Sprintessential

Wind sprints are an effective tool for any athlete to maintain proper conditioning. 

Rocket Docket

As time slips away, training continues for the Sochi games.  Once again the master is reminded that gravity is our friend.

Nutcracker Backer

Honoring his protégé,  George Balanchine,  Liam decides to throw a twist into his new production by holding the performance outdoors, coupled with a spectacular light show.  Sneak footage reveals the dress rehearsal passing muster with ease.

Elf Debris

How fortunate for a 5-year-old to have many friends and relatives!

On the Rails Again

Ticket?  Check.   Hot Chocolate?  Check.  Pajamas?  Check.  It must be the Polar Express!

Light Night

The highlight of this year's Light Parade was the Rock-and-Roll float.  Fans were overjoyed, especially when the Frontman took a break from performing in order to offer a few waves of encouragement. 

Wardrobe Malfunction

Another reminder on why it's good to perform training runs.  In the Co-ed Side-by-Side Luge, teamwork is crucial for success, and world-class champions perfect it.

Libation Celebration

Nothing gets the body moving like a good pot of HOT HOT chocolate.

Nick Pic

Anticipation is building, especially after the obligatory confab.  Liam offers sage advice for passing on to the elves in the workshop. 

Revelation

Some of the most compelling and fascinating scientific discoveries in our human history have appeared when no one was looking for them.  Penicillin, dinosaur bones, the microwave oven, gunpowder, etc. 

Respite Bench

Liam takes a short break from a long ride to have a snack and socialize with the locals. 

Flight Sight

After a lengthy career in the USAF, Liam likes to reminisce on his exploits.  Like this photo, taken by his wingman over Cuba:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/photos/?c=y&articleID=169802756&page=2

Wheel Trimming

Professional athletes take time from their busy schedules to assist with community service events.  Here, we get the inside view prior to the White House tree-lighting ceremony.

Feathered Feature

This year's winner at the annual Piedmont High School Bird Calling Contest.

Stickball Shuffle

His nickname is "Leopard Forest," and he has a mean victory dance.

Defect Collect

One cannot be too careful when harboring mutant mammal species.  Identification is critical to providing the proper environment and nutrition in order to ensure survival.

Bowllegged

PBA Champions always apply a little English to get that extra velocity.

Gender Blender

Only the most learned and accomplished biologists are secure enough to set their egos aside, quickly bypass errant observations, and home-in on the truth. 

On the boards

Granted it is still Autumn, but a guy can dream, can't he?  Before we know it he will be waist-deep in fluff, squeezing out as many turns as he can before returning to the chair.  

Stand In

Target:  Rio de Janeiro in 2016.  Team USA will strive to be superior ambassadors of their nation and of sport. 

Flight Fright

The enemy does not stand a chance against the skill and tenacity of America's best fighter pilot.  It's good to remind ourselves periodically how fortunate we are not to be one of the bad guys. 

Exotic Aquatic

The captain leads another expedition deep into the Amazon through uncharted waters to update Google maps, search for lost civilizations, rescue damsels in distress, tag a few giant anacondas, and spend a little time relaxing. 

Marine Dream

This year saw a tenfold increase in mermaid applications for humanhood. 

Celebrated Coif

Fashion trend-setting is just a sideline occupation for the reigning teen heartthrob.  He is the master with hair styles.

Choral Floor

Lead singer for the Norman Aberschnackle Choir, caught in late October rehearsal.  Immense talent enables him to maintain rhythm with one leg, devise a new arrangement in his mind, and control the recording equipment with his hands. 

The Ayes Have It

Sometimes, over the course of Dia de los Muertos, one just sees things.             Remarkable, bizarre, peculiar, perplexing, startling, unexpected things.  Sometimes, unexpected, unforeseen, even unnerving.

Spooky Spoon

Preparing for his next exhibition at the Hirshhorn next month.

Inferno Inference

Standing at the gates of , it's often difficult to engage in normal conversation.

Fan Stands

The Owner and GM of the franchise likes to slip into the crowd incognito to get a flavor of how his customers are enjoying the product.  A hands-off kind of owner, he lets his coaches manage things on the field and tries to enjoy the contest, but he's always looking for ways to increase revenues and boost team spirit.

Brake Take

DoT Inspectors face daunting challenges when certifying massive vehicles for use on public roadways.

Fund all Mental

NFL offenses place a premium on effective quarterback scrambling, while defenses place it on solid tackling.  Here we see the perennial all-pro providing textbook examples of each.  These skills can mean the difference between winning and losing, and bringing home the bacon from advertisers. 

Acquitted Critic

Even prize-winning authors love to offer reviews of other people's work.  We can forgive such a transgression when the source is so erudite.  

Chip Chew

After a career mentoring the likes of Martin Yan, Dione Lucas, and James Beard, our hero later turned to the fun side of the culinary arts.  As an experiment, he found a guy off the street (last name Fieri) and tried a different angle.  Here is a clip from an early tutorial.

Private Pirate

Buccaneer drills are as rigorous as any military basic training.  In order to calmly follow orders atop the mainsail mast during high seas and under fire from naval warships, the crew must continually drill and perform to meet the highest physical standards. 

Wrecked Angle

They will try anything to win the tournament, even if it means coaxing the trout in.

Enhances with Wolves

 
Lobo fans are completely rabid, displaying their team colors in every way, and never satisfied with the on-field officiating.

Redirected

AIBF Launch Directors are careful not to show favoritism as they endeavor to remain neutral between all the pilots and teams.  However, once in a great while the spectators catch a glimpse of a smile when the mass ascension winds down and the long day ends at mid-morning. 

In the Pink

When returning from extended missions, astronaut teams need to scrub accumulated minute quantities of Martian dust from their skin.

Ladder Matter

Corporate executives go to great lengths to attain a measure of privacy in this world of miniature electronic recording devices and high bandwidth wireless networks.

On the Road Again

In the early days when the band was constantly touring, they did so on a shoestring budget with a leased bus, U-haul trailer, etc.  Performing and traveling at night, occasionally there was enough cash to spring for a motel room.  The band leader would share his with one of the road crew. 

Plain Flight

Flight instructors constantly struggle with themselves as they observe students at the controls -- the easiest solution is always to take command of the aircraft.  Only the finest can effectively talk their charges through the mechanics of take-off, free flight, and landing without doing so.  (It helps tremendously to tape a note to oneself on the dashboard.)  Here we see the post-flight debrief of another successful venture in the skies.

Pep Rep

The team captain, #4, inspires his unit with a combination of personal anecdotes of championship play, historical significance of today's match, and the long-term satisfaction of impending victory.

Mission Implausible

When NASA discovered a new debilitating problem for the Mars rover, they quickly assembled a crack team of über-astronauts who have been training quietly for decades on a classified project.  These pioneers risked it all in their journey, but were able to rescue the Curiosity mission.  Here they are seen shortly after discovering an unexpected phenomena: a tiny pocket of atmosphere containing enough oxygen and heat to sustain human life.  After marking the location with an advanced transmitter disguised as a common traffic cone, they hopped back into their transport and vanished into the cloak of DoD secrecy.

Quantum Phantom

His effect is universal -- in one moment, the club patrons are filled with self-doubt, the next they are inspired to surpass self-imposed limitations.  All the boys at the club, steeped in envy, fail in their quest to muster hatred toward him.  The girls, they just swoon and whisper to themselves their desire for him.  Who is this wraith, this apparition?  From where did he enter the scene?  What are his origins and what will be his destination? 

Lick d'Azur

Severe oxygen deprivation is rare in highly-trained athletes, but when it occurs, the symptoms are extreme.

Havin' a Ball

The pros always have a unique approach for training at the USBC Open Championships.

Handleable Mandible

Recently, Air Force forensic pathologists renewed the investigation of a WWII era crash site in the remote wilderness of high Colorado alpine terrain.  For decades it was assumed the crew perished upon impact, but new research methods reveal evidence of a rare carnivorous wapiti that seems to have had a larger influence on their fate. 

Tacklee

Running Backs are not as durable as most other positions on the field.  One of the reasons is the sheer magnitude of multi-body collisions they participate in over the course of their short careers.  Modern preparation methods extend their longevity, but even they have limits.

Dive Thrive

 

Training for the AIDA freedive competition requires judicious site selection.  Here we see an example of just the wrong place to augment one's depth.  Now Liam is thinking he should have stuck with one of the old standards like the Bahamas, Greece, New Zealand, etc. 

Bear in Mind

It's getting close to that time of year when the morning air carries a chill, senses tingle, hearts lighten, pedestrians add a skip to their stride, the forest redecorates, and the skis start quivering in the corner.  Even the local wildlife keeps an eye toward the coming season.

Rough Trough

Civil engineers are combining technologies to solve ever-present traffic congestion found in cities worldwide.  Innovations incorporate the reliability and navigational ease of point-to-point rail travel, the intimacy and independence of automotive, simplistic operational human interfaces, and ultra-modern neural switching systems.  Here we see engineers testing systems that operate with pinpoint accuracy at blistering speed.

Loose in the Sluice

Today's game manufacturers fabricate novel ways to infuse life into tried and true industry standards.  Baby Boomers will fondly recall the old "Chutes and Ladders," but today's generation would not recognize the old format found at a dime store.

Engine Mention

NASA Engineers obtain a great deal of knowledge after astronauts return home.  In this postmortem debriefing, the mission commander provides a complete description of the first few minutes during launch.

Gravity Cavity

In one or two random locations on planet Earth for a very short duration, its own gravitational field triangulates with its magnetic resonance and the equidistant moment-arm from the mass of both moon and sun.  This causes a brief redirection of gravity experienced by any object that happens to be in said location.  If it's not tied down, it's in for a ride.

  

No Moss Toss

Seismologists will occasionally hire professional quarterbacks to assist with precision calibration of their extremely sensitive gear.  Here we see famous #9 in action during the offsesason.

Hide Ride

Caught in action, an extremely rare photo of an actual leprechaun on his stealth mission to augment that pot 'O gold.

Baleen Scene

Biologists have a whale of a time trying to sample exhaust from the blowhole, even when the specimens are caged.

Cave Rave

Deep-water divers explore submerged terrain and occasionally discover locations heretofore unknown to the modern world.

Ceramic Dynamic

Today's modern art takes advantage of digital technology and ever-widening varieties of media.  Eccentric artists experiment with alternative locations as they think outside the museum.

Sprint Squint

Olympic Railcar Sprinting is one of those odd sports that relies on judging to assess level of difficulty, compulsories, technical components, and style.  Here we see the US Team leader reacting to his score.

Pot o' Gold

In a clever disguise on this day, the Leprechaun is not wearing the green.  What does he keep hidden out there at the end, anyway?

Releaf

Biologists are discovering new species here on earth every day.  Some are taken into captivity and need special restraining measures.  Here we see the department head from State University performing a complex leafectomy.

The Pick

Another moral dilemma for our hero.  To report the nefarious crime to the authorities, or to give your buddy a break and look the other way? 

Sightsea

When sailing the high seas, you just don't mess with the US Navy.  'Nuff said.

Backstage

Liam likes to slip off the stage during his shows in order to spotlight the talent of his band.

High Perch

The Olympic gold medalist in the kayak/angling duathalon.

Lockjaw

Paleontologists worldwide are stirred by the newest discovery and eagerly anticipate the upcoming paper to be published on paleosoc.org.

Backyard Bob

Sometimes when working on that landscaping project, the shovel, rake, and hoe are just not quite enough.

Limberick

Professional quarterbacks generally suffer from long-term effects of their chosen vocation.

 

 

The story of the shortest known QB
of a lad who looks up to Flutie
is not one of sorrow
but a phrase you will borrow:
Not tall but he sure is a cutie!

Udder Mother

An A&M University biologist examines results from the latest hormone therapy experiment.  The Dairy Center seeks Production increases with improvements in nutrition content.

Twice Shy

After each sustains a bite from a Once-ler, the boys collaborate to capture it and teach it a lesson. 

Run Plunge

In the new long-jump / platform-dive hybrid event in London, a new sports star is emerging and has become a media sensation.  (It doesn't hurt to have Apolo Ohno's PR team on the staff, either.)  His unorthodox style and uncompromising personal standards have combined to thrust him into the spotlight as a contender.  

Sprint Stint

Celebrities have difficulties evading paparazzi, but find a distinct advantage in retaining physical conditioning enough to leave the camera wielding lunatics in the dust.

Aqueous Recess

Transportation scientists recently developed new propulsion systems and were invited to the APBA mid-season allstar race for a demonstration.  Here we see a noted crew chief and driver team holding a quick confab to review new performance characteristics and adaptation methods. 

Captive on Command

Once again the master wins the international finals of the Ceratopsian Training Challenge (ICTC).  His management team and handlers released this final moment of the intense week-long competition.

Electrified

When re-entering the atmosphere, things just happen.  As a result, a new teen hairdo fad sweeps the nation. 

Whiskers

When it comes to Cajun cooking, Liam takes seriously the lessons learned from the masters:  Spike and Dr. Dark.  Only the freshest ingredients qualify.

Levitation

And you thought walking on water was difficult! 

Pickpocket

Now what did I do with that bear repellent? 

Mute Commute

Nothing like that early morning venture to the downtown studios for yet another interview.  There are too many TV networks these days; makes for too many appearances.

Takes a Lickin'

When attending a public event, it is important for world leaders to explore the full range of culinary offerings.  Liam well remembers the broccoli incident with George Bush.

Incognito

If you scan the crowd, normally you will not notice the infamous celebrities in your presence.  They don't wear makeup in public, and your mind does not easily make the connection when you see someone out-of-context.  "I know you from somewhere," a phrase uttered many times to MLK, Elvis, Queen Elizabeth.  But if you observe very carefully, you may notice an oddity like a pair of sunglasses at night, a headscarf, a jacket on a warm day. 

Pedicure

Even world class veterinarians get stuck with the occasional mundane chore, such as declawing.   Talk about some toe jam!

Jig of Joy

In the partners competition, no one can beat the fabled duo.

Conflagration Congregation

Gathering over some snacks, the nation's finest wildland fire experts pour over maps and postulate new strategies to stem the advance of Mother Nature's temper. 

Pearly Whites

Distinctive features separate the carnivores from the herbivores. 

Drowsy Driver

Awakened from a deep slumber in response to the call, our hero is dismayed that Mrs. O'Leary again let her cat make its way to the highest branch.

Cretaceous Comfort

Discovering a well kept secret, Liam has a brief conversation with one of the weary travelers who departed Earth during the K-Pg extinction event.  Seems that after only 65 million years they got just plain homesick and have since taken a liking to modern creature comforts offered by the Roswell community.