What Caught My Eye My Today
Weather - In light of the fact that most of North America and Europe are experiencing some of the worse weather on record, I'd like to being today's posting with a seasonal tune that really captures the spirit of the moment (click here). Perhaps you are familiar with the opening line, "Oh the weather outside is frightful, But the fire is so delightful, And since we've no place to go, Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
South Carolina - Here's one of those stories, that if I had not read, I wouldn't have believed it. Members of the NAACP are protesting a gala ball commemorating South Carolina's decision 150 years ago to secede from the United States. They said they were disgusted with the so-called "Secession Ball" and believe it is honoring men who committed treason in order to keep slavery in place. Not surprisingly, dance organizers see things a bit differently. Organizers of the gala say it is not a celebration of slavery. Instead, the Confederate Heritage Trust says the ball is to honor men who were willing to die to protect states' rights. Should you be interested in the historical facts, the vote for secession was 169 to 0 in favor of seceding from the United States, though about 57% of the state's 703,000 residents in 1860 were slaves. The thing about this story that gets my noodle going is that we read headlines from around the world about barbaric injustices such as stoning women in Islamic countries as punishment for infidelity, when not too long ago, one could make the argument that the United States...or at least portions thereof...wasn't much better when it came to civil rights.
Puppies - We're all familiar with those news stories the births of octuplets, but when was the last time you heard about septendecuplets? That's right, my friends, 17 little'uns. A purebred Rhodesian Ridgeback in Germany has given birth to 17 puppies, leaving their owner thrilled but fatigued after having to feed them with a bottle for several weeks because their mother couldn't cope with the demand. It took Etana a full 26 hours to give birth to all of the puppies Wow. The amazing thing is that mother and all the puppies are healthy. The puppies were given African names because the Rhodesian Ridgeback is an African hunting dog.The females puppies are called Bahati, Binta, Bahya, Bashima, Batouuli, Binki, Bora, Bisa and the male ones are Baakir, Banjoku, Belay, Bruk, Bundu, Bayo, Bukekayo, Biton and Bulus. Dude, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that this dog carried 17 puppies to term and delivered every last one of them. I mean...damn...that be impressive.
Cricket - This just in...okay, maybe yesterday...but I just caught up on the latest results at the Ashes tournament this morning. Australia beat England by 267 runs to clinch victory in the third Ashes Test in Perth and level the series at 1-1 with two matches remaining. Australia must win the series to reclaim the Ashes while a draw would result in England retaining the urn. Yeah, that's right, the trophy is an urn. What else would you expect them to name the trophy for a contest named "The Ashes"?
Skiing - I don't usually report on skiing outside of an Olympic year, but this sort of thing has only happened twice in 45 years (once in 1983 and again in 2008). After six events in the 2010-2011 World Cup ski season, American skiers top both the men's and women's overall standings. Lindsey Vonn, 2010 Olympic gold medalist in the downhill and gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in downhill and winner of the last three overall World Cup championships, leads in the women's overall standings as well as the Downhill, Super G and Combined disciplines . Over on the men's side, Ted Ligety, 2006 Olympic gold medalist in combined and the two-time World Cup champion in giant slalom, has a slim lead in the overall standings and a commanding lead in his specialty, Giant Slalom. So there you have it.
3 comments:
On the subject of The Ashes, this is the story from Wikipedia, explaining the reason for the name and the urn:
The Ashes are a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is international cricket's most celebrated rivalry and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues being in opposite hemispheres, the break between series alternates between 18 and 30 months. A series of "The Ashes" comprises five Test matches, two innings per match, under the regular rules for Test match cricket. If a series is drawn then the country already holding the Ashes retains them.
The series is named after a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, The Sporting Times, in 1882 after a match at The Oval in which Australia beat England on an English ground for the first time. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. The English media dubbed the next English tour to Australia (1882–83) as the quest to regain The Ashes.
During that tour a small terracotta urn was presented to England captain Ivo Bligh by a group of Melbourne women. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of an item of cricket equipment, a bail. The Dowager Countess of Darnley claimed recently[when?] that her mother-in-law, Bligh's wife Florence Morphy, said that they were the remains of a lady's veil.
The urn is erroneously believed by some to be the trophy of the Ashes series, but it has never been formally adopted as such and Bligh always considered it to be a personal gift.[1] Replicas of the urn are often held aloft by victorious teams as a symbol of their victory in an Ashes series, but the actual urn has never been presented or displayed as a trophy in this way. Whichever side holds the Ashes, the urn normally remains in the Marylebone Cricket Club Museum at Lord's since being presented to the MCC by Bligh's widow upon his death.[2]
Since the 1998–99 Ashes series, a Waterford Crystal representation of the Ashes urn has been presented to the winners of an Ashes series as the official trophy of that series.
Thanks as always for the 411. If I understand the rules correctly, If England can win one more test or manage to draw both, they keep the Urn. That puts a lot of pressure on Australia. At any rate, the game is certainly afoot.
That's correct, Fred. In the event of a tied series, the country currently holding The Ashes retains them, i.e. England at the moment.
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