day, you never know what's going to come out of my mouth, the friendly Jovial Sagittarian words, or the bitter, sour-lemon acidic and acerbic words of the Scorpio. I'm telling you, life with me is never boring.

Thanks for reading.

Oh, and I love Giant Sequoias! The first picture in this post is me in front of the largest living thing on earth, the General Sherman Giant Sequoia Tree in Sequoia National Park.

Thanks for reading even more.

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The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Today is "Saturday at the Movies with my friend Jean from Sizzling Popcorn and MTMD. Last night we both saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and decided to collaborate together on an EntreCard blogosphere movie review. We hope you'll enjoy!

MTMD (9:32:47 PM): Hello MTMD and SizzlingPopcorn Readers...We've popped up a bit of a treat for you...We've both just seen The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and we've got a movie review for you, Ebert and Roeper style....isn't that right SP?

SizzlingPopcorn (9:33:12 PM): That's right!

MTMD(9:34:34 PM): LOL...this is fun. Prince Caspian picks up 1300 years after The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe left off in Narnia. But for the Pevensies, only 1 year has passed in England.

SizzlingPopcorn (9:37:41 PM): When they find themselves in Narnia again, they discover that Narnia is in ruins after being conquered by the Telmarines.

MTMD (9:38:32 PM): Prince Caspian is on the run from his Uncle Miraz, the would-be king of the Telmarines, and the Narnians are hiding underground.

SizzlingPopcorn (9:41:10 PM): The Kings and Queens of old (the Pevensies), with the help of others, embark on a journey to find Aslan and rescue Narnia from King Miraz. Only this time, Aslan doesn't come forward until the end of the movie, leaving King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund, Queen Lucy and Prince Caspian to make decisions and decide on the course of action that will either restore freedom to Narnia, or to enslave it forever in the grasp of an evil Telmarine King.

MTMD (9:43:01 PM): That about sums up the main conflict. What did you think of the movie, SP?

SizzlingPopcorn (9:48:54 PM): I really liked the fight scenes and the fact that there might be a total of 2 drops of blood in the whole movie. Unlike other epic films that feature a lot of blood in the battles, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian takes away all the blood and gore, as it is a movie geared for a younger audience. I find the soundtrack really brings the movie alive. It gives the movie a pulse as Prince Caspian is chased at the beginning of the film. What did you think of the battles?

MTMD (9:53:23 PM): I agree, they were wonderful. I don't believe they were as epic in scope as the showdown with the white witch in the first Narnia movie, but they were more innovative. The storm on the Telmarine Castle with the gryphons carrying the Kings and Queens was spectacular. The assault in the field was a little too reminiscent of The Return of the King, for me, as was the climactic scene with the river god--to me that harkened back the summoning of the river in The Fellowship of the Ring. But they were well done, and intense. The score is completely derivative from the first Narnia movie, and I think the musical elements tied the two films together nicely.

SizzlingPopcorn (9:56:39 PM): Yes, they definitely did! I didn't really like how the river god popped out of nowhere. It just seemed that the writers were looking for something to get rid of the enemies.

MTMD (9:58:13 PM): Well, that scene was actually in the book, and I think the special effects artists did an incredible job with rendering it. But throughout the movie, liberties were taken with the text. For example, the scene with the White Witch in the movie was completely fabricated, but I think it definitely added to the dramatic effect of the movie, and it was awesome the way Edmund got to get his revenge dispatching her.

SizzlingPopcorn (9:59:08 PM): I see...I've never read the books, but I might pick them up this summer! How did you find the acting?

MTMD (10:02:01 PM): The acting was good. I was really expecting more emotion and an increase in depth of the characters, kind of the way the actors in the Harry Potter series have grown with each new film, but other than their physical appearance being a little older, I really didn't notice any increase in depth. Unfortunately, I found the bad guys pretty one-dimensional. So much was happening in this action-packed sequel that not a lot of time was given to character development. Characters just appeared out of nowhere with almost no introduction. And unless you read the book recently, I imagine it would be quite hard to follow them all--especially Reepicheep.

SizzlingPopcorn (10:04:01 PM): I found that one of King Miraz's right-hand men looked like Saddam Hussein. But overall, the acting was fairly good.

MTMD (10:04:59 PM): I didn't want to comment on that. I hope the resemblance wasn't intentional, but you can't but help feel that those doing the casting were playing on our fears and prejudices just a little. What was the most fun moment of the movie for you?

SizzlingPopcorn (10:09:28 PM): I liked the scene at the beginning where the two guys are in the boat with the dwarf and Susan tells them to drop him.

MTMD (10:09:58 PM): LOL! That was hilarious. The dwarf did have some awesome looks and one-liners.

SizzlingPopcorn (10:10:48 PM): Yes....that scene reminded me of a couple of scenes from other movies where they have two guys acting stupid in a boat in the middle of nowhere. (Pirates of the Caribbean and The Water Horse)

MTMD (10:12:04 PM): I really appreciated the comic relief coming from Reepicheep and the squirrel...the one liner: "We could gather nuts" had the theater crowd howling in laughter. And the interaction with the cat in the castle was definitely a nod to Puss in Boots from Shrek.

SizzlingPopcorn (10:13:18 PM): I saw it at noon with about 10 people in the theater and there weren't any reactions from the crowd.

MTMD (10:13:39 PM): Yano, sometimes a crowd can make or break a movie....

SizzlingPopcorn (10:13:48 PM): That's right! They must have been taking an afternoon nap!

MTMD (10:15:57 PM): Well if the crowd in your theater missed anything due to napping it's a shame. Overall, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian delivers and satisfies on every level. It's got action. It's got tenderness. It's got four major battle scenes counting the duel between King Peter and King Miraz, it's got breathtaking cinematography, a score to inspire and to tug at the heart strings, and a bit of a surprise tearjerker in the end--though not what you would expect.

SizzlingPopcorn (10:17:19 PM): That's exactly right! Well said! I'm not sure how you rate your movies, but how would you rate The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian?

MTMD (10:19:40 PM): I'd have to give it an A-. I believed it was loyal to the source material and actually improved upon it. The only thing I found detracting was just a little lack of character development. Other than that, it was thoroughly enjoyable. I'd see it in the theater again. Would you agree?

SizzlingPopcorn (10:22:43 PM): I would agree! It's a definite must-see blockbuster! At SizzlingPopcorn, we use a unique rating system: Sizzling Popcorn (Blockbuster or Oscar-bound), Popcorn (a good movie), Kernel (a rental), and Burnt Popcorn (don't waste your money on this movie!). I would give it a Sizzling Popcorn!

MTMD (10:23:26 PM): That's awesome, SP! And you know what?

SizzlingPopcorn (10:23:43 PM): What?

MTMD (10:24:02 PM): That's a wrap!


Thanks for reading.

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California Supreme Court Changes US Election Focus

Yosemite Valley, California
It's a beautiful day in California! In a resounding victory for gay men and lesbians, the California Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a state ban on same-sex marriage. The 4-3 decision makes California the second state, after Massachusetts in 2003, to allow same-sex couples to marry.

The California Supreme Court rejected arguments from state officials about the importance of preserving the tradition of heterosexual marriage and said, "The exclusion of same-sex couples from the designation of marriage works a real and appreciable harm upon same-sex couples and their children."

The decision, written by Chief Justice Ronald George, recounted the history of discrimination against gay people and emphasized that, in time, traditions of bias must change. He referred to the bans on interracial marriage that were once common and were struck down by the Supreme Court in 1967.

"Although the understanding of marriage as limited to a union of a man and a woman is undeniably the predominant one," George wrote, "if we have learned anything from the significant evolution in the prevailing societal views and official policies toward members of minority races and toward women over the past half-century, it is that even the most familiar and generally accepted of social practices and traditions often mask an unfairness and inequality."

The California court based its decision on its state constitution. As a result, the decision sets no legal precedent beyond California's borders. Yet the ruling is likely to add momentum to the ongoing legal fights over gay marriage across the country and could reshape the politics of the upcoming November elections in California and nationally.

While our political memories tend to be rather short, as recently as the last election cycle in 2004, the furor over the actions of the Massachusetts Supreme Court were fresh in the minds of voters and calls for a US Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage were national news. The gay marriage issue four years ago may have tipped the scales in the favor of the conservatives and undoubtedly contributed to the re-election of George Bush as President. Now here we are again in 2008 and the same topic is once again national news, only California usually speaks a lot louder than Massachusetts.


While I am esctatic for my gay and lesbian friends, I hope and pray that this issue remains a non-issue in the 2008 election cycle. Being opposed to gay marriage is silly. If there are two people in love, why interfere and prevent them from being happy?

The argument thrown around four years ago that gay marriage threatens the sanctity of marriage is a smokescreen and hypocrisy of the worst kind. Many of those speaking out on the sanctity of marriage have been divorced multiple times. With a divorce rate over 50% in the United States, the real threat to the sanctity of marriage is the ease of which marriages can be dissolved through divorce. As a child of a divorced couple, I know first-hand about the insidious ways divorce can harm children. If politicians really want to protect the sanctity of marriage, they need to pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting divorce, not gay marriage.

Today I applaud the Supreme Court of California. Their reasoning is solid and their decision is just. Today, just one day after bloggers united to stand up for human rights, makes the Supreme Court decision even more meaningful. But today, I really hope and pray that this decision becomes old news fast. The 2008 Election Cycle has been ugly enough. There are enough issues of importance that need immediate attention for us to focus on without the distraction of a right-wing crusade.

Thanks for reading.

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Blogging for Human Rights: Boston Tea Party

On Thursday, December 16, 1773, the evening before a large shipment of British tea was due to be landed in Boston, Captain Roach appealed to Governor Hutchinson to allow his ship to leave without unloading its tea. When Roach returned and reported Hutchinson's refusal to a massive protest meeting, Samuel Adams said to the assembly "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country". As though on cue, the Sons of Liberty thinly disguised as Narragansett Indians and armed with small hatchets and clubs, headed toward Griffin's Wharf in Boston Harbor. Swiftly and efficiently, casks of tea were brought up from the hold to the deck. The casks were opened and the tea dumped overboard. The work, lasting well into the night, was quick, thorough, and efficient. By dawn, over 342 casks or 90,000 lbs of tea worth an estimated £10,000 (adjusted for inflation as £953,000, or $1.87 million in 2007 currency) had been consigned to waters of Boston harbor. Tea washed up on the shores around Boston for weeks. Attempts were made by the citizens of Boston to carry off some of the tea. A small number of small boats were rowed where the tea was visible, then beating it with oars to render it unusable.

Enough was enough. The British, after passing tax after tax after tax on goods for the American Colonies stepped over the line. The Boston Tea Party marks a turning point in American History. The event was when the American Colonists decided that the British Monarch had gone too far in exerting his control and set a process in motion which led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War.


Today, as bloggers, we unite in support of human rights. (I encourage everyone to visit the Human Rights Watch website for detailed information regarding the state of human rights every where in the world.) But while what we do today is a loud outcry against human rights violations worldwide, we are really only a small voice when it comes to affecting change.

For true change to occur where the peoples of the world are being oppressed, they have to have leaders that will say "Enough is Enough" and set a course of events in motion that will lead to change within their own countries.

I believe that what we, as bloggers, can do is speak loudly to all that read our blogs and tell those that are oppressed that there are resources out there they can turn to for support. There are people, us for example, who will listen and contact our own leaders and as proxies ask for support if the oppressed are not able to do so on their own. The internet and blogosphere are awesome communication tools. We can tell powerful stories and engender worldwide sympathy.

However, for true progress to be made in countries where human rights oppression is commonplace, leaders and protesters must emerge within those countries to speak out and to organize and to mobilize and effect their own change at home. While such a course of action may be dangerous, the risks can be lessened with help from us, the bloggers. We can publicize and communicate to world leaders and world media what actions are taking place. We can influence world opinion. We can pressure our own leaders to act. We can assist the human rights leaders in just about any way imaginable in terms of communicating their plight to the world. But they must choose to act within their own countries.

As bloggers, as citizens of free countries, and sympathetic individuals we can scream foul and cry in agony for every human rights abuse reported. But we don't have the power to change their governments. Only the people of a country where rights abuses are taking place have the ability to rise up and demand an end to human rights abuses. And if they are willing to do that, and when they are willing to do that, you and I and bloggers worldwide will be here and ready to make sure that their actions and their struggle and their fight is heard, reported and known to the most remote corners of the Earth.

Thanks for reading.

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Almost Wordless Wednesday: Socorro, New Mexico

I just watched the movie Contact, starring Jodie Foster. (If you haven't seen the movie, you can find an awesome review here.) Above is one of the movie's most breathtaking scenes, in a movie filled with breathtaking scenes, in which Jodie Foster sits on the edge of a canyon just outside Socorro, New Mexico. This, along with the photographs below, are scenes from Socorro, New Mexico--which is now high on my list of places to visit.


Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge


Radio Telescope at the Very Large Array (VLA)
THE BOSQUE DEL APACHE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
Bosque del Apache is Spanish for "woods of the Apache," and is rooted in the time when the Spanish observed Apaches routinely camped in the riverside forest. Since then the name has come to mean one of the most spectacular national wildlife refuges in North America. Here, tens of thousands of birds--including Sandhill Cranes, Arctic Geese, and many kinds of ducks--gather each autumn and stay through the winter. Feeding Snow Geese erupt in explosions of wings when frightened by a stalking coyote, and at dusk, flight after flight of geese and cranes return to roost in the marshes.

The Refuge is located along the Rio Grande River near Socorro, New Mexico, at the northern edge of the Chihuahuan desert.

ABOUT SOCORRO, NEW MEXICO
Socorro is located about 75 miles south of Albuquerque, and is at an average elevation of 4,605 feet. The town lies adjacent to the Rio Grande River in a landscape dominated by the Rio Grande Rift and numerous extinct volcanos. The immediate region encompasses approximately 6,000 feet of vertical relief between the Rio Grande and the Magdalena Mountains. Notable nearby locales include the Cibola National Forest, the BLM Quebradas Scenic Backcountry Byway, and the Bosque del Apache and Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuges.

In June 1598, Juan de Oñate led a group of Spanish settlers through the Jornada del Muerto, an inhospitable patch of desert that ends just south of the present day city of Socorro. As the Spaniards emerged from the desert, Piro Indians of the pueblo of Teypana gave the Spaniards food and water. Therefore, the Spaniards renamed this pueblo Socorro, which means "help" or "aid." Later, the name "Socorro" would be applied to the nearby Piro pueblo of Pilabó.

Nuestra Señora de Socorro , the first Catholic mission in the area, was probably established around 1626. Fray Augustin de Ventancurt would later write that around 600 people lived in the area at this time.

During the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, Spanish refugees stopped in the pueblo of Socorro. A number of Piro Indians followed the Spaniards as they left the province to go south to safety. With no protection of Spanish troops, Socorro was destroyed and the remaining Piro were killed by the Apache and other tribes.

The Spanish did not initially resettle Socorro when they re-conquered New Mexico. Other than El Paso, there were no Spanish settlements south of Sabinal (which is approximately 30 miles north of Socorro) until the 1800s. In 1800, governor Fernando Chacon gave the order to resettle Socorro and other villages in the area. However, Socorro was not resettled until about 1815. In 1817, 70 Belen residents petitioned the Spanish crown for land in Socorro. The 1833 Socorro census lists over 400 residents, with a total of 1,774 people living within the vicinity of the village.

The mission of San Miguel de Socorro was established soon after Socorro was resettled. The church was built on the ruins of the old Nuestra Señora de Socorro.

In the late 1870s and into 1881, noted lawman and gunman Dallas Stoudenmire served as the town Marshal for Socorro.

Today, Socorro is home to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech), a state undergraduate and graduate university specializing in science and engineering. New Mexico Tech hosts a number of major research centers, such as the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center, the IRIS Consortium Program for Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere (PASSCAL) Instrument Center, the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, and the Magdalena Ridge Observatory. Also located on the campus is the NRAO (National Radio Astronomy Observatory) Array Operations Center, the headquarters for the Very Large Array and Very Long Baseline Array radiotelescopes. The Very Large Array itself is located west of Socorro, between Magdalena and Datil. The University of Texas at El Paso annually holds their summer football training camp at Tech Field. Tech is also host to the New Mexico Science Olympiad and New Mexico Science and Engineering Fair state competitions.


ZAMORA UFO INCIDENT
Socorro is famous as the site of a well-publicized UFO incident. On April 24, 1964 Lonnie Zamora, a local policeman, was chasing a speeder on Socorro's outskirts when he claimed he saw a bright flash and heard a loud roar coming from over a nearby hill. Believing that the noise may have come from the explosion of a dynamite shack, Zamora drove over the hill. He claimed he saw a metallic, oval-shaped object with a strange symbol on it. He also claimed to see two "small men" in what looked like "white coveralls" walking around outside the craft. When they saw Zamora, the "men" boarded the craft and it took off with a load roar and flame that shook Zamora's patrol car.

Zamora called for help on his radio. Sergeant M.S. Chavez of the New Mexico State Police soon arrived on the scene. Chavez later said that Zamora looked "terrified", that some nearby bushes had been badly burned, and that strange scoop marks were in the ground. Project Blue Book, the US Air Force's official study of the UFO mystery, sent investigators to Socorro. They interviewed Zamora and Chavez, and also checked the supposed landing site. Project Blue Book's supervisor, Captain Hector Quintanilla, later wrote that "there is no doubt that Lonnie Zamora saw an object which left quite an impression on him. There is no question about Zamora's reliability." However, two prominent UFO skeptics both offered various explanations for Zamora's sighting. Dr. Donald Menzel offered two explanations: that Zamora had been the victim of an elaborate prank by local teenagers, or that Zamora had actually seen a dust devil. Philip Klass, the editor of Aviation Week magazine, would claim that Zamora and Socorro's then-mayor had hoaxed the event to bring tourists to Socorro. UFO researchers have disputed each of these explanations.

RADIO ASTRONOMY IN SOCORRO
The Very Large Array (VLA), one of the world's premier astronomical radio observatories, consists of 27 radio antennas in a Y-shaped configuration on the Plains of San Agustin fifty miles west of Socorro, New Mexico. Each antenna is 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter. The data from the antennas is combined electronically to give the resolution of an antenna 36km (22 miles) across, with the sensitivity of a dish 130 meters (422 feet) in diameter.

The Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) is a system of ten radio-telescope antennas, each with a dish 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter and weighing 240 tons. From Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the VLBA spans more than 5,000 miles, providing astronomers with the sharpest vision of any telescope on Earth or in space. Dedicated in 1993, the VLBA has an ability to see fine detail equivalent to being able to stand in New York and read a newspaper in Los Angeles.



Thanks for reading.

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The Age That I Wish To Go Back To

14 Kundalini Suspension Lights
I've been tagged by Mariuca with writing about the age that, if I could, would like to go back to. My post can't match the poignancy or quality of the one Lady Java made in response to the same tag. So I'll try to be as brief as I can be.


Really, this might seem like a cop out, but there is no age that I would want to go back to. Everything that I have experienced at every age has made me who I am today, and I like who I am today and the things that I have done in life and the experiences that I've had and the people I've met and the places I've been to. If I went back to an earlier age, there is no guarantee I would make the same choices, thus I would be a different person that I am now--with positive or negative consequences, or both.


But if I had to pick a age to go back to, it would be the age of 14. With one caveat: I'd like to go back to that age with all my memories and thoughts and knowledge that I have acquired up until now in tact. THEN, and only then, as a fourteen year-old and a freshman in high school, I could go through some of the most important years of my life with the wisdom I myself had acquired. Then, there would be choices I would have made differently. I would have been kinder to other people. I would have made better choices about exercise and the money I spent and the food I ate. I would have handled some family issues differently as well. But all of those new decisions would have been with the wisdom I would have acquired myself, and acting out of my own twenty-twenty hindsight. Then I'd have the chance to rectify some mistakes, and not to make others--some of which I still regret.


14 Traffic Lights

Thanks for reading.

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The Cathartic Chaos of Camping

The Cathartic Chaos of Camping
By Henson Ray, of Henson’s Hell

First of all, I am very honored to be here today, to share with you some of the tragic highlights of my outdoor experiences. Unlike Matt, who seems to excel in everything athletic and adventurous, my journeys with nature have not always been so inspiring. Don’t get me wrong, I love being outdoors. I just don’t think the outdoors always loves me.

(Editor's Note: Oh really? Check out Matt's Adventures Gone Wrong after you finish Henson's Guest Post for a story of the almost tragic and ultimately the inspriational.)

The one consistent outdoor experience I still take part in today is the art of camping. Now some may argue that camping is not an art at all, but I disagree. If you’ve ever been to some of the campgrounds I’ve seen, there are definitely creative liberties being taken with regard to traditional camp décor. (But I digress…)

My earliest experiences with camping can be traced back to my youth, when I would camp out in my backyard, using an official army tent my Grandfather had given me. He’d been a rider in the Pony Express (or so he claimed), and this was one of those original antique two-man pup tents. (Very warm at night, very hot in the morning.)


Camping Under the Stars
On weekends, we would set the tent up in the backyard and sleep in it overnight. (Or most of the night, anyway…. Okay, maybe only a few hours, but we always started with the best of intentions.) It was a big treat to be able to sleep outdoors, under the stars, with nothing between us and the elements. Or the wild bears. Or dangerous killers who just escaped from the mental institution. Because camping was never complete until we’d scared ourselves half to death with ghost stories and horror tales. So by the time midnight came around, we were usually back inside, sleeping safely in our comfortable beds. To me, camping was only fun until you actually had to sleep. Then the reality of a cold hard ground, and a not too comfy sleeping bag made dumping the elements in favor of a soft warm bed very, very appealing.

Years would pass before my camping experiences would leave the safety of my own backyard. For when I was a teenager, my family began a series of summer sojourns northward to Canada, to take advantage of cheap vacation destinations and even cheaper camping accommodations. We drove there in my father’s van, which had two backseats that folded down to form a bed. That’s where my parents slept, while I slept outside in the pup tent. Somehow it didn’t seem fair; especially on those cold Canadian summer nights when it feels like winter. If ever the temperature threatened to dip below freezing, my parents would kindly let me out of my cage…er, I mean tent…and I was allowed to join them in the warmth of the van.


Henson cooking over the camp stove, having delusions of Michelangelo's David.
Once, on a camping trip somewhere in Canada, we arrived late and had to set up our campsite in the dark. The only available campsite was in a huge thicket of grass, which looked like it could house all kinds of horrible creatures, including Big Foot if he were so inclined to hide there. So while I tried to set the tent up in the dark, in the high grass, my mother and father worked on creating another culinary masterpiece out of macaroni and tuna fish. You guessed it, Tuna Casserole. Which is pretty easy to make in one pot. The problem was, we had an overwhelming amount of moth activity in the area, and within minutes were literally infiltrated by an entire swarm…or a school…or whatever you call a surprise attack by a group of flying insects.


Swarm of Giant Attack Moths
At first, we tried a counter attack by spraying them with anything in an aerosol can. I guess we figured it didn’t matter what we sprayed at them, as long as it hit the target. (I’m sure Pam must have some kind of ingredient that can kill a moth, right?) Anyway, after a while they moved on to another camp site and we were finally left alone to eat our dinner. Only one problem--by the time the casserole was actually scooped out from the pot, we weren’t really sure about the ingredients any more. Though my mom had done her best to cover the pot during the moth invasion, she couldn’t absolutely guarantee that some moths hadn’t made it into the mix. And sure enough, the rest of the meal was spent picking out questionable items from the casserole, little of which we could see in the dimming light of our single battery-operated lantern. So much for a pleasant meal under the stars.

After high school, I gave the pup tent away and moved on to better accommodations, none of which were outdoors. It wasn’t until four years ago, when a sense of nostalgia drove me to buy a new tent and camping gear that I finally reconnected with my life in nature. Thinking I might like to try camping again at least once, I soon found myself falling in love with the experience all over again. But this time, in a different way. Now, camping wasn’t about having fun in the backyard, or finding a cheap alternative to the local Holiday Inn; camping was about something bigger. It was a way for me to get out of my head for a day or two, and out of the stress and strain of everyday life, to commune with nature and to become whole again. Today, camping is more cathartic than chaotic, and I enjoy every minute of it. If I can, I try to get away at least three or four times during the summer; it’s even better than going to a spa. (Okay, maybe not a spa. But definitely better than going to a seedy motel.)

So in conclusion, I would like to thank Matt again for allowing me to take up some of his space with my ramblings. If you have similar camping stories you would like to share, feel free to impart them below.

Editor's Note: Thank you Henson for contributing this awesome Guest Post to MTMD. Your experiences were very entertaining. And I second Henson here as well: please share your camp stories in the comments below. And maybe, if there's enough public support, next time we can hear about Henson's experiences at the seedy motel he mentioned. Something tells me that just might be a little more interesting! ;-)

Thanks again, my friend!

Please be sure to visit Henson's Hell and It Happened In Plainfield: A Humorous Online Mystery.

Thanks for reading.

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Mom's Greatest Hits

Today is the day we honor our Mothers. And contrary to the way the saying goes, as it turns it, it might be Mother, not Father, who knew best:

1. Wash your hands. Washing your hands is one of the best ways to prevent illness and stop the spread of germs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Be sure to cleanse thoroughly with water as hot as you can stand it and soap for at least 20 seconds every time.


2. Button up. How many times did your mom tell you to button your coat or zip up your jacket as a kid? She had a good reason: Cold weather stresses the immune system, making you more susceptible to infection.


3. Eat your vegetables. Numerous studies have confirmed that a diet rich in vegetables can strengthen your immune system and reduce your risk of developing heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, and even some cancers.


4. Turn off the TV. Studies have shown that there's a direct link between TV watching and low literacy rates, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle. Some experts also believe that TV promotes violent behavior and high-risk activities.


5. Stop touching your face. Not only does touching your face increase your risk of getting sick; it can also lead to acne, no matter how old you are. When you touch your face, the bacteria on your hands transfers to the new surface. From there, bacteria settle in your pores and create blemishes.


6. Eat your breakfast. Eating a healthy breakfast boosts your metabolism and helps to maintain a healthy body weight. In addition, a 2005 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women who ate breakfast every day had significantly lower LDL and total cholesterol levels than women who skipped it.


7. Go to bed. It's important to go to bed at a reasonable time, maintain a constant sleep cycle, and get at least seven or eight hours of shuteye each night. Getting the proper amount of sleep helps you maintain a healthy body weight, while sleep deprivation can result in irritability, dangerous driving, and a higher disease risk.


8. Wear sunscreen. Remember, any amount of suntanning represents skin damage on the cellular level and, over time, could result in cancerous tumors. For this reason, experts recommend avoiding UV exposure completely during high-intensity hours and, if you must expose your skin to the sun, using a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15.


9. Practice safe sex. Remember those embarrassing sex talks? Your mom wasn't trying to humiliate you—she was trying to protect you. Remember, there's still no cure for AIDS, and sexually transmitted diseases can cause pelvic pain, infertility, urinary problems, and neurological complications.


10. Just say no. Each year, illegal drugs cause about 10,000 deaths in the United States, and drunk driving accounts for another 16,000. Tobacco-related diseases, including heart disease and lung cancer, kill 450,000 Americans each year.

History of Mother's Day
In the United States, Mother's Day was loosely inspired by the British day and was imported by social activist Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil War. However, it was intended as a call to unite women against war. In 1870, Julia Howe wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation as a call for peace and disarmament. Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace. Her idea was influenced by Ann Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who, starting in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers' Work Days. Jarvis organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors.

When Jarvis died in 1907, her daughter, Anna Jarvis, started the crusade to found a memorial day for women. The first such Mother's Day was celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia, on 10 May 1908, in the church where the elder Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School. Originally the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, this building is now the International Mother's Day Shrine (a National Historic Landmark). From there, the custom caught on — spreading eventually to 45 states. The holiday was declared officially by some states beginning in 1912. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.

For example, according to IBISWorld, Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts — like spa treatments — and another $68 million on greeting cards for Mother's Day. Mother's Day will generate about 7.8% of the US jewelry industry's annual revenue this year, and Americans are expected to spend close to $3.51 billion in 2008 on dining out for Mother's Day, with brunch and dinner being the most popular dining out options.

And for those of us hundreds of miles away from our Moms, maybe a nice blog proclamation in addition to what should be arriving in the mail will work as well.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you!


Thanks for reading.

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EntreCard Love, Facts, & Friends: Tips to Make it Work for You

I have just completed one month of participation with the Blog Traffic Generation Tool EntreCard, and I have been exceptionally pleased. After just one month using EntreCard, my blog traffic is up, my Alexa and Technorati Ranks are up, I have a Google Page Rank of 4, yada, yada, yada. But more importantly, I'm having fun blogging again. I've made some awesome new friends, I've participated in some lively debates, and I've had the chance to collaborate with other bloggers all over the world.

My purpose in writing this post is to share with you what I have learned and to help you make EntreCard work for you by sharing some insights with you. So if you use EntreCard, I hope you'll read this. But first, I want to share some love. The following awesome people with great blogs are those that have dropped the most EntreCards on my blog in the last 30 Days:

Simon in Australia hasn't missed a day dropping on MTMD

• 1. 32 Card Drops. How he did this I don't know! Vivid Lamp.


• 2. 30 Card Drops. On The Bricks.


• 3. 27 Card Drops. 60 Were Enough.


• 4. 26 Card Drops. Roxiticus Desperate Housewives.


• 5. 25 Card Drops. Absolutely Mom's.


• 5. 25 Card Drops. Is a mans world.


• 5. 25 Card Drops. Juliana's World.


• 5. 25 Card Drops. New York Nitty-Gritty.


• 9. 23 Card Drops. Sourkandy.


• 10. 22 Card Drops. Margie and Edna's Basement.

DROP AND RUN and DROPPING POLICIES
After one month of dropping 150-250 cards a day, I've come across a lot of posts complaining about the phemenomen known as the "Drop and Run." These are EntreCard users who drop their card and go on to another site without reading or commenting on the site they've dropped on. My response to these complainers, with no disrespect intended, is just to get over yourself. Seriously. Card Dropping takes time. It generally takes two-three hours to drop 150-250 cards. That's a significant amount of time every day. I don't think there are many people, unless blogging is their full time profession, who can spend that amount of time, read every new post, comment on every post, and write their own posts while fitting in their lives somewhere else in the day.

I admit it, I Drop and Run. I have no choice. I have limited access to highspeed internet, so I'm pretty much confined to dropping before I go into work, while I'm on lunch break from work, or after my work for the day is done. Dropping is a serious time committment. However, that doesn't mean that I don't read the posts. The trick is to catch the eye of the card dropper.

CATCH THE EYE

The ways you make card droppers stop and look at your blog are very simple:

• Keep your content fresh, update your blog every day or every other day. Nothing makes me want to drop and run more than a blog that hasn't been updated in a week or more.


• Use Eye-catching graphics. I can't emphasize this enough. My most popular posts are my Almost Wordless Wednesday posts because I open the posts with eye-catching, beautiful, and dramatic graphics. If all you're feeding your readers is text, they're less likely to stay around long enough to find the content that interests them.


• Create interesting content. There are so many blogs that make posts whining or complaining about something. Their health, blog traffic sites like EntreCard, their alexa rank. To be honest, nobody really cares. If your blog is a personal blog diary and you have a loyal readership, most of your readers will care that you're not feeling well. But Card droppers won't. So if you must write about your sickness, don't do it in a whiny way about how horrible you feel. Do some research. If you have the flu, find images of the flu virus, find maps of the disease spread. Talk about how the flu mutates every year and write about how the health organizations guess at what vaccines will work for the strains and how they determine that. That stuff is interesting. The fact that you have the flu and that you feel horrible is not.


• Clean up your blog! I can't emphasize this enough. Blogs that are covered with every widget and button and blog award known to man or woman, ads everywhere, sidebars that don't load correctly because images in them are too wide, music that autoplays.... All this stuff slows down load time and makes it harder to find your content--which is why a visitor will want to stick around and read your blog. Organize your sidebars, and eliminate anything that really isn't essential. I mean really, do I need to see a sidebar that takes up my whole screen showing me where your last 20 readers came from geographically and from what IP address or link referrer? I really don't because as a reader, I don't care.

If you catch my eye, whether it be a snappy headline, a beautiful graphic, or a great page layout, I promise you I'll pause from my dropping and take a look around. More importantly, most others will too.

RECIPROCITY, MY DROPPING HABITS and POLICY
Some people that I have had conversations with also wonder why people drop on their site infrequently or in spurts or why they stop dropping altogether. Having discussed what catches my eye, I now want to cover briefly the insights I've learned about how people drop their entrecards, and specifically, how I drop mine. Because some sites I do drop on every day, but for most others, I'm less regular.

Basically, dropping cards for me, as I've already stated, has to be arranged around my time, mostly during the day, when I'm not working. I'm a reciprocal kind of guy. If you drop on me, I'm usually going to drop on you. But not always. The way I go about dropping is this:

• First, when I first log on to entrecard, I go to my dashboard. Every entrecard that is currently at the top of my screen I will drop on right then. I will drop on all those cards, from left to right, and I will follow every entrecard on each of those sites until I run into a dead end: a card being advertised I've already dropped on, or one I have chosen not to drop on because of how long the page takes to load, or one in which I've decided I just don't like the blog.


• Second, after that, I will drop on every single one of the advertisers for my widget currently in the cue. They're advertising on my site, it's only fair that I drop on them. Maybe I'll want to learn more about them and read their blogs. My advertisers usually become favorites.


• Third, I will click on the statistics tab, and click on all of the blogs listed as the most frequent card droppers on my site (The top 10 I recognized at the top of this post.), then I will click on all those sites listed that I had advertised on that generated the most clicks to my site, and finally, I'll click on the last box in the category that shows the greatest cost per click value yield.

By this time, I've probably already dropped cards on 75-150 blogs.

• Lastly, the end of my blogging day is the most fun for me. I save all my favorites for last--the blogs I have favorite on my EntreCard page, or the blogs I have linked to on my sidebar, or the blog communities I have joined--such as Red Hot Drops.
  
  
  I click on my dashboard, and go to my favorites, and then I drop on each and every one of them depending on my time available. I'll either hit these blogs every day, or at the least, every other day--depending on how they usually update their sites.

So if you want me to drop on you, and drop on you regularly--be one of the Top 10 Droppers on my site as reported by EntreCard statistics, Advertise on my site, Generate a lot of traffic to my site when I advertise on yours, promote my blog and give me a reason to link to you directly, or simply become one of my favorites. It's that simple.

FUN STUFF: MAKING FRIENDS AND BUILDING A LOYAL READERSHIP


Bree, or Roxy--she answers to both--at Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, Matt at Matt-Speak, Henson Ray at Henson's Hell and my friend from Nova Scotia at Sizzling Popcorn.com have all become my best blogging friends because of comments I left on their posts, recommendations I wrote for their blogs on EntreCard, or both.

It's easy to make friends in the blogosphere. If you read something that interests you, comment on the post. If you see something that catches your eye, comment. If someone advertises on your EntreCard widget, send them an EntreCard message thanking them. If someone has formed a blog promotion community, see if it's right for you and decide if you should join. It's like your mother always said: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all (or write it), and if you do have something nice to say, shout it with a great barbaric yalp from the rooftop of the world. (Yeah, Whitman is one of my favorite poets.)

Roxy and I read each other's blogs every day, comment on each other's posts, have running discussions in the comments section on our blogs and on others on whom we've commented on, and we vote for each other in Battle of the Blogs on another blog promotion site Blog Explosion.

Matt and I get into great discussions and debates, our posts have sparked ideas resulting in other posts on each other's blogs, and we're looking at collaborating on another project together.

Henson Ray just wrote the first guest post I've hosted on my site in two years, and it's awesome. It'll be up Monday morning and I really hope you'll all spend a few minutes to read it. It's very insightful, but mostly it's f*cking hilarious as Henson reminisces about some early camping experiences.

And my as yet nameless friend from Sizzling Popcorn will be collaborating, Siskel and Ebert/Ebert and Roeper style on a movie review for the upcoming film: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The movie comes out Friday. Look for our review late Friday night or early Saturday.

See, these are the things you need to do to build your blogging community. You need to comment, you need to interact, you need to drop cards, you need to engage other bloggers. You can wish for traffic and hope that people will find you through your EntreCard, but don't expect a lot of results. EntreCard is a tool. And like every tool that works, it has to be used and you have to expend some elbow grease using it.

So in conclusion: Drop on the blogs that drop on you. They will become loyal droppers and should stick around to read your blog. Clean up your blog to attract the eye of casual browsers and droppers. Comment, comment, comment on posts that interest you and that you admire or blogs that you like. People love compliments, so always be positive. It's okay to disagree in a comment, but be respectful and keep it objective. It's never personal, or at least it shouldn't be.

I hope this post is at least informative for those of you reading it. If it helps just one of you, writing it has been more than worth my time. And I want to extend a sincere thanks to the bloggers who drop on me religiously, who accept my ads on their widgets, who generate traffic to my site, and whom I hope, are becoming regular readers and fans of MTMD. Thank you, my friends.

And thanks for reading.

Technorati Tags:entrecard, blogging, blogging tips, blog traffic generation, blogsophere, community
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Tibetan-Chinese Team Summit Everest with Olympic Torch

As reported on MTMD earlier, a Chinese team was attempting to summit Mt. Everest with the Olympic Torch. On Thursday, that team took the Olympic flame to the top of the world in a spectacular feat dreamed up to underscore China's ambitions for the Beijing games.

The climbers could be heard struggling for breath in a live television broadcast as five torchbearers each shuffled a few feet before passing on the flame to the next person. A colorful Tibetan prayer flag lined the path and fluttered in the wind. The final torchbearer, a Tibetan woman named Cering Wangmo, stood silently on the peak with her torch while other team members unfurled small Chinese and Olympic flags. They then clustered together, cheering "We made it," and "Beijing welcomes you."


"One World, One Dream," team captain Nyima Cering yelled as his torch was lit, repeating the slogan for the Beijing Olympics. "We have lit the torch on top of the world," another climber said. The stop at the top of Everest was meant to be the highlight of the Beijing Olympics torch relay. China has billed the Beijing Olympics as a glorious showcase of its rapid development from impoverished agrarian nation to industrial powerhouse.

But the Everest relay has been criticized from the outset because of China's often harsh rule over Tibet - where the mountain is located on the border with Nepal - and it drew even more intense scrutiny after Tibetans across western China erupted in anti-government protests in March. Organizers still hoped that the dramatic image of the torch atop Everest would counter some of the damaging publicity from protests that marred the international leg of the torch relay. (See The Politicization of the Beijing Olympics.)

Tibetan activists continue to accuse Beijing of using the climb to reassert its control over Tibet. China says it has ruled Tibet for centuries, although many Tibetans say their homeland was essentially an independent state for most of that time.


Politics aside, taking the torch to Everest's peak and broadcasting it live was a major technological feat and accomplishment. China's state broadcaster CCTV spent heavily to build a television studio at base camp and to construct transmission points at four camps on the mountain face. The team used torches designed by rocket scientists to take the flame along the final icy incline leading to the peak of Mount Everest. Fueled by propane, the flame burned brightly in the frigid, windy, oxygen-thin Himalayan air thanks to technology that keeps rocket motors burning in the upper reaches of the atmosphere, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The flame was carried most of the way in a special metal canister. As the team neared the summit, they used a wand to pass the flame to the torch.

The Everest flame is separate from the main Olympic torch, which on Thursday was on the opposite side of China, in the southeastern province of Guangdong, the heart of Chinese manufacturing. The main torch was not taken up Everest because a delay due to bad weather would have thrown the schedule off for the whole relay. The main flame will cross every region and province of China, returning to Beijing on Aug. 6, two days ahead of the opening ceremony.

The 19-member final assault team was comprised of both ethnic Han Chinese and Tibetan members, underscoring another government theme - ethnic unity. Significantly, the team captain and the final torchbearer were both Tibetans.

Thanks for reading.

Technorati Tags:beijing olympics, olympic torch, torch relay, tibet, china, politics, human rights, nepal, mt. everest
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100 Most Influential of the Last 100 Years

Time Magazine last week released it's list of the World's 100 Most Influential People. With any list, there is a lot of subjectivity and varying methodologies for inclusion. (For a great discussion on the merits of this list, please visit my friend Matt over at Matt-Speak.) While I agree with many names on this list, the majority of them I don't. So, being the arrogant and opinionated individualist that I am, I decided to compile my own list of the 100 Most Influential over the last 100 years.

Feel free to comment and tell me which names you agree with and which names you think I must have been out of my mind to include. ;-)

• ABBA: I'm totally serious. Though they haven't been together for 25 years, they are more popular than ever thanks to no less than 20 tribute bands performing around the world right now; Hollywood (Muriel's Wedding, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, Ugly Betty, The Office), and the respect and influence their peers have given and acknowledged over time (U2, Phil Collins, Marshall Crenshaw, John Lennon, John Lord of Deep Purple and more). Not to mention that juggernaut of a jukebox musical called Mamma Mia! which has raked in over $2 billion and seen by more than 30 million people worldwide and which will take the world by storm in 2008 thanks to the movie being released July 18th starring Meryl Streep.
  The thing about ABBA that appeals to so many is that their music is generally happy. Who can listen to Dancing Queen for five seconds and not begin to smile? In the 1970s, with Vietnam, Watergate and rising energy prices, the world needed to escape, if only for a little while. In the last decade, with the Iraq War, the faltering economy and rising energy prices, the world needs to escape again, if only for a little while. ABBA music and Mamma Mia! provide that escape with their feel-good rhythms and infectious melodies. Oh, and the 360 million albums they sold while they were together still ranks third behind only Elvis Presley and The Beatles, who are also on this list.


• Anthony, Susan B.: credited with gaining women the right to vote in the U.S.


• Ball, Lucille and Desi Arnaz: perhaps the funniest comedic pair ever to grace television; I Love Lucy is still on the air more than 50 years later. But more than that, they innovated a 3 camera system for broadcasting television, and were the first to record their shows on tape. Their television company, Desilu, is also famous for being the studio to produce another series some of you might have heard of as well: Star Trek.


• Bannister, Roger: the first human being to run a mile in under four minutes.


• The Beatles: the greatest group of all time, mostly because they were the first rock group. Their lyrics were sometimes hokey, but their music was always original, groundbreaking, and has proved to stand the test of time. They were major influences in almost every other musical act that came after them, including ABBA.


• The Bee Gees: along with ABBA, Olivia Newton-John, Andy Gibb, Donna Summer, Kris Kristofferson and Earth Wind and Fire performed at the charity concert at the United Nations in 1979: "Music for UNICEF". At this concert, each artist donated the royalties in perpetuity of one of their songs to UNICEF. This was well before the "Band-Aid" and "We Are The World" charity events. The Bee Gees are also inextricably linked to Saturday Night Fever and the Disco Era, having written, performed, or both most of the recognizable hits of that genre.


• Begin, Menachem: Prime Minister of Israel, and along with Anwar Sadat of Egypt, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for working towards peace in the Middle East.


• Bin Laden, Osama: makes this list in infamy for his abililty to spread terror throughout the world.


• Birdseye, Clarence: founder of the modern frozen foods industry.


• Brower, David: Longtime environmentalist and leader of the Sierra Club.


• Cameron, James: filmmaker. Titanic is still the highest grossing film of all time and has received more Oscars than any other film, excepting The Return of the Kingwhich is tied with Titanic. Cameron is also known for other, smaller films, such as Terminator.


• Carson, Rachel: with her groundbreaking book Silent Spring, Rachel Carson almost single-handedly launched the modern environmental movement. Earth Day was soon created following the publishing of this book.


• Churchill, Winston: Prime Minister of Britain during World War II.


• Clinton, Hillary: In addition to her life-long advocacy in support of children, Hillary Clinton made history in 2008 as the first legitamate female candidate for President of the United States.


• Comaneci, Nadia: with her string of 10s in gynastics under direction of her coach Bela Karoyli for Romania at the Montreal Olympics in 1976; Nadia changed women's gymnastics forever.


• Couric, Katie: the first woman to anchor the storied CBS Evening News.


• Cronkite, Walter: following in the footsteps of Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite is a journalistic legend and longtime anchor of the CBS Evening News.


• Cruise, Tom: still arguably the most popular actor in Hollywood history.


• The Dalai Lama: Spiritual Leader of the Tibetan people and main figure humanizing the Human Rights struggles in China.


• Disney, Walt: in addition to Mickey Mouse, the films we have all adored as children, the creator of DisneyLand and DisneyWorld; Walt was a humanitarian as well.


• The Dixie Chicks: Grammy winning country music stars who stood up to the Bush Administration following the beginning of the Iraq War. Following their unpopular convictions at the time, they incurred great personal costs, death threats, and more--including harassment by the US Government; and have been vindicated by time.


• Einstein, Albert: King of Physics.


• Elizabeth II, Queen of England: Perhaps the longest-serving monarch presiding over her country during the period of greatest change the world has ever seen.


• Fleming, Alexander: Discoverer of Penicillin.


• Fleming, Peggy: America's first true Ice Princess and Olympic Gold Medalist in Ladies Figure Skating.


• Ford, Henry: Fine-tuned assembly-line production and put America to work


• Gandhi: Non-violent resistance.


• Gates, Bill and Steve Jobs: Creators/Innovators of MS-DOS, the disk operating system of PCs which is the underpining behind Windows; and the GUI (graphical user interface) which was the initial uniqueness of the Mac and Apple Computers. Where would we be right now without our personal computers?


• Gordon, Doug, Jamie McEwan, Tom McEwan, Roger Zbel and Wick Walker: Although you've never heard of any of them, they are the ones responsible for first descent of the Tsang Po River--the whitewater equivalent of Mt. Everest.


• Gore, Al: Nobel Prize Winner, advocate for the environmental movement, and world statesman. Wouldn't it be interesting if Al Gore were drafted at the Democratic Convention to be the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States?


• Hamill, Dorothy: Olympic Gold Medalist in Ladies Figure Skating in 1976, Dorothy was everywhere with her "Short and Sassy" Hairdo, the Hamill Camel, nad the spokeswoman for Campbell Soup.


• Hamilton, Laird: Big Wave Surfer, Model, Fitness Guru.


• Hawking, Stephen: Physicist primarily known for his theories in cosmology and quantum gravity.


• Hefner, Hugh: Founder of Playboy, created an empire, and through his publication helped to inform about and liberalize sex and sexuality.


• Hemingway, Ernest: Nobel and Pulitizer Prize-winning American Novelist, Short Story Writer and Journalist.


• Herzl, Theodor: Wrote an essay entitled The Jewish State, which became the rationale for and put in motion the creation of the State of Israel.


• Hillary, Sir Edmund and Tenzing Norgay: First to Summit Mt. Everest.


• Hitler, Adolph: Very inspiring dictator with dreams of creating a superior race while conducting genocide: most famously the Jewish Holocaust, but with an equal number of non-Jews as well. If any good can come from Adolph Hitler's life, he should be kept in the front of everyone's mind as an example of the need to be wary of inspirational speech.


• Jackson, Michael: The King of Pop.


• The Kennedy Family: The closest the United States has ever come to having its own Royal Family, this one family has probably had more influence in American Political, Social, and Literary life than any other.


• Korbut, Olga: Before there was Nadia, there was Olga: the darling of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games for her Uneven Bars Routine.


• Krakauer, Jon: author of Into The Wild and Into Thin Air, Krakauer is the preeminent outdoors writer of our time.


• Kroc, Ray: though not the founder of McDonald's, he made them what they are.


• Kwan, Michelle: Perhaps the most accomplished ladies figure skater of all time, Michelle Kwan dominated the World Figure Skating scene for 13 years, and although she never won the Olympic Gold Medal, with her five World Championships and nine US Championships, and her grace, elegance, humility and true love and respect for the sport, Michelle Kwan has probably influenced more young girls than any other sports champion.


• Leinweber, Ruth: My Debate Coach, Honors Lit, World Lit and AP English Teacher. We all have had one or two special teachers that have been major influences in our lives. Ruth Leinweber was mine, and she makes this list as a representative of her profession which shapes the lives of every generation in ways we can only imagine.


• Lombardi, Vince: Legendary Football Coach who spoke on what it takes to win.


• Lucas, George: "May the force be with you," creator of Star Wars.


• Luther King, Jr., Martin: Pivotal leader of the American Civil Rights movement.


• Madonna: Master of Reinvention, Unabashed opponent of hypocrisy and double-standards, particularly as they pertain to sexual and religious mores, one of the greatest female recording acts of all time--acknowledging her influence by ABBA with the 2006 global hit Hung Up, which is primarily a sampling of the ABBA hit Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!


• Mandela, Nelson: Former President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist and leader of the African National Congress.


• Meir, Golda, one of the founders of the state of isarel and its 4th Prime Minister. She was also only the third woman to ever be a Prime Minister or President of any country, and the first woman in the world to do so without a relative being head of state.


• Mom and Dad: No one influences anyone more so than our parents. Without any teaching, without any training, without any guidebook, our parents collectively have the power to create the world we hope for, or to destroy it. No group is more important.


• Morrison, Toni: Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-Winning American Novelist.


• Muir, John: Founder of the Sierra Club.


• Murphy Brown: As the only fictional character on this list, Murphy Brown--played by Candice Bergen--actively engaged Dan Quayle--then Vice President of the United States--over the issue of deciding to have a baby out of wedlock and be a single-mother. Dan Quayle actually sent a stuffed animal to the fictional Murphy Brown. The writers of Murphy Brown skewered Dan Quayle unrelentlingly, and undoubtedly contributed to the failure of George Herbert Walker Bush being re-elected President of the United States.


• Murrow, Edward R.: Murrow set the standard of modern television journalism, beginning the storied era of the CBS Evening News by taking on McCarthy in the 1950s.


• NASA: The Moon Landing, Voyager, Galileo, Cassini, the Mars Rovers, Satellite Communication, and all the applied space sciences that effect our lives in countless ways every single day. Nuff said.


• Navratilova, Martina: Not only the greatest tennis player, male or female that has ever lived with more championships than anyone else; Martina Navartilova is a courageous leader who defected from Czechoslovakia to the United States in defiance of the Iron Curtain, gained US Citizenship, came out of the closet as a lesbian at great personal cost when it was not "popular" or "acceptable" to do so, and then later, in protest of Bush Administration policies, regained her Czech Republic citizenship. Martina Navratilova is a great athlete and a great human believing following her own personal convictions and is a role model for us all.


• Newton-John, Olivia: Loved all around the world for her performance as Sandy in Grease, a participant in the Concert for UNICEF, breast cancer survivor and spokesperson; Olivia Newton-John helped kick-start the fitness movement with one of the biggest hit songs of all time in 1981: Physical, and has been a leading activist for environmental issues throughout her long career.


• Nobel, Alfred: the inventor of both Dynamite and the Nobel Peace Prize.


• O’Connor, Sandra Day: Not just the first female Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, but for the better part of three decades, Sandra Day O'Connor balanced the court in it's decisions and held swing votes keeping the court from swinging either too far to the left or to the right.


• Oppenheimer, Robert: The father of the Atom Bomb.


• Owens, Jesse: an African American track and field athlete. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay team--much to the consternation of Adolph Hitler and his ideas of African Americans being an "inferior" race.


• Parks, Rosa: By her simple refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man, Rosa Parks made international news and helped put an end to segregation in America.


• Pele: widely regarded as the greatest soccer player of all time.


• Picasso, Pablo: Groundbreaking artist and founder of the Cubist movement.


• Presley, Elvis: The King of Rock n Roll. No other performer in music has as much influence in the industry. From his many blockbuster movies to his swiveling hips on the Ed Sullivan Show, Elvis was a performer the likes of which we'll probably never see again.


• Rather, Dan: Followed where Cronkite left off on the CBS Evening News.


• Reagan, Ronald: The "Cowboy President," Ronald Reagan hugged us as a nation following the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger shortly after lift-off, and was in the right place at the right time to help end the Cold War for good with his challenges to Mikail Gorbachev to "tear down that wall,". Not only was the Berlin Wall torn down, Gorbachev put into place a program known as perestroika, which eventually led to the break-up of the Soviet Union and changed Europe forever.


• Redfield, John: author of The Celestine Prophecy which was pretty much the beginning of the golden age of new-age and pseudo-religious literature.


• Regret, Genuine Risk, Winning Colors: Before women were allowed to vote and Susan B. Anthony proved victorious, in 1915 Regret became the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby, proving once and for all that the girls can compete with the boys. In the 134 years of the Kentucky Derby, only three fillies have ever won: Regret, Genuine Risk in 1980, and Winning Colors in 1988. Last Saturday, the latest filly to attempt this feat, Eight Belles, finished second and moments later collapsed with two shattered ankles.


• Retton, Mary-Lou: The first American Woman to win the All-Around Gold Medal in Olympic gymnastics. Like Nadia, Mary-Lou was coached by Bela Karolyi.


• Rockne, Knute: an American football player and is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history. The legend around the "Gipper" only enhances the storied history of the Notre Dame football program.


• The Roosevelts, Eleanor and Franklin Delano: FDR was the only 4-term President of the United States. Following his last term in office, a constitutional amendment was passed to limit Presidents to just two terms. Through his public works programs, FDR worked dilligently to bring the US out of the Great Depression. Eleanor Roosevelt, as First Lady of the United States, supported the New Deal policies of her husband and assumed a role as an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, she continued to be an internationally prominent author and speaker for the New Deal coalition.


• Rowlings, J.K.: The author of the Harry Potter series, perhaps the greatest achievement in children's literature of all time.


• Rudolph, Wilma: Inspirational Olympic Gold Medalist. Wilma Rudolph overcame the crippling of her legs from polio to win three gold medals in track and field in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games.


• Russert, Tim: Perhaps the most respected journalist on the air today, Tim Russert is the host of Meet the Press, a frequent Presidential Debate Moderator, and author.


• Sadat, Anwar, along with Menachem Begin, Sadat shared the Nobel Peace Prize for the Camp David Accords. He was assassinated shortly afterwards.


• Sagan, Carl: Cosmologist and philosopher, his favorite phrase was "Billions and billions...."


• Salk, Jonas: Inventor of the Polio Vaccine.


• Schembechler, Bo: Legendary football coach of the University of Michigan, Bo ranks among the greatest coaches of all time and led what is still the winningest football program in all of college football.


• Sinatra, Frank: Old blue eyes. Before Elvis Presley and the Beatles, there was Frank Sinatra.


• Spencer, Lady Diana: World Humanitarian, she was larger than life.


• Spielberg, Stephen: Schindler's List, E.T., Munich, Indiana Jones.


• Spitz, Mark: Still the first and only winner of 7 Gold Medals in a single Olympic Games, Mark Spitz won gold for the U.S. in swimming at the 1972 Munich Games. As an American Jew, Mark Spitz competed despite the risk to his personal safety while the Israeli team had been taken hostage and assassinated.


• Stalin, Joseph: like Hitler, responible for the genocide of 20 million human beings, but unlike Hitler, Stalin happened to be on the United State's side at the time.


• Steinam, Gloria: Leader of the Femininst Movement in the U.S.


• Streep, Meryl: Perhaps the greatest actor that has ever lived, with more Oscar Nominations than anyone else in history. See her this summer in Mamma Mia!: the movie version of the global smash musical based on the songs of ABBA.


• Tolkien, J.R.R.: He gave us The Lord of the Rings, the greatest science fiction/fantasy trilogy ever written.


• Truman, Harry: Thankfully to this day, the only human being who ever had to command the use of the atomic bomb, and by doing so, ended World War II.


• Twain, Mark: or Samuel Clemens, but better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is also known for his quotations. During his lifetime, Twain became a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists and European royalty. Twain enjoyed immense public popularity, and his keen wit and incisive satire earned him praise from both critics and peers. American author William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature."


• Weber, Sir Andrew Lloyd: Along with Tim Rice, Weber invented the Rock Opera with Jesus Christ, Superstar and changed the course of musical theater with his other groundbreaking productions of Evita, Starlight Express, Cats, Joseph, and The Phantom of the Opera.


• White, E. B.: Before there was Harry Potter, there was Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan.


• Winfrey, Oprah: When Oprah talks, people listen and spend their money.


• Woods, Tiger: The greatest golfer of all time, and is now more and more regarded as teh greatest athlete of all time.


• Woodward and Bernstein: Exposed the Watergate tapes and put an end to the Presidency of Richard Milhouse Nixon.


• Wright Brothers: Well, I guess you could say that without them, the airlines wouldn't be going bankrupt right now; nor would there be almost instanteous spreads of deadly diseases around the world; but neither of those characterizations would be fair. Air travel has shrunk the planet. No invention, except the internet, has contributed more to the evolution of a truly global society, for better or for worse.


• Yamaguchi, Kristi: Last on my list, and not least, Kristi Yamaguchi, Olympic Gold Medalist in Ladies Figure Skating was the last true American Ice Princess prior to Michelle Kwan. She was a role model for young girls the same way Michelle Kwan was with her grace and class and humility; and now she is entertaining again as the favorite to win Season Six of Dancing with the Stars; and she is inspiring again a whole new audience with her grace and class and humility in tact.

Thanks for reading.

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Almost Wordless Wednesday: Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms with Mount Fuji in the Background


Cherry Blossoms Outside Traverse City, Michigan


Cherry Blossoms and the Washington Monument
This weekend, a once nationally-renowned event, the Leelanau Cherry Blossom Tour returns to Traverse City, Michigan and neighboring Leelanau County. Cherry blossoms were once celebrated in Leelanau County as world-renowned displays, and volunteers are hoping to again spotlight their beauty. A resurgent Leelanau County Cherry Blossom Tour has been scheduled for Saturday, May 10, with the county's hills and orchards providing the backdrop for a leisurely bus ride free to all takers. There will be no charge for the tour.

Together, Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties produce more cherries than anywhere else on Earth. That is why the National Cherry Festival is held in Traverse City every July. Chances are, if you've ever had a piece of cherry pie, the tart cherries in the pie came from Traverse City area orchards.

Cherries are a super fruit. They are packed with Vitamins A, C and the whole gamut of Bs and anti-oxidants. Further nutritional information and mouthwatering cherry recipes can be found on Jackie's blog: The Vegan Diet

Years ago, a Cherry Blossom Tour was offered annually by agricultural leaders in Leelanau County at about the same time the “Blessing of the Blossoms” ceremony was celebrated in Grand Traverse County. While the blessing event remains today, the blossom tour has long been discontinued — until this year. The event, which will start and end at the Connie Binsfeld Building in Lake Leelanau, will also feature a free lunch with cherry brats from Pleva’s Market in Cedar and those famous Cherry Republic Boomchunka cookies.

The Leelanau County Cherry Blossom Tour is sponsored by the Leelanau Conservation District, Leelanau Conservancy and the Leelanau Enterprise, with several other organizations pitching in to put Leelanau’s best — and prettiest — face forward at a special time of year.

Information about the importance of the cherry industry to Leelanau County — as well as efforts to keep that industry strong — will be provided as part of the tour. Information about the tour is available at LeelanauNews.com, the website for the Leelanau Enterprise, and at the Leelanau Conservancy. Contact the Leelanau Conservancy at 231-256-9665 for further information or to volunteer.



Thanks for reading.

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Mount Everest: Rarefied Politics

The climbing season on Mount Everest is well underway. Teams are at basecamp. Ropes are being fixed. Climbers are acclimatizing. But what's different this year is that the Olympics are being held in Beijing in just three months; and as part of the festivities, the Chinese Government wants the Olympic Torch to summit Mount Everest. According to Everest News, this has not yet happened, and it's becoming clear that the politics of the Beijing Olympic Games looks to add a new twist to the 2008 Climbing Season on Mount Everest.


Everest News reports that previously published accounts from a climber that the Chinese summited a couple of days ago and had trouble with the Olympic Torch has some Chinese quite mad. EverestNews.com did NOT carry those reports on its site and have seen NO evidence that the Chinese summited Everest this season yet. Their sources indicate that climbers were fixing rope high but that the summit was not reached and that the summit was not the goal. Their sources tell them that action might be taken against those climbers or against "many" of the climbers on the South side (Nepal) because of these reports. The effects could vary from outright bans of climbers to a "few more days of waiting at base camp" before they are allowed to go up. Climbers have been warned against reporting on the exploits of the Chinese Teams or the status of the Olympic Torch on Everest this year.

In official news, the Chinese report that the climbers have been selected and that all preparations have been completed. There are 50 climbers on the team. Han Chinese, ethnic Tibetans, and other ethnic groups such as ethnic Hui, Tu and Tujia are included in the team. However, the summit bids will probably be delayed. Weather is expected to turn worse for 2-3 days and while summits are possible, conditions are far from ideal.

Earlier, Chinese climbers along with Tibetan climbers had been on the move up Everest, carrying a whopping 16 torches with them! There was a reporter from Hong Kong with the team who got altitude sickness and had to descend. Additionally, Chinese fighter jets were flying above the Summit Saturday.... The North side of Everest is still the wild wild west....


As another day passes and the sun sets on Everest, what's clear is that this climbing season, in addition to all the other hazards inherent in an Everest Summit Attempt, is about politics. The only question remaining, and to be seen as the weather is forecast to clear on Tuesday, is will politics and a Torch Relay meant to symbolize the glory of sport end up in costing someone his or her life?

Thanks for reading.

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In Memoriam: Eight Belles

Eight Belles, left, ridden by jockey Gabriel Saez, was attempting to become the fourth filly ever to win the Derby. But heavy favorite Big Brown, right, galloped past the filly in her waning moments under the urging of jockey Kent Desormeaux.
If you're a sports fan and you watch sports long enough, you will see sports injuries. Whether it be a gymnast or a figure skater with a sprained ankle, a football player with a separated shoulder or twisted knee, a downhill skier with a broken leg, a hockey player taking a stick to his mouth or eye, a race car driver emerging from his crumpled car on fire, or even a racehorse collapsing on the track after a moment of triumph.

Such was the case yesterday at Churchill Downs, when Eight Belles, trying to become only the fourth filly in the 134 years of the Run for the Roses; after Regret in 1915, Genuine Risk in 1980, and Winning Colors in 1988; finished second in a twenty horse field, and moments later collapsed on the track with two shattered ankles in her front legs. Her owners chose to keep her out of Friday's Kentucky Oaks so she could run with the boys in the Derby. And run she did.


Track personnel try to hold down the suffering filly following the race.
Big Brown, the odds-on favorite, was pulling away from the field, accelerating with every powerful stride toward the finish line in the Kentucky Derby. The crowd of 157,770 was on its feet and cheering as the big, unbeaten, muscular bay crossed the line first, 4 3/4 lengths ahead of the filly Eight Belles. Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. was still celebrating, along with thousands of happy bettors, as Big Brown and the 19 other horses in Saturday's race galloped out around the first turn at Churchill Downs.

It took a few minutes to sink in, but anyone watching those horses soon realized that one of them had fallen to the track.

"It's the filly," someone whispered.

In just a few minutes, the joy of the Derby and the promise of a new Triple Crown season were upended when Eight Belles was euthanized by injection on the track.

She had broken both front ankles and could not be saved.

"This horse showed you his heart," winning jockey Kent Desormeaux said, "and Eight Belles showed you her life for our enjoyment today. I'm deeply sympathetic to that team for their loss."


The breakdown brought back memories of the 2006 Preakness, where Barbaro shattered his right rear leg just after the start. The colt was euthanized months later, after developing laminitis from the catastrophic injuries. Dr. Larry Bramlage, the Derby's on-call veterinarian, said the filly's injuries were too severe to even attempt to move her off the track.

"She didn't have a front leg to stand on to be splinted and hauled off in the ambulance, so she was euthanized," Bramlage said.

Trainer Larry Jones paid tribute to his fallen filly saying, "She ran the race of her life."

And he defended having her run against 19 colts in the Derby.

"It wasn't that. It wasn't the distance. It wasn't a big bumping match for her. She never got touched," he said. "She passed all those questions ... with flying colors. The race was over, all we had to do was pull up, come back and be happy. It just didn't happen."

Such is the nature of sports. Injuries happen. But in horseracing, when an injury occurs, it tragically results in death. It's something we all need to remember, and it's something we all must live with as long as we continue to celebrate events like the Kentucky Derby and exult in watching horses race in sport.


Run for the Roses music video featuring Barbaro by Dan Fogelberg

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Own a Piece of Bear Grylls

While I don't exactly have a man-crush on Bear Grylls, I do love his Discovery Channel show Man vs. Wild. And while we have since learned that the show is actually quite heavily staged, I don't think it diminishes in any way the entertainment value of the program or the incredible predicaments Bear illustrates and demonstrates on camera; such as tonight when the first new episode of this season airs at 9pm EDT. In this episode, Bear Grylls suffers heat stroke after consuming a live snake that defacates down his throat as he's eating it. The only issue, diarrhea ensues while he's attempting to climb a cliff and has to hang on with one hand while he tries to undo his pants. This is probably an episode that most ladies will definitely want to tune in for despite the grossness factor, and it should make for some very interesting television to say the least. The guy has no shame and you have to admire him for it.


But while I love watching Bear's exploits on television, I have to tell ya, getting stuck in those situations isn't exactly my cup of tea. But I really dig his clothing. As an outdoors guy, I'm always looking for gear that will hold up in all kinds of unexpected conditions, and I think I've found some that Bear Grylls happens to be wearing. In the photo above, Bear is wearing Craghopper's Nosquito Expedition Trousers. They have reinforced knees, lots of secure pockets including a hidden security pocket, it's coated with mosquito repelling chemicals and antibacterial agents that help keep the bugs from biting and the clothes from stinking. They're lightweight, ergonomic, water repellant and have a lifetime guarantee. And they're a little pricey at 50 pounds or about $100 US. My pair is on the way.


I wanted to try the clothing out for myself before committing so much money to them so I got the Nosquito Shorts, pictured above. The shorts are the best pair of travel/outdoor/hiking/camp shorts I've ever owned. They're super light-weight and comfortable, they fit perfectly, they have 8 very secure pockets, the Nosquito and anti-bacterial treatment, water repellent and they have a lifetime guarantee. They're also rip-resistent. Shortly after putting them on I thought I had snagged them on a sharp exposed tree branch. But after close examination, there's no indication of the encounter. The shorts are awesome and easy to care for, so I'm going to order another pair as well, 35 pounds or about $70.00.


Bear Grylls gets himself into all kinds of situations. Someone like him needs clothing he can absolutely depend on. I know that if the clothing Craghoppers has created for him can hold up to what Bear Grylls encounters in his television show, they will do just fine for my far less intense expeditions into the outdoors here in the United States. And they're most likely good to go for you as well.


Thanks Bear, you rock!
_______________________________________________

And from the world of sports, last night the Detroit Red Wings demolished the Colorado Avalanche 8-2 in the NHL Western Conference Semi-final. Bring on the San Jose Sharks or the Dallas Stars for the Western Conference Championship. Those in attendance in Denver wearing Red Wings sweaters were definitely chanting "Os-good, Os-good," all evening.

But even more significantly, Johan Franzen scored his second hat trick in 3 games versus the Avalanche, and with 9 goals for the series equaled by himself as many goals as the Avalanche scored in all 4 games; and Franzen also eclipsed a legend--scoring 9 goals in a series is a new Red Wings record, eclipsing the old record of 8 goals in a playoff series by none other than Gordie Howe.

Thanks for reading.

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MAY DAY!

May 1st, often called May Day, just might have more holidays than any other day of the year. Typically thought of as a well-known distress call, May Day is a celebration of Spring. It's a day of political protests. It's a neopagan festival, a saint's feast day, and a day for organized labor. In many countries, it is a national holiday.

While not celebrated amongst the general public in the United States today, a Maypole Dance nearly identical to that celebrated in the United Kingdom is an important part of many high school dances as part of a May Day celebration. Often the Maypole dance will be accompanied by other dances as part of a presentation to the public.

Maypole in Germany
The early colony of Merrymount, founded by Thomas Morton, outraged its Puritan neighbours by setting up a maypole. Communities with a large Swedish population often have Midsummer celebrations, such as Chicago, Minneapolis, and Lindsborg, Kansas.

May Day Holidays and More

BELTANE
Beltane was a Celtic calendar feast ushering in the start of summer. (It also went by a variety of other spellings and names in assorted dialects of Gaelic.) Bonfires, often created by rubbing sticks together, were common features of Beltane celebrations. Related rituals included driving cattle between two fires, dancing around the fires, and burning witches in effigy. Another tradition was Beltane cakes, which would be broken into several pieces, one of which was blackened. They would be drawn by celebrants at random; the person getting the unlucky blackened piece would face a mock execution. In recent years, Beltaine has been adopted or revived by neopagan groups as a major seasonal festival.

WALPURGISNACHT
St. Walburga (or Walpurgis), the abbess of the monastery of Heidenheim, helped St. Boniface bring Christianity to 8th Century Germany. She died on Feb. 25, 779. As her remains have been moved on multiple occasions, several days have been designated in her honor, one of which is the first of May.

This date coincided with a pre-existing pagan festival in Germany which included rites to protect one against witchcraft. This led to a hybrid legend developing in which witches were said to meet with the Devil on the eve of May 1, on the Brocken peak. The night of April 30th became known as "Walpurgisnacht," and the annual meeting was dramatized by Goethe in Faust.

FERTILITY FESTIVALS
Some cultures, such as those found in India and Egypt, had spring fertility festivals. The Roman festival celebrating Flora, goddess of fertility, flowers, and spring, was celebrated from April 28 through May 3.

BRINGING IN THE MAY
In medieval England, people would celebrate the start of spring by going out to the country or woods—"going a-maying"—and gathering greenery and flowers, or "bringing in the may." This was described in The Court of Love (often attributed to Chaucer, but not actually written by him) in 1561:

And furth goth all the Court, both most and lest,
To feche the floures fressh, and braunche and blome;
And namly, hawthorn brought both page and grome.
With fressh garlandes, partie blewe and whyte,
And thaim rejoysen in their greet delyt.

Another English tradition is the maypole. Some towns had permanent maypoles that would stay up all year; others put up a new one each May. In any event, the pole would be hung with greenery and ribbons, brightly painted, and otherwise decorated, and served as a central point for the festivities.

May Day was also a time for morris dancing and other dances, often around the maypole. In the 19th century, people began to braid the maypole with ribbons by weaving in and out in the course of a dance. Other later traditions include making garlands for children and the crowning of the May Queen.


LABOR DAY
In many countries, May Day is also Labor Day. This originated with the United States labor movement in the late 19th Century. On May 1, 1886, unions across the country went on strike, demanding that the standard workday be shortened to eight hours. The organizers of these strikes included socialists, anarchists, and others in organized labor movements. Rioting in Chicago's Haymarket Square on May 4th included a bomb thrown by an anarchist and led to the deaths of a dozen people (including several police officers) and the injury of over 100 more.

The protests were not immediately successful, but they proved effective down the line, as eight-hour work days eventually did become the norm. Labor leaders, socialists, and anarchists around the world took the American strikes and their fallout as a rallying point, choosing May Day as a day for demonstrations, parades, and speeches. It was a major state holiday in the Soviet Union and other communist countries.

THE FAMOUS DISTRESS CALL
Oh, and about that distress call: Mayday is an emergency code word used internationally as a distress signal in voice procedure radio communications. It derives from the French venez m'aider, meaning "come to my aid" / "come [to] help me." It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency by many groups, such as the police, pilots, fire departments, and transportation organizations. The call is always given three times in a row: "Mayday Mayday Mayday" to prevent mistaking it for some similar-sounding phrase under noisy conditions, and to distinguish an actual mayday call from a message about a mayday call.

Now, wasn't that more than you ever wanted to know about May Day? ;-)

Thanks for reading.

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