Astronomers have identified numerous stellar black hole candidates, and have also found evidence of supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies. In 1998, astronomers found compelling evidence that a supermassive black hole of more than 2 million solar masses is located near the Sagittarius A* region in the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and more recent results using additional data find evidence that the supermassive black hole is more than 4 million solar masses.

It could be....

It pretty much is......

My favorite number.

Seven days in a week. I am the youngest of seven kids. Lucky Seven. Seven brides for seven brothers. 7-11. Seventh Heaven. There are seven continents on earth. Seven wonders of the world. Seven colors in the rainbow. Seven stars in the Big Dipper. It just keeps going, and going.

Hey…….. Why was six afraid of seven. Because seven ate nine.

Once upon a time, and we are talking a long, long stinking time ago, there lived a young princess named Petunia. She lived in the castle, at the top of the hill, near the village of Begunia (just south of Snackistan). Her mother ruled all of Begunia, and beyond. Way stinking beyond.

One day, while walking in a nearby forest, Petunia found a magic pitcher. That little pitcher could throw up to 89 m.p.h. Great fastball, and had a mean spitball too. Begunia took the magic pitcher back with her to the castle.

Her mother, Queen Huffandstuff the Second, wasn’t crazy about baseball. At all. So she commanded her sorcerer to turn the pitcher into a ceramic sort of doo-hickey-thinger. Which he did. (The sorcerer’s name is Jimmy the Knife, if you must know).

Aaannnnnnyyyyyway, Petunia sobbed and sobbed. She missed her little hurler. Her mother had no sympathy. She said to little Petuny, “Honey get over it……..

LIfe’s a Pitch and then you Cry.”

June 30th is a WAY WACKY day in history. Don’t believe me?

Check this….

1859 French acrobat Blondin crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope as 5,000 spectators watched.

1908 An asteroid exploded above Tunguska in Siberia, leaving 800 square miles of scorched or blown-down trees.

1917 Jazz singer Lena Horne was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.

1921 President Warren G. Harding appointed former President William Howard Taft chief justice of the United States.

1934 Adolf Hitler began his “blood purge” of political and military leaders in Germany in what came to be known as “The Night of the Long Knives.”

1934 Harry Blackstone, Jr. was born. He was an American Illusionist and Magician.

1936 The novel “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell was published.

1952 The radio soap opera “The Guiding Light” made its TV debut on CBS.

1963 Pope Paul VI was crowned the 262nd head of the Roman Catholic Church.

1971 The 26th Amendment to the Constitution, lowering the minimum voting age to 18, was ratified as Ohio became the 38th state to approve it.

1994 The U.S. Figure Skating Association stripped Tonya Harding of the national championship and banned her from the organization for life for an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan.

2001 Doctors implanted a dual-purpose pacemaker in Vice President Dick Cheney’s chest.

Four words for all of this…..“Whack-A-Doodle-Doody”

I have such a connection with the animal world. I simply love the furry beasts. D-O-G-s are my favorite. But, every time I go to the zoo, I find myself captivated, delighted (in some ways) and enthralled.

We’ve not had zoos all that long in the U.S. In 1860, Central Park Zoo, the first public zoo in the United States, opened in New York, although in 1859, the Philadelphia Zoological Society had made an effort to establish a zoo, but delayed opening it until 1874 because of the American Civil War. Zoos were really crappy to animals back then. Some still are. But some do a pretty decent job at conservation, and protection. So, the balance.

A primate named Floyd.

A primate named Mona.

Today, we took the grandkids to the Cincinnati Zoo. Haylee, Levi, and (new big brother) Isaac. We saw a lot of things. A lot.

We met some fine animals today too. I cried a couple of times. It always happens to me at the zoo.

Keith, the Singing Monkey

Jasper, the Swimming Bear

Ah, one of my favorite movies, Stand By Me. I just love it. Reminds me of the childhood of…. well…. some child somewhere.

So here’s my Mary and my Jerry, up on the train tracks above Seven Mile Creek. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, if a train comes, you see. It reminded me of Stand By Me.
Jerry and Mary went on to look for Ray Brower. About a half mile away, they found a large plastic bag, about the size of a body, near the tracks. Creepy for a minute. It wasn’t Ray Brower, however. Mary looked.

For more about the movie, follow this link.

Looking for Ray, the dead kid.

There are some very cool birthdays on this day. Babe Didrickson Zaharias (Incredible female athlete, 1911); Arthur Middleton (Signer of the Declaration of Independence, 1787); Pearl Buck (American Nobel Prize-winning author, 1892); Sean Hayes (Actor, 1970); Chris O’Donnell (Actor, 1970); oh, there’s a bunch more.

But on this very amazing day, especially, Titus Neil Moreland, son of Joshua and Tiffany Moreland, was born at 8:16 this morning. Six pounds and 14 ounces. Twenty inches tall. Adorable from head to toe.

Titus Neil Moreland

There’s a full moon tonight too. That’s gotta’ be good.

(Not a Polly Kronenberger photograph. Not sure who took this. Probably Josh. I did some post production work, however.)

We have lots of Buffalo stuff here in the U.S.

Buffalo, NY, Buffalo Wings, Buffalo China, Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Burgers, Buffalo Marshmallow Cups, Johnny the Big Buffalo Pro Wrestler, Buffalo Balloons, Buffalo Icecream. I mean, the list goes on and on. Why? I ask you. Why????? This fixation with Buffalo? Buffalo Nickels, Buffalo Lodges, Buffalo Diaper Company…. blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…..

So how do you tell a fish this sort of thing?

“Dude. You’ve got a little piece of food on your head?” Embarrassing for the fish. Embarrassing for you. There’s just no good etiquette on this one.