Random Tim Russert Thoughts

  • I often hear that men on long flights need to stand up and walk around to prevent blood clots. Russert just flew back from Italy. I wonder if this was a contributing factor?
  • I was able to Tivo and watch the evening news on all three major networks because I wanted to see how competing networks pay homage. Russert was the first story on all three networks and they dedicated a lot of time to this story.
  • You could tell that Katie Couric was taking it extremely hard and it appeared she just finished crying before she went on air. She didn’t lead the CBS broadcast, instead it was Harry Smith. I bet she just wasn’t emotionally strong enough.
  • He seemed extremely genuine and humble.
  • His elderly father “Big Russ” must be absolutely heartbroken.
  • His wife and son must feel absolutely helpless being in Italy at the time of his death.
  • I hear NBC let other news outlets break the story because they first wanted to contacted his family. Classy.
  • Tom Brokaw broke the news while Brian Williams was in Afghanistan. There was just something eloquent and right having Brokaw deliver the message.
  • With Brian Williams anchoring from Afghanistan and the entire NBC broadcast was dedicated to Russert, you knew this was big news.
  • No one could interview a politician better.
  • I was really looking forward to his coverage come November and was hoping he was moderate at least one of the debates. He always asked the questions that the public wanted asked.
  • 48 honorary doctorates!
  • Friday the 13th.
  • I’m inspired to start taking better care of myself – physically, mentally, emotionally . . . spiritually.
Posted in Touching | 3 Comments

Amazing Picture

A huge tornado funnel cloud touches down in Orchard, Iowa, Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 9:04 p.m. The Globe Gazette and Mitchell County Press News reported that Lori Mehmen of Orchard, took the photo from outside her front door. Mehmen said the funnel cloud came near the ground and then went back up into the clouds. Besides tree and crop damage, no human injuries were reported.

Link

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Sad and Unexpected

NBC News’ Russert dies at 58

Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” died Friday after collapsing, NBC News said. He was 58. Russert, the recipient of 48 honorary doctorates, joined NBC News in 1984 and took over the helm of “Meet the Press” in December 1991.

Link

When it came to covering politics, he was the best.

Posted in Pop Culture | Comments Off on Sad and Unexpected

Mmmmmmm . . . Buffalo

I just finished eating my very first buffalo (bison if you want to be technical) burger and it was pretty darn good.  The texture seemed about the same as beef, but I would say that the taste was a bit sweeter.  I also hear that it’s a healthy meat, but the only sources I could find doing a cursory Google search came from bison organizations, so I couldn’t find any independent data.

Originally I was trying to find an animated gif of the lone running buffalo that was used in U2’s video for One, but just couldn’t find one so I decided to use this famous photograph by David Wojnarowicz.  I’ve alway wondered how he got this shot and the story behind it, but once again my Google skills are lacking.  If you have any info on it, please let me know.  But in my search I did find a few interesting things.

Native Americans use to run bison off cliffs, often called a buffalo jump, as an efficient way to kill them and then use their meat and other parts.  This was something that was actually documented by Lewis and Clark.  Link

And then there’s this piece about the location from Douglas Stebila’s website:

For a long time, ever since I first heard of it in Dave Barry’s Only Travel Guide You’ll Ever Need, I’ve wanted to visit Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (http://www.head-smashed-in.com/). According to the Wikipedia article about the location, “when [Dave Barry] found out about the site, he called the phone number of the Interpretive Centre, and the telephone was answered, ‘Head-Smashed-In, may I help you?’ He claims this was a highlight of his life.”  Link

Posted in Interesting, Personal | Comments Off on Mmmmmmm . . . Buffalo