Sunday, February 27, 2011

Can you explain the infield fly rule? I can.

February 27, 2011
February 27 is … International Polar Bear Day
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
On this date in 1970;  Simon and Garfunkel received a gold record for the single, Bridge Over Troubled Water. The duo was so impressed with their deserved achievement that they played the gold disc on their stereo. But they heard Mitch Miller’s Bridge on the River Kwai instead, and on the same Columbia label they recorded for! Go figure.
OOPS! A former president of the defunct local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving was arrested recently by the Gainesville Police Department on a DUI charge. Debra Oberlin, 48, was arrested after she had difficulty on a field sobriety test. She registered a .234 and .239 on breath alcohol tests. Florida's legal limit for driving is .08. Oberlin, a Realtor, had no comment when contacted Thursday by The Sun. On Feb. 18 at 1:10 a.m., an officer spotted Oberlin driving erratically on Northwest 19th Street, swerving and crossing lanes, an arrest report states. Oberlin was pulled over in the 3600 block of Northwest 39th Avenue. The officer wrote that Oberlin smelled of alcohol and had watery, bloodshot and dilated eyes. The report states that Oberlin told the officer she had four beers. Gainesville's MADD chapter existed for several years in the 1990s before closing in 1996 because of lack of financial support. Oberlin was the chapter president for three years. Guilty or Not Guilty, I think that part of her life is over, since she admitted to drinking and then driving.
Police in Tennessee have charged a teenager with aggravated assault for allegedly dousing a 12-year-old boy with cologne and setting him on fire during a sleepover. The boy is recovering from second- and third-degree burns that could scar him for life, the victim's mother said. Trudy Smith said her son, James Whalen, was spending the night at a 13-year-old friend's house last Saturday when she received an unexpected call from the teen's mom. "I got the phone call at 2:10 in the morning telling me there had been a minor incident," Smith told AOL News. "She said my son was OK and wanted to know if he could have ibuprofen." Smith said the call concerned her enough that she drove over to the home where her son was staying. Once there, she said she was shocked to discover he had severe burns to several areas of his body. The burned boy is autistic. This was the first time in over two years the boy had spent the night away from home. The boy that started him on fire had never bothered him before although he had been bullied in the past by others. He was urinated on in one incident and had a tooth broken in another incident.

I may be the last person on earth not to know about The Rainbow Bridge. A friend was mentioning it to me the other day so I looked it up. I am reprinting it below. I did not write it or any part of it. The poem was allegedly inspired by a Norse Legend. The author is unknown. Below is just one version. I found different versions with slightly different words but the gist is the same. Grab a Kleenex;

By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,
Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.
Where the friends of man and woman do run,
When their time on earth is over and done.
For here, between this world and the next,
Is a place where each beloved creature finds rest.
On this golden land, they wait and they play,
Till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.
No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,
For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.
Their limbs are restored, their health renewed,
Their bodies have healed, with strength imbued.
They romp through the grass, without even a care,
Until one day they start, and sniff at the air.
All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back,
Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.
For just at that instant, their eyes have met;
Together again, both person and pet.
So they run to each other, these friends from long past,
The time of their parting is over at last.
The sadness they felt while they were apart,
Has turned into joy once more in each heart.
They embrace with a love that will last forever,
And then, side-by-side, they cross over… together.

Events on this date in History;

1901 NL Rules Committee decrees that all fouls are to count as strikes except after two strikes
1908 Sacrifice fly adopted (repealed in 1931, reinstated 1954)
1908 Star #46 was added to US flag for Oklahoma
1946 4th "Road" film, "Road to Utopia" premieres (New York NY)
1947 Paul-Emile Victor French polar expeditions organized
1949 Chaim Weizmann becomes 1st Israeli President
1950 General Chiang Kai-shek elected President of Nationalist China
1951 22nd amendment to the Constitution is ratified, limiting President to 2 terms in office
1956 Elvis Presley's releases "Heartbreak Hotel"
1956 Female suffrage in Egypt
1957 Mao's speech "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among People"
1957 Premiere of only prime-time network TV show beginning with an "X" "Xavier Cugat Show" on NBC (until X-Files)
1970 New York Times (falsely) reports US army has ended domestic surveillance
1972 President Nixon & Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issued Shanghai Communique
1973 American Indian Movement occupy Wounded Knee in South Dakota
1973 Dick Allen signs a record $675,000 3-year contract with White Sox
1973 Pope Paul VI publishes constitution motu proprio Quo aptius
1974 "People" magazine begins sales
1982 Earl Anthony becomes 1st pro bowler to win more than $1 million
1982 Wayne Williams found guilty of murdering 2 of 28 blacks in Atlanta GA
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011

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 “Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.”