On Mall C there are large helmets of all the NFL football teams.
Dan Hanson took a walk down the 2 aisles of helmets and identified each one including the helmet of the next Super Bowl Champion - the Cleveland Browns. (sorry about the wind noise in the video)
Casablanca, Marrakesh, Algiers, the Barbary Coast, Morocco, the Sahara Desert, Darfur, Benghazi, Tunisia, Tripoli.
You've seen these exotic locales in movies, TV shows and the news but do you know where they are or much about them? In this episode of Fun with Maps, host Dan Hanson looks at North Africa.
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent and contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states (countries). This first episode in a series covering Africa includes Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco (including Western Sahara), Tunisia and Sudan.
After watching you will never listen to Bob Dylan, Crosby Stills and Nash or even the US Marines Hymn the same.
Members of the Cleveland Lithuanian community gathered at the Lithuanian Cultural Garden to celebrate The Act of Reinstating Independence of Lithuania or Act of 16 February which was signed by the Council of Lithuania on 16 February 1918, proclaiming the restoration of an independent State of Lithuania.
Because of the pandemic only a few officers were allowed to attend this brief outdoor ceremony led by President Algis Gudenas and including Honorary Consul General Ingrida Bublys and Cleveland Councilman Mike Polensek.
Photos and video of the Lithuanian event in the Garden
Here's a video from the ceremony
Each year the Rotary Club of Cleveland celebrates International Fellowship Day by honoring a person and/or organization with the International Service Award. The 2021 honoree is Global Cleveland and the award was accepted by its president Joe Cimperman.
Club President Ronald J. Felgenhauer welcomed the virtual attendees and spoke about the history and good woks of Rotary. After the Pledge of Allegiance and an invocation by Father Ralph Wiatrowski, Pastor of St. Barnabas Church, past president Julie Brouhard presented the award.
Before the acceptance, Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Lithuania Ingrida Bublys read some of the proclamations from US Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown, Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and Governor Mike Dewine before showing a video message from Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson.
Then Joe Cimperman accepted the award and gave an inspiring speech about Rotary, Cleveland and Global Cleveland.
In my alter ego persona as the the Great Lakes Geek, I posted this short video.
I was cleaning the basement and found two printouts of ASCII Art – Mona Lisa and Alfred E. Newman.
I talk about ASCII and the ‘good old days’ when you could create art for any existing device using a text editor, ASCII characters, a dot matrix printer and a box of green bar paper.
Whether you are old enough to remember when Led Zeppelin was touring and cutting their classic LPs or you have "discovered" them more recently, the band is undoubtedly one of the greatest of all time.
Stern Pinball, Inc. is a global lifestyle brand based on the iconic and outrageously fun modern American game of pinball.
Recent Stern Pinball titles include Avengers: Infinity Quest, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Stranger Things, Elvira’s House of Horrors, Jurassic Park, Black Knight: Sword of Rage, The Munsters, The Beatles, Deadpool, Iron Maiden, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars, Aerosmith, Ghostbusters, KISS, Metallica, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Star Trek, AC/DC, Batman, and Spider-Man. A broad range of players enjoy Stern Pinball’s games from professional pinball players who compete in high-stakes competitions around the globe to novice players who are discovering the allure of the silver ball for the first time.
Everyone knows Led Zeppelin. Formed in London in 1968, Led Zeppelin consisted of vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and the late, great drummer John Bonham. Together they became one of the best-selling bands with estimated record sales of 300 million units worldwide. In 1995 Led Zeppelin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for their innovative and influential impact on the entire music industry.
In this high energy rock and roll pinball concert experience, pinball and music are fused together. Players are transported back to Led Zeppelin’s early days and tour the world from 1968-1980. As if players were members of the band playing its music, their play updates game features at the start of each verse and chorus of ten iconic Led Zeppelin songs:
“There is nothing more energizing and fun than bringing pinball and music together,” said Gary Stern, Chairman and CEO of Stern Pinball, Inc. “Partnering with Led Zeppelin, we created a one-of-a-kind pinball experience. It’s our dream goal to create a pinball machine with this iconic rock band.”
In true rock concert fashion, the Expression Lighting System™ with 96 intelligent RGB LED’s enables full color spectrum control. Positioned in pockets cut into the cabinet sides to provide color themed full playfield illumination, this integrated playfield lighting system is synchronized to custom light shows specifically designed for every song and dynamically responsive to game events.
As an encore, these models have an additional reversing scoop and metal combo ramp, allowing players to keep the hits coming with constant adrenalized pinball action. A back panel mounted illuminated song status board indicates which Led Zeppelin song is in play. Only 500 Limited Edition games will be made for sale throughout the world. This limited version includes an exclusive Icarus themed full color mirrored backglass, exclusive custom themed cabinet artwork, custom high gloss Paradise Shimmer Blue powder-coated armor, a custom autographed bottom arch, exclusive custom art blades, upgraded audio system, anti-reflection pinball glass, a shaker motor, and a sequentially numbered plaque.
Rock on!
Though Covid-19 made CES 2021 a virtual affair, thanks to ShowStoppers we were able to see some of the latest and greatest technology via Zoom press conferences. That includes the very cool Cutii.
Seniors communicate directly with Cutii. It's 100% voice activated and offers 2 way calling and text messages. Cutii can entertain and occupy the mind and body with live activities like Yoga, Tai Chi, poetry reading, games, trivia and so on.
And, of course, Cutii can call for help in the event of an emergency.
Families
If the senior says "Cutii, I need help" since Cutii is always listening it will kick-off an emergency response workflow. For example:
In this episode of Fun with Maps, host Dan Hanson looks at what has been called the 8th continent – Madagascar.
The map shows how isolated Madagascar is from the rest of the world and that makes it a hotbed of biodiversity - 90% of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth. It has varieties of plants and animals that do not exist anywhere else.
Lemur
You’ve probably seen lemurs (endemic to Madagascar) but there are thousands of other unique animals and plants such as the fossa, chameleon, the baobab tree and more.
Dan also shows a quick look at the Spiny Desert of Madagascar exhibit in the Cleveland Botanical Garden.
Cleveland Botanical Garden - The Spiny Desert of Madagascar
Madagascar is such a unique area and host Dan Hanson had a lot of fun with this map.
Watch the video below.
In this episode of Fun with Maps, host Dan Hanson looks at the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Watch this episode.
About 71% of the earth is covered in water but it’s mostly salt water. The Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total area, and second-largest by total volume, containing 21% of the world's surface fresh water by volume.
Great Lakes from space
The Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan is bounded by 3 of the Great Lakes – Superior, Michigan and Huron.
The 5 mile Mackinac Bridge connects the lower part of Michigan with the UP. The UP contains 29% of the land area of Michigan but just 3% of its total population.
The Yoopers who live there have a large Finnish population.
It’s a fascinating area and host Dan Hanson had a lot of fun with this map. He also quotes the great Plain Dealer sportswriter Terry Pluto who is a regular visitor.
See more Fun with Maps episodes
In this episode of Fun with Maps, host Dan Hanson looks at the remote Polynesian island of Rapa Nui or Easter Island.
Though part of Chile, Easter Island has a fascinating culture and history. Dan focuses on the island’s remoteness, the Rapa Nui people and of course the amazing mo’ai, the Easter Island “head” statues.
Tell me this mo'ai doesn't look like Bart Simpson!
In this episode of Fun with Maps, host Dan Hanson looks at the long country of Chile. Chile is bordered by the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean and the map has played a big part in its history.
Painting of The Zamacueca by Manuel Antonio Caro. Oil on canvas, collection of the Presidency of the Republic of Chile.
In this episode Dan looks at the Straits of Magellan, the Drake Passage, the huasos, the Mapuche people, Santiago, the largest mountain and volcano in the Americas, the rescue of the miners, interesting Chilean people and more.
Click the arrow to watch the video.
Cleveland's newest Hungarian monument to St. Stephen, the first King of Hungary, is a cornerstone saved from the recently demolished St. Stephen Hungarian Church in McKeesport, Pennsylvania (1900-2020). The cornerstone was brought to the historic St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church at 9016 Buckeye Road in Cleveland Ohio which was established on June 4, 1893.
The Church and the United Hungarian Societies (UHS) of Cleveland hosted an outdoor dedication of the monument in the Church's courtyard.
The theme of the dedication ceremony was "Honoring our past by remembering St. Stephen's Catholic Church of McKeesport."
America's first Hungarian Roman Catholic churches in order of cornerstone-laying date:
In this episode of Fun with Maps, host Dan Hanson looks at the historic country of Lebanon. Though small in size the influence of Lebanon and its people is huge.
Tragically, the capital of Beirut was devastated by explosions in August 2020.
Vigil in Lebanese Cultural Garden in Cleveland for Beirut
Pierre Bejjani, Ms. Blanche Salwan and Mr. Faris Alameh
In this episode of Fun with Maps, Dan looks at the major cities, culture, geography, the cedar tree, famous Lebanese people and some fascinating history from the Phoenicians to the present.
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| Judge Ralph Perk Jr. |
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| Czech Cultural Garden in Cleveland |
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| Joseph Meissner |
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| Michael Patterson, Joe Meissner, Pierre Bejjani, Ralph Perk and Paul Burik |
