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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - May 23, 2014
May 23, 2014
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The Indy 500:
The 98th running (!!!) of the Indianapolis 500 is this weekend. The race used to be held on Memorial Day, which, of course, was May 30 until all the holidays got moved to Monday. Now, it's on a Sunday, because of TV revenue, etc.
Also, although it'll be the 103rd anniversary of the annual event, it's actually just the 98th race, since the race was suspended during the war years (as an example to people to save gas) in WWI (1917–18) and WWII (1942–45). So, therefore the actual 100th running of the event will not occur until 2016.
The festivities start at the Brickyard with the traditional singing of "Back Home in Indiana." Then, it's "Gentlemen, start your engines!"BBQ Season begins:
The unofficial start of summer means the beginning of backyard barbecuing, and the folks at Weber Grills have fired up their annual "Grill out Hotline" to answer all your cookout questions. Some words advice from the Weber experts:
--Preheat the grill.
--Don't keep peeking. Every time you open up the hood, you let out all that nice hot air that's in the grill.
--Avoid bacteria. Don't leave food out of the cooler or off the grill for more than two hours (or less if it's over 90 degrees).
Call 1-800 GRILL-OUT for more of this stuff.
Editor's note: And remember, the lighter fluid is used for starting charcoal grills, not for writing your name in flames on the back lawn. (Maiman)Aye, aye, sir!
Memorial Day Weekend usually marks the unofficial start of the summer boating season, though lots of boaters are still hurting from high fuel prices just like motorists hitting the road. Typical fuel consumption for a 'low usage" boating enthusiast: seven to 10 gallons an hour.
Most popular Boat names (Boat-US Graphics Dep't):
--Nauti Bouy
--The Good Life
--Aqua-holic
--Dolce Vita
--Second Wind
--Serendipity
--Liberty
--It's About Time
--Island Time
--Seas the Day (or some variation the Carpe Diem theme)
Editor's note: FirstBoat adds these names: Serenity, Happy Ours, Family Time, The Black Pearl, Feelin' Nauti; Andiamo; Knot on Call; High Maintenance and Just Chillin.Sheer stupidity:
Today's Darwin Award nominee is brought to you by Kerala, India, where a 16-year-old student we only know by the name EDWIN was killed by a speeding train while posing for a selfie on the tracks. He reportedly slipped and was run over.
It's the second attention whore stunt in as many days in India. Yesterday a 32-year-old died while attempting to stage a fake hanging so he could video the stunt and put it on Facebook.
Last month, a Russian teen fell 30 feet to her death from a St Petersburg railway bridge while trying to take a dramatic selfie atop the bridge with the tracks in the background. (Maiman)Today's police blotter:
A cat in New Zealand shocked his owners when he delivered a bag of marijuana to their doorstep.
City of Dunedin Sergeant REECE MUNRO says, "You hear of cats bringing dead birds and rats home but certainly in my career I've never seen anything like this before." The kitty came home with five-grams of weed, valued at about $130-dollars. The animal's owner immediately phoned authorities, who confiscated the drug. Police plan to dust the baggie for fingerprints. Luckily, the cat will not face charges. (Still) -
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