Wacky Weather

I saw on the news this evening that Denver just got dumped on by a record blizzard.  I also just read today, however, that this January was the third-least snowy on record.  Midland, Texas has had more snow thus far this season than Minneapolis or Chicago.  What's up with that?  On Tuesday (January 31st), only a few of the lower 48 states didn't reach 50 degrees or higher.

Contrast that with Valdez, Alaska, where they have had 328 inches of snow (10 feet above average!!!).  Yukon, Alaska hit a record 66 below zero last weekend.  This January has been the ninth snowiest for Europe and Asia.  It has been so cold that areas of the Black Sea near the Romanian coastline have frozen and rare snowfalls have occurred on Croatian islands in the Adriatic Sea.

Its Groundhog Day, 2012

Happy Groundhog's Day. As we all know, according to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on February 2nd, then spring will come early. If it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks.

For the first time in my life, this morning I actually watched the TV coverage of the hoopla surrounding Punxsutawney Phil's seasonal prognostication. I saw the famous marmot ceremoniously removed from his cage and presented to the crowd. He then huddled with his handlers, all decked out in top hats, snappy ties and long formal coats, so the proper proclamation could selected and read aloud to his fans. If you haven't heard, this year we were told to expect six more weeks of winter. With all of the camera lights on him, however, I'm not sure how Phil couldn't have seen his shadow.

This ceremony at Gobblers Knob, in southwestern Pennsylvania, is apparently now 126 years old. Although not the background of a popular Hollywood movie like Punxsutawney, other communities also have similar traditions. New York has Staten Island Chuck and this year, his prediction was an early spring. Sir Walter Wally, from North Carolina, agreed with Phil, but a little further south, in Georgia, General Beauregard Lee called for an early spring. This should be a good year for the U.S. Midwest, as, in Illinois, Woodstock Willie predicted an early spring. In Canada, Aberta's Balzac Billy and Quebec’s Fred la Marmotte both saw their shadow, but Ontario's Wiarton Willie and Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam did not.

I get the impression that bona-fide meteorologists, using satellite images, Doppler radars, and scientific approaches to predict the weather are a little put off by all of the attention heaped upon these groundhogs and their uneducated observations. They put no faith in these silly predictions. Therefore, my plan is to take a groundhog to Hawaii, name him Aloha Al, make sure that he never sees his shadow and prove them wrong.

Milk - It Does a Brain Good?

A recent study by University of Maine researchers backs our parents' insistence that we drink our milk. More than 900 men and women ages 23 to 98 were put through a series of brain and cognitive challenges that tested their visual-spatial, verbal, and working memory tests to find that those who consumed more dairy products scored "significantly" higher on the tests than those who drank little to no milk. They also found that milk drinkers tended to maintain healthier diets overall compared to their non-drinking counterparts.

In spite of this outcome, however, not everyone's beliefs align with the American Dairy Association. Many believe that human drinking of cows milk is unnatural.  Its antibodies are optimized for calves, not human babies.  At a young age, our bodies lose the ability to digest milk sugar and protein.   Scientists have identified a protein in milk that triggers an unusual immune response which may explain an observed correlation between early consumption of cows milk by infants and later development of Type 1 diabetes.  Dr. Kevin McGrady, a medical researcher is quoted as saying "Milk has something for everybody all right -- higher blood cholesterol, and increased risk of heart disease and stroke."

I guess the bottom line is that we need to drink our milk so that we become smart enough to determine whether or not we should continue drinking it.

Chewing Gum Without The Sticky Mess

While this may not be breaking news, this blind Bambi just ran across an article about a possible solution to the sticky problem of used chewing problem that may end up on unwanted surfaces such as furniture and the bottom of shoes.  Revolymer, a spin-off company from a group of researchers at the University of Bristol in the UK, has released a new chewing gum product named Rev7 that can be removed from most surfaces with just a little water.  This new gum uses a new patented co-polymer that both markedly reduces its adhesion strength to surfaces and allows water to penetrate the gum.  This new gum, then, will break down and can be much more easily washed off of many surfaces.  Rev7 chewing gum will also apparently biodegrade into a fine powder within only about six months time.  Best of all, the company claims that the gum still offers an excellent taste and long-lasting flavor.  Rev7 went on sale in the United States in October -- hopefully a successful solution to a sticky problem.

Homeless But Honest

Dave Tally is a 49-year-old recovering alcoholic from Tempe, Arizona, who is currently homeless. Dave Tally also recently found an abandoned backpack at a light-rail station that contained $3300 and a laptop computer. I think that many of us, if faced with his financial challenges, would likely succumb to the temptation to treat this like lucky lottery earnings that we could put to good use. Tally, however, instead turned the backpack into his boss, who was able to identify its owner, an Arizona State University student who was planning to use the cash to purchase a car. Afterward, Tally said, "It wasn't my money. I didn't earn it. I'm the one that has to lay down every day and deal with myself. If I'd done anything different than what I did, I don't know if I could handle that." Since the students mother called "The Arizona Republic" to report the good deed, Tally has apparently received a number of cash reward offers by those inspired by wishing to commend him for his honesty.  This blind Bambi also salutes Dave Tally.  God Bless him.  I hope that he earns much more from this response to his act of integrity than he would have from keeping the money he found as his own.  Even if he does not, however, his unselfish act is humbling.  I am not homeless, and hence cannot walk in his shoes, but I would hope that the personal pride he can take providing inspiration to the rest of us about the good in humanity and our society is priceless.

Perfect Weather for This Punter

Here's a video worth checking out.  This is a clip of an 86 yard punt from a high school football game.  Over half of that distance, however, was on the ground.  This was not your standard end over end roll due to the momentum of the kick.  Instead, the wind sustained a long, slow roll until the kicking team finally downed it on the four yard line.

That's A Lot of Money In Her Underwear

The FBI was investigating allegations of real estate developers in Prince Georges County, Maryland, offering rewards to county officials in exchange for personal and business favors. When agents went to visit the home of County Executive Jack Johnson, his wife, Leslie, who was also recently elected to the County Council, called her husband. Unknown to them, the FBI had a wiretapping warrant and recorded their conversation. They discussed destroying and flushing a $100,000 check from a real estate developer and removing cash from the home by stuffing it in her underwear. When the federal agents entered the home, they found $79,600 hidden on her person. Even if that was all in $100 bills, that seems to this blind Bambi like a lot of cash to stuff in your underwear. This hill-billy has probably never even had almost 800 one dollar bills at any given time, but it seems like, say, 796 one hundred dollar bills would amount to a substantial stack of cash to hide in your bra. The couple is now charged with evidence tampering.