Mark your calendars for April 8, 2024 around 3:00 p.m. EDT. There will be a Total Solar Eclipse crossing the United States. The path of totality (the area where the entire disk of the Sun is obscured by the Moon) will stretch from central Texas to the Michigan/Ohio border and on to Maine. The rest […]
In From the Vaults: American Eclipse (4-10-23), we chronicled how a group of scientists and astronomers set out to elevate America’s scientific reputation around the world in the wake of the Total Solar Eclipse of 1878. Prior to that event, the European science community did not have a favorable view of what was happening […]
Everybody knows Eddie Van Halen invented a two hand guitar technique widely known as ‘tapping’. All one has to do is call up a video of Eddie shredding the neck of one of his iconic guitars and it is likely he will employ tapping in a solo. What is tapping exactly? According to Gunnar […]
From time to time, I am asked to reveal a secret; where do ideas for these FTV articles come from? There is no simple answer but let me give it a shot: anywhere and everywhere. It isn’t much different than what songwriters say happens when they hear a phrase or musical riff that sticks […]
The title of this FTV started as a mental exercise of me trying to make a ‘Top Ten’ list of bands I liked to listen to back when I was first learning to be a rock and roll drummer. I thought, “Maybe it would be fun to follow up on some of them and […]
In Part 1 of History . . ., we learned about the rise of D.C. Stephenson to the position of Grand Dragon of the Northern KKK in the early 1920s. Following the story in Timothy Egan’s book A Fever in the Heartland (Viking Press – 2023), we discovered that the events he described did […]
We begin March with the evening planets. Jupiter has been the star of the show, so to speak, as it has been visible crossing the night sky all winter. As March begins, look for this gas giant planet high in the west. It will continue to drop lower in the sky as the month […]
Before I decided that Geography and Earth Science were going to be my major areas of study in college, History was also in my top three areas of interest. The maps of historic migrations, battles, and geographical provinces included in the text books we used from elementary school through high school fascinated me to […]
Who is Bill? You know, Bill Szymczyk. Who? Bill Szymczyk (pronounced ‘/simzik/’ if you are wondering). Never heard of him? Maybe not by name, but if you have listened to recorded work by B.B. King, The James Gang, Joe Walsh, Eagles, The J.Geils Band, JoJo Gunne, Jay Ferguson, The Winter brothers (Edgar and Johnny), […]
Back in June of 2023, the first part of FTV: Misplaced (6-21-23) discussed the 25 years we took our Ontonagon Area Schools eighth graders on an annual orienteering hike in the Porcupine Mountains. In orienteering, we used map and compass skills to travel from point to point without relying on trails, trail markers, or […]