December 11, 2008 – 9:09 am
In 1903, construction began on a luxury ocean liner with the
goal of building the fastest passenger ship afloat. Named
Lusitania, after the ancient province in present day Portugal,
the 31,550 gross register ton (GRT) ship was also to be the
largest ocean liner in service until her sister, the Mauretania,
exceeded it’s size and took to the waters in November, 1907.
Lusitania was owned by the British enterprise then known
as Cunard Steamship Company, built by John Brown and
Company of Clydebank, Scotland, and Christened and launched
on June 7, 1906. A bit more than a year later, while undergoing
formal acceptance trials in July, 1907, she smashed all speed
records ever set in the history of the shipping industry, before
finally being delivered to Cunard in August of that year.
November 4, 2008 – 10:58 am
Bruce thought he heard it, he was fairly certain, but not sure
of the chirping of small yellow birds at his window screen.
And though it would be a while before his alarm clock would lure,
the birds did the trick, he leaped from bed like he did as a teen.
Bruce hadn’t felt so good in so many countless years,
and his wife already had put breakfast on the table.
The birds had awakened her also, or so it appears,
and for a moment he felt surely he was living a fable.
The omelet was the best he could ever remember,
and he wondered if coffee had ever tasted this great,
if it did any spark of it’s memory was a long dead ember.
Bruce ate eagerly, then fought temptation to lick his plate.
He hopped in the shower to get ready for work,
wanting to surprise the boss with his earliest arrival yet.
He turned on the water with his customary jerk,
and the spray was immediately perfect, as if preset.
October 30, 2008 – 5:55 pm
Poet’s Note: Names of American TV
“soap operas”, both those of the present
and those of the past that you may or may
not recognize, are Capitalized. I hope you
enjoy this free verse work.
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (repeated a second time for the
benefit of those with reading and/or hearing impediments) was
more than just a little concerned. Fact is, she was worried out
of her mind, her life out of control, in truth worried because
everyone and every object, everything she came into close
proximity with, within a few miles or so, seemed to morph
into one big mess.
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was convinced that, as certain
As the World Turns, her conceited husband, who considered
himself a charter member of The Bold and the Beautiful, was
having an affair. Every evening, before leaving the house, he
spent a couple of hours primping and preening before the
mirror in the master bathroom, blocking Mary Hartman,
Mary Hartman from using it, often at times when it was
rather urgent to do so.
September 12, 2008 – 3:10 pm
Not long after the end of WWII, several British pilots, veterans
of the war, gathered together to create a new airline, planning
to provide service between England and South America with
previously untapped passenger and trade routes. The original
name of their transatlantic venture, British Latin American
Airlines, was changed to British South American Airlines,
commonly referred to as BSAA before the first operational
flight left London’s Heathrow Airport in March, 1946.
Primarily operating aircraft manufactured by Avro, the BSAA
offered flights to Bermuda, the West Indies, and the western
coast of South America. A bit short of two years after
the BSAA first took to the air, an Avro Tudor IV they had
named “Star Tiger”, departed London on January 30, 1948,
enroute to Bermuda.
This is a preview of
Star Tiger, Star Ariel, and the Birth of an Unsolved Legend
.
Read the full post (816 words, 0 images, estimated 3:16 mins reading time)
On a September morning in 1990, the citizens of Atlanta,
Georgia, considered the “hub” of the southeastern United
States, were ecstatic as they woke up to stunning, not
really expected, but hoped for, news. Indeed the entire state
of Georgia, as well as the nation, celebrated what was now
fact, Atlanta had been selected to host the 1996 Summer
Olympics, known formally as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
and informally as the Centennial Olympics.
The birthplace of the Olympics, Athens, Greece, had been favored
by many to win the bid as host city for the 1996 event since it
would mark the 100th anniversary of the modern Games.
And when the US went to bed the night of September 17,
1990, it was Athens in control of the voting of the International
Olympic Committee, up three votes over Atlanta, the nearest
of five other cities around the world competing for the Games,
and only one more round of voting to go.
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