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INTERESTING STUFF – 29 August 2020

LIFE LESSONS FROM 100-YEAR-OLDS

Here is what the Youtube page tells us about this 2016 video:

”We asked three unique and lovely centenarians what their most valuable life lessons were, and also their regrets.”

BABY BARN OWL HEARS THUNDER FOR THE FIRST TIME

This is the cutest thing. The YouTube page tells us:

”This barn owl chick has never heard thunder before. At just two-and-a-half months old, the young owl is only just learning about the world when a deafening thunderstorm passes overhead. This owl only took its first flight two weeks before this moment and is still using the nest for shelter.”

The footage is from British wildlife artist Robert E. Fuller whose Facebook page is here. His website is here.

DANBURY CT. TO NAME SEWER PLANT AFTER COMEDIAN JOHN OLIVER

The Guardian reports that the government of Danbury, Connecticut is going to rename a sewer plant after the host of the HBO program, Last Week Tonight, John Oliver. The brouhaha came about when the

“...British-born comic explored racial disparities in the jury selection process, citing problems in Hartford and New Britain.

“'If you’re going to forget a town in Connecticut,' he said, 'why not forget Danbury? Because, and this is true, fuck Danbury!'”

Soon thereafter, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton announced the renaming:

“'We are going to rename it the John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant,' the Republican mayor said. 'Why? Because it’s full of crap just like you, John.'”

All of which gave me a good laugh. You can see the offending Last Week Tonight segment here or read about it here.

MONKEY TEASES YOUNG TIGERS

TGB reader Joan McMullen sent this video of a monkey giving a young tiger a hard time. I wish the video quality were better but it's still fun to watch.

ARE GROWN PEOPLE REALLY THIS STUPID?

I thought there was only one person in the United States who is this stupid but apparently not.

”Public health officials are warning Texans not to drink bleach after the North Texas Poison Center fielded 46 calls within the last month related to people drinking bleach,” reports Insider and other news outlets...

“The Texas Poison Center Network also said in a statement it's seen a 71% uptick in calls involving bleach products, and a 63% uptick in calls involving other household cleaners.”

Most of the cases did not result in serious injury and several of the 46 calls referred to the coronavirus. To be clear, bleach does not and cannot prevent, treat or cure COVID-19.

GEORGE CONWAY IN NEW TRUMP DOCUMENTARY

We learned this week that Lincoln Project co-founder is leaving that post at the same time his wife, Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway, is leaving her White House job.

Simultaneously, or close enough, on Tuesday 1 September, a new documentary titled, Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump will be released on all digital/streaming and cable video-on-demand platforms. Here is a clip from the film with George Conway:

Beginning 1 September, you can rent the film for $5.99. If you watch on cable or satellite, you will not incur a charge now; it will be added to your next bill.

You can find out more about the film here.

NATIONAL ZOO PANDA CAM

The Smithsonian National Zoo announced on their webpage,

”Giant panda Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) gave birth to a cub at Smithsonian’s National Zoo today, Aug. 21. Animal care staff witnessed the birth at 6:35 p.m.

“Mei Xiang picked the cub up immediately and began cradling and caring for it. The panda team heard the cub vocalize and glimpsed the cub for the first time briefly immediately after the birth.”

Here is a video of the amazingly tiny panda when Mei Xiang went out for a moment for a drink of water.

You can get the latest panda news and follow the cub's growth on the National Zoo Panda Cam.

LONELY ALONE

Almost always I leave the music chores at this blog to the inimitable Peter Tibbles who publishes here on Sundays. But this turned up, Cheryl Crow and Willie Nelson with a song that seems perfect for our time.

Crow said in Rolling Stone magazine:

“'I wrote the song, “Lonely Alone,” with Willie in mind...It’s was written as kind of a barside cowboy noir with romantic Spanish inflections, but the song has taken on new meaning during these times. I hope people find the same comfort in this song that I have always found in Willie.'”

This recording is from Crow's most recent album, “Threads” released last year and posted to YouTube last week.

* * *

Interesting Stuff is a weekly listing of short takes and links to web items that have caught my attention; some related to aging and some not, some useful and others just for fun.

You are all encouraged to submit items for inclusion. Just click “Contact” at the top of any Time Goes By page to send them. I'm sorry that I won't have time to acknowledge receipt and there is no guarantee of publication. But when I do include them, you will be credited and I will link to your blog.

Comments

Gosh I got such a kick out of that monkey video. In another life, that monkey would be Ronni Bennett & the orange tiger Donald Trump!

I wish we could see the ‘Unfit’ video for free, I’m curious but don’t want to pay $5.99 to see what I already know—I’m MORE curious how those Conways cohabitate without throttling one another... it unnerves me!

That panda video honestly made me gasp—I had NO IDEA they were born so tiny.

And finally, if there’s ever proof that souls exist, it’s right there in that song with Cheryl Crow & Willie Nelson. Gosh that was a real treat, thanks Ronni.

Ronni,
Thank you for another great start to Saturday.

Woo hoo, that MONkey sure knew how to play those tigers! What fun, it made me gast sometimes. And oh that Willie Nelson and his horses. I love how relaxed his horses are when
around him, and the way his hands move on them, he really gets them, without a bunch of ego/control stuff going on. Thanks Ronnie!

Thank you for this week's VERY Interesting Stuff. Inspiring, funny and musical!

I really don’t understand how on earth George can stay married to Kelley Ann. She is such an awful person and he seems very decent. He could find a very nice and kind woman. I feel sorry for their daughter too. I can’t imagine having her for a Mother.

The animals will get me every time. I had no idea a newborn panda could be that LOUD!

Great collection of posts. I was so impressed with those centenarians--they were so mentally lucid and appeared in such good shape--they must have terrific long-life genes. I certainly would not have guessed them to be over 100.

Have a new webcam to watch now--I also had no idea those panda cubs were so small.

Thanks again, Ronni, for another interesting Saturday session of Interesting Stuff.

The centenarians were lovely and remarkable! I love Cliff Crozier's comment, that he bakes his own bread (by hand) and does other baking, and his attitude -- "I don't have many failures; if I'm baking a cake and it fails -- it becomes a pudding," is delightful! From their comments they seem to feel that they stopped feeling any older at around age 70. And yet they've lived at least thirty years beyond that. I find that fascinating -- and encouraging -- having just turned 70 this year.

The baby panda was astonishing. It looks and sounds much more like a frog than a panda, and had I not seen it with its mother and known what it was, a frog would have been my guess. It is remarkable to me that their large mothers, with their big paws, can manage to care for them as well as they do.

I think I need a monkey to live in the trees in my yard and keep the teenage feral cats in the neighborhood in line and occupied.

The Sheryl Crow - Willie Nelson song and video did make me tear up and I suspect it's one of those that will each time I hear it.

And I really don't know what to say about Kellyanne and George. Like others here, I've wondered how they managed to stay together, too. I know that one of their children has recently gone public about problems, but I think they have two or three other children, too, and I wonder what their family life has been like for them as well. I'm curious to see this documentary, but I'm more than a little skeptical about what the Conways have planned and perhaps have had planned all along. Documentaries don't get made overnight, and I'm sure that Kellyanne's departure from her White House job -- just as this is going very public in a couple of days -- is not just coincidence.

I enjoyed all the interesting stuff, but Loved Cheryl and Willie!

Thank you for the uplift this morning. Considering the news pouring in from all fronts, your various selections were all particularly welcome. The UK centenarians were wonderful ... will definitely go back for another dose of them and of the barn owl chick, the audacious monkey and the tiger cubs and, of course, the LOUD and very tiny panda cub.
Looking forward to Peter's selection today, too. The more GOOD stuff, the better.
With gratitude and love

Such a great line up of stories today.

The centenarians made me want to live a bit longer than I had thought, IF I could age like them, and not like my own parents who lived into their 90's but not in any enviable condition.

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