If you are at all curious about what blue collar Boston is really like, check out Firehouse USA: Boston on the Discovery Channel.
Choice quotes (paraphrased):
- “We got all these these wood construction triple-deckahs around heah — We call them Irish Battleships…”
- “We gotta check the airbags and stuff, cuz airbags’ll go off and they’ll break ya leg, they’ll break ya head — they’ll kill ya…”
I need to work break ya head into more conversations.
The show lead to some contentious moments between The Wife and myself, however.
For one, one part of the show took place in a Rock Bottom Brewery and we were both kind of disappointed by the obvious shilling for a chain restaurant. The Wife tried to tell me that “That was the Sam Adams place, wasn’t it?” to which I responded “What Sam Adams place? The words you are saying mean nothing to me…” So, she goes on to tell me that we had gone to a bar that only served Sam Adams brew, including specialty items not usually available at your local packie. I had (and still have) absolutely no recollection of ever setting foot in such a place, so we argued for a while questioning each other’s mental capacities until finally I cracked saying, “I didn’t even like it there, why would I retain that sort of detail?”
This, of course, is an overstatement. I have a lot of fondness for Boston, obviously. That said, New England and I really didn’t mesh well.
And so it goes.
(BTW: The Wife and I will be hitting Beantown in early August. Email for details, kids.)
Kenyan grandfather, 73, kills leopard with hands
The leopard sank its teeth into the farmer’s wrist and mauled him with its claws. “A voice, which must have come from God, whispered to me to drop the panga (machete) and thrust my hand in its wide open mouth. I obeyed,” M’Mburugu said.
…
“This guy is very lucky to be alive,” Kenya Wildlife Service official Connie Maina told Reuters, confirming details of the incident.
Because we love tough old geezers around here.
‘Miracle’ men of a lifetime
Twenty-five years later, the Boys of Winter are still just that in the American psyche. And every few years, it seems, we have to let them know. Although they have all grown up, raised families, and walked away from hockey, Eruzione, O’Callahan, Jim Craig, and Dave Silk don’t mind being reminded that they were part of something great.
”I don’t think there’s ever been a day that I don’t consider it a good fortune to have been a part of,” Silk said.
The four guys from Boston University will receive a lifetime achievement award tonight at the FleetCenter during the Sports Museum’s fourth Tradition ceremony. Other recipients have been Ted Williams, Red Auerbach, and the Kraft family. This kind of award, O’Callahan said, is the most precious of all.
Cool. I think the reason these guys never fade into the shadows is a confluence of the extraordinary effort they put in (not uncommon for Olympic sports, obviously), the total over-achievement of their result, and the highly charged political atmosphere for which their sporting endeavors became metaphor.
A tale of contrasts:
The Simianistas in India raise a serious ruckus: Monkey bites cop
Three monkeys have wreaked havoc at Purbasthali here, biting and clawing almost 60 people in 10 days.
Among the victims were a dozen policemen.
But at least one monkey at the San Diego zoo know a good thing when it has one: Monkey escapes exhibit, then couldn’t wait to get back in
Zookeepers say the were searching for Takala, when they opened an outside door to the monkey exhibit and he walked right in. Officials say Takala escaped through a hole in the netting around the enclosure.
You know what Kris Kristofferson (or Janis Joplin, if you prefer) said about freedom…
For whatever reason, several of us at work are vaguely fascinated with the Amish rite of passage called Rumspringa. It seems to come up in conversation almost once a month — especially between Matt and myself (usually referencing the documentary Devil’s Playground, which I still haven’t seen and which is probablty not exactly a representative depiction) — so when Brandon saw this over the weekend he obviously had to pass it along:
Amish woman looking for true love. - 22
Hi! I am a girl from a small town in Iowa, where I was raised Amish. I am currently on rumspringa, which is the time in every young person’s life where he or she goes out into the English world to experience everything that is out there. The hope is that at the end of rumspringa, we will return to our communities and join the Amish church, but I’m still not sure if I’m ready for that! I really like living in a world with cars and electricity and computers!
I’m 22 years old and I like to go hiking and I love animals. I like listening to music because that’s something else I could never do before, so it’s very exciting! I’m looking for a guy who is honest and kind and good looking of course! I have blonde hair and I guess I’m cute and stuff, and I wear English clothes rather than Amish and I don’t wear a bonnet or anything, I mean, I do sometimes but probably wouldn’t if we went out!
This is just fascinating to me on so many levels…
At a very base and juvenile level, I think I just like how “rumspringa” (and the occasional wilding that goes along with it) reminds me of “Rump Shaker”.
Summer Moon Illusion
This week’s full moon hangs lower in the sky than any full moon since June 1987, so the Moon Illusion is going to be extra strong.
What makes the moon so low? It’s summer. Remember, the sun and the full Moon are on opposite sides of the sky. During summer the sun is high, which means the full moon must be low. This week’s full moon occurs on June 22nd, barely a day after the summer solstice on June 21st–perfect timing for the Moon Illusion.
There’s a table of moonrise times for various cities. Check it out and step outside this week.
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