Play with your organ- The OHS way!

The Organ Historical Society (OHS) and American Theater Organ Society had their annual conventions in Cleveland, Ohio this year. Michael Barone of the “Pipedreams” radio program hosted both. Each annual convention is a week-long event in a different city each year, featuring recitals by famous organists in multiple venues across the area. Being a longtime Pipedreams fan and a resident of the Cleveland area, I assumed I probably never have this chance again. I decided to tag-along for the last day of the celebration.

 

A Local Helmet Law Forbids Helmets

Here’s a little tidbit for those bikers fighting helmet laws in your area. I don’t know if it helps, but it’s interesting.

Read this…

If you don’t speak Visyian-Cebuano, I’ll give you the basics in a nutshell. The mayor of a large town in the Philippines has outlawed the wearing motorcycle helmets while operating a motorcycle.

You don’t see that very much.

Apparently, the prevalence of armed thefts by people wearing helmets prompted this move. No one has been able to identify the thieves because they all wear motorcycle helmets. So now, no one in Mandaue City can wear one. The original intent was to outlaw all but shorty and visorless open-face style helmets, but the loosely-worded ordinance is having a much broader effect.

How would you like to live somewhere where you could ride and not wear a helmet, but also have it be illegal to use one?

 

The Building of a Parade Float- The S.S. Huron

To whom it may concern…. a little show.

Dick Durkin is former parade float builder with a submission to the Rose Bowl parade on his resume. Dick hauled-out the tools once again to build the Bicentennial celebration float for the tiny city of Huron, Ohio. Starting with a decommissioned full-size school bus, a massive 40′ replica of a cargo ship emerged, complete with a rotating Bicentennial birthday cake (not real icing) and a mini-lighthouse on a beach.

5 months of tear-down and prefabrication allowed Durkin to move the vehicle from his garage in Mansfield to the Huron City municipal service garage for final assembly. There, he and a small crew of volunteers took the project from bare frame to finished in just over a month.

Nice work, Mr Dukin. Nice work, all around.

 

Pioneer AVIC-900BT GPS Car-Radio

So, after a horrid experience with a Chinese Double-DIN car radio, I was left with two choices- put back the original crappy Honda radio, or keep looking for something to fill the gaping hole in the dash. Still wanting in-dash GPS and the ability to instantly access my entire music collection (~7GB of MP3’s), but not wanting to spend $1000, I hit the stores.

 

Pinoy Pan-oy

A new ’souvenir’ from the wife’s Philippine vacation: an aluminum pan.

With no handle.

 

Chinese Double-DIN Car Stereos with GPS- A review.

Traveling a lot, I use a portable GPS system in my car a great deal. But have grown tired of constantly installing and uninstalling it when not needed. I don’t leave it out for fear it might provoke another theft attempt. But, the inconvenience of getting it set-up each time I need it, is getting too much. For years, I’ve bee watching the prices of double-DIN GPS/DVD car stereos (the size compatible with my car), waiting for the one I could afford. $1000 is way too much to justify for that convenience, and that’s just about where most units are today.

Then comes China.

 

Not-So Edible Muffleheads?

My tranquil lakeshore community is inundated each year by a pervasive invader. They loom above the treetops in the late evening, swarms swaying in the breeze like black flags of doom. During the day, they carpet buildings, shrubs and cars until disturbed by the slightest movement. Then, this mass of agitated, blind, and deaf piles of flying intestines swarm around any unfortunate soul who comes to close. One or two are inevitably inhaled every year, causing much spitting, hacking, and general unpleasant behavior until the shock subsides.

 

Ohio Strippers Revisited… for the last time?

We’re approaching the end. Of what? Exotic dancing in Ohio! In my series of articles about this trend in Ohio ‘morality’, I’ve patiently waited for this legal battle to finally conclude. Well, apparently it has. In a recent report, the Supreme Court ruled that stripping wasn’t protected under 1st amendment and strippers can no longer touch patrons. This was the last-ditch battle of strip-club owners against a well-connected church PAC based in southern Ohio. No surprise it was a loss, but still sad to see that this is what our state has come to.

 

Islam

In Iran, home of Islam, the people are coming to grips with the reality that their perfect Islamic Democracy, based on the will of the people and a beacon of pride to the entire Muslim world, is nothing more than a veneer surrounding another Muslim Dictatorship. It is a painful truth, but it is the obvious result of mixing religion and Democracy. Religion is all about the centralization of power. Centralization is necessary to codify and disseminate the belief system. Democracy’s central goal is to disperse power among as many people as possible. These two systems are fundamentally contradictory, and their mixture will always end in strife. Now, strife has come home to Islam. I want to look at this issue from it many facets, in hopes to find a solution to the violence.

A tree of many branches

Every religion has sects with their own belief sprouting from the same basic tenants of their respective belief systems. In all, these sects only fine small percentages of the population to fill their ranks. In general, a religious organization or ‘church’ will try to attract the widest audience possible. this is as much an altruistic need to spread what they believe to be the ‘truth’ of your existence, as it is a simple economic need for survival of the church.

Sects have a tendency to lean towards fore fundamentalist views of the religion, and more strict interpretation of related texts. The more fundamentalist the view, the more likely freedoms taken for granted by a population at large will be frowned-upon, even ”outlawed’, by that sect, making the lifestyle unpalatable by most. Interestingly, the more fundamentalist the view, regardless of which major religion is discussed, the less violence is tolerated.

 

Purchasing Foreign Flights for Other People

Recently, my wife took a trip to Asia (without me).  She planned to take her parents on a short flight to the northern part of the Philippines to do some sightseeing. I purchased tickets online for everyone before she left, but I discovered from the airline’s website that she needed a way of proving to the flight crew that she was allowed to use those tickets .

Eh?