“We’re only immortal for a limited time…”
comics and animation, environment, everyday glory, family and friends, food for thought, games, health, house and home, LEGO and Rokenbok, movies and TV, music, science and technology, style and fashion, the world, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot...?! No Comments »Monday – 08 April 2013
As if Monday wasn’t… well… “Monday,” I woke to a phone call this morning. It was my sister, Rana, calling.
::: deep breath :::
I’d actually been kind of expecting a call from her over the past couple of days. I wasn’t 100% sure that I’d get one, but I wasn’t looking forward to it, to be honest. She said “Hi” and apologized for possibly waking me and then got on to the part of the call that I wasn’t looking forward to: “I just wanted to let you know that the ambulance is here to take Dad to the hospital.”
Oh, boy…
<< REWIND <<
Turns out that my father had a small heart attack on Thursday — Rana had called me Friday to comment that Dad had been “sick” all day Thursday and the better part of Friday. She even asked if I’d call and see if he’d tell me what was up. I called. We chatted, but he told me that he was feeling fine. He sounded a little off, but I chalked it up to him having been sick.
Dad called me again on Saturday, to ask some questions about some travel plans for this summer. Again, he sounded a little weak, but again, he’d been sick. I didn’t think much of it.
> PLAY >
So, as I mentioned, this morning’s call wasn’t totally unexpected. But, it made for a disconcerting start to the day.
They took my father in for surgery when he got to the hospital. As there was nothing that I could do from this distance, I set about getting ready for the day. I went to work and tried to lose myself in the business of the day. It helped some, but it wasn’t quite enough to quell the worries and questions in the back of my mind.
Over the course of the day, I messaged and talked with Rana a couple more times, and spoke with Adam (my younger brother) as well. Rana confirmed that Dad did, in fact, have a minor heart attack on Thursday. The doctor said that Dad didn’t wait “too late” to get attention, but would have been better off going in Thursday or even on Friday.
Needless to say, my mood today has pretty much run the gamut of emotions. There’s a line from a song I like, Dreamline, that played through my head more than once today:
WHEN WE ARE YOUNG
WANDERING THE FACE OF THE EARTH
WONDERING WHAT OUR DREAMS MIGHT BE WORTH
LEARNING THAT WE’RE ONLY IMMORTAL –
FOR A LIMITED TIME
“We’re only immortal for a limited time.” It’s true. But there comes a time when mortality becomes an all too-present fact of life. Today was one of those days when I thought about it. Mine. My parents’. Even my kids’. I never got to meet two of my grandparents. I lost my other grandparents, including one great grandparent, by the time I was seventeen. I won’t lie: I was not ready to have to deal with losing a parent. I know it happens. I know that it’s a part of life. And it’s something that almost everyone has to face. Just. Not. Today. Please.
Late this afternoon, I was able to get my father on the phone. Despite having been through surgery earlier in the morning, he sounded much more like himself. (Possibly the best thing I heard today.) He related what happened over the course of the day: They inserted a couple of catheters and stints; turned out that they didn’t need the second catheter, so they removed it. There was some blockage, but they were able to clear it. And, it does not appear to have been any major damage done to his heart. (I think that this was the second best news that I heard today.) They’re keeping him for a few days’ observation. I’ll talk with Rana and/or Dad tomorrow to find out how he’s progressing.
There were a small number of people I talked with and confided in about the morning’s events. To all of them, I’d like to say a very heartfelt “Thank you” for your support and understanding.
It’s been a long day.
It’s also taken me until now to figure out how to get this all off my chest.
But, at least I can rest a little easier tonight.
Stray Toasters
- The Big Squeeze: Can Cities Save the Earth?
- Costumes Are Not Consent: Combatting Cosplayer Harassment
- Favorite LEGO Projects + Products
- With the NCAA Tournament pushing back CBS’ late night schedule, I wound up flipping over to NBC to catch Jimmy Fallon. I changed channels a little early and wound up catching the tail end of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The closing act was a musical group called Vintage Trouble. They were good; I’m going to have to check out more of their stuff.
- Gender Through Comic Books
- Over the weekend, Sara! and I watched a movie called Harakiri, at the recommendation of a coworker. It’s a slow-paced story- and character-driven movie. It was fantastic; I highly recommend it.
- Gorgeous Games to Make Yourself
And I think that’s just about everything and anything that I could have to say, save three things:
- Be good to those you love.
- Be good to each other.
- Be good to yourselves.
Namaste.
Team DiVa Tuesday – 02 April 2013
everyday glory, kids, LEGO and Rokenbok No Comments »Tuesday – 02 April 2013
Here we are again. Lets get straight to the TDVT pictures…
This has pretty much become a pre-bedtime tradition with Team DiVa. It’s gotten to the point where – unless they are playing down in the family room before bed – they will ask for their bears and “muh-NEE” (or “muh-MEE,” as Diana sometimes calls it). Loudly. And emphatically.
Namaste.
Happy Easter!
event, everyday glory, faith and religion, kids No Comments »31 March 2013 – Sunday
Today is Easter.
I hope that everyone has had a safe and enjoyable holiday.
This morning, Sara!, Team DiVa and I got up, dressed – which was a minor event, thanks to Team DiVa not wanting to put on their dresses – and headed to Mass. (Which started out as something of an event, too, when Vanessa decided that church was not where she wanted to be.)
Fortunately, she’s not one of the primary decision-makers in the family, so we stayed.
Fortunately (for her), she also discovered the “Better Mood” setting and chose to employ it…
…of course, this doesn’t mean that she and Diana didn’t climb on and play with as much as possible during Mass, but we were able to attend. I even remember at least half of the homily. I consider those both to be in the “Win” category.
On the way home, we stopped to say “Hello” and “Happy Easter” to Bonne and Steve.
Back at home, we managed to get a few pictures of the girls…
…before changing them for naps and lunchtime.
We also let them pick through the Easter basket:
Sara!, in her infinite wisdom, made some good suggestions with respect to this year’s basket:
- We should get a basket that could be repurposed as a centerpiece setting or some other decorative piece after Easter.
- We should consider a “family” basket, rather than two (or four) baskets.
- The girls, who have more than “enough” of them, don’t really need any more stuffed animals/toys.
So, I followed Suggestions 1 and 2. As far as Suggestion 3 went, I was of the mind that they should still have some eggs – and something in them for Easter. Since the girls are fond of playing with some of my old HeroClix figures, it made it easy to decide what to put in the eggs. (Yeah, avoided the candy option for another year. Win!)
After their naps, we decided to try and have a mini-Easter Egg Hunt. We hid six eggs around the living room and told the girls to go look for them. Instead, they went into the dining room — that was where they left the Easter basket and the eggs from this morning. Once we pointed them in the right direction, they were on the hunt. They each found three eggs. (Funny how that worked out.)
And that’s been pretty much how our Easter has been.
Team DiVa Tuesday – 2013-03-26
everyday glory, kids No Comments »Tuesday – 26 March 2013
It’s amazing how quickly these Tuesdays just seem to keep lining up.
Here’s a quick dose of the little ladies of Team DiVa for your day:
And there you have it.
Namaste.
Team DiVa Tuesday – 2013-03-19
everyday glory, kids No Comments »Tuesday – 19 March 2013
I’ve been elbow-up in trying to get some things configured, but I wanted to make sure that I got a post up before the day got completely away from me. And so, here it is:
And, before it’s all through, we even have… video!
Diana helping Vanessa twirl around in Grandmommy’s chair.
Namaste.
“In brightest day, in drunkest night..”
comics and animation, dining and cuisine, event, everyday glory, football, games, geekery, history, house and home, movies and TV, opera, style and fashion, zombies No Comments »Sunday – 17 March 2013
Happy (what’s left of) Green Lantern Day!
…or, as some people refer to it: St. Patrick’s Day.
This post actually started on Friday, but between bouts of laziness, keeping up with Team DiVa, going to the opera, and life (in a nutshell), I haven’t been able to get back to it until now. Better late than never.
Friday morning, Sara! flew down to Las Vegas to attend the wedding of a friend. This meant that Friday night, it was just Team DiVa and me. Suffice it to say that we all survived the experience. Saturday was a mostly stay-at-home day. Team DiVa and I did venture out around 4:30 for a bit; we stopped in at SteamHead Cafe to visit Melissa… who had left shortly before we arrived. Oh, well. The Toddler Titans had fun running around and exploring.
Saturday evening, Bonne came over to watch the girls while I went to the airport to pick up Sara and head to the opera. We attended opening night of The Magic Flute:
I’d never seen The Magic Flute before, nor was I familiar with the story. I wasn’t expecting there to be asides in English, but there were. After the shock of that wore off, I sat back and enjoyed the show. It was fun. The leads were quite well-suited to their roles. The costumes were also good. If you have an opportunity to see it, I highly suggest it.
Today, Sara!, Team DiVa and I headed to Millcreek Cafe and Eggworks for breakfast. A little later, I headed to Home Depot with Dave, to pick up the last of the drywall needed to complete the train room closet. Later, it was off to the in-laws’ for St. Patrick’s Day dinner:
- Corned beef
- Cabbage (with carrots)
- Potatoes
…and some RubySnap Noelles for dessert.
And then, it was home for Team DiVa’s bedtime, a little clean-up and tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead.
Stray Toasters
- “Beware the Ides of March!”
As I mentioned above, this post started out on Friday, known as “The Ides of March.” I had a really geeky moment at one point in which I realized that I want to create an RPG character named “Ides” and have him or her come from a land called “March.” Go figure. - DC’s Women Know How to Spend Ladies’ Night
- Speaking of DC Comics and animation: I’m also watching the last episodes of Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice.
- The last time I checked, the Ravens were down a net of six players. I have faith in management’s decisions, but I’m definitely curious to see how this shakes out in the long run.
- Sinestropotamus and The Green Lamprey. Ha. Thank you, DC Nation Shorts. Nice way to end things.
Yeah, that’s good enough for now.
Namaste.
“To the moon, Alice…!”
everyday glory, family and friends, geekery, movies and TV, quote of the day, robots and AI, space, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot...?! No Comments »Thursday – 14 March 2014
It’s another fine NBN Thursday in the valley.
The following was culled from the “It Happened in Chat” file:
(12:35:03 PM) ***Steve crash lands.
(12:39:54 PM) Rob: Airplane or Airplane II style?
(12:40:02 PM) ***Beth goes ‘heh heh heh.’
(12:40:40 PM) Steve: Airplane II with Shatner guiding me in. ’cause that means we have a moon base and won’t die out as quick when the asteroid hits the earth.
(12:40:58 PM) Rob: Moon base.
(12:41:18 PM) Steve: I don’t worry about gun control. I worry about extinction level events.
(12:41:21 PM) R0b: You’re forgetting/overlooking two potential obstacles, though.
(12:42:59 PM) Steve: obstacles?
(12:43:03 PM) R0b: Yeah.
(12:43:28 PM) R0b: 1. The giant metal baboon-looking robot that Michael Bay chronicled as living on the moon.
(12:43:32 PM) R0b: 2. Nazis.
(12:43:35 PM) Steve: shatter is involved. we don’t believe in the no-win scenario.
(12:43:41 PM) Steve: shatner.
(12:43:42 PM) Mike: william shatter.
(12:43:57 PM) Steve: how could i ever turn off autocorrect? it is so lovable.
(12:44:59 PM) Steve: oh shit. nazi transformers on the moon. *calls michael bay*
Just like that.
Namaste.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
everyday glory, human of the day, movies and TV, office antics No Comments »Wednesday – 13 March 2013
Not only is today New Comics Day…
…nor is it just Movie Date Night…
…it’s apparently my version of Groundhog Day, as well.
This morning, I left the house three (3) times before finally completing my journey to work:
- After getting up, dressed, and out the door, I stopped to get a couple of doughnuts for breakfast. It was only then that I noticed that what I thought was a black-based ensemble was, in fact, black-and-blue. *grblsnrkx* Fortunately, I was just across the street from the house when I discovered the error. So, I went home, changed pants and headed out the door. Again.
- I got off our street, onto the nearby main thoroughfare and on the on-ramp to the freeway when I had an epiphany: I left my wallet in the pants I had just taken off. Just as I was finishing that thought, my phone rang. It was Sara!; she wanted to let me know that I had (also) left my work badge on the bed. ::: braincramp ::: I told her that I was on the way back home because my wallet was still there, too. I got off the freeway at the next exit and completed the loop to home. Sara! was in the kitchen when I opened the door, with my badge, wallet and a fresh travel mug of coffee in hand, securing her spot as today’s Human of the Day. With that, I was off yet again.
- Apparently, the third departure was the charmed one. I made it to the freeway without incident. The commute was uneventful. I arrived at work in one piece. There was a minor moment of concern when, on exiting the car, I couldn’t find my wallet. I checked both seats, the spaces between them and even the back seat. No go, Flight. Turns out that it was in my pocket the whole time. *sigh*
And that’s how my NBN Thursday Eve started.
Namaste.
Team DiVa Tuesday – 2013-03-12
everyday glory, kids No Comments »Tuesday – 12 March 2013
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for a new Team DiVa post.
M-11
business and economy, comics and animation, dance, dining and cuisine, everyday glory, games, geekery, health, house and home, LEGO and Rokenbok, movies and TV, politics and law, the world, trains/model railroads No Comments »Monday – 11 March 2013
It’s been a while.
Yesterday, we “sprang forward” into Daylight Saving Time. “Saving.” Not “Savings.” The night/morning, already made short by the leap forward in time, was made even more short by the fact that I had to go into work – at 5:30 AM – for a maintenance window. Yee. Hah.
After getting back home, Sara!, Team DiVa and I had a few friends over for brunch. It was additionally nice, as we hadn’t seen a few people in some time. Sara fixed her famous – at least it’s famous around our house – coffee cake, along with muffins and egg casserole. There was fruit. And bacon. And juice. And coffee. And merriment. And frolicking. (Hey, there were kids. They frolicked. Go figure.)
Today was a pretty decent day. Even though I had a good night’s sleep last night, I was pretty beat this morning. Fortunately, there was coffee to offset the possibility of shambling through the day.
Tonight, Sara! and I outlined and redefined plans for the front and back yards. Nothing too major, but a few nice changes. After that, we started building the frame for the ceiling in the train room closet. We took a break to watch Castle, but it wasn’t on. So, we caught up on Later… with Jools Holland. The first episode we watched was… lacking. We fast forwarded through most of it. Fortunately, the second episode made up for it.
Stray Toasters
- Chasing NS’ Norfolk & Western heritage unit across home rails
- Salami Suicide: Processed Meats Linked to Heart Disease and Cancer
- I find it amusing that the subject for this post, “M-11,” can mean either a character in the Marvel Universe or “Monday, the 11th.” At least it can in my mind. Double-score win.
- With Positions to Fill, Employers Wait for Perfection
- 8 Things Star Wars Episode VII Can Learn from Episodes I-III
- Queen Fights for Gay Rights: Monarch makes historic pledge on discrimination
- Nerdy Dancing, Where Pasty Meets Pastie
- US Ambassador Politely Asks UN Colleagues to Stop Showing Up Drunk to Meetings
- Boy Writes Letter to LEGO After Losing Minifigure, Gets Awesome Response
- Dad Hacks Donkey Kong to Make Pauline the Hero
- The Rack
- Wanna Play? Gamers Help Push Frontiers of Brain Research
- Ancient Greece Was Built Brick by Brick
That’s good for now.
Namaste.
Team DiVa Tuesday
everyday glory, kids No Comments »Tuesday – 05 March 2013
It’s Tuesday, so it must be time for Team DiVa pics!
Pictures courtesy of Sara!
And there you have it.
Namaste.
Batter up!
baseball, books, business and economy, comics and animation, everyday glory, faith and religion, food for thought, games, geekery, health, history, kids, LEGO and Rokenbok, movies and TV, music, office antics, politics and law, the world, trains/model railroads No Comments »Thursday – 28 February 2013
A new NBN Thursday is here. So far, it’s not bad.
It’s also the end of February.
This morning, Diana was up a bit before Vanessa. In order to let Vanessa sleep a bit longer, brought her into our room. This appeased Diana… somewhat. So, I did what any father would do, I broke out the iPad and let her read/play with the Barnyard Dance book/app. This worked for a few minutes. Then, I switched over to Moo, Baa, La La La. That satisfied her for a little while, as well. Long enough for Vanessa to wake up and decide that she was ready to start the day.
Last night, Sara! and I watched Moneyball:
The characters were well-developed, not just cardboard cut-out caricatures. The dialogue was believable and realistic, not just a bunch of baseball-related cliches. The story also managed to show a bit of the off-the-field life of Pitt’s character, Billy Beane, and his journey from all-star golden boy in high school to a MLB player to general manager of the Oakland A’s.
All told, it was a good film. Sara! enjoyed it… though she qualified it by saying that it still wasn’t enough to make her like baseball.
Chew on This – Food for Thought – Black History Month
I didn’t get as many days filled in as I had hoped, but I could not let the month end without an entry:
- Daniel Hale Williams, Surgeon
Daniel Hale Williams III was born on January 18, 1856, in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, to Sarah Price Williams and Daniel Hale Williams II. The couple had several children, with the elder Daniel H. Williams inheriting a barber business. He also worked with the Equal Rights League, a black civil rights organization active during the Reconstruction era.After the elder Williams died, a 10-year-old Daniel was sent to live in Baltimore, Maryland, with family friends. He became a shoemaker’s apprentice but disliked the work and decided to return to his family, who had moved to Illinois. Like his father, he took up barbering, but ultimately decided he wanted to pursue his education. He worked as an apprentice with Dr. Henry Palmer, a highly accomplished surgeon, and then completed further training at Chicago Medical College.
Williams set up his own practice in Chicago’s Southside and taught anatomy at his alma mater, also becoming the first African-American physician to work for the city’s street railway system. Williams—who was called Dr. Dan by patients—also adopted sterilization procedures for his office informed by the recent findings on germ transmission and prevention from Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister.
Due to the discrimination of the day, African-American citizens were still barred from being admitted to hospitals and black doctors were refused staff positions. Firmly believing this needed to change, in May 1891, Williams opened Provident Hospital and Training School for Nurses, the nation’s first hospital with a nursing and intern program that had a racially integrated staff. The facility, where Williams worked as a surgeon, was publicly championed by famed abolitionist and writer Frederick Douglass.
In 1893, Williams continued to make history when he operated on James Cornish, a man with a severe stab wound to his chest who was brought to Provident. Without the benefits of a blood transfusion or modern surgical procedures, Williams successfully sutured Cornish’s pericardium (the membranous sac enclosing the heart), becoming the first person to perform open-heart surgery. Cornish lived for many years after the operation.
In 1894, Williams moved to Washington, D.C., where he was appointed the chief surgeon of the Freedmen’s Hospital, which provided care for formerly enslaved African Americans. The facility had fallen into deep neglect and had a high mortality rate. Williams worked diligently on revitalization, improving surgical procedures, increasing institutional specialization, allowing public viewing of surgeries, launching ambulance services and adding a multiracial staff, continuing to provide opportunities for black physicians and nursing students.
And in 1895, he co-founded the National Medical Association, a professional organization for black medical practitioners, as an alternative to the American Medical Association, which didn’t allow African-American membership.
Williams left Freedmen’s Hospital in 1898. He married Alice Johnson, and the newlyweds moved to Chicago, where Williams returned to his work at Provident. Soon after the turn of the century, he worked at Cook County Hospital and later at St. Luke’s, a large medical institution with ample resources.
Beginning in 1899, Williams also made annual trips to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was a voluntary visiting clinical professor at Meharry Medical College for more than two decades. He became a charter member of the American College of Surgeons in 1913.
Daniel Hale Williams experienced a debilitating stroke in 1926 and died five years later, on August 4, 1931, in Idlewild, Michigan.
Today, Williams’s work as a pioneering physician and advocate for an African-American presence in medicine continues to be honored by educational institutions worldwide.
Stray Toasters
- A crack in civil rights law? Some justices think so
- Van Cliburn, pianist ‘who conquered Russia,’ dies at 78
- Control the Chaos with ‘Secrets of Happy Families’
- Robert Downey Jr. Says Being Recast as Iron Man Would “Probably Be The Best Thing in the World”
- Fun (and funny) LEGO pictures
- Pope Benedict XVI in final address: ‘Pray for me’
- I just had a conversation with my senior manager (a couple of steps up the ladder from me) about model railroads and trains. That was an unexpected fun spot in the middle of the day.
- Children Toil in India’s Mines, Despite Legal Ban
- Nostalgia vs. Narrative: A Series of Adventure Game Letters
- Beer Map: Two Giant Brewers, 210 Brands
- Fed Defends Stimulus in Testimony to Senate
Namaste.
Team DiVa Tuesday
everyday glory, kids, LEGO and Rokenbok, toys 3 Comments »Tuesday – 26 February 2013
The day is racing away, but I was bound and determined to get in a new Team DiVa Tuesday post!
As I’ve posted before, the girls are pretty fond of my LEGO magnets. VERY. FOND. INDEED. Though, with a limited number of magnets – and the girls not always being the best at sharing – there can be some… discontent.
Yesterday, Sara! scored a major “win” in the “New Toys for Team DiVa” department: Alphanumeric magnets. She picked up a set the other day, while shopping, and gave them to the girls when she got home from work yesterday. This was the result:
Yeah.
They apparently kept sticking magnets on the refrigerator and dishwasher in the same manner as seen in the video for at least fifteen minutes before I got home. Non-stop. This video was taken about 10 minutes after I got home. Playing with the magnets was even more fun/important to the girls than eating dinner. It was even more fun than getting ready for bed, too. Go figure.
But, the bottom line is: They had a lot of fun playing with them. And that’s the important thing.
Namaste.
Space: The Final Frontier…
business and economy, comics and animation, everyday glory, games, geekery, history, kids, LEGO and Rokenbok, movies and TV, music, politics and law, science and technology, space No Comments »Thursday – 21 February 2013
It’s No Bad News Thursday. That’s really all that needs to be said.
As I’ve mentioned, Team DiVa has a computer with a series of astronomy pictures as a screen saver in their room. The girls have been identifying things like “moon,” “stars” and the closest that they can get to “nebula” for weeks now. Tonight, Vanessa surprised me with how well she could say “Saturn” – granted, it sounded more like “Sa’UHN” – when its picture appeared on the monitor. Yet another proud daddy moment.
After Team DiVa was in bed, Sara! and I watched Alex Cross.
It wasn’t an awesome movie. I’m not sure what I expected, but what I got was Alex Cross in more of an action movie than a thriller (as we got used to with Morgan Freeman’s portrayals of Dr. Cross). It was… meh.
Oddly enough, though, I am curious about Tyler Perry’s Medea movies. I know that he’s made eleventy-seven of them, but I have never seen one. But, I’m considering it.
Chew on This – Food for Thought: Black History Month
Here are two items for Thursday:
- Neil deGrasse Tyson – Scientist, television personality, writerTyson was born as the second of three children in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, but was raised in the Bronx. His mother, Sunchita Feliciano Tyson, was a gerontologist, and his father, Cyril deGrasse Tyson, was a sociologist, human resource commissioner for the New York City mayor John Lindsay and the first Director of Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited. Tyson attended the Bronx High School of Science (1972–1976, astrophysics emphasis) where he was captain of the wrestling team and was editor-in-chief of the school’s Physical Science Journal. Tyson had an abiding interest in astronomy since he was nine years old, following his visit to the Hayden Planetarium. He obsessively studied astronomy in his teens, and eventually even gained some fame in the astronomy community by giving lectures on the subject at the age of fifteen. Tyson recalls that “so strong was that imprint [of the night sky] that I’m certain that I had no choice in the matter, that in fact, the universe called me.”
Astronomer Carl Sagan, who was a faculty member at Cornell University, tried to recruit Tyson to Cornell for undergraduate studies. During an interview with writer Daniel Simone, Tyson said, “Interestingly, when I applied to Cornell, my application dripped of my passion for the study and research of the Universe. Somehow the admissions office brought my application to the attention of the late Dr. Sagan, and he actually took the initiative and care to contact me. He was very inspirational and a most powerful influence. Dr. Sagan was as great as the universe, an effective mentor.” Tyson chose to attend Harvard University, however, where he majored in physics. He was a member of the crew team during his freshman year, but returned to wrestling, eventually lettering in his senior year. In addition to wrestling and rowing in college, he was active in dance in styles including jazz, ballet, Afro-Caribbean, and Latin Ballroom. Tyson earned aBachelor of Arts in physics from Harvard in 1980 and began his graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Master of Arts in astronomy in 1983. In 1985, he won a gold medal with the University of Texas dance team at a national tournament in the International Latin Ballroom style. Tyson transferred from the University of Texas at Austin to Columbia University in 1988 after his committee was dissolved. At Columbia University, in 1989, he received a Master of Philosophy in astrophysics and, in 1991, he earned a doctor of philosophy in astrophysics.Tyson’s research has focused on observations in stellar formation and evolution as well as cosmology and galactic astronomy. He has held numerous positions at institutions including University of Maryland, Princeton University, the American Museum of Natural History, and Hayden Planetarium.Tyson has written a number of popular books on astronomy. In 1995, he began to write the “Universe” column for Natural History magazine. In a column he authored for the magazine in 2002, Tyson coined the term “Manhattanhenge” to describe the two days annually on which the evening sun aligns with the cross streets of the street grid in Manhattan, making the sunset visible along unobstructed side streets. Tyson’s column also influenced his work as a professor with The Great Courses.
In 2001, US President George W. Bush appointed Tyson to serve on the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry and in 2004 to serve on the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, the latter better known as the “Moon, Mars, and Beyond” commission. Soon afterward he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by NASA.
In 2004, he hosted the four-part Origins miniseries of PBS’s Nova, and, with Donald Goldsmith, co-authored the companion volume for this series, Origins: Fourteen Billion Years Of Cosmic Evolution. He again collaborated with Goldsmith as the narrator on the documentary 400 Years of the Telescope which premiered on PBS in April 2009.
As director of the Hayden Planetarium, Tyson bucked traditional thinking in order to keep Pluto from being referred to as the ninth planet in exhibits at the center. Tyson has explained that he wanted to look at commonalities between objects, grouping the terrestrial planets together, the gas giants together, and Pluto with like objects and to get away from simply counting the planets. He has stated on The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and BBC Horizon that this decision has resulted in large amounts of hate mail, much of it from children. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) confirmed this assessment by changing Pluto to the dwarf planet classification. Daniel Simone wrote of the interview with Tyson describing his frustration. “For a while, we were not very popular here at the Hayden Planetarium.”
Tyson has been vice-president, president, and chairman of the board of the Planetary Society. He was also the host of the PBS program Nova ScienceNow until 2011. He attended and was a speaker at the Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival symposium on November 2006. In 2007, Tyson, who is known for his vibrant character, cheerful demeanor, and awe of the vastness of the universe itself, was chosen to be a regular on The History Channel’s popular series The Universe.
In May 2009, he launched a one-hour radio talk show called StarTalk, which he co-hosted with comedienne Lynne Koplitz. The show was syndicated on Sunday afternoons on KTLK AM in Los Angeles and WHFS in Washington DC. The show lasted for thirteen weeks, but was resurrected in December 2010 and then, co-hosted with comedians Chuck Nice and Leighann Lord instead of Koplitz. Guests range from colleagues in science to celebrities such as Gza, Wil Wheaton, Sarah Silverman, and Bill Maher. The show is also available via the internet through a live stream or in the form of a podcast.
In April 2011, Tyson was the keynote speaker at the 93rd International Convention of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society of the Two-year School. He and James Randi delivered a lecture entitled Skepticism, which related directly with the convention’s theme of The Democratization of Information: Power, Peril, and Promise.
In 2012, Tyson announced that he would appear in a YouTube series based on his radio show StarTalk. A premiere date for the show has not been announced, but it will be distributed on the Nerdist YouTube Channel.
- Sarah Vaughan – Singer
Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer. Nicknamed “Sailor” (for her salty speech), “Sassy” and “The Divine One“, Sarah Vaughan was a Grammy Award winner. The National Endowment for the Arts bestowed upon her its “highest honor in jazz”, the NEA Jazz Masters Award, in 1989.Sarah began piano lessons at the age of seven, sang in the church choir and occasionally played piano for rehearsals and services. Vaughan developed an early love for popular music on records and the radio. In the 1930s, Newark had a very active live music scene and Vaughan frequently saw local and touring bands that played in the city at venues like the Montgomery Street Skating Rink. By her mid-teens, Vaughan began venturing (illegally) into Newark’s night clubs and performing as a pianist and, occasionally, singer, most notably at the Piccadilly Club and the Newark Airport USO.Vaughan initially attended Newark’s East Side High School, later transferring to Newark Arts High School, which had opened in 1931 as the United States’ first arts “magnet” high school. However, her nocturnal adventures as a performer began to overwhelm her academic pursuits and Vaughan dropped out of high school during her junior year to concentrate more fully on music. Around this time, Vaughan and her friends also began venturing across the Hudson River into New York City to hear big bands at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.Sometime in the fall of 1942 (when Sarah was 18 years old), Vaughan suggested that Robinson enter the Apollo Theater Amateur Night contest. Vaughan played piano accompaniment for Robinson, who won second prize. Vaughan later decided to go back and compete herself as a singer. Vaughan sang “Body and Soul” and won, although the exact date of her victorious Apollo performance is uncertain. The prize, as Vaughan recalled later to Marian McPartland, was US$10 and the promise of a week’s engagement at the Apollo. After a considerable delay, Vaughan was contacted by the Apollo in the spring of 1943 to open for Ella Fitzgerald.
Sometime during her week of performances at the Apollo, Vaughan was introduced to bandleader and pianist Earl Hines, although the exact details of that introduction are disputed. Billy Eckstine, Hines’ singer at the time, has been credited by Vaughan and others with hearing her at the Apollo and recommending her to Hines. After a brief tryout at the Apollo, Hines officially replaced his existing male singer with Vaughan on April 4, 1943.
Eckstine left the Hines band in late 1943 and formed his own big band with Gillespie, leaving Hines to become the new band’s musical director. Parker came along too, and the Eckstine band over the next few years would host a startling cast of jazz talent: Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Art Blakey, Lucky Thompson, Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, among others.
Vaughan accepted Eckstine’s invitation to join his new band in 1944, giving her an opportunity to develop her musicianship with the seminal figures in this era of jazz. Eckstine’s band also afforded her first recording opportunity, a December 5, 1944 date that yielded the song “I’ll Wait and Pray” for the Deluxe label. That date led to critic and producer Leonard Feather to ask her to cut four sides under her own name later that month for the Continental label, backed by a septet that included Dizzy Gillespie and Georgie Auld. Vaughan officially left the Eckstine band in late 1944 to pursue a solo career, although she remained very close to Eckstine personally and recorded with him frequently throughout her life.
Vaughan began her solo career in 1945 by freelancing in clubs on New York’s 52nd Street such as the Three Deuces, the Famous Door, the Downbeat and the Onyx Club. Vaughan also hung around the Braddock Grill, next door to the Apollo Theater in Harlem. After being invited by violinist Stuff Smith to record the song “Time and Again” in October, Vaughan was offered a contract to record for the Musicraft label by owner Albert Marx, although she would not begin recording as a leader for Musicraft until May 7, 1946. Vaughan’s recording success for Musicraft continued through 1947 and 1948.
A musicians union ban pushed Musicraft to the brink of bankruptcy and Vaughan used the missed royalty payments as an opportunity to sign with the larger Columbia record label. During her tenure at Columbia through 1953, Vaughan was steered almost exclusively to commercial pop ballads, a number of which had chart success.
Vaughan also achieved substantial critical acclaim. She won Esquire magazine’s New Star Award for 1947 as well as awards from Down Beat magazine continuously from 1947 through 1952, and from Metronome magazine from 1948 through 1953. A handful of critics disliked her singing as being “over-stylized”, reflecting the heated controversies of the time over the new musical trends of the late 40s. However, the critical reception to the young singer was generally positive.
Vaughan began recording for Roulette Records in April 1960, making a string of strong large ensemble albums arranged and/or conducted by Billy May, Jimmy Jones, Joe Reisman, Quincy Jones, Benny Carter, Lalo Schifrin, and Gerald Wilson. When her contract with Roulette ended in 1963, Vaughan returned to the more familiar confines of Mercury Records. At the conclusion of her Mercury deal in 1967, she was left without a recording contract for the remainder of the decade.
The seventies heralded a rebirth in Vaughan’s recording activity. In 1971, Bob Shad, who had worked with her as producer at Mercury Records, asked her to record for his new record label, Mainstream Records. Vaughan’s relationship with Mainstream soured in 1974; this left Vaughan again without a recording contract for three years.
In December 1974, Vaughan played a private concert for the United States President Gerald Ford and French president Giscard d’Estaing during their summit on Martinique.
Vaughan remained quite active as a performer during the 1980s and began receiving awards recognizing her contribution to American music and status as an important elder stateswoman of jazz.
Vaughan’s final complete album was Brazilian Romance, produced and composed by Sérgio Mendes and recorded primarily in the early part of 1987 in New York and Detroit. In 1988, Vaughan contributed vocals to an album of Christmas carols recorded by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with the Utah Symphony Orchestra and sold in Hallmark Cards stores. In 1989, Quincy Jones’ album Back on the Block featured Vaughan in a brief scatting duet with Ella Fitzgerald. This was Vaughan’s final studio recording and, fittingly, it was Vaughan’s only formal studio recording with Fitzgerald in a career that had begun 46 years earlier opening for Fitzgerald at the Apollo.
Vaughan is featured in a number of video recordings from the 1980s. Sarah Vaughan Live from Monterey was taped in 1983 or 1984 and featured her working trio with guest soloists. Sass and Brass was taped in 1986 in New Orleans and also features her working trio with guest soloists, including Dizzy Gillespie and Maynard Ferguson. Sarah Vaughan: The Divine One was featured in the American Masters series on PBS. Also in 1986, on Independence Day in a program nationally-televised on PBS she performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, in a medley of songs composed by George Gershwin
In 1989, Vaughan’s health began to decline, although she rarely revealed any hints in her performances. She canceled a series of engagements in Europe in 1989 citing the need to seek treatment for arthritis in the hand, although she was able to complete a later series of performances in Japan. During a run at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club in 1989, Vaughan received a diagnosis of lung cancer and was too ill to finish the final day of what would turn out to be her final series of public performances.
Vaughan returned to her home in California to begin chemotherapy and spent her final months alternating stays in the hospital and at home. Vaughan grew weary of the struggle and demanded to be taken home, where she died on the evening of April 3, 1990, while watching a television movie featuring her daughter, a week after her 66th birthday.
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Namaste.