(10 for 10; 7th Entry): Virtual Postcard from West Virginia

Greetings to our blog readers in Malaysia, Brazil, and Spain.....

Today, we continue our occasional tradition of virtual postcards with an image of the Hawks Nest State Park in West Virginia, located one hour east of the state capital Charleston. The park is a common destination during the autumn months.

For those of you who follow MLS soccer, we have just learned that Sebastian Giovinco scored two goals for Toronto FC in the team's 3-1 win over the Colorado Rapids.

http://www.hawksnestsp.com/

http://gotowv.com/

http://www.charlestonwv.com

http://www.torontofc.ca/

The Return of Friday Night Tweets: Drug Bust in Hurricane, West Virginia

 

There is a full moon out tonight, and sure enough lots of crazy effing stuff is going on. The tweet from "The Toronto Sun" is an eye-catcher as is one from "The Charleston Gazette" in Charleston, W.Va. We also have tweets from Baltimore and Chapel Hill  (NC) as well.

 

 

Let's get started:

 

 

1) The Baltimore Sun @baltimoresun (image top): A1: Edward Snowden charges with spying, Somber Police Academy graduation. Man gets his name off sex offender list. School divides community.

 

2) Charleston Gazette @wvgazette: "Three arrested in Hurricane meth bust. Hurricane, WVa_ Three people were arrested Friday.....

 

3) Wall Street Journal @wsj (image center): "Average American slept 8 hours, 44 minutes per night in 2012"

 

4) Chapel Hill Magazine @chapelhillmag: "So proud of @DiamondHeels. What a season! It was so fun to witness their talent, resilience and heart."

 

5) The Daily Tar Hell @dailytarheel: UNC falls to UCLA 4-1 to end season.

 

6) The Toronto Sun @TheTorontoSun (image below; the late 1960s children's show "H.R. Pufnstuf" has been closely associated with weed): "Fired pot-smoking City of Ottawa worker fails to convince court his reefer madness is disability."

 

7) Samantha Peszek (a UCLA gymnast): "Proud of the @UCLABaseball team right now....Absolutely killin it!"

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.uclabruins.com

http://www.wvgazette.com

http://www.baltimorecity.gov

Things We Learned From the BBC This Week- Beloved Gorilla Dies

Some sad news was reported on the BBC this week as the beloved lowlands gorilla Samantha (not the gorilla pictured here) died after suffering a stroke at The Toronto zoo. She was 37, and was one of the first gorillas housed in the Canadian zoo.

Samantha, a native of the African country of Gabon, was put to sleep after suffering a second stroke in two months. She had lived in the zoo since 1974 when she was two years old.

The gorilla produced five offspring, two of which remain at The Toronto Zoo, with her mate Charles, a silverback gorilla.

Matt Stephenson, the zoo's gorilla keeper said he would deeply miss Samantha, especially her singing at breakfast and dinner time.

The lowland gorillas are an endangered species.

The Toronto Zoo is dedicating its home page with a header that says Samantha (1972-2010) and the zoo is asking for donations to make a memorial in her honor.

SIDEBAR: It has now admittedly become a running joke on this blog, but I am going to name Springfield High School of Springfield, Vermont, as our 'High School of the Week." Currently, I have been naming three American high schools as my "High School of the Week" on both of my blogs.

As silly as this may seem to those of you visiting this blog, especially from places like Eskisehir, Turkey, or Antigua, Guatemala, but I have learned quite a bit from doing this.

Springfield, Vt., made international news in 2007 when it was picked as the town to host the world premiere of "The Simpsons Movie."

As for the school, it is nicknamed The Springfield High School Cosmos, which makes it only the second time I've ever heard 'Cosmos' used for a nickname. The other time was for the New York Cosmos, a professional soccer team from the long-defunct NASL, which went under in the 1980s. The NY Cosmos were famous for bringing Pele to America.

Springfield High School also has some 500 students. "The Green Horn" is the school newspaper. The school web site states that much of the school lunch comes from local farms.

Bob Thibault is the new school principal, and The Cosmos host The Poultney BlueDevils in football on Sept. 3.

Quote of the Week- John Belushi

Today, in honor of Second City's 50th anniversary, we are posting comments from two of their respective alumni on our respective blogs. We will quip the late John Belushi's "Blues Brothers" co-star Dan Aykroyd on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

As mentioned in a recent NPR piece, Second City has historically had venues in Chicago and Toronto, though they now have a third 'Second City' in Los Angeles.

Second City has produced an amazing amount of stars ranging from the late John Candy to Steve Carrell to Bill Murray. Mnay alumnus went on to perform for "Saturday Night Live" including Aykroyd, Belushi, Murray and the late Gilda Radner.

Along with Candy, many members of Second City's Toronto troupe went on to produce the tv series "SCTV," which became a comedy sensation which boasted the talents of Martin Short, Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas and Catherine O'Hara among others (oh, I almost forgot Joe Flaherty).

Second City also tours around North America. Currently, they will be performing in Pittsburgh, Pa., and in Arlington Heights, Ill., on Dec. 17 (Thurs.).

In our region (we split our time between Virginia and North Carolina), the troupe will be performing at The Warehouse Theatre in Lynchburg, Va., on March 12, 2010, and at Wolftrap in Vienna, Va. (Washington DC suburb) on March 13, 2010.

Here is a quote from Belushi, an alumnus of the Chicago Second City, who tragically died at age 33 in 1982 after starring in "National Lampoon's Animal House," "The Blues Brothers" and "Neighbors" (well everyone makes at least one bomb!):

"I give so much pleasre to so many people. Why can't I not get some pleasure for myself?"