Born and raised in Detroit, I lived in Michigan the first 35 years of my life until work relocated me and I began my exile. I long for the coast of Northwest Michigan and the towns of Charlevoix, Petoskey, and Traverse City...known collectively in Detroit as "Up North" and the Murdick's Fudge and Green Rivers from my younger days.
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Ah, what a difference 40 short years makes...and people wonder why our country is so screwed up.
Scenario 1: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1968 - Vice principal comes over to look at Jack's shotgun. He goes to his own car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2008 - School goes into lock-down, and FBI is called. Jack is hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
Scenario 2: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1968 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best riends.
2008 - Police called. SWAT team arrives. Johnny and Mark are arrested and charged with assault. Both are expelled even though Johnny started it.
Scenario 3 : Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1968 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He returns to class, sits still, and does not disrupt class again.
2008 - Jeffrey is diagnosed with A. D. D. and given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. School gets extra money from State because Jeffrey has a learning disability.
Scenario 4: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1968 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2008 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is placed in foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist convinces Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself, and their dad goes to prison. Billy's Mom has affair with psychologist.
Scenario 5: Mark has a headache and brings some aspirin to school.
1968 - Mark takes aspirin in lunchroom and headache goes away.
2008 - Police called. Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. Car is searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario 6: Pedro fails English in high school.
1968 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2008 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given a diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario 7: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a fire ant hill.
1968 - Ants die.
2008 - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Homeland Security, and FBI called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates parents; siblings are removed from home; computers are confiscated. Johnny's dad goes on Terror Watch List and is never allowed to fly again.
Scenario 8: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher who hugs him to comfort him.
1968 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2008 - Teacher is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in state prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy.
While the above scenarios came to me in one of those famous email forwards meant to make me laugh, I think that there are important lessons to be learned here. As a society I really believe we have become overly paternalistic, overly fearful, and highly over-reactive. Some things are just part of growing up. Sometimes all there is to an incident is just what's on face with no darker meaning underneath. Sometimes a spade is just a spade.
While these changes over the last 40 years have taken place rather slowly over time, I think what this forwarded email dramatically points out is how far overboard we have gone without even recognizing it. Like the images in this post illustrate: back in 1968 Americans felt empowered to take action and speak up; in 2008, Americans need assistance in just figuring out how to vote. My how far we have fallen.
I'd really be interested in what every one else thinks on this topic.
UPDATE 7/1/08 Thanks for all your comments everyone. It really seems like we're all feeling pretty much the same way. I'd like to refer you to the following post: Sniffer Dogs Offend UK Muslims by my friend Jan Williams at the Poodle and Dog Blog, where after reading this latest absurdity, I responded:
OK, it's time for society to lay down the law. This is where it all has to stop. It's time to return to a culture of personal responsibility instead of finger pointing (do you hear me the jack*ss who spilled hot coffee on yourself and then sued McDonald's?), a culture where police are allowed to do their jobs without someone yelling brutality or throwing the constitution at them, where doctors can practice medicine without having to do 5 million tests to protect them from Malpractice and then patients going to seek their fifth opinion, and most importantly, a culture where teachers and adults and camp counselors and clergy can put an arm around a crying kid's shoulder and not have to fear being labeled a sexual predator and child molestor.
It's all about balance and moderation and warmth and personal responsibility and what's important in living a safe and secure and happy life.
Yes, everyone has rights and freedoms and privileges. But those rights and freedoms and privileges have to be balanced with societal needs and doing the right thing.
By all means, prosecute the bullies disguised as police officers. Incarcerate the sexual predators. Sue the pants off doctors that are incompetent. But come on people, stop the insanity!
For a religious group to say they're not going to let dogs sniff them in the course of a search to keep a plane or a building from being blown up by a terroist, all I have to say is: it's the world you helped create, so you can accept the consequences of a search.
Have a great day, Jan!
Now, if we're all in agreement that we've gone off course somewhat, what do we have to do to turn things around?
EntreCard is doing an amazing thing, and it is happening right now! In order to bring attention to some of the smaller blogs out there, EntreCard is featuring a blog post on a semi-regular basis that appeals rather widely to just about anyone no matter what their blogging interests are. The object is to find a post that appeals broadly, highlight it on EntreCard, and encourage everyone to go to that post, read it, and leave a quality comment. This way the smaller but nevertheless content-rich blogs out there can get some awesome publicity and perhaps find some new readers in the process.
The first post selected for the Comment Rush is Music and Driving by my friend Ken Armstrong. I recently awarded Ken with an Arte y Pico award for his awesome blog with outstanding humor in his writing and I encouraged everyone to visit his blog. Ken is a great guy, very friendly, and with one of the really greatest ability to turn a humorous phrase I have discovered since I started blogging.
I'm proud of Ken, and am glad that Graham at EntreCard, along with Phirate and the Moderators have seen fit to recognize him in this way.
Music and Driving is a post that won't take you long to read, but I guarantee that it will take you back, perhaps a long way back. Please visit Ken now and leave a comment about his post. It's a great read and definitely worth your time.
As any tennis lover knows, today is the Middle Sunday of the fortnight known as the Championships of Wimbledon. True to form, the first week of the Championships has been not only exciting, but in some ways shocking in that so many of the top seeds have fallen. But two of America's favorites, Venus and Serena Williams are still in it and are doing just fine, thank you very much, on their own.
Having just been named to the United States Olympic Team, both Serena and Venus are on a roll--and Venus has just set a record clocking the fastest women's serve ever at the All England Club at 127 mph!
Some of my friends are actually heading to Wimbledon tomorrow in the hopes of seeing Venus and Serena play each other in the final--which remains a real possibility. However, my friends are so geographically dyslexic, I know they're going to need help in finding their way to the stadium.
Fortunately for them, Britain has it's own online directory equivalent to America's 411 or Switchboard: We Love Local. Using We Love Local, my friends will be able to discover hotels, restaurants, bars, dry cleaners, museums, train stations, coffee houses, gift shops and more not just around Wimbledon, but throughout Britain so they'll be able to get information about unplanned side trips.
The We Love Local Website is really easy to use. Just like the yellow pages online, you type in the kind of business you're looking for, you type in the city you hope to find one in, and the website displays businesses matching your search on a Google Map.
I've recommended that my friends visit Glasgow in Scotland. I've always wanted to go to Glasgow, well at least since 1980 when Glasgow was mentioned in ABBA's Super Trouper. And using We Love Local, I found a really interesting hotel in seconds called "The Piper's Tryst." If nothing else, it's an interesting name and the hotel probably offers a different hotel experience than your usual Holiday Inn Express.
In any case, when traveling in Britain, there's a new website out there to help you find what you're looking for. We Love Local is easy to use, comprehensive, and should be the first place you go online prior to your visit, or in the case of my friends, after they arrive--because I have no doubt that shortly after their plane lands at Heathrow, they'll quickly become lost and need a most reliable guide.
In the regular course of life I probably would not have met Matt. And since he spends a lot of time on the river, I know that we would not have run into another in the midst of our hobbies....but because we enjoy and are open to the perspectives, outlook and life meanderings of others, here in cyberspace is where we got the opportunity to meet, share and visit. What a world! --Sheila from Black Tennis Pros
We all have circles we revolve in, but unlike the nearly concentric orbits in which the planets revolve around the sun, they are far from orderly. Therein lies the interesting.
Sheila. Taylor Mali. Me. Gabriela Sabatini. Four individuals. It is a most improbable event indeed that the four of us would ever sit down at a table together and discuss the career of Former U.S. Open Champion Gabriela Sabatini. And yet, today, or tomorrow, at least three out of the four of us will have read these words because today, or tomorrow, at least three of our circles will intersect.
Sheila is mostly correct. Like asteroids in orbits that cross the Earth's as they orbit the sun, in the course of regular life, the Earth and the asteroid probably will not meet--at least I hope they won't because such a meeting would be cataclysmic for both us and the asteroid. More importantly, us. But our circles intersect all the time. And every now and then, one, two, or three or more of us will be in the exact same place at the exact same time. That event is a point of intersection.
Today, Sheila will visit this blog because I left a comment on her blog indicating that recently I've been thinking about the blogosphere and that my thoughts echo hers as quoted above, and she commented that she is interested in what I have to say. Today, or tomorrow, Taylor Mali will visit this blog because today I will send him an email letting him know I'm quoting his work in this blog post and linking to his website.
Now who is Taylor Mali, you ask?
Well that's an interesting story. In short, Taylor Mali is a teacher and a poet, wouldn't you know it? As well as an advocate for analytical and critical thinking skills, creativity, and unique and strong voices. Back in the early 1990s when I was coaching high school debate in suburban Detroit, Michigan; one of the other coaches in my circle, Steve Marsh, invited me to attend a Poetry Slam competition that he was hosting and competing in at the Heidleberg in Ann Arbor. Taylor Mali was one of the competitors, and if my memory serves me correctly, Taylor led his team to victory that night performing his poem Labeling Keys below. The video performance of the poem is 3:30 long, and very worth your time to watch--not the least of which for his creative way of including Gabriela Sabatini in the poem.
Taylor Mali performing Labeling Keys
At the event in Ann Arbor I purchased a couple of Taylor's books of poetry, he signed them, and I emailed him a couple times. But then I stopped being a debate coach and gradually stopped revolving in that circle as my love of whitewater rafting was born in 1996 and I started revolving faster and faster in whitewater boating circles. The funny thing is, about a year ago on a whitewater forum called BoaterTalk, a kayaker from Washington D.C. had recently discovered poetry slams and posted a question asking if any other boater had heard of poetry slams. Of course, I had, so I looked up poetry slams on the internet. There's now a national organization and guess who its Executive Director is? Steve Marsh. Then I Googled Taylor Mali and found quite a lot of info and quickly discovered that Mr. Mali was doing quite well for himself. So I posted on BoaterTalk with how to contact the National Poetry Slam organization and I emailed Taylor with a quick note inquiring about his recent published works--which I still need to order--and just casually mentioned how the circle had come around again in another intersection.
I hope you enjoyed Labeling Keys, but if you didn't have time to watch Taylor performing it, I hope you'll read the following poem that should ring true for every blogger circling around in the blogosphere by Teacher and Poet Taylor Mali:
In case you hadn't noticed, it has somehow become uncool to sound like you know what you're talking about? Or believe strongly in what you're saying? Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences? Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?
Declarative sentences - so-called because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true as opposed to other things which were, like, not - have been infected by a totally hip and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know? Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this; this is just like the word on the street, you know? It's like what I've heard? I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay? I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?
What has happened to our conviction? Where are the limbs out on which we once walked? Have they been, like, chopped down with the rest of the rain forest? Or do we have, like, nothing to say? Has society become so, like, totally . . . I mean absolutely . . . You know? That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . . whatever!
And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness is just a clever sort of . . . thing to disguise the fact that we've become the most aggressively inarticulate generation to come along since . . . you know, a long, long time ago!
I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you, I challenge you: To speak with conviction. To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks the determination with which you believe it. Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker, it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY. You have to speak with it, too.
Each of us is at the center of our own world. But our worlds are revolving in circles that intersect with other circles, and in those intersections is where we meet other people, other bloggers, and yes, even a poet such as Taylor Mali and perhaps a champion tennis player such as Gabriela Sabatini--whom Sheila, Taylor, and I have seen play tennis and discussed her game from time to time in our own circles which today, or tomorrow, will intersect here on MTMD.
Love Is a Circle (Circles) by The Captain and Tennille
If you have time, please scroll through the following fascinating information about circles from Wikipedia. Or if you don't please scroll through to the bottom anyway. ____________________________________
What is a circle? CIRCLES are simple shapes of Euclidean geometry consisting of those points in a plane which are at a constant distance, called the radius, from a fixed point, called the center. A circle with center A is sometimes denoted by the symbol A.
A chord of a circle is a line segment whose both endpoints lie on the circle. A diameter is a chord passing through the center. The length of a diameter is twice the radius. A diameter is the largest chord in a circle.
Circles are simple closed curves which divide the plane into an interior and an exterior. The circumference of a circle is the perimeter of the circle, and the interior of the circle is called a disk. An arc is any connected part of a circle.
A circle is a special ellipse in which the two foci are coincident. Circles are conic sections attained when a right circular cone is intersected with a plane perpendicular to the axis of the cone.
A circle of infinite radius is considered to be a straight line.
Mrs. Miniver's Problem Mrs. Miniver's problem is a geometry problem about circles. Given a circle A, find a circle B such that the area of the intersection of A and B is equal to the area of the symmetric difference of A and B (the sum of the area of A − B and the area of B − A).
The problem derives from "A Country House Visit", one of Jan Struther's newspaper articles featuring her character Mrs. Miniver. According to the story:
She saw every relationship as a pair of intersecting circles. It would seem at first glance that the more they overlapped the better the relationship; but this is not so. Beyond a certain point the law of diminishing returns sets in, and there are not enough private resources left on either side to enrich the life that is shared. Probably perfection is reached when the area of the two outer crescents, added together, is exactly equal to that of the leaf-shaped piece in the middle. On paper there must be some neat mathematical formula for arriving at this; in life, none.
Alan Wachtel writes of the problem:
It seems that certain mathematicians took this literary challenge literally, and Fadiman follows it with an excerpt from "Ingenious Mathematical Problems and Methods," by L. A. Graham, who had evidently posed the problem in a mathematics journal. Graham gives a solution by William W. Johnson of Cleveland for the general case of unequal circles. The analysis isn't difficult, but the resulting transcendental equation is messy and can't be solved exactly. When the circles are of equal size, the equation is much simpler, but it still can be solved only approximately.
In the case of two circles of equal size, the ratio of the distance between their centers and their radius is often quoted as approximately 0.807946. However, that actually describes the case when the three areas each are of equal size. The solution for the problem as stated in the story ("when the area of the two outer crescents, added together, is exactly equal to that of the leaf-shaped piece in the middle") is approximately 0.529864.
History of the Circle Early science, particularly geometry and astronomy/astrology, was connected to the divine for most medieval scholars. Notice, even, the circular shape of the halo. The compass in this 13th century manuscript is a symbol of God's act of Creation, as many believed that there was something intrinsically "divine" or "perfect" that could be found in circles. The circle has been known since before the beginning of recorded history. It is the basis for the wheel which, with related inventions such as gears, makes much of modern civilization possible. In mathematics, the study of the circle has helped inspire the development of geometry and calculus. Some highlights in the history of the circle are:
1700BC - The Rhind papyrus gives a method to find the area of a circular field. The result corresponds to 256/81 as an approximate value of π. 300BC - Book 3 of Euclid's Elements deals with the properties of circles. 1880 - Lindemann proves that π is transcendental, effectively settling the millennia old problem of squaring the circle.
Properties of a Circle The circle is the shape with the largest area for a given length of perimeter. The circle is a highly symmetric shape: every line through the center forms a line of reflection symmetry and it has rotational symmetry around the center for every angle. All circles are similar. A circle's circumference and radius are proportional, The area enclosed and the square of its radius are proportional. The constants of proportionality are 2π and π, respectively. The circle centered at the origin with radius 1 is called the unit circle. Through any three points, not all on the same line, there lies a unique circle. In Cartesian coordinates, it is possible to give explicit formulae for the coordinates of the center of the circle and the radius in terms of the coordinates of the three given points.
Great Circle A great circle divides the sphere in two equal hemispheres. A great circle is a circle on the surface of a sphere that has the same circumference as the sphere, dividing the sphere into two equal hemispheres. Equivalently, a great circle on a sphere is a circle on the sphere's surface whose center is the same as the center of the sphere. A great circle is the intersection of a sphere with a plane going through its center. A great circle is the largest circle that can be drawn on a given sphere.
Great circles serve as the analog of "straight lines" in spherical geometry.
The great circle on the spherical surface is the path with the smallest curvature, and, hence, an arc is the shortest path between two points on the surface. The distance between any two points on a sphere is known as the great-circle distance. The great-circle route is the shortest path between two points on a sphere; however, if one were to travel along such a route, it would be difficult to manually steer as the heading would constantly be changing (except in the case of due north, south, or along the equator). Thus, Great Circle routes are often broken into a series of shorter Rhumb lines which allow the use of constant headings between waypoints along the Great Circle.
When long distance aviation or nautical routes are drawn on a flat map (for instance, the Mercator projection), they often look curved. This is because they lie on great circles. A route that would look like a straight line on the map would actually be longer.
On the Earth, the meridians are on great circles, and the equator is a great circle. Other lines of latitude are not great circles, because they are smaller than the equator; their centers are not at the center of the Earth -- they are small circles instead. Great circles on Earth are roughly 40,000 km in length, though the Earth is not a perfect sphere; for instance, the equator is 40,075 km.
Some examples of great circles on the celestial sphere include the horizon (in the astronomical sense), the celestial equator, and the ecliptic.
Great circle routes are used by ships and aircraft where currents and winds are not a significant factor. For aircraft traveling westerly between continents in the northern hemisphere these paths will extend northward near or into the arctic region, while easterly flights will often fly a more southerly track to take advantage of the jet stream. The area of a great circle is a quarter of the surface area of the sphere it belongs to.
Pi When a circle's diameter is 1, its circumference is π, or: ζ(3) – √2 – √3 – √5 – φ – α – e – π – δ Binary 11.00100100001111110110… Decimal 3.14159265358979323846… Hexadecimal 3.243F6A8885A308D31319…
Pi or π is a mathematical constant which represents the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter in Euclidean geometry, which is the same as the ratio of a circle's area to the square of its radius. It is approximately equal to 3.14159. Pi is one of the most important mathematical constants: many formulae from mathematics, science, and engineering involve π.
Pi is an irrational number, which means that it cannot be expressed as a fraction m/n, where m and n are integers. Consequently its decimal representation never ends or repeats. Beyond being irrational, it is a transcendental number, which means that no finite sequence of algebraic operations on integers (powers, roots, sums, etc.) could ever produce it. Throughout the history of mathematics, much effort has been made to determine π more accurately and understand its nature; fascination with the number has even carried over into culture at large.
The Greek letter π, often spelled out pi in text, was adopted for the number from the Greek word for perimeter "περίμετρος", probably by William Jones in 1706, and popularized by Leonhard Euler some years later. The constant is occasionally also referred to as the circular constant, Archimedes' constant (not to be confused with an Archimedes number), or Ludolph's number.
Circumference = π × diameter. In Euclidean plane geometry, π is defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.
Note that the ratio c/d does not depend on the size of the circle. For example, if a circle has twice the diameter d of another circle it will also have twice the circumference c, preserving the ratio c/d. This fact is a consequence of the similarity of all circles.
Area of the circle = π × area of the shaded square. Alternatively π can be also defined as the ratio of a circle's area (A) to the area of a square whose side is equal to the radius
The constant π is an irrational number; that is, it cannot be written as the ratio of two integers. This was proven in 1761 by Johann Heinrich Lambert. In the 20th century, proofs were found that require no prerequisite knowledge beyond integral calculus.
The numerical value of π truncated to 50 decimal places is:
While the value of pi has been computed to more than a trillion digits, elementary applications, such as calculating the circumference of a circle, will rarely require more than a dozen decimal places. For example, a value truncated to 11 decimal places is accurate enough to calculate the circumference of the earth with a precision of a millimeter, and one truncated to 39 decimal places is sufficient to compute the circumference of any circle that fits in the observable universe to a precision comparable to the size of a hydrogen atom.
Because π is an irrational number, its decimal expansion never ends and does not repeat. This infinite sequence of digits has fascinated mathematicians and laymen alike, and much effort over the last few centuries has been put into computing more digits and investigating the number's properties. Despite much analytical work, and supercomputer calculations that have determined over 1 trillion digits of π, no simple pattern in the digits has ever been found. Digits of π are available on many web pages, and there is software for calculating π to billions of digits on any personal computer.
Calculating π π can be empirically estimated by drawing a large circle, then measuring its diameter and circumference and dividing the circumference by the diameter.
π can also be calculated using purely mathematical methods. Most formulas used for calculating the value of π have desirable mathematical properties, but are difficult to understand without a background in trigonometry and calculus.
Full Circle
Note: Taylor Mali said this morning: You are doing the type of work I whole heartedly support.
Note: If you like this post, please take a moment and vote for it on Yearblook
Note: On July 7, 2008, this post was honored with a PlotDog Press WOOF Contest Award.
Just like a personal pan pizza, but not quite as filling, I was just tagged with the Personal Movie Trivia Meme by The Fearless Blog.
The rules are simple: 1) Cut and paste the following questions. 2) Answer the questions. 3) Tag everyone--so everyone reading this post, consider yourself tagged! That means you too, Ken. Henson, feel free to substitute this tag with the "Top 10 Favorite Animated Movie Tag". (If anyone else wants to substitute this tag with the "Top 10 Favorite Animated Movie Tag", just post a list of your Top 10 Favorite Animated Movies AND a reason why it's on your list.
And NOW, with no further ado....
1) List one movie that made you laugh: A) There's Something About Mary. I couldn't stop laughing. By the end of the movie I think I broke a rib.
2) List one movie that made you cry: A) Titanic. Okay, so I'm a hopeless romantic. Or maybe I'm just in touch with my feminine side and am MAN enough to admit it. But I saw Titanic 11 times in the theater and cried like a baby the first 6 times. Tears poured down, but I managed to contain the sobbing so nobody else heard my crying. (If there's enough response to this comment, maybe I'll make a post and reveal the entire story. No promises though.)
3) Name one movie you loved when you were a child: A) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I always wanted to win one of those golden tickets.
4) List one movie you've seen more than once: A) Other than the aforementioned Titanic? Kill Bill Vols. 1 & 2. By far, the Kill Bills are the movie(s) I've seen more than any other. Probably 10 dozen times if you count all the times I just kept hitting play on my DVD player after I fell asleep watching them at 2 in the morning, waking up again, and pressing play. I can quote both those movies almost word for word. They were so innovative, so poetic--even in their violence, extremely well-written, and well-acted. A lot of our television advertising, movie previews, and live professional sporting events all have music from the Kill Bill soundtracks. And Kill Bill was even parodied a bit in Shrek III.
5) One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it: A) Other than the aforementioned Titanic? Actually, I'm not embarrassed to admit I loved Titanic. I'm just a bit embarrassed to admit I cried during Titanic. Six Times! But I'm man enough to admit it, remember that Roxy. Anyway, I suppose I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I loved Two of a Kind. No, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John did not strike lightning twice in this really horrible movie. But I loved it anyway because I love Olivia Newton-John, Scatman Crothers, Charles Durning, Beatrice Straight and Gene Hackman. I mean really, with a cast like that, could the movie really be bad? YEP! But it had an awesome soundtrack, two truly good scenes, and it was a nice, fun escape movie. Now, notice I didn't mention Xanadu!
6) One movie you hated: A) Romance and Cigarettes. Kate Winslet is probably my favorite actress. She's amazingly versatile, brilliant in everything she does, and she lights up all screens, especially when she's playing a bit of a villianess, as she did brilliantly in Quills. But this movie was just so awful I actually walked out halfway through, and I think I've only done that 3 times in my life. And with the other two it wasn't the movie's fault--one time my mother was sick, the second time was after a friend's medical emergency.
7) List one movie that scared you: A) Aliens. Long story. Short answer. Ask Ken Armstrong at Ken's Writing Stuff.
8) List one movie that bored you: A) How 'bout two? Out of Africa and The English Patient. Can you say: OVER-RATED?
9) List one movie that made you happy: A) Muriel's Wedding, although this answer will probably be quickly replaced by Mamma Mia! when it comes out July 18th. Honestly, how can any movie that revolves around ABBA music NOT make you happy?
10) List one movie that made you miserable: A) Other than the aforementioned Titanic? Probably I'd have to say Sweeney Todd. Johnny Depp was great. Helena Bonham Carter was great. The whole cast was great. But uplifting material, this was not. And even though there were moments when the dark side of me came out and I chuckled, this was just a sad tale, and all of the characters met tragic ends. Leaving the theater we just weren't exactly feeling uplifted, you know?
11) List one movie you thought would be great, but it wasn’t: A) Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End. I thought it was the worst of the three. I was hoping for the best, convinced it would redeem Dead Man's Chest. But it didn't. Honorable Mention: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. To this day, I can't watch the Pod Race without falling asleep....Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Jar Jar Binks remains the worst character ever invented for a motion picture.
12) List one movie you weren't brave enough to see: A) I'll name two: 9/11 and World Trade Center. I want to see these movies, but nowhere near enough time has passed.
13) List one movie character you've fallen in love with: A) Rose Dewitt Bukater from Titanic. I swear, if Rose were real, I'd follow her to the ends of the earth in the hopes of marrying her. This character is my archetype love interest: Flaming red hair, intelligent, sassy, independent, adventurous, my equal and match.
Color Progression of a Norway Maple Leaf Changing in Autumn
Norway Maple Tree in Autumn
Three months after I was born, my parents moved us from Northwest Detroit to the suburb of Oak Park. It was March, 1965. Later that spring, my mother noticed a lot of maple seedlings in our yard. She carefully replanted the seedlings in pots, and that summer planted the strongest seedling in the yard. "That is your tree," she told me when I was old enough to help her water plants in the yard a few years later. "I planted that tree for you right after you were born," she said.
From that time forward, I took care of that tree and always made sure it was watered and fertilized, and it grew strong and fast. Five years later, we moved from the house in Oak Park to the suburb of West Bloomfield, but this Maple was my tree. We were NOT going to leave it behind. So my father dug it out of the ground. It was a strong tree, about three feet high with a trunk about an inch think. We planted that tree in the backyard of our new home, along with a more mature Crimson King Maple that was about ten feet tall my father bought from the Nursery, and a few other trees and shrubs.
Well I continued to take care of my Norway Maple Tree. I made sure it was always watered, and it continued to grow. I broke my heart when my parents were divorced and we had to sell the house in 1978. This time, we couldn't take the tree with us. In 1978, only 13 years later, this Norway Maple Tree was 25 feet high, and it's canopy of leaves contained a volume as large as half of our two-story house. It dwarfed every other tree on the lot, including the Crimson King varietal that had a 7 foot head start on it.
Today, 43 years later, that Norway Maple is three times as high as our old house, which probably makes it 75 feet tall, and if it were laid out on the ground, it would take up the entire backyard, easily covering more volume than the house. It's that big. And it's that strong. And it's still my tree.
Below are some facts about Norway Maples from Wikipedia. I recommend growing them from seed in Potting Soil for the first three years. Water them well, and they will become the tallest, strongest, most beautiful trees in your yard. ___________________________________________
Acer platanoides (Norway Maple) is a species of maple native to eastern and central Europe and southwest Asia, from France east to Russia, north to southern Scandinavia and southeast to northern Iran.
The Norway Maple is a deciduous tree growing 50-100 feet tall with a trunk up to 5 feet in diameter with a broad, rounded crown. The bark is grey-brown and shallowly grooved; unlike many other maples, mature trees do not tend to develop a shaggy bark. The shoots are green at first, soon becoming pale brown; the winter buds are shiny red-brown. The autumn colour is usually yellow, occasionally orange-red. The flowers are in corymbs of 15–30 together, yellow to yellow-green with five sepals and five petals 3–4 mm long; flowering occurs in early spring before the new leaves emerge. The fruit is a double samara with two winged seeds, the seeds are disc-shaped, strongly flattened, 10–15 mm across and 3 mm thick. The wings are 3–5 cm long, widely spread, approaching a 180° angle. It typically produces a large quantity of viable seeds. It is not particularly a long-lived tree, with a maximum age of around 250 years.
The Norway Maple is a member of the section Platanoidea Pax, characterised by flattened, disc-shaped seeds and the shoots and leaves containing milky sap. Other related species in this section incluse Acer campestre (Field Maple), Acer cappadocicum (Cappadocian Maple), Acer lobelii (Lobel's Maple), and Acer truncatum (Shandong Maple). From Field Maple, Norway Maple is distinguished by its larger leaves with pointed, not blunt, lobes, and from the other species by the presence of one or more teeth on all of the lobes.
It is also frequently confused with the more distantly related Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple). Sugar Maple is easy to identify by clear sap in the petiole (Norway Maple has white sap). The tips of the points on Norway Maple leaves reduce to a fine "hair", while the tips of the points on Sugar Maple leaves are on close inspection rounded. On mature trees, Sugar Maple bark is more shaggy, while Norway Maple bark has small, often criss-crossing grooves. While the shape and angle of leaf lobes vary somewhat within all Maple species, the leaf lobes of Norway Maple tend to have a more triangular shape, in contrast to the more squarish lobes often seen on Sugar Maples. The seeds of Sugar Maple are globose, while Norway Maple seeds are flattened. Sugar Maple usually has a brighter orange autumn colour, whereas Norway Maple is usually yellow, although some of the red-leaved cultivars appear more orange. The tree tends to leaf out earlier than most maples and holds its leaves somewhat longer in autumn.
The wood is hard, yellowish-white to pale reddish, with the heartwood not distinct; it is used for furniture and turnery. Many cultivars have been selected, with distinctive leaf shape or coloration such as the dark purple of 'Crimson King' and 'Schwedleri', the variegated leaves of 'Drummondii' and 'Emerald Queen', and the deeply divided, feathery leaves of 'Dissectum' and 'Lorbergii'. The purple-foliage cultivars have orange to red autumn colour. 'Columnare' is selected for its narrow upright growth.
It has been widely introduced into cultivation in other areas, including western Europe northwest of its native range. It grows north of the Arctic Circle at Tromsø, Norway. In North America, it is grown as a street and shade tree. It is favoured due to its tolerance of poor, compacted soils and urban pollution. As a result of these characteristics, Norway Maple is displacing locally native hardwoods in some parts of North America and is considered invasive in some states, but is still widely used for urban plantings in many areas.
This just in: Buddy from Buddy's Fitness News has awarded me with a second esteemed “Arte y Pico" Award. This award was created as part of a tag initiative from the “Arte y Pico" Blog, where you pass along the compliment to other bloggers, and lately, this award has taken EntreCard by storm with so many excellent blogs being honored, and some of us even being honored multiple times.
This is the second award that MTMD has received, and I'm just as blown away by the honor--and really even more surprised. I just wanted you all to know, since many of us have been discussing this, that since I just got off the river, I'll be attending the awards ceremony in IR River Guide Shorts, Teva Sandals and my NOC Staff PFD.
The way this award works is that you have to pick 5 blogs that you find deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
--Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
--Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
--The Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of the "Arte y Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of this award. Here it is: http://arteypico.blogspot.com/.
After much thoughtful consideration, the second five I have chosen for this award are listed below, in no particular order, with the reasons why I chose them:
1) Ride to Remedy: Courtney Benefiel is one of the most inspiring bloggers I've ever come across. I first discovered her blog after she commented on my Almost Wordless Wednesday post on Socorro, New Mexico. Courtney is a diabetic, and her life and blog are about living with diabetes and overcoming its hardships. Courtney rides a road bike in Tour de Cures as she raises awareness and dollars in an effort to find a cure. Courtney is one of the most heroic bloggers out there, is an amazing human being, and her blog content will certainly inspire you, and thus she embodies what all recipients of the Arte y Pico Award hope to do.
2) Adopted Jane has a very beautiful and unique blog template, and I'm passing this award to her for the quirky creativity and dark beauty of her site. But there's much more here than a blog that's beautiful to behold. Jane's posts focus on issues of being an adopted child. Children being raised without parents, or those who have been orphaned due to tragedy, are emotional topics. Adopted Jane is all about raw emotion, which I really respect since I write with my heart on my sleeve as well. But there is power in Jane's candor, and her writing is raw--like an onion after the first cut. She will make you cry. And if those tears motivate just one person to take action on behalf of an orphaned child, then her blog will truly be honored.
3) Tricia's Musings: Tricia has been a blogging friend of mine since I started blogging. I took about 18 months off of blogging, but when I came back, I discovered that Tricia's blog had matured and truly become a presence in the blogosphere. Her posts are a mixed bag of random happenings in her life, beautiful photography of her garden, interesting personal anecdotes and informative articles. Tricia has perfected the balancing act between personal diary, news, photography, and paid for posting and advertising. Holding it all together is a pleasant and functional template. Tricia's readers are legion, and if you haven't yet discovered her blog and become a fan, I hope now you'll take a look.
4) Black Tennis Pro's. Sheila's blog, devoted to comprehensive coverage of the Black Tennis Scene is among the finest works of journalistic blogging and sports reporting I have ever seen. A recent interview she did for her "Coaches Corner" Column of her blog was picked up and published by the Chicago Sun Times. This is the blog that fills in all the information that our International Media conveniently overlook; and if you are a fan of tennis, you owe it to yourself to visit this blog on a daily basis, get the latest audio update from Sheila herself, and really enjoy the comprehensive coverage.
5) First Door on the Left. First Door on the Left is a political blog that is heavily opinionated and ultra-left wing. It is one of the finest blogs of its kind I have ever come across. While my views are more moderate than this blog, the zeal and dedication and unfaltering point of view of the writing and the articles and the humor that's demonstrated by the weekly political cartoon roundup present a fantastic information resource for debate and ultimately understanding of the state of politics in this country. Finding current, focused political discussion beyond the typical "Jerry, Jerry, he's my man, if he can't do it noone can!" superficiality that is out there in our news reports and all over the internet is rare, and for that reason alone, this blog is to be treasured.
Please, click the links above. Read these blogs. Then come back to MTMD and let me know what you think.
Now you can keep up with all the news of MTMD right from your own blog or website! Just add the NEW MTMD Widget to your sidebar and you'll always be up-to-date with the current posts and images from MTMD.
Just click on the link, grab the code, and paste. It's that easy.
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The day my readers have been anticipating has finally arrived! At last, it's June 20th! Yeahhhh! What is significant about June 20th, you're asking? Well, I'll tell you:
1) Today, at 11:59 PM, it officially becomes summer! That's right, the summer solstice is sweeping around the globe at this very minute! Over on the western side of the International Date Line (in the Eastern Hemisphere (isn't that confusing?), summer is moving westward past New Zealand and Australia (where it's actually winter now, for even more confusion). But here in the North, it's summer! It's on the move. It's coming!
New River Gorge Bridge Sunset from the River
2) In honor of the change of seasons, I have switched my header and footer graphics. The header is now the full summer image, and I'm offering my readers a CONTEST! The first reader that figures out what river is pictured in the header wins a $50 Gift Certificate to the Restaurant or Online Store of your choice. You win it, you pick it! The footer has also changed, it's autumn, to reflect the flow of the seasons down the page. In 90 days, it becomes a full-fledged header of it's own, and then you'll get a glimpse of winter and the most awe-inspiring header of them all, to appear on MTMD in just 180 days.
New River Bridge from the River at Day
3) And most significantly for me, it's the weekend. Tonight I head up to West Virginia for my first rafting trip on the New River since last fall! I've been rafting since 1996, and although I have worked for a rafting company for the last year and a half here in the mountains of North Carolina, my whitewater home is still on the New and Gauley Rivers southern West Virginia. Can anyone sing me a chorus of Country Roads?
Almost heaven, West Virginia. Blue Ridge Mountains Shanandoah River.
Life is old there older than the trees younger than the mountains blowing like a breeze
Country Roads take me home to the place I belong. West Virginia! Mountain Mama. Take me home country roads.
All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...oops, wrong John Denver song. Anyway, you get the idea! I'm excited!
For all my friends on EntreCard, internet access will be sketchy...I hope you don't mind too much if I don't drop on you over the weekend, I'm going to try, but I'll probably just catch a few of you.
And now, as a parting gift to give you plenty to read over the long weekend, please enjoy the following tome on the season known as summer, kicked off with the Summer Solstice:
People around the world have observed spiritual and religious seasonal days of celebration during the month of June. Most have been religious holy days which are linked in some way to the summer solstice. On this day, typically JUN-21, the daytime hours are at a maximum in the Northern hemisphere, and night time is at a minimum. It is officially the first day of summer. It is also referred to as Midsummer because it is roughly the middle of the growing season throughout much of Europe.
"Solstice" is derived from two Latin words: "sol" meaning sun, and "sistere," to cause to stand still. This is because, as the summer solstice approaches, the noonday sun rises higher and higher in the sky on each successive day. On the day of the solstice, it rises an imperceptible amount, compared to the day before. In this sense, it "stands still."
(In the southern hemisphere, the summer solstice is celebrated in December, also when the night time is at a minimum and the daytime is at a maximum. We will assume that the reader lives in the Northern hemisphere for the rest of this essay.)
People view other religions in various ways, and thus treat the celebrations of other faiths differently: For some people, religious diversity is a positive factor. They enjoy the variety of June celebrations, because it is evidence of wide range of of beliefs within our common humanity. They respect both their own religious traditions and those of other faiths for their ability to inspire people to lead more ethical lives.
Others reject the importance of all celebrations other than the holy day(s) recognized by their own religion. Some even reject their religion's traditional holy days if they are convinced that they have Pagan origins. This is a common occurrence with Easter and Christmas. Some view other religions as being inspired, controlled, or even led by Satan. Thus the solstice celebrations of other religions are rejected because they are viewed as Satanic in origin.
Why does the summer solstice happen? The seasons of the year are caused by the 23.5º tilt of the earth's axis. Because the earth is rotating like a top or gyroscope, the North Pole points in a fixed direction continuously -- towards a point in space near the North Star. But the earth is also revolving around the sun. During half of the year, the southern hemisphere is more exposed to the sun than is the northern hemisphere. During the rest of the year, the reverse is true. At noontime in the Northern Hemisphere the sun appears high in the sky during summertime, and low during winter. The time of the year when the sun reaches its maximum elevation occurs on the summer solstice -- the day with the greatest number of daylight hours. It typically occurs on, or within a day or two of, JUN-21 -- the first day of summer. The lowest elevation occurs about DEC-21 and is the winter solstice -- the first day of winter, when the night time hours reach their maximum.
Significance of the summer solstice: In pre-historic times, summer was a joyous time of the year for those Aboriginal people who lived in the northern latitudes. The snow had disappeared; the ground had thawed out; warm temperatures had returned; flowers were blooming; leaves had returned to the deciduous trees. Some herbs could be harvested, for medicinal and other uses. Food was easier to find. The crops had already been planted and would be harvested in the months to come. Although many months of warm/hot weather remained before the fall, they noticed that the days were beginning to shorten, so that the return of the cold season was inevitable.
The first (or only) full moon in June is called the Honey Moon. Tradition holds that this is the best time to harvest honey from the hives.
This time of year, between the planting and harvesting of the crops, was the traditional month for weddings. This is because many ancient peoples believed that the "grand [sexual] union" of the Goddess and God occurred in early May at Beltaine. Since it was unlucky to compete with the deities, many couples delayed their weddings until June. June remains a favorite month for marriage today. In some traditions, "newly wed couples were fed dishes and beverages that featured honey for the first month of their married life to encourage love and fertility. The surviving vestige of this tradition lives on in the name given to the holiday immediately after the ceremony: The Honeymoon."
Midsummer celebrations in ancient and modern times: Most societies in the northern hemisphere, ancient and modern, have celebrated a festival on or close to Midsummer:
Ancient Celts: Druids, the priestly/professional/diplomatic corps in Celtic countries, celebrated Alban Heruin ("Light of the Shore"). It was midway between the spring Equinox (Alban Eiler; "Light of the Earth") and the fall Equinox (Alban Elfed; "Light of the Water"). "This midsummer festival celebrates the apex of Light, sometimes symbolized in the crowning of the Oak King, God of the waxing year. At his crowning, the Oak King falls to his darker aspect, the Holly King, God of the waning year..." The days following Alban Heruin form the waning part of the year because the days become shorter.
Ancient China: Their summer solstice ceremony celebrated the earth, the feminine, and the yin forces. It complemented the winter solstice which celebrated the heavens, masculinity and yang forces.
Ancient Gaul: The Midsummer celebration was called Feast of Epona, named after a mare goddess who personified fertility, sovereignty and agriculture. She was portrayed as a woman riding a mare.
Ancient Germanic, Slav and Celtic tribes in Europe: Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires. "It was the night of fire festivals and of love magic, of love oracles and divination. It had to do with lovers and predictions, when pairs of lovers would jump through the luck-bringing flames..." It was believed that the crops would grow as high as the couples were able to jump. Through the fire's power, "...maidens would find out about their future husband, and spirits and demons were banished." Another function of bonfires was to generate sympathetic magic: giving a boost to the sun's energy so that it would remain potent throughout the rest of the growing season and guarantee a plentiful harvest.
Ancient Rome: The festival of Vestalia lasted from JUN-7 to JUN-15. It was held in honor of the Roman Goddess of the hearth, Vesta. Married women were able to enter the shrine of Vesta during the festival. At other times of the year, only the vestal virgins were permitted inside.
Ancient Sweden: A Midsummer tree was set up and decorated in each town. The villagers danced around it. Women and girls would customarily bathe in the local river. This was a magical ritual, intended to bring rain for the crops.
Christian countries: After the conversion of Europe to Christianity, the feast day of St. John the Baptist was set as JUN-24. It "is one of the oldest feasts, if not the oldest feast, introduced into both the Greek and Latin liturgies to honour a saint." Curiously, the feast is held on the alleged date of his birth. Other Christian saints' days are observed on the anniversary of their death. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains that St. John was "filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb...[thus his] birth...should be signalized as a day of triumph." His feast day is offset a few days after the summer solstice, just as Christmas is fixed a few days after the winter solstice. "Just as John was the forerunner to Jesus, midsummer forecasts the eventual arrival of" the winter solstice circa DEC-21.
Essenes: This was a Jewish religious group active in Palestine during the 1st century CE. It was one of about 24 Jewish groups in the country -- the only one that used a solar calendar. Other Jewish groups at the time included the Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, followers of John, and followers of Yeshua (Jesus).
Archaeologists have found that the largest room of the ruins at Qumran (location of the Dead Sea Scrolls) appears to be a sun temple. The room had been considered a dining room by earlier investigators, in spite of the presence of two altars at its eastern end. At the time of the summer solstice, the rays of the setting sun shine at 286 degrees along the building's longitudinal axis, and illuminate the eastern wall. The room is oriented at exactly the same angle as the Egyptian shrines dedicated to the sun. Two ancient authorities -- the historian Josephus and the philosopher Filon of Alexandria -- had written that the Essenes were sun worshipers. Until recently, their opinion had been rejected by modern historians.
Native Americans: The Natchez tribe in the southern U.S. "worshiped the sun and believed that their ruler was descended from him. Every summer they held a first fruits ceremony." Nobody was allowed to harvest the corn until after the feast.
Males in the Hopi tribe dressed up as Kachinas - the dancing spirits of rain and fertility who were messengers between humanity and the Gods. At Midsummer, the Kachinas were believed to leave the villages to spend the next six months in the mountains, where they were believed to visit the dead underground and hold ceremonies on their behalf.
Native Americans have created countless stone structures linked to equinoxes and solstices. Many are still standing. One was called Calendar One by its modern-day discoverer. It is in a natural amphitheatre of about 20 acres in size in Vermont. From a stone enclosure in the center of the bowl, one can see a number of vertical rocks and other markers around the edge of the bowl "At the summer solstice, the sun rose at the southern peak of the east ridge and set at a notch at the southern end of the west ridge." The winter solstice and the equinoxes were similarly marked.
The Bighorn Medicine Wheel west of Sheridan, WY is perhaps the most famous of the 40 or more similar "wheels" on the high plains area of the Rocky Mountains. Mostly are located in Canada. At Bighorn, the center of a small cairn, that is external to the main wheel, lines up with the center of the wheel and the sun rising at the summer equinox. Another similar sighting cairn provides a sighting for three dawn-rising stars: Aldebaran, Rigel and Sirius. A third cairn lines up with fourth star: Fomalhaut. The term "medicine wheel" was coined by Europeans; it was a term used to describe anything native that white people didn't understand.
Neopaganism: This is a group of religions which are attempted re-constructions of ancient Pagan religions. Of these, Wicca is the most common; it is loosely based partly on ancient Celtic beliefs and practices. Wiccans recognize eight seasonal days of celebration. Four are minor sabbats and occur at the two solstices and the two equinoxes. The other are major sabbats which happen approximately halfway between an equinox and solstice. The summer solstice sabbat is often called Midsummer or Litha. Wiccans may celebrate the sabbat on the evening before, at sunrise on the morning of the solstice, or at the exact time of the astronomical event.
"Midsummer is the time when the sun reaches the peak of its power, the earth is green and holds the promise of a bountiful harvest. The Mother Goddess is viewed as heavily pregnant, and the God is at the apex of his manhood and is honored in his guise as the supreme sun." It is a time for divination and healing rituals. Divining rods and wands are traditionally cut at this time.
Prehistoric Europe: Many remains of ancient stone structures can be found throughout Europe. Some date back many millennia BCE. Many appear to have religious/astronomical purposes; others are burial tombs. These structures were built before writing was developed. One can only speculate on the significance of the summer solstice to the builders. Perhaps the most famous of these structures is Stonehenge, a megalith monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. It was built in three stages, between circa 3000 and 1500 BCE. "The circular bank and ditch, double circle of 'bluestones' (spotted dolerite), and circle of sarsen stones (some with white lintels), are concentric, and the main axis is aligned on the midsummer sunrise--an orientation that was probably for ritual rather than scientific purposes.4 Four "station stones" within the monument form a rectangle whose shorter side also points in the direction of the midsummer sunrise.
This just in: Henson Ray from Henson's Hell and It Happened In Plainfield has awarded me with the esteemed “Arte y Pico" Award. This award was created as part of a tag initiative from the “Arte y Pico" Blog, where you pass along the compliment to other bloggers.
This is the first award that MTMD has received, and I'm blown away by the honor, bestowed upon me and my blog from my friend Henson. I just guess you like me. You really like me!
The way this award works is that you have to pick 5 blogs that you find deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
--Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
--Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
--The Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of the "Arte y Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of this award. Here it is: http://arteypico.blogspot.com/.
After much thoughtful consideration, the five I have chosen for this award are listed below, in no particular order, with the reasons why I chose them:
1) Chic & Sassy Designs: Zoe is the template artist extraordinare who creates beautiful, unique, functional and personal templates for bloggers all over the blogosphere. She's very professional, courteous, friendly, customer-service oriented, and most affordable. And she's the one who updated the look of my blog, which most likely led to this award for me in the first place. Thanks Zoe, again, you rock!
2) New York Traveler.Net, or Mrs. Mecomber to her friends, is the first blogger that welcomed me to EntreCard and wrote a recommendation for my blog. She seems to be responsible for an entire State's worth of blogs that are jammed packed with wonderful articles, humor, history, and photos. And sometime when she's not blogging, she has time to homeschool her kids and help me track down great New York Travel Links, that will be appearing in my left sidebar soon. I think Mrs. Mecomber is most worthy of this award, and is one of the friendliest personalities in the blogosphere.
3) Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff: Ken is hysterical, in an Irish sort of way. While he keeps a low profile, his work is of the highest quality, and he's probably the closest individual there is to a kindred spirit for me in the blogosphere. In fact, one day, at the exact same time, we were reading each other's blogs, thinking the exact same thing, and posting virtually the exact same comment on each other's blog. Scary. Almost "Alien"-scary. ;) If you enjoy excellent writing, and a great sense of humor, read Ken's stuff. He's awesome. And he knows obscure ABBA lyrics.
4) Amy Lilley Designs. I recently discovered Amy's blog after I advertised on her EntreCard widget and watched my day's traffic explode. I had dropped on her widget previously, but only after I stopped to really look at her blog after she generated so much traffic for me that I had to really stand up and take notice. Her work is fantastic, and I am a fan for life of her photography and her point of view. You have to check out her work.
5) Roxiticus Best Blogs. I have to say I'm a little disappointed. The first blogger that came to my mind to share this award with was Bree at Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, but Henson already beat me to the punch by awarding her this honor at the same time he awarded it to me. Oh well, all is not lost. Roxy has multiple blogs, all are amazing, unique, quirky, maybe a little bit desperate as well. Rox is also spreading the gospel of Social Spark and Pay Per Post and dishing out all the gossip from the Roxiticus Valley. She's created many communities that intersect with countless others in the Blogosphere. Rox is a great friend, always helpful, always letting me know she's there, and always quick with a sharp word if I step a little out of line. Roxy is also up for a Bloggy Award for Hottest Mommy Blogger. I'm not sure if she's going to win that one, but she's taking home the hardware tonight. Congratulations, Rox, you...er...rock!
Over on Obscure History is a great post on The Second Narrows Bridge Collapse, and as I was reading it, I realized that one bridge that is always conspicuously missing from any Science or Discovery Channel Documentary on Suspension Bridges is The Mackinac Bridge, which is five miles long and connects the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan together. So while I know all of you are familar with what the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco looks like, I thought I'd showcase for you today pictures of my personal favorite bridge, and tell you a little bit about it.
The Mackinac Bridge (pronounced /ˈmækɨnɔː/, with a silent "c" at the end of the word), is a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac. Envisioned since the 1880s, the bridge was completed only after many decades of struggles to begin construction. Designed by engineer David B. Steinman, the bridge (familiarly known as "Big Mac" and "Mighty Mac") connects the city of St. Ignace on the north end with the village of Mackinaw City on the south. It is the longest suspension bridge between anchorages.
The bridge opened on November 1, 1957, ending decades of the two peninsulas being solely linked by ferries. A year later, the bridge was formally dedicated as "the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages". This designation was chosen because the bridge would not be the world's largest using another way of measuring suspension bridges, the length of the center span between the towers; at the time that title belonged to the Golden Gate Bridge, which has a longer center span. By saying "between anchorages", the bridge could be considered longer than the Golden Gate Bridge, and also longer than the suspended western section of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. (That bridge has a longer total suspension but is a double bridge with an anchorage in the middle.)
The Mackinac Bridge is the longest suspension bridge with two towers between anchorages (8,614 feet) in the Western Hemisphere. Much longer anchorage-to-anchorage spans have been built in the Eastern Hemisphere, including the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in Japan (12,826 feet). However, because of the long leadups to the anchorages on the Mackinac, from shoreline to shoreline it is much longer than the Akashi-Kaikyo (5 miles compared to 2.4 miles).
The length of the bridge's main span is 3,800 feet (1,158 m), which makes it the third-longest suspension span in the United States and twelfth longest worldwide.
HISTORY The Algonquin Native Americans called the straits and the surrounding area "Michilimackinac," meaning "the jumping-off place" or "great road of departure." These Native Americans moved around the straits rather than crossing them. The straits were the end of the trail.
As Europeans settled in the area, the straits became an important area for trade and commerce. The clean air, abundant fish and beautiful views attracted people from all over the area to the straits. Still, the only way to cross was by ferry.
Typically, a fleet of nine ferries could carry up to 9,000 vehicles per day. Traffic backups sometimes stretched to Cheboygan, Michigan, 16 miles away from Mackinaw City. Year-round boat service across the straits had been abandoned as impractical because of the cold winters which would often freeze the water across the entire strait. Following the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, local residents began to imagine such a structure could span the straits. In 1884, a store owner in St. Ignace published a newspaper advertisement that included a reprint of an artist's conception of the Brooklyn Bridge with the caption "Proposed bridge across the Straits of Mackinac."
The idea of the bridge was discussed in the Michigan Legislature as early as the 1880s. At the time the area was becoming a popular tourist destination, including the creation of Mackinac National Park on Mackinac Island in 1875.
Despite the perceived necessity for the bridge, several decades went by with no formal plan. In 1920, the Michigan state highway commissioner advocated the construction of a floating tunnel across the straits. At the invitation of the state legislature, C. E. Fowler of New York City put forth a plan for a long series of causeways and bridges across the straits from Cheboygan, 17 miles southeast of Mackinaw City, to St. Ignace, using Bois Blanc, Round, and Mackinac Island as intermediate steps.
In 1923, the state legislature ordered the State Highway Department to establish ferry service across the strait. More and more people used ferries to cross the straits each year, and as they did, momentum to create a bridge grew even stronger. Chase Osborn, a former governor, wrote, "Michigan is unifying itself, and a magnificent new route through Michigan to Lake Superior and the Northwest United States is developing, via the Straits of Mackinac. It cannot continue to grow as it ought with clumsy and inadequate ferries for any portion of the year."
By 1928 the ferry service had become so popular and so expensive to operate that Michigan Governor Fred Green ordered the department to study the feasibility of building a bridge across the strait. The department deemed the idea feasible, estimating the cost at 30 million dollars.
In 1934, the Michigan Legislature created the Mackinac Straits Bridge Authority of Michigan, to explore possible methods of constructing and funding the bridge. The Legislature authorized the Authority to sell bonds for the project. In the mid 1930s, the Authority twice attempted to obtain federal funds for the project but was unsuccessful, despite the endorsement of the United States Army Corps of Engineers and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Nevertheless, between 1936 and 1940, a route was selected for the bridge and borings were made for a detailed geological study of the route.
The preliminary plans for the bridge featured a 3-lane roadway, a railroad crossing on the underdeck of the span, and a center-anchorage double-suspension bridge configuration similar to the design of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Since this would have required sinking an anchorage pier in the deepest area of the Straits, the practicality of this design may have been questionable. A causeway, approximately 4,000 feet, extending from the northern shore, was constructed with concrete road fragments from 1939-1941.
At that time, with funding for the project still uncertain, further work was put on hold because of World War II. The Authority was abolished by the state legislature in 1947 but was reauthorized three years later in 1950. In June 1950, engineers were retained for the project. Following a report by the engineers in January 1951, the state legistature authorized the sale of 85 million dollars in bonds for bridge construction on April 30, 1952. However, a weak bond market in 1953 forced a delay of over a year before the bonds could be issued.
ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION David B. Steinman was appointed as the design engineer in January 1953. By the end of 1953, estimates and contracts had been negotiated, and construction began on May 7, 1954. The American Bridge Division of United States Steel Corporation was awarded a contract of over 44 million dollars to build the steel superstructure.
Construction took three and a half years (4 summers, no winter construction) and cost the lives of five men who worked on the bridge. It opened to traffic on schedule on November 1, 1957, and was formally dedicated on June 25, 1958. The bridge officially achieved its 100 millionth crossing exactly forty years after its dedication, on June 25, 1998. The 50th anniversary of the bridge's opening was celebrated in a ceremony hosted by the Mackinac Bridge Authority at the viewing park adjacent to the St. Ignace causeway on November 1, 2007.
The design of the Mackinac Bridge was directly influenced by the lessons of the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which failed in 1940 because of its instability in high winds. Three years after that disaster, Steinman had published a theoretical analysis of suspension bridge stability problems which recommended that future bridge designs include deep stiffening trusses to support the bridge deck and an open-grid roadway to reduce its wind resistance. Both of these features were incorporated into the Mackinac Bridge. The stiffening truss is open to reduce wind resistance. The road deck is shaped as an airfoil to provide lift in a cross wind, while the center two lanes are open grid to allow vertical (upward) air flow, which fairly precisely cancels the lift, making the roadway stable in design in winds up to 150 m.p.h.
FACTS AND FIGURES The Mackinac Bridge is currently a toll bridge on Interstate 75. Prior to the coming of I-75, the bridge carried US 27. It is one of only two segments of I-75 that is tolled; the other is Alligator Alley in Florida.
The current toll is US$3.00 for automobiles and $3.50 per axle for trucks. The current Toll was increased March 1, 2008 from $2.50 US for Cars. The Mackinac Bridge Authority has proposed raising the rate to $4 for cars and $5 per axle for trucks to fund a $300 million renovation program, which would include completely replacing the bridge deck.
Every Labor Day, two of the lanes of the bridge are closed to traffic and open to walkers for the Mackinac Bridge Walk.
Painting of the bridge takes seven years, and when painting of the bridge is complete, it begins again.
Overall length shore to shore: 26,372 feet or approximately 5 miles.
Length from cable bent pier to cable bent pier: 7,400 feet. Total width of the roadway: 54 feet Two outside lanes: 12 feet wide each Two inside lanes: 11 feet wide each Center mall: 2 feet Catwalk, curb and rail width: 3 feet on each side Width of stiffening truss in the suspended span: 68 feet, making it wider than the roadway it supports. Height of the roadway at mid-span: approximately 200 feet above water level. Vertical clearance at normal temperature: 155 feet at the center of the main suspension span. 135 feet at the boundaries of the 3,000 feet wide navigation channel. Construction cost: $99.8 million (1957 USD; adjusted for inflation, approximately $732 million, 2007 USD) Height of towers above water: 552 feet Max. depth of towers below water: 210 feet Total length of wire in main cables: 42,000 miles Total vehicle crossings, 2005: 4,236,491 (average 11,608 per day) Speed limit: 45 mph for passenger cars, 20 mph for heavy trucks. Heavy trucks are also required to leave 500 feet spacing ahead.
As most of my regular readers are aware, I recently updated my template. I was lucky, I found an exceptional designer in Zoe at Chic & Sassy Designs who was more than able and willing to help me with the look of my blog. And while I decided to stay with Blogger for a wide variety of reasons, I had to give WordPress a very good look. More and more bloggers are using WordPress and more and more are urging me to switch to WordPress because of the features and advantages the platform offers over Blogger.
I'm not ready to make the switch yet, but I'm about to launch a new blog, a Michigan Photos Blog, and I've pretty much decided to use WordPress as my platform. This will really allow me to get to know WordPress and its features and provide a really good basis for me to decide which platform to base my blogging on after I bite the bullet and get my own domain.
But until then, I wanted to share with you some of these top wordpress templates that I've discovered.
What's really cool about these wordpress templates is not only that they're free, but that I've actually seen some of them on EntreCard. The Rainbow Garden Theme is one that I've actually seen while dropping cards, and it is well-designed and functional. Plus it loads fast and is widget-ready. To me, this sells the rest of the themes on the site in that I know they will work well in the real world.
If you're looking for a good theme to get started with WordPress, I think this is the place to go. But if you're looking for a custom theme for those that are already experts at designing for WordPress, the designers of these free themes are listed so that you can contact them directly to get a theme more personalized for you--and that's the option that's most appealing to me.
So check it out! Other EntreCard users have already found this site to be useful, and it looks like this should be your first stop if you're looking for a new WordPress theme.
The binary numeral system, or base-2 number system, is a numeral system that represents numeric values using two symbols, usually 0 and 1. More specifically, the usual base-2 system is a positional notation with a radix of 2. Owing to its straightforward implementation in digital electronic circuitry using logic gates, the binary system is used internally by all modern computers.
Now that that's cleared up....
ONLY 2 MORE DAYS FOLKS! That's right! Just two more days and it's here!
Back in the day, anyone needing barcode printing and scanning equipment for their business had few options, and many retail establishments hand-printed their own price tags and spent long hours taking inventory. But add a few years and now barcode printing is just about as easy as point-and-click, and barcode printers, such as the zebra tlp2844 thermal barcode printer are racing off the shelves so fast that not even hungry lions can catch them.
When you combine a reliable desktop printer featuring USB & optional network interfaces at an affordable price, what else would you expect?
The TLP 2844, along with a full range of products to meet your barcoding needs are available online at Barcode Discount, which is a full auto-id distributor focused on barcoding, RFID, point-of-sale equipment and labels. They sell domestically and world-wide over the internet, telephone, fax and mail. In business for over twelve years, Barcode Discount has over 2/3 of the Fortune 500, the U.S. government and thousands of small and medium sized businesses as customers.
Barcode Discount's product experts and customer service representatives have years of experience, and they are committed to providing you the easiest and most efficient shopping experience possible. All equipment is new, directly from the manufacturer.
Depend on Barcode Discount to build your business - they won't let you down!
A little over half an hour from here in the Nantahala Gorge, one of the world's most exciting roadways claws its way over the Dragon that straddles the North Carolina and Tennessee border. With 318 curves in just 11 Miles, the Tail of the Dragon is the dream road of any rider. On bright sunny days, hundreds of bikers arrive on their steeds in hopes of taming this dangerous beast.
When riding your bike, and especially when riding the dragon, it's important to have the best safety gear, such as the hjc ac-12 carbon helmet.
The new AC-12 by HJC incorporates race proven and "real world" tested features such as the Advanced Channeling Ventilation System (ACVS), and unique CAD generated shell sculpture, creating one of the most technologically advanced helmets in its class.
The AC-12 is available in Black, Dark Yellow, Matte Grey, Red, Royal Blue, Silver and White. It features Advanced Composite Material "ACM" Shell Construction and a Flow-Thru "ACVS" Advanced Channeling Ventilation System. It's Anti-Fog System with removable / washable AquaTrans® Interior is made for the sometimes misty conditions that are frequently found here in the Great Smoky Mountains. The helmet also features a Nylon Strap-Retention Band, a 3rd Generation Two-Stage Pivot / Compression Shield Closure System, and aHJ-09 Anti-Fog Face Shield. More information regarding this, and other motorcycle helmets, can be found at Bikerhiway.com, your best source for motorcycle safety gear.
The Biker Hiway webstore was created by experienced motorcycle riders, working with the best engineers, to develop, thoroughly test, and sell products that really work better than any other products. Their mission is simple: To provide the best products and service to their customers at the lowest prices possible. They take great pride in their company, their commitment to customer service and in the products they sell.
Before you attempt to slay the dragon or try to catch it by its tail, make sure you have the equipment to keep you safe. Biker Hiway has the gear, and their email newsletter will always keep you up to date with the latest tips, news and equipment.
So...I finally got around to fulfilling Roxy's tag from Roxiticus Desperate Housewives to list the 7 Songs I've been listening to recently. The following seven songs have become my personal classics, and I listen to them often.
KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU by ABBA John Lennon once referred to Knowing Me, Knowing You as "the greatest pop song ever written." Who am I to disagree?
SISTERS OF THE MOON (LIVE) by FLEETWOOD MAC From the album Tusk, this is a Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks song that I started to appreciate only a couple years ago. It has since become a staple in every CD mix I burn.
THE POWER OF GOODBYE by MADONNA From Ray of Light, the multi-Grammy winner, to me this has always been the stand-out track with Madonna's voice at its finest immediately following her vocal training for the movie Evita.
NOVEMBER by EMERSON DRIVE Clear, strong vocals, unexpected hooks, and lyrics that tap into memories and regrets of a love lost.
TAKING CHANCES by CELINE DION Celine Dion is one of my favorite vocalists. Many of her songs have a distinctive quality that almost sounds timeless yet flawed at the same time and remain interchangeable nevertheless. Taking Chances is the latest of these songs that, while mostly pure ear candy, are uplifting, hopeful and feel-good all the same.
AWAKE by JOSH GROBAN Pure, original, beautiful and made for all those in love.
INTO THE WEST by HOWARD SHORE AND ANNIE LENNOX The Oscar winning instant classic from The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Into The West is one of those songs that resonates and stays with you for a very, very long time.
Thanks for reading.
P.S. It's coming in just four days! I'm excited. Are you?
Me, The Stanley Cup, Dad, My Brother Doug, circa 1998
No father is perfect, and growing up as children and young adults, we don't know what a normal experience is growing up, we don't know what a deprived childhood is, and we don't know what a privileged childhood is. We simply know what growing up was like for us.
I grew up in a family of four boys in a very affluent community in one of the Top 5 richest suburbs of Detroit. Looking back on that childhood now, while I certainly didn't appreciate it at the time because our family had considerably less money than the other families in the neighborhood and the kids in school always had nicer clothes, went away on more exotic vacations, and always had the newest toys; my childhood was a privileged one.
There were certainly a lot of problems, most of them revolving around money and the divorce of our parents when my brothers and I were still in grade school, but life was really good: we always had a warm bed in which to sleep, great food on the table, an excellent education, good health and great medical care, and we also got to do some really cool things because of my father's position as a lead account executive at TV50 in Detroit.
My brothers and I, beginning as young children, had the privileges of attending the latest concerts, theater, art shows, movie openings and sporting events. As my father always had clients to entertain, frequently we were able to join him in the TV50 Suite at Tiger Stadium and Comerica Park, Cobo Hall, the Pontiac Silverdome and the Palace of Auburn Hills, Olympia Stadium, Joe Louis Arena, Pine Knob Music Theater, Michigan Stadium.
We had the opportunity to meet professional sports heroes, and two of my brothers were even Ball Boys for the Detroit Pistons, and my youngest brother Brad, who goes by Bubba as a gift from the Pistons, was their head ball boy when they won back-back NBA Championships. Brad even got to fly to Portland with the team and was in the locker room celebrating victory in 1989, and his photo appears with Chuck Daly, Isaiah Thomas, Joe Dumars with the NBA trophy on the back of Chuck Daly's autobiography. The picture above was taken at a TV50 Party honoring the Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup Championship in 1998 and to kick off the 1998-1999 season.
That's right, I got to touch the cup.
But you know, growing up, I never really understood how good we really had it. And although my father was not a perfect one in many ways, he did an awful lot of things right; and if I am to be honest with myself, I am in very large part the person I am today because of him. I share many of his traits, even the imperfect ones that I always criticized him for.
It's hard to appreciate the really good things in life. As the saying goes, you really never know what you've got until it's gone. Here in the United States, as we celebrate our fathers and begin to think about them on this one special day, we have collectively, as a country, lost a great one.
I think that Tim Russert has always been well-respected and loved. Nobody anticipated his untimely death yesterday at the age of 58. But I think the feeling of "shock" that he's gone is a rather universal one for Americans. In addition to all the other great things that have always been said about Tim Russert is that he was a great father.
I've been fortunate in that my father is still alive. Dad turned 76 last Saturday. No one can say how many Father's Days any one man will have, but I think it's important to realize that life is short, and it's important to recognize and to know what we all have and appreciate it before it is gone.
Dad, there were a lot of things that you did that I didn't especially like or agree with growing up, but you always made sure my brothers and I were safe, you always provided for us, and you always bailed us out in times of need. And you made possible a lot of wonderful perks for us growing up that most kids never get a chance to experience even once, but that for us were routine.
So, this is to thank you for all the things that were great and that were privileges. I'm learning to appreciate them more and more every passing day--especially these past couple weeks as the Red Wings won another Stanley Cup, and as Tim Russert has passed away.
Adding an EntreCard top dropper widget to your sidebar is very easy. Follow these steps, and if you have any issues at all, please feel free to leave a comment with your question and I'll get back to you at my earliest convenience.
STEPS TO ADDING THE TOP DROPPERS WIDGET TO YOUR SIDEBAR
1. Visit Google Gadgets to find all kinds of cool gadgets to add to your blog or website. Use sparingly, however, too many gadgets and you end up with clutter. You can browse on your own, or go to Step 2. for a direct link to the RSS Google Gadget.
3. Click the Button that is labeled: "Add to your Webpage".
4. You will end up at This Page, which allows you to customize the gadget by altering the title, the height, the width, the number of entries to show from your RSS Feed, and just about every CSS element imaginable so that you can match your EntreCard Widget colors to your blog or webpage. You'll need to spend some time here playing around with the options to get it right. Fortunately, you are able to preview the changes by clicking on the button at the bottom of your screen that says "Preview Changes".
5. Configuring your RSS Feed. The one thing that you absolutely must do to get the feed for your EntreCard Droppers is Customize this field in the Google widget. This is the "FEED URL", or the first field in the right hand column. Filling in the Feed URL for your EntreCard Top Droppers is easy. Follow these steps:
A. Go to your EntreCard Dashboard. B. Click on Statistics. C. Next to the first box showing your top droppers, click on the RSS Feed icon to the right of the box. D. The URL displayed in your browser at the top of your screen when you are seeing all 25 of your Top EntreCard Droppers on one page is your RSS Feed. E. Copy and Paste the URL in your browser into the "FEED URL" box of the configuration screen of your google widget.
6. After you have previewed your changes, and everything is set the exact way that you want it, go ahead and click the button at the bottom: "Get Code".
7. Simply Copy the Code and paste it where you want your Top Droppers Widget to appear on your sidebar. I recommend placing it directly underneath your EntreCard Widget.
That's all there is to it, again, if you need any help, feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back with you as soon as I can.
Today, we had an intense thunderstorm for about three minutes. Towards the end, it was still pouring down rain, but otherwise, the sky was clear and the ground and the trees were lit in bright sunshine as the rain fell. It was awesome, and there was one of the brightest rainbows I have ever seen immediately afterwards.
Rainbows can be observed whenever there are water drops in the air and sunlight shining from behind a person at a low altitude angle (on the ground). The most spectacular rainbow displays happen when half of the sky is still dark with draining clouds and the observer is at a spot with clear sky in the direction of the Sun. The result is a luminous rainbow that contrasts with the darkened background.
The rainbow effect is also commonly seen near waterfalls or fountains. Rainbow fringes can sometimes be seen at the edges of backlit clouds and as vertical bands in distant rain or virga. The effect can also be artificially created by dispersing water droplets into the air during a sunny day. Rarely, a moonbow, lunar rainbow or night-time rainbow, can be seen on strongly moonlit nights. As human visual perception for color is poor in low light, moonbows are often perceived to be white.
You can create your own rainbow by facing 180 degrees from the sun and spraying mist from a garden hose in front of you in a circular motion, outlining a 360 degree "rainbow".
Occasionally, a second, dimmer, and thicker secondary rainbow is seen outside the primary bow. Secondary rainbows are caused by a double reflection of sunlight inside the raindrops, and appear at an angle of 50°–53°. As a result of the second reflection, the colors of a secondary rainbow are inverted compared to the primary bow, with blue on the outside and red on the inside. The dark area of unlit sky lying between the primary and secondary bows is called Alexander's band, after Alexander of Aphrodisias who first described it.
A third, or tertiary, rainbow can be seen on rare occasions, and a few observers have reported seeing quadruple rainbows in which a dim outermost arc had a rippling and pulsating appearance. These rainbows would appear on the same side of the sky as the Sun, making them hard to spot. One type of tertiary rainbow carries with it the appearance of a secondary rainbow immediately outside the primary bow. The closely spaced outer bow has been observed to form dynamically at the same time that the outermost (tertiary) rainbow disappears. During this change, the two remaining rainbows have been observed to merge into a band of white light with a blue inner and red outer band. This particular form of doubled rainbow is not like the classic double rainbow due to both spacing of the two bows and that the two bows share identical normal color positioning before merging. With both bows, the inner color is blue and the outer color is red.
Today I am a Guest Blogger on the EntreCard Blog. The post is called Of Kudzu and the Organic Spread of EntreCard, and I recognize and give credit to many of my regular readers, guest posters, and commenters, so I hope you'll check it out, especially Bree, Matt, Mariuca, Henson, Zoe, Lady Java, Simon and Chilly!
Today, the City of Detroit Celebrates along with Hockey Fans Everywhere for Lord Stanley's Cup has been won for the 11th time by the Detroit Red Wings! With this win, Detroit, one of the Original Six teams, moves into third place all time for the most Stanley Cup wins, behind only Montreal and Toronto--two other Original Six Teams.
In many ways, this Stanley Cup Championship is about history--the glory of winning Lord Stanley's Cup, the first hockey player from Newfoundland to hoist the Stanley Cup above his head in triumph, the first European Captain in Nicklas Lidstrom to lead his team to victory in the NHL. This championship is also about Detroit's past and unique Hockey Traditions--the most unique, and odd, of them all probably is the throwing of the Octopus on the ice; and the history of old arenas such as Joe Louis Arena and the Igloo in Pittsburgh, which are the two oldest rinks in professional hockey, and are ancient by professional sports standards.
But while the history of the Stanley Cup Championships, and in Detroit in particular, is certainly an important thread in the tapestry, the others that hold it all together revolve around just One Goal.
For Dallas Drake, who began his hockey career as a Detroit Red Wing sixteen years ago and traded around the NHL and who found himself back in Detroit this year and playing for a championship, he had just one Goal--winning that elusive Stanley Cup for the 1st time. The Captain of the winning hockey team is always presented with the Stanley Cup for his victory lap around the ice, but the tradition of the handoff to the next player is also well known. The Captain of the Stanley Cup Winning team chooses a player, by whatever criteria, to be the next individual to hold the cup and to skate around the ice. That first handoff is an honor bestowed by the captain to his team mate. For Nicklas Lidstrom, the decision was easy. Dallas Drake, who started his career with the Wings, who meandered around the league, and who finally came full-circle back to the Wings and won a Stanely Cup Championship. For both Nicklas Lidstrom--who was there when Dallas Drake first arrived--and Dallas Drake, it was a special moment.
One Goal. For Sydney Crosby, the young Captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who has dreamed of the Stanley Cup and grew up idolizing many of the players he was mixing it up with in this series, his fortunes revolved around one goal. Monday night, Pittsburgh was able to win the game in part because Detroit's Defenseman Kronwall shot the puck into his own net. While Detroit overcame that deficit, Pittsburgh played its heart out through three overtime periods, battled back after Detroit took the lead, and forced a game six last night. Last night, a loose puck which Pittsburgh goaltender Fleury inadvertantly knocked into his goal was the counter-balancing of the karmic scale and gave Detroit it's lead which proved decisive. But for young Syd Crosby, having come so close to Hockey's Highest Pinnacle, he'll need to work hard over the summer and learn from this rough life lesson to become stronger, better, more focused and ultimately to achieve his goal.
One Goal. For Chris Osgood, the most unlikely starting goalie in the history of the Red Wings, this moment must be sweet vindication. In 1997, Osgood was backup goalie to Mike Vernon, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy. In 1998, Osgood was front and center. But for the cup-winning season in 2002, Osgood was no longer a Red Wing, having been replaced by Dominik Hasek. So by a strange twist of fate, Osgood was back this year and had the best season of his career along with co-starting goalie Hasek. And when Hasek performed poorly in Round I of the playoffs, Osgood got the call and was brilliant. Had Detroit won Game 5 at home, Osgood might have been the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the most valuable player of the playoffs in lieu of Henrik Zetterberg. But in Game 6, Chris did what he had to and hoisted his third Stanley Cup Trophy over his head and drank champagned out of the bowl.
One Goal. For Henrik Zetterberg, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy, the goal he prevented on a Pittsburgh 5-on-3 Power Play and the goal he almost scored shorthanded on the same Power Play in Game 5 was an MVP winning performance. Having scored the most points for Detroit in the playoff run, for his brilliant offense, for his stellar defensive play which has him up for the Selke Award as the NHL's best defensive forward along with linemate Pavel Datsyuk, and for matching up against the Penguins Sydney Crosby almost every shift, Zetterberg not only demonstrated his leadership, he put on a clinic. When Nicklas Lidstrom retires in the not too distant future, Zetterberg is a top candidate to replace him as Captain of the Red Wings.
One Goal. For Nicklas Lidstrom--the man his team mates call "The Perfect Human," he simply wants to be the best. Quiet, even-keeled, a gentleman and a master of consistency and one of the best work ethics in hockey. The hardware has stacked up. An Olympic Gold Medal for Sweden in Hockey, a Conn Smythe Trophy as the Stanley Cup Playoffs' Most Valuable Player, Five Norris Trophies as the Best Defenseman in the League (and he's a lock for his Sixth this year), Four Stanley Cup Championship Trophies, and the Captain of the Storied Detroit Red Wings. One day, there will be made-for-television movies about Nicklas Lidstrom.
One Goal. For Mike and Marion Ilitch, the founders of Little Caesar's Pizza and the owner of the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Tigers, it's excellence and a pursuit of excellence and unfailing support for the City of Detroit. They have built their businesses, and their sports teams, around solid principles and good people. In professional sports these days, you either produce as a player or you get traded somewhere else. The Detroit Red Wings, however, are built around character. They're built around they're people. If you fit with the team, if you add good chemistry to the team. If you're a good person, you can be a Detroit Red Wing. That's how role players such as Kirk Maltby and Darren McCarty have stayed with the Red Wings or come back to the Red Wings after so long. Performing and what a player brings to the ice is important for the Red Wings, but even more important is what the player brings off the ice and in the locker room.
One Goal. For the city of Detroit, long weary of its battles with negative labels imposed on it by the media and unfair one-liners tossed at it by comedians and citizens around the country almost every single day; for the city of Detroit, long weary of its struggling economy and the woes of the auto-industry; for the city of Detroit, long weary of its own internal divides and the corruption of its Mayor and city coucil, and police force a Stanley Cup Championship is a cause to celebrate and put on a parade. For the city of Detroit, a Stanley Cup Championship is a rallying cry. It's a call to unite. It's a time when five million people can all share in the glory and bask in the limelight and be happy and proud and, for just a few short-lived days, to feel like winners and forget the problems of every day life.
One Goal. For this ex-patriot Detroiter living in the Mountains of North Carolina--where few people understand hockey and look on in amusement when I wear my Steve Yzerman Sweater on Game Days--it's a connection with the hometown I haven't lived in for almost a decade and the same hometown that made me who I am. Last night, as the seconds were ticking away and the Penguins were driving on a 6 on 4 powerplay with Fluery out of the net and on the bench, my heart was beating in my ears as I screamed at the television: "Not Again!" and "No! No! NO!" And then for the final 90 seconds as I watched the Red Wings maintain their composure, but a Penguins team refusing to give up with a near miss as the puck rolled behind Osgood across the crease just in front of the goal line even as the final buzzer sounded. Those final seconds were an eternity as the possibility of Pittsburgh tying the game and another shocking loss was replaced by the boiling excitement of the win that erupted along with the Red Wings' cheers like champagne erupting out of its bottle immediately after being freed from its cork.
One Goal. For this Detroiter who has lived in the enemy territory of Columbus, Ohio and the Ohio State Buckeyes, who has lived in the cornfields of Indiana, who has lived along the banks of the Ohio River and who now lives in the shadow of the Smoky Mountains, it's a time to stand up a little straighter, it's a time to smile a little more. It's a time share in the glory and bask in the limelight and be happy and proud and, for just a few short-lived days, to feel like a winner and forget the problems of every day life.
Now this is just a theory, but Hillary Clinton has still not conceded defeat in the race for the Democratic Nomination. However, Barack Obama is expressing every confidence that the Democratic Party will be completely united come the Convention and have everyone's full backing, and he's confident that Hillary Rodham Clinton will be supporting him.
So what's in it for Hillary? Vice President? While it definitely could appeal to many as a 1-2 knockout punch and prove to be unbeatable in November, I really don't think this is the answer. Running as Obama's VP essentially obligates Hillary to run for President in 8 years at the age of 68 to fulfill her ambitions, whatever they are, and her ambitions are far higher than the Vice-Presidency. If Hillary still wants to be President, she has two options: 1. Obama serves out two terms as President of the US and runs for election at the age of 68 in 2016. 2. Obama loses in November, Hillary is not on the ticket, and she runs for President in 2012. Personally, I don't think Hillary is the gambling type with her aspirations, her ambitions, and her ultimate legacy.
So what would satisfy Hillary Clinton enough right now to throw all her support behind Barack Obama in the race for the White House? A seat for life on the U.S. Supreme Court.
That's right folks. Hillary has the credentials. She has her Yale Law Degree, her practice with the top law firm in Arkansas, her participation during the Nixon impeachment hearings, and two terms as a United States Senator, and a most unique perspective on the White House and Separation of Powers and constitutional issues as they pertain to the executive branch as a former First Lady.
I'm certain that as soon as Barack Obama promises Hillary he would nominate her for the Supreme Court, there will be a press conference where Hillary effusively praises Barack Obama and endorses him as the next President of the United States.
During the month of June, your chances of observing meteors are high. After viewing these pictures of meteors captured on film, scroll down for helpful observation hints.
June 3Tau Herculids: Radiant--near Corona Borealis. About a month long, 15 per hour max, most quite faint.
Observing: The duration of this shower extends from May 19 to June 19. Maximum occurs on June 9, from an average radiant of α=236°, δ=+41°, with the average magnitude then being about 4.
History: The discovery of this meteor shower occurred as a result of the discovery of its parent comet. The latter discovery occurred on May 2, 1930, when plates exposed by A. Schwassmann and A. A. Wachmann (Hamburg ObservatoryBergedorf, Germany), during a regular minor planet survey, revealed the diffuse image of a comet. The saga of the Tau Herculids unfolded a short time later at Kwasan Observatory (Kyoto, Japan).
June 5 Scorpiids: Radiant--near Ophiuchus. 20 per hour with some fireballs.
June 7 Arietids: About 30 per hour. Slow moving with some fireballs.
June 13 Ophiuchids: Radiant-- near Scorpius. Only 3 per hour but fast moving bolides are common. Duration--25 days
June 16 June Lyrids: Radiant--near Vega. Another part of May Lyrid meteor stream. 15 per hour, faint blue meteors.
June 20 Ophiuchids: Radiant-- near Sagitarrius. Rate varies from 8 to 20, with occaisionally many more.
June 30 June Draconids: Radiant--near handle of Big Dipper. Rate varies from 10 to 100 per hour. Pons-Winnecke Comet is parent.
What a game last night! After almost 6 full hockey periods, or two games worth, the Pittsburgh Penguins scored a sudden death triple overtime goal to win Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs 4-3.
By every statistical way you measure a hockey game, it was a dominating game by the Red Wings, but when you make the awkward mistake of shooting the puck into your own goal and giving the opposing team a 2-0 lead to start the game, sometimes mistakes like that are hard to overcome.
Detroit helped Pittsburgh last night. The Red Wings won't be helping the Penguins Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.
I don't know about you, but I'm going back to bed.
With the price of gasoline rising this summer, many families are opting to host more parties at home rather than hit the road and travel. But just because you might not be traveling as much this summer, doesn’t mean your parties have to be ordinary. I was recently reminded that Costumes and Party Themes can liven up any party and create experiences just as memorable as that cross-country road trip.
This summer’s movie releases offer great opportunities for Theme Parties. July 18th sees the release of the next Batman movie: The Dark Knight. So why not plan a Batman-themed event? You can find Adult and Kid's costumes online, including Batman Costumes perfect to wear out to the movie and then back to the Bat Cave for some Bat Entertainment your family and friends will never forget.
I’ll post our party pictures here later this summer. I can’t wait to see how creative Costumes will inspire my friends to be.
Tonight is Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals. The Detroit Red Wings hold a commanding 3-1 series lead and have an outstanding chance to close-out the championships on home ice. Below are a few images to help set the proper tone for what may be the happiest night in Detroit in a very long time.
More than a Gladiator, Chris Osgood is...GOAL DENYER!
Game 4: Detroit 2, Pittsburgh 1
Pirates of the Great Lakes
Despair.Com Always Knows Just the Right Thing to Say
In Hockeytown, the Octopus is Never Very Far Away
The Red Wings are Loved Everywhere, Even in Pittsburgh
Yosemite Valley inside Yosemite National Park is one of my favorite sites on Earth. Every time I go out to California I visit Yosemite, and frequently, those visits are accompanied by a whitewater rafting trip on either the Merced or Tuolumne Rivers, which both originate high in the mountains of Yosemite. The spring Header Graphic of my blog actualy combines shots from three rivers. Two of which are the Tuolumne and the Merced. We all need sites like Yosemite to get away, both offline and online.
I'm still looking for the perfect online site however. While my blog resides on blogger, I've been considering for some time going all out and creating a full-fledged website. What's been holding me back is finding the perfect online site.
Fortunately, I'm close to making a decision on web hosting, thanks to Web Hosting Choice. Web Hosting Choice is a free research guide to help users choose the right web host for their personal or business site. Their focus is on providing a simple, easy to follow web site to help users choose the best web hosting plan most suitable for a small site or for a large e-commerce web site. The web hosting sites, which were rated highest in the industry, are listed on their home page in a format that makes comparison shopping easy, and are rated based on affordability, reliability, uptime and tech support. You'll undoubtedly recognize many of the web hosting sites listed on this page.
I've found my Yosemite. Now I'm close to finding the perfect site online. I have no doubt that this site will help you find yours.
Maybe it had something to do with the Octopus that was thrown onto the Igloo Ice just prior to the opening face-off. Maybe it had something to do three-time Stanley Cup winner Darren McCarty back in the game while Tomas Holmstrom sat out with injury. Maybe it had something to do with the Swedish 5 on 3 Penalty-Killing Trio of Lidstrom, Zetterberg and Kronwall. And just maybe it had something to do with the continuing exceptional performance of Chris Osgood who made great save after great save in Detroit's 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
But whatever it had to do with, it felt great watching the game and Detroiters all over the world are standing tall this morning as Detroit takes a commanding 3-1 lead going into Game 5 Monday night at Joe Louis Arena, where the Red Wings have the opportunity to win their 4th Stanley Cup Championship in 11 years, and the first with Nicklas Lidstrom as Captain.
Red Wings Captain Nicklas Lidstrom Talks About Chasing the Dream
Lidstrom is almost a lock for his 6th Norris Trophy, which is awarded to the NHL's best defenseman. But Chris Osgood seems to be a lock for the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the Stanley Cup Playoff's Most Valuable Player. Never did this seem more of a certainty than last night in Pittsburgh.
Osgood provided his best game of the playoffs. He made two brilliant point-blank saves on superstar Sidney Crosby, another two on Pascal Dupuis and stopped Marian Hossa and Evgeni Malkin on power-play attempts. "Oz, unbelievable," three-time Cup champion Kris Draper said. "His composure, he just seems to continue to make big saves at key times."
"We worked hard," Draper said. "We earned this. We won in a tough building. We'll take it all in and get ready for the biggest game of the year for our team."
Chris Osgood hoisting the Stanley Cup Trophy in 1998
But the game didn't start out all rosy for Detroit. A hamstring injury kept out first-line winger and power play specialist Tomas Holmstrom, and his announced absence was greeted with wild cheering by fans. At least one fan, though, must have been on the Wings' side, for someone with enough wile to escape notice had sneaked in an octopus and managed to hurl it onto the ice just as the anthem ended, just as is done at Joe Louis Arena.
If that gave the Wings a lift, it didn't last long. Dallas Drake's decision to run into Ryan Whitney from behind gave the Penguins an early power play and soon after the coveted first goal. Hossa had the puck by the right side of the net and faked as if to go behind only to curl his stick back and find a gap Osgood didn't close, giving Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 2:51 of the first period. A shift later, Hossa's shot clanked off the crossbar and out front.
The goal seemed to unsettle the Wings, who played several bad shifts afterward. The Penguins scored first and were backed by an intimidating 17-game winning streak at home, but the Wings just kept going back to their blueprint and kept driving into the Penguins' zone.
Nicklas Lidstrom, within a victory of becoming the first European born-and-bred player to captain a team to the Stanley Cup, scored the tying goal and later helped kill 86 seconds worth of a two-man power play during the third period. "It's always a good thing when he winds up with that slap shot with his head up like not too many other guys in the league," Draper said. "That was a big goal. The timing was as important as anything."
Detroit's Hudler scored 2:26 into the third period after Pittsburgh forward Gary Roberts turned the puck over in Pittsburgh's zone. Brad Stuart made a heads-up play to keep the puck in the zone and sent it toward the net. Darren Helm hit Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks Orpik to keep him from getting the puck and was able to forward the puck to Hudler, who picked it up and snapped a backhander between Marc-Andre Fleury's right elbow and the near post, giving the Wings their first lead since Game 2.
"Stuie kept it in the zone and Helm was back-checking and he lifted his stick, so I turned around before the puck came to me and I put it on the net, tried to higher," Hudler said. "It's was kind of lucky, but we'll take it."
Lively skating and puck handling were interspersed with hostile scrums and between-whistles stare-downs and big hits, with Andreas Lilja crashing Maxime Talbot into the boards and Roberts crunching Darren McCarty into the glass as the chippiness of the series grew.
The Wings' great strengths throughout the playoffs have been resilience and patience, a willingness to keep plugging away and going to their depth. Saturday it was Hudler, a fourth-line winger and power-play guy, one of the smallest men on the team, who came through with a huge goal, sending the Penguins reeling and rolling the Wings along toward hockey's ultimate prize.
Perhaps we'll see that prize hoisted high, Monday night in Detroit.
Over the last few months, I have participated in discussions with other bloggers concerning the price of gas, the oil industry, and the hit we are all taking financially in our sluggish economy. My friend Bree, over at Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, who by the way is celebrating her 15,000th visitor and 375th post today, has been participating with Pay Per Post for sometime and has strongly recommended it to me as a way to help make ends meet.
Today I decided to start blogging for dollars and getting paid for some of my posting. Pay Per Post blogging will consist of a series of blog reviews on products or media or services that I choose to blog about. The editorial content and the entertainment value of these posts will always be 100% my own and in keeping with the themes of MTMD.
As you well know if you have read my blog on any regular basis, I have zealously guarded against the temptation of covering my blog with paid ads. I've kept blog promotions to a minimum and focused on my own orginal content. I think Pay Per Post blog reviews represents the best of both worlds. It will allow me to earn some extra dollars while at the same time choosing content that might be of interest to my readers.
Every dollar I earn going forward from Pay Per Post will also be used for a great cause--the purchase of a new Road Bike and cycling equipment and clothing. Not only will this bike save me money at the pump, it will also help me stay in shape. Let's face it, I'm not getting any younger and I find I have to work harder and harder every passing week to stay in shape.
Today marks the beginning of a new journey in blogging for me and a new way to stay in shape, but I promise, the editorial content of MTMD will always be 100% mine, and I will never blog for money about any product or service or media event that I don't personally believe in or feel will be of interest to you, my readers.
From time to time I will highlight issues that are important to me in various posts on this blog. If you believe they are important also and want to take action,
then this is the place to start. Type in your zip code, find your local officials, and let them know how you feel and urge them to take action. Thanks for getting involved.
If you're a part of the food or restaurant industry, or if you just love food and drink: FOH BOH is the place to be. It's the Professional Social Networking Site for anyone associated with the restaurant industry or who is a lover of food. Meet professionals in the industry. Engage. Interact. Network and Learn. Feed your Passion for Food Here. JOIN NOW.
This section will be an information link resource for useful sites about and concerning travel within all fifty states. My motivation for creating this section stems completely from my experiences and lack of preparedness for travel in Alaska in winter, even though I spent many hours researching all possible contingencies. It is obviously a work in progress, so please check back often, and if you have any questions or if there is anything that I can do to help you in this regard, please don't hesitate to email me or post a comment.
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