|
NOTES FROM
AMERICA'S SMALLEST SEACOAST (SM)
SeacoastNH.com Update
December 2007- January 2008
Holiday Feature
MEDIA: SEASON’S BEATINGS WITH KUNG FU SANTA
Ever get the desire to pummel the heck out of the boss during the holidays? Hatchling Studios offers the perfect cyber solution to your misplaced tensions. Play it all out with this new video game from the Seacoast’s premier computer animation designers. And it’s free.
History Feature
PIRATES OF THE PISCATAQUA
UK author Clifford Beal forwarded us a copy of this tremendous new book about the little-known pirate John Quelch of Marblehead, MA. Poor John stole $2 million in gold in 1703 on the privateer brigantine CHARLES. But his boss turned him into the feds. Beal dramatically clarifies a complex story about corporate greed and illegal take-overs. (Now if only he could explain Dick Cheney and Halliburton.) This is the mysterious gold that, some still believe, ended up at the Isles of Shoals.
GALLERY: ENTRADA BY NANCY HORTON
We’ve been remiss in running galleries of local artists. We hope to do more in the New Year. To start 2008 off, here is an intriguing architectural study by one of the region’s best-known photo artists.
CONTEST: BODE MILLER ON DVD
Nothing like a foot of snow to turn your mind to the NH slopes. And no one says NH skiing like Bode Miller, the bad boy of winter sports. Portsmouth filmmaker Bill Rogers has kindly given us two copies of his documentary film on Miller and you can win one if you’re fast and smart enough. Meanwhile, click on the links to see Bill’s latest project on global warming and the environment.
NOTE TO OUR NEW TYPING VOLUNTEERS: Many thanks to all those who volunteered to transcribe pages for SeacoastNH.com. Your packets are being prepared now and will arrive via snail mail after the holiday with instructions.
---------------------------------------------------
This Free Newsletter is
brought to you by
GREAT BAY AVIATION
--------------------------------------------------
TECHNOLOGY: ALL I WANT FOR XMAS IS A KINDLE, DRAT
We’ll probably get a new TV set instead, but we had our heart set on the new Amazon.com Kindle e-book reader. But Jeff Bezos says they are sold out. Why, the editor wonders, doesn’t anyone see this new device as a godsend for the visually impaired and not just a toy for the perfectly sighted?
GUEST EDITORIAL: LAST BOOK BANNED IN SANTA ROSA
Shades of 1984. Seacoast author Rodman Philbrick wrote a popular book for children that exposes the evils of gangs. But educators in California didn’t read the book and banned it because – you guessed it – the book mentioned gangs. How can we enlighten our kids if the people in charge of the school don’t read? Mr. Philbrick himself fills in the details.
BOOKS: DREAM-RIDERS KNIGHTMARE
Speaking of books for kids, here’s a novel idea. Why not have the kids write the book themselves? You can see the while e-book online and follow the future adventures from Back Channel Press.
RAMBLES #124: STATE ST BEFORE THE 1813 FIRE
Old Portsmouth went up in flames in 1813, but not before Charles W. Brewster got a good look at the way life used to be.
PETS: THE CORGI CONUNDRUM
It’s hard to draw the line between being pet-friendly and co-dependent. Does creating a corgi calendar or attending a corgi rally push one over the edge?
---------------------------------------------
DONATE TO SEACOASTNH.com
Support Your Favorite Site
with an Online Contribution Today
-------------------------------------------
BOOK EXCERPT: THE DAY THE MUSEUM OPENED
Memorial Day 1965 was momentous for Portsmouth – or was it? This exclusive excerpt comes from the newly released behind-the-scenes book – Strawbery Banke: A Seaport Museum 400 Years in the Making.
ANTIQUES: JENNY LIND TO SELL AT SOTHEBY’S
Remember Karl Svardskof who found a wooden woman in a barn in Sweden? SeacoastNH first broke the story in 2001 and so it seems only fair to tell you that the end is near. Having come to the conclusion that his carving was once the figurehead of the Portsmouth-built clipper NIGHTINGALE, Karl has displayed her around the world. Now Jenny is going up on the auction block. Read the update, buy the book, see Karl’s web site – or put in your bid to own Jenny.
NOSTALGIA: LOVE IN THE SECOND GRADE
What if you searched for your second grade girlfriend fifty years later? And what if you found her on Google? And what if you sent her an email, and she wrote back?
MAILBAG: READ OUR DECEMBER MAIL
Yes, we read every single email. And we post a few online.
FOR SALE: STRAWBERY BANKE AUTOGRAPHED
Thanks to all those who ordered the new four-pounder from J. Dennis Robinson. Those copies are all shipped and gone. The book is selling like hotcakes at local stores and you can get your own signed copy early in 2008 by clicking above. To see updated JDR lectures and events click on Robinson Live. Portsmouth Athenaeum (Dec 18), Barnes & Noble (Jan 19), lecture & dinner at Wentworth Coolidge (Jan 30) and more. Click for ROBINSON LIVE.
MORE HISTORIC PORTSMOUTH PIX
This month’s featured photos include Barbara Bush meets Mark Twain, a one-horse open shay and the old Chase Orphanage.
From the Editor
WHAT I LEARNED AT NH PRIMARY SCHOOL
By the time you receive my next newsletter the presidential race will be over. Maybe not over for you, but over for those of us who live in the Granite State. We will have selected the two candidates who should be president. Our job is done. The rest is up to the other states.
It is amazingly rude of us to think that as New Hampshire goes, so the nation should go too. It’s rude, but it is true. With the exception of a few delegates in the Iowa Caucus, we in New Hampshire have been paying full attention to every nuance of two very exciting races. We have met all the candidates face-to-face. Now we will vote and pick the ones who should move to the next level.
Every four years the presidential race changes after the NH an Iowa tally. If legend holds, the eventual winner is among the top in those two races. After January more runners drop out. The race speeds up, gets nastier and more expensive. By next month, the last five or six people in America who think the previous president did a good job should be signing up for the witness protection program.
This time Democrats might nominate the first woman president or the first African American president. I predict they won’t. After a lot of creative posturing, Democrats always nominate a white guy with lots of hair, money and bright teeth like Kennedy or Gore or Kerry. Lately the winning guy has been from the South, like Carter and Clinton. So despite what the polls say, Edwards is the heir apparent. If he doesn’t win in these January battles, legend says, he won’t win the White House.
Picking the winner in the Republican primary race is trickier. Instinct says that Romney will take it away. But Mitt is never going to win the presidency. He hasn’t got the legs and, unless McCain rebounds, Huckabee walks on water, Bloomberg appears, Thompson wakes up, Giuliani somehow deletes his past, or Ron Paul catches fire -- the next president is going to be a Democrat.
If Romney gets the nod in both primaries, therefore, but Edwards doesn’t place near the top, I am in a predictive pickle. What I think has to happen in November – Edwards defeats Romney -- might not. Or if it does, NH and Iowa have lost their legendary hold on the pulse of the nation
But don’t listen to me. I said categorically – twice – that Bush didn’t have a prayer. Happy Holidays! -- JDR
--------------------------------
Copyright © 2007 by J SeacoastNH.com and Dennis Robinson. All rights reserved.
OUR READERS LOVE ADVERTISERS WHO SUPPORT THIS SITE
Contact us today about affordable online advertising.
http://www.seacoastnh.com/
|
