Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Moons of the Solar System

Scientists believe that we have more of a chance of finding extraterrestrial life on one of the many moons in the solar system than the mere eight planets they orbit.
click picture for more on solar system moons


Number of moons in solar system.
Mercury0
Venus0
Earth1
Mars2
Jupiter63
Saturn61
Uranus27
Neptune13

More about Earth's moon

More about Mars' moons: Phobos and Deimos

More about Jupiter's moons: Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, Thebe, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Themisto, Leda, Himalia, Lysithea, Elara, Carpo, Euporie, Orthosie, Euanthe, Thyone, Mneme, Harpalyke, Hermippe, Praxidike, Thelxinoe, Helike, Iocaste, Ananke, Eurydome, Arche, Autonoe, Pasithee, Chaldene, Kale, Isonoe, Aitne, Erinome, Taygete, Carme, Sponde, Kalyke, Pasiphae, Eukelade, Megaclite, Sinope, Hegemone, Aoede, Kallichore, Callirrhoe, Cyllene, Kore, Herse, and 12 unnamed

More about Saturn's moons: Pan, Daphnis, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Epimetheus, Janus, Aegaeon, Mimas, Methone, Anthe, Pallene, Enceladus, Telesto, Tethys, Calypso, Helene, Dione, Polydeuces, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion, Iapetus, Albiorix, Bebhionn, Erriapo, Tarvos, Kiviuq, Ijiraq, Paaliaq, Siarnaq, Tarqeq, Narvi, Bestla, Skathi, Skoll, Hyrokkin, Bergelmir, Farbauti, Kari, Phoebe, Griep, Jarnsaxa, Mundilfari, Suttungr, Hati, Thrymr, Aegir, Fenrir, Surtur, Loge, Ymir, Fornjot, and 10 unnamed

More about Uranus' moons: Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Cupid, Belinda, Perdita, Puck, Mab, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Francisco, Caliban, Stephano, Trinculo, Sycorax, Margaret, Prospero, Setebos, Ferdinand

More about Neptune's moons: Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Proteus, Triton, Nereid, Halimede, Sao, Laomedeia, Psamanthe, Neso.

About newly discovered moons

Daytona 500: Statistics

The 2012 Daytona 500 has to be the craziest opener I've ever watched!
Click pic for fire footage

Here are some interesting statistics about past Daytona 500s.
The first Daytona 500 was held in 1959; it has been the season-opener only since 1982.
518 drivers have competed in at least one Daytona 500; 306 in more than one.
35 drivers have won a Daytona 500.
Youngest Daytona 500 winner: Trevor Bayne (02/20/2011 - 20 yrs, 0 mons, 1 day)
Oldest Daytona 500 winner: Bobby Allison (02/14/1988 - 50 yrs, 2 mons, 11 days)
8 drivers have won more than one Daytona 500, led by Richard Petty with 7 victories.
The 8 drivers who have won the Daytona 500 more than once: Richard Petty (7), Cale Yarborough (4), Bobby Allison (3), Dale Jarrett (3), Jeff Gordon (3), Bill Elliott (2), Sterling Marlin (2) and Michael Waltrip (2).
Dale Earnhardt leads the series in runner-up finishes in the Daytona 500 with 5; Kurt Busch leads all active drivers in Daytona 500 2nd-place finishes with 3.
 Dale Earnhardt finished in the top 10 in 16 of his 23 Daytona 500s.
Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty each had 16 top 10s in the Daytona 500, more than any other driver.
Dale Earnhardt had 12 top 5s in the Daytona 500, more than any other driver.
Only 13 drivers have an average finish of 10th or better in the Daytona 500, 6 of those competed in the Daytona 500 only once.
Clint Bowyer has a 12.2 average finish in 6 appearances, the best of the active drivers who have competed in more than one Daytona 500.
Lee Petty, who won the inaugural Daytona 500, and Trevor Bayne, 2011 Daytona 500 champion, are the only 2 drivers to win the Daytona 500 in their first appearance.
28 of the 35 drivers who have won, participated in at least 2 Daytona 500s before visiting Victory Lane.
Dale Earnhardt competed 19 times before winning his only Daytona 500 (1998), the longest span of any of the 35 race winners.
6 drivers made 10 or more attempts before their first Daytona 500 victory: Dale Earnhardt (19), Buddy Baker (18), Darrell Waltrip (16), Bobby Allison (14), Michael Waltrip (14) and Sterling Marlin (12).
The most Daytona 500s all-time without a victory was Dave Marcis (33 races).
Mark Martin (27) leads active drivers without a victory.
6 drivers posted their career-first victory with a win in the Daytona 500: Tiny Lund (1963), Mario Andretti (1967), Pete Hamilton (1970), Derrike Cope (1990), Sterling Marlin (1994), Michael Waltrip (2001) and Trevor Bayne (2011).
3 other drivers posted their career-first victory in (point-paying) qualifying races: Johnny Rutherford (1963), Bobby Isaac (1964) and Earl Balmer (1966).
A driver has won back-to-back Daytona 500s three times. Richard Petty (1973-74), Cale Yarborough (1983-84) and Sterling Marlin (1994-95)
Kevin Harvick’s 0.020-second margin of victory over Mark Martin in the 2007 Daytona 500 is the 12th-closest overall since the advent of electronic timing in 1993, and the closest in a Daytona 500.
26 of the 53 Daytona 500s have been won from a top-5 starting position.
Matt Kenseth won the Daytona 500 from the 39th starting position in 2009, the deepest a race winner has started.
9 have been won from the pole. The last to do so was Dale Jarrett in 2000.
16 Daytona 500s have been won from the front row.
Danica Patrick will become the 3rd female driver to compete in a Daytona 500 joining Janet Guthrie and Shawna Robinson.



Daytona 500 winners. 
YearDriverSpeedMoneyCar
1959Lee Petty135.521$19,050Oldsmobile
1960Junior Johnson124.74$19,600Chevrolet
1961Marvin Panch149.601$21,050Pontiac
1962Fireball Roberts152.529$24,190Pontiac
1963Tiny Lund151.566$24,550Ford
1964Richard Petty154.334$33,300Plymouth
1965Fred Lorenzen141.539$27,100Ford
1966Richard Petty160.627$28,150Plymouth
1967Mario Andretti146.926$48,900Ford
1968Cale Yarborough143.251$47,250Mercury
1969LeeRoy Yarbrough157.95$38,950Ford
1970Pete Hamilton149.601$44,850Plymouth
1971Richard Petty144.462$45,450Plymouth
1972AJ Foyt161.55$44,600Mercury
1973Richard Petty157.205$33,500Dodge
1974Richard Petty140.894$34,100Dodge
1975Benny Parsons153.649$40,900Chevrolet
1976David Pearson152.181$46,800Mercury
1977Cale Yarborough153.218$47,200Chevrolet
1978Bobby Allison159.73$44,300Ford
1979Richard Petty143.977$73,900Oldsmobile
1980Buddy Baker177.602$102,175Oldsmobile
1981Richard Petty169.651$90,575Buick
1982Bobby Allison153.991$120,630Buick
1983Cale Yarborough155.979$119,600Pontiac
1984Cale Yarborough150.994$160,300Chevrolet
1985Bill Elliott172.265$185,500Ford
1986Geoffrey Bodine148.124$192,715Chevrolet
1987Bill Elliott176.263$204,150Ford
1988Bobby Allison137.531$202,940Buick
1989Darrell Waltrip148.466$184,900Chevrolet
1990Derrike Cope165.761$188,150Chevrolet
1991Ernie Irvan148.148$233,000Chevrolet
1992Davey Allison160.256$244,050Ford
1993Dale Jarrett154.972$238,200Chevrolet
1994Sterling Marlin156.931$258,275Chevrolet
1995Sterling Marlin141.71$300,460Chevrolet
1996Dale Jarrett154.308$360,775Ford
1997Jeff Gordon148.295$377,410Chevrolet
1998Dale Earnhardt172.712$1,059,105Chevrolet
1999Jeff Gordon161.551$1,172,246Chevrolet
2000Dale Jarrett155.669$1,277,975Ford
2001Michael Waltrip161.783$1,331,185Chevrolet
2002Ward Burton142.971$1,409,017Dodge
2003Michael Waltrip133.87$1,400,406Chevrolet
2004Dale Earnhardt Jr.156.345$1,495,070Chevrolet
2005Jeff Gordon135.173$1,497,154Chevrolet
2006Jimmie Johnson 142.667 $1,505,124 Chevrolet
2007Kevin Harvick149.335$1,510,469Chevrolet
2008Ryan Newman 152.672$1,506,040Dodge
 2009Matt Kenseth132.816$1,530,388Ford
2010Jamie McMurray137.284$1,514,649Chevrolet
2011Trevor Bayne130.326$1,462,563Ford




Daytona can be very deadly, here are the stats on that:
Deaths at Daytona International Speedway
DateDriverEvent
2/18/2001Dale Earnhardt Sr.Final lap of the Daytona 500*
1/31/1997Michael HimesIMSA Endurance race
2/14/1994Rodney OrrDaytona 500 practice
2/11/1994Neil BonnettDaytona 500 practice
2/12/1993Joe BooherFlorida 200 Dash
2/11/1990Julius JohnsonARCA 200
2/17/1979Don WilliamsSportsman 300 race
2/13/1987Joe YoungDash race
Feb. 1983Bruce JacobiDaytona 500 qualifier
12/15/1985Charles OgleTesting (stock car)
2/7/1985Francis AffleckARCA practice
2/14/1980Ricky KnottsDaytona 500 qualifier
2/17/1972Friday HasslerDaytona 500 qualifier
7/30/1972David PearlSCCA Paul Whiteman Trophy race
3/14/1971Rusty BradleyDaytona 200
2/19/1970Tallmadge PrinceDaytona 500 qualifier
2/21/1969Don MacTavishSportsman 300
1/5/1965Billy WadeTire test (stock car)
2/21/1961Harold HaberlingDaytona 500 practice
6/18/1960Martin EveryEngineering test
4/4/1959George AmickUSAC 100-mile race
2/11/1959Marshall TeagueDaytona 500 practice



*note: Dale Earnhardt was the only driver to be killed during the actual Daytona 500 race.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Presidental Oddities


We know that presidents are exceptional men in their own right or they wouldn't have become president.
Here are some odd things about our Commander -in -Chiefs.

George Washington- was a consistent disappointment to his mother, Mary. She complained frequently to anyone who would listen that he was lax in supporting her and, much to his embarrassment, once begged the Virginia legislature for a little spending money.
John Adams- spoke with a lisp because he stubbornly refused to wear dentures.
Thomas Jefferson,- despite his otherwise refined tastes, was a notoriously lousy dresser with poor posture. He once shocked a British minister with his slovenly appearance.
"Hail to the Chief" was written written specifically for James Madison, because he was so short that no one ever noticed when he entered the room.
James Monroe- was driven to the brink of bankruptcy by his spendthrift wife and daughters; Monroe’s wife then compounded matters by developing an expensive, and eventually fatal, illness.
Partial to skinny-dipping in the Potomac, J.Q. Adams was once surprised mid swim by an enterprising female reporter, who forced him into a naked interview.
Andrew Jackson- made his wife, Rachel, a bigamist by illegally marrying her before she’d divorced her first husband.
Martin Van Buren- liked to gamble on the outcome of elections.
William Henry Harrison- was the biggest vote getter in the American history if calculating by what percentage of eligible voters chose him – but was only president for 31 days.
John Tyler- holds the presidential paternity record. He had 14 children live to maturity, the youngest born when Tyler was 70.
James K. Polk- was plagued with diarrhea throughout his single term. He eventually died of what he described as a "derangement of the stomach and bowels."(He died of diarrhea)
Zachary Taylor -received so much fan mail after his Mexican War victories that he started refusing all postage-due letters. As a result, he didn’t find out he’d won the Whig nomination for president for almost a month.
Millard Fillmore- had a historic audience with the pope shortly before being nominated for president on a violently anti-Catholic ticket.
Franklin Pierce- was pals with author Nathaniel Hawthorne. In fact, the two were vacationing together in the White Mountains when Hawthorne died in his sleep.
James Buchanan- had one eye set higher in his head than the other, so he walked around with his neck cocked to one side.
Abraham Lincoln- His son Todd was present at his assassination, the assassination of  Garfield, and the assassination of McKinley. Todd Lincoln refused to attend any other function where a President was presiding.
Andrew Johnson- loved the circus.
Ulysses S. Grant- changed his name from Hiram Ulysses because he was ashamed of the initials H.U.G. Also, he hated music. All music.
Rutherford B. Hayes- was a huge fan of croquet. He often played on the White House lawn.
James A. Garfield,- a former classics teacher, could simultaneously write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other.
Chester A. Arthur-  considered a 'dandy'  had over 80 pairs of pants and insisted on changing several times a day.
Grover Cleveland -had a prosthetic jaw and an illegitimate daughter, neither of which seriously affected his popularity. He’s also the only president to have been elected to two non-consecutive terms.
Benjamin Harrison- had the first electric lights in the White House, but was scared to turn them on or off for fear of electrocution. Instead, he made the servants do it.
William McKinley‘s wife was an epileptic whose contorted face he sometimes covered up with a handkerchief during formal dinner parties.
Theodore Roosevelt‘s mother and first wife died on the same day, in the same house, on the fourth anniversary of his engagement, which was also Valentine’s Day.
As president, William Howard Taft weighed 326 pounds and got stuck in the White House bathtub. He had a bigger one installed.
Woodrow Wilson-was a gifted mimic fond of telling racist jokes in Irish dialect. He also liked to imitate drunks.
Warren G. Harding- kept his romantic trysts in the closet – literally. He often met his mistress in a closet off the presidential office.
Calvin Coolidge,- while president, enjoyed riding on a mechanical horse and whooping like a cowboy. He also thought it was great fun to hit the buzzer for the servants and then hide.
Herbert Hoover- and his wife were both proficient in Chinese and would often use it to talk privately in the presence of guests.
Franklin D. Roosevelt -had a collection of 25,000 stamps. He added to it by simply having the Postmaster General and State Department mail him every new issue.
Harry S Truman- once wrote a threatening letter to the music critic of the Washington Post in response to a negative review of his daughter’s voice recital, stating "I never met you, but if I do, you’ll need a new nose …" His entire middle name, incidentally, was S.
Dwight D. Eisenhower- hated cats. In retirement in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he enjoyed shooting at any that came near his house.
John F. Kennedy- only watched the first halves of movies. Then he’d get bored.
Lyndon B. Johnson- proposed to his wife, Lady Bird, on their first date, a breakfast, then bought her a wedding ring for $2.50.
Richard M. Nixon- loved football. As president, he’d occasionally called up NFL coaches to chat and offer strategic advice.
Gerald R. Ford - is the only president not elected to the office nor the Vice-presidency; he was appointed.
Jimmy Carter -wrote a children’s book called "The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer."
Ronald Reagan‘s 1965 personal memoir, Where’s the Rest of Me? opens with the line, "The story begins with the close up of a bottom."
George H.W. Bush-was the first president to use any of the following words in his inaugural addresses: "cocaine," bacteria," and "easygoingness."
Bill Clinton- was eight years old when he was beaten up by a sheep. That was the day, according to his autobiography, that he learned that he could take a hard hit.
George W. Bush- was the first sitting president to acquire an iPod.
Barack Obama-where to begin?

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Chess: The Ancient Game of Logic and Strategy

If you want to get competitively good at chess you must start at an extremely young age and you must study and play at every opportunity.
There are the basic rules on the back of the box lid and then there is the real rules of chess compiled by the late Rubin Fine.


OPENING RULES

1. Open with a center pawn.
2. Develop with threats.
3. Play knights before bishops.
4. Castle as soon as possible.
5. Avoid developing the queen too early.
6. Do not move the same piece twice without a good reason.
7. Use your minor pieces to fight for the center.
8. Maintain at least one pawn in the center.
9. Make as few pawn moves as possible.
10. Avoid sacrificing without a clear and adequate reason.
MIDDLE GAME RULES

1. All of your moves must fit into a plan suggested by a weakness in the position.
2. Combinations are based on double attack.
3. When ahead material, exchange pieces (especially queens) but not pawns.
4. Avoid serious pawn structure weaknesses.
5. In cramped positions, free yourself by trading pieces.
6. Do not bring your king out with your opponent’s queen on the board.
7. If your opponent has one or more exposed pieces, look for a combination.
8. In superior positions, attack the enemy king by opening lines for your pieces.
9. In even positions, coordinate the action of all of your pieces.
10. In inferior positions, the best defense is a counter-attack (if possible).

ENDGAME RULES

1. The king must be active in the endgame.
2. Avoid passive pieces that merely defend (i.e. activate rook).
3. Passed pawns must be pushed.
4. The easiest endgames to win are pure pawn endings with extra pawn(s).
5. When ahead material, exchange pieces but not pawns.
6. Do not place your pawns on the same color squares as your bishop.
7. Bishops are superior to knights when there are pawns on both sides of the board.
8. Rooks belong behind passed pawns.
9. A rook on the seventh rank is usually worth a pawn.
10. Blockade passed pawns using the king.


Learning and using these rules will help eliminate mistakes and make you formidable against anyone that don't know these rules. My chess coach had me remember and recite these rules to him in two minutes without a mistake. (It took me two weeks to get it right.)


Contrary to popular belief chess is not a game of geniuses, but a game of logic and persistence. (At my best win or lose I played 25-30 games a day and carried a small chess board with me wherever I went, just in case an unexpected game came along.)

Click for Biography
Paul Morphy
Paul Morphy offered the world a knight*(if you play chess you know how significant this is), he had few takers.
Morphy was the best American Chess player of the 19th century. His games are the ones I study more than any.
My chess coach insisted that I remember his famous game against the Duke Of Brunswick and Count Isouard in Paris in 1858. After doing so I realized that this is the most instructive game I've ever learned.
Here it is:

Now that your interest has been piqued, to play a game right now go to the links page and click on the first link: Chess anyone?

* To play an opponent without one of your knights on the board. To be down a knight from the start.

Presidents: My Four Favorite

My favorite President of all time is Ronald Reagan (Rep.)
Click for biography
Not only was R.W.R. concidered the man that caused the end of the cold war he was ranked as the funniest president to hold the White House!

My Second favorite President was Andrew Jackson (Dem.)
Click for Biography

Jackson, like Reagan was attacked, but not killed while in office. He is considered an American icon on one hand and a criminal on the other. There are some Native Americans that refuse to tender a 20 dollar bill because his face is on it.

My third favorite has to be Franklin D. Roosevelt(Dem.)
Click for Biography

Franklin Roosevelt was the only president to be elected more than two times; as a matter of fact he was elected four times to the presidency. Roosevelts administration addressed the Depression of the 1930s and was enjoying more than limited success putting Americans back to work. Because of WWII Roosevelt became an 'at war' Commander in Chief. A roll in which he moved into fluidly. 

My fourth favorite president was Theodore Roosevelt (Rep.)
 Click for Biography
Teddy Roosevelt preferred to be called simply 'TR' but their was never anything simple about this hawkish president that won the Nobel Peace Prize. A man that was an avid hunter and outdoorsman that set aside and preserved more land and protected more bird species than any other president until his time. He championed and got passed the food and drug laws we take for granted today.
That clean, safe water from your kitchen sink? Thank TR for that also.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Left Handed Factoids

Left handed people make up between 5% and 10% of the population, I heard it was as high as 15%, it depends on who you ask.

Here are a few facts that may just surprise you about southpaws.
Left handed people are:
 More likely to have allergies.
More prone to migraines.
More likely to be insomniacs.
Use the right side of the brain the most.
Three times more likely to become alcoholics – the right side of the brain has a lower tolerance to alcohol!
More likely to be on extreme poles of the intelligence scale.
(Us left handers am either really,really smart or really,really dumm)
Tend to reach puberty 4 to 5 months later than right handers.
More likely to suffer stuttering and dyslexia.
Twice as likely to be a man.
Better at 3D perception and thinking.
Better at multi-tasking.
Live on average 9 years less than right handed people.
39% more likely to be homosexual.
Make especially good baseball players, fencers, swimmers,
boxers and tennis players(almost 40% of the top tennis players are lefties)
Celebrate left handed day once a year – August 13th.
Draw figures facing to the right.
Recover from strokes faster.
More likely to pursue creative careers.
Left handed college graduates go on to become 26% richer than right handed graduates
On a QWERTY keyboard there are 1447 English words typed solely with the left hand,
 whilst only 187 are typed solely with the right hand.

Amar Klar, a scientist who has worked on handedness, says that left-handed people "have a wider scope of thinking", and points to the disproportionately high number of Nobel Prize winners, writers and painters who are left-handed. The left hemisphere of the brain generally handles language, but in left-handed people, this division is less pronounced.
Michael Peters, a neuropsychologist at the University of Guelph, points out that left-handed people have to get by in a world adapted to right-handers, something which can give them extra mental resilience.

Left handedness was considered a physical short comming up until the early 1920s, teachers would try to 'correct' this problem at an early age. Because of this, most people did not admit to left handedness and struggled all their lives attempting to hide it.
Supposedly,this is why both Reagan and Truman were 'left-handed dominant' ambidextrous.
John Kennedy said he was right handed, but on many occations was observed using both hands equally and effectively. Here on my blog I will give him the credit of being ambidextous because his abilities spoke louder than his modesty.

This attitude led to only seven presidents admitting their left handedness, today we find that it is MORE common in the President of the United States than one would think.
In the last eighty years there have been 8 out of 14 presidents that are documented as left handed or ambidextrous(which is 10 times more rare than being left handed).

Herbert Hoover- L
Franklin Roosevelt-R
Harry Truman-L
Eisenhower-R
John Kennedy-A
Lyndon Johnson-R
Richard Nixon-R
Jerald Ford-L
Jimmy Carter-R
Ronald Reagan-A
Geo.H.W.Bush-L
Bill Clinton-L
Geo.W.Bush-R
Barack Obama-L

 It was said about President James Garfield that he could simultaneously write Latin with his right hand and Greek with his left.
This is more than ambidextrous, this is a fantastic feat!
John Kennedy had been photographed signing papers at his desk with both his right and left hands(to speed things along) and it is said that the two signatures were virually indistinguishable from one another.

I am a lefty and am proud of it.

I can write forward with one hand(right) and backward with the other(left), at the same time, but I just consider it a parlor trick.
I play guitar right handed(Daddy said I could learn on his,but could not restring it.
 I just never bothered to flip it over)
I play gamer controls right handed, and I'm good at it.
(most left handed people are forced to do this)
When I play golf I drive right handed, but putt left handed.
The only thing I do ambidextrously is play the harmonica.
(and fondle boobs,hehe)

Friday, February 24, 2012

Sci-Fi Novels Featured Here

                 


Click on book to review. 

 

Swamp People: Willie Kills Giant Alligator with Pocket knife!

Willie Edwards has to be the bravest man I've ever seen. After a gator attack and a bullet wound, he has earned a reputation as the toughest swamper on the bayou.This in itself is impressive, but to jump in the water with a wounded gator simply stopped me in my tracks! 
The man is a small statured, soft spoken gator hunter with more groin than any person in the bayou. If I had been confronted with a monster dinosaur like the gator he calmly killed, I would have shot up the nearest tree screaming like a banshee!
Click pic
 Junior Edwards and his son Willy are stalking an elusive beast known for his distinctive roar they call Leo The Lion. But Leo is a formidable adversary and it comes down to Leo, Willy and a pocketknife.

Click picture for Face Book page



Thursday, February 23, 2012

Einstein May Not Be Wrong

From the web pages of 'Wired Science'
Faster-Than-Light Neutrino Results May Be Due to Bad Cables
From the web pages of 'Reuters'
Was Einstein wrong - or was the cable loose?
Physicists at the CERN research institute near Geneva appeared to contradict Albert Einstein's 1905 Special Theory of Relativity last year when they reported that sub-atomic particles called neutrinos could travel fractions of a second faster than light.
Now a year later the scientists behind the claim say there could be a problem.
It seems that the claim that neutrinos can travel faster than light may be incorrect due to faulty equipment.
Einstein may get a reprieve as his theories withstand rebuke.
Personally I think it will just be a matter of time before someone does prove that the speed of light is not a universal speed limit.
But right now it seems like ole' Einstein still has a reason to smile!
click pic

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

My Friend: Bryant

It is rare for a me to befriend someone that grows so close to me that I can forget he is not a brother. Bryant Yates D. is that kind of guy in my life. I came to Wilmington 14 years ago and made only three long time, close friends. One is my roommate, the other died of heart failure just last month, and then there is 'B-Rye' as we affectionately call him.

I once had a teacher that told me there was two ways of remembering something: retain it in your mind or know where to retrieve the information. I have a third way of remembering things; I ask Bryant.
Bryant has this knack of remembering the mundane or easily forgettable. This is good for me because I suffer from 'CRS'(can't remember shit!).
I was once asked, "What date did you start driving cab in Wilmington?" I gave my answer and Bryant softly informed me that I had the date, and month wrong. I turned to him and said,"Alright smart ass, how much did I book on that first night?" I had him here I figured, because the only way he could have known this was to remember me telling him, in passing years earlier, how much I made that night.
Bryant promptly quoted the exact amount, to the penny how much I made. This dropped my jaw in my lap! From that day on I knew I could ask him anything like that and he'd rattle off the correct answer.
He is very learned in many subjects, from NASCAR and Wrestling, to complex dates & times and any location of any business or neighborhood in Wilmington.
(The downside of this excellent memory is that he remembers the stuff most people forget automatically like old, changed phone numbers or stuff said that you don't want to remember( like how drunk you got on one of your birthdays years ago).

He is quick to go out of his way to help, listen to, or carry your load for you. There has been many times over the last ten years that if it hadn't been for Bryant talking sense to me that I may have said something stupid or have been arrested(domestic problems) or worse.
It is especially rare for me to say I love someone outside of my family, but I love Bryant like I'd love a Siamese twin; now that he is stuck to me I wouldn't have it any other way.
By the way, Bryant's wife Shawna loves me as well, she calls me her 'Big Bubba'. How cool is that? I love her,too.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Daytona 500: Race That Makes Champions


The First Daytona 500
On February 22, 1959, Daytona International Speedway hosted the first Daytona 500. The posted awards for the "500-Mile International Sweepstakes" totaled $67,760. A field of 59 cars took the green flag for the start of the 200-lap race. A crowd of 41,000 was on hand to witness the beginning of another chapter in the history of racing in Daytona.

The finish of the race also went into the history books. The finish was too close to call, but Johnny Beauchamp went to Victory Lane and savored the celebration although the results were posted as "unofficial."

Sixty-one hours later, Lee Petty was the winner in what appeared to be a dead heat between Petty and Beauchamp - with the lapped car of Joe Weatherly making it a three-wide finish at the checkered flag. A clip of newsreel footage proved that Petty was the winner by a few feet.

The Daytona 500 - 50 Years And Still Growing
Fifty years later, the Daytona 500 is NASCAR's biggest, richest and most prestigious race.
"The Great American Race," which traditionally hosts a sell out crowd, has the biggest total payout in prize money for any motorsports event in the United States, surpassing the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400. The 2007 Daytona 500 posted awards exceed more than $18 million with race winner Kevin Harvick pocketing more than $1.5 million.

Kevin Harvick hoists Daytona 500 Trophy
“It's the ultimate race,” said three-time Daytona 500 winner Jeff Gordon following his 2005 Daytona 500 victory. “There’s just no better place to win at than Daytona."
Besides the financial aspect of winning the Daytona 500, the victory can also elevate a driver’s status in the sport.

“Winning a race during Speedweeks, it makes you quite a bit more valuable, I think, in the sport as a driver,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., the 2004 Daytona 500 winner.
“If you win the Daytona 500, it will stay with you throughout your racing career,” Sadler said. “It’s really helped a lot of people catapult their careers up to the next level. There are a few races that if a driver wins, owners and sponsors really pay attention too.”

Said 1990 Daytona 500 champion Derrike Cope: “When you say you have a Daytona 500 win, that’s like a Super Bowl ring.”

2002 Daytona 500
On a restart with six laps to go, Sterling Marlin, running second, slowed as he approached the green flag in order to get a run on race leader Jeff Gordon.
Gordon quickly reacted and blocked Marlin and the two cars made contact. Gordon spun out into the grass while Marlin took the lead but suffered damage to his right front fender. At the same time Marlin and Gordon tangled, a multi-car crash broke out.



NASCAR quickly threw out the red flag and stopped all the cars on the Superstretch to clean up the accident. Marlin climbed out of his No. 40 Coors Light Dodge, walked over to his right front and began to pull the fender away from the tire.

Teams are not allowed to work on their machines under the red flag and NASCAR officials quickly ordered Marlin back to his race car and forced him to start at the tail end of the lead lap.

Marlin’s loss was Ward Burton’s gain as Burton went on to lead the final five laps to become the first Virginian to win the Daytona 500.

Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison delivered quite a show in the first live televised broadcast of the Daytona 500.

On the final lap, Yarborough pulled out to pass Allison on the Superstretch. The two banged fenders so hard they crashed into the Turn 3 outside wall before sliding down to the apron.
Petty and Waltrip proceeded to battle for the victory with Petty holding on for his sixth Daytona 500 win. But it was the show in Turn 3 that continues to make the highlight reels as Yarborough and Allison began a heated debate that turned into a fist fight with Allison’s brother Bobby jumping into the fray.

1990 Daytona 500
This edition of the “Great American Race” offered one of the race’s biggest upsets.
Dale Earnhardt, who had won almost everything at DIS except the Daytona 500, looked like he would finally break his losing streak.
Earnhardt’s famous black No. 3 Chevrolet was the class of the field as he led 150 laps and nearly lapped the field. But Earnhardt couldn’t lead the most important lap - the final one.

It was a classic David Pearson-Richard Petty duel that produced one of the most incredible finishes in NASCAR history.
The showdown had been building for about 100 miles when Pearson, on the final lap, passed Petty on the Superstretch.
Exiting Turn 4, Petty had ducked low and passed Pearson but his car slightly drifted up the track and the two drivers touched and crashed. When both cars came to rest in the tri-oval grass, they still had not crossed the start/finish line.
Petty’s radiator was pushed back into the fan on the front of the engine and the car wouldn’t restart. But Pearson dumped the clutch and kept the car in neutral keeping it from stalling.
Pearson straightened out his damaged machine and slowly crossed the start/finish line to capture the only Daytona 500 victory of his career. The finish was the slowest under green flag conditions in Daytona 500 history.
Dale Earnhardt was an American race car driver who gained fame driving stock cars for NASCAR and winning seven championships. He won his first Daytona 500 in 1998. He was involved in a car accident during the last lap of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2001. He was taken to Halifax Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 5:16 p.m. after sustaining blunt force trauma to the head. Earnhardt was 49 years old.
The event was highly publicized and generated intense interest from the media and resulted in various safety improvements in NASCAR auto racing.