Gregory A. Fournier's Blog, page 57

San Diego Notables #1 - Black History Month - Willie O'Ree - Hockey's Jackie Robinson

Before I discovered Willie O'Ree was the first black man to play in the National Hockey League, I knew him simply as the husband of my (soon to be) wife's best friend. Now I list him as a great humanitarian and a personal friend of mine. When I remarried, Willie and his wife "stood up" for us at our wedding ceremony.

Now in his seventies, Willie is still active in professional hockey as the Director of Youth Development for NHL Diversity.

Willie harbored a secret which would have ended his career had it been known. He lost his right eye in a hockey puck mishap; still, he continued to play professionally for many years.

For more information on Willie and his hockey achievements, open the link below. It includes a video interview and a profile produced in Canada.

http://missioncreep.com/mw/oree.html

Zydeco in San Diego - The Bon Temp Social Club

San Diego has a very active zydeco/Cajun community of homegrown dancers and musicians, thanks to The Bon Temps Social Club which holds weekly dances at Tio Leo's Cantina   in San Diego with lessons - most often taught by Greg Benusa.

Greg has taught hundreds of people the basics of zydeco dancing and has a DVD, that makes learning the dance at home a breeze. You can have fun the very first night on the dance floor. His website is www.greg@zydecoach.com.

The club also hosts a monthly - 2nd Sat dance with live zydeco and Cajun bands - often from Louisiana, and it participates annually in the local Gaslamp Quarter's Fat Tuesday Parade , held each year to celebrate Mardi Gras.

Club members build a float which more often than not wins the grand prize. A not to be missed aspect of this evening's events is a zydeco mass held before the parade at St. Paul's Episcopal Church , which is well-attended by revelers who are decked out in their colorful costumes. It is a sight to behold.

The club's premier event is the Gator by the Bay Festival held each Mothers' Day weekend on Shelter Island at Spanish Landing Park. Many of zydeco's best groups come to San Diego for this event. This year's headliner is Keith Frank.

Of its two main stages, one specializes in zydeco and Cajun music, while the other presents blues and country music. Over this weekend event, tons of crawfish are served, as well as BBQ'ed turkey legs, beignets, and other traditional Louisana and "fair" food.

Gator by the Bay is a splendiferous, family friendly event. Oh, yeah! Don't forget to bring Mom. And Dad probably won't mind tagging along too much either.

For more information, open the link.
http://www.icajunzydeco.com/

Some Popcorn For the Mind

Are you weary of our fast paced world where instant gratification isn't soon enough? Do you long for the "good old days" when America seemed to know how to get things done?

Then this short subject called, "A Day In the Life of Moonbot Studios," is for you. It is a real laugh riot. The studio that produced the "2011" Oscar nominated Animated Short Subject, "The Amazing Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore," does a great job spoofing itself.

If you are a book lover and haven't seen "The Amazing Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore ," my blog post "The Wonder of Books" has a link to it.

http://vimeo.com/29048841

Good Advice For This Valentine's Day

Whether you have a significant other or not, be good to your heart this Valentine's Day.

Can a person stop a heart attack when alone, simply by coughing repeatedly? The experts say no! Don't be fooled!

snopes.com/medical/homecure/coughcpr.asp

Overseas Jobs Resource

If you or someone you know has been looking for a professional job, the Jooble international "help wanted" website may be able to find you that rewarding career you have been looking for. They are a European employment agency specializing in overseas jobs.

You can access their website from the link below or from the International Flags logo on the right sidebar of my blog - Fornology. If you are in a position to take advantage of this resource and are interested in working and experiencing another culture, this may be your ticket.

jooble-us.com

Movers and Shakers - People Who Made a Difference

Open the link for a better view of this awesome oil painting. See how many of these famous historical figures from the ages you can identify. Hover the cursor over a face for a name and click on it for information. For starters, that's Dante in the upper right hand corner; everyone else is contemplating eternity with him.

http://cliptank.com/PeopleofInfluencePainting.htm

The Wonder of Books

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore! is a sentimental look at reading and literacy. This fourteen minute computer animation is for readers who love the the texture of paper and the magic of turning pages.

As society moves further and further into a world of international symbols, logos, icons, and apps, the value and importance of literacy increases.  This video captures the magic of reading and may make you rethink this brave new world of hand held reading tablets.

http://vimeo.com/35404908

Looking Evil in the Face

In act one of Shakespeare's Macbeth, the idea that guilt shows on a person's face is a motif that runs throughout the play. Lady Macbeth warns her husband early on that "Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men may read strange matters." She advises him to "...look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't."
Macbeth has a conscience - Lady Macbeth doesn't. By the end of act one, he tries to take her advice, "False face must hide what the false heart doth know." A person with a conscience can't pull that off - unfortunately, a sociopath can. By the end of the play, King Macbeth has become a serial killer of men, women, and children through his henchmen.

Building on the idea that guilt can show on a person's face, the idea that criminal traits can show on a person's face gained popular acceptance near the end of the nineteenth century. An Italian psychiatrist, named Cesare Lombroso, was credited with the theory "...that some types of people are closer to our primitive ancestors than others." He utilized the work of Pierre-Paul Broca to create this "new science" of criminal anthropology which relied upon facial measurements and anomalies of the skull, face, and body to determine who was a criminal type and who was not.

Broca believed in the concept of the "born criminal" who was a "throwback to earlier hedonistic races." In the twentieth century, this theory was strongly reinforced in the popular culture through movies, dime novels, pulp fiction, radio mystery shows, and television crime dramas. Rather than "scientific," these ideas broke along racial, ethnic, and religious lines more often than not. The Nazis made great use of this "junk science" which they proudly documented in the last century.

Today, crime science has reliable and irrefutable tools like fingerprints, DNA analysis, and chemical and fiber labs to help catch and convict sociopathic killers. The trouble is that someone must lose his or her life before any of this science can be put to work.

Understanding "the construction of the mind" simply by looking at someones physical traits doesn't work. Sociopathic serial killers look "normal" and blend into the background, so their behavior often requires psychological profiling before they are caught. Regrettably, profiling only becomes more accurate as the body count rises.

John Norman Collins - Astrological Birth Chart

While doing a Google search for John Norman Collins, the so-called Coed Killer, I stumbled across his astrological natal chart and was struck by the intricacies of this graphic representation based on his birth information - June 17th, 1947 at 12:38 PM. Some other people born on this date are Newt Gingrich, MC Escher, Igor Stravinski, Barry Manilow, Greg Kinnear, Joe Piscopo, and Martin Bormann.

The website is www.astrotheme.com, and it touts itself as "A New Approach to Astrology." The printout is computer compiled and generated, and the site offers a crash course in some of the metaphysical arts - for instance, numerology and Chinese astrology. John's birth path is eight, and he was born under the Sign of the Pig.

After ten pages explaining the complexities of astrological interpretation, the final four pages do an analysis of Mr. Collins. The one ironic observation that struck me was, "You have so much charm and volubility that you easily manage to be what is known as a lady-killer." Really? The last page includes an interesting "Warning" disclaimer you may want to read first.

For my disclaimer, I would like to attach my voice to this quote from Nobel Laureate in Literature - Saul Bellow: "There is no limit to the amount of intelligence invested in ignorance - when the need for illusion runs deep."

http://www.astrotheme.com/carte.php?c...

Free Radio Booking Service for Authors

My publisher for Zug Island - Wheatmark.com - recommended a free internet radio booking service named radioguestlist.com which has worked quite well for me . Once registered with them, they send out daily listings of radio talk shows looking for interesting guests. A writer can simply look down the listings and choose a show that specializes in his/her area of expertise. I've contacted four stations, three with positive results and another I'm waiting to hear from.

On Monday night, I was interviewed on a Harlem radio show - Beefstewradio.com - which I have run as a link below. I also have bookings on "Sayinitplain.com" in February and on the "Hollis Chapman Show" in May. My website and blog helped me seal these deals, so I recommend that you have an engaging electronic platform. It is your 24/7 billboard and calling card.

Independent authors can use this service to get media exposure and advertise their books and future writing projects. Local advertising isn't cheap - this media service gives you national and international exposure for free! Give it a try.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/beefstew...