Catching Some Colorado Culture

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A lot is going on in Colorado culturally right now.  If you  happen to be planning a visit to the state, you might want to do so around upcoming events and activities.  For example, next spring, the Denver Zoo will be privy to an Asian Tropics exhibit (that took $50m to construct), marking the largest bull elephant habitat in the world!  Also, at around the same time, the History Colorado Center will be putting on an experiential museum, where guests will be able to go for a ride in a time machine.

And for the explorer-would-be-scientist among you, take part in the interactive museum with more than a hundred exhibits that you can really get your hands into at the Fort Collins Museum & Discovery Science Center.  Use this to teach your kids about the world and how it works.

For those who are more of the outdoorsy type, come Christmas there will be a “Dig In” at the Winter Park’s Rail Yard Terrain Park’s Super Pipe.  Reduced water and energy consumption will be key to this, utilizing less man-made snow.  And then of course there is ski season at Cooper Mountain with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (U.S.S.A.) where an on-snow training center will be developed.  A new automated snowmaking system will also be put in.

Copper Mountain enters ski season in partnership with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (U.S.S.A.) to develop an on-snow training center at the resort. To support and develop the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper, the resort is implementing a new automated snowmaking system among other features.

So for cool culture and sports activities in Colorado, check out what’s going to be happening over the next few months.

US Town Names

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Some Remain “Nameless”

Years ago, it wasn’t so easy getting a name for your town in the United States of America.  Indeed, in 1880, a very small Travis County community set about the task as they wanted to get a post office in their town.  But a post office requires a town name!  So the community locals made an application, which was denied.  The next two suggestions were also rejected. Once they were up to six “no’s” a note of frustration and anger was sent to the US postmaster: “Let the post office be nameless and be damned!”  And that is why there is a town in Texas called Nameless.

It makes you wonder how the town in Oregon got its name of Boring…

But alas, it’s not quite as “exciting” as one may think (although the people of Boring use the slogan “the most exciting place to live”). The way its name came about was from a Union veteran named Boring who came to Oregon after the Civil War, having served with the 33rd Illinois Infantry, Company D.  He died at the ripe old age of 91, being buried with his wife at the Damascus Pioneer Cemetery.  In 1903, the post office was established and named after him: Boring, and thereafter his name was taken on for the community.

So, when you take a look at other interesting town names in America, you might first want to do a little bit of research before jumping to what are hopefully the wrong conclusions in some cases, such as: Hooker, Oklahoma, and Dicktown, New Jersey.  Still, I for one wouldn’t mind living in a place called Santa Claus, Georgia, should its name be at all meaningful and it enjoys Christmas every day…

LA Music Awards

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Earlier this week, the American Music Awards took place at LA’s Nokia Theatre. At the event, the country picked their favorite musicians.  Great music was heard, smiles were seen on the faces of the winners and fun performances graced the evening.  Nick Minaj and Taylor Swift won big time, with Swift taking three awards and Minaj two.  One award winner – Adele – was unable to attend as she had just undergone surgery.

Great Music Performances

Hit performances were enjoyed by Minaj and David Guetta.  Jennifer Lopez first sang solo and then with rapper Pitbull with “On the Floor.” LMFAO pop group joined David Hasselhoff (Baywatch actor) in a surprise performance along with Justin Bieber who came to the event with his girlfriend Selena Gomez.

Wise White Rockians

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While New Mexico’s White Rock town may be small geographically, it appears that it is rather large in the brain department.  Indeed, the 6,244 population of the town comes up pretty high on the academic scale. Indeed, almost 40 percent of adults living in White Rock have graduate degrees.  Next on the list is Eldorado at Santa Fe.  With a population of 5,973, 33 percent of its adults hold graduate degrees. 

But the city that really gets to the top of the brainy list is Chevy Chase Village.  With a population of 2,000, approximately two-thirds of its residents have graduate degrees.  Somerset and Shorewood Hills scored pretty high too.

The database, put together by BizJournals, comprises rankings of 10,450 in the 1,000 to 9,999 category.  It uses a five-rung educational ladder of the following milestones: a) those who dropped out before graduating high school; b) earned a high school diploma and then quit; c) got an associate degree or finished college but didn’t actually get a degree; d) bachelor’s degree; e) graduate and/or professional degree.

New Lake Champlain Bridge Opened

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On Monday, literally hundreds of people gathered on Lake Champlain Bridge to snap photos and celebrate the reconnection of the communities located on either side of the lake.

A much anticipated relief, the bridge will allow Vermont residents to return to their normal routines for the first time since the old bridge was closed in 2009. When the bridge was deemed unsafe two years ago, a 24-hour free ferry was instituted to carry commuters back and forth, which could not compare.

“They lost businesses. They called me in the middle of the night crying because they had traveled hours and hours to get to their jobs. This whole community was devastated without the bridge,” Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward explained. “Today, your life begins again,” she added.

In December of 2009, the bridge was destroyed by a controlled explosion, and reconstruction began the following spring once debris was removed from the lake. Both communities pushed their elected state officials to replace the bridge immediately, since designing and building a bridge of this dimension would typically take eight years.

“To replace the bridge that was here before and be here where we are today, in two years-time, is nothing short of a miracle,” said Duffy.

Kevin Durant Plays Flag Football With Kids of OKC

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On Monday, the NBA Star tweeted “This lockout is really boring…anybody playing flag football in okc… I need to run around or something!”

George Overbey, a player on Sigma Nu fraternity’s intramural flag football team at Oklahoma State, replied immediately, with little hopes he’d actually hear back from from Kevin Durant. But he was wrong; moments later, Durant responded, and before he knew what was happening, they exchanged phone numbers. The small forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder then picked Overbey and his friend up for the game.

The Wage Gap in Virginia

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A recent report shared that the difference between the top 10% and bottom 10% of earners in Virginia is the widest in thirty years, second only to New Jersey.

The report, published by the Commonwealth Institute, revealed that the top 10% made a minimum of 5.7 times more than the bottom earners.

Michael Cassidy, the organization’s president, explained: “High earners have made wage gains despite the recession.”

Northern Virginia- A State of Its Own

“When you look at the northern part of the state, that’s where all the information sciences are, the defense contractors are,” explained Daraius Irani of the Division of Economic and Community Outreach at Towson University. “If you look at the southeastern/southwestern corers of Virginia, that’s where the problems are. Northern Virginia is, in itself, a state to some degree.”

Due to the high-paying technology and government jobs, Northern Virginia has had the highest average weekly wage rate for years. Another factor is college graduates, who have a significant advantage over those with less education.

“Individuals without college of high school diplomas are always going to be suffering, and unfortunately, this recession has exacerbated that fact,’ Mr. Irani said.

Amanda Knox Returns to Seattle

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Amanda Knox has returned home to Seattle, Washington, following her acquittal of the murder of Meredith Kercher.

Knox was interrogated and placed in an Italian prison in 2007 after her foreign exchange student roommate was found murdered in their apartment, and has finally been released and sent home. Feeling very emotional, Knox expressed her appreciation for the people who believed in her.

“I’m really overwhelmed right now,” she said. “I was looking down from the airplane and it seemed like everything wasn’t real.

“They’re reminding me to speak in English, because I’m having problems with that. Thank you to everyone who’s believed in me, who’s defended me, who’s supported my family. My family’s the most important thing to me so I just want to go and be with them, so thank you for being there for me.”

According to Amanda’s father Curt, the 24 year old will be returning to school at the University of Washington in the future, but in the meantime the “focus simply is Amanda’s wellbeing and getting her reassociated with just being a regular person again.”

He expressed his concerns, saying “What’s the trauma… and when will it show up, if it even shows up? She’s a very strong girl but it’s been a tough time for her.”

Jellyfish Eat Up Fishing Business Along the Coasts of Alabama and Mississippi

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Natural disasters have been popping up around the world recently, the latest of which being slightly unusual. Affecting fishermen and shrimpers along the coasts of Alabama and Mississippi, jellyfish have clogged the northern waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

One year ago, the same fishermen were left to deal with the consequences of the BP oil spill, the largest offshore oil spill in the history of the U.S. Though different, the jellyfish have made fishing and shrimping incredibly difficult in the area, and business has been at a standstill for nearly three weeks now.

Fisherman and bait shop owner Harry Jemison explained: “I catch bait, so they’re stopping me right now. It’s just like a thunderstorm or a hurricane.” He added, “It’s all part of living in God’s world down here.”

According to William ‘Monty’ Graham of the University of Southern Mississippi’s Marine Science Department, the jellyfish bloom depends mostly on water temperatures and storm activity. He explained that it is hard to predict just how long the swarm will stay. He added that two years ago, a similar situation occurred, and the blanket of jellyfish “kind of ate up the entire white shrimp fishing season.”

“The problem we had two years ago was that the blooms lasted until the end of December. They usually peak around September and are gone by November, but if the weather stays quiet and the water stays warm, I suspect they’ll stick around.”