February 2015 End-of-Term Youtube Extravaganza

We come again to the end of another term and as I have traditionally done, I offer up this set of fun and completely unrelated youtube clips for your viewing pleasure. I wish you a wonderful break, short as it is!

1.       Tangerine Dream Live in April 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYywjDWXJsg  Formed by Edgar Froese way back in 1968, dream has been at the cutting edge of electronic music for neatly 50 years. Poignant, since Froese just passed away a month ago at age 70.

2.       Irish Mike and Big Giant Swords: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBGhmvi0yyA  Okay, this is a show on Discovery Channel, but Irish Mike is one of the best new stars on TV. Surrounded by a group of inept helpers, save for female blacksmith Jessie (who really knows her stuff), Irish Mike makes big swords. While his wife and two cuter-than-cute little kids watch in bemusement.

3.       World Land Speed record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2QuOfOGoqU  I was once in a car that drive 110 mph. That was sort of scary since it was night time, I was not driving and I was coming home from a rock concert festival. So let’s go 7 times that fast! Here, you can see what it is like to drive at 743 mph…

4.       Franz Klammer 1976 Downhill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYj9kIxAL_o  This is simply the greatest downhill ski run in Olympic history. Klammer is on the edge of disaster the entire time.

5.       Everest traffic jam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i8WHHySyp4  Remember when it was romantic to climb Mt. Everest? Nowadays you can be led up the mountain, and long lines leave people at risk. Here is a reminder of the risk.

6.       Extreme mountain biking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x76VEPXYaI0  I stand in awe of riders who can do this. I can’t.

7.       Mills Lake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X4Hz4tTB28  This is just a 4-minute clip of one of my favortite spots on earth. In Rocky Mountain national Park, about a 3-mile hike from the Bear lake parking area.

8.       Tornado chasing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Drt2X2a3Mk  Yeah, I’m not going to do this. Reed Timmer is crazy!

9.       Gary Grimshaw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I60JeyG-RfA  Gary Grimshaw was one of the great poster artists. Everyone who knows me knows I love this kind of art, and Grimshaw was the man who created all the posters for the Detroit area when I was growing up. I own the Hendrix poster you will see around 1.30 into the clip.

10.   Leave ‘em laughing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HttF5HVYtlQ  Speaks for itself…