FUN AND GAMES ANSWERS FOR 8/28/26

1.  It's a lie.  Lobsters have 10 legs not eight.  I don't have personal knowledge of this although I did see one boiled alive in a bucket while I was in the Army.  I wouldn't eat it then but now I do like them.

2.  It's probably a lie.  There is no reason to think that our Moon will someday crash into the Earth.  The Earth's mass and attraction, the Sun's mass and attraction and it's speed in orbit pretty much prevent it from getting closer or further away from Earth.  I know, everything we put into outer space falls into a decaying orbit and wants to fall back to Earth.  But, no.

3.  It's a lie.  Umber, Ochre and Sienna are earth pigments used in paint and they were named after cities  - BUT cities in Italy not France.

4.  It's a weak lie.  Of course, the exclamation "Pshah" or even Pshaw had nothing at all to do with the Shah of Iran.   

5.  This is totally true.  Can you believe it?  All that work for a ball.  Oh, Pshaw, how disgusting.  

COLLEGE ATHLETICS

College football is now in full swing.  It's a great time of the year.  I think it would be good to see how the dollars and cents of college athletics falls out.  Penn State University has a pretty typical big time college sports program.  Here is their profit and loss statement for all sports programs for fiscal year 2025.  Yes, + means profit and - means loss.

1.   Football   +$57,593,000.00

2.   Mens basketball    +$172,000.00

3.   Mens fencing    -$498,000.00

4.   Womens fencing   -$543,000.00

5.   Womens golf    -$562,000.00

6.   Mens golf   -$569,000.00

7.   Mens tennis   -$760,000.00

8.   Womens tennis   -$813,000.00

9.   Mens gymnastics   -$934,000.00

10. Field hockey   -$1,118,000.00

11. Mens volleyball   -$1,143,000.00

12. Womens swimming/diving   -$1,171,000.00

13. Mens swimming/diving   -$1,184,000.00

14. Womens gymnastcs   -$1,471,000.00

15. Mens lacrosse   -$1,548,000.00

16. Womens lacrosse   -$1,565,000.00

17. Mens soccer   -$1,565,000.00

18. Wrestling   -$1,673,000.00

19. Mens track/XC   -$1,687,000.00

20. Womens track/XC   -$1,788,000.00

21. Softball   -$1,864,000.00

22. Womens soccer   -$2,184,000.00

23. Womens ice hockey   -$2,243,000.00

24. Mens ice hockey   -$2,386,000.00

25. Womens volleyball   -$2,610,000.00

26. Baseball   -$3,015,000.00

27. Womens basketball   -$4,739,000.00

Athletic department total   +$223,679.00

LISTS

I never expected to make a list out of this.  Here are the places President Donald Trump, at his egotistical best, has attempted to effect a name change on the world and it's cartographers.  

1.  Most recently, he attempted to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America.  He's in a spat with our best neighbors in the world over tariffs; tariffs that both countries are using as weapons for imagined inequities in cross-border pricing.  I don't think this has much hope of sticking.  I remember the lakes by saying HOMES.  I'd have to remember SHAME!  Brilliant!

2.  We all know that he has pushed the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed the Gulf of America.  Maybe! 

3.  He wants Alaska to call Mount Denali by a new name:  Mount McKinley.  The natives always called it Denali.  It is the highest mountain in North America.  It had been known by both of those names until President Obama officially named it Denali. (McKinley was a Republican) Trump officially changed it to McKinley.    It's still tall.

4.  In February of this year, the President and Congress reverted to calling the Army base in North Carolina, by it's original name:  Fort Bragg.  In 2023, it had been changed to Fort Liberty.  

5.  The Trump administration changed the name of the National Renewable Energy, Solar Energy Research Institute to the National Laboratory of the Rockies.  It is located in Golden, Colorado and I'm all for this change.  The original name was way too long.

6.   President Trump attempted to cajole the local professional football team to change it's name from the Washington Commanders back to Redskins.  No luck.

 7.  No!  I'm not going to list all the items, places, buildings etc. the President has or has  attempted to have his name placed upon.  Yikes!

MIDWEEK PRAYER

This is a prayer I borrowed from the 12-step program used by those attempting to overcome the control of addiction.  They call it the Step 3 Prayer.  I have adjusted it slightly.  We all have some addiction or challenge we need to overcome.

Dear God, I offer myself to you . . . to build with me and do with me as you choose.  Relieve me of the bondage of self that I may better do your will.  Take away my difficulties that my victory over them may bear witness to you . . .  and that those I would help would see your Power and your Love and the value of my new way of life.   May I do your will always. Amen

TACO TUESDAY

Note:  Taco Tuesdays will be dedicated to food for the time being.

Did I tell you that I've turned into a chef?  Well. that may be hyperbole.  I do cook meals for myself almost every day  Some better than others. 

Last Friday, I was beset by a bulious attack.  I ate so much goetta my body went into rejection mode.  I had to refrain from eating anything for half a day. (for me, that's an accomplishment).  Of course, you ask "Why, Patrick, did you eat so much goetta?"  Here's why.  I like goetta.  A golfing buddy tauted me on how easy and effective it was to make your own.  I went for it.

Dorsel's pinhead oatmeat was just the right thing to use and the recipe was on the package.  Ground pork, groung beef, bay leaves, a diced onion, salt & pepper and water was all that is needed.  I put it together in the crock pot slow cooker.  Lots of stirring, lots of cooking and that's about it.  (Of course, I blew the recipe quantities a little but it shouldn't have mattered.)  Five or six hours and I had so much goetta I didn't know what to do with it all.  I froze a third and put the rest in the fridge for immediate consumption.  

Holy Smoke,  I ate goetta every morning for aight days.  I had goetta sandwiches for lunch several days.  And still, the goetta was still in the fridge looking at me every time I opened the door.  Now you know.  I just had to finish it off.    

Oh yeah.  The goetta I made wasn't terrible but . . . never agian.

MOODY MONDAY

 I may be a little late with this public service announcement but better late than never.  This year, we in SW Ohio have heard very little about and from our yearly friends; the cicadas.  I never heard from them until a week ago.  

Each year one brood or another pops up out of the ground (literally) and annoys us for a time.  Some broods are larger than others.  One large group lives for 17 years underground planning their attack on the human population.  This year the brood was a very small one.  

But, I had an incident.  Last Monday, playing golf in Mason I was brutally attacked.  Just me!  Not my friends or any of the 11 guys in our group.  They ran into me numerous times.  They'd land on me when I was swinging, dive bomb me while I rode in the cart, one crashed directly into my forhead and sunglasses as I prepared to hit.  

We all came to the conclusion that it was the bright yellow-gold golf shirt I was wearing.  I don't know if they thought I was a flower or a female cicada but certainly they liked me.  I hope it never happens again.  

I write this as a warning to you to be careful of the color of your clothing this time of year.  

SUNDAY

Today is the Lord's day.  Keep that in mind.

It is also the finals of the PGA tour - the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup.  The winner of the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup winner will be determined today.  It's a little complicated.  It wasn't always this way but now one person wins both.  

The FedEx Cup goes along with the Tour Championship.  FedEx has chipped in $100 million for the golfers to cover the last three events of the season including today.  Players gained FedEx Cup points all year long with how they finished in Tour events.  That total determined who would get into these last events - the top seventy for the first, the top fifty for the second and the top 30 for the event ending today - The Tour Championship. 

The Tour Championship pays out $40 million dollars to the players who participate in the event today.  The winner gets a check for a cool $10 million; #2 gets $5 million; #3 gets $3.705 million. You get the picture; every spot a little less.  There are just 30 participants and the top eight get more than a million dollars.  The guy who finishes last today gets a measley $355,000.00.  

Mothers, don't let your boys grow up to be cowboys - teach them golf.

FUN AND GAMES ANSWERS FOR 8/21/26

HERE'S THE REAL TRUTH.  

1.  Afghan's and other related nations in the reagon do play a game called Buzkashi but it's nothing like American baseball.  Two teams of players on horseback try to hit, knock, pull a carcass of a goat or calf in a goal.  Sounds exciting. False is the answer.

2.  You know, I can't believe it either but it's supposedly true.  I understand it pops so loud you can hear it if you happen to have your head in the hive at the time.  True is the answer.

3.  This one is possibly true.  Pope Gregory IX issued a Papal Bull stating that cats, especially black cats were dangerous or wicked or plain bad luck for everyone.  This led to a worldwide scourge against cats.  People started killing them or at least neglecting them.  The Black Death was a disease-filled period in the middle ages spurred by the overpopulation of rats.  I say True.

4.  Shakespeare was a wonderful author and crafter of the English language but he did not invent the name Michelle.  He IS credited with inventing the names Jessica, Miranda, Perdita and Viola.  There are no records of women having any of these names before he penned them.  The statemant was false.

5.  Adolph Hitler's nephew did fight with the Allies during WWII.  He joined the U.S. Navy and changed his name to William Stuart-Houston.  He was a Pharmacist's Mate and received a purple heart while serving in the Pacific Theater.  This one was true. 

Any comments to the answers?

FUN AND GAMES

By now you know the way the game is played.  Just pick out which statements are true and which are false.  It's easy.  

1.  A lobster has eight legs.

2.  Our Moon will someday come down and crash into the Earth.  

3.  Umber, Ochre, and Sienna are earth pigments used to make paints and are named after places/cities in France.

4.  The exclamation "Pshah" comes from the spiritual leader of Iran.

5.  Major League baseballs are made by Rawlings and stitched in Costa Rica by hand.  There are 216 double stitches on every ball.  Each club must have 156 new balls available for each home game.  The balls must be stored at precisely 70° F and 57% relative humidity.

Comment your guesses at which are right and which are lies. 

WARHEADS

We're still fighting with Iran.  The root of our problem with them is that they have been enriching uranium beyond what is necessary for civil use.  Highly enriched uranium is used for the creation of nuclear warheads.  There are nine countries that have nuclear warheads now.  We and most of the world think Iran is a special case because they are felt likely to actually use them if they have them.  Their leaders have expressed the desire to obliterate Israel and the U.S.  

The nine who now have the weapons consider them deterents to war - supposedly.  These nine have pledged not to be the first to use them.

There is a group called the Arms Control Association.  They are "Working to Eliminate the Threats Posed by the World's Most Dangerous Weapons."  Among other work, they keep track of every nuclear weapon existing in the world.  They count 12,187 nuclear warheads currently.  Here is the breakdown of owners and the number they have.

1.  Russia  5,420

2.  USA  5,042

3.  China  620

4.  France  370

5.  United Kingdom  225

6.  India  190

7.  Pakistan  170

8.  Isreal  90

9.  North Korea  60

About 9,700 of these warheads are in military use and about 2,400 are awaiting dismantling.

Keep in mind, a nation needs to also have a means to deliver these weapons to make them  more useful.  That's why you hear about North Korea testing long range ballistic missiles.    

MIDWEEK PRAYER

 I put the word "Persistence" into the search block at the top of my blog and up came some 15 entries in which I have used that word.  All but one of these had to do with prayer.  I feel it is so important.  Try this.  

Lord, all praise to you.  I know you've heard this from me before but I really do need your help.  You are probably already working on it in ways I don't understand or maybe it is something I definitely don't need - I don't know which.  Anyway, I'm asking again just so you know how important I think it is to me. Whatever the case, I trust you will bring the best for me whether I understand it or not - you always have. Hear my prayer.  Amen.       

MEMORIES

 Maybe just because I'm old but distant memories pop into my head every once in a while.  Here's one I may have repeated before but I'm going to do it anyway.  There are two or three moments that were memorable.

The company I worked for decided to have a manager and salesperson meeting in November of 1985. It was held in the Constellation Hotel in Toronto near the airport.  I don't know why there but that's the way it was.  We had supply centers in Ohio and Michigan - of course I was an Ohio guy.  I had only been with the company a few years and was the Cincinnati manager.  We didn't often see the all the guys from other areas.  

We met in the Detroit area for a bus ride to Toronto.  A busfull went, maybe 50 guys.  When the bus crossed into Canada we were stopped by Canadian border guards.  One got on the bus and asked if we all had our passports with us.  Of course, no one did.  He walked slowly down the aisle and stopped by our manaager from Saginaw, Michigan named Art Valls.  He asked where he was from.  All the Michigan guys laughed. Art was quiet and distinctly looked different from the rest of us Anglo-Saxon types.  He looked like an Indian - North American Indian.  Poor Art.  They let us pass. 

At the hotel they had matched all the Ohio guys in rooms with Michigan people.  I can't remember the name of the guy I roomed with.  At lunch the second or third day, I heard him tell someone he had the best roommate in the world.  At night when he went to bed and was fast asleep, I was still out.  In the morning, before he had wakened, I had s - s - and showered and left the room.   They were all jealous. Maybe that explains why I can't remember his name. 

The first night there, we were in the hotel lounge enjoying beverages and stories while watching Monday night football on an enormous TV.  It was the night that Joe Theismann was crushed by Lawrence Taylor broking his leg into pieces and ending a promising career.  

IRISH AMERICANS

 This is the last in my series on Irish Americans.   This one is not quite so lesser known.

  This is dedicated to lesser known Irish Americans.  Everyone is aware of John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie (her mother was from County Clare).  Sure Ronald Regan was Irish as was Maureen O'Hara and Bruce Springsteen has a bit of the "green" in his heritage.  Walt Disney's father was Anglo-Irish.  Bareknuckle boxing champion, John L. Sullivan's parents were both Irish immigrants.  Henry Ford's father was born in County Cork.  Both of Eugene O'Neill's parents were Irish immigrants.  Of course, you know that he won the Nobel Prize for literature and also his plays won four Pulitzer Prizes for drama.

Have you heard of Cassius Clay?  

Yes, that Cassius Clay.  The black man from Louisville who professed to be Muslim and changed his name to Muhammad Ali.  The one who won Olympic Gold for the U.S.; who was the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World; who spoke in basic poetry and belittled many opponents.  His style was described as "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee."  Yes, the one who refused to be drafted into military service and was stripped of his title. Still, the one who many called "the greatest".  Yes, the one who was known and honored around the world.  The one who was befelled by Parkinsons Syndrome.  

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born to Odessa Grady Clay.  His great-grandfather was Abe Grady, originally of Ennis in County Clare, Ireland.  Abe left Ireland during the Great Famine and settled in Louisville.  There he married a freed African-American slave just after the Civil War.  

I loved the guy as an athlete.  It didn't bother me that he refused to joint the army and risk going to Vietnam.  I never knew he was Irish until recently.

SUNDAY

In addition to my weekly reminder that this is the Lord's Day, I have an offer. 

I bought a container of Dorsel's PinHead Oatmeal and made a batch for myself.  One package has enough oats for two batches.  I had no idea that it made that much.  I have enough to last me until  Christmas.  The directions for cooking are on the back of the package.  I will donate the half package to any good home that really wants it.