Primal 'Scream

Here's a treat from Ben and Jerry's you'll have to try! The ice cream is named "John Lennon Imagine Whirled Peace." Ben and Jerry explained:

"When Ben & Jerry's wanted to talk about peace, we couldn't think of a better person to exemplify the message than John Lennon. Through his art and lyrics he imagined a world without war and asked us all to 'Give Peace a Chance'. We hope this whirly mixture of toffee cookies and fudge peace signs enlightens your bellies and souls and makes you ask what you can do to promote peace in your lives."

Not only that, but it tastes pretty good, too. The treat is made of caramel and sweet cream ice creams swirled with fudge peace signs and toffee cookie pieces. It's all natural, so it runs $4 a pint, but I found some at Target on sale for half that. Ben and Jerry even have a cool tribute page for John and their new flavor, here. All we are saying is, give Whirled Peace a chance.

Something In The Way She Moves

Beatle George Harrison met model Pattie Boyd on the film set for A Hard Day's Night. They later married, and later than that, George's friend Eric Clapton fell in love with Pattie, and wrote "Layla" about her. The name was changed to protect the not-so innocent. George and Eric remained friends, even after his best friend ran off with his girl. Pattie has recently written a book called "Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me." At any rate, she took some nice photos, and some of these are online. View more of Pattie's photos here. (When you get there, click on the "NEXT" above the photo to see more.)

60 Minute Man

Speaking of asking questions...

In 1990, I was a member of North Dallas High School's mathematics department. It was just my second year as a teacher, but I learned fast in the inner-city. Our department chairman, a man of much experience, was a big proponent of a series of textbooks published by a man named John Saxon. Our chairman contended that the Saxon texts, along with tutoring and committed teaching were responsible for improved student scores at NDHS. Because Saxon was a controversial maverick publisher, going up against math experts who rejected his books, "60 Minutes" deemed the story worthy for its show.

When I learned that the show was coming right to my own department, I became excited, to say the least. I was a huge fan, going back to my early teen years. Mike Wallace was one of my heroes, with his trademark, hardball, go-for-the-throat style of interviewing. Was he going to be at my school, I wondered? Or, would it be one of the shows' other correspondents?

Soon enough, a production crew for 60 Minutes came out, and they talked to several of us about our school, and teaching math, in general. They were doing their homework, and I was pretty impressed. I was happy to know that as journalists, they lived up to everything I had heard about them.

I think it was a week later, I was teaching class, and I heard an unmistakable voice from down the hall -- it was Mike Wallace! Wow! I hoped I could meet him! Was he going to ask me questions? What would I say if he did?

Well, he did ask me a question as it turns out, but more on that in a minute. I didn't get to see Wallace, my hero, until after school let out, and I went up to the school library, where he was interviewing our department chair for the show. I waited around for a chance to talk, and finally I got to sit at a table with him. I couldn't muster the courage to ask for an autograph, but I sure wanted to! We talked for about 20 minutes. Nothing in particular, just general chit-chat, we shook hands, and I mentioned that I was a big fan of the show, from the time I was a kid, and my mom had it on, every Sunday. He seemed to have heard that kind of adoration a lot, but he was very generous with his time, while he waited to do more filming.

Finally, he asked me that question, as I mentioned above. World famous journalist Mike Wallace gave me that Mike Wallace look, and with that Mike Wallace voice, he said...

"Where's the can?"

Yes, the man who interviewed so many world leaders -- people like George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, LBJ, JFK, Manuel Noriega, the Ayatollah Khomeini, Menachem Begin, Anwar el-Sadat, Yasir Arafat, on and on and on... also put me in the hot seat. Er, sort of.

I started to tell him, and then thought, ahh, what the hell, I might as well walk him downstairs and show him the way. I did, and he even said "thanks." I didn't lose my job, I didn't make the papers, but I will always remember that day.

Tick, tick, tick, tick...

Our Father Who Art In Heaven

My Dad gave me a few good things that turned out to greatly influence the way I have lived my life. He gave me a baseball glove for my birthday, and I played ball aggressively for most of my life, before finally slowing down and playing the much gentler game of ice hockey, here in my old age.

When I was six years old, I was standing next to him at a checkout lane, and there was this cool display of record albums featuring an LP called The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles Hits. My brother and I already knew about the Beatles from their ABC-TV cartoon show, and the various songs we got to hear on the radio. They were cool! But to actually own Beatles music and play it whenever I wanted -- now that would be way cool. (Never mind that it was the Chipmunks -- hey, I was six!) So, I asked my Dad if he would buy it. I never expected him to say "OK"! He put it on the conveyor belt and out of Arlan's Department store we walked. From that moment on, music has been my obsession! I live, sleep and drink Beatles, to this day.

There's a bigger gift Dad gave me, though. Even as a youngster, I asked a LOT of questions. I asked people so many questions they were absolutely annoyed. I'd be frequently met with exclamations of "Stop asking so many questions!" Adults told me to simply sit and be quiet. I could not understand that, for the life of me. Why would anyone not want me to know the wonders of the world, how things worked, and why people behaved the way they do? I told Dad about my frustration with this, and he had just the right words for me. He said, "You can ask all the questions you want. If you don't get an answer, ask me, and I'll tell you if I can." I took it to heart. I still ask a lot of questions.

Thanks, Dad.

First Off...

Howdy, folks. Yup, like everyone else, I have a new web log. (Isn't the term "blog," just a bit too cutesy?) These weblogs seem to be the place where people write their thoughts, believing that other people actually care. Yeah, maybe they don't. But if you're reading this, well, maybe you just have time to kill. I think of my brand new "blog" (ack! ptewie!) as a dumping ground for any and all thoughts that just happen to be zipping through my tiny little brain. It's a collection of links to something I've seen on the world wide web, and a log of my musings on them. Or, as I said, whatever else I care to yap about. A collection of links and logs. Get it? Link 'n Log. I hope you can enjoy it, for what it is.