Aren Cambre's Blog

This may surprise attendees of the 1994 National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC).

Order of the Arrow is an honor society of Boy Scouts that uses American Indian imagery.  The 1994 NOAC conference’s closing ceremony prominently featured then-popular Return to Innocence by Enigma in an Indian-themed ceremony.

Only problem is that’s not an Indian voice. It’s an aboriginal Taiwanese chant.

So now you know. The NOAC planners are probably blushing.

Here’s the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JpJjsHgYHA

EDIT (5/21/2010): The host is Chip Beall, who left a comment below.

Below is is my Texaco Star Academic Challenge performance from 1993 or 1994. Yes, Clear Brook High School made it to TV.

At least wait through my part of “meet the contestants.”

My glass storm door shattered yesterday. Opening the wood front door made a vacuum that made it give up. It wasn’t that hot, so I guess the glass may have had a defect or other stressor that finally gave up.

A neighbor across the street heard the shatter. He was outside for a while before I opened the door, and he and I think he would have noticed if my glass was already shattered but still in place before I opened it.

A new door is only around $200, and the current one’s warranty does not cover glass, so we’re just going to buy a new door. I’ll throw it up over the next few weeks.

Looking from the front:

Detail view of shattery glass:

Jeremy Callahan found the answer to the 6 door work truck question: made by Custom Autos by Tim of Guthrie, OK, and the exact truck is at http://www.customautosbytim.com/8.html.

(EDIT: Answer is here.)

I saw this at work:

6 door work truck

That’s a 6 door Ford F-250! It’s otherwise a plain jane work truck.

It has to be modified, but I couldn’t find any coachbuilder marques. The closest was the dealer:

6 door work truck's dealer, England Ford in Hinton, OK

Who makes this? What is it?

(No flash, really steady hand.)

Blue Bell Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream

Hot fudge

Chocolate chips

Cacao nibs

The inaugural instrumental quartet, that included Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman, was faked. They were “hand-synching” to canned music.

This is unsurprising: I was shocked they were in such good tune at 27° F. In my marching band days, my euphonium went way sharp in cold weather.

Per Carole Florman, spokeswoman for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies:

I think this is a whole lot of nothin’. These are world-class performers who are playing in 19 degree weather [editor: NOAA said 27 degrees at that time] and the technical requirements of their instruments made it impossible for them to have their music amplified and know that it would be in tune. So they made, what I think, was probably a difficult decision to play to tape. (source)

Oh, come on. Nothing suggested it wasn’t real. You shouldn’t have waited several days to reveal this.

Look at the new presidential limo:

(source)

Look at the Secret Service agents next to it. The window bottoms are almost to his shoulder!

(source)

The tire is taller than that Secre Service guy’s belt line!

(source)

The limo roof is taller than the agents! When’s the last time you’ve seen a car that’s taller than a full grown man?

The car is so huge, it’s almost groteqeuly proportioned.

My local public radio, KERA 90.1 FM, does a two hour weekly music program called 90.1 At Night.

It’s awesome.

Host J. Paul Slavens dishes up a truly eclectic mix, including many Texas and local pieces. And it has little crap in the smooth jazz, Celtic, or “mood music” (tonal study?) genres.

My wife complains that I wouldn’t normally listen to many of the songs. She’s right, but it’s just different when juxtaposed so eclectically. (Is that a word?)

90.1 At Night runs every Sunday, 8 PM to 10 PM on KERA 90.1 FM in the Dallas/Ft. Worth market.

It’s been a while since I posted here. Too keep you entertained, I categorized all 184 of my Facebook friends by primary relationship type.