If you weren't already proud to be an American...

If you weren't already proud to be an American (providing you are an American) surely this display made you so. This rendering of The Star Spangled Banner and the accompanying display of The Colors was exhilerating to say the least. Hopefully it made you proud of your country, and proud of the members of the many branches of the military who protect her - for that is the effect it has had on me.

If you're not of my nationality, I hope you still find it stirring. I've seen displays of national pride from countires all over the world that have made me both jump for joy and shed tears and I think this short productoin will do the same for you. I'll let the video speak for it's self.

It's a 3.4mb file so it might take some of you a few mintues to download, but it's worth your time if you missed the Super Bowl.

Are you scared of your own shadow?

The legend of Groundhog Day is based on an old Scottish couplet: "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year." (from http://www.gojp.com/groundhog/)

Later the legend progressed to the now well known tale of a groundhog emerging from his burrow with the themes from the classic pagan rhyme firmly in place. The Groundhog emegeges from his winter home on the former Candlemas Day. If the "day is bright and clear" the sun will cast a shadow, he will see it, and be fightened back to his burrow bringing six more weeks of cold, or "a second winter".

Though Candlemas Day and the ancient story have it's roots in scotish and pagan tratitions (see About.com's Goundhog Day page) Goundhog Day is very much a North American Holiday and starting in 1886 Philadelphia calaimed it's self the center of the groundhog universe with Punxsutawney Phill of Gobblers Knob the King of the Groundhogs.

So what, you may ask, was Phill's reaction to the sunny skies in 2005? Listen to the official announcement from Punxsutawney, PA via the Official Punxsutawney Goundhog Club Site

Oh the Excel-ent things you can do!

How many beats has your heart taken in your lifetime? How many thousands of hours have you lived? Today a friend E-mailed a handy little utility to me that answered those and many other questions about aging. If you have a program that will read a Microsoft Excel file click here to download it for yourself, then plug in your bithdate and wedding anniversary (if you have one) and see what the answers are for you... and finally sleep at night.