I thought I’ve seen every Michael Jordan photo there is, but this is the first I’ve seen of this one. It’s an amazing one, look at how high he is and he has to protect himself from hitting the backboard.
I haven’t watched a lot of March Madness, but the basketball looked like it is a brighter orange.
Sometimes a random thought will run across my mind and just stop me down. That happened yesterday, when, for some reason, it occurred to me it may be a normal thing for college students to write an entire paper on their mobile phone. Then, I thought about how I would utilize a smart phone in college. Like, if I got somewhere early and had 15-minutes to kill, would I take advantage of the technology on my phone and get some homework or studying done?
I helped a fellow parent yesterday by watching her child after school, taking him to soccer practice with my son, and then to his home. When I dropped him off and visited their lovely home, I became profoundly sad, but tried to not show it on the outside. Maybe it was jealousy or envy, I’m not sure. But everything seemed perfect for them, a complete family unit in a nice house. It made me mourn what I had and what was unexpectedly taken from me. At least I tried to enjoy and cherish it while it lasted. When you lose your parents early in life, as well as your best friend, you tend to take things in more so than the average person. The mother was visiting her father in the hospital, who had a heart procedure. I shared how my father had an unexpected heart ailment three days before I graduated high school, and thanks to a pacemaker, I got four borrowed years. And, in those four years, I tried to soak in and take advantage of every moment possible. It then reminded me about last Father’s Day. Initially, my ex wasn’t going to allow me to see our children that day until I begged and she gave in and allowed me to have breakfast with them before she took them to her parent’s house. She tried to reason that I didn’t get to visit my father on every Father’s Day, so I shouldn’t be making a big deal about not being able to see my kids on that day. That really bothered me because I came home from college for every Father’s Day. She never met my father and had no idea if I spend every one of those special days with him or not.
Microplastic pollution has been detected in human blood for the first time, with scientists finding the tiny particles in almost 80% of the people tested.The discovery shows the particles can travel around the body and may lodge in organs. The impact on health is as yet unknown. But researchers are concerned as microplastics cause damage to human cells in the laboratory and air pollution particles are already known to enter the body and cause millions of early deaths a year.
This is some amazing footage which happened in our area, and this guy is indebted to his friend for life. It happened in 2014, first written about in April 2020, and the first I’ve seen of it was yesterday. The professional skydiver wearing the helmet camera that recorded the footage didn’t post it because the jumper involved didn’t want his family to see what kind of danger he’d been in. You’ll see a skydiver get knocked out by a another one who collides with him at the 0:50 mark, and another friend pulls a Point Break maneuver and pulls his unconscious friend’s chute open at the 1:09 mark, saving his life. Here’s an article about it. Here’s another writeup and a video from another perspective.
The save: The hit obviously had knocked him unconscious. I immediately go to my back and start to drive at the jumper who who was hit. He was in a flat spin on his back. The only thought I remember having was “Get there.” I then transition to my belly, and use all the surface area I could to fly over to him. I stop his spin, and tried to roll him over to his belly to no avail. (Apparently roll overs are easier when they’re awake.) At 5,000 feet I make the decision to pull his reserve. My logic behind the decision of pulling his reserve, rather than his main, is that the reserve is designed to open and land more docile than a typical main parachute. If he fell all the way until his AAD fired —he would be under a reserve anyway, but with 4,000 less feet of altitude to regain consciousness. I then got down to the ground as fast as I could, so that I could notify someone to call 911.The aftermath:The KO’d jumper regained consciousness under his reserve, and somehow flew a text book student pattern. He landed like a sack of potatoes in the main landing area. The other jumper landed safely in the main as well. Everyone walked away that day. Some with a bruised ego, some with a bruised face.
Florida: Mission Everglades has a unique interactive experience with their animals. Here’s an old YouTube clip about it.
