The ailing light pole

Someone accidentally hit this light pole in The Star's parking lot. I swear it wasn't me.

I really don't like this intersection

Everyone has an intersection that really annoys them. I really don't like the intersection of Patton Drive and Graham Street in Shelby. I think there's a trigger on the traffic light, but if there is it only works about 5 percent of the time. Most of the time people wait and wait and wait, even though there aren't any cars on Graham at any given time. But hey, it gives me time to take a few photos, change the CD in my car, read a book.

Public Service Announcement -- from Star Wars

It's an old one, but a good one -- a public service announcement from a galaxy far, far away.

The summer movie shuffle

Summer movies finally got into full swing this past weekend when "Iron Man" hit around $100 million at the box office, not "Spider-Man" numbers, but not bad. The hit parade continues this weekend with "Speed Racer," based on the popular cartoon of long ago. Then on May 16, we get "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian." It wasn't the second book in the series, but they are making it into the second movie quickly so the kids who starred in the first movie won't be 40 years old before it's made. On May 22, we get "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which will probably be the biggest movie of the summer. You have Harrison Ford, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. What else do you need?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. helping out the Navy

Join the Navy and you might just meet Dale Earnhardt Jr. That's the case in an unusual miltary recruitment effort. It will lead to the formation of the Dale. Jr. Division. See story link below.

http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-news/new-dale-jr-recruiting-program.html?col=1186032311124col=1186032311124

Dale Earnhardt Jr. signs a command ball cap for a sailor during his visit to the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. This Navy photo is by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman John Suits.

Strange e-mails, UFOs, presidential candidates and legless lizards

We get a a lot of e-mail. One of the most unusual recent e-mails came from the X-Conference convention. Topics of this conference included "The connection between presidential candidate, Senator Hillary Clinton, and the UFO/ET issue," "The connection between President Bill Clinton and the UFO/ET issue," "The connection between other presidential candidates and the UFO/ET issue."

The X-Conference "focuses on the political, governmental and social aspects relating to extraterrestrial-related phenomena - exopolitics."

Exopolitics? That's a new one for me. It goes on to talk about an ongoing advocacy effort "seeking to end the government imposed truth embargo on formal acknowledgement of an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race."

You can tell I was never a fan of "The X Files." But I'm a big enough movie fan to know there's a new "X Files" movie coming out this summer.

While not really strange, another e-mail proved to be at least interesting. It seems they discovered a new species in Brazil -- a legless lizard.

"The lizard, of the Bachia genus, resembles a snake due to its lack of legs and pointed snout, which help it move across the predominantly sandy soil formed by the natural erosion of the escarpments of the Serra Geral. Other suspected new species include a dwarf woodpecker (genus Picumnus) and horned toad (genus Proceratophrys)."

The information on the lizard is from Conservation International.

iTunes turns 5, the top 23 songs in my most-played list

iTunes just turned 5 this week. It’s amazing how Apple has helped transform the music industry and people’s music-buying habits in such a short time. It’s proof of just how fast things change. In honor of iTunes’ birthday, here are the 23 most played songs on my iTunes catalog of 2,695 songs or 7.5 days worth of songs:

1. Bob Dylan, “Workingman’s Blues No. 2” – He tackles everything from trade policies to workers’ rights to war to politics to relationships -- maybe. The lyrics can be interpreted in numerous ways. I could never get this song out of my head. It’s relaxing, thought provoking, addictive, unappreciated. It brings back memories of something I just can’t place. It’s haunting. This song comes from Dylan’s 32nd studio album, “Modern Times.”

2. Doves, “Catch the Sun” – The best song from this English group just never gets old.

3. Lightning Seeds, “Pure” – Harmless pop song

4. Bob Dylan, “Hurricane” – Dylan sets the scene in an almost cinematic fashion and the racial injustice he depicts will leave most people outraged. The song is also controversial (some folks don’t buy the innocence of the song’s subject) and Dylan doesn’t perform it in concert anymore. But as a protest song, this thing is pure poetry.

5. Dirty Pretty Things, “Bang Bang You’re Dead” – The mostly sober other half of The Libertines forms a new, better band.

6. The Beach Boys, “God Only Knows” – Actually, this is the only Beach Boys song I can stomach. But it’s just about perfect.

7. Lindsey Buckingham, “Countdown” – Buckingham broke up Fleetwood Mac to release the solo album that contains this song. In other words, it better be good … and it is.

8. The Beatles, “Across The Universe” – The movie with the same name brought a new generation a greater appreciation of The Beatles. But the original song still wins in a landslide.

9. Eddie Vedder, “Hard Sun” – When enough people see the movie masterpiece “Into the Wild,” both this song from the soundtrack and the movie itself will be considered masterpieces.

10. Robbie Robertson, “Showdown at Big Sky” – Formerly of The Band, Robertson went solo in the late 1980s and dropped us this classic.

11. Spoon, “The Underdog” – One of the most unappreciated bands around gave us this winner in their latest album. The song title pretty much describes this band.

12. Modest Mouse, “Float On” – This one grew on me slowly, but just won’t go away.

13. Bruce Springsteen, “The River” – You can’t deny the power and heartbreak of this song.

14. Arcade Fire, “Neighborhood No. 1” – This buzz band is better than the hype. I’ve bought this album (Funeral) for a number of people for Christmas or other occasions so others can discover them as well.

15. Muse, “Time is Running Out” – Some people describe them as Radiohead-light. I don’t think that’s quite fair.

16. Queen and David Bowie, “Under Pressure” – Long before Vanilla Ice ripped off this song and almost destroyed it, real music fans knew this was destined to be a classic.

17. Pink Floyd, “Hey You” – It’s the first song of the second CD of The Wall. When Roger Waters made a movie based on the album, he left this classic out of the movie. A DVD release restores it as a deleted scene.

18. Pink Floyd, “Nobody Home” – People thought it was funny when this heavy, heavy album actually sampled the character Gomer Pyle saying, “Surprise, surprise, surprise.”

19. Radiohead, “Karma Police” – In my book, this band can never equal what they did on the indispensable album, “OK Computer.” But it’s so good, I’ll buy everything they release with the hope that one day they will.

20. The Decemberists, “16 Military Wives” – This indy band lets people know what they think about the war in a pretty direct, melodic fashion.

21. Sufjan Stevens, “Chicago” – Although possibly the only song on the concept album Come on feel the Illinoise capable of breaking out to a larger audience, this indy/folk/alternative album has masterpiece written all over it.

22. Steely Dan, “Deacon Blues” – The duo sing, “Drink Scotch whisky all night long and die behind the wheel.” You think?

23. Aimee Mann, “Save Me” – Her music inspired Paul Thomas Anderson, who was recently nominated for an Oscar, to write the movie “Magnolia,” a great film that doesn’t work without the music.

What’s at the top of you iTunes most-played list? I'd love to know.