wordshark.com Blog

Are you a ‘Genuine Six-burger’?

On the heels of the Steelers sixth Super Bowl championship and the merchandising mash to cash in on the occasion, much has been made of the legal use and display of the term “Sixburgh” (especially in relation to the Lombardi trophy and other NFL properties).

While it’s apparently true the term is copyrighted, here is a mildly interesting attempt to exploit a yummy loophole:

T-shirts, baby bib, mug, tote bag and many more items can be purchased here:

http://www.cafepress.com/realburgher

Who’s winning your battle within?

I might be the last person to have discovered the touching parable I’ve repeated below, but just in case I’m not, I am happy to share it here. I really think it contains a message that can help many of us through these trying economic times.

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said,

“My son, the battle is between ‘two wolves’ inside us all: One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,

“Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied,

“The one you feed.”

Great, topical photo site

If you have not been directed to boston.com and its amazing “Big Picture” photo essay site before today, you will surely appreciate (and bookmark) the link after you visit.

Yesterday’s big picture topic was the Chinese Lantern Festival (the final night of Chinese New Year celberations) and the devastating fire that hit one of the amazing new buildings that was featured during last year’s Summer Olympic Games.

Chinese Lantern Festival

As with every previous boston.com Big Picture essay, this one is breathtaking, comprehensive, timely and captivating.

It’s a Mosh-Pitt: Troy takes a dive!

Pittsburgh Police estimated that 350,000-plus fanatical Steelers fans lined the streets yesterday to welcome ‘r Stillers back after their amazing victory in Super Bowl XLIII.

Here is a Youtube from one lucky fan who found himself in very close proximity to a mosh-Pitt dive by a soft-spoken fan favorite, Troy Polamalu. Enjoy!

Six-Burgh!

Few words. Several images. Lots of memories. Even more smiles.

Welcome to Six-Burgh, home of the winningest team of the Super Bowl era!

What a wonderful ride!

Here’s to #7 leading ‘r Stillers to #7 next year!

Terrible Towel, Wonderful Story

From NYT, (C) Lisa Kyle

Today’s New York Times has a nice article about the swirling gold towels veiwers of this Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIII will be seeing in Tampa’s sombrero stadium.

Myron Cope left behind something far more personal than a legacy of terrycloth, a battle flag for a city and its team. In 1996, he handed over the trademark to the Terrible Towel to the Allegheny Valley School. It is a network of campuses and group homes across Pennsylvania for people with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. It receives almost all the profits from sales of the towels.

The deceased Mr. Cope was the beloved (and sometime cringe-inducing) former color commentator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. As the story explains, his special needs son had been a resident at AVS since he was 14. In 1996, fresh off the Steelers only Super Bowl loss, Cope signed over the rights to the towel so the school could receive all future proceeds on its sales. So far, the school has realized more than $2.5 million since Mr. Cope’s generous offer.

It is a legacy that lives on. And this Sunday’s game will provide another national showcase for a wonderful gift that just keeps on giving.

Thanks, Myron. Go Steelers! (My prediction: Steelers 31 – Cards 16)

A Presidential Gigapix!

If you haven’t discovered Gigapix yet, it is time you did!

Here is a link to a gigapix photo of Barack Obama’s Inauguration… if the moment wasn’t impressive enough for you, the technology behind the image lets you pan and zoom in to view amazing detail… Gigapan

If you zoom in on Obama, you’ll see the Supreme Court Justices behind him… with Clarence Thomas gaining some apparently much needed ZZZs. Change the orientation and you can see the security snipers on the far-off office building roof, too… pretty incredible.

Checking in on Bill…

No, not me. The other one… Bill Gates.

It seems the former Microsoftian has taken a page from his old pal Warren Buffet and intends to publish an “Annual Letter” to keep donors and others abreast of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s work. It is an amazing amalgam of objectives the couple is trying to achieve through their philanthopic efforts – reducing global poverty; ending malaria, finding an AIDs vaccine and saving the lives of children through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations; and improving the state of public education in the United States (especially in impoverished communities).

As Nicholas Kristoff wrote in the NY Times yesterday:

“…if Mr. Gates manages to accomplish as much in the world of vaccines, health and food production as he thinks he can, then the consequences will be staggering. Squared. In that case, the first few paragraphs of Mr. Gates’ obituary will be all about overcoming diseases and poverty, barely mentioning his earlier career in the software industry.”

Even those who have railed against Windows and other Microsoft products over the years have to find themselves cheering Mr. Gates’ newest calling. Read the letter for yourself here: 2009 Annual Letter from Bill Gates.

Another blog? Why?

Hi, and welcome to the wordshark.com blog. Truthfully, I have no idea what I will be using this space to accomplish, but I thought, “Why not?”

I guess I hope to create a compendium of notes on topics I have found to be of interest to me, plus links to notable sites and stories that I hope visitors to this site will find interesting or amusing. I don’t intend to be overtly political here, but those who know me realize the difficulty I may find with that pledge.

So, I invite you to visit this site as you can, and I hope you will feel compelled to come back again and again.