Lots of Videos and Lots of Yellowstone, and some Stuff in New York Harbor

Today is the 79th anniversary of the crash of the dirigible Hindenburg, I read that 35 of the 97 people on board died, plus one more on the ground. However, I am sure there are many worse catastrophes, so what makes this so memorable? For me, it is the combination of the amazing video (more accurately, newsreel coverage) of the event, and the newscaster's spellbinding description of the crash (Herbert Morrison). The phrase that immediately comes to mind is "Oh, the humanity." Surprisingly, there is still one survivor alive.

After our breakfast, we head across New York Harbor to Ellis Island. On the way, we passed by the Statue of Liberty. With out limited time, we did not get off on that island...this time.

Writing about the Status of Liberty reminds me of a song that we did back when I was in a quartet, Assurance. It was called Statue of Liberty and you can hear a version of it sung at a Gaither gathering here.

Here is SS and his family as we sailed over to Ellis.

And here is the building we are headed toward. I can hardly wait to get there. How about you? We should arrive next week.

This morning's song in my head was Your God Will Come by Nick Robertson. This youtube video sounds like the same arrangement we sing, so maybe you can hear what I was singing. This choir is a bit younger than the average age of our Chorale.

Looking up the video for Your God Will Come led me to this next video. The title of the video caught my attention, "Worst Choir Ever?" It may not be, but there were a couple of times when I laughed out loud as I watched it.

I need to finish today's post, but I just finished watching another video that kept me laughing all the way through. Check out the drummer in this video. It's like an old Chris Farley skit.

And another one that is funny, and the subtitles they added make it even more fun.

Have you ever used images.google.com to find out where a photo was taken? I never had until yesterday. I came across a photo of a book cover and was curious about the location in the background. What does it look like to you? I immediately knew where I thought it was.

According to the blurb about the book, it takes place in Portland, OR. Do those buildings look like any pictures of Portland to you? They don't to me. So, I cut out the bottom half of the book cover and submitted it to images.google.com. My suspicion was doubly right. First, it was definitely not Portland, and second, it is "most likely Silverton", which is what I thought it looked like. I have some photos from a similar vantage point. I tried to zoom in to read any license plates, but they are too small in this photo. And I also double checked my Ellis Island photo above with images.google.com and it said it was likely Ellis Island. so it seems like the service is accurate. Whoo to the Hoo.

Today's 365 Stupidest Things Said calendar entry:
If they want to get them right, then getting it right is getting them right.
baseball manager Charlie Manuel when asked what he thought about instant replay

The UK's new polar research ship is to be named RRS Sir David Attenborough, despite the title "Boaty McBoatface" previously topping a public vote. A website inviting name suggestions had attracted huge interest, with Boaty McBoatface the runaway favorite. But Science Minister Jo Johnson said there were "more suitable" names. While the polar ship itself will not be named Boaty McBoatface, one of its remotely operated sub-sea vehicles will be named Boaty in recognition of the vote. Too bad. That name would have been hilarious, and unforgettable.

I have mentioned before that I often look at photo ideas for interesting ways to capture our travel. A South Dakotan photographer took the next step in that type of research and decided to exactly mimic a famous Yellowstone photographer's portfolio to see how things had changed since 1871. You can read about his quest here, but check out a few of the then-and-now photos. I love these.

Hey, do you take a lot of photos using your cell phone each month? Now, you can have those gems preserved as a magazine for only $8.99 a month. Check out the app here.

OK, I found another funny video link on digg.com (I pulled it from a daily newsletter I get). This one is the famous scene of Tom Cruise in Risky Business, but using no music and realistic audio. It is funny.

Which led me to a Grease video without music but with realistic audio. It turns out that John Travolta actually wanted a cow.

One more thing for today. Not nearly as funny as the videos, but something you almost always get from this blog. Today's Clarity of Vision.

People, it is Friday. Don't look so depressed. The weekend is nigh. Have a great one and come back refreshed. I know that is my plan. Now, I just need to figure out how to meet the challenge that I knew Preacher Bro would issue for the Sabbath.