(10 for 10; 6th Entry): Virtual Postcard from Maryland

Greetings to our blog readers in New Zealand, Jamaica, and Sweden......

Today, we feature an image of Keyote (pictured) the mascot of the Frederick Keys in Frederick, Maryland, a Carolina League affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles.

We had a chance to visit Frederick and meet Keyote back in August on a surprisingly hot day in which Frederick was actually hotter than Myrtle Beach, South Carolina! (The Keys play the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in the Carolina League; the Pelicans won the league title earlier this week).

While we were in Frederick, we also had a chance to dine at Ayse Meze Lounge, a Turkish restaurant downtown, where we feasted on lahmacun, also known as 'Turkish pizza.'

Hope you are enjoying your Saturday afternoon (or evening/night in other parts of the world). We are currently listening to "The Moth Radio Hour." This week's NPR show has a story performed by former American astronaut Michael Massimino who talks about what earth looks like from outer space. The radio shows airs at 8:00 p.m. on WNYC (New York).


http://www.visitfrederick.org/

http://www.downtownfrederick.org/

http://aysemeze.com/

 http://www.visitmaryland.org/

http://www.themoth.org

http://www.wnyc.org/

Top Ten Olympic Lists (1 of 10): The Flag Bearers; 55 is NEVER Too Old to Compete

Greetings to our blog readers in Kenya, Honduras and Taiwan (yes, we are aware none of these countries are Winter Olympics contenders). We intended to start this whole project on Thursday, in conjunction with the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Sochi, Russia, which is somehow two hours ahead of Trabzon, Turkey, even though the two cities are across the Black Sea from each other.

Here are ten flag-bearers; there will be ten more on our sister blog http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com


Here we go:

1) Greece. Panagiota Tsakiri. Women's Cross Country (pictured top)

2) Mexico: Hubertus von Hohenlohe. Men's Alpine (actually a 55-year-olf European prince who was profiled in "Mental Floss," pictured center)

3) Finland. Enin Rukajarvi. Women's Snowboarding (pictured bottom)

4. Australia. Alex Pullin. Men's Snowboarding.

5. Belgium. Hanna Marien. Women's Bobsled.

6. Sweden. Anders Sodergen. Men's Cross-country Skiing.

7. Jamaica. Marvin Dixon. Men's Bobsledding.

8. Great Britain. Jon Eley, Short-track Speed-skating.

9. Germany. Maria Hofl-Reisch. Women's Alpine Skiing.

10. Slovenia. Tomaz Razinger. Men's hockey.

http://www.mentalfloss.com

http://www.redbull.com

http://www.sochi2014.com/en

http://www.nbcsports.com/

http://www.visitrussia.com/

Quote of the Day- Thomas Jefferson

Greetings to our blog readers in Jamaica, Japan and Jordan, as well domestic visitors from Iowa, Indiana and Illinois; today, we continue our series of quotes from the first eight and last eight American presidents (quotes are also on our sister blog "Politic, Culture and Other Wastes of Time: http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com ).

Today, we feature our third president Thomas Jefferson, from our home state of Virginia. Amazingly enough, despite going to Charlottesville, Va., many times, I have yet to visit Monticello http://www.monticello.org), his historic home located there.

Jefferson also founded the University of Virginia, where Ralph Sampson was a star basketball player in the early 1980s (he was the subject of a recent "Washington Post Magazine" cover story), and the school's college radio station is affectionally called WTJU-FM (http://www.wtju.net)

And, Jefferson is one of four presidents who are mascots for the Washington Nationals, along with George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, which seems a bit ironic (he was infamously assassinated at Ford's Theatre), and Theodore Roosevelt, who seldom wins the mascot derby (http://wwwblog.letteddywin.com).

Yesterday, the Nationals won their home game over the San Diego Padres 8-5.

Here is TJ's quote: "I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend."

http://www.washington.national/mlb.com

Greetings from Mister Lizard

Greetings to those of you in Dubai, where it is now 9:30 a.m. and in Istanbul, where it is 7:30 a.m.

We conclude our look at reptiles and amphibians with an entry dedicated to the green anole lizard, a reptile, that is found in the United States, Cuba and Jamaica. This lizard changes its colors based on its surroundings, and the anole has a diet which includes crickets, cockroaches and spiders, according to buzzle.com

SIDEBAR: Since we talked about the University of North Carolina's women's volleyball yesterday, today we thought we'd turn our attention to the other UNC_ the University of Northern Colorado Bears. The Greeley, Colo.-based school's women's volleyball team won a key road game against the University of Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (yes, we think it's an odd name for women's athletic team as well) in Flagstaff, Ariz, on Saturday night.

UNC (21-10, 14-6 in the Big Sky Conference) won over UNA (23-6, 14-6) by a score of 3-0 (25-19,25-20, 25-18). Tambre Haddock, a sophomore from Longmont, Colo., had 11 kills and 14 digs for the Bears while Kelley Arnold, a senior from Berthoud, Colo., had 14 kills and 9 digs for the Lumberjacks.

The game was senior night for the Lumberjacks; Annie Gott, Kelli Dillmann and Jen Wilson were among the five seniors who were honored before the game.

http;//www.lizards.com

http://www.uncbears.com

http://www.nauatlhetics.com

Four Who Finished Fourth_ The Women

Both "The Washington Post" and "USA Today" have run stories about those athletes who have the unfortunate distinction of coming in fourth, in some cases milli-seconds away from winning a medal; the companion part to this entry on male Olympic athletes who finished fourth can be found at our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" http://www.politcscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

David Mitchell, a bookshop owner in England, actually made unofficial fourth place medals for these athletes who include the likes of Turkish women's weightlifter Sibel Simsek.

Here are four other female athletes who came in fourth at the 2012 London Olympics:

1) Karen Cockburn, 31, Canada, trampoline, (pictured third in order)_ In London, Cockburn competed in her fourth Olympics. She had won a silver and bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics and followed it up with a silver at the 2008 Olympics. But, this time, she was edged out of a bronze medal by Chinese trampoline gymnast Hu Wenna. But, gold went to Cockburn's Canadian teammate Rosie MacLeennan, and it was Canada's only gold medal at the summer games.

2) Lolo Jones, 30, USA, track and field (100-meter hurdles, pictured last)). At the 2012 Olympics, the 400-meter hurdles proved to be an agonizingly close race both for Jones and Nevin Yanit, 26, of Turkey, who finished fifth even though she and Jones both finished the race in 12.58 seconds. Sally Pearson of Australia won the race in 12.35 seconds. Jones was stand-out at LSU where she won three NCAA titles, and she has won gold in two world championships. One unique aspect of her personal life is that she told HBO earlier this year that she was a virgin, yet she posed semi-nude for "ESPN the Magazine" in 2009. Jones was hoping to rebound from a disappointing 2008 Olympics.

3) Aliya Garayeva, 24, Azerbaijan, rhythmic gymnastics (top image). In London, the rhythmic gymnastics competition was dominated by women from former Soviet Republics. Garayeva improved from her sixth place finish at the 2008 Olympics, but that was not enough to get the bronze medal which went to Liubou Charkashyna of Belarus.

4) Kaliese Spencer, 25, Jamaica, track and field (400-meter hurdles). Jamaica rocked the 2012 London Olympics with 12 medals, including three gold medals from the incredible sprinter Usain Bolt. But, Spencer, an impressive athlete in her own right, was unable to pass Zuzana Hejnova or the Czech Republic who came in third.


http://www.karencokcburn.ca/

http://www.gymcan.org

http://www.olympic.ca

http://www.radio-canada.ca

http://www.runlolorun.com

Our Favorite Olympic Athletes (2 of 4)_ The Flying Dutchman, et al

Here is a look at some of our favorite male athletes from countries besides the United States (we profiled Americans yesterday):

1.) Usain Bolt, 25, Jamaica, track and field (sprinter)_ As everyone except a yack herder in Mongolia knows that Bolt won gold in the men's 100-meter in a blazing 9. 63 seconds.

2) Tony Estanguet, 34, France, canoeing (pictured top)_ This athlete won gold in single canoeing in 97.06 seconds; we think this might be the most dangerous sport in the Olympics with pole vault being a close second; table tennis is arguably the safest sport.

3) Jordan Jovtchev, 39, Bulgaria, men's gymnastics_ Though he didn't win a medal at the 2012 London Olympics, Jovtchev, who once lived in Oklahoma, came back for a record sixth Olympics in men's gymnastics. He competed on rings where he finished seventh in an an event won by Arthur Zanetti of Brazil. Jovtchev has previously won a total of four silver and bronze medals at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.
Jovtchev was also the flag-bearer for Bulgaria, which has surprisingly not medaled yet.

4) Riza Kayaalp, 22, Turkey, Greco-roman wrestling (pictured center)_ Kayaalp is so far the only Turkish athlete to medal in London; he won a bronze in the 120-kg class of his sport, an event that was won by Mijan Lopez of Cuba.

5) Andy Murray, 25, Great Britain, tennis_ Murray, who is the fourth-ranked men's tennis player in the world, defeated Roger Federer of Switzerland in straight sets to the delight of the home crowd on Saturday.

6) Epke Zonderland, 26, The Netherland/Hollan, men's gymnastics_ Zonderland won gold on the horizontal bar event yesterday. The Flying Dutchman beat out the likes of Zou Kai (China) and Jonathan Horton (USA) for the gold.

http://www.usainbolt.com

http://www.tonyestanguet.com

http://www.andymurray.com

http://www.dailyhurriyet.com

http://www.insidegymnastics.com

Casualties of Modern Technology- Stamps (11 of 12)

Today, we turn our attention to yet another casualty of modern technology, though it's still around and used widely around the globe, postage stamps usage has decreased everywhere from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Montevideo, Uruguay.

The postage stamp that was first used, according to Wikipedia, was the Penny Black Stamp in the United Kingdon, which sold for one penny, in 1840. A century later, Airmail stamps were widely used in America and shortly thereafter everywhere else. Other stamps include military stamps and official stamps.

Stamp collecting, known as pjphilately, is a popular hobby. Highly sought after stamps include the Hawaiian missionary stamps, first issued in 1851, which are worth circa $5000,000 today. Stamp collectors also tend to like stamps from Carribean nations, such as The Bahamas and Jamaica, since they occasionally feature  unusual design and topics.

Here in America, popular stamps, include the Statue of Liberty forever stamp, the Eid stamp used for the Muslim holiday, and Black History Month stamps, which this year, included "Ebony" magazine founder John H. Johnson.

http://www.beyondtheperf.com/


http://www.stampshows.com/

http://www.famousstamps.com/

http://www.ebony.com/

Casulaties of Modern Technology (6 of 12)_ The Typewriter

First of all hello to those of you in Davos, Switzerland, and Montego Bay, Jamaica, who have somehow found time to check us out today. We also wish to congratulate teh citizens of Mali, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Zambia for reaching the finals of the African Cup in world soccer play over the weekend. Lastly, kudos to Eli Manning and the New York Giants for winning the Super Bowl over the New England Patriots 21-17.

And, you thought Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich were the only ones kissing babies left and right!

Today's Casualty of Modern Technology is the typewriter. Since I am a big fan of the Tom Robbins novel "Still Life with Woodpecker" (1980) and the novelist typed the whole work on Remington SL3, that is the image we are going with today.

In his novel, Robbins even alluded to the machinery with the line: "I sense that the novel of my dreams is the Remington SL3_ although it writes much faster than I can spell."

The typewriter was also an external force in the excellent William Burroughs novel "Naked Lunch" (1959), a surreal masterpiece that was turned into a David Cronenberg film many years later in 1991.

There are many serious collectors of typewriters, including actor Tom Hanks and politcian/business leader Steven Soboroff, who has typewriters from Jack London and Ernest Hemingway in his collection.

The legacy of the typewriter, which was first invented circa 1868 remains today as the QWERTY keyboard is found on all personal computer keyboards.

Typewriters became more standard around 1910, and they were gradually implemented into newspaper journalism. The IBM selectic typewriter was developed in 1961 as a replacement for the originals. The newer typewriters were less noisy and printed more effectively.

But, by the 1980s, the world processor evolved, and typewriters were soon allegedly sent off to former Soviet republics, such as Azerbaijan, where even today, the computer is highly preferred.

From the LP Collection_ "Goats Head Soup" by The Rolling Stones (1 of 8)

Today, we start a feature about a few of the records in my own personal lp collection, which I have become increasingly interested in within the last six months.

The first one of these records we'll be profiling is "Goats Head Soup," the 13th studio record by The Rollins Stones. Released in 1973, the album fatures what is arguably the band's most popular ballad "Angie." It also contains the the track "Doo Doo Doo Doo Dooo (Heartbreaker)," which according to Wkipedia is about the NYPD's accidental shooting of a ten-year-old.

The album was recorded at Dynamic Sound Studio in Kingston, Jamaica, at a time when lead singer Mick Jagger was becoming influenced by the reggae music of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.

The album came after "Exile on Main St." (1972) and before "It's Only Rock n Roll"
(1974). It was one of five albums from the band that were produced by the late Jimmy Miller (1942-1998).

Coincidentally, Miller was not the only person involved with "Goats Head Soup" who died at a relative young age or relative young age as that fate also bestowed the musicians Billy Preston (1946-2006), Ian Stewart (1938-1985) and Nicky Hopkins (1944-1994) who each played on the record.

"Goats Head Soup" runs for 46:56, and it also contains the songs "100 Years Ago," "Silver Train" and "Star Star."

The album brings back humorous memories for me as I jokingly sang the song "Angie" while on a group of Belize, which proved I was not quite ready for the karaoke scene.

I found this record at either a yard sale, an antique shop or the now defunct regional record chain "The Record Exchange," but if you are looking for vinyl to your own collection and you reside in North Carolina, I highly recommend All Day Records in Carrboro (Chapel Hill).

NOTE: Since there any things we need to do (carving turkey is actually not one of them) during this upcoming Thanksgiving week, we will be on temporary hiatus until Tuesday.

Olmpic Athlete Profile (3 of 25)- Errol Kerr, a Skier from Jamaica

In our third installment of our series on Winter Olympic athletes at the Vancouver 2010 games, we examine Errol Kerr, who is not a mere novelty athlete even though he is a skier from Jamaica. I had the opportunity to become Facebook friends with Kerr, who finished ninth in the skicross competition at the recent Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo.

Kerr was born on April 12, 1986, in Truckee, Calif., to a Jamaican father and an American mother. He maintains dual citizenship. Kerr told the English newspaper "The Times" that he decided to represent Jamaica as a skier because of his father who died when Kerr was 14:

"He (my father) never skied a day in his life," Kerr said in the interview. "But, I'm doing this for him. I'm proud of my heritage. It's in my blood."

Kerr told the blog "Black Political Thought" (http://blackpoliticalthought.blogspot.com) that he loves being a minority in winter sports, especially in in skicross, which is the only new sport in Vancouver this year:

"I just think it is very exciting," Kerr told the blog. "It lays the groundwork for more and more people to come along and do what I have done. Someone always has to do it first and then it seems easy."

Kerr is the first skier for Jamaica, and he is the only athlete representing the island nation at the games. He has also emphasized that as much as he admires the famous Jamaican bobsled team which competed at the 1988 Calgary Olympics, there are significant differences between them and his efforts as he has placed fairly high in international competitions.

Recently, Kerr finished 28th at the 2010 World Cup held at Blue Mountain, Ontario (Canada) and he came in 15th at a global competition in Lake Placid, NY, in January.

While he was in Canada for the World Cup of skiing, Kerr talked to inner city youths in nearby Toronto. According to his own web site, Kerr said that he told the Toronto youths to 'be the best at whatever you do.' Kerr added: "Even if you aren't that good, you will be some day if you keep trying."

Kerr has become quite a media sensation as his web site has discussed his interviews with tv stations around America, including ones in Denver and Sacramento, as well as other media outlets around the world.

The Jamaican skier started with the sport when he was four years old, and he began competitive skiing by age 11. Kerr has a unique breakfast routine. According to jamaicans.com, he eats five to seven eggs for breakfast each morning. Kerr then goes snow training. After lunch, he then goes bicycling. Kerr told the web site that he typically skis downhill at a speed of between 70-80 miles per hour.

Kerr will be competiting in skicross on Sunday (Feb. 21). One can join his Facebook fan page to get updates from Vancouver on his schedule and his preparations for the proverbial big race down the hills.