Michael Ball (Only) Club

Rocking Racing, Sans MB

2011-08-04T19:17:00.003-04:00

Wowzers, it's been awhile since posting and amusingly enough, I can do back-to-back jeans guy/cycling team posts. The last one was here.

The denim fashionista (should we coin fashionisto for a guy?) claims not to be back in the cycling racing biz, but his Rock Racing brand exists right now on the amateur level in Italy. He dropped his team when his Rock & Republic went bankrupt early last year. However, Cycling News reported today, "...last week Italian businessman Roberto Tronconi told Cyclingnews that he was set to relaunch the brand in Europe after long negotiations with Rock Racing founder Michael Ball."

MB though says he's not involved, "...not supporting it or anything. I know that they’re out there racing in the colours though. So I’m not coming back and I’m not going to be in the ProTour any time soon."

The amateur incarnation presently has no name professions, just a former big cycling team name.

Tags: Mike Ball, Rock Racing, cycling

Whirring and Wired

2010-12-21T11:38:00.003-05:00

Shame on me note: Oops, I haven't been updating this blog. I promise to do better. Now that many posts are likely outdated, that relieves me of the sense I have to index it. Search at top if you want to find things.

Today, it's back to the jeans magnate/cycling sponsor Michael Ball. See previous post here.

News now is that disgraced Tour de France cyclist Floyd Landis used hidden audio and video recording equipment for a sting on this MB at his California home. Finally fessing up to doping after adamantly swearing on the honor of his Amish parents that he never, ever did or would, he seemed to caved to the feds' pressures.

As Yahoo and other sports news report, Landis' hidden camera recorded the contents of MB's apartment fridge — with what appears to be human growth hormones and other forbidden baddies. Landis has been after seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong, who was never on MB's Rock Racing team. However, in one degree of separation, other Armstrong teammates like Tyler Hamilton had been.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set up the surveillance. Subsequently, MB's place was raided.

There haven't been any charges so far. However, MB's Rock and Republic company went bankrupt and Rock Racing is inactive. The drug investigation seems to be tangential to an effort to go after Armstrong.

Tags: Mike Ball, Rock Racing, cycling, Landis, Armstrong

Generics Hit the Racks

2009-10-13T18:30:00.005-04:00

The jeans deity Michael Ball (here and here) was the lead example in a fashion piece in the Financial Times. Creative director and founder of Rock and Republic, he has applied what he considers the concept behind 1970s supermarket trends to his clothing.

Emulating generic packaging from over 30 years ago, his company has a Plain Wrap line. It starts at a super-bargain for him, at $35. The tops and bottoms have large-type labels saying exactly what they are, as shown in a grab from the RandR site.

His new line sells alongside the pricey designer ones.

This MB said thinking of packages marked just CHIPS or DOG FOOD, "I thought it would be fun to do the same thing with clothes."

A couple of other designers have followed suit, if you pardon, this season.

The Rotterdam Version

2009-04-07T06:02:00.003-04:00

Michel Ball in Amsterdam sent an electronic greeting. He was pleasant, following his links to his many websites, I see that he included a correction. A four year old post had a bad link to his paintings, which I have corrected.

Meanwhile, see his amazing set of sites here.

Serious About Cycling

2009-01-16T13:28:00.007-05:00

All last year, jeans god Mike Ball's pro cycling team raced here and there around the world. His Rock Racing has hired the likes of Santiago Botero and Tyler Hamilton.

Apparently, this Mike believes you can't be too colorful or confident personally or professionally. He is not shy and his team shows up in a fleet of Cadillac Escalades. See the Darrell Parks' pic Mike Ball & his girls for a hint.

The team had an okay first year, with a real busy sked.

If you can't make it to England, Spain, Boulder or Colombia to watch, you can consider some amazing jerseys and cycling accessories.

By the bye, this seems to be the only team that intends to avoid any doping allegations. It has its own internal testing that runs through Scott Analytics.

Yet, wait...

In the more stereotypical world of pro sports comes a tale of spite and anger. Rider Braden Cooke is ready to sue the team and owner Mike, according to a piece in Cycling News. The boss says he'll only pay another six months out of pocket and they have to get sponsors to go beyond that. TBD

Tags: Mike Ball, Rock Racing, cycling

Mike the Swapper

2009-01-16T13:18:00.003-05:00

Arrrr. Damn. I can't use my airline points before the deadline. I'll lose 'em.

A Mike Ball is part of the solution for that. At LoyaltyMatch, they take a couple of bucks from the transaction to swap such airline and other corporate rewards points for goods or cash.

This is another Canadian MB, based in Waterloo, Ontario. The prez and founder, Brad Ball, may well be a brother.

Mike is CTO and chief architect. His online profile reads:

Mike has over 22 years experience building and leading high technology development companies. Mike was one of the architects of Bell Sympatico and Advantage Business Internet Solutions, served as VP Technology for SpiderTop Rich Media Internet Corporation, and is an accomplished game developer and author. He is a computer science graduate of Confederation College and a member of OACETT.

His pic is jolly and makes him look like he stepped off the dance floor.

Tags: Mike Ball, LoyaltyMatch, Mike Ball, waterloo

Ball and Chain Still Stomping

2008-12-15T08:50:00.003-05:00

What they lack in subtlety they have in enthusiasm. The leads of Ball and Chain, Michael Ball and Jody Benjamin (shown from a 2003 CD release) have Cajun-ized their Ottawa community and beyond.

After not getting around to writing up a promised review of their live at the bayou CD, I rechecked them. Their main website has been static for two years, including tour dates. I figured I had totally missed my chance.

No so.

They seem to have left that old site in favor of the trendier MySpace version. That has four full tunes to hear, but not download.

The CD Baby sales site for live at the bayou and for Trouble All The Time have multiple short, incomplete clips.

Like Cajun and zydeco or not, you have to admit that these are folk who have terrific fun with their music. They've made a living of it up where there are no bayous and where Cajuns were a forced export from the Atlantic end of the country a long time ago.

As most reviewers already note, there's a lot of Hank Williams in Benjamin's twangy renditions. Ball comes on mostly with the hyperactive fiddle. This is much more my wife's style of music than mine, but I could do an evening at a club with them on stage quite happily. Moreover, Williams was hard to look at and I rather doubt he ever wore a skirt with flounces, much less twirled it while he sang.

By the bye, Ball and Chain has four shows coming up in Ottawa in the early part of 2009.

Saddle to Jeans

2008-06-28T19:12:00.006-04:00

Jeans god Michael Ball made the Financial Times this weekend. The Pedal Power piece on bicycles as the new fashion accessory reports that he's gone beyond serge de Nîmes.

The CEO of Rock and Republic is a cycling freak. As his company's site puts it:

Recognizing that Michael needed structure, his mother got him involved in sports. It proved to be the perfect place for him to channel his rebellious. Cycling became his sport of choice, and the key to adding structure, focus and direction to his life.

Cycling taught Michael team skills and the rewards of competition. But it was the bright colors and bold graphics of the team's uniforms that inspired his sense of design...

The FT notes that this Michael Ball, "...began his professional life on a bike. A track cyclist for years prior to starting his jeans line, Ball has also launched a racing team, Rock Racing. It includes two Olympic gold medalists, three Tour de France stage winners, and Oscar Sevilla Rivera, possibly the best young rider in the current Tour. Cyclists' clothing is also available via its website. 'The Rock Racing line is designed with a fashion eye, so that you're grabbed by the cyclist when he goes by,' says Ball of the range. 'It's a bit flamboyant, but also aerodynamic.'"

Another Blogging Mike Ball

2008-05-09T14:16:00.002-04:00

Uh oh, this occasionally updated blog could become PR for the Alabama state representative with our name. I've run a good-sized bag of posts on him.

Now, I've found out that he is a regular blogger on Daily Dixie. That blog is run by a young political junkie, Dan Roberts.

Our Mike in Birmingham seems to be posting every week or two. He writes on legislative action...and inaction. To see samples of his posts, go here.

How Many Mikes

2008-04-27T12:22:00.003-04:00

A chum, who is not one of us, sent me a link to a site alleging to use U.S. Census bureau to calculate how many of a first/last name combination were in the country at the 2000 count. HowManyOfMe.com lets you type in your names and search.

Note: There's no provision for middle names.

At the high end is the predictable John Smith, with 50,192.

I think if you want to feel special, you can use a nickname or a custom spelling. However, to get real on this, I found:

1,365 people named Michael Ball (and only 98 named Mike Ball).

Tags: Mike Ball, Census, Michael Ball, HowManyOfMe

Mitt's Transient Honor

2008-02-08T19:15:00.000-05:00

On the eve of Super Tuesday, 2008, our guy in Alabama joined the Leadership Team for Willard Mitt Romney. According to the Maritime Sentry blog, Mike led the state leadership group.

The blog reported:

Boston, MA – Today Governor Mitt Romney announced that several new Republican leaders in Alabama have joined his state Leadership Team. With Alabama's primary tomorrow, these Republican leaders will help mobilize Governor Romney's grassroots support in the state.

Announcing that these new Alabama leaders will be joining Romney for President, Romney Alabama Chairman Kay Ivey said, "Throughout this past year, our campaign in Alabama has grown steadily and is ready to mobilize Governor Romney's grassroots organization for tomorrow's primary. Today's announcement is yet another indication of the support Governor Romney enjoys in the state. We are all proud to be campaigning for his message of conservative change in a Washington that is fundamentally broken."

The Alabama Leadership Team Members:

- State Rep. Mike Ball
- State Rep. Chad Fincher
- State Rep. Barry Mask
- State Rep. Pat Moore
- State Rep. Elwyn Thomas
- State Board of Education Member David Byers
- Judge Kelli Wise
- Montgomery City Councilwoman Martha Roby
- Vestavia Hills Mayor Scottie McCollum
- Randy and Kelly Owens
- Bob and June Russell

Of course, a few days after the massive set of primaries and caucuses, Romney abandoned his race. Mike remains high profile in Alabama Republican politics.

Tags: Mike Ball, Alabama, Representative, Mitt Romney

Mike as Edna

2007-11-02T10:08:00.001-04:00

Our namesake the U.K. singing star is on stage in London again. This time, he's in a fat suit.

Michael plays the mom, Edna Turnblad, in Hairspray at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

The Financial Times review includes:

Michael Ball as her mother Edna is grotesque because s/he is basically a pantomime dame in a fat suit (all those costume changes!), and moreover is filling the shoes of the late Divine, whose entire career was founded on bad taste...However, in every other respect, this is one of those pesky shows that absolutely refuses to be disliked. Ball is terrific as Edna Turnblad; he relishes the "draggier" moments (the extravagant frocks, the sudden drop to basso for a word or two), but also knows how and when to - well, I hesitate to use the word "underplay" of a show like this.

This Michael is trim and must be pretty comfortable with himself to take the role. Good on him.

Tags: manymikes, singer, London, Hairspray

'Bama Mike Fighting Poverty

2007-10-30T13:30:00.000-04:00

Wow, talk about empathy, the Alabama Rep with our name knows from poverty and is leading a front on it at home. A poignant recounting in the Decatur Daily News reveals how he earned his understanding.

Mike (shown here in part of a family picture was born in 1954 in a California charity hospital. His early childhood in Stockton was poor. He knows that this puts him in a position to understand and help others. As the article puts it:

"Poverty is a complex thing; every family has a different story. There is no one-size-fits-all solution," Ball said. "My perspective is not from reading research papers and looking at surveys. I have a different take on poverty." Ball said it is important to teach people how to make good choices and how to discourage bad choices. He speaks with the authority of someone who lived both ways as a child.

He had a tough life in many ways, including seeing his father killed in a sawmill accident. He made his way through school and earned a spot at the table.

He now co-chairs the new House Task Force on Poverty. He doesn't believe in, and doesn't believe it is necessary, to throw money at the problem of poverty. Instead, the article continues,"Ball said it is important to teach people how to make good choices and how to discourage bad choices. He speaks with the authority of someone who lived both ways as a child."

Blog note: You can search above for "Alabama" in this blog to find numerous other small posts on this Mike Ball.

Tags: Mike Ball, Alabama, Representative, poverty

Mike and Moe -- Two Days Only!

2007-04-25T19:36:00.000-04:00

The talk radio Mike Ball is back with his old co-host buddy Maureen Egan (Moe to fans) tomorrow and Friday only. [The regular fans of Mike and Moe in the Morning who check in here will surely hope this leads to more of the team, maybe a full-time show again.]

Catch them April 26th and 27th from 10 a.m. to noon. If you're near Nashua, New Hampshire, tune to 1590 AM, WSMN. You can listen over the web too, from anywhere. Navigate to www.wsmnradio.com, and then click Listen Live! at the top of the home page.

The word from Mike is:

For those who missed Mike and Moe in the Morning, here's your chance to hear us again (for a limited time only) while we fill in for Jennifer Horn. We would love to talk to you tomorrow or Friday so please make plans to join us -we'll be featuring "Open Lines" so any subject you want is up for discussion.

His promo for the previous morning show was:

Mike got an early start in broadcasting when, at the tender age of 9, he impersonated sportscaster Howard Cosell in an interview with a house full of kids. Sadly, the rest of Mike’s career has been a slow but steady decline from this pinnacle of broadcasting excellence. Even more troubling, tapes still exist of this interview. Born and raised in Orlando, Mike spent childhood summer vacations perfecting his accent with his cousins in Thomasville, Georgia. Mike graduated from William R. Boone High School in Orlando in 1984 and enrolled at the University of Florida to pursue a degree in Broadcast Journalism. After a couple of semesters, Mike and his high school sweetheart, Janine (A.K.A. She Who Must Be Obeyed), were married. First daughter Ashley was born in December of 1987. The arrival of the little bundle of joy caused Mike to switch majors to his other passion, History, in an effort to get on with his career and actually make some cash. After graduation in 1991, Mike got back into the family construction business, working first as a laborer and then as a project manager for his dad’s company. Mike stayed in the construction industry, accepting a project manager’s job in 1994 in Columbus, Ohio. The Ball family (now with new members Stephen, born in 1990, and Allyson, born in 1992) moved to New Hampshire in 1998 due to Janine’s career relocation for a major retailer. Mike continued in the construction industry for another year before hearing the siren call of broadcasting once again (O.K., in reality, Mike was listening to the Dan Pierce Show while on a construction site when he heard an ad for a board operator position - so maybe “siren call” is a bit over the top). Mike started out as the overnight board op on what was then “New Hampshire’s Action News Network”. In a classic case of being in the right place at the right time, Mike was promoted to weekend news producer and sportscaster when the previous producer left to join the U.S. Army. Shortly thereafter, Mike was promoted to producer of The Woody Woodland Show when the morning show producer retired after 20 years on the job. Mike was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be the “fill in” host whenever Woody was away and this led to the creation of The Big Show with Mike Ball which airs Saturdays from 6 – 9 AM. A major reshuffling of the morning news lineup gave Mike another opportunity. This time as Sports Director and co-producer of New Hampshire’s 1st News with Marga Lynn and Dan Pierce. Mike gained valuable experience working with these 2 news veterans and upon the next reshuffling, Mike took over as co-host of the morning drive program with Maureen “Moe” Egan on November 5, 2001. Mike and Moe then transformed New Hampshire’s 1st News into “Mike and Moe In The Morning”.

And now....The Big Show with Mike Ball will become the all new Weekday Morning Show as well!

Live at a Station Near You (Maybe)

2007-04-24T05:18:00.000-04:00

Mike Ball fans -- and which of you reading this isn't a fan or a Mike Ball? -- get several shots this week to hear the broadcaster again.

He's filling in all this week from 10 to noon on the On the Air With Jennifer Horn show. That's out of Nashua, New Hampshire, at 1590 AM.

If you are out of area, you can listen live from www.wsmnradio.com. At the top of the site, click (cleverly enough) Listen Live! to hear the stream.

This is talk radio and he is famous for his call-in segments. You can join in during the show by using the station's number, 603-883-9900.

Tags: manymikes, talk radio, New Hampshire

Who's Calling My Name?

2007-03-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

I listened to Mike Ball on New Hampshire AM radio this morning. I'm not close enough for the signal, but the stream worked fine on the WSMN's site. In a week or so, the podcasts of the two hours should be up for listening.

Several of his fans called in. Of course, it was talk radio, so they had comments and questions. However, they also greeted him personally. Typical was Bob saying, "Nice to hear you on the radio again."

When they asked him if it was true that he would sign on to a local radio station soon, he replied, "You never know. You gotta keep your options open."

We also learned that while he was in Florida, he got a realty license.

Personally, I found it disconcerting to hear callers say his name repeatedly. I involuntarily looked up. Aren't I Mike Ball?

By the bye, while our politics are divergent, I find him enjoyable to hear. He has a nice tone and delivery. He's calm and not at all strident or catty like so many conservative talk show hosts. He doesn't say things just to get a rise out of people.

Good on him.

Tags: manymikes, talk radio, New Hampshire

Return of the Radio King

2007-03-01T05:26:00.000-05:00

Here's hoping that the pending visit by Mike Ball to New England radio is just the teaser.

Fans of the long-time New Hampshire talk radio host get a chance to hear him again Friday, March 2nd from 7 a.m. through 9 a.m. He's on WSMN, 1590 AM, out of Nashua, hosting the Woody Woodland show.

Many of his loyal listeners were very disappointed when he got caught in broadcast politics a couple of years ago and forced off the air. We'd get regular emails asking if we knew his whereabouts.

If you won't be in the signal area tomorrow, you can listen on the Net or catch the podcast later. To stream the show live, go to WSMN's site and then click Listen Live! at the top right.

Of course, this is talk radio. You can call in to participate at 603-883-9900.

They archive the podcasts too. The most recent ones are on the main podcast page. You can search for Mike later at the top of this page.

A note that Mike broadcast by email started:

Hi Everyone,

It has been a while since I last mass e-mailed all of you. I would first like to thank you all for the continued interest in my whereabouts and your hopes for me getting back on the air.

Maybe he'll tell us his plans and the likelihood he'll be a regular on New England air again. He does conclude his note with "Once again, I am humbled by the support and good wishes you have extended to me and my family. I believe this could be the beginning of much bigger radio things to come in the near future."

Tags: manymikes, talk radio, New Hampshire

Avaricious Poetry

2007-02-22T11:32:00.001-05:00

Warning: Off-topic babbling and musing follows.

The unpraised -- and perhaps kudos unworthy -- spammers may reflect this era's stream of consciousness poetic artisanship. A scan of the titles in my spam buckets is often amusing and even thought-provoking.

Any given weekend, the spammers off from their jobs or studies try pathetically to entice us to open their offerings. I have seen estimates that they can profit even if they get one out of one hundred of us to look at their spam and one of a thousand of those to give them money.

Perhaps, but let's consider the literary and theatrical aspects.

On a few accounts and a mail reader with several others, my spam filters catch almost everything. I have these set to hold messages for a week. A couple of times a month, something I want -- generally with a link or two embedded -- ends up in one of these bit buckets.

I am paranoid about email. I never open anything that is clearly spam. Also, even for my sister and other angel-loving types, I don't open inspirational videos, PowerPoint presentations or even JPEG images -- nothing that can hide an executable.

For my slightly twisted amusement, before deleting these, I can scan down the amusing fictive senders and subjects.

Try as they might, spammers can't seem to rise to the level of refrigerator magnetic poetry or even to Dave Berry's standard of that's a good name for a rock band.

A couple of years ago, the subjects seemed to make a (dis)honest effort to trick you. The sender had a common WASPy name (Susan or Charley) and the subject was something like they were expecting you for dinner or such.

Recently though, there are a lot of single-word subjects, apparently generated from an English-language dictionary, or a random, nonsensical phrase or text captured off the Net. Consider:

irrefutable
petal
harpoon agitate
stealth packer (actually a candidate for Dave Berry)
THE WHITE RIVER STAGE WAS 28.
truth acute angle
brandenburg unary
engineering inconsistent

Gertrude Stein might have been inspired by some of this.

Petal. Petal. sleepwalk we talk and walk Irrefutable latch. Heigh ho, Oakland. talk and walk

In the main though, rhymers would have to collect many weeks of such gems to assemble even a short poem. The blank verse folk would have an easier time, but verbs are hard to come by.

Instead, the free-association sorts can revel in the subjects just for the stimulation. Consider:

Be sanhedrin of salty
bed logo
by proscribe the marjorie

I consider these small gifts, offerings left by the demented, scattered freely about in the off-chance they will find a home.

It was like a moment last weekend when the family left the Chestnut Hill multiplex (I recommend Pan's Labyrinth) and I noticed a folded sheet of stationery on the pavement with visible writing showing through. I felt the compulsion of my youth to pick it up and voyeuristically enjoy that offering. I can control myself now, most times, but did note it to a son to see his response. He was indifferent to that personal artifact and strode on.

He also can ignore the subjects of spams.

Tags: manymikes, musing, junk email

Post-Storm Visitors

2007-02-15T08:11:00.000-05:00

Flocking, fluttering wrens, the bully jays, cuneiform-tailed magpies and a few plump tits showed no fear of me this morning.

The crusty, frigid and just nasty residue of yesterday's storm -- glory be that NStar didn't fail us again -- filled the rhododendrons below, the beech above and the forsythia beyond with eager patrons of the feeder. Proof of their hunger to get energy to heat themselves came when I pounded on the window.

Many stayed put while I loosened the storm window to get to the feeder. The sleet had coated the outside and made a gelid epoxy. I ended up with a huge screwdriver as a wedge and a rubber mallet to operate the slides on the window.

As you might suppose, the roundest patrons were first to the feeder and were hovering within reach as I closed the window.

Other regular visitors did not risk life, limb or lemon to gather deposit bottles. These modern gleaners are extras on the urban stage. The old man who arrives after dark, driving what my grandfather would have called a flivver, is part of the night shift. He is considerate and quiet at his task. If I am putting recycling at the curb when he comes, I greet him and he responds, but nothing more.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but that is a small kindness we can do, one that costs us very little. As with Ruth and Naomi, such gleaning can be significant to those who must do it.

Woe to those who tell me they resent the bottle gatherers. We place our deposit bottles in separate bags for the ease of our evening visitor. If he passes with $1 from us, a quarter elsewhere and another $1 down the block, it is the preponderance of the small -- negligible to us and together meaningful to him.

On this nasty morning, it doesn't hurt anything to hold back the deposit-bottle bags for a week.

The best side-effect of this is that when we take the little care required for our visitors, we often think of other small favors to do.

Tags: manymikes, Boston, storm, bird feeder, gleaners

Good Hands

2007-02-02T12:02:00.000-05:00

After a two-day visit to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, we noticed a Mike Ball Insurance sign on the way out of town. Had it not been pouring and pelting, we would have stopped in to amaze each other by the (slight) coincidence.

It's been awhile since I posted any other MBs here. I'll try to be more regular.

Other than his online affiliation, State Farm, I can't find much about him. He looks like a very pleasant sort.

He has long hours on Wednesday -- until 7 p.m. Otherwise, it's 9 to 5.

Tags: manymikes, Michael Ball, insurance, Gettysburg

Mr. Grumpy's Thanksgiving

2006-11-20T09:16:00.001-05:00

I've been to Trader Joe's, Stop & Shop and the Haymarket. We have that hippy-dippy free-range turkey to pick up Tuesday and pies and bread to bake. It reminds me of a story.

About 40 years ago, in Plainfield, New Jersey, two older family friends were anticipating a rough Thanksgiving. Evelyn and Rollins Justice (everyone called him "Justice," which seemed to fit such a kind and thoughtful man) had a tough year and a tougher guest.

They ended up fearing a Thanksgiving under the tyranny of his father. Think Abe Simpson and you are in the area. The old man had retired from the railroad in his 40s, sponged off one child and then moved in with his son and daughter-in-law in Plainfield. He was entitled, demanding and often nasty. He wanted what he wanted when he wanted it, from morning biscuits to his rocking chair placement. Justice was old school country from the western mountains of North Carolina. He would never toss the old guy or order him to behave.

Evelyn had volunteer work with the veterans' hospital, she had visited remote sick grandkids, money was tight and Justice had to work. They simply could not prepare a Thanksgiving meal. Evelyn was a fabulous cook with the Southern pride of my-hand-to-your-mouth hospitality. She was sad not to be able to cook and she and Justice dreaded the response from the old man.

They didn't discuss it with him. Rather when Justice got home, they got into their black Rambler and headed out to find someplace that was open and they could afford. The only place seemed to be the drive-in Steer Inn on Route 22.

Evelyn steeled herself as Justice went in and returned to the car with burgers, fries and drinks. Amazingly, the old man had not said a word, much less started a tirade about the first Thanksgiving of his life without a feast presented to him.

Finally, as Evelyn and Justice looked out the windshield and started on their burgers, the old man spoke. He said only, "Hain't got no table."

Tags: massmarrier, Thanksgiving, manymikes

Outrunning the Sun

2006-08-17T11:44:00.000-04:00

By an odd twist, we just discovered that the former chief scientist at Sun Microsystems works for Microsoft now. After 13 years there, he describes his new spot in his last Sun blog post.

His last day was July 28th and "I'm going to be working for MicroSoft at a new group aimed at multi-threading tools and compilers, possibly moving to low-end HPC." That would be high-performance computing.

The Sun post has a link to his personal blog.

In a small bit of conincidence, I have been contracting for a company in Boston that Microsoft recently acquired. Our mail system just began forwarding to Microsoft addresses as well. So, that Michael Ball got my email as well as his own. When I looked him up, I see that he is the same fellow I had mentioned and with whom I had brief email correspondence. That is not a belive-it-or-not moment, but with an eyebrow raise.

Tags: manymikes, Michael Ball, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft

Wall Walking in JP

2006-07-11T11:09:00.000-04:00

A hidden treat, complete with bugs and poison ivy, awaits Boston cognoscenti. Unless you're on foot and hawk-eyed, you'd likely miss the overly discreet sign for Allandale Woods where Centre Street joins the VFW Parkway.

This approach seems part of the Department of Conservation and Recreation's stealth parks program. Make the signs small enough in muted enough colors and who knows, maybe no one will mess with your spaces. Public spaces, we don't have no public spaces. We don't need no stinkin' public spaces.

The DCR does not seem to list this on its recreational opportunities. However, you can use the pulldown list on the Boston parks site for basic info -- but no map. The city notes:

Composed primarily of oaks, maples, and pines, Allandale Woods is one of the few relatively pristine secondary growth oak-hickory forests in the city of Boston. Trails, laid out by the Appalachian Mountain Club in 1992, run throughout the site leading to various areas of interest including three ponds, several streams, and a marsh.

If you head South, past the Sophia Snow units and Larry Palmer's Mobil gas, turn sharp right up the steep hill just past the DCR sign. It is new, but already a third overgrown. So be alert.

What you get is entry into an 18th Century woods with an early 20th Century stone wall running a mile or more through the middle. This is the second largest wooded space in Boston, about 90 acres. It is the largest urban wild.

From a few yards away, it doesn't exist. There's the Greek Catholic Church and a long stretch of nothing in particular along the VFW Parkway. If you run on the adjacent sidewalk, as many locals do, you'd see almost uniformly a steep drop to an overgrown chasm that promises hugely marshy Spring slogging. There is one narrow break in the guard rail to a trail, but it is otherwise totally forbidding.

Back in the woods though, only a few feet off the Centre Street sidewalk, the amazing stone wall starts and goes straight up the hill. You can learn more about it than you need to know in a Walter H. Marx article reprinted on the JP Historical Society site.

The short of Allendale Woods is that it is pretty much like it was in the 1700s, when it was part of a nearly 300 acre land grant to the Weld family for military service in the Revolution. It is testament to their tenacity or stupidity that they, then the Williamses, farmed it for two centuries. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to work such hilly, forested, rocky soil.

A little over 100 years ago, Mary Pratt Brandegee ended up with this part of the land. In the 1890s, Boston was on a park-expansion tear. This included buying some of this land and adding bridle paths, which are still evident and useful particularly to bikers.

As part of the deal, Boston agreed to delineate her land with a wall, averaging one and one-half feet in width and two and one-half feet in height. As befitting our efficient city, it got around to the construction about 40 years later.

As Marx puts it, "only a mile in length, easily walked or followed within an hour, but in different seasons it has views just as good as those from Hadrian's Wall...Our local wall has weathered its New England winters well. Here and there the wall's top strip of concrete is gone. But, like Hadrian's Wall it still has some fine straight runs and turns."

He also wonders about the masons' work. How did they get their materials in place and how difficult was it to build up and down steep grades, over streams, and around trees. For all the geographic demands, the wall is amazingly uniform.

Having just walked its length, we offer this detail.

In theory, you could walk on one side or another of the wall for its length. What's the fun in that?

For most of the length, you can be a kid again and stride, sidle or even skip on the wall top. Marx's 1992 article claims little obstruction from overgrowth. In many places, you advance by ducking under, walking over or pushing aside overgrowth.

We found maybe eight places where trees had fallen over the wall, requiring dismount and remount 10 or 30 feet beyond. Likewise, the original wall has a few places where it appears icing and expansion have removed concrete and stone. At least for now, you can manage to walk those.

However the whimsy of the mason seem to rule in a dozen or so places. There are bends around a tree there and there. In another dozen places, the wall breaks for a large tree, also requiring a hop down.

We climbed over quite a lot of poison ivy, but aren't susceptible. In general, long pants and bug spray are wise.

More geometrically challenging are the steep grades. These would be high ranking on Tour de France climbs if they were longer. As it is, we went knees over knuckles and in two places walked the trail beside the wall up the sheerest climbs. The wall wasn't slick; it was just that steep.

While grousing that the article promised of a vista of the Blue Hills, I stopped when that's exactly what appeared. Hot damn.

Amusingly, I envisioned some towering arches over running water. In the photo above, which came from the article, this was a fairy-tale version for small creatures. It was two or three feet, not 30, high.

There lots of birds, wildflowers, forest critters and that musky smell of old growth forest in its lifecycle. That will make you thirsty and curious. Bring water and a camera.

There are multiple trails running perpendicular to the wall as well as beside it. We saw a pair of dog walkers, some tagging evidence (although only a couple of beer bottles), and a mountain biker. No one else was on the wall though.

These Woods are nice place in spots for a picnic or assignation -- wonderful its length for a walk.

By the bye, we didn't take the last 150 feet or so. The wall disappears into several Brookline backyards. The residents have taken command of the wall with overgrowth and barriers to their backyards. (The imperialism of the upper-middle class.)

You want your quiet, your nature and your bit of history? Finding that Woods sign is a good place to start.
Yet More History: I just ran across another site, Heart of the City, that describes this urban wild. It has info, some of which appears on the hidden Woods sign...and more:

Native Americans lived in this area until about 1000 BC. John Winthrop, while he was Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, gave Captain Joseph Weld 285 acres of land in recognition of his service to the colony during the Pequot War of 1637. Part of this land was to become Allandale Woods.

Captain Weld's brother, Reverend Thomas Weld, settled here and used black slave and Native American labor to grow rye, corn, squash, pumpkins, apples, beans, and tobacco. In 1806, Weld sold part of the land to Benjamin Bussey, who established the Arnold Arboretum. He passed another part of the land on to Thomas Williams. Subsequently in 1894, part of the land was sold to Faulkner Hospital and part was sold to the City of Boston to establish a parkway that would connect the Arnold Arboretum to Franklin Park (Heath & Primack. Allandale Woods: A Fragment of the First Families of Boston. 1991).

A springhouse was built here in 1870 to provide water to residents, and the area was soon famous for the healing effects of its water. In 1876 the Allandale Mineral Spring Water Pavilion opened. The spring claimed to be able to cure "dyspepsia, kidney problems, diabetes, gravel, canker, dropsy, catarrh, nervousness, bladder diseases, constipation, eczema, and all skin diseases"

So the rest of JP was busy building breweries with the great water but the Allendale folk had loftier, if less routinely satisfying, ends.

Tags: massmarrier, Boston, urban wild, Allandale Woods, Jamaica Plain

Not Meeting Marcia Ball

2006-07-05T09:38:00.000-04:00

Towering nine stories above the Pawtucket Canal, we reveled in the Venice of America. We were there also to revel in Marcia Ball's music.

We might have met her, but didn't.

Pretension Note: Numerous other U.S. cities have subsequently claimed Venice of America. They include Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Venice, California. However, with the completion of the Pawtucket Canal, as a detour around the waterfalls, at the close of the 18th Century, Lowell laid claim first. This joined with the Merrimack Canal to run the nearly 30 miles to Charlestown and create the fastest, cheapest way to move raw material and manufactured goods in the region.

As part of a prolonged birthday celebration, my wife got tickets for the July 3rd Marcia Ball concert. She's a sizzling blues singer, who seldom visits New England. She's from Louisiana and the T doesn't have a local stop there. The last time she was at Johnny D's in Somerville, her tickets sold out faster than I could get two.

Now the disclaimer, she and I are likely no relation. Ball is a pretty common last name in England and the United States. As she's from left of the Delta region and my family came into Virginia early, we may well have no common ancestors. We sure don't look anything alike. She's long and lanky. I have a chest and forequarters like a draft horse.

Nevertheless, I like to feel a link to a great blues singer.

We became aware of her through the annual Lowell Folk Festival. We interrupt this rambling rant to urge you to attend the festival. We never leave without discovering someone fabulous that we didn't know before. We always have a fresh CD in hand.

Oh, and if you need any other incentive, be aware that it is free. A whole day of music on multiple sound stages simultaneously is free. Whether you like whiny hillbilly, Cajun, Chicago blues, World, bluegrass, Irish or whatever, they have it. At any moment, something you'll love is playing. And, by the way, it's free.

Marcia has been at the festival numerous times. Also, lately she has been donating proceeds to Katrina victims in her own area. This week, she gave her concert as a fund raiser for the Folk Festival.

The concert was at the Boardinghouse Park, a great outdoor venue for live music. We left from where I work in South Boston and got to the DoubleTree on the canal in time for dinner before the 7:30 event.

For those who don't know Lowell, there is little fancy there. It is an industrial town, one that can deserve the term gritty. It was a key battleground for the American labor movement. Today, it has many earnest lefties, like Dick Howe of the Democratic City Committee and of course, everyone's favorite rabble rouser, Lynne at LeftinLowell.

Its compact little downtown also has a lot of pub-type restaurants, plus a few yuppie, veal-piccata ones and several Portuguese havens. It turns out that Lowell is closed on July 3rd and 4th. I guess folk go to Boston for the Pops, because they weren't there.

Most restaurants were closed. Fortunato's was jammed and the waitron said service would take a long, long time. We ended up at the nearby Bombay Mahal, very good food, accurately spiced to order, and with excellent service, as we were at one of two occupied tables. The owner said he had been there for 16 years and had gotten used to the town being deserted on the Fourth of July. He didn't know where people went, but it wasn't to restaurants and wasn't to downtown.

Anyway, we got served in time to walk the three blocks to the park and settle in before she started. The area was pretty full, but for some reason, there were a dozen or so empty places on the grass up front outside of the reserved for big spenders (the $50 tickets instead of $20 ones) area. We put it down 25 feet from the stage.

It was good to be close. She travels with a guitarist, bass guitarist, sax player and drummer. She brutalizes and persecutes her electric piano to great effect. So, it was not the type of concert that relies on hugely amplified speakers to cover for the meager talents of the band. Closer is better with Marcia Ball.

As always, she got people screaming, dancing and shaking. That's a bit deceptive in that she is not a huge stage presence like some second and third-rate musicians. I think of seeing the Four Seasons, Frank Sinatra and Wayne Newton. None of them was ever all that good musically or vocally, but they gave a great show, they dominated the room and you left feeling you have really been entertained.

Marcia brings it right to your ears. She pounds the keyboard like Jerry Lee Lewis (but a better player) and she delivers passion and humor with vitality.

She did a double set and covered about everything I love from her CDs. Up top, she used her classic Redbeans, she tore into Soulful Dress, and just when I thought she'd leave off my beloved Let Me Play With Your Poodle, she ended her second set with it.

We went back to the hotel, towering nine stories above the canal, rocking and happy.

The next morning, we had breakfast in the hotel before heading back to the visiting relatives we had abandoned in our Boston house. Checking out, we told the desk clerk who was curious why we were there for one day from Boston that we had come up for that concert.

She asked if we had seen her, that the band was on the same, small floor of the hotel. Not only had we not seen her, they must have come in either very late (unlikely in Lowell) or very quietly. We weren't roused.

Our folk were expecting us and there was no time to hang around in hopes of running into an almost certainly non-relative to heap praise upon her.

So, we heard Marcia Ball again and sat at her feet. We'll have to make sure we say, "Hey," the next opportunity.

On the way out, my wife called to the clerk, "Tell her that her cousin said, 'Hello.'"

Tags: massmarrier, manymikes, Lowell, Marcia Ball

Boston Foxes

2006-06-03T16:08:00.000-04:00

Somebody took my foxes...and my pheasants.

Coming home up the back side, the Centre Street side of the Arnold Arboretum today, I missed them yet again. I used to see both and other wildlife dashing, cavorting and even canoodling across and beside the road. They'd pass from or to the urban wild on the other side, a Forest Hills Station/arboretum sandwich. What was visible, sudden and at home seemed out of place in a big city and was most welcome.

Often I'd bike that route. That gave me the advantage of relative silence and apparent slow movement. A red fox would notice me but not panic. Slick helmet and all, I might be another funny animal with round feet.

I had seen my feathered and furry chums for over a decade when the city and state put a very sensible, virtually unused gravel pedestrian way from the T to the trees. While this looks reasonable on a map, they were really clearing out the urban wild and destroying the animal and bird habitat. It appears that the underlying reasoning was a response to neighbors' complaints that other urban wildlife -- junkies and hookers -- liked to cavort in this space as well.

Fie on the victimless crime committers!

Fact is, virtually everyone who takes the Orange Line or a bus to FH, headed for the arboretum, walks up the sidewalk to the nearest Arboretum/Route 203 gate. That's where the roses, lilacs and frog ponds are.

My family has a tie to the urban wild that disappeared in 2001. We had walked the Emerald Necklace under the stiff-spined leadership of Boston Park Ranger Jim Gorman. We had a youth and toddler for the long trek.

Shortly after, we saw that he would lead a tour of urban wilds in southern Boston (JP area). We went with him and saw the several, including the Centre Street area.

Gorman was Dudley Do-Right in bloom. He looked as though he was born to the pointed ranger hat and he certainly must have been an Eagle Scout. I suppose that one never stops being one any more than one is an ex-Marine.

He picked up the Bud cans and handed them to our boys for their trash bags. Meanwhile, he showed up the possums, squirrel nests, racing fox, and astonishing variety of birds. The ranger loved his wilds.

Now, the Centre Street wild is an antiseptic, well-mowed, junky-free blah. Miles South, I can still see my pheasants running across Unquity Road as I bike back through Milton. My gilded and glistening buddies, the forest in town, are gone.

Tags: massmarrier, Boston, urban wild, Arnold Arboretum

This Just in From Ottawa...

2006-03-02T12:30:00.000-05:00

As the Russians used to call a neighbor droog po droog (friend of a friend), a chum of the Ottawa cajun-style musician put me in touch. Now I'm waiting for a CD.

David Scrimshaw drew Michael Ball in mid fiddling. He then responded to my post with the Website for Ball and Chain, Jody Benjamin and Michael's group's URL.

In turn, I whinged to him that they seem to make no effort to sell their CDs on the site or link to anyone who does. I tried my usual suspects, like Amazon, Amazon.ca, Djanos and so forth. To shut me up, David said he'd relay my request to Michael.

Sure enough, today I got a note from him including:

I hear from a friend of mine, David, here in Ottawa that this guy Michael Ball wants to buy one of our CD's. Well Hallelujah!! There's probably millions of us Michael Balls, well dozens at least, all over this continent. Any way, either contact us and we'll send you one in exchange for a checque for 22.00 or go to www.cdbaby.com and do a search for Ball and Chain and the Wreckers. The album title is "Live at the Bayou". At cdbaby you can use your credit card and you can read the blurb and listen to some samples if you like.

Well, impatient sort that I am, I clicked on over to CD Baby and ordered. The idea of two-way snail mail, check/cheque and so forth is so 20th Century.

I have CDs of the Engligh musical singer, the classical composer and so forth. This will be my first namesake cajun/country.

A review will surely follow.

Bow Ball Beau

2006-02-26T17:07:00.000-05:00

Up in Ottawa, on Dave Scrimshaw's blog, you can find this sketch of one of us.

This one's a fiddler. Michael drew the bow and Dave drew Michael.

As Dave puts it:

When I play my horn, my mind often wanders all over the place, but when Michael plays you can see that his entire being is absorbed with the music. Even when he's playing bass and plucking slow whole notes.
As for his fiddle playing, I've heard people play fiddle faster than he does, but no one with his sweetness of tone. Every time he plays the Lover's Waltz, my eyes tear up, and I don't even know if the song has any words.

Don't Let Friends Drive IE

2006-02-10T12:34:00.000-05:00

I keep Internet Explorer hidden on my various boxes, but use the vastly superior Firefox. There are a very small number of sites that are sooooo 20th Century that they require IE.

A new report provides yet more proof that you want to use Firefox. The short of it is that protects much better against spyware.

More specifically, two University of Washington professors had Web crawlers hit 45,000 sites. They then "cataloged the executable files found, and tested malicious sites' effectiveness by exposing unpatched versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox to 'drive-by downloads.' That's the term for the hacker practice of using browser vulnerabilities to install software, sometimes surreptitiously, sometimes not."

Because they started with unpatched versions of both browsers, the pair won't just say Firefox is safer. I have no doubts from experiential knowledge. For example, I keep on isolated PC at home that two kids use. They frequently use security patched OS and IE on it. When I run the sphere and Adair checkers on my systems, that box invariably has large numbers of sphere and sometimes malware installs. The two I have that are almost exclusively Firefox machines have one none if I have not used IE and a few if I have used IE.

Regardless, Firefox has many more features (like the indispensable tabbed browsing). If you haven't switched, click up top here today...now.

Thai 2 Mike

2006-02-03T12:36:00.000-05:00

Thailand's spirit houses were the subjects of a post by one of us, from Bangkok, in his NOODLESFOREVER blog. He writes, in part:

Most Thais believe in a fourth dimension of nonliving souls - or ghosts - existing alongside the living. While many deceased spirits are regarded as being benevolent, Thais, much like westerners, are still pretty spooked by the thought of having to share a kitchen with a long-dead white-haired granny.

To appease the spirt (or spirits) who reside within its walls, every Thai structure -from office tower to teak shack - has a spirit house. The spirit house is a shrine of sorts that generally sits somewhere in front of the building's main entrance or off to the side. While some of these shrines are mere platforms which rest like tiny treeforts between a nearby tree's branches, most are independent structures, usually looking like a miniature temple sitting atop a one-legged table.

He claims to be 25 and his about-me simply reads virginiadelphian.

His writing is staccato, entertaining and varying in length post to post. He's gone to places I have not. So most posts are a snippet of education.

Bowery Boy

2006-01-04T08:13:00.000-05:00

I don't and won't put money in the paper cup of the mendicant sitting on a milk crate outside a Dunkin' Donuts in Downtown Crossing. He's not noticeably smelly or particularly rude. However, he's a lot of years too late.

In college days, there was a beggar in front of the Prudential Center who often got my attention and change. He had a simple routine, but it was fine theater, excellently timed. Unlike others, he'd show money. Opening his fist, he pushed coins around his palm, looked imploringly and pointed to the adjacent snack shop. "I need just 55 cents to get a ham sandwich there," he'd say. From his look, I am pretty sure his lunch was from a green bottle, but I had been amused and paid up almost every time.

Then in my early 20s, I fulfilled my high-school promise to myself and moved to Manhattan. I took over an apartment of a friend of a friend who needed to sublet it for a year.

East Third Street had its own set of subcultures. I was directly across the street from the Hell's Angels (a different story...later) and a couple of blocks from the main men's shelter on the Bowery.

So if I headed in one direction, single and paired bums aggressively begged me for spare change, a quarter, a dollar, help. I started out giving the most intense of them money, then fewer, then none. It did not take long to put out a force shield.

Then, I began hearing a peculiar question repeatedly. In a laughably small A&P, in a bodega, in a Russian bakery and in the closest liquor store, a clerk would stop suddenly my transaction to ask, "Do you have a brother around here?"

Finally, I saw him. Five mornings, I left the grit of the Lower East Side for my temp job at the Museum of Modern Art. I was a lackey helping bring the Italian Design Show (another different story...also later) to town. Unlike the chrome hogs sputtering and roaring across the block every night, the objects at MOMA were, well, art. From ashtrays to typewriters to coffee mugs, we used objects that were part of the design collection. There was a delicacy to such indulgence in beauty.

This Monday, I was almost to the subway when I looked down at yet another bum on yet another milk crate. We simultaneously stared at each other. From the blond hair to the long jaw to the reddish moustache, we were identical. We were the same age and size and were twins.

This was my illusory brother.

We remarked on it all. He too had been asked about his brother in the neighborhood. At least we had one other difference; our names were nothing alike.

I gave him money that morning and every time I saw him. In exchange, he began to offer tidbits of a childhood in New Jersey, a middle-class family, an engineering degree from Rutgers, no jobs available in the recession, and a pioneering drive, but East instead of to the Plains, to experience raw life.

We saw each other for months, and then never again. I like to assume that he did not die on the street of violence or acute alcoholism. Rather, I saw him returning to his family, tossing the smelly clothes and starting his straight career.

The lyrics to Phil Ochs' "There But For Fortune have had a particular intensity from the first time I saw my twin.

I Want a Yard Sign

2005-12-30T10:30:00.000-05:00

The Virginia politician with our name barely lost his legislative race. For a Republican, he has pretty smart and pretty humane politics. In fact, his real problem in the contest may have been that he and the Democrat had platforms that were too similar.

At least for the present, his site is still available.

Is is complete with pictures. He's a good-looking guy, but then again, he is a Michael Ball.

There's a bio and four position papers and an endorsement in PDF.

While he is more conservative than some of us, he does seem in tune with his state. In his campaign, he promised to:

Roll back the real estate tax rate and cap property taxes
Ensure quality teachers by requiring them to pass competency tests in the subjects they teach our children
Pass a law requiring all future tax increases to be approved by the people in a voter referendum
Require an independent audit of the state budget to make sure tax dollars are spent efficiently and to cut waste wherever it is found

Bang, Mike

2005-12-16T21:03:00.000-05:00

This Michael Ball is never likely to have fans like the singer. I ran across Ballpoint, replete with links to where you can buy his CDs, photo galleries, and a page to record your memories of the day you met HIM (squeal).

As a sample, consider this review of an experience at Chitty Chitty Bang Bang:

WAS I BARKING?!!!
A review by Clive

Well, I thought I had seen it all over the years reporting on the escapades of the folks of London Town, but today I really did have to ask myself the question, Was I Barking?!! Had all these years taken their toll?, or was I really reporting on a 'tail' of a very different kind?!

I could have been forgiven for thinking I'd had one Alco Pup too many the night before, as I found myself confronted with the mysterious sight of those making up the queue at The London Palladium. I admit I arrived a little late, but the view from the rear was still a fascinating 'tail'!

Now I'm used to seeing the ardent fans who queue for their favourite show, and in a few weeks the Ballettes will be queuing outside this very spot eager for any returns, and we all know they flock from afar to hear Michael Ball, but was I really seeing a large group of assorted Dogs (yes Dogs!!) queuing to buy a ticket for the musical that's taking off with a Bang and a Bark in just a few short weeks time! Could this really be the new generation of Michael Ball fans?! They say it takes all sorts, and this was a wonderful assortment, young, old, long haired, short haired, and like a few Michael Ball fans I've seen in my time, they had some of the tell tale signs, tongues hanging out, even a bit of drooling going on but then came a bark, now not since I heard someone once call Michael Ball, Bolton, had I heard a bark like it!!

But just a minute, just who was barking here I asked myself, as I gave the necessary pinch to check I was not in the middle of some strange dream where Dogs had taken over the world. Why did I spot the word 'audition' on the lead sheet I had been handed from my paper, and suddenly have visions of the Bull Terrier stood behind me standing on the stage of The London Palladium dressed in a dinner jacket, cigar in hand, a newspaper under his paw acting out the scene of a lifetime to win his part?!!!

It probably is me who is barking, but they do say never work with animals, or children, and Michael Ball is about to do both, a braver man than me!! I only hope as Michael is in the middle of one his renditions during his nights on the stage of The London Palladium that he doesn't suddenly find himself looking at one of the musicians down in the orchestra pit to see a Bearded Collie looking up at him playing a trumpet, that's when he will ask the question I was asking too!!

Granite Mike?

2005-11-25T09:22:00.000-05:00

Where is Mike Ball, the New Hampshire radio talker?

Several emails have asked what happened to him. After he disappeared from WGIR, no one locally seems to know where he went, but many seem to miss him.

Over at Wizbang! we find, in part, the lament:

I wrote before about Charlie Sherman, the failed TV sportscaster who now fancies himself a talk-show host. In order to accomodate Sherm, the local radio show dumped an excellent guy named Mike Ball and let Sherm in to stink up the place.
Sherm knows he stinks. That's probably why they don't take phone calls from listeners. When a talk show doesn't take callers, they're either too egotistical to think that anyone else could contribute anything of value or too frightened that the callers will show them for the chumps they are. In Sherm's case, it's probably both.

If you know where this MB went, pass it along.

Health Care Mike

2005-11-14T06:14:00.000-05:00

Out in Irvine, California, Allergan, Inc. has F. Michael Ball as executive vice president and president, pharmaceuticals. His bio on the company site includes:

Born in Canada, Mr. Ball was educated in the U.K. and U.S. before receiving his BSc and M.B.A. from Queen’s University in Canada. He is the former President of Syntex Inc. Canada and Senior Vice President of Syntex Laboratories USA, where he served on Syntex Corporation’s Management Committee. Mr. Ball has over 20 years of international health care experience in the marketing and sales of pharmaceutical products. He joined Allergan in 1995.

Two Too Similar

2005-11-04T05:54:00.000-05:00

Michael Ball's last stand seems to have been in Uncle Louie's Restaurant in Norfolk, Virginia. In the race for the Virginia House of Delegates, our guy just barely lost to Paula MIller.

According to the report of the restaurant battle, their debate showed too much similarity. We may never know whether his adversary's recognition as a TV talking head swung the voters.

At Uncle Louie's, he stressed the huge increase in state spending and taxing in the previous decade. His big pitch would be that he would oppose such profligacies. That apparently wasn't enough.

Midget Landing

2005-11-02T06:51:00.000-05:00

In Chippenham, U.K. Garston Farm has a tiny airstrip in a farm field. Call Mike Ball "at some stage prior to departure" for permission to land.

The town and Garston Farm are in Wiltshire.

The airstrip is very bucolic, enough to note that the landing is by "Rwy 09 approach through the gap between trees."

When you are ready, call Mike at 01225-891284 or 0790-1755312.

The greeting includes, "All visitors to our airstrip are extended a warm welcome, (provided prior permission received), and the kettle is always on in the caravan!"

Call for Ball...and Pierce

2005-10-31T05:53:00.000-05:00

Who knows where radio talker Mike Ball is now?

A comment on the profile of him when he was still on WGIR with Dan Pierce in New Hampshire wonders too.

Our latest search turned up this:

In NEW HAMPSHIRE, there's still no replacement announced for Dan Pierce, who resigned as program director and afternoon host at WGIR (610 Manchester) and its network of simulcasts (WTSL 1400 Lebanon, WGIP 1540 Exeter, WGIN 930 Rochester) on August 27. We're hearing some buzz that Pierce's departure may clear the way for Mike Ball, who was ousted as the morning host last month (a slot fulled by Charlie Sherman.)

That's not much info. It was from September 2004.

Beyond the Repository

2005-10-28T07:36:00.000-04:00

Get your PDF here. Mike Ball presents 35 pages of PowerPoint on the future of content management.

He is director and general manager of EMC Documentum. So, there is a bit of beef amongst the high-toned words and high-color graphics. (If nothing else, you can enjoy the information-overloaded executive with his head in his hands.

This one was a presentation at the Enterprise Information Management Conference in Boston, July 2004. He is frequent speaker at such conferences worldwide.

Of course, we assume Documentum may have a solution or two to vend. The teaser for the presentation includes:

Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) is a strategy of pro-active management of information that is business-centric. It needs a unified approach, and is policy-based. ILM aligns service levels with business requirements. Mike considered data protection, which in his world involves backup and replication. In his world, these two are becoming closely enjoined. We have already mentioned that compliance management is a major requirement. Email is becoming a big business risk, so needs to have a business strategy for managing it.

New Twists to London

2005-10-26T13:36:00.000-04:00

Our man in economics, Michael Ball, is lead author with David Sutherland of An Economic History of London: 1800-1914. The Business History Review at Harvard Business School starts its comments by saying the authors "set out to move London history in new directions, departing from previous narrative and explanatory accounts and explicitly deploying modern economic theories."

They claim that much of previous views of London development suffers from earlier, misleading views. They find, among other conclusions, that "London was not industrially backward in the nineteenth century, but was growing and diversifying according to the predictions of competitive market theory."

The book is 470 pages. Published by Routledge i 2001, it retailed then for $110. It is available now from Amazon (free shipping) for $115, or as an ebook for $110 from the eBookMall.

Content Management Optimism

2005-10-24T07:20:00.000-04:00

At EMC's Legato Software, Director of Product Marketing Mike Ball commented:

aving been in this industry for more than 15 years, I can say that 2004 has the promise of being one of the most exciting years in the content/document management industry. The recent surge of interest in regulatory compliance, corporate governance and legal risk initiatives has legitimized content management as another mandatory infrastructure application required to operate a business-just like ERP, payroll or similar business systems.

The traditional benefits of improved productivity, secure archival and reduced operating costs deliver added multifaceted ROI and business value.

The recent consolidation of vendors and solutions will undoubtedly continue in 2004, giving customers the benefit of selecting from financially strong and secure companies that can deliver mature technology solutions combined with long-term viability and industry commitment.

—KM World. Camden, March 2004.

Our Man in Man

2005-10-21T06:18:00.000-04:00

The Channel Islands off England rotate their version of Olympic games. The most recent one to be held on the Isle of Man was in 2001.

Our man in the center of those was Mike Ball, the island's Director of Leisure. In the picture, our man is in the middle flanked by chairman Brian Partington and Gary Jakeman.

The games include competitors from all the islands. They vie in a dozen sports.

Another Ball on the Boards

2005-10-19T06:11:00.000-04:00

Another actor Mike Ball is not to be confused with the famous Canadian Michael Ball. This one is from Philadelphia. He is a major star of the Stagecrafters. He has numerous credits with them, some of which you can see here.

Our Man of the Poppies

2005-10-17T06:20:00.000-04:00

In Bristol, England, Mike Ball is the treasurer of the branch and club of the Dundry British Royal Legion. The service organization (and bar) has been open since 1949.

Buy a Used House from This Mike?

2005-10-15T16:02:00.000-04:00

In Queensland, Australia, Mike Ball sells luxury realty on Bribie Island. The profile for our sales consultant includes:

Mike and his family have lived on Bribie Island for nearly 10 years and would be well known to many Bribie residents. Mike and Lyn have been married 30 years and have twin daughters who are studying Veterinary Science at Queensland University.

A Boilermaker/Welder by trade, Mike has worked his way up from the workshop floor to become State Manager for one of Australia's largest steel companies. He was also empowered with setting up and commissioning a purpose built production centre for this company and his people skills when negotiating and overseeing all aspects of this venture were regularly called upon to smooth many a ruffled feather over the course of time.

Following this, Mike spent 5 years in Sales & Marketing mangement for a Company involved in a specialised engineering field, before setting up his own business, 'Passage Pool Supplies' 5 years ago.

The rest, as they say, is history. This business grew from strength to strength winning two Excellence In Business awards. This success can only be attributed to Mike's hard work, dedication and commitment to his customers, and these traits are carried through to his clients in Real Estate. Mike will always give you 110% and with his honest and straight-forward approach you can be assured your best interests are always paramount.

Mikes integrity, enthusiasm and valuable local knowledge will help ensure his clients receive the best possible outcome with their Real Estate needs.

Ball on Bouncing: 2

2005-10-14T09:54:00.000-04:00

Our man Mike Ball in Australia has shown his face.

He is the Umpiring Development Manager Umpiring WA, which is conducted under the auspices of the West Australian Football Commission. It is "at the home of Football, Subiaco Oval.

"There are four full time employees, an Umpiring Development Manager, two Umpiring Administators and a Development Officer.

"Umpiring WA exists to provide clear direction to all affiliates and to further develop the role of the umpire within the game of Australian Football."

Great Plains Aeronaut

2005-10-11T15:43:00.000-04:00

We have one us in South Dakota. A commissioner on the South Dakota Department of Trasnsportation Commission is Mike Ball.

His term is for 2005-2006. He is from Huron. You can see him with all the commissioners here.

Un-Bond

2005-10-09T18:49:00.000-04:00

We can find no other mention of Michael C. Ball, actor. He is credited was Male Hooker #3 in The Click: Balls of Thunder.

This 2002 made-for-TV movie features Robert Donovan as Rod Steele. The plot summary is mercifully short:

Armed with a remote control device that causes people to become extremely horny, he must battle super-villain Tangerina, who wants to capture the sperm of the world's most powerful men and create an army of sex slaves.

The love interest is apparently the villain, De'Ann Power (right) as Tangerina.

We can't see any images of our man, the hooker. Also, this is the only movie credit he has.

As a hint of why this movie did not have a theatrical release, consider a dialog sample from Rod:"I'd like a vodka martini, shaken not stirred, with a touch of lemon and one green olive on a wooden toothpick, preferably imported from somewhere in the Orient."

Back to the Futurliner

2005-10-05T13:19:00.000-04:00

In Michigan, Mike Ball has been an active volunteer in the six-year project to restore and exhibit an automotive anomaly.

Before most of us were around or can remember, General Motors had Parade of Progress shows. Their 12 Futureliners were integral to the traveling expos.

Futurliner #10 came into the hands of Don Mayton and his crew of a couple dozen volunteers. They have restored it from a rusty heap to a shiny hulk. You can see the project from the beginning.

Dig into the photo/caption archives or drill right down to your specialty (like bumpers). You can also click on the work reports by year to see the painstaking operations (and what parts Mike played).

Back to Bama

2005-10-03T07:09:00.000-04:00

Our man in Alabama has augmented his published bio on the state legislature site. Representative Mike Ball is also a musician, it turns out.

From vocations to avocations, he now includes:

Mike served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1973 to 1977 and was honorably discharged as a Sergeant. In 1978, he became an Alabama State Trooper, and served 8 years in the Highway Patrol Division. In 1986, he was assigned to serve in the Major Crimes Unit of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation. In addition to his investigative duties, Mike also served as a Hostage Negotiator. He retired from the Alabama Department of Public Safety on January 1, 2003.

A student of several musical instruments, Mike enjoys improvisation with other "shade tree" musicians. He is a member of Asbury Methodist United Methodist Church, the American Legion, the Alabama State Trooper Association, and the Huntsville Traditional Music Association.

Note: Shade-tree musicians tend to be those who play on weekends for their enjoyment. That can include more regular practices and even vanity pressings of their own CDs. I have no evidence the his group has done so, yet.

Honoring Comrades

2005-09-30T06:49:00.000-04:00

A poignant piece on a family honoring buddies they saw killed in the Middle East – and never had time to mourn – appeared in the Denver Rocky Mountain News. Lance Cpl. Mike Ball was one of those who travelled to Colorado at the call from the parents of the late Lance Cp. Kyle Burns. Jo and Bob Burns asked those who last saw their son alive.

Kyle died in Fallujah on Veteran's Day, 2004, hit by a rocket-protelled grenade. At the cemetery, his comrades said they had not been able to assimilate it until now. Dustin Barker, Kyle's best friend in the platoon, said, "When you're over there, there's no time to grieve. You worry that if you do, you'll get someone killed.

Ball added, "I strted to let the tears come, but we had patrol in 10 minutes. You have to shut it off. We just got in the vehicles and started driving."

Note: I recommend reading the whole article, which is by Jim Sheeler. Be warned that it is moving.

The article concludes with:

When it was all over, the two tallest, toughest-looking Marines at the Burns' table stood and hugged Jo Burns, then each other.
Suddenly, Lance Cpl. Ball's face turned red, then exploded into tears. As he pressed his head into Barker's shoulder, the sobbing spread. Other Marines from the company grabbed hold of each other. They held tight for nearly a minute, holding nothing back.
Eventually, someone started to laugh, and they all laughed for a few seconds, then began to cry again, the tears darkening their deep blue uniforms. After regaining his breath several minutes later, Ball thumped Barker on the back.
"That stuff has been bottled up for so long," Ball said.
"It feels so good to get it out," he said, patting his buddy on the back. "Now we can mourn too."

Converting Yobs in Wales

2005-09-28T18:31:00.000-04:00

Punkish behavior has been responding to a program in Flintshire, North Wales, U.K. It has a name that doesn't really fit on a t-shirt, but the Flintshire Anti-Social Behaviour Review Group works because it involves the kids.

Mike Ball is coordinator of the Holway Estate Neighbourhood Watch. In the first year of operation at the housing project, juvenile incidents went from 80 to 22 and overall anti-social incidents from 256 to 155. That includes everything from littering to domestic violence.

The program started under a grant of about $2.5 million for the 410 homes in the area.

Ball said, "It's the result of partnership between youth groups, residents and tenants, neighbourhood watch, police and council." In addition, cause and effect seem important. He added that "(w)hen you reported a crime, a police officer came and then if there is a followup visit it might have been another police officer who attended." Now a dedicated officer is available for continuity.

The program is seen as a model for other neighborhoods.

Note: The original source was the Liverpool Daily Post, September 3, 2006, page 16, which is not online.

Diploma Mills Watchdogs in Washington

2005-09-26T06:11:00.000-04:00

It seems that Washington State is a hot spot for down and dirty, quick and easy (and inexpensive) college degrees by the Net or mail. An article in the Spokane Spokesman details the diploma-mill problem.

University of Illinois Professor Geoge Gollin has a Website that records and publicizes the problem and various actions against them. While Gollin got his real doctorate from Princeton, he notes that a non-accredited Parkwood Univeristy offered him a bachelor's, master's and doctorate in "systems engineering" for $4,400.

Mike Ball, Washington's Associate Director, Degree Authorization and Veterans Programs, for the Higher Education Coordinating Board points to legal loopholes that make his state a breeding ground for such tripe. As the article notes, "A school must have an actual building in the state to give the HEC Board jurisdiction, Ball said. State laws, written before the rapid advance of the Internet, don't consider if an online school's registrant lives in Washington."

His counterpart in Oregon says his state is different. Alan Contreras of the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization said, "In Washington, you can buy a degree for $500 in the morning and put it on your resume that same afternoon."

Volvo Revolves in London

2005-09-23T07:07:00.000-04:00

Volvo has been sellling over 600 of its double-decker B7Tl buses a year in London since 2002. CEO of Volvo Bus Ltd. Mike Ball said the success in understandable.

"When the roads are congested, the double decker has one unbeatable advantage with its length of only 10.5 metres and a capacity for 85-90 passengers."

This has become even more important since the congestion inspired the city to charge high fees for driver. The effort is to get even more to take public transit.

Volvo Bus has also gotten orders for the model from Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin and Sheffield, Mike added.

Freedom of Blog

2005-09-22T14:21:00.000-04:00

The PATRIOT Act has not gone quite so far yet, but in some of the world, blogging, email and other Net activities can mean jail or worse. The French Reporters sans frontières (Reporters without borders) aims to keep blogging fun and safe.

The new Handbook for Bloggers and Cyberdissidents is online in PDF for free or for €10 on the RSF site. The English download is here. Languages are Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Persian.

There's plain good sense and procedures about how to blog. Of particular interest are chapters on:

How to blog anonymously
Technical ways to get around censorship
Ensuring your email is truly private

NIMBY in Maine

2005-09-21T07:48:00.000-04:00

Less illustrious than some with our name, Mike Ball of South Thomaston, Maine, still acted civically when it came to the methadone clinic. Last December, Rockland in the midcoast held a city council meeting centered on whether to allow a clinic downtown. After testimony, including Mike's, they blocked it.

Interestingly enough, they changed the zoning law and redefined a methadone clinic as a sole source pharmacy. The effect will be to let it open up outside of town on Rte. 90, an industrial area.

When it was his turn, Mike said that as a recovering drug addict, he opposed it downtown.

He remembered that while using drugs he secured methadone illegally, and suggested other drug users would be drawn to the area if a clinic opened. "I'm saying there's going to be a lot of problems," he said.

His remarks were applauded.

Pixelater

2005-09-19T19:06:00.000-04:00

According to the German computer game site, The Legacy, the nostalgic game museum, Mike Ball made his mark.

He was a programmer for both Mr. Blobby and for Defcon 5.

These were early games for the Amiga 500/600 (OCS/ECS), Mr. Blobby and for the IBM PC (DOS). The latter had bad reviews though.

Does anyone know where this Mike Ball is?

Pass-Along Career

2005-09-16T07:06:00.000-04:00

Our umpiring Mike Ball modified the father-to-son sports tradition this season. His daughter became the first father-to-daughter WAFL umpire.

Kendell Ball is also only the second female to officiate league football in Australia.

According to the WAFL news story, she never consider it a problem.

ÂPeople have talked about it from the moment I started umpiring and I never saw it as an issue,Â she said. ÂObviously dad umpired a lot of footy and is still involved now, but I havenÂt felt any pressure to do anything differently. He was a field umpire, IÂm a goal umpire and IÂve just focused on doing my job well.Â

Singer Does G&S

2005-09-14T06:01:00.000-04:00

I try not to cover the British singer with our name, but I just ran across today's New York Times review of him at the City Opera in New York. (The review should be free online for a week.)

The City Opera site bills him as "(m)usical theater superstar" and quotes the London Mail as calling him "the best musical theater tenor of his generation."

The Times reviewer, Bernard Holland, doesn't care much for the female lead. Of the two tenors, he write:

The City Opera is fortunate in its two competing suitors: Michael Ball as Bunthorne and Kevin Burdette as Grosvenor. Both sing beautifully, both are comic athletes, and both are capable of evoking real people out of egregious exaggeration...And so the evening goes. The costumes by Merrily Murray-Walsh have a psychedelic splendor that carries us cheerfully past any recognizable world. We keep thinking, "Too much, too much," and then Mr. Ball and Mr. Burdette appear and charm the pants off us.

Ball on Bouncing

2005-09-12T05:55:00.000-04:00

As a report from Perth, Australia, so predictably put it, "(t)he appropriately named WAFL Umpire Coach Mike Ball gave our reporter Sinead Mangan a lesson...and he says 'bouncing the football is just a technique that some people have and some people don't have."

He's with the Western Australia Football League, rugby to us. The ruckmen (forwards) need to be able to maneuver when the umpire bounces the ball on the turf to start play.

To do this, Mike explained, the ball needs to go straight down, then straight up. "You don't have to bounce it too hard."

The technique is to take the ball in front of you with one hand on each end. Then, "(t)ake one or two steps up and as you go walking in, you lift it up above your head...you bring it out, bring the ball back to head height, perpendicularly up, and then with one foot, bend over and bounce it down."

9/11 Then and Now

2005-09-11T16:19:00.000-04:00

I am old enough to know what duck and cover means. I also get a tight chest whenever I hear a fire-station alarm or anything that sounds like an air-raid warning. That's a real legacy of the Baby Boomers – terrify your children to make them feel safe.

For those of us in Boston after September 11, 2001, another sound recalled those anxieties. Night after night, the only sounds from above were the guttural and threatening growls of fighter jets. While our part of town is far from Logan, the white noise of the occasional, high evening jet headed to fun and sun in Europe or elsewhere is part of the city. When it is replaced with the sounds of warships patrolling the skies, the September attacks are always flying with them.

Our town was where the uber-bad guys left to destroy the Twin Towers. They weren't interested in terrorizing Boston, just using it as their launching pad.

Right after that day of horror, I wrote We build `em, but they don't come (28K PDF). Editors seemed to think it wasn't funny and would never be funny. See if you agree.

Other Business in Wal-Mart Country

2005-09-09T07:37:00.000-04:00

Michael Ball is president of the Conway Networking Advantage, the local chapter of the Business Network International in Arkansas.

The organization is a clearing house for business professionals in a wide variety of fields from accountants to women's fashions. As the organization's FAQ notes:

WHAT is BNI?
A business marketing program that allows one person from each profession to join a chapter. The sole purpose of the chapter is to increase business through a structured system of giving referrals.
.
WHERE does BNI meet?
There are several chapters throughout Arkansas. See the "Find a chapter near you" feature. Contact Us for information on more chapters that are in development!
.
WHEN does BNI meet?
Every week, so that members maintain contact and exchange regular referrals. Take a look at the different times the chapters meet in our Chapter directory.

This Michael heads Conway Mail Service.

Tug on the Memory 2

2005-09-07T18:32:00.000-04:00

It didn't take long to locate my tugboat hero. An email to the Bar Harbor Historical Society brought the quick reply that it surely was Dr. George Ledyard Stebbins, Jr.

He was quite illustrious (one of the shorter CVs on the Net is here). I prefer to think of him as the charming character on his porch overlooking Seal Harbor rather than the eminent biologist and botanist.

Author, Author, Author, Author...

2005-09-05T07:52:00.000-04:00

Quite a few of us with this name have published one or more books. We just discovered another Michael Ball author.

This one self-published his novel, The Brothers Seven, Outskirts Press, 328 pp.

It is available from the publisher or the usual suspects such as Amazon. It lists for $15. Outskirts also sells it as an ebook for $4.

The blurb includes:

Seven "brothers" decide to take on the crooked CEO's who are stealing from the American worker, shareholder, and communities and become popular Robin Hood figures in the eyes of the American people...There is greed, sex, violence, murder, stealing, heartbreak, mystery, technology, and finally retribution for the American people. The Brothers Seven throw fear into the hearts of every dishonest CEO in America. It is thrilling to know someone can finally stand up to these corporate fat cats...

This Michael was born in 1945, is a Nam vet ahas hs a management-sciences degree from Oakland University. He worked in the auto industry for 40 years. This is his first novel, after a career including white papers, speeches, newsletters and articles.

Quebec Engineering Honors

2005-09-02T07:11:00.000-04:00

At Transport Canada, the engineer with our name received highest distinction as an engineer on April 14, 2000. The Order of Honor at the Companion Level went to Michael A. Ball, chief, research and policy coordination, safety and security for the agency.

The article on his award described his professional activities. Then it added:

He has also demonstrated leadership in promoting engineering in a variety of community venues from local science fairs to national events. In 1992, he proposed and championed the first National Festival of Engineering, the predecessor of the current National Engineering Week.

It has been said that no amount of personal time seemed to be too much when it came to Michael's work to advance the profession of engineering.

Big Reef, Big Teeth

2005-08-31T08:34:00.000-04:00

The skindiving overlord with our name has quite a Net presence. I'll pick a few citations for posts.

You can get a sense from his great-white-shark dives (in combo with Rodney Fox). Pix and descriptions here.

Not surprisingly, you get free wine, beer, or sodas when you decide to swim amongst the vicious fishes. However, they could use more comforting details; they claim a 100% last-season success rate photographing sharks between 10 and 17 feet. They also state "Expeditions led by Rodney Fox have had a 94% success rate over 30 years." I choose to assume that means that six of 100 folk do not see sharks and not something more nefarious.

Mike himself looks like a jolly enough guy (and is likely to have all his limbs). You can see him and click through to various dive summaries here.

Note: There was no copyright claim on the image.

Tug on the Memory

2005-08-29T06:58:00.000-04:00

After a week Downeast, blogging renews.

We were above Acadia in Maine and now I am stuck with trying to recall the name of a fascinating fellow I met there nearly 40 years ago, one with a Ball family connection. If anyone knows of him, please relay the information.

A friend had spent the summer as nanny to a family in snooty Seal Harbor. Well, my fellow was not snooty, as I discovered when I drove from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to bring her back to town. She did not care much for most townspeople. Not only were they wealthy, but they had the New England arrogance of demanding deference.

However, she had run into and was befriended by a retired physician with many jokes and quirks. He was a genealogist and historian, but his most memorable trait had to do with his tugboat. He had built his own tiny steam tug, which he used to right sailboats of the clumsy rich kids after they (frequently) capsized them. It amused him greatly to be the savior of the spoiled boys and girls.

He invited us to his porch on the harbor for drinks and we had a jolly afternoon, just the pinkos and the old doc. Eventually, he asked my last name again. Hearing Ball, he asked where the family came to America and when. It turned out that one of his greatgrandmothers was also a Ball, descended from the same John Ball who landed in Virginia in the early 17th century.

He and I were both pleased to find out that we were direct cousins.

Worshipping Mike

2005-08-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

I am understandably prejudiced for anyone named Michael Ball. However, for a real fan memoir head over to My Michael Ball Year.

This very pleasant Dutch fellow followed the singer about on and off during 1999. The site even has pictures with and without his idol.

As a bit of insight into a true fan's mind, you can see that even an initial non-meeting is cause for joy:

I saw that they were selling Michael Ball Merchandise so I bought every item.

The concert was just great. I am not going into detail, but for my first Michael Ball concert it was stunning. After the show we all waited for Michael to show up. Everyone came out the Stagedoor, (Tom Jones included), but there was no Michael. It started to rain and after 90 minutes only a few people were left to see Michael come out. I took some photos and after that I left for my hotel. I was very tired but I couldn’t sleep because my head was full of wonderful memories.

Black and White Ball

2005-08-17T08:59:00.000-04:00

The Drama Store offers a series of zines and art on paper by Mike Ball.

The store is an online one, based in Richmond, Virginia. It represents many artists. Purchases take a PayPal account.

Marriage of Mikes

2005-08-15T08:52:00.000-04:00

Like the proverbial complementary couple, Mike Ball and Mike D'Epagnier swap and share as brokers with Mutual Asset Advisors in Denver, Colorado. A 2001 Registered Rep article covers their interaction.

Mike Ball is the big-picture guy and his partner is the small-details one, they say. As the article puts it:

D'Epagnier says. "He wants to know what the completed picture - the finished product - is going to look like in five years."
"I don't want to be bothered by details," Ball says. "I learned early in this business that if you're not good at something, find someone who is."

D'Epagnier is good at details.

"If we were the movie, `Pirates of Silicon Valley,' I'd be Paul Allen and Mike [Ball] would be Steve Jobs," D'Epagnier says.

Holding Husker Record

2005-08-12T08:45:00.000-04:00

They must have been prodigies. The 1983 North Platte, Nebraska, high school 400-meter relay team still holds the school record.

The team was:

Darin Hill
Mike Ball
Ty Johansen
Rob Zarkowski

The still-standing record is 43.1 seconds.

Yoiks

2005-08-10T20:39:00.000-04:00

Much to my surprise, there is a Mike Ball who rides to the hounds. In North Carolina, at Yadkin Valley Hounds, you can wear a red jacket without anyone snickering.

Mike must be pretty good. He and Sunni McKnight placed first in the recent (July 24th) Division 1 — Fast time rides.

Gen-Y Free Association

2005-08-08T08:32:00.000-04:00

Emily quotes Mike Ball fairly extensively on her site. We learn a bit about her, but little about Mike other than his memorable comments, including:

"is that an umbrella?" pointing to chrissy's drink, "is that to keep the sun out?"
"oops! can't step on the ming rug. wait! we don't have one of those. those don't even exist do they? ming vase! we don't have one of those either."
"i want to suck on your leg" (i don't even know the context of this)

There's also a picture of much of Mike here.

Jag-ged Repairs

2005-08-05T08:24:00.000-04:00

If you are in the U.K., you can turn to Mike Ball to restore your Jaguar or Austin Healey. His Beacon Garage is in Gringley on the Hill, Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

It's family up and down. His dad had the garage. Now Mike runs it with a daughter, son and six staff.

It started as just a petrol stop. Dad grew it into restoration and sales businesses. Mike's son gets dirty. His daughter runs the business office.

Brassy Meathead

2005-08-03T08:20:00.000-04:00

I can't figure out why, but Donald Adamek has - among many other pages - info on the University of Michigan tuba players. One is Michael Ball, a.k.a. Meathead.

You can see him in uniform here.

He was a senior. So he can assume he's taken his mouthpiece elsewhere.

His hometown was Tecumseh, Michigan.

We're In Kansas, Toto

2005-08-01T08:12:00.000-04:00

In Topeka, M.Ball Construction, Inc. has been building homes for the past decade. Check out Mike's credentials here.

He also does trim carpentry and makes furniture. As a former framing carpenter in the summers, I appreciate his being able to do the fine work as well as the heavy lifting.

25-Year-Old Not Washed Up

2005-07-29T12:47:00.000-04:00

The U.K. soccer player with our name may have a few more kicks left. He is 25 and has been at the Scottish Premier League Rangers for three years without a championship cup.

As the article in the Glasgow Evening Times put it:

Since arriving at Ibrox just over three and a half years ago, he had been forced to look in from the outside as four Hampden final victories passed him by.

So, if ever there was a moment in the 25-year-old's career that he was going to enjoy to the full, it was yesterday as the Gers players gave boss Alex McLeish glory in this competition for the third time in four seasons.

Ball smiled: "It was great to earn my first medal at Rangers. Being a part of that yesterday was very special for me.

"There had been four finals I had missed out on because of my injury problems, and that was obviously tough.

"We won the Scottish Cup and the CIS Cup twice but I was just up there in the stand.

"You don't really feel a part of it when you are injured.

He has a good fan base.You can buy his poster here.

Beyond...Sussex

2005-07-27T06:37:00.000-04:00

In East Sussex, U.K., Michael Ball will design your Website. He has a full range of services, through promotion.

His own minimalist site is Beyond the North Wind. It includes a page on the company name.

Australian Actors and Antiquities

2005-07-25T12:59:00.000-04:00

In Australia, you don't have to be a mansion or battle site to be recognized as a monument. The National Trust of Australia recognizes and preserves the best of the nation, including humans.

It recently added 15 folk to its list of living treasures. The chairman of the committee that made it happen is Michael Ball.

The first such list of 100 Living Treasures appeared in 1997. Since then, 15 of them no longer fit the living requirement.

Our MB announced the replacement process last year. It prepared a slate of candidates and accepted fax, letter or email votes nationwide. MB noted the broad cross-section of society among candidates. There was a do-gooder priest Father Chris Riley, two wealthy citizens who devoted their lives to philanthropy, opera conductor Simone Young, human-rights campaigner Elizabeth Evatt, artist Peter Booth, and swimmer Ian Thorpe, among many others.

When the resulting list of 15 appeared, MB said,"Some of them I'd never heard of and obviously some are very famous, but no, some of the scientists and academics and those involved in social service, some of those were very unfamiliar to me and to others. So it proves the good sense of the Australian people."

Among the new treasures were:

2003 Australian of the Year Professor Fiona Stanley
Refugee advocate Julian Burnside
Australian Breastfeeding Association founder Mary Paton
Actors Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman
Sportsmen Pat Rafter and Steve Waugh

You can see the whole list, old and new, here.

RPG Confession

2005-07-21T06:55:00.000-04:00

Role-playing game author Michael Ball provides his professional bio here for his games. You can download his main game with docs here.

This MB started with a basic Dungeons and Dragons set when he was in high school. He admits early blunders (elves get one spell, forever) and `fesses up that over 20 years later, his friends are those from way back in D&D and AD&D days.

Four years after starting, he was bored. He wanted a set with "modern combat rules for spy/espionage gaming." The short of it is that TGTA (The Guide to Adventure) was born from his efforts.

In tree game-geek fashion, the bio includes a detailed timeline.

Hot Foot Mike

2005-07-20T05:10:00.000-04:00

Out of Smithfield, Virginia, home of hams and hotrods, Mike Ball is on the Charlie Daniels Racing Team.

Along with his pic (near the bottom), it describes him as:

Hometown: Newport News , VA
Team Responsibility: General Technician
Racing Experience:
Nascar Late Model Stock Car Team general mechanic 1990-1994.
Mike has been working at Charlie Daniels Racing since 2002.

Mike: Waiting for Dave

2005-07-18T07:28:00.000-04:00

Prolonged liner notes as literature as Web-page band bio...catch it at Snow Blind Records on the Waiting for Dave? pages.

Mike Ball is the lead guitar for the Canadian band. The group is actually pretty good. You can listen to clips and read the lyrics from their Rock Show album.

You have to read the whole page to grok the process, but a flavor is:

Meanwhile, across town

Mike Ball was playing Pong. Also from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Mike and his band, Cold Fusion recorded an album in Vancouver in 1992. The band toured in Western Canada, and like most bands with success just around the corner, they promptly broke up. While drinking tea at a local club, lamenting the break up of his band, Mike saw another local act with an awesome drummer. Needing a drummer for his next musical adventure, Mike thought, "Hey, we should get this guy!" The next night Mike came back and immediately asked the drummer to join up with him. The drummer: Arek. The band: Indecision. The story: A different kind of band than what Mike had seen the previous night. Good thing Arek could drum.

They may have morphed into another band this year. If I re-find this Mike, I'll post his whereabouts.

A capsule on a festival site includes:

Waiting For Dave is an Ottawa, Ontario, Canada four-piece rock band with lead singer Bart Marcoux, Kevin McParland on bass, drums by Arek Wojciechowski and guitarist Mike Ball. Think rock. Okay ... got it? That's about it. Rock. The band formed a few years ago. They like rock. It's a rock band. So they made the album.... ...ROCK SHOW. Recorded over a few very long and hot days in September 2003 in Ottawa in the Laundry Room Studio. It's a rock studio. The album was mixed and engineered by the drummer - that's why the drums are so loud! Waiting For Dave released their debut CD, ROCK SHOW, on November 20th, 2003. The album contains 10 songs. The first single is One Time (track 5). The album is released on the band's own record label, Snow Blind Records. It's a real record label - honest. The CD graphics, artwork, design and promotion are also done by the band. It's a rock album. The band is currently performing and touring.

The Few, The Sharp

2005-07-15T07:35:00.000-04:00

Corporal Michael Ball is assigned to the Marine Corps Security Forces Battalion Shooting Team that won this year's Wirgman small Unite Rifle Team Trophy at the Eastern Division Matches help at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in April. You can see a photo of some of his teammates and the trophy here.

For two days, nine four-man team competed individually. The final day was a series of teams matches.

To prepare:

The team trained for 19 days at Dam Neck, Va., prior to the matches. Members underwent instruction in marksmanship fundamentals, shooting positions, data book procedures, competition shooting and courses of fire, as well as match range procedures. They were also issued weapons and match equipment, and were given instruction in the proper use of each during competition firing. Finally, the team underwent live-fire training in preparation for the division match course of fire.

According to the team captain, Chief Warrant Officer 2 James B. Woodfin, "What is unique about this situation is that we had the most junior Marines in the matches, but they did not get intimidated by the competition."

Hand on the Throttle

2005-07-13T08:14:00.000-04:00

In England, Mike Ball writes a FAQ about being a train driver, what we call an engineer. On a site devoted to the Network Southeast lines, he and a couple of commenters kick around what you need to be and do.

He discusses initial tests, such as:

These tests include things such as looking at lines of dots on a page, and only checking those that have, say, patterns of four dots. You would have a whole A4 page, and the dots are small, and you only get a short time, so you are unlikely to reach the bottom of he page. The point is to work as quickly and accurately as possible.

In another test you are played, via headphones, a short story, and you then have to answer questions about it from memory.

Then there are the reaction tests. For example, a green light you push a white button, a red light you push a black button, a high buzz you use your left foot, a low buzz your right foot. The sounds start off slowly, and get faster and faster.

If you pass these tests, and the interviews, and medical, and you get the job, there are several months training to do, plus route learning, before you get to drive a train on your own.

For those of us who like trains, it's a nice peek. My maternal grandfather was a yard foreman for the B&O, who let me run a little coal-fired jitney around the tracks, from his lap. I got my first striped railroad cap at four.

With Mike's comments and those of others who have been through the process, you can get a good sense of what it takes in the U.K. and Ireland.

2005-07-11T06:34:00.000-04:00

Mike Ball is a practitioner of BEAM robotics. As the site describes them:

BEAM is an acronym standing for Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics, Mechanics:

Biology -- It's tough to beat 4 billion years of evolution; the world around us is a wonderful source of inspiration and education. Bear in mind, of course, that unlike Mother Nature, you also have the advantage of gears, motors, bearings, and good glues!

Electronics -- It kind of goes without saying, but this is what we'll use to drive our creations. BEAM robotics, though, strives for rich behaviors from simple circuits. Here's the key: simple and understandable circuits, surprisingly complex in behavior.

Aesthetics -- This just means your creations should look good. I'm an engineer, but even I appreciate a good-looking design. Besides, if a design looks "clean," it's more likely to work (and easier to test / debug) than a design that's tangled and unruly.

Mechanics -- This is the less-than-obvious secret of many successful BEAMbots -- with a clever mechanical design, you can reduce the complexity of the rest of your robot (reducing the number of motors and sensors, for example).

Quite a few of his little mechanical devils are on display here. Check the November 2002, listings.

Red Bird Font Office

2005-07-08T08:35:00.000-04:00

In St. Louis, Missouri, the Cardinals have a Mike Ball. In Stadium Operations of the Front Office, he has the title, Director of Quality Assurance and Guest Services.

I don't know all that entails, but an article on the baseball team's charitable works quotes him. The game-day employees have raised $21,500 for local causes over the past six seasons (for such as two children's hospitals and the American Cancer Society).

Mike said, "As you can see, not only do we have very dedicated employees who provide our fans with the best service in baseball, we also have some very generous people working as ushers and event attendants at the ballpark."

Manly Fishermen

2005-07-06T08:32:00.000-04:00

Field & Stream `fesses up that 51 years ago, their Mike Ball who ran their bass content was actually Mary Ball. The figured that even for fame and bucks, guys who wave their skinny poles above the water couldn't handle a woman running the show.

Check out this sordid vignette of the Big Bass Contest here.

Another Squamous Mike

2005-07-04T07:33:00.000-04:00

Michael Ball seems to be a heretologist or at least a herpetophile. You can catch is pix of hypo-melanistic boas here.

Such snakes are apparently also called orange tails because of their blotchy coloring at some stages of development. The site explains their various coloring phases and breeding results.

Desirably Round Butts

2005-07-01T09:49:00.000-04:00

According to Cameron Diaz "Usually pockets are squared off and it makes your butt look like it's sagging and a little flat, the cut-out (on the pocket) gives you that little roundness, which is nice."

Michael Ball founded his Rock & Republic jeans company in Los Angeles. While working at another job, the 37-year-old designed jeans in his spare time. A pair he made for his honey got her lots of compliments. Then a chum bought 300 pairs to sell in Japan.

He names his pants after musicians. He came from a musical family, but the butt seems to be what he is about. "When I design, [my] drive is to make a woman's [behind] look even better. I want it to frame her," He told Entrepreneur magazine.

His $150 to $300 jeans are in high-end, if you pardon, department stores and boutiques. He says he an outsider, not a garmento. So he has to struggle to get international distribution.

2005-06-29T07:25:00.000-04:00

Contact Mike Ball if you want to bring your family to Southeast France to say in an Alpine farmhouse.

The Web page for it starts:

Les Places is a traditional alpine farmhouse which was constructed in 1828 and extensively restored to a high standard in 1995.

The house is situated on the edge of the village of Bonnevaux in a quiet location served by a private road leading off the main village through road before it climbs up the Col de Corbier. Bonnevaux is situated just off the main Thonon (Lake Geneva) to Chatel road. It is 22 km from Thonon (30 minutes).

The house has extensive mountain views and a large front garden (fenced to gate and driveway) and large pasture at the rear of the house. There is ample off road parking.

The garden at the house is ideal for sunbathing and for children, barbeque equipment is provided in the cave.

The property can be entered from two levels via the front gate to the lower house or the side road to the upper apartment. Because the house is built on a hillside both entrances are on a road level.

The accommodation is spacious and flexible and can be rented in a range of combinations including two large self contained apartments.

He'll rent you the big apartment, the small one or both.

Two Wheels, Many Times

2005-06-27T07:53:00.000-04:00

In British Columbia, Canada, serious cycling (300, 400 and 600 kilometers) is the norm at the BC Randonneurs Cycling Club. They describe their macho spinning here.

Michael Ball reveals the good, bad and terrible in his rookie trips. He did some, failed miserably elsewhere, and tells all in a long, chatty report. For example, the bitter end of his first attempt at a 400KM includes:

Then the heartburn started, saddle sores and numb feet. My paced slowed slightly, but I was still making good time. I arrived in Duncan at 7:30 pm. Just over 50 km's to go, but I was done, I'd hit the wall. I had been unable to eat anything since 2 pm. The previous 50 km I struggled to keep water down. My vision became blurry and I felt very unstable on my bike. I phoned my wife to pick me up. She encouraged me to rest and then continue, but I felt so sick, cold and tired. About an hour later I loaded my bike onto the van and we drove home. The next day I felt much better, with my stomach accepting food again. I was mad at myself for not being tougher and sticking it out. I now know what it is like to suffer. Next time I vowed that I would be mentally tougher.

Whether or not you're a jock in general or a cyclist specifically, it's a fascinating profile.

One Blind(s) Mike

2005-06-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

Down in Rockledge, Florida, near Cocoa Beach, Mike Ball is a certified professional installer for Blinds of All Kinds.

His CV is:

Mike has already attended the Certified Installer seminar from Hunter Douglas in Miami and he also attended the Heritance shutter seminar in Tampa. He is a fast learner and totally committed to doing the job right. Mike has a great attitude, is well liked among his peers and his customers praise his installations. We are proud to have Mike on our installation team.

Drill Field Drill

2005-06-22T06:45:00.000-04:00

Just because you're on the battlefield, you don't have to skip that tooth extraction. That was the message from Staff Sgt. Michael Ball at the Tipler Army Medical Center, Hawaii. He was a featured source for the article in the August 2000,Medical Minute newsletter.

The equipment is fairly different from that in a dentist's office, and there's less of it. Yet, during field exercises, the Army dentists (scary phrase to civilians) got to practice on the obedient soldiers.

Mike was operations NCO for the Pacific Regional Dental Command. The patients probably didn't need to know that, as he said, "Some of our assistants have never seen this equipment before. ItÂs important that they be able to work with it because they may end up going to division next.Â

The field equipment is lighter and made for mobility. Mike said it didn't take much time for his staff to get the hang of it. ÂEverything you do (in the clinic), you can do out here and vice versa."

The newsletter reported that to make sure there were enough "emergencies":

With the field site just feet from the clinic, patients regularly scheduled for treatment were escorted out to the treatment tent for their appointments. During the exercise, the dentists and their assistants performed numerous treatments in the field environment including tooth extractions, fillings and routine examinations.

ÂThis shows (the patients) that they would get the same treatment out in the field as in the clinic,Â Ball said.

That could be interpreted several ways. I trust the joke that military justice is to justice as military music is to music doesn't carry over to his field.
'

Genologics Update

2005-06-20T06:22:00.000-04:00

Late last year, we cited President Michael Ball at Genologics Inc. in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He is still shy. His company is thriving, but the press material on it makes scant mention of him and there is no image or profile of him to be found. From time to time there is a quote from him.

Meanwhile though:

In March, the company introduced its ProteusLIMS™ Version 2.0 into Europe. This was at the big pharmaceutical show (InfoTech Pharma/Pharma Solutions Expo) in London.
Last month, Genologics and the Institute for Systems Biology formed a strategic partnership for open-source software tools distribution to the life-sciences community.

Does anyone have a pic of this Michael?

The Same or Different?

2005-06-16T16:25:00.000-04:00

Is there a guitar gene for Michael Ball? Either from some other band already cited or a new one plays for Ambassador Now!.

You can check out the band members, with their seriously AV club look, here.

They are D.C. based, started in 2002, may still be playing (or not), and you can grab three loud, fast tunes from their site.

By the bye, I have no idea which one of the five is our guy.

Pipe News

2005-06-15T07:22:00.000-04:00

Down in D.C., the Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI) lists Michael Ball as the editor of its The Insider. That's the newsletter of the Municipal & Industrial Division of the PPI.

You an see a sample here. Note that this is a PDF file and you need an Adobe Acrobat compatible reader to view or print it.

This particular issue leads with the headline "HDPE Pipe Reviews Drought Crisis in Texas: Town Receives State Aid for Water Pipeline."

Political Ignominy

2005-06-13T06:45:00.000-04:00

One once noted Michael Ball has literally disappeared off the face of the earth. According to the Political Graveyard site, this one was from Manhattan, New York. He was a noted Republican. Among his credentials was being alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention from New York, 1908, 1916, 1924.

Unlike many politicians of the era, his circumstances of demise and burial location remain unknown.

Wire Bending Mike

2005-06-10T09:31:00.000-04:00

Craftsman specializing in variety of media, this British Michael Ball started on jewelry. On his site, you can find basic bio info:

Date of Birth: 20 Nov 1967

Michael is a crafts designer living and working in East Sussex, England. He set up his first business as a self-employed craftsman in 1989 making simple cast and constructed silver jewellery. Since then he has produced work in a range of media including carved wooden designs, painted glass window hangings, and traditional wooden hand tools. At present Michael designs craft projects for magazines in Britain and the US, and produces websites for clients in the South of England.

He also runs a crafts-idea and project site here.

Alabama Tech Zones?

2005-06-08T06:56:00.000-04:00

In Madison, Alabama, the planning commission hopes to establish the first technology zones in the state. Rep. Mike Ball is helping the Technology Ad Hoc Committee make this happen. The zones would foster business growth and innovation.

The committee includes:

Tracy Lamm of the Planning and Zoning Commission
Mayor Jan Wells
Councilman Marc Jacobson and representatives of the Community Development Department, Information Technology, Madison Water and Wastewater Board
City Attorney Anne Marie Lacy
Richard Knox and Don Palmer of the Industrial Development Board

Lamm said, "Other members of this committee will be added as needed. These efforts are being coordinated with Sen. Tom Butler and Representatives Ray Garner and Mike Ball. Our initial research has resulted in finding no other city in Alabama with a designated technology zone."

Risible Surnames

2005-06-06T05:55:00.000-04:00

There is a masochist's pride in a funny last name, specifically Ball. Several other with our name have noted in emails that they too belong to the club. It may be like a dueling scar having had to suffer thousands of jibes.

I confess I have only a little sympathy with the Shoemaker or Fuchs who decry what they endured. It is small beer to have a name with such a limited set of puns and insults.

A linguist told me that Ball is likely the worst in the English language. The humor set includes:

any sport with a ball
coitus
dances
clichés, such as on the ball, have a ball, and behind the eight ball
testicles
hair balls
sour balls
wrecking balls
tea balls
and even bullets.

Ball is a noun and a verb in far too many formats and contexts.

I honestly had a slim hope that my linguist chum knew or could think of another funnier name. Not yet.

Risky Mike

2005-06-04T09:01:00.000-04:00

In Cardiff, Wales, Mike Ball is the manager of the Corporate & Major Incident section of CMIT, a wholly owned subsidiary of Crawford & Company.

The firm defines itself as, "...the world's largest independent provider of diversified services to insurance companies, self-insured corporations, and governmental entities. Among the many services provided are claims management, loss adjustment, healthcare management, risk management services, class action administration, and risk information services."