This year, there have been 182 days in the year. We have 182 days remaining. July 2^nd is the midpoint. At noon today, we are exactly at the midpoint of 2010 (how are your resolutions coming?).

In an effort to keep in mind that we are “halfway there”, we’ll look at songs that take us halfway (or at least mention something being halfway, even if its just a half a cup of coffee (as in Tom’s Diner). This one is for everyone who thinks the cup is half full AND for all those who think its half empty.  Enjoy!

1. Livin’ on a Prayer – Bon Jovi
2. Meet Me Halfway – Blackeyed Peas
3. The Trickster – Radiohead
4. Halfway Gone – Lifehouse
5. Anywhere for you – Backstreet Boys
6. Playboy to a Man – Elvis Costello
7. Halfway There – Big Time Rush
8. Tom’s Diner – Suzanne Vega
9. Halfway to the Bottom – Aqualung
10. Half the way – Crystal Gayle

Today we celebrate the birthday of Fredric Chopin, a Polish composer of over 230 pieces of music, mostly for the piano.  He influenced other composers such as Schumann,  Liszt, and Brahms and Scriaban.  In addition, his music can be found in dozens of movies over the years.  Here is a list of some of the more popular movies that used music from this legendary composer.

1)  Sneakers

2)  The Truman Show

3)  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

4)  10 Things I Hate about You

5)  The Prestige

6)  XXX

7)  Bad Santa

8)  The Pianist

9)  The Peacemaker

10)  Walk Hard:  The Dewey Cox Story

Of course, there are dozens of foreign movies on this list that I know nothing about.  For a complete list, check out:  Yahoo

 In Hollywood, we’ve have had tough guys (Lee Marvin, Chuck Norris), funny guys (Jerry Lewis, Eddie Murphy) and then there are the cool guys, John Wayne, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Marlon Brando, and James Dean. In the 70′s, a TV show took a chance, and introduced a Biker as a friend of a character, and a legend was born. The Fonz defined cool for a generation of TV viewers and it wasn’t long before Henry Winkler was getting as much attention as the star of Happy Days, Ron Howard. His white shirt, leather jacket, and comb steadily combing his hair back unless he was looking at a mirror, then it was… heyyyyyyyyy, with a satisfied smile as if to say, was there any doubt he would look good. The show ended and the stars moved on and it appeared to many that it was the Fonz that was cool, not Mr. Winkler. But to those that thought that, they were wrong. Henry Winkler has continued to define cool in his professional and personal life. So today, on his Birthday, we’ll honor Mr Winkler with today’s list of top coolest things that he has done:

1. Played the Fonz on Happy Days, giving the show and his career a huge boost.
2. Masters of Fine Arts from Yale – An Ivy League Educated Actor as the Fonz, who knew?
3. Night Shift – One of Ron Howard’s first movies that helped launch Michael Keaton and Shelly Long’s careers. I like to think he did it because Ron was his friend, but who really knows.
4. McGyver, Mr. Winkler was an executive producer of this down to earth handy man that was a lot of fun to watch.
5. Writer – 14 books and counting about Hank Zipzer, the world’s greatest underachiever. Hank as dyslexia, which Mr. Winkler has been diagnosed with as well and his life serves as a model for the stories in this series.
6. Broadway Star – Doing 9 months of The Dinner Party, a Neil Simon comedy.
7. Director – Directing several movies including Billy Crystals “Memories of Me”
8. Charity – He is involved with several leading Children charities including Toys for Tots and the Special Olympics
9. Professional Guest Star – Arrested Development, Law and Order, King of the Hill, The Simpsons and even a few music videos
10. Guest Conductor of the Boston Pops – summer 2008 in Cape Cod. He lost no time in getting rid of those pesky sheets of paper with little dots on them and doing it, his way. It was great fun and he started his stint with a good talk on growing up with dyslexia.  

Its awfully nice to see a good actor, with a solid career, doing something nice and using his fame, and some of his fortune, to help those who need the help. While he may not have an Oscar, he does have a life sized statue of himself in Milwaukee and the undying loyalty and adulation from the kids who he has helped. Not bad for a “greaser” who was trouble. Happy Birthday Mr. Winkler!

Edmond Halley was born on this day in 1656, unless you are looking at a Julian Calender, which would put his birthday as November 8^th. He is widely known for calculating the orbit of what is now known as Halley’s Comet, which will be returning in 2061. He went to school at St. Paul’s School and as an undergraduate was publishing papers about sun spots and the solar system. He was a fellow for the Royal Society, which someday should be its own list, which allowed him to do the research for which he became famous for. Today’s list will look at some of his career highlights and interesting facts:

1. Obviously, mapping out the orbit of the comet is his career highlight. When he predicted accurately when it would return, and it did, the comet was quickly named after him.
2. Mapping 341 Southern Stars – Earned his MA from Oxford for this work
3. Published concerning Trade Winds, Barometric changes and the effect of Solar Heating on Atmospheric Motion – working more as a meteorologist than an astronomer.
4. Built a Diving Bell to underwater studies – Eventually he could stay underwater for 4 hours.
5. Taking John Graunt’s ideas a bit farther, Halley developed age of death tables, paving the way for more actuarial studies
6. Commanded the first English Vessel that set sail on a purely scientific voyage, mapping out variations in the magnetic field of compasses.
7. Improved the calculation of the distance between the sun and earth by using the timing of the movement of the orbital travel of Venus.
8. With others, tried to scientifically date Stonehenge. This is first recorded effort to use science to date an object.
9. He developed a root level algorithm that is named Halley’s Method in numerical analysis, not that I could begin to tell you what this might be used for.
10. A Crater on both the Moon and Mars are named after him as is a research facility in Antarctica.

Of course, he was born 300 years too early to be involved in Bill Haley and the Comets, but he certainly even found his name having an influence in Rock and Roll.