Nashville travels: The arc of history in Centennial Park

Since Nashville is the “Athens of the South” — I’m curious to know what the home of the University of Georgia thinks of that — why not have a full-scale replica of The Parthenon?

Built in Centennial Park for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial Exposition, The Parthenon is the city’s art museum includes a full-scale statue of Athena inside, which we were able to see this morning.

It’s large.

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Nashville travels: The Ryman is a place for everyone

I’m the furthest thing from a country music traditionalist — for most of my life I didn’t even care for it — and while I find it fairly ridiculous that the current site of the Grand Ole Opry is basically in a mall parking lot, my primary reason for wanting to go to the Ryman Auditorium was to respect the history it represented as the Opry’s home for decades.

Nashville travels: Facing history at The Hermitage

Please forgive me if I don’t get the story exactly right, as I’m mostly writing from memory and didn’t take notes or a picture of the marker, but there’s a story on a marker at The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s Nashville-area estate, about a conversation between one of Jackson’s slaves and a white man.

Nashville travels: Taking it to the Waffle House

“I ain’t in no hurry to get fatter.”

I don’t know who the guy was, but between his nonchalance about waiting for a seat at the Waffle House this morning and his “How to pick up chicks” T-shirt that was a step-by-step guide to … picking up a small chicken, he seemed OK by me.

He also didn’t seem particularly fat, but that was neither here nor there.

Nashville travels: Of old and new

The Grand Ole Opry wasn’t open for tours yesterday because they were preparing for their holiday show, but I’m sure it’s a fine place to see a show.

However …

Having 280 characters didn’t matter to me … until everyone else had it

I was basically agnostic on the idea of getting 280 characters on Twitter.

If I got it, great, but as a random nobody who has a coupleaccounts, I’m not exactly a priority. And I wasn’t going to regularly write longer posts, since, don’t forget, just because you have 280 doesn’t mean you have to use 280.

That was my attitude, anyway, until the news came out that Twitter was rolling out the feature to everybody.  Then, I wanted it.

What shall I do with this wondrous gift?

In any organization, no matter how dysfunctional, there is always at least one person — and it often is only one person — who has a clue.

At the BBC, that person is Neil Reid, the controller of news and affairs.

The Dallas Stars? 25 years? Yup

Remember when neutral-site games were a thing in the NHL, when teams played 84 games so everyone could play two games a season in non-NHL arenas?

Granted, the Boston Bruins playing in Providence (an hour away and the home of their AHL team) isn’t exactly “neutral,” but it also brought the Bruins and Penguins to the good people of Atlanta.

Strangely, my thoughts on studying aren’t in demand

Had the editors at The Wall Street Journal been so inclined, they could have had me write an article more than 25 years ago on why studying in shorter bursts is better than poring over books or notes for hours on end.

Out of the NFL habit

Before last Sunday’s Chargers-Patriots game, the last NFL game I watched in full was the Super Bowl.

The coming Super Bowl might be the next NFL game I watch in full. I haven’t watched much college football, either.

But since the Chargers were going to be on local TV, I figured I’d check it out. So, of course, Travis Benjamin ran backwards with a punt for a safety … because you can take the Chargers out of San Diego, but you can’t get them to stop being the Chargers.