Weekend Assignment #336: Magic Button

NOW CLOSED!

This one is based on a question posed by Michele Agnew on http://micheleagnew.com, way back in 2005.

Weekend Assignment #336: Magic Button

If you could have a magic button that would do one particular thing for you, up to once a day, what would that function be?

Extra Credit: Would your answer to the above change if it were a person doing the task (for free and without complaint, using ordinary human abilities) rather than a magic button?

You know how to do this, right? Here are the guidelines. While Carly is on hiatus I've loosened up the deadline just a little - but don't push your luck! ;)

**1. Please post your response no later than than 12:01 AM on Thursday morning, September 23rd. You can do this either in a blog entry of your own or in the comments section of the assignment entry. No submissions will be accepted after that time unless I really want to.

2. Please mention the Weekend Assignment in your blog post, and include a link back to the original entry. Using one of the logos shown here is encouraged but not mandatory.

3. Please come back here after you've posted, and leave a link to your entry in the comments to the assignment. Please post the URL itself rather than a live link.

4. Visiting other participants' entries is strongly encouraged!

5. We're always looking for topic ideas. Please see the "Teacher's Lounge" page for details. If we use your idea, you will be credited as that week's "guest professor." Help me out, folks, because sometimes I run dry when doing this week after week!

6. We reserve the right to remove rude or unpleasant comments (not to mention comment spam), and to leave entries off the linking list if the person has been rude or unpleasant, or fails to mention the Weekend Assignment in the entry.

We had a great response for last week's Weekend Assignment #335: History. Please click on each person's name to see their full entry:

Duane said...

I actually do live near the site of a battlefield (several, in fact), and I'm very aware of the area's history. I live in northwest Georgia, just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The region's main moment in the historical spotlight happened nearly 150 years ago during the Civil War. Chattanooga was an important railroad center, where several lines met that connected most of the South. There were several battles fought for control of the town and there are historical markers and monuments scattered all over the region.

Anne said...

Off the top of my head..I can tell you that Glenview was founded in 1890, but our landmark dates back a bit further.  Our park district still maintains the estate of "one of its most famous sons" Robert Kennicott.  He was a (oh, hell.  Now I have to go look this up) naturalist and explorer.  The Grove is part history museum and part nature preserve and our school classes would visit about once a year for one reason or another.  Sometimes it was about pioneer history - churning the butter and that kind of thing.  Sometimes it was about the nature trails and native plants and insects.

Stephen Watkins said...

In Atlanta, you can’t throw a stone without hitting a sign for a historical marker declaring the site of “so-and-so’s last stand” or “the charge of somesuch brigade”.  It’s part of the fabric here.  Heck, this is largely true of much of the American Southeast.  In the rest of the U.S. the Civil War is an important historical event.  It’s something that happened.  It’s important but it’s over.  The good guys won, the bad guys lost, Honest Abe freed the slaves and everyone lived happily ever after, the end.  Except, in the South, it’s not over yet.  It’s a living part of the culture and personality of this part of the world.

Sandrine said...

Of course, I love the ancient ruins. Who wouldn't? And I do spend a big part of my professional life talking and writing about people who lived in those ruins, so I have more cause than some to find them fascinating. Some of it is disappointing because there's so little left, some of it is done up too heavily and looks like a movie set, and some of it is simply charming. But it's all over the place. Even Ankara has its sites. There's a big column and some Roman Baths.The column used to be topped by a giant nest inhabited by all sorts of birds.

Mike said...

According to what I can find out here, this is an actual working Dutch windmill that was assembled in 1875 in what is now Lombard, Illinois for two farmers. It was Dutch-built prefabricated kit that was shipped out there to be put together. I guess houses aren't the only things that you can buy prefabricated. It was bought in 1915 by General Fayban and moved in 1917 to its current location. Again, it was disassembled and re-assembled. Not unlike a big Erector set. It stood, and was used, in the current location until 1937 when the county acquired it after the general passed away.

Karen Funk Blocher said...

On January 22, 1934, a fire started in the hotel basement and spread upward. After John Dillinger and his gang escaped down a ladder, one of them bribed two firemen to retrieve their luggage, which included "a small arsenal and $23,816 in cash," according to the hotel website. One of the firemen later recognized the gang members in True Detective Magazine, which soon led to their capture in a private home nearby. Although Hotel Congress is also known these days for its music venue, Club Congress, for good food and for general coolness, the whole Dillinger thing is kind of a point of pride in Tucson even today, even though the legendary robber later escaped from authorities using a fake gun carved from a piece of wood.

Julie said...

You might wonder (as we all do) whatever possessed someone to name a town "Plano." Well, with many stories, we must reach into the mists of time, to the deep, dark past of the town history. Essentially, the town needed a Post Office. And in order to get a Post Office, a town had to have a name. So a guy (after whom many public buildings and parks have been named) decided that it would be a good idea to name the speck on the map after the current resident of the White House. The current resident at the time was named Millard Fillmore, and so it came to pass that the town Postmaster suggested the name of Fillmore....

Carly is taking a well-earned break from the three memes she's been hosting or co-hosting, although she may jump in as a participant from time to time. She'll be back at the beginning of January. I'm holding down the fort on the Weekend Assignment and the The Round Robin Photo Challenges, so please help me keep things going while she's gone, okay? I've also started another Monday meme as a fill-in for Carly's Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot. You may be interested in this one. It's partly a writing prompt - a very short writing prompt! I call it:

The second one is already posted, and it's about shoes! Please stroll over and take a look!

I look forward to seeing your entries on both memes, plus the Round Robin if you're into photography. See you soon!

Karen