Weekend Open Thread

… one of the oldest candies available has been around since the mid-19th Century? Love them or hate them, everyone who likes candy has an opinion about Necco Wafers™, flat round slabs of candy about the size of a quarter, which come in rolls of about 35. The candy was first produced in 1847 by the New England Confectionary Company, the initials of which incidentally form the candy’s name. They are the oldest American candy brand still in production. Additional trivia note: The oldest continually produced candy brand is Good & Plenty™, the candy-covered licorice treat. Production of those began in 1893, but because of a break in production of Necco Wafers from 2018 to 2020, Good & Plenty are the oldest brand in continuous production. (And suddenly I want some candy.)

… only one pitcher in all of professional baseball history has thrown two perfect games? A perfect game is one in which a pitcher retires all 27 opposing batters without allowing a single base runner. While the first perfect game in Major League Baseball was thrown in 1880 by Lee Richmond (1857-1929), and the feat has been done only 23 times since then, no MLB or minor league pitcher has thrown more than one. The only professional ballplayer to throw two perfect games was Jean Faut (1925-2023), who pitched in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1946 to 1953. Faut, who played for the South Bend, Indiana Blue Sox, threw her first on July 21, 1951 against the Rockford Peaches, and did it again on September 3, 1953, against the Kalamazoo Lassies. Additional trivia note: Faut’s two perfect games were two of only five pitched during the entire existence of the AAGPBL. The others were thrown by Annabelle Lee (1922-2008) of the Minneapolis Millerettes, Carolyn Morris (1925-1996) of the Rockford Peaches, and Doris Sams (1927-2012) of the Muskegon Lassies. The AAGPBL was featured in the hit 1992 movie, A League of Their Own.

… a rock musician has a doctoral degree? Brian May (born 1947), guitarist for the group Queen, has an earned Ph.D. in astrophysics from Imperial College in London. (I’ve heard of spaced out, but this …)

… noted author and political activist Helen Keller was related to a Confederate general? Keller (1880-1968) was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, and became deaf and blind at the age of two following an illness. She was related to Confederate general Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) on her mother’s side. Keller’s mother, Catherine Everett Adams Keller (1856-1921), was a second cousin of Lee.

… penguins sleep more deeply in the afternoon? Scientists discovered this trait by creeping up on sleeping king penguins at different times of the day and poking the penguins with a stick until they awakened. It took only an average of five pokes to wake a sleeping penguin in the morning, but afternoon naps were deeper – the average was nine pokes with a stick to rouse the bird. (Try that trick with a bear one day, and let me know how it goes. If you survive.)

Now … you know!

Does it count if you take a trip but never leave the farm?

Days are getting longer.
Now if they will just leave the clocks alone….

Please don’t call us Tim Walz.

Welp, this should cause the commie cuttlefish, aka Major Moonbat, to blow a gasket. But since we likely have an indictment of Maduro as a drug kingpin, his capture/arrest may be perfectly legal.