Mjolnor

For many years growing up I would watch the Olympics from morning to night.  NEVER EVER do I remember the HAMMER THROW...  Apparently fairness now dictates that this 'sport' should get prime time.  It took only 4000 years.  Legend has its ignominious beginnings in Tara, Ireland.  No wonder the O'Haras left.

As some domestic abuse victims and defense attorneys will tell you,  hammers are DANGEROUS.  The THE HAMMER THROW 'sport' injures and occasionally kills more athletes than any other track event.   (Well ...maybe errant discus beheadings.)

Men's hammers are 16 pounds, Womens' only 8--so getting hit by a woman's hammer might just require hospitalization rather than burial.  

The Hammer is a metal ball attached to a steel wire and a grip.  The metal ball can be solid iron or a shell of brass with a filling of lead for instance.  It's your choice.  I would have a chocolate shell with crushed Butterfinger filling. 

Track workers dodge and measure the hammer throw distances. What fun they would have when picking mine up.  In fact, for their benefit, I may stuff mine with a nice 8 pounds of chianti which wouldn't lessen the blow from being hit by one of the other iron bombs, but the workers might not care as much. 

PS:  Trivia:  Does anyone know where the title of this piece comes from?? 

Sitting in the Rooting Section

  

Someday I'd like to see the Eerie Canal or the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal.  All I've ever seen is the Root Canal.  Probably five times.

Today I'm hanging out with my 90-year-old Dad as he visits that same Canal.  I'm just 25 years behind him, so will expect to sit in that same dentist chair a few more times myself.

Or worse yet, someday I might need one (or more) of those $$$Dental Implant$ that are advertised in full-color gory detail on highway billboard signs.  Bye-bye to the kid's inheritance and any chance to afford visiting Eerie, Suez, or Panama.

How's the Weather?

The lowest temperature recorded on Earth was -89 C (-128 F) 

at Vostok Station in Antarctica on July 21, 1983.
Anyone wishing to vacation there will be disappointed to find that Marriott and Hilton have yet to build.

Furnace Creek Ranch, Death Valley claims the hottest recorded temperature at a toasty 56.7C (134 F) Ouch.
Californians are considering sending any and all elected officials to this oven for slow cooking.

I postponed a trip to Arizona last week with my dad and sister.  It hit 118.  Dry heat, as they say.  Dehydration causes quick Mummification and you last another 4000 years. 

Not a bad deal, really.