Islands In the Stream

You know how sometimes you don't particularly like a song--or you even dislike it--but then you hear it in a movie or TV show that you like and it totally changes how you feel about it? That happened to me with Islands In the Stream....after seeing it on Gavin and Stacey, I now really love it! Weird that an English show set in Wales is what helped me appreciate Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. Well, whatever works!

In this scene, two of the Welsh characters perform this song. I can't remember if the actors are actually Welsh or English.

The Diamond Head Game

I have an 8-year-old pen pal named Alice. I received her first letter yesterday and wrote one back today. It's part of a volunteer/school program designed to help kids practice their letter-writing skills. You exchange letters with your kid for a year and then at the end of the year, you meet each other at a big party. Since my office is all about volunteering, my boss gave me permission to blow off work that day so that I can go to this event--so, whooooooooo, party in a year!

Anyway, as I was writing to Alice today, I thought it would be interesting to tell her about my trip to Hawaii last week. I carefully explained that we went to O'ahu, a Hawaiian island, and that the neighborhood we went to is called Waikiki. Then I began to tell her about how we hiked up Diamond Head and...I was about to explain what Diamond Head is when I realized I don't really know myself. Is it a mountain? Diamond Head Mountain....no, that's not right. Is it a volcano? Sort of, but it still doesn't sound right.

Feeling a greater-than-usual need for accuracy (since my letters to Alice are supposed to be somewhat educational), I looked up Diamond Head on Wikipedia. And here's the definition:

"Diamond Head is part of the complex of cones, vents, and their associated eruption flows that are collectively known to geologists as the Honolulu Volcanic Series, eruptions from the Koʻolau Volcano that took place long after the volcano formed and had gone dormant."

Okay, obviously, I'm not going to attempt explaining that to a third-grader, so I just abandoned the whole sentence and described swimming with giant turtles instead.

However, skimming the rest of the Diamond Head post, I discovered something amazing:

"There was a 1975 televised game show, The Diamond Head Game set at Diamond Head. The host was the game show main-stay, Bob Eubanks. Final contestants could step into a "Money Volcano" and catch flying bills of real money."

Get out!! Why have I never heard of that?? I want to watch it! And Alan Thicke allegedly wrote the "memorable theme song" but I don't know anyone who remembers this...

Anyone?

Blue Holes

From USA Today:

Only a few miles inland from the Bahamas' sparkling coral reefs, the islands' limestone boasts dozens of submerged caves, "blue holes," some of them hidden in what look like island swimming holes linked to the ocean.

But swimming holes they are not. The inland caves on five islands sport freshwater caps covering heavier saltwater layers, sometimes filled with clouds of poisonous hydrogen sulfide released by salt-eating microbes, acting to preserve whatever falls within. Others contain whirlpools powered by the tides.

"Cave diving is really about knowing your limits," Broad says. "But it provides one of the most amazing experiences in life, and the scientific opportunities are tremendous."

Says cave diver and geologist Patricia Beddows of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., who was not part of the expedition: "Each one of these cave diving expeditions, without fail, provides an enormous amount of information. Cave diving is an extraordinarily powerful tool to allow us to get into the heart of karst (cave) systems worldwide."

In submerged caves such as Stargate on Andros island in the Bahamas, the expedition team reports:

• Specialized "chemosynthetic" bacteria that live without oxygen and feast on chemical reactions possible only in the caves.

• Stalactite curtains, or "speleothems," that contain a record of past sea level and climate conditions locked in their structures.

• Fossils of Lucayan tribe members who lived on the islands until the 1500s.

"We've brought scientists from many disciplines together so our results inform each other's work," Broad says. "The initial exploration is just a proof of concept. We still have lots of work ahead."

Coastal regions of the Caribbean, such as Florida, Cuba and the Yucatán, and other regions worldwide contain limestone permeated with caves, Beddows notes, leading to such blue holes. In addition to their scientific value, they often serve as freshwater resources for increasing numbers of people in those regions, which makes investigation of them essential for public health.

Sea level about 20,000 years ago, during the height of an Ice Age, was hundreds of feet lower in the Bahamas. The transition has left its mark on the speleothems and geology of the caves, Broad says, making each one a laboratory for measuring the effects of past changes in climate.

Alongside the danger, the blue holes of the Bahamas have offered little allure for divers who in some cases could instead walk to beaches with access to some of the world's most beautiful coral reefs.

"Why dive into a muddy-looking hole when you can head for the beach?" Broad says. "But (the holes) are really fascinating places once you start looking."

Air Travel Just Got Glamorous

I really can't think of any girl better suited to grace the side of a jet plane than soaring beauty Dita Von Teese. She's cool, she's larger-than-life, stylish, sexy-yet-classy, and retro in all the right ways. Well done, Sir Branson!

The only way it could be better is if there were a Dita-themed martini lounge (and spiral staircase) inside the plane...with in-flight entertainment provided by Dita herself...but Branson is just a billionaire, not a miracle worker:

"How about hopping in Sir Richard Branson's 747-400 emblazoned with a painting of burlesque star Dita Von Teese?

"Von Teese posed in front of the plane at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas yesterday as part of an appearance with Branson, who is celebrating his Virgin Atlantic Airway's 10th anniversary of flying between London and Las Vegas. She even tweeted about wing walking in her Louboutins. Later he hoisted her on his shoulder for a photo opp."

Happy Aloha Friday!

It's a little insane that people can actually do this. Imagine how steep the learning curve must have been for the people who invented surfing! But, having learned it, I imagine it must be incredibly, ridiculously fun.

"We're Grillin', Steamin', and Fryin'."

I took this placemat from a seafood restaurant in Alabama that Guy's parents brought us to. The shrimp was good, although by that point, I was having vegetable withdrawal, so I didn't enjoy the deep-fried food as much as I would, say, now. The restaurant is called Mikee's, and their sister store is called The Shrimp Basket:

"The Shrimp Basket is a family friendly restaurant that originated in Gulf Shores in 1993. The concept of the Shrimp Basket started in what once was a yogurt shop. That location is still going strong in Gulf Shores. Shortly thereafter the location in Perdido Key was opened. After that location was successfully opened 6 more locations followed including, Foley, Al; Davis Highway Pensacola, Fl; Navy Boulevard Pensacola, Fl; Milton, Fl; Bay Minette, Al and Orange Beach, Al.

"We are grillin’, steamin’, and fryin’ for you! Our menu has a great variety of seafood and local favorites. It ranges from shrimp, fish, crab claws and crawfish to po-boys, chicken and sandwiches. Don’t forget about our Roasted Red Pepper Bama Sauce over angel hair pasta!

"Check out the whole menu under the menu tab on the homepage. The goal at the Shrimp Basket is to provide enjoyable, affordable service to each and every one of our guests at whichever restaurant they choose to dine in. This is accomplished by our professional and well-trained staff working together to ensure that your memories are the best that they can be at the Shrimp Basket!"

Juliane Köpcke: Sole Survivor

A boy in Libya this week was the only survivor in a horrifying plane crash that killed everyone else on board--over a hundred people. This prompted CNN to post an article today about other famous cases of sole plane crash survivors. One of the most interesting and impressive stories was about Juliane Koepcke.

Her mother was a "famed ornithologist" and her father, a well-respected zoologist. Juliane was only 17 in 1971 when she become the only person to survive a plane crash that killed the rest of the 91 passengers. She landed in a Peruvian rainforest and spent 10 days trekking alone through piranha- and crocodile-infested waters before finally making her way to safety. Amazing!

According to Wikipedia, her story has been made into 2 movies (one by Werner Herzog called Wings of Hope). These days, she is a mammalogist who divides her time between studying bats in Munich and working as a librarian at the Munich Zoological Center. Rock on, Juliane!:

Survivor Still Haunted by 1971 Plane Crash

MUNICH, Germany (CNN) -- Juliane Koepcke is not someone you'd expect to attract attention. Plainly dressed and wearing prescription glasses, Koepcke sits behind her desk at the Zoological Center in Munich, Germany, where she's a librarian.

Yet this unassuming middle aged woman has one of the most exciting and unbelievable stories of tragedy and survival to tell.

It was Christmas Eve, 1971, when Koepcke, then aged 17, and her mother boarded a Lockheed Electra turboprop for a flight from Lima, Peru, to Pucallpa in the Amazonian rainforest. Her parents, both famous zoologists, ran a research station in the jungle studying wildlife.

The airline, LANSA, had already lost two aircraft in previous crashes. "We knew the airline had a bad reputation," Koepcke told CNN, "but we desperately wanted to be with my father for Christmas, so we figured it would be alright."

The flight was supposed to last for less than an hour and for the first 25 minutes everything was fine, Koepcke recalled.

"Then we flew into heavy clouds and the plane started shaking. My mother was very nervous. Then to the right we saw a bright flash and the plane went into a nose dive. My mother said, 'This is it!'"

An accident investigation later found that one of the fuel tanks of the Lockheed Electra had been hit by a bolt of lightning which had torn the right wing off.

"We were headed straight down. Christmas presents were flying around the cabin and I could hear people screaming."

As the plane broke into pieces in midair, Koepcke was thrust out into the open air: "Suddenly there was this amazing silence. The plane was gone. I must have been unconscious and then came to in midair. I was flying, spinning through the air and I could see the forest spinning beneath me."

Then Koepcke lost consciousness again. She fell more than three kilometers (two miles) into the jungle canopy but miraculously survived with only minor injuries. Ninety-one other people aboard Flight 508 died.

Koepcke says she is not a spiritual person and has tried to find logical explanations for why she survived.

"Maybe it was the fact that I was still attached to a whole row of seats," she says. "It was rotating much like the helicopter and that might have slowed the fall. Also, the place I landed had very thick foliage and that might have lessened the impact."

In any case she survived with only minor injuries. Her collarbone was broken, her right eye swollen shut, she was suffering concussion and had large gashes on her arms and legs.

"I didn't wake up until nine o'clock the next morning. I know this because my watch was still working. So I must have been unconscious the whole afternoon and the night. When I came to I was alone, just me ... and my row of seats."

Her ordeal was far from over. Rescue planes and search crews were unable to locate the crash site and Koepcke was stranded in the jungle alone. But she had spent years on the research station with her parents and her father had taught her how to survive in the rainforest -- she knew how to cope in that environment.

""He said if you find a creek, follow it because that will lead to a stream and a stream will lead to a bigger river and that's where you'll find help."

The day after the crash she found a creek and started to wade down stream, but it was tough going. The only food she had was some candy she had found at the crash site and her wounds were quickly infested with parasites.

"I had a cut on my arm and after a few days I could feel there was something in it. I took a look and a fly had laid her eggs in the hole. It was full of maggots. I was afraid I would lose my arm.

"Later, after I was rescued it was treated and more than 50 maggots were found inside. I still wonder how so many maggots could have fitted into that little hole, it was no bigger than a one euro coin."

As she travelled downstream, Koepcke discovered more wreckage from the plane -- and found some of the crash victims.

"I found another row of seats with three dead women still strapped in. They had landed head-first and the impact must have been so hard that they were buried almost two feet into the ground.

"I was horrified -- I didn't want to touch them but I wanted to make sure that my mother wasn't one of them. So I took a stick and knocked a shoe off one of the bodies. The toe nails had nail polish on them and I knew it could not have been my mother because she never used nail polish."

Juliane continued through the rainforest, wading through jungle streams infested with crocodiles, piranhas and devil rays.

"Sometimes I would see a crocodile on the bank and it would start into the water towards me, but I was not afraid. I knew crocodiles don't tend to attack humans."

After 10 days, starved and exhausted, Koepke finally came upon a small boat and a hut on the river. She stayed there, hoping to be rescued. The next day a group of Peruvian lumberjacks found her and brought her to the next town.

She became known as the miracle girl and was hounded by Peruvian media, receiving hundreds of letters from people she had never met before.

"It was so strange," she says, smiling. "Some of the letters were simply addressed 'Juliane -- Peru' but they still all found their way to me."

The events of 1971 still haunt Koepcke and she says the memories are especially clear when she is confronted with airline disasters like last month's Air France crash off the coast of Brazil.

"It just horrifies me. I only hope it all went quickly for those on board."

Big Fun

It's weird how some things in life keep coming back to haunt you.

I ride the bus to work every morning with two pals who work for the same big university that I do. We always meet at the back of the bus so that we can sit in an L-shape and have a reasonably normal conversation (where one person isn't having to turn around constantly or crane her neck).

Yesterday morning, three high school girls boarded the bus, swinging their backpacks insouciantly, and made a beeline to the back, near us. One of them swung her backpack down on the seat behind me so that it semi-slammed into me. I said, "Ouch." But for the most part, I assumed they were just being oblivious and self-involved, the way teenagers tend to be.

As the bus ride continued, I noticed that they were pitching their voices very loud, almost like they were trying to drown out our conversation just to annoy us. The girl to my left shoved her backpack aggressively into me again. But I still couldn't quite believe it. They can't be doing this on purpose, thought I.

But they were! When their stop arrived, they flounced off, and one of them sarcastically called back to us, "Bye, ladies!"

Apparently, there is no age at which you can be absolutely safe from the jeers and taunts of bitchy teenage girls.

Hostile Anime Takeover

Oooh, watch out, Japan! I've never really gotten the appeal of anime, myself. But clearly there is major money in it:

China making anime push as Japan hits slump

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA (AP) – 21 hours ago

TOKYO — Yoko Komazawa had been at the Tokyo International Anime Fair for nearly six hours when she fell in love with a brown-and-white stuffed panda — a character in one of the fair's featured cartoons.

"It's so adorable and interesting," she said, staring into its gleaming pink eyes. "I want it."

Unfortunately, the panda wasn't for sale and Komazawa had to settle for a photo. But she walked away from the small booth impressed by the panda's creators — from China.

"Japan is certainly an amazing anime country," said the 30-something anime fan and collector of all things cute and cuddly. "China has some intriguing characters though. They're different, and that definitely catches my attention."

Komazawa's enthusiasm for something new is a small victory for China's fledgling animation industry, and could well represent a widening crack in Japan's global anime dominance. Japan may be the birthplace of anime, but China is gunning for its future as it mounts an aggressive effort to expand the country's creative prowess and reputation.

In November, the government's cultural arm established the China Animation Comic Group Co. to foster a "great leap forward" in animation production, technology and marketing. Part of the plan includes building a "China Animation Game City" in Beijing that would be a national hub...

China's growing ambitions coincide with an ominous industrywide slump in Japan.

After peaking in 2006, the number of anime minutes made for television fell 20 percent to 108,342 in 2009, according to the Association of Japanese Animations. A survey of the group's members shows that overseas anime revenue fell 21 percent between 2006 and 2009.

Cracker Barrel

I finally got to go to a Cracker Barrel for the first time ever here in Alabama. The hostess was a cute petite girl named Angel. She asked if we'd been to Cracker Barrel many times before--I think she must have overheard me effusing about it--and I said, "This is my first time!" and she said, "Ever??" and I said, "Yes! I'm excited!" and she said, "I'm excited for you!"

I ordered the chicken fried chicken (that's not a typo; it's like chicken fried steak except instead of steak, it's chicken. But it's not fried chicken because that would be on the bone. This was a fillet) and it came with three "vegetables" of my choice.

The list of vegetables made my mouth water, but also made me laugh, because Alabama is one of those places where the definition of "vegetable" is "anything that's not meat." So I got to choose between things like fried okra, corn, and green beans, as well as the more loosely defined "vegetables" such as mac-n-cheese, baked beans, and dumplings.

I went with mac-n-cheese, beans, and potato casserole. It was gooo-oooo-oooood!

Jolene

When we were in Nashville, we saw this great band called Jipsy. It was three girls and a guy. The guy looked like young Kris Kristofferson, and the girls were all cool-looking--one looked like Katy Perry, with shoulder-length black hair. The other two had short hair and boots--one had short platinum blonde hair and the other (the lead singer) had short black hair. The Katy Perry one smiled at me when we walked in.

Music seems to work differently here than in Seattle, in ways that I think are way more fun. In the Nashville bar, people just breezed in and out, with no one getting carded, and the music started early. Everyone sat comfortably at tables or at the bar. There was no cover charge, but the band occasionally walked around the room with their tip bucket, shamelessly soliciting tips, while chatting with people and taking requests.

They did covers of all kinds of great country songs, including an awesome cover of Dolly Parton's song "Jolene."

A short while later, some weirdo patron requested "Jolene" again; either he'd just walked in or he was too drunk to realize that they had just played it. The band sort of complained about it, but they sang it--I think the rule is, if you pay, they play. So we got to hear "Jolene" twice in one night, which I enjoyed, since I like repetition.

Last night in Memphis, we enjoyed a fun singer named Barbara Blue, accompanied by a piano player. She was much older than the Nashville band and had clearly been around the block a few times. She trolled for tips even more shamelessly, saying she "accepted all dead presidents" and calling herself "a professional musical whore." She also inventively offered this deal: if she was singing a song you didn't like, five dollars would stop it in its tracks.

She also endeared herself to Guy and me by remarking that she was glad she never had kids, but she had four rescue cats and four rescue dogs at home.

And she also sang "Jolene." That makes four times we've heard it on this trip (if you include listening to it in the car).

Breakfast at the Loveless Cafe

About 10 miles outside of Nashville, on the way to Memphis, you start seeing more cows and rolling hills and you feel like you're really in the country...and that's where you'll find the Loveless Cafe, where we ate breakfast. It's kind of a famous restaurant, with signed photos of various country music stars all over its entryway walls, but it still has a modest homey feel.

After breakfast (which included grits, smoked ham, and platefuls of hot biscuits and gravy), we wandered around for a while taking pictures. I kept walking past the smokehouse and eventually a guy inside called out, "Hey! You're taking a lot of pictures!" For a second I thought he was about to yell at me, but then he said, "You really oughta come in here and get a picture of the smoked pig butts!"

So I went in and took this photo:



Yum! I asked him, "Are you George?" (the waitress had said something about George earlier) and he said, "Absolutely!" and I asked him if I could take his photo and he said sure. Here's George:



George is a nice fella. Here's some art on a wall near the smokehouse:



And this painting was inside, hanging over our table. It's a portrait of Carol Fay, who makes the biscuits using a secret recipe:



Here's what the outside of the smokehouse looks like:

Greetings From Nashville

Since Tiny Miss Fran hasn't changed the password on my account quite yet, I am seizing this opportunity to post some photos I took today in Nashville. It's a fun town. We did some shopping, then went to the Country Music Hall of Fame museum, then had lunch. The music museum was incredibly great, and made me even more ashamed than I already was of the EMP, Seattle's sad-ass excuse for a music museum.

These are some photos I took today: some sidewalk art; a bear that Hank Williams shot (from the museum, natch); and a delicious smoked Tennessee shoulder pork sandwich.

Nashville & Memphis

Well, we're off to Nashville and Memphis tomorrow! I'll say hi to Elvis for you.

I may or may not be posting from the road, but look for guest posts from Tiny Miss Fran over the next few weeks. I'll return on March 26.

I'm going to ask the King to make me one of his famous peanut-butter-and-bacon sandwiches...

Happy Estonian Independence Day!

"The Estonian Declaration of Independence, also known as the Manifesto to the Peoples of Estonia (Estonian: Manifest Eestimaa rahwastele), is the founding act of the Republic of Estonia from 1918. It is celebrated on 24 February, the National Day or Estonian Independence Day.

"The declaration was drafted by the Salvation Committee elected by the elders of the Estonian Provincial Assembly. Originally intended to be proclaimed on 21 February 1918, the proclamation was delayed until the evening of 23 February, when the manifesto was printed and read out aloud publicly in Pärnu. On the next day, 24 February, the manifesto was printed and distributed in the capital, Tallinn."

This news was brought to you by Beebo Reporter (Special Correspondent For Baltic Issues) John Anderson and his wide-eyed secretary Tiny Miss Fran.

Olympic Mascots: Miga, Quatchi, and Sumi

Every country that hosts the Olympics gets to choose the official mascots. Vancouver chose these little critters for the Winter 2010 Olympics. Boy, this story reminds me that no matter what you do, there's always going to be someone who doesn't like it. But damn, those little guys are cute!:

"Based on mythological characters, they are Miga, Quatchi and Sumi. Miga, a sea bear who lives in the ocean with her family pod near Tofino, and Quatchi, a young sasquatch, represent the Olympics, while Sumi represents the Paralympics that follow afterward.

"A sea bear is a First Nations creature, part killer whale, part Kermode spirit bear. The third mascot, Sumi, an animal-guardian spirit, is a Thunderbird that wears the hat of an orca. Sumi will be the mascot of the Paralympics.

"The Vancouver organizers have a CDN$46-million merchandising program; previous Olympics have made as much as $100 million from mascot-related products.

"René Fasel, Chairman of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Coordination Commission commented that "The IOC welcomes these imaginative new additions to the Olympic Family as they take their place on the world stage today - a symbol of the Games and of Canada. We know that when Olympians, Paralympians and visitors from around the globe arrive in British Columbia at Games time, they will fall under the spell of these captivating characters."

"Many respondents on the CBC.ca forums complained that the characters were poorly designed, and objected to the anime influence. One early commenter posted: "these mascots do represent BC very well... someone must have been smoking A LOT of BC bud when they created these things. Maybe the dealer was that marmot that no one can see."

"Some felt that they were a nice change of pace, from the "regular run-of-the-mill Canadiana that has been recycled over and over again. Vancouver is a new city for new things and fresh faces, a place for experimentation... I think we need to remember that these characters are for the kids and for fun. What kind of a statement would trotting out another red and white beaver and moose make? That we are imaginative with new ideas? They'll grow on us."

"While the Olympic logo was applauded by various First Nations and Inuit leaders, including the Nunavut premier, one criticized the image for the Games as looking like the video game character Pac Man.

"Roughly 1600 designs were submitted. Similarly, the mascot design process was open to all, but there was no word yet on numbers of entrants."

Portly Ronald

Speaking of Italy and McDonalds, here are some sculptures by an artist named Ron English that were on exhibit in The Don Gallery in Milan, Italy (in 2009).

They remind me of Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

You can look at more of Ron's work here: http://thedongallery.blogspot.com/2009/06/ron-english-first-solo-show-in-italy.html

McItaly Burger

From the Associated Press:

ROME – Italy's agriculture minister defended his sponsorship of McDonald's new all-Italian burger Monday amid criticism that he is selling out to a multinational corporation and sacrificing Italy's culinary reputation in the process.

Minister Luca Zaia has argued that McDonald's new McItaly burger — using all Italian beef, Asiago cheese and artichoke spread — will pump (EURO)3.5 million ($4.8 million) more a month into the pockets of Italian farmers grappling with tough economic times.

But for a country that gave birth to the Slow Food movement a quarter-century ago and prides itself on its varied, delicious and healthy cuisine, Zaia's enthusiastic support of McDonald's has been hard to swallow.

It didn't help that Zaia and McDonald's executives launched the new burger last month at McDonald's flagship restaurant in Rome's historic center near the Spanish Steps, the chain's first Italian outpost.

The opening of those Golden Arches in 1986 famously inspired a relatively unknown Turin foodie, Carlo Petrini, to launch what became Slow Food — the international movement that embraces local, organic food and home cooking over fast food and the industrialized food chain.
In a recent front-page opinion piece in La Repubblica newspaper, Petrini challenged Zaia and McDonald's to back up their claims of helping Italian farmers with a kilo-by-kilo accounting of how much farmers are actually getting paid out of the deal.

And he chafed at Zaia's suggestion that the all-Italian menu would "globalize the identity of Italian agriculture."

"Taste, like identity, has value only when there are differences," Petrini wrote.

The opposition Democratic Party has also slammed Zaia's use of an official government seal of approval for the new burger. On the McItaly's promotional material is a seal saying "Under the patronage of" the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry — a highly coveted government endorsement that is more often seen on museum exhibits and cultural initiatives than fast-food containers.

"I think it's legitimate to ask if Minister Zaia is working for Italy or McDonald's," Nicodemo Oliverio, the top Democratic Party lawmaker in the lower Chamber of Deputies' agriculture commission, quipped Monday.

He charged that giving McDonald's such a designation creates a disparity with Italian food companies that may require Italy's antitrust authority to intervene. Zaia shot back saying the government had long been in partnership with McDonald's to promote other "Made in Italy" products such as parmesan cheese and smoked beef.

Zaia, who relentlessly courts publicity for Italy's agricultural products, has defended his partnership with McDonald's as an important new market for Italy's farmers and a way to reach young Italians who make up the bulk of McDonald's customers.

He said Monday the first week of sales — some 100,000 burgers — had exceeded expectations. In the coming weeks, a new burger featuring smoked bacon and grilled onions, as well as an all-Italian ingredient salad, will be rolled out in McDonald's 392 Italian restaurants.

State Mottos

I never knew we had such a weird state motto! As far as I can tell, it translates roughly to, "Okay, laters." Which actually somehow seems very appropriate for Washington, if not particularly inspiring:

" 'Bye and Bye' (Al-ki or Alki) Washington's territorial motto is Alki , or 'Bye and Bye' (an official motto has not been recognized by Washington state legislature).

"Alki (or Al-ki) is an Indian word which means "bye and bye." The motto was originally used on the territorial seal which on one side displays an immigrant wagon and a log cabin with a fir forest background; the other side pictures an anchor and the Goddess of Hope in the center (the goddess points at the word "Alki"), a sheet of water in the background with a sailing vessel, a steamer, and a city in perspective.

"Early settlers from the schooner Exact named their settlement on Alki Point "New York." However, as the settlement was slower to grow than the east coast NY, the name was changed to "New York-Alki" (the 1850s term for "bye and bye" or "I will see you, bye and bye")."

Below, a comprehensive list of all of the state mottos. I like Texas's--"Friendship"--it's sweet. Oklahoma's ("Labor conquers all things") sounds a little too much like "Work will set you free" for my liking--creepy. Ohio and South Dakota: you are lame. I like North Carolina's ("To be, rather than to seem")--it's kind of intellectual. Also, it reminds me of "Don't dream it, be it" from Rocky Horror Picture Show. Probably not what they intended, but I like it.

Obviously, New Hampshire's slogan kicks ass. "Live Free or Die"--it's so intense, and what's more, they really mean it. Montana--"Gold and Silver"--refreshingly honest. You gots the gold fever! But...New York?? "Excelsior"? I don't get it. Also confusing me--Idaho--"Let it be perpetual"?? Is that like a stoner thing?

Finally, Michigan. You...are...adorable!:

Alabama: We Dare Defend our Rights(Audemus jura nostra defendere)
Alaska:North to the Future
Arizona: God Enriches (Ditat Deus)
Arkansas: The People Rule (Regnat populus)
California: Eureka ... I have found it!
Colorado: Nothing without the Deity (Nil sine Numine )
Connecticut: He who is transplanted still sustains(Qui transtulit sustinet)
Delaware: Liberty and Independence
Florida: In God We Trust
Georgia: Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation
Hawaii: Ua mau ke ea o ka aina I ka pono(The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness)
Idaho: Let it be Perpetual (Esto perpetua)
Illinois: State Sovereignty, National Union
Indiana: The Crossroads of America
Iowa: Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain
Kansas: To the stars through difficulties(Ad astra per aspera)
Kentucky: United we stand, divided we fall
Louisiana: Union, Justice, and Confidence
Maine: I direct (Dirigo)
Maryland: Manly deeds womanly words(Fatti maschil parole femine)
Massachusetts: By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty (Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem)
Michigan: If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you (Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam, circumspice)
Minnesota: The star of the north (L'Etoile du nor)
Mississippi: By valor and arms (Virtute et armis)
Missouri: The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law (Salus populi suprema lex esto)
Montana: Gold and Silver (Oro y plata)
Nebraska: Equality before the law
Nevada: All for our country
New Hampshire: Live free or die
New Jersey: Liberty and Prosperity
New Mexico: It grows as it goes (Crescit eundo)
New York: Excelsior
North Carolina: To be, rather than to seem (Esse quam videri)
North Dakota: Liberty and Union Now and Forever, One and Inseparable
Ohio: With God, all things are possible
Oklahoma: Labor conquers all things (Labor omnia vincit)
Oregon: She Flies With Her Own Wings (Alis Volat Propiis)
Pennsylvania: Virtue, Liberty, and Independence
Rhode Island: Hope
South Carolina: Prepared in mind and resources /While I breathe, I hope
South Dakota: Under God the people rule
Tennessee: Agriculture and Commerce
Texas: Friendship
Utah: Industry
Vermont: Freedom and Unity
Virginia: Thus Always to Tyrants(Sic Semper Tyrannis)
Washington: Bye and Bye (Alki)
West Virginia: Mountaineers are always free (Montani semper liberi)
Wisconsin: Forward
Wyoming: Equal rights

Bollywood Video

It's fun to watch a Bollywood movie once in a while. They are fun and light and colorful. Guy and I look for ones starring Shahrukh Khan (above) or Amitabh Bachchan.