Icewind's Ramblings

Those words made famous by Rodney King, the man that was beaten by the LA police department in 1991 was found dead in his swimming pool in California. The police beating was captured on videotape by an onlooker and brought about showcasing the brutality and bad police tactics in LA.   When the trial ended with acquittals for three of the officers and the fourth ended in mistrial, the verdict caused one of the deadliest and costly race riots in the country’s history.   His words spoken on television at the height of the riots, “Can We All Get Along?” would later set the tone for the end of the siege on LA. Over they years since the incident King continued to have a troubled life in and out of jail for various charges and even tried a couple reality shows trying to kick his addictions.   Last year’s VH1 show Celebrity Rehab featured King as one of those trying to kick his alcoholism. There are probably two sides to this story but hopefully this troubled man finds peac...

It’s Speed Week in Daytona Beach and there is a lot of racing going on with qualifying for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. Thursday had the two Gatorade twin qualifier duels each a 60 lap race to set the remaining field for Sunday’s race.   In the first race it went pretty smoothly with only one small crash on lap 9 and another mishap by Michael Waltrip as he exited pit row. On the last half of the lap Danica’s car was hit and then skidded across the apron and hit a safety barrier wall at almost 180 mph.   Fox did a great job having several camera angles for point of view shots from above, alongside, & inside the car and lastly one watching Danica drive the car. In real time it happens so fast that from being hit, skidding, and impacting the wall is just a couple of seconds.   What is amazing is watching the training and instinct kick in as Danica prepares for hitting the wall violently. In Indycar races she was taught to let go of the steering wheel just before i...

Recent political activities seem to prove this point of mine. To succeed in politics . . . it is often necessary to rise above your principles. Ice

Part 2          Good health on tap in Chevak , Alaska As you saw in the first story about a community that is on the verge of having water and sewer service introduced into their homes will quickly change lives. One of my engineers shown in the first story, works with many villages in western Alaska helping to bring about these changes to people off the road system in remote areas of the state.  ANTHC is a non profit company whose main entity is the Native Hospital system throughout Alaska and my part called Division of Environmental and Health and Engineering (DEHE) which is an engineering and construction company which designs and builds water and sewer systems as well as health clinics all over the state.  Even with the high cost of building these project and the many years it takes to get funding and the construction completed we have found that in the long run it is cheaper than flying by Medivac air ambulance those people ...

It is sad to see so many child stars fall by the wayside. Over the years tragedy or misfortune has struck many of our favorite television child actors.  Oddly often times many if not all cast members find themselves in trouble or have abuse issues whether it is with alcohol or drugs.  Dana Plato died in 1999 and Gary Coleman died last week.  Of the three children on that show Todd Bridges is still around having his own troubles with cocaine addiction and altercations with his former dealer and a tenant which lead to legal troubles. One Day at a Time, Family Affair, Eight is Enough, and Family Ties all had kids who either died before maturity or old age or ran afoul and spent time behind bars . . . sadly not what their bright futures seemed as we watched week after week on the boob tube. Then we have the pathetic case of Lindsey Lohan who in the re-make of The Parent Trap looked so promising as an actress with a star on the rise . . . only to sink into depths of who ...

When we were younger there used to be a distinction between the movies & television .  The movies at the theater were called the Big Screen while television seen at home was the Small Screen .  Today, it would be a misnomer to say that.  From the big screen analog to the flat screen High Definition TV’s of today, the television of today is also the Big Screen. I would probably like to say . . . my name is Icewind and I'm a TV addict.  I've only recently admitted this, and I probably would still be in denial except for the fact that we just brought into the house a fourth HDTV cable box (digital video recorders).  Mind you they are not all for my watching as I travel somewhat but when I am home like to see my favorite programs.  We've got the big (42”) flat screen TV in the living room, and there is an older television in the bedroom (20”) for my wife to get away from all of the chaos from the grandkids.  She will fall asleep with that one on...

The story continues from previous post . . . My wife learned quickly that things are not exactly as they are shown on HGTV where things are wrapped up nicely in a thirty or sixty minute television show.  They do not show the time preparing, marking lines on the walls and floor to install straight tiles or that time needed to mix the sand and mortar mixes used in the deck mud (concrete shower base) in the bottom of the shower.  With each batch there is the mixing to get the consistency of something that looks like toothpaste.  The adhesive thin set is applied to the walls and the tile itself and pushed onto the wall with a little wiggle and tap to make them stick to the wall surface.  What should happen next is the waiting time for the thin set to cure.  For us it did not happen that way for us . . . the tiles would slowly creep down below the line I had drawn to align the tiles.  This led to some heated words and a scramble to cut wood to make a ledge t...

Friday evening’s long awaited start of the 2010 Winter Olympics had that just right feeling after Beijing ’s spectacle with a “less is more” format.  It worked well and had some pretty interesting things going on showcasing Canada ’s vast and varied lands and people. Paying homage to the First Nation’s people and culture gave a great sense of place and heritage.  The dancers continued to perform during the athletes walk of Nations which lasted over an hour and a half.  They should have won some kind of medal for their endurance. I tend to like the winter Olympics more than the summer games as it is a smaller contingent of athletes and they make their walk on entrance at the beginning of the program so they can watch everything that happens.  The summer game athletes miss the program standing around in a parking lot somewhere while the show goes on.  A little less of the Olympic experience I guess so winter to me is much better. For those watching on televi...

I suffered tonight while eating dinner as I sat watching television.  I had been watching the local news which as I did that manly thing of channel surfing I stumbled upon either “Show Biz Tonight” or “Entertainment Tonight”.  They both look the same to me as I never watch these programs but the ‘teaser’ during the commercial gave reference to a pre-Olympic story on skier Lindsey Vonn which I wanted to see. While I waited for the story I was bombarded by a story about John Meyer’s raunchy talk about his former love Jessica Simpson.  Who cares was my first thought, and then I went into wondering who the hell John Mayer is?  Turns out he is somewhat of a singer and had the song from The Bucket List, “Say”.  Yeah that was annoying long before I ever saw the movie with its repeating the line “Say what you need to say” 41 times in just over 3 minutes and 44 seconds.  It was not the neat little ditty like some songs that stick in your brain to help you bright...

At the end of the Survivor Samoa Reunion show there was a brief clip of the upcoming season for its twentieth run of Survivor.  They called it “Heroes vs. Villains” which gave us a glimpse of who may be playing.  It started many blogs debating who should be on and possibly which side based on past appearances. Jeff Probst revealed the cast of 'Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains' during the People's Choice Awards on Wednesday night.  The cast features twenty former players that fans either love or love to hate  . . . and after seeing the roster, I can't wait until it premiers on February 11, 2010. With the production crew in the Samoa ’s filming started just after season 19 wrapped making a quick turn around for season 20.  You may also remember there was a major earthquake in the area during that time period but it is not known if that will play into the show as when it happened the only thing released was no one was hurt during the event.  Production may...

I just could not resist this little ditty, lol Amelia Earhart Turns Up In Richard Heene's Attic FT. COLLINS, Colo. (CAP) - Authorities conducting a follow-up search of "balloon boy" father Richard Heene's Colorado home have turned up missing aviatrix Amelia Earhart living in a box in his attic, where she'd apparently been since her legendary disappearance. Earhart, well over 100 years old, was none the worse for wear, according to authorities. "She said she'd been in tighter spots than that," said Sheriff Jim Alderden. "She's a tough old bird." Alderden said his men hadn't thought to look in Heene's attic for Earhart, because they assumed she had crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 1937. The discovery has led many to believe that Earhart's disappearance was an elaborate, attention-grabbing hoax planned by Heene, who caused an uproar last week when he erroneously reported that his son Falcon had been carrie...