Virtual Postcard from Missouri- Chuck Berry Statue

Greetings from Missouri, yes we really are in the Show Me State though we are pretty far from St.Louis, where one can see this statue of the rock and roll legend Chuck Berry, who is thankfully still among the living.

Good morning to those of you in Dubai, where it is now 9:00 a.m. We're not sure if Fly Emirates has direct flights to St. Louis, but we imagine you can jump on a British Airways flight at Heathrow Airport from London to St. Louis, which was home to the now-defunct American airline TWA (1925-2001).

Missouri's largest city is also known for its baseball team the St. Louis Cardinals, the second winnigest team in Major League Baseball history.

http://www.visitmo.com/

http://explorestlouis.com/

http://www.emirates.com/

http://www.britishairways.com

Sunday Comics Dialogue- Study Hard

Greetings to everyone around the world. We are tempted to mock my alma mater WUVT (90.7-FM, Blacksburg), the student-run radio station of Virginia Tech which proclaims to be the 'greatest radio station' in the world, but we have to much respect for them, and we're not sure that the gloating is meant to be serious. But, I can say we are very popular in Russia for reasons we aren't sure of ourselves.

Before we get to dialogue from the Nov.18th edition of the Sunday "Washington Post," let's take a look at weather temps around the country: Los Angeles 55 degrees with fog; St.Louis is 52 and mostly sunny; Boston is 38 and mostly sunny; Washington DC is 40 and cloudy.

Now, let's jump in the pool:

1) "I've figured out why a lot of American cities are in decline" (from "Candorville")

2) "I know; my mom tends to hover over me during midterms" (from "Zits")

3) "When I was in high school, a test like that steered my future" (from "Frazz")

4) "....And, no more tv till your spelling improves" (from "Family Circus")

5) "I'm having second thoughts about my pre-Thanksgiving regimen" (from "Foxtrot")

6) "Think about someone you love" (from "Reply All")

7) "I'm thankful for good friends" (from "Dennis the Menace")

8) "But daddy I'm on Facebook" (from "Blondie")

9) "Don't you pay attention to the news?" (from "Sherman's Lagoon")

10) "Where do you keep the turkey baster?" (from "Garfield")

11) "First I have t finish stirring these dirty clothes" (from "Hagar the Horrible")

12) "I'll look forward to it," (from "Judge Parker")

13) "I have a huge lip gloss problem" (from "Agnes")

14) "Unfortunately, doc I live my life with no regrets" (from "F-Minus"*#)

*-Not a strip "The Washington Post" carries

#-Strip ran on Nov. 18th (today)


http://www.wuvt.vt.edu

http://www.weather.com

http://www.blondie.com

http://www.slagoon.com

http://www.garfield.com

http://www.foxtrot.com

http://www.fminus.net

Olympic Cities Destination Quiz (4 of 6)- Amsterdam to St. Louis

If one takes the quiz on the online version of "Mental Floss" asking which cities have hosted the Olympics, there is a  distinct possibility that Amsterdam, which hosted the games in 1928, and St. Louis, which hosted the Olympics in 1904, might be the ones which one might well forget.

The 1904 St. Louis Olympics were only the third Olympics; the first two were held in Athens, Greece, and Paris, France, respectively. Those games are perhaps best remembered for the story of Cuban marathon runner/postal carrier Andarin Caruajal (1875-1949) who begged on the streets to raise funds to travel to Missouri. He ended up finishing fourth!

The Netherlands hosted the games 24 years later with 46 countries participating, which was up considerably from the mere 12 countries who competed in St. Louis. Among the notable events of those games was American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller (1904-1984), who was later cinema's Tarzan, winning two gold medals in men's swimming. The 1928 Amsterdam Olympics were also the first ones sponsored by Cocal Cola.

In case you were wondering, that is a map of St. Louis (there were way too many photos of the Arch to choose from) above. The below image is of KLM, the main airline for The Netherlands/Holland.

So, we are asking just how far these two destinations are from each other, my apologies to folks in Turku, Finland, who use the Metric system, but we are going with miles here; is the answer?:

A) 4,374 miles

B) 4,474 miles

C) 4,574 miles

D) 4, 774 miles

http://www.klm.com

http://www.holland.com

www.rnw.nl

http://www.explorestlouis.com

http://www.mentalfloss.com

UPDATE: Since it has been more than 24 hours since we posted this, we'll go ahead and tell you the answer; it is A) 4,374 miles.

High School of the Week- Marquette High School in Chesterfield, Missouri

Sticking with the Show-Me State (see last entry; that's Missouri's nickname for those of you surfing in Mongolia), our designated High School of the Week is Marquette High School in Chesterfield, Mo., which is a suburb of St. Louis.

We got the idea to go with Marquette High School because it is the alma mater of University of Missouri gymnast Tori Howard. The sophomore turned 19 on June 21. The first significant home meet for the Tigers' gym team will be against Nebraska on Feb.4.

As for Marquette High School, the principal is Greg Matthison. The school colors are blue and green, and the nickname (if you haven't guessed?!) is The Mustangs.