Can I bend your ear for a minute? Actually, if you'd like, I can also twist it, punch it, kick it, and grind it into a wrestling mat. If you're a physical contact avoiding Humanties major like me, whose only calloused body parts are the fingertips with which you hammer your laptop keyboard, the idea of having your ear turned into a vegetable probably sounds likes a net negative. But to some, the attaining of cauliflower ear is a combination right of passage and badge of honor. The goal is not a little, harmless nibbling of the ear, nor a full Mike Tyson lobe-otomy, but rather a hard-earned collection of destroyed blood vessels and pus. Pain, injury, permanent disfigurement: all music to the ears. ESPN's Ryan Hockensmith put his ear to the ground (softly) to report on the beautiful and grotesque honor of cauliflower ear. "When he was 8 years old, Bo Nickal went to his parents like so many little kids do. He figured out a major goal for himself. 'I want cauliflower ear,' he announced. A second-grader dreaming of permanently damaged ears would generate panic for most parents, but Nickal's dad and mom, Jason and Sandy, are combat sports people. And for combat people cauliflower ear isn't a lifelong injury. It's a sign of a life well led. Bo's dad had cauliflower ear. His dad's dad had cauliflower ear. And his mom is a former amateur boxer who smiled with pride at her young son. It was like a kid saying he wanted to take over the family business someday." I'm not sure it counts, but I'm still emotionally scarred from a wet willy I got in elementary school. 2Spectacles to BeholdIf you're of a certain age, there's a good chance you're reading this through a pair of glasses (or holding your phone really far away from your face). "But for nearly a billion people in the developing world, reading glasses are a luxury that many cannot afford. According to the World Health Organization, the lack of access to corrective eyewear inhibits learning among young students, increases the likelihood of traffic accidents and forces millions of middle-age factory workers and farmers to leave the work force too early. Uncorrected presbyopia, not surprisingly, makes it harder for breadwinners to support their families." The NYT (Gift Article) on how something as simple as a cheap pair of reading glasses can change the lives (and fortunes) of those who wear them. Glasses Improve Income, Not Just Eyesight. 3Cuts from the ClipsFor most observers, the eclipse was something to revel in, but for some the moment was a little more stressful. The latter group included a group of researchers who had "five telescopes, four and a half minutes, and one shot at getting data from the total solar eclipse." WaPo (Gift Article): Why this eclipse could really show Einstein was correct. "In addition to the pesky cloud, there was another problem. Six minutes before the eclipse, the students at telescope station No. 4 called for help. Its alignment was off, perhaps because of a faulty mount." 4Conn ArtistsUConn achieved the rare feat of becoming back-to-back NCAA hoops champions. But even that doesn't really hint at their two year dominance. "The Huskies won each of their 2024 NCAA tournament games by at least 14 points. A season ago, UConn won its six tournament games by at least 13 points." UConn overwhelms Purdue in second half to win back-to-back national titles. (It was a double win for me as well. I had UConn winning in my March Madness bracket, and as a child, I shopped in the Husky section.) 5Extra, ExtraBallot Pox: Stealing elections after the vote is so 2020. The new thing is stealing elections before the vote. "Voting in Michigan will be easier for many people this fall than it was four years ago. There will be nine days of early voting. All mail ballots will have prepaid return postage. And every community will have at least one drop box for absentee ballots because of a measure adopted by voters with the support of the state’s top Democrats. Those casting ballots in North Carolina, where Republicans enjoy a veto-proof legislative majority, will see dramatic changes in the opposite direction. For the first time in a presidential election, voters there will have to show an ID. More votes are expected to be thrown out because of new absentee ballot return deadlines. And courts will soon decide whether to allow a law to go into effect that would reshape the state’s elections boards and could result in fewer early-voting sites." WaPo (Gift Article): New voting laws in swing states could shape 2024 election. I've said it once, I'll say it a thousand times: Vote for people who want you to vote. 6Bottom of the News"The museum in southern Germany on Tuesday confirmed that it had fired a member of its technical services team after he was found to have hung one of his own paintings in a part of the gallery dedicated to modern and contemporary art, allowing him to share a space with works by pop art pioneer Warhol for an entire day. The 51-year-old man had smuggled his work into the display at Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne 'in the hope of achieving his artistic breakthrough." This gives new meaning to an art installation.
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Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Hold My Ear
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