Cave News

The ten most feared people in sports

At first glance the article found here looked interesting.

On second look, it is a joke. The article begins:

Halloween's almost here. With the holiday comes its usual partners in crime — the old lady in the neighborhood who gives out pennies instead of candy, the creepy dude who works at the costume shop and your "cool" friend who goes dressed as "himself/herself."

Attached to Oct. 31 is also an element of fright. Ghosts, witches and sounds of Dracula — that's Halloween at its purest. Toss in some candy corn, and you have one of America's most beloved holidays.

But, at its core, the "scary" feeling you get walking into a haunted house is what Halloween's all about. Frankenstein, Wolfman and Napoleon Dynamite outfits send shivers down the spine.

The world of sports has its share of scary figures as well. No, not scary in the sense that they are curly-haired freaks that dance to Jamiroquai and own pet alpacas named Tina.

But, rather, scary in the sense that you would not want to face them under any circumstances one-on-one.

Get this! One of the sports categories is “Competitive Eating” and another is “Video Games” -- hey, that would be scary if it wasn’t such a joke! Competitive Eating is a sport? Gimme a break!

All this nonsense is just another reason I am always glad when Halloween if finally over. One of my favorite days of the year is October 1 and Halloween is behind us for another year.

Voice of Jolly Green Giant silenced

Elmer Dresslar, the man who sang 'Ho, Ho, Ho' in Green Giant TV ads died at age 80.

He also sang ad jingles for Rice Krispies cereal, Marlboro cigarettes, Amoco oil and Dinty Moore canned beef stew.

Dresslar toured with a production of "South Pacific” and recorded 15 albums with The Singers Unlimited jazz group but he is most well know as the voice of the Jolly Green Giant.

When the Jolly Green Giant first appeared in Television commercials in 1958, he did not exactly leave the desired impression. He looked like a monster and scared kids! So they worked on his looks and added 'Ho, ho, ho' and the jingle 'Good things from the garden,’ to lighten up his image.

It seems to me that there was a maverick Halloween costume company that got in trouble making Jolly Green Giant costumes without the permission of Green Giant Foods.

Did that company get in trouble over the illegal Green Giant costumes? You bet -- right up to their brussels sprouts!

Click here.

Lost Springs Wyo said thanks, but no thanks

Thanks, but no thanks is what the Mayor of Lost Springs, Wyoming told a New York fitness expo company that wanted to buy this remote town west of Lusk on route 20.

Caveman at Lost Springs, Wyoming in June, 2003
Leda Price is the Mayor of Lost Springs, population 5. Wonder how many votes she got in the last election?

The inquiry about buying the town came from Mike Starr, chief branding officer for Better Your Body, who was brainstorming a marketing campaign that called for shaping up the whole nation one person at a time.

"What better way to start than with our own city?" Starr told the Douglas Budget.

The article from the Rapid City Journal says the population is 5. They gained one since I stopped there in June of 2003 when the sign on Route 20 showed the population as 4 as shown in photo above.

Lost Spring is the least populated town in the least populated state. No traffic lights or street cars and jack rabbits outnumber the human population.

Link here.

Wisconsin armored truck spills the bills

It was not finders keepers when $20 bills float down as an armored truck dumps $80,000 from Green Bay bridge.

It may have seemed like a gift from heaven, but hellfire and brimstone may well be the result for anybody who caught and kept part of the $80,000 in currency that fell out of the back of an armored truck Wednesday morning on the Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge.

“Technically, it’s the crime of theft, not finders keepers,” said Capt. Greg Urban of the Green Bay Police Department. “It was an accident.”

An accident, yes, but to some, the perfect storm, in which $20 bills rained down upon their heads from atop the bridge.

The armored truck was traveling over the bridge when its rear doors popped open, allowing a bag of $20 bills to drop out.

Needless to say the floating greenbacks stopped the 7:30 a.m. traffic in it’s tracks.

About $8,000 of the $80,000 was not recovered.

Are the couriers aboard that armored truck looking for new employment?

Link here.

Big Ben chimes silenced

Inspection and maintenance stopped the chimes of Big Ben for the longest time in more than two decades.

The famous clock first began operating in 1859. It was named after Sir Benjamin Hall who commissioned its installation.

Link here.

New drug made from hot dog preservative

Could the salt that preserves hot dogs also preserve your health?

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health think so. They’ve begun infusing sodium nitrite into volunteers in hopes that it could prove a cheap but potent treatment for sickle cell anemia, heart attacks, brain aneurysms, even an illness that suffocates babies.

Those ailments have something in common: They hinge on problems with low oxygen, problems the government’s research suggests nitrite can ease.

Beyond repairing the reputation of this often maligned meat preservative, the work promises to rewrite scientific dogma about how blood flows, and how the body tries to protect itself when that flow is blocked. Indeed, nitrite seems to guard tissues — in the heart, the lungs, the brain — against cellular death when they become starved of oxygen.

Just because they think a chemical that preserves hot dogs could be good doesn’t mean hot dogs are healthy.

Link here for full story.

Cable News viewership race FOX wins as usual

Cable News - number of viewers on October 27
as reported by Matt Drudge.

The listings are in order of number of viewers and as usual FOX News has all the top spots and MSNBC has all the clinkers.

As you can see, Bill O’Reilly has one million viewers more than Matthews, Olbermann, Cosby, Scarborough and Carlson combined!

FOX News - Bill O’Reilly - 2,612,000
FOX News - Sean Hannity - 1,645,000
FOX News - Brit Hume - 1,615,000
FOX News - Greta Van Susteren - 1,604,000
FOX News - Shepard Smith - 1,552,000
CNN - Larry King - 1,311,000
CNN - Aaron Brown - 1,198,000
CNN - Paula Zahn - 858,000
CNN - Anderson Cooper - 786,000
CNNHN - Nancy Grace - 724,000
MSNBC - Chris Matthews - 494,000
MSNBC - Keith Olbermann - 469,000
MSNBC - Rita Cosby - 399,000
MSNBC - Joe Scarborough - 344,000
MSNBC - Tucker Carlson - 296,000

Fox Sports Net - Pay Per View sticker shock

The Nebraska Cornhuskers played Baylor a couple of weeks ago. The broadcast was on Fox Sports Net pay per view.

I logged on to the FSN web site to check on prices. I have never used pay per view for a sports broadcast, or any broadcast for that matter.

When I saw the price I had to pick myself up off the floor. It was $40 for the three hour game.

I didn’t want to buy a stadium seat. Just wanted to watch it (or record it) on my TV at home.

It’s a good thing FSN doesn’t rely on people like me for their pay per view income!

Is new car smell an auto safety issue?

Do you get a headache when riding in a new car just out of the show room? Some people become nauseous from the smells coming from the interior of new cars.

Anyone who's pulled away from the dealer's lot in a shiny, new sedan knows the seductive scent of fresh plastic, paint and upholstery that evokes a rush of pride and consumer satisfaction.

But that unmistakable new-car smell may soon be heading the way of the rumble seat: recent research linking it to a toxic cocktail of harmful chemicals is spurring efforts by Japanese automakers to tone down the fumes.

The new-car smell emanates largely from chemicals known as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, that leach from glues, paints, vinyls and plastics in the passenger compartment.

The fumes can trigger headaches, sore throats, nausea and drowsiness. Prolonged exposure to some of the chemicals can lead to cancer, though there's no evidence linking that to concentrations in cars.

Critics liken the problem to so-called sick-building syndrome, which traces some illnesses to similar agents seeping from the walls, carpets and fixtures of new buildings.
Japanese manufacturers, including Toyota Motor Corp., have become the first to set an industrywide goal of reducing cabin concentrations to within government guidelines.

The push could spur similar action by U.S. and European rivals, making interior air quality an emerging auto safety issue.

Link here.

Dark feast - just in time for Halloween

Dark Feast - just in time for Halloween.