Friday 5 - March 6, 2009.

I've heard about this Friday 5 site for some months now. Never got around to participating in this, but I figure why not today? So here it is.... my answers to what the current Friday 5 questions are. I can't promise I'll do this every week, but for some reason I just wanted to answer this. So here goes:

1. On March 6, 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev presented the first Periodic Table of the Elements to the Russian Chemical Society. What memories do you have of your high-school chemistry course?

For some reason I never took high school chemistry, so I don't have any memories. I did take Physical Science and we did learn about the periodic table of elements. I remember a few of them like GOLD (Au) and IRON (Fe). Other than that never did much with glass tubes, beakers, chemicals and Bunsen burners.

2. On March 6, 1899, the Bayer company registered aspirin as a trademark. When did you last take medication for pain?

I take a low dose aspirin every day, not for pain but to lessen my chances of well... a heart attack. Hey I'm old.

3. On March 6, 1853, Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La Traviata premiered in Venice. How do you feel about opera?

Don't listen or watch it at all. Next.

4. On March 6, 1947, American film director Rob Reiner (Meathead!) was born. Which of these Reiner-directed films have you seen, and what do you think of them?

I'll just list and comment only on the ones I saw or remember seeing:

* When Harry Met Sally… (1989) - I'm not very big on romantic comedies, but I know I saw this... and of course like most people, the fake orgasm at the restaurant scene is memorable. And for some reason I also remember a couple of Harry Connick Jr. songs also being featured in this movie.

* The Princess Bride (1987) - I have this on DVD, haven't watched it in a long time, the hero was kind of a klutz and I remember seeing people rolling down a hill and getting lost in a forest. And Andre the Giant was in it.

* Stand by Me (1986) - Three kids find a dead body and they have to figure out what to do with it. I don't remember much about this except that they used Ben E. King's song for the title track and it was loaded with a bunch of other late 50s hits.


5. On March 6, 1972, American basketball-player Shaquille O’Neal was born. How do you feel about basketball?

I used to watch a lot of it way back in 1971 and 72 when the U.H. Rainbows had the "Fabulous Five". Joe Moore was doing the play by play for KGMB TV who at the time aired the games live. Later on I used to take pictures of basketball games at the college I went to.

The sport is fun, fast moving and quite a big business these days (like many others). I don't watch it much these days as I am not the biggest sports fan there is, but once in a while I'll catch it on TV.

Photo: Dmitri Mendeleev