Ten Good Things

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   Quote of the Day

"To me, every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle."

- Walt Whitman

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Before the do-nothing, filibuster-mongering 113th Congress returns from its recess and before the democracy-challenged Supreme Court gets back in session, I thought it would be timely to present another list of Ten Good Things that happened in the past few months.

1. This has been the "Summer of Saturn." Starting in May and continuing through the end of this month, the ringed planet has been clearly visible in the night sky. Even with a small telescope you can see the rings (which are just 328 feet thick!) and maybe a few of the planet's moons. Because of the relative positions of Earth and Saturn in their orbits, the rings are currently at an angle. What a phenomenal reminder of the beauty of the universe!
 

[Photo is from skyscrapers.org website]

Link to Viewing Saturn webpage on NASA website

2. Was there a more memorable moment in the Major League Baseball's 2013 All-Star Game (or any All-Star game for that matter) than when Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera took the field in the bottom of the eighth inning? As the greatest closer of all time jogged in from the bullpen in what will be his last All-Star Game, his American League teammates honored him by staying off the field. There he was - alone on the pitcher's mound with everyone in New York's Citi Field on their feet and cheering, American and National League players on the dugout steps cheering and snapping pictures with their cell phones.  Jim Leyland, the manager of the American League All-Stars, showed real class by bringing him in for the bottom of the eighth, thereby ensuring that Mariano would receive the adulation of the crowd - had the National League bats erupted in the eighth, there would be no bottom of the ninth and no appearance by Mariano Rivera. And as happened so many times in the past, three batters came up to face him and three batters went down.

Links to videos:
YouTube "Mariano Rivera Entrance 2013 All-Star Game"
MLB website "Rivera's tribute latest, and greatest, of its kind"

 

3. The Hero of Cleveland - Charles Ramsey rescued three women who had been held captive for a decade. "He was eating a Big Mac at his home in Cleveland, Ohio when Charles Ramsey heard yelling from across the street, grabbed his hamburger and knocked his neighbor's front door down rescuing [the] three Ohio women." McDonald's and 14 local Cleveland restaurants have offered him free hamburgers for life. [examiner.com website]
[Photo of Charles Ramsey is from AP]

4. Democratic Governor Steve Beshear of "red state" Kentucky (also the home of Mr. Filibuster Mitch McConnell), is enthusiastically implementing the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). "Calling it 'the single-most important decision in our lifetime for improving the health of Kentuckians,' Gov. Steve Beshear today announced the inclusion of 308,000 more Kentuckians in the federal Medicaid health insurance program. The expansion, together with the creation of the Health Benefit Exchange, will ensure that every Kentuckian will have access to affordable health insurance." [News release posted on WFPL(Louisville) website]

5. Half a Loaf is Better, etc. - Republican Governor Chris Christie of "blue state" New Jersey signed off on ten new gun-control laws. Okay, most of these were non-controversial (who's going to argue with keeping potential terrorists from "obtaining firearms identification cards or permits to purchase handguns"?). Five more "controversial" bills are still on his desk - including one calling for "background checks for all private gun sales and require all prospective gun owners to attend a gun safety training class" and another that "would ban a model of .50 caliber rifle, the most powerful rifle available to civilians." Still, it's a step in the right direction by a Republican governor who is looking over his shoulder at the NRA and at a potential run for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016. [Washington Free Beacon website]

See below for a Mayor Against Illegal Guns graphic showing individual states' progress towards gun-control.

 

6. Narita's "Song of the Seashore" was written in 1916 but I only came across it recently. Gentle, wistful and haunting, the song tells of memories engendered by a walk along the seashore. Links to a couple of excellent versions on YouTube:

Arranged for Flute Quartet - the version I first found

Arranged for Singer and Piano - a particularly beautiful vocal rendition

7. John Kerry has gotten the Israelis and Palestinians to sit down and begin talking peace. After three years of not even talking to each other, at least the two sides are sitting down at the same table. Whether anything finally comes of Kerry's initiative, only time will tell.

8. US National Soccer Team reaches the top 20. "Team USA's flawless execution at the CONCACAF Gold Cup paid dividends in two ways. First, they won the Gold Cup by defeating Panama 1-0 in the final at Soldier Field; second they moved back into the world's top twenty teams in the latest ranking released by FIFA on Thursday." [examiner.com website] This is the first time since 2010 that the national team has been ranked this high. 

9. The US Senate passed a bipartisan bill on immigration reform that includes a path to citizenry for undocumented immigrants.

10. When Daft Punk, the French electronic music duo, had to cancel from Stephen Colbert's Comedy Central show because of contractual obligations to MTV, Colbert showed us how to make lemonade out of lemons in this absolutely hilarious segment from the show. There are dozens of videos out there - here's the one from the Colbert Nation website.

Colbert Nation video of Colbert's Daft Punk dance


Other Stuff

Mayors Against Illegal Guns Graphic