Martinicity

Commemorating 9/11

Mike Blake — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 14:17:00 +0000

My friend Kevin Mincio from New York is currently biking across country to provide education and support for families of fallen soldiers.

Team Jesse

Kevin and Matt Sauri will be running in this 5K at the end of their bike ride.

Hero’s Run

Running in this 5K is a great way to commemorate 9/11. I just registered. If you’ll be in New York on the anniversary please join me.

Thomas Corbett, Newcastlewest, County Limerik, Ireland

Mike Blake — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Thomas Corbett was my Great Great Grandfather on my Mother’s side. According to research done by my cousin Danny Corrigan, Thomas was a union soldier.

From Danny’s records:

THOMAS CORBETT (Son of JAMES CORBETT) was born 1838 in New Castle West(County Limerick) Ireland, and died October 15, 1884 in Columbus, Ohio Franklin County. He married MARGARET KAPEL April 29, 1856 in Columbus, Ohio, daughter of MAURICE KAPEL and MARY. She was born 1838 in County Cork, Ireland, and died September 15, 1910 in Columbus, Ohio Franklin County.

More About THOMAS CORBETT: Burial: 1884, Mt.Calvary Lot 68;Columbus, Ohio Franklin County Corbitt-Union Soldier: We have documentation that Thomas was a Union Soldier and traveled down the Mississippi river and probably was there for the siege of Vicksburg. He did get sick and get mustered out a few years later. He apparently never recovered and died in his mid 40s.

New Castle West

From the site Ask about Ireland I found a record ( Griffith’s Valuation ) of Thomas Corbett as a tenant of The Earl of Devon. Thomas lived on Maiden Street. The document was printed in 1852, four years before he married Margaret in Ohio. He would have been 14 when he was put on this document. According to other Geneology research , minors were listed in Griffith’s Valuations. That’s likely Thomas on line 85. His older brother , Michael, may be the listing on line 55. A search for older brothers Patrick and James also shows listings in Newcastle.

The corresponding maps point to what is currently Lower Maiden st ., Newcastlewest, Co. Limerick, Ireland

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Happy Christmas

Mike Blake — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:56:00 +0000

Early Fringe Festival Favorites

Mike Blake — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:38:00 +0000

Ten Must See Fringe Shows

The Orlando Fringe is just days away. If you don’t have time to hang out at the beer tent to get instant show reviews, here’s a few gems I’ll be attending. I’ll start with the more mainstream picks, shows that should be fun for the whole family, then move on to some picks for mature audiences.

Family Style

The Fringe can get freaky. If your hanging with young ones, or old ones, you may want to ease into any potential culture shock with one of the shows with a “General Audience” Rating.

Comedy

A Day to Remember

These clowns are really season veterans from Orlando’s own Sak Comedy Lab who have been honing their craft for years on Monday nights at Taste. With a completely new show every performance, and only $7 a ticket, this show may be the best bang for your buck in the whole festival.

Drama

7 (x1) Samurai

How about the “Best Solo Performance” in the DC Fringe? This presentation of 7 Samurai “complete with peasants, bandits, samurai warriors, and a spectacular fight scene ” will not disappoint!

A New World

The talented students and staff of Winter Springs Performing Arts are putting on an all out production they’re calling a “Musical Theater Dramady”. Supporting local artists and showcasing new talent is the Fringe at its best. This show should be very entertaining.

Dance

Simplex/Complex

The talented local favorites at Voci Dance team up with NY’s DeXdance team up for an “edgy, intelligent adventure in contemporary dance theatre.” These dancers are pure pleasure to watch.

Flamenco con Fusion

This is a must see. A fresh look at a refined art form, perhaps the most accomplished artists in the Fringe do the entertaining in this show. Ricardo Garcia’s guitar playing could put this show in the Music category below, but you get the idea. Just see this show.

Music

Movin’ Melvin Brown

Did I mention award winning shows? Mevlin Brown has gotten rave reviews from Edinburgh Scotland to Ausin Texas, and a couple of Fringes in between. We’re lucky to have international stars like this here in O-Town.

Puppets

Family Puppet Blast!

Heather Henson brings together the best of Orlando’s amazing puppet scene for this all out Puppet Fest. Local favorite Wavey Davey performs Friday the 15th at 6PM. With a different show every night, you may want to attend the Puppet Slam more than once.

The Cody River’s Show

This show’s not really ‘cheeky’ just different. Click on the link above, than click reviews. Even professional reviewers don’t know how to describe this show. I sure don’t, but I’m seeing it again. It’s that strange, and that good.

Hope to see everyone at Loch Haven Park!

Focus 2009

Mike Blake — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:08:00 +0000

This morning I made a long list of things I’d like to do more, and things I’d like to do less. In the interest of brevity, I decided to combine similar items. Hoping to get my New Years resolutions down to a sentence or two, I did even better. All my goals boiled down to one word. Focus.

This year I will be more focused.

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For instance, I’d like to play more guitar, and exercise more. Obviously focusing on these goals for short periods of time will help.

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Ironically, focusing on the activities I want to do less will also help. My things I’d like to do less are really “Less is More” resolutions. Having my own business allows me to take Fridays off. It’s my way of sticking it to the man. But this year I’m going to take off fewer Fridays. Why? Because when I always have Fridays off I don’t enjoy them nearly as much. That’s just one example, but the “Less is More” maxim applies to any excessive habit. So this year my bad habits will be less frequent, but much more enjoyable. Thanks to my new habit, Focus.

What is KPoz Sports?

Mike Blake — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:37:00 +0000

The purpose of KPoz sports is to demonstrate a sports rating system that is completely objective. The KPoz model satisfies the required properties of statistical ranking models: transparency, verifiability, and accuracy. The result is that KPoz ratings and point spreads are often more accurate than the prevailing systems. So what does this get us?

Alternative Rankings

The two prevailing Rankings in the NCAA, The BCS standings, and the AP Top 25 are based partly on emotion and human influence. Everyone respects an unbeaten record, but sometimes that’s the result of an easier schedule.

KPoz NCAA Football Rankings have Texas at number one this week. The other two have them at number 3. So how do we know who’s right? Head to head matchups.

Alternative Spreads

The only way to know for sure when a team is better than another is a game. KPoz computes point spreads for upcoming games based on the rankings. When the KPoz spread is signigicantly different than the prevailing spread, KPoz really shines. Take the NFL Office Pool Picks each week and pick the top 5 games whose spreads are the most different than published spreads. You can get all this data in spreadsheet format as well from the Football Statistics page. Here you can compare to other spreads, sort, then make your picks. You’ll be surprised.

2008 Electoral College Tie

Mike Blake — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:46:00 +0000

If the election were held today, here’s the result.

(Analysis of each swing state is below.)

<p><strong>><a href='http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/'>2008 Election Contest: Pick Your President</a></strong> – Predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election and enter to win a $500 prize.</p>

Swing States:

Colorado

Barely Obama’s, and historically Republican, but holding the Democratic convention here turned out to be brilliant. McCain didn’t even get it back during the GOP convention, so I think Obama wins Colorado.

Ohio

McCain’s most brilliant move is the Sarah Palin pick. The Hockey Mom with the folksy accent wins over the suburban Ohio family and keeps Ohio a red state.

Pennsylvania

Democrat in the last four elections, and should stay that way since McCain couldn’t manage to take the lead here even during the post convention bounce.

Florida

No need for Katherine Harris’s votes this time. McCain has a good lead and should keep the Republican trend.

Nevada

Another Republican state, and McCain is hanging on tough here, although a bit closer than Florida, it will likely stay red.

New Hampshire

For every other swing state, I’m predicting a win for the candidate with a slight lead in the polls, and backing it up with historical precedence in that state. That strategy leaves New Hampshire open. Since McCain fared better here in the primaries than Obama did, and he has a slight lead today in this University of New Hampshire poll , I gave it to him. Plus that leaves us with the fascinating result of an Electoral College tie.

Virginia

Although Virgina was tied for a while, McCain seems to be pulling away. And Republican margins of victory in prior elections have been quite large.

Wisconsin

If you border more than one Great Lake, you’re an Obama state. Even taking advantage of delegate strippers won’t change that.

New AppTrain Blog

Mike Blake — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:45:18 +0000

I’ve created a new AppTrain blog to focus on my Web Application Company’s efforts. I’ll try to keep posts about Ruby, Rails, and Web Application Development there, and keep Martinicity as what it was originally, my personal blog. Martinicity is a state of mind man.

Real Jazz comes to College Park

Mike Blake — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:20:00 +0000

Tonight at 9:00 PM at Taste.

Johnny B Good Fun-Raiser

Mike Blake — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:10:00 +0000

Raffle Tickets

Please click above to support the rehabilitation of John “Chip” Cusack.

Last week I played four golf courses in Orlando with four of the Cusack brothers. But there was one Cusack brother missing. From the Raffle flyer:

> Last September, John was taking a bike ride in his Northport neighborhood with his son when he fell off his bike and suffered a severe head trauma. He was airlifted to Stonybrook Hospital, had emergency brain surgery and began the long, painful process back.

You can follow John’s progress here:

And if you’d like to help out with a donation or a journal ad : johnnybgfunraiser.googlepages.com

Thanks for your support,

Mike Blake