NHL Quiz: 1) When was the last year the Bruins won the
Stanley Cup? 2) Who are the All-Time Top 3 franchises for
winning percentage? 3) Who are the 3 players to score 80 or
more goals in a single season? Answers below.
D.C.
So I”m in Washington for a few days, doing the web site”s
business, and I have to say, what an incredibly incompetent city
government. Geezuz, it”s 8 days after the Inauguration and they
haven”t begun to take down the bleachers for the parade! Hell, in
New York, after a parade or celebration (see New Year”s Eve),
the city is swept clean and barriers / bleachers are removed in
about 45 minutes.
All Kinds of Stuff
Ouch!
William Bartron was doing some remodeling in the basement of
his Bethlehem, PA home last week when he accidentally cut off
his left wrist with a miter saw. What follows is beyond belief,
but Mark Angeles of Knight Ridder reported it.
According to Angeles, “In what may have been an effort to
alleviate the pain from the dismemberment, Bartron fired a
pneumatic nail gun into his skull at least a dozen times, and
possibly as many as 30,” say police.
About 15 of the one-inch nails entered the cranium. And guess
what? He actually relieved the pain. Having undergone surgery
to reattach the hand, at last report he was in stable condition.
The nails were not removed from his head, though I imagine he
will have one heck of a time getting through airport security.
Dr. Kevin Dolan, of the University of Pennsylvania Medical
School, said that Bartron may have stumbled on pain
management.
“The brain is capable of processing only so much information at
a certain time. There”s a concept of ”distractability” where the
pain information from one injury is prioritized over that of
another injury.”
Of course, it”s also not known whether Bartron was simply trying
to commit suicide.
Web Anonymous
Internet gambling is skyrocketing, according to Guy Gugliotta in
the Washington Post, particularly among college students.
Thanks to credit card companies making it way too easy to apply
for credit, more and more students are falling heavily into debt.
And you all know the drill, once you get your first card, obtaining
others is more the easier.
This thus fulfills StocksandNews public service requirement for
the month. Parents, if you see some charges to a web site in the
Caribbean, and you personally haven”t been there in 6 years,
that”s probably a pretty good clue.
Tommie Agee
Last week I commented on the New York Mets” player”s death at
the all too early age of 58. I just have to follow up, as the result
of a column by the New York Times” Ira Berkow who was at
Agee”s funeral. One of his three daughters spoke, 13-year-old
J”Nelle. As described by Berkow, J”Nelle said:
“”He was a caring father.” She talked of a trip to Disneyland with
her father and mother and going on the roller coaster and she
screamed out of fear on the roller coaster – ”and so did he!”
“”The last time I saw him, last Monday, he drove me to school. I
said, ”I love you, Daddy.” He said, ”I love you back.””
Thanks for indulging me, but it”s just nice to know that one of
your heroes, while growing up, turned out to be a great guy. God
bless you, Tommie Agee.
But Then There”s This…
From a wire service report, Mitchell Gluckman was sentenced to
45 days in jail, along with three years of probation and six
months of anger management counseling, after he threatened to
kill a Little League manager for taking his son out of a game.
Al McGuire…R.I.P.
I have to be honest, I was never a fan of McGuire”s when it came
to his stint in the broadcasting booth. But from everything you
read he was one helluva guy, and one who lived life to the
fullest. And it should also come as no surprise that long-time
friend Norman Ochs had the following to say when asked if he
was going to the funeral.
“No. Like Al used to say, ”I bought him a drink when he was
alive.””
Tarantulas Do Good
Business Week reports that scientists have discovered that the
venom from a Chilean tarantula stopped irregular beating in
rabbit hearts. Quoting one of the researchers, Frederick Sachs,
“No one in their right mind would have sought to block atrial
fibrillation with spider spit.”
No word on whether this could somehow be applied to humans
but one thought comes to mind. You shouldn”t be surprised if
one day you are on an airline, for example, and a passenger goes
into cardiac arrest. The stewardess will drag the patient into the
aisle, rip open the shirt, and drop a tarantula on the chest.
“Clear!!!” she”ll say.
And by pure coincidence, I was in the American Museum of
Natural History here in Washington on Sunday when I decided to
check out the “Insect Zoo.” [Remind me not to go to New
Guinea, by the way.] Well, as luck would have it, I was just in
time for the feeding of the tarantula. That”s when we all got to
observe Matthew, the human. Yeesh, this was one creepy dude.
A helluva lot more so than any spider.
Follow-Up
–Last week I wrote of the situation with the decreasing value of
Pokemon cards. Well, evidently some kids in my old home town
of Plainfield, N.J. didn”t quite get the word. [I was born in
Plainfield.] On Friday, three elementary school students beat a
7-year-old classmate and stole his cards. Throw the kids in the
slammer.
–Pluto, Part Deux:
Folks, here I was blasting the Rose Center for Earth and Space in
Atlanta last week, for lopping off Pluto from the planet list, when
on Saturday there is this article that said the Rose Center was in
New York! But I”m only going to apologize so far since it was
the New York Times” reporter who last week said it was in
Atlanta. [And one would think a “New York Times” reporter
would get the friggin” location right.] So mega apologies to my
friends in Atlanta. Actually, I didn”t realize what a “scoop” I
had.
Bill Clinton…Weirdo
It was reported on Friday that our former president was playing
with Buddy in the street outside his Chappaqua home when
Buddy tripped him during a game of fetch. [Ya gotta love
Buddy. Smart dog.]
So Clinton goes, “That”s the first time he”s knocked me down in
all the time we”ve been together.” [You see, reporters were there
to capture it. So do you believe our former First Liar?]
But then Clinton gives us a little bit of who he really is when he
utters, “I need to get back inside, or Hillary will think I”ve
disappeared.” Where is Freud when you need him?
The Richter Scale
In light of the tragedy in India, just thought it was interesting that
the Richter scale has a logarithmic basis, with each whole
number increase in magnitude on the scale representing a 10-fold
increase in an earthquake”s measured amplitude. Or rather, each
quake releases 31 times more energy than one registered at the
previous notch.
The worst quake in modern history was a 7.8 one in China, back
on 7/28/76 which killed 240,000 (this is deemed to be on the
“low” side for casualties, believe it or not). Last week”s in India
measured 7.9.
The worst earthquake in recorded history was also in China,
Shaanxi province, back in 1556. Possibly measuring a ”9,” this
one killed more than 830,000! [Source: Reuters]
NBA Fans…Morons
It”s official, two players who haven”t stepped onto a court this
NBA season, Grant Hill and Alonzo Mourning, were selected to
start in the upcoming NBA All-Star game.
However, there is some good news. From the ballots cast, it
would at least appear that we can quantify the number of said
idiots. 917,000 voted for one; 904,000 the other. Since both
were in the Eastern Conference, that leads me to believe roughly
900,000, not 1.8 million, brain damaged individuals are on the
loose in major metropolitan areas on the east coast.
*Congratulations to Jennifer Capriati. I”m not a huge tennis fan,
to say the least, but she sure shows me something in capturing
the Australian Open. You go, girl!
Top 3 songs for the week of 1/25/69: #1 “I Heard It Through
The Grapevine” (Marvin Gaye) #2 “Crimson And Clover”
(Tommy James & The Shondels) #3 “I”m Gonna Make You
Love Me” (Diana Ross & The Supremes…and The Temps)
NHL Quiz Answers: 1) The Bruins last won the Cup in 1972.
2) Top 3 franchises: #1 Montreal, .597 #2 Philadelphia, .576
#3 Boston, .551. Buffalo is 4th at .547. 3) 80 goals in a season:
Wayne Gretzky (92 in ”81-”82; 87 in ”83-”84), Brett Hull (86 in
”90-”91), Mario Lemieux (85 in ”88-”89).
Hockey Tidbits
–The New York Rangers entered the current season with a
franchise record of 2103-2107-782.
–The original four NHL teams were Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa
and a second from Montreal, the Montreal Wanderers. Six
games into the first season, 1917-18, the arena where the
Wanderers played burned down and the club was forced to
withdraw.
*If you subscribe to Sports Illustrated, as I do, and don”t want to
receive the upcoming swimsuit issue, you can write to them at
P.O. Box 60001, Tampa, Fla. 33660-0001. Then again, any
reader of “Bar Chat” who happens to do this will automatically
have a secret “cookie” placed on their PC, which permanently
blocks them from the worldwide web for one year.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday. To my friends in Oklahoma who are
affiliated with OSU, you are in my prayers.
