The origin and history of Memorial Day

I wish my readers a somber Memorial Day. For this year's observance, I'm doing something I've done for other holidays, like Labor Day and Cinco De Mayo, but not for Memorial Day, the history of the holiday. I begin with CBS Morning's The origin of Memorial Day from 2014.

Memorial Day has become the "summer is here" holiday, but of course there's more to it. Historian Kenneth C. Davis, author of the popular "Don't Know Much" history series, joins "CBS This Morning: Saturday" with a history lesson on the most solemn of the 11 federal holidays.

When the segment aired nine years ago, there were only ten federal holidays, but it looks like the number was corrected after Juneteenth became a national holiday two years ago. I'm glad someone is keeping the description current.

Kenneth C. Davis made two points that connect to the next video, a veterans organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, established the original Decoration Day and the holiday took on much of its current character during and after World War I. Watch and listen to The history of Memorial Day in the U.S. from CBS News, in which Retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral and USAA senior vice president John Bird describes how another veterans organization, the American Legion, promoted the red poppy as a symbol of remembrance after World War I.

As the country remembers all the lives lost during times of war, the Poppy Wall of Honor becomes available online for the first time. Retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral and USAA senior vice president John Bird joins CBSN's Tanya Rivero to explain the history of Memorial Day and how Americans can use the digital wall to learn more.

As my readers could probably tell, the second video is from 2020. Media made during the pandemic has a very distinctive style.

I hope my readers enjoyed the history lessons and remember that this isn't just a day for grilling to kick off what I'm calling "American cultural summer."

I leave my readers with FOX 17 WXMI Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek U.S. Air Force Band: 'Taps' to end today's observance.

Skipping last flu season may be an example of 'there is no free lunch,' a pandemic update

One silver lining of the efforts to slow down the pandemic is that the measures intended to prevent transmission of COVID-19 worked even better against influenza. Consequently, We Skipped Flu Season. That's Bad SciShow thinks.

Some experts feared we were in for a "twindemic" during the 2020-2021 flu season. That didn't happen, which might mean that there will be more people susceptible to getting sick this year.

Hosted by: Rose Bear Don't Walk

As I teach my students, there is no free lunch and everything is connected to everything else. Suppressing last winter's flu season prevented a lot of suffering and death but it could come at a price of not being prepared for the next flu season. Let's hope we can still prepare by knowing which strains to culture so we can have effective vaccines in the future.

Speaking of lessons I teach my students, I was looking for a video to show them about how the influenza virus recombines in animal hosts, particularly pigs, but this might not be it. The script the host read described the virus's genetic material as DNA. Sorry, it's RNA. That alone might disqualify the video. Darn.

Good Morning America included some of SciShow's concerns when it asked Is the flu season going to be worse because last year's was so mild?

Dr. Jen Ashton answers questions about the coronavirus vaccines and your health.

The answer is that Dr. Jen Ashton doesn't know, either. As she said, "The only thing predictable about a flu season is that it is unpredictable." We might experience the "twindemic" we feared last year, or the same measures that suppressed flu last year might work again.

Dr. Ashton mentioned those measures in another segment, What we know about the impact of COVID-19 for the fall.

Dr. Jen Ashton discusses the impact of COVID-19 in the summer and what to expect in the fall.

Mask up, keep socially distant, and wash your hands. Those will work against both COVID-19 and the flu. Stay safe and healthy, everyone!

'Your Inner Fish' for Darwin Day

Happy Darwin Day!  To celebrate the occasion, I'm sharing four clips from the PBS show "Your Inner Fish."  I alluded to them at the conclusion of Snow Monkeys and Emmy Awards: Student sustainability video festival 47.

The other PBS show that captured my attention by winning was "Your Inner Fish," which won Outstanding Graphic Design & Art Direction.  I featured some of the clips from that program in Teeth and jaws of our inner fish.  Congratulations to this program, other clips of which I show to my students as part of my lecture on primate evolution, thus making this entry a fitting end to a month devoted to lessons.

Here are the clips I show my students, beginning with Meet Your Cousins: Squirrel Monkeys.

Because of our evolutionary relationship, we have quite a bit in common with other living primates, including squirrel monkeys. See what we mean as you watch these agile monkeys navigate their forest world.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the videos I use to demonstrate our relationships to other primates.

Record comments and 500,000 page views for September 2015 and other meta

September 2015 was a month of milestones.  I posted the 2500th entry, the blog surpassed 500,000 page views over its history, and it set a new record for comments during a month with 74.  The blog also earned 12,893 page views.  Time to review my page view goals from Record page views for August 2015 and other monthly meta to see how that stacked up with expectations.

I conclude with my readership goals for September, which aren't very high.  September 2014 saw only 11,785 page views.  To beat that will require 393 page views per day for 11,790, which is the minimum goal.  The low goal of ending a day ahead entails 406 page views per day for a total of 12,180 total.  The medium goal of a five percent increase over last year would be 12,390 total or 413 page views per day.  The high goal would be at least 13,000 page views to keep the streak going, which would mean 434 page views per day.  As of tonight, the blog is exceeding all these goals, but it's only the first week.  There are 23 days left in September.  Stay tuned.

While it was the first month since February not to exceed 13,000, it still met all other readership goals by increasing page views over September 2014 by 1108, 9.4%.  As a consequence, the blog earned 429.77 page views per day and 368.37 page views per post.  Those weren't records, but they were good.  On the other hand, the blog had an average of 2.47 comments per day and 2.11 comments per entry.  Those are records!

To celebrate both the 500,000th page view and 2500th entry, which was Happy Labor Day from Detroit!, I'm posting the theme song for this blog, (Nothing but) Flowers.


Also to celebrate the record number of comments, I'm sharing the most commented on entries last month.

Thanks to a battle with several persistent spammers, Science fiction speaks to our current anxieties, posted August 3, 2014, is now the most commented on entry in the history of the blog with 52 comments, half of them deleted.  It started off with eight comments.  Thirty more were posted during September 2015, making this the most commented on entry this month.  Fourteen more came in October, so it will likely be the most commented on entry this month as well.

The most commented on entry actually posted during September was Blog recommendation: You Might Notice a Trend posted September 25, 2015.  It earned seven comments thanks to a conversation with the writer of the blog that was recommended.  That wasn't enough to place it in the top ten, as it earned only 69 page views last month, 85 according to the raw counter.

Follow over the jump for the most liked and most read entries of September 2015.

San Pedro's Sunken City: The final location of 'Fear the Walking Dead' Season 1

The final location of the season finale of "Fear the Walking Dead" took place in a familiar location, the Sunken City of San Pedro.  Watch A Look at Season 2: Fear the Walking Dead and pay particular attention to the final shot, which shows the entire area.

The cast and creators of Fear the Walking Dead share their expectations for Season 2.

This location moved me.  First, I'm originally from Los Angeles and I've hiked through the area 30 years ago as part of a geology field trip, so it evoked memories of my experience.  Second, I use the location as an example of a slump in my lecture on mass wasting, so it gave me a new hook to get my students interested.  Finally, I found the location symbolic.  This is an area of Los Angeles that literally collapsed nearly a century ago.  It struck me as the perfect place to show a fallen L.A.  It had collapsed first and avoided the rush, much like the character of Chris, who had been living in his own private apocalypse for years before the zombie plague.  It serves as a way of not only depicting the present state, but of foreshadowing the future, perfect for a season finale.

Follow over the jump for three videos about the Sunken City of San Pedro, two informative and one just visually appealing.

Snow Monkeys and Emmy Awards: Student sustainability video festival 47

No, it's not final exam time.  Instead, it's a bonus installment prompted by the Emmy Awards.  A third installment of the television honors for news and documentaries was held Monday and the big winner was PBS, who announced their victories in a press release: PBS Wins 17 News & Documentary Emmy® Awards, More Than Any Other Organization.

ARLINGTON, VA; September 29, 2015 – PBS programs were honored with 17 News & Documentary Emmy® Awards, more than any other organization, at the 36th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards presentation at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall, Home of the New York Philharmonic, in New York City on September 28.

“On behalf of PBS and our member stations, congratulations to our all our programs and producers who were honored with News & Documentary Emmy Awards,” said Beth Hoppe, PBS Chief Programming Executive and General Manager, General Audience Programming. “Our mission in public media is to shed light where others may not go--through in-depth investigative journalism, outstanding nature and natural history programming, and independent film--and our 2015 News & Documentary Award winners lead the way. These awards are a welcome recognition of our focus on distinctive content and speak to the extraordinary quality of programming being produced by public media. Congratulations to all of our winners and nominees.”

Acclaimed PBS series FRONTLINE earned six awards, followed by NATURE with four. FRONTLINE’s "United States of Secrets" and POV’s "After Tiller" were tied for Best Documentary.

Two of the statues taken home by Nature caught my attention, as they were for a show that one of my students used for his visual aid this spring, "Snow Monkeys."  The episode won two awards, Outstanding Nature Programming and Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary and Long Form.  Watch the clips from Nature on PBS to appreciate the craftsmanship of the program.

Here's the trailer: Snow Monkeys | Nature, Trailer | PBS

In the frigid valleys of Japan's Shiga Highlands, a troop of snow monkeys make their way and raise their families in a complex society of rank and privilege where each knows their place.

Now the clip that the student used Hot Springs for Snow Monkeys in "Hell Valley" | Snow Monkeys, Nature | PBS.

Japan's Jigokudani became a sensation when hot springs were constructed for the Hell Valley snow monkey troops. The monkeys get important help from the hot springs in the valley, fed by warm volcanic waters, but their survival is a communal effort in a complex society of rank and privilege where each knows their place.

Follow over the jump for two more clips along with another award-winning PBS show that I blogged about.

Briny water flows on the surface of Mars

I'm not done with Mars after posting The science and hype of 'The Martian' and neither is NASA.  Yesterday's big science news was Liquid Water on Mars.  SciShow reports.

Today, NASA announced that there is...occasionally...flowing, liquid water on the surface of Mars. What?!

Thanks to SciShow for telling its viewers not only what the discovery really was, but what it means.

The science and hype of 'The Martian'

There's a lot more to the week's serious entertainment news than ICP's lawsuit against the FBI.  For starters, the past two weekends' box office had a youth dystopia in the top five.  I'll get to that later.  For now, I'm writing about a movie opening up this weekend that is more optimistic, "The Martian."  It promises to be the hard-SF film of the year.  Discovery News asks Just How Scientifically Accurate Is 'The Martian'?  The answer is very.

The upcoming film 'The Martian' is making a huge splash for both scientists and science fans, but how scientifically accurate is it?

This fits right in with the case for colonizing space but with an acknowledgement that space is a hostile environment.

Discovery News is just part of the hype machine, albeit a very informative and informed part.  Here is a video that escaped me from June that is more nakedly promotion of the movie: Ridley Scott's THE MARTIAN Viral Trailer (Science Fiction - 2015).  That doesn't make it any less enjoyable.

During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.

THE MARTIAN Viral Trailer
A Movie directed by Ridley Scott
Cast : Matt Damon, Kate Mara, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Sebastian Stan, Michael Peña
Release Date : in theaters November 25, 2015.
Genre : Science Fiction

I definitely plan on covering this weekend's box office to see how this movie fares against "Sicario" and the rest of the competition.  Stay tuned.

Insane Clown Posse's lawsuit against the FBI will proceed

Three years ago, I wrote FBI declares ICP and Juggalos a gang; ICP sues.  It turned out that headline was premature.  The scary musical clowns from Detroit were just preparing for a suit.  They didn't actually file until January 2014, as this WXYZ video shows.


The case went to court in June 2014.  The ACLU of Michigan reported their side of the procedding in I'm a Juggalo, Not A Gang Member: Update on the Case.

The ACLU of Michigan was in court on Monday, June 23 where a federal judge heard arguments in our lawsuit with the Insane Clown Posse. The lawsuit challenges the FBI's erroneous and arbitrary designation of all fans of ICP, known as Juggalos, as a "hybrid" criminal gang.

The judge dismissed the suit on the grounds that the plaintiffs did not show any damages.  ICP and the ACLU of Michigan appealed the decision.  Two weeks ago, they got good news.  NBC reported Insane Clown Posse Lawsuit Wins Appeal in Suit Against FBI for 'Gang' Designation.

A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of the Insane Clown Posse in their bid to get the FBI to remove the Detroit hip-hop duo's followers — known as "Juggalos" — from a gang list.
...
 The lawsuit, filed in January 2014 with the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, was later tossed out by a district court in Michigan after it found the plaintiffs had failed to show they suffered any injuries.

But the federal appeals court on Thursday reversed that district court's decision and ordered that the case be considered.

ICP saw this as a major victory, as seen in Rolling Stone's quote from the band's statement.

“We're thankful that the Juggalo family will finally get their day in court," the duo said in a statement on their official site following Thursday's ruling. "Discrimination against someone based solely upon the type of music they listen to is just flat out wrong and it’s time that the legal system acknowledges that. The FBI's labeling of Juggalos as a gang has wreaked havoc on thousands of lives, resulting in job losses, dismissal from military service, eviction, lost child custody and constant harassment and profiling from law enforcement organizations all across the country."

This could still take a while, as no court date has been set.  Stock up on popcorn, as the suit may be even more entertaining than an ICP concert.

Sunday's blood moon won't be the end of the world

There's a lunar eclipse tomorrow night, which has received a lot of press.  The sane perspective on the event comes from KPBS's Total Lunar Eclipse and Supermoon This Weekend.

Peggy Pico talks with Jerry Hilburn of the San Diego Astronomy Association to discuss the lunar event this weekend.

There, just a spectacular sky phenomenon.  However, some people are making it out be more than that.  Follow over the jump.

Blog recommendation: You Might Notice a Trend

Tonight, I'm going to do something I don't recall having done since I wrote Blog Recommendation: The Hipcrime Vocab--recommend a blog.  Then, it was Chad (yes, that's really his first name) AKA "escapefromwisconsin" who writes The Hipcrime Vocab.  This time, it's Paul Wartenberg of You Might Notice a Trend.  Both Chad and Paul reflect aspects of my blog, Chad the dark (but not evil) side of my interests, employment, agriculture, energy, economy, politics, and collapse, and Paul the light side, including humor, pop culture, and politics, albeit from an more optimistic perspective than Chad.  Put the two of them together and the result would look a lot like me writing this blog.

I've been reading Paul's blog ever since I stumbled into him while doing the research for Drinks and drinking games for Donald Trump and the GOP debates.  I've since referenced his drinking games and provided the drinks to accompany them in a series of posts: Proof of drinking game concept on Kasich; Drinks for the candidates in tonight's debate; Debate drinking game rules for Carly Fiorina; Oops--Rick Perry drops out; Drink a Flaming Volcano for Jindal; and There's a Santorum cocktail, too.  Paul's reciprocated by linking to those entries and commenting on them as well as Drink to Deez Nuts for President.  Those should have been enough to get me to recommend his blog, but it wasn't.  It was Paul writing "all you seven readers of this blog."  True enough, he only has seven followers, and he's been writing his blog since 2006.  He really deserves more readers.  Therefore, I'm recommending my readers also read Paul's blog.

Here's to hoping the same thing will happen to Paul that happened to Chad.  When I recommended The Hipcrime Vocab three years ago, the blog had only ten followers.  Now, it has 118.  May Paul have at least 50 by the general election next year.  So, will you join me at You Might Notice a Trend?  Come for the drinking games, stay for the bumper stickers!

Gas prices slightly up in old neighborhood to begin fall

When I last reported on the local gasoline market, I observed that the gas price spike was a dead cat bounce.  The stations in my old neighborhood were all selling regular for $2.24.  I followed that with two entries about the lowest gas prices for Labor Day in 11 years.  I then passed along that gas was already below $2 near Grand Rapids and that GasBuddy showed the stations in my former neighborhood all selling regular for $2.19.  I never actually saw those prices, but I did see enough to say that they rose and are now falling.

Last Thursday, all the stations in my old stomping grounds were selling regular for $2.37.  I decided not to fill up, as I expected prices to fall.  They did.  Tuesday, the corner station listed regular for $2.27 and the two stations down the street displayed $2.29 for regular.  I filled up Pearl at the corner station and not a moment too soon, as the dashboard display said the car had only two miles of gas left.  This is exactly where the price should be, as the Detroit average is currently $2.37.  That's up from earlier this month, both from the $2.31 just before Labor Day and from the $2.24 on the 16th.  Therefore, I don't expect prices to go down this week.

Early next week might be another story.  Oil-Price.Net lists yesterday's closes for WTI and Brent at $44.48 and $47.75 respectively, close to the lows for the month so far for both.  In addition, RBOB is selling for $1.38, two cents lower than the first week of September.  Whatever is driving up the price of gas in Detroit, it's not the wholesale price of fuel.  Consequently, I'm still expecting either the price in my old neighborhood or the average price in Detroit to fall below $2.00 between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Happy Autumnal Equinox 2015!

The Washington Post announces the exact moment in Say goodbye to summer as daylight dwindles, the fall equinox is on Wednesday.

Summer warmth has visited many parts of the country this September, but fall is finally in the air as we near the autumnal equinox. This year’s equinox occurs Sept. 23 at 4:21 a.m. Eastern time. At that time, the sun can be seen directly overhead along Earth’s equator, marking the beginning of astronomical fall in the Northern Hemisphere.

The fall equinox is one of only two days each year when all points on Earth outside the polar regions see the sun rise and set at due east and due west, along the horizon. And since neither hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, all latitudes see almost exactly 12 hours of daylight and darkness (though not quite).

Google has a special doodle for today, which is featured in Autumnal Equinox 2015 Google Doodle.


Once again, Happy Autumnal Equinox!

Scott Walker ends campaign as soon as he realized it became a zombie

The news came this afternoon.  Vox reported Scott Walker - out of money and out of supporters - quits the race.  Much like Rick Perry, Walker took a shot at Trump on his way out.

In a brief speech clearly meant to denigrate poll leader Donald Trump, Walker cited his hero Ronald Reagan to explain his decision. "Ronald Reagan was good for America because he was an optimist," he said. "Sadly, the debate taking place in the Republican Party today is not focused on that optimistic view of America. Instead, it has drifted into personal attacks."

"Today," he continued, "I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top of the field." And he called on other candidates to quit too, so that "a positive conservative alternative to the current frontrunner" could emerge.

Listen to Walker's words in PBS Newshour's Scott Walker drops out of 2016 presidential race.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Monday announced he was dropping out of the pool of GOP contenders for the 2016 presidential race.

Shorter Walker: "I'm getting out so that my support can go to someone more acceptable to the Koch Brothers than Donald Trump."  Nice thought, but Walker has lost so much support already that he's at one percent in a national poll of people who watched the second debate and has fallen from first place in Michigan in June to tenth, even before the second debate.  His support has already gone elsewhere, most likely to someone like Carly Fiorina instead of someone like Kasich, Rubio, or Jeb!  Walker's sacrifice will not mean much by itself, just like Perry's hasn't done much to dent Trump's lead.

As for my reaction, as I wrote in a comment at Michigan Liberal, I thought he'd last until the Iowa Caucuses, but I guess losing support and running out of money has convinced him to give up early.  That written, I'm glad he's gone.  I've never liked Governor Recall and found him to be the candidate most threatening to me.  I'm an educator and union member, two categories that he beat up on in Wisconsin.  Fortunately, it looks like he won't be able to export his bad solutions.  Good riddance!

'Game of Thrones' wins Best Drama and three other awards

'Game of Thrones' already a big winner at the Emmy Awards.

I'll have to wait until tomorrow night to see if "Game of Thrones" wins its seven remaining categories, "American Horror Story" wins its remaining four, and "Last Man on Earth" wins any of its three.
...
Stay tuned for another post about tonight's awards program in which I plan to follow up on the shows and performers I listed as my favorites in 2015 Critics' Choice Awards, Speculative Fiction, Politics, Crime, and History.  Here's hoping at least some of them win.

"Game of Thrones" won four more awards last night, including Best Drama.  Here's the Television Academy's own clip of the announcement: Game Of Thrones Wins Outstanding Drama Series

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss pick up the Emmy for outstanding Drama series for Game Of Thrones.

In addition, the fantasy series won Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.  Watch Peter Dinklage Wins Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series for the presentation of the last award.

Peter Dinklage picks up the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series for his fantastic performance as Tyrion Lannister in Game Of Thrones.

That's a total of 12 awards in one year.  As Vox pointed out, Game of Thrones has officially won the most Emmys of any series in a single year.

After winning eight (8) awards at last week's Creative Arts Emmys, HBO's Game of Thrones continued its hot streak at the Primetime Emmys to officially win the most Emmys of any series in a single year, with 12.

The previous record holder was The West Wing, which won nine Emmy awards in 2002 (its first season).

Congratulations to "Game of Thrones."  The show and its cast and crew deserved the accolades.

All that is the good news for Speculative Fiction.  The bad news is that "American Horror Story" and "The Last Man on Earth" were shut out last night.  I think my wife and I should do what I wrote in 'The Walking Dead' at Comic-Con, the Emmys, and the Saturn Awards and join the Saturn Awards as an out-of-town member so we can vote for the shows and performers we like.  I'll make that one of my New Year's resolutions.

'Game of Thrones' already a big winner at the Emmy Awards

While the prime-time telecast is tonight, the technical awards were already presented last Sunday.  Ace Show Biz reports 'Game of Thrones' Dominates With Eight Wins at 2015 Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

HBO wins big with 29 awards including eight from 'Game of Thrones' while NBC follows with 11 gongs including four from 'SNL' 40th anniversary special.

Here are the fantasy series' wins:

• Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic): "Game of Thrones"
• Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More): "Game of Thrones"
• Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series: "Game of Thrones"
• Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series: "Game of Thrones"
• Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series: "Game of Thrones"
• Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour): "Game of Thrones"
• Outstanding Special Visual Effects: "Game of Thrones"
• Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Limited Series or Movie): "Game of Thrones"

The other big winner at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards was "American Horror Story: Freak Show" with five trophies for FX:

• Outstanding Makeup for a Limited Series or a Movie (Non-Prosthetic): "American Horror Story: Freak Show"
• Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Limited Series, Movie or a Special: "American Horror Story: Freak Show"
• Outstanding Costumes for a Period/Fantasy Series, Limited Series or Movie: "American Horror Story: Freak Show"
• Outstanding Hairstyling for a Limited Series or a Movie: "American Horror Story: Freak Show"
• Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role: "American Horror Story: Freak Show"

Unfortunately, that was pretty much it for live-action speculative fiction last Sunday night.  Both "Penny Dreadful" and "The Walking Dead" were shut out; two of the latter's nominations went either to "Game of Thrones" (stunts and sound editing) and two to "American Horror Story" (special effects and makeup) while Penny Dreadful's categories went to "American Horror Story" (makeup), "Transparent" (theme music), and "House of Cards" (music composition).  The closest "The Walking Dead" got was Chris Hardwick, who hosts "Talking Dead," winning Social TV Experience for "@Midnight."  At least I can be happy for Chris, who deserves an award for his work somewhere.

The only other other Speculative Fiction show that won an award was "Adventure Time," which was crowned "Outstanding Short-Form Animated Program."  Good choice, but otherwise nothing.  I'll have to wait until tomorrow night to see if "Game of Thrones" wins its seven remaining categories, "American Horror Story" wins its remaining four, and "Last Man on Earth" wins any of its three.  That's pretty much it for SF tomorrow.

Follow over the jump for my comments on winners in other genres.

Talk like a drum corps pirate

Happy International Talk Like A Pirate Day!  This year, I'm putting a drum corps spin on the holiday with Drum Corps Internatational's clip of Madison Scouts in Ahoy! It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Ahoy, me hearties! September the 19th be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. We've pillaged the DCI video archive on this occasion and wish you all to take part in our booty—a clip of the Madison Scouts shanty from nineteen-hundred and ninety-seven, "The Pirates of Lake Mendota." Yo-ho-ho!

I covered this show 18 years ago.  Here's the relevant excerpt of Vince's Review of Port Huron Show for Drum Corps World along with my commentary in italics.

While they may be judged for a mere eleven and a half minutes, the Madison Scouts began their performance as soon as they marched onto the track and ended it only when the last member disappeared behind the back stands.  The corps held the crowd in the palm of its hand from the beginning of the company front entrance into the fleur-de-lis and neverlet it go.  Even during the warm-up, during which the corps marched into the opening set, the guard was acting out its parts, particularly one gentleman who strode slowly but purposefully from the left front corner of the field to the front of the "ship".  Then the show proper began, with the pirates--oops, guard (yes, they play their roles that convincingly)--storming the "ship", stealing the show during its opening minute from the musicians.  This was almost a shame, as the brass played with tremendous proficiency and showmanship, the percussion tackled a flashy and challenging rudimental book with great precision and flair, and all the musicians marched an engrossing drill, complete with braking waves, with immense poise and control.  However, the guard was a treat to observe, especially during four parts of the show.  First came the drunken sailor sequence, complete with an inebriated runt trying to pick a fight with a much larger man, which the fans found extremely amusing.  Then, there was a rifle-saber exchange.  Two moments came during the final selection.  First, the guard moved from stage left to front and center to perform some swashbuckling equipment work.  Then there was the mutiny sequence at the very end, complete with a swordfight on top of the rotating percussion stand and a duel to the death between Captain Zak Schwartz and a usurper. The audience gave the new captain and the company front that he led a standing ovation, which barely ended before the most enthusiastic standing ovation of the night as the Scouts concluded the judged portion of their performance.

(Steve Burstall pointed out the full performance from entering to exiting the stadium.  The looting of Zak, who is a student from Eastern Michigan University, was something, as was his being carried off by the last marching member.)

As you can tell, I really enjoyed this performance.  It helped that I knew one of the performers, so I could give the review a personal touch.

This is the third consecutive drum corps entry that has featured the Madison Scouts, the previous two being Fandoms collide as a drum corps plays anime music and A drum corps Stars and Stripes for the 4th of July.  Let's see if I can continue the streak for the next drum corps holiday.

Follow over the jump for a bonus video of another drum corps performing a pirate show.

It was a good week for solar energy in Michigan

Three stories about advances and milestones in solar-generated electricity in Michigan made the newspapers this past week.  The most recent is also the one that I'm featuring first, as The Ann Arbor News via MLive reported Michigan's largest solar panel array now up and running near Ann Arbor.

Michigan's largest solar energy installation is now up and running, and Ann Arbor Township holds the bragging rights.

Under a bright, sunny sky, DTE Energy and Domino's Farms celebrated the new 1.1-megawatt array just outside Ann Arbor on Tuesday.

Big enough to cover the football field at Michigan Stadium, the 4,000-plus panels that now cover 9.37 acres of Domino's Farms property are visible from the highway on the north side of M-14 west of Earhart Road near the U.S. 23 interchange.

According to DTE, the photovoltaic panels have the capacity to generate enough solar energy to power nearly 200 homes at any given time.

I drove past this installation last July during a class field trip and was impressed by the sight.  I would have reported on it in a field trip update except that something else took priority.  Better late than never, especially now that it's finished.

That's not all.

DTE also is constructing a 750-kilowatt solar array in Romulus and planning an 800-kilowatt array in Ypsilanti, among other projects.

The company's entire renewable energy portfolio, including wind and biomass, is now capable of generating nearly 1,000 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power 400,000 homes, company officials said Tuesday. The portfolio includes facilities owned and operated by DTE, along with contracts to purchase power from facilities owned and operated by third-party developers in Michigan.

Follow over the jump for even bigger and better news about the future of solar power in Michigan.

The case for colonizing space

I warned about what could go wrong with the future in Burning all fossil fuels could melt Antarctica.  What, from my perspective, could go right?  We could be able to continue to explore space.  WatchMojo explains why that would be a good idea in Top 10 Reasons To Live On Another Planet.

Space – not only the final frontier, but also humanity's future... if we so choose.

As I wrote in Stephen Hawking is a Crazy Eddie:

Dr. Hawking expresses the ultimate reason why I support space exploration.  Not only is it a sign of an advancing technological civilization, it's a way to avoid collapse altogether.  There are worse consequences from the archetypal science-fiction tragic plot of withdrawing from space than mere loss of technological superiority.  It could ultimately lead to extinction.

Follow over the jump for how another Crazy Eddie, Elon Musk, thinks we might be able to colonize Mars.

There's a Santorum cocktail, too

I'm not done with drinks for Republican candidates today.  In my research for Drink a Flaming Volcano for Jindal, I found out that a bar in Brooklyn came up with a drink named after Rick Santorum in 2012.  The Brooklyn Paper broke the story in Fourth Avenue watering hole serves Santorum.

Brooklynites can’t vote on Super Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy a little Santorum.

A Fourth Avenue watering hole is pouring a delightfully sinful drink named after Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum — and the dirty Google problem that has haunted him ever since he irked syndicated sex columnist Dan Savage.

“People really like it even though it’s named after something gross — both the person and the Dan Savage meaning,” said John Rauschenberg, co-owner of Pacific Standard. “It’ll be an election fixture at least until primary season is over.”

The duo behind the beer hole near St. Mark’s Place often put out cocktails with suggestive names, such as the Corn Holed Fashioned or Mike Gallego’s Cup.

But the Santorum, a milky mixture of Baileys, orange vodka, bitters and chocolate flakes, seems to be sticking.
...
“When he was winning in the polls, I thought, ‘OK, I’ll do a Santorum,’” said Jon Stan, co-owner and creator of the scandalous social lubricant. “We’ll keep it around until he’s irrelevant. I hope he’s there the whole way.”

Since Santorum is running again and will be participating in tonight's early debate, he's relevant again, so it's time to revive this drink.  Follow over the jump for more media coverage of this brown frothy concoction.