August 11

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ~ C.S. Lewis

Dan, March 8, 2023: Dick Greene* had sent me the full Wash Post article [3rd story below] ……this guy is young , but has a good start, though obviously is a piker by comparison (he’s been to only about 132 arenas, and accumulated many of his D1 teams at conference tourneys with 8 or more at a time.) I would guess there are quite a few bball addicts who are much closer to my arena number than to his (though I would imagine that my “legitimately earned” souvenir cup collection could be unmatched ?)

* Dick Greene is from San Francisco, just a fellow Final Four fan who made a connection with Dan over the years. Dick was the guy who arranged for Dan’s Wimbledon tickets. The first photo under 2006 (below) is an Indianapolis Final Four dining meetup of our group with the San Franciscans – Dick is 2nd from the right in the photo, Dan is to Dick’s right . . .

Time doesn’t take away from friendship, nor does separation. ~ Tennessee Williams

2002

Starbucks really isn’t that expensive if compared to what Victoria’s Secret charges per cup. ~ Muskan Aggarwal

[We have entered a new millennium. It seems appropriate we start it off with Dan at the helm of the Moby Obie, our pontoon when we lived on Lake Darling . . . ]

Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends. ~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

[Libby and Hans taking their lives in their hands with Dan at the helm of the Moby Obie . . . ]

2003

I’ll stick to finding the funny in the ordinary because my life is pretty ordinary and so are the lives of my friends—and my friends are hilarious. ~ Issa Rae

[Hans, Libby, Dan, and Ruthie atop Inspiration Peak, 25 miles north of Alexandria where one goes in search of topography . . . ]

2004

A restaurant is a fantasy—a kind of living fantasy in which diners are the most important members of the cast. ~ Warner LeRoy

[I remember this place. I think Dan set it up (some new hot place) where we were joined by our mutual friend Mayo. The only problem is none of the participants remember the name of the place or its location? (I seem to recall either on Washington Avenue in downtown Mpls or on University Avenue just east of the campus?)]

2005

I’d rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent. ~ John Wooden

[Dan wasn’t here, but he appreciated the effort. My brother Chris’s (far right) family cheering for George Mason [Chris’s daughter Jessica’s school) in the Final Four that year.]

2006

I never eat in a restaurant that’s over a hundred feet off the ground and won’t stand still. ~ Calvin Trillin

[The whole eating gang, including the San Franciscans, somewhere in Indianapolis . . . ]

If you want a reliable tip, drive into a town, go to the nearest appliance store, and seek out the dishwasher repair man. He spends a lot of time in restaurant kitchens and usually has strong opinions about them. ~ Bryan Miller

[Dan and Ruthie in December of that year at a place that can only be redeemed from my memory through hypnosis or DNA analysis . . . ]

2007

Good people are happy when something good happens to someone else. ~ Dean Smith

[Dan and Ruthie in Atlanta, checking our seat locations for the games. Kind of gives you an idea why we stopped going to Final Fours . . . ]

The only thing I like better than talking about food is eating. ~ John Walters

[Atlanta, thusly, the obvious source of this fine dining experience. Since it has taken me so long to complete Dan’s story, I can’t remember if I’ve previously identified the other diners: Dan’s cousin Mary and cousin-in-law Gus from Wichita . . . ]

When life gives you lemons, freeze them and throw them at the people who are making your life difficult. ~ Muskan Aggarwal

[At Hans’s, for what I seem to recall was his 60th birthday in Minneapolis . . . ]

No man who has once heartily and wholly laughed can be altogether depraved. ~ Thomas Carlyle

[All delighting in finally having their records (all) expunged from public scrutiny . . . ]

You’ve got a friend in me. ~ Woody, Toy Story

[Hans and Libby at my 60th birthday party at Chez Obert on Lake Darling in Alexandria . . . ]

Everyone needs a coach. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a basketball player, a tennis player, a gymnast or a bridge player. ~ Bill Gates

[“Basketball Dan” meets “Crazy Dave” – there hasn’t been such greatness in a single room since the Buckley-Vidal debates. “Crazy” is also a denizen of Lake Darling, but gained his fame in Youngstown, Ohio, where his neighbor Jim Tressel, former Ohio State Buckeye football coach, gave him the name “Crazy” . . . ]

I was brought up to respect my elders, so now I don’t have to respect anybody. ~ George Burns

[Basketball Dan meets Alexandria’s 1965 Homecoming Queen, which could rival the above photo in notoriety. Kathy has a granddaughter on the current Minnesota Gopher basketball team . . . ]

Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too much. ~ Johnny Carson

[OK, I did take a lot of turkey photos. If Dan was going to work that hard, we needed the evidence . . . ]

Winning is like deodorant – when it comes up, a lot of things no longer stink. ~ Doc Rivers

[This annual event was the only reason I could see for watching football . . . ]

The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not. ~ Charles Barkley

Come at once if convenient. If inconvenient, come all the same. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle

Half of the people in the world are below average. ~ Flavian Mwasi

It’s a little known fact that pigs are the smartest animal. Scientists say that if pigs had thumbs and a language that they could be trained to do manual labor. They give you 20 to 30 years of loyal service and then at their retirement dinner, you can eat them. ~ Cliff Clavin

The imaginary friends I had as a kid dropped me because their friends thought I didn’t exist.
~ Aaron Machado

I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.
~ Jane Austen

It’s important to our friends to believe that we are unreservedly frank with them, and important to the friendship that we are not. ~ Mignon McLaughlin

Life is too short for fake butter or fake people. ~ Karen Salmansohn

[Kitchen talk . . . ]

2008

You’re mad. Bonkers. Off your head. But I’ll tell you a secret: Some of the best people are. ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice In Wonderland

[At a famous Texas BBQ place. I remember we drove a bit north of San Antonio or Austin to get here. Dan would remember the name and location. I can’t . . . ]

Marriage: a friendship recognized by the police. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

[Dining in said Texas BBQ place . . . ]

2009

Friends come and go, like the waves of the ocean, but the true ones stay. Like an octopus on your face. ~ Unknown

[Returning to the scene of my best meal ever, thanks to Dan. In September 1985 we toured Oregon where at Jake’s Grill (in background) in Portland I enjoyed a three-salmon (white, pink, red) entree in a dark and woody “gentlemen’s” room . . . ]

Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend’s success. ~ Oscar Wilde

[Dan sent postcards from his solo travels . . . ]

In a restaurant, choose a table near a waiter. ~ Jewish Proverb

[This was somewhere in Scottsdale, Arizona, for an event which now escapes me. I remember it as a place where Dan specifically requested seating in a nonsmoking area. Though we were outside, smoke found us. Dan strongly requested we be moved. I don’t recall the outcome . . . ]

2010

I don’t like to commit myself about heaven and hell — you see, I have friends in both places. ~ Mark Twain

[In honor of our protagonist, this is an eatery in Jonesville, Indiana. I had to look it up. I have no recollection of ever having been in Jonesville (population: 177), but it is about halfway between Columbus and Seymour just off of I-65, an area I have perused . . . ]

I’m not a fan of the NCAA. I don’t think they make decisions for the kids. They make decisions for bureaucracy and for their structure. ~ John Calipari

[Lucas Oil Stadium or why (see next photo) . . . ]

Mark Emmert, the head of the NCAA, makes millions. Coaches today are making millions. Who’s not making anything? I don’t want to hear about they get scholarships. Yeah, they get scholarships all right, they earn those scholarships. ~ Dick Vitale

[We decided to no longer go to basketball games played in football stadiums . . . ]

Real friendship is when your friend comes over to your house and then you both just take a nap. ~ Unknown

[At the top of this missive Dan mentioned his souvenir cup collection (they filled grocery bags in his second bedroom, along with programs and media guides). Although he had attended games at Indiana State before, he didn’t have a souvenir cup. Luckily for him Ruthie is from Terre Haute and brought him a Sycamore cup . . . ]

Fan the sinking flame of hilarity with the wing of friendship; and pass the rosy wine. ~ Charles Dickens

[And then the fine dining in Indianapolis with Gus and Mary . . . ]

One measure of friendship consists not in the number of things friends can discuss, but in the number of things they need no longer mention. ~ Clifton Fadiman

[Hinkle Fieldhouse on Butler University campus in Indianapolis (and home to the movie “Hoosiers”), a doppelganger to Williams Arena on the U of M campus, both opened in 1928 . . . ]

I don’t want to go to heaven. None of my friends are there. ~ Oscar Wilde

[Continuing dining experiences in Indy where Ruthie’s sister Rita joined the table . . . ]

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. ~ H. L. Mencken

[The Indiana state capitol . . . ]

2011

Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants. ~ Kevin James

[Dan’s annual turkeyfest: Chris mashes the spuds while Tom provides oversight . . . ]

I love spending Thanksgiving surrounded by all these great friends I met in the Best Buy parking lot. ~ John Lyon

A lot of Thanksgivings have been ruined by not carving the turkey in the kitchen. ~ Kin Hubbard

[Hans carves (his annual duty), Brian supervises . . . ]

Thanksgiving, the day where there’s never enough food. You can’t just have a turkey. No, there has to be a roast beef or a ham too. Or both. It’s the only day we have mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. ~ Lewis Black

[Suzanne oversees the serving table . . . ]

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! It’s the day you forget about all the fighting and division in the world and just focus on all the fighting and division in your family. ~ Jimmy Fallon

One should never do anything that one cannot talk about after dinner. ~ Oscar Wilde

Turkey for me, turkey for you. Let’s eat the turkey in my big brown shoe. ~ Adam Sandler

[Making plans for next year?]

2012

Memories are like mulligatawny soup in a cheap restaurant. It is best not to stir them. ~ P.G. Wodehouse

[Ruthie & her sister Rita at the go-to burger place in Bloomington, Indiana. I have no idea if there is any connection to Hinkle Fieldhouse . . . ]

When you go to a restaurant, the less you know about what happens in the kitchen, the more you enjoy your meal. ~ Jeffrey Wright

[Inside Hinkle’s . . . ]

Every Thanksgiving I bring the champagne, because in my family we all know what our strengths are. ~ Gloria Fallon

[The supervisor arrives at Dan’s, with Champagne, for the annual turkey fest . . . ]

I’m giving thanks that we don’t have to go through this for another year. ~ Adele Larson

[Turkey Hans . . . ]

Did you nap after eating the Thanksgiving meal? Or did you pass out like you were shot by a tranquilizer gun? ~ Jim Gaffigan

[Libby with Turkey Hans . . . ]

A new survey found that 80 percent of men claim they help cook Thanksgiving dinner. Which makes sense, when you hear them consider saying ‘that smells good’ to be helping. ~ Jimmy Fallon

[Hans checks on the bird; Dan stands back in accordance with OSHA regulations . . . ]

The average time for eating a Thanksgiving dinner is 12 minutes, which, incidentally, coincides with halftime. ~ Erma Bombeck

Thanksgiving: when the people who are the most thankful are the ones who didn’t have to cook. ~ Melanie White

[Dan and Susanne checking the bird . . . ]

Happy Thanksgiving! This year I’m thankful that your family is so annoying you’re checking Twitter instead of talking to them. ~ Stephen Colbert

Cooking tip: Wrap turkey leftovers in aluminum foil and throw them out. ~ Nicole Hollander

[Ruthie got the carcass every year . . . ]

I love Thanksgiving traditions: watching football, making pumpkin pie and saying the magic phrase that sends your aunt storming out of the dining room to sit in her car. ~ Stephen Colbert

I like football. I find it’s an exciting strategic game. It’s a great way to avoid conversation with your family at Thanksgiving. ~ Craig Ferguson

I suppose I will die never knowing what pumpkin pie tastes like when you have room for it. ~ Robert Brault

[The pies! Every year, the pies . . . ]

After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working. ~ Kenneth Grahame

[Libby, Dan, and Ruthie prepping dessert . . . ]

2014

I believe the only muscles you need in basketball are the ones in your brain. ~ Nikola Jokic

[Reporting for turkeyfest once again . . . ]

Watch where you’re going, asshole! ~ Sid Hartman (when in his 90’s was knocked down by a car in a crosswalk)

[It was always a highlight to be greeted by “Sid” at Dan’s front door (Sid Hartman was a Minnesota celebrity who wrote for the Minneapolis StarTribune from his teen years until his death at age 100.) ]

He’s my close personal friend. ~ Sid Hartman (about any celebrity)

[Ruthie and I brought wine for the annual event. We did not make the wine . . . ]

Sid, it’s great to see you. ~ Joe Dimaggio

[Seriously, it was a different turkey every year . . . ]

I know people at Mayo. If you need to get them to Mayo just let me know. ~ Sid Hartman

Sid was the only reporter that I could always trust. ~ Rod Carew

If you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life. ~ Sid Hartman

[Thanksgiving fixins on full display . . . ]

Rest in Peace for Sid Hartman. That’s not a message of compassion for Sid. That’s an insult. Sid lived by hurrying up and not waiting. ~ Patrick Reusse

I’ve been in Sid’s company a couple of thousand times, and I’ve never seen a man at peace. ~ Patrick Reusse

[Dan never thought much of Sid as a sports reporter; he thought of him as a shill for the University of Minnesota. Dan was a sports generalist, he had no favorite team except game by game . . . ]

2015

I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. ~ Henry David Thoreau

[The only Turkeyfest photo of the year?]

My cooking is so bad my kids thought Thanksgiving was to commemorate Pearl Harbor. ~ Phyllis Diller

[At Williams Arena after Turkeyfest to see the Gophers vs. Louisiana-Monroe?]

It is now common knowledge that the average American gains 7 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. ~ Marilu Henner

[Dan’s friends and family from Wichita were in town for Turkeyfest and were at the game . . . ]

2016
I love Thanksgiving. ~ Justin Jefferson

[By photographic evidence, the last Turkeyfest . . . ]

The turkey. The sweet potatoes. The stuffing. The pumpkin pie. Is there anything else we can agree so vehemently about? I don’t think so. ~ Nora Ephron

Thanksgiving is so called because we are all so thankful that it only comes once a year. ~ P. J. O’Rourke

[Dan talks turkey . . . ]

For those of you who cannot be with family this Thanksgiving, please resist the urge to brag. ~ Andy Borowitz

[The sign of the times . . . ]

I don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow. I just know for sure I’m going to keep playing basketball. ~ Kevin Durant

[Appropriate that my final shot of Dan should be this one!]

The Hander

The will to prepare is more important than the will to win. ~ Lefty Driesell

[One of our all-time favorite coaches was Charles “Lefty” Driesell (thus, the exchange of newspaper photos). The Old Left Hander, who we just referred to as “The Hander” . . . ]

Lefty vs. Dean! Lefty vs. Dean! All I hear is ‘Lefty vs. Dean!’ If it were really Lefty vs. Dean, I’d take him into the low post and burn his ass! ~ Lefty Driesell

I can coach. ~ Lefty Driesell

[When we were attending Final Fours, our main entertainment involved cruising the lobbies of the hotels where all the teams and coaches stayed. That’s when I got this photo of Lefty, March 31, 1991 . . . ]

I’d rather be a musician than a rock star. ~ George Harrison

[We end with the beginning. This is Pizza Hut Number One, which first opened June 15, 1958. Dan’s dad, Sidney, was a local attorney who did the legal work establishing the company. It was moved to this current location for historical preservation purposes. (This photo was posted on Facebook by the couple in the photo on June 4, 2022. The couple in the photo are BAT and Brenda who travel the country in a van. BAT sings and plays guitar, in barefeet without a break in 3-hour sessions. They have made Alexandria a performance stop for over 10 years.)]

Never leave a friend behind. Friends are all we have to get us through this life–and they are the only things from this world that we could hope to see in the next. ~ Dean Koontz

The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again. ~ Charles Dickens

Up Next: If there is a “next,” I hope Dan can get tickets!

July 14

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. ~ T. S. Eliot

[Photo of Basketball Dan with my Uncle Dick, historically rated as the No. 1 and No. 2 sports fans in the world. Their common retort to each other was: “And you call yourself a fan?” (Photo courtesy of Steve Hansen)

Hey Tom, I was thinking about Dan’s early years in Minnesota. My first memory is Gordy Peterson telling me he met “that really smart guy “ in our Q.A. Class. Dan lived I think in House 3 or 6. He helped us get through three quarters of that God Awful subject. Then he played on our softball team – we were the second stringers behind the Anderson boys team (incidentally I saw a while back that Bruce Anderson died). Dan had apparently moved to Minnesota in the summer of ‘67 and lived with a Minnesota bowler, Dick Sternberg,  he had met at the ABC tourney. That first summer he went to all the Twins games. I was wondering when Dan lost interest in the Twins. A bunch of us went to the last game at the old Met in I believe in ‘82, organized by Dan for old times sake. Do you know when he soured on MLB? [No, but like bowling, once he lost interest in something he never went back.] Of course Dan was a classic Obsessive Compulsive all his life from baseball to bowling to Iowa State Travelers Insurance to basketball (tourneys and all) to food to many more – sadly ending with Betty. Chris hired a company to remove the mess from Dan’s townhouse. We will go to watch his internment on Tuesday. Do you have your voice back? [No, are setting an appt. with a speech therapist.] ~ Hans, July 14, 2024

Adventures with Dan often involved more than basketball games and fine dining. They often led to hiking in national parks. I would never have, of my volition, decided that a 6-hour hike through Mineral King was a good idea. Oy! ~ Me

[Our namesake . . . ]

1983

Knowing that we are primates, I think, is a fascinating discovery, and a very interesting and rather cheering one. ~ Christopher Hitchens

[Dan did all the trip planning, the where’s, when’s, and what for’s. Hey, that’s fine with me . . . ]

In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration. ~ Ansel Adams

[But my idea of roughing it has always been a Holiday Inn Express. It’s hard for me to believe that I actually owned a tent and that we used them here in Zion National Park . . .

The most remarkable discovery in all of astronomy is that the stars are made of atoms of the same kind as those on the earth. ~ Richard P. Feynman

[The best photo ops always seem to be from bridges with cars roaring past . . . ]

He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery. ~ Samuel Smiles

[Onward . . . ]

Discovery is for forward lookers. So, no one is born with great knowledge. ~ T. B. Joshua

[We were on the trail to Angels Landing. If I had known ahead of time what was involved, I likely would have said “nyet” . . . ]

That is the exploration that awaits you! Not mapping stars and studying nebula, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence. ~ Leonard Nimoy

Exploration by real people inspires us. ~ Stephen Hawking

And your soul needs exploration and growth. And the only way you’ll get it is by forcing yourself to be uncomfortable. Forcing yourself to get outside, out of your head. ~ Mel Robbins

So, you know, I think the age of exploration is just beginning, not ending, on our planet. ~ Robert Ballard

And as I reinvent myself and I’m constantly curious about everything, I can’t wait to see what’s around the corner in newfound art and entertainment and exploration. ~ Pam Grier

As its interest in science wanes, the country loses ground to the rest of the industrialized world in every measure of technological proficiency. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

[Many years later, I stood at the base of the trail up to Angels Landing again. I didn’t do the climb that time. Now there is a sign at the base of the trail noting the number of people who have died over the years falling from this trail . . . ]

We need people pushing the boundaries. Exploration is what we, as humans, do. ~ Heidi Hammel

All space exploration is risky. As an astronaut, I had to decide each and every time I went to space whether or not to risk my life for the mission. ~ John M. Grunsfeld

[There it is – that’s where Angels Land . . . ]

I know that I derive the same kind of spiritual fulfillment from what I do, being a planetary scientist, seeing our exploration of the solar system come to fruition. I get such a spiritual high from it that I don’t even see the need for religion. ~ Carolyn Porco

[Although the hike to Angels Landing in Zion National Park is only five miles up and back, most hikers take four hours to make the round-trip. After all, you are climbing 1,488 feet in elevation, up steep switchbacks (myutahparks.com).]

Today, we are on a path of decay. We are seeing the book close on five decades of accomplishment as the leader in human space exploration. ~ Gene Cernan

[Here we have moved over to neighboring Bryce Canyon National Park. The lowest elevation in Bryce is 6,600 feet – thus, there was still plenty of snow in April . . . ]

Specifically choose not to take a GPS. Just create a challenge. You can climb Everest or walk across Antarctica with minimal gear and still have that sense of adventure. But in terms of exploration, Google Earth has this world mapped down to the square foot. ~ Conrad Anker

[Incredibly unique place as Dan walks out on the observation point, discovered absent the internet and GPS . . . ]

We humans were built for exploration, and we were built to do it together. ~ Anne McClain

[Oh, for the love of cold and snow . . . ]

The good is, like nature, an immense landscape in which man advances through centuries of exploration. ~ Jorge Ortega y Gasset

The days of exploration of Shackleton and Scott are long gone. Everything has been climbed, crossed, done. Now what we’re exploring are the full boundaries of human endeavour. It’s not physical – it’s all in the head. ~ Lewis Gordon Pugh

Let’s face it. Adventure and exploration are in my blood. ~ Philippe Cousteau, Jr.

Exploration is what you do when you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s what scientists do every day. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

[Snowshoeing? Why not . . . ]

The fundamental nature of exploration is that we don’t know what’s there. We can guess and hope and aim to find out certain things, but we have to expect surprises. ~ Charles H. Townes

[Danger, danger!]

My motivation is to get a deeper understanding and exploration of something that I want to know about the human condition. ~ Rose McIver

The Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona is a popular, challenging day hike that can be 10.7 to 16.2 miles round trip and can take 9 to 12 hours to complete.  ~ AI Overview

[I abandoned my mentor here. This is Dan heading down Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon. I started with him but as so often happens on a long downhill trudges, my knees started barking at me. I headed back to the top; Dan soldiered on with the MTXE wind breaker tied over his head for protection the from the sun. The farther down you go, the hotter it gets. He made it down and back, looking like death warmed over but managed to signal me with a middle digit that he was No. 1 . . . ]

We live in an age of universal investigation, and of exploration of the sources of all movements. ~ Alfred de Vigny

[Uff da! And I will admit that one’s first glimpse of the Grand Canyon is a sight like no other . . . ]

Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed. ~ Cavett Robert

[Albuquerque, New Mexico, a city at the bottom of a sand pit. In April of 1983, it was the location for one of the most famous Final Fours of all time . . . ]

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. ~ Gloria Steinem

[The opening tip of the championship game between North Carolina State and the overwhelming favorite Houston Cougars (in white) of phi slama jama fame . . . ]

The human mind is capable of excitement without the application of gross and violent stimulants; and he must have a very faint perception of its beauty and dignity who does not know this.

[One of the last Final Fours to be held in a basketball arena . . . ]

Whether in a moment of peace and quiet or exhilarating excitement, savor every minute of every place. ~ Lorrie Morgan

[When NC State completed the big upset victory, the enduring image from the game was of Wolfpack coach, Jim Valvano, running around the floor looking for someone to hug . . . ]

1984

I’m attracted to images that come from a personal exploration of a subject matter. When they have a personal stamp to them, then I think it becomes identifiable. ~ Leonard Nimoy

[Next stop, Vancouver. Brother Cam looks out an adjoining hotel window . . . ]

I think the reason we should be in space is for the exploration; it’s the human endeavour. ~ Helen Sherman

[Basketball Dan on the left, Cam and his friend Rog on the right exploring the Vancouver waterfront . . . ]

One simply runs out of energy as you get old. One doesn’t take on new tasks of exploration because it takes an extended period of intense thinking and working on it, and that becomes impractical. ~ Eugene Parker

So, I decided that whatever I was, wanted to do with my life, it would have to do, it would have to have something to do with the exploration and doing new things. ~ Duane G. Carey

[On a ferry through the San Juan Islands, Dan visits with Steve, a fellow Final Four fan from Michigan and Marquette alum . . . ]

The history of exploration has never been driven by exploration. But Columbus himself was a discoverer. So was Magellan. But the people who wrote checks were not. They had other motivations. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

[The end of the road up Mt. Rainier. Brother Cam, at 6’3″, provides perspective . . . ]

1985

And, one thing I definitely enjoyed personally, from a selfish point of view, was exploration and going to places that I had never been to before and learning, you know, meeting the people and getting to know, new sights and sounds, etc. ~ Duane G. Carey

[Dan staring down downtown Portland. As I recall, this was just a two-week trip to explore Oregon . . . ]

If I wasn’t doing this kind of exploration, I’d like to be doing some other kind of exploration. It might be more risky, or less risky, but, in the business of exploration, risk is part of the territory. ~ John L. Phillips

[Washington Park – International Rose Test Garden. Roses bloom from late May to October depending on the weather. The primary purpose of the Garden is to serve as a testing ground for new rose varieties (www.portland.gov).]

In the 19th Century people were looking for the Northwest Passage. Ships were lost and brave people were killed, but that doesn’t mean we never went back to that part of the world again, and I consider it the same in space exploration. ~ John L. Phillips

[Plummeting 620 feet, in two different sections, Multnomah Falls is the most-visited natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest with more than 2 million visitors each year (traveloregon.com).] 

What drives me is exploration with a purpose, more the classic Royal Geographical Society genre. ~ Robert Ballard

[Under the Falls . . . ]

All of this got me thinking about the history of the westward expansion, and got me to wondering how the exploration of the Solar System would be changed if there were an indigenous presence out there. ~ Sarah Zettel

[The view of the Columbia River from the top . . . ]

I feel like every five to seven years I really need to put myself in this position of discomfort and exploration, just to survive. Otherwise I feel like I’m falling asleep, like I’ll go crazy if I don’t do it. ~ Karen O

[Timberline Lodge is a mountain lodge on the south side of Mount Hood about 60 miles east of Portland. Constructed from 1936 to 1938 by the WPA, dedicated September 28, 1937, by President Franklin S. Roosevelt. The National Historic Landmark sits at an elevation of 6,000 feet (1,829 m) within the Mount Hood National Forest.  Publicly owned and privately operated, Timberline Lodge is a popular tourist attraction that draws two million visitors annually. The lodge and its grounds host a ski resort, also known as Timberline Lodge. It has the longest skiing season in the U.S., and is open all 12 months of the year (Wikipedia).]

There are plenty of people on Earth. It’s not like the human race is going to disappear if a few people don’t come back. Exploration is dangerous. ~ William Stone

[Dan hiking the Lost Lake trail . . . ]

 For me, adventure and exploration is something in the blood. ~ Bertrand Piccard

[Dan standing by and looking at a body of water or, perchance, a beaver . . . ]

I want to know why I’m alive. I want to understand. It’s like exploration; it’s like someone being interested in a place and its history, digging into the earth and looking for it, searching – it’s a passion. ~ Juliette Binoche

[Almost 40 years ago – are they still here, wherever here is?]

1986

I believe in a tongue-first exploration of the world. Food is our most immediate daily relationship to our ecosystem, and there is something delectable and intriguing about it. ~ Natalie Jeremijenko

[Through all the years of travel together, Arthur Bryant’s, in Kansas City, MO, fame ranged far and wide. Here Dan is with Richard (on the left), an NC State friend, and Andy and son, longtime friends from Wichita . . . ]

Arthur Bryant’s is a restaurant located in Kansas City, Missouri. It is sometimes called the most famous barbecue restaurant in the United States. ~ Wikipedia

So few humans seem to fully exist themselves that I wonder if all this endless speculation and haggling about God is really an exploration of a more interesting and embarrassing question about ourselves. ~ Michael Leunig

[It’s all about BBQ . . . ]

1988

Scientific discovery and scientific knowledge have been achieved only by those who have gone in pursuit of it without any practical purpose whatsoever in view. ~ Max Planck

[When I first moved to the D.C. area, I lived in Lee Gardens, a multi-building garden style apartment of 1940’s vintage on Arlington Boulevard where the front gate to Fort Myer was right across the street. Dan loved to stay with me there on his many trips to this dynamic basketball hotbed. He called it “beautiful Lee Gardens” – parquet floors and crank windows with so many layers of paint they couldn’t be closed tight. In 1987 I upgraded to the Astoria, a condominium on Lee Highway (photo 2) where I met Ruth. Dan also approved of this place . . . ]

[The Astoria, mid-frame . . . ]

I’ve always been interested in exploration and the history of exploring the world, but it seems like we’ve found everything now. ~ Ransom Riggs

[But this is about trips, so here we are in San Francisco . . . ]

The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards. ~ Arthur Koestler

[Dazzling in his MTXE windbreaker . . . ]

[A short hip and a hop later we were the great adventurers in Yosemite . . . ]

We made more than just scientific discoveries… we rediscovered how much people love exploration. ~ Alan Stern

[Dan with Half Dome and Yosemite Valley in the background . . . ]

Summer is meant to be for travel, for exploration, for leisure, but sometimes budgets and schedules dictate otherwise. ~ Rumaan Alam

[I believe we were on the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail. Discover this 6.6-mile out-and-back trail near Yosemite Valley, California. Generally considered a challenging route, it takes an average of 5 h 21 min to complete. This is a very popular area for backpacking, camping, and hiking, so you’ll likely encounter other people while exploring (alltrails.com).]

You define a good flight by negatives: you didn’t get hijacked, you didn’t crash, you didn’t throw up, you weren’t late, you weren’t nauseated by the food. So you are grateful. ~ Paul Theroux

[Looks like we’re still climbing here . . . ]

I crossed a time zone and I feel younger already. If I keep traveling west, I can become immortal. ~ Jarod Kintz

[Overlooking Yosemite falls . . . ]

The devil himself had probably redesigned hell in the light of information he had gained from observing airport layouts. ~ Anthony Price

[The other people you’re expected to run across . . . ]

Road trips require a couple of things: a well-balanced diet of caffeine, salt and sugar and an excellent selection of tunes – oh, and directions. ~ Jenn McKinlay

[I have reason to believe we are now in Tuolumne Meadows . . . ]

Backpacking is the art of knowing what not to take. ~ Sheridan Anderson

[Within Tuolumne Meadows (8,600 feet elevation), visitors see the Tuolumne River meandering quietly through its meadow channel and cascading over the granite river bottom against a backdrop of rugged mountain peaks and glacially carved domes. The river, declared by Congress a Wild and Scenic River in 1984, originates in the high country near the east side of the park (nsp.gov/yose).]

I think the 19th century is an extraordinary period with a welling up of creativity and all kinds of experimentation and exploration going on at least until 1940. ~ Edmund Phelps

[Ruthie and I had just become acquainted this year. Her name then was Ruth Hill and this sign was somewhere near Fresno . . . ]

What’s the use of a great city having temptations if fellows don’t yield to them? ~ P.G. Wodehosue

[Dan standing by a big tree . . . ]

I get pretty much all the exercise I need walking down airport concourses carrying bags. ~ Guy Clark

[Me next to the Michigan Tree . . . ]

Adventure without risk is Disneyland. ~ Douglas Coupland

[Yosemite home sweet home – in this day and age, you’d probably need to make reservations two years in advance to get this place . . . ]

It is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not a person to do such a thing please do not read this notice. ~ A hotel in Tokyo

[Dan walks by The Senate . . . ]

It’s important for the explorer to be willing to be led astray. ~ Roger von Oech

[Dan again acknowledges the photographer with a behind-the-back one finger salute . . . ]

Britain has bred many great explorers, but they seem to get so little coverage compared to soccer and rugby players. ~ Lewis Gordon Pugh

[Though a native Minnesotan, still excited by the discovery of snow . . . ]

If you look back as far as the first explorers, they all took with them the latest gadget. ~ Charley Boorman

[From spring through mid-summer, the marmots of Mineral King have been known to dine on radiator hoses and car wiring. They can disable a vehicle. On several occasions, marmots have not escaped the engine compartment quickly enough and unsuspecting drivers have given them rides to other parts of the parks; several have ridden as far as southern California! (nsp.gov/seki)]

I always wanted to be an explorer, but – it seemed I was doomed to be nothing more than a very silly person. ~ Michael Palin

[And now back along the Pacific Coast Highway . . . ]

In 2010, there was a TED event called Mission Blue held aboard the Lindblad Explorer in the Galapagos as part of the fulfillment of Sylvia Earle’s TED wish. I spoke about a new way of exploring the ocean, one that focuses on attracting animals instead of scaring them away. ~ Edith Widder

[With an occasional beach . . . ]

Human exploration is something that’s been going on for thousands of years, and the models that worked 500 years ago are likely to work again today. ~ Peter Diamandis

[Ending the trip at Stanford . . . ]

1989-90

There is no such thing as the pursuit of happiness, but there is the discovery of joy. ~ Joyce Grenfell

[Dan lived in New Jersey for a couple years while teaching at Kean College. That made it convenient for he and Pat to drop by on occasion for biking the National Mall and the bike trail to Mount Vernon . . . ]

When exploring London, you will come across lots of excitement by chance, so try to take everything in rather than just rushing around to all of the major tourist haunts. ~ Richard Branson

Love is the word used to label the sexual excitement of the young, the habituation of the middle-aged, and the mutual dependence of the old. ~ John Ciardi

1992

I like to be wild, and I like to do wild, crazy things. I need excitement. At all times. Normal is not my type. ~ Neon Hitch

[It seems appropriate to wrap up this session with more basketball tournament fine dining. Here Dan and Ruthie lead the highlife in Kansas City . . .

Freaks was a thing I photographed a lot. It was one of the first things I photographed, and it had a terrific kind of excitement for me. I just used to adore them. I still do adore some of them. ~ Diane Arbus

[Back once again to Arthur Bryant’s with Richard, Dan, and Ruthie . . . ]

You walk into a retail store, whatever it is, and if there’s a sense of entertainment and excitement and electricity, you wanna be there. ~ Howard Schultz

[Ruthie must have been the photographer as I snuck in on the left side . . . ]

I’m trying to stay as calm as possible and focus one day at a time, but when reality sets in, I feel everything: anxiety, excitement, nerves, pressure and joy. ~ Shawn Johnson

[Believed to have been an ad model for Arthur Bryant’s . . . ]

1993

There are not a few among the disciples of charity who require, in their vocation, scarcely less excitement than the votaries of pleasure in theirs. ~ Charles Dickens

[Whoa! Another BBQ joint? This was Calhoun’s in Knoxville. While in Knoxville (we were there for a Vol football game with Dan) I learned to hate Rocky Top to the point of physical pain . . . ]

You need to keep yourself busy all the time. There should be excitement, there should be work, there should be positive thinking. ~ Dharmendra

[The Final Four that year was in New Orleans at the Superdome. Fans included Dan, his cousin Mary, and his cousin-in-law Gus . . . ]

I was out of my bed in one second, trembling with excitement, and I dashed to the door and into the adjoining room, where I could watch the streets below from the windows. ~ Hermann Hesse

[Ruthie joins the above 3 for a little New Orleans nightlife . . . ]

1997

One feels the excitement of hearing an untold story. ~ John Hope

[Ruthie and I hadn’t planned on going to the Final Four in Indianapolis – we were going to Europe the following week. Then the Gophers made their first ever Final Four so we had to go. We drove to Indy from DC with no tickets and no hotel reservations. Once there, we ran into a family from Kentucky who sold us game tickets at face value. Then we some how found a room in the downtown Hyatt with a window view of the state capitol across the street. It was all quite unbelievable . . . ]

I really wanted to buy a Range Rover. It was a big dream, and the day I bought it, I was very happy, but by evening, I was immune to it. That’s when I realized that excitement, if it’s happiness, is not in reaching the goal but in the process. Thus process trumps over realization. ~ Sushant Singh Rajput

To look back all the time is boring. Excitement lies in tomorrow. ~ Natalia Makarova

Every man can transform the world from one of monotony and drabness to one of excitement and adventure. ~ Irving Wallace

Up Next: Part 3, the final . . .

July 12

The sensitivity of men to small matters, and their indifference to great ones, indicates a strange inversion. ~ Blaise Pascal

[Photo of Daniel G. Brick courtesy of Steve Hansen, c. 1969 – 1972 (the time I was away in the army in Okinawa).]

[This came totally out of the blue. Needless to say, we were gobsmacked.]

Brick, Daniel G., Wed, Apr 19, 2023, 8:25 PM, to me:
Go Go Meeed*, does your TV favor hockey or bball during this time? Sorry to dump my tale of woe, but maybe you can send a rousing version of ‘Rocky Top’ to lift one’s spirits. Less than a month ago, I was still doing 90 minutes a day at the gym, 6 days a week. I had a regular doc appt, and told him my abdomen felt a little ‘distended’, and he did a CT scan, which showed that I had numerous tumors all over my liver (largest one about the size of a softball). Subsequent MRI and biopsy showed that the cancer had metastasized from the colon (even though my last colonoscopy was totally clear only 10 months ago). My energy level started dropping very notably right away, so I’ve turned over my classes to another guy, and sleep/rest most of the day. Fortunately only discomfort more than pain, so I hope that can continue as long as possible. Unfortunately Betty can only cope by having complete belief that “God will provide a miracle”….hence my reluctance to make calls at the present time. Can’t really complain much, as I’ve had 77.5 years of a 5-star life. I learned today that they’re going to try some chemo, which I hadn’t expected….not sure I’ve accepted that reality either. [* Meeed, a sobriquet we long applied to each other, as in we both graduated magna cum mediocre.]

Brick, Daniel G., Mon, Nov 13, 2023, 2:57 PM, to me:
You’d be headed straight north/west, which means I’d need to go entirely across the metro….but as a compromise, you choose between these 2 (and for either, you should make a reservation for 9:30, as Sat mornings would be very busy), Good Day Cafe (in Golden Valley), Longfellow Grill (Lake St and West River Rd).

[And so, on November 18, 2023, we (joined by my brother Cam) breakfasted with Dan at Longfellow Grill. Though we made subsequent efforts to do so again, this was the last time we saw Dan . . . ]

Brick, Daniel G., Mon, May 27, 10:18 PM, to me
A very sad day indeed……I was with you at that Loyola game…..also sad was rafa losing in the first round (after 3 years of injuries) due to the unfortunate draw of zverev.

Brian Kovalchuk, Thu, Jun 6, 5:19PM, to me, Chris Hey, Dan’s just entering hospice.  Hopefully it will be at home.  We think it may be up to a year. Anyway, maybe you can come for a visit.

stevehansen, Thu, Jun 20, 5:56 PM, to me Dan was brought to United Hospital. He may be moved to another facility tonight or tomorrow.
Hans

stevehansen, Sat, Jun22, 11:35 AM Dan died this morning. Just got the word. Libby and I saw him in the hospital yesterday. Sadly we had a very unpleasant encounter with Betty. We hoped to bury the hatchet but that didn’t work. Sad day but a huge relief that his suffering, medical and marital is over. That’s all I know for now. I’ll keep you posted. Call anytime. Hans

Brian Kovalchuk, Sat. Jun 22, 1209 PM, to me News to share. Dan passed away this morning at 10:57. More info later. Do you know how to contact his friend from St. Thomas, Susanne ( I think ).

***

As I get older, I don’t aggressively pursue songs. All the great ones just appear. ~ Noel Gallagher

[Just tossed in here for no other reason than Maggie May was Dan’s all-time favorite song. I don’t know why or how I still remember that. I wasn’t a Rod Stewart fan at that time, though I became one in our respective old ages when he began singing the classics . . . ]

***

My dad always said, ‘There’s only a few great ones,’ and Prince was definitely one of the greats.  ~ Adore Delano

[Why it all began. Why a native of Wichita, Kansas, ended up spending the rest of his life in Minnesota. This is Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, the original home of the Minnesota Twins. After his first two years of college at Wichita State, Dan transferred to the University of Minnesota (the ‘U’) in Minneapolis because the Twins were his favorite team. I was introduced to him by a fellow dormie, c. 1967, who said you’ve got to meet this guy. In his first two baseball seasons in Minnesota he went to every Twins home game – 81 games in each year. And the legend began . . . ]

[Prelude: Although this was previously “published” on my other blog (January 17, 2011), it seems fitting it should be amended as the cornerstone to the Dan’s biography. He arrived in Minnesota over 40 years ago from Wichita, Kansas, and immediately dazzled the locals by never wearing anything heavier than a windbreaker in Minnesota winters. He competed across the country in professional bowling tournaments – then suddenly quit cold turkey, leaving approximately 20 bowling balls instantly unemployed. He served as our tour guide through 30 years of Final Fours, which usually were mere fronts for fine dining across the country. We are forever thankful to him for that. He was eminently successful in his chosen field (statistics professor at St. Thomas University) – a field amenable to his rigorous avocation travel schedule. And he for 30 years hosted an annual Turkey Day (see following photo, also courtesy Steve Hansen) for old friends that generally coincided with the Ohio State-Michigan football game. Such, and the following, are what led his Englander roommate at North Carolina State, where he obtained his Masters degree, to dub him “The Great One.” (This was originally written in February 2005, amended subsequently based on my faulty memory and expected numerical corrections from the lead character).]

I don’t have a ton of friends, but the friends I have are great ones. I don’t have huge family, but the family I have is a great one. ~ Alicia Keys

***

During his post-graduate era, Basketball Dan acquired a near mythical standing on the ‘U’s’ intramural softball fields for his big bat, nimble fielding, and huge hands. It was also during this time that his legend began to grow. We discovered that he attended his first NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four in 1954 – as you may recall, LaSalle, led by Tom Gola, were the champs that year. He also attended the Final Four in 1957, 1970, 1973, 1974, and then in every year since 1976 (when I first joined him to cap Indiana’s undefeated season at the Philadelphia Spectrum) – with the exceptions of 1999 and 2000 for personal and family health reasons. Almost without exception, during each of those Final Four years, he also attended first and second round games (until the advent of satellite coverage and big screen TV’s) and regional semi-finals and finals. I recall one year when there were regional games in both Louisville and Cincinnati – and because of the Thursday-Saturday and Friday-Sunday formats, we were able to see all of the games at both regionals.

[I attended 25 Final Fours with Dan (between1976 and 2010) – below are some sample program covers. I always say I saw the United States (all 50 states) with Dan as my travel guide. (I subsequently saw the world (42 countries) with Ruthie as my travel guide.) Of course this could have never been accomplished without we two guys being single and having the time and wherewithal to do so. I’m not sure when he attended his last Final Four – my last with him was 2010 and then he married seven years ago.]

The great ones are about winning and winning only. ~ Skip Bayless

[My first was 1976.  Indiana beat Michigan for the national championship, the last undefeated team to do so, at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.  I missed a few years, here and there, when I was probably performing brain surgery.  We stopped going after 2010 for three practical reasons:  1) It was getting exceedingly difficult to score tickets through the lottery (several times we bought scalped tickets on the street), 2) basketball was not made to be played in football stadiums, and 3) the big screen home TVs.] 

***

There’s not many people – only really the great ones – who realize what they were born to do. ~ Ed Reed

Incredibly, Dan attended a basketball game at every NCAA Division 1 home arena. There are 355 (326 at my original documentation) Division 1 college or university basketball programs (Dan pointed out this number is always in flux because of programs like Longwood, Utah Valley State, and Northern Colorado that are in the process of moving up). If you averaged 10 new schools every basketball season, it would take 35 years just to accomplish that feat. There are 119 Division I football programs – he attended games at all of those schools. Included among the football games was “The Game” between Cal and Stanford (remember Cal did a multiple-lateral kick-off return and scored a touchdown trampling Stanford band members in the end zone as the game ended). And through it all, he was never denied entry into any game he went to see. You must recognize that many of these venues are total sell-outs to season ticket holders – his most difficult entry proved to be at a Gonzaga basketball game; he had resigned himself to finally being shut out, when at the last second a season ticket holder arrived with an extra ticket. Because of the nature of the beast, Basketball Dan was on a first name basis with nationally-known “ticket brokers” (a/k/a, scalpers), and through other interesting people he has met on these adventures was able to score access to Wimbledon tickets, his only venture into international athletics.

A typical weekend for him was thus (here from 2005): Belmont, Troy, Alabama-Birmingham, Southern, and possibly Huntsville in the NBDL, whatever that is. I would venture to say that quartet would not show up on the schedule of any other alleged rabid basketball fan. Northwest Airlines should have sent a limo to his front door for his every weekend getaways. His double secret platinum card with that airline did allow him to escape on the last plane out the Northeast after the big snowstorm in 2005.

[Addendum, by e-mail dated February 2, 2011, from the man himself:  This weekend at Texas Southern, next weekend S. Dak. St, and March 3 at Grambling.   That leaves only Mississippi Valley State (where I got snowed out of in mid-Jan), and where I can’t get back to again this season.  There are 347 (then) D-1 college basketball schools – only Mississippi Valley State is left, giving it recognition far greater than anything else in the school’s history!]

[Addendem II, by e-mail dated February 2, 2011, from The Great One – the list is complete:  “I’m glad you sent the follow-up message . . . I have indeed hit a stadium for each baseball, football, and basketball pro team. However, there are a few new facilities that I haven’t been to:
                                                                          Have Attended                    Have Not
                                                                      ————————————————–
                                                                        Foxboro Stadium                  Gillette Stadium
                                                                        Texas Stadium                     Jerry Jones Palace
                                                                       Shea Stadium                        Citi Field (but will get at this year’s US Open Tennis)
                                                                        The Met,  Metrodome          Target Field

And there are a few new college basketball facilities: at Louisville, Gonzaga, Texas Tech, Oregon (I’ll get that in a couple weeks), Quinnipiac, St. Joe’s (I’ll get at end of Feb) built since I was there last and a few more under construction:  Texas Arlington,  Bowling Green, Troy, Nebraska, that I know of.]

1973

Everybody in the NBA is good. And then you have the really good ones and the great ones. ~ Kyrie Irving

[In February 1973, the first toad trip for which I have photo evidence. Dan is driving us to Chicago from Minneapolis where we were going to see (next photo) . . . ]

I know it’s a team game, but, you know, the great ones can do that – have their team involved and take over a game. ~ Greg Owen

[UCLA beat Chicago Loyola 87-73 at Chicago Stadium. Here Bill Walton wins the opening tip, my only photo of the game . . . ]

The road has taken a lot of the great ones: Hank Williams, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Janis, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis. ~ Robbie Robertson

[We stayed at the Heart O’ Chicago motel right downtown. And here was the view from the John Hancock Building . . . ]

Globe-trotting Hemingways and brawling Christopher Marlowes are the exception, not the rule. ~ Paul Di Dilippo

[Fellow U student Dick Haas and Dan from the Hancock observation floor . . . ]

If I ended up having a big name, I’m still going to keep that fire because that’s what just drives the great ones. ~ Mike Daniels

[The Sears Tower was close to completion. One of my all-time favorite photos . . . ]

I have always liked to play against the great ones. ~ Giorgi Chiellini

[Dan cleaning his glasses . . . ]

1975

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me. ~ Noel Coward

[At game lost in the sands of time, Steve Hansen (the aforementioned photographer) climbing the steps to join us at a Gopher football game at the long since deceased Memorial Stadium . . . ]

There’s nothing wrong with you that an expensive operation can’t prolong. ~ Surgeon (Graham Chapman)

[Hans with my Uncle Dick at that game . . . ]

I’ve always appreciated great acting performances, but I’ve even learned to appreciate not so great ones ’cause it’s hard. ~ Zoe Bell

[Uncle Dick giving the OK sign – Gophers must have won?]

They that apply themselves to trifling matters commonly become incapable of great ones. ~ Francois de La Rochefoucauld

[And, of course, Basketball Dan at said game . . . ]

1979-80

The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. ~ Mark Van Doren

[Back in the day, Dan lived in Minnesota and I lived in Arlington, Virginia (retiring to Alexandria, MN, in 2001). To communicate about basketball in those days, we each had a Betamax, and we would tape games from our locale (he, Gophers and Big Ten; me, ACC and Big East) and mail them back and forth. Seems quite antiquated today?]

1982

Great teaching – just plain old knock ’em dead, get it right, make ’em laugh, make ’em wonder instruction – is always going to be rare. Good teachers abound. Great ones are special. ~ Robert Krulwich

[His famous winter windbreaker – it arrived with him from Wichita State with its famous logo: MTXE (mental toughness, extra effort) . . . ]

I’m sick of following my dreams, man. I’m just going to ask where they’re going and hook up with ’em later. ~ Mitch Hedberg

I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious. ~ Michael Scott (Steve Carrell)

Up Next: There’s a lot more of Basketball Dan to come . . .

July 4

Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste. ~ Voltaire, Candide

Our labour preserves us from three great evils — weariness, vice, and want. ~ Voltaire, Candide

This wraps up Mini-U for another year. I learned a lot; likely have forgotten even more. The impact of the coming worldwide baby bust is hitting with all of the impact of climate change data. The countries that need to address the problem the most are the most stringently anti-immigrant. Go figure. George Carlin figured it out a long time ago that homo sapiens’ reign over the planet is coming to an end, as it did for the dinosaur. All hail the coming of the Super Bug? ~ Me

In every province, the chief occupations, in order of importance, are lovemaking, malicious gossip, and talking nonsense. ~ Voltaire, Candide

June 12

If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others? ~ Voltaire, Candide

When a man is in love, jealous, and just whipped by the Inquisition, he is no longer himself. ~ Voltaire, Candide

Fools admire everything in an author of reputation. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[So it was Moby Dick and a bunch of others . . . ]

I hold firmly to my original views. After all I am a philosopher. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[Professor Canada dons an albatross, in what I seem to recall, as an accoutrement to his “Literature of the Sea” presentations . . . ]

Work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vice, and need. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[As the Mini-U students gathered for a group photo, who should happen by but our dinner host (Rick Van Kooten, executive dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, on the right) from the previous evening . . . ]

There are, however, some things good. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[Ann Schertz discovers trying to arrange a photo shoot of senior citizens is actually more difficult than one for kindergarteners. That said, still waiting for access to the photos she took . . ]

Surely you must be possessed by the devil. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[No, move the other way, and come down two steps . . . ]

Misfortune gives sufficient excuse. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[As the floor mat says, this is where you put the “I” in “IU.” Rita leads us off . . . ]

That may be, but I know them not. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[All hail the IU Biddies!]

Wherever you go in France, you will find that their three chief occupations are making love, backbiting, and talking nonsense. ~ Voltaire, Candide

He was my equal in beauty, a paragon of grace and charm, sparkling with wit, and burning with love. I adored him to distraction, to the point of idolatry: I loved him as one can never love twice. ~ Voltaire, Candide

It is love; love, the comfort of the human species, the preserver of the universe, the soul of all sentient beings, love, tender love. ~ Voltaire, Candide

It is noble to write as one thinks; this is the privilege of humanity. ~ Voltaire, Candide

I am the best-natured creature in the world, and yet I have already killed three, and of these three two were priests. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[A medical doctor who talked off the cuff for the entire class – impressive . . . ]

A State can be no better than the citizens of which it is composed. Our labour now is not to mould States but make citizens. ~ Voltaire, Candide

Beautiful maiden, when a man is in love, is jealous, and has been flogged by the Inquisition, he becomes lost to all reflection. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[Susan Kovacich, OD]

What is this optimism? Alas, it is the madness of maintaining that everything is right when it is wrong. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[I sat at an odd angle for this class. This was my only photo. A presentation of a complete anatomy of the eye and the maladies that can occur therein . . . ]

Miss, you do not know my birth; and were I to show you my backside, you would not talk in that manner, but would suspend your judgment. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[It’s just an eye patch and a cane. I am not a pirate. ~ Reetz]

If we cannot succeed in this world we may in another. It is a great pleasure to see new objects and perform new exploits. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[Ruthie’s dorm, back in the day . . . ]

Things cannot be otherwise than they are and since, everything is made to serve and end, everything necessarily serves the best end. ~ Voltaire, Candide

Meanwhile, all the travellers whom Candide met in the inns along his route, said to him, “We go to Paris.” ~ Voltaire, Candide

[This was The Biddies campus pizza joint 60 years ago – and it’s still there. And the pizza was really, really good!]

Contemplation of the stupidity which deems happiness possible almost made Voltaire happy. ~ Voltaire, Candide

Fools admire everything in an author of reputation. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[The words of the prophets are written on the pizza joint walls . . . ]

Yes I have seen Paris; it is like all those kinds, it’s chaos, it’s a crowd in which everyone seeks pleasure and in which no one finds it, at least so it appeared to me. ~ Voltaire, Candide

Mankind were born to assist one another. ~ Voltaire, Candide

You looked so gay and content. ~ Voltaire, Candide

All men are by nature free; you have therefore an undoubted liberty to depart whenever you please, but will have many and great difficulties to encounter in passing the frontiers. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[Ernest Taylor Pyle (August 3, 1900 – April 18, 1945) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning American journalist and war correspondent who is best known for his stories about ordinary American soldiers during World War II.   He was killed by enemy fire on Iejima (then known as Ie Shima) during the Battle of Okinawa (Wikipedia).]

Secret griefs are more cruel than public calamities. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[This is located just outside the entrance gate to the Indiana Memorial Union . . . ]

. . . we must cultivate our garden. ~ Voltaire, Candide

I have seen the worst. ~ Voltaire, Candide

Is there no way of getting quickly out of this country where monkeys provoke tigers? ~ Voltaire, Candide

[The Indiana Memorial Union, where we lived and learned . . . ]

You lack faith. It is because I have seen the world. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[Co-eds at the union . . . ]

Ever since 1759, when Voltaire wrote “Candide” in ridicule of the notion that this is the best of all possible worlds, this world has been a gayer place for readers.

[Co-eds, co-eds, everywhere I looked . . . ]

June 13

[i]f Columbus in an island of America had not caught the disease, which poisons the source of generation, and often indeed prevents generation, we should not have chocolate and cochineal. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[These guys are physics professors (and we have had them previously for classes) who have wandered off into the planet’s demography . . . ]

There can be no effect without a cause, the whole is necessarily concatenated and arranged for the best. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[And they did a great job with it . . . ]

He never told a story, but everyone laughed at it. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[This topic was so timely it made “The Week” a week later. As a geography major, always a big fan of demographics . . . ]

You mean you don’t have any monks to teach and dispute and govern and intrigue and burn people to death who don’t agree with them? ~ Voltaire, Candide

I have been in several provinces. In some one-half of the people are fools, in others they are too cunning; in some they are weak and simple, in others they affect to be witty; in all, the principal occupation is love, the next is slander, and the third is talking nonsense. ~ Voltaire, Candide

A fondness for roving, for making a name for themselves in their own country, and for boasting of what they had seen in their travels, was so strong in our two wanderers, that they resolved to be no longer happy; and demanded permission of the king to leave the country. ~ Voltaire, Candide

He vainly said that human will is free, and that he chose neither the one nor the other. ~ Voltaire, Candide

All that is very well, but let us cultivate our garden. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[The Tudor Room where we had the good fortune to lunch all week . . . ]

His face was the true index of his mind. ~ Voltaire, Candide

Alas, it was love; love, the comfort of the human species; love, the preserver of the universe; the soul of all sensible beings; love! tender love! ~ Voltaire, Candide

My friend, do you believe the Pope to be Anti-Christ? I have not heard it, but whether he be, or whether he be not, I want bread. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[The oversight committee . . . ]

Do you think that mankind always massacred one another as they do now? Were they always guilty of lies, fraud, treachery, ingratitude, inconstancy, envy, ambition, and cruelty? Were they always thieves, fools, cowards, gluttons, drunkards, misers, calumniators, debauchees, fanatics, and hypocrites? ~ Voltaire, Candide

[This was a travelogue of Tanzania. Ready for an IU adventure?]

Apparently, then, sir, you do not believe in original sin; for if all is for the best there has then been neither Fall nor punishment. ~ Voltaire, Candide

I have seen so many extraordinary things that nothing seems extraordinary to me. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[This is at least the second Mini-U class we have taken from Dr. Pilachowski . . . ]

We are at the end of all our troubles, and at the beginning of happiness. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[An amazing class with beautiful photos by the Webb . . . ]

It must also be noted that until the present time this malady, like religious controversy, has been wholly confined to the continent of Europe. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[h]e would tell us most amazing things in regard to the physical and moral evils that overspread earth and sea. ~ Voltaire, Candide

Martin especially concluded that man was born to live either in a state of distracting inquietude or of lethargic disgust. ~ Voltaire, Candide

I did not know it was a crime for a Christian to be found naked in company with a young Turk. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[a] plagiarizing enemy “steals much, spends little, and has nothing left. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[Dining in Alumni Hall prior to the following evening class . . . ]

There is some pleasure in having no pleasure. ~ Voltaire, Candide

Imagine all contradictions, all possible incompatibilities–you will find them in the government, in the law-courts, in the churches, in the public shows of this droll nation. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[Pre-program stage mingling . . . ]

[t]he women are never at a loss, God provides for them, let us run. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[A selfie with The Biddies in the background as the auditorium fills . . . ]

Isn’t there a pleasure in criticising everything and discovering faults where other men detect beauties? ~ Voltaire, Candide

[At the time of this class, of course, nobody had any idea of the shenanigans SCOTUS was up to . . . ]

A great work must be novel without being far-fetched, frequently sublime, but always natural. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[We wrapped up another year of Mini-University this night with our annual favorite, Margie Hershey, a liberal, discussing the upcoming election. She was joined on stage by conservative Les Lenkowsky in the 400-seat Whittenberger Auditorium. It was wonderful to listen to two people discuss this with good humor, full and complete sentences in front of a surely liberal yet appreciative audience . . . ]

[t]he nose has been formed to bear spectacles—thus we have spectacles. ~ Voltaire, Candide

June 14

Music, to-day, is only the art of executing difficult things, and that which is only difficult cannot please long. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[West Side Story, with terrific video clips combined from the 1961 and 2021 movies, and Candide . . . ]

Alas…I too have known love, that ruler of hearts, that soul of our soul: it’s never brought me anything except one kiss and twenty kicks in the rump. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[My whole schtick for the Mini-U blog came from this class. The idea of using Lillian Hellman and Voltaire quotes throughout came from a Professor Glen slide containing a two-word phrase that I cannot recall for the life of me. I’m waiting for the slides of all classes to become available . . . ]

All is for the best in the best of possible worlds. ~ Voltaire, Candide

Let us work without disputing; it is the only way to render life tolerable. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[And even more eating in Alumni Hall . . . ]

[b]ut whether he be, or whether he be not, I want bread. ~ Voltaire, Candide

Fools admire everything in an author of reputation. For my part, I read only to please myself. I like only that which serves my purpose. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[w]ho demonstrated by A plus B minus C divided by Z, that the sheep must be red, and die of the rot. ~ Voltaire, Candide

My friend, you see how perishable are the riches of this world; there is nothing solid but virtue, and the happiness of seeing Cunegonde once more. ~ Voltaire, Candide

[On the way home, we stopped in Terre Haute, Indiana, to visit with Ruthie’s sister, brother, and their families. This is the impressive Vigo County Courthouse in Terre Haute (the courthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983) . . . ]

Everywhere in the world, the weak detest the strong and grovel before them. And the strong treat them like flocks of sheep to be sold for their meat and wool. ~ Voltaire, Candide

We are also to observe that upon our continent, this distemper is like religious controversy, confined to a particular spot. ~ Voltaire, Candide

Up Next: The amazing life and times of Basketball Dan . . .

June 30

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. ~ Voltaire

The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire. ~ Voltaire

It is called Mini-University for a reason. It was now time to go to class. ~ Me

In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation. ~ Voltaire

June 10

When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion. ~ Voltaire

[The Biddies, sitting in line, for breakfast on the first day of class . . . ]

All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women. ~ Voltaire

[The Biddies breakfasting on that beautiful morning on the Solatium patio . . . ]

Let us read and let us dance – two amusements that will never do any harm to the world. ~ Voltaire

[Our classmates also breakfasting on the patio . . . ]

The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination. ~ Voltaire

[Welcome, in Alumni Hall!]

Everything’s fine today, that is our illusion. ~ Voltaire

[Our hosts with opening greetings . . . ]

I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow. ~ Voltaire

[Anne Schertz, annually the event’s professional photographer . . . ]

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes. ~ Voltaire

[Alumni Hall, in its elegance . . . ]

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. ~ Winston Churchill

LET (MY) CLASSES BEGIN

Mini University 2024 – Class Selection Form
June 10, 2024 to June 14, 2024
Thomas Obert

Monday
Session One 9:45—11 A.M.
Free Speech ‘Hate Speech’ and Campus Culture War
Session Two 1—2:15 P.M.
3 Billion Missing Birds
Session Three 2:45—4 P.M.
Why Is Socialism Still a Bad Word in America?: American Christianity and the Labor Movement

Tuesday
Session One 9—11 A.M.
How and Why Birds Sing
Session Two 1—2:15 P.M.
Russia-Ukraine War: Update and Prospects for Resolution
Session Three 2:45—4 P.M.
Update on the US Supreme Court

Wednesday
Session One 9—11 A.M.
Literature of the Sea
Session Two 1—2:15 P.M.
How Can a Book Help Us Lead Better Lives: Marilynne Robinson’s ‘Gilead’
Session Three 2:45—4 P.M.
Doctor My Eyes (Have Seen the Years)

Thursday
Session One 9—11 A.M.
The Coming World ‘Baby Bust’ and Its Implications
Session Two 1—2:15 P.M.
Tanzania: Steward of Biodiversity and Human Evolution
Session Three 2:45—4 P.M.
Exploring the Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope
Evening Events
The Upcoming 2024 Election: What to Expect

Friday
Session One 9—10:15 A.M.
Leonard Bernstein’s Music and Social Change

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another. ~ Voltaire

[I had Carl for a class last year. I found him equally delicious this time . . . ]

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. ~ Voltaire

[For those keeping score at home, this is the Georgian Room (I had several classes here) . . . ]

Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men. ~ Voltaire

To the wicked, everything serves as pretext. ~ Voltaire

[The introduction of Professor Weinberg . . . ]

Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause. ~ Voltaire

[Yes, IU did have “Middle East protest camps” on campus . . . ]

To hold a pen is to be at war. ~ Voltaire

[This is Professor James Madison. I had him for a class last year, so I do remember stuff from year-to-year. I could have had him for “My Heroes in the Struggle for Racial Justice,” but I opted for finding out what happened to “3 Billion Missing Birds.”]

Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them. ~ Voltaire

[Next class . . . ]

It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one. ~ Voltaire

[Again, in the Georgian room . . . ]

Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die. ~ Voltaire

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes. ~ Voltaire

[The first question from Professor Drake was about the impact of socialism on our lives. I leapt into fray first and noted that we have roads . . . ]

It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce. ~ Voltaire

The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year. ~ Voltaire

[Here comes that religion thing again . . . ]

The safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death. ~ Voltaire

[So, the current trend is not new . . . ]

The superfluous, a very necessary thing. ~ Voltaire

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another. ~ Voltaire

[The university made arrangements with local restaurants to feed us one night . . . ]

Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable. ~ Voltaire

[A bus ride to Lennie’s, hard by the IU campus. Greeted by the previously referenced photographer, Anne Schertz, and locals appreciating elderly students . . . ]

What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy. ~ Voltaire

Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers. ~ Voltaire

[Inside Lennie’s . . . ]

Use, do not abuse… neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy. ~ Voltaire

[Under the auspices of Mini-U, I took 4 co-eds out to dinner that night . . . ]

We cannot always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly. ~ Voltaire

The multitude of books is making us ignorant. ~ Voltaire

[The soups were black bean and split pea with ham, my two favorites. So I ordered both and reached nirvana . . . ]

Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent. ~ Voltaire

Ice-cream is exquisite – what a pity it isn’t illegal. ~ Voltaire

[Leaving Lennie’s . . . ]

I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil. ~ Voltaire

[Looking up the street from Lennie’s, the Sample Gates entry to the IU campus . . . ]

The public is a ferocious beast; one must either chain it or flee from it. ~ Voltaire

He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise. ~ Voltaire

[IU campus model . . . ]

June 11

Let us work without theorizing, tis the only way to make life endurable. ~ Voltaire

Love has features which pierce all hearts, he wears a bandage which conceals the faults of those beloved. He has wings, he comes quickly and flies away the same. ~ Voltaire

It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue. ~ Voltaire

Society therefore is as ancient as the world. ~ Voltaire

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. ~ Voltaire

[Ruthie leads the march into the Whittenberger room because this was the class that should have been streamed on all carriers of such . . . ]

Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes. ~ Voltaire

[Professor Kravchuk laid out a scenario that made one wish one was wearing Depends . . . ]

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. ~ Voltaire

[And now SCOTUS has thrown this open to a totally autocratic endeavor . . . ]

Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others? ~ Voltaire

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. ~ Voltaire

Prejudices are what fools use for reason. ~ Voltaire

[I’d like to take this class again – NOW!]

He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead. ~ Voltaire

[The professor presented in a dry and a fact-laced performance. I wonder how he would present this today?]

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. ~ Voltaire

[In the early United States most judges did not wear robes, except for the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. Judicial robes reminded the founders of being ruled by England, since English judges wore robes and wigs in court and for other ceremonies. At the beginning of the 20th century, judges across the U.S. began to change their minds. They started to think of the robe as an important symbol of justice. By 1909 justices of the Michigan Supreme Court wore judicial robes when they met in the courtroom at the State Capitol in Lansing. It took many years before all trial court judges wore robes in court. Many preferred to wear business suits instead of judicial robes. Some said that robes were too hot in summer. Others thought that wearing a robe did not automatically make a person a good judge. Over time, more and more judges believed that robes added dignity to the courtroom. In 1973 a court rule was adopted that said all judges and justices must wear a judicial robe while on the bench. There is a similar rule today content.govdelivery.com/)]

Clever tyrants are never punished. ~ Voltaire

[Yes, it is my opinion that judicial robes have endowed the wearers with a grandeur far beyond that anticipated for an allegedly egalitarian society . . . ]

All styles are good except the tiresome kind. ~ Voltaire

[A lovely night for fine dining with friends we have known for many years through the IU alumni camp, Camp Brosius . . . ]

Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts. ~ Voltaire

[The gorgeous setting of their backyard. I seem to recall 47 varieties of Japanese maples . . . ]

A witty saying proves nothing. ~ Voltaire

The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease. ~ Voltaire

Up Next: Mini-U (Part 3)

June 21

You don’t need to be a data scientist to connect the dots between the readership plunge for traditional journalism, Trump’s sustained popularity, and some stunning recent statistics, like the 17 percent of voters who blame the pro-abortion rights President Joe Biden for overturning ‘Roe v. Wade’, or the 49 percent who believe U.S. unemployment is at a 50-year high when it’s at a 50-year low. Many voters aren’t afraid of looming autocracy because 76 percent of Americans know little or nothing about Project 2025, the far-right’s 900-page blueprint for a Trump dictatorship. ~ Will Bunch

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. ~ Benjamin Franklin

We left hearth and home at 6:30 A.M. on June 7. 12 1/2 hours and 798.5 miles later we arrived at Ruthie’s sister’s (Rita) home in Nashville, Indiana. Ruthie drove the entire trip (it’s fine with me because she does not make a good passenger). As indicated by the title of this screed, we were there to attend Mini-U at Indiana University in Bloomington. This was Mini-U’s 53rd year, it was the 4th for Ruthie and me – 2017, 2022-2024 (2020 and 2021 were COVIDed out). As Woody Allen postulated in Annie Hall, ”Cause adult education’s a wonderful thing. You meet a lotta interesting professors.’

Mini-U is a week long event. This year there were 67 classes available for the 400 attendees – registration for classes is very similar to how we did it in our original college days. Most of the attendees had one class every morning and two classes every afternoon, with occasional evening classes tossed in to see if we could remain awake that long. All-in-all, a good educational time was had by all. ~ Me

The only good thing about [aging] is you’re not dead. ~ Lillian Hellman [Lillian Florence Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, prose writer, memoirist, and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway, as well as her communist sympathies and political activism. She was blacklisted after her appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) at the height of the anti-communist campaigns of 1947–1952. Although she continued to work on Broadway in the 1950s, her blacklisting by the American film industry caused a drop in her income. Many praised Hellman for refusing to answer questions by HUAC, but others believed, despite her denial, that she had belonged to the Communist Party (Wikipedia).]

June 7

I like people who refuse to speak until they are ready to speak. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Beanblossom, also spelled Bean Blossom, is an unincorporated community in Brown County. The town was named for the nearby Beanblossom Creek, which was in turn named for a person whose surname was Beanblossom. Beanblossom is located about four miles (6 km) north of Nashville (population 1,258) at the intersection of state roads 45 and 135 (Wikipedia).]

People change and forget to tell each other. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Beanblossom (population 3,133) on Bill Monroe Memorial Highway.]

Things start out as hopes and end up as habits. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Bean Blossom is best known as the home of the Bill Monroe Memorial Music Park and Campground, a 55-acre (220,000 m²) wooded campground which for more than 60 years has hosted music performances (mostly country and bluegrass), first at the Brown County Jamboree barn and currently at outdoor stages. A bluegrass festival (currently called the Bill Monroe Memorial Festival) has been held every June since 1967 and is the longest continuously-running bluegrass festival in the world (Wikipedia).]

June 8

Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Rita thought Ruthie really needed to carb-up after her long previous-day’s drive . . . ]

It is best to act with confidence, no matter how little right you have to it. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Early trip highlight: Rita’s 50-year old dishwasher (the same age as her daughter) crapped out the day before we arrived. Remember when push buttons were really buttons?]

You lose your manners when you are poor. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Our fellow classmates from Ft. Wayne arranged a pontoon ride on Lake Monroe for all of us the day before reporting for classes. The lake is 10,750 acres in size (Editor’s note: Think Gull Lake in Nisswa), the largest body of water in Indiana. Its watershed covers 441 square miles, extending into six counties. The lake itself is in Monroe County, with portions extending into Brown and Jackson counties. Maximum lake depth is 54 feet with an average depth of 17.3 feet. Capacity varies from 292 gigalitres (237,000 acre⋅ft) to 428 gigalitres (347,000 acre⋅ft) depending on water level (lakemonroewaterfund.org).]

Success isn’t everything but it makes a man stand straight. ~ Lillian Hellman

[The Biddies heading down to the docks and our pontoon . . . ]

There are people who eat the earth and eat all the people on it like in the Bible with the locusts. And other people who stand around and watch them eat. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Looking back from Fourwinds Marina at the hotel from an incredible marine display of rental pontoons . . . ]

Nothing you write, if you hope to be good, will ever come out as you first hoped. ~ Lillian Hellman

[A view of available watercraft . . . ]

If you believe, as the Greeks did, that man is at the mercy of the gods, then you write tragedy. The end is inevitable from the beginning. But if you believe that man can solve his own problems and is at nobody’s mercy, then you will probably write melodrama. ~ Lillian Hellman

[And more of the same . . . ]

Nobody outside of a baby carriage or a judge’s chamber believes in an unprejudiced point of view. ~ Lillian Hellman

[And even more of the same . . . ]

Unjust. How many times I’ve used that word, scolded myself with it. All I mean by it now is that I don’t have the final courage to say that I refuse to preside over violations against myself, and to hell with justice. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, A tale of a fateful trip, That started from this tropic port,
Aboard this tiny ship, The mate was a mighty sailing man, The skipper brave and sure, Five passengers set sail that day, For a three hour tour, a three hour tour . . . ]

What a word is truth. Slippery, tricky, unreliable. I tried in these books to tell the truth. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Rita, Vick, Ruthie, and Scott (a/k/a, the DOM) . . . ]

If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don’t listen to writers talking about writing or themselves. ~ Lillian Hellman

It’s a sad day when you find out that it’s not accident or time or fortune, but just yourself that kept things from you. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Entering the lake . . . ]

I’m too old to recover, too narrow to forgive myself. ~ Lillian Hellman

[A restaurant boat . . . ]

Writers are interesting people, but often mean and petty. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Prototypical Minnesota-type lake home . . . ]

[France] may be the only country in the world where the rich are sometimes brilliant. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Prototypical Minnesota-type pontoon . . . ]

(I did not connect the grown men and women in literature with the grown men and women I saw around me. They were, to me, another species.) ~ Lillian Hellman

[Well, this is a lake created from a river . . . ]

Very thin ladies, any age, with hand sewing on them, have always frightened me, beginning with a rich great-aunt and her underwear embroidered by nuns. The more bones that show on women the more inferior I feel. ~ Lillian Hellman

Intellectuals can tell themselves anything, sell themselves any bill of goods, which is why they were so often patsies for the ruling classes in nineteenth-century France and England, or twentieth-century Russia and America. ~ Lillian Hellman

Since when do you have to agree with people to defend them from injustice? ~ Lillian Hellman

[The public cruise ship . . . ]

Nobody knows what you want except you, and no one will be as sorry as you if you don’t get it. ~ Lillian Hellman

Nothing, of course, begins at the time you think it did. ~ Lillian Hellman

[The Ft. Wayners at the helm . . . ]

Drinking makes uninteresting people matter less and late at night, matter not at all. ~ Lillian Hellman

Fashions in sin change. ~ Lillian Hellman

[The Biddies at rest . . . ]

You can’t recover from what you do not understand. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Contrary to what you may think you see in the background, Indiana does not have snowcapped mountains . . . ]

Nowadays people write English as if a rat were caught in the typewriter and they were trying to hit the keys which wouldn’t disturb it. ~ Lillian Hellman

Don’t you think people often say other people are tough when they do not know how to cheat them? ~ Lillian Hellman

[We’ve arrived at the causeway from our start at the Fairfax area (see map at the top) . . . ]

Freedom costs you a great deal. ~ Lillian Hellman

[The causeway . . . ]

. . . I long ago came to the conclusion that I was not a political person and could have no comfortable place in any political group. ~ Lillian Hellman

You do too much. Go and do nothing for a while. Nothing. ~ Lillian Hellman

No one can argue any longer about the rights of women. It’s like arguing about earthquakes. ~ Lillian Hellman

Mama seemed to do only what my father wanted, and yet we lived the way my mother wanted us to live. ~ Lillian Hellman

You are what you are. It is my opinion that trouble in the world comes from people who do not know what they are, and pretend to be something they’re not. ~ Lillian Hellman

Rebels seldom make good revolutionaries, because organized action, even union with other people, is not possible for them. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Putting the propeller to the metal as we sprint for home . . . ]

Callous greed grows pious very fast. ~ Lillian Hellman

[The DOM occasionally liked to drive from an upright position . . . ]

Courtesy is breeding. Breeding is an excellent thing. Always remember that. ~ Lillian Hellman

[After our cruise, we dined at Sahm’s at Eagle Point Golf Club . . . ]

I wanted to see what was there for me once, what is there for me now. ~ Lillian Hellman

[The drive home to Nashville . . . ]

How often the rich like to play at being poor. A rather nasty game, I’ve always thought. ~ Lillian Hellman

A room of one’s own isn’t nearly enough. A house, or, best, an island of one’s own. ~ Lillian Hellman

Maybe money is unreal for most of us, easier to give away than things we want. ~ Lillian Hellman

[Arriving in beautiful downtown Nashville, 18.6 miles directly east of Bloomington . . . ]

Fear comes with middle age. ~ Lillian Hellman

[12.9 miles]

June 9

Haven’t you lived in the South long enough to know that nothing is ever anybody’s fault? ~ Lillian Hellman

[18.6 miles with John Mellencamp’s house somewhere in between . . . ]

History is made by masses of people. One man, or ten men, don’t start the earthquakes and don’t stop them either. Only hero worshipers and ignorant historians think they do. ~ Lillian Hellman

[The Biddies at Bruster’s in Bloomington. An automatic stop place like the DQ in Albany and the Tip Top in Osakis . . . ]

We are a people who do not want to keep much of the past in our heads. It is considered unhealthy in America to remember mistakes, neurotic to think about them, psychotic to dwell on them. ~ Lillian Hellman

As one grows older, one realizes how little one knows about any relationship, or even about oneself. ~ Lillian Hellman

[As students at IU, The Biddies seldom missed an IU basketball game . . . ]

It doesn’t pay well to fight for what we believe in. ~ Lillian Hellman

I’m good at embroidery. It’s what I always wanted to do…. Yep, instead of whoring, I just wanted to do fancy embroidery. ~ Lillian Hellman

[A personal claim to fame. As personal valet to Basketball Dan, we attended the 1976 NCAA championship game at the Spectrum in Philadelphia where Indiana defeated Michigan to complete an undefeated season. No team has subsequently accomplished that feat . . . ]

The past, with its pleasures, its rewards, its foolishness, its punishments, is there for each of us forever, and it should be. ~ Lillian Hellman

Decision by democratic majority vote is a fine form of government, but it’s a stinking way to create. ~ Lillian Hellman

I’ve always had great satisfaction out of writing the plays . . . It’s a fine feeling to walk into the theater and see living people respond to something you’ve done. ~ Lillian Hellman

[I was able to join The Biddies in a photo op when a guy from Nebraska showed up. He was there as just a fan of college campuses . . . ]

A man should be jailed for telling lies to the young. ~ Lillian Hellman

[The Perfect Season . . . ]

We all lead more pedestrian lives than we think we do. The boiling of an egg is sometimes more important than the boiling of a love affair in the end. ~ Lillian Hellman

[The Biddies with the IU football stadium . . . ]

Like all former thinkers, I’m writing a book. ~ Lillian Hellman

The world is out of shape when there are hungry men. ~ Lillian Hellman

[With The Biddies, checking in at The Biddle (Hotel and Conference Center) . . . ]

I live in a room and I go to work and I play a game called getting through the day while you wait for the night. ~ Lillian Hellman

A theme is always necessary, a plain, simple, unadorned theme to confuse the ignorant. ~ Lillian Hellman

[ . . . and classes begin tomorrow . . . ]

Some people are democrats by choice, and some by necessity. ~ Lillian Hellman

You can always spot clothes made in a good place. ~ Lillian Hellman

Up Next: Part 2, classes begin . . .

June 6

You want to know the secret of life? It is to breathe in and out. ~ Rodriguez

Welcome to the end of the earth. OK, we even have friends who have been to Antarctica, but it was still cool to visit the place referred to as the end of the earth. And Ushuaia is a cool sounding name. So, what’s not to like? ~ Me

And the mystery of life? You never know when it is going to end.  ~  Rodriguez

December 30

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. ~ Mark Twain

Would you believe, a quarter century has passed since Y2K? ~ Me

[Beagle Channel is a 150 milelong (240 km) strait in the Tierra de Fuego archipelago in the southern tip of South America.  Also, Glacier Alley is a short stretch of Beagle Channel, that showcases 5 tidewater glaciers, named after European countries.  These massive blue glaciers inch down the Darwin Mountains from the Southern Patagonia’s Darwin Icefield.  Furthermore, the Darwin Icefield covers 2,500 square km of Isla Grande, the largest island in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. The channel is named after its voyage, made by the HMS Beagle, with the Naturalist Charles Darwin on his way to the Galapagos Islands (truewindhealingtravel.com).]

Would you believe, a half century has passed since the last undefeated NCAA men’s basketball champion? ~ Me

[The glaciers of Glacier Alley . . . ]

2011, for example, lasted for an entire year. It was shortly thereafter that cracks began to appear in my bodily infrastructure. ~ Me

I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list. ~ Susan Sontag

Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. ~ Gustave Flaubert

Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends. ~ Pat Conroy

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature. ~ Helen Keller

[The view from our balcony of the ship’s bridge, where the officers keep an eye out for pirates (just kidding!) . . . ]

If you are going through hell, keep going. ~ Winston Churchill

[Yup, glacier . . . ]

Live your life by a compass not a clock. ~ Stephen Covey

[Ruthie ISO Ushuaia . . . ]

Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you travelled. ~ Mohammed

[And there’s Ushuaia, population 82,000 . . . ]

Going on a trip. Need about 5 outfits. I’ve packed 35 just to be safe. ~ Anonymous

If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home. ~ James A. Michener

[Ushuaia is really my kind of place. Beautiful geographic setting, between the mountains and the sea; 54 degrees south latitude (think Saskatchewan); the average temperature for the coldest month is 34, for the warmest month it’s 49 (surrounded by two oceans, certainly not a continental climate) . . . ]

Nothing lasts forever, except the day before you start your vacation. ~ Gayland Anderson

[Another cruise ship (duh!) . . . ]

A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for. ~ Grace Hopper

I wonder if the ocean smells different on the other side of the world. ~ J.A. Redmerski

Adventure is just bad planning. ~ Roald Amundsen

[Who knew National Geographic had such boats?]

Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions. ~ Peter Hoeg

[Piers are always a photographers paradise . . . ]

If you don’t know where you’re going any road will do. ~ Lewis Carroll

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance. ~ Alton Brown

To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries. ~ Aldous Huxley

Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. ~ Steve Jobs

Take only memories, leave only footprints. ~ Chief Seattle

[We’re heading out for a boat tour of Beagle Channel . . . ]

[And if there’s a wind, your tour boat windows will appear as such . . . ]

Drink heavily with the locals whenever possible. ~ Anthony Bourdain

[Little Ole was tempted by the South American version of a pasty . . . ]

Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life. ~ Michael Palin

[She was our fun host of this excursion. Unfortunately, because Ruthie and I had to sacrifice our Mensa membership for age related reasons, we can no longer remember her name . . . ]

People don’t take trips, trips take people. ~ John Steinbeck

Travel is like an endless university. You never stop learning. ~ Harvey Lloyd

A road trip is a way for the whole family to spend time together and annoy each other in interesting new places. ~ Tom Lichtenheld

I believe God did intend, in giving us intelligence, to give us the opportunity to investigate and appreciate the wonders of His creation. He is not threatened by our scientific adventures. ~ Francis Collins

If you are of sound mind and body, many exciting and challenging adventures are within your reach irrespective of your age. ~ Gad Saad

[It’s a photo shoot-off . . . ]

A lot of people go off and have fun adventures, or hard adventures, and their impulse is to write about them right away. What really makes a difference is having some perspective on what happened. ~ Cheryl Strayed [Editor’s note: But my perspective has been getting out of hand.]

When you’re in your 40s, you become more conscious of life being of limited duration and that you need to create memories and go on little adventures from time to time. ~ Louis Theroux [Editor’s note: Wait till you’re in your 70’s!]

The inherent purpose of American government is let people seek their own goals and to encourage them to be responsible on the various adventures they have on their way to those goals, good, bad, and otherwise. ~ P. J. O’Rourke

Girls just want to have fun. ~ Cyndi Lauper

I want to be the one to walk in the sun… ~ Cyndi Lauper

Adventures are to the adventurous. ~ Benjamin Disraeli

[We’re in the Beagle Channel, for Pete’s sake . . . ]

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends. ~ Maya Angelou

Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world. ~ George Bernard Shaw

If you don’t know where you are, a map won’t help. ~ Watts Humphrey

[Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse (the French name “Les Éclaireurs” means “the Scouts”) is a slightly conically shaped lighthouse standing on the northeastern most island of the five or more Les Eclaireurs islands, which it takes its name from, 5 nautical miles (9 km) east of Ushuaia in the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego (Wikipedia).]

The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it. ~ Rudyard Kipling

[Well, we were promised penguins and sea lions . . . ]

All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary. ~ Sally Ride

Never say ‘no’ to adventures. Always say ‘yes’, otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life. ~ Ian Fleming

We live, we die, and the wheels on the bus go round and round. ~ Jack Nicholson

[Photo by the aforementioned “we forgot her name” . . . ]

Don’t worry about the world ending today, it’s already tomorrow in Australia. ~ Charles M. Schulz

Adventure, yeah. I guess that’s what you call it when everybody comes back alive. ~ Mercedes Lackey

[And this was the back window, a bit of ocean spray when traveling at speed . . . ]

If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal. ~ Paulo Coelho

[The brick-built tower is 11 metres (36 ft) high and 3 metres (10 ft) wide at the base, with its windowless wall painted red-white-red and topped by a black lantern housing and gallery. Only a door pointing to the west provides access to the building. The light is 22.5 metres (74 ft) above sea level emitting white flashes every ten seconds with a range of 7.5 nautical miles (13.9 km). The lighthouse is still in operation, is remote-controlled, automated, uninhabited and is not open to the public, guarding the sea entrance to Ushuaia. Electricity is supplied by solar panels. The lighthouse was put into service on December 23, 1920. It is a popular tourist attraction, reached on short boat tours from Ushuaia. It is known to the Argentines as the Lighthouse at the End of the World, although that name is misleading. The lighthouse is often confused with the San Juan de Salvamento lighthouse on the east coast of the remote Isla de los Estados, made famous by Jules Verne in the novel “The Lighthouse at the End of the World, which is actually much further east (Wikipedia).]

I need a 6-month vacation twice a year. ~ Unknown

[“Oh, the places I have seen.” ~ Little Ole]

We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. ~ Jawaharlal Nehru

The worst thing about being a tourist, is having other tourists recognise you as a tourist! ~ Russell Baker

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. ~ Winston Churchill

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. ~ Lao Tzu

At the end of the day, if I can say I had fun, it was a good day. ~ Simone Biles

Up Next: Day 11, Part 2 . . .

May 24

If the automobile had followed the same development as the computer, a Rolls Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year killing everyone inside. ~ Robert Cringely

With few ambitions, most people allowed efficient machines to perform everyday tasks for them. Gradually, humans ceased to think, or dream… or truly live. ~ Brian Herbert

December 29

There is unexpected beauty hidden everywhere in this world — one just has to be open to seeing it. Remember that the next time you sneeze on your monitor. ~ Nathan Walton

[Continuing our tour of Palacio Sara Braun in Punta Arenas . . . ]

I can only imagine the deprivation and loneliness you will feel from a lack of human companionship when your 1000 free AOL hours run out. ~ Nate B.

[The previously aforementioned Supervisor as an art photographer . . . ]

OK, so the computer has understood, but what about me? ~ Eugene Wigner, about numerical simulations

[The aforementioned Sara Braun . . . ]

It took me many years but I have gained access to the root account and have removed the user God. ~ Saros (Jeff Batten)

[What’s more fun (and dangerous) than a spiral staircase . . . ]

Crap… Someone knocked over my recycle bin… There’s icons all over my desktop... ~ billiam

[What, another selfie?]

I don’t care if you ARE getting a PhD in it ! Get away from that damn computer and go find a woman! ~ Paul Tyma’s dad

[Muñoz Gamero, also known as Plaza de Armas, a public space located in Punta Arenas. The square was declared a Typical Zone in 1991 by the National Monuments Council. In the center there is a bronze sculpture that was inaugurated in 1920 and represents the navigator Hernando de Magellan (Wikipedia). Photo taken from Palacio de Armas . . . ]

You know you’re a geek when… You try to shoo a fly away from the monitor with your cursor. That just happened to me. It was scary. ~ Juuso Heimonen

[Walking out and around Palacio Sara Braun, across the street from Plaza de Armas . . . ]

Procter & Gamble, for example, uses an SGI system to study the aerodynamics of Pringle’s potato chips! ~ From a ZDnet article

[The Sara Braun restaurant in the glass enclosure in the above photo . . . ]

Software suppliers are trying to make their software packages more user-friendly… Their best approach, so far, has been to take all the old brochures, and stamp the words, ‘user-friendly’ on the cover. ~ Bill Gates

[Magallanes Intendance building . . . ]

The ultimate metric that I would like to propose for user friendliness is quite simple: if this system was a person, how long would it take before you punched it in the nose? ~ Tom Carey

[Some really big (and old?) trees in the plaza . . . ]

The Internet? Is that thing still around? ~ Homer Simpson

 [Catedral Sagrado Corazon in the background . . . ]

I get mail, therefore I am. ~ Scott Adams

[Ruthie approaches Ferdinand Magellan in the center of the plaza . . . ]

The Internet is the end of civilizations, cultures, interests and ethics. ~ Official Iraqi government statement

[And here he is in all this glory . . . ]

Any idiot can put up a website. ~ Patricia Briggs

Come to think of it, there are already a million monkeys on a million typewriters, and Usenet is nothing like Shakespeare.  ~ Blair Houghton

Every operating system out there is about equal… We all suck. ~ Brian Valentine, Microsoft senior vice president, the state of the art in OS security, 2003

[Magellan as seen through one of the big (old?) trees . . . ]

I wonder what Jesus would do if He had to reload Windows 95 for the eighth time today? ~ Mirabour Gilbride

Microsoft is not the answer. Microsoft is the question. NO is the answer. ~ Erik Naggum

[Foot fetish?]

Man is a slow, sloppy, and brilliant thinker; computers are fast, accurate, and stupid. ~ John Pfeiffer

Microsoft went into orbit because it had a booster rocket attached to it called IBM. ~ Bill Gates

[The Super supplies perspective . . . ]

Brilliance is typically the act of an individual, but incredible stupidity can usually be traced to an organization. ~ Jon Bentley

Windows95: It’s like upgrading from Reagan to Bush. ~ Andy G. Ihnatko

[When a new perspective is needed, old so-and-so leaps into the fray . . . ]

They say if you play a Microsoft CD backwards, you hear satanic messages. That’s nothing, ’cause if you play it forwards, it installs Windows. ~ Alluvium

[From a city overlook, Le Yegua Loca (Crazy Mare), boutique hotel and restaurant, where we would dine . . . ]

I still love books. Nothing a computer can do can compare to a book. You can’t really put a book on the Internet. ~ Ray Bradbury

[From here we could see our boat . . . ]

Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy. ~ Joseph Campbell

Don’t explain computers to laymen. Simpler to explain sex to a virgin. ~ Robert A. Heinlein

Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly. ~ Roger Ebert

No one messes around with a nerd’s computer and escapes unscathed. ~ E.A. Bucchianeri

[The Super beginning our switchback stairway to the restaurant . . . ]

now it’s computers and more computers, and soon everybody will have one, 3-year-olds will have computers, and everybody will know everything about everybody else long before they meet them. nobody will want to meet anybody else ever again and everybody will be a recluse
like I am now. ~ Charles Bukowski

[Unable to find in the vast bowels of the internet?]

There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary numerals, and those who don’t. ~ Ian Stewart

[“It’s this way!”]

Now, 75 years [after “To Kill a Mockingbird”], in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books. ~ Harper Lee

[The crazy mare greets entrance to the restaurant . . . ]

A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention with the possible exceptions of handguns and Tequila. ~ Mitch Ratcliffe

[A lovely setting, darned if I can remember the bill of fare . . . ]

I am convinced that grandkids are inherently evil people who tell their grandparents to “just go to the library and open up an e-mail account – it’s free and so simple.” ~ Scott Douglas

[Our escape from the Falklands . . . ]

I really didn’t foresee the Internet. But then, neither did the computer industry. Not that that tells us very much of course–the computer industry didn’t even foresee that the century was going to end. ~ Douglas Adams

Asked about the fact that Apple’s iTunes software for Windows computers was extremely popular, Jobs joked, ‘It’s like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell.’ ~ Walter Isaacson

[And now on the “road” again . . . ]

Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity ~ Albert Einstein

I am not the only person who uses his computer mainly for the purpose of diddling with his computer. ~ Dave Barry

The best computer is a man, and it’s the only one that can be mass-produced by unskilled labor. ~ Wernher Von Braun

Up Next: Day 11 . . .

May 3

I keep having people say, ‘Gee, it’s like we’re living in a Stephen King story.’ And my only response to that is, ‘I’m sorry.’ ~ Stephen King

Today we feature quotes about The Big Lie. No, not that Big Lie. The Big Life that computers were going to make our lives so much easier. I’ve been struggling to blog our South America trip (which ended some four months ago) in some sort of expeditious manner. Unfortunately, this computer often has other ideas. We have literally spent days trying unravel the latest attacks from Jewish space lasers and Italian satellites. Any computer updates beyond our control lead to long term recovery programs. I have twice “emptied” this computer of all programs and then re-installed everything. The common denominator in all these events is that it takes time to recover. I had to give up on stories about both our boys and girls basketball teams excelling in state tournaments. I haven’t been able to cover the usual entertainment features. Nevertheless, I will persist . . . ~ Me

There ain’t any answer, there ain’t going to be any answer, there never has been any answer, that’s the answer. ~ Gertrude Stein

December 29

A printer consists of three main parts: the case, the jammed paper tray and the blinking red light. ~ Dave Barry

[Punta Arenas (historically known as Sandy Point in English) is the capital city of Chile’s southernmost region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. Although officially renamed as Magallanes in 1927, the name was changed back to Punta Arenas in 1938. The city is the largest south of the 46th parallel south and the most populous southernmost city in Chile and the Americas. Due to its location, it is also the coldest coastal city with more than 100,000 inhabitants in Latin America. Punta Arenas is one of the world’s most southerly ports and serves as an Antarctic gateway city. Located on the Brunswick Peninsula, Punta Arenas is among the largest cities in Patagonia. In 2012, it had a population of 127,454. It is roughly 1,419 km (882 mi) from the coast of Antarctica and 635 km (395 mi) from Ushuaia, the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra Del Fuego (Wikipedia).]

Any fool can use a computer. Many do. ~ Ted Nelson

[Land, ho!]

If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in. ~ Edsger Dijkstra

[Why yes, our stateroom was situated amazingly close to the bridge . . . ]

The computer was born to solve problems that did not exist before. ~ Bill Gates

[We apparently beat out another cruise ship for pier docking rights . . . ]

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning. ~ Rick Cook

[The helpful tug helps situate out boat . . . ]

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. ~ Emo Philips

I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them. ~ Isaac Asimov

[Moving into direct pier access as seen from our room . . . ]

To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer. ~ Paul R. Ehrlich

[The view of the Jupiter from the land side . . . ]

The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether submarines can swim. ~ Edsger Dijkstra

On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key. ~ Scott Adams

[A whale tail and the Super . . . ]

Computers are good at following instructions, but not at reading your mind. ~ Donald Knuth

[And even more pictures of our boat . . . ]

A computer will do what you tell it to do, but that may be much different from what you had in mind. ~ Joseph Weizenbaum

Computer language design is just like a stroll in the park. Jurassic Park, that is. ~ Larry Wall

[Views from the shore side . . . ]

I think computer viruses should count as life. ~ Stephen Hawking

[Mariners monument to Magellan . . . ]

Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy. ~ Joseph Conrad

[Ibid.]

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~ Arthur C. Clarke

The work “Circumnavigation”, by Francisco Gazitúa Costabal, constitutes a silent material testimony of Magellan’s journey, placing Punta Arenas as an important reference in the scientific history of humanity (https://elmagallanico.com/).]

Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. ~ Pablo Picasso

Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don’t need to be done. ~ Andy Rooney

[Cemetery of Punta Arenas Sara Braun is the public cemetery of the city of Punta Arenas, Chile. It is established on four hectares and is located in the northern area of the city, in Bulnes Avenue, between the streets Francisco Bilbao and Angamos. There are three entrances: the main entrance is in Bulnes Avenue, and two other entrances are in Francisco Bilbao and Angamos streets. Since the cemetery had long ago reached its capacity, it has been supplemented and largely replaced by a controversial newer cemetery further to the north of the city, though the earlier site retains its status as a “monument cemetery.” The cemetery has been ranked byCNN as one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world. It was designated a National Monument of Chile in 2012 (Wikipedia).]

Home computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the consumption of homework formerly eaten by the dog. ~ Doug Larson

The trouble with programmers is that you can never tell what a programmer is doing until it’s too late. ~ Seymour Cray

If you have any trouble sounding condescending, find a Unix user to show you how it’s done. ~ Scott Adams

Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it. ~ Brian Kernighan

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. ~ Alan Kay

UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity. ~ Dennis Ritchie

If the automobile had followed the same development as the computer, a Rolls Royce would today cost $100 and get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year killing everyone inside. ~ Robert X. Cringely

Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it. ~ Donald Knuth

The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That’s where we come in; we’re computer professionals. We cause accidents. ~ Nathaniel Borenstein

Computer dating is fine, if you’re a computer. ~ Rita Mae Brown

Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. ~ Edsger Dikjstra

It’s hardware that makes a machine fast. It’s software that makes a fast machine slow. ~ Craig Reucassel

I’m not anti-social. I’m just not social. ~ Woody Allen

[Adjacent to the Museum of Remembrance (following photos) . . . ]

There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works. ~ Alan Perlis

[The Museum of Remembrance of the University of Magallanes Instituto de la Patagonia displays examples of heritage buildings, old machinery and tools. They are part of an Open Museum, with high attendance and regional identity and a significant number of foreign visitors, especially during the spring, summer and autumn seasons. It has 8 heritage wooden buildings; 40 antique vehicles and transport of great historical value; machines; and innumerable tools, mainly associated with livestock and oil production (Wikipedia).]

If at first you don’t succeed, call an airstrike. ~ Banksy

[With the purpose of keeping its history alive, the Punta Arenas Museum of Memory displays objects from the days of the pioneers. Ancient carriages rest at the Instituto de la Patagonia lawn. They belong to the Museum of Memory, an institution that owns a collection of objects, machinery and tools dating back from the origins of the population of the region. The museum, which depends on the institute, was created in 1969 with the purpose of displaying and communicating the process of development of the area and its lifestyle since 1880, the days of pioneer colonization, until 1950. During its first years, the display contained about fifty pieces, including carts, carriages, locomotives and other mechanical means of transportation and labor, scattered about the lawn (https://interpatagonia.com/).]

I realized that a large part of my life from then on was going to be spent in finding mistakes in my own programs. ~ Maurice Wilkes

Unless in communicating with it one says exactly what one means, trouble is bound to result. ~ Alan Turing

The most amazing achievement of the computer software industry is its continuing cancellation of the steady and staggering gains made by the computer hardware industry. ~ Henry Petroski

Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later. ~ Fred Brooks

There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. ~ Tony Hoare

Documentation is like sex: when it is good, it is very, very good; and when it is bad, it is better than nothing. ~ Dick Brandon

First we thought the PC was a calculator. Then we found out how to turn numbers into letters with ASCII — and we thought it was a typewriter. Then we discovered graphics, and we thought it was a television. With the World Wide Web, we’ve realized it’s a brochure. ~ Douglas Adams

[Model unknown; did not appear to be local . . . ]

When someone says, “I want a programming language in which I need only say what I want done,” give him a lollipop. ~ Alan Perlis

No matter how slick the demo is in rehearsal, when you do it in front of a live audience the probability of a flawless presentation is inversely proportional to the number of people watching, raised to the power of the amount of money involved. ~ Mark Gibbs

The best way to predict the future is to study the past, or prognosticate. ~ Robert Kiyosaki

All sorts of computer errors are now turning up. You’d be surprised to know the number of doctors who claim they are treating pregnant men. ~ Isaac Asimov

Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons. ~ Popular Mechanics, 1949

I think there is a world market for maybe five computers. ~ Thomas Watson, IBM, 1943

I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won’t last out the year. ~ Prentice Hall, business books editor, 1957

[Early cinema . . . ]

But what … is it good for? ~ IBM engineer on the microchip, 1968

[Firefighter Monument . . . ]

There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. ~ Ken Olson, Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

[Monument to Immigrants . . . ]

This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us. ~ Western Union, 1876

The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular? ~ David Sarnoff’s associates, 1920’s

[Street scene 1 . . . ]

Who the hell wants to hear actors talk? ~ H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers,1927

[Street scene 2 . . . ]

A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make. ~ Debbi Fields, Mrs. Fields’ Cookies

[Street scene 3 . . . ]

We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out. ~ Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962

[The Sacred Heart Cathedral Cathedral also called Punta Arenas Cathedral and Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, is a religious building of the Catholic Church which has a Renaissance tower that is dedicated to the order of the Salesians. Its construction began on December 28, 1892, on the plans made by the Father of the Salesian order Juan Bernabe (Wikipedia).]

Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. ~ Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895

[Virgin Mary statue, adjacent to the above cathedral . . . ]

If I had thought about it, I wouldn’t have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can’t do this. ~ Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M “Post-It” Notepads

So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.’ And they said, ‘No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.'” ~ Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer

Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools. ~ New York Times, editorial, 1921

[Sara Braun (17 December 1862 – 22 April 1955) was a Latvian-born Chilean businesswoman who became one of the principal employers in Patagonia. After emigrating with her family from the Russian Empire to escape persecution because of their Jewish heritage, the family toured Europe and then looked for work in Argentina and Paraguay, before moving to Magallanes, now known as Punta Arenas, in 1874. At the time of her death, Braun was mourned as a prominent citizen and philanthropist of Patagonia. Flags flew at half mast, businesses closed in her honor, and speeches were made by dignitaries. In addition to family members, Braun left over 15,000 shares of stock in the Exploitation Society to friends, servants, and acquaintances, who were involved in helping mitigate poverty, provide for underprivileged children or elders in need of care or were widows. She left outright stock donations to the various charities she had contributed to during her lifetime, as well as the San Juan de Dios Sanatorium of Viña del Mar; the Children’s Hospital of Valparaíso; and the Sacred Family Asylum in Punta Arenas. In 1981, Braun’s mansion, which had been purchased intact with furnishings upon her death by the Union Club of Punta Arenas, was declared a Historic Monument, known as the Palacio Sara Braun (Wikipedia).]

640K ought to be enough for anybody. ~ Bill Gates, 1981

[Monument to the explorer Ferdinand Magellan, located in the Plaza Munoz Gamero or Plaza de Armas in Punta Arenas, Chile. This square is a National Monument in the Typical Zone category. The great sculptural work of Magellan was inaugurated in November 1920 and its author is Guillermo Córdova. According to tradition, if the Fuegian Indian in the sculpture group has his hanging foot kissed, it will mean that he will return to this city one day (Wikipedia).]

Louis Pasteur’s theory of germs is ridiculous fiction. ~ Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872 (and today’s MAGA)

Everything that can be invented has been invented. ~ Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899

[Entry into Palacio Sara Braun . . . ]

Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value. ~ Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre

Science is supposedly the method by which we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. In computer science, we all are standing on each others’ feet. ~ G. Popek

I sit looking at this damn computer screen all day long, day in and day out, week after week, and think: Man, if I could just find the ‘on’ switch... ~ Zachary Good.

Foolproof systems don’t take into account the ingenuity of fools. ~ Gene Brown.

Remember, the problem is not that people are stupid; the problem is that modems are cheap. ~ Vince Sabio.

[We’ll leave you here with this selfie and will return with the rest of Punta Arenas in the next post . . . ]

The smiley is an attack on writers and readers alike. If it is funny, it doesn’t need a smiley. If is not funny, a smiley won’t help it. The smiley teaches writers that anything they write will pass as humor as long as it is punctuated properly. It teaches readers that they must ignore their better judgment, and look only at punctuation to determine intent. ~ Jim Showalter. (Editor’s note: I use smileys all the time, they’re efficient and fall within the realm of a picture is worth a thousand words.)

Microsoft has a new version out, Windows XP, which according to everybody is the ‘most reliable Windows ever’. To me, this is like saying that asparagus is ‘the most articulate vegetable ever’. ~ Dave Barry

Up Next: Day 10, Part 2 . . .

April 7

December 28

Future generations are not going to ask us what political party were you in. They are going to ask what did you do about it, when you knew the glaciers were melting. ~ Martin Sheen

We’re going up a fjord to see a glacier! ~ Me

I believe Ronald Reagan can make this country what it once was… a large Arctic region covered with ice. ~ Robin Williams

We must always remember with gratitude and admiration the first sailors who steered their vessels through storms and mists, and increased our knowledge of the lands of ice in the South. ~ Roald Amundsen

Ice contains no future, just the past, sealed away. As if they’re alive, everything in the world is sealed up inside, clear and distinct. Ice can preserve all kinds of things that way – cleanly, clearly. That’s the essence of ice, the role it plays. ~ Haruki Murakami

[Cruising the coast, heading toward Peel Fjord from the Sarmiento Channel, the eastern side offers entry to three other fjords. Two of these, Amalia Fjord and Asia Fjord, end in massive walls of ice slowly flowing down from the immense Southern Patagonian Ice Field (seabourn.com).]

She had never known that ice could take on so many shades of blue: sharp lines of indigo like the deepest sea, aquamarine shadows, even the glint of blue-green where the sun struck just so. ~ Malinda Lo

[The view from our balcony . . . ]

One of the reasons there are so many terms for conditions of ice is that the mariners observing it were often trapped in it, and had nothing to do except look at it. ~ Alec Wilkinson

. . . about a league on either side of us, may be seen, indistinctly and at intervals, stupendous ramparts of ice, towering away into the desolate sky, and looking like the walls of the universe. ~ Edgar Allan Poe

Like there’s actually a need for Greenland. You can get ice at 7-Eleven. ~ Steve Kluger

There it was, the land under 80 degrees, a land of stern magnificence, where icebergs rear up almost to the very mountaintops, and mountain rises above mountain . . . ~ Jeannette Mirsky

Life is only a flicker of melted ice. ~ Dejan Stojanovic

Justice has to be cold. Deal with it; it’s just ice. ~ Natalya Vorobyova

Take it all in all, I do not believe anybody on Earth has it worse than an Emperor penguin. ~ Apsley Cherry-Garrard

[We’re HERE! Passengers rush to outside decks as Amalia Glacier appears dead ahead . . . ]

To ‘walk on thin ice’ is to demonstrate how thick my common sense is not. ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

We could hear the ice cracking but it didn’t give, and we slid across it like seals. Oh, it was tremendous fun. The ice was clear as glass and you could see right to the bottom. ~ Mary Lawson

[Where the glacier meets the waterfront . . . ]

When we encounter tiny groups of atoms, interesting questions and special rules come into play. Take water, for instance: what is the smallest possible ice cube? It has been discovered that you need at least 275 water molecules in a cluster before it can show ice-like properties, with about 475 molecules before it becomes truly ice. That is a cube with about eight H2O molecules along each edge. The importance of this kind of knowledge is that it helps us model the process of cloud formation in the atmosphere as well as understand how liquids freeze. ~ Peter Atkins

The ending of the last ice age was not a gradual event, as most people would assume, but fast and intense. ~ Brien Foerster

The noise resembles the roar of heavy, distant surf. Standing on the stirring ice one can imagine it is disturbed by the breathing and tossing of a mighty giant below. ~ Ernest Shackleton

The ‘New Yorker’ asked me to shoot a story on climate change in 2005, and I wound up going to Iceland to shoot a glacier. The real story wasn’t the beautiful white top. It ended up being at the terminus of the glacier where it’s dying. ~ James Balog

[The glacier’s height at water’s edge ranges from 50 – 70 meters . . . ]

If one looks at the glacier for long enough, words cease to have any meaning on God’s earth. ~ Halldór Laxness

This thing I’m doing can hardly be called living. Instead I’m lying dormant, like a bacterium in a glacier. Getting time over with. That’s all. ~ Margaret Atwood

Thin ice isn’t a problem for the sea; it’s a problem for the blind idiot who steps out on it. The fool who breaks it gets sucked under; the ice, it mends. ~ Jennifer Giesbrecht

[Cruise friend Rich provides perspective above and below . . . ]

There is no greater despair, than to tread with care upon ice that is already broken. ~ Johnathan Jena

Fire in her eyes, ice in her voice. ~ Agatha Christie

[Ruthie moved to the front of the photo pack . . . ]

Ice no longer scared me. Its facets were beautiful, especially when it caught and held the vibrancy of flame. ~ Elly Blake

[And then she made her escape . . . ]

I do stupid stuff like that: I’ll call my wife from the road, send her pictures of glaciers. ~ Adam Ferrara

In the Andes and the Alps, I have seen melting glaciers. At both of the Earth’s Poles, I have seen open sea where ice once dominated the horizon. ~ Ban Ki-moon

A tie is what you get after ice cubes have wrestled with hot water. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Glaciers have receded. The tree-line is changing. That’s very rapid to see nature changing in a 20-year period. ~ Conrad Anker

You could engineer a human to survive the greenhouse effect because you think that’s what’s going to happen, and then all of a sudden the glaciers are creeping down on you. ~ Paul Di Filippo

[The color of the water marked the demarcation of melt water coming off the land and the ocean-based water . . . ]

A snowflake contains ten quintillion water molecules. That’s ten million trillion. Ten snowflakes—which can fit on your thumb tip—have the same number of molecules as there are grains of sand on the earth. Or stars in the visible universe. ~ Bob Berman

[Grand explorers from the shop’s crew set off to collect ice from the glacier . . . ]

Where the glacier meets the sky, the land ceases to be earthly, and the earth becomes one with the heavens . . . ~ Halldór Laxness

[Gives on a good perspective on the size of the glacier wall and the distance our explorers had to traverse . . . ]

The iceman thawed a bit for you. ~ Sylvia Day

My dad, a geologist, was an expert in glaciers and permafrost, so we moved to a lot of cold places such as Canada, Iceland and Norway. ~ Lucy Worsley

[Ice fishing?]

Ice has a social life. Its changeability shapes the culture, language and stories of those who live near it. ~ Robert Macfarlane

[Racing back to the ship with glacier ice that will be sculpted for holiday displays . . . ]

I have two eyes, and I go to see the ice. ~ Deyth Banger

[The excitement over, back to routine living on a beautiful cruise ship . . . ]

Patience is to wait for the ice to melt instead of breaking it. ~ Munia Khan

[Several of the following photos were taken in here, the Dome Planetarium on the top deck, because what else are you going to do on a ship in the ocean? (Photo on loan from the internet.)]

f you compare Everest photographs in 1953 with its current state, things are melting. I imagine if I were a golfer in Indiana, I’d be hard-pressed to believe in climate change because nothing’s going on there. But when you’re up in the mountains and seeing the glaciers melt away, it’s an obvious physical manifestation of a warming planet. ~ Conrad Anker

[Believed to be little Jupiter on the far right . . . ]

One by one the ponds gulped down their ice like big, painful pills. ~ Anthony Doerr

[Believed to be big Jupiter in the middle . . . ]

I just thought that it was magical having to glide across the ice. ~ Debi Thomas

[As I recall, Ruthie once owned a Saturn . . . ]

This air we breathe is precious, and the glaciers helped me understand that and stay focused on that. ~ James Balog

[Since I never did see Crux live and in person . . . ]

Up here on the Ice each of us is singular, isolate, I as cut off from those like me, from my society, and its rules, as he from his. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

[And another interesting lecture . . . ]

Ice can kill as dead as fire. ~ George R.R. Martin

[Beyond my comprehension . . . ]

There’s always that first step in skating, from dry ground to slick ice, when it just seems impossible. Impossible that two thin blades of metal will support you, impossible that because its molecules have begun to dance a little slower water will hold you up. ~ Carol Goodman

[Now Orion I can find on a cloudy night . . . ]

I went to Alaska a while back and surfed the waves generated from a glacier calving and ever since then, I’ve never been afraid in the ocean. ~ Garrett McNamara

[In his position at the Admiralty, Barrow was a great promoter of Arctic voyages of discovery, including those of John Ross, William Edward Parry, James Clark Ross and John Franklin. The Barrow Strait in the Canadian Arctic as well as Point Barrow and the city of Barrow in Alaska are named after him (Wikipedia).]

There is no point in trying to freeze the ice! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan

[Lectures on polar explorers . . . ]

Those who cannot understand how to put their thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of debate. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

[And here are three of them . . . ]

Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent. ~ Gary Shilling

[Why not gold?]

How far fewer words we need to tell our stories than we imagine we do. ~ Joyce Carol Oates

[Always a sucker for an interesting story . . . ]

The U.S. will need the equivalent of about 34 new nuclear power plants to meet rising demand for electricity over the next five years. The growing number of power-hungry computer data centers is driving the surge, which comes after three decades of falling or flat demand for electricity. ~ The Guardian

I used to jog but the ice cubes kept falling out of my glass. ~ David Lee Roth

[Next stop, Punta Arenas . . . ]

The Himalayan glaciers, China’s trade surplus, Olympic ice hockey – the world is full of pressing subjects that people never consult me about. ~ Elif Batuman

I know it’s hard to believe, but another year has passed in which I failed to qualify for the Masters. ~ Me

Up Next: Day 10