Dr. King's birthday is coming and has been my tradition, I've been thinking about doing a post. The first year of this blog, I linked to text and recordings from a couple of his more famous speeches and last year, I quoted from his big antiwar speech which was just recently cited in a Washington Post op-ed, which also tried to paint it in the context of Iraq.

Right now, I have a couple of ideas about things that I could write and perhaps we'll have to see if life will allow me to get something done in time to honor the man and his legacy, but as I was rolling through some thoughts, I struggled to remember a roadside historical marker that I believe was in central Virginia. This prompted me to start looking at the more than thirteen hundred titles that adorn those found in the Commonwealth and though I did not find the one for which I was looking, I did notice one marking the "Origin of Lynch Law". After absorbing the enormity of this thought, I flashed over to Wikipedia, where I read their entry on "Lynch Law", followed by the one entitled "Lynching in the United States".

This second Wikipedia entry told me that Tuskegee Institute started documenting lynchings within the United States starting in 1888, which they continued until 1968. And a google offered the following table of statistics, plus someone else's research listing of the documented lynchings between 1865 and 1965 or as the author calls it; "The Lynching Century".

( Lynchings, by State and Race )

I remember that we were on vacation in Boone, when my daughter was about my son's age and we decided to purchase our first Radio Flyer® brand item. It was their "Rolling Pony" and I recall justifying the added expense of buying the brand by arguing that Radio Flyer® things were virtually indestructable, so much so, that they can be passed down from generation to generation.

At the time, we were living on the Outer Banks and toy stores weren't the norm. So when I saw the pony in the Mast General Store, I decided that we had to have one and because Radio Flyer® things are pretty uniformly priced, it wasn't going to be much more expensive than anyplace that we might be able to find in a day of searching Virginia Beach.

It was the following Christmas that we upgraded her to their "Classic Red Trike w/ Push Handle" and I remember that each time, after putting each of the things together, I had to remark on their expert engineering. Though I had forgotten, I now remember that both units had come broken down to the smallest parts and that there was almost something beautiful in the way the pieces went together. It was no wonder that the Radio Flyer® brand is synonymous with quality and that their products can easily last lifetimes.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten my previous experiences because it wasn't until almost midnight on Christmas Eve that I actually opened the box containing the "Spring Horse", we had bought for my son. Of course, he's still quite enamored with his handed-down "Rolling Pony" and we've been edging him onto the trike, though his legs aren't long enough to follow the pedals, but our motives for getting the "Spring Horse" were kind of selfish. For perhaps the last month, if you're sitting on the couch and cross your legs, he's been excitedly mounting the foot, vigorously bouncing and shouting "horse, horse, horse" until you have no choice, but to play along.

Early Christmas morning or late on Christmas Eve, when I finally opened the box on what I had hoped would be an easy construction, I was immediately struck by the sheer volume of pieces. First you had to construct the frame, then you had to put on the animal's legs, hang everything and pull the springs, then you had to attach the head. There were a few other steps in between and I'd have to go to my workshop to get a full count of the pieces, but let's just say that it's never going to fall apart.

All together, I'd say that it took just shy of three hours for a procrastinator to build and because it's a Radio Flyer®, if anything were to work loose, I can just tighten it back to being snug and though I've never had the need, but you can always order replacement parts, in the unlikely event that anything would ever fail.

Perhaps one of my greatest regrets is that when my daughter was young, I told my Mom that we were trying to decide which wagon model to purchase and because she had only bought the brand, because it was the one available, she bought my daughter an offbrand as a gift. Admittedly, I did keep that wagon and it is still in some kind of shape, but perhaps for his next birthday, we'll probably replace the old wagon with a Radio Flyer® for him to someday pass to his own children, when the time comes.

This just flashed onto my Yahoo! and I thought it worth clipping;

On Jan 1, 1600, the human population was 536,870,911. If the first vampire came into existence that day and bit one person a month, there would have been two vampires by Feb. 1, 1600. A month later there would have been four, and so on. In just two-and-a-half years the original human population would all have become vampires with nobody left to feed on.

Last year, I posted links to some of his speeches to honor Dr Martin Luther King. Perhaps the greatest, "I Have A Dream" and one of the most prophetic, "I've Been to the Mountaintop" which was delivered the night before his assassination. Also, I included a link to a long one, fifty-five minutes on the Vietnam War ("Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence") and because if you were to play simple word substitution, parts would still be pertinent; I'm going to excerpt a few paragraphs in celebration of this great man.

Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.

÷÷÷
This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation's self-defined goals and positions. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation and for those it calls "enemy," for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers.

÷÷÷
We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.

÷÷÷
And if we will only make the right choice, we will be able to transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of peace. If we will make the right choice, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. If we will but make the right choice, we will be able to speed up the day, all over America and all over the world, when justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I understand the relationship between Creme Eggs and Easter, but why Chocolate Oranges at Christmas?

Christmas is fast approaching and like many others, we've been hunting for gifts. Historically, we are known as the people who give books and because my wife takes advantage of special bargains throughout the year, the young kids are almost always the first ones done. As the teenage nieces and nephews have gotten older, they are always the hardest to please and though we perennially give both of our Dads candy, my Mom always receives a book and my wife's Mom usually gets something else.

This year and because we've run out of time, the teens are all getting gift cards from Borders. This way, they can buy music and we wouldn't be responsible. When asked what I wanted to get my Mom, I was stumped and because I wouldn't be in the store, I suggested an anthology of female autobiographical excerpts that my wife has had on her shelves. Unfortunately at the last minute, it wasn't available, so she went with Tuesdays with Morrie and though it may be an okay read, I can't be certain that her book club hasn't covered it, or what kind of kind of innuendo might be inferred from giving a recently retired woman, a book about a dying man.

My mother-in-law is always the hardest. Her gift must be unique and it must give the impression that some thought went into the choice. Luckily, one of our advocacy groups has provided an out. So this year, my wife's mother has been given an adoption of a New England Cottontail and this will help finance efforts to get it Federal recognition, plus lobby on behalf of the Endangered Species Act. It seems that because of habitat loss, competition from non-native species and other factors, this bunny is on the brink of extinction. One hasn't been seen in Vermont for over a decade and in addition to a "Certificate of Adoption", she'll get a plush toy.

A newsbreak this morning ended on a lighter note with a story about a Nebraska jewelry store, who is trying to attract male shoppers this holiday season by offering free pizza and beer. When I found a link to a print story, I learned that the particular jewelry store is owned by Warren Buffett's company. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a video, but the tape showed a bunch of guys drinking.

Last night, I saw several ads for holiday shopping at Kay Jewelers. I couldn't help, but think back to a recent conversation and some research materials I've read about the price of gold. If you aren't aware, gold is near a twenty-four year high. The price has been on an upward slope for a while. It started around the time of the last stock market crash and oil prices, currency and inflation fears, plus a bevy of "end-of-the-worlders" have kept it climbing. According to some recent reports, short squeeze is also having an effect.

When I saw the ad and because I'm in the midst of Christmas shopping, I wondered about the price of jewelry. I'll admit that I haven't been in a store and have no intention of buying a bauble, but if I were in the market; I kind of think it'd take more than pizza and beer.

Many of us heard the hype promoting Cyber Monday and though most of the current headlines are reporting the results as being positive, it's mostly in how you measure. Personally, I'm of the opinion that whatever success it's deemed to be is more about how you frame the question, than could easily be illustrated by some simple stats.

According to BusinessWeek, last year an association of online retailers decided that they needed a hook, something that they could use in response to the brick and mortar, Black Friday. It was decided that should focus on the Monday after Thanksgiving, because everyone would be back to work and able to use their faster internet connections to shop. Several possible names were batted around and on the 21st of November, Shop.org issued a release.

The press kit used an assortment of statistics and a few vague generalities; "becoming one of the biggest online shopping days of the year" and "sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving have been creeping higher". I can see nowhere, where it explicitly states that it's really the twelfth busiest online shopping day and that the event was a completely new invention.

Preliminary results show that on Monday, non-travel, online consumer spending increased by 26% or from $386 million to $485, year over year. This is the exact same percentage, online sales increased over the Thursday to Sunday holiday weekend, $737 million to $925. And, though traffic figures aren't yet available for Cyber Monday, preliminary stats for the actual Thanksgiving Day was up almost 19% and on "Black Friday", online retailers reported a 20.9% increase in clicks.

If Cyber Monday is to survive as a marketing tool, merchants are going to have to offer better and more heavily-publicized discounts and I'd say, they'd need to be beyond those pre-Black Friday sales offered on Thanksgiving Day. Though, right now and without knowing how the season will end, if we learned anything from this exercise, it'd be; Issue a press release during the slower holiday buildup and let the media feed on itself, spreading your word through osmosis and possibly causing a better than natural increase.

My car has been getting increasingly filthy. A lot of streets in this town are torn up because they're being repaved. Also, it's the desert and airborne dust is fact of life. When the opportunity arose to run it through the coin-operated car wash during the warmer daylight hours, I jumped at the chance. Though, if I had thought about it beforehand, I shouldn't have been surprised that I had to wait.

Growing-up, whenever we'd go visit my mother's family, my father would always devote one of the first afternoons to washing the car. When I was very young, I figured the attraction was the chance to privately down a couple of beers without questions or explanation. As I got older and as my father's business prospered, I added pride to the equation. Compared to most of our immediate relatives, we were better-off. In my eyes, keeping a clean vehicle to chauffeur my carless great-grandmother around had to also be part of the draw. Though as I got even older and obtained in-laws of my own, I discovered another reason, he so devotedly performed this task.

Now, whenever we go visit my wife's family, I do pretty much the same. At some point, I venture up to the north end of her small New England town. We don't really transport any of her relatives and in comparison, my wife and I pale to her family's financial position. Perhaps, I may be somewhat motivated by the impression that I give on the street to old boyfriends and random strangers, but I've long ago realized, escaping to a few private minutes is the biggest part of the appeal. Inevitably and before we've been in town too long; I'll ride around, partake of my favorite relaxant and give my car one of the most thorough baths, it has ever seen.

As I waited my turn this afternoon, I could see that my father and I aren't the only people, who participate in this holiday ritual. Clearly some of the patrons were from out of town and maybe they had come back to visit in-laws, family of their own or the town of their youth. When I was doing my final shopping for tomorrow's meal, I saw several multigenerational groups and as we passed in the aisles, I heard a few discussions of what may already be on hand. Other people cart family, when they're in town for a visit. Many of those who have left could easily be doing better and because most of those washing cars were male; I also wondered, if it could be a guy thing.

Happy Thanksgiving to All and May All Your Cars Stay Clean!

If you ever travel through Grafton WV, you will most likely notice the roadside marker. It is located in front of what is now, known as the "International Mother's Day Shrine" which is maintained by private donations and the Methodist Church.

During the Civil War, the area around Grafton was a battleground, because it offered the main junction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Control of the railway provided access to the area coal mines and the steel mills of Pittsburgh and Wheeling. Throughout the war, the railroad stayed in Union hands, but it was an early strategic target and the Governor of Virginia had moved quickly to recruit a force from nearby communities in an effort to seize the asset.

Ann Marie Jarvis had organized "Mother's Day Work Clubs" to relieve some of the burdens of a tuberculosis outbreak, prior to the war and during the hostilities, their charters were expanded to provide neutral services to combatants on both sides. After the war, she organized a Mothers' Friendship Day in an effort to bring the two sides together. The celebration became an annual event for a number of years, plus she and her husband founded Andrews Methodist Church in downtown Grafton. She taught Sunday School at that church for 23 years, but following her husband's death, she moved to Philadelphia to be with her son and two of her daughters.

Ann Marie died in 1905 and two years later, her unmarried and childless daughter Anna led a tribute to her mother in the sanctuary of Andrews Methodist. Inspired by the example of her mother, Anna petitioned for a holiday to honor all mothers and the first "official" services were held on May 10th, 1908 in the Grafton church and a Philadelphia auditorium. In 1914, President Wilson declared it a national holiday and years later, the Methodists designated the small church in the hills of West Virginia, a Shrine.

This actually would be suited for my "Found Objects", but in honor of International Darwin Day, I decided to give it a post of its own.

• Study: Monkeys will "Pay-per-View" for monkey porn.