Last Week In Life: August 23, 2021- August 29, 2021

Beaver Builds Trivia Empire-Last Week’s SPECTACULAR STORY OF WEEK

What does a dog named Otto, The Simpsons, Greta Thunberg, Beer, Beaver and the Catholic Church all have in common?

It was on November 10, 1951 that Sir Hugh Beaver, who was the managing director of the Guinness Breweries, was out at a bird shooting party in that wonderful  part of the world of County Wexford, Ireland in North Slob by the River Slaney.  After missing a shot he engaged in what would later be known today as an online argument, only in person and not on a computer. The intense argument was about a pressing issue of the day, which was directly related to him having missed a shot.  What is the the fastest game bird in Europe, the golden plover or the red grouse ?

Because Beaver didn’t have google, but actually gave a damn about this question, he lamented the realization that he could not easily look up this information on a computer or even in a book to confirm this information. What other deep questions were debated nightly in pubs throughout Ireland and abroad? That is when the epiphany light bulb went up bright and shinny over his head with an idea.  An idea so wonderful that it is with us to this very day. Beaver realised then that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove successful.

In August 1954, A thousand copies of the brand new The Guinness Book of Records published a 1000 copies. It was written up by twins  Norris and Ross McWhirter, who had been running a fact-finding agency in London. The twins were recommended for the job by a  Guinness employee named  Christopher Chataway

According to another modern collection of all types of facts named Wikipedia….

After the founding of The Guinness Book of Records office at 107 Fleet Street, London, the first 198-page edition was bound on  August  27,1955 and went to the top of the British best seller lists by Christmas. The following year, it launched in the United States (US), and sold 70,000 copies. Since then, Guinness World Records has sold more than 100 million copies in 100 countries and 37 languages.

Some of the accumulated knowledge of useful trivia we have today includes some of the most interesting facts we could sit and ponder about.

Such as…

Greta Thunberg who is the Youngest TIME Person of the Year.

The Simpsons having become the Longest-running animated sitcom (number of episodes).

The Longest human tunnel has been travelled through by a skateboarding dog named Otto.

The world’s largest Christian denomination is the Roman Catholic Church, which in 2011 had approximately 1.1 billion members.

Click on here to learn other fascinating things such as the  Tallest Living Man, Shortest Living Woman, Longest Wheel Ramp Jump, Most Climbs on Mt. Everest and who were the First Men on the Moon.

Ok. Sorry I didn’t include some of the weirder world records such as

Most Apples Held in Own Mouth and Cut by Chainsaw in One Minute
Longest Metal Coil Passed Through the Nose and Out of the Mouth
Largest Collection of Rubber Ducks

Konyak tribal women who  participated to set a Guinness World Record for the ‘largest traditional Konyak dance’, in Kohima on April 05, 2019. (Image: PTI)

Click here  and here for those and other interesting tales that make you marvel on the wonder of human beings.

Also the GWR asks

“Have you got what it takes to be a record-holder? Here you will find all the information you need to help you through the process of setting or breaking a record.”

I could apply for the world record of most posts written at The Catholic Bard or the man married to Kristin Wilson the longest. The possibilities are great.

What record would you go for?

Almost anything definable, measurable and provable can become a record. They change with the times: records involving selfies and twerking have been popular recently. Some are easy to attempt but difficult to beat, such as eating three cream crackers in the fastest time (34.78 secs). It’s easier to beat an existing record than set a new one; “firsts” have to be approved.

You should apply to GWR before making the record attempt; it will send you the general guidelines and those specific to your record. The general notes spell out the importance of evidence: photographic, video, independent witnesses – as much as you can get. For mass-participation records, you must prove that you’ve counted properly.
How to break a Guinness World Record | Guinness World Records | The Guardian

The Guinness World Records brand is owned by the Florida-based company behind Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museums of shrunken heads and other bizarre items.

FEAST DAYS ,HOLIDAYS AND LAST WEEK IN HISTORY

 Mon  August 23  2021

 Saint Rose of Lima, virgin – Optional Memorial

• 1904 – The automobile tire chain is patented.
• 1923 – Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter performed the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours.
• 1989 – Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands. This is called the Baltic Way or Baltic Chain.
• 1990 – Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western “guests” (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War.

Tuesday August 24, 2021

Saint Bartholomew the Apostle– Feast

• 1215 – Pope Innocent III issues a bull declaring Magna Carta invalid. 
• 1349 – Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague.
• 1967 – Led by Abbie Hoffman, the Youth International Party temporarily disrupts trading at the New York Stock Exchange by throwing dollar bills from the viewing gallery, causing trading to cease as brokers scramble to grab them
• 1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Wednesday August 25, 2021

Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified, virgin – Memorial

 Saint Louis or Saint Joseph of Calasanz, priest – Optional Memorial

The Significance of August 25 | Mark Wilson (patheos.com)

Thursday August 26,  2021

Blessed Jacques Retouret, priest and martyr – Optional Memorial

• 1791 – John Fitch is granted a United States patent for the steamboat.
• 1878 – Mariam Baouardy, Syrian Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (b. 1846) dies.
• 1910 – Mother Teresa, Albanian-Indian nun, missionary, Catholic saint, and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997) is born.
• 2009 – Kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard is discovered alive in California after being missing for over 18 years. Her captors, Phillip and Nancy Garrido are apprehended.

 Friday  August 27,  2021

Saint Monica– Memorial

• 1798 – Wolfe Tone‘s United Irish and French forces clash with the British Army in the Battle of Castlebar, part of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, resulting in the creation of the French puppet Republic of Connacht.
• 1933 – The first Afrikaans Bible is introduced during a Bible Festival in Bloemfontein.
• 1939 – First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world’s first jet aircraft.
• 1955 – The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records is published in Great Britain

Saturday August 28,  2021

Saint Augustine of Hippo, bishop and doctor of the Church – Memorial

• 1830 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad‘s new Tom Thumb steam locomotive races a horse-drawn car, presaging steam’s role in U.S. railroads.
• 1845 – The first issue of Scientific American magazine is published.
• 1867 – The United States takes possession of the (at this point unoccupied) Midway Atoll.
• 1898 – Caleb Bradham‘s beverage “Brad’s Drink” is renamed “Pepsi-Cola“.

Sunday August 29,  2021

 The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, martyr – Memorial

• 1898 – The Goodyear tire company is founded.
• 1966 – The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
• 1997 – Netflix is launched as an internet DVD rental service.
• 2016 – Gene Wilder, (Willy Wonka) American stage and screen comic actor, screenwriter, film director, and author (b. 1933) dies.

Bishop Barron’s Homily of the Week

 Last Week’s News of the World

Afghanistan & Haiti

ISIS-K: What We Know About The Group Behind The Kabul Airport Attacks : NPR 

Essay: Author Nadia Hashimi On The Taliban Takeover Of Kabul : NPR

COVID

U.S. COVID-19 Hospitalizations Top 100,000 : Coronavirus Updates : NPR

Meanwhile in Other News

Landlord faces homelessness as tenants fall behind on rent during eviction ban – CBS News

Chicago Archbishop Cupich allegedly stops public prayers after Mass at Illinois parish (catholicnewsagency.com)

Meanwhile in Other Interesting News

Naked baby from Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album cover sues over “child pornography” claims | Salon.com

POPE FRANCIS’S FAMOUS LAST WEEK’S WORDS 

Pope Francis Meets Nadia Murad as Nobel Prize Winner Advocates for Afghan Women| National Catholic Register (ncregister.com)

Pope Francis: ‘Hypocrisy in the Church is Particularly Detestable’| National Catholic Register (ncregister.com)

Pope Francis urges Catholic lawmakers to protect human dignity online (catholicnewsagency.com)

 A Chance To Do A Work Of Mercy

Ntege Nasser is sick and running a high fever. He’s had COVID before and has had his first shot. But there are lots of other diseases, including typhoid, rampant in his community. He needs $150 to see the docs tomorrow (it’s midnight there right now). Please pray for him and give generously. In addition, we still need to pay down the $1000 on the vax costs. So whatever you can do would be hugely appreciated.

Please help! https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/mercyforlife

I had to make a dentist appointment, my impacted wisdom tooth broke, and I have a fear of infection. No idea how I will pay for it. But have put my GFM back up in pinned post. The $650 covers removal and Uber both ways, and a little extra for liquid based food for the aftermath. Cashapp $JayFischer1 Venmo @JayFischer Jay Fischer August 20 at 1:27 PM · 

Fundraiser by J Fischer : Help Save Heart Failure Jay, And His Home. (gofundme.com)

BLOG/ARTICLES POSTS OF THE WEEK

 Pondering Podcasts OF THE WEEK

How vaccines became a battle line in the Catholic culture war | America Magazine

On this week’s episode of “The Gloria Purvis Podcast,” I talk in depth with Sam Sawyer, S.J., about what more we can do during the pandemic for ourselves and our neighbors in light of our Catholic moral tradition. He sheds light on what has been clouded by the culture wars. Yes, there is a legitimate concern about vaccines derived from or tested with cells from aborted fetuses. Yes, religious exemptions from state imposed mandates should be respected. But these focus on a very narrow slice of Catholic moral analysis and ultimately misrepresent the church’s official position: that taking a vaccine is morally acceptable and an act of love for our neighbor and the common good.

Book Em, Dano on your reading list