Pop till you drop ...

Larry Knowles of AOL News isn't afraid to say it, and neither am I ... it is a true "pop" icon ... maybe even the greatest of all time. Happy Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, everyone!

"For the past 10 years, fans from around the country have been setting aside time on the last Monday in January to twist and stomp, often in unison, as they commemorate what's known as Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day," Knowles write in this post on AOL News. "The day, known as BWAD, was begun in 2001 by a couple of bored radio DJs in Bloomington, Ind., supposedly looking to fill the news void between Martin Luther King Day and the Super Bowl. During that first BWAD, the radio station held a 'Bubblympiad' that included events such as a Bubble Wrap popping relay and Pop-a-Mole."

And so, without further ado ... are you ready to pop till you drop ... or at least until midnight? If you don't have aby actual bubble wrap close to had, here's some virtual bubble wrap for you ... time's a-wastin,' so get a-poppin.'

The Devil's in the Details ...

Just about anyone who has been in the news business long enough will have a story - or two - of the one that got through ... an error that got through composition, proofing and re-proofing. I'm not talking about a simple typo such as a mis-spelt word or a fault in punctuation. Rather I'm talking about a factual error ... a representation something that just ain't so.

The latest example comes from one of our national television news broadcasters ...

Apparently after 5,000-or-so years, Egypt has grown tired of the old neighborhood, and has moved. Really, though, I don't know if it was a move 'up' ... I mean sure, they no longer have Sudan as a next-door neighbor ... but now they have Iran!

I've deliberately deleted the bottom portion of this screen shot. Doesn't really matter who did it ... it happens to just about anybody at one time or another. And not just among your local news producers, either ... even the 'big boys' let one get through every now and then.

And it also happens to most news CONSUMERS, too. There are those who will latch on to mistakes such this as proof for their shrill denunciations of the mainstream media and its degradation. From my own experience, I suspect most of media's detractors would do far worse if they found themselves flying a journalist's desk for a while.

But, hey, it happens ... whether you're relocating Egypt, introducing Hoobert Heever, or announcing that Dewey has defeated Truman. What's more important is what you learn from it, and figure out how you might do things a little differently the next time.

Pay close attention to the details ... that's where you'll find the Devil.
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On another Egypt note ... in the midst of the ongoing protests, please keep that troubled country and its people in your prayers.

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This day - and tomorrow - in history ...

Everyone has their routine stops - both actual and virtual - that they make in the course of the day. For me, the latter include a "This Day in History" feature prepared by the New York Times.

During TODAY's stop I learned of a number of significant events, including one that had a special added note, due to an event that will appear on the feature TOMORROW.

On January 27, 1967, Astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee died in a fire that swept through their capsule during a test aboard their Apollo I spacecraft, at Cape Kennedy, Florida. HERE is the NYT's coverage of that story. Almost 45 years ago, but I still remember the news reports, and the heartbreak felt by those of us who were growing-up with America's space program, and who had idolized our astronauts from the first days of the Mercury mission. Apollo 1 was the launch of a new mission in that program, and the first step on that final leg of the journey that began with President Kennedy's call for "a great new American enterprise ... of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."

Eventually, our astronauts would reach the moon (and would leave an Apollo 1 patch at one of the landing sites), but the space program would continue, with new triumphs, and new tragedies ... one of which we'll mark tomorrow. On January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just after liftoff from Cape Kennedy, Florida, killing all seven of its crew members. HERE is the NYT's coverage of THAT story. I remember that day, too. I was substitute teaching in a Dallas high school, when news of the explosion began circulating. Some of my students wondered what the fuss was about. Remember, teacher Christa McAuliffe was a member of that crew, and classrooms of students across the country following the launch. The teacher who was going door-to-door with the news told me that students at McAuliffe's own school had been sent home following the accident. "Oh, man," said one of my students. "I wish it'd been one of our teachers. Then WE could be going home" ... and some of you wonder why people with such an 'easy' job as teaching, burn-out.

Anyway, that's an interesting coincidence I noticed during one of my regular, virtual stops today. It reminded me that the 'space race' brought with it all the elements that people look for in a race, the challenge and the excitement, the triumph and the tragedy. I still like to follow developments in space programs - ours, and those of other nations ... though I do wonder how much will be left of our own program in the near future. And that's a shame, considering the sacrifices some have made as part of that program. My thoughts? ... seventy years ago, someone expressed them far better than I ever could.

"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long delirious, burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod

The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."

- John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Early Morning Sky Over MC Campus

One of the benefits of coming to work early today, was getting a chance to get some shots of the skies as I walked across the Midland College campus to my office.

On This Day ...

Did you know that, on this day in 1861, Louisiana seceded from the United States of America? Just another reminder that this year marks the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, one of our nation's defining moments. Look for me to post on this more over the year ahead ... and I look forward to reading what you have to say about that conflict. Be warned, though ... I AM a dang Yankee from back-east, and I think the 'good guys' won the Civil War. So we may have to agree to disagree on some points.

On a lighter note ... though hard-rockin' nonetheless ... today is the birthday of Eddie Van Halen. I still remember the very first time I heard "Runnin' With the Devil," back in the late 70's while journeying across New Mexico and Arizona by bus. The ensuing years/decades have not reduced its appeal for me. It went on to become one of Van Halen's (the band) biggest hits, and an air guitar (and Guitar Hero?) standard. It would later be named the "9th greatest hard rock song of all time" by the folks at VH1.

Steeler Nation's Mane Men

"Conference Championship Sunday is over, which means we have 14 days without real football to survive (sorry, the Pro Bowl doesn’t count)," Gregg Rosenthall writes in this post on NBCSports.com

Rosenthall then goes on to suggest "nine storylines we’re already tired of just thinking about," as well as a couple he will probably never get enough of. One of the latter is Pittsbugh Steeler DE Brett Keisel's beard. "That thing is the seventh wonder of the world, and it would be hard to devote too much attention to it," he admits. "Two weeks of hype for Keisel’s beard wouldn’t be enough."


Probably more well-known nationwide - especially to television viewers and shampoo consumers - is another Pittsburgh defender and Mane Man, Troy Polamalu. Me? I prefer Keisel's brush ... those of you who have met me in the actual world would know why.

Dashboard Survey

Last month, I had a chance to drive up to Lubbock at mid-day. I've made the tip once or twice - or a zillion times! - before, and everything was pretty much as I had remembered it ...

... except for the rigs. There were A LOT of rigs on one side or the other of the road north, especially on the first-half of my drive, from Midland to Lamesa. I counted 19 along that stretch of road, and another one just on the north side of Lamesa.

And consider this, mine was a quick dashboard survey. Being the only one in the vehicle, I had to keep my eyes on the road at least half-the-time, so I probably missed some. There's also a stretch where a low ridge runs close and parallel to the highway for a number of miles ... not all that high really, but high enough to block any view of the countryside to the east.

Sure, a couple of the rigs I saw were pretty small ... probably devoted to work-over rather than making new hole. But even those small rigs represent business ... some company is leasing them from another company, and paying a crew to work them. In all cases, money is changing hands, goods and services are being produced and consumed, people are being employed and royalty-owners probably found their Christmas stockings to be a little fuller than they had expected.

I know, I know, I know ... a majority of our local punditz - at least those who focus upon the state of our local community and its economy - insist that everything pretty much sucks. Yet, in spite of all that, as a result of my December Dashboard Survey through Midland and Dawson counties - no matter it's lack of thoroughness - I can't help but feel some optimism. I have hope that things are going alright in our little corner of the country, and getting better ... and I have in mind a prayer of thanks for what we have, and that our good fortune might spread.

steeler nation ... Steeler Nation ... STEELER NATION ...

Me? I was going crazy last night, watching first one Steeler team, then another take the field. THANK GOODNESS the first team returned to close-out the game!

"Seventh heaven? ... Not quite yet," Dean Kovacovic cautions in this report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "That could come next for the Steelers, who won the chance at an unprecedented seventh Super Bowl crown by staving off the New York Jets, 24-19, in the AFC championship game Sunday night at Heinz Field. Ben Roethlisberger passed for 133 yards and a critical completion to avert a huge collapse, Rashard Mendenhall rushed for 121 yards, and a record crowd of 66,662 celebrated by waving Terrible Towels through equally terrible temperatures."

The final challenge for Pittsburgh will be Green Bay in Super Bowl XLV on February 6 in Arlington, Texas. The Packers won the NFC championship earlier Sunday, 21-14, in Chicago. A Super Bowl just four hours up the road! With my Steelers!!! Now, if only I had a thousand bucks, or whatever it would take to get inside the stadium and watch the game :-(

Ah, well ... in the meantime, I can always get a Steeler Nation iPhone App ... and warm-up my Terrible Towel for February ... hope I remember how to do it ...

Dana and Me ...

"Though it is embarrassing to admit this in public, I can no longer hide the truth. I have a Sarah Palin problem," Dana Milbank writes in an opinion piece posted earlier this week on at the Washington Post's website. "I have written about her in 42 columns since Sen. John McCain picked her as his vice-presidential running mate in 2008. I've mentioned her in dozens more blog posts, Web chats, and TV and radio appearances. I feel powerless to control my obsession, even though it cheapens and demeans me."

"But today is the first day of the rest of my life. And so, I hereby pledge that, beginning on Feb. 1, 2011, I will not mention Sarah Palin - in print, online or on television - for one month. Furthermore, I call on others in the news media to join me in this pledge of a Palin-free February."

Milbank admits to a media obsession with Palin ... and to having done his part to nurture and maintain that obsession. He goes on to note that abiding by such a pledge would be difficult at best, and that there may be consequences ...

"It's impossible, I figured, because Palin is a huge source of cheap Web clicks, television ratings and media buzz. If any of us refused to partake of her Facebook candy or declined to use her as blog bait, we would be sending millions of Web surfers, readers, viewers and listeners to our less scrupulous competitors."

In closing, Milbank calls upon others to do their part, to take a pledge of their own, prompting me to wonder whether I should risk alienating my readers, and reducing my reader-clicks from the double-digits down to the single-digits ...

"And so I pledge to you: Sarah Palin's name will not cross my lips - or my keyboard - for the entire month of February," Millbank announces. "Who's with me?"

(standing up in the back row, second balcony, and raising my hand) ... "Me."

Just Do It ...

1. Google this number: 241543903

2. Then click on "Images"

3. Then join the fun, and stick your head in a freezer

(There's an interesting story behind this, which isn't as "new" as some believe)