The Piper Of D-Day

If you are a fan of the WWII movie "The Longest Day" then you probably remember the soldier who plays the bagpipes as the beaches are stormed on D-Day. The man who's actions were immortalized in that film has passed away.

Bill Millin, a Scotsman serving with the 1st Commando Brigade, acted at the urging of his commander to violate rules against the playing of bagpipes in battle. He bravely piped songs such as "Highland Laddie" to motivate his comrades.

When asked later in life about his actions, he simply said "When you're young you do things you wouldn't dream of doing when you're older."

I hope both his iconic bravery and modesty will be remembered by us all for generations to come.

Illegal Immigration

The Grassroots Origin of Grassroots

From Garrison Keillor:

It was on this day 98 years ago that the word "grassroots" made its debut as a political term. On this day in 1912, Senator Albert Jeremiah Beveridge of Indiana was on stage at the Progressive Party Convention when he proclaimed: "This party has come from the grass roots. It has grown from the soil of people's hard necessities."

In the almost hundred years since, "grassroots" has become a popular buzzword and an influential campaign strategy. The word refers specifically, according to the OED, to the "rank and file of the electorate or of a political party." With grassroots campaigns, you often see people standing on street corners holding clipboards, collecting signatures for petitions, or setting up information tables on college campuses and neighborhood farmers' markets, or posting fliers around town, or holding political meetings at people's houses, sometimes potluck-style.

There's now even a term for faking a grassroots movement: It's called "astroturfing," after that artificial grass found at sports stadiums. It's when powerful lobbyists masquerade as individual citizens, using the tactics of grassroots campaigns, but hiding their affiliation or real agenda. The term was coined by U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, after he got a bunch of letters in the mail from concerned citizens urging him to promote the interests of the insurance industry.

Independence Day - Not "the fourth"

This weekend is American Independence Day. As always, I'm a bit on my soapbox about people who reduce the importance of the holiday by referring to it as "the fourth" or just "July 4th". Many of these same people would be offended if we called Christmas "the 25th" or even their birthday by it's date.

We are a proud country, and even with the inevitable mistakes in our past, we have done great things as a people. We should celebrate the birth of our democracy and remember this as the beginning of our Independence and the beacon of freedom the United States became.

A Nation’s Strength

by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1904)

What makes a nation’s pillars high
And its foundations strong?
What makes it mighty to defy
The foes that round it throng?

It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand
Go down in battle shock;
Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,
Not on abiding rock.

Is it the sword? Ask the red dust
Of empires passed away;
The blood has turned their stones to rust,
Their glory to decay.

And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown
Has seemed to nations sweet;
But God has struck its luster down
In ashes at his feet.

Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor’s sake
Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly...
They build a nation’s pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.

D-Day June 6, 1944

The photo of the cemetery in Normandy shows just some of those who gave their lives in order to pass freedom on to future generations. They were part of Operation OVERLORD, known to us today as D-Day, and began the end of the Nazi war machine.

In our busy lives, we should give a brief thanks for those who served in war so we might not have to do so.

Happy Geek Pride Day 2010

Internationally today is the day in which we celebrate geeks, myself included. If you weren't aware, May 25th is the day on which Star Wars was first released in 1977. Not that today is only Star Wars themed mind you, but all things geek.

You can read more about the day over at the nerdage blog and learn about the history and how today is also sci-fi themed "Towel Day" for the Douglas Adams fans out there.

So, today thank a geek, dork or nerd who has used their purchasing power to keep great geek movies and TV shows coming over the years!

Risk is our business...

To Risk

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out is to risk involvement,
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas and
dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To live is to risk dying,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken because
the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing,
has nothing, is nothing.

– William Arthur Ward (1921-1994)