Dirty Dancing somehow led to this strange story my wife likes to tell about how she and a couple of her girlfriends were driving somewhere and had a big balloon on a string tied to the car and had it trailing along. They called the Balloon "Swayze" and when the string broke, Swayze went flying off into the sky and they all cried out, "Swaaaaaaayze!"
Thanks for the smile, Brian...these days call for all we can smile about.
More good music memories from this article. ..don't miss Aretha in #4.
Dirty Dancing somehow led to this strange story my wife likes to tell about how she and a couple of her girlfriends were driving somewhere and had a big balloon on a string tied to the car and had it trailing along. They called the Balloon "Swayze" and when the string broke, Swayze went flying off into the sky and they all cried out, "Swaaaaaaayze!"
Nobody keeps balloon tied to a bumper...
Haha! Ya know, now that I think about it, I believe it was more a case of Swayze making an escape out the window. I'd ask, but I think she's busy with more important matters.
"A pessimist is simply an optimist in full possession of the facts."
-Edward Abbey
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,113
Dirty Dancing somehow led to this strange story my wife likes to tell about how she and a couple of her girlfriends were driving somewhere and had a big balloon on a string tied to the car and had it trailing along. They called the Balloon "Swayze" and when the string broke, Swayze went flying off into the sky and they all cried out, "Swaaaaaaayze!"
Thanks for the smile, Brian...these days call for all we can smile about.
More good music memories from this article. ..don't miss Aretha in #4.
Tree DNA helps convict Washington timber thief after fire
Yesterday
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A federal jury has convicted a timber thief who authorities said started a large forest fire in Washington state, a case that prosecutors said marked the first time tree DNA had been introduced in a federal trial.
The jury deliberated for about seven hours before convicting Justin Andrew Wilke, 39, on Thursday of conspiracy, theft of public property, depredation of public property, and trafficking and attempted trafficking in unlawfully harvested timber, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Western Washington said in a news release.
The wood he sold to a mill in the city of Tumwater had been harvested from private property with a valid permit, Wilke said. But a research geneticist for the U.S. Forest Service, Richard Cronn, testified that the wood he sold genetically matched the remains of three poached trees.
Wilke used gasoline to destroy a wasp’s nest in the base of a maple tree he was stealing, prosecutors said, though jurors did not convict him of charges related to the fire. Some witnesses testified that, although Wilke was standing next to the nest when the fire began, they did not actually see his actions in the dark.
Wilke and others conducted an illegal logging operation in the Elk Lake area of the Olympic National Forest, near Hood Canal, between April and August 2018, according to records filed in the case. He poached maple trees prized as wood for musical instruments and brought them to lumber mills.
In July 2018, a man who had just been released from prison, Shawn Williams, joined the conspiracy; he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more than two years in prison.
In August 2018, the group decided to cut the maple tree that had the wasp's nest near the base, prosecutors said. The poachers sprayed insecticide and gasoline and then lit the nest on fire — starting a 5.2-square-mile (13.4-square-kilometer) wildfire that came to be dubbed the “Maple Fire,” according to authorities.
Firefighting efforts cost about $4.2 million.
Williams testified during the trial that it was Wilke who set the blaze, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
“When people steal trees from our public lands, they are stealing a beautiful and irreplaceable resource from all of us and from future generations,” Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman said in a news release. “That theft, coupled with the sheer destruction of the forest fire that resulted from this activity, warrants federal criminal prosecution."
Wilke faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in October.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
A 16-year-old girl learned a hand gesture on TikTok to signal for help. Law enforcement says it saved her life.
The 16-year-old girl sat beside her alleged kidnapper, looking out the car window at the other people on the road — people who could save her, if they only knew what was happening.
She couldn’t scream. She couldn’t bang against the window. She couldn’t wave her arms around and mouth “Help!” Not without putting herself in danger.
So she started flashing hand signals, hoping others knew what they meant. She didn’t use American Sign Language, but gestures she’d learned on the social media platform TikTok. Last year, the Women’s Funding Network, a philanthropic organization dedicated to helping women and girls, created the “Signal for Help” gesture so people could communicate they were in danger without alerting those around them. The group’s video demonstrating the gesture later went viral on TikTok.
The story? Washington Post having something not behind a paywall? Both?
1995 Milwaukee 1998 Alpine, Alpine 2003 Albany, Boston, Boston, Boston 2004 Boston, Boston 2006 Hartford, St. Paul (Petty), St. Paul (Petty) 2011 Alpine, Alpine 2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,113
I'm not going to suggest that we should all stick our heads in the sand and, OK, "joyscrolling" does sound a little too flaky for my tastes (my wife will love it, bless her sweet soul), but I like the general premise here and I think the idea of checking out Tank’s Good News and the like now and then is a good one. Here's what it's about:
‘I sniffed out good news like a bloodhound’: how I broke my doomscrolling habit
Fed up of looking at endless gloom on her phone, one writer decided to ‘joyscroll’ instead
George
Resch loves two things in this world: “Making people think a little bit
more positively, and making them laugh.” A former fence salesman from
Long Island, New York, Resch is now the creator of the wildly popular
(2.5 million followers) positive news outlet Tank’s Good News, set up in
September 2017 after he saw a picture of an old woman being rescued
from her living room in Texas during the floods caused by Hurricane
Harvey. Inspired by the image’s portrayal of “triumph in the tragedy” –
she was on the back of a jet ski doing a double thumbs up – Resch, 41,
began posting similar images: a young woman food shopping for an elderly
couple too scared to get out of their car during peak pandemic in
Oregon, or the homecoming queen who gave her crown to a recently
bereaved classmate. Resch believes the appeal of his posts is simple:
“It’s a hit of dopamine when you’re scrolling through doom and gloom.”
Every day, he is inundated with messages from people saying he has saved
their life.
Speaking to Resch is an oddly emotional experience
for me. Last year, Tank’s Good News became my lifeline. Desperate to
find my way out of postnatal depression (PND) after the birth of my
second child, I stopped reading the news, logged off social media and
immersed myself in Tank’s stories of optimism. Before this, I had never
been one to put up my blinkers. I thought it dangerous and foolish to
ignore bad news. Like many journalists, “keeping informed” verged on
compulsion, born out of professional obligation and fear of ignominy.
But last summer I felt raw; fire-hosed by information and stimuli. I’d
wake up feeling terrified, before indulging in a bout of doomscrolling
(the excessive consumption of bad or anxiety-inducing news online). I
would find myself lost in unverified stories and furious hot takes on
social media, leaving me drained of energy, yet too jittery to sit
still.
At first, I
thought it was my long-term anxiety, diagnosed in my late 20s but
present since childhood, merely dialled up. But after I explained the
curious combination of lethargy and fury to a perinatal psychiatrist –
“I’m not sad, I’m furious” – I received a diagnosis of PND.
There had been warning signs that I ignored, of course. A sliver of a
maternity leave, insomnia for years, a wobble when I’d had my first
child the year before, a book deadline that hung over my newborn charge.
Then my oldest friend lost her little boy and my trust in the world
leaked away. I felt like a watered down person, with no conviction, or
purpose. I was a book left in the sunshine too long: spine unglued and
pages flying away. As I shrank smaller and smaller, the world loomed
larger. I’ve always been sensitive to noise, but now I felt electric: a
forest fire, burning with shame and fear. If anyone so much as brushed
past me, I almost threw up. I was convinced I was being watched. I was
ashamed to be feeling so furious, so lost, so shattered. I had a
wonderful life, I thought (furiously). Why couldn’t I snap out of it?
But it felt as if that life was trapped behind glass, and I was the
taxidermied ferret, with a frozen rictus grin.
These were not ideal conditions in which to publicise a book. I have
never felt more of a fraud than in those months when I made a cheery
weekly podcast, or gabbed on a radio show about my new book. I knew I
needed to find a way of shutting out the world as much as possible,
while still being able to do my job. (As a freelance writer, taking a
sabbatical or decent maternity leave never occurred to me.) The answer
came to me suddenly, and all at once: banish bad news. I already
switched off my phone regularly – installing a landline so that my
mother could reach me instead of leaving me 48 voicemails in a row, at
10-minute intervals – but now I kept it turned off for days at a time,
learning of “bad” news only when my husband or friends told me, or when I
had to research something for work.
Instead, I sniffed out positive news platforms like a bloodhound,
replacing the hours I had previously spent reading newspapers surfing
them instead: the Happy Newspaper, the Good News Movement, Upworthy, the Good News Network, Positive News, the Guardian’s Upside.
(Pleasingly, they all come as websites, too, meaning I didn’t have to
go on social media.) It was not, I soon discovered, a matter of one or
two outlets – this was an entire good news movement. As I dived into
them, it occurred to me to question the idea that only bad news is
newsworthy. What if “joyscrolling” – scrolling fervently through sites
dedicated to uplifting or positive news – is just as important?
"A pessimist is simply an optimist in full possession of the facts."
One could apply that to real-life too. Might even be more valuable. Although banishing bad news is, to me, tantamount to putting your hands over your ears — lalalala, I can’t hear you. It’s there because it’s a part of life. Just as the positivity is. Hiding from any of it does a disservice to oneself.
Also, I’ve never seen anyone “fervently scrolling “
Comments
More good music memories from this article. ..don't miss Aretha in #4.
https://parade.com/1222522/jessicasager/best-movie-soundtracks/
Haha! Ya know, now that I think about it, I believe it was more a case of Swayze making an escape out the window. I'd ask, but I think she's busy with more important matters.
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A federal jury has convicted a timber thief who authorities said started a large forest fire in Washington state, a case that prosecutors said marked the first time tree DNA had been introduced in a federal trial.
The jury deliberated for about seven hours before convicting Justin Andrew Wilke, 39, on Thursday of conspiracy, theft of public property, depredation of public property, and trafficking and attempted trafficking in unlawfully harvested timber, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Western Washington said in a news release.
The wood he sold to a mill in the city of Tumwater had been harvested from private property with a valid permit, Wilke said. But a research geneticist for the U.S. Forest Service, Richard Cronn, testified that the wood he sold genetically matched the remains of three poached trees.
Wilke used gasoline to destroy a wasp’s nest in the base of a maple tree he was stealing, prosecutors said, though jurors did not convict him of charges related to the fire. Some witnesses testified that, although Wilke was standing next to the nest when the fire began, they did not actually see his actions in the dark.
Wilke and others conducted an illegal logging operation in the Elk Lake area of the Olympic National Forest, near Hood Canal, between April and August 2018, according to records filed in the case. He poached maple trees prized as wood for musical instruments and brought them to lumber mills.
In July 2018, a man who had just been released from prison, Shawn Williams, joined the conspiracy; he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more than two years in prison.
In August 2018, the group decided to cut the maple tree that had the wasp's nest near the base, prosecutors said. The poachers sprayed insecticide and gasoline and then lit the nest on fire — starting a 5.2-square-mile (13.4-square-kilometer) wildfire that came to be dubbed the “Maple Fire,” according to authorities.
Firefighting efforts cost about $4.2 million.
Williams testified during the trial that it was Wilke who set the blaze, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
“When people steal trees from our public lands, they are stealing a beautiful and irreplaceable resource from all of us and from future generations,” Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman said in a news release. “That theft, coupled with the sheer destruction of the forest fire that resulted from this activity, warrants federal criminal prosecution."
Wilke faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in October.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
slow your roll. you're old enough to be her ancient ancestor.....
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
You mean they were just on a break? I'm always looking for happy endings and love stories.
https://brobible.com/culture/article/animals-viral-chicken-goat-save-hawk/
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
be a lot cooler if there were
unfortunately i am not going this time, so i can't report back.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Awesome! I love goats!
-EV 8/14/93
A 16-year-old girl learned a hand gesture on TikTok to signal for help. Law enforcement says it saved her life.
continued at
2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
I just learned about an Angel shot. I never knew.
Here is one w a non paywall.
https://www.today.com/parents/teen-rescued-after-using-tiktok-hand-sign-represent-danger-t237966
‘I sniffed out good news like a bloodhound’: how I broke my doomscrolling habit
Fed up of looking at endless gloom on her phone, one writer decided to ‘joyscroll’ instead
George Resch loves two things in this world: “Making people think a little bit more positively, and making them laugh.” A former fence salesman from Long Island, New York, Resch is now the creator of the wildly popular (2.5 million followers) positive news outlet Tank’s Good News, set up in September 2017 after he saw a picture of an old woman being rescued from her living room in Texas during the floods caused by Hurricane Harvey. Inspired by the image’s portrayal of “triumph in the tragedy” – she was on the back of a jet ski doing a double thumbs up – Resch, 41, began posting similar images: a young woman food shopping for an elderly couple too scared to get out of their car during peak pandemic in Oregon, or the homecoming queen who gave her crown to a recently bereaved classmate. Resch believes the appeal of his posts is simple: “It’s a hit of dopamine when you’re scrolling through doom and gloom.” Every day, he is inundated with messages from people saying he has saved their life.
Speaking to Resch is an oddly emotional experience for me. Last year, Tank’s Good News became my lifeline. Desperate to find my way out of postnatal depression (PND) after the birth of my second child, I stopped reading the news, logged off social media and immersed myself in Tank’s stories of optimism. Before this, I had never been one to put up my blinkers. I thought it dangerous and foolish to ignore bad news. Like many journalists, “keeping informed” verged on compulsion, born out of professional obligation and fear of ignominy. But last summer I felt raw; fire-hosed by information and stimuli. I’d wake up feeling terrified, before indulging in a bout of doomscrolling (the excessive consumption of bad or anxiety-inducing news online). I would find myself lost in unverified stories and furious hot takes on social media, leaving me drained of energy, yet too jittery to sit still.
At first, I thought it was my long-term anxiety, diagnosed in my late 20s but present since childhood, merely dialled up. But after I explained the curious combination of lethargy and fury to a perinatal psychiatrist – “I’m not sad, I’m furious” – I received a diagnosis of PND. There had been warning signs that I ignored, of course. A sliver of a maternity leave, insomnia for years, a wobble when I’d had my first child the year before, a book deadline that hung over my newborn charge. Then my oldest friend lost her little boy and my trust in the world leaked away. I felt like a watered down person, with no conviction, or purpose. I was a book left in the sunshine too long: spine unglued and pages flying away. As I shrank smaller and smaller, the world loomed larger. I’ve always been sensitive to noise, but now I felt electric: a forest fire, burning with shame and fear. If anyone so much as brushed past me, I almost threw up. I was convinced I was being watched. I was ashamed to be feeling so furious, so lost, so shattered. I had a wonderful life, I thought (furiously). Why couldn’t I snap out of it? But it felt as if that life was trapped behind glass, and I was the taxidermied ferret, with a frozen rictus grin.
These were not ideal conditions in which to publicise a book. I have never felt more of a fraud than in those months when I made a cheery weekly podcast, or gabbed on a radio show about my new book. I knew I needed to find a way of shutting out the world as much as possible, while still being able to do my job. (As a freelance writer, taking a sabbatical or decent maternity leave never occurred to me.) The answer came to me suddenly, and all at once: banish bad news. I already switched off my phone regularly – installing a landline so that my mother could reach me instead of leaving me 48 voicemails in a row, at 10-minute intervals – but now I kept it turned off for days at a time, learning of “bad” news only when my husband or friends told me, or when I had to research something for work.
Instead, I sniffed out positive news platforms like a bloodhound, replacing the hours I had previously spent reading newspapers surfing them instead: the Happy Newspaper, the Good News Movement, Upworthy, the Good News Network, Positive News, the Guardian’s Upside. (Pleasingly, they all come as websites, too, meaning I didn’t have to go on social media.) It was not, I soon discovered, a matter of one or two outlets – this was an entire good news movement. As I dived into them, it occurred to me to question the idea that only bad news is newsworthy. What if “joyscrolling” – scrolling fervently through sites dedicated to uplifting or positive news – is just as important?