Psychedelic Era Revisited

The Whitney Museum has been holding an exhibition "Summer of Love - Art of the Psychelelic Era" from May through September 16, 2007. http://www.whitney.org/www/exhibition/SOL_exhib.jsp

I must confess that as a child I found the hippy dippy culture to be fascinating. I mean who doesn't want to believe in love, love, love and peace in our time. Of course, there was a dark side to this culture as in drugs and hedonism but the music was fantastic. Plus the posters for rock concerts and the art work on the album covers. Nothing today can compare to it.

I myself would have chosen Swinging London 67 and the mod clothing to Haight Ashbury in San Francisco. These do happen to be two of my favorite cities.

For a sobering and truthful look at the "Summer of Love", San Francisco based writer Cinnamon Stillwell wrote an excellent piece as always and reminds us of the repercussions we are still facing today from this era.
"Rethinking the Summer of Love"
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2007/07/25/cstillwell.DTL

They call her Hill

"Hill Eyes National Cig Curb"
by Geoff Earle, Post Correspondent

HERE

and this, but she never inhaled.

happybirthday

Do you believe in trolls?

Icelander photographs trolls from the air.
Video shows photographer capturing face like images.

http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_single_mediaplayer/0,,2738241_type_video_struct_9097,00.html?mytitle=Icelander%2Bphotographs%2Btrolls%2Bfrom%2Bthe%2Bair

"A Minnesota Mystery"

Interesting story about runes, Vikings and Norwegian explorers, oh my.

A Minnesota Mystery: The Kensington Runestone
Ben Tracy

(WCCO) It's one of Minnesota's greatest mysteries. It's something that puts settlers in America well before Columbus. A Minnesota geologist thinks the controversial Kensington Runestone is the real thing and there is evidence that he says backs up the theory.

The Kensington Runestone is a rock found near Alexandria a century ago. It's inscription speaking of Norwegians here in 1362. It begs the question. Were Vikings exploring our land more than 100 years before Columbus? Or is it just an elaborate hoax?

STORY:HERE

A Mets Fan

He was on a one night layover in San Francisco on his way to Australia. A Mets fan from Queens caught the ball that made history for Barry Bonds. The 756th home runner beating the Hank Aaron record and a boy from New York who had to fight the crowds for that ball.
I liked this story as I am tired of hearing bad news.



SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- With the crack of the bat a brief stillness settled over the right-center field bleachers at AT&T Park as Barry Bonds' record-breaking homer rocketed toward the crowd.
Then the scrum was on.
As the specially marked baseball landed a few rows up in the fifth inning Tuesday night, dozens of fans wrestled for it and the promise of riches it carried. Suddenly, the metal bleachers vibrated with energy. Grunts, cheers and the cries of frightened children broke the silence as parents sought to shield their youngsters from the chaos.
In the middle of it all was 22-year-old New Yorker Matt Murphy, who emerged from beneath the pile holding the ball Bonds hit for career home run No. 756. His face was bloodied and his clothes stretched and torn from his battle in the bleachers.
A team of San Francisco police officers moved in, extracted Murphy from the crowd, and quickly led him through a tunnel and into a secure room.
As he high-fived other fans, Murphy, wearing a New York Mets jersey and cap, slid the ball into the back pocket of his plaid Bermuda shorts.
Reporters screamed questions, but all he managed to say was, "I'm Matt Murphy from Queens, N.Y."
"I just hope he didn't get hurt," Bonds said after the game, which the Giants lost 8-6 to the Washington Nationals. He said he had no interest in getting the ball back for himself.
"I don't want the ball," Bonds said. "I've never believed a home run ball belonged to the player. If he caught it, it's his."
Murphy and a friend were en route to Australia and in San Francisco for a one-day layover, a Giants spokesman said. They purchased tickets just before the game.
He and the friend, dressed in New York Yankees regalia, were razzed by nearby Giants fans. "Hey, this isn't New York!" one shouted. Murphy and his friend just laughed it off before settling into their seats.
Murphy declined to make himself available to the media.
Baseball memorabilia experts have pegged the ball's value at $400,000 to $500,000. That's well below the $3.3 million fetched by Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball in 1998.



SOURCE: YAHOOSPORTS

The Yankee or Dixie Quiz

I received this quiz in an e-mail forwarding. It's silly but just for fun.
The Yankee or Dixie quiz
Check on your dialect and see if you might have crossed over to the "other side"!

Be aware that television entertainment has a lot of northern dialect in it. This will have more of an influence on you than you expect.
This test is based on results from the Harvard Computer Society Dialect Survey of 30788 respondents.

1. How do you pronounce Aunt?
Like the word want
Like the word ant
Like the word caught
I pronounce them all the same
Like the word ant -
RESULT: Common throughout entire U.S., spoken by 75% of the population


2. How do you pronounce caramel?
Two syllables ("car-ml")
Three syllables ("car-a-mel")
Either
Don't know
“car-a-mel” - RESULT: Common on the Atlantic coast and southern United States

3. How do you pronounce creek?
Rhymes with meek
Rhymes with kick
EitherDon't know
Like meek - RESULT: Common throughout the entire United States

4. How do you pronounce the second syllable in pajamas?
Rhymes with jam
Rhymes with father
Either
Don't know
Don’t know - RESULT: We don’t know either

5. How do you pronounce route?
Rhymes with clout
Rhymes with toot
Either
Don't know
Either - RESULT: No Bias

(toot- Centered on Chicago and the Great Lakes region south to Tennessee. clout-- Most common to the Northeast United States)

6. Do you pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same way?
Yes
No
No answer
Don't know
No - RESULT: Favored from Pennsylvania to Ohio and Indiana


7. How do you address a group of people?
You all
Youse
You'uns, yins
Y'all
Youse - RESULT Very localized center in New York and New Jersey

8. What kind of sale is it on the front lawn?
Rummage sale
Tag sale
Yard sale
Garage sale
Yard or garage sale
RESULT: garage- All of U.S.; southeast not favored

9. What's that long sandwich with lots of cold cuts and toppings?
Sub
Hoagie
Grinder
Hero
Hero - RESULT: Maine!

10. What's the tiny lobster that crawls around in creek bottoms?
Crawfish
Crayfish
Crawdad
I don't know
Huh? I don’t know- Crayfish?
RESULT: Northeast U.S. and Great Lakes region

11. What do you call gym shoes?
Sneakers
Tennis shoes
Gymshoes
Runnning shoes
Sneakers - RESULT: Very strongly biased toward the Northeast United States

12. What is spread onto the tops of cakes?
Frosting
Icing
Don't know
No answer
Frosting or Icing, okay Frosting
RESULT: New England and western Great Lakes

13. What's that road along an Interstate highway?
Frontage road
Service road
Access road
Feeder
Service road - RESULT: Used nationwide, especially in urban areas

14. What do you put groceries in?
Bag
Sack
Poke
No answer
Bag - RESULT: Used nationwide and in southern urban areas

15. Where might you get water in a public building?
Water fountain
Drinking fountain
Bubbler
No answer
Water fountain - RESULT: Most common nationwide except for Great Lakes area

16. What is that bubbly carbonated drink called?
Soda
Coke
Pop
Soft drink
Soda -RESULT: Used heavily in northeast US and California

17. What's it called when you throw toilet paper over a house?
TP'ing
Toilet papering
Rolling
Papering
Huh? I have no clue
RESULT: Papering is used in New York City region

18. What's the night before Halloween called?
I don't use any word for this
Devil's night
Mischief night
Cabbage night
Mischief- but I thought it was Halloween night.
RESULT: Centered heavily on New York City and New Jersey.


19. What's a drive through liquor store called?
I haven't heard of any such thing,
or none of the below
Brew thru
Beverage barn
Party barn
I haven’t heard of any such thing RESULT: Dont worry, this is a common response.

20. What's that bug that rolls into a ball when you touch it?
(NOTE: This is not a doodle bug (ant lion), which is the larvae of Myrmeleontidae spp.)
Roly poly
Pillbug
Potato bug
Sow bug
Huh? What is that? Pillbug? RESULT: Great Lakes region and northeast U.S.

39% (Yankee) A definitive Yankee

Flag Burners