Today would have been my father’s 92nd birthday.
I am grateful for him everyday.
“Furthermore, the more beautiful and full the remembrances, the more difficult the separation. But gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as a thorn, but as a precious gift deep within, a hidden treasure of which one can always be certain.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
9.4.19
I never read Toni Morrison. I’m not sure why, probably anxiety over how I would respond.
I loved this piece from President Obama, especially this:
“Time is no match for Toni Morrison. In her writing, she sometimes toyed with it, warping and creasing it, bending it to her masterful will. In her life’s story, too, she treated time nontraditionally. … a fusion of the African American story within the American story. Toni Morrison was a national treasure. Her writing was not just beautiful but meaningful—a challenge to our conscience and a call to greater empathy. She was as good a storyteller, as captivating, in person as she was on the page. … we know that her stories—that our stories—will always be with us, and with those who come after, and on and on, for all time.”
Mary Oliver, Poetry, RIP, NPR: I will miss her words.
Much-loved poet Mary Oliver died Thursday of lymphoma, at her home in Florida. She was 83. Oliver won many awards for her poems, which often explore the link between nature and the spiritual world; she also won a legion of loyal readers who found both solace and joy in her work.
Oliver got a lot of her ideas for poems during long walks — a habit she developed as a kid growing up in rural Ohio. It was not a happy childhood: She said she was sexually abused and suffered from parental neglect. But as she told NPR in 2012, she found refuge in two great passions that lasted her entire life.
She said, “The two things I loved from a very early age were the natural world and dead poets, [who] were my pals when I was a kid.”
Source: Mary Oliver, Who Believed Poetry ‘Mustn’t Be Fancy,’ Dies At 83 : NPR, https://www.npr.org/2019/01/17/577380646/beloved-poet-mary-oliver-who-believed-poetry-mustn-t-be-fancy-dies-at-83
I have loved reading friends’ favorite Mary Oliver poems that many have posted on Facebook since her death was announced 1.17.
Here is a favorite of mine:
“Morning Poem”:
Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange
sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again
and fasten themselves to the high branches—
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands
of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails
for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it
the thorn
that is heavier than lead—
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging—
there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted—
each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,
whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.
And a few from others …
“The Summer Day”:
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
“Dog Songs”:
You may not agree, you may not care, but
if you are holding this book you should know that of all the sights I love in this world — and there are plenty — very near the top of the list is this one: dogs without leashes.
“The Journey”:
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.
Painting by Leonid Afremov
via Holland UCC
Meaning of Joy, Katelyn Ohashi, Steph Curry, gymnastics:
An amazing college gymnastics performance by @katelyn_ohashi becomes a viral video because it radiates human joy, writes @jasongay.
This is going to sound pretentious, but whatever: I think Ohashi’s routine is a radiant expression of what it means for a human being to be very, very good at something—and to want to share that with everyone. She projects a confidence that only great performers project, whether Olympic champions or concert pianists, that every eye is upon them. Instead of shirking from that, instead of getting rattled, Ohashi rushes toward the moment. The moment becomes her.
These instances are rare, but they’re really the reason why we watch sports, aren’t they? Sure, we come up with all kinds of rationaliza-tions for our sports obsessions—tradition, regional loyalties, very bad bets on the Minnesota Vikings—but what truly keeps the audience coming back is the chance that every once in a while, you’ll see a radiant expression of human greatness and joy. An Odell Beckham Jr. one-handed grab. A Patrick Mahomes sidearm touchdown pass. Mikaela Shiffrin crushing a turn in the giant slalom (Shiffrin’s absolutely bananas World Cup season is the most underappreciated sports story of the moment.) A Roger Federer one-handed backhand down the line. Pretty much everything Steph Curry does. Ditto Simone Biles.
Student teacher relationships, emotional intelligence: I am forever grateful for teachers I had at E. Rivers Elementary School, Westminster, Davidson College and UGA Law. Those I had relationships stand out. Those I loved I will never forget.
“That unplanned moment illustrated for me the connection between emotional relationships and learning. We used to have this top-down notion that reason was on a teeter-totter with emotion. If you wanted to be rational and think well, you had to suppress those primitive gremlins, the emotions. Teaching consisted of dispassionately downloading knowledge into students’ brains.
…
Then work by cognitive scientists like Antonio Damasio showed us that emotion is not the opposite of reason; it’s essential to reason. Emotions assign value to things. If you don’t know what you want, you can’t make good decisions.”
Source: Opinion | Students Learn From People They Love – The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/opinion/learning-emotion-education.html
The only constant in our lives is change. But if we are growing in wisdom and empathy, we can take the long view. We’ve lived through seven decades of our country’s history, from Truman to Trump. I knew my great-grandmother, and if I live long enough, will meet my great-grandchildren. I will have known seven generations of family. I see where I belong in a long line of Scotch-Irish ancestors. I am alive today only because thousands of generations of resilient homo sapiens managed to procreate and raise their children. I come from, we all come from, resilient stock, or we wouldn’t be here.
By the time we are 70, we have all had more tragedy and more bliss in our lives than we could have foreseen. If we are wise, we realize that we are but one drop in the great river we call life and that it has been a miracle and a privilege to be alive.
Silence is the sanctuary for God’s presence residing in the depths and recesses of our heart. In the solitude and quiet, we seek and discover the love of Christ dwelling with us. In the silence, we become still to hear God speaking life to us. Be still and know I am God.
…
The silence lifts us beyond our internal and external thoughts, and we discover the inward voice of God telling us that we are loved.You and I are daughters, sons and joint heirs of His divine kingdom. Silence is the sanctuary for God’s presence where we discover His unconditional love and never-ending hope for our life.
This week, the Smithsonian unveiled a portrait of Henrietta Lacks, the black tobacco farmer who ended up changing the world. Her cells have allowed for advances in cancer treatment, AIDS research, cloning, stem-cell studies and so much more. They traveled to the moon to test the effects of zero gravity, and scientists have sold and purchased them by the billions.
“Who Will Write Our History“, Holocaust, Auerbach:
Nobility is a luxury for people imprisoned in a way station to annihilation, and the film does include expressions of futility, despair, and outrage at the conduct of fellow Jews. Auerbach worked in a soup kitchen that, some argued, just postponed rather than averted starvation. Another point of debate the archive documents is the proper attitude toward others’s suffering: Is callousness an expression of weakness or strength?
The writings that were buried under the ghetto, soon to be burned to the ground by German troops, offer as many viewpoints as the people who contributed their words to the project. Together, though, they constitute what one historian calls “one great accusation.”
Source: Review: ‘Who Will Write Our History’ Is A Tale Of Survival : NPR, https://www.npr.org/2019/01/17/685164331/who-will-write-our-history-documenting-those-who-documented-the-warsaw-ghetto
Queen Victoria, History Extra, funerals: Interesting if you enjoy history …
When Queen Victoria died at the age of 81 on 22 January 1901, it took her family, court and subjects by surprise – very few had been able to contemplate the mortality of the monarch who had ruled over Britain and its empire for almost 64 years. Her death marked the end of the Victorian era. Here, Stewart Richards considers Queen Victoria’s final moments, the chaotic preparations for her state funeral on 2 February 1901, and the secret items placed inside her coffin…
Source: The bizarre funeral of Queen Victoria: how, when and where did she die? – History Extra, https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/queen-victoria-death-funeral-mask-cause/
They say good things come to those who wait. But if you’ve been waiting to get a glimpse inside Westminster Abbey’s old triforium, you’ve missed a hefty chunk of human history in the process: 700 years, in fact! Luckily, your wait is over, as the hidden gallery opened for public viewing this summer – for the first time since it was built, way back in the 13th century. Patience is a virtue, you know…
Photo: @theattinghamtrust
For many years, the triforium was essentially Westminster’s attic, used as storage space or as a spillover viewing gallery for coronations (one ticket, found during the renovation and now part of the display, was from the 1702 coronation of Queen Anne). It even served as the BBC’s outpost during Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, as Richard Dimbleby narrated the affair to a captive TV audience.
A wild mustang known around the world for being featured prominently in Outer Banks tourism materials has died at the height of his stardom.
The Corolla Wild Horse Fund announced Monday that Roamer, a 15-year-old stallion, died Saturday, just 24 hours after being diagnosed with a tear in his GI tract that led to sepsis.
“People out there know who Roamer is, but may not realize it,” said Meg Puckett, the herd manager for the Corolla wild horses.
“He was sort of a legend, on the cover of the tourism fliers and even on billboards. He was an ambassador for the horses.”
Roamer was among the oldest of the herd of nearly 100 horses, and also one of those who could not be easily tamed. He frequently refused to stay fenced into the area reserved for wild horses, and took off to wander among the tourists, Puckett says.
Herd managers eventually had to relocate him to a rehabilitation site operated by the Corolla Wild Horse Fund, out of fear he would be hit by an off-road vehicle.
“That’s how he got his name, Roamer,” Puckett said. “He eventually became part of our ‘Meet a Mustang’ program (at the rehab site), which lets people have a more intimate experience meeting the horses.”
j. peterman catalog, John Peterman: what a description! “the gentleman-retailer famously satirized on “Seinfeld,” talks adventuresome fashion, ‘Downton Abbey,” and the value of learning how to ride” … and here is a link to the catalog: https://www.jpeterman.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAsoviBRAoEiwATm8OYDKBL93geNPsO-SZCHPCFSjOdTKDBtrhQNs6IzQKbW8iLOGVkjXuWBoCsRAQAvD_BwE
He has visited at least 80 countries, and when John Peterman says “visited,” he means it. “That’s not just stopping at the airport to change planes,” said the founder of J. Peterman Co., the clothing company that’s acquired cult status due to its hand-illustrated catalog and fancifully narrative product descriptions that often reference far-flung places. At 77, Mr. Peterman still regularly sets off from his Lexington, Ky., home to destinations like Paris and Buenos Aires. “I’m going out and looking for inspiration,” he explained. He insists that if you want to find the proper cut of a kilt, you must tramp around Scotland to find it yourself. Each J. Peterman item begins with a journey.
Source: Remember the J.Peterman Catalog? It’s Still Going Strong and So Is Mr. Peterman, https://www.wsj.com/articles/remember-the-j-peterman-catalog-its-still-going-strong-and-so-is-mr-peterman-11547569560?emailToken=cb5b9d341bc1b8bfb327c13eefd6e907J8TZSiLglM76h3xPZMtnb4IkNrSSHwU05gCkgRCZTCwwoQD12x7zIQ9+byovazWueSq778WhBhr7dfnodqaNC7CpbIZS7hi/1GvtpAxsjm07yWgpm8M93L8ghFn/W/OrG54XYfL0B9VGv6LMrMZRAQ%3D%3D&reflink=article_email_share
Ali’s widow Lonnie Ali called the champion a “global citizen,” according to the release, but added “he never forgot the city that gave him his start. It is a fitting testament to his legacy.”
While the airport’s name will change, its current three-letter International Air Transport Association (IATA) code — SDF — won’t change.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/louisville-international-airport-renamed-muhammad-ali-vote-today-2019-01-16/
News that my old town, Louisville, is renaming its airport for Muhammad Ali reminds me of an old story. Flight attendant tells the champ he must buckle his seat belt, to which he says, “Superman don’t need a seat belt.” Flight attendant says, “Superman don’t need a plane” Champ buckles up.
Quotes: Besides the poetry quotes, I pondered these this week …
“Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect. Every advance into knowledge opens new prospects, and produces new incitements to further progress.”
— Samuel Johnson, Rambler
“It was on a bright day of midwinter, in New York. The little girl who eventually became me, but as yet was neither me nor anybody else in particular, but merely a soft anonymous morsel of humanity—this little girl, who bore my name, was going for a walk with her father. The episode is literally the first thing I can remember about her, and therefore I date the birth of her identity from that day.”
– Edith Wharton, A Backward Glance
“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.”
― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
“Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”
— William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
“Heaven have mercy on us all – Presbyterians and Pagans alike – for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending.”
-Herman Melville – from “Moby Dick”
God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.
– Martin Luther
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/martin_luther_140721
In the vast abyss before time, self
is not, and soul commingles
with mist, and rock, and light. In time,
soul brings the misty self to be.
Then slow time hardens self to stone
while ever lightening the soul,
till soul can loose its hold of self
and both are free and can return
to vastness and dissolve in light,
the long light after time.
-Ursula K. Le Guin, HOW IT SEEMS TO ME
1.17.19 I often don’t agree with “God,” but I frequently laugh.
1.18.19
LOL, dog employee of the month:
This is the story about a distribution sales manager who works from home. Michael Reeg from Georgia has a dog Meeka which he considers as a real asset. He considers the dog as a best friend because it doesn’t allow him to feel lonely during work hours. The dog has in a way eased the transition of Michael Reeg to the telecommuting. Meeka is quite punctual. She turns up to the work regardless the presence of Michael. She goes there like every model employee would do for his employer. Meeka is quite enthusiastic for the work, when she finds the door of the office shut, she doesn’t leave for taking a rest. Instead she prefers to sit outside the door. Michael Reeg was interviewed by The Dodo. He said that transitioning to home based work was not an easy thing. He said that it was quiet and devoid of excitement. Thus, according to him, the dog helped him cover that journey.
Source: Man who works from home keeps naming his dog employee of the month, https://www.talkofweb.com/man-who-works-from-home-keeps-naming-his-dog-employee-of-the-month/
Several close friends have lost a parent this week. It also happens that my mother and I were sitting at the Varsity talking about heaven on Thursday. She asked me what I thought heaven was.
I think these words from The Book of Common Prayer describe it well: “the land of light and joy, in the fellowship of your saints.”
Wishing I could be with you, Joni and the entire Seehorn/Trobich family. And thinking of you, Ward.
“Solvitur Ambulando” – It is solved by walkng, 2016 Labyrinth Walks (Walk 5/40), Almetto Howie Alexander labyrinth – McCrorey YMCA/Charlotte NC, Valentine’s Day: I walked very early at the McCrorey YMCA. John volunteered last night at Room in the Inn at the Y, so I joined him early for a cold early morning walk. This is a nice labyrinth and I enjoy it every time I come. I always find something new in the afro-centric themed art surrounding the classical Chartres labyrinth. And of course I found a heart! Happy Valentine’s Day!
FPC-Charlotte, PW February 2016 Devotional:
What’s love got to do with it?
February is always an interesting month to me. There is Valentine’s Day and usually the season of Lent begins at some point, this year it is early, February 10. So what does love have to do with it?
In a recent editorial by New York Times editor David Brooks, Mr. Brooks states:
The art critic Frederick Turner wrote that beauty “is the highest integrative level of understanding and the most comprehensive capacity for effective action. It enables us to go with, rather than against, the deepest tendency or theme of the universe.” By this philosophy, beauty incites spiritual longing.
Today the word eros refers to sex, but to the Greeks it meant the fervent desire to reach excellence and deepen the voyage of life. This eros is a powerful longing. Whenever you see people doing art, whether they are amateurs at a swing dance class or a professional painter, you invariably see them trying to get better. “I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart,” Vincent van Gogh wrote.
Some people call eros the fierce longing for truth. “Making your unknown known is the important thing,” Georgia O’Keeffe wrote. Mathematicians talk about their solutions in aesthetic terms, as beautiful or elegant.
Others describe eros as a more spiritual or religious longing. They note that beauty is numinous and fleeting, a passing experience that enlarges the soul and gives us a glimpse of the sacred.
…
The shift to post-humanism has left the world beauty-poor and meaning-deprived. It’s not so much that we need more artists and bigger audiences, though that would be nice. It’s that we accidentally abandoned a worldview that showed how art can be used to cultivate the fullest inner life. We left behind an ethos that reminded people of the links between the beautiful, the true and the good — the way pleasure and love can lead to nobility.
Source: When Beauty Strikes – The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/15/opinion/when-beauty-strikes.html?ribbon-ad-idx=3&rref=collection/column/david-brooks&module=Ribbon&version=context®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=David%20Brooks&pgtype=article
In Matthew 22, we find the THE Greatest Commandment:
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’c 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Over the past few months, we have looked at various gifts or fruits of the spirit as set forth in Galatians 5:22-25. And the first listed is LOVE.
Do each of these uses of love mean the same thing? We seek love to find truth and to enlarge our soul and give us a glimpse of the sacred, we are commanded by Jesus to love, and we are gifted love by the Spirit.
So I suggest that during February and continuing throughout Lent, you focus on love. Instead of giving up something for Lent, give love and take up a spiritual practice where you focus on God’s love. I have walked local labyrinths for the past 5 years as my Lenten practice. Try something different: pray daily, try centered prayer or meditation daily, tour a local church daily or walk a labyrinth.
Let us pray: Lord, let each of us encounter Jesus in our everyday lives and let us seek love, experience love and share love. Guide us to do as you command: to love you, Lord, with all our hearts and with all our souls and with all our minds. Amen.
Dennard Teague
February 2016
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, RIP:
Scalia’s death has far-reaching implications for the Supreme Court and a round of major cases the justices are set to decide this summer, including Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, which challenges the university’s affirmative action policy, plus a case that contests Obama’s immigration policy and another that reexamines the meaning of “one person, one vote,” said former U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez.
Source: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia found dead at West Texas ranch – SFGate
Scalia-Ginsburg friendship, opposing ideologies, CNNPolitics.com: Several people in the media and social media have talked accused Justice Scalia of being misogynist, racist, elitist, etc. But does anyone believe that Justice Ginsberg could think such things and be such a good friend? Why can people no longer respect those they differ with, even if with respect to fundamental issues.
During a joint appearance with the woman he also has called his “best buddy” on the bench, Scalia said, “Why don’t you call us the odd couple?” “What’s not to like?” Scalia joked at the event hosted by the Smithsonian Associates. “Except her views on the law, of course.” The two justices and their families vacationed together. There was a trip to Europe where Ginsburg went parasailing, leaving Scalia on the ground to admire her courage but at the same time worry she might just float away.
Source: Scalia-Ginsburg friendship bridged opposing ideologies – CNNPolitics.com
It’s easy to mourn the lack of civility in contemporary American politics; politicians on both sides talk glowingly about the time when Ronald Reagan could invite Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neill to the White House for a drink to work out a conflict. It’s just as easy to say that civility is for people who don’t have the courage of their convictions — that if people genuinely disagree about what is best for America, they shouldn’t have to put that aside for the sake of small talk. What makes Ginsburg’s statement remarkable is that it shows how superficial both sides of the civility argument are. The respect that Ginsburg’s statement shows for Scalia’s intellect — that she could trust him to point out the flaws in her arguments — also reveals a respect for her own, to know the difference between a genuine agreement of principle and an error that needed to be corrected. But more importantly, the statement shows that it’s okay for people in politics to spend time cultivating other interests — like opera — and that those can be a genuine basis for friendship in their own right. Arguably, that’s easier for appointed judges than it is for elected officials. It’s still rare. And it’s still worth celebrating. It’s not just atypical in contemporary American politics for people to be both ideological adversaries and close personal friends. It’s atypical for contemporary American political figures to even be close personal friends with each other. Justices Scalia and Ginsburg showed just how much everyone else was missing. That won’t be as significant to Scalia’s legacy as his jurisprudence, but maybe it should.
Source: Read Justice Ginsburg’s moving tribute to her “best buddy” Justice Scalia – Vox
Sri Srinivasan, Supreme Court justice in the making: So who is next?
From his post feet away from the nine justices March 27, Srikanth Srinivasan (SREE-kont SREE-nee-vah-sun) calmly explained what Roberts called a “totally unprecedented” situation. Along the way, the mathematics professor’s son sprinkled in references to numerators, denominators and algorithms, the statutes 28 U.S.C. 530(d) and 28 U.S.C. 1254, and the precedents established by INS v.Chadha, United States v. Lovett and Turner Broadcasting v. FCC. Without notes. It was just the latest chapter in a stellar legal career that has taken the 46-year-old litigator known as “Sri” to a seat on the nation’s second most powerful court — and given him instant buzz as a potential Supreme Court justice himself. The Senate unanimously confirmed Srinivasan on Thursday as the first new judge since 2006 on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The vote was 97-0.
Source: Sri Srinivasan: Supreme Court justice in the making?
Biscuits: A Love Story, Garden and Gun: I love biscuits so I thought this was a fun Valentine Day story.
lent a hand. “Before he did the last fold, I’d punch the dough,” she says. “I’d leave a fist mark in it. Then I’d always claim that the biscuits turned out right just because I punched them.” He always saved a biscuit for her, and she joked that she’d marry him if he kept it up. Ten years later, she made good on that promise. They’ve been married for three months. She still punches the dough before he folds it, but she lets him do the rest of the work. “He makes them so well there’s no point,” she says. But she doesn’t agree with him on everything. She likes her biscuits with butter, and he prefers his with sausage and grape jelly.
Virtual Tour, Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, Open Culture: Bewildering is right! I saw it at the Prado. I would love to know what he was thinking ….
Art historians have argued about the meaning of The Garden of Earthly Delights—Hieronymus Bosch’s enormously sized, lavishly detailed, and compellingly grotesque late 14th- or early 15th-century triptych—more or less since the painter’s death. What does it really say about the appearance and fall of man on Earth that it seems to depict? How seriously or ironically does it say it? Does it offer us a warning against temptation, or a celebration of temptation? Does it take a religious or anti-religious stance? And what’s with all those creepy animals and bizarre pseudo-sex acts? “In spite of all the ingenious, erudite and in part extremely useful research devoted to the task,” said scholar Erwin Panofsky, “I cannot help feeling that the real secret of his magnificent nightmares and daydreams has still to be disclosed.”
Dr. Max Polley, RIP, obituary, Davidson College: Max, the Axe!
And I am especially grateful for the phrasing Vance Polley used in remembering his father’s passions for his community, his college, his church, his beloved theatrical stage: “He wasn’t just passionate about things he cared about. He was passionate about lifting up things we should all care about.”
Thank you, Max, for sharing your “place of seeing.”
via Max Polley: A Passion for Things We Should All Care About.
kith/kin, Koko, sociology: My son wrote a college paper on Koko … Does Koko have “selfhood?”
Legendary comedian Robin Williams meets the most famous gorilla in the world, Koko, who is fluent in American sign language. Hilariously, Koko and Williams have an epic tickle fight just shortly after meeting one another.
via Robin Williams has a tickle fight with Gorilla. [VIDEO].
Lent, Praying the Parables, Maren Tirabassi:
Praying the parables – March 31,2014
Matthew 25: 31-33
God, be praised for this season
of the kidding of goats –
my new friend’s Nigerian dwarf kid,
my cousin’s
Tennessee fainting goats —
the vulnerable joy
in newborn sweet slickness,
the more-than-a-metaphor
tender freshening of does.
God, make us careful in our
glib recitation of parables –
for you taught love,
not division
not how to judge ourselves or others —
least of all the breech-born kid,
just saved,
bloody, wet and eyes wide open
in your loving hands.
Amen
via Maren Tirabassi.
Atlantic 10’s postseason, Davidson basketball, The Davidsonian – Davidson College: Next year …
Dayton’s success caused Krzyzewski’s criticism to ring hollow, especially since Coach K and his Blue Devils stumbled out of the gate against 14-seed Mercer in the tournament’s biggest upset. Yet aside from the Flyers’ out-of-the-blue tournament run, the conference as a whole was shaky at best through the tournament’s first weekend. Were it not for Tyler Lewis’s jumper rimming out at the buzzer against Saint Louis, the A-10 would have seen five of its six teams bow out in the Round of 64. Certainly the Atlantic 10 will field steep competition for the Davidson men’s and women’s basketball squads next year. But in light of this year’s flimsy performance, the conference will just as certainly receive fewer bids next time around, adding to the Wildcats’ difficult task of earning at-large bids in future seasons.
via Evaluating the Atlantic 10’s postseason – Sports – The Davidsonian – Davidson College.
96.9 NASH FM, LOL, snarly: 
via 96.9 NASH FM.
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, A Stroke Leads a Brain Scientist to a New Spirituality – NYTimes.com:
Her desire to teach others about nirvana, Dr. Taylor said, strongly motivated her to squeeze her spirit back into her body and to get well.
This story is not typical of stroke victims. Left-brain injuries don’t necessarily lead to blissful enlightenment; people sometimes sink into a helplessly moody state: their emotions run riot. Dr. Taylor was also helped because her left hemisphere was not destroyed, and that probably explains how she was able to recover fully.
Today, she says, she is a new person, one who “can step into the consciousness of my right hemisphere” on command and be “one with all that is.”
To her it is not faith, but science. She brings a deep personal understanding to something she long studied: that the two lobes of the brain have very different personalities. Generally, the left brain gives us context, ego, time, logic. The right brain gives us creativity and empathy. For most English-speakers, the left brain, which processes language, is dominant. Dr. Taylor’s insight is that it doesn’t have to be so.
Her message, that people can choose to live a more peaceful, spiritual life by sidestepping their left brain, has resonated widely.
via A Stroke Leads a Brain Scientist to a New Spirituality – NYTimes.com.
Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy: I loved re-reading classics from my childhood!
Adult Read: Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy was way ahead of its time. It deals with difference in class: Harriet is upper-middle-class, whereas her best friend has an absent mother and an absent-minded father, and knows how to pay bills and balance a budget at the age of 11. Fitzhugh has Harriet go to a therapist long before this was the thing to do with “problem children.” The issue of privacy—which is on everyone’s minds recently—comes to the forefront when Harriet’s secret notebook is passed around between all the kids in her class who then stop talking to her because she wrote mean things about everyone. It’s a book to pick apart (a new way to enjoy it) now that the years of wanting-to-be-Harriet have passed.
via Classic Childhood Books That Grow With You | Zola Books.
Pope Benedict, Catholic Church, ‘conscious uncoupling’, The Week:
When Pope Benedict XVI announced he was stepping down as pope a year ago — dropping the news almost casually, in Latin, at a meeting about an upcoming canonization — nobody was sure what to call it. No living pope had handed off the keys of St. Peter since Gregory XII in 1415. If Pope Benedict had only waited some 14 months to announce his retirement — or abdication, or vacation — we might have had an apt phrase at the ready: Conscious uncoupling.
via How Pope Benedict unwittingly made the Catholic case for ‘conscious uncoupling’ – The Week.
UNC Athletics, Marcus Paige, “Trust Me We Can All Read”, susankingblog:
I was not surprised when I saw the news reports of Marcus Paige’s appearance, along with a few other athletes, at the UNC Board of Trustees this week. They were there representing the top sports: football, basketball, soccer and lacrosse- all teams who are the pride of UNC. I laughed when I saw Paige’s quote. ‘Trust Me. We can all read.” I laughed because it seemed like the kind of smart quote a PR major might turn to after he’d witnesses all the bad coverage of UNC athletics that have filled the newspapers and airwaves of late. If there had been UNC athletes who had been cheated out of a first rate education and channeled into weak courses and sham majors that didn’t’ demand much – Paige was making it clear he was not one of those athletes.
Jerry Reid, University of Virginia senior, The Wall Street Journal: Fun story!
Jerry Reid will graduate from the University of Virginia this spring with a résumé that would attract the attention of any potential employer.
Under extracurricular activities, Mr. Reid lists membership in a campus literary society, brotherhood in a fraternity and two intramural flag-football championships. His academic accomplishments include a thesis reinterpreting Stonewall Jackson’s legacy. He counts rooting for Virginia’s men’s basketball team as his primary hobby.
Are you a March Madness basketball fanatic? Do you bow at the altar of the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament? If the answer is no, Simon Constable explains why you should care.
Then there is his work experience: 45 years as a conveyor-belt salesman.
via At University of Virginia, 70-year-old Undergrad Cheers Cavaliers in March Madness – WSJ.com.
Tha Hugs, kith/kin: At the Georgia Theater in Athens. See Tha Hugs on the Marque!
Ed Lindsey for Congress:
The Truth-O-Meter Says:
Georgia has recovered more than $60 million that was lost to Medicaid fraud
Edward Lindsey on Thursday, March 20th, 2014 in press release
Lawmaker’s claim on Medicaid fraud recovery correct
,,,
Our conclusion: Georgia has submitted documentation to the feds that it has recovered $159.4 million lost to Medicaid fraud in three years in both federal and state money. Lindsey was very conservative in saying the amount recouped was “more than $60 million.”
We rate Lindsey’s statement True.
via Lawmaker’s claim on Medicaid fraud recovery correct | PolitiFact Georgia.
DST, daylight saving switch, lost sleep, heart attack risk, Society | theguardian.com:
Switching over to daylight saving time and losing one hour of sleep raised the risk of having a heart attack the following Monday by 25%, compared to other Mondays during the year, according to a new US study released on Saturday.
By contrast, heart attack risk fell 21% later in the year, on the Tuesday after the clock was returned to standard time, and people got an extra hour’s sleep.
The not-so-subtle impact of moving the clock forward and backward was seen in a comparison of hospital admissions from a database of non-federal Michigan hospitals. It examined admissions before the start of daylight saving time and the Monday immediately after, for four consecutive years.
In general, heart attacks historically occur most often on Monday mornings, maybe due to the stress of starting a new work week and inherent changes in our sleep-wake cycle, said Dr Amneet Sandhu, a cardiology fellow at the University of Colorado in Denver who led the study.
“With daylight saving time, all of this is compounded by one less hour of sleep,” said Sandhu, who presented his findings at the annual scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology in Washington.
A link between lack of sleep and heart attacks has been seen in previous studies. But Sandhu said experts still don’t have a clear understanding of why people are so sensitive to sleep-wake cycles. “Our study suggests that sudden, even small changes in sleep could have detrimental effects,” he said.
Charlotte Mayor Cannon Scandal, Kevin Siers’ Editorial Cartoons | CharlotteObserver.com.
Kevin Siers’ cartoons are distributed to over 400 newspapers nationwide by King Features Syndicate. He and his wife and son reside in Charlotte.
via Kevin Siers’ Editorial Cartoons | CharlotteObserver.com.
Carol Quillen, Davidson College, liberal arts education: I heard Dr. Quillen speak on 3.29 and was intrigued by her re-imagining of the liberal arts to include both original work and entrepreneurship.
Our rapidly changing world urgently needs creative, disciplined, eloquent leaders with the courage, integrity, resilience, personal presence, and intellectual tools to tackle complex challenges in health care, education, sustainability, economic growth, and social justice.
At Davidson College, we are using new technologies both to expand our impact and to ensure that Davidson can lead in this new environment through four key strategies: 1) seeking out talented young people from around the country and world irrespective of their financial circumstances, enabling them to thrive at Davidson and beyond; 2) building a challenging curricula based on students doing original work, so that they graduate with a portfolio of work, rather than simply a transcript with grades; 3) offering students significant opportunities in emerging crucial fields, like computer science, global languages, computational biology, cognitive sciences, digital studies, and environmental studies; and 4) moving our students efficiently from our campus to meaningful work in the world.
Ultimately, our societal value is measured by what our graduates do, the lives they lead, and the impact they exert. The world is changing quickly, and we can’t wait. Join us.
via Carol Quillen, Davidson College | The Inauguration of Alison Byerly.
Ed Lindsey for Congress, Neighbor Newspapers – Barr leads in District 11 U S House poll: Update …
In a new poll regarding the District 11 U.S. House candidates in the May 20 primary election, Bob Barr leads the six Republicans running for the seat being vacated by incumbent Phil Gingrey, who is running for U.S. Senate. The district includes Vinings and parts of Buckhead and Sandy Springs.
The poll, conducted by phone interviews March 10 and 11 by Alexandria, Va.-based McLaughlin and Associates, included 300 likely Republican primary election voters in the district. It was ordered and paid for by candidate Ed Lindsey’s campaign. The results were as follows: undecided: 41 percent, Barr: 25 percent, Lindsey: 15 percent, Barry Loudermilk: 13 percent, Tricia Pridemore: 4 percent and other (including candidates Allan Levene and Larry Mrozinski): 2 percent.
In favorability ratings, Barr led the way with 38 percent, followed by Loudermilk (26 percent), Lindsey (21 percent) and Pridemore (9 percent). The poll has an accuracy of plus or minus 5.7 percent at a 95 percent confidence interval.
via Neighbor Newspapers – Barr leads in District 11 U S House poll.
Los Angeles Dodgers, The New York Yankees, Highest Payroll, Business Insider:
However, for the first time since 1998, the Yankees do not have the largest payroll in baseball. That distinction now belongs to the Dodgers with an estimated 2014 payroll of $235 million, up 147% in two years and $32 million more than the Yankees.
via CHART: Los Angeles Dodgers Surpass The New York Yankees With Highest Payroll – Business Insider.
2014-2015 Thomas J. Watson Fellowships, Davidson NC natives: Congratulations to two Davidson natives, neighbors and friends and fellow Watson winners, one from Williams and the other from Wellesley. How extraordinary is that?
CONGRATULATIONS TO ELOISE AND BEATRICE
The winners of the 2014-2015 Thomas J. Watson Fellowships were announced on March 15 and two young ladies who grew up in Davidson were among the recipients. Congratulations to Eloise Andry, daughter of M.C. and Allain Andry and to Beatrice Denham, daughter of Cathy and Scott Denham. To make this award even more meaningful, the Denhams and Andrys are next door neighbors in Davidson and the girls have known each other since birth.
For Eloise, it’s Volcanoes
Eloise Andry is a senior at Williams College and will use her year of study to explore how humans living nearby view and interact with volcanoes. Her winning proposal is entitled Solid as a Rock? Life on a Volcano and will take Eloise to a number of countries including Iceland, Chile, New Zealand, Vanuatu and Indonesia. A member of Phi Beta Kappa at Williams, Eloise is majoring in Chinese and geosciences. Regarding this prestigious award, Eloise remarked, “I am thrilled to have received a Watson Fellowship, and very lucky to have this opportunity to study something I care so much about. As my friends know, I love rocks, but volcanoes are simply the best.”
via Fellowship winners, AGSF & Nifty Knitters | DavidsonNews.net.
Albert Einstein, humor, LOL, Special Theory of Relativity :
JUST FOR FUN
The contents of a recent email were too good not to share. It seems that last Thursday, March 20, was the date 98 years ago in 1916 that Albert Einstein published his Theory of General Relativity. He began working on this theory shortly after he published his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905, which is centered on the famous equation E=mc2 (energy equals mass times the speed of light squared) and explains that both time and motion are relative to the observer. To further explain, Einstein humorously noted: “When you are courting a nice girl, an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder, a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.”
via Fellowship winners, AGSF & Nifty Knitters | DavidsonNews.net.
photos, 2014 Winter: I loved this picture from a Facebook friend and her friend’s comment: “Exquisite example of determination and perseverance.” Sad or beautiful??
Athens GA music scene, history: Loved this … I was actually living in Athens in the early to mid 80s.
After a year of living off the land I finally got a job in town, and met the ‘bohemian underground of Athens’, partly fueled by the Art School at the University of Georgia. There was a strong fraternity and sorority element at the school but my new friends ran with the wild crowd! Together, we formed a creative group of people including art students, poets, writers, experimental musicians, storytellers and true eccentrics. We crashed parties for free beer, crashed the Circus, the only disco in town, and danced crazy. When UGA showed Fellini’s films, Jeremy Ayers hosted a Fellini party where blazing cocktails were served and Felliniesque costumes were required.
We had Parties where we would dance to ‘silent music’ at the secret garden on UGA campus – we’d dance in the cemetery and at John Taylor’s house. Once, out in the cow pasture by my house, we listened to an African tribal music tape on loan from the UGA music library. Ricky Wilson placed his boom box in the field where we drew a circle of cows around us who bobbed their heads to the music while we danced. Everything we did was for ‘art’ and for pure amusement, since we had to make our own fun. Everyone was interesting and we all in the ‘deadbeat club’ had time to listen and cherish the moment and each other. Anyone could join in, as long as they were open to all possibilities. The mantra was, ‘everyone is a genius’ ! Or, as Megan Timberlake famously said, ‘Together we’re a genius’ !
This scene was truly the beginning of many imaginative endeavors, including the birth of the B-52s. This creative atmosphere, born in part from the Art School, and UGA f
twitter favorites: It’s fun to see the “spikes” based on the news. the other day, everyone was looking up flotsam. Thanks, Peter Sokolowski, editor in chief of MW.
Peter Sokolowski @PeterSokolowski 17m
‘Flotsam’ spiking at http://M-W.com/ …
Girl Scout Cookie Sales, Record Broken, Oklahoma Girl Scout, People.com: When I saw this on twitter, I immediately wondered if she was from Colorado. But no, she’s from Oklahoma. 🙂
An Oklahoma City girl, who says she asks everyone she meets to buy Girl Scout cookies, has broken the organization’s decades-old sales record by a margin about the size of a Thin Mint.
Katie Francis of Oklahoma City sold 18,107 boxes in the seven-week sales period that ended Sunday night. The previous mark was set by Elizabeth Brinton, who sold approximately 18,000 one year in the 1980s.
The sixth-grade student told The Oklahoman newspaper last month that there were only three ingredients needed to rack up large sales: a lot of time, a lot of commitment and asking everyone she met to buy.
via Girl Scout Cookie Sales Record Broken by Oklahoma Girl Scout : People.com
Russia, Ukraine, tit for tat: Really?
Air France said Wednesday that a plane carrying 495 passengers and 22 crew was diverted on its way from Shanghai to Paris after Russia closed part of its airspace because of the launch of a Russian spacecraft to the International Space Station.
The company said flight AF111 was forced to land in Hamburg, Germany, early Wednesday to refuel because the plane had too little fuel to complete the flight following its unexpected detour.
Hamburg Airport confirmed that the Airbus A380 landed shortly after 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) and was able to take off for Paris again after an hour and a half.
In a statement, Air France said the airspace closure was due to a military exercise. Later company spokeswoman Ulli Gendrot said the airspace closure was a result of the launch of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The Soyuz booster rocket lifted off as scheduled at 3:17 a.m. local time Wednesday (2117 GMT Tuesday) from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
via French Plane Diverted After Russia Closes Airspace – ABC News.
Just liked this, 50 people/50 balloons:
2014 Wedding Music Trends and Song Lists, 25 Best Shag/Beach Music Songs for your Party: Enjoy!
The All Around Raleigh DJ Company is based in Raleigh, NC and specializes in DJ’ing for weddings, private parties, corporate events, bar mitzvahs, pool parties and any other event where you need great music!
1. Carolina Girls – General Johnson
2. With this Ring – Platters
3. I Love Beach Music – Embers
4. My Girl – Temptations
5. Sixty Minute Man – Billy Ward
6. Under the Boardwalk – Drifters
7. Miss Grace – Tymes
8. Summertime is Calling Me – Catalinas
9. Myrtle Beach Days – Fantastic Shakers
10. What You Do To Me – Embers
11. Shama Lama Ding Dong – Otis Day and the Knights
12. 39-21-46 – Showmen
13. Some Kind of Wonderful – The Band of Oz
14. Stay – Maurice Williams
15. Cool Me Out – LaMont Dozier
16. Lady Soul – Temptations
17. Dancin’, Shaggin’ on the Boulevard – Alabama
18. Ocean Boulevard – Band of Oz
19. My Guy – Mary Wells
20. You’re More Than a Number in My Little Red Book – Drifters
21. Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy – Tams
22. Just a Gigolo – Louis Prima
23. She Used to be my Girl – O’Jays
24. Build Me Up Buttercup – Foundations
25. Girl Watcher – O’Kaysions
via 2014 Wedding Music Trends and Song Lists: 25 Best Shag/Beach Music Songs for your Party.
Dr. Skoot Dimon, RIP, Atlanta, Brookwood Hills: Dr. Dimon was one of the characters in my wonderful childhood in Brookwood Hills. Condolences to his wonderful wife and great family. He made life better for those in his sphere and his healing gift as an orthopedic surgeon blessed many including blessing my father with years of horrible but pain-free golf.
“Skoot Dimon was a world-class orthopedic surgeon, and as fine and loving a person as I have ever known. Those of us fortunate enough to have lived close to him have seen man at his best.” (Mike Brumby, son-in-law)
via Joseph DIMON III Obituary: View Joseph DIMON’s Obituary by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
blind couple, guide dogs:
Claire Johnson, 50, and Mark Gaffey, 51, said it was their guide dogs who fell in love first.
Claire and Mark first met when they brought their dogs to a training class. Their two Labrador Retrievers, Venice and Rodd, got along famously. The trainers commented that the two dogs were besotted with one another. “The trainers said that they were the love and romance of the course, and they brought us together, said Mark.
Claire and Mark discovered they lived only a mile and a half from one another and after their course ended they arranged to meet for coffee. As their coffee dates grew longer and longer, the pair fell in love.
…
“Now we joke that with every guide dog you get a free wife. I love Claire’s personality and her laugh is infectious. We’ve never had an argument, we just seem to click.”
signature macaroni and cheese recipe:
Everyone should have a signature macaroni and cheese recipe in their arsenal. Find yours with these 11 melty, gooey recipes http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/slideshow/mac-and-cheese-recipe-slideshow/?slide=1
Paccheri and Cheese with Peas and Mint
photos, childrens bedrooms: wonderful photos! You will have to look. I loved them!
Millions of people from around the world are currently experiencing very different childhoods. Some are living in abject poverty, lacking basic food and sanitation, while others are more fortunate by being born in a country where those things are guaranteed and usually taken for granted.
When photographer James Mollison was asked to come up with an idea for engaging with children’s rights, he found himself thinking of his bedroom: how significant it was during his childhood, and how it reflected what he had and who he was.
And with that, he made it his mission to create Where Children Sleep – a collection of stories about children from around the world, told through portraits and pictures of their bedrooms.
via These Are Photos Of Childrens Bedrooms. But They Represent Something Much, Much More.
selfies, LOL: I feel dumb… I didn’t read the article … It’s a fake. But it is a very fun fake. I think the Royals should counter with a real one. 🙂
GLAMOUR UK’s photo.
15 minutes ago
This is the Queen of all selfies, if you ask us: http://po.st/0kcaVd
viral, TOO MANY ZOOZ, subway performers:
via ▶ TOO MANY ZOOZ rocks Union Square. – YouTube.
Too Many Zooz, an instrumental group known for playing in New York City’s Union Square subway station, has come out from underground to share their music with the rest of the world.
The above video of the subway performers, which was uploaded to YouTube in January, already has more than 630,000 hits.
via Subway Performers Emerge From The Underground To Become Viral Rockstars.
St. Patrick’s Day, How To Pronounce Slainte – YouTube, St. Patrick’s Day memes, How the Irish Saved Civilization: Now I know why I’ve been craving mint patties …
The Dublin Airport Facebook page posted this notice clarifying that it’s “Saint Paddy’s Day,” not “Saint Patty’s Day.” (DublinAirport/Facebook)
Here’s a PSA from the Dublin Airport: Don’t call it St. Patty’s Day. Also, March 17 should never be referred to as Patty’s Day either.
You may, however, call it St. Paddy’s Day, or Paddy’s Day. Also acceptable are the traditional St. Patrick’s Day and Patrick’s Day.
Got that?
In a fogra (notice, in Gaelic) posted to its Facebook page, the airport addressed what is apparently a pet peeve: the improper use of St. Patty’s Day in the United States and Canada.
“Please share this simple message with your friends and relations in the United States and Canada,” the fogra reads. “Using the power of your network, hopefully we can banish the scourge of St Patty once and for all.”
So what’s the problem with St. Patty’s Day?
Patty is a nickname for Patricia, a woman’s name, according to the website paddynotpatty.com. St. Patrick was, of course, a man.
Paddy is appropriate because it comes from Padraig, a variant of the name Patrick.
But if you really want to impress an Irishman, you need only say: Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh (Happy St. Patrick’s Day!).
via Please Don’t Call It St. Patty’s Day | ABC News – Yahoo.
via How To Pronounce Slainte – YouTube.
Not withstanding our earlier (March 15) serious discussion of St. Patrick, this is just too good to ignore!
…
…
An intro to St. Patrick from one of my favorite books:
Like many another in impossible circumstances, he began to pray. He had never before paid attention to the teachings of his religion; he tells us that he didn’t really believe in God, and he found priests foolish. But now, there was no one to turn to but the God of his parents. One is reminded of the reports of contemporary hostages about how they make it through the dreary years of captivity. “Tending flocks was my daily work, and I would pray constantly during the daylight hours. The love of God and the fear of him surrounded me more and more—and faith grew and the Spirit was roused, so that in one day I would say as many as a hundred prayers and after dark nearly as many again, even while I remained in the woods or on the mountain. I would wake and pray before daybreak—through snow, frost, rain—nor was there any sluggishness in me (such as I experience nowadays) because then the Spirit within me was ardent.”
Patricius endured six years of this woeful isolation, and by the end of it he had grown from a careless boy to something he would surely never otherwise have become—a holy man, indeed a visionary for whom there was no longer any rigid separation between this world and the next. On his last night as Miliucc’s slave, he received in sleep his first otherworldly experience. A mysterious voice said to him: “Your hungers are rewarded: you are going home.” Patricius sat up, startled. The voice continued: “Look, your ship is ready.”
Cahill, Thomas (2010-04-28). How the Irish Saved Civilization (Kindle Locations 1304-1316). Anchor. Kindle Edition.
“They understood, as few have understood before or since, how fleeting life is and how pointless to try to hold on to things or people. They pursued the wondrous deed, the heroic gesture…poetry for intense emotion, the music that accompanied the heroic drinking with which each day ended, bewitching ornament for one’s person and possessions.”
― Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization
Selection Sunday, process and bracket structure, NCAA Basketball, March Madness, NIT, Davidson basketball:
An overview of how teams are selected and seeded in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament, and a look into bracket methodology.
via Selection process and bracket structure – Associated Press Interactive.
2014 NCAA bracket: Use Slate’s interactive to make your picks based on the odds, SAT scores, coach’s salary, and a whole lot more. I may try dog lovers. According to the interactive, Connecticut wins. And then again, Wofford has a dog mascot, a terrier, and they got the SoCon’s automatic bid. So maybe not.
Want to pick an NCAA bracket but have no idea where to start? No worries—use our interactive March Madness bracket-filler. We can pick the winners based on who’s the odds-on favorite, or we can serve up a bracket full of underdogs. Want to go with whoever has a dog mascot, or a cat, or a bird? We can help. What about picking by SAT scores? We’ve got you covered. The first-round games start on Tuesday, but most bracket contests give you until Thursday morning to submit your picks. Now, get to clicking!
I really don’t like the NIT. What is the point …
Davidson Athletics @DavidsonWildcat 1m
No. 7 seed @DavidsonMBB will play at No. 2 seed Missouri on Tuesday on @ESPN2 in the 1st round of the NIT Tournament
Pat’s Backcountry Beverages Covet | OutsideOnline.com: I neither drink beer nor camp … so that is just interesting to me. So I guess the question, “After all, who among us hasn’t fantasized about some sweet suds at the end of a long, hot hike? ” doesn’t apply to me.
We’ve written about Pat’s Backcountry Beverages Carbonator, the Nalgene-size system for fizzifying your drink of choice where ever the trail takes you. And while we’ve talked about Pat’s alcohol-packed beer flavors—the world’s first beer concentrate, according to the company—we haven’t put them to the test. Until now.
As a backpacker and a booze writer, when I heard about Pat’s first two beer flavors (complete with alcohol!) I couldn’t resist checking them out. After all, who among us hasn’t fantasized about some sweet suds at the end of a long, hot hike? But could these “beers” pass the taste test of an admittedly picky beer drinker? The short answer—Yes.
For those unfamiliar with the idea, Pat’s Backcountry Beverages Carbonator is a plastic bottle with built-in levers, valves, and cups. You add a mixture of potassium bicarbonate and citric acid to the small charging cup within the bottle, pull a lever on the cap a few times to add water, and a chemical reaction starts, releasing CO2 into your beverage of choice. In this case, your beverage of choice would be beer.
Pat’s offers two flavors: Pale Rail and Black Hops. They both come in portable, 1.7-ounce liquid packets that you add to the water before you charge it. These packets are sold in four-packs for $10 a pop, which isn’t too outrageous compared to your standard micro-brew.
It’s worth noting that these aren’t merely “beer flavored.” Founder Pat Tatera developed what he calls a “Hybrid Brewing Process.” The beer begins as a normal beer would, except once it’s done fermenting, he vacuum-distills it. This pulls out most of the water and the alcohol, which Tatera sets aside, leaving a beer-like syrup. Then he restarts the brewing process, but instead of using water to create the wort, he uses the beer syrup. He repeats these steps four times, then soaks Cascade Hops in the reserved alcohol to extract their flavor, and combines that with the syrup. The result? A little packet of concentrated beer. Just add fizzy water.
I went through the process exactly as I would if I were in the field, using cold, bottled water to simulate filtered water from a stream. Despite Pat’s claim that it’s just three steps, there are several steps within each step, and you’d be hard-pressed to remember them all if you didn’t bring the instructions. It takes approximately five minutes to brew each beer. Here’s how they measure up to the real thing.
via Pat’s Backcountry Beverages | Covet | OutsideOnline.com.
The Wall Street Journal, MH 370: Curiouser and curiouser!
Police have intensified their investigation of the pilots of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 amid suspicion that foul play was involved in the jet’s disappearance. http://on.wsj.com/OuBZ2i
Follow our streaming coverage here: http://on.wsj.com/1n4l1Yj
100 Diagrams That Changed the World, Brain Pickings:
100 Diagrams That Changed the World (UK; public library) by investigative journalist and documentarian Scott Christianson chronicles the history of our evolving understanding of the world through humanity’s most groundbreaking sketches, illustrations, and drawings, ranging from cave paintings to The Rosetta Stone to Moses Harris’s color wheel to Tim Berners-Lee’s flowchart for a “mesh” information management system, the original blueprint for the world wide web.
But most noteworthy of all is the way in which these diagrams bespeak an essential part of culture — the awareness that everything builds on what came before, that creativity is combinatorial, and that the most radical innovations harness the cross-pollination of disciplines. Christianson writes in the introduction:
It appears that no great diagram is solely authored by its creator. Most of those described here were the culmination of centuries of accumulated knowledge. Most arose from collaboration (and oftentimes in competition) with others. Each was a product and a reflection of its unique cultural, historical and political environment. Each represented specific preoccupations, interests, and stake holders.
[…]
Jane Austen, Elizabeth Bennet, A Lesson From Elizabeth Bennet, Darling Magazine: A new magazine. 🙂
Truth is not always that which the majority believes it to be; it is often disguised as myths found in the popular trends of social normality, myths that a girl like Elizabeth Bennet is able to debunk. Elizabeth is, in essence, a modern woman well before her time. She is able to see past the delicacies and deceits of corseted ball gowns, budding romances, and pretentious suitors, all of which make the young women around her swoon with anticipation.
The simplicities of the female lifestyle do not satisfy Elizabeth’s longing for a life of purpose and meaning for the mere reason that she, unlike her sisters, is unwilling to exchange her desire for truth with a fleeting happiness inspired by a gentleman’s passing fancies. She refuses to take the hand of a man for whom she feels anything but wholehearted love, and instead she chooses to sleep soundly with a well-deserved pride in her nonconformity.
best travel apps, lists, Making Your Device Your Best Travel Companion, NPR:
Kayak.com
Yapta
Triposo
Booking.com
Tango
hopstop
google maps
Roam to Rio
maplets
RIP, Howard “Bo” Callaway, ‘Superstar’ of Republican party, http://www.ajc.com, kith/kin: RIP Bo Calloway: I will never forget him. We got a dog in 1966 and named him Bo for Bo Calloway. That is my first memory of an election. I was 6. He lived until 1981 and I was 21. It was a good name for a dog.
In the 1960s, when nearly every elected Georgia Republican could fit in a Studabaker, Howard “Bo” Callaway was the party’s driver.
By 2010, when the GOP swept every statewide office for the first time, Callaway’s name was spoken with reverence, as the father of the Georgia Republican Party and its first superstar.
Callaway, 86, who helped his parents create the Callaway Gardens resort near Pine Mountain, died Saturday, nearly two years after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage.
His death marks the end of an era that saw him become, in 1964, the state’s first Republican congressman since Reconstruction, and almost the first Republican governor two years later. And while he never returned to elected office, veteran Georgia Republicans say he never stopped working to grow the party.
via Howard “Bo” Callaway: ‘Superstar’ of Republican party | www.ajc.com.
Monet, van Gogh, visual artist, crazy people:
Artists like Monet and van Gogh saw the world in a way that was once rejected as crazy. But their work came to be prized in every meaning of that word. This Monet masterpiece is called “Parliament in London,” part of the priceless collection at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
You may not be a visual artist. But if you’re one of those “crazy” people who sees hopeful possibilities in a world that others claim is going to hell in a handbasket, don’t let the cynics do eye surgery on you!
You won’t become as famous as Monet, but you’ll achieve something equally important. You’ll open other people’s eyes to the daily opportunities we all have to help make this world a more life-giving place for all concerned.
via Facebook.
3.13 Davidson’s “birthday”: A Facebook birthday!
Happy Birthday, Davidson! Today is the perfect day to make your gift to Davidson. You only turn 177 once, after all. – http://bit.ly/1kD4AjY
Flexibility, Lenten Devotions:
Sunday March 16, 2014
The Virtue of Flexibility
Flexibility is a great virtue. When we cling to our own positions and are not willing to let our hearts be moved back and forth a little by the ideas or actions of others, we may easily be broken. Being like wild reeds does not mean being wishy-washy. It means moving a little with the winds of the time while remaining solidly anchored in the ground. A humorless, intense, opinionated rigidity about current issues might cause these issues to break our spirits and make us bitter people. Let’s be flexible while being deeply rooted.
Green Renaissance, Panchita (a Galapagos sea lion) : Panchita, now pregnant and expecting her baby sea lion, goes out to sea every day and then returns to the hotel to rest. … as good as a good dog story!
March 13
This is Panchita, a Galapagos sea lion. Panchita was caught up in a net, which left deep cuts all over her body. She managed to make it to this hotel where animal advocates nursed her back to health for 3 months.
Panchita, now pregnant and expecting her baby sea lion any day, goes out to sea every day and then returns to the hotel to rest.
Be kind to Nature.
Chartres Cathedral, Easter Dances by the clergy, Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church | The Second Sunday in Lent (March 16): Just loved this devotional post. And now I must research Chartres Cathedral Easter Dances by the clergy!
Martha Sterne on Mar 16, 2014 9:13am
Sundays are “Feast and Fill in Your Own Quote” days on our Lenten Journey. What comes to you through this image? This I just learned – the labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral, created in the early thirteenth century, was the scene of Easter Dances by the clergy! Photo is by an anonymous internet pilgrim.
Helen A on Mar 16, 2014 1:24pm
I would love to see that dance!
via Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church | The Second Sunday in Lent (March 16).
Stanford’s newest majors marry computer science and the humanities, USA TODAY College:
Many students see little noteworthy overlap between course offerings in computer science and in the traditional humanities. However, a new generation of digitally savvy liberal arts scholars believes that technology is changing our understanding of the humanities.
In a growing field known today as the “digital humanities,” professors and students engage in a computer-based study of the liberal arts.
In light of the growing popularity of the field, Stanford University approved two new “joint-majors” on March 6 that will allow students to pursue an interdisciplinary study of English and computer science or music and computer science beginning next academic year, according to a press release by the university.
Unlike double majoring in computer science and a humanities field, students who choose the new CS+X program will not be required to complete all the requirements from both majors, according to the university.
Students will pursue a curriculum integrating coursework from both disciplines and will need to complete a senior project or honors thesis that synthesizes their work from both fields.
The Fall of France, Huguenots, economics, socialism, Edict of Nantes, entrepreneur, taxes: Very interesting article. An article like this makes me want to spend some time researching both the modern-day economics and French history.
It’s a stretch, but what is happening today in France is being compared to the revocation of 1685. In that year, Louis XIV, the Sun King who built the Palace of Versailles, revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had protected French Protestants – the Huguenots. Trying to unite his kingdom by a common religion, the king closed churches and persecuted the Huguenots. As a result, nearly 700,000 of them fled France, seeking asylum in England, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa and other countries.
The Huguenots, nearly a million strong before 1685, were thought of as the worker bees of France. They left without money, but took with them their many and various skills. They left France with a noticeable brain drain.
Since the arrival of Socialist President François Hollande in 2012, income tax and social security contributions in France have skyrocketed. The top tax rate is 75 percent, and a great many pay in excess of 70 percent.
As a result, there has been a frantic bolt for the border by the very people who create economic growth – business leaders, innovators, creative thinkers, and top executives. They are all leaving France to develop their talents elsewhere.
And it’s a tragedy for such a historically rich country. As they say, the problem with the French is they have no word for entrepreneur. Where is the Richard Branson of France? Where is the Bill Gates?
via The Fall of France.
Down Syndrome: A Year of Grief and Joy, ABC News: A wonderful read. I would hope I could be the person that says, “Who better than us?”
And at some point, Ryan’s question changed from “Why us?” to “Why NOT us?” After all, we had beautiful life, a wonderful marriage, a daughter we adored and plenty more love to give. Who better than us?
‘Live From Space’: Nat Geo, ISS, Globalnews.ca: I recorded this show Friday night. As I was watching the news and following twitter I noticed this tweet from fellow Davidsonian.
Thomas H. Marshburn @AstroMarshburn 6m
Watching colleagues Koichi and Rick right now on #LiveFromSpace on the Natl Geo channel. Almost feels like I’m back on-board!
I had not thought that a former ISS resident would watch. So I watched last night. It was an awesome show. If NatGeo reboadcasts the show, watch it!
National Geographic Channel is targeting a subject that’s literally over our heads, bringing it down to Earth in an ambitious two-hour special.
Airing Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific, Live From Space will originate from the International Space Station with American astronaut Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata, who’s Japanese, as on-board correspondents.
Veteran reporter Soledad O’Brien will anchor from NASA Mission Control in Houston.
O’Brien said she’s excited about the special, and particularly happy to be hosting Live From Space from a comfortable distance.
via ‘Live From Space’: Nat Geo to air special from the space station – National | Globalnews.ca.
Colleges are paying students to take a year off after high school to travel, volunteer or do internships so that students of all income brackets can benefit from “gap years.”
A new program at Tufts University and existing ones at a handful of other schools aim to remove the financial barriers that can keep cash-strapped students from exploring different communities and challenge their comfort zones before jumping right into college.
The gap year program starting this fall at Tufts will pay for housing, airfare and even visa fees, which can often add up to $30,000 or more.
Although gap years are more popular in Europe, they have started to gain traction in the United States. About 40,000 Americans participated in gap year programs in 2013, an increase of nearly 20 percent since 2006, according to data gathered by a nonprofit called the American Gap Year Association.
In 2009, Princeton University began offering applicants gap-year aid based on need. Nearly 100 students have participated, volunteering in Brazil, China, India, Peru and Senegal.
The University of North Carolina offers $7,500 to gap year applicants, while students at Wisconsin’s St. Norbert College can receive financial aid based on need, although airfare isn’t covered.
news, media: news pays …
It has become a water cooler topic, with several social media references to the downed jet that kicked off the popular television series “Lost.”
Cooper’s show, which has averaged 444,000 viewers this year, reached 972,000 people on Wednesday, Nielsen said. On both of the last two nights, Cooper achieved the highly unusual feat of topping Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly among the 25- to 54-year-old age demographic. O’Reilly easily won among viewers of all ages.
So far, the plane story has meant less for Fox and MSNBC, which have a heavier concentration on political stories. Fox’s full-day average of 1.26 million people on Thursday beat the 1.1 million it has been typically drawing this year. MSNBC had 370,000 viewers, lower than its non-Olympic average of 405,000 this year, Nielsen said.
via AOL.com Article – Missing Malaysian Airlines jet nets high ratings on cable news.
Kissing Sailor in WWII-Era, RIP, ABC News:
But his life became more exciting about six years ago when Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson was able to identify him as the young man leaning over the woman in his arms to kiss her.
By taking about 100 pictures of McDuffie using a pillow to pose as he did in the picture taken Aug. 14, 1945, by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, Gibson said, she was able to match the muscles, ears and other features of the then-80-year-old McDuffie to the young sailor in the original image.
“I was absolutely positive,” Gibson said of the match. “It was perfect.”
The identification remained controversial, partly because other men also claimed to have been the sailor in the image, but also because Life magazine, whose photographer had died years earlier, was unable to confirm that McDuffie was in fact the sailor, noting Eisenstaedt had never gotten names for those in the picture.
Yet for McDuffie, Gibson’s word was enough. A well-respected forensic artist who was in the 2005 Guinness Book of World Records for helping police identify more suspects than any other forensic artist, Gibson said McDuffie was ecstatic when she told him the results he had waited 62 years to hear.
And so began a whirlwind lifestyle of going to air shows, gun shows, fundraisers and parties to tell his story. Women would pay $10 to take a picture kissing him on the cheek, Gibson said.
“He would make money and kiss women,” Gibson said. “He had the most glamorous life of any 80 year old.”
via Man Known as Kissing Sailor in WWII-Era Image Dies – ABC News.
Davidson College Alumnus, Zillow Chief Economist “Zestimates” the Value of His Liberal Arts Education, Davidson College, Stan Humphries ’90:
Real estate is not rocket science.
Or is it?
Ask Stan Humphries ’90. He’s responsible for Zillow’s “Zestimate,” an estimated market value on every U.S. home, which is integral now to all things real estate-related on the internet since its introduction a few short years ago.
In the late ’80s, Humphries was an aerospace engineering student at Georgia Tech. He loved the academic work, but as time passed he found he did not want to become an engineer after all. He transferred to Davidson, studying political science and economics through an interdisciplinary major, with an eye toward science and technology policy.
The Davidson years were formative, personally and professionally. He met his future wife, Katherine Bagby Humphries ’90.
“It’s not just a cliché, what they say about the liberal arts,” said Humphries. “In my case, it gave me a way of thinking about the world and a critical faculty for thinking about issues and breaking down problems. It also gave me an enlarged worldview in terms of what I should be thinking about. I left Davidson thinking about life being a continual learning exercise.”
Banksy Is #WithSyria — Are You?, TopDailyInfo.com:
Banksy, Idris Elba, Cristiano Ronaldo and Elbow are just some of the stars who are supporting the #WithSyria campaign that will see thousands of people across the world, from Moscow to Washington, standing together in a global vigil to mark the third anniversary of the crisis in Syria on Thursday, March 13.
“#WithSyria,” a stunning animated film, will be shown around the world, from an inflatable cinema in Za’atari Refugee camp in Jordan to the big screen in Times Square, and iconic locations will be bathed in light by candlelit vigils, a Banksy light projection of his famed “girl with a red balloon” — which he has redesigned to feature a young Syrian refugee — and the release of red balloons carrying messages of hope to Syrians.
The #WithSyria coalition is made up of 120 humanitarian and human rights groups from 24 countries, including Save the Children, Oxfam, Amnesty International, Hand in Hand for Syria and the International Rescue Committee. The campaign is calling for urgent action to ensure Syrians in need –- including civilians in areas under siege — can access aid and for the voices of ordinary Syrians to be heard and heeded in reconvened peace talks.
via Banksy Is #WithSyria — Are You? (VIDEO) | TopDailyInfo.com.
Ethan Alban, Karsyn Folds, 2012 Nationals Friday Night, shag dancing, , YouTube: Mercy, mercy, mercy … One friend say this and noted that karsyn was leading! And to that I say, you rock, Bossy Girl!
via ▶ Ethan Alban and Karsyn Folds – 2012 Nationals Friday Night – YouTube.
Apps, Will Allow You To Read Novels In Under 90 Minutes, speed reading, Elite Daily:
The reading game is about to change forever. Boston-based software developer Spritz has been in “stealth mode” for three years, tinkering with their program and leasing it out to different ebooks, apps, and other platforms.
Now, Spritz is about to go public with Samsung’s new line of wearable technology.
Other apps have offered up similar types of rapid serial visual presentation to enhance reading speed and convenience on mobile devices in the past.
However, what Spritz does differently (and brilliantly) is manipulate the format of the words to more appropriately line them up with the eye’s natural motion of reading.
The “Optimal Recognition Point” (ORP) is slightly left of the center of each word, and is the precise point at which our brain deciphers each jumble of letters.
The unique aspect of Spritz is that it identifies the ORP of each word, makes that letter red and presents all of the ORPs at the same space on the screen.
In this way, our eyes don’t move at all as we see the words, and we can therefore process information instantaneously rather than spend time decoding each word.
via This Insane New App Will Allow You To Read Novels In Under 90 Minutes | Elite Daily.
Emma Watson, Elle Magazine, TopDailyInfo.com: I like this actress. I truly hope she has a good her on her shoulders.
“I remember reading this thing that Elizabeth Taylor wrote. She had her first kiss in character. On a movie set. It really struck me,” she said. “I don’t know how or why, but I had this sense that if I wasn’t really careful, that could be me: that my first kiss could be in somebody else’s clothes. And my experiences could all belong to someone else.”
via Emma Watson Reveals Why She’s Jealous Of Other Actresses To Elle Magazine | TopDailyInfo.com.
Colin Powell’s 60-Year-Old Selfie, The Wire: Love this selfie! “Eat your heart out Ellen!”
This selfie is a truly great selfie, and a good reminder that these images existed and were all over the place way before they became a thing we discussed during major news events (or as a way to sell mobile phones.) Basically, as long as there have been cameras.
We’ve always had the impulse to use technology at hand for self reflection: Jerry Saltz noted in his “History of the Selfie” that Van Gogh’s series of self portrait paintings feel really darn selfie-like, a sort of “proto selfie” that has “the same intensity, immediacy, and need to reveal something inner to the outside world in the most vivid way possible.” Professional and amateur photographers have been taking self portraits since the invention of the camera. Add Young Colin Powell to the list of those who did it early, and best.
via Colin Powell’s 60-Year-Old Selfie Is Everything You Could Ever Hope For in a Selfie – The Wire.
Adobe hardware, iPad Pen and Ruler, Personal Tech News – WSJ:
Adobe—the software company that brought the world iconic creative apps such as Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign—is forging into hardware. Sometime this year, AdobeADBE -1.44% will bring its first hardware products to market, starting with a digital pen and ruler set built specifically for AppleAAPL -1.11%’s iPad.
“When people hear that Adobe is getting into hardware, for many the first reaction is ‘why?’,” explained Michael Gough, Adobe’s vice president of experience design, at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. “But, this really is within our wheelhouse. We’ve always built creative tools and these products are really just another example of that. This isn’t just another stylus.”
Adobe’s pen currently wears the codename Mighty, while the ruler is going by the name Napoleon—because “it’s a short ruler,” Gough said.
The two products, which Gough demoed at SXSW, as you can see in the video above, are built with clean lines and shod in aluminum and white plastic. They look not mistakenly like something Apple would design.
Adobe
The two devices work in tandem with an iPad drawing app that Adobe is also developing, one that enables the hardware to mimic an architects ruler and wide array of drafting templates—the greenish, flat pieces of plastic you’ve seen if you’ve been down the art aisle in any office supply store.
via Adobe Bets on an iPad Pen and Ruler in Hardware Debut – Personal Tech News – WSJ.
Frat Bros, SeaWorld, OutsideOnline.com: I’m a little worried about the 23-year-old. 😦
At 2 a.m. Thursday, five University of Houston frat brothers allegedly broke into SeaWorld San Antonio in search of ice cream and animals to take pictures with.
Their results were decidedly mixed. According to Huffington Post and San Antonio Express-News reports, the bros climbed a tree near a perimeter fence to enter the park. Once they got in, they embarked on a quest for ice cream. Somewhat surprisingly, the guys were successful, breaking into a storage container and stealing Dippin’ Dots.
That’s when things went awry. As the frat bros searched for animals to pose with, police arrived—they had been called by security guards who spotted the trespassers. Three of the intruders escaped, but authorities apprehended a 23-year-old and an 18-year old, subsequently charging them with criminal trespassing and theft under $500. Police have still not confirmed whether the students obtained the pictures they so fervently sought.
via Frat Bros Break into SeaWorld | News from the Field | OutsideOnline.com.
The Coastal Explorer, Coastal Carolina University, Georgetown SC: I’ll have to check out the docks next time I’m in Georgetown.
Coastal Carolina University christened their new research vessel, The Coastal Explorer, this afternoon. From her home in the Georgetown Harbor, graduate and PhD students will be doing research of the marine environment of the SE coast.
Quiznos, bankruptcy, Groupon:
Quiznos has filed for bankruptcy: http://on.wsj.com/1kRNEX5
There’s more than $67,000 worth of Quiznos gift certificates out there, plus another $350,670 in Groupons. The sandwich chain says it will honor them.
Credit: Kevin Hagen for The WSJ
Guy Fawkes Day, British history: Love seeing on twitter the bonfires in London … “Remember, remember the fifth of November when gunpowder, treason and plot. I know of no reason, why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot!”
Here is a fun English holiday to celebrate…
On November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes was found in the cellar of the Houses of Lords with a large amount of gunpowder, while attempting to blow up parliament.
To celebrate parliament (and King James I) being saved, every November 5th in England, an effigy of Guy Fawkes is burned on a large bonfire and the evening ends with an extravagant fireworks display.
Now that my family lives in the U.S. we have chosen not to burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes… it seems a little strange to explain to our kids when no one else is doing it! We do however eat British foods, like Scotch Eggs, and talk about the political structure of the United Kingdom and how democracies give their citizens a voice. This year I made my girls each a spoon doll of Guy Fawkes.
\”Remember, remember the fifth of November when gunpowder, treason and plot. I know of no reason, why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot!\”
by Helen Bird
kith/kin, baseball, replica bats: An interesting story about an interesting member of my husband’s family!
Rayburn really likes baseball, and he has ever since he was a kid.
“Baseball, I think, was a little bit of an equalizer,” he says. “You didn’t have to be the best looking kid in the class – the best liked in the class, but if you were good, or at least worked hard and tried to be good, you could be an equal on the playing field.”
Credit Austin Ramsey/WKMS News
He’s retired now, but he spent years in real estate, freight and university athletics. And in retirement, he builds baseball bats that resemble those from the game’s early history. He even restores bats – many of which were used in the game’s early history.
Plus, he single-handedly produces the entire line of bats for one of the nation’s largest classic baseball memorabilia producers in his garage.
Each day, Rayburn occupies the small shop adjacent his home west of town.
Inside, walls are lined with bats of various shapes and stages of completion. He has a series of new bats with oddly-shaped handles. He says they represent the dead ball era, when a baseball was softer and more emphasis was put on field positions and strategic bunts.
With each new bat, he starts with a three-inch billet of Ash or Maple, which he marks and whittles down on a lathe, carefully carving away excess wood in one-inch increments. As he carves away, using different sized tools, the corrugated form of a bat appears.
via Local Man Brings to Life Replica Baseball Bats from Past | WKMS.
Christmas, The Christmas Scale: An early Christmas Gift. I may re-gift it in a month!
via ▶ The Christmas Scale – YouTube.
Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, movies: Add this to my movie list.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
Charlie Trotter, Charlie Trotter’s Restaurant-Chicago, RIP: I ate at Charlie Trotter’s once while we lived in Chicago. It was very good, a true culinary dining experience. I cannot say I would do it again, but I can thank my lovely in-laws for the once in a lifetime experience. RIP
Trotter burst on the scene in 1987, when the self-taught chef opened Charlie Trotter’s restaurant on Armitage Avenue. In short order, the chef’s intense creativity and never-repeat-a-dish dictum made Trotter’s the most talked-about restaurant in Chicago, and his fame quickly spread throughout the country and beyond.
He was named the country’s Outstanding Chef by James Beard Foundation in 1999; in 2000, Wine Spectator magazine called Trotter’s the best restaurant in the nation. More awards and accolades followed, including a 2002 Beard Award for Outstanding Service; at the time, Trotter called it the award he was most proud to receive, as it represented “a team award.”
The mercurial chef was a stern taskmaster who demanded the absolute best from everyone who worked for him. He was also a man of uncommon generosity, creating the Charlie Trotter Education Foundation to provide scholarships for culinary students. He received the James Beard Foundation’s Humanitarian of the Year award in 2012.
“Charlie was an extreme father figure to me when it came to not just cooking, but life, and seeing things in a different way,” said chef Graham Elliot Bowles, one of many famous chefs who worked for Trotter. “I just can’t put into words how saddened I am by all of this. It’s a huge loss, not just personally, but for the culinary world.”
via Charlie Trotter dead: Famed Chicago chef dies – chicagotribune.com.
Just earlier today I posted 11.5.13 … I don’t talk sports that often … but I have to admit I pulled for the Red Sox because I like their fans a wee bit better … and now I have to take two exceptions: Davidson Basketball and the Carolina Panthers.
Davidson Wildcats at #4 Duke Blue Devils
Friday November 8, 7PM (ESPNU)
I’m not sure how much a chance Davidson has against Duke, but I\’ve learned to never count out Bob McKillop and his Wildcats. McKillop is one of the few who won\’t \”abandon all hope\” when he enters Cameron Indoor Stadium on Friday night.
Though Davidson lost Nik Cochran, Jake Cohen, and others, the Wildcats still return a talented squad who will compete with Elon for a Southern Conference title in their last year in the conference. Leading that veteran laden group is De\’Mon Brooks. Brooks has been the SoCon\’s Player of the Year before and is a two-time SoCon Tournament MVP. The 6\’7 forward averaged nearly 14 points and 6 boards a year ago and is going to need all of that and more against the Blue Devils.
Beyond Brooks, McKillops will rely on the rest of his senior core Chris Czerapowicz, Tyler Kalinowski, and Tom Droney to step up big on Friday. This may also be the coming out party for Miami (Ohio) transfer Brian Sullivan, who averaged over 10 points per game his freshman year while being named to the All-MAC Freshman team.
Duke is the other Tobacco Road team that struggled a bit in their preseason warm up. The Blue Devils found themselves down to Drury 38-34 Saturday afternoon, but they pulled away in the second half for a 81-65 victory. Freshman Jabari Parker and Mississippi State transfer Rodney Hood will be the story for Coach K\’s team. Parker is expected to be a top five pick in the NBA Draft, while Hood is considered among the nation\’s top transfers. Rasheed Sulaimon missed the Blue Devils tune up due to illness, but expect him and Quinn Cook to be firing on all cylinders Friday night in Durham
via Mid-Major Upset Alert: Opening Weekend Trouble on Tobacco Road? – Mid-Major Madness.
…
Last year I wore red socks inside my boots to the Panthers v. Falcons game … This year I left the red socks at home. I figure the Falcons are a lost cause and I really ought to put my mouth (and socks) where my money is.
2013 Georgia Florida St Simons Island Beach Celebration: And then I could not pass this one up from last weekend’s GA FL Game:
2013 Georgia Florida St Simons Island Beach Celebration
via ▶ 2013 Georgia Florida St Simons Island Beach Celebration – YouTube.
Mexican Coke:
Well, fear not, soda snobs. All those reports are wrong.
Monterrey, Mexico-based Arca Continental, which bottles Coca-ColaKO -0.03% in glass bottles for U.S. consumers as part of a nostalgia project that began in 2005, assures that its fizzy pop destined for the U.S. market will continue to be sweetened entirely with cane sugar.
A street vendor carries bottles of soda to customers in Mexico City
That’s not the case for Coke sold in Mexico. The soda chugged in vast quantities by Mexicans has long been sweetened with a mix of high fructose corn syrup and cane sugar. The mix varies, depending on which sweetener is cheaper, with local bottlers aiming to limit HFCS to conserve taste and their relationships with Mexico’s powerful sugar industry.
Currently Mexico’s largest soft drink bottler, Coca-Cola FemsaKOF.MX -3.25%, uses HFCS to cover 60% of its sweetener needs, CFO Hector Treviño told analysts last month. Mr. Treviño said his bottler is at maximum capacity for HFCS and that, if anything, going forward it will buy more cane sugar—which is very cheap right now. Mexico is the world’s fifth-biggest sugar producer, and domestic bottlers have their own sugar refineries.
via Have No Fear, Your Mexican Coke Will Remain as Sweet as Ever – Corporate Intelligence – WSJ.
Roman Sculpture, London, archeology, new discoveries:
Archaeologists excavating at the future site of a 16-story hotel in London have uncovered a 1,800-year-old statue of an eagle with a writhing serpent in its beak.
The statue was carved in limestone from the Cotswolds and stands two feet (65 centimeters) tall. The right wing has broken off from the body, but otherwise the sculpture is intact.
The foundations of a mausoleum were also found at the site. Experts have concluded that the sculpture once adorned the tomb of a Roman-era Londoner, likely a high-ranking official or a prosperous merchant.
man’s best friend, corgis:
In today’s edition of worst possible news ever: corgis — the dogs popular among the entire Internet and, of course, Queen Elizabeth — could soon earn a place on the endangered breed list. The stubby-legged bundles of cuteness are now on Britain Kennel Club’s “at watch” list and are set to be classified as a “vulnerable native breed” by January, AFP reports.
The club said only 241 Pembroke Welsh Corgis were registered this year, and it seems unlikely that they’ll reach the 300 registrations needed to stay off the vulnerable breeds list. The club says this decline correlates with the rise in popularity of smaller foreign breeds, like French bulldogs. (Which, for the record, are really ridiculously cute too.)
The Daily Telegraph, however, blames the decline on a 2007 ban on tail-docking, the practice of cutting off part of the animal’s tail. The Telegraph reports that many breeders say they can’t achieve the desired corgi look without tail-docking, and so many have simply given up on the breed.
So, it’s probably a combination of factors — horrible, terrible, no-good factors — that are coming together to try to wipe out our precious corgis and deprive us of the most divine cuteness the world has ever known.
Of course, it’s the viral content factory BuzzFeed that will probably take this news the hardest, as the site’s business model can be summed up as “mo corgis mo money.”
via Corgis Becoming Endangered: Queen’s Favorite Dog Breed At Risk | TIME.com.
Raymond Loewy, Google Doodle, “Father of Industrial Design”, TIME.com:
Today’s Google Doodle honors what would have been the 120th birthday of Raymond Loewy 1893-1986, often referred to as the “father of industrial design” who ”made products irresistible at a time when nobody really wanted to pay for anything,” as TIME once wrote.He is the man behind the Lucky Strike cigarette pack, Coca-Cola vending machines, the Greyhound bus, the S1 Locomotive, logos for Shell and Exxon, plus the interiors of President John F. Kennedy’s Air Force One and NASA’s Apollo and Skylab “orbiters.” When he “streamlined” the Coldspot refrigerator design, sales at Sears went up, illustrating his famous line “between two products equal in price, function, and quality, the better looking will outsell the other.”
via Raymond Loewy Google Doodle Honors the “Father of Industrial Design” | TIME.com.
Moving Dollies, Buckhead’s Randolph-Lucas House, Around Town – Buckhead GA Patch:
On Wednesday morning, the moving dollies arrived onsite at the historic Peachtree Road home that was built in 1924 for Hollins Nicholas Randolph, a great, great grandson of Thomas Jefferson.
Due to the wet weather in Friday\’s forecast, the move will likely not take place this week. But it is coming and soon as foundation work at the Ansley Park locale has continued throughout the month as the attached Youtube video depicts.
For the move, the home will be horizontally split above the first floor, lifted by cranes and then transported on flatbeds. Utility lines will need to be moved temporarily as well.
Every piece of the home, except the kitchen, will be completely renovated and moved to the new location at 78 Peachtree Circle, about two miles away. The kitchen will be updated to a more modern one, but will still complement the home, according to HGTV Front Door.
via Moving Dollies Arrive for Buckhead’s Randolph-Lucas House – Around Town – Buckhead, GA Patch.
60 Signs You Studied Sociology In College: I learn a lot from my children, so I actually got a few of these.
26. You’ve given up on trying to bridge the “natural science vs social science” divide.
Dennard's Clipping Service 
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