|
I broke down and bought the missing book in my Dorothy Dunnett series. While I was adequately piecing together the story line I still felt I was missing some integral character development. I popped into Borders Bookstore and they had one copy of it on the shelf. I took it as a sign to stimulate the economy.
Great story from Reuters today:
Bear guzzles 36 beers, passes out at campground
SEATTLE, Washington (Reuters) -- A black bear was found passed out at a campground in Washington state recently after guzzling down three dozen cans of a local beer, a campground worker said on Wednesday.
"We noticed a bear sleeping on the common lawn and wondered what was going on until we discovered that there were a lot of beer cans lying around," said Lisa Broxson, a worker at the Baker Lake Resort, 80 miles (129 kilometers) northeast of Seattle.
The hard-drinking bear, estimated to be about two years old, broke into campers' coolers and, using his claws and teeth to open the cans, swilled down the suds.
It turns out the bear was a bit of a beer sophisticate. He tried a mass-market Busch beer, but switched to Rainier Beer, a local ale, and stuck with it for his drinking binge.
Wildlife agents chased the bear away, but it returned the next day, said Broxson. They set a trap using as bait some doughnuts, honey and two cans of Rainier Beer. It worked, and the bear was captured for relocation.
When I was about eleven or twelve, we went camping up in Sequoia National Forest with my grandfather, Famps. He was around 80 at the time and we had him hiking up and down the hillside to our campsite all day long. One night, a bear came through the campsites and did exactly what the bear above did: opened the coolers and had a little party. I believe he also popped a beer or two, but was much more focused on the bacon, hot dogs and hamburgers they had stored there.
[More of an epicure than a beer sophisticate.]
As usual, the main Olympic coverage has been limited to showing the "popular" events, although with Bravo, MSNBC and USA Network, there have been other sports given air-time. To give credit, the swimming and gymnastics have indeed provided excitement and surprises, so that's been good.
They've also shown smaller segments on sports where an American is either favored to win or wins a medal. Two days ago, they showed the first American female gold-medalist in fencing - Mariel Zagunis - and the jubilation on her face and those of her teammates was truly delightful. And not only did Zagunis win the gold - Sada Jacobson took the bronze in the same sport.
[Brava!]
Yesterday, I was thrilled to see them show the top three finishers in the Men's Road Cycling Time Trial, and Tyler Hamilton took the gold, with Bobby Julich winning the bronze. It was great to see a bit of the footage from the grueling races and to see the two Americans enjoying the awards ceremony with their families.
The shot cut back to Bob Costas in the studio with a graphic behind him still showing Hamilton and Julich's faces, and he announced, "...and Deirdre Demet-Barry won the silver medal in the Women's Time Trial."
That was it. NBC couldn't even be bothered to show Dede Barry's face. She just got a voice-over. Her teammate, Christine Thorburn, wasn't even mentioned, although she came in fourth, narrowly missing the bronze medal.
So, Dede Barry, here's your moment in the sun, even if it is only on Diddakoi.com.
| 
