Alabama Tech Zones?

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

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

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."

Have a Hive

In Cherokee country, Georgia, Mike Ball has been vice president or secretary of the Cherokee Beekeepers for several years. See him here (second from left).

The next meeting will be Thursday, June 16th at 7:00 PM in the Jury Assembly Room of the Cherokee County Justice Center in Canton. Bill Posy will demonstrate removing, extracting and handling honey.

Another Mike Ball Star

This Mike Ball apparently knows not only his stars, but his scopes. At the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club Star Gaze 2003, he brought his handmade Dobsonian telescope.

He also demonstrated how to make one.

The topic was new to me. There are many Net sites with the how-to, including this one.

Bowling Mike Ball

From the July 31rd, 2003, Mahoning Valley (Ohio) Tribute Chronicle Ohio comes a nice tale of a Mike Ball with determination. The story is no longer available, except is cached form. The whole article follows.

Let's cheer this one.

Teenage bowler hopes to go pro

By BURTON COLE Tribune Chronicle

NILES - Aspiring pro bowler Mike Ball approached the lane in well-practiced paces. The 16-year-old rolled to a stop just in front of the left gutter, chipped-paint forest green wheelchair angled a touch to the right, and snapped the brakes in place.

Never taking intent eyes off the 10 wooden pins standing in a triangle 60 feet away, Mike plucked from his lap a 14-pound ball swirled in blue and gold. With an arcing swing barely clearing the right tire of wheelchair, he launched the ball down the third arrow on the lane.

The bowling ball slid dangerously close to the right gutter. It hung on precariously, stubbornly. When it seemed impossibly too late, the ball took a sharp hook to the left, slicing right between the 1 and 3 pins with the satisfying clatter of hard rock maple wood tumbling over wood.

Strike!

Longtime bowling league teammate Ben Teets, 16, of Girard, said he once perched in a regular chair with a bowling ball to get the feel of throwing from a stationary, seated position. It raised his appreciation for Mike's ability. "I wouldn't be able to do as good as he can,'' Ben said.

Mike was born with spina bifida, a neural tube defect of the spinal column. He walked with leg braces and canes early on. The canes doubled as extension rods for smacking things that were supposed to be out of his reach.

Mike started using a chair when he was in kindergarten. Shortly after, he began a quest for sports he could do the "real'' way while seated. His competitive fires weren't satisfied with adaptive leagues and "everybody wins'' rules or special equipment. He found it eight years ago during a birthday party at a bowling alley.

"One of the parents asked if I wanted to try it. I did," Mike said. "I thought I could do it.''
He stunk. He knew he could do better. Wanted to do better. "I think I found my sport," he said.

Mike kept going back to the lanes and caught the attention of bowling coach Lou Laneve.
"He was real determined," Laneve said. "I have mechanical knowledge (of throwing a bowling ball). I knew he could do it out of the chair."

The biggest problem was learning to counterbalance himself. Leaning over with a weight in one's hand has a tendency to topple a chair. Mike said he never tipped over his chair, "but I came close!"

Now he bowls in league games Mondays and Saturdays at Niles McKinley Lanes, and is a freshman on the high school bowling team. His average is up to 95. Earlier this month, he rolled his high game so far, a 221.

Niles McKinley bowling coach Jim Kennedy said, "If I could only have all the other kids pay as much attention as he does, I would have no problems on this team."

Mike knows he needs to keep working, keep improving to reach his ultimate goal of turning pro sometime after his 18th birthday. "That's always been my goal, to be a pro bowler,'' Mike said.

Pro would be wonderful, but mom Lisa Bell couldn't be prouder of her son now. "This is one thing we found that he can do with everybody else and we don't have to make too much adaptation," Ball said. "That's been our main thing is to get everybody to see beyond the wheelchair."

Mike sees beyond the wheelchair - 60 feet beyond, where 10 hard rock maple pins sit in a triangle, a tantalizing target for the swirl of his blue and gold ball.

Heavy Metal Mike

I confess that I haven't coughed up $10 for a heavy-metal music video. If you are interested, you can get one from Mike Ball, a.k.a. Iron Mike.

For example, on concert video #10, you get footage and likely powerful sound of:

• Snot -Stupid
• Korn - Clown
• Nin - Wish - Perfect Drug
• Fear Factory - Resurrection
• Megadeth - Almost Honest
• Anthrax - Inside Out
• Unsane - Sick
• Second Coming - Soft
• Iron Maiden - The Trooper
• Bruce Dickinson - The Tower
• Drain STH - I Don't Mind
• Metallica - One

In his About me section, we learn that 39-year-old Iron Mike describes himself as:

Workin my ass off all the time and having fun on the weekends. Playing pool and drinking Capt. Morgans at the Osprey. I'm a single father with a career and a house. I like sharing music and entertaining people. I like a crowd and being part of a group. When I make someone's day that really makes me happy. Of course besides that I like a live thrashing band and watching the pit.

Concours Competitor

In Essex, England, Mike Ball was the Masters Winner of the Sunbeam Alpine Owners Club National Concours Comptition 2004. It's coming up on time for this year's go.

Basically, the contest rewards the best looking, best maintained, best decked out little Alpine sports cars. In Mike's case, it is a nifty red number.

The event was held at the Leatherhead Leisure Centre, August 6th through 8th.

Another SCUBA Mike

Working for a company out of Cheney, Washington, Mike Ball is a sale type, but also a skin diver. He seems to be no relation to the famous diving dude.

This Mike is Eastern U.S. account manager for AutoPatch, a division of XN Technologies Inc., which makes networking hardware and systems. Mike's territory is Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey (except for the 609 area code), New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

His profile include:

After completing his Air Force career where he was responsible for computer maintenance and training at several sights including missile silos, Michael and his family sought out a place to settle down. They found the Northwest, and AutoPatch found Michael. He first brought his abundant technical knowledge into AutoPatch's Support Division in 1997, but soon moved into sales where he continues to help his customers with everything from system design to troubleshooting. During his travels around the world Michael fell in love with diving. Exotic Australia, Italy, Guam, Tyland and California are just a few places on his diving resume. When asked what his favorite dive spot is Michael responds: “anyplace very warm with clear water”.

We have to wonder whether the U.S. Mike Ball met Mike Ball in Australia.

A Mike Upcountry

I ran across a photo of a Mike Ball from the Viet Nam War era. The image shows Mike with 11 days left on his tour.

The remarkable John Olson took the snap. You can see more of his work published in Stars & Stripes here.

Does anyone know 1) whether this Mike Ball made it home safely and 2) what happened to this him?

There'’s RealVideo and RealAudio of the photographer discussing his work during this period here. Of course, you need the utilities to see or listen.

This stuff has been on my mind recently and it is ironic that it appeared in a search now. I have been watching the DVD series of Band of Brothers. A former boss, Les Hashey, was one of the WWII 101st Screaming Eagles. He appears on the DVDs as a character and as himself in the interviews with the men from the story.

Les was a great guy, a tremendous amount of fun. He was the water-safety coordinator for the Red Cross for Southern New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania, and a friend of the family because my mother ran Red Cross chapters and taught swimming. In fact, my sister and I were also water-safety instructors.

I worked for Les for two summers when he ran the Candlewood Swim and Field Club in Lakewood, New Jersey. After the war, he was one of the top Army divers, doubly interesting because he had a polio-shriveled leg, which he didn't let bother him.

Friday evening's at Candlewood was when the adult members gathered for cookouts in the club, really an excuse to drink together. Les would wait until it was dark and the seated folk were pretty sloshed. I poured kerosene into the diving-tank end of the z-shaped pool. Les would climb up the five-meter tower. On his signal, I'd light the surface of the pool and he'd do a full twisting three and one half into the flames.

It wasn't exactly Jesus at Capernaum walking on the sea. Yet, to a bunch of drunks, it made the evening.

Great Grappler

For full-disclosure, I note that I spent one season on the wrestling team at Plainfield (New Jersey) High school. I lettered but was only so-so.

In a defining coincidence, the wrestling room shared a wall with the swimming pool, a wall with windows. I decided I'd rather do the latter than roll around in various folks' sweat. I was a better swimmer in high school and college than I was a wrestler.

All that written, one of us was hot stuff 19 years ago. The 1986 West Virginia AAA High School Wrestling Champions were:

WEIGHT	NAME	SCHOOL	COACH
98	STEVE BROWN	PARKERSBURG	JOE HANDLAN
105	CHANCE TAYLOR	WHEELING PARK	BUZZ EVANS
112	JOHN CRAIN	OAK GLEN	LARRY SHAW
119	JAY MOORE	NORTH MARION	RUSTY ELLIOTT
126	MIKE BALL	MILTON	BANE MCCRACKEN
132	WILLIAM HARRIS	DUPONT	ROBERT L. ALLPORT
138	VINNIE MONSEAU	WHEELING PARK	BUZZ EVANS
145	DAN WOODYARD	PARKERSBURG	JOE HANDLAN
155	CURT JERROME	WHEELING PARK	BUZZ EVANS
167	MIKE LANTZ	PARKERSBURG	JOE HANDLAN
185	JOE LAMB	FAIRMONT WEST	JOE MATERNICOLA
UNL	WILLIAM HARRIS	DUPONT	ROBERT L. ALLPORT

Paint the Town

For Oregon and Washington states, the business manager of the AFL-CIO/CLC's International Union of Painters and Allied trades is Mike Ball. That is District Council No. 5.

Killa Killola

If you can believe the band's site, "Los Angeles’ newest and most buzz-worthy rock band, Killola, was born in 2003 when a circle of friends came together and decided to create something special. Since that time, this group of talented youngsters has developed into what is the most appealing, attractive and talented original act to hit L.A. stages in some time."

Mike Ball is lead guitar and vocal.

The site describes their music as, "built from a solid mixture of core ingredients that blend into a just-right cocktail of energetic rock and great entertainment. Rieffel’s dramatic and captivating vocal style mix sensationally well with her explosive energy and onstage sass. The highly co-operative guitar work of Mike Ball and Timm Sharp lend tasty, catchy guitar licks and solos. Dunn’s stylish, pounding basslines add flesh to the backbone of Grody’s intensely technical and stomping rhythms. The music involves deep and emotional vocal content layered on a musical canvas of ear-catching choruses, wide vocal ranges, and variations of intensity, pace, and dynamics. The Killola engine is fueled by it's own creative fire, as well as the influences of many different styles and genres of music, from Queen to Ween, Zeppelin to Fugazi, Brian Eno to Debbie Harry, E.L.O. to Sparks, and so much more."

Mike is on the left.

Hear their music here. Hear them live Wednesdays in June at the Cat Club.

Right Radio in Rochester

Up in Rochester, the one in New Hampshire, Mike Ball is on the morning news on the Clear Channel Communications station. He's on WGIN, 930 on the AM dial, weekdays from 5:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. with Maureen Eagan.

You can get a flavor of WGIN from the rest of the day's schedule:

• 9a.m. - noon, Glen Beck
• Noon - 3 p.m., Rush Limbaugh
• 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. Laura Schlessinger

`Nuff said.

Back to Mike, he used to co-host on another of the chain's New Hampshire stations. His profile for that one include:

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!

Florida Phrase-Master

Down near Clearwater, Florida, Mike Ball was tending his bar when he U.S. 19 got loud. The WTSP news link may still be live.

He saw the fatal car accident. A GMC truck and Silverado collided, and the latter flew into a van. As Mike put it, "The cars went bam, bam, bam as they hit each other. It was scary, like something out of the movies."

Two dead and five to hospitals.

Our namesake owns the bar across the highway from the scene. There are several bars listed. I may never know which is Mike's.

One Way Band

Alas, another disappearing Mike Ball seems to have run afoul of the religious sorts. He was bass guitarist for teen Christian rockers The One Way Band.

While his picture recently vanished from their site, you can hear a cut with him here. His profile info is still floating around the site. To wit:

I've been involved in music since a young age. I started playing the bass nine years ago primarily with my family. I started playing on my church's youth band when I was 13 and continued to play at my church until I came up to school. I've played in a lot of other bands but I've always had great joy in glorifying God through the gift of music. Currently I'm attending Grace Fellowship church and a leader in Inter Varsity's work on my campus.

There is a detailed rap on site about the whole band, but hey, if Mike is gone, why bother? He must be in a higher place, eh?

Many-Fingered Midwesterner

Turns out that our columnist and waterskier Mike Ball has a whole other business life. He is head of The Advertising Group (TAG), from his home base of Whitmore Lake, Michigan.

It is a network of hotshots who coalesce as needed to create marketing, advertising and public relations campaigns. Clients vary in size, all the way up to such as Alka-Seltzer.

You can check out the work here and see this Mike yet again in a new context here.

Mike's Ingredients

More musical Mikes...ths one in a pun-heavy band, What's Cookin. They have the nerve to call themselves seasoned musicians. They are Doug Atherton, Steve Johnson and Mike Ball.

t a s t y

Doug's voice is expressive, warm, and engaging. The guitars -one acoustic, one electric- create the perfect balance of mellow tones and punchy accents. And Mike's tasty chops on congas chimes and shakers provide a rock solid foundation, without the crashing cymbals and pounding bass that can distress the digestion of the dinner patrons.

s e a s o n e d p r o f e s s o n a l s

Doug's band Harvest was a staple around Northwest nightclub scene for years, as was Steve's old group Nightingale. And Mike's been sweetening up latin jazz sounds of bands like Abraxas since James Taylor had hair.

You can get samples in MP3 here, and see Mike (in the middle) here.

Stick Figure

The big guy with the big stick -- La Crosse -- is Mike Ball in Massachusetts. You can see him and an indoor Topgun field here.

To commemorate his his MVP award in the league, they report:

This award need really needs no description - it describes the best player we have at any level in either of our two locations. In short, this award represents the best of our 3000+ participants throughout this past fall and winter. By all accounts, Mike Ball has been the most explosive and exciting player in our leagues for two years running. At this points, it's almost not fitting to compare him with other players in the league - for he is indeed playing division one level lacrosse in the high school setting.

Good thing Mike's just about done with our league's, as I've just about run out of things to say about him. In fact, after this write-up, Mike Ball commendation will officially no longer be my concern. But word of warning to Penn State, better get your pens and/or keypads ready, 'cause Mike Ball's gonna get a lot of press while wearing the blue and white.

Great run, Mike. You'll be missed.

Mike Ball
New Milton (Lawrence Academy)
Acton High School Silver Division

Aging Ungracefully But In Good Spirits

Mike and Doreen Ball are members of the Avon Wings (UK) motorcycle club in England.

This seems from the Website to be a group of gray-haired, beer-bellied, thong-wearing, sometimes mooning bikers who have a great time.

Construction Maven

In Santa Cruz, California, the project manager for Bogard Construction Inc. is Mike Ball. He was assistant accounting manager and project engineer first. He must have a good record there.

He manages the Long's Drug Store remodelling projects in multiple cities including

• Santa Cruz
• Aptos
• Campbell
• San Bruno and
• San Mateo

Bogard and Long's have a 40-year history.

Ghastly Portland

In Oregon, a collector and teller of ghost sightings and related spooky events is, of course, H. Michael Ball. There is a link to his ethereal histories and those of others here. His main page has numerous links to ghost reports, each by location and each with a picture, so you'll know when you're close, too close.

For example, one is the Money Tree:

Ed Black was a loud mouth. He would stand up to anyone and speak his mind. It seems he was that way all his life. His mother said he would never live to see fifty. He lived to see his fiftieth birthday and celebrated with the few friends he had. They passed their bottles around and Ed kept boasting about how his mother was wrong. She was not too far off the mark..... Ed was still the wise aching loud mouth that he had always been and one day, shortly after his birthday celebration, he said the wrong thing to the wrong person. He was found dead in his van at the corner of N. Kerby and N. Alberta with a bullet through his head.

Ed had been living in that old van for as long as anyone in the neighborhood could remember. He didn't want his valuables stolen and had confided to a few people that he kept his money, jewelry and stash under or near the rocks by the big dead tree. He would sneak over to his money tree late at night to get what he needed or add to his treasure.

The 'Old Dead Money Tree' lot has been fenced. Some of the rocks are out of reach but many are right by the side walk. This is a pic of the rocks. Neighbors have never seen anyone digging for the treasure.... whatever Ed had buried at the site is probably still there.

It is said that in the early morning hours after it rains you can see Ed standing by the rocks at the money tree. Everybody has a home.... this is Ed's.

There's some fun reading there. The fact that he gives you the street addresses doubles the pleasure.

Rapping the Raptors

An online commentator for the NBA's Toronto Raptors, Michael Ball is a pretty colorful sports writer. One recent column starts:

As I head into the home stretch of my third season writing from the raptors.com headquarters on the banks of Lake Ontario, sometimes I think my head’s going to explode.

Two seasons of watching a star player mope, deflect blame and quit on teammates was tough, but what’s going on lately is bordering on insanity.

Read the rest here and check archives here.

His mini-bio by his byline read:

Mike Ball is in his third season with raptors.com and he knows what's going down on the court and in the locker room. You can read Mike after most home games, throughout the week, and as a monthly raptors.commentator.

No Tat That

I missed my window. I found a Michael Ball, general manager of an Arkansas tattoo parlor, awaiting his formal licensing.

In the next few days, his face and sample tats disappeared from the Goodfellows Website, Little Rock. I'm guessing he left to start his own body modification joint.

If I run across him again, I'll post a new one for him. Meanwhile, the suddenly out-of-date info is:

Michael Ball is the General Manger of Goodfellows Tattoos. He is formally serving his apprenticeship before he is State Licensed due to the Arkansas Regulations. Michael has always had an interest in art. Michael joined the Goodfellows Crew in August 2004. Below are a few of his pieces, there will be more added soon.

You can find the shop at:
701 Collins Suite B
Little Rock, Arkansas
501-301-TATT

Ball on the Boards: Followup

Another Canadian actor, Bill Talbot, has great praise for fellow thespian Michael Ball. In his blog he includes:

Saturday, September 04, 2004

I went into the Crew room at the theatre, it use to be the green room before the renovations, to post a notice about a draw for G-Mail invites I am holding. Michael Ball one of our senior members of the Acting Ensemble was sitting on one of the sofas by the door. It was lunch time and the room was almost empty. He and I have both been working at the Shaw for over 25 seasons, we know and like each other well. I walk in the door.

Oh Hello Michael, How are you?
”Good Thanks I hope you don’t mind… “
Mind What?
”Me being in here”
Good God, Of course not, your perfectly welcome in here it was not us (the crew) who put that new Crew Room sign on the door.
”Thanks, I have a fitting and the new green room is just to far to walk to, and back.”
Yeah It is isn’t it….

He is right if he had come in the Stage Door walked down to the green room and, back upstairs to wardrobe he would have literally walked 2 full city blocks inside the buildings. However what struck me most was that this man who is part of Canadian theatre royalty felt it necessary to apologise and make excuses to a stage hand, for being in the crew room. It is a sad sorry state of affairs when 2 people who have known and worked together for 25 years, apologise and feel uncomfortable for been in the same room together.

Ball on the Boards

North of the border, in Canada, Michael Ball is quite the famous actor. Online, the Encyclopedia of Canadian Theatre, runs a bio and a photo.

Parts of his CV include:

Sturdy, reliable actor born in 1943 and enjoying a wide and varied career in theatre and television. He has played several leads at the country's most important theatres including Crichton in The Admirable Crichton, Cauchon in Saint Joan, Pickering in Pygmalion, and Schon in Lulu all at the Shaw Festival (where he is a favourite), Brutus in Julius Caesar at Vancouver Playhouse and Petruchio in Taming if the Shrew at Manitoba Theatre Centre....He is a generous actor, well-liked by colleagues, critics and audiences.

Mike Takes the Initiative

Representative Mike Ball (10th District) in Alabama had a piece in the Birmingham News last Christmas Eve on voter initiatives. He'’s for `em.

His whole commentary on permitting voters to generate ballot questions is available here. He was inspired by Roosevelt -- Theodore, not Franklin.

He concludes:

Whether candidates will admit it or not, debate during a campaign for political office revolves around personalities and general political party philosophy; however, when an initiative is on the ballot, debate revolves around issues. An open, reasonable initiative process does not undermine the ability of the legislature to represent the people, but it empowers the legislative process by encouraging the discussion and debate of meaningful issues. By trusting the people of Alabama with access to the initiative process, the legislature would be moving a long way toward gaining the credibility needed to effectively address the problems facing our state.

Our Man in Birmingham

Mike Ball, the Alabama State Representative, District 10, knows how to pick his fights. The state director of American Atheists, Robert Blair Scott, tried to get Mike to vote his organization’s way on two issues – opposing permitting the posting of the ten commandments in every state building and school, and opposing letting teachers include creationism in science classes. His letters sent to Mike last year are on the Alabama Atheist site.

Those positions would be perfectly acceptable here in Yankeeland. However, that Mike responded to this Mike that he didn’t answer the letters. There’s a reason they call his area the Bible Belt, he added.

On the other hand, his voter-initiative effort is pending. A post on that follows.

Auto Showoff

I confess that I stopped any serious car rework when I was a teen. I ran across another of us who still takes his customization work seriously.

In Eleanor, West Virginia, (a little northwest of Charleston), Mike has a lot of images of his 2000 Honda Civic hatchback.

A Rock Michael Ball

Sparky, as this Michael Ball calls himself, is a founder and lead guitarist of Boss Tweeter.

According to the band profile, the name is because “"(t)he other names we thought of were taken.”"

They have a Website with links to numerous sites that have their MP3s for free (some require registration). To me, the music is guitar heavy, with pretty good singing and emphasis on volume.

You can see lots of Mike on their site on his page.

Money Mikes

We seem to have a faint pattern here, with several of us being financial planners. Previous citations are here and here.

We can check back to discover when the Ball Financial Group Website in Royal Oak, Michigan, activates. It claims to be in the works.

Meanwhile, it offers this:

At Ball Financial Group we realize that financial planning is a process not a product. It is a process that involves discovering your goals and developing a plan to meet those goals.

Nice on Ice

Perhaps living in the desert makes one appreciate ice. In Phoenix, Arizona, Michael and Cecilia Ball proclaim that they are: "Arctic and Antarctic Specialists...Stamps, Postal History, Expeditions, Town Cancels, Local Posts, Cinderellas, Coins, Postcards, Ephemera, Books & More from the Polar & Sub-Polar Regions."

Their Webstite doesn't have a catalog up yet. It reads like a mom-and-pop restaurant. Send a list of what you want and they'll see what they can do.

They look like nice folk.

Open Mic Mike

In Red Bank, New Jersey, on the shore, a poet Mike Ball performed at the Internet Cafe. It was open mic night, Sunday, September 12, 1999. at 7 p.m.

His photo is here. Does anyone know whether he's still writing, published, performing?

Former Folkies

In Syndey, Australia, Derrick Chetwyn's site speaks of that Mike Ball musician in the local folk scene in the 1960s.

The club to which I developed a great affinity was the Sydney Folksong Club, which was, at that time, run by Mike and Carol Wilkinson, Mike Ball and Colin Dryden, all of whom became great influences on my development as a singer of traditional folk music. On Mike Ball's departure back to the Old Dart, (England) I was very flattered to be invited to join the remaining crew as a resident singer at the club! Over the next few years I started playing a banjo-mandolin to accompany the other guys singing and not a few people were sucked in by the F-holes I had drawn on the skin!

Having never heard that slang for England, I looked and found on a local radio station's site:

The “Old Dart” means “the old country”, that is Great Britain (especially England). This is a piece of Australian slang that can quite confuse visitors who come from the Old Dart, and have never heard it before. The earliest citation is from 1908 (from a book called “Quinton’s Rouseabout”). As to where it comes from the Oxford English Dictionary says only “origin uncertain” – so a bit of detective work is called for here. There is an earlier Australian slang word “dart” which could mean “a plan, an aim, a scheme” but which could also mean “a favourite or fancy”. This slang term “dart” appears to have died out before the Second World War. It’s first recorded in a book called “The Sydney Slang Dictionary” published in 1883, which says that a “dart” is “an object of attraction, or an enticing thing or event, or a set purpose”. Rolf Boldrewood used the word in that sense in his classic novel “Robbery Under Arms”. But we can, I think, go back one step further, because during the gold rushes “dart” was used to mean, “a scheme or dodge” or “a favoured location or object” or “a course of action”. A book about the gold diggings published in Victoria in 1859 says that “dart” was used by diggers as “the designation of stuff worth washing, as contradistinguished from that considered worthless”. In other words “dart” was “pay dirt” – a mixture of soil and rock from the diggings that was worth washing for its gold content. And from this the lexicographers suggest that “dart” is a corruption (or regional pronunciation) of “dirt”. And that looks like the story: the Old Dart meant “the Old Dirt” meaning “the Old Pay Dirt” – the good stuff, something desirable as a goal.

Head Boy and Beyond

At Preston College International, Lancashire, England, Michael James Ball aims for a career in pharmacy.

He says he was Head Boy at his previous school, and describes himself as "honest, determined, helpful, motivated and kind." But aren't those epithets for all with our name?

Orienteering Deadline!

Tomorrow, April 9th, the orienteering event at King's Gap will be led by Marilee and Mike Ball. All compass heads in South central Pennsylvania need to contact the Susquehanna Valley Orienteering Club (SVO) immediately. The couple are the meet directors.

That will be at the King's Gap Environment Education and Training Center. The center's entrance is on Pine Road, one mile east of the Huntsdale Fish Hatchery. From Interstate 81, take Exit 37. At the exit, travel south on Route 233 about 2.5 miles. Turn left onto Pine Road and continue 2.5 miles. The entrance to the center is on the right.

Mike are Marilee jointly fill the club's treasurer and membership roles. I can't find Mike'’s résumé, but Marilee'’s credentials and avocations are impressive.

Other scheduled SVO events this year are:

• Saturday, April 23 -- Lancaster County Central Park
• Sunday, May 15 -- Mont Alto
• Saturday, October 29 -- King's Gap Educational program and beginners' instruction at 11 a.m., followed by W.Y.O permanent courses

Steam Concertina

I can't quite grasp the concept of steam concertina, unless it is a metaphor. Nonetheless, in Australia in the 1960, Mike Ball was billed as "the last of the steam concertina players."

He appears on an album, FOLKSINGERS OF AUSTRALIA SERIES, VOLUME TWO, whose players are:

• SHAYNA KARLIN - from Brisbane "A Brisbane Lady"
• GORDON McINTYRE - from Glasgow "Highly thought-of Scottish Round Singer"
• DANNY SPOONER - from London "Singer and teller of Naughtical Yarns"
• MIKE BALL - from Bath "The last of the steam-concertina players"

He was originally from Bath, England, and returned to Britain after his stint Down Under.

Folk singer Warren Fahey cites him too:

When I left school I started to go to the Elizabeth Hotel, Elizabeth Street, Sydney, where Mike and Carol Wilkinson ran one of the first pub folk clubs. I became a firm friend of the Wilkinson's and their associate 'door man' Harvey Green. The four of us, and Mike Ball, would usually have a meal every week followed by a night of stilton, pickled eggs and song. The Wilkinson's were terrific singers and especially English harmony songs. Mike Ball, well, I always thought him a genius. He was an extraordinary English concertina player, singer and songwriter. He put many Robert Graves poems to music and I can still remember his setting for 'Timothy Winters'. It was the nearest I ever came to crying over a song. Eric Bogle's songs have the same effect.

There is no mention of any steam.

Garage Rock Masterpiece

The LP (yes, vinyl) is out of print, but customers on sites like Amazon still rave about The Beguiled's Blue Dirge album. You can listen to snippets on sites like Amazon, but the record is out of stock and hard to find. There's often one on half.com.

Michael Ball was lead guitarist and apparently the heart of the punk band. The recap of his and the band's demise is on Subterranean Records:

The group's 2nd LP (and, unfortunately their last, as lead guitarist and majorly great cat Mike Ball was killed by a drunk driving asshole in Sept 1994). This ain't no happy-lala-retro garage, baby! Hot-wire a few used stooge riffs thru a massive reverb tank, mash & distill in a swamp, toss in the charred remains of the Scientists & Cheater Slicks, whip & blend in 200 litres of mescal, and top it off with the brains of Henry Lee Lucas. The result: one evil garage headache!

and at Djangos:

Spawned by the '77 generation of New York City gutter punks -and even farther back to Michigan's MC5 and Stooges, members of The Beguiled wanted to keep the spirit of sleazy rock and roll alive upon the 1988 release of their first LP Gone Away. After a two year hiatus of each member traveling around the world separately, they returned in 1990 and released a 7" on Estrus Records three years later. Tragically, after their second album Blue Dirge came out in 1994, guitarist Mike Ball was killed by a drunk driver and unfortunately ending The Beguiled prematurely. ~ Mike DaRonco, All Music Guide

Cricketer of Many Faces

The Hartfield Cricket Club site includes a snap of Mike Ball, captioned:

Club poet, raconteur, musician, and reporter. Has a cricket bag large enough to carry round everything, including the kitchen sink. Can usually be found at gully, muttering that the Captain won't give him a 7/2 leg side field.

He looks like he enjoys the pitch, and everything else.

Hartfield is in East Sussex, at the very Southeastern tip of Britain. Its county Website promises some of the best off-road trails in England.

Redevelopment Bummer

Under the title Urban Regeneration: Can the Partnership Approach do More Harm than Good?, Professor Michael Ball's study received good academic press. The research, sponsored by the Economic & Social Research Council and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, concludes that "problems created by the partnership approach to urban deprivation could outweigh the benefit." The anticipated benefits of various public and private groups seldom appear, and the costs of such partnerships are often higher than any benefits.

You can read a recap of it here.

This Michael Ball teaches at the University of Reading, Whiteknights in England.

MB Rules

In Sister Bay, Wisconsin, Michael E. Ball has been president of Woodrow Engineering, a measurement devices company since 1986. It used to sell a ruler for measuring the insides of shoes, but the Website doesn't show its products at present

However, he is also a founding member of the Ekklasia Foundation. That site describes the foundation in detail, including:

Ekklasia: was referred to in the book of Romansas the church or specifically, "the body of the messiah.

The Ekklasia Foundation is a tax-exempt organization which exists to support evangelical ministries. It was created by a group of Christian businessmenand ministers of multiple denominations. (It:)

Provides estate and gift planning assistance to members and friends of the Ekklasia ministries and their partners who are considering gifts to family and ministries through a last will and testament,trust,gift annuity, life insurance gift,or similar means.

Invests or assigns for investment the following types of assets:endowment funds, pension funds,trust funds and other accounts for individuals, churches, conferences, departments, and agencies of the Ekklasia ministry. Acts as trustee for charitable trusts which designate remainder amounts to Ekklasia approved ministries.

Acts as trustee for charitable trusts which designate remainder amounts to Ekklasia approved ministries.

Jag-ged Felllow

One of us is in the classic-car restoration business. In Peoria, Illinois, Michael Ball says he produces "road king" classics. His site includes a 1968 Jaguar convertible project.

He also offers rent-a-bay storage.

Milky Way Memories

And writing of a lewd Mike Ball, I recalled my own short-lived porn connection. Decades ago, I did some free-lance photography and I think a little writing for Milky Way Productions, Al Goldstein's publishing shop. They turned out such subtle classics as Screw, Smut, Gay and Bitch.

Somewhere, I think I still have a partial notepad that reads something like "From another horny friend at Screw."

Anyway, Al was a sweet guy. He also was a proto-geek, who loved technology. He ran a fun newsletter Gadget.

He said he liked my byline because of my last name, that it was a natural for his business. His managing editor was Heidi Handman, also her real name. It looks like she got her MD and is an osteopath, by way of going from Milky Way to senior editor of Penthouse. She was also the co-author of The Sex Handbook, Information and Help for Minors, Putnam, 1974.

Lewd Dude

Among a Web filled with porn, one would suppose that someone with the potentially prurient last name Ball would produce many such hits. I haven't seen it with our name, until yesterday.

There is an amusing site that apparently would show some lewd images of a Mike Ball, in the guise of a campus hunk -- nude hunk. It's a membership site, which I did pay to view in detail. However, the free image is amusing, with him wearing only ye olde pennant.

Waterless Water Skiing

Picture water skiing, except without liquid. See it here.

In 2001, Mike Ball (the columnist) won the Washtenaw County, Michigan, Mastercraft Indoor Doubles World Championship. They seemed dressed for Vegas. The site even has a 4.7MB QuickTime movie of the couple in action.

As oxymoronic as it first appears, the idea behind dry-land waterskiing competitions is to keep up the skills all year where weather does not cooperate. The couple are or at least were members of the Whitmore Lake, Michigan, Water Ski Club.

The report on the contest reads that, "They performed a 5-minute dry land 'Adagio Doubles' routine, which is similar in style to pairs figure skating.

Author Follow-Up

I clicked into a mini-review of the career book, @entry level, Pure Play Press, ISBN 0972156607, $15.95, 1-818-768-1710. In Midwest Book Review:

A superbly presented survival guide specifically for business students and recent graduates looking to further their career in the corporate world. Practical advice on everything from changing one's major; to the basics of branding; to surviving office politics; to balancing responsibilities, @ The Entry Level is a strongly recommended supplementary resource, especially for those who are just entering the turbulent hierarchy of business and coming to terms with corporate middle management.

Big Rocks in England

An engineer with our name is in charge of protecting 136 houses in Withernsea, East Yorkshire, according to a story on the BBC Website. Starting last November, a $6 million project will import 35,000 tons of Norwegian rocks to stop cliff erosion and loss of the houses.

The rocks came across the North Sea from Norway by boat. The project will also keep the town sewage system safe.

The only quote from our fellow is, The first week in January should see the rock being delivered from Norway, which will offer tremendous relief to residents." "

Below the Belt

I didn’t know one of us had insinuated himself in Pantygate. An article about nitwits selling thong underwear for kids includes a reprise of the teacher chaperoning a school dance who publicly checked girls for their type of underpants before they went on the dancefloor.

Rita Wilson is on administrative leave while her “thong check” is being investigated. Some parents are demanding she be fired over the incident. Wilson told the Associated Press that if she had it to do over again, she would have refused to supervise the dance.

Meanwhile, 35 teachers at Rancho Bernardo High expressed support for Wilson. They are being led by English teacher Michael Ball, who told The San Diego Union Tribune, “Maybe she [Wilson] went over the line, but she was the only one doing anything.”

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Mr. Ball wrote a letter of support and gathered signatures from 35 teachers on it.

Mr. Ball is a bit of a mystery man. His picture is missing from the high-school English department display. Assuming that it is the same Michael Ball, his coach’s profile is also the only one not in the Sunwest Volleyball site for the 2003. There is a Whitney Ball on the team with a class of 2004. IF she is related, maybe she graduated and he stopped coaching.

Voyeurism

I'’m not exactly sure who he is – recent graduate, faculty, grad student? – at England’s Northumbria University. However, this Michael Ball has many pictures of students in psychology and sports sciences programs. There are numerous yearbook shots and quite a few of folk in robes or semi-formal attire at graduations and parties. He’s not in the university’s search results. If anyone knows, send me email.

Neo-Irish Musician

Most probably the best musician with our name is the transplant English-to-Irish composer. He has numerous classical-style CDs, many with brass.

You can listen to clips from, The Brass Music of Michael Ball CD. Six different selections offer 30 to 40 second samples.

An detailed site includes a biography, a few highlights of which follow:

Michael Ball...born in Manchester...studied at the Royal College of Music in London...masterclasses with Nadia Boulanger...many major commissions, including five for the BBC...contributed substantially to the repertoire for wind and brass...lived in Dublin since 1992.

It also quotes him as saying, 'I believe that the composer has an implicit duty to serve the society he or she lives in by providing well-crafted music which is both grateful and stimulating to play or sing and hopefully uplifting to the imagination and the spirit, both for the player(s) and the listener. In short, my concern is to be useful and to communicate.'

English Politico

In the Freemantle ward, Southampton, England, Councillor Michael Ball was elected last year to a four-year term. He is on the Finance & Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel.

Scholarly Web Guy

At the University of Bath, England, Michael Ball has a far too spartan and serious Web page. Perhaps this passes for wild and crazy in the UK. I suspect he had a professor looking over his shoulder, to end up going from wired to tired. The entire contents (leaving out his email address) follows:

Michael Ball

Full Name:

Mr Michael Ball

Department:

Dept of Computer Science

Course Title:

BSc (Hons) Computer Science

E-mail Address:

xxxx@bath.ac.uk

Postal Address:

Mr Michael Ball
Undergraduate
Dept of Computer Science
University of Bath
Bath
BA2 7AY
United Kingdom

Up from the Factory Floor

It’s not quite up to the metaphysically recursive circle in a spiral level, but we have a Michael Ball selling Minis and the father of one responsible for introducing them to the world.

The most famous of the singers with our name had an honest working dad, who has gone over to the dark side, first as marketing consultant and then as motivational speaker.

A speaker’s bureau in England lists:

TONY BALL MBE ..FORMER SHOP FLOOR WORKER WHO ROSE TO BECOME BRITISH LEYLAND WORLD SALES CHIEF. NOW WITH OWN TOP MARKETING COMPANY WAS REFERRED TO BY THE TIMES AS "ONE OF THE BEST AFTER DINNER SPEAKERS IN BRITAIN". TALKS ON "MAKING IT THROUGH MARKETING" OR "THE POWER TO SUCCEED" ETC. FATHER OF SINGER MICHAEL BALL.

Tony has his own page at another bureau. That has a detailed CV. His credentials include being marketing advisor to three of Margaret Thatcher's secretaries of state and launching the Mini.

Look-Before-Leaping Book

We don't know much about his own career, but Michael Ball has a very usable Website pitching his career book and consulting services. The angle is that well-educated young neo-professionals jumping into careers often blow it.

His $16 book, @entry level, will help you make the right decisions in the early stages, claims the author. There is a six-page first chapter online. Unfortunately, it is too general to give you a sense of how savvy he is. He does not include the table of contents.

His not-really-a-bio on the site says he survived cancer at 21, which made him rethink priorities. That's some motivation, but not quite the credentials one might expect. However, if the book is as useful as the site, it should be worth the price.

Good looking book...nice looking guy...well designed and attractive Website.

Little Wheels

In Monrovia, California, you can buy your Mini car from Michael Ball, sales manager.

Visual Data Guy

In Stoke on Trent, England, Dr. Michael S. (Mike) Ball is a senior lecturer at Staffordshire University in the Faculty of Arts, Media and Design. He specializes in visual presentation of qualitative data.

With Gregory W.H. Smith of the University of Salford, he wrote Analyzing Visual Data. A review in Journalism Quarterly includes: "A strength of the book is Chapter 2, which shows how content analysis can be applied to visual data. The authors use two studies of fashion to clearly demonstrate the six basic steps of quantitative content analysis and then provide a valuable explanation of the technique's shortcomings."

Spook Book

In the they-don't-want-you-to-know class, J. Michael Ball, L.L.I. (probably licensed legal investigator/private eye) is author of Where's What!. The $35 book has the subtitle Investigative Information Sources and tagline "City-County-State And Federal Records Sources--Financial-Private And Directory Sources-Including All Those Little Known Sources Of Information You Didn't Even Know Existed"

The promo material includes:

Unlike most source books that merely list the name and address of the public record, this book hands you both public and private sources of information you can use, tells you what can be gleaned from the information and covers how to go about accessing the information in a legal, "court-admissible" and correct manner. You'll use the Source Encyclopedia over and over in all of your investigations as you discover new information sources you likely didn't even know existed. Develop sources you can tap into in your investigations that you are likely missing which will enhance your investigations.

The 100-page, 8.5x11-inch how-to is from Thomas Investigative Publications.

Pro Leveler

In Austrialia, "Michael's skill in identifying strategies for satisfactory dispute resolution makes him a highly sought after litigation lawyer," according to his law firm, Allen Arthur Robinson. This Michael Ball is in Sydney, Australia.

He specializes in "often sensitive and long-term litigation." His writing includes co-authorship in "a number of publications on insurance law including Insurance Law Manual, published by Butterworths, and Principles of Insurance Law in Australia and New Zealand, and of the insurance section of Halsbury’s Law of Australia."

More Virginia Money

Apparently another financial sort in Virginia has no political ambitions in evidence. In Manassas, Michael D. Ball is manager of the Scott & Stringfellow office there.

In 2001, he completed the Security Industry's Institute course of study produced in cooperation with The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the financial house in 1983 and is a financial advisor in the private client group.

Southern Greetings

The Alabama State Representative with our name has been browsing and enjoying the blog. He was kind enough to send this political sign he used in his campaign.

I have reduced it a bit, but has all the political and personal elements without overdoing the ball/Ball connection. Nicely done.

Equine EMT

Our horse-doctor Michael was at the Atlanta Olympics keeping the equines healthy. He calls himself the equine EMT, who watches the jumping events and is ready to step in for the horses.

About 40 veterinarians were there. They help if horses become overheated or injured.

By the bye, his business partner, Christine Cable (also a vet), is his wife.

Few from the Mormons

My paternal -- Ball side -- granny liked genealogy and had a professional draw up a map 40 years ago. I checked out the Mormon site for another branch of the family a few days ago.

I am surprised how few Michaels there are in the many generations, dating back to the 1400s. It has long been such a common given name. Yet the Ball side is much heavier on Williams, Roberts, Josephs, and Jameses. Perhaps it's not such a curiosity that I met hundreds of Ball family relatives and others without meeting another Michael until I was middle aged.

No in Norfolk

In Virginia, Michael Ball came up short in his political campaign in Norfolk. In December 2004, he went for the special election to fill the vacant 87th District House of Delegates seat.

He's a Republican and chairs the GOP's second district in the state. He went against Democrat Paula Miller. She's a political novice but squeaked out a victory over our namesake.

He is an independent financial planner and 2nd District GOP chair. He is on the on the Norfolk State University Board of Visitors and the Norfolk Commission on the Arts and Humanities. He helped formulate criminal justice policy as a former member of the State Crime Commission. His four-year board term at the university expires in June. There, he is on the executive, building and grounds, and research and technology, and government relations (ad hoc) committees.

She had been a TV reporter, who became the flack (director of public information operations) for the Virginia Beach Sheriff. The local Hampton Roads newspaper article on the pending election stated Miller "is still completing a crash course in key aspects of state governance." It added, "When it comes to social issues, Miller and Ball share a similar philosophy. They oppose abortion in almost every circumstance, believe in the death penalty and oppose gay marriage."

Following the election, the unofficial count was a victory for Miller of 92 votes out of 7,623.

Vrooom Ace

In Tampa, Michael D. Ball was the 1999 State Truck Driving Champion from Michigan in the Three-Axle class. He represented Roadway Express.

That was the fourth annual such competition. The prizes are announced as part of the annual Driver Appreciation Week of the American Trucking Associations, Inc.

That year, then President Bill Clinton issued the proclamation for the week. It read in part:

I am especially pleased to salute the outstanding truck drivers who are competing in this year’s National Truck Driving Championships.

From long trips across our continent to short hauls between neighboring cities, America’s truck drivers deliver the goods and materials that keep our economy strong. Despite working long hours under often tedious — and sometimes dangerous — conditions, these men and women remain dedicated to delivering their varied cargoes quickly, efficiently and safely.

During National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, I join all Americans in thanking our nation’s nearly 3 million truck drivers for your hard work and commitment to excellence. You are helping to build a bright, more prosperous future for us all.

Drug Data

In Waltham, Massachusetts, Michael R. Ball, Ph.D., is vice president of business process consulting for Phase Forward, Inc. The company says it is "the leading provider of data management solutions for clinical trials and drug safety, offering proven solutions in electronic data capture (EDC), clinical data management (CDM), and adverse event reporting (AER) as either an integrated solution or as stand-alone applications."

Top School Cop

In Lee Summit, Missouri, Police Officer Mike Ball is the School Resource Officer at Delta Woods Middle School. He has over 14 years tenure with the department and is past president of the statewide Missouri School Resource Officers Association.

Multifaceted Michel

In Rotterdam, Netherlands, a Renaissance man is Michel Ball. He is poet, painter and more. His Domains page samples his various works and travels, as well as records of exhibitions and reviews.

Holy Mike!

Mike Ball with wife Faith have three sons and three daughters. Mike and Faith are missionaries with Shield of Faith Mission International. SFMI has its headquarters in Oregon.

After 11 years on the job in Mexico, they felt the call for a change. Through prayer, they turned to East Africa. Mike scouted out Kenya and Tanzania. He’'s returning with the whole family.

Biblical Names

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

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

A Little Pot for the Dentist

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

Double Texas Humor

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

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

Don't Hate the Haters

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

Man of Property

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

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

Mike Names Mike

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

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

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

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

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

Tissue Portfolio

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

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

Ballsy Ball

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

Bang, Said Mike

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

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

How Now Mike's Cow

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

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

Inventive Fellows

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

The fellow from Micron has:

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

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

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

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

He shares multiple patents, including:

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

Cold Notes

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

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

Chilly Cajun

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

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

About the newer CD:

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

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

Extruded Logo

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

Sleep On It

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

Short Stack

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

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

Our Bard

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

The Machine of Tender

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

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

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

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

Most Southwestern England

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

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

Knowledgeable Mike

Michael K. Ball was marketing VP for SER Solutions, Inc., where he wrote a couple of knowledge-management pieces. He's now director of product marketing at EMC's LEGATO software. His more recent article is on business process management.

High/Low Brow

One of us wrote a scholarly work targeted at research libraries. Professional Wrestling As Ritual Drama in American Pop Culture by Michael R. Ball is, according to the publisher, the definitive text that "analyzes the phenomenon of American professional wrestling in light of the critical dramaturgy of Erving Goffman, Victor Turner, and the recent works of Mary Jo Deegan, (and) stands alone in offering scholarly explanation and sociological insight..." for the subject.

It is available through the major online bookstores or the publisher. Key IDs are ISBN: 0-88946-112-0, 200 pages, printed in 1990, list $99.95. Edwin Mellen Press has offices in Lewiston, New York and Ceredigion, Wales.

The single reviewer on Amazon was somewhat unkind, calling it "unintentionally funny." He does admire this Michael Ball's scholarship, just claiming the book is outdated.

Organ Organ All the Time

The Torbay Police Choir Director of Music is also the organist at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Torquay. This is in Southwest England, in Devon.

We had a very pleasant exchange about church organs today, he as a professional and I just as an appreciator. His church's is over a century old and has quite a history. My church's is recently restored and is in top form.

Lackaday, my musical ability, beyond choosing and enjoying all manner, was playing nose flute and blowing across the necks of bottles in a jug band. I did sing to my kids before they were old enough to know bad from tuneful. I am in the moaning and mumbling masses during church services.

This Michael Ball though has a history of musical ability and accomplishment back to puberty. I suppose we need many more in the audience than on stage, eh?

B&B...&B

There's broadband in the breakfast room at the B&B run by Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ball in the West Midlands, England. Guests can use it free. So this is a B&B&B now.

This Michael sent a nice email. In addition to updating his features, he noted that he had a brief contact with the singer by our name. A decade ago, he wrote asking whether that was his real name. The singer's agent sent a signed photo with the inscription "To Michael and Carolyn. The name is my real name. Love and best wishes Michael Ball" to them. The singer has never visited the inn that bears the name.

Our B&B&B host added that due to the singer's popularity, folk regularly ask him whether he sings. He'd like a pound for every time he's heard that one.

Lab Geeks

In Victoria, British Columbia, Michael Ball is the relatively new (September 2004) CEO of Genologics. The company is a scientific/medical laboratory information management system vendor, which specializes in proteomics. The company partners with IBM and the Genome British Columbia Proteomics Centre, which is 20 years old. Privately held Genologics' main product is ProteusLIMS, which aims to streamline drug development and marketing.

Singing to the Cops

In Torbay, England, Mike Ball is musical director of the Torbay Police Choir. They perform about 10 concerts a year and give the money to charities.

He started playing organ at 10, performed for a full church service at 12, and continued with his music while he earned his living as marine electronics and mechanical engineer. He played in pubs and at parties. Nearly 20 years ago, he turned to directing church choir and music professionally. He has been president of the Torbay and District Organists’ Association.

He looks like a classic Mike Ball.

Heartland Humor

Just west of Detroit, Mike Ball writes humor books and articles in Whitmore Lake, Michigan, an undistinguished, unincorporated town.

He posts samples on his site, including suggestions for the downsized, such as join the bowling league or grow a mullet (I guess those aren't mutually exclusive).

Real Arrr-state

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

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

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

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

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

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

Canadian! Outsourcing

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

Taciturn Horseman

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

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

    "Providing all levels of care for the 

    performance horse including: internal medicine,

    surgery, lameness, pre-purchase examination, 

    ophthalmology, foal care, special 

    pharmaceutical formulation, continuing 

    education lectures & publication, and 

    consultation."

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

Oh, No, Banjo

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

A review on the site includes:

Mike Ball needs the next mention.  His banjo picking

skills are right on, and he holds the band together

with amazing picking prowess.  It's often been said

that any bluegrass band is only as good as their banjo

player.  Copus Hill is a great band.

Likely Candidate

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

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

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

And How About..?

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