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Post by billhammond on Aug 23, 2024 18:10:19 GMT -5
Excerpt from CBS Sports
The oldest man in the field and one of the few to have teed it up at Castle Pines before this week leads halfway through the 2024 BMW Championship. Amid a testy day in Colorado, Adam Scott surged up the leaderboard thanks to a bogey-free 9-under 63 to reach 13 under for the tournament.
Scott's 63 was good for a course record at Castle Pines — which Ludvig Åberg matched it in the afternoon — and represents the 44-year-old's lowest round on the PGA Tour since the final round of the 2023 Wyndham Championship. Most importantly, it puts him three clear of his nearest competitor, first-round leader Keegan Bradley, at 10 under.
"I think it's hard to get a lot better in your 40s, and there are a lot of 20-year-olds getting better. I just think there are probably a lot of 40 plus guys dropping off the Tour," Scott said. "There are a lot of mid 20s coming on the Tour taking their place. Whether it's just life or whether it's physical at this age or mental, it's hard to keep pace with what the younger guys are doing, from hitting the ball at a speed that's competitive to practicing enough to having the motivation and the drive to do it. I think it's harder for the older guys."
In a field that features Akshay Bhatia and Nick Dunlap who were not even born when Scott made his professional debut, the veteran is showing the kids how it is done. Wielding the broomstick effectively on Friday, Scott searches for his first win since the 2020 Genesis Invitational and a potential path not only to the FedEx Cup final but to his first FedEx Cup crown.
Should the Australian convert his 36-hole lead into his 15th PGA Tour victory, Scott would enter the Tour Championship ranked fourth in the FedEx Cup and start at 6 under just four off the pace of the leader. Freed up after securing his place inside the top 50 and in the signature events for 2025, the former world No. 1 is playing like it.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 23, 2024 14:50:26 GMT -5
The MN State Fair opened yesterday, and close to 2 million folks will visit over its 12-day run. There's a free shuttle-bus stop in a church down the block from my house, and its lot fills up quickly, so fairgoers park on adjacent streets, like mine. It gives me a wonderful opportunity to see how many people are really clueless about parking.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 23, 2024 14:40:47 GMT -5
Hee Haw built a TV empire on it. "Hee-Haw" was an empire?
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Post by billhammond on Aug 23, 2024 11:11:04 GMT -5
(though I might like to see the PRINCIPLES of civil rights applied when conservatives are excluded from the opportunity to exhibit in an art fair, or get a book published, or gain entrance to a school or a newsroom.) So newsrooms exclude conservatives, as opposed to attracting liberals? Not in my 50 years of experience.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 23, 2024 11:07:11 GMT -5
Good mid-morning! Sent $50 Kamala's way this morning. She emailed me back. I am now on the TEAM! That hair coloring ain't gonna pay for itself!
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Post by billhammond on Aug 22, 2024 16:29:07 GMT -5
Column excerpt:
By Leonard Greene / New York Daily News If you cover politics long enough, you’re bound to learn something new.
Here’s what I learned last week: The iconic Sam and Dave song “Hold on, I’m Coming” was actually written by the late Isaac Hayes.
What does a 1960s classic soul song have to do with politics? Hold on. I’m coming with the answer.
After Donald Trump’s campaign used the R&B hit at a series of rallies, 134 to be exact, Hayes’ estate threatened to file a lawsuit against the former president for copyright infringement.
The family also demanded $3 million in licensing fees the campaign racked up from using the song between 2022 and 2024.
“It has come to our attention that you or the campaign have authorized the illegal public performance of the song on multiple occasions during various rallies for your political campaign without authorization from the copyright holder, despite being asked repeatedly not to engage in such illegal use by our client,” the family’s lawyers wrote Aug. 11 in a cease-and-desist notice.
“As we prepared this letter, there was an additional use in Montana just two nights ago, even with your office apparently aware that you had no permission.”
Exhibit A attached to the letter details every inappropriate use of the song, including a 2022 National Rifle Association rally.
The Hayes family says the $3 million price tag is a bargain.
“The normal fee for those infringements would be 10 times as much if we litigate, starting at $150,000 per use,” the letter said.
Good luck collecting that money. Trump plans to pay that right after he pays the $5 million he owes E. Jean Carroll, the woman who won a civil trial against him for sexual assault.
In other words, never.
“Hold On, I’m Coming” isn’t the only song on Trump’s copyright infringement playlist.
Trump has been warned for using music from other artists including Tom Petty, Rihanna, the Rolling Stones, the Village People, Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins and Journey.
Last week, Celine Dion asked him to stop playing her signature song “My Heart Will Go On,” which she said was a peculiar campaign choice, since the anthem anchors the soundtrack to the 1997 film “Titanic,” a movie about a sinking ship.
In contrast, when Vice President Kamala Harris steps out to the song “Freedom” during this week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, she’ll be doing it with singer Beyonce’s blessing.
According to reports, Beyonce gave Harris the OK to use the song throughout the campaign.
Meanwhile, if Trump insists on illegally using Isaac Hayes’ hits at his campaign events, he could at least select a Hayes song that would be more appropriate. “I Stand Accused” is one that comes to mind.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 21, 2024 8:34:21 GMT -5
Meanwhile, Kamala and Tim slipped up to Milwaukee for an arena rally packed with 15,000 folks and a whole lot of energy. Smart move in a key state.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 19, 2024 11:03:04 GMT -5
I watched the online promo yesterday, it looks really cool. There have been quite a few articles on the changes over the last week or two. Are there any big changes for you, Bill? Nothing drastic for me, Dub.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 19, 2024 7:08:08 GMT -5
Thanks for noticing -- the paper is undergoing a huge transformation, with "Minnesota" added to its name, a new logo (four-pointed North Star, goodbye, five-pointer), greatly expanded coverage, lots of new hires, new typefaces, the list goes on and on.
It's been exciting but exhausting for most worker bees.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 18, 2024 16:07:17 GMT -5
We got home and her snout looked like a warty gourd, with sporadic bumps on her legs and back. Warty Gourd, excellent band name.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 18, 2024 10:01:56 GMT -5
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Post by billhammond on Aug 18, 2024 9:28:53 GMT -5
You're a man with many assets and few liabilities. Many credits, few debits. Keep it up. What Don said!
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Post by billhammond on Aug 17, 2024 17:40:30 GMT -5
Not getting the "K2" on the bucket.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 17, 2024 16:55:13 GMT -5
(You do recognize the irony of turning that label against the press, given Trump's famous use of it, right?) The only way he "used" the press was in recognizing that their negative coverage of him redounded to his favor. That's pretty perverse to imply that the press favored him. The only way they favored him was in doing what they could to make sure he defeated Republican primary challengers that the press feared were bigger challenges for their Democrat candidate to beat. I think Russ was referring to Trump's use of the "enemy of the people" label of the press.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 17, 2024 15:11:39 GMT -5
Mecum just sold this '69 Dodge Hemi Daytona for $3 million.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 17, 2024 12:32:31 GMT -5
I was taught to swim in the late 1040s by YMCA instructors but classes were held at one the public pools, not the YMCA. Wow, you're a lot older than I thought!
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Post by billhammond on Aug 17, 2024 11:18:45 GMT -5
Historic Archives excerpt:
Swimming pools were introduced by the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in the 1880s. In the following decades, the Y began offering their "Learn-to-Swim" classes, which was an organized program featuring certified instructors. It should be noted that after disease, during this early period drowning was the leading cause of death for children and adolescents, so it is not surprising that enrollment was popular with classes often filling to capacity. It is also important to note that those pools became a major source of sustainable revenue for the Y. But in 1906, while working at a YMCA a Northwestern medical school graduate, Edwin Foster, tested the water and discovered it was contaminated. Back then, contamination of water was linked to a number of life-threatening diseases such as cholera, typhoid, meningitis, polio and various infections. In fact, similar to the Covid pandemic of 2020, fatal epidemics had closed down a number of cities. So the discovery of pathogens in the pool waters at the Y caused great concern - not only for health reasons, but as a threat to one of the Y's greatest revenue generators.
Dr. Gale writes about how the YMCA as well as other public pools began to drain and refill the pools about once a week to fight the problem, and this process continued well into the 1920s. Some of these pools were as large as 45,000 gallons making the process onerous and expensive. The YMCA National Council also recommended the use of sand filters, which had been proven effective. By 1910 the first pool recirculating pump was installed and by 1913 chlorine chemicals were being added to the water. Part of the issue of swimsuits during that era was that synthetic fibers had not been discovered yet, so suits were typically made from either wool or cotton. These fabrics slowly disintegrate over time, releasing fibers, which continually clogged these new developed filtration systems (by way of example, look at the lint filter after doing a load of cotton fabrics.) In addition, unless washed properly, swimsuits can also carry the same pathogens that were of concern. Maintaining a large supply of swimsuits that were properly cleaned and stored was not only logistically challenging, but financially as well.
In 1926, the American Public Health Association (APHA) published the first guidelines for swimming pool management. These guidelines were updated every one to three years, as needed. Those guidelines recommended that all males first strip naked followed by a soap bath, then, remain completely nude while swimming. Unadorned, undyed tank suits were recommended for females. The APHA pool management guidelines were not intended to promote nude swimming, but instead, to keep pools sanitary and that meant keeping the water disinfected, which was best accomplished by disallowing the use of swimsuits. Consequently, male nude swimming was recommended in every edition until 1962. APHA guidelines as well as health ordinances at the state level were typically directed by physicians, sports professionals and water sanitation specialists; thus, their recommended safe practices became codified into mandates by virtually every public school, municipality and youth association. It should be noted that during the entire era, females were always provided swimsuits. However, in no literature or published guidelines is the disparity of required swimming apparel between genders ever discussed. This evidences that how during that period, female modesty was an important part of the culture whereas modesty for males was not a consideration.
The mandated baths and full nudity resulted in the design of some interesting technologies. During an NPR radio interview, a journalist told me of an infamous shower device described by one man that had attended a Chicago school during that era called a "ball washer", and she queried me about whether I knew of such water devices designed to wash the boys' balls. I told her my research had not uncovered anything of the ilk. A research associate, O. Caipora, then sent me the following photograph showing the plumbing arrangement of these "ball washers". According to the man that used it, the boys would line up nude then proceed down the "shower runway" getting a powerful spray of water not only from the sides, but underneath so as the genitals and anal region would be sprayed as well.
During the early 20th century, chlorine was difficult to use effectively because managing the pH had to be precise enough to kill the bacteria. In 1939 a discovery came that was called the "breakpoint in water chlorination" Chemical testing was then something pool managers could do more easily. But due to the onset of WWII, automatic chlorination was not widely used until the late 1940s.
There were several things that occurred simultaneously by the early 1960s that reduced the need for the mandated nudity rule. Urban sprawl meant most people swam in pools as opposed to polluted waters, automatic chlorination was controlling the level of pathogens, most swimsuits were being made out of synthetic fibers, polio was conquered and medical professionals now had curative medicines that could arrest the outbreaks of diseases caused by pool water. Thus, in 1962 APHA finally dropped the nude swimming recommendation because it was no longer for health reasons. This is an important event as it underscores the real and justifiable reasons male nude swimming had been mandated for over half a century.
But despite APHA dropping the health guideline and that there were no longer any health reasons for mandated nude male swimming, public schools and the Y continued to require nude swimming through the 1970s and some even into the 1980s. Research shows the reasons were two fold. First, as most people are aware, bureaucratic institutions are resistant of change, even when there are no reasons for a continued practice. "It's just the way it has always been done" was a very common reason cited by coaches and administrative staff of the era. Second, news articles reveal that a number of Boards of Education ruled that nude male swimming should continue despite no health reasons for it solely due to the cost to the school districts to provide and clean swimsuits for the boys, which, by the way, they had already been doing for girls for decades. Again, gender equality was not a concern in the early 1960s, and the general belief was that the boys should "buck up" and be manly about it (for further research, please see the published news articles and syndicated columns of Dear Abby and Ann Landers posted elsewhere on this site). One such article was published in a 1961 edition of the Appleton Post. It dealt with a petition wherein parents were demanding that the policy mandating that all boys swim nude be lifted. As part of the debate, the school district conducted a survey of other public schools, which showed that 20 out of 31 school districts contacted had policies requiring boys to swim nude while girls did not. With survey in hand, the school board ruled that the nudity policy for the boys would remain in effect. That survey provides some evidence that about two-thirds of all swimming programs still enforced nudity policies for the boys swimming classes in 1961.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 17, 2024 10:38:26 GMT -5
I'll be bringing my Goodall, if anyone wants to drive a Cadillac.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 17, 2024 10:21:51 GMT -5
Yup, the Eau Claire Y had this rule, although I cannot recall the reasoning. Our swim instructor wore a suit, though. I distinctly recall being aware of how much slower swimming was when I was wearing a suit at lakes.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 16, 2024 14:18:47 GMT -5
The latest Mecum car auction is in Monterey, and the vehicles are especially high-end. More Lamborghinis than pickups!
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