12-year-old pitches perfect game June 4, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Baseball, Colby Gage, Little League, Perfect Game
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He reached the milestone before Cole Hamels had the chance.
12-year-old Colby Gage, a pitcher for his Little League in Adams, Mass., struck out 18 consecutive batters to secure a perfect game.
While a milestone, this article from News 10 in Massachussetts says Little Leagues don’t generally track such records, but it says the event of pitchers’ striking out all batters could happen “a few times a year.”
Regardless, buy this kid a drink. (Not that I condone underage drinking whatsoever.)
Where does your name rank? June 4, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Babies, Social Security
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Check out the Social Security Web site’s database of the most popular baby names by year. Does yours rank in the top 1,000 of the last nine years?
“Christopher” happens to be quite popular, coming in at No. 9 for 2008.
General Motors knows it screwed up June 3, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Bankruptcy, General Motors, GM
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In a new one-minute commercial, General Motors, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, is letting customers know the company hasn’t kept up with changing times.
Acknowledging that eight brands is too many and its cost structure can no longer compete worldwide, GM attempts to ease customers’ (and 60-percent owners’) concerns by saying the only “chapter” the company is focusing on is chapter one.
I find the commercial oddly entertaining. And at the 48-second mark, the Phillies make a cameo in a photo from just after their 2008 World Series win.
The art of piano dancing June 3, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Big Piano, FAO Schwartz
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Call me sheltered. I’ve never seen Big. And I’ve never heard of the big piano at FAO Schwartz before watching Jeopardy! this week.
So I did my research, and I determined working at FAO Schwartz and playing the giant piano is my new dream job (behind game show host and, well, any entry-level position at this point).
This thing takes skill. I admire the workers’ dexterity.
Night owls: do you know your infomercial slogans? June 1, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Infomercials, Magic Bullet, Mental Floss
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Proud to say I got 12 out of 12.
Take this quiz from mental_floss — how well do you know the slogans of your favorite infomercial items? My grandmother taught me well. I’m the proud owner of the Magic Bullet and the Turbocooker. To reminisce, have a look below.
How well did you do?
The Germans always make good stuff… as does Bounty. June 1, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Infomercials, Shamwow, YouTube
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Shamwow has some pretty major competition.
We’ve all (I hope) seen the infamous Shamwow infomercial featuring Vince, who was recently arrested for a battery charge (irrelevant to this post, but entertaining nonetheless).
Here’s the addicting commercial as a refresher:
As typical in a capitalist economy, competition arose and magic ensues. And here it is (warning: some language):
Final Titanic survivor dies May 31, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Elizabeth Gladys Dean, Obituary, Titanic
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A chapter of world history has, in one sense, been laid to rest.
Elizabeth Gladys Dean, an infant onboard the Titanic, passed away today at the age of 97. She was the last known survivor from the ship, which sank in April 1912.
Dean was on the ship with her brother and parents. Her father died as a result of the sinking while she escaped on a lifeboat with her brother and mother.
Dean passed away exactly 98 years after the Titanic was launched. Her brother, Bertram, died on April 14, 1992, the 80th anniversary of the ship’s sinking.
Here are some additional links — mostly courtesy of Wikipedia — that are useful.
- Cut to the Chase – I did a column for TTN in which I mentioned Dean in December 2007.
- Titanic on Wikipedia – A very thorough Wikipedia page, complete with 92 primary sources.
- Titanic: Adventure out of Time – This is a fun game I bought. CD-ROMs should come back. Here’s the archive.org page, complete with MP3 files from the game.
Photo courtesy CNN.
Personal effects returned from Flight 1549 May 28, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Flight 1549, US Airways
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The passengers on US Airways Flight 1549 were lucky to walk off the plane alive on Jan. 15 after it crashed into the Hudson.
Receiving some of the items they boarded with was an added bonus.
The passengers have been receiving some items the abandoned on the sinking plane through the mail recently, as US Airways hired a recovery and restoration firm to salvage anything possible.
From boarding passes to books to briefcases to running shoes, the passengers quoted in this CNN article said the items are in near-perfect condition (minus any permanent water damage). Words in books and documents are still legible, and submerged flash drives still work.
Photo courtesy CNN.
LMIRL, K? 143. (NALOPKT.) May 27, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Internet Lingo, NetLingo
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Headline translation: Let’s meet in real life, OK? I love you. (Not a lot of people know that.)
Kids these days have dirty minds.
That’s according to an updated list of Internet lingo by the company NetLingo. Phrases like “BRB” and “LOL” are now replaced with “FMLTWIA” and “TDTM.”
To find out the explicit truth, click here. (Don’t worry — it’s only a link to myfoxphilly.com.)
According to NetLingo, about 95 percent of parents (and, for that matter, many friends whom I spoke to) have no clue what these acronyms mean.
Image Courtesy myfoxphilly.com. Just because it’s a great photo to be attached with this story.
Even baby squirrels deserve equal opportunities May 21, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Squirrels, UCLA, YouTube
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UCLA has a problem — big walls and baby squirrels. Whoever said college students are immature and lack the ability to do anything good should watch this video.
