The lights, the rides, the excitement of the amusement park!  While some people go for the high flying thrills of the roller coaster, or birds eye views from the Ferris wheel, or to take out their road rage on the bumper cars – I’m going for the swings! Hands down, it’s the best ride at the amusement park.  OK, maybe I’m not being as objectionable as I should, but I don’t care – it’s just a good ride.  The Wave Swinger or “the swings” as I’ve called it since a kid, is one of the showplaces of modern amusement parks and the classic ride has been thrilling for generations. From park to park, the ride is known by many different names:  The Bavarian Wave Swinger, the swing ride, the swing carousel, yo-yo, Chair-O-Planes and more.  Each ride is almost basically the same with several rows of chairs suspended from a rotating disk, which once it begins to rotate and tilt, centrifugal force sends the chairs on a wave filled rotating ride soaring through the air. Wave Swingers have been part of amusement park fun since the early twentieth century, with portable versions being used for local fairs, and child size versions for kiddie land parks. The more modern version gained popularity in the 1970’s, when “Kettenkarussell” or Chair-O-Planes was designed by the Zierer amusement park company.  Located in Deggendorf, Germany; Zierer manufactures roller coasters, Ferris wheels, and wave swingers for parks around the world.  Many of their rides are featured at parks in the United States. Zierer’s sold about 200 of the swing units, but several other amusement park ride companies have their own versions with Bertazzon America, located in Tennessee as their main competitor. The basic ride is simple.  Guests enter through a...

The small prop plane suddenly drops out of equilibrium, careening sharply into the volcano.  It swoops down, losing altitude as it tilts at a nearly 90 degree angle.  The three other passengers and I hold on for dear life certain that we’re about to crash into a crater.  A moment ago, we were placidly snapping photos of a cool geological feature.  Now we’re more or less certain that the volcano is the last thing we’ll ever see.  Steam jets from a crevasse that can’t be more than 20 feet away from us.  I can almost feel the heat. I’m one day into my 35th year and I’m about to die.  It’ll be like a bad joke:  Two Americans, an Australian, an Israeli, and an Austrian crash into a volcano. . .Of course. Every year, I like to do something interesting for my birthday.  I’ve confronted my religious prejudices, gone on the Dr. Phil show, skydiving.  All sorts of stuff.  This year, I decided to go camping in Alaska.  Up until this whole airplane incident, it had been going well.  I’d met new friends from England, Australia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Israel.  We’d all slogged through the rain to a vast glacier together, cooked together, gone kayaking with porpoises, seals and sea otters.  The group had surprised me with a birthday cake on my actual birthday and we’d eaten it on a beach, snowcapped mountains visible through a faint misting rain. Not bad.  Then I went and pushed my luck by signing up for this scenic bear viewing flight. It all started so promisingly.  We arrived at the airfield on time.  The pilot outfitted us with hip wading boots that would keep us dry as we tracked bears along a river.  We took off into...

.500. For any fan of baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates, this number now has more significance than Barry Bonds’ home run record, DiMaggio’s hit streak or Cal Ripken’s consecutive games played. When I wrote the following blogumn in March, it looked like the chances of  the Pirates  finally ending this season with as many wins as losses after a record 18 consecutive years of failing were about as good as Newt Gingrich winning the Republican nomination. Then a funny thing happened: the Pirates started winning. And they’ve kept winning with as much regularity as they’ve been losing. And now the wins are starting to outnumber the losses. We’re about halfway through the season and if the Pirates keep going, this blogumn will be forever outdated. Never before have I ever wanted my writing to be so wrong... Originally published 03/25/11 How do the Pittsburgh Pirates compare with other infamous losers of history? On Thursday, April 7th, Major League Baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates will take to the field of PNC Park to play the Colorado Rockies. If all goes as planned (and there is little reason to doubt that it won’t) sometime in early October, the Pirates will finish their 19th consecutive losing season. The only records that will be broken will be their own: In 2009, their 17th  losing season tied them with the Philadelphia Phillies for the longest streak of consecutive losing seasons in North American sports history. And last year, the Pittsburgh Pirates celebrated their final descent to the bottommost throne in Loserdom’s decaying garbage heap with the most losses (105) in their 123 year existence. In terms of embarrassment, ignominy and defeat, the Pittsburgh Pirates are now only competing with themselves. Of course many people will argue that Pirates’ fans really have no right to complain....