Safe from Nature?

Earthquake in Buffalo, NY

       The recent events in Japan has got Mom asking me for scientific reasons behind Japan's latest tsunami disaster. I'm not a environmental science major and I don't pretend to be one, so I tried to explain what I remembered from my earth science requirement. That, however, had me thinking of the recent reports in earth's changing nature: the shifting axis, the changing magnetic poles, earthquakes happening it isn't expected. It wasn't that long ago when a mild tremor occurred in the DC area, my birth place, the latest in rare east coast earthquakes.  Haiti only compounds the issue.

At the moment I told mom that we lived too far inland for tsunami to affect us. I had to, as she's seen too many hurricanes in her day. But with the way the world keep acting "out of order" I don't know how long I can keep telling her that. If the country that gave the name for the disaster wasn't prepared for it, how can I possibly prepare Mom for her first "derecho?"

Egyptian Protests before the Egyptian Protests

I took came across this demonstration while in Raleigh, NC back on January 7, 2011. I did not get a chance to speak to any individual protester, so I speculated from the signs and their attire most in the group were NC State students protesting Egypt's treatment of Coptic Christians.  This was a good two weeks before the news broke of Cairo's riots. As to how the recent uproar in egypt has effected this group's progress remains unrevealed.....at least to me.

With all the violence going on now, what can Cairo Christians expect at this point?

The gentleman standing at the far right in sunglasses pretty much represented the typical response to the scene: mildly curious, but primarily indifferent. Other than two contractors taking in a bird's eye view from a second story window of an adjacent building, I was the only passerby to show real investment in understanding their cause, even if it was for self-serving reasons.

These student's protests weren't in vain, though. I think they wanted awareness of all things. Leave it to trusty ol' NPR , more specifically Mornin' Edition, to cover the plight of Coptic Egypt when the 24-hour news clubs cover overly beaten paths:

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/11/134440532/in-new-egypt-christians-face-old-discrimination?sc=fb&cc=fp

Multi Degrees Of Kotter

Remember "Welcome Back Kotter?" my dad asked me one day. I did not, unfortunately. All I Knew about the show was an Travolta-hosted SNL skit that parodied it and "Resevoir Dogs."  I figured that Dad has his memories mixed up. Some time later Nick at Nite's TV land aired a marathon of "Welcome back Kotter" where I decided to check out the show my father mentioned. 

I got to enjoy what TV Tropes.org calls Retroactive Recognition for some of the stars and featured players. I got to see John Travolta in one of his television appearances. For other actors, I went to imdb and google to look for other projects they've completed. Freddie "Boom Boom Washington looked familiar but after my research, I realized that the actor, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, played Joe Jackson in the ABC miniseries "The Jacksons: An American Dream"  (which aired on BET nonstop after Michael's Death) . One episodes featured Vernee Watson-Johnson , a.k.a. Will smith's mother on "The fresh Prince of Bel Air". Another featured Richard Moll, whom I've known as "Bull Shannon" on Night Court. 

 The biggest surprise came from the actress playing Kotter's wife, Marsha Strassman . Apparently, she also played Rick Moranis' Wife in "Honey I shrunk the kids", an early childhood favorite of mine.

So in a contrived "six degrees" way, I did remember this show........sort of....maybe.

Carolina Blues

My Entry for the poster contest for the 2011 Carolina Blues Festival.