Category: Real News

Zippy the Chimp

According to “Zippy’s mom” Carole Womack, Zippy the Chimp was “discovered” by Bob Smith, “Buffalo Bob” of the long running and famous “Howdy Doody Show” while on vacation in New Orleans. Zippy stole a cherry out of Bob’s drink and was rewarded with a five year contract.
[…]
Besides The Ed Sullivan Show [1953], Zippy The Chimp was on the Captain Kangaroo, Gary Moore and Jackie Gleason television shows. He also played the role of Cheetah in the Tarzan movies and appeared in numerous television commercials.

There are conflicting stories about Zippy; “he” may have been a 4 year old female named Debbie. When she grew too large to handle, she retired from performing and was sent to the Bronx Zoo in 1960.

In reality there were many performing chimpanzees named Zippy, and most of them were trained by Lee Ecuyer. In 1953, Ecuyer and Buffalo Bob Smith published Zippy the Chimp, a children’s book with photos of young Zippy.

[Image found here, bio here.]

The Apartment

An apartment is left exposed where a corner of the residential building collapsed in the Bronx borough of New York, on Dec. 11, 2023. Yuki Iwamura/Associated Press.

Built in 1927, an inspection in 2020 found cracked brick and loose, damaged mortar on the seven story building’s facade; repairs were underway prior to the collapse. All residents survived.

[Image with story found here. The photo also appears in a Russian website photo collection titled “Everyday Life In The  USA“.
Right-click the top image and open in a new tab to view full size.]

The .Gif Friday Post No. 888 – Governor Gavin Edition

https://x.com/i/status/1877483632245485957
The Southern California fires are still raging as of the time of this post.
This horrific tragedy was predicted years ago; the warnings were ignored by those in charge, and little, if anything, was done to prevent it.
Now it’s too late.

May God bless the victims of this catastrophe.

So Cal Fires – January 2025

The Palisades Fire burns a Christmas tree inside a residence in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood on Jan. 7. Ethan Swope—AP

[More photos here.]

Buy Him Some Peanuts and Cracker Jack

11 June 2024, Cincinnati

In the 9th inning of the Cincinnati Reds / Cleveland Guardians game Tuesday night, Reds fan William Hendon, a sophomore at OSU, ran onto the field of the Great American Ball Park in his socks and wearing a Johnny Bench jersey. A police officer approached, Hendon did a backflip, and the officer stopped him with a Taser.

Hendon “did knowingly run onto the Reds playing field during the game without permission to do so,” an officer wrote in one of his criminal complaints.

“Everybody thinks you landed that backflip,” Municipal Court Judge William Mallory said during Hendon’s arraignment Wednesday morning.
“I’m pretty sure I did,” replied Hendon.

Hendon pleaded not guilty.

[Images found here, full story here.]

Alex Baker’s Photographic Memory

Alex Baker, an 11-year-old boy with autism, has a photographic memory that allows him to reproduce a skyline or aerial cityscape after visiting a city, or seeing it in a book, just once. His perspective sketches include London, Paris, New York, and many other cities.

“I took Alex to London when he was five and we were only there for the day, but he came home and drew all the London Underground system in detail,” said his mother, Laura Jackson.

Amazing.

[Images and story from here, more here.]

Really?

I received 10 unordered face masks from the Association of the United States Navy (AUSN) today. They’re promotional, and include a request for donations.

Made in China.

FASHION MASK
Executive Standard FZ/IT 73049-2014
Safety Class B ( it’s can contact with skin directly)
Fashion dust protection, sun protection thermal mask (not medical mask)
Attention This product can be used with multiple times, washable;
No protection against toxic gases
Effect: please use with caution for skin allergy

Typos are as they appear on the package.

Should I burn them?

Update: Here’s the response from AUSN:

Sir,
I apologize for the packaging. In response to our COVID-19 survey which showed that the majority of our members were in need of PPE gear. We had hired a veteran owned company in Illinois to do the production and distribution of the masks. It was not until we received the tracking numbers once they were mailed to our membership that we realized they were not coming from the USA. They do in fact have the ability to insert a N95 filter which would increase the level of protection if desired further protection against the virus.
Thank for your understanding.

LISTEN

Great Big Blobs

NASA scientists are studying planet magnetic fields and revisited raw data collected by Voyager 2 over three decades ago. They found that

Voyager 2 spotted a massive magnetic bubble pulling gas out of Uranus’ atmosphere.

https://www.space.com/uranus-gas-blob-voyager-2-discovery.html

Such loop-like plasmoids are typically formed as a spinning planet flings bits of its atmosphere to space. “Centrifugal forces take over, and the plasmoid pinches off.”

https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/news/details.php?article_id=119

Uranus pinches off big blobs and flings them.

“They warned me that the home was wallpapered in beer cans…and I thought to myself, ‘Well, I wonder where in the world they found beer can wallpaper.'”

“No, ma’am. Beer cans.
Every room is covered in beer cans.”

 

And there’s a bonus offer!

[Found here via here.]

Fun Facts to Know and Tell:
Heineken® was once sold in glass masonry units. Story here.