Looks like the annual Pumpkin Regatta in Oregon last weekend lived up to its reputation.
I wonder what they do with all the pumpkin "flesh" they cut out of the gourds in order to make room for a paddler? Do they cook and eat it, or throw it away, or what? I suspect there'd be enough seeds removed to be able to plant half the state with pumpkins!
Peter
From a comment over at Virtual Mirage, Larry Lambert's place:
Portland Naked Bicycle Parade:
Seems like a good target for cropdusters full of Nair.
That's an evil thought. That's an evil, evil thought . . . and I like it!
A highly rated fencer "took a knee" in a Maryland tournament rather than face a transgender opponent.
Women’s fencer Stephanie Turner refused a match against a transgender opponent at the Cherry Blossom Open in Maryland this past weekend, opting to take a knee instead.
. . .
“I knew what I had to do because USA Fencing had not been listening to women’s objections regarding [its gender eligibility policy],” Turner said. “I took a knee immediately at that point. Redmond was under the impression that I was going to start fencing. So when I took the knee, I looked at the ref and said, ‘I’m sorry, I cannot do this. I am a woman, and this is a man, and this is a women’s tournament. And I will not fence this individual.”
“Redmond didn’t hear me, and he comes up to me, and he thinks that I may be hurt, or he doesn’t understand what’s happening. He asks, ‘Are you OK?’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry. I have much love and respect for you, but I will not fence you,” she added.
Even though Redmond warned Turner that she would likely be disqualified for refusing to compete, she accepted her fate anyway. Indeed, minutes after her refusal, the referees gave Turner the black card penalty, and she was expelled from the tournament.
. . .
USA Fencing defended its transgender and non-binary athlete policy as a means for inclusion.
“The policy was designed to expand access to the sport of fencing and create inclusive, safe spaces. The policy is based on the principle that everyone should have the ability to participate in sports and was based upon the research available of the day,” it said in a statement.
“We respect the viewpoints on all sides and encourage our members to continue sharing them with us as the matter evolves. It’s important for the fencing community to engage in this dialogue, but we expect this conversation to be conducted respectfully, whether at our tournaments or in online spaces. The way to progress is by respectful discussion based in evidence,” it added.
Turner acknowledged that she will face backlash for her decision ... “It will probably, at least for a moment, destroy my life. I don’t think that it’s going to be easy for me from now on going to fencing tournaments. I don’t think it’s going to be easy for me at practice,” Turner said. “It’s very hard for me to do this.”
There's more at the link.
Of course, I agree with her position, which is medically and biologically unassailable. One's sex - and, yes, one's gender too, despite protests from the "woke" - is determined by one's chromosomes. A man can undergo all the sex-change surgery he wants, and a woman likewise, but their chromosomes will remain as they were at birth. Changing the outward appearance cannot and does not change the underlying person. For anyone or any body (sports or otherwise) to argue otherwise is to defy science, to spit in the face of reality.
We're going to have to continue to confront this evil twisting of reality and denial of truth for years to come, because those behind it are diabolically persistent in trying to overturn science in favor of their own brand of pseudo-science. Congratulations to Ms. Turner for upholding the truth and refusing to be cowed by falsehood. May her example motivate many others to do likewise.
As Theodore Dalrymple has pointed out:
When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control.
One may safely assume that Ms. Turner will not be "easy to control". Excellent!
Peter
... appear to be as hard to swallow as they are in this life! Click the image to be taken to a larger view at the "Pearls Before Swine" Web page.
I wish I knew how cartoonist Stephan Pastis does it. His ability to draw humor out of so many situations, so apposite to our current issues, is uncanny. Long may he continue to entertain us!
Peter
Shades of Tonya Harding, only more public!
The guilty party is trying to make excuses.
If you believe that, you'll believe anything . . .
All I can say is, this is what happens when everyone is told that they're the "best". When someone proves to be better than them, their reaction is to lash out in anger and jealousy, rather than accept that they've just been beaten. That's my view of this, anyway. In this case, "If you can't beat 'em, beat 'em up!"
... and I'm relatively certain that if it didn't, we'd be no worse off. Be that as it may:
Turkish woman establishes world record for watermelons crushed with thighs
A Turkish woman who squashed five watermelons within a 60-second timeframe, using only her thighs, has set a world record ... She is handed a plaque and told she is "officially amazing," becoming the first person to earn the distinction of using the thighs to smash the most watermelons in 60 seconds, in the female category.
There's more at the link. Here's a video clip of her record-setting performance.
I'm glad her efforts were fruitful, so to speak . . . but if she'd failed, would she have been melon-choly over it?
Peter
Today's award goes to the Hong Kong Education Bureau, which appears to have planted both its bureaucratic feet firmly in its institutional mouth.
It may be an innocent enough racquet sport, but Hong Kong's Education Bureau has unintentionally given badminton a whole new meaning.
In teaching materials it released last week, a module titled adolescents and intimate relationships for Secondary Year 3, suggested that teenagers who wanted to have sex with each other could "go out to play badminton together" instead.
The materials also include a form called "My Commitment" aimed at getting "young lovers" to attest that they would exercise "self-discipline, self-control, and resistance to pornography".
The new materials have raised eyebrows and attracted criticism for being "out of touch". But officials have defended the decision.
Meanwhile social media has been flooded with jokes centered around "playing badminton".
"FWB [Friends with benefits]?? Friends with badminton," read one comment on Instagram that had more than 1,000 likes.
"In English: Netflix and chill? In Cantonese, play badminton together?" read a Facebook post which was shared more than 500 times.
Even Olympics badminton player Tse Ying Suet could not resist a comment.
"Everyone is making an appointment to play badminton. Is everyone really into badminton?" she asked on Threads with a smirking face emoji.
. . .
Local lawmaker Doreen Kong said the documents showed that the education bureau did not understand young people. She specifically criticised the badminton suggestion as unrealistic.
"How could they borrow a badminton racket on the spot if it happens?" She asked.
There's more at the link.
I suppose the effort was well-intended, but it's reduced the local teenage population to giggles, innuendo and snarky comments. Some of them are very funny indeed. The whole affair has made quite a racket (you should pardon the expression). I suppose it's inevitable that I read about this over the Net - the internet, that is, rather than the badminton net! As for the use of shuttlecocks . . . the less said, the better!
Peter
I haven't had much to say about the depraved, debased mockery of the famous "Last Supper" image at the Olympics opening ceremony last weekend, largely because I was expecting something like it. The overwhelming mood in much of Europe, particularly among the self-selected "intelligentsia", is anti-Christian. Of course they were going to mock what so many of us believe!
I may not agree with Arthur Sido all the time, but I think he summed up the brouhaha very well.
It is just another example of cultural vandalism by degenerate toddlers that are controlled by their genitalia.
Causing outrage was the entire point. Why else would you do that? There was nothing artistic about it, it was simply performative degeneracy intended to cause a backlash. The backlash reaffirms to these freaks that they are on “the right side of history” and probably at some deep level serves as a way to get back at their parents for not buying them a pony for their 7th birthday.
What it did accomplish was to get a bunch of people upset and serve as clickbait for normie “news” sites to drive traffic for the latest outrage du jour. Places like Fox News and Newsmax love stuff like this because it drives traffic numbers way up.
So what good does it do to get all upset and frothing at the mouth? Not a damn thing. That is exactly what They want you to do, chasing after the latest stick of outrage until you get tired and then they throw a different stick in a different direction. It is the same thing I tell people when I say Quit Chasing The Stick. The Left throws out charges of “racism” and normies go chasing after the stick to prove that they are in fact not “racist”. They bring back the stick and say “See, I am not racist!” at which point the Left throws the stick again and there they go chasing after it.
The same basic thing happens with cultural vandalism ... There is nothing wrong with pointing it out and then of course mocking it but to get upset about it is doing what They want. Nothing good will ever come from you doing what They want.
It ought not be a surprise that people that not only don’t believe in the [tenets] of Christianity and in fact hate it would therefore mock and revile it. In fact if people would occasionally read their Bibles they would know that an absence of mockery and hatred of your faith ought to be considered a sign you are doing something wrong. Don’t give them the outrage they crave. Mock them and then move on. They crave your vitriol but your scorn is a far more effective weapon.
There's more at the link.
Speaking of scorn . . . if we're offended by that opening ceremony (and "offended" should be a very tame description of our reaction if we truly believe in Christ), then why are we watching a single moment of the Olympic Games? The Games rely on spectators, both live and on TV, for their financial success. One or two of us boycotting them won't even be noticed; but a few hundred million of us around the globe? Now, that would get their attention!
Peter
I had no idea that this was a thing. Here's a video clip of the 2023 Championships.
Is it a real sport? Let a participant tell us about it.
As I said, I'm completely unfamiliar with this "sport". However, a friend points out that after Texas cowhands are thrown by a longhorn bull in the arena, their hobbled gait as they stagger to their feet and try to get away from the bull sometimes resembles that of the hobby horse riders . . . with added sound effects, of course!
Peter
Today's award goes to Basketball Ireland and its appeal committees for a decision so daft, it could only be Irish.
Limerick Sport Eagles beat Portlaoise Panthers 80-78 on 23 March.
But the second-tier game finished in controversial fashion, with the Eagles' winning points coming from free throws awarded on the final buzzer.
Portlaoise appealed on the grounds the free throws should not have been allowed as the clock had expired at the same time the foul was called.
They were initially told by the National League Committee (NLC) that the result would stand as a referee's decision cannot be retrospectively overturned.
However, they were given the option to appeal to the National Appeals Committee (NAC).
The NAC ruled the match should be replayed in its entirety, but Basketball Ireland has since said the option to appeal was "granted in error".
The NLC then ruled the fixture would not be replayed in full, but that the remaining 0.3 seconds should be played.
There's more at the link.
Replay less than a third of a second of the match??? Has Basketball Ireland gone quite insane? Did they, collectively or individually, kiss the Blarney Stone and get a completely incomprehensible gift of the gab out of it? Their decision strongly suggests something like that. Or did they imbibe rather too much of the uisce beatha, to the point that their decision was not so much about the spirit of the game as it was the spirits influencing the judges?
Imagine the man with the ball sneezes as the buzzer sounds. By the time his sneeze is over, so too will be the game!
How do you say "Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat" in Gaelic?
Peter
My recent review of Primary Arms' 3-9x44 scope generated some correspondence with readers. Among other things, it seems that too few people have heard about the use of a fishing reel attachment tool known as a "Coaster" to make an improvised scope magnification adjustment device. I wrote about it three years ago. Here's an excerpt from that earlier post.
I'm sure many readers interested in the shooting sports are familiar with the "throw lever" sometimes integrated into the power ring (i.e. the adjustment ring to vary the magnification) of telescopic sights. They look something like this example, sticking up from the power ring of a Swampfox Optics Arrowhead tactical scope. (Click any image for a larger view.)
Regular hunting- and target-style scopes don't usually have throw levers, but they've become very popular on tactical scopes. They allow one to adjust the power very quickly with one hand, rather than fiddle with a power ring that doesn't offer easy purchase or a visual or tactile reference when the scope is being held to one's eye. There are third-party, aftermarket throw levers available, but they can be expensive, and they only fit a limited range of sizes.
I recently came across a fishing accessory, originally designed to attach reels to rods. It's called a "Coaster" ... They're made by Breakaway Tackle in England, and look like this.
The loop is placed around the fishing rod, over the mounting lugs of the reel: then the arms are pulled tight through the vice block before the ring is screwed down on the block, its threads engaging the notches on the arms to tighten them further. It's a bit like a double-ended cable tie.
Some bright spark figured out that the same tool could be used as a throw lever on rifle telescopic sights that lacked such a feature. Intrigued, I tried it, and found it works like a charm. Here's how the vendor illustrates it.
I modified that slightly, in that I cut off the arms a notch or so above the ring using cutting pliers, as low as I could manage, as illustrated above. I then unscrewed the ring and took it off, cut the arms a notch or two shorter while holding the loop and vice block in place, and then reattached the ring and screwed it down moderately tightly (don't over-tighten it, as that will strip the threads). That put the ends of the arms just beneath the surface of the ring, rather than above it, so they no longer scratched my fingers as I felt for the ring. I found that a lot more comfortable, and it looked better, too.
There's more at the link, and in a follow-up post where a reader described having a problem fitting the "Coaster" to a very low-mounted scope.
Here's a video demonstrating how to install the Coaster on a scope.
This is a super-useful accessory to put on any scope with a variable power or focus ring. The Coaster is also much lower cost than some of the made-for-purpose throw rings you'll find if you shop around (it's anywhere from a half to a tenth of their price), and it'll fit just about any scope, unlike some of the others that are restricted to scopes of a particular brand or size. I've put them on my most-used scopes, and I'm in the process of installing them on the rest as well, for a uniform fit across all my long guns. You'll find them on Amazon.
Highly recommended.
Peter
Greg Ellifritz, whom we've met in these pages on several previous occasions, has had bad news: his prostate cancer has returned, albeit in what appears to be a very small area and not immediately threatening. He and his doctors will be watching the thing to see what further treatments may be necessary and/or appropriate.
However, he made an interesting discovery during the investigative process, one that surprised me. I thought that gym rats among my readers might find it interesting.
Interestingly enough, the first MRI I had on Tuesday showed some suspicious lesions on my hip bones. The doc initially thought the cancer had spread.
I did a second followup MRI (it was a long day) an hour after the first one. The doc now thinks that the marks on my hips are bone bruises caused by heavy squats and deadlifts. I don’t have any hip pain, but there is some temporary minor damage to my pelvis that shows up on MRI from my weight lifting. Something for you gym bros to remember if you ever get an MRI (or two).
There's more at the link.
I no longer lift weights except in a small way at home (my spine has deteriorated to the point that using a barbell is seriously painful; I limit myself to dumbbells now). However, my wife lifts the heavy stuff, and I have several friends who are active at Mark Rippetoe's gymnasium not too far from our home. I'll be passing this information along to them. If you lift weights, you might want to make a note of it, in case you ever find similar MRI results that require explanation.
Peter
(American football, that is.)
I came across this video while searching for something else. It's 40 minutes of some of the most astonishing moments in National Football League history; no replays, no slow-motion, just the events as they happened. Some of them really are amazing. If the video doesn't display (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't), click the link provided to view it on YouTube.
I'd have loved to see slow-motion replays of more of those incidents. Even so, they're highly entertaining, to say the least.
Peter
We've mentioned Tiny, the emotional support longhorn, in these pages before - but even he is overshadowed by this beast.
A Pennsylvania man was unable to attend the game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates when stadium security turned away his emotional support animal: an alligator.
Joie Henney, a former hunting and fishing TV host who appeared on networks including ESPN Outdoors, has had Wally the gator for about seven years, and he had the unusually gentle reptile licensed as an emotional support animal while he was undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
Henney said Wally's visits to schools, hospitals and assisted living facilities caught the attention of the Phillies, who invited him to bring his pet to meet members of the team and their partners before Wednesday's game.
Henney said he and Wally arrived at the stadium too late for the meet-up, as the players were already warming up on the field.
"So we bought tickets and Wally has been into other baseball games, so we assumed that it was OK," Henney told CNN. "We never asked or checked with it, but they only allow service animals, such as dogs and horses, into the stadium, not ESA animals."
There's more at the link.
An "unusually gentle" emotional support alligator at a baseball game. What could possibly go wrong?
Verily, the mind doth boggle . . .
Peter
That would be the Dragon's Back Race down the length of Wales in the United Kingdom. This year's event kicked off at Conwy Castle in north Wales on Monday, and ends at Cardiff Castle on Saturday. The event covers 236 miles, and participants who complete the course will climb a total of 57,087 feet - almost twice the height of Mount Everest - and descend it again, over six days. It's enough to make your legs cramp just thinking about it!
As a book about fell running describes it:
You need to imagine yourself there, standing in the rain at Conwy Castle on the north coast and contemplating the coming ordeal. Somewhere to the south of you should be Conwy Mountain and the Carneddau, but all you can see are wet foothills and low cloud. You are cold already, but you know that this is as nothing to the chill you will feel on the high ground. You are about to spend the best part of a week on that high ground, immersed in cloud, with most of the waking hours devoted to climbing and descending as fast as your body will allow, while knowing all the time that if you stop concentrating on your map and compass for a moment you will be lost. Does your heart sink? If not, think about it again until it does.
Here's a short clip about the 2019 race to set the scene.
There's more information, and more videos, at the race Web site. You can watch a BBC news report about the start of this year's race at this link. I also recommend this longer video about the inaugural race in 1992. You'll find much more material on YouTube if you look for it.
Just looking at the video clips makes me feel tired all over. I was never that fit or that motivated, and at my present stage (age?) of decrepitude, I reckon I'd keel over with my third heart attack less than an hour into the course!
Peter
I had to laugh when I came across the video clip below. It's taken from a camera car, and shows two participants in the annual Cape Town Cycle Tour trying to get away from an ostrich that appears to be irritated at them. (Ostriches are notoriously short-tempered, particularly if one gets too close to their nest; and they're very well equipped to administer a beating, particularly kicking with their iron-hard claws, which can disembowel their victim and break bones. They're also very territorial, so if you get too close, they're likely to object. Strongly.)
Ostriches can run at up to 30 mph for extended periods, and up to 45 mph in short bursts; and a fully grown adult can weigh as much as or more than the average human being. The cyclists in this video clip were definitely in danger. I'm sure their race time improved measurably as they fled!
(However, ostrich breast makes very good eating, particularly accompanied by scrambled ostrich egg. If a hungry, armed local had been around, and the cameras not, that bird might have ended up on someone's dinner plate.)
Peter
I'd never heard of an ultra-marathon race known as The Speed Project until I read an article about it at the BBC a couple of days ago.
The Speed Project (TSP) [is] an unsanctioned, unsupported 350-mile race from Los Angeles to Las Vegas via Death Valley.
It has no website, no "register here" button, no rules, no official route, no spectators and, until a week before, no official start date.
It's a "Fight Club" of the running world created in the mould of its founder. Before he found marathon running after moving to Los Angeles in the mid-2000s, Arend organised a rave night in a borrowed brothel in Hamburg's red-light district.
Despite the race's underground status, the start line is filled with some of the world's fastest athletes, and the biggest brands.
How do they get there? Well, that's a long story, shrouded in secrecy.
There's much more at the link.
Intrigued, I looked for more information, and found this video on YouTube. It's twelve minutes of very interesting viewing, if human extreme performance interests you.
I've never even remotely felt the need to challenge Mother Nature and/or myself in that way, and I guess by now I'm too old and decrepit to even think about it: but for some people, it's a way of life. Kudos to them for their determination and drive.
Peter
There's a long, intimate, and very readable article over at ESPN titled "Joe Montana Was Here". It's a lengthy look at his life, career, and all he's done after leaving the sporting arena.
I'm not a big fan of American football; after all, I wasn't exposed to it until my mid-30's, when I moved here, so I still don't understand all the rules. I'm used to English Rugby Union football. (Why, in American football, does it often look as if the players have a license to fold, spindle and mutilate everyone except the man with the ball?) Nevertheless, even in a premier Rugby Union country like South Africa, where we never saw a televised American football game, we'd heard of Joe Montana. His personal legend was that powerful; the "comeback kid" who never gave up.
Here's just one brief vignette from a long and entertaining article.
They were in Italy. Joe and Jennifer, their girls. His parents. Her parents. They got to Sicily, to the town where his mother's family lived. They wandered into a little restaurant on a side street. The owner of the place played a trumpet whenever the mood struck. The grown-ups drank three bottles of wine.
The waiter came up to Alexandra. She was 18 months old.
"Vino, prego," she said. The adults roared approval.
"I can't give you wine," the waiter said kindly.
"OK," she replied. "Beer then."
The room erupted. The staff loved this big American family. The Montanas ate and laughed. The owner played his horn. Later, the Montanas moved outside and found a nearby park where a man played accordion and local couples danced in the dust. The Montana girls joined in. Joe watched, smiling, holding on to the picture of it in his mind.
There's much more at the link.
The article's not just for sports fans, but for everyone who likes a good, heart-warming human interest story. If you're among them, click over there and read it. You'll enjoy it.
Peter
I'm obliged to reader R. D. for sending me the link to this video clip of Austrian freestyle skier Markus Eder letting it all hang out (literally and figuratively) in the mountains above Zermatt, Switzerland.
I've never skied in my life, and I probably never will, so I can't appreciate that from an insider's perspective: but it's breathtaking to watch. I'm not surprised to learn that it took almost three months to film it all. I'm surprised Mr. Eder wasn't injured or killed in the process!
Peter
I was amused to learn that a furniture dealer in Houston has not only won the biggest payout ever in sports betting, but he's sharing it with his customers.
Mattress Mack is laughing all the way to the bank.
The Astros superfan, whose real name is Jim McIngvale, raked in $75 million in winning bets after Houston won the 2022 World Series on Saturday, defeating the Phillies in Game 6. According to multiple reports, the $75 million is believed to be the largest payout in sports betting history after he placed $10 million in bets across several sportsbooks.
. . .
“What can we say? We just wrote the biggest check in sports betting history to Mattress Mack for $30,000,000,” Caesars Digital COO Ken Fuchs said Saturday night, according to ESPN.
A chunk of Mattress Mack’s winnings will go toward paying customers on a promotion he ran at his furniture store, which gives customers refunds of double what they paid if they spent at least $3,000.
There's more at the link.
Whether one approves of gambling or not, that's a heck of a play - and I bet Mack's customers are laughing all the way to the bank. Well done, that man!
Peter
