A DOG, A HORSE, TWO CHINESE CHESS CHAMPS AND EUROVISION

What is a PBGV? One of 210 dog breeds, Petit Basset Graffon Vendéen, competing at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show this week. Named after Buddy Holly, the designer below prevailed over 2500 dogs.

PBGVs are bred to chase, not kill, rabbits, and are so extroverted, friendly and happy, that they make superb therapy dogs. A newcomer to Westminister, but popular in Europe, for Soletrader Peek A Boo (or Jilly) beat more than 20,000 dogs in the Crufts 2013 held in Birmingham, England, the largest annual competition. Costs $100 to enter Westminister and only around $25 for Crufts.

From Yahoo:

What You Can Buy for the Cost of Owning a Show Dog?

If you think bankrolling a show dog isn’t the best use of a quarter million dollars, there are a lot of other things you could buy. For the same cost of owning a show dog, you could buy:

A three-bedroom home in Birmingham, Ala., Des Moines, Iowa, Minneapolis, Minn., or many other places across the country.
Four years of college. The cost to attend the University of Massachusetts Amherst for an out-of-state student is $47,000, so you’d pay less to send your child there for four years than you would to show your dog at Westminster.
A 2020 Lamborghini Huracán EVO.

A week ago I had an enhanced Mint Julep for the Kentucky Derby. The name Secretariat kept coming up in the discussion. Why?

This was the 50th anniversary of his Triple Crown, and still holds the fastest time in all three races. His 31-length victory in the Belmont Stakes is regarded as maybe the greatest race in history.
As a three-year old, he was syndicated for what is worth nearly $40 million today.
His stride was just about 25 feet.
Weighed around 1155 pounds.
Ate 15 quarts of oats/day.
In a 16-month career, came in first 16 times, second thrice and third once.
Sired 341 winners from 663 foals. The last group was born in 1990, and two offspring remain alive today. He passed away in 1989 at the age of 19.
Had a heart (22 pounds) 2.5 times that of the average horse (8.5 pounds).
Going back further than five generations, Secretariat is found in the pedigrees of every Derby entry except for one: Derma Sotogake, one of the two Japanese-bred colts.

China's 31-year old Ding Liren was crowned the 17th world chess champion by beating Ian Nepomniachtchi. Did you know China does well in chess? They do, for the current women's champion is Ju Wenjin, who beat compatriot Lei Tingjie last year.

What happened to Magnus Carlsen of Norway? He defeated had defeated Nepomniachtchi, originally from Russia, in 2021, but chose not to defend. Ding qualified for the tournament only because Russia was banned from competing. Ding was almost inactive since 2020 because of the pandemic.

Last year Ukraine won the Eurovision song contest. However, as they are at war, Liverpool of the UK (came in #2) is hosting the 67th edition. Thirty-seven countries entered, including Australia. The final will occur on Saturday, tomorrow, May 13, at 2000 BST, and 26 countries have qualified. Will be covered by Peacock in the USA beginning at 3PM EDT, with Johnny Weir as commentator. Remember him from the Winter Olympics? NPR picks Cha Cha Cha by Kaarija from Finland to win.

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These a...

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that Oktoberfest in Germany is mostly in September? The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3. Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September? The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich? These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11. Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town. It was drizzling a bit. We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served. We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall. So no one came to serve us beer. After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine. Thus, we might have been the ...

THE FIRST 84 YEARS OF MY LIFE

The first half of my life was spent preparing myself for my final 42 years. This was a mostly trying and stressful period involving a less than ideal youth, then struggles to get through school, my first few jobs and accompanying life, ending two months later on a Sunday with Part 15E , so it was a spiritual conclusion to my final transition. I never did count the number of actual postings, but I suspect it was around 25 parts. The ending had to do with golf, the disappearance and re-appearance of an 8-iron cover. That was the final clue to whether the beyond after death would be eternal gloom or Heaven. Today, I provide only one transition, but hint about a final one, for this, after all, is Sunday. I'm 84 years old, so let me summarize what happened during the first phase, from 0-42, and follow with the years 42-84. As this is 2024, that key transition year was 1982. I can't seem to find this photo, but as a one-year old baby, I was fat....

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