from Bruce
Anecdotes
Good Deeds
• At the 1956 Olympics, Austrian skier Anton “Toni” Sailer almost did not get to skate in the downhill race. As he was tightening his boot straps, one of them broke, and no one on his team had a replacement. In an act of remarkably good sportsmanship, an Italian team trainer gave Mr. Sailer a strap. Mr. Sailer won the gold medal.
Halloween
• One Halloween, basketball player Michael Jordan had to play an out-of-town game for the Chicago Bulls. Since he didn’t want the neighborhood children to miss out on any Halloween candy, he put this sign on his apartment door: “Dear Kids, I’ll Be Back In Three Days If You Want Trick Or Treat.”
Hitters
• Jay Kirke got hits in the major leagues until the opposing pitchers found out he couldn’t hit a curve ball. After that, of course, he saw nothing but curve balls and was soon sent down into the minor leagues — where he also saw nothing but curve balls. In one game, however, an opposing outfielder, who was intent on throwing out a man, made a wild throw — right at Mr. Kirke, who was waiting to bat. Mr. Kirke, instead of getting out of the way of the ball, swung his bat and hit the ball as hard as he could. Of course, the umpire ruled interference on the play. When Mr. Kirke’s manager asked him what he had been thinking, he replied, “That’s the first ball I’ve seen in months that didn’t have a curve. I just couldn’t resist hitting it.”
• Sometimes a major-league pitcher will get a little of his own back by throwing a knock-down pitch at a lesser hitter after the big bats have roughed him up. In one 1947 game, the New York Giants — a hard-hitting ball team — got three home runs in a row by Sid Gordon, Johnny Mize, and Walker Cooper. The next batter was Buddy Blattner — definitely not one of the big bats on his team. Mr. Blattner bit the dust twice on knock-down pitches, made his usual out, then returned to the dugout. Mr. Cooper said to him, “I’ll say one thing, Blattner — they really respect you.”
• New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra was a bad-ball hitter, meaning that he could connect with bad pitches and make a hit off them. Once, with two out in the bottom half of the ninth, two runners on base, and the Yankees behind by two runs, Mr. Berra hit a pitch that was close to his ankles for a game-winning three-run home run. When the losing pitcher was asked if he knew of a way to get Mr. Berra out, he replied, “Yeah. With a pistol.”
• When the New York Yankees were playing in Chicago, the game was tied in extra innings and Yankee traveling secretary Mark Roth worried about whether the game would end in time for the team to catch the train. Babe Ruth heard Mr. Roth expressing his worries, and he told him, “Don’t worry, Mark. We’ll make that train. I’ll fix that.” Going up to bat a few minutes later, Babe hit a game-winning home run. The Yankees caught the train.
• As a bad-ball hitter, Yogi Berra would swing at bad balls and get hits off them. While he was playing Triple A baseball with the Newark Bears in 1946, his manager tried to get him to stop swinging at baseballs not in the strike zone. The manager said, “Yogi, next time you’re up, think about what you’re doing.” After striking out in three pitches, Mr. Berra decided, “You can’t hit and think at the same time.”
• “Shoeless Joe” Jackson claimed to have hit the world’s longest home run. According to Mr. Jackson, he hit a home run out of a baseball park in his native South Carolina. The baseball landed in a Southern Railroad rail car that was traveling by the ballpark. Later, the baseball was found in the rail car in Washington D.C. — 500 miles away from where Mr. Jackson had hit it.
• Hank Aaron came up to bat in the 1957 World Series, and the opposing catcher, Yogi Berra, told him, “You got the bat facing the wrong way. Turn it around so you can see the trademark.” Mr. Aaron replied, “Didn’t come up here to read. Came up here to hit.”
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
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Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "I Just Cut My Surf Finger"
Album: POOL PARTY EP
Artist: Los Surfer Compadres
Artist Location: Monterrey, Mexico
Info:
“John Nunnally, a fan, wrote, “From Monterrey, Mexico comes seven songs and one 20 second intro that features seagulls, waves, and a lonely surfer. Three of these songs are really good originals. The other four songs are even better covers of ‘Pipeline,’ ‘Miserlou,’ ‘Having an Average Weekend,’ and ‘Walk Don't Run.’ I love everything here, but Miserlou really stands out because it has a short intro featuring a vintage recording of the song followed by a great rendition of the song by Los Surfer Compadres. Favorite track: Misirlou.”
West Mask: Guitar
Luigy The Founder: Drums
Papá Pilingas: Bass
Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE) for eight-track album
Genre: Surf Instrumentals.
Links:
POOL PARTY EP
Los Compadres on Bandcamp
Surfer Compadres TV (YouTube)
Other Links:
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
Michael Egan
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Happy birthday! One more year, and the page will be legal!
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Thanks to Brain Smasher, Barbara of Peppy Tech Fame, Michelle in AZ, and David of Moon Valley for the kind wishes.
Offers To Pay Fines
Pink
Pink is offering her support to the Norwegian female beach handball team in their battle against wearing bikini bottoms during games.
The Grammy-winning singer, 41, took to Twitter on Saturday to announce that she would be willing to pay the disciplinary fines the 10-member team incurred for refusing to wear bikini bottoms in competition.
"I’m VERY proud of the Norwegian female beach handball team FOR PROTESTING THE VERY SEXIST RULES ABOUT THEIR 'uniform,'" wrote Pink. "The European handball federation SHOULD BE FINED FOR SEXISM. Good on ya, ladies. I’ll be happy to pay your fines for you. Keep it up."
Tennis legend Billie Jean King also spoke out in support of the Norwegian team. On Twitter, King called out the "sexualization" of women athletes and pointed out that male handball players do not have to follow the same rules.
"The Norwegian Women’s Beach Handball team is facing fines for wanting to wear shorts instead of bikini bottoms. The bottoms are not to cover 'more than 10cm on any sides.' The men’s team wears shorts," said King. "The sexualization of women athletes must stop.
Pink
Weekend Box Office
“Old”
M. Night Shyamalan’s “Old” easily won a slower weekend at the North American box office, while the G.I. Joe pic “Snake Eyes” lived up to its name.
Although both fresh offerings from major studios, moviegoers turned out in modest numbers on a weekend where there was the notable distraction of the Olympics as well as rising concerns about the delta variant.
Disney and Marvel’s “Black Widow” crept ahead to third place with $11.6 million, bringing its global total to $314.9 million, while last week’s No. 1 film “Space Jam: A New Legacy” grossed $9.6 million, down 69% from last weekend. Both are available to watch at home too: “Space Jam” is streaming on HBO Max, while Disney+ subscribers can rent “Black Widow” for $30.
The entire North American box office weekend generated around $68 million in revenue, according to Comscore. It’s a far cry from just three weeks ago when “Black Widow” alone made $80 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Old,” $16.5 million.
2. “Snake Eyes,” $13.4 million.
3. “Black Widow,” $11.6 million.
4. “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” $9.6 million.
5. “F9,” $4.7 million.
6. “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions,” $3.4 million.
7. “The Boss Baby: Family Business,” $2.7 million.
8. “The Forever Purge,” $2.3 million.
9. “A Quiet Place Part II,” $1.3 million.
10. “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain,” $830,000.
“Old”
Monopoly Game
‘The Sopranos’
“The Sopranos” is getting the Monopoly treatment. Op Games recently announced a new edition in the popular board game franchise, this time focusing on Tony Soprano and many fan-favorite little details from the hit HBO mafia saga. The collectible tokens in this game include a baby duck (iconically lifted from the show’s first episode), the Stugots boat, Bobby Bacala’s toy train engine, Satriale’s pig, Dr. Mefli’s chair, and even a Barone sanitation truck.
The description promises you can “buy, sell, and trade popular locations like Tony Soprano’s house and Satriale’s Pork Store, before wheeling and dealing at the Bada Bing! Let tokens like The Stugots or Bobby Bacala’s toy train engine take you around the board and be the last boss standing!”
All the game’s houses have been renamed “stashes,” while the hotels are now called “contraband,” and chance cards are called “AY!!” And also, the game recommends players of 17 and up, which makes sense given the (often quite foul-mouthed) material.
The release of the game arrives ahead of David Chase’s prequel film “The Many Saints of Newark,” arriving simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max from Warner Bros. on October 1. “Saints” is set in 1967 against the backdrop of the Newark race riots. The film tracks the relationship between a young Tony Soprano (played in the prequel by Michael Gandolfini, son of James Gandolfini) and his uncle, Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola). Dickie is the father of Christopher Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli in “The Sopranos.”
‘The Sopranos’
Most Influential Spreader
Joseph Mercola
The article that appeared online Feb. 9 began with a seemingly innocuous question about the legal definition of vaccines. Then over its next 3,400 words, it declared coronavirus vaccines were “a medical fraud” and said the injections did not prevent infections, provide immunity or stop transmission of the disease.
Instead, the article claimed, the shots “alter your genetic coding, turning you into a viral protein factory that has no off-switch.”
Its assertions were easily disprovable. No matter. Over the next few hours, the article was translated from English into Spanish and Polish. It appeared on dozens of blogs and was picked up by anti-vaccination activists, who repeated the false claims online. The article also made its way to Facebook, where it reached 400,000 people, according to data from CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned tool.
The entire effort traced back to one person: Joseph Mercola. Mercola, 67, an osteopathic physician in Cape Coral, Florida, has long been a subject of criticism and government regulatory actions for his promotion of unproven or unapproved treatments. But most recently, he has become the chief spreader of coronavirus misinformation online, according to researchers.
An internet-savvy entrepreneur who employs dozens, Mercola has published more than 600 articles on Facebook that cast doubt on COVID-19 vaccines since the pandemic began, reaching a far larger audience than other vaccine skeptics, an analysis by The New York Times found. His claims have been widely echoed on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Joseph Mercola
Healthcare Worker's Medical Bills
COVID-19
A healthcare worker from Arkansas has said that she has racked up medical bills of close to $1 million after she was hospitalized from COVID-19, she told THV11.
Shenita Russie, 42, caught the virus while working as a mobile respiratory therapist for COVID-19 patients in Boston at the start of the pandemic, Newsweek reported.
She was hospitalized for a month and was placed in a medically-induced coma, according to the media outlet. During this time, she racked up an eye-watering amount in bills.
"The bills? They are incredible," she told THV11. "I mean it was close to a million dollars just for how sick I was on life support."
Baptist Health in Little Rock, Arkansas, where Russie is currently receiving treatment, said that the average charge per COVID patient is approximately $62,000.
COVID-19
Jan. 6 Committee
2nd Appointment
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday named a second Republican critic of Donald Trump (R-Lock Him Up), Rep. Adam Kinzinger, to a special committee investigating the Capitol riot and pledged that the Democratic-majority panel will “get to the truth.” Kinzinger said he “humbly accepted” the appointment even as his party’s leadership is boycotting the inquiry.
With the committee set to hold its first meeting, hearing from police officers who battled the rioters, Pelosi said it was imperative to learn what happened on Jan. 6, when insurrectionists disrupted the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory, and why the violent siege took place. That mission, she said, must be pursued in a bipartisan manner to ensure “such an attack can never happen again.”
Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, will bring “great patriotism to the committee’s mission: to find the facts and protect our Democracy,” she said in a statement.
He joins Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, as the two committee’s Republicans, both selected by the leader of the opposition party. Kinzinger and Cheney were among the 10 House Republicans to vote for Trump’s second impeachment. They were the only two Republicans who voted last month to form the special committee.
“For months, lies and conspiracy theories have been spread, threatening our self-governance,” Kinzinger said in a statement. “For months, I have said that the American people deserve transparency and truth on how and why thousands showed up to attack our democracy.”
2nd Appointment
Damaging A Sacred Site
Geology
A Caltech professor who outraged Native American tribes by drilling holes in an ancient petroglyph site while doing research without a permit near Bishop, Calif., has issued a public apology, saying he was "horrified" by what he had done.
"While the area’s geology is of significant interest, it is also of cultural and historical importance," the scientist, Joseph Kirschvink, wrote in a statement. "I am horrified that I inadvertently collected samples from a sacred area that I too cherish and respect. I sincerely and deeply apologize for the disturbance we caused."
But even as Kirschvink and officials at Caltech seek to make amends for damage caused at a protected archaeological site, a growing number of Indigenous groups and academics say more needs to be done to protect cultural resources from unfettered scientific inquiry.
A bureau investigation concluded recently that Kirschvink used a pneumatic drill to illegally extract core samples from a federally protected archaeological site in the Volcanic Tablelands, near Bishop in the eastern Sierra Nevada.
The expedition left 29 1-inch diameter holes and splotches of blue paint in an area where prehistoric clans etched symbolic images on cliff faces and boulders thousands of years ago.
geology
Rumbling Meteor
Norway
An "unusually large meteor" briefly lit up southern Norway on Sunday, creating a spectacular sound and light display as it rumbled across the sky, and a bit of it may have hit Earth, possibly not far from the capital, Oslo, experts said.
Reports of sightings started arriving around 1 a.m. with the phenomena being seen as far north as Trondheim.
A web camera in Holmestrand, south of Oslo, captured a fireball falling from the sky and erupting into a bright flash lighting up a marina.
Preliminary data suggested a meteorite may have hit Earth in a large wooded area, called Finnemarka, just 60 km (40 miles) west of the capital, Oslo, the network said.
The meteor travelled at 15-20 km per second and lit up the night sky for about five to six seconds, Bilet said. The summer sky was dark, with the days starting to get shorter from the end of June.
Norway
Wooden Shipwreck Found
Antigua
"It's the best thing I've found in 31 years of diving," says Maurice Belgrave, pointing to the spot where a centuries-old shipwreck lay hidden under the water for more than 200 years.
Here at the Antigua Naval Dockyard, historic anchors, cannons and capstans are on bountiful display, testimony to the pivotal role it played as a safe harbour for Royal Navy warships protecting Britain's valuable sugar-producing islands.
In 2013, a routine job cleaning an anchor chain unearthed his most impressive discovery to date: the remarkably well-preserved remains of a 250-year-old naval vessel.
The presence of the 40-metre (130-ft) wooden ship was finally confirmed last month by a team of visiting archaeologists.
Not only does its sheer size set it apart from other wrecks around the Caribbean island, but local historians also believe it to be the 1762 Beaumont, a French merchant ship later bought by a private individual, renamed the Lyon and used in the American Revolutionary War.
Antigua
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