Biblical Names

My father had his own name issues. I gave my three sons Old Testament names. On the third, Isaac, he said, “Another name from the Bible, huh?” The implication was that I should have chosen a family name instead. I replied, “And just what is Michael?” He managed only a “Well...”

For himself, his parents had come from the tradition of naming children for relatives. Yet they gave their own three children a single first name and no middle name. He was Robert Ball. At 18, when he was able to petition the court on his own, he had a middle name added, Durkee. We are related to the herb and spice people. So he figured that was a good choice.

A Little Pot for the Dentist

A very out-there potter is Mike Ball from Vale, North Carolina. You can see his face pots like the one here at the Folkpotteryexchange This pot is 13-inches tall.

Double Texas Humor

In College Station, Texas. Mike Ball is Deputy Superintendent for Business and Operations of the College Station Independent School District. The district spends more per student than average in Texas. Its students outperform state and national peers on SAT and ACT exams. Their fiscal policies put them in the unfortunate position of having to give back some of the state revenues.

(The parks department zoned to the school has boys and girls swim teams named the College Station Tsunamis.)

Don't Hate the Haters

At the University of Wisconsin-Superior, Dr. Michael R. Ball demands more of students than stereotyping and broadbrush classification. In Teaching About Hate Groups, he describes the frightening veneer of reason and respectability even the worst of the racists and other bigots have. Rather than simply being easily identifiable crazies, they can appear and act relatively normal. His paper discusses what teachers should demand in terms of critical thinking on these sorts.

Man of Property

In Lincoln, Nebraska, Michael R. Ball is a property manager at NAIFMA Realty. He is in charge of several retail and office buildings.

His bachelors is from Nebraska Wesleyan University, in an unlisted field. The company's site notes, "Michael's enthusiasm and his strong customer service skills will mean excellent service for you."

Mike Names Mike

My family is off to the Eastern panhandle of West Virginia – apple country – next month as a sort of rolling memorial service for my mother. She was the far too logical reason for my being a Michael Ball.

She died a few months ago in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she lived the last third of her 80 years. I delivered the eulogy to family and friends there last month. Now for those who knew her best for the first third of her life, including many relatives, we’ take to the hills.

She was known in her West Virginia youth as Mike. Her maiden name was Michael. She was small and slender, but not weak or timid. She played tackle football with her brother and his friends through her teens. So Mike it was to her friends.

Of course, Ball was my father'’s last name, and my middle name, Robert, was his Christian name. Perhaps more than a Junior, III or IV, I am more or less made up. Mother'’s maiden name/father'’s first name/father’'s surname and here I am.

I find that amusing but my mother apologized for it. She said the military OB had to wrest me from her with forceps. So they gave her a whiff of anesthetic. Then in true Army fashion, they insisted that she name the newborn on the spot. “"I was drugged,"” she said. The first name that came to mind when she found she had a son was that combination.

Tissue Portfolio

In Lexington, Massachusetts, Dr. Michael R. Ball is vice president of marketing and sales for Ardais Corp. For 15 years, he has specialized in bringing new biomedical and IT products and services to market. His doctorate is from the University of London.

According to the company site, Ardais delivers "clinical genomics resources on a previously unavailable scale. Ardais has built a comprehensive platform that is based upon the broad enrollment of donors to create a comprehensive portfolio of clinically annotated Research Quality human tissue samples and molecular derivatives."

Ballsy Ball

I'm not sure where he is, but from 1989 through 1992, Mike (Ballsy) Ball played guitar for thrash rock band Phantom Crew. For those unfamiliar with that period, their biggies included Roadkill, Sidewalk Shredd, and Charlie (The Evil Seed). You can listen to or buy the three-volume CD set on the site.

Bang, Said Mike

In Ottawa, Ontario, Michael E. Ball produces war games. His Maramic Industries' featured WWII skirmish game is Face of Battle. Players use their own 15mm to 28mm figures.

The company has several other similar products. Its Web site includes numerous documentation and supporting downloads. Orders shipped to the U.S. leave Ottawa within a day, but arrival depends on the skill and will of U.S. postal professionals.

How Now Mike's Cow

From the Seattle Post Intelligencer daily newspaper comes a mini-profile of Michael Ball, the painter of signs in Duvall, Washington. He was a potter and is now also “a sign painter, artist and occasional bartender.”

The article includes, “"Ball's work is on display on a sign denoting City Hall, on Main Street. It bears the face of a cheerful cow, hardly an official-looking municipal logo. Ball painted it after talking town officials out of a more stuffily traditional sign depicting the usual loggers and pioneers.”"

Inventive Fellows

Several Michael Balls have U.S. patents as well as the Short Stack cited here. From when full-text files start in the database from 1976, you can search by inventor.

The fellow from Micron has:

6,283,358	Recessed tape and method for forming a BGA (Ball Grid Array) assembly (or soldering)	09/04/01
6,186,392	System for forming contacts on a semiconductor component by aligning and attaching ferromagnetic balls	02/13/01
5,888,549	Method and system for forming contacts on a semiconductor component by aligning and attaching ferromagnetic balls	03/30/99>

Michael G. Ball, apparently for Westinghouse Electric Co., shares 6,426,564, Method of retrofitting a reactor pressure vessel head assembly, with two other inventors. This patent’s date is 07/30/02.

Michael Ball from Halstenbek, Germany (DE), shares with five others the patent 5,652,841, Coffee and process for the production thereof, 07/29/97. They assign it to Code Kaffee-Handelsges, mbH (DE). This increases the amount of chlorogenic acid in both roasted and instant coffee. He also shares with four others the related 326488, Process for separating and producing chlorogenic acid, 03/20/89.

A very busy Professor Michael O. Ball at the University of Maryland’s James Clark School of Engineering’s Institute of Systems Research consults with numerous companies.

He shares multiple patents, including:

5,426,674	Method and apparatus for aggregating terminals into clusters to assist in the construction of a distributed data communication network	06/20/95
5,404,451	Method and computer system for selecting and evaluating data routes and arranging a distributed data communication network	04/04/95
5,253,161	System for identifying candidate link, determining underutilized link, evaluating addition of candidate link and removing of underutilized link to reduce network cost	10/12/93
5,216,591	Method for routing data in a near-optimal manner in a distributed data communications network	06/01/93
5,079,760	Method for efficient distributed data communications network backbone node location	01/07/92
4,872,987	Method for efficient distributed data communications network access network configuration	10/10/89

Cold Notes

In Washington, D.C., on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, panel 7 East includes U.S. Army SP 5 Michael Henry Ball’'s name. He died on April 29th, 1966, at age 22, in South Vietnam. He was from North Carrollton, Mississippi.

On panel 28 West, is the name of Marine Lance Corporal Michael Roger Ball. He died on March 26th, 1969, at age 20, in Quang Tri, South Vietnam. He was from Davenport, Iowa, and was married.

Chilly Cajun

Michael Ball (fiddle) and Jody Benjamin (guitar) are Ottawa-based Ball and Chain. They play Cajun music. You can listen to or download six samples from their two CDs.

They give dance lessons as part of the performance. They come as the duo or as Ball and Chain and the Wreckers add Wayne Ford-Robicheau (drums), Don Evans (bass) and Daniel Artuso (pedal steel and electric guitars).

About the newer CD:

We had a great time recording this CD right at home! It took 5 days between January 6th and 13th with Ross set up in the TV room and Michael and I in the microphone forest that was our living room. Michael made sure we had lots of good comfort food so we sang with our house filled with the aroma of stew, roast, and pie.

By the bye, I don't see any way to purchase their apparently self-released CDs if you like their music. They aren't on Amazon or GEMM. Maybe you need to send them email or go to one of their performances.

Extruded Logo

Michael John Ball in Kent, England, own the British rights to a logo for extruded plastic. He received registration for the PCL logo in February 2004.

Sleep On It

Michael J. Ball has been CEO of SRS--WORLDHOTELS since January 7, 2002. It is a membership chain of over 450 hotels in 65 countries that brags about its TRUST reservation system. Its mission statement includes, "We aim to be the leader by providing the best reservations technology and distribution network while relentlessly pursuing perfection." This Michael Ball keeps a low profile on the Web site, which features many other executives, but him only in passing mentions. SRS' headquarters is in Frankfort, Germany. Its corporate name is SRS Hotels Steigenberger Reservation Service GmbH & Co. KG

Short Stack

Michael B. Ball has assigned his patent (US 6,784,023 B2) to Micron Technology, Inc., for
a method of fabrication of stacked semiconductor devices. As they are both in Boise, Idaho, it's a fair bet that he works for Micron. This was in February 1996.

The patent shows the stack of substrate elements as illustrated and describes the method.

Our Bard

The October 1998 edition of Poetry Magazine includes a piece by Michael Patrick Ball, which follows. There is no bio or other information beyond that he is from the United States of America. Does anyone else know of him?

The Machine of Tender

It turned about in sound
with twice-too many parts
for this clockwork world
that forgets to decide,
never spins to some stop.

The sharp moonbeam darts
on blossom sheets uncurled
for cool flesh, sparkling, while
warm hands warn: danger
of citrus lust's bitter rind.

The bright body of a stranger
who wept all night inside
my eyes instead of her own,
that sweet, dark traces
might meander, drip to a drop.

It fed a wide, white smile
on that starlit fuel, it was
poured out, alarmed, because
four hands and two soft faces
rode all around the night unkind.

Most Southwestern England

In Truro, England, which bills itself as the most Southwestern part of the island nation, the Church of England's 13th Bishop from 1990 through 1997 was Michael Thomas Ball. He was also co-founder with his twin brother in 1960 of The Community of the Glorious Ascension (CGA). He was an early leader in ordaining women in the C.E. He seems rather wholesome, listing his recreations as "Sport, Music, Housework, Dog walking."

I don't see specifics on the Web, but there appear to be some good stories somewhere about motorcycling monks from the CGA. Jump in if you have tales of this order or what happened to the Bishops Ball.