In a little less than 11 days, on March 1, the Iditarod race will begin.  The Iditarod is an exciting dog-sled race from Anchorage to Nome – a total distance of 975 miles.  It is exciting even in our modern, perhaps jaded, view, but the story behind this race is historic.

Alaska in winter can be a treacherous place.  The modern race is as safe as it can be made, with regular checkpoints, where supplies have been pre-placed, and mushers and their dogs can rest along the way.

The original “Iditarod” was another matter, indeed.

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You may not be a native Texan, but after watching this beautiful photo-essay by west Texas’ official state photographer Wyman Meinzer, you’ll wish you were.  I suggest you turn up the volume, click on the “full screen” icon on the lower right, and keep a box of Kleenex handy.  If ya’ll aren’t dancin’ in your seats…..well, ya’ll haven’t got a pulse!
This is dedicated to all my Texas buddies….you know who you are. 

The history of  Japan and its people has been rife with periods of rapid building, great prosperity, destruction, and then eventual rebirth. These cycles have become so ingrained in the Japanese culture, that one can only wonder if the “Kaiju films” (Japanese monster movies) and their like are not somehow the product of this cultural ethos. Japan was only nine years away from the events of Hiroshima, and was in the midst of an enormous rebuilding phase, when the first of the Gojira (Godzilla) movies was released in 1954. The film was originally developed to make an anti-nuclear statement, arising from a true event occurring during the Bikini Tests. A Japanese fishing boat had strayed into the test area, and its crew was exposed to severe amounts of radiation when the bomb exploded.  (more…)