Last week, I was asked how do you decide what to write about? Well. Stuff in the news. It could be a magazine or book that I read, or something I cooked or ate. Perhaps it was something I found funny. You will find that I don’t often take a real position on an issue unless it involves stupidity, food, or our wonderful Earth (see stupidity “a man sues Buffalo Wild Wings – end of column). Some weeks it’s hard to find something that I think will hold your interest because it doesn’t even hold my interest. At times I can spend an hour writing a paragraph (you must fact-check most information you read with at least two other sources because some news sources are less than truthful), then I’ve been known to turn around and delete the whole thing. Hope you enjoy what I found this week. Especially about Mr. & Mrs. Pickles.
This is the best story. At the Houston Zoo, Mr. Pickles, 90-years-old and the most genetically valuable radiated tortoise in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan, just became a father to three baby tortoises. Mr. Pickles is the oldest animal at the Houston Zoo. He and his longtime partner, Mrs. Pickles, are new parents to Dill, Gherkin and Jalapeno, all doing well and quite beautiful little tortoises. Mr. Pickles has been at the zoo for 36 years and has been with Mrs. Pickles since she arrived in 1996. The Pickles had another little Pickle in 1997. Zoo officials say the hatchlings were definitely a surprise. Luckily, someone saw Mrs. Pickles as she was laying her eggs at closing time and since the soil in Houston isn’t like it is in Madagascar, it’s unlikely the eggs would have hatched on their own. That’s definitely being at the right place at the right time. They’re so cute, too. It is a species with recorded lifespans of up to 188 years, so Mr. Pickles may just now be hitting his prime. These tortoises are classified as critically endangered because of the destruction of their habitat and because of poaching.
There was a young belle of old Natchez
Whose garments were always in patchez.
When comments arose
On the state of her clothes,
She replied, ‘When Ah itchez, Ah scratchez. – Ogden Nash
Actor Ryan Reynolds group sold Mint Mobile to T-Mobile for $1.35 BILLION. That means his roughly 25% of Mint Mobile will have him rolling in more than $300 million in cash and stock from the transaction. The Houston Astros are without star second baseman Jose Altuve for a while after he fractured his right thumb in a game which will require surgery. Yosemite has reopened from sunrise to sunset with limited access after their historic snowfall, up to 15 feet in some areas, 40” in just one day.
My pet mouse “Elvis” died last night. He was caught in a trap. (Thanks to Emily for that laugh.)
Investigation into the 2015 hit-and-run accident of Buster Murdaugh’s classmate and friend, Stephen Smith, is being reopened based on new evidence. The Smith family began raising money for an independent exhumation and autopsy to get an unbiased look at his body and an accurate determination of his cause of death. As of Monday, the family had raised $67,265 (as of the day I wrote this) of a $15,000 goal. I would say people are supporting new evidence. What about the housekeeper?
Items belonging to the once prominent SC Murdaugh family, are set to be auctioned this week by Liberty Auction House. No online or absentee bids. The 1,700-acre hunting estate is under contract, listed in February for $3.9 million. It includes a 5,275-sq-ft home, guest cottage, equipment shed, fishpond, kennels and shooting range.
Murdaugh is now living in a single cell, separated from other prison inmates due to concerns that he might be a target for other inmates, given his legal presence in the state. Never thought about that…
RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Musician Elton John is 76. Sex symbol Ursula Andress of Dr. No, & Casino Royale is 87. Remember Honey Ryder emerging from the sea in that white bikini? Composer, Blues pianist, and singer Clarence “Frogman” Henry is 86. I Don’t Know Why I Love You But I Do. Singer Ruth Pointer of The Pointer Sisters is 77. Actor Glenn Close is 76. Actor Bruce Willis is 68. Actor Hal Linden is 92. Country singer-guitarist Ranger Doug of Riders in the Sky is 77. Drummer Carl Palmer of Asia; Emerson, Lake and Palmer is 73. Guitarist Jimmie Vaughan of Fabulous Thunderbirds is 72. Director Spike Lee is 66. Actor Holly Hunter is 65. Drummer Slim Jim Phantom of Stray Cats is 62. Model Kathy Ireland is 60.
Actor William Shatner is 92. He says he realizes that he doesn’t have much time left so he is involved in the production of a documentary about his life titled You Can Call Me Bill. Singer Jeremy Clyde of Chad and Jeremy is 82. Singer-guitarist George Benson is 80. Actor Reese Witherspoon is 47. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is 75. His oldest son (with Sarah Brightman) has terminal stomach cancer. Sportscaster Bob Costas is 71. Singer-actor Stephanie Mills is 66. The Wiz. Actor Matthew Modine is 64. Singer Chaka Khan is 70. Actor Keri Russell is 47. Harmonica player Lee Oskar of War is 75.
Actor and stuntman Paul Grant, 56, died this past week. He was best known as an Ewok in Return of the Jedi, and a goblin in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Actor and musician Lance Solomon Reddick, died at 60. He was Charon in the John Wick franchise. Hall of Famer & New York Knicks legend, Willis Reed died at 80.
A police recruit was asked during the exam, “What would you do if you had to arrest your own mother?” He said, “Call for backup.” (This could be a big problem in our world right now, no one is afraid of their mother.)
Rupert Murdoch, 92-years old (Fox News and many more news companies) is getting married again, just seven months after divorcing supermodel Jerry Hall (after he broke up with her by email.) The 5th time may be a charm. The new bride is Ann Lesley Smith, a 66-year-old former model, singer-songwriter, radio talk-show host and police chaplain. The couple said, they are “looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together”. Hmmm. I wonder if they are aware that the average life expectancy dropped to 76.1 years for males. Living on love. Murdoch’s Fox Corp. is currently facing a 1.6 billion lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems, alleging Fox News hosts and guests defamed it by falsely tying it to efforts to cheat Trump out of an election victory in 2020. Murdoch acknowledged in a deposition that he had the power to stop the false narrative but declined to step in.
Taylor Swift’s new Era Tour has her belting out 44 songs from all of her albums, about a dozen costume changes, all in a span of three hours and 15 minutes. No intermission. Seriously impressive. Police arrested a 32-year-old man who pleaded guilty to an attempt to seize 200,000 Cadbury Crème Eggs loaded in a semi-truck in central England. A woman had never taken her 2007 iPhone out of the box, and it just recently auctioned/sold for $63,000.
Remember me telling you about the invasive snails in Florida that were first spotted in 2004? The Everglade Kite (it gets its name because it seems to float in the air) is similar to a hawk that eats just one thing…snails. Over the last century, as much of the Everglades was drained, the population of this bird declined and was one of the first birds put on the endangered species list in the 60’s but has bounced back recently because of this invasive species. Bonner General Health, the only hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho, announced on Friday that it would no longer provide labor, delivery, and a host of other obstetrical services due to the political climate in Idaho.
Based on new facts (actually, recently disclosed facts… swabs taken from market stalls in and around the pandemic’s ground zero in January 2020), show a cute, dog-like animal called a racoon-dog (looks like a cross between a fox and a racoon) has emerged as possibly the culprit for the first transmission of the COVID virus to humans, since they have long been known to naturally carry coronaviruses. Evidence emerged in 2020 revealing the animals were illegally kept at the marketplace.
Eric Kilburn Jr. is 14 years old, 6’10”, a high school freshman JV football player with a size 23 shoe, but for the past year he has been wearing his “too small” size 22 shoes because no one could find him a shoe in a 23. Now, Under Armour and PUMA both have representatives flying to Michigan to fit Eric for new custom shoes, preparing to scan the biggest pair of feet the company has ever made shoes for. Sounds like Cinderella to me.
Through MacKenzie Scott’s organization Yield Giving, she plans to select and make donations of $1 million each to 250 different nonprofits, which she calls a “new pathway to support for organizations making positive change in their communities.” To apply, the nonprofits must have annual operating budgets larger than $1 million, but less than $5 million for at least two of the past five years. “Teams on the front lines of challenges have insights no one else can offer,” Scott said, “So there are three big headlines here in my heart: Community changemakers can nominate themselves. Community changemakers get feedback from their peers. Community changemakers have a powerful role in funding decisions.” Lever for Change will manage the process to find community-focused organizations; registration by May 5, and applications completed by June 12. What are you waiting for?
There is a great big giant blob of sargassum seaweed measuring 5,000 miles long, with some headed for the Florida coast. It can be seen from space, from tropical Atlantic, from West Africa to the Caribbean, and they believe it could weigh more than 11 million tons. It can be good for the fish to hide while traveling in the ocean, but when it washes up on beaches the turtles can’t escape it, then it starts to rot and it is one bad stinky mess. Google 2023 Sargassum Seaweed Map if you want to see where it’s going.
The Supreme Court finally has something worthy of their abilities. Jack Daniel’s, the famous Tennessee whiskey company is not amused and is trying to stop the production of a chewy dog toy called Bad Spaniels, a toy that looks just like a Jack Daniel’s bottle with the alcohol content changed from 40% by volume to 43% poo by volume, 100% smelly. It’s called Silly Squeakers and is now the company’s best-selling product. Jack Daniel’s doesn’t want their customers associating a fine whiskey with dog poop.
Don’t forget that PetSupermarket provides a 10% discount on regular and sale priced merchandise the last Tuesday of the month, for military or seniors over the age of 55. Ten percent is huge. I set an alarm each week to remind me when to head that way for Teller’s food and salmon chewies. Last Tuesday!
A man is suing Buffalo Wild Wings claiming that their boneless wings are not wings at all, but more like a chicken nugget. Buffalo Wild Wings tweeted in response: “It’s true. Our boneless wings are all white meat chicken. Our hamburgers contain no ham. Our buffalo wings are 0% buffalo.” The same man has filed at least three other class-action lawsuits; claiming that the “natural” label on Tom’s Wicked Fresh Mouthwash and the “high in fiber” label on Kind granola are inaccurate and that Hefty (case dismissed) shouldn’t label its bags as “recycling bags” because they are not recyclable.
Why did the frog take the bus to work today? His car got toad away. Coming soon, so start collecting your box of shredding. April 15 – Shred Day with Texas Gulf Bank – L J Rec Center Parking Lot.
Lisa
Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com
