Baseball pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm had a 20-year major league career. He hit a home run his first at bat, and a triple his second at bat.
He never again hit a home run nor a triple.
I saw Randy Johnson hit his first and only* major league home run in 2003. I’ve wondered how the pitcher felt about that.
*To be fair, only about 50% of his career was in the NL.
ISTR reading somewhere (can’t find a cite now) that after the fiasco of the shootdown of Francis Gary Powers’ U-2, the SR-71 was specifically designed so it didn’t have to enter Soviet airspace, since that could have turned the Cold War into a hot one. It flew as high as it did, and had specially designed cameras and other sensors, so that it could see virtually all of the USSR’s land area from the periphery of its actual borders.
Doesn’t seem possible.
The painted turtles that live in the pond behind our factory have an average life span of 20 - 40 years according to the NYS DEC…and the snappers live 30 - 50 years…
I saw Wayne Gretzky ejected from a game live. I think that happened about 5 times in his career. It was his last season as a player .
“One of the most memorable sights, available only to Blackbird pilots, was the sun rising in the west, as the aircraft overtook the earth’s rotation.”
I also found the manual on the SR-71, redactions and all.
Not totally random, but I recently found out that the mortality rate of the Spanish Flu was 2.5 percent. The way they talk about it, I figured it was 50%.
Any journalist will tell you the phrase is “bury the lede,” not “bury the lead.” Of course, any non-journalist would say “huh?”
We’re all familiar with the traditional photos of the New York Stock Exchange building with its columns, flags flying, etc. You realize, of course, that that is not Wall Street - it’s 18 Broad Street! The legal address of the NYSE is 11 Wall Street - but that’s just a small doorway into the building around the corner.
Ignorance fought! Much appreciated.
Record for most NBA teams a player played for is 12 held by 4 guys Joe Smith , Jim Jackson, Chucky Brown and Tony Massenberg
Today (June 28) in history:
1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo; this is the casus belli of World War I.
1919 – The Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending the state of war between Germany and the Allies of World War I.
Hmm, exactly five years.
True or False? Here are today’s birthdays…but is the year correct?
Mel Brooks, 1936
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712
Gilda Radner, 1941
Kathy Bates, 1948
John Elway, 1952
John Cusack, 1971
Mel Brooks False, 1926
Jean-Jacques Rousseau True, 1712
Gilda Radner False, 1946
Kathy Bates True, 1948
John Elway False, 1960
John Cusack False, 1966
And finally, a special R.I.P. goes out to Rod Serling, who died June 28, 1975.
A coworker and I have recently gotten into edible local flora and I learned that Queen Anne’s Lace is Wild Carrot!
The land border between France and The Netherlands is not in Europe.
Inspired by something going around on Facebook, I give you the contranym. If that term doesn’t ring a bell for you like it didn’t for me: " A contranym or contronym is a word which has two or more generally accepted meanings in the English language that directly or generally contradict each other."
Some examples:
- Clip can mean “attach” or “cut off”.[1]
- Dust can mean “to remove dust (cleaning a house)” or “to add dust” (e.g. to dust a cake with powdered sugar).[1][7]
- Oversight can mean “accidental omission or error”, or “close scrutiny and control”.
- Sanction can mean “approve” or “penalize”.
- Table can mean “to discuss a topic at a meeting” or “to postpone discussion of a topic”.[16]
Sick!
Well of course not.
And it’s only about 10 or 15 miles long if you count the part that goes through Simpson Bay Lagoon.
One of my favorite places on earth.