Tennis Racket Theorem

Tennis Racket Theorem
Unveiled Myths

Wikipedia article.

Under the Weather

Under the Weather

I was feeling pretty rotten yesterday evening. I drank a couple of cans of ginger ale and I was able to get some sleep. I am feeling a little better today, not 100%, but better. The only reason I mention this is that it seems to happen every couple of months and I thought I ought to start keeping track. Yes, I could put it in my calendar, or in a separate log somewhere, but the next time it happens I would need to remember where I put that note. If everything is in this blog, then there's only one place to look for anything and that's right here, so here it is.

Coincidentally I saw the doctor yesterday for a Medicare 'wellness checkup', which mostly asks a bunch of questions like 'are you dying?' I suspect they feed this into their great computer which will chew on this data and spit out some recommendations, which the yahoos in charge will turn into some kind of political propaganda. 

They drew some blood and they will test it, but I expect that all they will find is that my potassium is low, as usual .

From The Wager by David Grann, we get this bit about the origin of the phrase 'under the weather':

(When ailing seamen were shielded belowdecks from the adverse elements outside, they were said to be "under the weather.")

 

Euphemism of the Day

INS Sumitra

From India’s navy rescues pirated Iranian ship in Arabian Sea:

The Indian Navy’s warship INS Sumitra, which has been deployed in the Gulf of Aden on an anti-piracy operation, rescued a hijacked Iranian vessel on Monday and ensured the release of crew members and the boat itself, amid ongoing tensions in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

The patrol vessel responded to a distress call from the Iranian fishing boat Iman, which had been boarded by pirates along the east coast of Somalia, a navy spokesperson said, adding that the crew were being held as hostages. Sumitra intercepted the fishing boat and “ensured the successful release of all 17 crew members along with the boat,” the Indian Navy said in a statement. The vessel was then sanitized and released for onward transit.

The vessel was sanitized? I'm afraid to ask what that means.

Hijacked Fishing Boat

The Lion King

The Lion King Broadway musical trailer
syracuse.com

Took the family to see the show at Keller Auditorium this afternoon. Singing and dancing and outrageous costumes. The singing and dancing didn't do much for me, I didn't recognize any of the songs and the lyrics were pretty much unintelligible, to me anyway. The show opened with the Rafiki (the baboon) rambling on in some sort of gibberish, might have been a foreign language, might have been gibberish. Anyway it didn't make any sense, but at least I could hear her clearly. To top it off, when she is done with her spiel she asks the audience if we understood, which got her a big laugh. There were several other funny bits which I appreciated. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but I got the funny. The costumes were pretty great and the way they were manipulated was very cool. Turns out the costumes were made in Scappoose, Oregon, which is just a village not too far from here on Route 30 along the Columbia River.

The Lion King on Broadway is coming to Portland; all the puppets were made in Oregon
Here is Oregon

Went to Bullards afterwards for dinner. Great food, great service and a great bill to go along with it.

Growler Jams

Tense Seconds - Could Have Broken The Ship
Growler Jams

Watching a pilot land his aircraft on a carrier in the middle of the ocean. No fancy edits, no music, just a guy showing us how it's done. Can't see all the indicators that he can see, just have to trust him on that, but you can see the ship, intermittently. Curious thing is that he isn't following the same course as the ship, he's coming in at an angle. He's doing that because the landing area is at an angle. Can't line up with the landing area either because it's moving. Have to adjust your lead so you'll be in the right spot when you touch down.

Deee-Lite

Deee-Lite - Groove Is In The Heart (Official Video)
Deee-Lite

Just stumbled over this. I remember playing it a bunch once upon a time, so I was sure I had posted it before, but apparently not, so here it is now.

Ice Ice

Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby (Official Music Video)
Vanilla Ice

I'm watching a YouTube short and dang, that tune sounds familiar, but what is it? Took me a while to sort it out. Google used to be able to 'name that tune', but I got no cooperation this time.