Mary Harrsch: July 2009

Friday, July 31, 2009

Perpetuum Jazzile - Africa (live, HQ)

Not only beautiful singing but terrific sound effects!!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

United Breaks Guitars

A friend sent me a link to this video and I cracked up. I, too, have been a victim of United's outrageous so-called customer service. When I was fell in Naples, Italy in 2007 and tore both left and right rotator cuffs in my shoulders, I had to book a flight home to have the damage surgically repaired. I requested medical assistance when I booked the flight. The leg of the flight from Naples to Munich was AirItalia and I was treated with the utmost kindness. Then in Munich I transferred to a United plane for the flight across the Atlantic. When I asked for assistance with my carryon bag - and I was trussed up in a sling applied by the emergency room doctors in Naples - a snotty United stewardess told me I'd just have to try to find some other passenger to help me because she had a bad back and stalked off.

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Eagle Has Landed --Again!

When Apollo 11 launched its lunar module to make the first landing on the moon back in 1969, I had just had a newlywed tiff with my husband and had stalked outside to cool off. We were visiting his grandparents and his grandmother called to me and urged me to come back inside to see Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. Being young and hot-headed I stubbornly refused. I have regretted it ever since.

Now, today, 40 years after that historic touchdown, I got to relive the moment thanks to a wonderful website called "We Choose the Moon" that virtually recreated the experience. A new friend I met on the web just a couple of weeks ago happened to send me the link and I checked it out earlier but was several days away from the actual landing. Today, I'd been in town all day running errands and had just sat down and picked up the paper and saw a short blurb on the front page about how 40 years ago today at 1:17 p.m. PDT, the lunar module had landed on the moon. I asked my husband (yes, the same one!) what time it was and it was 1:15 p.m. so I raced back into my office, navigated to the website and downloaded the graphics just in time to see the lunar module kick up the dust of the moon's surface and descend to Tranquility Base. How thrilling!! At last - I feel I really witnessed it live!

The website designers had live streaming audio of the simulated broadcast from mission control and it made it feel so real! I loved how the virtual landing was timed to coincide with the actual event at the same real time pace. Looking forward to the virtual event just as I had the real event truly heightened my anticipation. What a wonderful way to relive history!

This website is chuck full of videos, photos, and audio clips from the actual experience as well as offering widgets to track the mission on your computer, etc. As I have only marginal DSL service at 1.5 mbps, I had problems with the volume of data transfer that has to occur between the website and my workstation and kept losing my connection. But at least I saw the actual landing and listened to about 15 minutes of post-landing transmissions before I started experiencing data overload. I would love to have the opportunity to relive other historical events in this way. Can you imagine how exciting it would be to witness one of Julius Caesar's triumphs or the crowning of Thutmosis III recreated at a date corresponding to the same date in history and paced in real time?

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History really does come alive for me!

I appreciate history from all historical periods but I have always been especially interested in ancient Mediterranean cultures. Although I am fascinated by ancient Egypt, I became totally entranced by ancient Rome after reading the "Masters of Rome" series of novels by Colleen McCullough and in particular the life of Julius Caesar. McCullough's novels, "The First Man In Rome", "The Grass Crown", "Fortune's Favorites", "Caesar's Women", and "Caesar", made this complex personality come to life. He was not the cold and calculating tyrannical conqueror often depicted by various historians apparently with their own political axes to grind. He was a tender lover, a skilled orator and advocate, a talented poet and historian, a consumate politician, and a man with integrity as well as cunning and military genius.

Collecting Historical Dolls

Although I have collected period dolls casually for several years, I did not become a serious historical doll collector until I visited a website put up by another historical doll enthusiast who specialized in Cleopatra dolls. I was amazed at all of the different versions of the Queen of Egypt that had been produced over the years by various doll companies and individual artists. I resolved that day to focus my doll collection and use this hobby to help disseminate historical information in an interesting and enjoyable format. More >>

Collecting pictures of dead people I don't even know

I began collecting Cameo Creations in 1994 when I found two portraits at a local flea market. At the time I did not realize there was such a variety of subjects, frame styles and even objects including mirrors, wall shelves and candlesticks that featured the distinctive ornate style highlighted by portraits of women primarily from the 18th and 19th centuries. My son once told his friends that his mother was little strange because the house was full of pictures of dead people we didn't even know! I have purchased some for as little as $6 but they average $12 - $22 for the 7 1/2" size depending on where you find them and the type and condition of the frame, the glass, and the image. I eventually discovered that they are often auctioned up on Ebay and have obtained several in this way including the four portraits featured on this page. The majority, however, I have found at flea markets and in scattered antique shops. I have also found Ebay to be a valuable reference source. I have purchased some portraits that no longer bear the identifying sticker but by looking at others offered for sale on Ebay I have been able to identify mine.

Movieland Wax Museum brought back childhood memories

Being a very strict disciplinarian, my father only allowed us to have one formal outing a week and I usually chose the local theater that ran double features (now a thing of the past) on Friday and Saturday nights. At that time the film industry offered many historical pageants like Ben Hur, Spartacus, and El Cid which not only appealed to my love of history but ignited my passion for cinema, a passion that has not dimmed over the decades. Sadly, Movieland Wax Museum has closed. But, you can revisit it through my website along with different Madame Tussaud's and The San Francisco Wax Museum, too!

Mary Harrsch

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