SFAppeal photograph by Lawrence Morgan

These are two events that Lawrence can't miss next year

St. Stupid's Day Parade

St. Stupid's Day took place in San Francisco on April 1, 2013. I remember the first year I was in San Francisco. I was very poor, and I was sitting in a coffeehouse downtown, and all of a sudden St. Stupid's Parade passed the window. I couldn't believe what was passing by outside. I left my chair and went outside, and the parade was tremendous.

But when I got back inside to my chair, I found that my coat had gone, which I had just purchased the previous week - an unfortunate negative side to living in a large city.

But I've enjoyed the parade each year very much.

Can't you imagine what Lawrence could do with this parade, on April 1st of each year?

Take a look at the following pictures:

http://www.sfgate.com/local/slideshow/April-Fools-parade-59534/photo-2766394.php

On Easter Sunday, there's also the Bring your Own Big Wheel race/demolition derby

There are more than 1500 contestants, dressed in everything from the Easter Bunny to astronauts. They all sit on plastic tricycles, or some version thereof, and head down the street past thousands of spectators. In San Francisco, Vermont Street on Potrero Hill is very steep. But the event would be just as much fun without the steep street.

http://blog.sfgate.com/cwnevius/2013/04/02/big-wheel-a-perfect-snapshot-of-quirky-san-francisco/

These are two events that Lawrence absolutely needs to take part in!

sfgate photograph by Lawrence Morgan

Bay Bridge photograph by Lawrence Morgan

The Bay Bridge (from San Francisco to Oakland) is now lit with 25,000 LED lights!

Here is the Bay Bridge live. The camera is turned on 24 hours a day. At 6:30 pm our time (Pacific Standard Time), the lights are turned on, and they continue until 2 am in the morning. Take a look now:

http://livestre.am/4mRoi

Eventually they will have to run the lights all night, so that people in other parts of the world - Europe and Africa, for instance, can see them and come up with new ideas for their own country.

Here are more pictures and videos from the Chronicle:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/LED-display-puts-Bay-Bridge-in-new-light-4331416.php

And now ask yourself. Why couldn't a similar project be done in Lawrence! People would come from all around Kansas and neighboring states to see it. The bridge over the river to North Lawrence is not the Bay Bridge, but it has plenty of possibilities, as does downtown and other key areas of Lawrence.

And this doesn't mean just stringing up LED lights. Each project could be planned with specific effects in mind. For example, the Lawrence bridge might include words and sentences from key poems throughout the ages. Because words and sentences would be constantly changing, this would be a tremendous sight.

I also invite you to read my previous blog:

http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/kansas-150th-birthday-is-almost-over/2013/feb/26/why-doesnt-lawrence-have-a-magical-displ/

John Zukowski photograph by Lawrence Morgan

World Series Parade today in San Francisco

The live video on this blog is over- it was fantastic, 4 hours worth. However, here is most of the parade in video replay. It is worth watching! For the Giants, it has been a happy day!

In case you missed it, here is the four hour parade and ceremony.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7763945

Here is the 2nd hour:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7763952

Then, the third hour is as follows::

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7763955

And here is the last hour of today's World Series parade and ceremonies:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7763961

All of this thanks to ABC San Francisco, which broadcast the entire event live earlier today.

The World Series Parade is in San Francisco today. I'm sending photographs from The San Francisco Chronicle which I think you will enjoy before the parade starts.

People worked for days on these floats:

http://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/Giants-parade-set-to-roll-at-11-a-m-3994727.php

And many of the people had been here all night to get a good view:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Big-turnout-for-Giants-parade-down-Market-3996542.php

The weather is not good (typical San Francisco!) but hope that I can get close enough to see some of the players.

Tonight I'll post photographs of the players, probably courtesy of The Chronicle, and I and thousands of others just hope it won't rain!

Well, I'm off to see if I can get a place to watch the parade and take some photographs!

The San Francisco Chronicle posted the following article, following the parade, with pictures:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Big-turnout-for-Giants-parade-up-Market-3996542.php

Double Rainbow Giant's Game by Lawrence Morgan

Double rainbow - a rare sight in San Francisco

Last night, I was out walking in San Francisco when a double rainbow slowly appeared above me. I think I've seen only one double rainbow before in my life - which was when I was in grade school in Hutchinson, Kansas.

I stopped in the nearby neighborhood store to tell Ihab and Adam about the double rainbow outside. But then I realized that I didn't have my cell phone with me. People were just standing everywhere and looking upwards. The double rainbow was "there" for about thirty minutes. It was truly amazing. I - and most other people - couldn't stop looking at it.

Here it is, with cell phone pictures from The Chronicle:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Double-rainbow-wows-S-F-residents-3844544.php#photo-3414915

The Giants were playing at the time at AT&T park. Take a look at the Giants game with the double rainbow overhead.

What double rainbows have you seen in your lifetime?

When did you see one? Do you have any pictures to post?

Am I the only one who has seen so few of them?

Photograph on Flicker of Double Rainbow September 5 2012 by Lawrence Morgan

The following photograph, which is also of the double rainbow, is from the Bernalwood Neighbors-Reporters. Take a look at this site - it shows what can be done when neighbors work together from an entire section of town. I will be doing a blog soon which looks at neighborhood sites throughout the United States, and certainly from Lawrence and all of Kansas. Note the great sense of humor! The site is:

http://bernalwood.wordpress.com/

And the photograph from Bernalwood Neighbors:

Photograph by Bernalwood Neighbors - Reporters by Lawrence Morgan

Business Insider picture by Lawrence Morgan

Google's glasses transmit real-time coverage as jumpers wearing glasses land on convention center roof

I will have much to say about Google's glasses in the future. But right now, there is a video (below) that I want other people to see and react to.

This is a video taken yesterday (June 28, 2012 from the Google tech conference here in San Francisco. Four jumpers leaped from a blimp wearing google glasses, and made their way down through the skies to the roof of the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. They then used bicycles to go across the roof, went down the outside of the building to the third floor, and finally made their way inside, up to the stage.

Google glasses by Lawrence Morgan

The google glasses which they wore transmitted the entire event live as they were carrying it out.

It was an incredible event, really the first of its kind. You have to see it for yourself. Click on the link below:

http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/28/how-google-pulled-off-their-live-video-skydiving-with-glasses-demo/

The week before, Google made a preparatory video to see if things would go properly (although no one knew for sure, until the event actually took place Thursday):

http://www.baycitizen.org/blogs/pulse-of-the-bay/watch-google-demos-futuristic-glasses/?utm_source=Newsletters&utm_campaign=034cd6d481-June_28_Daily_Newsletter&utm_medium=email&mc_cid=034cd6d481&mc_eid=cbf3c826d5

The google glasses, which transmit audio and video information real-time while the jump takes place, may or may not play an important role in our future. I will write more about that later.

Meanwhile, enjoy this incredible event!

The Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco by Lawrence Morgan

San Francisco to Lawrence, Kansas

I don't normally do blogs about San Francisco for the Lawrence paper. But this is an exception for a number of reasons.

When I was a kid, I was fascinated by ships - especially because I never saw one on either coast until I was much older. I grew up in Hutchinson, and then moved to Lawrence. I never saw a real ship until I left for Europe in the armed forces.

But today was a special event. I didn't even know about it until I went out to my car to go to Whole Foods for a sandwich. A friend came out of her house and said that there was a huge container ship coming from China. It would pass underneath the Golden Gate Bridge at about 4:07, and then make its way to Oakland. We left immediately. The sandwich was forgotten.

World's largest container ship ever to come to North America

It turned out that this was the largest container ship ever sent to the North American coast. I don't know if its true, but she said it was larger than the Empire State building is tall. The ship has the length of four football fields. It weights 146,093 metric tons. It is 1,201 feet long. It has a top speed of 25.3 knots.

We took off for the Presidio, the Federal Park by the ocean in San Francisco. As we neared the park, I saw that the fog was coming in quickly, right above the water. We parked and walked out to a pier close to the Golden Gate Bridge. The wind also came up quite strongly.

We met a lot of people, some from around the world, who were also waiting for the container ship to appear. But the fog increased, and we could now hardly see in front of ourselves. Finally we had to go to a coffeehouse nearby (Chrissy Field, if you know San Francisco).

At 5:00 the coffee shop closed, and we went outside. The fog began to clear suddenly, and soon the container ship was directly ahead of us, heading past Alcatraz towards Oakland.

Even at a great distance, it was of considerable size. We waited until the ship was completely out of sight, then came back home.

Why is it named the USS Fabiola from Monrovia?

I don't know why it was called the MSC Fabiola from Monrovia, when it had been sailing from China. Does anyone know? I do know that Fabiola is a common first name for girls in Liberia, and it flies under the flag of Liberia.

About two hours after I arrived home, I checked the Internet, and the San Jose Mercury News had just put up a tremendous web site of photographs. You can see the fog slowly lifting in the distance.

Show it to your kids. Tell them all you can about ships and maps. Tell them about knots and speed. This is their chance to become familiar with one of the newest and finest container ships in the world. They can also learn about Liberia, in Africa.

And in Oakland they have to unload it completely tonight, so that it can begin its journey back to China tomorrow.

I wish I could have made contact via email to the captain and crew of the ship. But to the present time, there has been no luck in finding such information.

Take a look. It happened this afternoon. Have your kids share the web sight at school. They might even like to have some models of similar ships to build.

http://photos.mercurynews.com/2012/03/msc-fabiola-container-ship-arrives-at-the-port-of-oakland/7024/#2

And here's the article in the Chronicle, which just came out. It's good for more information, but the photographs above are just tremendous.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/21/MNV81NOHJP.DTL