On Holidays

Cab ... not the home grown kind!

Kid with the Painted Face

Holiday Ham Radio setup

I am not around to do a real column this week, on Holidays! I have a really busy summer at the moment, so please bear with me. This is a one man show...

Please check back next week. I probably will still be out, but I may be able to do the column if I am not involved with other matters of importance.

Keep your head down,

Henry Hill, Plum Pennsylvania

The Steelers are in trouble

I would like to advise you that due to vacations, out of country travels, and book projects, this column will be interrupted or in short versions for a the next month or so.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the most storied franchises in sports is in deep ownership trouble! The team which was garnered by Art Rooney for only $2500 back in the 1930s was split up between the Rooney children, with the four brothers sharing ownership. Some of the brothers apparently have gone into other businesses which are not in line with the current NFL rules of ownership. How the dust falls soon will determine if the Rooney family continues to have control of the team.

I have personally sat in the Rooney box with a few of the family members, including a couple of the brothers. There are classy people who follow their dad’s dream. Art Rooney never forgot where he came from and ran the business with the local fans in mind. It is a business as everyone is aware of, but it is cut from a higher and more elegant cloth than the rest of the teams in the NFL in my opinion.

I think that the problem can be sorted out if the ‘put the fans first’ philosophy is maintained … if not, and it is pure business, the team will lose its soul.



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Go this site for a more complete story about the issue:

http://www.tribune.ie/business/article/2008/jul/13/irish-family-fight-to-keep-steelers-legacy/

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Keep your head down,

Henry Hill, Plum Pennsylvania

JULY 4, 2008

Bubble-Boy

J. Parks

Young Patriot

The Best Fireworks display I have ever seen, anywhere, anytime!

The Rocket's Red Glare over Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh celebrates it's 250th anniversary

(click on images to enlarge)

You can travel far and wide, but nowhere will you find any better fireworks displays than right here in Western Pennsylvania. This is the home of the world’s best fireworks manufacturer, Zambelli Fireworks Internationale! You drive from small town to big, all across this state and see fireworks everywhere on July 4, 5, and beyond. It is truly incredible: such displays elsewhere in the country pale to our home state’s vivacious, visual-incendiary-eye-candy. This was a non-stop 45-minute show with multiple fireworks in the air at all times--that would be a few minute finale for most cities, but this show continued at this incredible pace for the whole 45 minutes … it was unbelievable!!!

The routine excellence was excelled by leaps & bounds on this July 4, 2008 display to take the celebration to a whole different level. This holiday was not only our nation’s birthday, but also a celebration of Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary! This whole year has everything Pittsburgh amplified to the max. They spared not a cent to bring the citizenry of Pittsburgh the finest fireworks ever displayed in the opine of this humble traveler who has witnessed such all across this country and around the world. It was absolutely dazzling…

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Photos:

1. Bubble Boy. I shot this along the Monongahela River side by the Incline, where this young lad was making bubbles with a fancy toy device. He is being swallowed up in the biggest bubble I have ever seen or captured on film! He was part of the crowd forming to watch the show after dark.
2. J. Parks. Mr. Parks is a young local soldier. He is going to be deployed to Iraq in 2009. This is a portrait of he and his mate… Well-done Josh! Good luck.
3. Young Patriot.
4. One of the displays that were given life by so many rockets I could not count them, and this was the way it was the whole time!
5. In this one you can see the river (the Mon) and the boats sitting out there watching the show. The fireworks were shot from the Allegheny River on the other side of Point State Park.
6. I love this one. You can see on the very bottom center a silhouette of a person who was sitting on the railroad tracks watching the show. You can also see the reflections of the colors and the fireworks on the river as well in this one. Also, on the left bottom you can see the point fountain shooting up into the air, which was being colored by a laser show going on at the same time as the fireworks. Pittsburgh was showing off our Show Time persona this year … Big Time!

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Keep your heads down,

Henry Hill, Plum Pennsylvania