Million Dollar Pigeon

I do not like pigeons. I’ve always considered them as “sky rats”. I even allow my daughter to chase them. San Francisco even has a “pigeon law” that fines people against feeding these evil birds.

Throughout my life, at least since my uncle Scott was shat upon when he was 35, I have taken an informal bird shat survey. I have determined that the mean age of being shat upon by a bird is 35. And not because of my uncle Scott. Some, like my daughter, were shat upon early. This was mainly because I brought her to a place that was temporary home to literally tens of thousands of seagulls due to the herring roe tide. It covered everything, the rocks and beaches and driftwoods. The birds consumed and shat. Including on my daughters face. She was only five.

But my informal survey indicates that most people don't realize the shat fate until much later...a mean of 35 years of age by my estimates.

Prolific Pigeons

We have a law because pigeons are prolific, laying eggs eight to twelve days after mating, the female lays one or two eggs. The male cares for and guards the female and the young leave the nest between the age of 4 and 6 weeks. More eggs are laid before these young ever leave the nest. An adult female pigeon can have about 15 surviving young a year. They average 3-5 years in the wild. Captive pigeons can live for 15 years but some have been known to live for up to 35 years.

That one lousy pigeon, living for 35 years and given populations of tourist spewing feed, could result in 1 307 674 368 000 resulting pigeons. More than one trillion pigeons.

Perhaps this is why the city of London bans the feeding of them. But still, people with nothing better to do protest.

Pigeons as food

In medieval times, manorial dovecotes provided a welcome supply of fresh meat in early spring, killed when they are about 4 weeks old and barely fledged. (Once pigeons have been on the wing for a while, their muscles toughen). Included is a recipe for squab with rice: this unusual dish from Shakespeare’s day is taken from a cookbook published in 1609. The squabs are cooked with a rice pudding, seasoned with sugar and mace.

Pigeon History

Pigeons and doves have been around for a long time-long before humans. Rock Pigeons are thought to have originated in southern Asia several million years ago. Compare this to modern humans that first appeared about 120,000 years ago.

Pigeon Types

The world’s most expensive pigeon Louella Pigeon World in 1992. "Invincible Spirit" purchased for $132,000

Around the world there are about 5 races a year with Million Dollar Purses.

Pigeon Honours

CONGRATULATIONS this weekend for winning 1st COUNTRY, 1st OPEN goes to Club Vaal Posduif Unie from South Africa with their winning pigeon named April Babe, which was clocked at 07-57-37.05 to record 1366 ypm (approx. 46mph), being closely followed in 2nd by Crazy Al.

An Idiot's Guide To Scientology

The word Scientology literally means "the study of truth." It comes from the Latin word "scio" meaning "knowing in the fullest sense of the word" and the Greek word "logos" meaning "study of."

L. Ron Hubbard was born the son of naval commander Harry Ross Hubbard and Ledora May Hubbard on March 13, 1911 in Tilden, Nebraska.

L. Ron Hubbard Quotes:

"Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion"

So LRH went about setting up his religion. South Park summarized this religion best:

"This evil alien Xenu from 75,000,000 years ago who trapped a bunch of space folk, froze them, dumped them into Hawaiian volcanoes, trapping their dead souls rising from the flames with his special "soul catchers." He then proceeded to brainwash the ghosts, and set them loose on Earth.

Thus, I am to understand the secret meaning of life involves an explanation that our troubles and sorrow are basically caused by demonic possession, as it were, by brainwashed alien ghosts."

Not compelled that he was a great man yet? Here are a few more quotes from LRH:

• "Make money. Make more money. Make other people make money."
  

• "There was no Christ"

• "Never discuss Scientology with the critic. Just discuss his or her crimes, known and unknown."

• "We are slowly and carefully teaching the unholy a lesson. It is as follows: We are not a law enforcement agency. BUT we will become interested in the crimes of people who seek to stop us. If you oppose scientology we promptly look up - and find and expose - your crimes. If you leave us alone we will leave you alone.

It's very simple. Even a fool can grasp that.

And don't underrate our ability to carry it out."

It's Cold Except When It's Hot

It's cold in Minnesota. Most of the year anyway. During the thaw, people come out of their houses and feel the need to congregate. For all three months of summer.

In the winter, people only come out for ice fishing and snowmobiling. For instance, there is only one single festival in all of Minnesota during the month of January.

Moose Stomp Snowshoe Festival - Grand Marais, MN

But come summer, watch out. All those Finns and Norwegians and Swedes like their festivals. A (long) listing of the Minnesota festivals in during the months of June, July and August:

June:

49er Days - Fridley, MN
Art Festival - Eagan, MN
Blackwater Barge Festival - Grand Rapids, MN
Blues Festival - Saint Paul, MN
Buffalo Days - Buffalo, MN
Buffalo Days - Luverne, MN
Dam Days - Morristown, MN
Dam Festival - Little Falls, MN
Dan Patch Days - Savage, MN
Finnish-American Summer Festival - Embarrass, MN
Founders Day - Caledonia, MN
Fun Days - Foley, MN
Glencoe Days - Glencoe, MN
Good Neighbor Days - Howard Lake, MN
Great River Shakespeare Festival - Winona, MN
Heritage Celebration - Faribault, MN
Heritage Days - Starbuck, MN
Judy Garland Festival - Grand Rapids, MN
Log Jam - Ely, MN
Midsummer Days - North Branch, MN
Norwegian Independence Day Celebration - Fergus Falls, MN
Osakis Festival - Osakis, MN
Paul Bunyan Days - Akeley, MN
Peter Mitchell Fun Days - Babbitt, MN
Red Eye River Days - Sebeka, MN
Rhubarb Festival - Lanesboro, MN
Riverfest - Windom, MN
Riverside Days - Springfield, MN
Rodeo Fest - Hawley, MN
Rosefest - Roseville, MN
Rum River Festival - Princeton, MN
Sauerkraut Days - Henderson, MN
Scandinavian Festival - Roseau, MN
Scandinavian Folk Festival - Nisswa, MN
Scandinavian Hjemkomst Festival - Moorhead, MN
Sommerfest - Saint Paul, MN
Spring Fever Days - Barnum, MN
Steamboat Days - Winona, MN
SummerFest - Fergus Falls, MN
Summerfest - Lakefield, MN
Summerfest - Pine River, MN
Swedish Festival - Cambridge, MN
Swedish Heritage Day - Minneapolis, MN
Town and Country Days - Paynesville, MN
Water-Ski Days Festival - Lake City, MN
Watertower Festival - Pipestone, MN
Willie Walleye Day - Baudette, MN
Winstock Country Musical Festival - Winsted, MN

July:

Aebleskiver Days - Tyler, MN
Back Home Days - Williams, MN
Beanhole Days - Pequot Lakes, MN
Becker County Fair - Detroit Lakes, MN
Beltrami County Fair - Bemidji, MN
Big Stone County Fair - Clinton, MN
Blue Earth County Fair - Garden City, MN
Blueberry Arts Festival - Ely, MN
Blueberry Festival - Park Rapids, MN
Bluegrass Music Festival - Roseville, MN
Cannon Valley Fair - Cannon Falls, MN
Cass County Fair - Pillager, MN
Cass County Fair - Pine River, MN
Chisago County Fair - Rush City, MN
Clay County Fair - Barnesville, MN
Corn Capital Days - Olivia, MN
Doc Evans Memorial Jazz Festival - Albert Lea, MN
Emily Day - Emily, MN
Eyota Days - Eyota, MN
Faribault County Fair - Blue Earth, MN
Fillmore County Fair - Preston, MN
Fun Days - North Mankato, MN
Grant County Fair - Herman, MN
Heritagefest - New Ulm, MN
Hubbard County Fair - Park Rapids, MN
Huck Finn Days - Winona, MN
International Festival - Worthington, MN
Isanti County Fair - Cambridge, MN
Julifest - Shakopee, MN
Kanabec County Fair - Mora, MN
Kittson County Fair - Hallock, MN
Kolacky Days - Montgomery, MN
Lumberjack Days - Stillwater, MN
Mahnomen County Fair - Mahnomen, MN
Maple Grove Days - Maple Grove, MN
Marshall County Fair - Warren, MN
Midsummer Celebrations - Menahga, MN
Morrison County Fair - Little Falls, MN
Muskie Days - Park Rapids, MN
Northern Minnesota District Fair - International Falls, MN
Otter Tail County Fair - Fergus Falls, MN
Park Days Festival - Madelia, MN
Pennington County Fair - Thief River Falls, MN
Polk County Fair - Fertile, MN
Pre-Harvest Festival - Waubun, MN
Ramsey County Fair - Maplewood, MN
Rice County Fair - Faribault, MN
River Lake Days - Richmond, MN
Riverboat Days - Wabasha, MN
Riverfest - Anoka, MN
Riverfest Weekend - Monticello, MN
Rivertown Days - Hastings, MN
Roseau County Fair - Roseau, MN
Rosefest - Roseville, MN
Scott County Fair - Jordan, MN
Shell Prairie Fair - Park Rapids, MN
Sherburne County Fair - Elk River, MN
Sinclair Lewis Days - Sauk Centre, MN
Stearns County Fair - Sauk Centre, MN
Sweetheart Days - Hackensack, MN
Truman Days - Truman, MN
Turkey Days - Pelican Rapids, MN
Wabasha County Fair - Wabasha, MN
Wadena County Fair - Wadena, MN
Wannigan Days - Taylors Falls, MN
Waseca County Fair - Waseca, MN
Water Carnival - Detroit Lakes, MN
Water Carnival - Hoyt Lakes, MN
Waterama - Glenwood, MN
Watercade - Litchfield, MN
Winona County Fair - Saint Charles, MN
Wright County Fair - Howard Lake, MN
Yellow Medicine County Fair - Canby, MN

August:

Aitkin County Fair - Aitkin, MN
Anoka County Fair - Anoka, MN
Bayfront Blues Festival - Duluth, MN
Benton County Fair - Sauk Rapids, MN
Blue Earth County Fair - Garden City, MN
Brown County Free Fair - New Ulm, MN
Buffalo Bill Days - Lanesboro, MN
Carlton County Fair - Barnum, MN
Carver County Fair - Waconia, MN
Catfish Days - East Grand Forks, MN
Chippewa County Fair - Montevideo, MN
Clearwater County Fair - Bagley, MN
Community Days - Lonsdale, MN
Cook County Fair - Grand Marais, MN
Corn Day Celebration - Sleepy Eye, MN
Corn Festival - Cokato, MN
Cornfest - Ortonville, MN
Cottonwood County Fair - Windom, MN
Country Days - Starbuck, MN
Crosslake Days - Crosslake, MN
Crow Wing County Fair - Brainerd, MN
Dakota County Fair - Farmington, MN
Dodge County Fair - Kasson, MN
Douglas County Fair - Alexandria, MN
Embarrass Region Fair - Embarrass, MN
Freeborn County Fair - Albert Lea, MN
Giant Celebration - Le Sueur, MN
Goodhue County Fair - Zumbrota, MN
Harvest Festival - Hoffman, MN
Harvest Festival - Remer, MN
Hennepin County Fair - Corcoran, MN
Heritage Day - Albany, MN
Heritage Days - East Grand Forks, MN
Houston County Fair - Caledonia, MN
Itasca County Fair - Grand Rapids, MN
Jackson County Fair - Jackson, MN
Kandiyohi County Fair - Willmar, MN
Koochiching County Fair - Northome, MN
Lake County Fair - Two Harbors, MN
Lake of the Woods County Fair - Baudette, MN
LeSueur County Fair - Le Center, MN
Lincoln County Fair - Tyler, MN
Lyon County Fair - Marshall, MN
Martin County Fair - Fairmont, MN
McLeod County Fair - Hutchinson, MN
Meeker County Fair - Litchfield, MN
Mille Lacs County Fair - Princeton, MN
Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Festival - Richmond, MN
Minnesota State Fair - Saint Paul, MN
Montrose Days - Montrose, MN
Mower County Fair - Austin, MN
Murray County Fair - Slayton, MN
Nicollet County Fair - Saint Peter, MN
Nobles County Fair - Worthington, MN
Olmsted County Fair - Rochester, MN
Ox Cart Days - Crookston, MN
Pine County Fair - Pine City, MN
Pipestone County Fair - Pipestone, MN
Polka Fest - McGregor, MN
Pope County Fair - Glenwood, MN
Potato Days - Barnesville, MN
Quarry Days - Sandstone, MN
Redwood County Fair - Redwood Falls, MN
Renville County Fair - Bird Island, MN
River City Days - Red Wing, MN
Saint Louis County Fair - Hibbing, MN
Sibley County Fair - Arlington, MN
South Saint Louis County Fair - Proctor, MN
Steele County Fair - Owatonna, MN
Stevens County Fair - Morris, MN
Stockyard Days - New Brighton, MN
Swift County Fair - Appleton, MN
Todd County Fair - Long Prairie, MN
Traverse County Fair - Wheaton, MN
Tri-County Fair - Mankato, MN
Washington County Fair - Lake Elmo, MN
Watermelon Day - Vining, MN
Watonwan County Fair - Saint James, MN
Western Days - Chatfield, MN
Wilkin County Fair - Breckenridge, MN
Woodbury Days - Woodbury, MN

Company Facts

• The German company Siemens was incorporated in the singular form until 1961 when they started to internationalize and realized the phonetic meaning of the name in English.
• Hewlett Packard's first product was an automatic urinal flusher.
• The company that manufactures the greatest number of women's dresses each year is Mattell, for Barbie.
  
• Bayer, a German company registered heroin as a trademark.
• The original name of Bank of America was Bank of Italy.
• The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer.
• The company name Lycos comes from Lycosidae, the family of wolf spiders.
• Workers at Matsushita Electric Company, in Japan, beat dummies of their foremans with bamboo sticks to let off steam. The company at this time enjoyed 30 percent growth for 25 consecutive years.

Moose Season

There are approximately 7,300 moose in northeast Minnesota. They have a non-hunting moose mortality that ranged from 9 to 24 percent. Typically, moose are killed by various illnesses and parasites, vehicle collisions, wolves or old age (after 20 years) and only a small proportion are harvested during the hunting season. I was once able to partake in one of the “harvested” animals.

I remember eating moose meat all one winter. I think we ate moose meat all winter because they’re really big animals and we had a dead one in our freezer. My dad shot that moose and he had a good tale to tell.

The moose he shot was a female, about 900 pounds, and the male that accompanied that female was also killed. Except, the bull moose killed was shot along side a road and the hunters that bagged the bull had a tow truck. They pulled the tow truck up to the dead moose and winched him along, eventually into a very large freezer as a bull moose is upwards of 2000 pounds..

The female my dad shot ran into the woods. His team of friends and fellow hunters followed that moose and eventually tracked in down. The problem was, the moose was out in the woods and it was getting dark outside. He recalls having to butcher the moose in the woods and carry large pieces of moose on their backs out of the woods. The story also went that as they were cutting up that large piece of fresh meat, there were eyes in the forest. A pack of wolves watching.

I remember eating the moose and thinking how good moose meat tasted. Much better than bear and not as good as Kobe beef. I guess it’s hard to massage the muscles of a moose. But I was reminded of all this while reading about the upcoming Minnesota Moose Hunting Season. Only $3.00 to enter the contest. And a wolf pack for no additional charge!

“The application deadline for the 2006 Minnesota moose hunt is Friday, June 16.

This year, a total of 279 permits are available in 30 zones in the northeastern part of the state. There is no hunting season in northwestern Minnesota. The season dates are Sept. 30 through Oct. 15, 2006.

Moose hunters must apply in parties from two to four individuals. An application fee of $3 per individual must be included with the application. Only Minnesota residents, at least 16 years of age, are eligible for the moose hunt.

Permits are issued through a random drawing, except that applicants who have been unsuccessful at least 10 times since 1985 will be placed in a separate drawing for up to 20 percent of the available licenses. A person who is still unsuccessful in this separate selection will also be included in the regular drawing. Because the moose hunt became a once-in-a-lifetime hunt in 1991, hunters who received permits for moose hunts for the 1991 hunt and later are not eligible to apply for the 2006 drawing.

The bag limit is one moose of any age or either sex per party. The license fee is $310 per party. There will be mandatory orientation sessions required for all hunters chosen for moose licenses.

In 2005, 3,060 parties applied for the 284 available state permits. State licensed hunters killed 136 bulls and 27 cows, for a party success rate of 57 percent.”

Catholic's Guide To Da Vinci Code

I've read alot about SEO. Search Engine Optimization. The profession focuses on the optimization of a web site or blog to maximize the number of hits that site would receive via the various search engines. SEO is "the marketing technique of preparing a website to enhance its chances of being ranked in the top results of a search engine once a relevant search is undertaken. A number of factors are important when optimising a website, including the content and structure of the website's copy and page layout, the HTML meta-tags and the submission process."

So I've decided to perform an experiment. Throughout the average month, I typically receive an average of 10 "hits" per day. Ten of my friends and family that read my blog with a few scattered people from throughout the world that somehow find my blog.

So my experiment is as follows. To find the top search terms on the Internet and include them in my blog and then follow the hits. I'll report my findings later.

Nikon camera, Da Vinci Code, Jimmy Hoffa, Microsoft Vista, Heather Locklear, Pistons, Cavaliers, Mighty Ducks, Edmonton Oilers


Nikon D2Hs: Nikon’s professional digital SLR for action and sports photographers delivers a winning combination of speed, image quality and workfl ow efficiency.

Da Vinci Code: While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Jimmy Hoffa: In 1967, Hoffa was convicted of attempted bribery of a grand juror and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. In 1971, however, he was released when Republican President Richard Nixon commuted his sentence to time served on the condition he not participate in union activities for ten years. Hoffa was planning to sue to invalidate that restriction in order to reassert his power over the Teamsters when he disappeared at around 2:30pm on July 30, 1975 from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox Restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. He had been due to meet two Mafia leaders, Anthony "Tony Jack" GiacaloneDetroit and Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano from Union City, New Jersey.

Microsoft Vista:
from

Today we live in a world of more information, more ways to communicate, more things to do. There is more you can do and even more you can discover.

Every day, millions of people around the globe rely on their Windows-based PCs to manage their increasingly digital lives. While familiar tools for managing digital information are powerful, today's world requires more.

In today's digital world, you want the PC to adapt to you, so you can cut through the clutter and focus on what's important to you.

Heather Locklear: Heather Locklear seemed to be born to do one thing: be the bitch we love to hate. Even though her on-screen personas are polar opposites of her real personality, her "evilness" has been cemented in our minds. You need look no further than her two most high-profile roles on Dynasty as Sammi Jo, and on Melrose Place as Amanda Woodward as evidence of how she perfected the cold-hearted, spiteful, vengeful character acting.

Basketball: Detroit corralled two crucial offensive boards down the stretch to pull out an 84-82 road victory over Cleveland on Friday. Rasheed Wallace led the team with 24 points and Richard Hamilton added 17. Game 7 of the 3-3 series is on Sunday at The Palace of Auburn Hills

Hockey: Edmonton, which reached the conference finals for the first time since 1992, will take on the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who host Game One on Friday. The sixth-seeded Mighty Ducks have been idle since completing a four-game semifinals sweep of the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.

Nikon sex Nikon sex Nikon Brittany Spears, Hussein, sex, Minolta, sex, Canon, sex, Kodak, stockings, Jason is a loser.

And now we have an experiment.

Trade In Kind

The other day I bought a new car. The experience reminded me of two previous blogs I wrote, the “My Confession” blog and the “I am the only person to ever…” blog.

I traded my Malibu for a new Mercedes. I believe that I am the only person to have traded a leaking, old, high-mileage, Chevy Malibu for a new Mercedes. When I pulled into the dealer with an empty tank of gas, squeaking brakes and a few, minor, dents, the Mercedes sales guy started to hyperventilate. Shortly thereafter, he got down on his hands and knees and looked under the car. He was worried that my car was going to drip on his floor. He asked me if I could park on the street as there was “no room”. At the inn I’m sure.

During the negotiation he tried very hard to convince me to “donate it” rather than trade it in. I relished the experience.

During the test drive, the saleswoman said “you really love your Malibu don’t you”. More than loving that piece of shit, I basked in the glory of the comments my friends and colleagues made to me. “That’s your ride?” they would say.

But with a new job and a one+ hour commute on a six-lane freeway of stop-and-go traffic, I didn’t want to break down. The last straw was when my radiator fluid kept disappearing. Invisible anti-freeze-elves-in-the-night I’m sure. So I traded.

During the final round of negotiation, I exhorted to the sales manager “but it will look great on your showroom floor”. Next to the $250,000 Gullwing. He accepted my trading demand and I left shortly thereafter with a new car.

Bottled Water

Today in the NY Times’ Frequent Traveler column, writer Dr. Jerome Levine detailed his authoritative tips for “What Not to Wear (or Eat) Overseas”.

He starts out with this passage: “I take all of the necessary health precautions when I travel. I drink bottled water, I won’t eat anything unless it’s peeled, cooked or boiled.” He goes on to detail is obsession with cleanliness and bugs: “I cringed as I watched other visitors going out in the evening with shorts, short-sleeves, and probably not having sprayed themselves down”. I sure hope I never meet this guy at the beach.

Dr. Levine details all the things you should never eat whilst traveling. Unpeeled fruits (bananas?), oysters, “raw” salad, peppers, cucumbers…it goes on. I hope the good doctor lives to be 150 but I think is over-precaution is a bit absurd. Even the “bottled water” assumption doesn’t do any good.

When I used to live in Hong Kong, we used to get our Chinese visa’s and cross the border to go golfing. There are only two courses in Hong Kong but there are a wealth of nice, cheap courses just over the border. Once, while golfing just north of the former-Portugese colony of Macau, I bought some bottled water and stored it in my golf bag.

Six years later, I found that very bottle.

The water inside looked like a science experiment. It was green with large, living creatures swimming around. The bottle was still sealed.

And it doesn’t sound like my experience is unique:

Rocus Klont, a researcher at the University Medical Center Nijmegen, in Nijmegen, Netherlands and his team tested bottled mineral waters from nine European countries: Norway, France, Italy, Germany, Greece, Austria, Spain, Hungary and Turkey. They also tested water from India, Morocco, Australia, Canada, Tanzania, Mexico and Cuba.

In all, 68 bottles were tested. The bottled water was found to be contaminated with bacteria and fungi, traces of Legionella bacteria, which causes Legionnaire's disease when inhaled, it found evidence of the mold penicillium, part of a ubiquitous family of fungi, some of which cause illness while others are used to make products including the antibiotic penicillin.

So, to the good Doctor Feel Good: put on some shorts, peel a banana and relax a bit.

Virtual Economics

Gold recently hit a 26-year high. Should I invest? It’s a bit rich and even more risky for my tastes. But not as rich nor as risky as the Virtual Economies out there. What follows are today’s prices for the cost of virtual gold in the virtual world of Warcraft.

Today’s Virtual Gold Spot Prices

Quantity------------# of providers------Min. Price--------Max. Price

50 Gold-------------1-----------------------$12.99-------------$12.99

3000 Gold----------8----------------------$241.38------------$329.77

EverQuest, Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Industryplayer and Lineage are all MMORPGs. Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. These sites maintain huge virtual economies. An economy will emerge in a game world with the following characteristics:

1. Persistence. The software maintains a record of the state of the world and the resource possessions of the players, regardless of whether or not the game is "in session" for any user.
2. Scarcity. Users must expend "real" resources such as time and money to obtain goods and/or services in the synthetic world.
3. Specialization. Availability to players of the resources must vary. For example, a participant whose character has metalsmithing skills could have the ability to make swords, while other players would have to purchase them. Because this results in comparative advantage, complex trade relationships and a division of labor result.
4. Trade. Users must be able to transfer goods and services to and from other users.
5. Property Rights. The world must record which goods and services belong to which user identity, and the code must allow that user to dispose of the good or service according to whim.

Virtual GDP

The virtual economy in the online computer role-playing game EverQuest is larger than that of Argentina and Chile combined.

Virtual Forex Rates

• The value of Linden Labs "Linden Dollar" has decreased by roughly 11% in the last two months, $2.6M USD has been traded at average exchange rates (through Linden Lab's official currency exchange) in the first quarter of the year. The company announced that in Q1 2006, "[U]ser-to-user transactions in Second Life totalled $4.17B Linden Dollars, an increase of 68% over Q4 2005."
• The MMOG “There” has “therebucks” that sell for US dollars.
• The currency in Project Entropia, “Project Entropia Dollars”, could be bought and redeemed for real-world money at a rate of 10 PED for U.S.$ 1.
• Even human capital can be acquired. Level 60 EverQuest characters reportedly have sold for as much as U.S.$5,000.

Cheaper Than San Francisco Property

On December 14, 2004, an island in Project Entropia sold for U.S. $26,500 (£13,700). One gamer also purchased a virtual space station for U.S. $100,000 (£56,200) and plans to use it as a virtual nightclub. Jon Jacobs, aka Neverdie, won the space station, currently being built within the online role-playing game Project Entropia, in an auction.

He wants to call it Club Neverdie and sees it as the perfect vehicle to bridge reality and virtual reality. Maybe you can even meet a Sim babe there.

Lake Wobegon

I didn’t fly on my first airplane flight until I was 20 years old. The flight was pre-paid by Kodak and I was going for an interview in Rochester NY and flying from Kansas City Missouri. I remember the exhilaration of the take off and the awe of being above the clouds for the first time.

I sat next to a lady on the flight who noticed my excited anxiety. She began to talk to me, asking me numerous questions about my short life. “Minnesota?” she asked. “That’s where Lake Wobegon is located right?”.

I had heard of neither Garrison Keillor, nor his famous radio program A prairie home companion. But, I had heard of Wobegon!

“Sure!” I said. “It was just over the border in Wisconsin, close to Duluth”. We use to go there to by 3.2 beer because the drinking age was 18, the driving age was 16, and if you could get there, they would allow you to buy crappy beer. See, the Wobegon I knew only had a bar in the town. Like everything else in that area, it was out in the woods. To me, Wobegon was only a bar. And maybe a gas station.

“Sure, I know it. Been there many times.” I said, thinking that the place surely had a lake. In the “Land of 10,000 Lakes”, everyplace had a lake didn’t it?

The flight ended and I never saw that lady again. I got the job, moved to Rochester NY and only later became familiar with the famous Garrison Keillor. And with his fictitious Lake Wobegon.

I always felt guilt for my grandiose assumption. She must have thought me a fool. But Wobegon still brings back fond memories and I’m still convinced there is a lake nearby.

Gaa-zhiigwanaabikoogag

I grew up in Northern Minnesota. The predominate minorities, and therefore the basis of many jokes, were the Finnish, the Polish and the Indians (American Indians).

Their history wasn’t taught in my school. We learned about George W., Lincoln, and Hitler, but not a lot about Tojo, Mao Ze-Dong and Stalin. Ismail Enver and Pol Pot were never mentioned. We also didn’t learn about the history of one of the peoples who came before us in Northern Minnesota, the Ojibwe.

Pre-history – 1700’s -

A *very* brief history of time: By the mid-1700s, the Ojibwe had established themselves in the region around Mille Lacs Lake in what is today Central Minnesota. They supported themselves by hunting deer, bear, moose, waterfowl and small game; fishing the area's lakes and streams; gathering wild rice, maple sugar, and berries; and cultivating plants.

Soon the Mille Lacs Ojibwe's self-sufficient way of life was affected Europeans who started arriving in numbers and in violation of treaties, statutes and agreements.

1988

Congress passes the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act which recognizes that Indian tribes have the right to own and operate casino gaming businesses on reservation lands.

Hinckley

Hinckley, when I grew up in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s, was a very small town, know primarily as the site of a graveyard that held the remains of 400 or so souls (most of the population) that died in the “great fire” of 1918. We learned about that in our classes at Moose Lake High too.

Hinckley, in the local Indian dialect of Ojibwe language, is "Gaa-zhiigwanaabikoogag" (the place of grindstones) due to being located along the Grindstone River.

How Times Have Changed

But my how times have changed. Because of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the small town of Hinckley has changed dramatically. Hinckley is a city located in Pine County, Minnesota. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 1,291. The racial makeup of the city was 91.87% White, 0.15% African American, 5.81% Native American, 0.70%

• Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley directly employ more than 3,000 people (note, Hinckley has a population of 1291), of whom about 94 percent are non-Indian.
• Since the casinos opened, the number of jobs in Pine County has increased nearly 70 percent and the number of jobs in Mille Lacs County has increased approximately 35 percent.
• In 1990, before Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley opened, the Mille Lacs Reservation was one of the poorest reservations in the nation, with a poverty rate of nearly 81 percent.
• The population of Hinckley from 1990-2000 increased 36 percent.
• According to the most recently recorded figures, property market values have increased by 550 percent in Hinckley since Grand Casino Hinckley opened.

A Nation Within A Nation

• Indian gaming represents only about 5% of all gambling in the United States and only a third of tribes currently operate gaming facilities.
• While some tribes have earned millions, others remain mired in poverty. The problems of the Indian reservations include a 24% poverty rate, a suicide rate more than twice that of all other nonwhites, and the highest high school dropout rate among all non-whites. Many Indians live on remote lands with no resources.
• The federal government has reduced economic assistance by two-thirds over the last 15 years.
• Unemployment still averages 45%.
• In Minnesota, roughly 37% of the tribal gaming employees had received state or federal welfare assistance prior to their employment and another 31% were drawing unemployment compensation. Daniel Tucker, chairman for the Sycuan band of Mission Indians, points out that "Indian gaming not only reduces the burden on tax-funded social programs but it now increases available reserves."
• Mystic Lake - one of the nation's largest casinos - which has turned 150 members of the Mdewakanton Dakota tribe into millionaires since it opened in 1992.
• Tribal member ship is based on a proof of a 25% bloodline
• Minnesota's estimated 50,000 Indians in 11 federally-recognized tribes.

Goofy

I’ve previously written about the colorblind side of my blog but never the lefthanded aspect. Being lefthanded often begins with a fright. For me, the first time I noticed this perculiar attribute was when I began to write. Very soon after, my relatives began to call me MOT. I was writing my name backwards. Was it evil or just awkward?

Much later, while spending a lot of time in predominately Muslim countries, I learned that it was indeed awkward when I noticed everyone looking at me with disgust; I was eating with the very hand that all the “righties” used to “clean themselves”. I switched hands and was thankful for the invention of toilet paper.

There are approximately 32 million, left-handed Americans. Approximately one out of ten. Extrapolated onto the world population, this means that there are over 660,000,000 left handers out there. As 27% of the world’s population is Muslim, there are 175M people out there eating with the hand they clean themselves with or eating awkwardly with their un-natural hand.

By Any Other Name

• The Arabic word for lefthanded is aysar; in association with the devil.
• The French word is gauche or "awkward"
• In Italian it's sinistra from the Latin word for evil and where it is also used to describe car accidents.

We even get no respect from snowboarders where a left-footed stance is known as "Goofy".

Famous Lefty’s

• Bach -German Composer
• Billy the Kid -American Wild West outlaw and gun slinger
• Napoleon Bonaparte -French Emperor
• Michelangelo Bounarroti -Italian Renaissance artist
• Lenny Bruce -American Comedian
• George Bush Sr. -Famous muralist on the floor of the Bagdad Hotel
• Charlie Chaplin -American Silent screen star
• Winston Churchill -British Prime Minister
• William J (Bill) Clinton -American Prez
• Kurtis Edward Cobain -Dead singer
• Tom Cruise -American Scientologist
• Leonardo da Vinci -Italy Renaissance artist & inventor
• Albert Einstein -German/American Scientist
• M C Escher -Netherland Graphic artist, whose image I used above

Blowing Snow

You may be from the North Woods if:

• You can ice fish 9 months of the year.
• Your mosquito repellent doubles as your aftershave.
• Your ice fishing shanty is better furnished than your house.
• You think ice beer is leaving a 6 pack of Pabst outside overnight.
• Indoor plumbing is something you want to have someday.
• Your wife's new fur coat came from animals you trapped yourself.
• Your local meat market sells daily roadkill specials.
• Nothing in your living room clashes with your stuffed moose head...
• You know 16 ways to cook a raccoon.
• Your new goose down pillow was migrating south yesterday.
• You find your car when you cut your grass.
• You consider a six pack of beer and a bug zapper quality entertainment.
• You have more insurance on your snowmobile than your car.
• You refer to winter mittens and hat as "choppers"
• Your snowblower gets stuck on the roof.