Future Poltergeist

Another look back at previous Olympic games.  For more of this series, click the 'Olympics' tag at the bottom. The 1984 winter games were held in Sarajevo.  It was the first time the games were held in the Balkans.  Apparently the organizers were surprised at being selected.  They had expected that either Sapporo or Gothenburg would win the games.  They had to overcome some challenges, for instance, they added an elevated start area to make the downhill skiing high enough.  It sounds like these games were highlighted by figure skating.  Torvill and Dean dominated the pairs and Katarina Witt (whom I had a crush on) also won a gold.  The Olympic facilities were apparently later destroyed ('reduced to rubble') by fighting.   Los Angeles hosted the '84 summer games and for the first time in Olympic history, they were privately funded.  I think of these as the McDonalds/Coca-Cola games though that might just be skewed memory.  Pe...

DF is full into the repeat everything phase.  We watched a movie today and he updated us on everything that was said, over and over.  We tried to turn off the DF commentary track but we couldn't find that option.  Relia got annoyed and I quietly thought of it as karmic payback.  He'll repeat something until someone acknowledges that he said it.  Which means if the FP Gal or myself is tuning him out, well, this can go on for some time.  Don't get me wrong, he's usually very interesting to talk to.  He's trying to understand everything and I love how that develops. Today several people asked his name and he proudly told them.  Then one person simply asked how he is and he answered 'Felix'. 

More Olympics!  For past entries, click on the 'Olympics' tag at the bottom of the post.  Again, the book that I'm reading from is called 'The Olympic Games,  Athens 1896 - Athens 2004'. The 1976 winter games were held in Innsbruck.  They had held the winter games in 1964 and they lit a separate flame for each of them.  Denver had been the initial choice but the good people of Colorado decided that it was too expensive and might cause environmental damage so they pulled out.  The games went back to Innsbruck because they were still set up for the games and only needed minor refurbishments.  Figure skating was expanded (or reorganized) and the scoring system was changed.  In a controversial move, the ice skating medals were awarded at the rink instead of at a centralized medal station.   Montreal hosted the 1976 summer games and it had some issues.  Industrial disputes and an unusually long winter delayed construction.  The o...

A wee bonnie castle in Scotland for you, this Monday.

This morning in the car, Relia started talking about going to Kindergarten.  Apparently DF feels left out because he assured her that he was going too.  She told him he wasn't and why.  He calmly responded, "I am.  I'm sorry, Relia, but I am."  At some point I told them to stop arguing about it. Relia: We're just going to argue until we get to the mall, dad. A lawyer, right?  She should definitely grow up to be a lawyer.

I took Relia to see Pixar's new movie 'Brave' today.  Short review, with no spoilers, I really enjoyed it.  It's visually wonderful, like you would expect from a Pixar movie.  That's probably especially true since they had the gorgeous Scottish highlands to work with.  I also thought that the story went in interesting and unexpected places.  In short, I recommend it.  Ok, now SPOILERS ahead so don't read the rest until you've seen the movie.  Then you can come back and argue with me if need be.  Got it?  Before seeing the movie I read the first part of Ebert's review and my enthusiasm was dampened a bit.  He suggests that this is something of a Disney knock-off, "...this one finds Pixar poaching on traditional territory of Disney, its corporate partner. We get a spunky princess; her mum, the queen; her dad, the gruff king, an old witch who lives in the woods, and so on."  I really couldn't agree less.  The story deals wit...

These always smile and bring a tear to my eye.

Relia picked this one.  (Well, actually she kept trying to chose pictures with puppies and monkeys and butterflys and I kept saying 'no'.)  This one has an eagle.

(via Instapundit) Here is an interesting proposal that suggests NASA should capture an asteroid and put it into orbit around the moon.  It sounds worthwhile to me.  And if NASA doesn't jump on this, I wouldn't be surprised of some private group did.  And soon.  Very soon.

While driving in the car tonight we passed a park where there was soccer: Me: Do you see them playing soccer over there? Relia: How can they play soccer in the rain? Me: Uh, they just do. (pause) DF: You put down the umbrella first, Relia!  

And . . . we're back.  For more of this series, click on the 'Olympics' tag at the bottom. Grenoble, France had the honor of hosting the 1968 winter games.  The city itself didn't have enough sports facilities so the events were held in various parts of the region.  There were seven different Olympic villages which led to some criticism that the 'youth of the world' weren't really meeting together.  This was the first Olympics with both drug and gender testing.  For the first time there were two separate German teams and (surprise!) they didn't get along with each other.  From the pictures, it looks like the skating events were still held outside. The 1968 summer games went to Mexico City.  There were big arguments in Mexico about the wisdom of spending money on sports facilities when there was so much poverty elsewhere.  These arguments turned into riots.  There was also concern about Mexico City's high altitude and how that would effect ...

(Don't dismiss this as dry science-y stuff, give it a read.) There is news out there that Voyager One is about to leave the solar system.  Here is a pretty good article , with pictures and diagrams.  What they mean by 'leave the solar system' is that it is almost beyond the influence of the sun.  Specifically, it is beyond the protection of the sun and facing the cosmic energies that exist between the stars.  Voyager One launched in 1977 and is now about 16 light minutes away.  That means that it takes light (or a radio signal) a full sixteen minutes to reach us.  The probe is one of the fastest man-made objects ever made and it's only 16 light minutes out there.  How fast is it going?  Let's do some back of the envelope math and see if we can figure it out.  It took 35 years to go 16 light minutes away.  After about 50 years it will be one light day (and yes I'm rounding for simplicity.)  That means it will take 365 X 50 years (...

The older kids, Granda D and I took a little trip down to Wabasha today to see the eagles (and get out of the FP Gal's hair).  We ate lunch in a little place across the border in Wisconsin.  As we were driving back we saw a car with a giant football helmet decal on the door.  Then this conversation happened. Relia: He had a football on the truck! Me: This is Wisconsin and that was for the Packers. Relia:  Packers?  I hate the Packers! DF: (getting into the act) I hate crackers!  I hate crackers! Since then he has shown his 'hatred' by eating every cracker he could find.

This is a great list (with pictures) of beautiful rooms .  I think my very favorite is #14 but I could be talked into a bunch of others as well.

We've been regularly going to the library on Wednesday morning with the kids.  The older ones love books and we are trying to fan that flame so they love them more and more.  The best way to do that is to expose them to more and more of them.  Plus, we want them to feel comfortable in a library setting and we need to find reasons to simply get out of the house. One of the nice things about a large, connected system like the Hennepin libraries is that you can drop off books anywhere.  We don't feel tied down to one building and have wandered a bit from place to place.  Today, on a whim, I suggested that we go to the Southdale library because it is the biggest.  The FP Gal had no problem with that and we were off. We got in and one of the librarians met us at the elevator and told us that we were in time for a magic show.  We went into their community room and, sure enough, there was a magician entertaining a large group of kids and their parents....

For other entries, click on the 'Olympics' tag at the bottom The 1960 winter games were held in Squaw Valley, California (which is near Reno, NV).  The area was largely developed after the games were awarded in 1955.  The developments ran short however, and the bobsled competitions were canceled.  These opening ceremonies were developed by Walt Disney (and that must have been something!).  South Africa joined the winter games for the first time and then were promptly prohibited due to apartheid.  They didn't come back until 1994.  The biathlon made it's debut as did women's speed skating.  The skating was still done outdoors and the pictures are better for it. Rome hosted the summer games of 1960.  They had been in line for the 1908 games but Vesuvius went and ashed all over those plans.  They held a number of events in ancient settings and I bet it was quite something to watch.  Pope John XXIII blessed all of the athletes save those ...

Happy Anniversary, FP Gal! 

(via Instapundit)  This site bears watching .  It's a review of each Minnesota State Park. 

For past entries, click on the 'Olympics' tag. We're up to 1952 when the winter games were held in Oslo.  It sounds like Oslo went all out in building facilities that could handle the games.  This is the first time this is mentioned so perhaps Oslo was the first city to use the Olympics for urban development.  By this time the Germans and Japanese were allowed back to the games.  It says that 'certificates of denazification were mandatory for entry' but there was no real hostility.  (There is a joke there somewhere but I'll leave it alone.)  Dick Button dominated the games which, if you've seen him on TV sounds strange.  The oldest competitor for the women's cross country won gold.  Frankly . . . these games sound kind of dull. For the 1952 summer games they stayed with Scandinavia and went to Helsinki.  For the first time since 1912 the Russians were allowed to compete.  They raised a stink and refused to be housed near those lousy c...

I really enjoyed this column from the Sports Guy , especially the first half.  He talks about his daughters first sports team love and how she dealt with their first big loss.  Sample: Then I remembered something. Sports is a metaphor for life. Everything is black and white on the surface. You win, you lose, you laugh, you cry, you cheer, you boo, and most of all, you care. Lurking underneath that surface, that's where all the good stuff is — the memories, the connections, the love, the fans, the layers that make sports what they are. It's not about watching your team win the Cup as much as that moment when you wake up thinking, In 12 hours, I might watch my team win the Cup. It's about sitting in the same chair for Game 5 because that chair worked for you in Game 3 and Game 4, and somehow, this has to mean something. It's about using a urinal between periods, realizing that you're peeing on a Devils card, then eventually realizing that some evil genius...

For more of this series, click the 'Olympics' tag at the bottom. In 1936, the winter Olympics were held in a German village called Garmisch (raise your hand if you've been there).  The run up to the games featured worries that the Germans wouldn't allow Jewish athletes to compete.  Jews living in America tried to organize a boycott, as far as I know the first serious attempt to use Olympic boycotts for political reasons.  The Germans heavily censored news and suppressed any negative coverage.  As to the actual events, it sounds like alpine skiing came of age at these games.  The Brits won the gold in hockey, upsetting the Canadians.  It turned out that a large number of the British team lived and played elsewhere but they were still eligible.  This practice is now very, very common.  I love all of the pictures of the outdoor skating.  We won't go back to that, which, from a visual standpoint, is a shame. Germany also hosted the 1936 summer...

This morning I took Relia and DF to one of my all time favorite spots, the stone arch bridge down by St Anthony Main.  Relia has become somewhat obsessed with the Mill City Museum and that whole stretch of the river.  It seemed like a good idea to go down there and let her see things from a different angle.  Plus . . . I wanted a place where they could walk freely but their avenues of escape were limited. They loved it.  They could have spent hours clinging to the fence, looking at the falls.  (Well, I could too.)  We were lucky enough to watch a barge of gravel go through the lock and dam.  I don't think that DF got it but it made some impact.  As soon as we got home he told the FP Gal about the boat and the doors.  We also saw an apartment building being built.  They were impressed by the crane.  DF is simply crazy for construction equipment.  Every drive is like a car bingo game where we find 'diggers', bobcats and dump tr...

Relia: What is a 'ninjo'? Me: Do you mean a 'ninja'? Relia: Yeah. Me: They are a kind of fighter. They're very sneaky. Relia: They sneak up on people . . . and say BOO! (giggles to herself) And then they kill them.

Part one here , part two here .  I should mention that the book I'm using is called 'The Olympic Games, Athens 1896-Athens 2004'.  And here is more: The 1928 Winter games were in St Moritz Switzerland.  The Germans were allowed to compete again.  It took quite a while to forgive them for World War One, I guess.  The games were troubled by warm dry conditions but they struggled through.  Sonja Henie became a star figure skater.  There is a funny photo of her skating with a heavy fur coat on.  The skating rink looks like it was outdoors.  Can you picture that happening today? Amsterdam hosted the 1928 summer games and they created a stir by giving a photography monopoly to one company.  Spectators were frisked for cameras before events.  Big protests ensued and the monopoly was scuttled.  This was the first game that featured a continuous Olympic flame, a tradition that continues to this day.  Women were allowed to compet...

Story at link .  Don't forget to watch the video.

First part here .  1908 brought the games to London.  They were originally slated for Rome but Mt Vesuvius erupted in 1906 and the Italians decided that the money would be best spent elsewhere.  The US team accused the British judges of partiality and from then on, a pool of international judges were used.  There is a great story about marathoner Dorando Pietri of Italy.  In the last lap of the marathon he was leading but collapsed four times.  The book says "For the final few yards to the finish, the nearly unconscious Italian was supported by, among others, the stadium announcer and a second official, thought by some to Arthur Conan Doyle".  He was quickly disqualified for using 'external support'.  He was given a trophy by Queen Alexandra.  It took them awhile to figure out that whole marathon thing, no? Stockholm hosted the games in 1912.  The book says that athletes from all continents were represented but I can't quite figure o...

Japanese lanterns are so simple and beautiful.  I wish we had a spot near our house where a path like this would make sense.

A couple of weeks ago at the library, I picked up a coffee table style book on the Olympic games.  It's a pretty nifty deal, with a chapter on each set of games.  There are notes and pictures for each one and I find it all very interesting.  I've been bugging the FP Gal with factoids and it occurred to me that I can bug a somewhat larger audience here.  (Warning, this will probably be a series.) Olympic art has gotten uglier over time.  Back in the early day they tried to revive the Greek celebration of the body.  Today they go with swoops that almost describe a person.  Not an improvement.  (The trippiest is easily 1968 from Mexico City.) The first modern games took place in 1896 and was played in Athens.  About 200 men, mostly Greeks, competed in nine events.  Things have changed a bit since then. The 1900 games were in Paris and they coincided with a World's Fair (which the Eiffel Tower was built for).  The sporting events w...

Yesterday I took Relia to the Mill City Museum, a museum that shows off the early days of Minneapolis when the mill was king.  It's a pretty good presentation and I learned a bunch.  The burned out shell down by the river?  It has nothing to do with the mill explosion of 1878.  It is the remains of the rebuilt mill that burned down in 1991.  It is thought that people had broken in and started a fire to warm themselves.  After the museum, it was time to drive home.  We ran into an obstacle as Washington Ave was closed by the police.  We were about eight cars back so I could still see up to the street.  I had heard that the President was in town and I wondered if this blockage was related.  After about a minute, some serious looking black cars zoomed past, followed by a limo and an ambulance.  There had been people gathered at the corner and as one of them walked back to her car, I heard her say that Obama had just passed by.  ...

Crystal Palace, Spain