Brief video tucked below the fold: (more…)

Some items of note:

The state of Oklahoma celebrated its 100th anniversary on Friday. It became the 46th state in 1907.

The road between Oklahoma City and Colorado Springs is incredibly flat, and wide open. This is a big country, in case you didn’t know, and lots less cluttered when you leave the cities. Even the sky is bigger out here.

Michael Brown, the former head of FEMA, has returned home to Colorado, where he now hosts a 3-hour weekend talk show on Denver’s Newsradio 850 KOA.

On Saturday, his subject was Thanksgiving, and the PC police in Seattle who want the holiday to be treated as a time of “mourning.” Bonus fun fact: Brown’s grandfather, named Charlie Brown (no joke), was a Cherokee Indian.

So how is he as a radio host? I’d have to say Brownie did a “heck of a job.”

For next time: a visual pun!

While the rest of the blogosphere has moved on to scoffing at John Edwards’ star-stuttering appearance on Meet the Press (why wasn’t Mike Huckabee’s interview considered first in the “Candidates 2008 series,” by the way?) and poking fun at his less-than-stellar blog hire, we’re still laughing at the National Review headline, “There Are Two Americas; John Edwards’ New House Takes Up Almost All of One Of Them.”

The Edwards home is apparently the largest and most valuable in Orange County, North Carolina. Have you seen it yet?

What’s perhaps more remarkable is that Edwards has actually produced a book titled Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives.

Does it get any better than this?

Home. The place that helps to define how we see ourselves and how we choose to make our way in the world — the blueprint of our lives.

After seeing the photo, people had already started to question Edwards’ sincerity when it comes to poverty and environmentalism; it can’t help that if appears fixated on homes and considers them a fundamental aspect of our existence.

Incidentally, one of the featured homes is Danny Glover’s.

The latest Flyer has a nice article on elephants, and it mentions the two at the Memphis Zoo, pictured above. I love watching the animals, but it upsets me that many of the large mammals are confined in small or dull habitats. I’m glad the Memphis Zoo is continuing to plan bigger and better spaces for them; I wish it could happen faster, and that other zoos would do the same.

We recently enjoyed a tour of Sun Studio, “birthplace of rock n’ roll,” and home to such legendary artists as Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and B.B. King.

It’s a fairly small place, and the tour only lasts about 45 minutes, so it’s a perfect afternoon activity for the whole family.

You see how the company started, hear some of the early recordings, and learn about the personalities behind the music. It was interesting to find out how Elvis got his start, and see how Johnny Cash achieved his unique sound, while standing in the very same spot where they recorded the music, with all the original tile and furnishings still in place.

The whole experience is pretty amazing, and since it turns out Sun is the only recording studio designated as a federal historical site, you don’t have to worry about the place shutting down before you get a chance to visit.

And for $75/hour, you can still record your own music there.

More photos below the fold: (more…)

Cafe Francisco is a nice place to get coffee in downtown Memphis (400 N. Main St). For just a couple bucks, you can get a beautiful cappuccino covered by a nice thick blanket of froth, served in a real cup, on a dish, with a stick of rock candy on the side. And you can sit in a comfy chair of your choice, spread out, and enjoy free wireless internet. From the couch where I took this photo, you can see the wooden tables near the bar and the red booth by the window. Behind are more couches in a library area, then a long row of wooden booths up a couple stairs where people can eat, visit or study. (more…)

We’re celebrating the arrival of the New Year in Destin, Florida, with Mike and Diana, and I’m sure we’ll remember this one for years to come. This is a far cry from previous years, spent sitting inside watching a dumb ball drop on TV while the people out there seem to be having a wonderful time.

Last night, at about 10 minutes to midnight, we decided to walk down to the beach to mark the occasion.

I came up with a unique way to say goodbye to 2006, and began writing the year in the sand, for the ocean to wash away. I wrote it a half-dozen times, only to see the numbers washed away within seconds each time. Finally I backed up to a spot where the waves weren’t reaching. With four or five minutes left of the old year, I wrote it one last time, in an area of dry sand, up further from the water line. The waves came in and out several times, nowhere close. We all thought it would be cool if, somehow, the waves were to build up and wash away the writing right as the new year arrived. For the next few minutes, we stood around, took pictures, watched some people on the beach setting off fireworks, as others looked on from their hotel balconies.

Then with just seconds to go, sure enough, there was a surge in the water, and “2006″ was washed away right as the clock hit 12:00. We all laughed and cheered in amazement.

Diana took these pictures of Alison holding a cellphone with the time displayed:

Goodbye 2006. Hello 2007.