The New York Times on the Maine Winter Sports Center up to Fort Kent: "Biathlon Program Finds a Home in Northern Maine".

Labels: Fort Kent, Maine, NY Times, Olympics

The Portland "International" Airport is international again!

Thank you Air Canada!

"Portland-to-Toronto flights to start in May".

Labels: Maine, Portland, Portland "Internatonal" Jetport, PWM

Why haven't I heard this before?

I just started watching an episode of Nova from last March entitled "Last Extinction" and I came across an interesting fact - the person who has traversed more of the Antarctic ice sheet than anyone else in the world is Paul Andrew Mayewski, the Director & Professor of the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine in Orono.

Huh.

This guy's seen more of Antarctica than anyone else.

In the world.

And he's in Maine.

Why doesn't everyone in Maine know this?

I say we need a "Famous Mainers" television show, or newspaper insert, or website. Are we too modest? Why don't we all know this?

C'mon, this is cool stuff!

Labels: Antarctica, Famous Mainers, Maine, University of Maine

I love Maine! (And no, I'm not being facetious).

Yesterday Channel 6 said we'd be getting some snow overnight, in the order of 1-3 inches.

Sweet! Nothing big, but it'll be nice to have some flurries after a week off.

Woke up this morning to a snowplow.

"Odd - they're plowing for 3 inches?"

No, they're plowing the six inches of snow outside!

I love in Maine that we get a surprise 1/2 foot of snow (well, maybe it wasn't a surprise to everyone, what did the 6 o'clock news say?) and everyone goes about their lives like nothing happened. Break out the Bean boots and get on with your morning.

"resilient" is the word of the day!

Labels: Maine, snow, WCSH

Liz just sent me an article from Channel 6, apparently Anthony Bourdain went to a bean supper up in Milo on Tuesday.

Milo, for those who might be geographically challenged, is smack-dab in the middle of the state:


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That's kind of awesome.

Although I hope he doesn't mock our peoples. I hope he treats us like wih the reverence that he does a newly discovered tribe in some foreign land.

Labels: Bourdain, Maine, Portland

I'd heard the rumors, and I guess they were true. Looks like Anthony Bourdain visited Portland last weekend (during the snowstorm, no less) to film an episode of his show: "Host of 'No Reservations' TV show slips into town to sample seafood".

Can't wait to see it in April ...

Labels: Bourdain, Maine, Portland

Did you read Bill Nemitz's column in the Maine Sunday Telegram this week? It's all about God, and how a good chunk of Mainers don't believe in him.

Apparently 41% of people polled in Maine don't believe in God - putting us dead last out of all of the states (46th - they combined some of the smaller states) for states who pray at least once a day.

On belief in God and weekly worship attendance we're 44th out of 46, and on mportance of religion in our lives we're 43rd.

I'm a little confused though - there're two other states that believe in God less, but pray more?

Anyway, those are the highlights, the whole article is here: "Most of us literally don't have a prayer".

Labels: Maine, Nemitz, Portland, religion

I heard this story on NPR last week but forgot to link to it: "NH pop. exceeds Maine for 1st time since 1800".

Interesting.

Labels: Maine, New Hampshire, population, statistics

I'd never heard this (although I don't know much about Portland, OR): "Portland: The Town that was Almost Boston".

Labels: Boston, Maine, Oregon, Portland

I love stuff like this: "Hey aspiring Maine Governors, who did your site?"

Labels: governors, Maine

So I mentioned last month that Stephen King's new book, Under the Dome is set in a town based on Bridgton - where Liz grew up and where my brother lives now (see Stephen King's Under The Dome).

Well on Wednesday night he had a booksigning in town, a signing so large it took up the entire movie theater.

Of course, my folks and brother went, and of course my brother mugged for the camera and got on NECN.

Check out the video below. Note he uses a joke similar to mine about his little green house ...

Labels: Bridgton, Maine, NECN, Stephen King

I forgot to mention this last week - in response to my theory that Lewiston/Auburn should become the capital of Maine my aunt-in-law sent me a photocopy of this article, "How Augusta became and stayed the state capital" written by State Representative Neil Rolde and delivered before the Kennebec Historical Society in Commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Maine State House on February 24th, 1982.

I wish it was online (I can't seem to find it anywhere) but for more info on the capital and the political intrigue and machinations behind it, check out this article on the state website, "A Brief History of the Maine State House".

Of course, I stand behind my L/A theory.

Labels: Augusta, capital, Lewiston/Auburn, Maine

Continuing the Maine Map Week I started on Monday, I found another fun fact the other day.

I went to Google Maps to see how far Portland was to Fort Kent, Maine up at the very top of the state. Turns out by their calculations it's 314 miles, driving time of about 5:54.


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This got me wondering how far other places are from Portland.

So I typed in the generic "New York City" - found out they're ... 314 miles away as well.

Huh.


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We're smack-dab in the middle of Fort Kent and New York.

I mentioned that to Liz, and she said something to the effect of, "not just geographically - we can get by in either society, too." But she said it much better than that.

Labels: Fort Kent, Maine, map, New York, NYC

Over the weekend I read an article about the new Androscoggin Riverlands State Park here in Maine. It lead me to their website, where I read this:

Located within an hour of 50% of the State’s population, the park will not only serve the Lewiston-Auburn area and Androscoggin County, but residents in the broader region, including primarily Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Kennebec and Oxford Counties.

Huh.

I've long been interested in why Augusta was chosen as the capital of the state. Well, I get it, it's fairly centrally located geographically, especially for Bangor, Aroostook County, etc. But it's pretty far for folks in Southern Maine to travel.

After reading this statistic, I think that Lewiston/Auburn should be the capital. Doesn't it seem more important to find the mean center of population than the geographic center of area?

Labels: Augusta, capital, Lewiston/Auburn, Maine