...to hear myself talk

Hello, and welcome to "stuff I saw learning what happened in the world today":

Sad news is that Jimmy Ruffin, who touched the hearts of the alone and miserable with his great hit, What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted, one of the great vocal performances of all time IMHO, passed from this world today at the age of 79.






In honor of this chilling tune, we find that all 50 states of the US of A- including, believe it or not, Hawaii- hit the freezing mark or below today.  Our contribution today was an early-morning start of around 10 F.

But think about it.  "Global warming" kept the Great lakes warmer than usual for November, and thus when the arctic blast came, Upstate NY had a lake-effect snowmageddon.  (Because, as I learned today, it is cold fronts going across warm(ish) water that causes lake effect snow.)

For example, there's Raymond James stadium in Buffalo, home of the NFL Bills.  They are asking for fans to come help shovel 220,000 tons of snow from the stadium so that they might be able to watch the game Sunday.  Anyway, as I understand it, lots of snow radiates the sun's heat back into the sky, causing the temps to drop.  This is the mechanics behind glacial ice- snow that falls but doesn't melt because it reflects heat into the atmosphere, compacted year after year into ice.  So, theoretically, the increase of lake effect snow will eventually spark a new ice age;  we will burn more fossil fuels to stay warm;  the greenhouse effect will then warm the earth, the snow will melt, and everything goes back to normal, right?  So...

Oh, before we get too far away from sports, I'll point out our Fantasy football league is going into it's last regular season week- and only two teams out of twelve have been eliminated from the hunt for 6 playoff spots.  So I will be having some fun Tuesday next trying to sort out who made it and who didn't.  (Note:  since we got beat this week, the KCAs now have to win their final game by at least 21 points to get in... and that might not do it, either.)


Next up, our buddy Bobby G.  likes to do a list of the "National (fill in the blank) Days" on his blog, but today I discovered was one he missed.

That 15 foot tall inflatable commode on the grounds of the UN (in addition to being a very good suggestion) denotes World Toilet Day, intended to bring awareness to the millions of people where lack of sanitary facilities or cultural imbecility have caused them to do it au natural, so to speak ( such as in India, where they prefer the nearest alley or somewhere out in the field where they grow the food they eat).  You know the world's in the crapper when the Jolly Green Giant's toidy is in front of the UN, right?

On a similar vein, I was looking at one of those clicky ads showing "15 eerily beautiful abandoned places to visit", when I saw a picture of the former Bulgarian Communist Party headquarters.  Hmm, wonder why it came to mind now...

Finally, a little good news.  Did you read on the news about the gentleman who saw a car in a culvert on his way home and ended up cutting a submerged baby out of a car seat?  Well, check this out.  Congrats to the heroic if soggy Leo Moody, and to Wade Shorey, another passerby who then did CPR and revived the three month old.

Another neat story- a York Haven father is now the father of a much larger family as his great dane gave birth to nondecuplets- 19 pups and please, no counting!

Sister, could you spare a teat?