Media Today

[Rick Plant]

National Hurricane Center: Potiental Tropical Cyclone 4 Develops

The National Hurricane Center says there is a high chance of a system developing in the Gulf of Mexico which would become the fourth named storm of the 2022 hurricane season.

https://www.wjcl.com/article/tropical-cyclone-danielle-gulf-of-mexico/40943397

[Rick Plant]

Finnish PM tests negative in drug test taken to 'clear suspicion'



Finland's prime minister received a negative result in a drug test which she took to "clear up suspicions" after a video of the 36-year-old partying sparked criticism, her office said Monday.

Marin's urine sample was tested for the presence of various drugs, such as cocaine, amphetamine, cannabis and opioids, Iida Vallin, a special adviser to the prime minister, told AFP.

"Drug test taken from Prime Minister Sanna Marin on 19 August 2022 did not reveal the presence of drugs," Marin's office said in a statement, adding that the results were signed by a doctor.

"The test was a comprehensive drug test. We did not choose how the test was done," Vallin said.

A video leaked last week showed Marin dancing and partying with a group of friends and celebrities that created controversy across the world.

Some interpreted comments heard on the video as referring to narcotics, something heavily debated on social media and strongly denied by the prime minister.

"To clear up any suspicions, I have taken a drug test today," she told reporters at her residence on Friday.

Marin previously said she was "spending an evening with friends" and that the videos were "filmed in private premises".

She admitted to having drunk alcohol. In addition to denying taking drugs, she said she did not witness any drug use by any of the attendees.

"Never in my life, not even in my youth, have I ever used any drugs," she said.

Marin -- who was appointed in 2019 at the age of 34 -- has previously been the target of criticism over parties at her official residence.

In December 2021, she came under sustained criticism after it was revealed she stayed out dancing until the early hours despite having been exposed to Covid-19.

A poll commissioned by Finnish TV channel MTV3 at the time found two-thirds of respondents thought her night out was a "serious mistake".

© 2022 AFP

[Rick Plant]

John Wockenfuss, longtime Tigers utility player, dies at 73



(WXYZ) — John Wockenfuss, who played for the Detroit Tigers in 10 of his 12 major league seasons, has died at the age of 73.

Wockenfuss made his major league debut in 1974 in Detroit, playing 13 games.

In 10 seasons with the Tigers, Wockenfuss hit .261 with 80 home runs and 284 runs batted in.

Ahead of the 1984 season, Detroit traded Wockenfuss and Glenn Wilson to the Philadelphia Phillies for Dave Bergman and Willie Hernandez. Wockenfuss played his final two major league seasons in Philadelphia.

Johnny B. Wockenfuss, a super-utility player and fan favorite among the early 1980s Detroit Tigers teams whose unique batting stance was mimicked on sandlots all over the state of Michigan, has died. He was 73.

Wockenfuss, a Tiger for 10 years before he was traded away on the eve of the 1984 World Series-championship season, died Friday surrounded by family, according to his obituary.

Wockenfuss suffered from dementia for the past four years, something he considered a result of so many collisions at home plate during his time as a catcher.

He supported the rule change that finally outlawed those hits last decade.

"My only problem, you've got to slide into second; you can't just bowl him over, you can't just lower your shoulder and crush him," Wockenfuss, a Delaware native who lived in New York state in recent years, told The News during an interview in 2011. "Why is it you can do it with the catcher? ... "There's gotta be a line drawn somewhere. Why is it the catcher is dead meat?"

Wockenfuss played 12 seasons in the major leagues, mostly with the Tigers — who he followed closely most of his life, even after the trade that he essentially requested, but later broke his heart.

He was a star pitcher in high school in Delaware, but didn't want to pitch in the pros because he wanted to play every day. The Washington Senators drafted him, sent him to the St. Louis Cardinals, who traded him to the Detroit Tigers in December 1973. In 1974, he made his major-league debut, and was a backup catcher for his first three seasons, mostly backing up Bill Freehan, who died last year after a lengthy bout with Alzheimer's disease.

By 1977, he was playing the outfield, too, and by 1978, he was playing first base, as well.

Sparky Anderson, after being hired as Tigers manager in 1979, took a liking to Wockenfuss' potential to contribute, because of his versatility, and in 1979 and 1980, he hit 15 and 16 home runs, respectively. In 1980, he played a career-high 126 games and had 65 RBIs to go with a .390 on-base percentage. He attributed his increased production to the unique batting stance he picked up in winter ball in Puerto Rico in the 1970s. With a closed stance, Wockenfuss, a right-handed hitter, kept his feet close together near the back of the batter's box, held his hands low, and turned his back to the pitcher.

Kids throughout Michigan loved it, and copied it. Everywhere. A video of his stance on YouTube has more than 80,000 views.

"Sometimes some people are different,” Wockenfuss told the Watertown Daily Times for a profile in 2019. “You go monkeying around sometimes, and I said, 'Well, this is pretty good.'"

Wockenfuss, an exceptional hit-and-run batter and a formidable pinch-hitter, hit a career-best .301 in 1982 and was solid again in 1983, before he showed up at Tigers' spring training in Lakeland, Florida, in 1984, asking for a raise.

He was making about $200,000 in salary, less than the team average. He wasn't happy about it, floated a trade to the Philadelphia Phillies so he could be closer to home, and he let the team know it — but Wockenfuss did so through the press, which didn't sit well with ownership.

On March 24, 1984, the Tigers traded Wockenfuss and outfielder Glenn Wilson to the Phillies for a reliever named Willie Hernandez and a utility man named Dave Bergman.

Few knew that day, that would be the trade that finally put the Tigers over the top. Hernandez, a closer, went on to win the Cy Young and MVP awards in 1984, and Bergman had a career-best seven home runs (none bigger than in the 13-pitch at-bat to walk it off against the hard-charging Toronto Blue Jays on the Monday night game of the week) and 44 RBIs.

The Tigers went wire-to-wire to win the World Series in 1984.

"That hurt, because I had been with them for so many years,” Wockenfuss told the Watertown Daily Times. “We were getting better and better and better and Sparky and I were good friends. I couldn’t believe it."

Wockenfuss played just two seasons with the Phillies; the first one was solid, the second was not, and he was out of Major League Baseball after the 1985 season. He tried to get traded to an American League team so he could be a designated hitter, but the Phillies didn't oblige. Attempted tryouts to catch on again with the Tigers and the Boston Red Sox went nowhere.

In October 1986, officially retired as a player, the Tigers hired him to manage their Single-A team in Lakeland. For the 1988 season, he was promoted to manage the Double-A team in Glen Falls, New York. And for the 1989 season, he was promoted to manage the Triple-A team in Toledo.

The Tigers fired him in 1990, and he caught on managing in the Pittsburgh Pirates system for a few years, and worked in independent ball for a bit, before he left organized baseball in the 1990s.

Later in life, he ran baseball and softball academies in Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia, and coached high-school baseball until 2002. He's inducted in the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2011, talking to The News seven years before his dementia diagnosis (he had undergone multiple back surgeries), he became a strong advocate for the rule change banning home-plate collisions, which went into effect in 2014. Wockenfuss recalled the hardest hit he ever took, in September 1975, when the Tigers were visited Cleveland. Buddy Bell, a mountain of a man and a future Tigers manager, rung Wockenfuss' bell.

"I stretched out just trying to catch the ball, then it was lights out. I don't even know if I caught it," Wockenfuss told The News. "Basically, I don't really remember anything till I was sitting in a wheelchair at the hospital."

Away from baseball, Wockenfuss liked to hunt and fish.

Wockenfuss is survived by sons Brad and Jeremy, daughters Caitlin and Jessica, and four grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family is suggesting donations to the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2022/08/21/johnny-wockenfuss-whose-batting-stance-copied-kids-all-over-michigan-dies-73/7861616001/


The Batting Stance of John B. Wockenfuss

A clip of the famous batting stance of Detroit Tigers utility player Johnny Wockenfuss. From Opening Day 1982 against the Kansas City Royals Larry Gura. George Kell and Al Kaline with the commentary.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

NASA targets 13 landing sites on moon’s south pole for human landing



ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA juggled light and dark to come up with 13 potential landing sites for the future Artemis III mission that will return humans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.

Key to the choices was being able to find locations that could support the duo of astronauts for 6 1/2 days on the surface with enough sunlight to provide power and thermal protection, but also give access to the dark regions of craters and mountainous terrain near the moon’s south pole that could potentially hold water ice.

Finding water ice, which could be broken down into its component oxygen and hydrogen compounds to provide life-sustaining air and potential fuel, has been the driving force behind the initial Artemis missions.

The uncrewed Artemis I rocket is at the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center awaiting a potential launch as soon as Aug. 29. Artemis II is slated to fly with astronauts in 2024, but only orbit the moon. The Artemis III flight is slated for 2025, and two of its four astronauts, including the first woman, will take a version of SpaceX’s Starship to the lunar surface.

"Several of the proposed sites within the regions are located among some of the oldest parts of the moon, and together with the permanently shadowed regions, provide the opportunity to learn about the history of the moon through previously unstudied lunar materials,” said NASA’s Artemis lunar science head Sarah Noble.

The 13 sites are each about 9.3 miles by 9.3 miles, and each site has a 328-foot radius potential landing location. The names of the 13 potential sites are Faustini Rim A, Peak Near Shackleton, Connecting Ridge, Connecting Ridge Extension, de Gerlache Rim 1, de Gerlache Rim 2, de Gerlache-Kocher Massif, Haworth, Malapert Massif, Leibnitz Beta Plateau, Nobile Rim 1, Nobile Rim 2 and Amundsen Rim.

These landing spots are far removed from the six human landing sites during the Apollo missions from 1969-1972.

“This is a new part of the moon. It’s a place that we’ve never explored,” Noble said. “All six Apollo landing sites were in the sort of central part of the near side. And now we’re going someplace completely different in different in ancient geologic terrain.”

Noble explained how water ice could survive on the moon in its dark regions.

"The poles are unique because of the lighting conditions there, and that extreme lighting conditions leads to really extreme temperatures inside some of these craters where the sun has literally not reached for billions of years,” she said. “And some of the coldest places in the solar system exists there. And those cold traps are places where we believe that water and other volatiles get trapped. It is so cold there that molecules bouncing around the moon bounce into one of these cold traps and can’t get back out again.”

Site choice will be narrowed down closer to launch date, as some will be more accessible than others depending on what time of year the rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center.

All 13 are within 6 degrees of the lunar south pole, and among them include what NASA said are diverse geologic features.

“NASA was given the challenge to land in the south polar region of the moon in order to take advantage of unique environmental conditions,” said Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist for NASA. “Conditions that provide greater than average amounts of sunlight, conditions that provide us with access to volatile models that will unveil new secrets about our solar system, while potentially also yielding valuable resources that can help support the emplacement of future infrastructure.”

He said the pole involves places where the surface sees continuous light from the sun just a few miles from places that never see light.

“I think locations of greater than average amounts of light enable us to design systems that take advantage of light for energy and thermal control,” he said. “Similarly locations and permanent shadow, which are unique to the poles, provide opportunities for access to water and other volatiles that are trapped there. They don’t become stripped away by solar wind.”

The sites were chosen combining decades of observations including from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Scientists and engineers will continue to evaluate the potential sites in the next three years before determining the best options. Determining factors include the needed for a safe landing such as terrain slope, ease of communications with Earth, lighting conditions, and the capabilities of the Orion spacecraft and Starship lander.

“Selecting these regions means we are one giant leap closer to returning humans to the moon for the first time since Apollo,” said Mark Kirasich, deputy associate administrator for the Artemis Campaign Development Division. “When we do, it will be unlike any mission that’s come before as astronauts venture into dark areas previously unexplored by humans and lay the groundwork for future long-term stays.”

© Orlando Sentinel

[Rick Plant]

Flash flooding hits US parks, southern states in latest weather disasters

A hiker swept away in flash floods and torrential rain was still missing Monday as a weekend of storms forced hundreds to evacuate in the latest weather disasters to hit national parks in the United States.

Heavy rains were also causing havoc in parts of Texas on Monday as forecasters predicted more precipitation throughout the southern part of the country for the rest of the week.

Jetal Agnihotri, who park officials said they were still searching for Monday, was one of a number of hikers hit by surging waters Friday when flash floods tore through an area of Zion National Park in Utah called the Narrows, known for red rock cliffs and towering canyons.

One injured hiker was carried hundreds of yards (meters) downstream by the sudden inundation, while others were left stranded until rangers reached them, the National Park Service said.

In New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns National Park, around 200 people had to be evacuated after being trapped for several hours by rising waters.

No one was injured in that incident.

The flash flooding came after heavy rains pummeled the drought-hit southwest, with several inches (centimeters) falling in a short space of time.

The downtown area of Moab, Utah was left under three feet of water by the rains, the New York Times quoted a city spokeswoman as saying.

"We had water that came through in a huge rush along with lots of debris and some full-sized trees," Lisa Church said, adding the river had overflowed its banks in three places.

Elsewhere, footage showed children in Arizona being rescued from a school bus stranded by rising waters.

The National Weather Service (NWS) said northern Texas was expected to be walloped this week with up to seven inches of rain, with parts of the state of Mississippi also expected to be affected.

"Much of this rainfall will be beneficial and welcome due to the effects of an ongoing drought," the agency said.

"But the potential still exists for instances of flash flooding in urban areas and places with poor drainage."

Flash flood warnings were in effect around Dallas on Monday, with forecasters predicting difficult conditions on the roads, and videos showed vehicles becoming submerged in floodwaters while driving in the city overnight.

"Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads," the NWS said.

Worsening drought

The western United States is more than 20 years into a painful drought that has left rivers and reservoirs badly depleted, and the countryside tinder-dry.

But sudden, intense downpours are often unhelpful.

"If the water all comes down over a very quick period of time, it'll run off," Chris Rasmussen, an NWS meteorologist in Tucson, Arizona, told AFP last week.

"It doesn't get a chance to really soak into the ground, as you would like to see.

"It's always nicer to have good, moderate amount of rains over a long period of time."

Human activity, specifically the runaway use of fossil fuels over the last century, has caused the Earth's average temperature to rise.

This has altered weather patterns, worsening droughts in some parts of the world, and intensifying storms in other areas.

Much of Europe has baked under an intense heatwave over the last few months, with record-low rainfall emptying rivers and leaving the countryside vulnerable to wildfire.

Chinese authorities said Monday they were powering down key landmarks to save energy as faltering rivers send hydroelectric plants dark.

© Agence France-Presse

[Rick Plant]

World's newest and biggest space telescope shows Jupiter's auroras, tiny moons



The world’s newest and biggest space telescope is showing Jupiter as never before, auroras and all.

Scientists released the shots Monday of the solar system's biggest planet.

The James Webb Space Telescope took the photos in July, capturing unprecedented views of Jupiter’s northern and southern lights, and swirling polar haze. Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a storm big enough to swallow Earth, stands out brightly alongside countless smaller storms.

One wide-field picture is particularly dramatic, showing the faint rings around the planet, as well as two tiny moons against a glittering background of galaxies.

“We’ve never seen Jupiter like this. It’s all quite incredible,” said planetary astronomer Imke de Pater, of the University of California, Berkeley, who helped lead the observations.

“We hadn’t really expected it to be this good, to be honest," she added in a statement.

The infrared images were artificially colored in blue, white, green, yellow and orange, according to the U.S.-French research team, to make the features stand out.

NASA and the European Space Agency's $10 billion successor to the Hubble Space Telescope rocketed away at the end of last year and has been observing the cosmos in the infrared since summer. Scientists hope to behold the dawn of the universe with Webb, peering all the way back to when the first stars and galaxies were forming 13.7 billion years ago.

The observatory is positioned 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth.

AFP

[Rick Plant]

Yankees, Mets loyalties dividing families in pursuit of Subway World Series
https://sports.yahoo.com/yankees-mets-loyalties-dividing-families-in-pursuit-of-subway-world-series-185635022.html

[Rick Plant]

Dog owners take more risks, cat owners are more cautious – new research examines how people conform to their pets’ stereotypical traits



The big idea

Dog owners tend to take bigger risks and respond more to reward-oriented advertisements. Cat owners, on the other hand, are more cautious and more likely to react to ads emphasizing risk aversion. Those are the two main findings from new peer-reviewed research I co-authored.

My dog Midoo is always eager to join me in various activities and is never hesitant to show her excitement when people appear at the doorstep. By contrast, my cat Mipom is more alert and suspicious when she is around strangers, keeping a comfortable distance from people. I wondered, do their general dispositions have any impact on my own behavior or the decisions I make?

These are the questions I hoped to answer over a series of 11 studies I conducted with fellow marketing professors Xiaojing Yang and Yuwei Jiang.

Our first pair of studies looked at pet ownership data in U.S. states and compared that with several crude measures of risk-taking. For example, we found that people in states with a higher share of dog owners, such as North Dakota, had a greater prevalence of COVID-19 infections in 2020 than states with more cat owners, such as Vermont. Although we controlled for political orientation and other variables, our results show only a correlation. The reason dog ownership seems associated with more COVID-19 cases, for example, could be that dog owners take more risks – or they simply have to take their pets out for walks more often, which means greater exposure.

In another study, we wanted to get individual-level data, so we used an online survey tool to recruit 145 owners of either a cat or a dog – not both. We gave participants an imaginary US$2,000 and asked them to invest any portion of it in either a risky stock fund or a more conservative mutual fund. Dog owners, who made up 53% of participants, were significantly more likely to invest in stocks and also put more money at risk than cat owners.

The results of this study were also correlational in nature. So in the other studies we sought to document causality.

For example, we asked 225 people to view four print ads featuring either a cat or a dog and then decide how to allocate a $2,000 investment, as in the previous study. We found that exposure to dogs led participants to be more likely to invest more money in stocks.



Another study recruited 283 undergrads and asked them to recall a past experience involving a cat or dog. They then randomly read an ad for a massage business that either emphasized how massages increase metabolism, boost immunity and rejuvenate the body – messages psychologists have found appeal to people seeking rewards – or how they soothe body aches, relieve tension and reduce stress – phrases that tend to work better on cautious people. We told them that the company was offering $50 gift cards to several participants based on how much they were willing to bid.

Students who recalled an interaction with a dog offered bids significantly higher when they were exposed to the reward-oriented rather than risk-aversion ads. In contrast, those who recalled a cat offered much higher bids when they saw ads focused on risk aversion.

We believe these effects occur because people form mental associations of pets’ stereotypical temperaments and personalities – dogs like Midoo are eager, cats like Mipom are cautious. As a result, upon exposure to dogs or cats, these associations rise to the top of the mind and influence decisions and behaviors, an effect confirmed by our studies.

Why it matters

Pets, especially dogs and cats, are prevalent and play important roles in the lives of tens of millions of people.

In the U.S., 70% of households own at least one pet. And 50% say they own at least one dog, while 40% have a cat.

Because pets provide a sense of companionship, many people treat dogs and cats as friends and family members. So it’s only natural to wonder if our furry friends exert an influence on us, just as our human friends and family members do.

Our research suggests they do.

What still isn’t known

We plan to examine other possible effects of pets on people’s decisions and behaviors. For example, it is possible that interactions with dogs or cats can make people more or less willing to engage in conspicuous consumption. We also want to examine whether interactions with pets could affect people’s tendency to donate to charitable causes and engage in other activities meant to benefit others.

https://theconversation.com/dog-owners-take-more-risks-cat-owners-are-more-cautious-new-research-examines-how-people-conform-to-their-pets-stereotypical-traits-182931