Thursday, 4/3

Once again, apparently, I am an oddball.

Our “At Work/Online Network” question for this week deals with a person's LEAST favorite Easter candy. I kinda sorta did it to see just how many people agree with me that the abomination known as black jellybeans should be banned from the face of the Earth. As of yesterday, though, only one person who answered the question online agreed with me.

The rest thought it should be Peeps.

I wasn't quite sure what people have against Peeps; I mean, I know they're cloyingly sweet and quite chewy, but to me, at least, they're nowhere near as bad a black jellybeans, which taste like someone throwing up in your mouth after eating too much road tar. But maybe that's just me; in fact, if you look online, you can find whole communities of people who gather to rag on the candy. And while there are others like me who aren't fond of black jellybeans, they seem quite outnumbered by those who loathe Peeps.

Wow. I had no idea.

If nothing else, this was an exercise in Confirmation Bias, where someone supposes that everyone believes the same things they do but find out (often quite explicitly) that others actually don't. So, I guess I'll take away two things from this—one, that if there's a more universally loathed candy than Peeps, I have yet to find it.

And two? Well, I guess I'll remain an oddball for a little while longer.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 4/2

You knew it was Hungarian, didn't you?

I did indeed resurrect the old habit of writing a blog and then posting in a strange language yesterday for April Fools Day, and having read several books on strange languages the past few years figured Hungarian would work just fine. For some reason, it's not really related to any other European language (except Finnish, for some bizarre reason) and so there are few recognizable words for someone who speaks a Germanic language (like English) or a Romance language (like Spanish or French) to recognize.

Anyway, thanks for indulging me in my flight of fancy. It actually puts you in good company these days, in the company of the people taking part in our “Easter Parade of Colors” contest. If you've been listening, it's a contest built around a whimsical theme—that we're now broadcasting in color, and people can use their new color radios to guess the color of an Easter egg I hold up to the microphone.

The amazing thing? So far every single person has played along with the gag.

And it IS a gag. After all, sound doesn't come in colors, and even if it did, you'd need a color radio, which according to the promos we're running are available at stores like The Sound Center and Colorvision, both of which closed over 30 years ago. The whole contest is basically one giant whimsical joke, and I have to say I've been heartened that everyone (at least so far) is in on the gag.

And we're going whole hog on that gag, now that we're broadcasting in “full color” (as many of our liners say). Of course, I suppose it helps that we're giving away almost $700 in prizes. A total like that will almost certainly lead someone to willingly suspend their disbelief long enough to qualify. But the way that listeners are willing to play along with such a straight face warms the cockles of my weird little heart.

And we all know how weird THAT is.

So over the next two and a half weeks, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everyone keeps playing along. And if they do? Maybe I'll amp up the whimsy even more.

I just probably won't try to take a qualifier in Hungarian. That might be a little too much.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 4/1

És boldog április bolondok napját!

Valójában nem fogok sokat írni ide, de arra gondoltam, hogy KELL írnom egy kicsit, ha valaki kitalálja, hogy ezt a bejegyzést magyarul tettem fel, és képes vagy maga lefordítani, vagy, mint én, találni egy webprogramot hogy megtegyem helyetted.

Úgy értem, nem gondoltad, hogy valójában tudok magyarul, igaz?

Az a vicces, hogy valójában ezt a blogot akartam közzétenni azon ó, 3 millió nyelv egyikén, amelyen a C-3PO állítólag a „Csillagok háborújában” beszél, mert ha hiszed, ha nem, néhány hete olvastam, hogy ott több „Star Wars” nyelvű fordító az interneten, mint bármely más nyelv esetében. Sajnos úgy tűnt, hogy egyiket sem találtam. Vagy legalábbis bármelyik működött.

Aki tudta? Valójában nem hiszel el mindent az interneten. T

ehát ahelyett, hogy ezt egy bolygón kívüli nyelven tenném közzé, úgy gondolom, hogy ezt az egyik legfurcsább nyelven tenném közzé, amivel valaha találkoztam. És hidd el - ez az egyik legfurcsább nyelv, amellyel valaha találkozhatsz. Most itt van a húsvéti tojás a mai bejegyzésben.

Kattintson erre a linkre -

https://en.eprevodilac.com/prevodilac-madjarski-engleski

És eljut egy webhelyre, ahol lefordíthatja a blogot, és elolvashatja, amit írtam. Sok szerencsét!\

(jim@wmqt.com)

********

And happy April Fools’ Day!

I’m not actually going to write much here, but I figured I SHOULD write a little something in case somebody figures out in which language I posted this and is able to either translate it themselves or, like me, to find a web program to do it for you.

I mean, you didn’t think that I actually know that particular language, do you?

The funny thing is, I was actually going to post this blog in one of the, oh, 3 million languages that C-3PO claims to speak in “Star Wars” because, believe it or not, I read a few weeks ago that there are more “Star Wars” language translators on the web than for any other language. Unfortunately, I didn't seem to find any of them. Or at least any of them that worked.

Who knew? You actually can't believe everything on the Internet.

So, instead of posting this in an off-planet language, I figure I’d post this in one of the strangest language I’ve ever come across. And trust me--this IS one of the strangest languages you’ll ever come across.

Now, here’s the Easter Egg in today’s entry. Click on this link--

https://en.eprevodilac.com/prevodilac-madjarski-engleski

And it takes you to a site where you can translate the blog, and read what I wrote. Either that, or wait until tomorrow when I post the translation. It's up to you.

Good luck!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 3/31

Well, we survived. The storm really, actually for the first time in a long time was everything they predicted, and more (picture taken at 9:48 am March 31st)--

But even despite that, Loraine and I were able to maximize our time with her nephews Nathan & Jeremy.

And that's always a good thing.

There's one thing I've always noticed when we have company come up & visit, especially members of Loraine's family from downstate. A lot of them want to see the things that even during yucky (ish) weather are part of our everyday life–a great lake, or a mountain, or a waterfall.

I think it’s great when visitors want to see the natural beauty that surrounds us.  Because I think that’s one of things that a lot of us who live here take for granted.

A couple of years ago, my sister-in-law and her boyfriend came up.  He had never been here before, and he wanted to check out some waterfalls. Now to me, to someone who grew up here, waterfalls are no big deal.  But where he lives it’s flat farmland. Not a waterfall in sight, unless, I dunno, someone’s combine springs a leak.  So when we took the two of them out to a few falls, I looked at it through their eyes.

And that’s when I realized I’d been taking this beauty, this amazing display of nature that’s unique to the UP, for granted.  For us, waterfalls (or hills, or parks, or Lake Superior) are just something we live near. But for the vast majority of people, this is where you get that picture you’ll be showing friends for years.  This is where people who visit us stop for a second and think to themselves… “this is a really magical place”.

And you know what?  They’re absolutely right.

There are so many things that we pass by every single day, and really don’t pay much attention to.  Lakes, hills, trees…even things like ore docks, or the view looking across Portage Lake.  Because we grew up with those things, because we see them every day, they’re no big deal.  

But when people who aren’t lucky enough to live here DO lay eyes on them? They go home with memories of a uniquely amazing place.

So, despite what a trio of great American philosophers once said, maybe we SHOULD go chasing waterfalls.  And lake shores.  And hills with views so amazing they can take your breath away.

Because even though they’re just part of our everyday life, we should remember that not everyone is as lucky to have them as we are.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 3/28

This is one that I don't think I've seen before.

As I type this, we are under an Ice Storm Warning here in Marquette, the latest piece of wackiness in a month that has seen its fair share of weather wackiness. Temperatures are right around freezing, and depending upon where they hit determines what kind of precipitation we'll get. At this point, the temps are forecast to be in the sweet spot for freezing rain; hence, the Ice Storm Warning.

I'm really ready for "winter" to be over.

Normally, I'd just ignore the warning and ride it out. However, Loraine's nephews are up visiting, and while they DID want to get a touch of what winter is like up here, I'm guessing that this might not have been what they were hoping for.

Although it may be what they're getting.

Hopefully, it'll be like the rest of the wacky weather events we've had to live through this month, and skim (or completely bypass) Marquette. If not...well, it is what it is. They wanted to see what winter is like in Marquette, and even though we don't get “real” winters anymore, we apparently still get stuff like ice storms.

I hope they enjoy it.

And with that, I'm off to do a few things with them before I head to work later on. Have yourself a great weekend. Hope that, wherever you are, your weather's not too wacky!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 3/27

Yes, he was a real person.

As I was writing yesterday, I've been spending a lot of time with my laptop going through pictures.The laptop also has a bunch of old radio shows on it, and for a reason I can't remember, one of those is an episode of “The Lone Ranger”. I don't know why; I was never a fan of the show, and I can't ever recall listening to it.

But there it sits.

In fact, the only thing that might interest me about the show is its iconic theme, taken from Rossini's “William Tell Overture”. And when I saw that I had the episode, I started to think...which, as we all know, can be a dangerous thing.

Especially when it causes me to fall down a rabbit hole on the internet.

I really didn't know the story of William Tell beyond the basics—he was the guy who defied authority a thousand years ago, had to shoot an apple off of his son's head to stay alive, used the same arrow to kill the king whose authority he was defying, became a folk hero to the new country of Switzerland in the process, inspired an opera by Rossini six or seven hundred years later, and then because of the finale of that opera single-handedly made the Lone Ranger the icon that he is today.

And also provided the spark to make me head down that rabbit hole.

It's actually a fascinating story, and that's why the trip down the rabbit hole was a total waste. Aside from the apple and the Overture, I had no idea who William Tell really was. And the story's quite interesting; like I mentioned before, he's now venerated in Switzerland. You can stop and pay visits to all these places at which he supposedly did things, including where he shot the apple off his son's head.. I didn't know that. I didn't know he was a national folk hero to one of the oldest countries in Europe.

But now I do. And because of all this I have to ask one simple yet profound question—what DID we do before Google and Wikipedia existed?

8-)

So anyway, that's what happens when you comb the dark recesses of your laptop for pictures. I'm loathe to think what else I might find on there that could lead me into yet another bizarre search. But I'm sure I WILL find that out soon, right?

Now, to stick it in your head...

Think of it this way. Getting stuck in your brain IS better than getting an apple shot off your head... right?

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 3/26

I had totally forgotten about the picture. And that's a shame.

One of the interesting aspects of my weekly TV piece is that I finally get to use some of the thousands of pictures I've taken over the years. For instance, if you watched the piece I posted yesterday (and if you haven't yet, just scroll back a day and do so) you would have seen ten photographs, nine of which I took myself (the head shot of Tom Izzo being, obviously, the one I didn't).

It's kind of nice to actually share the pictures with other people on occasion.

For another project, I was looking for a picture of green nature. I have a ton of them, but I didn't come across one that captured the spirit of what I was looking for. Then I found this shot--

I took it in the sleepy little town of Triberg, Germany, during our rain-filled tour of Bavaria in 2018. Because it was taken in weather that was less than optimal, it had kind of slipped my mind, unlike a lot of the sun-filled pictures toward which I tend to gravitate. But in this case, it was perfect for what I needed.

And I'm glad I came across it.

In the two and a half years I've been doing “Life in the 906” I've had the chance to use any number of shots that I've taken the past 20 years. I usually have an idea in which year I took them, so I can find them with minimal searching. There have been, though, several instances in which I knew I had taken a picture, but couldn't for the life of me find where it was. It was during one of those searches that I came across the Triberg shot, so while (if I remember correctly) I never did find the shot I was looking for, at least I came across something I could use.

In fact, it's something I could use twice, as I've now gotten an entire blog out of it. So I'm guessing that even though I couldn't find the picture for which I was originally searching, it was not a fruitless task.

Although one day I DO hope I find the picture for which I was originally searching. Wish me luck!

(jim@wmqt.com)