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10 .2021
Did you know that October is the best month of the year to visit national parks? According to an article published initially by Lonely Planet, that’s because during October, attendance is down, prices are cheaper, and landscapes are generally prettier. I’ve visited national parks all over the United States, from Acadia to Olympic National Park, and from the Everglades on over to Joshua Tree, but no national park is as near and dear to my heart as the Smoky Mountains. I didn’t grow up with a lot of opportunities to visit national parks, but my first foray into those wild areas of our country was in the Smoky Mountains. The family of one of my good friends growing up was big into backpacking, and while his dad was backpacking in the Smoky Mountains one time, he saw someone cutting down a tree, which, in a national park, is a big no-no. Indignant about this person’s blatant disregard for the sanctity of the land, my friend’s dad basically stalked this guy for three days until he was able to get his plates and report him to the park services. The guy was brought up on felony charges, so my friend’s dad had to come to court to testify against him. Rather than have it just be a boring visit to a courtroom, however, he turned it into another backpacking trip to the Smoky Mountains — and this time, I went with him and his son. The National Park Nearest and Dearest to My Heart BE THANKFUL FOR THE WILD PLACES IN OUR COUNTRY
passed beautiful waterfalls, grand old hemlock trees, and deep hollows and canyons. After that, I was hooked. I’ve loved being outdoors ever since.
I have to say that, while I love the western United States and all the natural beauty over there, there’s just something about the greenery of the Central Appalachians that gets in your blood. To this day, my family still spends a good amount of time in the Smoky Mountains. My daughters’ mother’s family has a house on a ranch that borders the Smoky Mountains, and throughout their lives, we’ve spent a lot of time there. It’s right near Cataloochee Valley, where park services have reintroduced a whole bunch of elk. So, we’ve spent a lot of weekends on the porch of the Jarvis Palmer House, eating lunch and watching the elk graze and bugle. The Jarvis Palmer House is a monument on the park land that’s a relic from before the Smoky Mountains were a national park. A sort of sad part of the park’s history is that in creating it, they pushed a lot of people, whether they were white settlers or Native Americans, off the land. I suppose a good result of that, though, is that it’s been preserved for generations. The Smoky Mountains remain one of the few places in the Eastern United States where you can see old growth forest — untouched since the days before European settlement. Generally speaking, I love all our national parks. In a world where wild places are rapidly disappearing due to development and climate change, I’m glad that our country has set aside certain places to keep them reasonably untouched. They’re some of the greatest assets this country has, and I thank God that we have them.
In short, backpacking in the Smoky Mountains kind of blew my mind. We hiked and camped for four or five days, carrying everything on our backs as we
“I have to say that, while I love the western United States and all the natural beauty over there, there’s just something about the greenery of the Central Appalachians that gets in your blood.”
–Perry Shuttlesworth
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LOADING
Finding a nursing home that fits all of your loved one’s needs can be a challenge. Nobody wants to leave someone they care about in a place that can’t or chooses not to properly care for them. Luckily, there are a few steps you can take to ensure you make the right choice. RESEARCH Deciding on a nursing home should not be a last-minute decision but oftentimes is. Every day, people are discharged directly from a hospital to one of the 227 nursing homes in Alabama. This is not a situation you want to find yourself or a loved one in. The best time to do your research is before there is a real need. Search online and check many different resources. Medicare’s website ranks every nursing home on a scale of 1–5 stars and is the best place to start your research. Be wary of sites that are not run by a government agency or nonprofit. Those sites often show bias and do not accurately describe the nursing home. IN-PERSON VISITS Doing research online is a great start but you will never get the true feeling for a nursing home until you visit. Not only will this prove whether an individual is compatible with the home, but it will also give you a chance to check out the amenities. You’ll be able to see if they offer healthy food options and how social the staff and residents are. During your in-person visit, you should pay attention to both the residents’ hygiene and the staff themselves. Poor grooming and bad hygiene show signs that the staff is not properly taking care of their residents. Also, note how the staff interacts with the residents. This is their home and could be your future loved ones’ home; there should be no signs of abuse or disrespect. CLOSE TO HOME This is much easier said than done. Not everyone is going to have a quality nursing home close to their residence. Close proximity provides an opportunity for you to visit your loved one more frequently and to reduce their stress while moving to a new home. It also allows you the chance to drop in and check on the conditions of the home, depending on the nursing home’s visitor policy. Finding the Best Nursing Home ENSURING SAFETY FOR YOUR LOVED ONE
You don’t become America’s national pastime without learning how to adapt — and Major League Baseball (MLB) made the ultimate pivot. Baseball’s Former Commissioner and Streaming TV This October, MLB’s biggest stars and teams with the most wins all-time will take the field for the 2021 playoffs. The winners will be crowned champions of the world, but the league these champs call home already owns an equally prestigious title: the founders of streaming services. Their legendary reign started back in the early 2000s, when former MLB commissioner Bud Selig asked every team in the league to contribute $4 million for the creation of Baseball Advanced Media (BAM). At that time, the dot-com bubble had yet to burst, and Selig wanted America’s once favorite sport to “keep up with the times,” so to speak. BAM created a website for each team, but it soon took on other qualities that gave it an edge. The Hustle reports that BAM offered online video, multidevice watching services, and a large data and broadband structure before other major platforms even existed. BAM became such a smashing success that it soon became BAMTech and started creating platforms for other popular sports leagues like World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the National Hockey League (NHL). (It even assisted HBO!) In 2017, one of the biggest players in movies, Disney, invested in BAMTech, claiming a majority stake, and began its transition into streaming services. Soon after, as The Hustle reported in July 2021, Disney announced Disney+, a streaming platform whose features were similar to that of Netflix and BAM. In March 2021, Disney+ hit more than 100 million users, making it a powerhouse in streaming — all created because of BAMTech. Today, BAM and BAMTech are credited with being on the forefront of streaming services and continue to hold a power position over streaming and within entertainment companies. “Media companies are not good at tech and really struggle with large scale,” says investment analyst Rich Greenfield in The Verge. “They don’t trust companies like Google or Amazon, who want to displace them. BAM is seen as friendly.” Thanks, Bud!
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DANGEROUS BUT NOT ILLEGAL DRIVING WITH HEADPHONES
Ever since cellphones and smartphones became commonplace in the American home, texting while driving has become one of the most dangerous activities performed behind a wheel. As wireless earbuds have become more mainstream, an increasing number of people are wearing them while driving. While this practice is not necessarily illegal in the state of Alabama, it is extremely dangerous and distracting. Just because it’s legal does not mean you should do it. No single driver drives with their eyes alone; all senses are involved. If you have headphones on or earbuds in, you may not hear the ambulance that is driving behind you with their sirens blaring. You may also not hear the car honking its horn as they run through a red light. Both of these situations can have deadly outcomes. Though there are no laws strictly prohibiting the use of headphones, this does not mean that a driver wearing headphones is protected from other tickets. If an officer decides you are distracted while driving, they can pull you over and issue a citation for distracted driving. A driver wearing headphones only further validates their case. These fines are relatively low, starting at $25, but they show up on your driving record. This means insurance rates could increase.
There’s also the danger of auto accidents. If you’re involved in an accident and are wearing headphones, the other driver could claim that you were distracted while driving. This could reduce any compensation you may receive and additionally put the blame on you. Being involved in an accident, especially
one that causes injury, is the last thing anyone wants to happen. Wearing headphones can only make the situation worse for everyone involved.
Other states in America have gone the extra step already and made driving while wearing headphones illegal. If you’re traveling to Georgia or Florida, headphones are only permitted in one ear, if taking a call. Louisiana, Virginia, California, and a few other states have made the jump and banned the use of headphones while operating a vehicle.
If you were involved in an accident with a distracted driver, Shuttlesworth Law Firm can help you.
FACTOID STRANGE
October Used to be the 8th Month of the Year?
If octopuses have eight limbs and octagons have eight sides, why is October not the eighth month of the year? The simple answer? It used to be. The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar today, but it has only existed since 1582. Well over 2,000 years prior, people were using the Roman calendar, which was based on lunar cycles rather than solar cycles. The Roman calendar began in March; September through December were months seven through 10, which accurately reflected their prefixes. The Roman calendar reigned supreme for almost 700 years before it was replaced by the Julian calendar, which added January and February while moving the beginning of the year back two months, to January. This changed October from the eighth month to the 10th, where it has remained ever since.
October 2021 10 8
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THIS ISSUE INSIDE
1
Why I Love This National Park in Particular
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How the MLB Helped Create Disney+
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Finding the Best Nursing Home for Your Loved One
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Driving With Headphones
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October’s Strange Factoid
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Corn Mazes Date Back to Ancient Greece?
CORN MAZES DATE BACK TO ANCIENT GREECE? A Historical Look at This Wacky Fall Tradition
Exploring a corn maze is a great way to get outside and enjoy the fall season with friends and family — but who came up with the idea of wandering around a corn field for fun? As it turns out, outdoor mazes are an ancient tradition, and the American corn maze of the ‘90s sprouted from the mazes of 17th-century European gardens. Don’t believe it? Here’s a quick tour of corn maze history. THE MINOTAUR AND THE MAZE Have you heard of Theseus and the Minotaur? This ancient Greek legend tells the story of the hero Theseus, who ventured into an elaborate maze to kill the half-man, half-bull imprisoned there. The monstrous Minotaur was known to eat heroes, and the labyrinth was known to trap them, but Theseus managed to slay the Minotaur and find his way home with the help of a string that he unspooled as he walked. This story isn’t the first recorded example of a maze or labyrinth — according to the World History encyclopedia, “[L]abyrinths and labyrinthine symbols have been dated to the Neolithic Age in regions as diverse as modern-day
Turkey, Ireland, Greece, and India, among others” — but it’s perhaps the most famous ancient tale. If you’ve ever navigated a Halloween corn maze staffed by ghouls and ghosts, you can see the parallels! GARDEN ART TO GET LOST IN Mazes formed from bushes began popping up European gardens in the 17th century. They were a popular artistic feature of upper-class gardens in England, more for looking at than solving. One famous example is the half- mile-long Hampton Maze, which was planted in 1690 and still stands today. THE CORN MAZE: AN AMERICAN INVENTION Garden mazes eventually hopped the pond to America but didn’t become interactive puzzles until Don Frantz, Creative Director of the American Maze Company, came on the scene. In 1993, Frantz created the “first ever cornfield maze for private and public entertainment” to attract college kids in Pennsylvania. Today, every small-town corn maze is a descendant of his “Amazing Maize Maze.” To learn more about that wacky history, visit AmericanMaze.com.
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