Dispatches from the LP-OP

'Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon' is as impressive as they come

2012-02-10T06:56:00.005-06:00

I recently finished reading an outstanding new novel by award-winning author Mark Hodder called “Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon,” which was released on Jan. 24.

If you enjoy reading alternative history, fantasy and science fiction set in Victorian times, what’s now commonly referred to as “steampunk,” you’ll definitely enjoy this highly entertaining, 399-page book.

Published by Pyr, “Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon” is the third book in Hodder’s fast-paced, rip-roaring “Burton and Swinburne” series of novels. The second book in the series, “The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man” was released last March, and the first book in the series was the award-winning 2010 novel, “The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack.”

All three novels feature fictionalized versions of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton and Algernon Charles Swinburne as the main characters. In real life, Burton was a larger-than-life British diplomat, explorer, scholar, soldier and swordsman who spoke 29 languages. He was James Bond, Batman, Conan the Barbarian, Alan Quartermain and Ernest Hemingway all rolled into one.

In Hodder’s novels, Burton is all of the things he was in real life – and a special agent to the king. Swinburne, a famous redheaded poet in real life, is Burton’s oft-drunk, comically weird, yet highly capable and competent, wingman.

“Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon” is set mostly in an alternate version of 1863 in which Burton and Swinburne are dealing with the aftereffects of a successful attempt on a young Queen Victoria’s life. The true course of history is altered and the result is an impending war that threatens to wipe out Great Britain and her allies. British leaders hope to avoid the war if Burton and company can get their hands on a set of mystical, black diamonds that are deep in the mountainous jungles of Africa. Of course, a rival German expedition is trying to get to the diamonds first, and the resulting story is one that you can hardly put down.

Throughout the novel, Burton and Swinburne cross paths with a number of remarkable real-life Victorian characters, including Sidi Bombay, Aleister Crowley, William Samuel Henson (the inventor of the modern safety razor), Jane Digby, Mtyela Kasanda, Isabella Mayson, Richard Monckton Milnes, John Hanning Speke, Herbert Spencer, George Herbert Wells, Francis Herbert Wenham, Oscar Wilde and Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin.

Keep in mind that this book follows “The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man” and “The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack,” which won the 2010 Philip K. Dick Award. You don’t have to read the first two books to enjoy the third, but I highly recommend that you read them all in order to get the full effect. I assure you that you won’t be disappointed. I read 46 books during the 2011 calendar year, and I can say, hands down, that “The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man” and “The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack” were the best books that I read in all of last year.

In the end, when it comes to great books and even better stories, “Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon” is as impressive as they come, and I only hope that it’s not the final book in Hodder’s “Burton and Swinburne” series of novels.

Daily Weather Observations for Fri., Feb. 10, 2012

2012-02-10T06:51:00.002-06:00

Temp: 46.9 degrees F (8.3 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches.

Humidity: 75 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Mostly Cloudy.

Winds: Calm.

Barometric Pressure: 29.69 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.9 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 6.1 inches

NOTE: 51st day of Winter. A number of birds (robins?) were perched on the powerline behind the house.

And Remember - "If clouds move against the wind, rain will follow."

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

The Evergreen Courant's Sports Flashback for Feb. 9, 2012

2012-02-09T08:49:00.000-06:00

SEVEN YEARS AGO
FEB. 10, 2005

“Taylor’s University of Tae Kwon Do is proud to announce that Tyler Covin, Mason Godwin and Griffin Weaver each received plaques in recognition of the accomplishments in the overall Mississippi Karate Association Championships for 2004. The students were honored with an awards ceremony on Jan. 22, 2005 in Clinton, Miss.”

“Lady Warriors 45, Clarke Prep 37: Six different Lady Warriors scored in the victory over the Lady Gators. Ava Pate paced the offense with 15 points. Cody Godwin was next with 13 points and snared a team high 11 rebounds.”

“Warriors 67, Jackson Academy 61: The highlight of the game had to be Sparta’s domination of the backboards. The Warriors controlled the glass for a team total of 64 rebounds and were led by a school record tying 28 boards by sophomore Michael Campbell.”

“Escambia County 57, Lady Jags 46: In the loss to Escambia only one player, Ebony Nelson, scored in double figures for Hillcrest. She had a strong game with 26 points. Kaleen Thomas was next with eight points.”

“Escambia 67, Jags 59: Topping the Hillcrest scoring and rebounding was Chris Hines with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Jerry Jackson finished with 11 points and six rebounds. Nicholas Lovelace came off the bench and tossed in nine points and grabbed seven rebounds.”

22 YEARS AGO
FEB. 8, 1990

“Albert Ward of Robertsdale killed this trophy buck in Conecuh County. The deer weighed 175 pounds and had 16 points and a 26-inch antler spread which scored 145 points on the Boone & Crocket (scored as typical).”

“Thad Ellis killed this fine buck on Jan. 27. The deer weighed 170 pounds and has six points.”

37 YEARS AGO
FEB. 13, 1975

“Warriors upset Wilcox Academy, ranked No. 1: The Sparta Academy Warriors pulled a major upset here Friday night when they took a 72-67 decision over the Wilcox Academy Wildcats in overtime. Wilcox was ranked No. 1 among state’s private schools. The win ran Sparta’s season record to 9 and 5.
“Eddie Hooks led all scorers as he burned the nets for 34 points. Ronnie Pugh netted 13 points; Bobby Johnson, 11; Jerry Peacock and Walker Scott, 4; and Danny Joyner, two.
“Johnson sent the game into overtime as he hit two crucial free throws to tie the score after time had run out in the regulation game. Hooks tossed in eight points, Peacock, two, and Pugh, one, in the overtime period to bring in the big win.”

“Rodeo winners at B&S told: Ronnie Kent of Atmore won first place in the last Jackpot Rodeo at B&S Arena. Don Widdon of Greenville and Eddie Reeves of Evergreen tied for second place.
“The rodeos are held each first and third Sunday of the month, rain or shine, starting at 2 p.m. The arena is located on Stacey’s Farm, 18 miles north of Evergreen on Highway 83. The public is invited to the next rodeo, which will be held on Feb. 16.”

52 YEARS AGO
FEB. 11, 1960

“Robert H. Moorer is shown holding a 40-pound Bobcat that he trapped Friday morning behind the Jay-Villa Plantation, near Evergreen. Moorer, a local beautician, told The Courant that the ‘cat’ had been killing chickens and turkeys.”

From “Sports Roundup” by Oscar D. Tucker – “Eagles Dump Atmore, 63-53: The Eagles accomplished what might be termed the supreme feat Thursday night when they dealt Escambia County Training School a 63-53 licking. The supreme feat? Well, when you beat Atmore more once, that’s something, but two times in one season, that’s colossal.
“The Eagles simply out-hustled a fine Atmore quintet. The two teams were equally talented, equal in height, and both squads had been well drilled in the fundamentals of basketball. The big difference was desire, it boiled down to which one of the two squads was hungriest. CCTS proved even more than hungry. They were simply starved and went on to prove it.
“CCTS broke the game wide open from the beginning by out-scoring Atmore, 16-4, in the first quarter. This assault was led by Marvin Jones, who gained six of the first quarter’s points. Marvin Jones went on to capture scoring honors with 24 points. The Eagles continued to pour it on and led halftime, 32-19.
“At one point, Atmore (Eagles incidentally) came within points, but that was as close as they came to overhauling the scrappy Eagles. The final score, 63-53.
“Douglas Evans and Marvin Jones were tremendous on the boards, both offensively and defensively. Leon Jones played his usual consistent game, thrilling fans with his famed high arching one-handed push shot.
“The backcourt combination of Randerson and Martin was terrific. Randerson didn’t take a shot either from the field or the free throw line, but his playmaking and ball handling was something to behold. He and Martin collaborated on eight steals that resulted in 12 points.”

From “As Man Thinketh” by R.G. Bozeman – “Forgot to tell you last week, but it’s still worthy of comment… understand John Reynolds of the SCS was the first person in the county to go in swimming in 1960. John took a plunge the other day while working out in the field.”

“Eagles Smother Southern Normal: Two scoring records were broken Friday night as the CCTS Eagles slaughtered Southern Normal, 110-49. No accurate record has been kept, but according to reliable old timers, 110 points is the highest point total ever gathered by a basketball team in the history of the CCTS gym. Douglas Evans shattered the individual scoring records by scoring 59 points, however without the feeding from his teammates, especially playmakers Randerson and Martin and forward Leon Jones, his point total wouldn’t have even remotely approached the record.
“Strangely it was a small crowd that witnessed the Eagles’ greatest moment – thus far. I say thus far because these boys have not yet reached their fullest potential.”

67 YEARS AGO
FEB. 8, 1945

“E.H.S. News: Friday night one of the best dances of the year was given by the Jr. III class. It was held after the basketball game played between Greenville and Evergreen.”

“500 IN UNIFORM: Approximately 500 major league ball players were in armed forces on Jan. 1, 1945.”

“Game Possession Dates Announced: Alabama’s shooting fraternity is reminded by Graham Hixon, Chief of the Alabama Department of Conservation’s Game, Fish and Seafoods Division, that they may legally possess game only 45 days after the close of the season on the particular species of game held. This applies both to migratory game, governed by Federal regulation, and resident game, governed by State law and regulation.
“This means that hunters may possess deer and wild turkey, seasons on which closed New Year’s Day, through Feb. 15, as may North Alabama holders of squirrel which season ended the same day. South Alabama squirrel hunters, whose season expired Jan. 15, may hold their game through March 1. Five days later, March 6, is the latest date on which dove, duck, coot and geese may be legally kept.”

“Fur catchers and dealers are advised by Graham Hixon… that raw furs may not be legally possessed after Feb. 20. Under Regulation 9, relating to fur-bearing animals, possession of such raw furs or pelts is limited to 20 days after the close of the trapping season, which expired Jan. 31.”

Another Super Bowl has come and gone and so has another football season

2012-02-09T08:45:00.002-06:00

It seems like I put the official “Peacock Kiss of Death” on the Patriots this year. I’ve been predicting them to win the Super Bowl for weeks now only to see them go down in flames Sunday night in the big game against the New York Giants.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin might just be the most underrated head coach in the NFL. He certainly has the Patriots’ number, and despite his team’s 13-7 overall record, they’re still going home with world championship rings.

----- 0 -----

As everyone knows, one of the most entertaining aspects of the annual Super Bowl is the commercials. We had a brief powwow about the commercials at the office on Monday, but we couldn’t come to a consensus over a favorite. The ladies seemed to like those that featured animals and babies, while me and the mailman got the biggest kicks out of those involving beer and pickup trucks.

I have to admit that if I had to pick a personal favorite, I’d go with the Skechers shoe commercial in which Mr. Quiggly, a French bulldog outraces a team of greyhounds only to moonwalk across the finish line, well ahead of the competition.

----- 0 -----

Much has been made over the halftime show, which featured Madonna and others. My wife and daughter were glued to the TV during all of that, but I must confess that I have no opinion on the performance. I took advantage of the break in the game to load the dishwasher, which is about the only productive thing that I managed to squeeze into my busy schedule on Sunday.

----- 0 -----

Maybe the worst thing about the Super Bowl is that it marks the official end of the football season. When I say football season, I’m not just talking about the pros. I’m talking about the pros, college, high school, everybody.

Around here, things always get going with the local high schools when they begin preseason practice in the fall. Practice for the upcoming 2012 season is scheduled to start on Aug. 6, so for those of you who are counting, we’ve got 179 days, or about six months, to wait until the start of next season.

Of course, if you can’t wait until August, you can always whet your thirst for football when spring football rolls around. We don’t have quite as long to wait for that small taste of football.

----- 0 -----

Before I close this thing out for another week, I’d like to wish our local high school basketball teams good luck during their postseason runs.

Sparta Academy’s girls made a rare early exit from the postseason last week, but Sparta’s varsity boys will head to Montgomery in pursuit of a state title. With a little luck, they could go a lot further than most people expect.

Hillcrest’s varsity boys and girls are playing in their area tournaments this week, and they’ve both got a good chance of getting to the subregional round and beyond. Hillcrest will face some tough competition along the way, but both Hillcrest teams are well coached and that will give them an edge in a lot of their upcoming games.

Daily Weather Observations for Thurs., Feb. 9, 2012

2012-02-09T06:50:00.002-06:00

Temp: 37.8 degrees F (3.2 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches.

Humidity: 83 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Partly Cloudy.

Winds: Winds out of the North-Northwest.

Barometric Pressure: 29.83 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.9 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 6.1 inches

NOTE: 50th day of Winter. Jet contrails visible this morning.

And Remember - "A summer fog for fair, a winter fog for rain, a fact most everywhere, in valley or in plain."

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

This week's movie picks are 'Journey 2: The Mysterious Island' and 'Anonymous'

2012-02-08T14:06:00.000-06:00

It’s Wednesday, so today I give you my weekly list of movies that will open in theatres this week as well as a list of movies that will be released this week on DVD.

I hope this will serve as a useful guide as to what’s going on this week if you happen to be near a movie theatre or if you’re looking for something to drop into your NetFlix queue.

Movies that are scheduled to hit theatres this week include:

Chico and Rita (Romance, Drama): Directed by Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba.

In Darkness (R, Drama): Directed by Agnieszka Holland and starring Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Furmann, Agnieszka Grochowska, Maria Schrader and Herbert Knaup.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (PG, Adventure, Family): Directed by Brad Peyton and starring Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Vanessa Hudgens and Luis Guzman.

La Ultima Muerte (R, Action, Suspense): Directed by David Ruiz and starring Kuno Becker, Alvaro Guerrero, Carlos Bracho, Claudette Maulle and Carlos Kaspar.

Safe House (R, Action, Suspense): Directed by Daniel Espinosa and starring Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson and Robert Patrick.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace 3D (PG, Science Fiction, Fantasy): Directed by George Lucas and starring Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd and Ian McDiarmid.

The Vow (PG-13, Drama, Romance): Directed by Michael Sucsy and starring Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum, Sam Neill, Scott Speedman and Jessica Lange.

New DVD releases for the week of Feb. 7 include:

All’s Faire in Love (PG-13, Comedy, Romance): Directed by Scott Marshall and starring Christina Ricci, Owen Benjamin, Ann Margret, Matthew Lillard and Cedric the Entertainer.

Anonymous (PG-13, Drama): Directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Vanessa Redgrave, Rafe Spall, Rhys Ifans, David Thewlis and Sebastian Armesto.

The Elephant in the Living Room (PG, Documentary): Directed by Michael Webber and starring Tim Harrison, Terry Brumfield, Russ Clear, Casey Craig and Pat Craig.

Fireflies in the Garden (R, Drama, Mystery): Directed by Dennis Lee and starring Julia Roberts, Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson and Hayden Panettiere.

Knuckle (R, Documentary): Directed by Ian Palmer.

Project Nim (PG-13, Documentary): Directed by James Marsh and starring Bob Angelini, Bern Cohen and Reagan Leonard.

The Rebound (R, Comedy, Romance): Directed by Bart Freundlich and starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Justin Bartha, John Schneider, Lynn Whitfield and Joanna Gleason.

The Sunset Limited (Drama): Directed by Tommy Lee Jones and starring Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson.

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (R, Comedy): Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson and starring John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris, Danneel Harris and Thomas Lennon.

A Warrior’s Heart (PG, Drama, Romance): Directed by Michael F. Sears and starring Kellan Lutz, Ashley Greene, Gabrielle Anwar, Chord Overstreet and Adam Beach.

If I could only watch one movie at the theatre this week, it would be “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” and if I had to pick just one DVD to rent this week, it would be “Anonymous.”

In the end, let me know if you get a chance to watch any of the new movies in theatres this week or if you’ve already seen any of the movies that have just been released on DVD. What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations for Wed., Feb. 8, 2012

2012-02-08T06:49:00.001-06:00

Temp: 48.9 degrees F (9.4 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches.

Humidity: 65 percent (Normal)

Conditions: Partly Cloudy.

Winds: Winds out of the Northwest.

Barometric Pressure: 29.78 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.9 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 6.1 inches

NOTE: 49th day of Winter. Jet contrails visible this morning. Robins on the ground.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

How many of 'Baen Readers List of Recommended Military SF' have you read?

2012-02-07T08:52:00.003-06:00

A month ago, back on Jan. 7, I posted a best-of book list called “SF Masterworks,” and a few days ago a friend e-mailed me some information about a similar sci-fi book list called “Baen Readers List of Recommended Military SF.”

The list was compiled by Baen Books, an American publishing company that’s known for its science fiction and fantasy titles, including high-quality military science fiction. Titles on its best-of list were selected based on their “main theme military concerns.”

Books that made the list included the following titles:

1. Armor by John Steakley (1984)
2. At Any Price by David Drake (1985)
3. Berserker by Fred Saberhagen (1967)
4. Bill the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison (1965)
5. Bolo! by David Weber (2005)
6. Breakthrough by David Drake and Bill Fawcett (1989)
7. Cobra by Timothy Zahn (1985)
8. The Compleat Bolo by Keith Laumer (1990)
9. Conqueror’s Heritage by Timothy Zahn (1995)
10. Conqueror’s Legacy by Timothy Zahn (1996)

11. Conqueror’s Pride by Timothy Zahn (1994)
12. Counterattack by David Drake and Bill Fawcett (1988)
13. Counting the Cost by David Drake (1987)
14. Crisis by David Drake and Bill Fawcett (1991)
15. The Dance of Time by Eric Flint and David Drake (2006)
16. A Desert Called Peace by Tom Kratman (2007)
17. Destiny’s Shield by Eric Flint and David Drake (1999)
18. Divided Allegiance by Elizabeth Moon (1988)
19. Dorsai! By Gordon R. Dickson (1959)
20. Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh (1981)

21. Drakon by S.M. Stirling (1995)
22. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)
23. Expedition to Earth by Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
24. Eye of the Storm by John Ringo (2009)
25. The Far Side of the Stars by David Drake (2003)
26. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954)
27. Fireships by David Drake (1996)
28. First to Fight by David Sherman and Dan Cragg (1997)
29. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (1974)
30. The Forge by S.M. Stirling and David Drake (1991)

31. The Forlorn Hope by David Drake (1984)
32. Fortune’s Stroke by Eric Flint and David Drake (2000)
33. Freehold by Michael Z. Williamson (2004)
34. Galactic Patrol by E.E. “Doc” Smith (1950)
35. The Green Hills of Earth by Robert A. Heinlein (1951)
36. Gust Front by John Ringo (2001)
37. Hammer’s Slammers by David Drake (1979)
38. Hell’s Faire by John Ringo (2003)
39. A Hymn Before Battle by John Ringo (2000)
40. Igniting the Reaches by David Drake (1994)

41. In the Heart of Darkness by Eric Flint and David Drake (1998)
42. In the Stormy Red Sky by David Drake (2009)
43. The Jungle by David Drake (1991)
44. King David’s Spaceship by Jerry Poumelle (1981)
45. The Last Centurion by John Ringo (2008)
46. Legion of the Damned by William C. Dietz (1993)
47. Liar’s Oath by Elizabeth Moon (1992)
48. Live Free or Die by John Ringo (2010)
49. Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen by H. Beam Piper (1965)
50. Lt. Leary, Commanding by David Drake (2000)

51. Marching Through Georgia by S.M. Stirling (1988)
52. March to the Sea by David Weber and John Ringo (2001)
53. March to the Stars by David Weber and John Ringo (2003)
54. March Upcountry by David Weber and John Ringo (2001)
55. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein (1966)
56. The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Poumelle (1974)
57. Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon (2010)
58. Oath of Gold by Elizabeth Moon (1989)
59. An Oblique Approach by Eric Flint and David Drake (1998)
60. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi (2004)

61. On Basilisk Station by David Weber (1992)
62. Once a Hero by Elizabeth Moon (1997)
63. Path of the Fury by David Weber (1992)
64. Paying the Piper by David Drake (2002)
65. Phule’s Company by Robert Asprin (1990)
66. The Prince by Jerry Poumelle and S.M. Stirling (2002)
67. Redliners by David Drake (1996)
68. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkein (1955)
69. Rolling Hot by David Drake (1989)
70. Semper Mars by Ian Douglas (1998)

71. The Sharp End by David Drake (1993)
72. Sheepfarmer’s Daughter by Elizabeth Moon (1988)
73. Soldier, Ask Not by Gordon R. Dickson (1967)
74. Some Golden Harbor by David Drake (2007)
75. Space Cadet by Robert A. Heinlein (1948)
76. Space Viking by H. Beam Piper (1963)
77. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein (1959)
78. The Stone Dogs by S.M. Stirling (1990)
79. Surface Action by David Drake (1990)
80. Sworn Allies by David Drake and Bill Fawcett (1990)

81. Tactics of Mistake by Gordon R. Dickson (1971)
82. Through the Breach by David Drake (1995)
83. The Tide of Victory by Eric Flint and David Drake (2001)
84. Total War by David Drake and Bill Fawcett (1990)
85. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954)
86. Uller Uprising by H. Beam Piper (1952)
87. Under the Yoke by S.M. Stirling (1989)
88. The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold (1990)
89. Vorpal Blade by John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor (2007)
90. The Warrior by David Drake (1991)

91. The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold (1986)
92. Watch on the Rhine by John Ringo and Tom Kratman (2005)
93. The Way to Glory by David Drake (2005)
94. We All Died at Breakaway Station by Richard C. Meredith (1969)
95. The Weapon by Michael Z. Williamson (2005)
96. We Few by David Weber and John Ringo (2005)
97. West of Honor by Jerry Poumelle (1976)
98. What Distant Deeps by David Drake (2010)
99. When the Devil Dances by John Ringo (2002)
100. When the Tide Rises by David Drake (2008)
101. With the Lightnings by David Drake (1998)

In the end, how many of these books have you had the chance to read? Which did you like or dislike and why? Which is your personal favorite and why? Which would you recommend and why? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations for Tues., Feb. 7, 2012

2012-02-07T06:52:00.002-06:00

Temp: 45.0 degrees F (7.2 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches.

Humidity: 82 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Partly Cloudy.

Winds: Winds out of the North.

Barometric Pressure: 29.70 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.9 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 6.1 inches

NOTE: 48th day of Winter. Jet contrails visible this morning. Robins on the ground in the back yard. Full Moon tonight.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

FICTION - The Ghost Hunter and the Cemetery

2012-02-06T08:42:00.002-06:00

My name is Lewis King, and if you’re holding this letter and reading these words, it is very likely that I am dead.

Straight to the point, I don’t know what has befallen me, and I have held my own sanity in doubt for some time. Only the fact that I am still able to consider my mental state at all assures me that I still hold some degree of mental soundness.

My only hope at this hour is that this letter might serve to you, dear reader, as an explanation and warning as to what has occurred and that it might prevent someone else from following in my unfortunate footsteps.

This ordeal all started with my boyish desire to do a little “ghost hunting,” as is the fashion nowadays, in this very same vast and ancient cemetery. My drive to and from the office took me past the place twice a day, once in the early morning and again in the evening. I gave the place little thought in the beginning, but as time passed, the graveyard intruded into my thoughts more and more. You might say that the place called out to me with its own siren’s song and now I feel an unwanted kinship with that poor, weak fly who is stuck for good in the deadly, sweet nectar of the Venus flytrap.

Tonight is the last night of October and surely you will grasp the overtones of that dread date. Know that this morning, I packed a large flashlight, a digital camera and a tape recorder. My plan was to spend the night in the cemetery to see what experiences I might have. I half expected a boring night filled with nothing more than the sound of the occasional squirrel or the infrequent hoot of a prowling owl.

My flashlight batteries are long dead now, the result of what felt like long hours of searching for a way out of this dreaded place. My hand shakes as I write these words by the faint light of the distant moon. A bitter cold has descended on this place, joined by a weak fog that hangs about my knees and hinders my ability to see anything more than twenty feet ahead.

I cannot shake the feeling that I have crossed some unseen boundary, as if I am walking through some twisted mirror image of the cemetery I entered long ago as the sun sank in the west. My surroundings appear the same, but the moon seems to have slowed in its march across the vast vault of stars overhead. I listen, straining my ears, but there is no sound of bird or insect now, and I am afraid that there is no way out.

With that said, it would be a mistake for me to lead you to believe that I feel that I am alone in this place. The feeling that something, maybe many things, seem to move just beyond my field of view cannot be denied. At first, what remains of my rational mind took the noises as nothing more than the skitters and scratchings of tree branches across wrought iron fencing or maybe as the sound of leaves being blown down between the endless rows of headstones. Either way, the sounds are drawing closer, and I feel that I will lay eyes on their source sooner than I wish.

My wristwatch stopped a long time ago, and now I have no way of knowing how long I’ve wandered among the headstones and over the many graves. I feel that the sun should have risen long ago. Oh, I pray that it would, for surely its rays would lead me to an exit from this foul smelling place. Sadly, there is no hint of dawn in the cloudless eastern sky.

I know that the river flows between its high banks not far from here, and I distinctly remember that when I first arrived I could hear the faint sound of all that water moving south. Now, even when I am perfectly still, the river cannot be heard, but the faint mud and catfish smell hangs in the air more powerful than ever.

My stomach growls now for my hunger is as great as is my thirst. Would that I had thought to bring something to eat, a canteen of water or a thermos of coffee. Those things seemed so unimportant and unnecessary at the outset, but are now magnified and are adding to the misery of being lost in this cemetery.

Who knew this place was so large? In all my drives past it, did I appreciate the depth of the graveyard, the great distance that it must penetrate the surrounding forest? When I first realized that I had forgotten my way back to my truck, I thought it best to set off in one direction and walk as far as I could on that path. My thought was that if it wasn’t the right direction, I would either encounter a fence around the property or a wood line beyond which there would be no graves. Once there, I would follow the fence or forest edge as far as it would take me back to the cemetery’s entrance. Unfortunately for me, that sort of logic does not apply on this night in this place.

The feeling that I have walked a great distance, maybe many miles, through this place is unmistakable, but I know it is impossible. I’ve chalked that feeling up to nerves and being alone in such a place. Sadly, the farther that I have walked along my chosen path, I have only found more graves. At times, I found myself walking through long gaps of dry grass and darkness where there were no graves and just when I made to retrace my steps more graves would appear, and I would continue.

When my flashlight gave out, seems like a week ago now, I began to follow the general direction offered by the moon. It never seems to move now, and at times, when I look closely at the sky, the arrangement of the stars there do not seem quite right. For some reason beyond me, the stars don’t look right, as if they are out of position, as if they were stars you might see from the surface of some other world.

Again, I tell myself that there is no logic in such thoughts and that if I am to survive I should not waste too much energy on pointless thoughts such as these. If I am to survive, there is no point in pondering such fantastic ideas. I am sure that such thoughts are the product of nerves, hunger and the general situation.

Let it be known by whoever finds this note that I never would have even called my sanity into question or began this letter if not for one peculiar aspect of this experience. It all has to do with my beard. Only a short time ago it occurred to me that it is getting quite long now. All my reason tells me that I shaved my face clean this morning when I awoke, as I do every morning. Now it has grown longer than I have ever grown it in my life.

Again, I grasp at the idea that my fatigued mind is playing tricks on me. Hair, even on the face of a grown man, does not grow to that length in a day. The only reasonable and acceptable explanation is that I must have forgotten to shave for some time, an unrecognized omission in my daily routines.

I am getting close to the end of the page now, so I will bring this thing to a close. If you happen to find this letter, look about for me. My head pounds with hunger and thirst, and while I may be still alive, I may be too weak to call to you for help.

Sincerely written on this day, October 31, by Lewis King of Claiborne.

Yesterday's News from The Evergreen Courant - Feb. 6, 2012

2012-02-06T08:38:00.001-06:00

NINE YEARS AGO
FEB. 6, 2003

“Sharron McCreary has been elected to lead the Evergreen-Conecuh Chamber of Commerce next year, beginning with the inauguration of new officers and directors next week. Current President Zebbie Nix announced the Board of Directors at its Jan. 24 meeting, elected Ms. McCreary to serve as president for 2003. Christy Bulger was elected Vice President, and Anthony Bishop, Secretary-Treasurer.
“Ms. McCreary is Vice President and Manager of Colonial Bank’s Evergreen Branch. Ms. Bulger is the Director of Workforce Development at Reid State Technical College. Mr. Bishop is an attorney with Albritton and Bishop, LLC in Evergreen.”

“Evergreen residents Chinnie Brown and Earnestine Taylor were out at the Evergreen-Monroeville exit off I-65 to see off their sister, Pearlene Lee. Lee, who lives in Monroeville, is a member of the 778th Maintenance Co. that left for active duty Wednesday morning. Several Conecuh County residents are members of this National Guard unit.”

“The Evergreen City Council voted to approve a $930,000 bond issue that will pay for construction of sewer lines to the Fairview area that was annexed into the city last year. The lines will also be run across the interstate to the industrial property that has been optioned to the Conecuh County Economic Development Authority for industrial growth.”

24 YEARS AGO
FEB. 4, 1988

“Citing his experience as a small businessman and former officer of a local bank, George Hendrix, owner of Hendrix Insurance Agency, Inc. in Evergreen this week announced that he will run for probate judge in Conecuh County.”

“Veteran Evergreen Chief of Police James Powell has resigned and Sgt. Leroy Hall named interim chief.”

“Alabama Attorney General Don Siegelman will be the featured speaker at the Evergreen Chamber of Commerce’s annual Promotion-Membership Banquet on Monday night, Feb. 8, at 6:30 o’clock at the Evergreen Inn.”

“Calvin Ryland, 64, of Bermuda, died Sun., Jan. 24, in a Monroeville hospital. A member of a prominent, pioneer family, Mr. Ryland was well-known and highly respected. He served in the Merchant Marines during World War II.”

“Earl Windham reports no rain. He says: ‘Well, Ole Judge Salter said that he was broke. I guess I will have to stand on the corner and see if I can get him some money.’”

“Air Force Airman First Class John A. Hendricks Jr., son of John A. and Sandra S. Hendricks of 415 Bruner Ave., Evergreen, has arrived for duty with the 33rd Equipment Maintenance Squadron, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Hendricks, a corrosion control specialist, is a 1983 graduate of Evergreen High School.”

39 YEARS AGO
FEB. 1, 1973

“Eugene Darby is the new president of the Conecuh County Cattlemen’s Association. He succeeded Jim Oliver at the annual meeting last week. Bill Brown, first vice president of the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association, took part in the program.”

From “The Colyum” by Bob Bozeman – “This trouble week. Our linotype is out of commission and as a result we are having to leave out items and some are being run without corrections. We regret this and ask your indulgence.”

“Dr. H.C. Fountain celebrated a birthday Saturday. He is 93 years young and one of the most remarkable men I’ve ever known.”

“Evergreen’s Martha Wolff was straight from ‘South Pacific’ Thursday night at Judson College when she and fellow members of Terpsichorea presented ‘Broadway Carnival.’ The group expects to go on tour this spring. Martha is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Pete Wolff of Evergreen.”

“A full time Supervisor of Elementary Education has been added to the staff of the Conecuh County Board of Education. Mrs. Ola Mason has been employed to fill this position.”

“Roy Edward Kervin of 201 Thorne St., Evergreen, enlisted in the United States Navy at Montgomery, on 22 Jan., 1973. Roy is the son of Mrs. Gracie Kervin of 518 Spencerfield Rd., Pace, Fla.”

54 YEARS AGO
FEB. 6, 1958

“A meeting of the City’s Civil Defense organization will be held tomorrow night according to Miller Sellers, Director. The meeting is set for seven o’clock at the City School.”

“James M. (Shorty) Brock announced today that he has qualified to run for re-election as Sheriff of Conecuh County. He is asking for his first full term of office. Mr. Brock served as chief deputy under his brother, the late John Brock and was appointed to fill the unexpired term of his brother at his death.”

“Ted Bates of Evergreen announced today that he has qualified to run for re-election as Member of the Board of Directors from District Two. Mr. Bates was born in Evergreen and has lived here all of his life except for three years service with the U.S. Navy Seabees during World War II.”

“Circuit Judge Archie H. Elliott of Brewton has announced his candidacy to succeed himself in the office of Circuit Judge for the 21st Judicial Circuit.
“He is a member of the Brewton Methodist Church, the Brewton Masonic Lodge and the Brewton Rotary Club.”

“Five members of Evergreen High School Band successfully overcame all competition and were chosen for positions on the All State Band which will perform at the All State Band Festival to be held at the University of Alabama March 24-25-26.
“Those chosen for this distinct honor were: Barbara Bewley, flute; Faye Bewley, alto clarinet; Susan Bozeman, bass clarinet; Larry Byrd, trombone; and Everett Price, bass horn.”

69 YEARS AGO
FEB. 4, 1943

“Kermit Williams Nearly Lose Life: The following clipping from an Akron, Ohio newspaper was recently handed to Mr. and Mrs. A.K. Williams by an Evergreen friend. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have had no word from their son about the incident. However, they have heard from him a number of times since then.
“Tech Sgt. Eugene Neiman, 25, formerly of Tallmadge, has received a soldier’s medal for saving the life of a comrade, who nearly drowned in the Chepo River in Panama shortly before Christmas.
“His comrade, Sgt. Kermit Williams of Evergreen, Ala., who could not swim, was fishing in the middle of the river when his boat overturned and he was pocketed in a deep hole. Sgt. Neiman and Cpl. Everett Crowder of Napa, Calif. saved Williams and revived him with artificial respiration. The medals were awarded by Brig. Gen. Edward Stackpole. In the quartermaster corps, Neiman has been in the service since August 1938, when he enlisted and has been in Panama since March 1939 He was reared by his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. John H. Fisher of Tallmadge.”

“Thirty-three men were enlisted into the U.S. Navy during January at the Evergreen Navy Recruiting Station, according to M.H. Potter, petty officer-in-charge.
“The Evergreen Recruiting Station is headquarters for Navy recruiting activities in six South Alabama counties. They are Conecuh, Butler, Covington, Crenshaw, Escambia and Monroe.”

Daily Weather Observations for Mon., Feb. 6, 2012

2012-02-06T06:49:00.001-06:00

Temp: 47.3 degrees F (8.5 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches.

Humidity: 78 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Overcast.

Winds: Winds out of the North-Northwest.

Barometric Pressure: 29.71 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.9 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 6.1 inches

NOTE: 47th day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Martin's 'A Dance with Dragons' reappears on hardcover best-sellers list

2012-02-05T07:35:00.001-06:00

It’s Sunday, so that means that it’s time for my weekly review of this week’s Publishers Weekly Best-Seller List. According to the list, there are three new books at the top of the four major best-sellers lists this week.

"Taken" by Robert Crais replaced "Private: Number 1 Suspect" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro as the No. 1 book on the hardcover fiction best-sellers list.

"Bonnie" by Iris Johansen replaced "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson as the top book on the mass market paperback best-sellers list.

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett replaced "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer as the No. 1 book on the trade paperbacks best-sellers list.

"Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America" by Mark R. Levin retained the top spot on the hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list.

There are four books on this week’s hardcover fiction best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They (along with their place on the list) include "Taken" by Robert Crais (1), "Darker After Midnight" by Lara Adrian (10), "A Dance with Dragons" by George R.R. Martin (11) and "Pineapple Grenade" by Tim Dorsey (12).

There are four books on this week’s hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They include "Quiet" by Susan Cain (6), "Fairy Tale Interrupted" by RoseMarie Terenzio (11), "Strategic Vision" by Zbigniew Brzezinski (14) and "Strategy for You" by Rich Horwath (15).

There are five books on this week’s mass market paperbacks best-sellers list that weren’t on that list last week. They include "Bonnie" by Iris Johansen (1), "A Lady Never Surrenders" by Sabrina Jeffries (4), "One for the Money" by Janet Evanovich (7), "Toys" by James Patterson & Neil McMahon (13) and "Mr. and Miss Anonymous" by Fern Michaels (15).

There are four books on this week’s trade paperbacks best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They include "The Harbinger" by Jonathan Cahn (11), "Unlikely Friendships" by Jennifer S. Holland (13), "Lethal" by Sandra Brown (14) and "Blood, Bones & Butter" by Gabrielle Hamilton (15).

As a reminder, I’m posting these lists each Sunday because they, as a whole, represent a great, contemporary recommended reading list. These lists are initially released each week on Thursday, and if you’re interested in reading them then, visit Publishers Weekly’s Web site at www.publishersweekly.com. Below you’ll find all four of this week’s best-seller lists.

HARDCOVER FICTION
1. "Taken" by Robert Crais
2. "Private: Number 1 Suspect" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
3. "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" by Stieg Larsson
4. "Believing the Lie" by Elizabeth George
5. "Death Comes to Pemberley" by P.D. James
6. "11/22/63" by Stephen King
7. "The Litigators" by John Grisham
8. "Raylan: A Novel" by Elmore Leaonard
9. "Death of Kings: A Novel" by Bernard Cornwell
10. "Darker After Midnight" by Lara Adrian
11. "A Dance with Dragons" by George R.R. Martin
12. "Pineapple Grenade" by Tim Dorsey
13. "Locked On" by Tom Clancy and Mark Greany
14. "The Best of Me" by Nicholas Sparks
15. "The Rope: An Anna Pigeon Novel" by Nevada Barr

HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. "Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America" by Mark R. Levin
2. "The End of Illness' by David Agus
3. "American Sniper" by Chris Kyle, Jim DeFelice and Scott McEwen
4. "Steve Jobs: A Biography" by Walter Isaacson
5. "Taking People with You" by David Novak
6. "Quiet" by Susan Cain
7. "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
8. "Deliciously G-Free" by Elisabeth Hasselbeck
9. "The Psychology of Wealth" by Charles L. Richards
10. "Through My Eyes" by Tim Tebow with Nathan Whitaker
11. "Fairy Tale Interrupted" by RoseMarie Terenzio
12. "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand
13. "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman
14. "Strategic Vision" by Zbigniew Brzezinski
15. "Strategy for You" by Rich Horwath

MASS MARKET PAPERBACKS
1. "Bonnie" by Iris Johansen
2. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson
3. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson
4. "A Lady Never Surrenders" by Sabrina Jeffries
5. "The Jefferson Key" by Steve Berry
6. "Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor" by Dick Couch and George Galdorisi
7. "One for the Money" by Janet Evanovich
8. "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
9. "Skeleton Coast" by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul
10. "You...Again" by Debbie Macomber
11. "Smokin' Seventeen" by Janet Evanovich
12. "The Sentry" by Robert Crais
13. "Toys" by James Patterson & Neil McMahon
14. "A Storm of Swords" by George R.R. Martin
15. "Mr. and Miss Anonymous" by Fern Michaels

TRADE PAPERBACKS
1. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
2. "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer
3. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson
4. "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo, Sonja Burpo, Colton Burpo and Lynn Vincent
5. "Bossypants" by Tina Fey
6. "The Tiger's Wife: A Novel" by Tea Obreht
7. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson
8. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
9. "10th Anniversary" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
10. "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
11. "The Harbinger" by Jonathan Cahn
12. "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander and Cornel West
13. "Unlikely Friendships" by Jennifer S. Holland
14. "Lethal" by Sandra Brown
15. "Blood, Bones & Butter" by Gabrielle Hamilton

In the end, let me know if you’ve had a chance to read any of these books. What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations for Sun., Feb. 5, 2012

2012-02-05T07:24:00.002-06:00

Temp: 58.8 degrees F (14.9 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.1 inches.

Humidity: 83 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Overcast.

Winds: Winds out of the Northwest.

Barometric Pressure: 29.63 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.9 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.9 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 6.1 inches

NOTE: 46th day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Which of the seven 'Planet of the Apes' movies is your personal favorite?

2012-02-04T08:19:00.003-06:00

I’m a big fan of the long-running “Planet of the Apes” movies, and I recently got the chance to watch the latest installment in the series, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” I don’t know if I can say that it was the best movie in the series, but it was still pretty good.

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, it’s about an intelligent chimpanzee named Caesar, who spends most of his life in a research lab, where he’s given drugs to boost his mental abilities. He eventually comes to live with a young scientist after the scientist is ordered to euthanize all the chimps in the lab. In defense of the scientist’s father, Caesar attacks one of the neighbors and ends up in an animal sanctuary, where he suffers abuse at the hands of his handlers. Caesar eventually becomes the leader of the other monkeys in the sanctuary, and he proceeds to lead them in a revolution that results in their escape.

Released on Aug. 5, 2011, this movie was directed by Rupert Wyatt. The movie starred a number of well known actors, including James Franco, Andy Serkis, John Lithgow, Freida Pinto, David Oyelowo, Brian Cox and Chelah Horsdal. This movie was a critical and box office success. It reaped box office revenues of over $481 million against a budget of $93 million.

I was interested to read that the movie is based on a 1963 French science fiction novel called “La Planete des singes” by Pierre Boulle. Translated as “Monkey Planet” or “Planet of the Apes,” this book is said to be the inspiration of all the “Planet of the Apes” movies.

In all, there have been seven “Planet of the Apes” movies. They include “Planet of the Apes” (1968), “Beneath the Planet of the Apes” (1970), “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” (1971), “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes” (1972), “Battle for the Planet of the Apes” (1973), “Planet of the Apes” (2001) and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” (2011).

Fans of these movies will know that “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is very similar to “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes” and that the 2001 “Planet of the Apes” is a remake of the 1968 “Planet of the Apes.” If I had to pick a personal favorite from all seven, I’d probably go with the 2001 “Planet of the Apes” remake. That’s not to say that the others aren’t very good.

In the end, I enjoyed “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” and I recommend it to anyone out there who enjoys a good sci-fi movie or has enjoyed the previous “Planet of the Apes” films.

How many of you have watched “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”? What did you think about it? Did you like it or dislike it? Why? Which of the seven all-time “Planet of the Apes” movies is your personal favorite? Why? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations for Sat., Feb. 4, 2012

2012-02-04T07:24:00.002-06:00

Temp: 57.0 degrees F (13.9 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.1 inches.

Humidity: 82 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Mostly Cloudy.

Winds: Winds out of the East-Southeast.

Barometric Pressure: 29.69 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.8 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.8 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 6.0 inches

NOTE: 45th day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

How many Michael Crichton books have you read? Which is your favorite?

2012-02-03T15:26:00.003-06:00

I recently finished reading an older book that I’ve always wanted to read, but had never gotten around to, Michael Crichton’s 1980 science fiction novel, “Congo.”

This novel begins when an expedition to the African Congo is wiped out while searching for rare, technologically valuable diamonds. Another expedition, which includes a highly intelligent gorilla that can communicate with sign language, is dispatched to the jungle to continue the search for diamonds and to determine exactly what happened to the first expedition. They end up in the Lost City of Zinj and King Solomon’s fabled mines only to find it protected by a race of intelligent gorillas and an active volcano that’s about to blow its top.

I decided to read this book when I saw that it was one of three Crichton novels included on a recommended reading list compiled by The Art of Manliness web site called “The Essential Man’s Library: 50 Fictional Adventure Books.” The other two Crichton novels to make the list were 1990’s “Jurassic Park” and 1995’s “The Lost World.” I’ll probably get around to both of those soon, and I suspect, based on their enduring popularity, that they’re as good or better than “Congo.”

Many of you will be familiar with “Congo” thanks to the 1995 film version of the book that starred Tim Curry, Laura Linney, Bruce Campbell, Delroy Lindo and Dylan Walsh. Famous musician Jimmy Buffett also made a cameo appearance in the film as an airplane pilot. The movie was directed by Frank Marshall and reaped over $152 million at the box office.

More than a few Crichton books have been turned into blockbuster movies. Crichton died of throat cancer in November 2008, and has 31 of novels and non-fiction books to his credit, including two novels that were published after his death. What follows is a complete list of his books. Those that have been adapted to film as of this writing are indicated with an asterisk.

1. Airframe (1996)
2. The Andromeda Strain (1969)*
3. Binary (1972)
4. A Case of Need (1968)*
5. Congo (1980)*

6. Dealing (1970)*
7. Disclosure (1994)*
8. Drug of Choice (1970)
9. Easy Go (1968)
10. Eaters of the Dead (1976)*

11. Electronic Life (Nonfiction, 1983)
12. Five Patients (Nonfiction, 1970)
13. Grave Descend (1970)
14. The Great Train Robbery (1975)*
15. Jasper Johns (Nonfiction, 1977)

16. Jurassic Park (1990)*
17. The Lost World (1995)*
18. Micro (2011)
19. Next (2006)
20. Odds On (1966)

21. Pirate Latitudes (2009)
22. Prey (2002)
23. Rising Sun (1992)*
24. Scratch One (1967)
25. Sphere (1987)*

26. State of Fear (2004)
27. The Terminal Man (1972)*
28. Timeline (1999)*
29. Travels (Nonfiction, 1988)
30. The Venom Business (1969)
31. Zero Cool (1969)

In the end, I really enjoyed reading “Congo,” and I’m looking forward to reading “Jurassic Park” and “The Lost World.” How many of you have had the chance to read “Congo”? What did you think about it? Did you like it or dislike it? Why? How many of Crichton’s other books have you had the chance to read? Which was your personal favorite? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Fri., Feb. 3, 2012

2012-02-03T06:49:00.003-06:00

Temp: 54.5 degrees F (12.5 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.1 inches.

Humidity: 75 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Mostly Cloudy.

Winds: Winds out of the East-Northeast.

Barometric Pressure: 29.75 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.7 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.7 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 5.9 inches

NOTE: 44th day of Winter. Lots of birds out and about this morning.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Politics were cranking up in Conecuh County a century ago

2012-02-02T08:22:00.003-06:00

It’s that time of the month again, time to take a trip down memory lane and review all of the interesting things that took place in Conecuh County 100 years ago, way back in February 1912.

The year 1912 was an election year in Conecuh County and the Feb. 1, 1912 edition of The Conecuh Record newspaper contained a number of local political announcements.

“John Donald Skinner is an aspirant for the office of tax assessor. Mr. Skinner is the son of Dr. Skinner of Belleville, one of Conecuh’s oldest residents.

“Professor H.T. Lile announces in this issue for the office of superintendent of education. Mr. Lile has been principal of the agricultural school here several years past and is thoroughly competent to discharge the duties which will be imposed upon him should he be elected to the office which he seeks.

“Mr. J.F. Irwin is a candidate for the office of tax collector of this county. He served the county as sheriff for one term, discharging his duties to the satisfaction of the general public.

“It will be seen by reference to the growing list of announcements that C.G. Russell is a candidate for county treasurer. He is an old Confederate veteran and has resided in the county for 30 years.”

Also that week, correspondent “Jason” reported from the Finklea community that “a turpentine still will soon be in operation near here on lands formerly owned by the Michigan Land Co.”

He also reported that “Walter Culbrith had the misfortune to lose his foot in a railroad accident in Pensacola recently. He is at home and recovering.”

The Feb. 8, 1912 edition also contained a number of political announcements.

“Walter G. Johnson announces this week for the office of superintendent of education.

“F.P. Hines is a candidate for county commissioner. He is a resident of Belleville, in which community he stands well.

“J.W. Hobbs, a resident of Repton and justice of the peace at that place, is also a candidate for commissioner and solicits the suffrage of the voters of the county.

“S.H. Purnell, a representative of Mill beat, is in the race for commissioner and will appreciate any favors shown him in the coming election.”

Whitcomb also reported that week that “the fire at the oil mill Wednesday morning was quickly quenched and very little damage done.”

That week’s paper also contained the following announcements, under the headline, “Attention, Baseball Boys!”

“If you are interested in baseball and want to become a member of a national association or want to become a professional baseball player, increasing your present salary, write to the United Fraternal Baseball Union of America, southern branch at Jasper, Ala., Box 298, enclosing 10 cents and learn full particulars. It’s easy money.”

The Feb. 15, 1912 edition also included a few more political announcements.

“E.D. Mancill, a graduate of Highland Home college, is an aspirant for the office of superintendent of education. He holds a first-grade certificate and is now teaching school in this district.

“J.A. Feagin, a member of the firm of Rabun & Feagin at Brooklyn, has served on the board of county commissioners for the past four years. He is a candidate for re-election.”

In news from the Hampden Ridge community, correspondent “Lick” reported that “J.S. Daw, whose home was destroyed by fire on Jan. 31, is preparing to rebuild.”

Readers that week also learned that “the farmers who have been holding their cotton for a better price are now turning it loose on a 10-1/4 cent market.”

Whitcomb also reported that week that “in a difficulty which occurred near Herbert last Saturday afternoon, Chas. Perdue was shot and killed by Martin Sheffield. Sheffield is now in the county jail. Perdue leaves five small children.”

In the following week’s paper, Whitcomb reported that “Martin Sheffield, slayer of Chas. Perdue, had a preliminary hearing and was released on a $2,000 bond.”

Also in the Feb. 22, 1912 edition, Whitcomb reported that “an embryo cyclone shook up things in a lively manner in and around Evergreen Wednesday morning about three o’clock and evidences of its destructive power are to be seen on every hand today.

“E.C. Lee, who was spending the night at his 75-acre strawberry farm, eight or 10 miles from the city, had his arm broken by being picked up by the wind and dashed against an out building. Two or three buildings on Mr. Lee’s farm were also demolished.

“Large trees which had withstood the onslaughts of time and storm were uprooted in every part of the city, which fencing in every direction was blown away like chaff.

“The agricultural school building was badly damaged, amounting, it is estimated, to about $300.”

Readers that week also learned that “Eli Giddens, accompanied by two of his daughters, Misses Maud and Lula, is attending the carnival in Mobile.”

Whitcomb also reported that “today being a legal holiday, nearly everyone who owned or could borrow a gun, went bird hunting.”

In the Feb. 29, 1912 edition, readers learned that “Agent Hawkins informs The Record that more freight was received at Evergreen during the past 30 days than any other point between Montgomery and Mobile during the same length of time.”

Subscribers that week also heard that “the aviation meet in Montgomery next week promises to be a great event and will be attended by many from this city.”

Whitcomb also reported that “the alarm of fire attracted quite a crowd to the home of Mrs. Robinson Thursday. Damage slight.”

Readers that week also learned that “Arthur Hines, son of F.P. Hines of Belleville, accidentally shot himself a few days ago and is reported to be seriously injured.”

Also that week, under the headline “NOTICE,” it was reported that “the old soldiers of Camp Wm. Lee, No. 338, will not meet until Sat., April 6, so that the old soldiers can go to the primary election April 1. All go and vote for your choice and good government. (signed) G.R. Boulware, Commandant.

“P.S. You can get your pension any time during next quarter.”

On a sad note, that week’s paper, under the headline “Death of Hunter Dean,” it was reported that “the death of S.H. Dean on Tuesday night about nine o’clock, after an illness of only a few days, was a great shock to the entire community.

“He was about 35 years old and has held several positions of responsibility and trust, and at the time of his death was assistant cashier in the Peoples Bank of this city.”

Whitcomb closed out the month of February with the following cryptic announcement, under the headline, “It’s Straight Goods – Read It.”

“Fi uoy era detbedni ot ehT droceR, won si eht emit ot llac dna yap pu. Ew deen eht yenom thgir won.”

Well, I guess that’s all that space will allow for this month. Next month, I plan to take a look at the events of March 1912 in Conecuh County. Until then, if you get the urge to research the county’s past yourself, take advantage of the Evergreen-Conecuh County Public Library’s excellent selection of old newspapers on microfilm and other resources. The library’s friendly and courteous staff will be more than happy to get you started.

The Evergreen Courant's Sports Flashback for Feb. 2, 2012

2012-02-02T08:21:00.000-06:00

NINE YEARS AGO
FEB. 6, 2003

“The Sparta Academy Warriors basketball team finished their regular season as area champs and won the right to host the Class A Area Tournament. Members of the team are Patrick Cumagun, Tony Raines, Brandon Burleson, Cody Lowery, Will Ivey and Eric Talbot; Chris Garner, Perry Castleberry, Jeremy Anderson, Drew Davis, Josh Williams, Wiley Cobb, Paul Castleberry and Coach Russ Brown.”

“The Hillcrest varsity boys for the 2003 season enjoy a 24-6 record as they go into the area tournament this Sat., Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. against U.M.S.-Wright of Mobile. Coach Tommy Dukes and his team members are Rodricka Henry, Seneral Lee, Nicholas Williams, Bryan Boykins, Chris Hines, Chenson Griffin, Jerry Johnson, Destry Taylor and Arnold Hines.”

“The Hillcrest High School varsity girls team ended the regular season with a 19-6 record and are prepared for the area tournament beginning this Fri., Feb. 7, at 5:30 p.m. at Hillcrest with a game between Andalusia and UMS-Wright, followed by a 7 p.m. game when the Lady Jags will play Gulf Shores. Team members are LaWanda Mitchell, Andrell Baxter, Ebony Nelson and Monica Dean; Candi Jackson, Katie Fountain, Natalie Nelson, Stephanie Rudolph, Candice Mims, Raven Rudolph and Kailundra Rudolph. They are coached by Danny Covin.”

24 YEARS AGO
FEB. 4, 1988

“Marshall Middle School cheerleaders for 1987-88 are Michelle Covan, Phyllis Hall, Kim Ingram and Chandra Smith and Cassie Jenkins. Susan Brewton, Valerie Williams, Sharon Mitchell and Sponsor Tammy B. Newton are not pictured.”

“The basketball teams at Monroe Academy won three of four games played in Monroeville on Jan. 29, according to Sparta Sports Information Director Byron Warren Jr.
“Kim Searcy continued her assault on Sparta’s scoring records as she pumped 30 points through the nets to pace the Lady Warriors to an easy 51-38 win over the Lady Vols. Julie Johnson had 12 points, and Shawn Hammonds nine for Sparta.
“Sparta’s varsity Warriors were blasted 78-57 by Monroe. Brad Watts led Sparta with 19 points. Robbie Bolton had 14 points, Toby Baggett and Chris Davis, eight each, and Lee Wild and Kenny Bledsoe, four each.”

“Jeb Barron finished out the deer season in fine fashion by bagging this eight-point buck ‘in the woods.’ The rack had a 16-inch spread and the deer weighed 150 pounds.”

“David McCorvey bagged this big 209-pound buck recently. The deer’s eight-point antlers had a spread of 18 inches.”

“Last Wednesday afternoon was a good one for Robbie Moorer as he bagged this trophy 10-point, weighing 200 pounds and had a 19-inch spread. When asked where he killed the buck, he replied ‘in Murder Creek Swamp.’”

39 YEARS AGO
FEB. 1, 1973

“These Evergreen Aggies racked up three wins last week to run their season record to 23-0. Friday night they played Jackson in Jackson and will be at Castleberry Tuesday night. Next home game is T.R. Miller here Friday night, Feb. 6. Shown with the three trophies they have already won this year are Lemond Jones, David Thomas, David Carroll, Wavie Ausby, Cleve Fields and Eddie Stallworth and Coach Charles Branum, John Stallworth, Anthony Armstrong, Rueben Parrish, Chamberlain Green and Willie Locke.”

“Evergreen’s Wavie Ausby led the Aggies in scoring with 20 points in the final game of the South Alabama Conference tournament held at Lurleen B. Wallace State Junior College in Andalusia. Winning all of their games in the tournament, the Evergreen team went on to win the SAC championship. The tournament games gave the Aggies a 20-0 record.”

“The Conecuh County High Junior Team of Castleberry is seeded first in the area tournament being played here Friday and Saturday night. The players are Larry Blackmon, Billy Sanders, Calvin Miniard and Eddie Garner; Melvin Moncrease, Leonard McGuire, Kenneth Gross and Sammy McCreary.”

“The five top junior teams in South Alabama will match up this Friday and Saturday night at Evergreen High School in the District 1, Area 2 state tournament. Castleberry’s Conecuh County High School squad will represent Conecuh County in the meet.”

54 YEARS AGO
FEB. 6, 1958

“The Eagles of CCTS fell victim to the Atmore five Friday, Jan. 31, and suffered their first loss at home for the season. This team was different from the other quints that the Eagles have met this season. Their starting five averaged 6-2 with no starter under 6-foot. They could all run and jump like gazelles and each was as deadly from 20-25 feet out as most high school players are shooting a crip shot. This perhaps accounts for their undefeated season of 8-0.”

“On Sat., Feb. 8, the Conecuh County Training School is serving as host to the annual Girls Invitational Basketball Tournament. This tournament will feature such outstanding teams as Lomax-Hannon of Greenville, who incidentally beat the CCTS state champions twice last season, Harper High of Clarke County, Union High of Monroeville, Beatrice of Monroe County, Camden Academy, McIntosh of Washington County, Atmore of Escambia County and of course the star studded CCTS Eaglettes and Westfield High, Birmingham.
“The Eaglettes will be putting their fine 7-1 record on the line.”

“There will be two basketball games on Mon., Feb. 10, at the CCTS gym beginning at 7:30 p.m., featuring four groups of teachers. Captains of the four teams are as follows: Miss Annis Brundidge, Mrs. Jessie Webb, Mr. George Armstrong and Mr. John Floyd. Come out and root for your favorite team. Adm. 25 cents. Sponsored by the Les Comrade Club.”

69 YEARS AGO
FEB. 4, 1943

“’WHO’S WHO’ ANNEX SCHOOL: Most Athletic, boy – Leon Wallace; Most Athletic, girl – Abye Stinson.”

Compiled by Sports Reporter Lee Peacock from past issues of The Evergreen Courant. To read The Courant’s weekly Sports Flashback feature online, visit leepeacock2010.blogspot.com.

Kennedy's book on Joe DiMaggio wins CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book

2012-02-02T08:14:00.004-06:00

Book lovers in the reading audience will be interested to hear that Kostya Kennedy and Time Inc./Sports Illustrated won Spitball Magazine’s 2011 CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book for “56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports.”

Kennedy’s book was among 10 finalists for this 29th Annual Award. The other finalists included the following titles:

- “The Art of Fielding: A Novel” by Chad Harbach

- “Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game” by John Thorn

- “The Big Show: Charles M. Conlon’s Golden Age Baseball Photographs” by Neal McCabe and Constance McCabe

- “Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption and Baseball’s Longest Game” by Dan Barry

- “Campy: The Two Lives of Roy Campanella” by Neil Lanctot

- “Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season and Fenway’s Remarkable First Year” by Glenn Stout

- “The Greatest Minor League: A History of the Pacific Coast League, 1903-1957” by Dennis Snelling

- “The Kings of Casino Park: Black Baseball in the Lost Season of 1932” by Thomas Aiello

- “21: The Story of Roberto Clemente” by Wilfred Santiago

If you enjoy baseball and a good book, you probably can’t go wrong with any of these books.

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Super Bowl XLVI (46) will be played this coming Sunday, and almost every living, breathing football fan in the country will be glued to their TV to see the New England Patriots take on the New York Giants in Indianapolis.

This year’s big game will be broadcast live on NBC and is set to begin at 5:30 p.m.
Over the years, the Super Bowl has been elevated to the level of an unofficial national holiday, and more than a few people tune in just to see the commercials. The halftime show is also usually worth watching, and this year’s show will feature Madonna.

The Patriots are a slight favorite in the game, and most fans will agree that the Giants are going to have to bring their A game if they hope to beat Tom Brady and the Pats. It goes without saying that the Giants are pretty good themselves, so they will have their say in regard to the final outcome.

For me, the Super Bowl is always bitter sweet. The game is arguably the biggest sporting event of the year, but when the final second ticks off the game clock on Sunday, it’ll mark the official end of another long football season.

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With the end of football, most sports fans will turn their full attention to basketball, and hoops fans in the reading audience will know that the high school season is winding down too. Sparta Academy wrapped up its regular season last week, and Hillcrest will close out their regular season schedule tomorrow (Friday) night.

Conecuh County is lucky to have a group of outstanding high school basketball coaches and a slate of very decent varsity teams. This year it looks like Hillcrest’s varsity boys and Sparta’s varsity girls have the best chances of going deep into the playoffs. Of course, the jury is still out on Hillcrest’s varsity girls and Sparta’s varsity boys. If those two teams take it a game at a time and play to their full potential, they could also make strong runs in their respective classes.

Daily Weather Observations - Thurs., Feb. 2, 2012

2012-02-02T06:52:00.002-06:00

Temp: 60.6 degrees F (15.9 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.6 inches.

Humidity: 84 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Overcast, Foggy.

Winds: Winds out of the West.

Barometric Pressure: 29.71 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.6 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.6 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 5.8 inches

NOTE: 43rd day of Winter. Dense Fog Advisory in effect until 9 a.m. CST. Today is also Groundhogs Day and Candelmas.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

This week's movie picks are 'The Woman in Black' and 'The Thing'

2012-02-01T12:38:00.001-06:00

It’s Wednesday, so today I give you my weekly list of movies that will open in theatres this week as well as a list of movies that will be released this week on DVD.

I hope this will serve as a useful guide as to what’s going on this week if you happen to be near a movie theatre or if you’re looking for something to drop into your NetFlix queue.

Movies that are scheduled to hit theatres this week include:

Big Miracle (PG, Drama, Family): Directed by Ken Kwapis and starring Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Kristen Bell, Ted Danson and Dermot Mulroney.

Chronicle (PG-13, Science Fiction, Suspense): Directed by Josh Trank and starring Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly and Ashley Hinshaw.

The Innkeepers (R, Horror, Suspense): Directed by Ti West and starring Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis, George Riddle and Alison Bartlett.

Kill List (Horror): Directed by Ben Wheatley and starring Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Harry Simpson, Michael Smiley and Emma Fryer.

Perfect Sense (Romance, Drama): Directed by David Mackenzie and starring Ewan McGregor, Eva Green, Connie Nielsen, Stephen Dillane and Ewen Bremner.

The Woman in Black (PG-13, Horror, Suspense): Directed by James Watkins and starring Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds, Janet McTeer, Shaun Dooley and Alisa Khazanova.

Windfall (Documentary): Directed by Laura Israel.

New DVD releases for the week of Jan. 31 include:

The Big Year (PG, Comedy): Directed by David Frankel and starring Jack Black, Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, Jim Parsons and Rashida Jones.

Dog Jack (PG-13, Drama, Family): Directed by Edward T. McDougal and starring Louis Gossett Jr., Benjamin Gardner, Frank Kasy, Kenneth Craig and Eddie Huchro.

The Double (PG-13, Suspense, Drama): Directed by Michael Brandt and starring Richard Gere, Topher Grace, Martin Sheen, Odette Yustman and Stana Katic.

Dream House (PG-13, Suspense, Mystery): Directed by Jim Sheridan and starring Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Marton Csokas and Rachel G. Fox.

Drive (R, Crime, Drama): Directed by Nicholas Winding Refn and starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendicks and Albert Brooks.

The Hammer (PG-13, Drama): Directed by Oren Kaplan and starring Russell Harvard, Raymond J. Barry, Shoshannah Stern, Michael Anthony Spady and Courtney Halverson.

In Time (PG-13, Science Fiction, Suspense): Directed by Andrew Niccol and starring Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde and Alex Pettyfer.

Texas Killing Fields (R, Drama, Crime): Directed by Ami Canaan Mann and starring Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jessica Chastain and Jason Clarke.

The Thing (R, Science Fiction, Horror): Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. and starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Eric Christian Olsen, Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje and Ulrich Thomsen.

If I could only watch one movie at the theatre this week, it would be “The Woman in Black,” and if I had to pick just one DVD to rent this week, it would be “The Thing.”

In the end, let me know if you get a chance to watch any of the new movies in theatres this week or if you’ve already seen any of the movies that have just been released on DVD. What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations for Wed., Feb. 1, 2012

2012-02-01T06:49:00.002-06:00

Temp: 54.1 degrees F (12.3 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches.

Humidity: 84 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Mostly Cloudy.

Winds: Winds out of the Northeast.

Barometric Pressure: 29.73 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 5.2 inches

NOTE: 42nd day of Winter. Small, spider-web-like patches visible on the ground this morning. Also, more birds seemed to be about than usual.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

USGS replies to information request about old survey marker near FC

2012-01-31T16:54:00.003-06:00

Many of you will remember my Jan. 14 post in which I described a U.S. Geological Survey marker that’s a few feet from the dirt driveway that leads to my parents’ house outside Frisco City, Ala. I wrote the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey for more information about the marker and today I’m giving you an update on the interesting responses I received.

For those of you who didn’t read the original post, it mentioned that when I was a boy, my siblings and I used to sit and stand on this survey marker while waiting to catch the school bus. I can remember reading the curious marker hundreds of times as a child.

As things go, I got older and I hadn’t thought about that marker in a long time, that is, until recently when we took a family trip to my parents’ house for the holidays. I walked out to the marker with my kids and told them about how it was just part of the scenery during my bus-catching days.

The metal marker is encased in a small cement cube that’s fixed into the ground. Many of you have likely seen markers of this type because thousands of them have been placed around the country by the U.S. Department of the Interior over the centuries. I know of at least one other one, just off Conecuh County Road 15 in Belleville. Someone also told me that there’s one on top of the Overhead Bridge in Evergreen, but I haven’t personally walked up there (yet) to check it out.

These survey markers, which are sometimes called geodetic markers or benchmarks, are placed to mark key survey points on the earth’s surface and are used for land surveying purposes. The marker near my parents’ home was apparently placed there by surveyors I 1971, and the elevation there is 383 feet above sea level.

Beside this marker, there’s a metal sign on a post that reads as follows – “WITNESS POST – PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB NEARBY SURVEY MARKER – FOR INFORMATION WRITE TO THE DIRECTOR U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR, WASHINGTON D.C. 20242”

I snapped a few pictures of the marker and on the ride home, I got to thinking about what sort of information I might receive if I were to actually write the USGS Director. So later, I did just that. What follows is the letter that I mailed on Jan. 12 in hopes that I could learn more about the marker.

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Thurs., Jan. 12, 2012

Dr. Marcia McNutt
Director, U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240

Dear Dr. McNutt,

Re: USGS Marker

I hope this message finds you doing well. I know that you are extremely busy, and I appreciate you taking the time to read this letter.

I’ve enclosed a few photos of a survey marker that’s near my parents’ house, just outside of Frisco City, Ala. When I was a kid, my siblings and I would often sit or stand on it while waiting for the school bus. I’ve always been curious about the significance of this marker, and while showing it to my children over the holidays, I noticed that it says to write the USGS Director for more information.

My children are elementary school age, and I would appreciate any information you could send us about this marker. I know they’d get a big kick out of it, and I have to admit that I’m curious as well.

I work for a newspaper in Evergreen, Ala., and I’ll probably write a short column based on the information you send back. I know there are other markers like this across the country, and I suspect that our local readers would enjoy reading about them.

In the end, I really appreciate you taking the time to read this letter and thanks in advance for whatever information you can provide.

Respectfully,
Lee Peacock

Enclosures (3)

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When I mailed the letter, I really had no idea if I’d ever receive a reply. For all I knew they received letters like this all the time and didn’t have the time or manpower to respond to all of them.

Fast-forward to last Thursday, when I received a nice e-mail from Doug Thompson, the Chief of the Science Information Services branch of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Office of Communications and Publishing in Reston, Va. His e-mail read as follows:

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Mr. Peacock,

Thank you contacting the USGS regarding the survey marker on your property. Information about benchmarks and other survey markers for the Eastern U.S. are kept in our Rolla, Mo. office. I have faxed your letter to our Rolla office and have called the office chief to let him know it's coming. You should hear back from him very soon, we all love to inform people about our agency and our science, particularly when it involves kids, you can't start them on a science track too soon.

If for some reason you do not hear back in a reasonable time please contact me directly, my contact information is below.

Cheers,
Doug

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On Monday, I received a nice phone call at the office from Keith A. Brady, who works in the USGS’s Office of Communications and Publishing in Rolla, Missouri. We talked for nearly 20 minutes about the history of these survey markers, and he told me a lot I didn’t know. He talked about how the markers are vital to mapmaking, especially in regard to the establishment of elevation contour lines on topographical maps.

He also noted that the locations of these markers are indicated on official USGS maps and that they are typically located in places that are easily distinguished in aerial photos, such as along fencerows, heavily traveled roads, etc. You can download these maps at http://store.usgs.gov.

He also said that you can have a replica made of these markers by a company called MountainClimb’s Geo-Situ Summit Bench Marks. These replicas are somewhat expensive, but are popular among mountain climbers. Each replica is inscribed with the name and elevation of the marker and is made based on photos of the original.

I asked Brady if the USGS had an online database for people to search for information about individual markers and he jokingly replied that they had “a very sophisticated three-drawer filing cabinet database system that’s not currently accessible online.” He was good enough to dig into their records and sent me the following information about the marker near my parents’ home. Here’s what it said:

“FRISCO CITY POST OFFICE, 2.1 MI SOUTH OF, ALONG STATE HIGHWAY 21, THENCE 2.9 MI WEST, THENCE 0.6 MI NORTHWEST; 70 FT NORTH OF, AND 0.9 FT HIGHER THAN CENTERLINE OF ROAD AT DRIVE NORTHWEST; 24 FT NORTHEAST OF CENTERLINE OF DRIVE; 11 FT EAST OF POWER POLE; 1 FT WEST OF FENCE; 0.5 FT WEST OF METAL WITNESS POST; IN CONCRETE POST; STANDARD TABLET STAMPED "91 RAP 1971 383" PAINTED "BM 382.6" 382.545 FEET (DATUM OF 1929)”

In the end, I appreciate Brady and Thompson taking the time to reply to my information request. They both seemed eager to share information about the services offered by the USGS, and it was fun to gather more detailed information about a marker that I used to sit on while waiting to catch the school bus.

How many of you out there are familiar with these markers? Do you know of any in your neighborhood? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations for Tues., Jan. 31, 2012

2012-01-31T06:55:00.003-06:00

Temp: 47.7 degrees F (8.7 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches.

Humidity: 60 percent (Normal)

Conditions: Mostly Cloudy.

Winds: Winds out of the East-Southeast.

Barometric Pressure: 29.85 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 5.2 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 5.2 inches

NOTE: 41st day of Winter. First Quarter Moon. Last day of the deer and woodcock hunting seasons.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

FICTION - Eli McMorn and The Tunnel - Part IV

2012-01-30T20:36:00.002-06:00

I was on my back, and Stewart was on top of me. I was overpowered by his strength, and he held me down with ease. He hissed once more like an angry cat and flashed his razor-sharp fangs. The display jolted my brain into action. Moments before, when he threw me across the tunnel and onto my back, I’d dropped my flashlight, but not my gun.

Stewart grabbed the side of my head with powerful hands and turned it to the side to expose the flesh of my neck. He was straddling me and my left hand was pinned, but my right hand held the gun. He lowered his mouth to my throat, and that’s when I fired all six shots into his stomach.

The muffled shots were loud in the tunnel, and Stewart yowled in pain. He clutched his stomach, rose and staggered back. A wound like that would have killed or disabled any normal man, but Stewart regrouped quickly. My flashlight had come to rest only a few feet away, so rolled toward it and picked it up.

I trained its beam on Stewart in time to see him approaching with bloody, outstretched hands. His fingers looked like claws, and his mouth was a fang-filled hole. It was then that I remembered that there was an old fashioned pistol inside of Stewart’s camera bag.

I could see the bag behind Stewart, and in desperation, I switched off the flashlight. Next, I threw the empty handgun to Stewart’s left to make him think that I’d ran in that direction. I then bolted around his right side for the bag. I heard him grab for me despite the complete darkness, but he missed when I slipped headlong in the guano that covered the tunnel’s floor.

I recovered quickly and bear-crawled toward the camera bag. Stewart grabbed the tail of my jacket, pulled hard and the jacket came half way off my shoulders. I lunged for the bag and reached for it with my free hand. In the same instant, I turned on the light, and Stewart protested with a loud hiss.

I saw the gun inside, and my guts turned to ice water when I considered that it might be empty. I lunged again, but Stewart yanked me back hard. I clutched at the bag, and it turned over. Its contents went everywhere, and I caught a glimpse of the gun falling into the shadows on the other side of the tracks.

Stewart stood over me then with the tail of my jacket in my hands. Almost as if he meant to yank me to my feet, he jerked back hard, so hard in fact that he pulled the coat completely off my back. By some miracle, I held on to the flashlight. How it didn’t come out of my hand when it passed through the jacket’s sleeve, I’ll never know.

A moment of confusion ensued, and I made another attempt for the gun. I scrambled in the muck and over the tracks. The beam of the flashlight fell on the gun, and I snatched it up. A brief glimpse at the gun told me that its muzzle was packed with guano and filth, but there was no time to clean it.

I spun and pulled the trigger. I half expected to hear the impotent click of the hammer against the firing pin, but instead the small gun roared in my hand. The flashlight in my left hand shook, but I could still see where the round punctuated Stewart’s shirt in the center of his chest.

Stewart yowled and smoke began to issue from the wound. He tore at it with his claws and continued forward. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as I unloaded the weapon into Stewart’s looming form. In all, I fired five shots. The sixth misfired even when I pulled the trigger two more times.

Stewart stopped his advance and dropped to his knees. I backed up and watched as smoke billowed from his wounds. Snorting great breaths from his nose, like an injured bull, he ignored me and tried to remove the rounds from his chest with his long fingernails. In the brief time that I watched, he dug into one of the wounds and removed a silver-colored slug. He even inspected it briefly, holding it between his gore-covered index finger and thumb. The bullet was badly misshapened, and caused his fingers to burn and smoke.

He discarded it and tried to remove another one. That’s when it dawned on me that my only real chance of survival was to run. I switched off the flashlight again and ran to the opposite side of the tunnel. I hoped to avoid him and run for the entrance. Klutch’s patrol car was a mile or so back down the tracks at the railroad crossing on Tunnel Road.

Just as I passed Stewart, I heard a great rustle of clothes as he jumped to his feet and began to chase me. Another rustling sound came to my ears, and I realized much too late that it was the sound of my boots wrapping up in the jacket that Stewart had torn from my back only moments before.

I went down hard, and the side of my head struck hard against one of the grimy, iron tracks. A wave of nausea swept over me as I almost passed out. Again, I’d held on to my flashlight somehow, and I switched it on as I flipped onto my back. I was exhausted and had little strength to resist when Stewart attacked me seconds later.

He straddled me and this time, he pinned both of my arms under his knees and legs. I dropped my flashlight, but could see in the ambient glow the smoke still issuing from the bullet wounds in his chest.

Once more, he gripped my head with both hands and turned it to expose the side of my throat. He flashed his fangs and hissed as he began to move in for the kill. Suddenly, there was a noise from close by, and Stewart rose slightly and half-turned in reaction to the sound. His eyes went wide though in the next instant when a great wooden stake penetrated the front of his shirt.

A great fount of stinking, putrid gore flowed from the wound and in the half-light, I saw one of the smoking slugs fall from the fresh wound caused by the wooden stake. Stewart was bolt upright, and his eyes seemed empty as he examined the large piece of wood that was lodged in his chest.

I pushed him off with one great shove and he fell to the side. Behind him, illuminated in the eerie glow of my flashlight was Detective Klutch. His broad shoulders heaved up and down as he tried to catch his breath. In his left hand, he held another wooden stake and in his right was the mallet I’d seen earlier in Stewart’s camera bag.

I got to my feet and picked up the flashlight. We stood over Stewart’s body for a minute or so and watched him. He gurgled now and again, and eventually Klutch threw down the mallet and stake. “Go and get your camera,” he said. He pulled another flashlight from his jacket and switched it on as I set off down the tunnel in search of my digital camera.

I found it several hundred feet back. As luck would have it, I’d somehow managed to drop it earlier in one of the few spots in the tunnel that wasn’t covered by either water or guano. I picked it up and brushed it off. “Hurry up, McMorn!” Klutch yelled. “Something’s happening.”

I shouldered my camera and set off back in his direction in a jog. I came around the bend of the tunnel and saw Klutch looking back. “Hurry up and get some pictures,” he said. I looked down and saw that something strange was happening to Stewart’s body. It seemed to be breaking down or liquefying somehow. I snapped picture after picture with my camera as thin tendrils of smoke began to rise from his clothes and skin.

Five minutes later, there was nothing left of his body, only his clothes, and they were badly damaged. His clothes looked rotten, as if they’d been buried in a hot, jungle cemetery for a decade or so. “You got shots of all that?” Klutch asked.

“Yeah, I’d say 50 or 60.”

“Good, because nobody’s going to believe us without those pics.”

We walked back to his car, and he drove us to his office in the basement of the Claiborne Police Station. There, we downloaded the pictures from my camera onto Klutch’s desktop computer. None of them turned out. Those of Stewart’s body were either blurred or pixilated. Klutch told me to go home and get a shower. He never mentioned that night to me again, and as far as I know, Stewart’s disappearance remains an active missing persons case.

Yesterday's News from The Evergreen Courant - Jan. 30, 2012

2012-01-30T08:15:00.001-06:00

24 YEARS AGO
JAN. 28, 1988

“Mrs. Hugh ‘Dot’ Mason was one of those instrumental in getting this historical marker placed at the site of the ‘Old Flag Tree,’ a landmark of 19th century near Old Town (turn left at Old Town Baptist Church). The site is on the old original Stallworth property on the original Sparta Road from Travis Bridge to Old Sparta. The Flag Tree was at the site of an Indian battleground and was distinctive as all of the branches on one side had been torn away causing the tree to look like a flag from a distance. It was last known standing in 1912. About 1/4-mile down the road stands the old home of the late William Thomas and Pearl Stallworth Mason and the home of the late Ralph, Author, Carl and Hugh Mason. The property is presently owned by The McMillan Co. of Brewton and Ed Leigh McMillan II gave permission to place this marker.”

“Mrs. Emily Brogden welcomes Mrs. Armelia Oliver, a new program assistant, to Conecuh County Extension Servie. Mrs. Oliver will be responsible for teaching nutrition to pregnant mothers, both adults and teenagers. Through this program it is hoped to improve the health of infants and reduce the infant mortality rate in Conecuh County.”

“LaKenya Mitchell was first place winner in the Southside Elementary School Spelling Bee held Jan. 20. She is in Mrs. Bodiford’s fourth grade class. Shimeka McCreary was the alternate winner. She is in Mrs. Richardson’s fifth grade class.”

39 YEARS AGO
JAN. 25, 1973

“Irby F. Thomas of Rt. C Evergreen holds what he says is a ‘bezeal’ or ‘mad’ stone. He is 69 and says the stone has been in his family as long as he can remember. It is supposed to have come from a reindeer’s stomach and the old timers said if a person was bitten by a rabid dog, the stone could be put on the wound and would draw the poison out. The stone is acorn-shaped, brown with a lighter tip.”

“Sparta chooses Miss and Mr. SA: Last Thursday, the students of Sparta Academy elected Mr. and Miss SA. Miss Sharron Windham, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Moye Windham, was chosen Miss SA. Gary McInvale, son of Mr. and Mrs. David McInvale, was elected Mr. SA. Ten candidates from the senior class were nominated by the faculty according to character. The students then voted for the candidates that they thought best represented the school.”

“Down she goes! This old frame warehouse building behind Wild Brothers Hardware Co. on Court Street came tumbling down this week. Here workmen peel off the tin roof prior to razing the building. The old building is being replaced by a modern steel warehouse erected for Wild Bros. by Commercial Buildings Steel Co. of Mobile.”

“Navy Petty Officer Third Class Larry L. Andrews, son of Roland Andrews of Rt. D, Evergreen, is in the Western Pacific aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, U.S.S. Enterprise.
“Recently, the Big ‘E’ made her first visit in four years to Hong Kong, where her crew spent seven days relaxing, shopping and enjoying the many exotic sites of this Crown Colony.”

54 YEARS AGO
JAN. 23, 1958

“A fire swept through a warehouse on Carey Street Tuesday afternoon causing damage estimated at about $15,000. The blaze was thought to have been started from a trash fire burning near the building.
“The building belonged to Mrs. Rube Millsap Jr. and was being used for storage by the Steven Robert Corp., local drapery manufacturing plant.”

“The Evergreen Chamber of Commerce will hold its fourth annual banquet tonight at the Evergreen High School Lunchroom, according to President Lawton Kamplain who will preside over the meeting.
“Pleas Looney, former head of the State Industrial Development Board, will be the featured speaker.”

“Alabama February Call To Beckon 336 Youths: State Selective Service Director James W. ‘Jimmie’ Jones said today that 336 Alabamians would be the state’s share of a national quota of 13,000 men. Conecuh will call four men.”

“Conecuh Representative R.G. ‘Bob’ Kendall Jr. formally announced this week that at the proper time he will qualify to run for the office of State Senator from the 17th District. Rep. Kendall said that he would qualify for the office shortly after the state and county Democratic Executive Committees meet.
“The 17th District is composed of Butler, Covington and Conecuh counties.”

69 YEARS AGO
JAN. 28, 1943

“Frisco City’s Founder Dies Early Saturday: FRISCO CITY, Ala. – The Rev. James W. Jones, one of south Alabama’s best known citizens, died here Saturday at the age of 85 years.
“He was founder and pioneer citizen of Frisco City, which formerly was known as Jones Mill, and in more than 50 years devoted to the ministry throughout Alabama, Florida and Georgia was the spiritual leader and friend of hosts of persons. He was a moderator of the Antioch Primitive Baptist Association for 45 consecutive years and until his death.
“During the first World War, four of his sons were in the Army. At the present time, he has nine grandsons in the service of their country.
“Mr. Jones served Monroe County, Ala. as a member of the Board of Revenue and jury commissioners. He represented the county in the state legislature during the session of 1901, and again during the session of 1911. For several years, he was a trustee of the State Teachers’ College at Troy.”

“Ten Die In Crash Near Flomaton: MOBILE, Jan. 27 – Brig. Gen. Carlyle H. Wash, 53, whose career of more than a quarter of a century as a flying officer spanned many posts of high command, was killed with nine other airmen in the flaming crash of their plane a few miles east of here yesterday.
“The ship, a twin-motored Army transport, plunged into a wooded area seven miles from Flomaton, Ala., near the Florida-Alabama line during a heavy rainstorm.”

84 YEARS AGO
JAN. 26. 1928

“Edward L. Potts, who lives near Owassa, in this county, is making formal announcement in this issue of The Courant of his candidacy for Circuit Clerk of Conecuh County.”

“Tax Collector J.R. Kelley asks that those who are subject to pay poll tax and have not already done so, bear in mind that Wed., Feb. 1, is the last day upon which this tax may be paid. If you want to participate in the important elections to be held this year, take advantage of the few days left to discharge this requirement.”

“RABID PUP BITES 9 PERSONS HERE: Six months old pup belonging to the family of Knud Nielsen bit nine persons here last week, before dying sometime Friday. The head was carried to Montgomery Saturday and upon test showed rabies.
“Those who were bitten and are now taking treatment are: Mr. and Mrs. Knud Nielsen and children, Valgurta and Knud Jr., Mr. Julius Nielsen, Mrs. J.O. Stapp, Ruth Moorer, Lamar Moorer Jr. and Juanita Yeoman.”

“Monday morning found the Western Union Telegraph office in its new quarters located between O.C. McGehee’s and the Arcade Theater on West Front Street. The pretty little building occupied was constructed by Mr. W.M. Newton and is well finished inside and out. The new office provides much more room and in many ways is an improvement over the small office formerly occupied in the front of the post office building.”

Daily Weather Observations for Mon., Jan. 30, 2012

2012-01-30T06:49:00.002-06:00

Temp: 37.9 degrees F (3.3 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches.

Humidity: 65 percent (Normal)

Conditions: Clear with trace clouds.

Winds: Calm.

Barometric Pressure: 29.94 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 5.2 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 5.2 inches

NOTE: 40th day of Winter. Southwest Alabama is also under a Fire Weather Warning from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Jet contrail also visible this morning. Frost on ground and vehicles.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

'Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor' book appears on best-sellers list

2012-01-29T06:57:00.001-06:00

It’s Sunday, so that means that it’s time for my weekly review of this week’s Publishers Weekly Best-Seller List. According to the list, there are three new books at the top of the four major best-sellers lists this week.

"Private: Number 1 Suspect" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro replaced "Believing the Lie" by Elizabeth George as the No. 1 book on the hardcover fiction best-sellers list.

"Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America" by Mark R. Levin replaced "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History" by Chris Kyle, Jim DeFelice and Scott McEwen as the top book on the hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list.

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer replaced "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson as the No. 1 book on the trade paperbacks best-sellers list.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson remained the top book on the mass market paperback best-sellers list.

There are four books on this week’s hardcover fiction best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They (along with their place on the list) include "Death of Kings: A Novel" by Bernard Cornwell (2), "Raylan: A Novel" by Elmore Leaonard (7), "The Rope: An Anna Pigeon Novel" by Nevada Barr (9) and "Shadows in Flight" by Orson Scott Card (10).

There are three books on this week’s hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They include "Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America" by Mark R. Levin (1), "The End of Illness' by David Agus (3) and "The Psychology of Wealth: Understand Your Relationship with Money and Achieve Prosperity" by Charles L. Richards (5).

There are three books on this week’s mass market paperbacks best-sellers list that weren’t on that list last week. They include "Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor" by Dick Couch and George Galdorisi (10), "On Lavender Lane: A Shelter Bay Novel" by JoAnn Ross (12) and "A Storm of Swords" by George R.R. Martin (15).

There are two books on this week’s trade paperbacks best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They include "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander and Cornel West (12) and "Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--Turned Its Back on the Middle Class" by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson (15).

As a reminder, I’m posting these lists each Sunday because they, as a whole, represent a great, contemporary recommended reading list. These lists are initially released each week on Thursday, and if you’re interested in reading them then, visit Publishers Weekly’s Web site at www.publishersweekly.com. Below you’ll find all four of this week’s best-seller lists.

HARDCOVER FICTION
1. "Private: Number 1 Suspect" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
2. "Death of Kings: A Novel" by Bernard Cornwell
3. "Believing the Lie" by Elizabeth George
4. "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" by Stieg Larsson
5. "Death Comes to Pemberley" by P.D. James
6. "11/22/63" by Stephen King
7. "Raylan: A Novel" by Elmore Leaonard
8. "The Litigators" by John Grisham
9. "The Rope: An Anna Pigeon Novel" by Nevada Barr
10. "Shadows in Flight" by Orson Scott Card
11. "Gideon's Corpse" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
12. "Star Wars: Darth Plagueis" by James Luceno
13. "Locked On" by Tom Clancy and Mark Greany
14. "The Best of Me" by Nicholas Sparks
15. "Love in a Nutshell" by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly

HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. "Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America" by Mark R. Levin
2. "American Sniper" by Chris Kyle, Jim DeFelice and Scott McEwen
3. "The End of Illness' by David Agus
4. "Steve Jobs: A Biography" by Walter Isaacson
5. "The Psychology of Wealth" by Charles L. Richards
6. "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
7. "Through My Eyes" by Tim Tebow with Nathan Whitaker
8. "Taking People with You" by David Novak
9. "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand
10. "Deliciously G-Free" by Elisabeth Hasselbeck
11. "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman
12. "The Obamas" by Jodi Kantor
13. "The 17 Day Diet" by Dr. Mike Moreno
14. "Sexperiment" by Ed Young and Lisa Young
15. "Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch" by Sally Bedell Smith

MASS MARKET PAPERBACKS
1. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson
2. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson
3. "The Jefferson Key" by Steve Berry
4. "The Sentry" by Robert Crais
5. "Hidden Summit" by Robyn Carr
6. "You...Again" by Debbie Macomber
7. "Trader of Secrets: A Paul Madriani Novel" by Steve Martini
8. "A Game of Thrones' by George R.R. Martin
9. "Minding Frankie" by Maeve Binchy
10. "Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor" by Dick Couch and George Galdorisi
11. "Smokin' Seventeen" by Janet Evanovich
12. "On Lavender lane: A shelter Bay Novel" by JoAnn Ross
13. "Skeleton Coast" by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul
14. "Spirit Bound" by Christine Feehan
15. "A Storm of Swords" by George R.R. Martin

TRADE PAPERBACKS
1. "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer
2. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
3. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson
4. "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo, Sonja Burpo, Colton Burpo and Lynn Vincent
5. "Bossypants" by Tina Fey
6. "The Tiger's Wife: A Novel" by Tea Obreht
7. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson
8. "Assholes Finish First" by Tucker Max
9. "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: A George Smiley Novel" by John LeCarre
10. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
11. "10th Anniversary" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
12. "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander and Cornel West
13. "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
14. "Night Road" Kristin Hannah
15. "Winner-Take-AllPolitics" by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson

In the end, let me know if you’ve had a chance to read any of these books. What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations for Sun., Jan. 29, 2012

2012-01-29T06:53:00.003-06:00

Temp: 34.9 degrees F (1.6 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches.

Humidity: 68 percent (Normal)

Conditions: Clear with a few thin, trace clouds in the east, southeast.

Winds: Winds out of the North-Northwest.

Barometric Pressure: 29.96 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 1.8 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 5.2 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 5.2 inches

NOTE: 39th day of Winter. Today is also the last day of the duck and goose hunting seasons in Alabama. Southwest Alabama is also under a Fire Weather Warning from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Del Torro's 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark' was a good, creepy thriller

2012-01-28T14:16:00.001-06:00

I watched a horror movie the other day that I’ve wanted to see for a while, “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” and I was more than a little pleased by the overall quality of this movie. If you like a good, creepy thriller, you should check this one out.

“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” is about a young girl named Sally, who moves from California to live with her father and his girlfriend in Rhode Island. Her father is remodeling their home, which is a huge, old Victorian mansion that was originally owned by a famous wildlife painter. The painter vanished without a trace under mysterious circumstances and when Sally arrives on the scene she accidentally releases a host of murderous “tooth fairies” who were imprisoned deep beneath the house.

My biggest reason for wanting to see this movie was because it was co-written by Guillermo del Torro, who directed both “Hellboy” movies. Many of you who saw “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” will remember the “tooth fairies” in that film. The creatures in “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” are similar to those except they don’t have wings and are arguably of nastier disposition.

“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” was released in August of last year and was directed by Troy Nixen, who is also a famous comic book artist and writer. Matthew Robbins and del Toro wrote the screenplay, and the cast included Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison, Nicholas Bell, Julie Blake, Alan Dale, James Mackay, Garry McDonald, Edwina Ritchard and Jack Thompson.

I loved that this movie also referenced Welsh author Arthur Machen. When Holmes’ character visits the local library to investigate the disappearance of the mansion’s former owner, Machen’s stories are mentioned specifically by the librarian in regard to the origin of the “tooth fairies.” For those of you who are unfamiliar with Machen, his stories are awesome, especially “The Hill of Dreams.”

Machen was also a huge influence on horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, and I thought that it was interesting that the movie was set in Rhode Island, which is Lovecraft’s native state. Del Toro is a huge Lovecraft fan and there has been talk of him directing a long overdue movie version of Lovecraft’s famous novel, “At the Mountains of Madness.” “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” also had a similar plot to a famous Lovecraft story called, “The Rats in the Walls.”

“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” also reminded me of Joe Hill’s recent “Locke & Key” graphic novel series. The “Locke & Key” series by Hill, aka Stephen King’s son, is set in a mysterious, old country mansion called “Keyhouse,” which is located in the fictional town of Lovecraft, Mass.

In the end, I enjoyed “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” and would recommend it to any horror fans in the reading audience. How many of you have had the chance to watch this movie? What did you think about it? Did you like it or dislike it? Why? Let us know in the comments section below.

For more information about “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” visit its official Web site at www.dontbeafraidofthedark.com.

Daily Weather Observations for Sat., Jan. 28, 2012

2012-01-28T06:50:00.002-06:00

Temp: 41.0 degrees F (5.0 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches.

Humidity: 75 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Clear.

Winds: Calm.

Barometric Pressure: 29.72 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 1.8 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 5.2 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 5.2 inches

NOTE: 38th day of Winter. Ground still very wet after rains day before yesterday. Light frost also seen on top of house and some spots on the ground.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

'Forgotten Tales of Alabama' is full of entertaining legends and lore

2012-01-27T07:17:00.003-06:00

If you enjoy reading about ghosts, UFOs, Bigfoot and the Bermuda Triangle, then I invite you to check out a great book called “Forgotten Tales of Alabama” by Kelly Kazek.

Published in September 2010 by The History Press, this 190-page book includes more than a few bizarre and entertaining “tales that have existed only in rumor, anecdote, legend and lore.” The book is illustrated by Kyle McQueen.

Kazek’s name may sound familiar to many of you. A few weeks ago, around Christmas time, you may have seen a review in this space of her recently published book, “Christmas Tales of Alabama.” That book was really good and so was “Forgotten Tales of Alabama.”

Kazek lives in Madison and serves as the managing editor of The News-Courier newspaper in Athens. In more than 20 years as a journalist, she’s won more than 130 national and state press awards.

Stories in “Forgotten Tales of Alabama” feature an entertaining mix of tales, and are divided into five categories – Colorful Characters, Strange Sites, Intriguing Incidents, Tombstone Tales and Curious Creatures and Odd Occurrences.

I especially liked the chapter in which Kazek details a number of famous UFO reports from over the years and from across the state. These reports include a famous Feb. 11, 1989 case in which more than 50 Fyffe residents, including several police officers, reported seeing UFOs. The mysterious triangle or crescent-shaped objects were seen flying overhead, and reportedly didn’t make any sounds. Others say the UFOs were shaped like bananas, while others said they were lined with green lights.

The story was eventually reported by hundreds of news outlets around the world, and the incident was never fully explained. Fyffe’s residents took it all in stride, and they now hold an annual event called the Fyffe UFO Days, which features a hot air balloon festival.

I also liked the portions of Kazek’s book that discussed mysterious creatures like the Coaling Bigfoot, the Red-Eyed Gargoyle of Selma, Huggin’ Molly, the Alabama White Thing and the Wolf Woman of Mobile.

The most intriguing and unusual of these is the story of the Alabama White Thing, sightings of which have been reported since the 1940s in Morgan, Etowah and Jefferson counties. Witnesses say that this creature is seven feet tall and covered in solid, white hair. It’s sometimes described as having no eyes or ears. Other says that it moves extremely quickly and makes an eerie screech like a woman screaming or a panther.

In the end, I really enjoyed Kazek’s book, and I highly recommend it to anyone in the reading audience who’s interested in reading farfetched and unusual tales from within Alabama’s borders. If you like books like “13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey” by Kathryn Tucker Windham, you’re sure to enjoy “Forgotten Tales of Alabama.”

You might also want to check out some of Kazek’s other books. They include “Christmas Tales of Alabama,” “Fairly Odd Mother: Musings of a Slightly Off Southern Mom,” “Hidden History of Auburn,” “Forgotten Tales of Alabama,” “Forgotten Tales of Tennessee,” “A History of Alabama’s Deadliest Tornadoes: Disaster in Dixie,” and “Images of America: Athens and Limestone County.”

Daily Weather Observations for Fri., Jan. 27, 2012

2012-01-27T06:52:00.002-06:00

Temp: 50.4 degrees F (10.2 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 1.2 inches.

Humidity: 75 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Mostly Clear with a few scattered clouds.

Winds: Winds out of the Northwest.

Barometric Pressure: 29.53 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 1.8 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 5.2 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 5.2 inches

NOTE: 37th day of Winter. Ground still very wet after yesterday's rains.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

'Mystery Booms' continue this week in Conecuh, Monroe and Clarke counties

2012-01-26T08:26:00.002-06:00

Another round of “mystery booms” were reported during the past week in Conecuh, Monroe and Clarke counties and while many theories have circulated about the cause of these ongoing noises, no one has come forward with a definite answer.

Several witnesses, including Courant employee Kristie Garner, reported hearing an extremely loud, unexplained “boom” last Thursday around 7 p.m.

“It seemed like three separate booms,” Garner said. “When the first one started, I thought, ‘Is that thunder?’ But then it kept going and finally stopped. (It) happened one or two more times. I finally went outside to hear better, but it had stopped. It was creepy.”

Witnesses also heard the noises in Monroe County and as far away as Grove Hill.

Jim Cox, the publisher of the Clarke County Democrat in Grove Hill and South Alabamian newspaper in Jackson, told The Courant this week that the booms were heard in Clarke County around 6 p.m. last Thursday.

“Several long and repeated booms rattled the windows and shook the dishes,” he said. “I opened a yard gate about the time one hit, and my black lab was out the gate and gone. It took an hour to get him back in.”

Last Thursday’s reports of the unexplained “booms” come just over two months after a similar unexplained noise that occurred around 11:33 p.m. on Nov. 18. That noise was heard over a wide area in western Conecuh County and eastern Monroe County. On that occasion, the noise was heard by witnesses from Repton to Monroeville and as far south as Goodway and Wildfork in Monroe County.

The noises have been heard on multiple occasions by scores of witnesses since Nov. 18 and have also been reported in The Monroe Journal newspaper in Monroeville.

Theories about the possible causes of the unexplained sounds vary and include the off-burning of oil rigs, seismographic testing, high-speed naval aircraft, UFOs and meteorites. Or it could be the work of a handful of brave pranksters who are setting off homemade cannons or other explosive devices. No evidence has been found to support any of those theories. One man suggested that the noises are being caused by individuals setting off explosives to destroy beaver dams on private property.

One new theory that has been proposed this week is that the noises are “brontides,” which are unexplained deep, booming noises that are often associated with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Episodes of these explosive noises of natural origin have been well documented often in association with seismic activity and in a few cases as precursors of major earthquakes.

Could southwest Alabama be headed for a major earthquake?

The idea may not sound so farfetched when you consider that there have been an increasing number of recorded earthquakes in southwest Alabama, according to state emergency management officials.

According to “Earthquake Awareness for Alabama Residents,” which was published by the state EMA office, "One of these (earthquakes) was a 4.9 magnitude event on October 24, 1997, in Escambia County. This was the largest quake at that time recorded by seismographs in Alabama and the largest in the Southeast in the preceeding 30 years.

“Historically, the southwestern part of Alabama has had minimal seismic activity, but this quake indicates activity on the BFSZ, an ancient basement fault zone that underlies the area.”

In the end, readers are encouraged to contact The Courant if they have any information about the causes of these unexplained noises. The Courant can be reached by phone at 251-578-1492 or by email at courantsports@earthlink.net. To contact The Courant by mail, write The Evergreen Courant, ATTN: Lee Peacock, P.O. Box 440, Evergreen, AL 36401.

The Evergreen Courant's Sports Flashback for Jan. 26, 2012

2012-01-26T08:23:00.000-06:00

24 YEARS AGO
JAN. 28, 1988

“Escambia’s Junior Girls got by Sparta, 23-18. Christy Wright led Sparta with six points. Kaye Salter and Daphne Baggett had four each and Kimberly Griffin and Pam Brown, two each.
“Escambia’s Lady Cougars edged the Lady Warriors, 42-40 in spite of a 20-point effort by Kim Searcy. Shawn Hammonds had 14 points. Julie Johnson, four, and Abbie Till, two, for Sparta.
“Sparta’s Junior Varsity Boys lost to Escambia, 40-26. Wayne Cook and Steven Gall led Sparta with six points each. Jeff Brundage had five; Jerry Cotton, four; Richard Weaver and Mark Watts, two each; and Neil Sanford, one.
“The Cougar Varsity Boys outshot Sparta, 60-48. Toby Baggett with 15 points and Brad Watts with 11 led the Warriors. Jeff Carrier had eight points; Robbie Bolton, seven; Craig Blackburn, four; Jamie Atkins, two; and Chris Davis, one.”

“Billy Hamilton got these racks in a most unusual manner. He was in a tree stand using one of the new deer grunts when the 12-pointer and the 10-pointer both came up. Being a good sportsman, Billy knew he could kill only one of the two big deer. While he was trying to decide which one to kill, the deer fought and killed each other while Billy grunted. The deer bearing the eight-point rack came up while Billy was in a tree stand bowhunting and again using the new grunt. The buck got so frustrated because he couldn’t find what he thought was another deer grunting that he butted himself to death on the tree. And, that’s the truth, according to Billy Hamilton.”

39 YEARS AGO
JAN. 25, 1973

“The Evergreen High Aggies blasted T.R. Miller of Brewton, 63-35, Tuesday night to run their undefeated season record to 21-0. David Thomas fired 17 points to pace the Aggies. Lemond Jones had 12; Cleve Fields, 11; David Carroll, 10; Wavie Ausby, seven; and Eddie Stallworth, four.
“Evergreen is coached by Charles Branum and last weekend won its third tournament of the season. The Aggies won the Thanksgiving Tournament at Repton, Christmas Tournament at Evergreen and South Alabama Conference Tournament in Andalusia.
“Coach Branum was at Pineapple for two seasons before coming to Evergreen and his teams there won 46 games and the district championship in 1967. His overall record in seven years as a coach is an impressive one with 120 wins and only 30 losses.
“Coach Branum is a native of Monroe County and a graduate of Monroe County High School.”

“How many of these Evergreen High Aggies of either 1926 or 1927 can you recognize? Circuit Clerk Leon A. Salter who let The Courant use this picture identifies the football players of nearly 50 years ago as McLain Dreaden, Frank Hagood, Virgil McCreary, Ellis Shannon, Hardy Gaston, Watson Spence, Wright Dunn and John Hanks; Flowers Northcutt, Leon Salter, R.J. Guy, Gibson Edson, Douglas Nelson, Oris Jones, Willie Tippin and Carl Guy, Coach Tommy Belser, Principal W.B. Sexton, Mabry Murphy, Thomas ‘Insect’ Walter, Spud Holman, Rube Millsap Jr., Melvin Pierce and John C. Holman.”

54 YEARS AGO
JAN. 23, 1958

“Coach Lee Owen Dees’ Castleberry Blue Devils won it all in the annual county tournament held at Lyeffion last Thursday and Friday night. The Conecuh County High teams won both the varsity and the ‘B’ team division of the meet.
“Friday night in the championship game the Blue Devils had little trouble disposing of Repton, racking up a 48 to 20 decision. Charles Heaton led the scoring with 12 points as eight members of the Blue Devil squad got in the scoring act. David Castleberry had nine points; Leon Edwards, seven; Wilson McCreary and Billy Garner, six each; Gordon Sims, four; and Frank Weaver and Butch Geck, two each.
“Barry Ryland hit for nine points to lead the Bulldogs with J.C. Brantley adding six; Wayne Baggett and Alvin Goneke, two each; and Guy Miniard, one.
“Castleberry advanced into the tournament finals without any trouble disposing of Lyeffion by a 45 to 24 count in the first round. Repton drew a bye.
“Gordon Sims with 18 and Charles Heaton with 16 furnished the bulk of the Castleberry offense. Frank Weaver contributed six points and David Castleberry, five.
“Coker and Cook bagged six points each to lead Lyeffion. Robert Dees had five; Riley, four; House, two; and Frazier, one.
“Castleberry dominated the All-County ‘A’ Team as selected by the coaches with three men on the squad. David Castleberry, Charles Heaton and Gordon Sims were all named to the honor quint. Repton’s Barry Ryland and Lyeffion’s Robert Dees were also honored.”

69 YEARS AGO
JAN. 28, 1943

“Aggies Defeat All Star Team 51 to 12: Coach E.L. McInnis’s Evergreen Aggies defeated a makeshift all star aggregation composed of three former EHS performers and several other young men around town, 51 to 12. The game started off rather slowly, but the Aggies found themselves and held a 16 to 1 edge at the half. Coming back fast in the last stanza the school boys snowed the stars under, with Thames, Johnson and Huey setting a blistering pace the oldsters couldn’t keep up with. Johnson racked up 18, Thames, 16, and Huey, 13, points for scoring honors of the night. Seaman First Class Otis Johnson paced the stars with seven. The Aggies superior pass work and tight defensive playing were the factors in their triumph.
“Friday night, Jan. 29, the Aggies will tangle with the Jay High School quintet from Florida. A fast, close and exciting game is promised. Immediately following this attraction, which starts at seven, will be a square dance at eight o’clock. Admission (for game): Students, 15 cents, others 25 cents.”

84 YEARS AGO
JAN. 26, 1928

“NEWS FROM THE SCHOOL ON THE HILL: The boys team from the school on the hill journeyed to Jones Mill and captured a close basketball game from the Millers. Those who saw our boys in action were fully impressed by the fact that Coach Robinson has rounded out a very smooth running quintet. Their attack was varied and furious while their defense was air tight. Watch out boys as they run over McKenzie next Friday.”

“The Boys Athletic Club is an organization formed by Coach Robinson and the boys who participate in athletics. The meetings are held weekly. The programs consist of discussions of everything related to athletics. The boys are taught how to train for athletics and the proper kind of food for an athlete to eat. They discuss the different teams of the country and their prospects.
“Coach Robinson is the Honorary President of the Club. The officers elected were: Raymond Holman, President; Caude Murphy, Vice-President; Joe Hagood, Secretary-Treasurer.
“The boys are deriving much benefit from this club. It is in every way a top-notch organization. They are learning many details that they would be ignorant of if they didn’t belong to this organization. Every question concerning athletics that a member of this organization asks is given due consideration and is answered intelligently. The club is increasing its members in sports, and it is becoming very popular throughout the entire school.”

“The City School Boys Basketball team has had a rather successful season thus far.
“Here is a list of their games and scores: Jr. High 18, City School 12; Paul 4, City School 2; Mt. Union 9, City School 31; Mt. Union 16, City School 21; Lenox 16, City School 23.
“The Lenox game was played on our court Fri., Jan. 20.
“It proved a very interesting game, with hard playing on each side. It was only in the last quarter that our boys gained a comfort lead.
“The City School teams plays Paul on our court Jan. 27 and Castleberry Feb. 3. Bear these dates in mind and see our games.”

Compiled by Sports Reporter Lee Peacock from past issues of The Evergreen Courant. To read The Courant’s weekly Sports Flashback feature online, visit leepeacock2010.blogspot.com.

Who will win this year's Super Bowl - the Patriots or the Giants?

2012-01-26T08:22:00.002-06:00

The stage is now set for this year’s Super Bowl, which will be played on Sun., Feb. 5, in Indianapolis, starting at 5:20 p.m.

The New York Giants beat the San Francisco 49ers, 20-17, in overtime Sunday to clinch the NFC title. Earlier on Sunday, the New England Patriots beat the Baltimore Raves, 23-20, to win the AFC title.

Many of you will remember the last time that the Giants faced the Patriots in the Super Bowl. That was in 2008 when New England entered the title game with a perfect record only to have its dream season ended by Eli Manning and the Giants.

I suspect that the Patriots will be out for a little revenge this year, and I think they’ll be too much for the Giants to handle this year.

Even my Magic Eight Ball agreed. When I asked it if the Patriots would win the Super Bowl this year, its answer was “Absolutely!”

Both teams include players with Alabama ties.

Patriots players with Alabama connections include former Alabama defensive ends Mark Anderson and Brandon Deaderick.

Giants players with Alabama ties include former Troy wide receiver Jerrel Jernigan, former Troy kicker Lawrence Tynes, former Troy defensive end Osi Umenyiora and former Alabama State cornerback Michael Coe.

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During the past week, the state tourism department also released its list of Top 10 events for the month of February and this month’s list includes a couple of sports-related items.

The Mercedes-Benz Marathon Weekend will be held Feb. 10-12 in Birmingham with the race to be held on Feb. 12. On Feb. 24, the 25th Annual Shelby County Cattlemen’s Rodeo will be held in Columbiana. The rodeo event features chuck wagon races, bull riding, calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling and bareback riding.

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Also during the past week, the Alabama Sports Writers Association named Daphne running back T.J. Yeldon as the 30th recipient of the ASWA’s Mr. Football Award.

Yeldon was a great player at Daphne and Alabama Crimson Tide fans in the audience will be happy to hear that the 6-foot-2, 210-pound running back has already enrolled at The Capstone.

As the winner of the Mr. Football Award, Yeldon joins a select fraternity of great players from the state’s prep football past.

Vigor’s Tommy Compton won the first-ever Mr. Football Award in 1982 and other winners over the years have included Pierre Goode of Hazlewood, David Palmer of Jackson-Olin, Freddie Kitchens of Etowah, Carnell Williams of Etowah, Brandon Cox of Hewitt-Trussville, JaMarcus Russell of Williamson, Andre Smith of Huffman, Julio Jones of Foley and Clint Moseley of Leroy.

Yeldon put up some impressive numbers while at Daphne. As a senior, he carried the ball 231 times for 2,196 total yards, an average of 9.6 yards per carry. He also finished the year with 31 touchdowns and rushed for over 300 yards on two occasions. No doubt he’ll make a welcome addition to The Tide’s already stacked offensive backfield.

Daily Weather Observations for Thurs., Jan. 26, 2012

2012-01-26T06:48:00.002-06:00

Temp: 66.7 degrees F (19.3 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.1 inches.

Humidity: 85 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Mostly Cloudy.

Winds: Winds out of the Southeast.

Barometric Pressure: 29.46 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.6 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 4.0 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 4.0 inches

NOTE: 36th day of Winter. Area under a Tornado Watch until 12 p.m. CST.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

This week's movie picks are 'The Grey' and 'Paranormal Activity 3'

2012-01-25T12:46:00.000-06:00

It’s Wednesday, so today I give you my weekly list of movies that will open in theatres this week as well as a list of movies that will be released this week on DVD.

I hope this will serve as a useful guide as to what’s going on this week if you happen to be near a movie theatre or if you’re looking for something to drop into your NetFlix queue.

Movies that are scheduled to hit theatres this week include:

Back to the Sea (PG, Family): Directed by Thom Lu and starring the voices of Tim Curry and Tom Kenny.

Declaration of War (Drama): Directed by Valerie Donzelli and starring Valerie Donzelli, Jeremie Elkaim, Cesar Desseix, Gabriel Elkaim and Brigitte Sy.

The Grey (R, Action, Suspense): Directed by Joe Carnahan and starring Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney, James Badge Dale, Joe Anderson and Nonso Anozie.

How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster? (Documentary): Directed by Carlos Carcas and Norberto Lopez Amado and starring Norman Foster and Deyan Sudjic.

An Inconsistent Truth (PG, Documentary): Directed by Shayne Edward and starring Phil Valentine, Newt Gingrich, Jim DeMint, James Inhofe and Frederick Singer.

In Darkness (R, Drama): Directed by Agnieszka Holland and starring Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Furmann, Agnieszka Grochowska, Maria Schrader and Herbert Knaup.

Lula, Son of Brazil (Drama): Directed by Fabio Barreto and Marcelo Santiago and starring Rui Ricardo Diaz, Gloria Pires, Juliana Baroni, Cleo Pires and Lucelia Santos.

Man on a Ledge (PG-13, Action): Directed by Asger Leth and starring Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Anthony Mackie, Jamie Bell and Ed Harris.

One for the Money (PG-13, Comedy, Romance): Directed by Julie Anne Robinson and starring Katherine Heigl, Jason O’Mara, Daniel Sunjata, Nate Mooney and John Lequizamo.

The Wicker Tree (R, Drama, Horror): Directed by Robin Hardy and starring Christopher Lee, Graham McTavish, Honeysuckle Weeks, Clive Russell and Jacqueline Leonard.

New DVD releases for the week of Jan. 24 include:

50/50 (R, Comedy, Drama): Directed by Jonathan Levine and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anna Kendrick and Anjelica Huston.

Another Happy Day (R, Drama, Comedy): Directed by Sam Levinson and starring Ellen Barkin, Ezra Miller, Kate Bosworth, Demi Moore and Thomas Harden Church.

Happy, Happy (R, Romance, Comedy): Directed by Anne Sewitsky and starring Agnes Kittelsen, Henrik Rafaelsen, Joachim Rafaelsen, Maibritt Saerens and Oskar Hernaes Brandso.

Hell and Back Again (Documentary): Directed by Danfung Dennis.

The Lie (R, Comedy, Drama): Directed by Joshua Leonard and starring Joshua Leonard, Jess Weixler, Mark Webber, Violet Long and Kelli Garner.

Paranormal Activity 3 (R, Horror, Suspense): Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman and starring Katie Featherston, Sprague Grayden, Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown and Brian Boland.

Real Steel (PG-13, Action, Science Fiction): Directed by Shawn Levy and starring Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo, Anthony Mackie and Kevin Durand.

Revenge of the Electric Car (PG-13, Documentary): Directed by Chris Paine and starring Elon Musk, Bob Lutz, Carlos Ghosn, ‘Gadget’ Abbott and Tim Robbins.

The Whistleblower (R, Drama): Directed by Larysa Kondracki and starring Rachel Weisz, Monica Bellucci, Vanessa Redgrave, David Strathairn and Benedict Cumberbatch.

The Woman (R, Horror): Directed by Lucky McKee and starring Pollyanna McIntosh, Sean Bridgers and Angela Bettis.

If I could only watch one movie at the theatre this week, it would be “The Grey,” and if I had to pick just one DVD to rent this week, it would be “Paranormal Activity 3.”

In the end, let me know if you get a chance to watch any of the new movies in theatres this week or if you’ve already seen any of the movies that have just been released on DVD. What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations for Wed., Jan. 25, 2012

2012-01-25T06:48:00.003-06:00

Temp: 57.0 degrees F (13.9 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.1 inches.

Humidity: 73 percent (Normal)

Conditions: Mostly Cloudy.

Winds: Winds out of the Northeast.

Barometric Pressure: 29.64 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.5 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 3.9 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 3.9 inches

NOTE: 35th day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Capote's 'In Cold Blood' named one of 'The 50 Coolest Books Ever'

2012-01-24T06:54:00.002-06:00

What’s the “coolest” book you’ve ever read?

The Web site ShortList.com tried to answer that question recently with a very cool best-of books list called “The 50 Coolest Books Ever.” These books guarantee “gallons of cool,” according to the compilers of the list, and it’s hard to argue with them when you take a look at some of the titles that made the cut.

Without further ado, here’s the complete list:

1. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (2000)
2. American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis (1991)
3. American Tabloid by James Ellroy (1995)
4. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (1957)
5. Black Hole by Charles Burns (1995)

6. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (1985)
7. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe (1987)
8. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller (1961)
9. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962)
10. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980)

11. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (2001)
12. Crash by J.G. Ballard (1973)
13. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon (1966)
14. The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac (1958)
15. Diary by Chuck Palahniuk (2003)

16. The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart (1971)
17. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (2002)
18. Factotum by Charles Bukowski (1975)
19. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson (1971)
20. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong (1973)

21. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (1996)
22. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (1943)
23. Generation X by Douglas Coupland (1991)
24. Ghost World by Daniel Clowes (1993)
25. Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1973)

26. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
27. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
28. Howl by Allen Ginsberg (1955)
29. If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino (1979)
30. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1966)

31. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware (2000)
32. Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr. (1964)
33. Less Than Zero by Brett Easton Ellis (1985)
34. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)
35. Money by Martin Amis (1984)

36. Morvern Callar by Alan Warner (1995)
37. Naked Lunch by William Burroughs (1959)
38. Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)
39. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949)
40. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (1962)

41. On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1951)
42. Perfume by Patrick Suskind (1985)
43. The Secret History by Donna Tartt (1992)
44. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)
45. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (1926)

46. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh (1993)
47. Underworld by Don DeLillo (1997)
48. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks (1984)
49. Watchmen by Alan Moore (1986)
50. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (1997)

In the end, how many of these books have you had the chance to read? Which did you like or dislike and why? Which was your favorite and why? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 24, 2012

2012-01-24T06:49:00.001-06:00

Temp: 47.7 degrees F (8.7 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.3 inches

Humidity: 73 percent (Normal)

Conditions: Mostly Clear with some clouds to the East-Southeast.

Winds: Winds out of the North-Northeast.

Barometric Pressure: 29.67 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.4 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 3.8 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 3.8 inches

NOTE: 34th day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

FICTION: Eli McMorn and The Tunnel - Part III

2012-01-23T21:56:00.000-06:00

Stewart was almost unrecognizable when he shuffled around the corner. He was covered in filth, and his feet moved in short jerks and slides through the guano on the tunnel floor. His pants were stained beyond salvation, and his shirt was in even worse condition. Its most prominent feature was the large, dark stain of dried blood at the collar and on his chest.

I kept my gun up and watched as he moved into the full beam of my flashlight. He gave no indication that he knew that I was there as he stayed close to the far side of the tunnel with one hand against the wall for support.

I lowered my gun and called to him. “Stewart!” He didn’t react. How was he on his feet, I wondered. Just 10 minutes before, Detective Klutch and I had examined the man’s corpse. He’d been lifeless and cold to the touch like a man who’d been dead for hours.

As if he’d read my thoughts, Klutch stirred at my feet. He groaned and lifted a hand to his head. He winced as his fingers found the wound there and then he tried to sit up.

I heard a noise and glanced back up to see that Stewart had slumped against the wall of the tunnel. He’d moved closer, but had trouble standing. “Stewart, just stay right there,” I called to him. “I’m coming to help you.”

It was then that he looked up and seemed to notice me for the first time. Something wasn’t right. He hadn’t said a word, and I could see that his face was too pale from blood loss.

I made a step in his direction, and something grabbed my leg. It was Klutch.

“McMorn,” he said, his voice weak, and I saw that he’d managed to sit up. “Where’s my gun?”

“Don’t know,” I said. “I think you dropped it in the dark. I looked for it a while ago and couldn’t find it.”

He reached toward me with an empty hand. “Give me yours,” he ordered. “And keep your light on that thing.”

Without question, I passed him my gun grip first and he took it. It looked small in his large fist, and he glanced at it for a moment before he raised his arm and emptied the gun into Stewart’s slumped body.

The noise was so loud that I wondered if it would bring the roof down on our heads like a collapsing mine shaft. I jumped involuntarily at the unexpected gunfire, and it was all I could do to keep the light steady.

Klutch had fired from a seated position, and he’d missed only once. Five rounds his Stewart center mass, but the final round struck the wall to his left. A fist-sized piece of the tunnel wall broke loose and fell to the tunnel floor at Stewart’s feet.

Stewart yowled like an animal, but didn’t go down. He grimaced and brought his right hand up to the tight group of five fresh bullet holes that now punctuating his grimy dress shirt. I watched as his hand came away bloodless and figured that there were several reasons he was still standing. At a distance of 50 feet, he’d been standing too far away for the small-caliber rounds to have much punch and that he was wearing a bulletproof vest.

Klutch lowered his firing arm and the barrel of his empty gun clanged against the iron track at his side. “McMorn, we’ve got to hurry,” he said. I glanced down and watched the detective produce another small handgun, the throwaway I’d looked for earlier, from the small of his back. It was identical to the small revolver that I carried for protection, the gun he’d just emptied into the police department’s photographer.

“Come here,” he said. “Hurry.” I moved to his side and he handed me the throwaway. “You’ve got to finish him.”

“What are you talking about?”

He pressed the gun into my hand. “It’s no time for questions,” he said. “I’ll explain everything later. For now, you’ve got to finish him before he completely turns. Empty this into his head if you have to, just don’t let him leave the tunnel.”

His voice trailed off and he closed his eyes as he slumped back to the floor of the tunnel. I made several attempts to rouse the big detective, but he’d slipped back into unconsciousness. I could hear Stewart moving far off, headed out of the tunnel, so I stood and went after him with the gun.

I had no intention of killing him. I was sure that he’d never been dead in the first place, only unconscious or perhaps catatonic. If Klutch didn’t want him to leave the tunnel then I’d catch him and stop him from leaving. I’d tie him up maybe. That way I could walk back to Klutch’s car and radio for help. Something wasn’t right, and they both needed medical attention.

My flashlight in one hand and the gun in the other, I set off after Stewart. I followed the railroad tracks in his direction and had walked about 100 feet around the bend when my light came to rest on Stewart. He was slouched against the wall on one side of the tunnel. His knees were bent and his back was to the wall. His arms were crossed over the tops of his knees and his face was buried in his arms.

I was struck once more by the filth that clung to him and his clothes. The tunnel was by far the dirtiest place I’ve ever been, and I wondered how I would look in front of a full-length mirror. My gun hung down by my side, but my light was up. I lowered it a bit so as not to blind Stewart and in hopes that he would be able to see my face if he looked up.

“Stewart!” I called from about 10 yards away.

He raised his head, but didn’t look in my direction. He didn’t look dangerous, so I went to him and knelt by his side.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” I said from his side, my free hand on his shoulder. His skin was fish-belly white, with an almost bloodless aspect, like an old marble tombstone. He didn’t look at me. Instead, he seemed to be staring at something on the other side of the tunnel.

A feeling of uneasiness settled over me, and when I turned to look I expected to see someone standing there. Instead, my eyes settled on Stewart’s old camera bag. For some reason, he’d returned to the place where we’d first found his body not long ago. I remembered that the bag actually contained no camera at all, only a weird assortment of other items.

A second later, I turned my attention back to Stewart and was shocked by the change in his demeanor. In place of the man who a few seconds ago looked insensible and detached, something altogether different sat before me now. He was looking me full in the face now, and there was a light and intelligent malice in his eyes that hadn’t been there a few seconds before.

My fingers tightened on the grip of Klutch’s gun and remembered his instructions to empty it into Stewart’s head. In that moment of truth, I could bring myself to do it. I would be the one who would have to answer for it, and I knew when help eventually arrived I would be left to explain why I’d unloaded a handgun into the skull of the police department’s injured and unarmed photographer.

I raised my flashlight, and the beam played eerily across his face. It seemed to bother him, and he tried to stand. How could I restrain him, I wondered, wishing that Klutch had given me a set of handcuffs or some zip ties.

Before I could finish that line of thought, Stewart fell on me with the strength and fury of a rabid dog. He shoved me hard across the tunnel, and I landed hard across the tracks. I crashed hard into Stewart’s camera bag, and it’s contents flew in all directions.

Before I could get up, Stewart was on top of me. His strength seemed incredible for a man his size. He held me down with ease as I bucked and kicked beneath him.

My flashlight fell from my hand and skittered to a stop at the base of the tunnel wall. In the faint light cast by its beam I saw Stewart’s ghastly face. He loomed over me, and his lips parted in a murderous smile. It was in that moment that he hissed like a cat and displayed a full set of teeth that included two, great protruding fangs.

Yesterday's News from The Evergreen Courant - Jan. 23, 2012

2012-01-23T08:17:00.000-06:00

15 YEARS AGO
JAN. 16, 1997

“Circuit Judge Sam Welch gave the oath of office to newly appointed Conecuh County Circuit Clerk George Hendrix on Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. Hendrix’s wife, Nancy, held the Bible for the ceremony. Hendrix replaces the retiring clerk, Mrs. Jean E. Riley, who served in that position for 20 years.”

“Alabama’s 1996 Junior Miss Summer Newman welcomed Holly Hart of Evergreen, Conecuh County’s Junior Miss and Coretta Askew of Sylacauga, Talladega County’s Junior Miss to the Montgomery Civic Center to begin preparations for the state finals on Jan. 17-18. Holly is the daughter of Bill and Ruth Hart of Evergreen and is a senior at Hillcrest High School.”

“William A. Barron Jr., Vice President of Manufacturing for Shaw Industries, Inc., will be the keynote speaker for the annual meeting and ‘Mardi Gras Gala’ of the Evergreen-Conecuh County Chamber of Commerce. This special event, chaired by Ron Fantroy, is being held Thurs., Jan. 23, 1997, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Hillcrest High School cafetorium.”

“Nationally known Civil Rights leader, the Rev. H.K. Matthews, will be the guest speaker for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. program at Sampey A.M.E. Zion Church in Repton on Sun., Jan. 19, at 2:30 p.m. Rev. Matthews was born and reared in Snow Hill, Ala. and attended the public schools of Wilcox County, where he graduated from Snow Hill Institute.”

30 YEARS AGO
JAN. 21, 1982

From “The Colyum” by Bob Bozeman – “This part of the world is totally unprepared for the kind of weather we had last week. We are particularly inept at driving on iced-over streets and bridges, especially because we don’t have ‘snow tires’ or ‘chains.” So, I am happy that we managed to survive those iced-over streets and bridges, iced-over roads, sleet, ice and snow without any serious casualties.”

“All kinds of weather here Earl reports: Earl Windham says, ‘Well, we have had rain, sleet, snow and ice… what more do you want?’ The weatherman reports 1.05 inches of rain Jan. 12; .63 on Jan. 14; and .05 on Jan. 16.”

“Miss Lesa Ellen Ralls, age 19, daughter of Jean E. Ralls and John G. Ralls, has been selected to be a state contestant in the 1982 Miss Alabama USA Pageant to be held at the Sheraton Hotel in Huntsville, Ala., Feb. 20, 1982, 7:30 p.m. The Miss Alabama USA Pageant is the official state finals to the Miss USA-Universe Pageant to be held in May 1982, which is nationally televised from Biloxi, Miss.”

“Rebekah Williamson, Conecuh County’s Junior Miss, tries out a top hat and cane in preparation for finals in the 1982 Miss Alabama Junior Miss. Charles Savage, president of Alabama’s Junior Miss, and Kim Gilliland, Alabama’s 1981 Junior Miss, look on as Miss Williamson, daughter of the Rev. Jack and Mary Williamson of Evergreen (Baptist Church), takes time out from rehearsals.”

45 YEARS AGO
JAN. 19, 1967

“Taylor receives Air Medal award: U.S. ARMY, Vietnam (AH-TNC) – Army Specialist Fourth Class Spencer E. Taylor, 20, son of Mrs. Eula R. Taylor, Route 1, Box 112, Castleberry, Ala., received the sixteenth award of the Air Medal Dec. 24 in Vietnam.
“Spec. Taylor earned the award for combat aerial support of ground operations in Vietnam.”

“Southern Bell Telephone Company today reported an annual gain of 150 telephones in Evergreen during 1966. J.D. Kaylor, the company’s manager for Evergreen, said the increase brings the total phones in services to about 2,675.”

“Surrounded by a roomful of flowers from well-wishers, Mrs. Mabel Amos of Brooklyn took the oath of office as Secretary of State before the parade Monday morning in a private ceremony in the Secretary’s office.
“Mrs. Amous, who as recording secretary in the administration of seven governors was known as ‘the assistant governor,’ came to her first elective office with a promise to promote the best possible services to the people of Alabama.
“The oath of office was administered by Court of Appeals Judge Annie Lola Price, a longtime friend of Mrs. Amos.
“Mrs. Amos was sworn in again later in the day just prior to the ceremony for Governor Lurleen Wallace. The public oath was administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice J. Ed Livingston.”
“Mrs. Amos is the first citizen of Conecuh County to be elected to a statewide office.”

60 YEARS AGO
JAN. 17, 1952

“Tues., Jan. 15, 1952 was a red letter day for Conecuh County.
“Tuesday, after more than two years of wading through red tape and awaiting government and state appropriations, of making plans and changing plans, the Conecuh County Hospital Association was able to let the contract for construction of the Conecuh County Hospital.
“The hospital is to be built under the Hill-Burton Act.
“The contract went to Andalusia Development Company of Andalusia, the low bidder with a base bid of $332,583.”

“THE WEATHER, LAST WEEK: Evergreen, high 77, low 27, mean 55. The State, high 79 (Dothan), low 21 (Anniston), mean 54.8.”

“LANDS ON OKINAWA: Mr. and Mrs. S.P. Shoemaker have received a message from their son, Pvt. John L. Shoemaker, stating that he has landed on Okinawa. Pvt. Shoemaker had been in Korea for several months seeing service in the combat area with the famed 25th Division. His regiment has been moved to Okinawa for a rest.”

“B.L. Qualls is erecting a new store building on his lot in Belleville on East Broad Street.”

“Helen Keller Club Begins Search for ‘Woman of the Year’ - The Helen Keller Club begins its quest for the woman in Conecuh County who has contributed most for the county. She will be called Woman of the Year and will be recognized and presented an award on March 25.”

75 YEARS AGO
JAN. 21, 1937

“HUGE TURNIP GROWN BY JEFF D. JOHNSTON: A turnip weighing six pounds, and measuring 24 inches in circumference, was brought to The Courant office last Saturday, having been grown by Jeff D. Johnston of the Johnstonville community.
“Several huge turnips were grown by this good farmer, it was said, the one displayed in The Courant window being the ‘cream of the crop’ as to size.”

“Operating as a subsidiary of the Poultry Products Co., Inc., of Montgomery, announcement is made in this issue of The Courant of the opening here of the Evergreen Seed and Produce Co., with quarters in the Jones-Deming Building on Rural Street.”

“When the stork visited the home of Peter Anderson, who resides near the Overhead Bridge, last week, and delivered triplets to Peter’s wife, it brought the number of children in the family to seven.
“Married seven years, and the oldest child being six years old, Peter’s family seems to hold some kind of county record.
“The latest additions to Peter’s family consisted of two girls and a boy, and all of them are reported to be doing well.”

“While out cruising property in Beat 2 in the northern part of this county on Monday of this week, Andrew R. Pierce came up what appears to be a very rich specimen of iron ore. The specimen was brought to The Courant office and is now on display.”

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 23, 2012

2012-01-23T06:56:00.002-06:00

Temp: 68.2 degrees F (20.1 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.1 inches

Humidity: 83 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Mostly Cloudy.

Winds: Winds out of the South.

Barometric Pressure: 29.50 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.1 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 3.4 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 3.4 inches

NOTE: 33rd day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Clive Cussler's 'Skeleton Coast' appears on PW best-sellers list

2012-01-22T07:24:00.001-06:00

It’s Sunday, so that means that it’s time for my weekly review of this week’s Publishers Weekly Best-Seller List. According to the list, there are two new books at the top of the four major best-sellers lists this week.

"Believing the Lie" by Elizabeth George (Dutton Adult) replaced "Private: Number 1 Suspect" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro as the No. 1 book on the hardcover fiction best-sellers list.

"American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History" by Chris Kyle, Jim DeFelice and Scott McEwen replaced "Steve Jobs: A Biography" by Walter Isaacson as the top book on the hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson remained the top book on the mass market paperback and trade paperbacks best-sellers lists.

There are five books on this week’s hardcover fiction best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They (along with their place on the list) include "Believing the Lie" by Elizabeth George (1), "Gideon's Corpse" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (3), "Star Wars: Darth Plagueis" by James Luceno (5), "Lothaire" by Kresley Cole (9) and "Copper Beach: A Dark Legacy Novel" by Jayne Ann Krentz (10).

There are six books on this week’s hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They include "Choose to Lose: The 7-Day Carb Cycle Solution" by Chris Powell (5), "The Obamas" by Jodi Kantor (7), "Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch" by Sally Bedell Smith (10), "Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy with Your Spouse" by Ed Young and Lisa Young (11), "Greedy Bastards: How We Can Stop Corporate Communists, Banksters, and Other Vampires from Sucking America Dry" by Dylan Ratigan (14) and "Deliciously G-Free: Food So Flavorful thy'll Never Believe It's Gluten-Free" by Elisabeth Hasselbeck (15).

There are four books on this week’s mass market paperbacks best-sellers list that weren’t on that list last week. They include "Skeleton Coast" by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul (6), "Trader of Secrets: A Paul Madriani Novel" by Steve Martini (10), "The Sentry" by Robert Crais (11) and "Fatal Error: A Novel" by J.A. Jance (13).

There are five books on this week’s trade paperbacks best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They include "10th Anniversary" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (7), "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: A George Smiley Novel" by John LeCarre (10), "Night Road" Kristin Hannah (12), "The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future" by Jonathan Cahn (14) and “Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography" by Rob Lowe (15).

As a reminder, I’m posting these lists each Sunday because they, as a whole, represent a great, contemporary recommended reading list. These lists are initially released each week on Thursday, and if you’re interested in reading them then, visit Publishers Weekly’s Web site at www.publishersweekly.com. Below you’ll find all four of this week’s best-seller lists.

HARDCOVER FICTION
1. "Believing the Lie" by Elizabeth George
2. "Private: Number 1 Suspect" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
3. "Gideon's Corpse" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
4. "Death Comes to Pemberley" by P.D. James
5. "Star Wars: Darth Plagueis" by James Luceno
6. "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" by Stieg Larsson
7. "11/22/63" by Stephen King
8. "The Litigators" by John Grisham
9. "Lothaire" by Kresley Cole
10. "Copper Beach: A Dark Legacy Novel" by Jayne Ann Krentz
11. "Locked On" by Tom Clancy and Mark Greany
12. "77 Shadow Street" by Dean Koontz
13. "Love in a Nutshell" by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly
14. "The Best of Me" by Nicholas Sparks
15. "Kill Alex Cross" by James Patterson

HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. "American Sniper" by Chris Kyle, Jim DeFelice and Scott McEwen
2. "Through My Eyes" by Tim Tebow with Nathan Whitaker
3. "Taking People with You" by David Novak
4. "Steve Jobs: A Biography" by Walter Isaacson
5. "Choose to Lose: The 7-Day Carb Cycle Solution" by Chris Powell
6. "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
7. "The Obamas" by Jodi Kantor
8. "The 17 Day Diet" by Dr. Mike Moreno
9. "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman
10. "Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch" by Sally Bedell Smith
11. "Sexperiment" by Ed Young and Lisa Young
12. "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand
13. "The Dash Diet Action Plan" by Marta Heller
14. "Greedy Bastards" by Dylan Ratigan
15. "Deliciously G-Free" by Elisabeth Hasselbeck

MASS MARKET PAPERBACKS
1. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson
2. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson
3. "Hidden Summit" by Robyn Carr
4. "Spirit Bound" by Christine Feehan
5. "Mr. and Miss Anonymous" by Fern Michaels
6. "Skeleton Coast" by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul
7. "The Jefferson Key" by Steve Berry
8. "You...Again" by Debbie Macomber
9. "Moonlight in the Morning" by Jude Deveraux
10. "Trader of Secrets: A Paul Madriani Novel" by Steve Martini
11. "The Sentry" by Robert Crais
12. "A Game of Thrones' by George R.R. Martin
13. "Fatal Error: A Novel" by J.A. Jance
14. "Smokin' Seventeen" by Janet Evanovich
15. "Minding Frankie" by Maeve Binchy

TRADE PAPERBACKS
1. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson
2. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
3. "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo, Sonja Burpo, Colton Burpo and Lynn Vincent
4. "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer
5. "Bossypants" by Tina Fey
6. "The Tiger's Wife: A Novel" by Tea Obreht
7. "10th anniversary" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
8. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
9. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson
10. "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: A George Smiley Novel" by John LeCarre
11. "Assholes Finish First" by Tucker Max
12. "Night Road" Kristin Hannah
13. "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
14. "The Harbinger" by Jonathan Cahn
15. Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography" by Rob Lowe

In the end, let me know if you’ve had a chance to read any of these books. What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 22, 2012

2012-01-22T06:52:00.002-06:00

Temp: 62.4 degrees F (16.9 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.8 inches

Humidity: 85 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Overcast, Heavy Fog.

Winds: Winds out of the East-Southeast.

Barometric Pressure: 29.54 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 3.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 3.3 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 3.3 inches

NOTE: 32nd day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

WARNING - 'Apollo 18' movie could make an 'X-Files' fan's head explode

2012-01-21T15:26:00.002-06:00

“Apollo 18” is one of the best science fiction horror movies that I’ve seen in a long time, and I highly recommend it. I watched this creepy movie for the first time a couple of days ago, and I was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of this “found footage” film.

Officially, there were only 17 Apollo missions to the moon in the 1960s and 70s, and this movie is based on the idea that there was a secret 18th mission. The real life Apollo 18 mission was scheduled to visit the moon in 1972, but it and two later moon missions, Apollo 19 and Apollo 20, were cancelled for a number of reasons, most notably because of their high budgets.

In the “Apollo 18” movie, which is supposedly based on decades old found footage (think “The Blair Witch Project”), the Department of Defense launched a secret Apollo 18 mission in late 1974. It never returned, and because of its top-secret fate, the U.S. has never sent men back to the moon. The movie, which I don’t want to spoil for those who haven’t seen it, explains why we’ve never been back.

Released in September 2011, “Apollo 18” was directed by Spanish director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego and was written by Brian Miller. The movie stars Warren Christie, Lloyd Owen, Ryan Robbins, Andrew Airlie, Michael Kopsa and Ali Liebert. Christie plays Capt. Ben Anderson, and Owen plays Commander Nate Walker. Robbins plays Lt. Col. John Grey, and Airlie provides the voice for Mission Control. Kopsa is the voice of the Deputy Secretary of Defense. (In real life 1974 this would have been William Perry “Bill” Clements Jr.) Liebert plays the role of Nate’s girlfriend.

Despite lackluster reviews, this movie was a financial success. Shot on a budget of around $5 million (with old camera lens from the 70s), this movie reaped box office revenues of over $25.5 million. It was released on DVD on Dec. 27, 2011, and you can now rent it through NetFlix.

For more information about the movie, visit its official Web site at www.apollo18movie.net. You might also want to check out www.lunartruth.org. This site is a mock Web site for the film, and you’ll see it referenced in the opening credits as the place where the “found footage” was first publicly released. If you go there, it’ll direct you to another mock site called www.lunartruth.com, which is loaded with enough (fake) classified government documents to make an “X-files” fan’s head explode.

In the end, this movie was fun to watch, and I enjoyed it. It was a mash-up of “The Blair Witch Project,” the “Alien” movies with Sigourney Weaver, “Paranormal Activity” and Tom Hanks’ “Apollo 13.” I hope there’ll be a couple of sequels to follow of equal or better quality. If that comes to pass, then we’re in for a treat.

How many of you have had the chance to watch “Apollo 18”? What did you think about it? Did you like it or dislike it? Why? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 21, 2012

2012-01-21T06:54:00.002-06:00

Temp: 64.8 degrees F (18.2 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.1 inches

Humidity: 84 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Cloudy.

Winds: Winds out of the South-Southeast.

Barometric Pressure: 29.51 inHg.

Week to Date Rainfall: 2.2 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 2.5 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 2.5 inches

NOTE: 31st day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Is 'The Hunt for Red October' Tom Clancy's masterpiece?

2012-01-20T22:17:00.001-06:00

I recently finished reading a famous novel that I’ve wanted to read for a long time, Tom Clancy’s 1984 naval warfare, techno-thriller, “The Hunt for Red October.” This was Clancy’s first novel, and it went on to be a worldwide best-seller and launched Clancy’s career as a heavyweight writer.

I’ve had the chance to read a number of Clancy’s novels over the years, but for some reason I’d never taken the time to read the novel that many consider his masterpiece. I finally broke down the other day and decided to read this great book when I saw that it had been listed at No. 87 on a recommended reading list called “101 Crackerjack Sea Books.”

(This list was released in the summer of 2006 and was compiled by writer Dean King for Bookmarks Magazine. To see this list in its entirety, visit http://leepeacock2010.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-many-of-these-101-crackerjack-sea.html.)

Originally published in 1984 by the U.S. Naval Institute, “The Hunt for Red October” details the fictional cat-and-mouse search for the Soviet nuclear missile submarine, Red October. The captain is disgruntled with the oppressive life in the USSR and has convinced a handful of officers to defect to the U.S. during their sub’s maiden voyage. The U.S. wants the sub and its leaders for their intelligence value, and the Soviet want to either capture the sub or sink it before it can fall into American hands. What follows is a novel that’s required reading at military academies around the globe, including the Soviet Naval Academy. “Red October” is also reputedly a favorite book among a number of past presidents, including Ronald Reagan.

Like me, many of you will probably be familiar with this story thanks to the 1990 movie based on the novel. Directed by John McTiernan, the movie starred Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Fred Thompson and James Earl Jones. Connery plays Soviet sub captain, Marko Ramius, and Baldwin plays U.S. intelligence officer, Jack Ryan. Ryan plays prominently in a number of other Clancy novels, a few of which are referenced in “Red October.”

Of the Clancy novels that I’ve read, I have to say that “The Hunt for Red October” is probably my all-time favorite. Other Clancy novels that I’ve read and enjoyed include “Red Storm Rising” (1986), “Patriot Games” (1987), “Clear and Present Danger” (1989), “Without Remorse” (1993) and “Red Rabbit” (2002). Clancy books that I haven’t read include “The Cardinal of the Kremlin” (1988), “The Sum of All Fears” (1991), “Debt of Honor” (1994), “Executive Orders” (1996), “SSN: Strategies for Submarine Warfare” (1996), “Rainbow Six” (1998), “The Bear and the Dragon” (2000), “The Teeth of the Tiger” (2003), “Dead or Alive” (2010), “Against All Enemies” (2011) and “Locked On” (2011).

In the end, I really enjoyed reading “The Hunt for Red October,” and I gained more than a little satisfaction in crossing it off my long “books I’d like to read someday” list. How many of you out there have read this book? What did you think about it? Which of Clancy’s novels is your personal favorite? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 20, 2012

2012-01-20T06:49:00.002-06:00

Temp: 60.4 degrees F (15.8 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.4 inches

Humidity: 84 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Overcast.

Winds: Winds out of the South, Southeast.

Week to Date Rainfall: 2.1 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 2.4 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 2.4 inches

NOTE: 30th day of Winter, security light still on, ground wet from recent rain.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Was December UFO report an International Space Station sighting?

2012-01-19T09:39:00.003-06:00

It’s the third Thursday of the month, so today I’m giving you an update on UFO reports in Alabama from the past month, courtesy of the Mutual UFO Network.

A search for UFO reports in Alabama between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31 on MUFON’s website, www.mufon.com, resulted in only one report from within our state.

According to the witness, the sighting took place on Dec. 14, but they don’t say where it occurred except that it took place somewhere in Alabama.

“I was walking my dog and looking at the sky,” the witness said in their statement. “I saw a bright object in the sky. It looked like a star, but it was moving.

“There were five airplanes in the sky,” the witness wrote. “This object did not look like them. There were no flashing, colored lights.”

The witness watched the object for about 10 minutes until he walked with his dog behind a house.

“As I walked out from behind the house, it (the object) was gone,” he said. “I don’t know if it was the ISS (International Space Station) or a satellite, but I would like to know.”

This report is interesting because the object that the person reporting seeing could very well have been the International Space Station. The ISS can easily be seen from your own backyard if you know when and where to look. It does look unusual, and if you didn’t know what you were looking at, you might just think that you’re seeing a UFO.

If you’d like to see the ISS for yourself, you can track its appearances by visiting http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/, the Web site for NASA’s Human Space Flight program.

The site is simple and easy to use if you’d like to try it. Just visit the site and click “Go to Country” under “Sighting Opportunities.” If you choose the United States (as most of you will), then the site will take you to another page where you have to select the state or territory where you’re located.

If you’re in Alabama, select Alabama and on the next page, select the city closest to you. When I checked the page last Thursday, there wasn’t an option for Evergreen, but Andalusia and Monroeville were among the selections. For our purposes, that’s close enough.

The next page will give you the times in which the ISS will be visible from your location on days when sighting opportunities are possible. The site will also tell you in which direction to look to see the ISS “approach” and “depart.” It also gives you an idea of how many minutes the ISS will be visible. Keep in mind that the weather will have to cooperate if you hope to see it.

Before closing out this week, I just want to put it out there again that I would be very interested to hear from any readers of The Courant who have witnessed a UFO in Conecuh County. I think a lot of other people would be interested in hearing your story too, and I’d be willing to accept your report on an anonymous basis if you’d be more comfortable with that arrangement. You can contact me by e-mail at courantsports@earthlink.net or by phone at 578-1492.

The Evergreen Courant's Sports Flashback for Jan. 19, 2012

2012-01-19T09:38:00.002-06:00

15 YEARS AGO
JAN. 16, 1997

“The defending Class A state champion Sparta Academy Lady Warriors defeated Bullock Memorial Academy 69-45 to win the Bullock Memorial Basketball Tournament held January 10th and 11th in Union Springs. Members of the Lady Warriors are Sally Hartley, Jennifer Coker, Monica Morrison, Aundria Griffin, Heather Booth, Jenny Harper and Kristin Smith, assistant coaches Al Etheridge and Russ Brown, Jill Pate, Andrea Ward, Ashley Hammonds, Nikki Jones, Cass Ralls, Shelley Bell and Head Coach Richard Brown. Aundria Griffin and Andrea Ward made all-tournament and Nikki Jones was the Tournament MVP.”

“Sparta Warriors defeat Lakeside School 86-53: Sparta Academy destroyed Lakeside School, 86-53, in the Bullock Memorial Basketball Tournament held Fri., Jan. 10, and Sat., Jan. 11, at Union Springs. The Warriors finished in third place in the tournament.
“Chad Morris scored 23 points to lead the way for the Warriors. Joining him in double figures were Chris Kervin with 19 points, Rod McIntyre with 16 points and Josh Pate with 14 points. Rounding out the scoring for the Warriors were Seth McIntyre with six points, Jason Robinson six points and Craig Waters two points.”

“Sparta Lady Warriors beat Escambia Academy: The Sparta Academy Lady Warriors defeated Escambia Academy, 68-47, in a game played Tues, Jan. 9, at Sparta. Aundria Griffin was the leading scorer for the Lady Warriors with 25 points.”

30 YEARS AGO
JAN. 21, 1982

“Jackets win Excel Classic: The Lyeffion High School Yellow Jackets escaped with a last second, one-point win over the tough Blue Devils of Castleberry’s Conecuh County High on Friday night and went on to win the Excel Classic Tournament. Lyeffion defeated Frisco City, 82-77, in the semi-finals and ran away from host Excel, 90-66, in the finals.
“The Jackets held an 11-point third-quarter lead over Castleberry, but the Blue Devils led by Jeff Castleberry’s nine points and tremendous hustle by him and Donald Likely quickly narrowed the margin. With only nine seconds left, Castleberry held a 60-59 lead.
“The Jackets inbounded the ball and moved the length of the court to set up the final shot. Freshman George Bradley’s shot from the corner with one second left was dead center, and Lyeffion won, 61-60.
“Andrew Maxwell had 27 points, and Michael Grace and Troy Stallworth 11 each to lead Lyeffion scoring. Bobby Blount with 12 rebounds and Grace with 10 controlled the boards. Donald Lee handed out four assists.
“Because of the weather, the planned three-day tournament was condensed into two with semi-finals and finals played Saturday. At one o’clock, led by the outstanding shooting of Troy Stallworth with 30 points and Michael Grace with 27, Lyeffion defeated Frisco City, 82-77. Grace also grabbed 20 rebounds, and Blount, 18. Lee had 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

45 YEARS AGO
JAN. 19, 1967

“Castleberry hosts county cage tourney: Coach Wayne Pope’s Conecuh County High School Blue Devils will host the annual Conecuh County Basketball Tournament Friday and Saturday. They are favored to win the meet.”

“Quarterbacks honor Aggies Friday night: Members of the 1966 Evergreen High Aggie football squad will be honored at the Evergreen Quarterback Club’s annual Football Banquet Friday night at 7:30 at the high school cafeteria.
“Coach Bobby Freeman of the Auburn University coaching staff will be the featured speaker. An all-stater at Decatur High School, Freeman was one of the Tigers’ most exciting runners while at Auburn. Freeman was named SEC Back of the Year in 1954 and led the conference in total offense in the same year.
“Wayne Frazier, former Evergreen High and Auburn great, will also be present at the banquet and speak briefly. Frazier earned all-state honors in high school and signed with Auburn after being courted by a larger number of colleges. He was a standout center and linebacker for the Tigers and earned three varsity letters.
“Following graduation, Frazier signed with the San Diego Chargers and later played with the Houston Oilers. This year he played with the AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs and as he was not bothered by injuries for the first time had his best year in pro ball. Sunday he played an outstanding game for the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.”

60 YEARS AGO
JAN. 17, 1952

“Repton High Edges Beatrice High, 44-42: At the end of a well fought battle the Repton Bulldogs found themselves on the big end of a 44-42 score.
“Repton led most all the way by a slim margin until late in the fourth quarter when Beatrice gained a four-point lead. With the clock running out, Repton hit a couple of field goals and two free shots to regain the lead and win. Burt led the Repton players with 15 points. Simpkins paced the losers with 19 points.”

“Aggies Lose Another Pair of Close Ones: Coach Wendell Hart’s Evergreen Aggies were in a rut this week following another pair of losses by narrow margins.
“Last Friday night, the Monroeville Tigers edged the locals, 49-48, and Tuesday night, Beatrice slipped by them, 57-51.
“The Monroeville team came from behind to win a real thriller played in Monroeville. The Aggies started like a house afire and were hitting their shots from all over as they piled up a big lead in the first quarter. The Tigers got in the game in the second period and from the half on it was nip-and-tuck to the final whistle. Shirley Frazier topped the Aggies with 12 points.
“Tuesday night, the Aggies lost to Beatrice in the first quarter as they got off on the wrong foot and fell way behind. From the start of the second quarter on the Evergreens made a gallant come back attempt but couldn’t close the gap. Shirley Frazier supplied the punch for the locals , slipping 27 points through the cords.”

75 YEARS AGO
JAN. 21, 1937

“Green Hawks Journey To Georgiana Tonight: Boasting a string of four straight victories, the Evergreen Green Hawks, local amateur basketballers, meet a string independent team at Georgiana tonight.
“The Hawks trimmed McKenzie Monday night by a score of 32-38.
“Trailing 26-28 with four minutes left to play, the Hawks put on a spirited rally in the closing minutes to pull away from the visiting aggregation.
“Seabrooks, sensational goal-shooting forward, was high scorer with 11 points.
“The Hawks defeated Castleberry 29-25 last Friday night on the Castleberry court with Bill Seals and Ed Johns pacing the locals.
“Future home games of the Green Hawks will be played at Castleberry, the local court being unavailable to the town team.”

Compiled by Lee Peacock from past issues of The Evergreen Courant.

2011 Casey Award winner for best baseball book to be announced on Monday

2012-01-19T09:30:00.003-06:00

Book lovers in the audience will be interested to read that the winner of the 2011 Casey Award will be announced on Monday.

Given annually since 1983 to the best baseball book of the year by the editors of “Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine,” this year’s slate of finalists includes 10 books.

This year’s finalists are:

- “The Art of Fielding” by Chad Harbach

- “Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game” by John Thorn

- “The Big Show: Charles M. Conlon’s Golden Age Baseball Photographs” by Neal McCabe and Constance McCabe

- “Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption and Baseball Longest Game” by Dan Barry

- “Campy: The Two Lives of Roy Campanella” by Neil Lanctot

- “Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season and Fenway’s Remarkable First Year” by Glenn Stout

- “The Greatest Minor League: A History of the Pacific Coast League, 1903-1957” by Dennis Snelling

- “The Kings of Casino Park: Black Baseball in the Lost Season of 1932” by Thomas Aiello

- “21: The Story of Roberto Clemente” by Wilfred Santiago

- “56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports” by Kostya Kennedy

----- 0 -----

This week marks the 45th anniversary of the first Super Bowl, a game that included a player from Evergreen.

Wayne Frazier, who starred as a lineman at Evergreen High School and Auburn University, started at center for the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl I on Jan. 15, 1967. That game was played in the Los Angeles Coliseum, and the Green Bay Packers went on to win the game, 35-10.

A crowd of 61,946 fans watched the game, which also included gridiron legends, Bart Starr and Vince Lombardi.

----- 0 -----

Speaking of the Super Bowl, this year’s field of NFL playoff teams was narrowed over the weekend as four teams survived the divisional round of the playoffs.

On Saturday, the brutal reality set in for the Denver Broncos as Tom Brady and the New England Patriots demolished them, 45-10. Earlier that day, the overachieving San Francisco 49ers edged out New Orleans, 36-32.

On Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens beat the Houston Texas, 20-13, and the New York Giants outgunned the Green Bay Packers, 37-20.

This coming Sunday, the four teams left will compete for the NFC and AFC titles.
The Ravens and the Patriots will battle it out for the AFC title Sunday at 2 p.m. on CBS. The Giants will take on the 49ers for the NFC title Sunday at 5:30 p.m. on FOX.

Even though I’m pulling for the Ravens due to their strong Alabama connections, I think the Patriots will be too much for them to handle. And despite the fact that the 49ers ended New Orleans’ strong run, I look for the 49ers to beat the Giants.

If that comes to pass, that’ll set up a New England-San Francisco Super Bowl, and it’s hard to imagine New England not winning that game.

The Super Bowl will be played on Sun., Feb. 5. It’ll kick off at 5:30 p.m. and will be televised on NBC.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 19, 2012

2012-01-19T06:55:00.001-06:00

Temp: 36.9 degrees F (2.7 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.1 inches

Humidity: 75 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Clear with trace clouds.

Winds: Winds out of the East, Northeast.

Week to Date Rainfall: 1.7 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 2.0 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 2.0 inches

NOTE: 29th day of Winter, crescent moon visible overhead.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

This week's movie picks are 'Underworld: Awakening' and 'The Ides of March'

2012-01-18T12:53:00.001-06:00

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 18, 2012

2012-01-18T06:52:00.002-06:00

Temp: 41.0 degrees F (5.0 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 1.6 inches

Humidity: 77 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Overcast.

Winds: Winds out of the North, Northeast.

Week to Date Rainfall: 1.6 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 1.9 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 1.9 inches

NOTE: 28th day of Winter, security light still on.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Check out Forbidden Planet's '50 Best of the Best Graphic Novels' list

2012-01-17T08:10:00.003-06:00

Back on Dec. 26, I posted a best-of book list called Forbidden Planet’s “50 SF Books You MUST Read,” and while surfing around their FP’s Web site the other day, I ran across another cool list of theirs called “50 Best of the Best Graphic Novels.”

Selected by the editors at Forbidden Planet as “a great starting point for exploring the genre,” this list includes more than a few titles that you will recognize. Books that made the list include the following titles:

1. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
2. Watchmen
3. V for Vendetta
4. From Hell
5. Maus: The Complete Maus

6. 2000AD: Judge Dredd: Complete Case Files, Vol. 1
7. Alice in Sunderland
8. Batman: Arkham Asylum
9. Marvels
10. Hellboy: Library Edition: Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction/Wake the Devil

11. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1
12. Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
13. Hellblazer, Vol. 1: Original Sins
14. Batman: Year One
15. Preacher, Vol. 1: Gone to Texas

16. Ultimates, Vol. 1: Superhuman
17. Ghost World
18. Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1: Back on the Street
19. 300
20. Criminal: Omnibus

21. 100 Bullets, Vol. 1: First Shot, Last Call
22. The Tale of One Bad Rat
23. Invisibles, Vol. 1: Say You Want A Revolution
24. Fables, Vol. 1: Legends In Exile
25. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

26. Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned
27. Violent Cases: 10th Anniversary Edition
28. Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories
29. Batman: The Killing Joke
30. Powers: Vol. 1: Who Killed Retro Girl?

31. Ex Machina, Vol. 1: The First Hundred Days
32. DMZ, Vol. 1: On the Ground
33. The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye
34. Blankets
35. Wanted

36. Authority, Vol. 1: Relentless
37. All Star Superman, Vol. 1
38. Kingdom Come
39. Punisher MAX, Vol. 1: In the Beginning
40. Black Hole: Collected Edition

41. Astonishing X-Men: By Whedon & Cassaday: Omnibus
42. WE3
43. Epileptic
44. Batman: The Long Halloween
45. New Avengers, Vol. 1: Breakout

46. Saga of the Swamp Thing, Vol. 1
47. Astro City, Vol. 1: Life in the Big City
48. Daredevil: Man Without Fear
49. Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life
50. Tank Girl, Vol. 1

For more information about this list and the books mentioned above, visit http://forbiddenplanet.com/picks/50-best-graphic-novels/.

Over the years, I’ve had the chance to read a few of the books on this list, including “The Dark Knight Returns,” “Watchmen,” “The Killing Joke,” “Batman: Year One,” “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1,” “Arkham Asylum” and “From Hell.” I know that all of those books were awesome, so if the rest of the books on Forbidden Planet’s list are of equal quality, then they are definitely worth checking out. A handful that I’ve always wanted to read include “Batman: The Long Halloween,” “V for Vendetta” and “Hellboy: Seed of Destruction/Wake the Devil.”

In the end, how many of the books mentioned above have you had the chance to read? Which did you like or dislike? Which would you recommend and why? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 17, 2012

2012-01-17T06:49:00.001-06:00

Temp: 55.2 degrees F (12.9 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches

Humidity: 85 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Mostly cloudy with light fog.

Winds: Light winds out of the Southeast.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

NOTE: 27th day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

FICTION: Eli McMorn and The Tunnel - Part II

2012-01-16T13:45:00.001-06:00

Klutch dropped to one knee and brought his flashlight up alongside his handgun. The beam shined down the length of the barrel and illuminated the spot where the abandoned train tunnel continued to bend out of sight. A few seconds ago, someone or something had been there, watching us in silence.

“Hold it right there!” Klutch’s voice boomed off the walls of the tunnel.

Just that fast, whatever had been there was gone, leaving in its place a few wisps of mist. That too disappeared in seconds, and it was hard to imagine later that anything had been there at all.

Just then there came to our ears an unusual sound from farther down the tunnel. It was a wet flapping sound like the flop of a windblown bed sheet on a clothesline.

Klutch snapped back to his feet. “Did you see anything?” he asked. He didn’t lower his gun or take his eyes from where the mist had been a few seconds ago. “Stay here with the body,” he said, more of an order than a request. “I’ll be right back.”

Klutch barreled down the tunnel in the direction of the unusual sound. His gun was up, ready for action, when he disappeared around the bend in the tunnel.

Just that fast, I was alone in the section of the tunnel where we’d found Stewart’s body. The sounds of Klutch’s running footsteps died off in the distance, and a coffin-like silence settled over the scene.

I looked down at Stewart’s body, and it was in that moment that my small flashlight began to wink on an off. I slapped the head of the light against my palm several times and prayed that the bulb or battery weren’t on the verge of failing. Finally, it came back on one last time before it suddenly quit altogether, leaving me in total darkness.

I gripped my small handgun tightly. Its weight was reassuring, a counterbalance to the almost overwhelming urge to run. I took several deep breaths, but found it impossible not to think about the thing that had killed the man at my feet.

Those thoughts were driven from mind when Klutch cried out. “Argh!” It wasn’t a sound of fear or panic, but a cry of surprise mixed with pain.

I slammed my light several more times against the palm of my hand, and it still refused to work. “Klutch!” I yelled. No answer.

I had no other choice but to go to his aid, so I stepped away from the corpse and groped my way down the tunnel. I trailed my left hand along the rough wall of the tunnel and tried to forget that this course would take me over the spot where we’d seen the mysterious mist a few minutes earlier.

“Klutch, answer me!” I shouted, trying to keep my voice level. Had he encountered the killer? If so, my shouts and the sounds of my approach were a dead giveaway as to my location. For this same reason, I abandoned the idea of trying to get my light going again. It would only telegraph my position to whatever could be waiting ahead in the darkness.

I slowed and continued as quiet as possible. I can only guess as to how far I walked like that. It seemed like a long way. I tested each footfall to ensure that I didn’t step into an unseen hole and snap my ankle like a dry-rotten matchstick.

I saw a faint glow ahead, and a few more steps revealed Klutch’s flashlight. It was on the floor, flush against the right side of the tunnel. Its beam was obscured and traveled up the wall at a weird angle, casting the scene in a shade of sickening, yellow light.

Klutch was prone across the tracks and wasn’t moving. My head on a swivel for unseen attackers, I ran to his flashlight, scooped it up and moved to his side. I knelt and my knees squelched in the guano. He was unconscious, but warm to the touch. I checked the pulse in his neck. It pounded strong and regular.

Klutch was a big man, but I grabbed him on the shoulder and at the hip and managed to turn him onto his back. I put my ear to his mouth and watched his chest. I was relieved to hear his breath and to see his chest rise and fall. Despite the fact that he was covered in guano, I could clearly see bright red blood oozing from a gash on the side of his head. Had he fallen in the darkness? Had someone gotten the drop on him and knocked him out with a blow to the head?

I shook him gently. “Klutch, Klutch.” I said in a low voice. “Wake up, man.” I looked around and listened. Outside the beam cast by the flashlight, the darkness was impenetrable. Anyone or anything could be watching me from somewhere in the darkness.

Where was Klutch’s gun? It wasn’t in his holster, and I didn’t see it anywhere on the floor nearby. It occurred to me that he might have a secondary weapon. I knew that many officers carried them, so I began patting him down, looking for another gun.

I thought I’d struck pay dirt when my hand fell on something hard and rigid clipped to his belt. It wasn’t a gun but his police radio. I pulled it off his belt, and it came away with a loud plastic pop.

I switched it on by twisting a knob on the top and pressed a button on the side to transmit. “Claiborne PD, do you copy this radio?” I released the transmitter and listened for a response. I tried several more times, but never received a response. We were too far in the woods and too deep within the tunnel for the small radio’s signal to reach the police headquarters.

I set the radio down and slapped Klutch hard across the face. “Klutch,” I called. “Hey, man. Wake up.” He reacted to the pain with a grimace, but remained unconscious.

It was at that moment that the sound of a footfall reached my ears. I began shining the light all around, and saw something that had escaped my notice, my attention being totally devoted to Klutch.

The tunnel 50 feet ahead was blocked by a giant mound of deadwood. All manner of tree trunks, limbs, sticks and leaves as well as a good bit of dirt and rocks had accumulated in the tunnel. It was a massive, impassible obstruction that blocked that end of the tunnel from floor to ceiling. The only plausible explanation for the debris that I could think of at the time was that it had washed there over time due to flashflood waters.

Forgetting about the noise that had drawn my attention to the debris pile, I turned my attention back to Klutch. He was still out, and two simple facts were apparent. He needed medical attention, and my only way out was back down the tunnel, past the corpse, into the dark woods beyond. That path would take me to Klutch’s car, where a power-boosted radio would allow me to call for help.

I didn’t want to leave Klutch alone and vulnerable, but what choice did I have? What if the killer came back? What would they do if they found the detective lying here before I could call for an ambulance? What if an animal was responsible for the earlier attack? It could be anywhere, and Klutch was in no shape to defend himself from an attack.

I jammed my gun back into the waistband of my pants, snapped Klutch’s radio to my belt and tried to sit him up. He was dead weight, and I grunted and puffed in my attempt to sit him up. I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and coat to keep him in place, and his head rolled sickly on top of his neck.

Before he could slump back into place, I squatted and grabbed one of his arms. Next, I positioned myself against him and tried to pick him up in a fireman’s carry. My legs burned with the effort, and it was all I could do to keep hold of his arm. With a great gasp of breath, I stopped and eased him gently back to the ground. He was just too big.

I rested for what seemed like a long time with my hands on my knees. I glanced at my wristwatch and saw that it was almost four o’clock in the morning, hours more until daylight.

It was in that instant that I instinctively reached for my handgun and felt a full load of adrenaline dump into my bloodstream in reaction to a loud bone-chilling hiss that came from back up the tunnel. Something was there and the approaching footfalls left no doubt in my mind that it was headed this way.

Yesterday's News from The Evergreen Courant - Jan. 16, 2012

2012-01-16T08:09:00.001-06:00

SIX YEARS AGO
JAN. 12, 2006

“Construction is moving along at a rapid pace on the new Conecuh County Courthouse as shown from this photo made Wednesday morning. Welders are busy attaching panels on the second floor. It is a stark contrast to the construction of the Conecuh County Detention Center which was over a year late in completion.”

“The rain Wednesday morning wasn’t slowing workers with Gray Construction as they continue to make progress on the Guyong Tech plant in Castleberry. The plant is scheduled to open in May of 2006 with 80 to 100 employees.”

“Sheriff Tracy Hawsey has announced his intention to seek re-election for Sheriff of Conecuh County. Hawsey will be seeking his third term as Sheriff.”

“Emergency Management Agency Director Heather Walton told the Castleberry Town Council at their regular meeting Tuesday night that a new grant could possibly help to provide the town with a community shelter in case of emergency.
“Walton was at the meeting to update the council on the new grant and also discuss how the town would pay their part of the matching funds for the generator for the water system.
“Walton explained the new grant would pay for either warning sirens or the cost of building or renovating a building for use as a community shelter. The grant would pay $2.10 per square foot for the renovations and Walton said the town could possibly look at marking the Castleberry Community Center a shelter.”

21 YEARS AGO
JAN. 10, 1991

“Conecuh County’s 1991 Young Woman of the Year, Miss Stacey Sims, will spend a week in Montgomery beginning this Friday, Jan. 11, preparing for the 34th Annual Alabama’s Young Woman of the Year Program.
“Stacey is the daughter of Shannon and Kathy Sims and is a senior at Hillcrest High School. Stacey will perform her creative and performing arts routine on Jan. 18, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
“The Evergreen Pilot Club, which sponsors the local Young Woman of the Year, along with Stacey’s family and friends would like to urge you to please support Stacey throughout her week’s stay in Montgomery.”

“Gov. Guy Hunt Wednesday announced the Hillcrest High School Band will march in the ‘Best is Yet to Come’ Inaugural Parade following the swearing in ceremony of the governor and other constitutional officers.
“The Hillcrest High School Band will follow a two-mile route through downtown Montgomery allowing thousands of people to view the parade.”

“Rev. Demond Wilson, who played the role of ‘Lamont’ in the TV series ‘Sanford and Son,’ will be featured at the Milledgeville AME Zion Church this Sun., Jan. 13, at 2 p.m. Rev. Wilson is now a faith preacher and healer and has made a name for himself in this line of work.”

36 YEARS AGO
JAN. 8, 1976

“Record rainfall in Evergreen: A record amount of rain fell in Evergreen in 1975, about double the normal average rainfall. Also, the highest rainfall in the nation was recorded here last year.
“Earl Windham reports a total of 110.4 inches of rain for the year. That’s close to the official 111.1 inches recorded by Sam Robison who records weather figures here for the U.S. Weather Bureau. Earl lists total rainfall of the previous three years as follows: 1974, 74 inches; 1973, 87.8 inches; and 1972, 60.1 inches. This year started up where last year ended with .7 inch of rain on Jan. 2.”

“One of The Courant’s readers has so graciously offered to share some historical notes in his possession. So for the next few weeks the Pages from History will come from this source, with acknowledgement of original source.
“Pages from History VI. ‘Frank W. Bart, son of Phillip Bart of Lowndes County was instantly killed at Belleville, on the evening of the 2nd. The horse which he was riding became frightened and ran off the road and death was the result of the fall of the rider. Master Bart was a student at Belleville Academy and the sad occurrence has cast a gloom over an entire community.’
“Reprinted Dec. 20, 1962 in The Monroe Journal from issues of The Monroe Journal during the year 1871.”

“Sue Bell has been named to the Dean’s List for the Fall Quarter at Asbury College, Christian liberal arts school here. She lives in Evergreen, and is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Otis Bells.”

66 YEARS AGO
JAN. 10, 1946

“New Business Buildings Are Nearing Completion: A number of new business building which have been in the process of construction for the past several months to replace those destroyed in the disastrous fire here one year ago last Christmas, are now nearing completion, according to Bill Waller, the contractor.
“The City Drug Store will reoccupy its old stand on West Front Street. Next to the City Drug Store on the north, a new concern, Evergreen Hardware & Supply Co., will open. M.S. Holley is the proprietor of this new business. On the corner, Dees Food Store will reopen in its old location. On Rural Street, the small building located on the stand formerly occupied by Tomlinson Barber Shop will be occupied by Congleton’s Market, Ray Congleton, prop. Burt Grocery will have the next place.
“Mr. Rutland’s building located next door to The Courant will be occupied by New York Cash Store, E.C. Northcutt, prop.”

“Major and Mrs. M.M. Cardwell Jr. will leave Friday for several days visit with Miss Frances Deming in Miami, Fla. From there, they will to by plane to Havana, Cuba for a week’s stay.”

“Capt. Karl Kelly, who is on leave with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. E.L. Kelly of Repton was in Evergreen Wednesday. Capt. Kelly spent over three years in service, more than two of it overseas with the 31st Division.”

“Friends of Mrs. O.D. Comstock will regret to know of the death of her husband, Judge O.D. Comstock, which occurred in his home in Minnewaugan, N.D. Dec. 31. Mrs. Comstock will be remembered as Miss Nina Nash, who formerly made her home in Evergreen with her sister, Mrs. M.B. Binion.”

Compiled by Lee Peacock from past issues of The Evergreen Courant.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 16, 2012

2012-01-16T06:51:00.002-06:00

Temp: 47.1 degrees F (8.4 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches

Humidity: 76 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Mostly Cloudy.

Winds: Winds out of the Southeast.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

NOTE: 26th day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

'American Sniper' bio appears on non-fiction best-sellers list this week

2012-01-15T06:54:00.001-06:00

It’s Sunday, so that means that it’s time for my weekly review of this week’s Publishers Weekly Best-Seller List. According to the list, there are two new books at the top of the four major best-sellers lists this week.

"Private: Number 1 Suspect" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro replaced "77 Shadow Street" by Dean Koontz as the No. 1 book on the hardcover fiction best-sellers list.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson replaced "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett as the top book on the trade paperbacks best-sellers list.

"Steve Jobs: A Biography" by Walter Isaacson remained the top book on the hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson remained the top book on the mass market paperback best-sellers list.

There are four books on this week’s hardcover fiction best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They (along with their place on the list) include "Private: Number 1 Suspect" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (1), "Love in a Nutshell" by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly (2), "A Dance with Dragons" by George R.R. Martin (12) and "A Devil is Waiting" by Jack Higgins (15).

There are six books on this week’s hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They include "American Sniper: The autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History" by Chris Kyle, Jim DeFelice and Scott McEwen (2), "Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together" by Mark Driscoll and Grace Driscoll (3), "Taking People with You: The Only Way to Make Big Things Happen" by David Novak (5), "The Dash Diet Action Plan: Proven to Boost Weight Loss and Improve Health" by Marta Heller (8), "Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World" by Michael Lewis (14) and "How Do You Kill 11 Million People?: Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think" by Andy Andrews (15).

There are three books on this week’s mass market paperbacks best-sellers list that weren’t on that list last week. They include "Whispers in the Dark" by Maya Banks (6), "On Lavender Lane: A Shelter Bay Novel" by JoAnn Ross (8) and "Mr. and Miss Anonymous" by Fern Michaels (11).

There are three books on this week’s trade paperbacks best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They include "Bossypantts" by Tina Fey (4), "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell (14) and "The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement" by David Brooks (15).

As a reminder, I’m posting these lists each Sunday because they, as a whole, represent a great, contemporary recommended reading list. These lists are initially released each week on Thursday, and if you’re interested in reading them then, visit Publishers Weekly’s Web site at www.publishersweekly.com. Below you’ll find all four of this week’s best-seller lists.

HARDCOVER FICTION
1. "Private: Number 1 Suspect" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
2. "Love in a Nutshell" by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly
3. "Death Comes to Pemberley" by P.D. James
4. "77 Shadow Street" by Dean Koontz
5. "11/22/63" by Stephen King
6. "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" by Stieg Larsson
7. "Locked On" by Tom Clancy with Mark Greaney
8. "The Litigators" by John Grisham
9. "The Best of Me" by Nicholas Sparks
10. "Kill Alex Cross" by James Patterson
11. "Red Mist" by Patricia Cornwell
12. "A Dance with Dragons" by George R.R. Martin
13. "Explosive Eighteen" by Janet Evanovich
14. "The Drop" by Michael Connelly
15. "A Devil is Waiting" by Jack Higgins

HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. "Steve Jobs: A Biography" by Walter Isaacson
2. "American Sniper" by Chris Kyle, Jim DeFelice and Scott McEwen
3. "Real Marriage" by Mark Driscoll and Grace Driscoll
4. "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
5. "Taking People with You" by David Novak
6. "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman
7. "The 17 Day Diet" by Dr. Mike Moreno
8. "The Dash Diet Action Plan" by Marta Heller
9. "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand
10. "Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman" by Robert K. Massie
11. "Through My Eyes" by Tim Tebow with Nathan Whitaker
12. "The Dukan Diet" by Dr. Pierre Dukan
13. "Heaven Is for Real" by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent
14. "Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World" by Michael Lewis
15. "How Do You Kill 11 Million People?" by Andy Andrews

MASS MARKET PAPERBACKS
1. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson
2. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson
3. "Spirit Bound" by Christine Feehan
4. "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
5. "The Jefferson Key" by Steve Berry
6. "Whispers in the Dark" by Maya Banks
7. "Hidden Summit" by Robyn Carr
8. "On Lavender Lane: A Shelter Bay Novel" by JoAnn Ross
9. "You...Again" by Debbie Macomber
10. "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
11. "Mr. and Miss Anonymous" by Fern Michaels
12. "Smokin' Seventeen" by Janet Evanovich
13. "Minding Frankie" by Maeve Binchy
14. "Toys" by James Patterson and Neil McMahon
15. "Moonlight in the Morning" by Jude Deveraux

TRADE PAPERBACKS
1. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson
2. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
3. "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer
4. "Bossypantts" by Tina Fey
5. "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo, Sonja Burpo, Colton Burpo and Lynn Vincent
6. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson
7. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
8. "The Tiger's Wife: A Novel" by Tea Obreht
9. "The Zombie Survival Guide" by Max Brooks
10. "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness
11. "The Next Always" by Nora Roberts
12. "Assholes Finish First" by Tucker Max
13. "God Is Not Great" by Christopher Hitchens
14. "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
15. "The Social Animal" by David Brooks

In the end, let me know if you’ve had a chance to read any of these books. What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 15, 2012

2012-01-15T06:51:00.002-06:00

Temp: 35.6 degrees F (2.0 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches

Humidity: 75 percent (Normal)

Conditions: Clear.

Winds: Calm.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

NOTE: 25th day of Winter, moon visibile overhead.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Old survey marker leads to letter to U.S. Geological Survey director

2012-01-14T06:59:00.004-06:00

Just a few feet from the dirt driveway that leads to my parents’ house outside Frisco City, Ala. there’s a U.S. Geological Survey marker. When I was a boy, my siblings and I used to sit and stand on it while waiting to catch the school bus. I can remember reading the curious marker hundreds of times as a child.

As things go, I got older and I hadn’t thought about that marker in a long time, that is, until recently when we took a family trip to my parents’ house for the holidays. I walked out to the marker with my kids and told them about how it was just part of the scenery during my bus-catching days.

The metal marker is encased in a small cement cube that’s fixed into the ground. Many of you have likely seen markers of this type because thousands of them have been placed around the country by the U.S. Department of the Interior over the centuries. I know of at least one other one, just off Conecuh County Road 15 in Belleville.

These survey markers, which are sometimes called geodetic markers or benchmarks, are placed to mark key survey points on the earth’s surface and are used for land surveying purposes. The marker near my parents’ home was apparently placed there by surveyors I 1971, and the elevation there is 383 feet above sea level.

Beside this marker, there’s a metal sign on a post that reads as follows – “WITNESS POST – PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB NEARBY SURVEY MARKER – FOR INFORMATION WRITE TO THE DIRECTOR U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR, WASHINGTON D.C. 20242”

I snapped a few pictures of the marker and on the ride home, I got to thinking about what sort of information I might receive if I were to actually write the USGS Director. So later, I did just that. What follows is the letter that I mailed off earlier this week in hopes that I can learn more about the marker.

----- 0 -----

Thurs., Jan. 12, 2012

Dr. Marcia McNutt
Director, U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240

Dear Dr. McNutt,

Re: USGS Marker

I hope this message finds you doing well. I know that you are extremely busy, and I appreciate you taking the time to read this letter.

I’ve enclosed a few photos of a survey marker that’s near my parents’ house, just outside of Frisco City, Ala. When I was a kid, my siblings and I would often sit or stand on it while waiting for the school bus. I’ve always been curious about the significance of this marker, and while showing it to my children over the holidays, I noticed that it says to write the USGS Director for more information.

My children are elementary school age, and I would appreciate any information you could send us about this marker. I know they’d get a big kick out of it, and I have to admit that I’m curious as well.

I work for a newspaper in Evergreen, Ala., and I’ll probably write a short column based on the information you send back. I know there are other markers like this across the country, and I suspect that our local readers would enjoy reading about them.

In the end, I really appreciate you taking the time to read this letter and thanks in advance for what ever information you can provide.

Respectfully,
Lee Peacock

Enclosures (3)

----- 0 -----

In the end, I hope that Dr. McNutt will take the time to reply or have one of her assistants reply. If I do receive a response, I follow up with here at a later date.

How many of you out there are familiar with these markers? Do you know of any in your neighborhood? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 14, 2012

2012-01-14T06:56:00.003-06:00

Temp: 25.9 degrees F (-3.4 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches

Humidity: 75 percent (Normal)

Conditions: Clear.

Winds: Calm.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

NOTE: 24th day of Winter, moon visibile overhead at an angle of about 80 degrees. Frost on ground and vehicles. Jet contrails visible in the east.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Seven novels among nominees for 2011 Philip K. Dick Award

2012-01-13T06:53:00.002-06:00

The nominees for the 2011 Philip K. Dick Award were announced on Tuesday by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the Philip K. Dick Trust, and this year’s slate of finalists includes seven novels.

This year’s nominees include the following titles:

- The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett

- Deadline by Mira Grant

- The Other by Matthew Hughes

- A Soldier’s Duty by Jean Johnson

- The Postmortal by Drew Magary

- After the Apocalypse by Maureen F. McHugh

- The Samuel Petrovich Trilogy by Simon Morden

This year’s winner will be named at the 35th Annual Norwescon in SeaTac, Wash. On April 6.

The Philip K. Dick Award, which is named after one of the most influential sci-fi writers of all time, is presented annually with the support of the Philip K. Dick Trust “for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States.” Most of Dick’s books, which included “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, aka, “Blade Runner,” were published as paperback originals.

The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the Philip K. Dick Trust and the award ceremony is sponsored by the NorthWest Science Fiction Society. For more information, visit www.philipkdickaward.org.

The award was first given right after Dick’s untimely death in 1982, and since then, a number of authors have received the award. Here’s the complete list of the winners:

1982 – Software by Rudy Rucker
1983 – The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
1984 – Neuromancer by William Gibson
1985 – Dinner at Deviant’s Palace by Tim Powers
1986 – Homunculus by James P. Blaylock
1987 – Strange Toys by Patricia Geary
1988 – 400 Billion Stars by Paul J. McAuley and Wetware by Rudy V.B. Rucker
1989 – Subterranean Gallery by Richard Paul Russo

1990 – Points of Departure by Pat Murphy
1991 – King of Morning, Queen of Day by Ian McDonald
1992 – Through the Heart by Richard Grant
1994 - Mysterium by Robert C. Wilson
1995 – Headcrash by Bruce Bethke
1996 – The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter
1997 – The Troika by Stepan Chapman
1998 – 253: A Novel by Geoff Ryman
1999 – Vacuum Diagrams by Stephen Baxter

2000 – Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith
2001 – Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo
2002 – The Mount: A Novel by Carol Emshwiller
2003 – Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
2004 – Life by Gwyneth A. Jones
2005 – War Surf by M.M. Buckner
2006 – Spin Control by Chris Moriarty
2007 – Nova Swing by M. John Harrison
2008 – Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro and Terminal Mind by David Walton
2009 – Bitter Angels by C.L. Anderson
2010 – The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder

In the end, how many of these books have you had a chance to read? Which did you like or dislike? Which would you recommend and why? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 13, 2012

2012-01-13T06:50:00.001-06:00

Temp: 28.8 degrees F (-1.8 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches

Humidity: 66 percent (Normal)

Conditions: Clear.

Winds: Calm.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

NOTE: 23rd day of Winter, moon visibile in the West at an angle of about 75 degrees.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

'Mystery booms' continue, remain unexplained in face of numerous theories

2012-01-12T08:46:00.003-06:00

A series of extremely loud, unexplained “booms” were reported again this week in Conecuh and Monroe counties, and so far no one has any answers as to what’s causing the unusual noises.

Stephen Riley, who lives between Evergreen and Lyeffion, reported to The Courant that he heard “two different booms” just before 9 p.m. on Friday. The noises sounded “like thunder, except there was nothing on radar,” Riley said, noting that the noises seemed to come from the direction of Evergreen.

Riley wasn’t alone in hearing the unexplained noises as witness reports flooded in from a number of distant communities, including Repton, Belleville, Lenox, Monroeville, Excel, Halls Crossroads, Frisco City, Sugar Hill and Goodway Junction. The distance from Lyeffion to Goodway Junction, which is between Frisco City and Uriah, is 37-1/2 miles as the crow flies.

Jessica Ozgowicz, who lives in the Excel area, said that the sound “just kind of traveled down one side of my house and was almost like the house settling or some sort of pressure was pushing it.”

Carlton Waters, a former Evergreen mail carrier, said that he was at his sister’s house between Repton and Belleville, when he heard the noise around 8:30 p.m.

“I heard it and thought it was thunder,” Waters said. “I took out my phone to check the weather and there was nothing out there.”

Retired state fire marshal Ken Smith “heard something here” in Monroeville about that same time, but he wasn’t sure what it was, he said. He noted that he didn’t hear any police dispatch traffic about the incident.

Shawn and Jen Partin, who live between Excel and Repton, said that they were outside between 8:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. and heard it. She described the sound as “weird,” noting that it sounded similar to thunder.

Amy Ikner, who also lives in the Excel area, said that the noise occurred “exactly” at 8:30 p.m. because she was texting a friend when she and her husband heard it from inside their home. “He (her husband) went outside to see what it was,” she said.

Margie Peacock of Repton said that she heard it too and wondered at first if it might be thunder. She thought “the rain was coming in sooner than forecast,” she said. “It was pretty loud too. This time, it sounded like it came from towards Evergreen, which would be northeast of me.”

Former Courant reporter Julie Adams and April Brooks of Monroeville were among those who said they heard similar “booms” earlier in the week. Gloria Cole of Excel said that these sounds have “been going on since summertime,” saying that she remembers hearing other people talk about the phenomenon.

The most recent reports of the unexplained “booms” come almost two months after a similar unexplained noise that occurred around 11:33 p.m. Nov. 18 and was heard over a wide area in western Conecuh County and eastern Monroe County. On that occasion, the noise was heard by witnesses from Repton to Monroeville and as far south as Goodway and Wildfork in Monroe County.

Theories about the possible causes of the unexplained sounds vary and include the off-burning of oil rigs, seismographic testing, high-speed naval aircraft and meteorites. Or it could be the work of a handful of brave pranksters who are setting off homemade cannons or other explosive devices. No evidence has been found to support any of those theories.

After the Nov. 18 incident, The Courant contacted officials at Pensacola Naval Air Station, and officials there said that no jets from their facility were in the air in the vicinity of Conecuh or Monroe County at that time of night on Nov. 18.

“We had nothing in the air at that time that would have caused a sonic boom,” Public Affairs Officer Harry White said in November. “And we’ve really got nothing in our training pipeline that could do that.”

One man suggested that the sound was a land oil crew setting off underground explosions as part of a seismological test. Others, including police, say that this is unlikely because these types of tests aren’t typically conducted at night.

One man suggested that the noises were caused by individuals setting off explosives to destroy beaver dams on private property.

In a news story in the Dec. 1 edition of The Monroe Journal newspaper in Monroeville, Staff Writer Josh Dewberry reported that another unexplained explosion occurred on Sat., Nov. 26, at 6 p.m. Witnesses said that it was not as loud as the Nov. 18 explosion.

In the end, The Courant is encouraging its readers to contact the newspaper with their accounts of the noise or if they know its cause.

The Courant can be reached by phone at 251-578-1492 or by email at courantsports@earthlink.net. To contact The Courant by mail, write The Evergreen Courant, ATTN: Lee Peacock, P.O. Box 440, Evergreen, AL 36401.

Magic Eight Ball answers January round of 'yes or no' questions

2012-01-12T08:42:00.001-06:00

It’s the second Thursday of the month, so what better time to whip out my Magic Eight Ball and ask it a few “yes or no” questions.

This month’s set of questions came to me via e-mail and Facebook. Below you’ll find the unedited questions and answers to the questions that I asked my Magic Eight Ball on Monday.

Scott asked: Will the upcoming county elections be more heated than the last?
Answer: Maybe.

Harry asked: What about next year’s city elections?
Answer: My sources say no.

Connie asked: Will all of the commissioners be replaced in the election?
Answer: Ask again later.

Johnny asked: Will the incumbents fair well in the coming county elections?
Answer: No way!

Clifton asked: Will voter turnout be high in the upcoming primary election?
Answer: No way!

Eddie asked: Will the landfill issue be the determining factor in how most folks vote in the primary election?
Answer: Definitely.

Larry asked: Will Rick Santorum be the Republican candidate in this year’s presidential election?
Answer: No way!

Angela asked: What about Mitt Romney?
Answer: No way!

Richard asked: What about Newt Gingrich?
Answer: Definitely!

Harold asked: Will Gingrich be able to defeat Obama in the general election?
Answer: Yes.

David asked: Will the “boom” mystery ever be solved?
Answer: Outlook not so good.

Josh asked: Will we ever definitively determine what the “booms” are?
Answer: No way!

Michael asked: Should Obama be impeached for his acts of treason against America?
Answer: Maybe.

Patsy asked: Are we going to get any snow this winter?
Answer: Definitely.

Joel asked: Will the temperature ever get down into the teens in Evergreen this winter?
Answer: Absolutely!

John asked: Will the job market pick up in Conecuh County in the next month?
Answer: My sources say no.

Robert asked: How about in surrounding counties?
Answer: My sources say no.

Lavon asked: Was Obama born in the USA?
Answer: Definitely.

Juliette asked: Will we ever be done with Sarah Palin?
Answer: Absolutely!

Shaw asked: Are the Green Bay Packers going to win the Super Bowl this year?
Answer: Maybe.

Hubert asked: How about the Saints?
Answer: Outlook not so good.

Joshua asked: Will Auburn EVER name an offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator?
Answer: Ask again later.

John asked: Will Gus Malzhan be successful at Arkansas State?
Answer: Definitely.

Leonard asked: Will Alabama have an even better football team next season?
Answer: Ask again later.

Joe asked: What about Auburn?
Answer: Maybe.

I asked: Should readers take this month’s round of Magic Eight Ball questions and answers seriously?
Answer: Outlook not so good.

With that said, I guess I’ll give my old Eight Ball a rest for a few weeks and close this thing out until the second Thursday in February.

In the meantime, if you’ve got a question you want me to ask my Magic Eight Ball, e-mail it to me at courantsports@earthlink.net, and I’ll publish the answers in the Feb. 9 edition of The Courant.

The Evergreen Courant's Sports Flashback for Jan. 12, 2012

2012-01-12T08:40:00.001-06:00

SIX YEARS AGO
JAN. 12, 2006

“In a defensive struggle Saturday in Evergreen, the Jags put a stubborn Miller team away in the fourth quarter with an 8-4 run to post a 36-31 victory.
“(Chris) Hines recorded another double double, scoring 14 points and pulling down 11 rebounds.”
“(Justin) Holder followed with 11 points and seven rebounds. Cleveland Knight chipped in six points on a pair of treys and (Nick) Lovelace scored two points and pulled down five rebounds.”

“On Monday, the Lady Warriors, who have won nine straight since losing to Cottage Hill Christian in Mobile Dec. 6, defeated Clarke Prep, 54-28, in Grove Hill.
“Senior guard Ashton Garner led the offensive surge with her 14 points. She nailed four of five free throws and grabbed eight rebounds, also.”
Other standout players in that game included Christin Booker, Erin Brock, Susan Ann Cook, Deanna Covin, Morgan Harden, Mallory Kendrick, Kara Layton and Erica Palmer.

“Four Warriors scored in double figures Monday as Sparta blew away Clarke Prep, 65-39, in Grove Hill, improving Sparta’s record to 9-7 on the season.
“Senior guard Tony Raines led the offense with his 14 points. He also had five steals and he converted a pair of three-pointers.”
Other standout Sparta players in that game included Chase Brown, Michael Campbell, Chris Cinereski, Will Ivey, Ethan Johnson, Jacob Patillo, Eric Talbot and Justin Webb.

21 YEARS AGO
JAN. 10, 1991

“Awards banquet tonight for Hillcrest Jaguars: A recognition and awards banquet for the 1990 Hillcrest Jaguar football team will be held Thursday night, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m. at Hillcrest High School. Hillcrest Athletic Booster Club members presenting their cards at the door may attend for $3, all others will be $5.
“A spokesman for the booster club made the following statement, ‘Come out and show your support for our Jaguar football team and cheerleaders and appreciation for our coaching staff. They pulled together a relatively young team, faced a tough schedule and came out with an area championship. Congratulations Jaguars. We’re proud of you all.’
“The public is invited to attend.”

“BABE RUTH LEAGUE MEETING: The Evergreen Babe Ruth Baseball League will meet this Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the David L. Burt Agricultural Building. Babe Ruth Baseball is for boys ages 13 thru 15. Anyone interested is invited to attend. For further information, call David Rabren.”

“The Conecuh County Cattlemen and Cattlewomen’s Annual Banquet will be held Sat., Jan. 19, at the Sparta Academy gym.
“Richard R. Brown, a native of Conecuh County, will be the guest speaker. Brown is a member of the National Speakers Association and is President-elect of the Alabama Speakers Association. He gives on the average of 30 speeches a year. He is also a part-time coach of the ladies basketball team at Patrick Henry Junior College, Monroeville.”

36 YEARS AGO
JAN. 8, 1976

“Mike Dawson, home from Mobile for the Christmas holidays, bagged this fine gobbler. Mike said he shot the 17-1/2 Tom with 10-inch beard ‘in the woods.’”

“Sparta teams sweep three games: The Sparta Academy Warriors opened up 1976 basketball play on a winning note by sweeping three games from Catherine Academy at Catherine Tuesday night.
“The varsity team romped to a 97-74 victory with four players in double figures, according to Sports Publicity Director Byron Warren. Ronnie Pugh led the way with 26 points. Bobby Johnson had 24; Jerry Peacock, 20; Walker Scott, 10; Joe Andrews, nine; and Woody Register, Gray Stevens, Steve DuBose and Wesley Stuckey, two each.
“The junior team won by a 40-27 count while the girls crushed Catherine 35-14.”

“The Evergreen Men’s Basketball League opened season play with two games Monday night in the Marshall Middle School Gym.
“In the opening game, the Hawks beat the Roosters, 53 to 48. The Over-the-Hill Gang downed the Jacks, 49 to 39, in the nightcap.
“Two games are scheduled tonight at Marshall. It will be the Hawks vs. the Jacks at seven o’clock followed by the Roosters vs. Flxible at 8:30.”

“Lyeffion QB’s meet tonight: The Lyeffion High School Quarterback club will meet tonight at seven o’clock at the school. All members are urged to attend.”

66 YEARS AGO
JAN. 10, 1946

“T.L. Salter Thinks He May Be Champion Hawk Killer: T.L. Salter, good farmer living over in the Loree community, has an idea he was the champion hawk killer in Conecuh County in 1945. Mr. Salter took pains to keep the evidence to support his claims in the form of a string of feet taken from the slain birds. He ran up a total of 13 hawks and threw in eight crows and two owls for good measure. He has placed the string of feet in The Courant window so that any doubters may drop by and make a check. He says he could easily have topped the number killed if he had had plenty of ammunition. He would like to hear from anyone who can beat his record.”

Compiled from past issues of The Evergreen Courant.

NFL playoffs taking shape with more games this week

2012-01-12T08:36:00.001-06:00

The Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs wrapped up over the weekend, and the survivors included the New Orleans Saints, the Denver Broncos, the Houston Texans and the New York Giants.

The Divisional Round is set for this coming weekend with four games that will set the stage for the conference championships.

On Saturday, the Saints will play the San Francisco 49ers at 3:30 p.m. on FOX. The Broncos will play the New England Patriots at 7 p.m. on CBS.

On Sunday, the Texans will play the Baltimore Ravens at 12 p.m. on CBS. The Giants will play the Green Bay Packers at 3:30 p.m. on FOX.

Despite Denver’s narrow escape against the Steelers on Sunday, look for the Broncos to lose big against the Patriots. Tim Tebow might have a Heisman trophy, but he’s no Tom Brady.

San Francisco has overachieved all year, and you can expect their run to end Saturday against the Saints. It’ll be close, but the home field advantage won’t help them much, that is, unless they call Joe Montana out of retirement.

The Giants may have beaten Atlanta on Saturday, but they won’t fair so well against Green Bay. The Packers always enjoy a significant home field advantage, and New York’s defense will have problems against Aaron Rodgers.

Many consider Baltimore to be the dark horse team in the AFC, and they’ll come out ahead of Houston on Sunday. Much was made of Houston’s first ever playoff game and playoff win on Saturday, but the party will be over on Sunday.

If all of those predictions come to pass, you’ll have New England and Baltimore in the AFC Championship Game and New Orleans and Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game. Both conference championship games will be played on Sun., Jan. 22.

As much as folks in our neck of the woods like the Saints, they may have a hard time against Green Bay. The two teams played once in the regular season, way back in Week One at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. The Packers won that game, 42-34. Of course, that was before the well-oiled Drew Brees offensive machine got fully cranked up.

Through a quirk in their schedules, Baltimore and New England didn’t play one another in the regular season, so they’ll be strangers when they potentially meet in the AFC title game.

You could argue that people in Alabama have more reason to pull for Baltimore than New England.

There are five former Alabama and Auburn players on Baltimore’s roster. Former Alabama players on the team include defensive tackle Terrence Cody and linebackers Jarret Johnson and Chavis Williams. Former Auburn players on the roster include guard Ben Grubbs and linebacker Josh Bynes.

There are two former Alabama players on New England’s roster, defensive ends Mark Anderson and Brandon Deaderick.

Any of these four of these teams – New Orleans, Green Bay, New England and Baltimore – would make a strong candidate for Super Bowl champion, so it’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the playoffs pan out. Whatever happens, we should have plenty of good games to watch between now and then.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 12, 2012

2012-01-12T06:53:00.003-06:00

Temp: 43.5 degrees F (6.4 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches

Humidity: 83 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Clear skies, light fog.

Winds: Light winds out of the South, Southwest.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

NOTE: 22nd day of Winter, moon visibile in the West at an angle of about 60 degrees.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

This week's movie picks are 'Contraband' and 'Moneyball'

2012-01-11T12:42:00.000-06:00

It’s Wednesday, so today I give you my weekly list of movies that will open in theatres this week as well as a list of movies that will be released this week on DVD.

I hope this will serve as a useful guide as to what’s going on this week if you happen to be near a movie theatre or if you’re looking for something to drop into your NetFlix queue.

Movies that are scheduled to hit theatres this week include:

Beauty and the Beast 3D (G, Romance, Family): Directed by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale and starring the voices of Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Angela Lansbury and Jerry Orbach.

Contraband (R, Action, Suspense): Directed by Baltasar Kormakur and starring Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi and J.K. Simmons.

The Divide (Science Fiction, Suspense): Directed by Xavier Gens and starring Lauren German, Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia, Courtney B. Vance and Rosanna Arquette.

Don’t Go in the Woods (Horror, Musical): Directed by Vincent D’Onofrio and starring Eric Bogosian, Bo Boddie, Gwynn Galitzer, Jorgen Jorgensen and Tim Lajcik.

Joyful Noise (PG-13, Comedy, Drama): Directed by Todd Graff and starring Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, Courtney B. Vance and Jesse L. Martin.

New DVD releases for the week of Jan. 10 include:

1911 (R, War, Action): Directed by Jackie Chan and Zhang Li and starring Jackie Chan, Bing Bing Lee, Winston Chao, Joan Chen and Jaycee Chan.

Higher Ground (R, Drama): Directed by Vera Farmiga and starring Vera Farmiga, Donna Murphy, John Hawkes, Joshua Leonard and Dagmara Dominczyk.

I Am (Not Rated, Documentary): Directed by Tom Shadyac.

Killer Elite (R, Action, Adventure): Directed by Gary McKendry and starring Robert De Niro, Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Yvonne Strahoyski and Dominic Purcell.

A Mile in His Shoes (PG, Drama, Family): Directed by William Dear and starring Dean Cain, Luke Schroder, Jarod Joseph, Jesse Hutch and Anna Mae Routledge.

Moneyball (PG-13, Drama): Directed by Bennett Miller and starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright Penn and Chris Pratt.

Saints and Sinners (R, Action, Crime): Directed by William Kaufman and starring Kim Coates, Sean Patrick Flanery, Tom Berenger, Jolene Blalock and Jurgen Prochnow.

Saving Private Perez (PG-13, Adventure, Comedy): Directed by Beto Gomez and starring Gerardo Taracena, Joaquin Cosio, Jaime Camil, Randy Vasquez and Jesus Ochoa.

There Be Dragons (PG-13, Drama): Directed by Roland Joffe and starring Dougray Scott, Charlie Cox, Wes Bentley, Olga Kurylenko and Rodrigo Santoro.

What’s Your Number? (R, Comedy, Romance): Directed by Mark Mylod and starring Anna Faris, Chris Evans, Martin Freeman, Zachary Quinto and Andy Samberg.

If I could only watch one movie at the theatre this week, it would be “Contraband,” and if I had to pick just one DVD to rent this week, it would be “Moneyball.”

In the end, let me know if you get a chance to watch any of the new movies in theatres this week or if you’ve already seen any of the movies that have just been released on DVD. What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 11, 2012

2012-01-11T06:49:00.002-06:00

Temp: 50.9 degrees F (10.5 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.1 inches

Humidity: 65 percent (Normal)

Conditions: Cloudy.

Winds: Strong winds out of the West, Southwest.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.3 inches

NOTE: 21st day of Winter, moon visibile in the West.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Poole's Evergreen history book is a must-read for local history buffs

2012-01-10T22:18:00.002-06:00

My good friend Cheryl Johnston recently loaned me a book that I’ve been wanting to read for a while now, The Complete History of Evergreen, Alabama” by Pat Poole. I finished reading it a few days ago, and I’ll never look at Evergreen the same way again.

My dad grew up in Evergreen and I’ve always had relatives in “The Emerald City,” so I’ve always been more than a little curious about the city’s history. For anyone looking for detailed information about the city’s past, Poole’s history of Evergreen fits the bill.

This 500-page book was published in 2005 and contains a wealth of information, including scores of vintage photos from days gone by. Dedicated to the late Owlen Philyaw, a longtime local photographer and Evergreen Courant employee, the book contains 15 chapters, including chapters that about banks, barber and beauty shops, car and tractor dealerships, churches, “Citizens that Excelled,” the City of Evergreen, clubs and organizations, downtown and small stores, hotels, houses, the National Guard, plants and factories, recreation, restaurant and cafes, schools, band and athletics.

One of the first things that will strike readers is the large amount of apparent work that was put into it by Poole and others. It’s obvious that he spent more than a little time sifting through old newspapers, researching old records and piecing together the town’s business history. The result is nothing short of very impressive.

Poole, a former Evergreen mayor, also included a complete copy of one of Evergreen’s earliest histories, “Evergreen – And Evergreen Shall Be Its Name” by Mary Sampey, an important essay about the city’s past that won an 1894 contest at Evergreen Agricultural School.

Later, on Page 285, Poole makes reference to another book about Evergreen’s history written by Y.M. Rabb. Prior to seeing Poole’s reference to this book, I don’t remember ever having heard anyone ever mention it. I’d be interested in reading a copy of it if anyone out there knows where I can find one.

Being a member of Greening Lodge No. 53 in Evergreen, I was also especially interested in the book’s few references to freemasonry in Evergreen. According to the book, Evergreen Baptist Church was once housed in the lower half of a Masonic Hall, which was located on the vacant lot that now sits across from the current church sanctuary and adjacent to the library in Evergreen. That building, which was also used as a public library and Sunday School building, burned and was torn down sometime in the 1930s.

Poole’s book also includes an excerpt from the Oct. 6, 1930 edition of The Evergreen Courant, which I believe was a special historical edition of the paper. It reads as follows:

“As one of the leading fraternal organizations of Evergreen and Conecuh County is the local Masonic lodge. The body has been established here for many years and has played a big part in the growth of this section.

“As a lodge, it participates in the various moves undertaken by the order and is one of the progressive lodges in this section. Officers are: Dr. J.W. Hagood, Worshipful Master; C.C. Miller, Senior Warden; Tom Mills, Junior Warden; H.A. Williams, Senior Deacon; W.G. Jones, Junior Deacon; W.S. Dreaden, Treasurer; R.S. Smith, secretary; and J.H. Stamps, Tyler.”

In the end, how many of you have had the chance to read Poole’s history of Evergreen? What did you think about it? Do you know of any other good local history books? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 10, 2012

2012-01-10T06:53:00.002-06:00

Temp: 62.1 degrees F (16.7 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.2 inches

Humidity: 83 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Raining, foggy, overcast

Winds: Winds out of the Southeast.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.2 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.2 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.2 inches

NOTE: 20th day of Winter, security light still on.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

FICTION: Eli McMorn and The Tunnel, Part I

2012-01-09T16:43:00.001-06:00

The woods were dark and the high, steep sides of the red clay railroad cut pressed in on us like the walls of a prison. The cold wind blew through the pine tops all around us and made them moan like a score of phantom pulp wood trucks whirring over some distant blacktop.

The only things of comfort in sight were the broad shoulders and the great bull neck that supported the completely shaved head of Claiborne Police Detective Alfred “Raz” Klutch. A former college football center, he was shaped looked like a fire plug and was twice as tough.

He had a street reputation for being indestructible, and some say he can’t be killed. People called him “Raz” because it’s short for Rasputin. Like the Russian mystic who was murdered by conspirators nearly a century ago, Klutch had survived several attempts on his life, including a poisoning, being shot at close range at least twice, an attempted strangling and a near drowning. Someone had even set him on fire once during a drug raid, and I’ve also been told that he’d been hit in the head once with a claw-toothed hammer. All things considered, he was the sort of fellow you liked having on your side.

Klutch was leading me down the old railroad tracks that led to an abandoned train tunnel in the middle of nowhere. As if he’d heard my thoughts, he stopped, turned and looked me over.

“Let me remind you that I’m only bringing you out here because I know that you can keep your mouth shut,” Klutch said, his voice like gravel.

He shinned his flashlight in my face, and I nodded.

“You were the only photographer I could find on short notice,” he continued. “And counting myself, you’ll be only the third person to come out here tonight. I want to get good pictures first before anyone else comes out here. Once I make that first call, this’ll become a circus, and there’ll be dozens of folks out here tracking everything up.”

Klutch’s phone call an hour ago had come as a surprise. I’d been sitting at my nightshift reporter’s desk banging out a story when he’d called for me to meet him with my camera.

“So who’s the third person?” I asked. “You mentioned a third.”

“The vic,” he said, turning to continue back down the tracks. “He was our department photographer.”

We arrived at the mouth of the tunnel a few minutes later. It was a large masonry structure set down into the railroad cut. The walls of the tunnel appeared to be composed of limestone, and were covered with patches of green algae. The opening was huge, a black mouth of nothing that was every bit of 25 feet from the track bed to the arched roof of the tunnel. Long abandoned, there hadn’t been a train to pass down these tracks in over a hundred years.

Our flashlights did little to pierce the black upon black of the tunnel’s interior. There was a good bit of standing water from recent rains at the mouth of the tunnel and masses of bat guano on the tracks ahead. Despite the disease-infested guano, the smell wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined.

“Here’s the game plan,” Klutch said. “We need to preserve the scene as much as possible. I’ve already been down as far as the body, alone about an hour ago. If at all possible, walk on top of the track. It’s slick, but that’ll help us distinguish what’s ours and what’s not. Understand?”

“Got it.”

I followed him into the tunnel and after about 50 yards it began to bend to the right. We rounded the bend and the faint outline of the tunnel’s opening disappeared from view behind us. In that moment, I saw it, a crumpled mass of clothes, a long khaki overcoat, the remnants of a necktie, slacks and a blood-soaked dress shirt.

Klutch walked right up to the corpse and knelt as best he could, careful not to get guano on his pants.

“You’re not one of those types who’s going to puke all over my crime scene, are you?” he asked.

“I saw worse in Iraq.”

That seemed to satisfy him, and he spent the next three or four minutes giving me an impromptu class on crime scene photography. The job took three or four minutes. Hours from now, after sunrise, scores of folks would be down here, moving the body, collecting more evidence, stomping all over everything. These pictures would be invaluable then.

The dead photographer’s name was Paul Stewart, and he was a damned mess. He’d been attacked by an animal, and his throat looked like it had been ravaged by something with very sharp teeth. His skin was as ashen as newsprint from blood loss.

“What was he doing down here?”

“Not sure,” Klutch said, shining his light farther down the tunnel. “He’d had the night off for a change.”

More tracks led off into the distance, farther into the darkness of the tunnel beyond. “Let’s see where those go,” Klutch said. “He may have dropped his camera, that is, if the killer didn’t make off with it.”

“Killer? You don’t think an animal did this?”

He shook his head. “I doubt it.”

We followed the dead man’s tracks in the guano, and it was hard not to notice that there wasn’t a lot of blood on the ground. We could see where he’d walked on top of the tracks, like us, on his way down the tunnel, but his return back up the tunnel after his injury had been a stumbling, running affair.

Klutch drew his service weapon, a heavy-duty .40-caliber handgun. I could tell from its silhouette that it was much larger than the small, snub-nosed revolver I had stuck in the small of my back.

We walked about 30 more yards around the bend, when Klutch dropped into a crouch. “What the hell!” he yelled. He shielded his face with his left hand, careful not to point the muzzle of his handgun in the wrong direction. “Bats!”

Instinctively, I crouched behind him. There didn’t seem to be many of them, and I could hear their tiny squeaks as they flew past, on their way out of the tunnel to snack on the ample supply of small insects in the surrounding woods. It was obvious that the tunnel was home to many more bats, but most of them probably took wing to hunt as soon as the sun set, hours ago.

“Rabies infested rats with wings,” Klutch mumbled. “Have you ever looked at one up close?”

Before I could answer, the beam of Klutch’s flashlight passed over something ahead. “What’s that, there on the ground?”

“Looks like a bag.”

“It’s a camera bag.”

We approached slowly, and Klutch pulled a pair of white rubber gloves out of nowhere. “Let see what we’ve got,” he said, pulling the gloves over his thick fingers.

The bag was closed, and Klutch flipped the top open with an index finger. He shined his light inside. “Get a picture of this,” he said, motioning me over for a closer look.

The outside of the camera bag was brown and relatively clean considering that it had been left unceremoniously in a large pile of guano. I peer into the bag and saw that it contained a number of unusual items – an old pocket pistol, some ammo, a wooden mallet, two wooden stakes, some Rosary beads, a wooden cross, a Bible, what looked like a folded Monroe County map and a dozen or so glass phials.

“Notice anything missing?” Klutch asked after I took several photos of the bags contents.

“No camera.”

“That’s right,” he said. “And no memory cards either.” He produced a small yellow evidence flag from his coat, poked it in to the guano beside the bag and stood.

Suddenly and without warning, a rustling sound, like that of a wet flag flopping in the wind, came to our ears from the darkness ahead.

“What in the hell was that?” I asked, trying to keep my voice level and calm.

“There’s been someone watching us from the shadows ahead ever since we reached the bag,” Klutch whispered. “We weren’t the ones who kicked up those bats. Kill your flashlight.”

I turned off my flashlight, and he did the same. We stood there for what seemed like a long time, listening, straining our ears in the darkness. The total absence of light was oppressive, and the smell of the omnipresent guano soon became overpowering as my sense of smell began to compensate for my lack of vision.

With my free hand, I reached into the waistband of my pants and freed my revolver. I slid it from under my jacket and eased back the hammer. Despite my best efforts, the distinctive sound of the hammer being drawn back was unmistakable in the darkness.

I could sense Klutch turn in my direction. “Be ready” was all he managed to whisper before all hell broke loose.

Conecuh County News Flashback - Jan. 9, 2012

2012-01-09T14:23:00.002-06:00

SIX YEARS AGO
JAN. 5, 2006

“O.B. Salter, age 82, of McKenzie and formerly of Evergreen, died Wed., Dec. 28, in a Georgiana hospital.”

“Residents in Conecuh County will be busy over the next year erecting signs like this one on Rural Street in preparation for the E-911 system that will come online in 2007. The signs will help emergency personnel identify locations during calls. Numbers on signs should be between 3 and 3-1/2 inches tall and reflective to light.”

“The Evergreen City Council accepted bids for two new pieces of equipment at their regular meeting Tuesday night. Bids for a new street sweeper and thermal imaging camera for the Evergreen Volunteer Fire Department, that were tabled at the previous meeting so specifications could be verified, were brought to the council for approval.
“Mayor Larry Fluker informed the council Streets Superintendent Eddie Shell and Maintenance Supervisor Martin Young had checked the specifications for the sweeper, along with Councilmen Lynn Blackmon and Homer Chavers.
“They recommended the council accept the bid from Samson Equipment for $134,456.11. The low bid of $119,000 submitted by another company was deemed to be of unequal specifications. The council voted to accept the bid on the new machine.
“The council also voted to accept the bid from Sunbelt Fire Equipment of Fairhope for a new thermal imaging camera for the Evergreen Volunteer Fire Department.”

21 YEARS AGO
JAN. 3, 1991

“Weatherman Harry Ellis reports .11 of an inch of rain on Dec. 30. The weatherman reports 4.14 inches of rain during the month of December and total rainfall for 1990 was 62.15 inches.”

“The Evergreen RLDS Church presented live Christmas scenes depicting the birth of Jesus Christ on the church lawn Dec. 22 and Dec. 23. The church would like to express their thanks to all those who helped with the presentations.”

“The Alabama River Pulp Challenge was won for the second time by Reid State Technical College. David Long, Public Relations & Governmental Affairs Director of Alabama River Woodlands is shown presenting Reid President Wiley Salter with a check for $2,100. An additional $100 bonus was awarded this quarter for participating in research of the number of aluminum cans being discarded along the highway right of ways.”

“Final rites held for Mutt White: Multon James White, 76, of 227 Pecan St., Evergreen, died Wed., Dec. 26. He was born in Florida, but had lived in Evergreen for over 50 years. Mr. White was a popular resident and well known as a sportsman who fished and hunted. As a younger man, he was an excellent baseball player and was a catcher for the Evergreen Amateur Town Team. He was a member of the Evergreen Baptist Church.”

36 YEARS AGO
JAN. 1, 1976

“A fire in the rear of Harper’s Furniture Co. on West Front Street did little damage Monday night, thanks to its discovery by city police and prompt and efficient work by the Evergreen Fire Department.
“Police discovered the fire, apparently shortly after it started, at about 10:45 p.m., while making a routine check of store doors. It was confined to one corner in the rear of the building. Evergreen firemen responded to the alarm promptly, cut through the roof and put out the blaze.
“Owner Coy Harper, former Evergreen mayor, praised the firemen and the police. He said the early discovery and prompt and efficient firefighting limited damage to smoke and water.
“Harper said that it will take several days until a settlement can be made with insurance company and that during the time no sales will be made.”

“Harvey Godwin Pate, 69, of Evergreen died on Tues., Dec. 23, in a Greenville hospital. Mr. Pate served a total of five terms as Conecuh County Superintendent of Education. He did not seek re-election, but retired when he completed his fifth term of office in 1973.”

“Sergeant Otis J. Woodson Jr. is administered the U.S. Air Force oath of enlistment at Kelly AFB, Texas, by Lt. Col. Don L. Peterson, commander of the 6993rd Security Squadron. The sergeant, who mother is Mrs. Tammie Woodson of Evergreen Route, is a 1971 graduate of Evergreen High School.”

66 YEARS AGO
JAN. 3, 1946

“Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher Minard received a wire Saturday saying that their son, Sgt. Carl Minard, arrived in Boston, Mass., after spending 19 months overseas in the E.T.O.”

“Weather Causes Heavy Madison Crop Losses – HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Jan. 1 – A million dollars’ worth of cotton and corn, much of it beaten into the ground by snow, wind and rain, remains in Madison County fields and there is little hope of salvaging it at anything near its potential value, a summary of estimates from over the county showed this weekend.
“With the exception of a few days last week, weather has prevented gathering of corn through December, particularly in the lowlands, and lack of labor has kept the harvest at a minimum on the rare clear days.
“Since the first bad weather hit this area late in November, rains and freezing temperatures have alternated continuously to bring cotton picking to a standstill.
“An estimated 25 to 30 per cent of the county’s corn crop, or about $500,000 worth, is believed still in the fields. Estimates on the amount of cotton left range from 2,500 to 5,000 bales.”

“Lt. (j.g.) Robert G. Kendall arrived Friday from Okinawa and will spend a 30 day leave with his family.”

“Lt. Knud Nielsen Jr. left Sunday for Ft. Bragg, N.C. after spending several weeks with his parents.”

Compiled from past issues of The Evergreen Courant.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 9, 2012

2012-01-09T06:49:00.002-06:00

Temp: 61.7 degrees F (16.5 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): Trace amount.

Humidity: 83 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Overcast with heavy fog.

Winds: Light wind out of the Southwest.

Week to Date Rainfall: Trace.

Month to Date Rainfall: Trace.

Year to Date Rainfall: Trace.

NOTE: 19th day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Dean Koontz knocks Stephen King from top of best-sellers list this week

2012-01-08T07:24:00.001-06:00

It’s Sunday, so that means that it’s time for my weekly review of this week’s Publishers Weekly Best-Seller List. According to the list, there is one new book at the top of the four major best-sellers lists this week.

"77 Shadow Street" by Dean Koontz replaced "11/22/63" by Stephen King as the No. 1 book on the hardcover fiction best-sellers list.

"Steve Jobs: A Biography" by Walter Isaacson remained the top book on the hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson remained the top book on the mass market paperback best-sellers list.

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett retained the No. 1 spot on the trade paperbacks best-sellers list.

There are four books on this week’s hardcover fiction best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They (along with their place on the list) include "77 Shadow Street" by Dean Koontz (1), "Down the Darkest Road" by Tami Hoag (12), "Covert Warriors" by W.E.B. Griffin & William E. Butterworth IV (14) and "D.C. Dead" by Stuart Woods (15).

There are three books on this week’s hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They include "The 17 Day Diet" by Dr. Mike Moreno (4), "The Petite Advantage Diet" by Jim Karas (9) and "The Dukan Diet" by Dr. Pierre Dukan (15).

There are eight books on this week’s mass market paperbacks best-sellers list that weren’t on that list last week. They include "Spirit Bound" by Christine Feehan (2), "The Jefferson Key" by Steve Berry (4), "Hidden Summit" by Robyn Carr (6), "Moonlight in the Morning" by Jude Deveraux (9), "Minding Frankie" by Maeve Binchy (11), "Fatal Error" by J.A. Jance (13), "The Duke Is Mine" by Eloisa James (14) and "You...Again" by Debbie Macomber (15).

There are five books on this week’s trade paperbacks best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They include "God Is Not Great" by Christopher Hitchens (10), "Assholes Finish First" by Tucker Max (11), "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness (12), "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls (14) and "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay (15).

As a reminder, I’m posting these lists each Sunday because they, as a whole, represent a great, contemporary recommended reading list. These lists are initially released each week on Thursday, and if you’re interested in reading them then, visit Publishers Weekly’s Web site at www.publishersweekly.com. Below you’ll find all four of this week’s best-seller lists.

HARDCOVER FICTION
1. "77 Shadow Street" by Dean Koontz
2. "Death Comes to Pemberley" by P.D. James
3. "11/22/63" by Stephen King
4. "Locked On" by Tom Clancy with Mark Greaney
5. "Kill Alex Cross" by James Patterson
6. "The Litigators" by John Grisham
7. "The Best of Me" by Nicholas Sparks
8. "Red Mist" by Patricia Cornwell
9. "Explosive Eighteen" by Janet Evanovich
10. "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" by Stieg Larsson
11. "The Drop" by Michael Connelly
12. "Down the Darkest Road" by Tami Hoag
13. "Micro: A Novel" by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston
14. "Covert Warriors" by W.E.B. Griffin & William E. Butterworth IV
15. "D.C. Dead" by Stuart Woods

HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. "Steve Jobs: A Biography" by Walter Isaacson
2. "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
3. "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand
4. "The 17 Day Diet" by Dr. Mike Moreno
5. "Guinness World Records 2012"
6. "Go the F--k to Sleep" by Adam Mansbach
7. "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman
8. "Through My Eyes" by Tim Tebow with Nathan Whitaker
9. "The Petite Advantage Diet" by Jim Karas
10. "Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman" by Robert K. Massie
11. "Heaven Is for Real" by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent
12. "Being George Washington" by Glenn Beck
13. "Every Day a Friday" by Joel Osteen
14. "Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero" by Chris Matthews
15. "The Dukan Diet" by Dr. Pierre Dukan

MASS MARKET PAPERBACKS
1. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson
2. "Spirit Bound" by Christine Feehan
3. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson
4. "The Jefferson Key" by Steve Berry
5. "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
6. "Hidden Summit" by Robyn Carr
7. "Smokin' Seventeen" by Janet Evanovich
8. "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
9. "Moonlight in the Morning" by Jude Deveraux
10. "Toys" by James Patterson and Neil McMahon
11. "Minding Frankie" by Maeve Binchy
12. "The Land of Painted Caves" by Jean M. Auel
13. "Fatal Error" by J.A. Jance
14. "The Duke Is Mine" by Eloisa James
15. "You...Again" by Debbie Macomber

TRADE PAPERBACKS
1. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
2. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson
3. "The Tiger's Wife: A Novel" by Tea Obreht
4. "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo, Sonja Burpo, Colton Burpo and Lynn Vincent
5. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson
6. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
7. "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer
8. "The Zombie Survival Guide" by Max Brooks
9. "The Next Always" by Nora Roberts
10. "God Is Not Great" by Christopher Hitchens
11. "Assholes Finish First" by Tucker Max
12. "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness
13. "Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese
14. "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
15. "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay

In the end, let me know if you’ve had a chance to read any of these books. What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 8, 2012

2012-01-08T07:21:00.002-06:00

Temp: 53.6 degrees F (12.0 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): Trace amount.

Humidity: 82 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Mostly cloudy with light fog.

Winds: Calm.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

NOTE: 18th day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

How many of these 'SF Masterworks' have you had the chance to read?

2012-01-07T15:13:00.003-06:00

Back on Dec. 26, I posted a best-of book list called Forbidden Planet’s “50 SF Books You MUST Read,” and a few days later a friend e-mailed me some information about a similar sci-fi book list called “SF Masterworks.”

“SF Masterworks” is actually a series of classic science fiction novels published by Orion Publishing Group. Books in the series were selected by Orion managing editor Malcolm Edwards, and the first books in the series were published in 1999. The list is composed of “select science fiction books” and is was created “with the goal of bringing important books back to print.”

Books that made the list included the following titles:

1. The Affirmation by Christopher Priest (1981)
2. Ammonite by Nicola Griffith (1992)
3. Arslan by M.J. Engh (1976)
4. Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany (1967)
5. Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock (1969)

6. Blood Music by Greg Bear (1985)
7. The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney (1955)
8. The Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg (1972)
9. Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore (1953)
10. The Caltraps of Time by David I. Masson (1968)

11. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. (1960)
12. A Case of Conscience by James Blish (1958)
13. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1963)
14. The Centauri Device by M. John Harrison (1974)
15. The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman (1990)

16. Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
17. Cities in Flight by James Blish (2000)
18. City by Clifford D. Simak (1952)
19. The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke (1956)
20. The Complete Roderick by John Sladek (1980)

21. The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe by D.G. Compton (1973)
22. Dahlgren by Samuel R. Delany (1974)
23. The Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock (1972)
24. Dangerous Visions by Harlan Ellison (1967)
25. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (1951)

26. Dark Benediction by Walter M. Miller Jr. (2007)
27. The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester (1953)
28. The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (1990)
29. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin (1974)
30. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (1968)

31. Downward to Earth by Robert Silverberg (1970)
32. Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick (1965)
33. The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard (1962)
34. Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)
35. Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg (1972)

36. Earth Abides by George R. Stewart (1949)
37. Emphyrio by Jack Vance (1969)
38. Eon by Greg Bear (1985)
39. The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1990)
40. A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke (1961)

41. The Female Man by Joanna Russ (1975)
42. The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe (1972)
43. The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells (1901)
44. Floating Worlds by Cecelia Holland (1975)
45. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (1966)

46. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick (1974)
47. The Food of the Gods by H.G. Wells (1904)
48. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (1974)
49. The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke (1979)
50. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)

51. Gateway by Fredrik Phol (1977)
52. Grass by Sheri S. Tepper (1989)
53. Greybeard by Brian Aldiss (1964)
54. Helliconia by Brian Aldiss (1986)
55. Hellstrom’s Hive by Frank Herbert (1973)

56. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979)
57. Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1989)
58. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (1954)
59. The Inverted World by Christopher Priest (1974)
60. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells (1897)

61. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells (1896)
62. Jems by Frederik Pohl (1979)
63. Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon (1930)
64. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin (1971)
65. Life During War Time by Lucius Shepard (1987)

66. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny (1967)
67. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (1962)
68. Man Plus by Frederik Pohl (1976)
69. Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick (1964)
70. Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick (1970)

71. Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement (1954)
72. Mockingbird by Walter Tevis (1980)
73. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein (1966)
74. More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon (1953)
75. Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss (1958)

76. Nova by Samuel R. Delany (1968)
77. Now Wait for Last Year by Philip K. Dick (1966)
78. Odd John by Olaf Stapledon (1935)
79. Of Men and Monsters by William Tenn (1968)
80. Pavane by Keith Roberts (1968)

81. The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick (1964)
82. The Prestige by Christopher Priest (1995)
83. The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith (1993)
84. Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (1972)
85. Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban (1980)

86. Ringworld by Larry Niven (1970)
87. Rouge Moon by Algis Budrys (1960)
88. Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky (1977)
89. Rur & War with the Newts by Karel Capke (2011)
90. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick (1977)

91. The Sea and Summer by George Turner (1987)
92. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1959)
93. Sirius by Olaf Stapledon (1944)
94. The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson (1956)
95. The Simulacra by Philip K. Dick (1964)

96. Slow River by Nicola Griffith (1995)
97. The Space Merchants by Frederik Phol and C.M. Cornbluth (1953)
98. Stand On Zanzibar by John Brunner (1968)
99. Star Maker by Olaf Stapleton (1937)
100. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (1956)

101. Synners by Pat Cadigan (1991)
102. Take Back Plenty by Colin Greenland (1990)
103. Tau Zero by Poul Anderson (1970)
104. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (1895)
105. Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick (1959)

106. Timescape by Gegory Benford (1980)
107. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick (1965)
108. Ubik by Philip K. Dick (1969)
109. Unquenchable Fire by Rachel Pollack (1988)
110. VALIS by Philip K. Dick (1981)

111. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (1895)
112. Wasp by Eric Frank Russell (1957)
113. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (1976)

In the end, how may of these books have you had the chance to read? Which did you like or dislike? Which would you recommend and why? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 7, 2012

2012-01-07T07:04:00.002-06:00

Temp: 53.2 degrees F (11.8 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches

Humidity: 83 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Mostly cloudy with light, low fog in the distance.

Winds: Calm.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

NOTE: Security light still on. 17th day of Winter, dove season ends in the South Zone.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Which of the two recent 'Sherlock Holmes' movies is your favorite?

2012-01-06T21:52:00.002-06:00

My wife and I rang in the new year last Saturday night by driving to Greenville to watch “Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows” at The Edge theatre, and it was more than worth the one-hour drive and price of admission.

Directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, this action thriller was released on Dec. 16. Based on characters by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “Game of Shadows” is the sequel to the 2009 blockbuster, “Sherlock Holmes.” Downey plays master detective Holmes in both movies, and Law plays his sidekick, Dr. Watson, in both films.

According to the Internet Movie Database, “Game of Shadows” is based largely on the short story “The Final Problem” but also contains elements of other Doyle stories, including “Bruce Partington Stains,” “The Dying Detective,” “The Greek Interpretor,” “The Second Stain,” “The Sign of Four,” “The Speckled Band” and “The Valley of Fear.”

In “Game of Shadows,” Holmes matches wits with his nemesis, Professor Moriarty, who is played by actor Jared Harris. Harris is best known for his appearances in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Resident Evil: Apocalypse,” “Ocean’s Twelve” and “Mr. Deeds.”

A rumor early on, before filming, made the rounds that Brad Pitt would play the villain Moriarty, but that never came to pass. It must be admitted that this would have been a very interesting role for Pitt, and would have probably made the film a bigger draw at the box office. Others rumored to have been in the running for the role of Moriarty included Javier Bardem, Daniel Day-Lewis, Gary Oldman and Sean Penn. Why they went with Harris probably boiled down to money or the desire not to distract from the star power of Downey and Law.

Much has been made in print and on television about claims that “Game of Shadows” is better than the original. Both movies are entertaining in their own way and as you would expect from movies with the same director and principal actors, there were many similarities in both movies. Which is the better of the two, I cannot say. I liked both of them, maybe the first more than the second.

Of course, this movie made me want to run right out and read all of the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle “Sherlock Holmes” stories, and I really have no excuse of not doing so. As I type this, in a box on the shelf behind me, sits both volumes of the Bantam Classic edition of “Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories.” These books contain all four novels and 56 short stories. At a combined 1,796 pages, it would take me over a month and a half to read from front to back. But that is a column for another day.

In the end, my wife and I really enjoyed “Game of Shadows,” and I recommend it to anyone out there who enjoys a good action thriller and especially to those who liked the first “Sherlock Holmes” movie in 2009.

What did you think about “Game of Shadows”? What was your favorite part? Did you think it was better than the first Holmes movie? Why? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 6, 2012

2012-01-06T06:49:00.003-06:00

Temp: 37.2 degrees F (2.9 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches

Humidity: 81 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Clear skies with a few trace clouds, low thick fog also present.

Winds: Calm.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

NOTE: 16th day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

Airship's appearance over Evergreen topped local news a century ago

2012-01-05T08:50:00.003-06:00

It’s that time of the month again, time to take a trip down memory lane and review all of the interesting things that took place in Conecuh County 100 years ago, way back in January 1912.

In the Jan. 4, 1912 edition of The Conecuh Record newspaper, editor J.D. Whitcomb reminded readers that they could buy subscriptions for “one dollar per year, strictly in advance.”

Under the headline, “Candidates,” it was reported that “as a result of the action of the state executive committee in naming April 1 for the primary election, the political pot has begun to boil in Conecuh County.

“M.B. Salter, pioneer citizen and Confederate veteran, is asking for re-election to the office of county treasurer.

“In the person of Andrew J. Mason, the people of Conecuh County will have the opportunity of voting for a hustling, capable and high-toned gentleman for tax assessor.”

Readers also learned that week that “G.W. Miller of Herbert has been appointed deputy sheriff by Sheriff E.C. Hines,” and that “Jas. F. Jones has been appointed county solicitor, J.S. Stevens having resigned.”

Also that week, under the headline, “Confederate Veterans,” it was reported that “at a meeting of Camp Wm. Lee, U.C.V., which was held here Monday, G.R. Boulware was re-elected commander of the Camp. The following officers were also elected: M.B. Salter, sergeant major; Rev. J.D. Wright, chaplain; Dr. W.B. Shaver, surgeon. Delegates to the next encampment: W.F. Tomlinson, J.T. Fincher and J.W. Cook. The meeting was well attended.”

In the Jan. 11, 1912 edition of the newspaper, Whitcomb reported that “the prolonged and unearthly screech of the fire whistle about eight o’clock last evening caused a ripple of excitement in our city, and as everybody who can crawl, walk or run goes to a fire, a large crowd soon collected at the county jail, the scene of the fire.

“Fortunately, little damage was done as the fire was confined to the burning of a few blankets owned by the county and used by the prisoners. It seems that one of the inmates set his blanket afire on purpose.”

Readers also learned that “W.S. Oliver announces in The Record this week his candidacy for re-election as tax collector.”

Whitcomb also reported that “there are quite a number of automobiles owned in the city of Evergreen – handsome and costly cars too, and the temptation to many to ‘crank her up and let her go Gallagher!’ is no doubt often great, but we are glad to know that these machines are owned by sensible people who forego the pleasure (?) of indulging in the dangerous and senseless habit of ‘speeding’ out of consideration for the safety of others.”

Subscribers also saw that week that “J.C. Bush of the firm of Bush Bros., naval stores operators, of Brooklyn, was in the city last Saturday and favored The Record office with a call.”

In the Jan. 18, 1912 edition of the paper, under the headline, “The Airship,” Whitcomb reported that “aviation, like the automobile a few years ago, is becoming quite the rage, and when it was known that the bird man, R.G. Fowler of San Francisco would reach Evergreen Sunday afternoon, the streets were crowded with people with their noses elevated at an angle of about 45 degrees to catch the first sight of the wonderful flying machine.

“They were not disappointed – the bird man came and made good and although circling in the air at least 1,000 feet above the earth, the whirr of the powerful little motor, which drove the machine through space with such velocity, was plainly heard by the crowd below.

“After circling over the city several times and executing some graceful curves, Fowler landed about two miles from town. The people had the thrilling pleasure again on Tuesday of seeing the airship which had remained over on account of unfavorable weather conditions. Mr. Fowler took his final flight about three o’clock for other points on his route.”

Readers also learned that “Mr. J.K. Ryland of Bermuda announces this week as a candidate for the office of tax collector.”

Subscribers also saw that “Mr. J.T. Fincher, who announces for county treasurer, is too well known to the voters of the county to need any recommendation through the columns of The Record.”

In the Jan. 25, 1912 edition, Whitcomb reported that “a ripple of excitement was created Wednesday by a runaway mule team.”

Readers also learned that “the newly appointed registrars for Conecuh County are John Cunningham, N.T. Aarons and J.R. Myers.”

It was also reported that “C.B. Savage has been appointed jury commissioner to fill the vacancy caused by resignation of W.R. Shaver of Herbert.”

Whitcomb also reported that “W.W. Pridgen, it is thought, will be sent as a delegate to the national Republican convention from this district.”

That week’s paper also included the following announcement – “Notice is hereby given of the intention to organize a bank at Repton, Ala. by W.M. Newton, C.P. Deming, H.L. Dees, Wilber M. Salter, C.K. Carter, Milton Dunn, A.R. Knight, Lee Gaston, J.C. Long and J.R. Simmons as the proposed incorporators and stockholders, the name of the proposed corporation being the Merchants & Farmers Bank of Repton, Ala., the place where it proposes to do business being at Repton, Ala. and the amount of capital stock paid in with which will commence business to be $15,000.”

Whitcomb closed the month by telling readers that “if you wish to spend a delightful and instructive hour, see the stereopticon views at the courthouse Friday evening.”

I had to look it up and was interested to learn that a stereopticon was a slide projector or what was commonly called in the old days a "magic lantern." These devices date back to the mid 19th century, and were a popular form of entertainment and education before the advent of moving pictures.

Well, I guess that’s all that space will allow for this month. Next month, I plan to take a look at the events of February 1912 in Conecuh County. Until then, if you get the urge to research the county’s past yourself, take advantage of the Evergreen-Conecuh County Public Library’s excellent selection of old newspapers on microfilm and other resources. The library’s friendly and courteous staff will be more than happy to get you started.

The Evergreen Courant's Sports Flashback for Jan. 5, 2012

2012-01-05T08:48:00.000-06:00

EIGHT YEARS AGO
JAN. 1, 2004

“Lady Warriors pull off win against Escambia: Sparta Academy traveled to Canoe Friday, Dec. 19, to take on the Escambia Academy Cougars.
“Lady Warriors 39, Escambia 37: Ashton Garner was the lead scorer for this game with 13 points. Also scoring in the double digits was Ginger May with 10 points. Rounding out the scoring were Ava Pate with six points, Lacy Vargas and Cody Godwin with four points each and Samantha Seaman with two points.
“Escambia 26, JV Lady Warriors 19: Erica Palmer, Mallory Kendrick and Susan Ann Cook were all lead scorers this game with four points respectively. Also putting points on the board were Kimber Godwin, Morgan Harden and Cayla Bennett with two points each and Hayden Armuelles with one point.
“Escambia 80, Warriors 43: Drew Davis led the scoring with 15 points. Also putting points on the board were Perry Castleberry with eight points, Kyle Salter with five points, Patrick Cumagen and Will Ivey with four points each, Brandon Burleson with three points and Paul Castleberry and Tony Raines with two points each.
“Escambia 45, JV Warriors 8: Michael Campbell and Josh Pugh led the scoring this game with six points each. Rounding out the scoring were Carter Smith with three points, Chris Cinereski with two points and Lee Brown with one point.”

23 YEARS AGO
JAN. 5, 1989

“Superintendent Steve Coker announced today that Marshall Middle School has been awarded a grant from ‘Sports Illustrated’ magazine. The grant proposal, written by Mrs. Patricia Cassady, names each sixth grade student and all special education pupils at Marshall as recipients of a year’s subscription to the new periodical ‘Sports Illustrated for Kids.’ Editors of the widely-circulated sports magazine, believing that educators will find the new children’s publication useful in various curriculum areas, have selected schools (sixth-graders) throughout the nation to pilot the magazine in 1989. ‘We’re enthusiastic about receiving ‘Sports Illustrated for Kids,’ Superintendent Coker stated. ‘Not only do students enjoy reading about sports celebrities, but children are more likely to learn to analyze and graph sports statistics than, saying average yearly rainfall.’ According to Principal Jim Burden at Marshall, students should receive the first issue of the new magazine in early Januray.”

38 YEARS AGO
JAN. 3, 1974

“Joe Ross and his son-in-law, Jack White, bagged these ‘twin’ gobblers during the holidays. Each turkey had a seven-inch beard.”

From “The Colyum” by Bob Bozeman – “1973 wound up on a sour note for me and other loyal Alabama Crimson Tide fans. The Tide played well but fell short in its bid for a fourth national championship.
“Notre Dame put one point too many on the scoreboard. Even tho’ it didn’t turn out right, I do believe it was one of the most thrilling and best games I’ve ever watched.
“As Maurice pointed out, there was one good thing about it, we didn’t have to drive home from New Orleans.
“Actually, the Southeastern Conference had one of its poorest performances ever in bowl play. Only Georgia in the Peach Bowl managed to win.
“Fred Stevens said he should have known it was going to be a bad night for Alabama. He stopped by Andy Physentzides to watch the first half with him. Just before the kickoff a bolt of lightning struck Andy’s set and knocked it out. That was some storm, wasn’t it.”

68 YEARS AGO
JAN. 6, 1944

“Pvt. Charles Barlow in a recent letter to his father told of going hunting with a friend on which they killed 23 geese and three wild chickens. He said he killed 15 of the geese and two of the chickens. Charlie is in Alaska.”

Who do you think will win this week's slate of football games?

2012-01-05T08:46:00.001-06:00

This year’s slate of college football bowl games will wrap up this coming week with four games scheduled between tomorrow (Friday) and Monday. Here are my predictions for this week’s slate of bowl games.

Look for Arkansas to beat Kansas State in the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic, which will be played tomorrow at 7 p.m. in Arlington, Texas.

Expect Pitt to upend SMU in the BBVA Compass Bowl, which will be played Saturday at 12 p.m. in Birmingham.

Look for Arkansas State to beat Northern Illinois in the GoDaddy.com Bowl, which will be played Sunday at 8 p.m. in Mobile.

In the big game of the year, don’t be surprised if Alabama edges out LSU in the Allstate BCS National Championship Game, which will be played Monday at 7:30 p.m. in New Orleans.

All four of these games will be televised by ESPN, except for Friday night’s Cotton Bowl, which will be shown on FOX.

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The Compass Bowl and the GoDaddy.com Bowl were among three sports-related events included on the state tourism department’s monthly list of Top 10 events to check out in January.

The other sporting event on the list is the 2012 Under Armour Senior Bowl, which will be played in Mobile on Jan. 28. If you’ve never been to the Senior Bowl, it’s usually worth the trip, depending on the weather.

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This year’s group of NFL playoff teams were set after Sunday’s final regular season games, and the Wild Card round of the playoffs will begin this coming weekend.

Play will begin Saturday at 3:30 p.m. when the AFC’s Cincinnati Bengals visit the Houston Texans (NBC). The winner of that game will play the New England Patriots in the Divisional Round on Jan. 14. Look for Houston to edge out the Bengals on Saturday.

Also on Saturday, the NFC’s Detroit Lions will visit the New Orleans Saints at 7 p.m. (NBC). The winner of that game will play the San Francisco 49ers in the Divisional Round on Jan. 14. Don’t be surprised if New Orleans blows out Detroit on Saturday.

On Sunday, the NFC’s Atlanta Falcons will visit the New York Giants at noon (FOX). The winner of that game will face the Packers in Green Bay in the Divisional Round on Jan. 15. Expect the G-Men to beat the Falcons on Sunday, despite Julio Jones.

Also on Sunday, the AFC’s Pittsburgh Steelers will visit the Denver Broncos at 3:30 p.m. (CBS). The winner of that contest will play the Ravens in Baltimore in the Divisional Round on Jan. 15. Look for the Steelers to down the Broncos on Sunday.

If all of that plays out as expected then their could be some very good games in the Divisional Round, especially Pittsburgh at Baltimore and New Orleans at San Francisco.

A lot of folks in our part of the world will be pulling for the Saints to win it all, and they’re playing as good as they ever have, especially on offense. They’ve come a long way since the days when fans wore brown paper sacks over their heads at home games.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 5, 2012

2012-01-05T06:54:00.001-06:00

Temp: 43.7 degrees F (6.5 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches

Humidity: 82 percent (Humid)

Conditions: Clear skies with low, light fog.

Winds: Winds out of the West, Southwest.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

NOTE: 15th day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

My movie picks this week are 'Beneath the Darkness' and 'Contagion'

2012-01-04T14:21:00.001-06:00

It’s Wednesday, so today I give you my weekly list of movies that will open in theatres this week as well as a list of movies that will be released this week on DVD.

I hope this will serve as a useful guide as to what’s going on this week if you happen to be near a movie theatre or if you’re looking for something to drop into your NetFlix queue.

Movies that are scheduled to hit theatres this week include:

Beneath the Darkness (R, Suspense): Directed by Martin Guigui and starring Dennis Quaid, Aimee Teegarden, Stephen Lunsford, Devond Werkheiser and Tony Oller.

The Devil Inside (R, Horror): Directed by William Brent Bell and starring Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth, Bonnie Morgan and Suzan Crowley.

Norwegian Wood (Romance, Drama): Directed by Tran Anh Hung and starring Rinko Kikuchi, Kenichi Matsuyama, Kiko Mizuhara, Tetsuji Tamayama and Kengo Kora.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Drama): Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan and starring Muhammet Uzuner, Yilmaz Erdogan, Taner Birsel and Ahmet Taylan.

Roadie (R, Drama): Directed by Micael Cuesta and starring Ron Eldard, Bobby Cannavale, Jill Hennessy, Lois Smith and David Marguilies.

New DVD releases for the week of Jan. 3 include:

Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace (Documentary): Directed by Harry Hunkele.

Contagion (PG-13, Action, Suspense): Directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (R, Horror, Suspense): Directed by Troy Nixey and starring Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison, Alan Dale and Garry McDonald.

The Guard (R, Comedy, Mystery): Directed by John Michael McDonagh and starring Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan and Liam Cunningham.

I Don’t Know How She Does It (PG-13, Comedy): Directed by Douglas McGrath and starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Munn and Seth Meyers.

The Last Lions (PG, Documentary, Family): Directed by Dereck Joubert and starring the voice of Jeremy Irons.

Puncture (R, Drama, Suspense): Directed by Adam Kassen and Mark Kassen and starring Chris Evans, Michael Biehn, Vinessa Shaw, Mark Kassen and Kate Burton.

Removal (R, Suspense): Directed by Nick Simon and starring Billy Burke, Elliott Gould, Oz Perkins, Kelly Brook and Mark Kelly.

Shark Night (PG-13, Horror, Suspense): Directed by David R. Ellis and starring Sara Paxton, Chris Carmack, Joel David Moore, Katherine McPhee and Dustin Milligan.

If I could only watch one movie at the theatre this week, it would be “Beneath the Darkness,” and if I had to pick just one DVD to rent this week, it would be “Contagion.”

In the end, let me know if you get a chance to watch any of the new movies in theatres this week or if you’ve already seen any of the movies that have just been released on DVD. What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 4, 2012

2012-01-04T06:50:00.001-06:00

Temp: 28.6 degrees F (-1.9 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches

Humidity: 70 percent (Normal)

Conditions: Clear.

Winds: Winds out of the Southeast.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

NOTE: Light frost on the ground and vehicles, 14th day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.

How many of these 'Stanfords Travel Classics' have you read?

2012-01-03T22:11:00.001-06:00

A friend sent me some information earlier today about an interesting series of books called the “Stanfords Travel Classics,” and more than a few of you will be familiar with some of these titles.

Published by John Beaufoy Publishing Ltd., this series of books “feature some of the finest historical travel writing in the English language, with authors hailing from both sides of the Atlantic.”

In all, the series consists of 15 titles. Some of them you’ve probably heard of. Others are probably more obscure. Books in the series include the following titles:

1. Afoot in England by W.H. Hudson
2. Following the Equator by Mark Twain
3. Sailing Alone Around the World by Capt. Joshua Slocum
4. In Morocco by Edith Wharton
5. Travels With a Donkey in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson

6. South! by Sir Ernest Shackleton
7. The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
8. The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither by Isabella L. Bird
9. Camping and Tramping in Malaya by Ambrose B. Rathborne
10. An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson

11. The Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russel Wallace
12. Travels in the Interior of Africa by Mungo Park
13. Italian Hours by Henry James
14. A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Bird
15. The Naturalist on the River Amazons by Henry Walter Bates

In the end, how many of these books have you had the chance to read? Which did you like or dislike? Which would you recommend and why? Let us know in the comments section below.

For more information about these books, visit www.johnbeaufoy.com/stanfords.html.

Daily Weather Observations - Jan. 3, 2012

2012-01-03T06:51:00.001-06:00

Temp: 29.7 degrees F (-1.3 degrees C)

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.0 inches

Humidity: 55 percent (Normal)

Conditions: Clear.

Winds: Winds out of the Northwest.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 0.0 inches

NOTE: 13th day of Winter.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level.