Who Will Light The Olympic Flame in the XX Winter Games?
Mood:  quizzical

Most of you, like me, will watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Torino, Italy, tonight.

The IOC (International Olympic Committee) in previous Olympic games and this winter games wants some suspense in the opening ceremonies. The torchbearers who will be carrying the torch into the Olympic stadium had been told by the IOC to shut up their mouths and not reveal who will be the first into the stadium with the torch or even the last torchbearer to light the Olympic flame. To put it simply.......they are told not to reveal
who...or the order.....and the Olympic broadcasters are told by the IOC not to reveal
who those torchbearers are until they see the actual torch relays.

So, they are keeping it secret.

But I am going to try to unveil the secret.

Here are Charles Joseph Smith's speculations on who will be the last torchbearers at the
Olympic Stadium at Turin (part of Torino):

The first torchbearer: Alberto Tomba

The second torchbearer: Katarina Witt

The third torchbearer: Brian Boitano

The fourth torchbearer: Oxana Baiul

The fifth torchbearer: Brian Orser

Final torchbearer who will light the torch at the stadium: LUCIANO PAVAROTTI!

See if I got all of these correct when I watch the opening ceremonies.

My White Sox Memories of the 1970s
Mood:  chatty
But let me tell you about what I had witnessed related to the Sox in the 1970s--the late 1970s.

I have seen why the White Sox's 2005 World Series championship means so, so much to
all Sox fans.

But I am not going to tell about the monster scoreboard (that famous "bells and whistles" contraption that shot off fireworks and a police-siren-like sound when a Sox player hit a dinger). Everyone knows that. And not about
Disco Demolition 1979. Everyone also knows that.

However, I can tell you that I never been to that
demolition night live...I saw it on a channel 44 feed
on TV.

You wonder how the pyrotechnicians and dynamite
personnel blew up the records? Well, through seeing
a DVD called "Disco Demolition 25th Anniversary--
The Real Story", I can tell you how they did this
explosive publicity stunt at center field at the
old Sox Park......

A combination of fireworks as well as dynamite
sent the records in the air. About 11-13 pyrotechnic
mines that were near the big box of disco records (or mortar tubes containing flash powder that
explodes in its lift charges without the usual
rockets going out of the tube, usually with a flash-
boom similar to stun grenades, since they explode
near the ground) went off as the appetizer...and 3-4 sticks (full sticks) of dynamite inside a giant box
of about 40,000 to 50,000 disco records went off...
shooting the records into the sky...that was the
grand finale. It was sort of a pyrotechnic display
on the ground that lasted about 13 seconds...from
the first pop of the pyro mine to the last thunderous
dynamite "boom" that blew the box and its records wide open----that sent the crowd cheering.

There are some lesser-known memories about the Sox I can tell you.

There was Jimmy Piersall and Harry Caray--the broadcasters who were at the famous press
box at the back of the upper deck with Channel 44 signage on the bottom. I can remember some of their own post-game shows
that went on during some of the old White Sox park's post-game fireworks shows. During such post-game fireworks shows, when Old Sox Park's monster scoreboard went silent and the lights on the light standards went black, I can remember those broadcasters being brave enough to talk through the Channel 44 feed even through the rockets' loud crackles, big booms and bangs, and deafening finales.
Those firework shows are not appropriate for dogs.....even though Bill Veeck had a Sox promotion called "Dog Day". Unusual!

Haray Caray was, as I call him, "The Little Lily of the White Sox". He was like a second Bill Veeck (the word "lily", to me, means a type of flower that blossoms with a lot of energy and hence enough energy to keep fans excited, as Bill Veeck wanted to create)...I liked him...from his big eyeglasses, from his "Holy Cow!" shout, all the way to that
famous home run calls ("It might be....it could be.....IT ISSSSSSSSSSSS!!!....a home run!" was a favorite).
I loved his famous phrases so much everytime I watched Channel 44 (which brought
most of the televised White Sox games) to see the Sox. Like Veeck, Haray can be quite zany.
Why? He loved Budweiser beer, and I can always remember that famous phrase he says a lot-
"This Bud's for you!" I can infer that Harry loved to get drunk.

Haray Caray's signature "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" rally at the seventh-inning stretch
was also a trademark for the old Sox Park....even after Harry moved out of Sox Park to meet
up with a new sidekick---Steve Stone---at Wrigley Field, which was home of the Chicago Cubs.
His one-word and several-word phrases before and after each song ("Hey! Let me hear you", or
"...a one, a two, a three....", or "Let's get some runs!") was also memorable to me.

The light-green color of the stadium seats was making me dream that the old Sox Park's inside is like a swimming pool...with the water being the field itself.

And I remember the lesser-known names from those Sox years in the 1970s. Eric Soderholm, Wayne
Nordhagen, Jorge Orta, Ralph Garr, and Lamarr Hoyt....as well as Ken Kravek. And from the 1980s....Ron Kittle, Harold Baines, Ozzie Guillen and Carlton Fisk...Carlton being the famous one. People who
were not famous in the Sox organization because they were not involved in a baseball championship year...except for Fisk in 1983.

When I saw the Sox uniforms in the late 1970s, the numbers and the names of the players on the jerseys were written in what I call "Royal font".

But one memory of the White Sox did not come on the ballfield or the stands or the
scoreboard. It came in the form of a musical woman.

Nancy Faust was "my kind of musical lady". A very real type of musical lady!!! Even though I was not directly involved with
her romantically, the famous "Hava Nagila" song in G minor (originally, the Hava Nagila song
is in A minor)--one of the songs that caused the crowd to rally for the Sox for a winning baseball game---was a big hit for the Sox fans--not just that famous baseball lady organist per
se. At that point, I was just starting to take music lessons, but around 1980, I was explosively
starting to have musical talent like Nancy Faust. I even took organ lessons as well as piano
lessons.

I called Nancy "The Lorelei of baseball organists"---referring to Steve Dahl's sidekick, Lorelei,
during the infamous Disco Demolition night on Thursday, July 12, 1979 (I had to reveal that, sorry!). Why? She
can play virtually anything. Jazz, rock, disco, pop---even some classical and ethnic songs---
you name it---Nancy can play it! In 2005, Nancy Faust was honored by the Sox for her 35 years of bringing baseball organ music to White Sox home games.

I also called her, because of my autistic desires, "The Little Lily of Music" or even "The Mermaid
Organist". Sure, men can play the organ, but ladies? Wow! So even if I never go to Sox Park
in person, until she retires, Nancy is still going to be just right for me. Dinah Shore was very
popular in the mid-1970s (she had her own talk show at that time), and Nancy Faust was
almost like Dinah Shore in appearance in all kinds. She can play music---but unlike Dinah,
Nancy can't sing. Like a mermaid, her almost impeccable playing allows her to play with the
utmost energy and even rally the Sox fans even when the White Sox lose a ballgame.

Now, since I talked a fair deal about Nancy Faust, I wanted to know if you actually seen her
in person. She allows people to talk in her organ well...even in the new Sox park.

And the archways.........All of the archways........I remember those...especially the arches
in right field everytime my father's car passes old Sox Park on the Dan Ryan.

Cause of the French Riots Spotted
Well, I had found out that two deliquents somewhere in Sous-Bois went to an electrical substation and climbed over a protected fence to hide themselves because they were afraid of the police. They had paranormal fears that the police were out to arrest them for something. The two deliquents then came in contact with a high voltage current fuse box in the substation and were electrocuted.

The deaths triggered friends of those dead to explode into anger and hence created violence...
even though the two deliquents had no proof that they were pursued by police.

Connection between High Blood Pressure and Diabetes
Mood:  blue
Actually, my dad died of heart failure. It was complicated by his hypertension. Yes....hypertension is akin to diabetes---you don't control it, you have nearly the same major health complications like
type II diabetes does. Fortuantely, my Dad did not have type II. My mother does not have type II.

Actually, I know that diabetes risk increases with being obese. I saw "Super Size Me" (the famous documentary movie, remember?). Morgan Spurlock, the actor in the film had told us a very, very big shock...even young obese people around 18-22 years of age already have Type II diabetes.
Usually, you need to be about 40 years of age to have the risk, but the diabetes is coming
very, very early for them.

But lets get back to the blood pressure thing.....

Dad had kidney failure related to his blood pressure. He survived 10 years on dialysis, and then, he ended up dead of heart failure because he did not follow a restrictive potassium
diet related to ESRF (end-stage renal faliure) patients. He had, I can only assume, too much potassium...and too much of it when your kidneys are gone is almost like shoveling heavy wet show... the excess potassium will create too much load on the heart that it actually gives way and shuts down for good--hence heart failure.

But we have a family history of high blood pressure.

My mom is on antihypertensive medication...so does me. But what we want still is a cure for high blood pressure.
That is why I am for stem-cell research.

My Exposure to Black Music
Mood:  incredulous
As for me.....

I was partially raised on Black music....I partially grew up in a church and was christened there. I sang in the choir there for a while. Then I took up Black Chorus at the University of
Illinois, a black choral group run by Ollie Watts Davis, the music director, in 1995.

I had heard virtually everything in Black music.....

...from the fusion and funk of Parliament and James Brown and The Time and Rick James.....

...to the Negro spirituals I hear at church....

...to the Motown sounds of Marvin Gaye and Michael Jackson and Al Green......

...to the classical sounds of Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price....and.....

...to the famous Black national anthem called "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing".

I even watched the BET awards of 2004 and 2005 and heard more Black music sounds.
As they said in the past, "black is beautiful."

Liver damage related to obesity in "Super Size Me"
Mood:  sharp
Now Playing: n/a
I had heard about a special enzyme in the blood of the liver that is used called SGOT. When having fatty liver syndrome, the narrator in "Super Size Me" was given a SGOT blood test. He was given the bad news. Normally, SGOT levels in a normal human being should be 22-35....but it exploded to 134, which, if remaining long enough, can lead to liver fibrosis, and in worst cases, liver cirrhosis, for that narrator.

SGOT (you do not know it at all unless you are a physician) stands for......

Serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase

I learned that that you can abuse the liver by obesity and you can re-heal it by losing weight. That's the good thing......

See some good retro-hippie artwork at Nab Gallery
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Saturdays until the Christmas season is over
See the Kathleen Vojta/Susan Sensemann artwork
and see some good-ole retro-hippie art lovers/admirers........

on November 26, December 3, and December 10, and
December 17

at the Nab Gallery from 12pm to 5pm

at 1116 W. Lake St., Chicago, Illinois
(this is just at the Green Line CTA El tracks.)

Kathleen Vojta does installation art and contemporary paintings; Susan Sensemann does
photographic art. Both also do contemporary poetry.

The building is a loft building commonly seen at
Wicker Park, but this building is on the near
West side, just a stone's throw away from Harpo
studios, where the Oprah Show is featured.

Black Box Warnings on Prescription Drugs
Mood:  surprised
Topic: Prescription drugs


A lot of these TV commercials for prescription drugs are now required to tell you "black box"
warnings.

For example, for Imitrex.....
Some people go on to have major cardiac events, even with no risk factors for heart disease,
after taking the drug.

Or for Humera.....
Some people had been struck with lymphoma or even severe nervous system damage and/or
nervous disorders after taking the drug.

Or for Seasonale, a contraceptive:
Serious risks can result in a cardiovascular nature, such as heart attacks, PADs, and strokes,
and smoking makes them worse....

They have to say these warnings to stop lawsuits.