SBI: A Thinning Crowd

Bigfoot, Under Hair and Gert Frobe’s Co-Stars

Otherwise known as the lazy man’s post. With nothing else to write about, I decided to explore recent search terms that led people to the blog. I could write something witty about each one, but I decided to search them myself to see what pictures pop up. Here’s the plan: Type in the search and grab the third picture on the second row. Here goes nothing.

Kevin Costner Move

Is he moving to the left or the right?

Rome’s Government

I didn’t know the Romans invented flow charts.

Under Hair Machine

Kill it! Kill it!

Religion In Your Face Buckle Bible Belt

This is exactly the picture that I knew would pop up.

Kurt Cobain Robert Frost

His face looks like the road most taken.

George Washington Is Cool

Yes, he is, son. Yes, he is.

Marty Robbins Margaritaville

Marty sang about reincarnation, not blown out flip flops.

Is Bigfoot An Alien

I cheated on this one. This is a picture from my blog that showed up on the first line.

Sean Connery Gert Frobe Kevin Bacon

Surely Kevin Bacon is not six degrees connected to this classic.

What Vegas Mayor Wore A Coonskin Hat

I really can’t tell from this picture.

Push To Start Gas Pump

Looks simple enough

Linda Gray In Mini Skirts

It’s not a miniskirt, but it is a beautiful 80s flashback.

Surrounded By Imbeciles

I am so proud.

How To Spend In World End

That’s how.

That’s also the end.

Tags: Ancient Rome, Bigfoot, Gas Pump, George Washington, Gert Frobe, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Costner, Kurt Cobain, Linda Gray, Marty Robbins, Rambling Ruminations, Robert Frost, Sean Connery, Search Terms, Stupid Stuff

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Categories Rambling Ruminations, Stupid Stuff

Running From the Giant Monkey Monster

29 Jan

My girlfriend left her iPad at my house. On the surface, this would seem to be a bad thing for her because she can’t use it for anything – especially the solitaire game that she is addicted to. However, this episode has turned into a bad thing for me because her daughter downloaded Temple Run 2. I picked it up; started playing it; and am addicted.

For the uninformed, Temple Run 2 is the sequel to Temple Run, a game that I have never played because I hate games that have no ending. It is impossible to beat them. Yet, I keep trying. That’s where the addiction part comes in. A good friend of mine says that the definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting the outcome to change. It’s official that Temple Run 2 has driven me crazy.

The game has an Indiana Jones wannabe stealing a golden idol from a temple.

Meet Guy Dangerous

There is also another guy and a couple of gals that try to steal the idol. Stealing a golden idol seems easy, but, like Indiana Jones, the act unleashes a torrent of peril. This peril comes in the form of a giant monkey monster that is standing guard. You don’t see him much because he is always behind you, but being caught looks something like this.

Meet Giant Monkey Monster

Guy, or whoever else you are using, runs through the temple ruins while this thing chases him. Along the way, he soars through the air on ropes; jumps over rapids and knocked out bridges; slides under fire and rocks; rides the rails through abandoned mines; and does everything else that he can to get away.

But, that’s the thing about the game. You never get away. No matter how good you are the outcome is always death. It’s like life I suppose. Except, this death involves falling off a cliff; drowning; being burned alive; or getting eaten by the giant monkey monster. That’s the crazy part. You can’t win.

Just once, I would like for Guy Dangerous to turn into the real Indiana Jones and do this:Do the sensible thing and pull out a gun to shoot the bad guy. Then, I can win the game.

Tags: Games, Guy Dangerous, Indiana Jones, iPad, Stupid Stuff, Temple Run 2

Comments 4 Comments
Categories Stupid Stuff

Brunch at the Bar

28 Jan

Today, my girlfriend and I went to our favorite restaurant for brunch. Usually, the hostess, one of my former students, can get us a table pretty quickly. That wasn’t going to happen today, so we scouted the bar for seats. We have become adept at being what I call “bar sharks” – people who hang around and scout for people who are close to getting up.

This is not an accurate representation.

My girlfriend’s skills were in top form, and she found a couple of seats. We ordered deviled eggs as an appetizer and settled in for some delicious delicacies. We also settled in to check out the crowd around us. Lots of interesting things can be seen at a bar at night, but a few interesting can also be seen at a bar during brunch.

First, a lot of people go to brunch after church, and it’s funny to see them all decked out. It’s amazing how God requires women to carry Louis Vuitton purses and wear big diamonds to worship. It’s as if the best dressed gets through the Pearly Gates first.

No Gucci = No Wings

It’s also funny to see the church people saddle up to a bar and order a drink. Wait, it shouldn’t be that strange since Jesus turned water into wine. I wonder if he could turn it into a Mimosa and Bloody Mary, too. Heck, he could have named the second one after his mom. At least, the three women next to me who were praying didn’t order any shots.

Across the way, a couple of guys were wearing purple sweaters. I don’t have anything else to say about that except one had a floral pattern.

There was a young couple sitting next to my girlfriend, and it was hard not to eavesdrop. Actually, it was a little difficult, but we were doing our best. They were new to each other, and she kept asking him personal questions like, “Do you like dogs?”

I like dogs enough never to do this to them.

He kept changing the subject about a job opening that she might be able to help him with. They split the check. He should know that if you want something, then bribery will take you a long way. Cheap people never get ahead.

There were some other sights at the bar – a couple of young wives who looked like they married for money (they had the shiny diamonds but not the shiny smiles); a couple who had to sit with the bartender exit between them (they had to lean over to talk); and people waiting for a table in the restaurant although the bar had emptied out (they must have been the Fundamentalists who risking the afterlife by stepping into the bar)

So, my girlfriend and I watched the crowd as I ate steak and eggs and she had eggs benedict. Added to the appetizer of deviled eggs, we were lucky that we didn’t lay a few. Now, that would have been something interesting to see at the bar.

Tags: Brunch, Dining, People Watching, Rambling Ruminations, Stupid Stuff

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Categories Dining, Rambling Ruminations, Stupid Stuff

Picture This – The Shidoni Gallery

25 Jan

Santa Fe is full of artisans and art galleries. This has made the city a destination for art lovers all over the world. A walk around the plaza is a walk from one impressive gallery to another. Paintings. Sculptures, Jewelry. Pottery. Everything can be found in downtown Santa Fe.

However, my favorite, the Shidoni Gallery, sits on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Anyone who likes metallic art has to turn onto the dirt drive of the gallery and explore the grounds. They will see art and art in the making.

The display room is filled with smaller pieces and serves as an entrance to the pouring room. That’s where everyone can watch liquid metal being poured into molds. Eventually, this metal will cool and turn into something cooler, like the giant skull in the photograph.

The skull sits in the sculpture garden that covers the complex. People can walk through the garden and examine the sculptures up close. They vary from the realistic to the abstract and everything in between. Although there is activity all around, it’s as if you have stepped into another world – a world where nature and art collides to create an unusual combination of beauty.

Tags: Art, New Mexico, Santa Fe, Shidoni Gallery, Travel

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Art, Travel

Free at Last

22 Jan

We have been celebrating Martin Luther King Day. Obviously, he made it his mission to help the oppressed in this country, and, to understand his struggle and the struggle of others, everyone should visit the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. When I think about Martin Luther King, many things come to mind, but his speeches stand out. His voice. His style. His cadence. Like all great speakers, he could mesmerize his audience and draw them into his message. It was this ability that made the rest of his works possible.

He made many speeches, but two stand out among the rest. King’s last speech shows the weariness of a long struggle and seems to offer a prophecy about his death. Interestingly, he wasn’t going to speak that night but went at the last minute.

The speech that left an impression in the minds of most Americans and in the pages of history took place during the March on Washington. Thousands of people waited through a long program to hear him speak from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

This speech provides a powerful message, but the last part is remembered the most. As a great speaker, Martin Luther King probably designed it that way.

As King finishes, he says, “And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

I have heard those words many times in history classes and on documentaries, but, when I first heard them as a kid, I didn’t grasp the meaning. I was too busy trying to figure out what a spiritual was. Through the years, I have discovered what a spiritual is, and I make sure that my students know what it is, as well.

A spiritual is a religious song that was developed by slaves. Some historians believe that they held hidden messages of escape to freedom, and other historians believe that they were a way to express faith. Many spirituals have been collected through the years, and I had one sung to me when I was a kid.

My dad’s aunt used to rock me while singing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”. Here was a woman who would not admit to her Cherokee descent singing a spiritual developed by slaves to a little white kid. I was up in years when the irony of that struck me.

Anyway, people know the words – Free at Last – from a speech, but people may not know the song. If you are interested, then you can listen to it.

Tags: Free at Last, History, I Have a Dream, Martin Luther King, Music, Spirituals

Comments 10 Comments
Categories History, Music

Tennessee in 1923

19 Jan

When you teach history, people tend to give you old stuff. It’s cool. I like old stuff. It’s just something that I have noticed. A few months ago, a friend gifted me with the 1923 version of The University of Tennessee Record, the catalog for the 1923-1924 academic year. It was a fitting gift. It’s historic. It’s academic. It’s from the university whose teams I have supported since I was a kid.

Looking through old books is always interesting. It’s fun to see how different things used to be. Recently, I wrote about a compilation of United States history from the 1870s and the strange subjects that were found within it. This book also provides some interesting tidbits.

The calendar looks similar to the calendar that my university uses. It shows when classes begin and end. Commencement, the goal for everyone, is held in the morning. It’s on Wednesday morning, which seems like a weird day to have it. However, there is one major difference between the calendar then and the calendar now. They had the day off on George Washington’s Birthday! I don’t know why they would do that. After all, he was only the Father of the Nation.

Remember me?

A few pages later, it lists the different colleges and schools within the university. I found the College of Liberal Arts interesting because that is the one that I teach in. They have all of the usual suspects – College of Engineering, College of Agriculture, School of Education, School of Home Economics. Wait, what? The School of Home Economics? Yep, that really existed. Somewhere in the book, there is a paragraph talking about how the University of Tennessee welcomes female students. I guess this is where they planned on sticking them.

To get a degree in Home Economics, a student had to take some general electives and 16 Home Economics classes. It doesn’t specify what those classes are about, but I can imagine.

I don’t know the year, but this is a canning class at UT.

Today, the university has an agriculture extension program that places an agricultural agent in each Tennessee county to assist the farmers in that area. The university also did that in 1923, but it also sent out a home demonstration agent. In my county, the agriculture agent was E.F. Arnold, and the home demonstration agent was Miss M.S. Henderson.

The section titled “General Information” is, as would be expected, full of information. It turns out that students were required to attend chapel and were expected to go to church. That would really go over well at a public university these days. The next paragraph, call “Christian Activities”, covers the importance of Christian groups on campus. That’s alright. There are Christian groups on campus right now. However, there are also other groups for the religious and non-religious.

As a fan of the University of Tennessee athletics programs, I wanted to know what was happening in 1923. Today, the athletic department, to the chagrin of many academic types, is the most famous part of the university. It generates publicity and millions of dollars. Back then, it generated two paragraphs in the Record.

The first paragraph begins as follows, “Athletics are encouraged in so far as they do not conflict seriously with the academic work.” That is quaint. It goes on to say that the university is a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Conference.

S-I-C!!! S-I-C!!!

The second paragraph thanks W.S. Shields and others for purchasing land for a new physical education field. It would be named Shields-Watkins field. It looked like this.

Now, it looks like this.

I’m in there somewhere.

As written earlier, I was interested in the College of Liberal Arts, but I was specifically interested in the History Department. Within it, I found three faculty members – James D. Hoskins, who also served as the Dean of the University; Phillip May Hamer; and, Marguerite Bartlett Hamer. I assume that they were married. Three faculty members. That’s how many we have at my small, private university.

There are other interesting aspects of The University of Tennessee Record, but it’s getting late. Like other books from the past, it provides an insight to what the world was like in 1923 and how different (and how similar) it is to our time.

Tags: Academics, History, Neyland Stadium, University of Tennessee

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Categories Academics, History

Movie Wisdom – Jodie Foster Edition

15 Jan

In honor of last night’s wackiness at the Golden Globes, here are some words to live by from the movies of Jodie Foster.

From Tom Sawyer

Heck, girls aint no fun. Always gigglin’ or weepin’.

If’n I was God/ well just for spite/ I wouldn’t set the sun at night/ till everyone was treated right/ by everyone else they see.

From Taxi Driver

You’re only as healthy as you feel.

No longer will the wrong roads be taken.

From Candleshoe

There is treasure among books.

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Don’t lose your garlic.

From Silence of the Lambs

All good things to those who wait.

From Sommersby

Use the fertilizer in the fields.

From Maverick

There is no more deeply satisfying religious experience… than cheatin’ on a cheater.

From Contact

The world is what we make of it.

From Panic Room

Just stay calm.

From Inside Man

There’s a vast difference between being stuck in a tiny cell and being in prison.

Fact is, all lies, all evil deeds, they stink. You can cover them up for a while, but they don’t go away.

The further you run from your sins, the more exhausted you are when they catch up with you.

Tags: Jodie Foster, Movies

Comments 8 Comments
Categories Movies

And It Begins Again

14 Jan

Tomorrow is the first day of the Spring semester as the cycle of higher academics begins again. The students have been moving into the residence halls over the weekend and will show up for classes in varying ways. Most of the new students will dress their best to make a good impression while most of the old timers will dress for comfort.

Thankfully, I’ve never seen a student wear one of these.

Some students will arrive to class early to get a good seat and make sure they don’t miss anything. Some will arrive a few minutes before class with a drink bottle in their hand. Others will come in a few minutes late. Either the new schedule got to them, or they didn’t time their drive correctly.

Bumper to Bumber, Baby

No matter how they get to class or how they are dressed, the students will be introduced to what the faculty members have been working on. Tomorrow is an important day. It is Syllabus Day and should be celebrated throughout the land. This is the document that lays out the semester and what is going to happen within the class.

The syllabus has all kinds of information. Required reading. Attendance policy. Class rules. However, the students are always ready to skip over to the assignment page. I can almost hear the wheels turning as they look at the page length of papers and the number of tests they will have to take. There are a lot of percentages on there that tell the students how important each item is. Here’s a hint. THEY ARE ALL IMPORTANT!!!

I’m not kidding.

Between classes is also an exciting time. New students are looking for rooms, and old students are hanging out with old friends. Some of them drop by the offices of their teachers to talk about anything other than academics. The time between classes is always. It’s amazing how quiet the hallways get when classes are in session.

The beginning of the semester is an exciting time. Everything is new, and the day-to-day grind hasn’t hit yet. Students are going to hear things that they have never heard before, and teachers are preparing to go over information that they know by heart. Good teachers introduce new scholarship into their classes, but the basics usually remain the same.

This week, I will talk about the post-Civil War period, the Renaissance and the United States of the 1940s. Along the way, I will do what I always do – teach History.

Tags: Academics, Higher Education, Syllabus

Comments 9 Comments
Categories Academics

A Plumber, a Presentation and Willie Nelson’s Book

11 Jan

I was going to write a post about the movies I saw this weekend. Three in three days. However, I don’t feel like putting a lot of thought into a cinematic analysis. Instead, this post is about today’s activities.

It started with the usual waking up process. It takes a while for me to get out of bed, but, when I do, I hit the floor running. There is no drinking of coffee or watching of the Today Show.

It’s always weird to hear an announcer say, “Tomorrow on Today!”

It goes from bathroom activities to getting dressed to hitting the door. Getting up to flake around the house is not for me. It wastes good sleeping time.

I made it to campus in time for today’s in-service session. Several of the teachers who received summer grants talked about how they used to money. We learned about Chemistry, Biology, History, Economics and working with deaf athletes. Unfortunately, I had to go before the last presenter took the microphone.

They didn’t use this kind of microphone, but it would have been cool if they did.

After a quick lunch, I returned to my office and worked on a few of the assignments for the upcoming semester. I have some new ideas that I hope will work out well. I also had to mess around with my iTunes. This new version got downloaded, and I am trying to figure out why songs that I deleted popped back up.

There was also an enlightening conversation with one of my History mates. We members of college faculties can have some interesting talks. I know the students would be surprised by that.

Once the conversation was over, I headed to the house to take care of some domestic issues. This included calling a plumber to work on a running toilet. It has already been looked at twice. You would think it would be tired of running by now. It also included calling someone to look at the gas logs. I need a little ambience around here.

On to the treadmill where I spent 45 minutes getting my heart rate up and reading Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die by Willie Nelson.

Appropriate title.

It’s not a scholarly work by any means, but it’s a good treadmill read. Yes, we members of college faculties like easy reads, too.

Let’s see. Treadmill. Willie. Then, the second shower of the day before a dinner of salad, chopped steak and a baked potato. Now, I am blogging and watching the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team beat the crap out of the Missouri Tigers. The Lady Vols are pretty good this year, but it isn’t the same without Pat Summitt prowling the sidelines.

She is Tennessee basketball.

After the game, I may watch the original Ocean’s 11 with the Rat Pack.

Some real cool cats.

Or, I may read some blogs. Or, I may think of a better blog post for next time.

Tags: Academics, Books, iTunes, Movies, Ocean's 11, Pat Summitt, Rambling Ruminations, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die, Sports, Tennessee Lady Vols, The Rat Pack, Today Show, Willie Nelson

Comments 6 Comments
Categories Academics, Books, Movies, Rambling Ruminations, Sports

Forever Young

8 Jan

The date in the circle to the left is an important date in music history. On January 8, 1935, Elvis Presley was born in a shotgun house in Tupelo, Mississippi. I have written about Elvis before, so I won’t repeat myself. However, it struck me that he would be 77 years old if he had made it through the perils of fame and fortune. His health declined in the last few years, but, in the eyes of many, Elvis will be forever young. He is an icon frozen is time.

Other famous people hold the same position in culture and history. They died young and remain their youthful selves in the minds of the people who remember them. Thinking about Elvis, I began to wonder how old some of those people would be today.

Elvis Presley died at the age of 42. He would be 78 if he was still alive.