Diving Horse at Steele Pier
If you weren't there it would be hard to imagine! The attraction was all the way at the end of the Pier, which made it a destination to be reached and savored after passing through all the other delights. It was also scheduled to occur at specific times of the day, so you had to plan your time on the Pier in order to get out to the grandstand of seats. (pg 7)
I wanted the image to foreshadow the ending of bin Laden, but the links I have found to the event are much more light hearted.
The last thing they did before leaving was to see the Diving Horse. In the weathered wooden seats out at the end of the pier, surrounded by lots of wooden scaffolding, as if for a roller coaster, they watched the pretty girl ride the big white horse up the ramp to the jump. Then like a scene from an old western, the horse and rider dove off the edge and down into the water.
I actually found a video clip of this on YouTube. I hope it stays at this URL for a while.
This site is dedicated to the horses, who were retired after the attraction closed.
Here is an image of a diving horse in 1959.
And of course, information is available on Wikipedia!
Sympathy For The Devil - The Rolling Stones
If anyone wants to turn the book into a movie, I'd like to suggest some music for the soundtrack. :-) One of the options before going out to the end of Steele Pier to see the Diving Horse show was to catch some musical entertainment. As I tell all of my friends, "I was 'that' close to Mick Jagger and the Stones when they played at Steele Pier before they made it really big!"
He found "Sympathy for the Devil" on 104.3, the hard rock station, turned it up, and started back home .....
Wasn’t that one of the songs the Stones were playing when he and Freddy saw them at Steele Pier in ‘64? That was a great day, and the only time he ever cut class in high school. (pg 7)
Here is another www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuTiTfbfy7Q" target="_blank" >YouTube link that works today.
From the official Rolling Stones site.
And of course, Wikipedia
World Trade Center
Obviously the events of September 11, 2001 were the reason that I wrote this book. They are also the foundation of motivation of the book's main character.
Maybe it was the coffee smell, maybe it was the September weather, maybe it was the explosion of anger, but that 9/11 morning flashed through his mind again as he looked at his flag.(pg 8)
Here is a YouTube video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv4s3fn8jDc
The complete story of the World Trade Center at Wikipedia
Circle Limit IV: Heaven and Hell - M. C. Escher
It would have been nice to use Escher's picture on the cover of the book, but that would have involved copyright issues and other legalities. The angels, the devils, and the mathematics fit the theme of the book quite nicely.
Abu Paints his Barn ... Summer 2008
Abu was probably the only "farmer" in the state who painted the side of his barn black. It was a large barn, so he had about one hundred feet by fifty feet to work with. He could use the other sides later, but he had started with a copy of M. C. Escher’s "Circle Limit IV: Heaven and Hell." The middle of the wall had the twenty foot diameter circle with the tessellated angels and devils. According to Escher, there were six levels in which heaven and hell change places six times. In the intermediate, "earthly" stages, they were equivalent. Abu was still thinking about making the twelve angels at the second level have familiar faces, but hadn’t gotten around to it. As it was, the barn now had an Amish touch, although he wasn’t sure what hex he was trying to protect against. The patterns were generated by a group of isometries and a hyperbolic symmetry.
Link to some images:
A mathematical site with some papers relating to the image.
Symmetry groups in the image.
