THE BEST OF THE INTERNET AND MEDIA - Life's curiosities - the things that make us smile; ponder; discuss and wonder about. Everything from political news to the arts, with lots of variety in between.
In the first installment of this series we took an overall look at social networking and media in the marketplace as it stands today – blossoming at a vigorous rate and bringing with it socialization benefits as well as potential downsides in reference to the dissemination of personal information in the public arena.
Specifically, new concerns have been posed as to the gathering and selling of your personal information by “data mining companies.”
Eye opening to say the least for many of us, but not to panic, there are options that can level the playing field.
The first thing we all have to understand is this: The GIGO Principle (also known as “Garbage in/Garbage out”) – remember this – whatever you feed into your computer and post on a social network or media site is controllable by only one person – YOU!
You have the option to not post sensitive information, inflammatory comments, and unflattering or compromising photographs with your identity attached – that is your choice, however some sites make it difficult to determine whether your personal information is essential versus non-essential. When in doubt don’t post or share.
Information that you offer up on sites such as Facebook can be controlled, but you need some basic information to get you through all the confusing options.
The video below, produced by SophosLabs (a computer security company) probably best explains how to navigate and make informed choices about privacy and security settings… at least on Facebook, which has taken the bulk of heat on this issue since making extensive changes to their site.
There is also another option for securing your Facebook privacy, but it has taken the form of a revolt that throws out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. Scheduled to take place on Monday, May 31, 2010 is Quit Facebook Day, and it is rapidly garnering followers.
Know your options, check them out and make the choices and changes you prefer, and be sure to come back for the third and final installment in this series, a humorous look at the lighter side of social networking.
Social networking is no longer a passing fad, it's a serious communication tool (rather addictive and somewhat time-consuming in nature) that provides a relatively easy (one-size-fits-all) means of staying in touch with each of your friends, most of your relatives, some of your acquaintances, many of your business associates, all of your fans, and even a smattering of strangers who share your common interests.
On Facebook alone, approximately “60 million individual status updates” are posted daily by users of the service.
If you think that’s a huge number, try swallowing this: “If Facebook were a country it would be the third largest in the world.”
Those figures are part of some rather staggering statistics about social networking and media, which were gathered from the video below that is based on the book “Socialnomics” written by Erik Qualman. Take a look for yourself.
In the past several days, quite a bit of controversy has been brewing over social networking sites, in particular Facebook and some ongoing privacy concerns.
It’s no secret that admissions departments in colleges and universities gather information about applicants from online social networking sites, and it’s been currently estimated in this competitive job market that 95 percent of all HR departments visit social network pages to round out a more complete profile from a job-seeking applicant.
Now comes some new information to add to the mix.
Investigative journalist, Charles Feldman for KNX 1070 (CBS Newsradio - Los Angles/Orange County/ Southern California) has raised some serious concerns regarding the use of personal information (about you) gleaned by trolling “data mining companies,” who ultimately sell your personal statistics and opinions and market that information to others as a “proprietary product.”
In Feldman’s four part series, “ Think Before You Friend!” which includes some additional raw audio footage, he takes listeners on an “Orwellian” adventure exposing how banks, lending institutions, real estate agents and even potential landlords are using information about you that they find online through social networks.
You can listen to Feldman’s excellent eye-opening report by following this link.
Now, does anyone care to hide under a rock?
Stay tuned, there are actions you can implement to take charge of your online image.
On Friday, April 28, 2010, just four days after I posted The iPad Challenge:Cat, Dog or Man? Apple’s nifty little device made its way into the hands of its one-millionth customer, and as of yesterday, 3G and Wi-Fi pre-orders began for international markets with the first round of shipping to begin on May 28 to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom - with more international markets to follow in July.
In the Cat, Dog or Man challenge, you were asked to determine who would best benefit from using Apple’s iPad based on the viral videos that were being circulated around the Internet.
According to your comments, it appears the ‘Cat’ won paws down, with pianist Lang Lang coming in a close second.
However, since the last post, two more contenders have entered the competition and they might just alter your opinions.
Our first competitor is a toddler who is barely 2.5 years of age. According to her father and the Telstar Logistics’ YouTube account where the video appears, he shares the following information: “A fascinating UI experiment. My daughter likes playing with my iPhone, but this was her very first encounter with an iPad. As you'll see, she took right to it... although she too wonders why it doesn't have a camera!"
Our second contender, 99 year-old Virginia Campbell was filmed at the Mary Woods Retirement Community in Oregon. Virginia is the widow of former Lake Oswego Mayor C. Herald Cambell, and this was her very first encounter with the unit, plus she’s never owned a computer or even a Kindle, and to top it off Virginia suffers from glaucoma.
Time to cast your votes – this one’s a real tough choice.
In May 1907, Anna M. Jarvis, while attending a memorial service for her mother, vowed to create a day to honor and remember the most significant woman in our lives, and so today we celebrate Mother's Day.
Actually, over the years, I have come to realize this holiday as a celebration for all women – whose love, kindness, understanding, talents and friendship have nurtured and enriched our lives.
American author and essayist, Washington Irving probably summed up the term “mother” best when he said, “A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."
It has been billed as “The Best way to see the web, email, photos and video – hands down.” It’s the Apple iPad and it has taken the country by storm because of its pocketbook-friendly price of $499, a multi-touch screen and the ability to run thousands of apps.
It won’t exactly replace the PC, but give it a few more generations and who knows?
Well, it didn’t take long for this “magical” device to find its way into the paws and hands of diverse users.
Over the last few days, “Iggy” the cat, “Chloe” the Corgi and classical concert pianist Lang Lang (during an encore at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall) test-drove this little 1.5 pound highly advanced technology, and the results are as diverse as the users.
For a child, the death of a parent is perhaps one of life's most difficult passages to navigate, not only for themselves but for their entire family. On Wednesday evening, April 14, 2010, PBS and the Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street presents an hour-long special, When Families Grieve, hosted by Katie Couric and Kevin Clash as "Elmo" at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Presented in high definition, When Families Grieve handles this daunting topic in an extremely sensitive and compassionate manner by including families’ personal stories about how they have coped with the loss of a parent and spouse. The program also utilizes the Sesame Street Muppets to aid in the communication between adults and children.
The show offers many insights and much hope by providing effective healing strategies that are child appropriate to help children as well as the surviving parent honor their grief and move ahead with their lives.
When Families Grieve is a continuation of Sesame Workshop’s award-winning Talk, Listen, Connect initiative, and because grieving is a family experience, over one million free outreach multimedia resource support kits will be available in English and Spanish after the program’s airing beginning April 15 at this link.
Military families and the general public can access either of the two customized versions of the When Families Grieve outreach kits - one designed to support the specific needs of military families and the other designed for the general public.
According to Sesame Workshop the free kits contain the following:
"A DVD featuring the Sesame Street Muppets and documentary footage of families who have experienced the death of a parent due to a variety of situations including illness, suicide, accidents, and other sudden or natural causes."
Print materials include:
"A guide for parents and caregivers providing tips, strategies, and activities to help comfort and reassure children through difficult times; a children’s storybook designed to comfort children as they cope with the death of a parent; and a facilitator’s guide with strategies for using the project’s components, as well as tips and activities to give to families with children coping with grief."
From statistics supplied by Sesame Workshop, it is “estimated 2.5% of children under age 18 have experienced the death of a parent (approximately 2.5 million children) and on March 10, 2010 TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors) estimated that the 5,398 U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan had left 3,779 children without a parent, while 2,669 spouses had been widowed.”
Couric (herself a widow), known to millions over the years from co-hosting duties on NBC Television’s Today Show and her present day anchor role for the CBS Evening News lost her own husband, Jay Monahan to cancer in 1998 when her two daughters were just six and two years old.
In a statement to the press Couric said, "Death and loss are a part of life, but they are very difficult for adults to discuss, much less children. I'm honored that Sesame Street, with its long history of tackling difficult issues with sensitivity, caring and warmth asked me to be a part of this important project. I hope that it will provide families with the tools to help them cope, begin the healing process, and ultimately adjust to their 'new normal' in the healthiest way possible."
The video below is a preview of this very important program, Sesame Street: When Families Grieve, please share it with those who are in need and those you hold dear. I thank you.
Every so often, Hollywood creates a film that becomes a blockbuster box office bonanza and such is the case of Walt Disney Pictures, Alice in Wonderland.
If you've been following my column on Examiner.com. (time for a little shameless self-promotion) you've been receiving updates and viewing a number of behind-the-scenes videos about the making of the film.
The last updated video that I posted in my "Popcorn Report," covering weekly movie releases, coincided with the film's nationwide opening on Friday, March 5, 2010. (If you happened to have missed it, just follow this link and press on the movie's title.)
In the weeks leading up to Alice's release, as I received more material about the film from Disney's marketing department, I began to realize just how big this film was going to be, and as of this afternoon, the box office figures are staggering - $116.3 million from 4,000 screens, and the weekend isn't even over.
This opening dollar figure puts Alice in a very rarefied category, which tops launch figures for every non- sequel film ever made, and surprisingly also beat out the opening figures for the last Harry Potter film, Half-Blood Prince.
Alice's success can probably best be attributed to the right combination of factors: Tim Burton's directing; Johnny Depp's acting as well as his fan base; outstanding computer generated graphics; 3-D imagery and the re-telling of one of the most beloved, all-time classic novels.
So, now that you will probably go out and see the film, and it is certain to be the topic of many conversations in the weeks to come, I'd like to share some entertaining FUN FACTS (bits of Alice trivia) courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures that are designed to go well while standing around the water cooler or at your next cocktail party.
And, once you finish the FACTS, take a look at the video below. It's the original Alice in Wonderland silent film made 107 years ago (just 37 years after Lewis Carroll penned his classic, and a mere eight years after the birth of the cinema.)
This antique Alice was directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Snow, and was in fact based on the original book illustrations by Sir John Tenniel.
There were no professional actors used in the 1903 film. The role of "Alice" was played by a studio secretary, Hepworth doubled as the "Frog Footman," while his wife took on the role of the "Red Queen" (deja vu Tim Burton and his wife Helena Bonham Carter) and the Hepworth's family pet became the Cheshire cat.
Resurrected and restored by the British Film Institute, the original Alice in Wonderland may not have been a box office wonder in its day, but it was considered quite magical at the time, just as today's Alice seems to our generation. I wonder what historians a century from now will say about Disney's blockbuster?
THE BIG PICTURE
* DIVINE DIGS– Director Tim Burton’s London office was once owned by Arthur Rackham, a famous English book illustrator who created the iconic color plates for the 1907 edition of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
* THE QUESTION IS WHO ARE YOU? – Lewis Carroll is actually a pen name for Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a lecturer in mathematics at Christchurch University in Oxford, England.
* WONDERLAND, NO UNDERLAND — Underland is the same fantastical land that Alice visited as a child, but—according to screenwriter Linda Woolverton—she misheard the word “Underland” and thought they said “Wonderland.” Woolverton says Underland is a part of the Earth, lying somewhere far beneath our world. It’s come upon hard times since the malevolent Red Queen took over the throne, but is a truly wonderful land, which might explain why the girl who mistook it for Wonderland has been called upon to help return it to its glory.
* ALMOST ALICE — “ALICE IN WONDERLAND” sparked two music CDs, including the motion-picture soundtrack, featuring an extraordinary score by composer Danny Elfman, and “Almost Alice,” a 16-song companion compilation featuring the film’s end credit track “Alice,” written and performed by Avril Lavigne, plus songs from artists who were inspired by the film, including All American Rejects, 3OH!3, The Cure’s Robert Smith, Franz Ferdinand and Shinedown. The album’s title, “Almost Alice,” comes from a line in the film. All of Underland has been awaiting Alice’s return since she first visited as a child, but when she does come back, nobody—including Alice—believes she’s the right Alice, the confident and feisty Alice they once knew. Eventually, the wise caterpillar tells her she’s Almost Alice.
CHARACTER-ISTICS
* DEPP’S DESIGNS — Actor Johnny Depp goes through ample preparation for each of his roles and preparing to play the Mad Hatter was no different. Long before production began, the actor began doing watercolor paintings of what the Mad Hatter might look like, discovering later that his vision was quite similar to director Tim Burton’s.
*MAD HATTER MOOD RING — The Mad Hatter suffers from mercury poisoning, a common and unfortunate condition of many hatters of the time who used the chemical regularly for their craft. Depp and Burton elevated this Hatter’s madness by literally showcasing the character’s many mad mood swings in his makeup and wardrobe, creating a virtual human mood ring.
* CHANGES — Mia Wasikowska who plays Alice is five feet four inches in real life but Alice changes size throughout the course of her adventures in Wonderland, ranging from six inches to two feet to eight-and-a-half feet, to a maximum of 20 feet tall. The production worked hard to use practical methods rather than special effects and often it was a case of putting Alice on an apple box to make her taller than everyone else.
* DRINK ME — The potion Alice drinks to shrink is called Pishsolver. The cake she eats to grow is called Upelkuchen.
* SWEET AND SOUR — Actress Anne Hathaway, who portrays the White Queen in “ALICE IN WONDERLAND,” decided that her representation of the character wouldn’t be completely vanilla. The White Queen comes from the same gene pool as the evil Red Queen, after all, so Hathaway envisioned a “punk rock vegan pacifist” and was inspired by Blondie, Greta Garbo, Dan Flavin and Norma Desmond.
* FUTTER-WHAT? — Futterwacken is the term used to describe the Underlanders’ dance of unbridled joy. Composer Danny Elfman was stumped when it came to creating the music for the dance. He wrote four different pieces for the director, each fun, unique and, as Elfman says, “pushing the bounds of what could be acceptable.”
* TWO TWEEDLES — Actor Matt Lucas was tapped to play both Tweedles, rotund twin brothers who constantly disagree with each other and whose confusing chatter makes little sense to anyone but themselves. Lucas, however, was unable to play Tweedledee and Tweedledum at the same time (for some reason). Actor Ethan Cohen was called on to portray Dum to Lucas’ Dee (or vice versa) during filming, but will never actually appear on screen.
* BANDERSNATCH? — This disgusting, drooling, foul-smelling creature has a big filthy body and the squashed, teeth-baring face of a rabid bulldog. The creature leaves Alice with a rather painful reminder of the Red Queen’s horrible reign.
BEHIND THE SCENES
* MEASURING UP — Costume designer Colleen Atwood had her work cut out for her when it came to creating the costumes for Mia Wasikowska’s ever-changing Alice. The character wears a variety of different garments, including one purportedly made from the Red Queen’s curtains and even armor. Atwood had to find fabric in different scales, and construct costumes for Mia that would help illustrate her size changes.
* ON WITH HIS HEAD — Crispin Glover portrays Stayne, the Knave of Hearts, in the film, but only his head appears on screen. The body of the character, who’s seven-and-a-half feet tall, is computer generated. On set, Glover wore a green suit and a pair of stilts to make him taller. His face was fully made up for the role (complete with an eye patch and scar). For the final film, Stayne’s entire costume, body and even his cape are CGI. Only his face is real.
* ON WITH HER FACE — Helena Bonham Carter endured three hours of makeup each morning to transform into the fiery Red Queen. With the help of makeup pro Vallie O’Reilly, the actress was decked out in white powder, lots of blue eye shadow, painted eyebrows and perfect, heart-shaped bow-mouth lips. The special effects team enlarged Bonham Carter’s head in post production, creating the final look for the big-headed Queen.
* SOLE SURPRISE — Costume designer Colleen Atwood added a red heart to the soles of the Red Queen’s shoes, visible when the pampered royal places her feet on a live pig-turned-footrest.
* STILT TROUBLE — After Crispin Glover, who spent much of his time on stilts during production, twisted his ankle filming one particular scene, he was often followed on set by stuntmen all dressed in green who were there solely to catch him in case he fell again.
* CARROT CAPPERS —Tim Burton wanted the animal characters in Wonderland to appear real rather than cartoony. So before creating the White Rabbit, animators spent a day at a rabbit shelter for abandoned rabbits, observing the animals and shooting photo reference footage to ensue they captured the nuances of rabbits chewing and wriggling their noses.
TECHNICAL TIDBITS
*2D to 3D — Director Tim Burton decided to shoot the film in 2D and convert it later to 3D. The director was so impressed with the results of the conversion of his film “The Nightmare Before Christmas” to 3D, he opted to go a similar route for “Alice.”
* SUPER SFX SUPERVISOR — Tim Burton turned to legendary special effects guru Ken Ralston and Sony Imageworks to create the wondrous world of Wonderland and its inhabitants. Ralston (whose credits include the original “Star Wars,” as well as “Forrest Gump” and “The Polar Express”) and his team completed more than 2,500 visual effects shots in total. While the team used a combination of live action, animation and a host of other effects techniques, motion capture technology was not tapped for the film.
* IN THE GREEN — To represent the digital characters on set, the production used either cardboard cut outs, full-size models or else resorted to men in green with eyes stuck to various parts of the anatomy to help the actors with their eyelines and to give them something real to react to.
* HAIR-RAISING — When the animators were looking at reference photography of real caterpillars, they noticed they had hair on them. So Absolem the Caterpillar was treated to his very own CG fuzz.
* THE REAL STUFF — Very few real sets were built for Wonderland. In fact, only three versions of the Round Hall (where Alice ends up after falling down the rabbit hole) and the Red Queen’s dungeon were practical sets. The rest were created digitally.
* EYES HAVE IT — The Mad Hatter’s eyes were slightly enlarged making them between 10 and 15 percent bigger than Johnny Depp’s own.
* HIT THE NET — When the animators began to design the Dodo, their first port of call for reference was Google Image Search, followed by London’s Natural History Museum.
* BIG HEAD — A special 4K hi-def camera called a Dulsa with 4000 lines of resolution was used to shoot Helena Bonham Carter’s Red Queen to enable her head to be blown up to twice its size in post-production without losing any image quality.
Music for the video below: 'Jill in the Box', composed and performed by Wendy Hiscocks.
While legions of folks have entered the ranks of the unemployed, there is another whole segment of the population that secretly wishes they could join those same ranks… believe it or not!
Yes, the grass can sometimes be greener on the other side of the unemployment line.
Well, for those folks in the latter group, there is a website dedicated just for you, PleaseFireMe.com.
Yep, that’s right, there’s now a place where you can go to voice and vent your frustrations of working in a dead end job, for an unappreciative boss and during a rotten economy. What more could you ask for?
The downtrodden are encouraged to visit the site and anonymously place their rant online (no real names though.)
Comments range from mild complaints such as, “My boss sends me emails, then immediately walks over to ask if I got them,” to a lot more rage, “My fantasies of punching my manager in the face, breaking his arms, throwing him out the window, and running him over with a car twice, are getting more and more vivid every day.”
This website is actually a much better place to tattle your tales than placing them on your Facebook page; having your boss discover it and making your dream come true.
Time is precious. It is a commodity of sorts for which there is no dollar value - except in corporate America, where actuaries place a definitive numerical amount on productivity, potential profit or loss, and even life expectancies.
What activities in our everyday lives carry those numerical figures - cleaning house; answering endless e-mails; shuffling paperwork; walking the dog, working?
All of these things that fill our minutes and hours might be considered distractions, but they are a part of life whether we like it or not. They are the things that keep us focused and sometimes feeling productive, but more often than not, some of these activities cost more than we could possibly imagine because of the way we are kept tethered to them, possibly preventing us from accomplishing creative goals, which give fulfillment to the human spirit.
Such has been my plight. I say this not as an excuse but just a reality for not weighing in on this blog as often as I would like.
I’ve had the topic of “time” on my mind for several days now, when I ran across a remarkable video, which brought everything clearly into focus and shook my brain loose.
What if you could compress time? Keep it in a bottle like the late Jim Croce did with his Billboard chart-topping song?
Carl Sandburg once said, “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”
The following video puts time, not in a bottle, but in the frame of a camera lens, provided by Eirik Solheim, a Project manager for the development department at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.
Through his photographic art, Solheim shows us just how precious Sandburg’s coin is in terms of how quickly time passes in the natural world.
On Solheim’s web page, he explains in detail the method he used to compress one full year into 120 seconds. I found it to be a curious and compelling process that made me take action on Sandburg’s thoughts. How about you?
Today I wish you good health. Time has taught me that if you have this… everything else will follow.
I also wish you love. Open your heart to the possibilities. To need and be needed is at the very core of our frail and human existence.
And, may you know spiritual wealth whatever your belief, and may you draw strength and comfort from a presence that is greater, yet part of us all.
Another wish to you is for material abundance so that you may always have nourishing food at your table; a home to protect and surround you filled with treasures that delight your heart, and may you always be able to share these blessings with others.
I also wish for you knowledge and inspiration every day of the year that propels you to seek out and learn something new as you write the passages of your life. And, like a good book may your novel be hard to put down and the end long in coming.
I wish you laughter, as it is easier to smile than it is to frown. Always cherish the joyful child that resides in you.
A wish for beauty - may you find it from the breath of a rose; the sparkle of sunlight on water; the song of a bird or the pink cheek of a child – it is truly in the beholder.
A wish for “forgiveness” so that you never go to bed at night angry at someone… for something. Forgive and move on.
Today I also wish you “time” – whether you beg it, borrow it, or steal it – remember to use it, not abuse it. May you have all that your heart desires to accomplish your fondest dreams. Fill the seconds between the minutes, and the minutes between the hours with your life well lived.
A wish for “grace”: May a measure of compassion, charity and charm be yours for the asking and this be the footprint you leave for others to follow.
And last but not least WISHES FOR WORLD PEACE: None of us have known this… may it truly become a reality in our lifetime.
One of the finest choral groups in the world is the famous Choir of King’s College in Cambridge, England.
Considered the most accomplished representation of the British choral tradition, the choir was established by King Henry VI, founder of King’s College, Cambridge in 1441.
The choir, composed of some of the most outstanding young scholars in England, sings daily in the college’s chapel and over the years has toured and established a wonderful repertoire and an extensive discography of recordings.
For your holiday enjoyment, the following video, which is comprised of all 16 members of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge provides an exquisite representation of their talent as they sing Gustav Holst’s, “In the Bleak Midwinter.”
May you and yours enjoy a most beautiful and peaceful holiday.
On December 24, 1914, a miracle of sorts took place on a field in Belgium. It happened just five months after the outbreak of World War I , and on that bitter cold night, men who were foes in battle became gentlemen who refused to fight.
Perhaps this legacy might be repeated and become long lasting in our lifetimes.
This is the song of the Christmas Truce of 1914. It is something to think about during these long, dark nights of winter.
For more than 50 years, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and its predecessor, Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa Claus on his Christmas Eve flight, providing Santa, his reindeer, and sleigh, safe and unimpeded air space over North America and Canada, while sharing information with children, on Santa’s minute-by-minute progress around the globe.
NORAD is staffed by the good folks who keep our skies safe, 24 hours a day, seven days week with radar and intercept aircraft, and this time of year, they also invite you to their NORAD Tracks Santa web site where you can keep an eye on Santa’s Christmas flight right along with them in real time.
At the NORAD site, children, parents and caregivers will see a brief video of television personality, Kelly Ripa, as she explains the Santa tracking project, and on Christmas Eve day, you’ll come back to this same page and see images from the “Santa Cams” that have been pre-positioned around the world to catch glimpses of Santa, the reindeer and his sleigh.
You’ll also track Santa by downloading a free application of Google Earth, available from the NORAD web site, as well as following Santa's progress on NORAD’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
If you prefer, on December 24, you can send an email to a NORAD staff member at noradtrackssanta@gmail.com, and they will give you Santa’s last known location in a return email.
Plus, the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center phone lines will be fully operational beginning at 4:00 a.m. MST on December 24, and you can call 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) to talk directly to a NORAD staff member who will tell you Santa’s exact location!
While you’re waiting for the big day, NORAD provides some fun and games during the countdown at "Santa’s Village," where you click on any shop in the village, and find an interesting activity that is inside each of the different buildings.
There are also special pages where you’ll see and hear Santa read the Night Before Christmas in a pre-recorded video, and learn lots of interesting facts about the big guy in red, everything from his sleigh’s technical data to how he gets down a chimney.
For Santa skeptics there is even a page where you can listen to the reading of a real letter, which was written to a newspaper in 1897 by eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon, questioning the existence of Santa, and hear the newspaper editor’s touching and thoughtful reply.
There is also information about appropriate “Santa Snacks” to leave out for the main man, and pages about NORAD – "why" they track Santa and details on how the tracking is actually done.
The NORAD Tracks Santa website is a non-profit organization funded solely through corporate donations, and is fully staffed by an all-volunteer crew who love children, Christmas, and honor the memory of Colonel Harry Shoup, (Retired) USAF, who by serendipity in 1955, became NORAD’s very first Santa Tracker.
An interesting psychology experiment was performed by researchers from Harvard University covering what is termed as, “change blindness.”
Basically speaking it’s “information selection” – we see what we want to see, or better yet, what we (our brain) deems as important.
So much for cognitive correctness, I think you will find this brief video a fascinating mirror held up to the human condition. (No wonder eyewitnesses are oftentimes diametrically opposed in a courtroom, particularly if there is an eyewitness for the defense and one for the prosecution!)
It reminds me a bit of that old childhood game, “Telephone” – where you tell one person a secret and it goes around the room to everyone, and by the time it reaches the last person the original statement is often altered beyond recognition. (I would venture to say that would be called, “change hearing?”)
I doubt if young Robert Burns, the beloved Scottish poet (1759-1796) had change blindness in mind when he wrote: “O would some power the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us.”
But, then again, maybe he did. You be the judge.
Your children can say, “Season’s Greetings” this year by printing out their very own free holiday cards while getting a bird’s eye view of the universe, and a fabulous science lesson at the same time from the good folks at Hubblesite.
Hubblesite is the home for all things about the Hubble Space Telescope, the world’s first space-based optical telescope named by NASA to honor American astronomer, Edwin P. Hubble (1889-1953), the man whose decade-long observations of our ever-expanding universe provided “Hubble’s Law,” the foundation for the “Big Bang” model of creation.
In addition to the free and unique holiday cards, children can further explore the Hubble web site and download magnificent wallpapers, tour the Hubble gallery seeing all the planets, stars, nebulae and galaxies that Hubble has captured with its lenses, get their own Hubble photos in three easy steps through the Hubble Print Shop, and even stop by Hubble’s Movie Theater where they can view a series of short videos that provide glimpses into Hubble's activities, discoveries and science, plus lots more fun-filled activities to spark the inquisitiveness of any junior astronomer.
Probably one of the best scientific exploration investments ever made, the Hubble was launched from the space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990 at a cost of $1.5 billion, and was targeted for a 20-year visual discovery mission, orbiting the Earth at a low altitude of 380 statute miles every 97 minutes, and at a speed of 17,500 mph.
Faster than you can say “crab nebula,” children can also see snapshots of the Hubble Space Telescope in flight, and learn about Hubble’s “ground crew” - the people who make it all happen.
Every year when the holidays come around, I like to unwrap gifts very slowly and carefully, thereby being able to save a considerable amount of beautiful wrapping paper, tissue, bows, and bags, which to my delight are recycled for the following year and sometimes even, two, three, or four. - In these eco-conscious times, that has been my small contribution to saving trees and the environment.
The other day, I came across an even better idea, the Japanese practice of “furoshiki.” It’s a traditional method of gift-wrapping, which in itself is almost an art form, but instead of using paper, one utilizes cloth cut in a large square.
This type of gift wrap can be brought into service year-after-year or fashioned into something else – what a deal! Trees are going to love you!
The video below provides a very simple step-by-step guide on how to wrap everything from books to bottles. Have fun – I know I will!
"For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
“To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kind that will stand behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.”- Albert Schweitzer
“Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.”- Theodore Roosevelt
Whether you write professionally or for fun, every writer has good days and dreadful days.
Included in the dreadful days are such things as writer’s block, misspellings (a homonym not caught), and the sin of what I like to call ‘florid writing’ or ‘sniveling drivel.’
How would you feel if your claim to literary fame was winning first place in a bad writing contest with your very own sniveling drivel?
For the past 27 years writers from all over the world have sharpened their pencils or turned on their laptops and set out to snivel the worst opening sentence for a novel, competing in the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.
The writing contest is named in honor of English novelist and playwright, Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who coined such hackneyed phrases as: “the pen is mightier than the sword,” and “the great unwashed,” but who is probably best remembered for this:
“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."
Phew!
Now, let’s have a drum roll… the 2009 Bulwer-Lytton Grand Prizewinner is, David McKenzie, a 55-year-old Quality Systems consultant and writer from Federal Way, Washington. McKenzie’s has indeed honored Bulwer-Lytton with the following:
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the “Ellie May," a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”
The Runner-up honors in the Bulwer-Lytton went to Warren Blair, Ashburn, Virginia with the following:
“The wind dry-shaved the cracked earth like a dull razor--the double edge kind from the plastic bag that you shouldn't use more than twice, but you do; but Trevor Earp had to face it as he started the second morning of his hopeless search for Drover, the Irish Wolfhound he had found as a pup near death from a fight with a prairie dog and nursed back to health, stolen by a traveling circus so that the monkey would have something to ride. “
Are you still laughing out loud over that one?
Some of my personal favorites came away with the distinct title of “Dishonorable Mentions.” The following, written by Lynn Lamousin, Baton Rouge, Louisiana reminded me a bit of Garrison Keillor’s “Guy Noir” alter ego on Prairie Home Companion.
“Darnell knew he was getting hung out to dry when the D.A. made him come clean by airing other people's dirty laundry; the plea deal was a new wrinkle and there were still issues to iron out, but he hoped it would all come out in the wash - otherwise he had folded like a cheap suit for nothing. “
And, how about this gem by Rita Hammett, Boca Raton, Florida:
“She expected a beautiful morning after the previous night's hard rain but instead stepped out her door to a horrible vision of drowned earthworms covering the walkway -- their bodies curled and swirled like limp confetti after a party crashed by firefighters. “
Or, this one by Harol Hoffman-Meisner, Greensboro, North Carolina?
“The first time I saw her she took my breath away with her long blonde hair that flowed over her shoulders like cheese sauce on a bed of nachos, making my stomach grumble as she stepped into the room, her red knit dress locking in curves better than a Ferrari at a Grand Prix.”
And finally, (I love this) the Winner of the “Vile Puns” category, Greg Homer, Placerville, California:
“Using her flint knife to gut the two amphibians, Kreega the Neanderthal woman created the first pair of open-toad sandals. “
Congratulations all – you’ve truly tickled some funny bones and honored the memory of Edward George Bulwer-Lytton.
The celebration of Halloween and tales of haunting seem to go hand- in-hand. Whether you believe in restless spirits or alternate dimensions, lingering legends perpetuated over the years oftentimes stemmed from brutal acts or major calamitous events that normally give rise to ghost stories.
Here in my backyard, which is also known as the Quaboag Plantation in New England, it seems spirits find it so peaceful they come to rest and not linger on this plane, or do they? You be the judge.
It was a beautiful and elegant hotel in its day when it sat perched on the corner of Grove and Common Streets in Barre, Massachusetts. In 1980, artist, Frank Bly, captured the Barre Hotel’s grandeur in a charming winter scene. Ten years later the grand old building had burned to the ground and all that remained were the memories, and according to locals, Bly rendered a new painting of the hotel, but this time it had ghosts and spirits pouring out of its windows. Whether Bly actually saw those specters or interpreted the hotel’s demise in the language of an artist is left to conjecture and imagination.
Other stories of a thought provoking nature that reflect the early days of the Plantation during King Philip’s War provide no evidence of haunting by restless spirits even after the brutal ambush of the original settlers of Foster Hill, or the gruesome tale of William Pritchard’s son, Samuel, who on the same day his father was killed at “Wheeler’s Surprise,” met with his own dark fate - death and beheading. The story of this heinous act, Samuel’s head tossed and kicked about like a football for all to see, including his mother, certainly should provide tales of restless spirits, but none seem to exist, nor are they ever spoken about. . Then there is the Brookfield tale of Bathsheba Ruggles Spooner, the first woman in America to be sentenced to death for her involvement, with that of her young lover and two accomplices, in the beating and murder of her brutish husband, whose body was stuffed down a well in an effort to hide the deed. Spooner pleaded for clemency as she claimed she was pregnant but it was to no avail and she was sent to the gallows, along with her lover and their two accomplices on July 2, 1778. A subsequent autopsy performed on Spooner’s body revealed that she was indeed “quickened” with child, and despite the shocking nature of the story, no haunting prevails.
Another true tale that took place in 1874, the abduction of four-year-old Charley Ross (a Philadelphia Main Line youngster) gave rise to possible haunting stories concerning Charley’s summer home in Brookfield, Massachusetts. The Ross kidnapping/ransom case was the first of its kind to garner national media attention, and on a local level was cause for continuous gossip. The summer vacation residence, which belonged to Charley’s aunt, was a grand, but brooding and dark-looking Victorian home. After Charley’s disappearance, the “Lewis Mansion”, as it was known, suddenly was left abandoned by the family, with all its furnishings and personal belongings intact. It was as if the entire family had simply vanished. Some said the kidnappers had killed Charley and buried his body in the basement of the home. As late as the mid 1940’s, before the property was raised and converted into a recreation park, children often prowled the abandoned house mostly scaring themselves with their own footsteps. Charley Ross was never found; the Lewis family never returned to claim their belongings and no one ever reported seeing a ghost – ever.
In North Brookfield, Massachusetts, just off Slab City Road, sits an enormous dam that was once was the site of Woolcott’s Mill, which was established in 1717 as a sawmill. For years, the mill site carried a stigma of misfortune each time the property changed hands – everything from an owner’s disappearance to an accidental tragic shooting of a child by his brother, and even one poor soul loosing his arm in an industrial accident at the site. In an effort to explain the odd and sometime ghoulish happenings, local residents blamed it on an unknown woman who simply was referred to as “Aunt Hepsie.” To this day, no one has ever seen or even knows who Aunt Hepsie was and why she was singled out for infamy. So, no ghost there, but indeed an odd series of occurrences, which cannot be explained.
Our last tale concerns the murder of a young bride-to-be, “Elsie,” who was savagely beheaded by her intended on their wedding day. She is said to wander the Evergreen Cemetery in New Braintree, Massachusetts. Folks don’t seem to know her last name, nor where in this slip of land that she is buried, but without doubt, ask any local, and in hushed tones they will talk about the spirit in a diaphanous gown that haunts not on Halloween, but every 18th of April on Paul Revere Day. Writer/artist Stephanie Benoit captured the legend in verse that begins with, “A mournful, fragile vapor rises from Evergreen where spent souls lie, where great stonewalls hold back the darkness that oozes from the woods nearby.” The poem continues with the story and concludes: “Skeptics say it’s purely fiction, Elsie’s ghostly truth denied - ‘A reluctant corpse,’ say the believers, Death’s pointed finger she defied. To romantics it’s just charming folklore, of death embalmed in mystery, and Elsie’s grave and stern decorum is now New Braintree’s history.” I’ve not seen Elsie yet… but I’ll let you know when I do.
Come walk with me among the falling leaves
and share the final moments of many lives
well lived beneath the full and ripened sun.
We will bid farewell, and mark the passing
of each precious and glorious life.
Once you bring your apples home from the orchard, there are numerous recipes and uses for them - everything from pies and dumplings, to confections.
The following is one of the more unique choices that will bring back thoughts of summer on a cold and snowy day.
APPLE WALNUT CONSERVE
3 pounds of apples should yield about 4-1/2 cups chopped 1/2 cup water 1/4 cup lemon juice 1/2 cup raisins 1 package powdered pectin 5 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 2 to 3 drops red food coloring (optional) or a bit of cinnamon for taste and mild color (also optional) Clean and core apples, leaving skin on. Chop or dice apples to about ¼ to ½ inch pieces to equal 4-1/2 cups. Combine chopped apples, water, lemon juice, and raisins in a large kettle. Add pectin stirring well. Place over high heat. Stirring constantly, bring quickly to a full boil with bubbles over the entire surface. Add sugar; continue stirring, and bring to a full bubbling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add walnuts. (Add red food coloring if desired.) Remove from heat and pour immediately into hot, sterilized canning jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Seal jars and process for 5 minutes in boiling-water bath. Makes 6 to 7 half-pint jars. Awesome with warm buttered toast and English muffins or as a relish to poultry, or boiled beef. ENJOY!
What about you, what’s your favorite recipe for apples? Please feel free to share!
Most pick-your-own orchards provide containers but it’s always a good idea to ask if you need to bring your own, and if there is a minimum harvest required along with method of payment.
Pickyourown.org. is a great resource for finding the nearest location nationwide for pick-your-own apples They also cover international locations such as: Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and many other countries.
In planning your excursion, be sure to check out availability of specific apple varieties, as ripening and harvest times will vary.
Also, ask about unique features that many of the orchards offer such as baked goods, jellies and apple specialty items, as many maintain gift shops in addition to family friendly children’s activities.
Dress in layers as fall weather can be unpredictable and wear comfortable walking shoes.
When picking apples, gently pull and twist simultaneously.If you get two apples next to each other on the same branch, gently pull both at the same time but twist each in the opposite direction.
When you bring your harvest home, remember that apples do best stored in a cool (35 to 45 degrees) dry place, with lower light, but if they need to ripen, room temperature is the answer.
-HAPPY PICKIN’- Check back tomorrow for a special recipe for your harvest.
Always remember, the best variety of apple is the one that appeals to your individual taste.
The following is a list of apples and their characteristics. Just click on the name of the apple variety for a picture.
Arkansas Black: Harvested later in the season; dark purple to almost black in color; medium to large size fruit with hard texture; stores well and is great for baking.
Braeburn: Another later seasoned fruit; yellow base color with orange/red blush and red stripes; originated in New Zealand in 1952; medium to large fruit with cream colored crisp, juicy, slightly tart flesh that stores well.
Cortland: Sept. through early October harvest; a purple hued dull red apple with white soft flesh; it is a McIntosh cross with less aromatic properties; keeps well and is excellent in salads.
Empire: Another McIntosh hybrid crossed with Red Delicious; originally introduced in New York State in 1966; dark red with creamy white flesh that is juicy with a slight acidity; most enjoyable eaten when fresh but keeps well for a long period of time; also great for desserts and cider; often available starting in October.
Gala: An early season harvest originally developed in New Zealand; a heart-shaped fruit with yellow and red stripes; aromatic and sweet tasting; small to medium in size fruit; makes wonderful applesauce, good in salads, and eating fresh picked.
Golden Delicious: An old-time favorite introduced in West Virginia in 1900; generally mid to late Sept. harvest; large yellow-gold fruit with tender skin; has crisp, firm sweet and flavorful flesh; works well in salads and blended in applesauce; requires careful picking as it can easily bruise.
Honeycrisp: A medium to large sized, red over light greenish/yellow apple sometimes covered with flecks of reddish/brown; juicy, sweet, aromatic, and crisp; harvested mostly in Sept. it was first introduced in Minnesota and makes excellent eating and apple juice.
Jonathan: A medium sized fruit with a tart yet sweet taste; developed in New York State in 1896; tougher red over greenish/yellow skin; one of the first apples in the fall and a long-time favorite for eating and cooking.
Jonagold: A cross between Golden Delicious and Jonathan developed in 1968; a large red over yellow apple with crackling, firm slightly tart full flavor; stores well under refrigeration; harvested mid to late Sept.; works well for pies, salads, baking, sauce and snacks.
Liberty: A highly disease-resistant McIntosh-type apple developed in New York State in 1962; a large fruit, red over yellow; great for eating, sauce salads and desserts; flavor heightens when stored.
Macoun: Was developed in 1909 but not introduced to the general market until 1950; size and shape similar to McIntosh but with deeper red coloring and more strip variations; a very sweet, aromatic and firm fleshed fruit known as the New England Dessert apple but also great for eating, salads and sauces; harvest begins in Sept.
McIntosh: An old-time American favorite since 1811; mild and sweet flavor that’s great for eating, salads and as an applesauce blend; harvested at the beginning of Sept. to Oct.
Mutsu: A sweet crisp, greenish-yellow apple, similar to the Golden Delicious it was developed in Japan in 1930; it’s great for fresh eating and applesauce and is generally available the beginning of October.
Paula Red: A tart-tasting apple with creamy light flesh; one of the first-of-the-season varieties to be harvested; small to medium in size, it developed as a mutation of the McIntosh; bright red fruit over yellow with a dusty-sheen appearance; not overly sweet or tart suitable for eating and cooking when softness is desired.
Red Delicious: For years was the most popular apple in the world; great for eating, salads and applesauce; bright to deep dark crimson skin with fine-grained white flesh; sweet simple flavor with refreshing slight acidity; harvested in mid to late Sept. and excellent for eating, salads and applesauce; harvested later in the season.
Suncrisp: Harvested mid to late Oct; a Golden Delicious-type; red over orange colored, hard fruit that keeps well and best for baking.
Vista Bella: A medium sized, dark red over yellowish-green skin; light and juicy flesh akin in flavor to early raspberries; fine eating apple.
Come back tomorrow for the “who, what, where, when and how” of apple picking.
Long before 1792, when John Chapman (also known as “Johnny Appleseed”) left his Leominster, Massachusetts home to make his way westward planting apple orchards, the fruit had arrived with the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The history of the apple, a member of the rose family, stretches its origins even further to an area somewhere between the Caspian and the Black Sea more than 6500 years ago.
Historically it was considered a favorite fruit by the ancient Greeks and Romans and today there are at least 7500 varieties grown worldwide, with some 2500 varieties available in the United States alone.
One of the most healthful of all foods, the apple is fat, sodium, and cholesterol free as well as agreat source of the fiber, and only about 80 calories for a medium sized fruit.
Now that it’s harvest time, there are many varieties of apple that are available at orchards and farms nationwide, which are beckoning for folks to “pick your own.”
Come back and visit tomorrow as I highlight some fairly common and unusual varieties.
Born and raised in Chicago, Paula began her career as an on-air announcer/reporter for classical radio, WEFM. An alumnus of NBC-TV’s Daytime Writers Program, she served as head of the Literary Department for the Savage Agency, Hollywood; developed programming for Blair Entertainment, New York and wrote for such diverse publications as: the Martha’s Vineyard Times; Cape Cod Life; Berkshire Eagle; and Scripps-Howard News Service. She is signatory to the Writers Guild of America; a member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA. Her acting credits include: "Starman;" “Hardcastle & McCormick;” “Remington Steele,” and “General Hospital;” commercials for clients such as Sears and McDonald’s and stage roles that included Lady Macbeth. She has administered blogs – Paula Slade: In My Humble Opinion and Paula Slade: National Children’s Entertainment as well as a contributing writer and co-administer for Sadie Sapiens: The Voice for Those Who Can’t Speak… At Least Not Yet! Today she is Vice President/Creative Director and audiobook narrator for ARTISTIC MEDIA ASSOCIATES, INC. She and her husband reside on the East coast along with their goofy and loveable cat and dog.
