Real Arrr-state

In Sarasota Florida, Michael Ball is a realtor. He is a graduate of the Klopfer School of Real Estate and among his credentials is being general manager of Blackbeard's Castle (Ahoy, ye swarthy dog!) on St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. He also has been an U.S. Coast Guard Captain and claims to speak English, German, and Spanish fluently.

Up in the Sky...It's a Camera

Mike Ball in La Mirada, California, near Los Angeles, is in the airborne robotic photography business. (No link here. I can't find a Website. What is here is from cached Google searches and a whittierdailynews.com article from October 26, 2004. That and related newspapers require a subscription to search the archives. Boo.)

A gray-bearded MB flies remotely controlled baguette-sized airplanes -- unmanned of course -- equipped with 4-megapixel cameras. He stands close and steers his robo-photo machines 100 feet above targets. He fires off dozens of shots for a few good ones.

Unfortunately there is no titillating angle, like tracking errant spouses. Typical customers are businesses that want a picture of a building or real estate for advertising. Mike's $100 to $200 fee is much cheaper than the same job from an regular plane or helicopter.

Apparently there are about a dozen U.S. companies doing this.

Canadian! Outsourcing

Neither India nor Russia, but Ontario, Canada is the home of software development outsourcing by Flyweight Solutions. There, Mike Ball heads sales and professional services. He is one of the founders. He is a native of Thunder Bay and a certified engineering technologist.

Taciturn Horseman

In Ithaca, New York, there is a vet, Dr. Michael A. Ball. His site says virtually nothing of him, but has a nice picture of him and his partner, Dr. Christina Cable, on each side of a horse. All three look wholesome.

Their Early Winter Equine Medicine & Surgery is in the business of:

    "Providing all levels of care for the 

    performance horse including: internal medicine,

    surgery, lameness, pre-purchase examination, 

    ophthalmology, foal care, special 

    pharmaceutical formulation, continuing 

    education lectures & publication, and 

    consultation."

I found out from other sources that he is the author of Understanding Basic Horse Care (ISBN 1581500041) and Understanding the Equine Eye: Your Guide to Horse Health Care and Management (ISBN 1581500327). Both are 1999 books from Eclipse Press and available from Amazon and Wal-Mart.

Oh, No, Banjo

Well, one of us is a banjo player of modest reknown. In Ohio, Mike Ball is the banjo player with the Copus Hill Bluegrass band.

A review on the site includes:

Mike Ball needs the next mention.  His banjo picking

skills are right on, and he holds the band together

with amazing picking prowess.  It's often been said

that any bluegrass band is only as good as their banjo

player.  Copus Hill is a great band.

Likely Candidate

I hope that we soon can see the trailer of Michael Ball, the Gen-X film maker. His LegalizedAmerica.com site promises several clips and a trailer for a satire of the United States with legalized drugs.

He got his bachelors in screenwriting at the University of Miami and his MFA in film production from Boston University. You can read about him and the film on the site, but the links to the clips seem dead. I'll check from time to time, and update this entry when you can see the trailer. I've sent him email about it.

The 25-minute Legalized America won the "Short Film Award" at the 2002 Telluride IndiFest.

And How About..?

• A popular teacher at Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland, Oregon. You can view the ratings for Michael Ball.
  
• The CV of Michael F. Ball, professional liability practice lawyer is available on the site of Fresno, California, McCormick Barstow.
  
• Perhaps no relation, Michael F. Ball III is a management consultant in Reston, Virginia, You can view his résumé.
  
• You can see the 2002 retirement program for the retirment ("defrocking") of the former minister Revd. Dr. Michael Ball, a two-day affair including a barn dance, and see his happy holiness on the Website of St. David's Uniting Church, Pontypridd, Wales.