What other fun things can there be beyond dancing, music and flying? Well, actually, even though I am loath to admit it at times, there are other cool things to do. Here is a photo taken in 1997 when I took a mountaineering course in the Canadian Rockies. It's summertime in Minnesota, so where do we head -- for snow of course! Our guide (in the red jacket) had returned from leading a successful summit of Everest 14 months prior to this. The whole thing was a lot of fun. Here are a few more photos of us learning ice climbing and on a hike up the glacier one fine day. Click on the images for a larger picture.

Another strange activity I have enjoyed in the past is campanology or Change Ringing. I started to learn this exotic activity in Washington DC when I did a sabbatical at the National Institute of Standards in Gaithersburg, MD. Mostly practiced in England, change ringing is a way of making a strange type of music where a set of bells (usually weighing in at about 300 - 4000 lbs) are rung sequentially, one bell by one ringer. The bells are balanced upside down, and "rung" down by pulling on a rope attached to the head stock of the bell. Since the bell takes about 2 seconds to swing down, ring and then return up the other direction and become balanced again, bells can not be rung in an arbitrary order without considerable delay. Consequently, the "tune" played consists of altering or changing the order of the bells within the sequence by a single place. A full peal of seven-factorial changes can take four hours! I found ringing fun not only because it was an intellectual challenge to figure out when to ring, but it was also a great back stretching exercise as you pull a 500 lb bell off its balance point and then delicately apply a small amount of braking force to get it to balance on the other side. I would still be doing it, but there are no "rings" in Minnesota. Maybe someday!

This picture kind of speaks for itself. I always wondered what Wisconsin's invisible industry was until we happened on this road sign on I-94. Of course the real question is: What is Minnesota's invisible industry? Below are some links to change ringing, mountaineering and other fun stuff I find from time to time that seems appropriate for this venue.

Fun Links:

• Find a map to almost anywhere in the US.
• Information on Co-Housing and the Co-Housing movement.
• Have you had your daily Dilbert?
• A great place to find Juggling supplies.
• At last, the final word on the Seven Deadly Virtues. Not reading for the masses, but it should be. I hope you will enjoy it with the intent that it was written: Fun!

  Change Ringing

• NAGCR (The North American Guild of Change Ringers). This organization sponsors and supports ringing throughout the US. They have lists of towers with bells as well as handbell groups (not ordinary handbells like you here at christmas time, but true change ringing hand bells).
• Many (most?) of the bells used in change ringing were forged at Whitechapel foundry. Here is their page with links to famous bells, and something of how the bells are made and tuned.
• I learned to ring at Washington DC's National Cathedral. Be sure to check out their web site which refers to one of the carvings on the West Towers (Hint: Luke, I am your father!).
• The other place I have rung is the Old Post Office Tower just off the mall in Washington DC. There is a group that practices there every Thursday evening if you want to observe.