I never seem to have the time to develop most of the ideas and things I hear and articles I scan for possible entries for this blog.
But I can't let this item pass by without comment: Springfield, Vermont will host the premiere of the Simpsons movie on July 21.
What a wonderful surprise!!
I didn't know about this contest and I don't watch the Simpsons that much. (Or hardly any tv, for that matter.)
So I only learned about this victory, today, the day after the winner was announced. I spotted the item on the BBC news website. It seems the Vermonters' video entry beat out 13 other Springfields across the nation. (There's a total of about 34 Springfield cities and towns in the U.S.)
I guess this is international news, of sorts, in the English-speaking world. (Is the Simpsons shown in non-English speaking countries?)
Quite odd, since Springfield, VT is a small town of less than 10K people. And not the sort of place that provides much news nor is written up in magazines.
But I have mentioned the town in my blog in years past:
http://aamplitude.baltiblogs.com/archives/2003_10.html
http://aamplitude.baltiblogs.com/archives/2003_12.html
http://aamplitude.baltiblogs.com/archives/2005_05.html
I was last there almost 4 years ago (to pick up a copy of my birth certificate, among other things) and was surprised to see 2 Chinese restaurants. I wouldn't have expected to see any.
According to the Wikipedia entry for Springfield, only .77% of the town's population is Asian.
Here're the ethnic/racial demographics (based on the 2000 Census, I think):
White 97.6%
African American .24%
Hispanic or Latino of any race .72%
Native American .14%
Asian .77%
Pacific Islander .06%
Other .18%
2 or more races 1.01%
Last night, I stopped to talk to a building security guard I’ve gotten to know over the past year. He let me know that he’ll be headed back to Iraq by the fall. I asked him if he knew what he’d be doing over there. He replied that he’d be working on convoys. (I took that to mean riding in convoys to help provide security.)
He said he was over there a couple years ago. I suppose that the risk of injury or death for ground troops, there (outside of Kurdistan), have only increased.
I wonder if the chances of getting blown up by a roadside bomb are like the chances of shooting yourself playing Russian roulette. Or would the chances be comparable to being shot in the inner city?
I just hope he survives, intact, physically and mentally.
I’m guessing that given his prior experience in Iraq and his age (probably in his late 40’s to mid 50’s), he’ll be able to handle the mental stress.
I didn’t know that he’d already been over there. He’d never talked about being in the reserve or national guard. He’d mostly talked about hunting deer and turkey in western Maryland.
I guess it’s kinda ironic that the hunter will become the hunted.