Some Long Overdue Pictures

While I'm not the biggest fan of Baton Rouge, it does have its perks including being near the National World War II Museum in N'awlins. I spent the better part of a day exploring the museum and soaking it all in (I think the parking lot I parked at had a 8 hour limit and I just barely made it back in time). The museum has recently been running commercials for a movie that's running in the theater they have that I want to go see (sorry, but the theme is currently escaping me).

I went on July 3rd since the university was shut down for the holiday hoping that the museum might have some special exhibits for the holiday. I'm not sure if they did, but they did have some WWII veterans on hand detailing their experiences. A pilot of a C-47 (shown below) was on hand to discuss his experiences and had a picture of him as a 25 year old pilot. He was stationed in the Pacific theater and flew some missions for the Airborne Infantry. When I told him I was an economist, that diverted the conversation into the current political situation. He had no fond memories of former VP Cheney, but was fairly accepting of socialism that this country is seemingly accepting. I found his acceptance of a socialist country surprising, but when you are pushing 90 as he was, his time to fight is probably behind him, but his service to this country is still appreciated by me.


The museum had a very good collection of artifacts including tanks, jeeps, and planes on display when you walked into the entrance. Plenty of weapons and uniforms were present as you progressed through exhibits devoted to not only D-Day and the European Theater, but also the Pacific Theater.





Although you might not be able to see clearly on the German car, but it had a leather "sun" roof. I've never figured that one out. If you have thoughts, I'm all ears. The thing that really caught my attention as I started wandering through the museum was the following picture illustrating the disparity of troops at the start of the war. Granted, Japan and Germany had already been at war for several years prior to our involvement, but it shows you how a voluntary military force like our country operates during peace time. I can't remember what the scale of the graphic is now, but it's truly quite a discrepancy. If a similar drawdown in forces between peace and war in the country is not the same now, I'd be surprised.


I took a lot more pictures than I'm posting, but if you are interested in seeing them, let me know and I'll be glad to send them to you. In case you were wondering, the WWII Museum is located in N'awlins due to N'awlins being home of the Higgins boat which in General Eisenhower's estimation won the war (his exact statement is below on the ramp of a Higgins boat):


One last thing, Dr. Stephen Ambrose was a key person in bringing the museum to N'awlins and prominent WWII historian. His book "Band of Brothers" was made into the mini-series that originally aired on HBO. They had copies of that book in the museum's gift shop which I had planned on getting. Unfortunately, the only volumes were in German. Go figure.

Playing Catchup

As I mentioned a couple of posts back, I spent a good bit of the summer traveling for work. The in-state trips were kind of mundane, but good ways to meet and interact with producers as I continue to develop educational programming. The out of state trips were certainly more fun as they break the monotony of the day to day grind.

The trip to Vicksburg was for the Delta States Farm Management group. As one person who has been to the meeting in the past said, it's more like a fraternity party for professors. A little bit of discussion/work gets done, with a lot of downtime. This meeting was at the Tara Wildlife Center outside of Vicksburg, a real picturesque hunting lodge. Some of the staff was telling those in attendance how difficult it was to get in there for a hunting experience. If you ever get the chance to visit, I certainly recommend it.

The following week it was off to the heartland of Omaha for a farm financial conference. It was definitely a good meeting and gave some good perspective on the problems ag as a whole is facing right now and some similarities to the crises of the early 1980s. I did get a chance to go Warren Buffet's favorite steakhouse, Gorat's (pronounced Garret's). It was pretty reasonable all things considered, you could get a filet, potato, salad, and spaghetti for under $30/person. This was the first steakhouse I'd ever been to that served spaghetti as part of the entree. Definitely worth your time if you are ever in Omaha.

And how could you go to Omaha and not stop by Rosenblatt Stadium? Unfortunately, I missed the College World Series by a week (I was there the first week of June), but the Omaha Royals were in for a homestand. I believe they were playing Round Rock the night I was there. There are very few things like a minor league baseball game where you can sit 3 rows behind home plate for $10. The Royals led most of the game only to blow the lead in the top of the 9th. As one loyal fan said in disgust as they left, "This team finds more ways to lose." And then you wonder why the MLB club is so bad.


I found out while I was there that a new stadium is being built specifically for the CWS downtown Omaha. The Royals were given an opportunity to participate, but chose to move to a stadium being built in the next county south. Supposedly, the Royals said the new stadium would be bigger than their needs despite most of the stands along the foul lines and the entire outfield stands had tarps on them.

I spent most of the following week on the beach, Orange Beach, Alabama. (It's a tough life being a university professor.) Orange Beach is near Mobile and right across the state line from Pensacola. I drove by the USS Alabama (battleship) which permanently moored in Mobile now, I believe (it's hard to get a good picture on a cellphone while driving). It's on my list of places to go visit now. I also got to drive through an underground tunnel as we passed through Mobile which I've never done before. And I certainly ever expect to do that in Mobile of all places. All in all, Orange Beach is a good place to go and relax and may not be as crowded as more popular destinations.

A YouTube Sensation

So I'm on YouTube now, does that mean I'm a success?

Back in the Land of Louisiana

My computer developed a nasty virus a few weeks ago which I finally got rid of allowing me to return to the world of blogging. That and the fact I finally got off the road.

From the time I got back from my HS reunion, I have been to such extravagant locations as Alexandria and Lafayette, LA. Mixed in those two locales were conferences in Vicksburg, MS, Omaha, NE, and Orange Beach, AL. I was in Omaha twice for two different conferences, one in June and the other in July.

I'm done with traveling for a bit, at least out of state until September. I think. I'll head to Atlanta to do a presentation for work. And then off to the Pacific Northwest for vacation. I could really use that vacation right now, but I'll hang in there for about 2 more months.

I'll try and post some pictures from recent travels including visiting the World War II Museum in N'awlins on July 3rd this coming weekend.

10 Years Ago

Bear with me as I'm working on the layout of this thing as I'm not completely satisfied with it, but not really sure what to do with it either.

Last weekend saw me travel home for my 10 year HS reunion. The highlight of the weekend came a few hours before the reunion when my dad, brother, and I were shooting skeet behind the pond dam on our property. Long story short is that we were accused of pulling a Dick Cheney on some guys (illegally) fishing on a nearby pond.

As for the reunion, most of my friends chose not to attend for whatever reason. However, I did enjoy seeing some of the people I hadn't seen since graduation. Supposedly about 75 of the 216 showed up, but I'm still convinced it was closer to 50. The amazing thing is how little some had actually changed in 10 years. It seems like whatever path someone was on at graduation, they kept going down that path. In some cases, I'm not sure marriage was enough to settle some of them down. There was the mixture of teachers, bankers, insurance salesman, factory workers, etc. present that probably comprises most graduating classes. It was also interesting to note how quickly some of the HS cliques re-formed at the reunion. The fact that so many are still in the area explains part of this (regardless of whether or not they left for college).

The other interesting thing is some of the pictures that have appeared on Facebook from the reunion. These pictures have a similarity to some of the pictures that have been posted from HS parties. So don't do anything self incriminating as it will wind up on the internet.

Sidewalks Are Dangerous For Your Health

As is my custom on Friday, I go out to eat instead of fixing my lunch. Today, I went to a restaurant near campus with another faculty member. On the way back to the office, all of a sudden we hear a loud bang behind and turn around to see a car driving on the sidewalk headed toward us. The car was probably five feet from us when we realized what was going on, but by that point had already started to veer back to the road. I'm not really sure what happened to have the car on the sidewalk other than it turned too short coming out of the parking lot or suddenly veered up on the sidewalk after completing the turn. Regardless, the bang we heard was the right side tires going flat.

As the guy with me said, "That's not a good way to start the weekend, in traction."

I'm Still Here

It's been two months since I posted anything and closer to four since anything substantial. I guess now is as good as anytime to update whoever is still reading this on what's been happening since December.

I was home for 2 weeks during Christmas and while I didn't get a white Christmas, I took solace in the fact I had already snow for the year. New Year's was spent hanging out with some friends I hadn't seen in ages up in Paint Lick (where I had never been before). I drove through a fair amount of the state I had never been in during Christmas break (Paint Lick, Danville, and Fulton areas).

January was spent trying to get back into a routine following the Holidays. I also watched as Madisonville got slammed with a pretty bad ice storm that knocked power out to my parent's house for two weeks. Luckily they didn't suffer any damage to the house, but had plenty of limbs down. Here are some pictures I was sent by my folks. The pictures show the damage around the house, not the additional acreage a few miles away.







The first weekend of February was spent in Atlanta for the Southern Ag Econ meetings. It was nice, cold, and rainy for most of the time I was there. The Association did rent out the aquarium in Atlanta which was very cool to go visit. The aquarium is the largest in the one world with I think over 1 billion gallons of water and several football fields in size. Here are some pictures of some of the specimens. If you ever get the chance, make some time to visit it as it's well worth the price of admission.


The first two pictures are of whale sharks which the aquarium had four of. I don't think they were full grown yet, but they were already monstrous in size.


I had no idea there were such things as electric catfish and doubt I'll be eating them any time soon. Electric eels were also present. The manta rays were enormous and moved so effortlessly. The whale sharks, manta rays, and hammerhead sharks also seemed to like cameras and "pose."


The second weekend of the month was spent in Stillwater catching up with old friends. Not to mention enjoying carne tapatia from El Vaq, big country pizza at Hideaway, and strawberry milkshakes from Braum's. Stillwater seems like one of those towns that will never change in a world of constant change.

After that, all my travel was in state for work. The last two weeks have been odd as I haven't had to travel during the week allowing me to be in the office. I think I'm starting to go stir crazy with no meetings planned for a while, but that hopefully will allow me to get ahead on a few things and get some stuff that needed to be done completed.

The second weekend of March saw Brantley, Ben, and Walker make a quick detour this way since the UC didn't go to Mexico on a spring break missions trip. And for those that know Walker, he surprised Ben, Brantley, and I when he didn't sit/stand in the back corner during services.

The biggest "news" is that I'm now a licensed U.S. Soccer Federation Referee. Right now, I'm a grade 8 which is the lowest of the grades due to lack of experience. So far, I haven't been the center ref, but the assistant ref calling offside and flagging for goal kicks, corners, and throw-ins. The pay is not too bad, it work out to be $15-20/hr thus far (though I didn't get into it for the money). So far I've been assigned to mainly under 13/14 boys and girls game.

The same weekend Brantley, Ben, and Walker came into town a large youth soccer tournament was held. I was assigned five games (two in the morning, three in the afternoon). The three afternoon games were played in varying degrees of a downpour. My hands were so cold at the end of the Saturday session I couldn barely grip a pen to write the scores or to sign my pay receipt. Aside from that experience, it's been worthwhile and something I enjoy doing.

Ice is so Not Cool

I'm sure anyone out that's reading this is aware of the recent ice storm that blew through Kentucky. My hometown of Madisonville was in the midst of the devastation. My parents are currently without power and have been since Tuesday morning. I'd post pictures but don't have any to show. ABC News was in Mad'ville on Thursday doing a report and may have pictures/video there to see the destruction. The pictures I've seen posted on Facebook posted by friends have been beautiful but portray quite the devastated area. My parents' house didn't have any trees land on it thankfully.

I've heard anywhere from two weeks to a month in some parts of the county before power is restored. At least one of my high school friends is reporting it could be mid-March before power is restored for his house. Please remember this area right now as coverage in the national media is minimal and the government's attention is focused elsewhere. There's not a whole lot that can be done as the weather right is prohibiting a lot of progress made. Water availability is also becoming an issue. As far as I know the death toll is nil in Mad'ville. Mad'ville may be living up to its nickname (self-proclaimed) of "Best Town on Earth" as the F4 tornado a few years ago before Thanksgiving didn't result in any deaths either.

I'll post some more in the next few weeks about some recent exploits and travels.

Interesting Tidbits from a Patriot's History

A Patriot's History of the United States is far too long for a review like the previous books I've read. However, I will say that the authors (Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen) do about as good a job of staying unbiased as possible with presenting the history of the U.S. from the discovery by Columbus until the 2004 presidential election. It's certainly not as dry a read as some history texts are with the authors forming a good narrative that doesn't get bogged down in too many places. They do gush a bit too much about the Reagan era however. I learned a lot of intriguing facts that I had never known from reading other history books in school. Of course this book is not a text in the grade school sense, but does get into the history far more than some books probably do. In doing so, this shatters some commonly held views on American history. Some interesting tidbits:

• Most know the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812 was fought after an armistice had been signed. But what intrigued me, the British general, Edward Packenham, was killed in the battle, only for his body to be stored in a keg of rum to be returned to Britain for burial.
• Davy Crockett was not killed during the assault on the Alamo, but actually by a Mexican firing squad after the assault had concluded.
• The Democratic Party was initially started by Martin Van Buren prior to his run for the presidency (Jackson was the first candidate to run as a Democrat in 1824). Van Buren's aim was to create a party that would not only reward supporters with jobs upon the party's victory, but also use the political machine to avoid discussion of slavery. The parallels with today's Democratic Party are too eerie to ignore (from the standpoint of using the machinery to avoid a debate/issue). Van Buren's creation ultimately set the country on the path to war.
• Where Schweikart and Allen excel is the laying out of the situation that drove the U.S. to the Civil War. These two chapters (starting with the Jacksonian Age) plus the chapter dealing with the Civil War are fantastic, and worth reading even if you don't read the entire book. The authors smash the notion of 'states rights' and make a strong case that slavery would never have been phased out by the South. The path to WWI, WWII, and Vietnam are well laid out as well in subsequent chapters.
  
• Most know about Sgt. Alvin York's exploits in WWI. What's even more phenomenal is the story of Dan Edwards. His arm was crushed by a tree felled by artillery fire. He then proceeded to shoot four Germans with a revolver and took an additional four prisoner. Despite the dangling arm, he herded the POWs back to the American lines with one hand only for another explosion to break his leg at which point he forced the Germans to carry him to safety.
• Harry Truman was a commander of a field artillery unit who may have fired one of the last shots of WWI as well indirectly fired the last shot of WWII by issuing the order for the dropping of the atomic bombs.
• Wilson's Fourteen Points led to much confusion among the Central Powers who thought agreeing to those stipulations would ensure an armistice in WWI's final months, when Wilson kept adding additional items. Never mind the fact, that was what America wanted, not France and Great Britain. I like what then French Premier Georges Clemenceau said about the plan for peace, "The Fourteen Points bore me ... God Almighty only has ten!"
• Great story about Coca-Cola in the book. At one time, Coca-Cola had one thirtieth of a grain of cocaine (not enough for any adverse effects unless drank in large amounts), but a process of cooking and distilling would completely remove the cocaine. The FDA would bring a case against Coca-Cola because of concerns over cocaine in Coke. However, government tests proved no trace elements of cocaine in Coke which led the government to then switch strategies to one of fraudulent advertising since there was no cocaine.
  
• FDR is to blame for federal taxes being withheld on paychecks instead of persons being forced to save for their tax bill each year. While this may sound nice, it does obscure the total tax burden of the individual. Thus, the federal bureaucracy can grow in a hidden manner according to the authors.
  
• When G. W. Bush made his case for the war in Iraq before the U.N., he didn't present any new allegations, just violations stemming from sanctions resulting from previous U.N. resolutions. This forced the U.N.'s hand to either jump on board or be ruled impotent (which it is in terms of military power). Additionally, most of the intelligence agencies from leading countries were convinced that Iraq had WMDs. But you'll never hear that in the media. Additionally, a group of senators including Ted Kennedy, Carl Levin, and John Kerry urged the Clinton administration to do something about Iraq's WMDs in the 90s. Yet, were some of the most vocal critics of Bush.
  
• Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans, rejected a bid (at no cost) to remove cars in favor of a company that would do so for $1 million.