What Does It Look Like?

Target Field Station on Minneapolis Light Rail

"What on earth are you doing?"

What do you think I'm doing?

"I have no idea."

I'm taking a picture of the train.

A 40-Year Memory: A Victory for Freedom

June 30- New York Times Co. v. United States: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Pentagon Papers may be published, rejecting government injunctions as unconstitutional prior restraint.

A 45-Year Memory: The War Expands

June 29: Vietnam War: U.S. planes begin bombing Hanoi and Haiphong.

Slow Day

Well, not so much slow as other wise occupied. Went right from work to the car to the Cities for the Twins win against the Dodgers. Fun night at the ballpark. I am now 4 for 5 in games I have attended. Even though I am not overly optimistic about the Twins chances, I have been reminded many times that we ARE in the AL Central Division where it may be possible to take the division with barely a.500 record.

So, if the team comes back and is on a hot streak at the end of the season, it is not impossible.

So I will not put away my Don Quixote picture quite yet.

A Slow Parade Made Fast

Well, the Rochesterfest parade wasn't slow. We (Rochester Community Band) just was # 118 out of 131 units. That means that we didn't move out of our spot until the parade was well started. In fact, we were still a ways back when the first units got back.

But, being the techno-geek that I am, I taped my video camera to the bed of our truck and did a 1 frame/second time lapse from the moment we first moved until the end. In real time that was over two hours. But hey, what's two hours in time-lapse time?

So, here it is. I added the soundtrack from other recorded music NOT from our band just to make it interesting.

Enjoy.

Can't Be Said Any Better

One of the units in the local Fest parade Friday was the Salvation Army. Their slogan can't be improved on.

A Lackluster Season Continues

I overheard someone using that phrase earlier today as we woke up to clouds and rain moving in from the west.

Again.

It sure describes this evening's radar:

Rain has been the norm after a snowy winter. Even when they had predicted a great weather weekend around here. It was supposed to be another beautiful day.

Now I am not criticizing the weather forecasters. We all know that weather is incredibly fickle, changeable, and ultimately apt to change at the drop of an isobar.  But we are getting tired of this.

The season does lack the bright luster of sunny days. It isn't a very exciting season.

But I also have to admit that the green is quite deep and lush. Then, when we get a drought we will complain about that as well. Now that I have all that out of my system I can get back to enjoying the evening. After all, it doesn't get dark until after 9:00. I need to enjoy it while I can.

After all this IS Minnesota and winter isn't far behind.

Amazing!

A digital camera that will store enough information that will allow you to change the center of focus AFTER you have taken the picture?

A company called Lytro is saying they have just that- and that it will be a revolution in photography. They say it will be commercially available by the end of the year.

See what I mean when I say amazing?

No more out-of-focus shots because the auto-focus just won't lock in on the right little part of the scene. Just go to the post-production and re-focus.

The breakthrough is a different type of sensor that captures what are known as light fields — basically, all the light that is moving in all directions in the view of the camera. That offers several advantages over traditional photography, the most revolutionary of which is that photos no longer need to be focused before they are taken.
--AllThingsD

I have no idea what that means technically, but it sounds exciting as well as the claim that it will be competitively priced.

What will they think of next?

Link to story on All Things D

That link has some pictures that demonstrate the technique.

And here is one of the pictures. Go ahead and play with it. You will agree with me.



Link to Lytro.

It's a Lot Like Work

...and I hope it works.

Ten days ago I posted about some of my physical problems I have been facing again- namely lower back-related issues. My calves are in bad shape, but fortunately it is neither from lack of exercise or vascular issues. It appears to truly be related to my lower back problems which have been around for quite a few years now.

Sidebar Note: I remembered this last week when the news was talking about the 7th anniversary of the
O. J. Simpson slow-speed chase in the white Bronco. I was in Miami for a Mission Conference
when that happened- and in a lot of pain from the first MAJOR flare-up that almost got me a surgery.

Anyway, my calves are still stiff and painful when I walk, but all I do is walk a little more slowly and it takes longer to get places. I don't have a spine clinic appointment until mid-July and I am now beginning to think it may be an acute flare-up and not truly part of the chronic problem.

So I have continued to limp and exercise. Fortunately the calves don't hurt when I am on the elliptical machine or the bike!

But I also mentioned in that post 10 days ago that I had signed up for a fitness/weight-loss/strength program. That started last night.

I survived. Including the strength part in my upper body that is not in all that good a shape. We were introduced to the Mayo Clinic Diet Book which we are using for the weight section of the program. (The real one, not the fake one that has been around the net for a few years.) I know I need to have better nutrition. All those donuts and sugary things I eat are bad, bad, bad. I have a hunch (just a hunch?) that this is why as I work out more, I have continued to gain weight.

The most difficult thing in this whole fitness program, I am convinced, will be the first two weeks when in the Diet they say- No Sugar! None! Nada! If it is one of the first several ingredients on the label, skip it.

Do you realize how many things have some form of sugar as one of the first three ingredients? Yep. Even that healthy low-fat yogurt has that. Or the artificial sweeteners that only increase our desire to eat. My Body Mass Index (BMI) is in the low-obese range- which means I am really just quite short for my weight.

Isn't denial a wonderful thing?

But I actually enjoyed the class last evening and will see how this whole diet thing goes. At least the health issues with my back seem to be manageable.

Now about all that sugar?

Mayo Clinic Diet
Mayo Clinic Diet Blog
Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid Tool

Men Playing Pitch, Throw, and Catch

It was a drizzly, foggy evening on Saturday at Target Field. (No, I still don't want to have a dome. Outside baseball is fun.)

Here are some pictures of men playing the boys' game of pitch, throw and catch-

Also known as baseball!

Scott Baker in a great effort.

It's good to have Nishioka back.

Kapps warming up for another save.

How does this fit? Simply call it "Caught."

And this one? "NOT Caught."

Final out.  Twins win!

Think About It This Way

Sometimes the understanding can shift 180 degrees with just a shift of word order. In the midst of some doodlings at Faith and Theology Kim had this amazingly challenging quote:

The church in the UK is not in decline because people no longer believe in God, rather people in the UK no longer believe in God because the church is in decline.

It's Time

For Summer Solstice.

Today.

As this is posted.

12:16 pm (CDT)

It's about time.

In Memoriam: Rest in Peace, Big Guy

Mental Floss Blog had a wonderful series of videos posted in memory of saxophonist Clarence Clemons who died over the weekend.

Here is Clarence on an old NBC David Letterman Show. What a musician!



The streets of heaven are rocking with soul today.

Happy Father's Day

Harold and his boys.


Niagara Falls, Canada


1957.

Just for Fun For Today

A great song

A great songwriter

A great smile even as he was dying of leukemia

Steve Goodman.

"Sometimes you get visited by a song. You don't have anything to do with them. They just sort of show up."
--Steve Goodman explaining The City of New Orleans.

Just Hanging In There

Think Exist is a place I go when I am stuck on what to write. For some reason this evening the theme of "hope" came to mind as I pondered the (sort of) blank computer screen. So here are four quotes on hope.

“Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all.”
--Emily Dickinson American Poet who has been called the New England mystic, 1830-1886)


“Those who wish to sing always find a song.”



“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.”
--Anne Lamott quotes (American best-selling author)


“Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.”
--Lyn Yutang quotes (Chinese prolific writer and editor, 1895-1976)

Water Over the Falls

A hot Monday over a week ago, right after the 32-mile Tour de Pepin and I found myself with a little extra time and the bike on the back of the car. I also was in Minneapolis and decided to visit Minnehaha Falls.

Minnehaha Creek is a tributary of the Mississippi River located in Hennepin County, Minnesota that extends from Lake Minnetonka in the west and flows east for 22 miles through several suburbs west of Minneapolis and then through south Minneapolis. Including Lake Minnetonka, the watershed for the creek covers 181 square miles. The creek might have been unremarkable except for the 53 foot Minnehaha Falls located near the creek's confluence with the Mississippi. The site is not far from Fort Snelling, one of the earliest white settlements in the region.

While the name is often translated as "Laughing Water", the correct translation is "curling water" or "waterfall". The name comes from the Dakota language elements mni, meaning water, and ȟaȟa, meaning waterfall. Thus the expression "Minnehaha Falls" translates as "Waterfall Falls". The "Laughing Water" translation comes from Mary Eastman's book Dacotah, published in 1849. On the Fort map of 1823, the falls were named Brown's Falls. The Dakota called Minnehaha Creek, "Wakpa Cistinna", meaning "Little River". --Wikipedia

And I had to try some different camera speeds to get flowing water looking different.

All in all, quite a nice little ride.

(Sort of) Action Pics

Went to the Twins/Rangers game last Sunday. It was a cool day- the sun didn't really come out until the game was over. But the Twins looked good behind the pitching of Francisco Liriano who had a no-hitter through seven innings. There was not a lot of action or unusual pictures to take so these three will have to do.

Relievers heading to bullpen while Liriano heads to the dugout at the start of the game.

Liriano's delivery. He had a season high 9 strikeouts and looked really fine!

My Rangers hero- Josh Hamilton- being thrown out at first.

Next game for me- this Saturday against the Padres.

Go Twins, Go.

She's a Grand Old Flag

It doesn't look all that impressive when set against a city skyline

but let's be honest, it is still quite a sight. It's about what it stands for. It is but a symbol. It has history in the stripes and the present in the stars. It is the icon of the land of the free and the home of the brave.

We have fought about it, over it, and for it. People wear it as jewelry or clothing add-ons. We think it means more than it does- and in reality it means far more than we are able to grasp.

No, I am not trying to sentimentalize or make it more than it is. A flag is cloth- but it is our flag and it is about who we are. Celebrate it today- and celebrate our hope and diversity.

A 40-Year Memory: When News Was Also News

June 13- Vietnam War: The New York Times begins to publish the Pentagon Papers.

A 45-Year Memory: A Quote is Born

June 13 – Miranda v. Arizona: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them.

Just When You Think It's Safe

You could also say,

There's Always Something

or

**** Happens

or...

well, take your pick. Life is like that. Up- down- around- through- over and over. That's what happened to me last week when I went for my general medical exam, aka- yearly physical.  For the past three - five weeks I have had some calf pain that has made it more difficult than usual to walk for more than short lengths without pain. At first I thought it was something I might have done wrong while exercising.

But it wasn't going away. Walking back from lunch to my office I would find myself getting tired from the effort. Which never happened, even after last week's 32-mile bike ride. It didn't make sense. So I mentioned it to my doctor at my physical. And he gets this look on his face that makes one stop and think. He then starts asking some other questions.

Hmmm. Not a good sign. Sort of scary, actually. I never knew that calf muscle pain could be caused by back problems or vascular issues. Since I have a history of lower back pain (spinal stenosis) this should have come as no surprise. But I have never had this problem before it was a surprise. That and the possibility of vascular issues? Whoa!

For someone who exercises as much as I do this isn't supposed to happen.

But it does. Some of it is simply that age-old issue: age. After nearly 63 years of life, things aren't always going to be working the way they used to. I am amazed at what I can still do and am still hopeful that I can continue to do these things- and more. Later this month I am planning on starting an exercise program at the local workout-place to get the weight and body mass index (BMI) under control. Which in and of itself could have a positive impact on the lower back if that is what the cause is.

Until then it is do the medical tests and see what is going on back there. Not an easy thing to let go of. That is another one of those things that crop up from time-to-time that force me back to work the First Step as I talked about yesterday.

I am powerless over many, many things. My life does not go the way I want it to.

So I have to stay in today. Enjoy these 24-hours and let my Higher Power take care of the rest while I do what I can do.

Which is good enough for me- and enough for me to handle for today.

Still Remembered

June 12, 1929: Anne Frank born.

A remarkable young lady whose life was cut short way too soon by the horror and hatred that was the Nazi regime of Adolph Hitler. She was a remarkable witness to the power of trust in a positive celebration of life. Her diary remains an intense and human document of the spirit of life. How one can believe that her tormentors and killers were doing anything good is beyond me.

At Spirituality and Practice I found this great reflection on her life appropriate for today:

"Her voice was preserved out of the millions who were silenced," writes Ernst Schnabel, "this voice no louder than a child's whisper. . . . it has outlasted the shouts of the murderers and has soared above the voices of time."

She was a true giver of grace.

Overheard in Recovery: How Long Does It Take?

"So tell me," a newcomer asked one of the old-timers the other week, "how long does it take to work all 12 steps?"

"So far, 23 years," came the response.

It would be nice if you could do a step a week and in 3 months be done. Or barring that, maybe a step a month and then be done in a year. The problem is that it doesn't work that way. No matter how you work the 12 Steps you still have a problem when you get through Step 12...You are still powerless and your life is still unmanageable.

Which simply means you have to go back and start all over.

Not because you didn't do it right the first time, but because you will find that practicing these principles in all your affairs only makes you more aware of your powerlessness (Step 1), your need for help (Step 2) and then asking for that help (Step 3).

Oh, yes. Then you end up taking a look at the recent (or even more distant) past (Step 4) and finding things you need to share with your Higher Power, yourself, and another person (Step 5). Guess what? You have now found some shortcomings that you need to be ready to get rid of (Step 6) and then ask for ways to do that (Step7).

Ooops. You have also found that even in this short time there are people you may have harmed by action or inaction and you are now willing to face that (Step 8). So you make amends (Step 9). Because of that you are now more vigilant and willing to take that daily self-inventory and admit it when you are wrong (Step 10).

Now that things are going better you find yourself wanting to get closer to your Higher Power so you get into more prayer and meditation knowing that you want to do what is right (Step 11).

Wow! What a great thing this is. You are now more awake to the world and the spiritual than you have been and you know your work is to share this with others who may need it. Then you are excited because you know you can live this life in all you do.

Until things don't go so well and you come smack dab into your powerlessness.... and you are back at

Step One!

But each time you do this you find that life keeps getting better. You are more sober; more happy, joyous, and free. As you keep going through this way of life it becomes just that- a way of life. And a pretty darn good one at that.

Sacred Lands

I don't know what makes a land "sacred" but I know it happens. Perhaps it is a spirit that is beyond normal sight. Perhaps it is a history that imbues the land with soul. Josh Owens captures that sacredness in this timelapse

shot over five days in various locations in eastern California including Death valley, Owens valley, Bristlecone forest, and Mono lake during the week of October 18th, 2010.

As surely as he found the rhythm of New York City in the video I posted last weekend, here he lets us see the spirit of the land come alive.



Sacred Lands - Eastern California - Mindrelic Timelapse from Mindrelic on Vimeo.

A 76-Year Memory: Taking the First Step

June 10, 1935-

By James Poniewozik

Bill Wilson, a stockbroker and a drunk from Brooklyn, N.Y., thought he had found the secret of kicking the bottle. But on a business trip to Akron, Ohio, in May he found himself outside a bar, tempted and desperate. In the past, he had fought the urge by talking to other alcoholics, who truly understood his struggle. Through a church group, he found local surgeon Robert Holbrook Smith.

Dr. Bob and Bill W., as Alcoholics Anonymous members know them, promised to keep each other sober, following Bill W.'s strategy: a simple set of principles—later refined into 12 steps—that would become the foundation of America's self-help culture. Alcoholics, he said, must admit they are powerless over their addiction. They must make amends to all those they have harmed. And they must submit to God—however they define the deity.

The advice did not immediately take. Dr. Bob went to Atlantic City, N.J., for a convention; several days later, he showed up at the Akron train station, smashed. On June 10, the dried-out but still jittery doctor was due in surgery. That morning, Bill W. gave Dr. Bob a bottle of beer—to steady his scalpel hand. The operation was a success. The beer was Dr. Bob's last. And the two men pledged that day to work to bring Bill W.'s principles to other alcoholics, one day at a time.
--Time

Just for the Pictures

Last Sunday at Whitewater State Park near Elba Minnesota.

A Great Day for 32 Miles

Last Saturday was the Tour de Pepin, a wonderful bike ride along the Mississippi River from Lake City to Wabasha, MN, across the river to Wisconsin and (my section) ending at Stockholm, WI. A Total of 32 miles. Several colleagues and I had a thoroughly enjoyable day.


It had its share of concerns, however. At least one of which was of my own making.

Ever shut the car door and just as it clicks, you know you've locked your keys in the car? Yep. My backpack, including my keys, my wallet and my cell phone were sitting there nice and safe in the (locked) backseat. Panic? No. But I did have a moment of placing myself among the stupid people of the western world.

Fortunately the kind director of the ride knew of a nearby service station that would come and get the doors open. So, before we even left Lake City I was $25 poorer. Well, one of my colleagues was $20 poorer. I didn't have a $20 bill. Though I did now have my keys, cameras, and wallet.



(Full disclosure: I then  momentarily lost my bike. I walked out of the above pictured welcome tent, looked around, walked around, and couldn't remember where I parked it. To be honest, there was a guy standing next to it, so without looking at the bike, I thought it was his. It wasn't. The same colleague who lent me the money was alert enough to spot it.)



Finally. On the road.

Yes, THAT Highway 61. Revisited.

The weather was wonderful. Nearly 800 of us were doing one or another of the three legs: 12, 32, or 72 miles. Heading south from Lake City is one of those famous roads. This was my first time on the Tour de Pepin. I am told that it was also the first Tour with good weather. Last year was in the low 50s and raining.


Your welcome.


The road in Minnesota on the western side of the river is actually quite famous.


Along the way there was a fawn lying quietly along the side of the road trying to appear invisible. He only got up and ran as I started to pull the camera out of my pocket. My colleague (yes, still the same one) was astounded that this guy who could find his bike in the wide open could see the fawn hidden in the weeds.

I did miss the Yellow Lady's Slippers along the road. I was alerted to their existence by the guy taking pictures, but it was only after I passed that their identity registered.

The bridge from Wabasha, MN, across the Mississippi to Wisconsin.

It's about this spot that my chain came off! Fortunately easy to fix and on we went.

We headed north in Wisconsin as the day just continued to be nothing short of wonderful.


It is mostly easy rolling hills with some nice stretches of flat. I found myself cruising along at anywhere from 12 - 15 mph. I have come a very long way in endurance over the past three years of biking.

But of course the last couple miles were mostly up hill. It was a steady climb (sorry no pictures) that caused me to gear all the way down to 1-1 and about 4 mph. But I never stopped pedaling, which is nothing short of wonderful in and of itself.

We arrived in Stockholm, WI. After 32 miles and a 2 hr 42 minute ride, we were successful, though we still had a had a 2 1/2 hour wait to get the boat back across the river. We sat and had lunch and I guzzled the iced tea.

We then joined 80 others for the 20 minute slow ride across the river with more bikes jammed into the small space than I would have thought possible.

Lake Pepin is a naturally occurring lake, and the widest naturally occurring part of the Mississippi River, located approximately 60 miles downstream from Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is a widening of the river on the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin. The formation of the lake was caused by the backup of water behind the sedimentary deposits of the Chippewa River's delta. It has a surface area of about 40 square miles (100 km2) and an average depth of 18 feet (5.5 m), which makes it the largest Lake on the entire Mississippi River.

--Wikipedia

Final stop- back in Lake City, MN.

Let's Get Some Culture

The Reduced Shakespeare Company does some amazing work with The Bard. In order to give this blog some real culture, here is one of their videos...

The Othello Rap:

A 45-Year Memory: Freedom is Tough to Win

June 6 – Civil rights activist James Meredith is shot while trying to march across Mississippi.

A 30-Year Memory: The Tip of the Iceberg

June 5 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 5 homosexual men in Los Angeles, California have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems (the first recognized cases of AIDS).

Celebrating New York City

As you already know I am a sucker for a good time-lapse video. Here is one that captures and celebrates New York City. I don't know his secrets, but Mindrelic is good- very good.


NYC - Mindrelic Timelapse from Mindrelic on Vimeo.

I'm taking a church group to New York in August and this sure gets me ready!

A 10-Year Memory: A Day The Music Died

June 4, 2001: John Hartford, incredible bluegrass, country, and folk musician died at age 63.

I first heard John in the late 1960s when his Gentle On My Mind was used by Glen Campbell. I never saw him in person, but fell in love with his style and music. To this day I can't listen to his music without a sense of the great musical loss his death brought. And a smile crosses my face with the wonder of his music.

His legacy lives.

Here is a tribute video with him singing about The Goodle Days.

In the Shelter

It is in the shelter of each other that the people live. So says the Irish proverb at the start of the latest episode from Playing for Change. In the email introducing it they said that it

expresses the urgency we all face to unite together as a planet and offers us wisdom with the words, "War, children, it's just a shot away... Love, sister, it's just a kiss away." It really is that simple.

We dedicate this song to all the lost, homeless and forgotten people in this world. It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.

Tomorrow.....

I and several friends and colleagues (along with quite a few others) will be doing the Tour de Pepin. Our particular one will be 32 miles along the Mississippi River from Lake City, MN down to Wabasha, across the river to Wisconsin and then up the east side to Stockholm. We then get to cross the river on a paddle-wheeler.

The weather is supposed to be nice for the fun ride. You can be sure I will have my trusty cameras along and will fill you in next week.

Time Travel for Fun

Time travel is a time-honored science fiction staple. In the past year three books have grabbed my attention with different approaches to the topic.

The first two are from Connie Willis in her two volume, award-nominated opus, Blackout/All Clear. In her world, time-travel has become an important research tool. People are trained and go back to historical eras to observe and report. As in all time travel, there is always the fear and worry about not doing something to change the future.

Willis takes up the topic of England in the Bombing of London with a number of different researchers involved in a number of different adventures. One can argue, and I think Willis does, that simply by being in the midst of such events, life will be changed. Not in big ways — no one assassinates Hitler. But in small, seemingly inconsequential ways — more like Marty McFly getting his own parents together in the Back to the Future movies.

But in general, in Willis' amazing history, time travel is part of the scientific landscape. Sure, people may use it for the own enjoyment or personal ends, but that does not take away from its scientific purposes.

Jack McDevitt, on the other hand, comes at it from a different angle. Time-travel and personal toy. In McDevitt's future it appears as if only one man has discovered and developed time travel and he has disappeared into it. His son, Shel enlists his friend Dave in a century-hopping lark to find Shel's father and, coincidentally do some historical exploring on their own.

Nowhere in McDevitt's storyline in Time Travelers Never Die does time-travel become the norm. It is rather just the personal plaything of our heroes.

But it still raises the same paradoxical and difficult questions that Willis brings up. Shel and Dave are just as worried about having any impact on history as the WW II travelers in Blackout/All Clear. Is the "arrow of time" truly just one way? Is history unchangeable? Would WW II suddenly disappear from all history books in say, 2100, if in that year a time traveler went back and assassinated Hitler?

Or how about this. What if I wanted to live for some time in say, New York City in the Jazz Age or become an American Ex-Pat in Paris with Hemingway et. al.? Could I (or would I) just disappear without a trace at the moment I pressed the button on the sophisticated "Way-Back Machine?"

In our more recent science fiction people don't worry as much about the scientific (im)possiibilities of time travel. Modern physics has given us the theoretical basis for alternative universes and branching timelines of history. But then it has never been about the science. It is about that underlying human desire to escape the jail of time. Are we really captives of that arrow of time? Is the past really gone, or does it somehow still live? Can I do anything about it?

I had this idea as I read these books, with a nod to Back to the Future again, about heading back in time as this 60-year old guy from the 21st Century. There I am in Georgia in 1944 as two strangers end up in the same restaurant, only tables apart. I end up being there to bring these two young people together and am an observer at their wedding not too long after that. I am the stranger in that odd diary entry I find in my mother's diary years after she has died. I am the matchmaker for my own parents.

And until 2011 I don't know it. But now I do.  What fun.

That's the kind of thinking I entertained when I read these particular books in the past year. Hence the title of McDevitt's book, Time Travelers Never Die. They are always there, alive, waiting in some alternative universe. It is not lost but will somehow be accessible in a mystical-scientific method.

Or we wish it could be.

So maybe that person over at the table in the coffee shop as I wrote this is really from 2200, coming back to watch or even affect (her) past and (my) future.

Fun.

Article first published as Book Reviews: Time Travel For Fun on Blogcritics.

...A Real Wayback Machine and Then Some

The Internet Archive is simply an amazing treasure trove. The header says:

The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.

Moving images, music, audio, texts, and the Wayback Machine of Internet sites will keep you lost for hours. It is all in the public domain and is virtually amazing. You want Grateful Dead concert streams? They're their. Don Quixote read aloud in English or Spanish? Yep. Books to read? of course. Old TV shows and TV ads? Step right up.

In fact here is a collection of thirty some classic ads:

Yes, the Flintstones even sold cigarettes!

Under moving images there is even a September 11 archive of the news programs from that fateful morning. Chilling.

It's Always Fun, But...

Which brings the fireworks.

It's even better when we win.

Smiles and joy after a 10th inning walk-off single.

We went to last Saturday evening's game at Target Field between the Twins and the Angels. It was a perfect night for the game, especially after driving through a tornado warning on the way up.

This has to be one of the most photogenic fields in baseball.

It was a pitchers' duel. Three hits through 8 innings. The Twins had a no-hitter against the Angels through 7 2/3 innings.

Angels' Jered Weaver

Twins Anthony Swarzak

But in the bottom of the 10th the Twins (finally) looked like the Twins are supposed to look. Bases loaded and the chance to win in a walk-off is given to Danny Valencia... and he comes through.

Valencia about to hit the walk-off single.

A bride-to-be gets her picture on the screen. (I also saw the groom's party before the game.)

Gardie about to get ejected for arguing about a call.

And a fan in a bunny suit gets chased across the field after the game.


What more can you ask of a night at the ballpark?