Young & Free Summer

What. Is. Up. 

Guys, we've had a great year so far. We've given away $10 a week, we've ambushed 3 High Schools, we've even given out money for scholarships, but this Summer is going to be different. "No giveaways?" You ask? Tisk tisk. You doubt our givingawayness? Of course not my weary companion, this Summer will be filled giveaways...I'm just not at liberty to tell you wat they are yet. So myeh. But, I can tell you what you can expect to see at YoungFreeAlabama.com this Summer, and it's good stuff indeed.

Summer Savings are back this year at YFA.com. We'll be talking about how to save money on everything from traveling to tanning lotion, from sunglasses to surf boards, from...summer stuff to other summer stuff (haven't really thought it through that far I guess) but you get the picture! Stay tuned to the site before you start hitting the stores and shores!

Video: Man-On-The-Street Madness is coming to you! With all that is going on this Summer, I'll be out getting fresh perspectives on what it's like to be Young & Free and find out more how Listerhill can accomodate you by making The Hill Account even more awesome. Be looking for me in the Shoals and around town to be involved in answering some of our gernerations hardest and down-right silliest questions! You may even get to show a few of your talents on our site and I'm the sure the YouTube viewers will appreciate anything you do that deosn't involve a cat.

Also, we'll still be giving away $10 for out #10DollarTues each week on Twitter and Facebook, so look out for those questions each Tuesday and play along!

UNA Students: Just...just be ready. Oh man. Just be ready. We will be out and about at SOAR at UNA this year and the Big Deal Giveaway is going to be epic. Just sayin'. Stay tuned!

Lee

Moogle

"Moogle" is my ever so sharp, witty reference to Google's homepage dedication today. The Google Doodle for today is emblazoned with an interactive synthesizer, an homage to music pioneer Bob Moog, who would have turned 78 today. Moog's company, Moog, is one of the world leaders in producing high quality synthesizers and unique instruments used by thousands of the music industry's top professionals. Moog has a fascinating way of making their instruments and...well, whatever they are. Here is some information about one of my favorite American companies and its founder:

So who was Robert "Bob" Moog? A consummate tinkerer, an electronic music pioneer, founder of Moog Music, and the progenitor of a sound that has been described as "assertive, bouncy, exotically wheezy and occasionally explosive." 

Moog was born and raised in New York City. He studied physics at Queens College and electrical engineering at Columbia. In the mid-1960s, as a doctoral candidate in engineering physics at Cornell University, he paired with the composer Herbert Deutsch to develop a voltage-controlled synthesizer module – a portable, relatively-easy-to-use synth that yielded a range of weird and otherworldly noises. 

As the Associated Press has pointed out, "other synthesizers were already on the market [at the time], but Moog's stood out for being small, light and versatile." Moreover, Moog's timing was right: Bands such as The Beatles, which would eventually use a Moog machine on the album "Abbey Road," wanted a psychedelic sound, and the Moog could provide it in spades. 

"A note might, for example, explode in a sudden burst, like a trumpet blast, or it could fade in at any number of speeds," the New York Times wrote in an obituary for Moog. A range of musicians adopted the Moog machines: Herbie Hancock and Sun Ra, the jazz greats; the Monkees and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, the rock groups; even the Beastie Boys, the rap group formed in 1981. 

"A lot of people today don't realize what this man brought to the masses," Charles Carlini, a New York concert promoter, told the Associated Press. "He brought electronic music to the masses and changed the way we hear music."

Moog died in 2005, at the age of 71. He was a genius and his work and the work of his company reflect that to this day.

For more information on Moog Products like their Mini Moog Synthesizers, Theramins and even their new Guitar, check out MoogMusic.com.

Lee

10 Dollar Tuesday for May 22nd, 2012

This Week's Question: "What is the best Olympic sport?"

Comment on this Blog, or head to my Twitter Page or my Facebook Page now! Each person who answers is entered for a chance to have $10 placed in their Hill Account. Don't have one? Well, play along and you'll have $10 from us waiting on you when you get one!

To find out if you won, just keep an eye out for a message from me on Twitter or Facebook! Just be yourself and answer creatively for the best chance to win!

Lee

Why The Olympics Are Awesome

Summer is upon us and for many of us that means one, very exciting fact: The Olympics will be on! I have always loved the Olympics and it never ceases to increase my American Pride as well as make me wish I was better at Geography. How awesome is it that people from all over the world compete every year to see who's the best at something? Naturally, America totally rules at most of them, but the concept is just crazy to think about! Here are some random facts about the Olympics that make it even more enjoyable that I though you would, well...enjoy!

• The early Olympic Games were celebrated as a religious festival from 776 B.C. until 393 A.D., when the games were banned for being a pagan festival (the Olympics celebrated the Greek god Zeus). In 1894, a French educator Baron Pierre de Coubertin, proposed a revival of the ancient tradition, and thus the modern-day Olympic Summer Games were born.
• Host Greece won the most medals (47) at the first Olympic Summer Games in 1896.
• The first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France in 1924.
• Norway has won the most medals (263) at the Winter Games.
• The United States has won more medals (2,189) at the Summer Games than any other country.
• The five Olympic rings represent the five major regions of the world – Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceana, and every national flag in the world includes one of the five colors, which are (from left to right) blue, yellow, black, green, and red.
• Up until 1994 the Olympics were held every four years. Since then, the Winter and Summer games have alternated every two years.
• The first Olympics covered by U.S. television was the 1960 Summer Games in Rome by CBS.
• No country in the Southern Hemisphere has ever hosted a Winter Games.
• Three continents – Africa, South America, and Antarctica – have never hosted an Olympics.
• A record 202 countries participated in the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens.
• Only four athletes have ever won medals at both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games: Eddie Eagan (United States), Jacob Tullin Thams (Norway), Christa Luding-Rothenburger (East Germany), and Clara Hughes (Canada).
• Speed skater Bonnie Blair has won six medals at the Olympic Winter Games. That's more than anyother American athlete.
• Nobody has won more medals at the Winter Games than cross-country skier Bjorn Dählie of Norway, who has 12.
• Larrisa Latynina, a gymnast from the former Soviet Union, finished her Summer Olympic Games career with 18 total medals—the most in history.
• The United States Olympic Committee established the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983 to recognize outstanding American Olympic athletes, however, a plan to build a hall has been suspended due to lack of funding.
• The Summer Olympic sports are archery, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, canoe / kayak, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, handball, judo, modern pentathlon (shooting, fencing, swimming, show jumping, and running), mountain biking, rowing, sailing, shooting, soccer, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, track and field, triathlon (swimming, biking, running), volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, and wrestling.
• The Winter Olympic sports are alpine skiing, biathlon (cross-country skiing and target shooting), bobsled, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hocky, luge, Nordic combined (ski jumping and cross-country skiing), skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating.

Lee

Living Young & Free Show Episode 061: Side Business, Impulse Saving and Lessons Learned

Matt from Indiana talks about running a side business, Michelle in New Mexico looks at impulse savings, and Janelle from Michigan shares her lessons learned as a spokester.

You can also download all of the episode as a podcast from iTunes and you can watch all previous shows!

The Y&F Alabama Team