• Old Photos: Ali Vs. Bonavena at the Madison Square Garden

    On December 7, 1970 Mohammad Ali fought Oscar Bonavena at the Madison Square Garden.

    *even if you don’t like boxing you should watch this video all the way to the end.

    I am not a fan of boxing but I am posting these photos just for the awesome 1970 outfits people were wearing to the fight.

    ©Time Inc.Bill Ray
    Continue reading →
  • Old Photos: Kansas City Severe Local Storm Warning Center SELS

    One of my favorite scenes from the movie Apollo 13 is when a bunch of engineers remap the spaceship’s trajectory with nothing but a pen, paper and a slide rule.
    This almost seems impossible in this day and age, when we delegate all of our calculations to a computer. I may be a part of a dying breed of people who can still figure things out without the calculator, but I can’t take credit for this – in my day we just didn’t have calculators; I got my first one after the 8th grade. Trigonometric tables, slide rules, pen, paper or even a chalkboard were just as much a part of my education as computers in today’s schools. There is nothing wrong with using technology but it’s amazing what we can do without it.
    This was a long and winded introduction to the old photos of the Severe Local Storm Warning Center (SELS) which was located in Kansas City from 1954 to 1997 (brief history of SELS could be found here). Long before the word meteorologist was associated with associated with clueless jokers on TV, these people were saving lives without 3-D motion maps, scary graphics and “one degree guarantees”. I don’t know how accurate these guys were but given what they had to work with our modern TV meteorologists wouldn’t know where to start. Apparently technology does not a meteorologist make.

    ©Time Inc.Al Fenn
    Continue reading →
  • Memphis

    The shortest route from Kansas City to Memphis is via Springfield, MO and rural Arkansas where highway is controlled by the roaming gangs of deer who stand around the road contemplating if they will let you live. I wouldn’t recommend driving there in the dark.

    I didn’t want to go to Memphis. Even though I learned English trying to sing along with Elvis (and that’s why people often ask me if I am from Tupelo),  I didn’t feel the need to visit his house and other Memphis attractions didn’t really seem worthy of a fairly boring 8-hour drive. Usually we try to see things along the way, but there wasn’t much to see and the only memorable item was a town called Cabool, mostly because of how out-of-place the name seemed somewhere in rural Missouri.

    Memphis turned out to be a fun place for a weekend trip, with enough things to keep you busy for a few days.

    Continue reading →
  • Old Photos: One Day In Life Of Kansas Farm Boy

    Here are some photos featuring Kansas farm boy – Dan Gardner taken in June, 1947.

    Here we see Dan in front of some kind of pre-historic computer.

    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner in his room seated at his desk with 4-H club ribbons awarded to him on his many projects.
    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner in his room seated at his desk with 4-H club ribbons awarded to him on his many projects. © Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland
    Farmer Boy Dan Gardner with roan Shorthorn and Hereford (white faced).© Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland
    Farmer Boy Dan Gardner with baby calf. © Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland

    Before the scientists figured out the evil formula for the hog feed, hogs were fed skim milk and Oreo cookies.

    Kansas Farm Boy Dan Gardner feeding a mixture of his and his father's hogs skim milk.© Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland

    Late dinner with the family, the clock shows 7:50PM.

    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner having meal with his parents.© Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland

    Malted milk – the gateway drink to other malted beverages.

    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner (2R) with friends in drug store having malted milk.© Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland

    After a cup of malted milk, the only thing you want is some square-dancing. The kid seated next to the door looks like he is doing community service, the girl standing on the right stuck her tongue out; must be thirsty for some of that milk.

    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner (center) at 4-H square dance.
    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner (center) at 4-H square dance.© Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland
    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner in his room seated at his desk with 4-H club ribbons awarded to him on his many projects.© Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland
    Continue reading →
  • There is no place like home

    Every time I visit my friends and relatives on the East Coast the question I am being asked the most is “when will you finally move here”. I have to admit that it’s a pretty tempting idea that ocasionally visits me since I moved to Kansas City almost 16 years ago.

    After all they have things like:

    Broadway

    P1000730 P1000728

    Nathan’s Hot Dogs and PotatoE Balls:

    P1000552 P1000551 P1000546 P1000544

    Skyline, Empire State Building and The Statue of Liberty

    P1000738 P1000810 P1000816 P1000732

    Astroland at Coney Island

    P1000560 P1000528 P1000512

    Ocean with $2,000,000 condos facing it.

    P1000505 P1000498 P1000499

    Mermaids

    P1000507

    Russian Stores and Restaurants

    P1000475 P1000496 P1000577 P1000573

    People who mastered parallel parking

    P1000494

    So why do I come home every time to the city that doesn’t have any of it? Maybe that’s the reason – it doesn’t have any of it.

    Continue reading →