Grumpy Editor

SHORTAGE OF FLOWERS SMACKS FLORISTS, WEDDINGS, FUNERALS

 

 A nationwide shortage of flowers is leaving florists scrambling for solutions while consumers are coping with higher prices for blossoms, notes Grumpy Editor.

The tightened flower supply is triggered by last year's global pandemic shutdown, poor weather, increased truck driver demand, higher international shipping rates --- and higher flower demand.

Especially hard hit by the shortage are weddings and funerals.

 

Farms around the world, including those in the United States, South America and the Netherlands, are key suppliers to florists.

Demand is soaring as the industry responds in large part to a boom in rescheduled weddings that had been put off during the shutdown.

 

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COVID-19 SURPASSES 1918-19 FLU.  The number of known Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. surpasses United States fatalities from the 1918-19 flu pandemic.

SEEKS FORMAL END OF KOREAN WAR.  South Korea President Moon Jae-in reiterates his desire for a formal end to the Korean War at a ceremony in Hawaii during which the U.S. turned over the remains of 68 South Korean soldiers who died in the conflict.  The Korean War (known as The Forgotten War) started on June 25, 1950 and ended July 27, 1953 when truce talks commenced.  A peace treaty was never concluded.

FUR IN CLOTHING TO END.  Luxury French fashion brand Saint Laurent will stop designing clothes using fur starting next year, says parent company Kering.  Another Kering brand, Brioni, is slated to be fur-free by the autumn 2022 collections.

ALL WOMAN TEAM TO BROADCAST BASEBALL.  ESPN sports announcers Melanie Newman and Jessica Mendoza will be the sports network’s first all-woman broadcast team for a nationally televised Major League Baseball game on Wednesday.

TWO JAPANESE SISTERS RANKED WORLD'S OLDEST.  Guinness World Records certifies two Japanese sisters as the world’s oldest living identical twins at 107.  Umeno Sumiyama and Koume Kodama were born the third and fourth of 11 siblings on Shodoshima island in western Japan on Nov. 5, 1913.

SALMONELLA HITS 25 STATES.  A salmonella outbreak is detected in 25 states, but the cause remains a mystery.  Over 100 people become sick but no food source is confirmed as the cause.

 

"SKINNY HOUSE" IN BOSTON SOLD.  Boston's "Skinny House," squeezed between two buildings in the city’s North End, sells for more than $1.2 million.  Built in 1890, it contains 1,165 square feet on four levels.

"COLOR OF YEAR" SELECTED FOR 2022.  “Evergreen Fog” is Sherwin-Williams’ “color of the year 2022.”   It’s a mix between a light gray and green to make a room feel like a calming forest, and “offers a naturistic ambiance and serene, earthy depth to a room while also blending in with just about any piece of furniture,” says the paint manufacturer.

IN BASEBALL, LONG HAIR MAKES SOME PLAYERS LOOK ALIKE

With the upcoming baseball playoffs leading to the World Series, many TV viewers will be confused in identifying many of the look-alike players with similar long hair, notes Grumpy Editor.

It contrasts with earlier days when players were well shaven with neat short hair.

However, the New York Yankees continue to spotlight a team that resembles the “neat” look.

Since 1973, Yankees management has enforced appearance of its players.  They must have hair cut above the collar of their Yankee jersey.  No beards are permitted.

The policy stems from former club owner George Steinbrenner, after seeing several players' hair covering their numbers during the pre-game performance of the “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Steinbrenner then declared “all players, coaches and male executives are forbidden to display any facial hair other than mustaches (except for religious reasons), and scalp hair may not be grown below the collar.”

The appearance policy may have been inspired by Steinbrenner's veteran status with the U.S. Air Force, which like other military branches also has a similar appearance policy.

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AND AWAY WE GO.  Dog and cat take a ride on a scooter.

 

DOG, CAT RIDE SCOOTER.  A pair of Canadian pets set a Guinness World Record for the fastest time on a scooter by a dog and a cat. Lollipop, a five-year-old Boston terrier and seven-year-old Bengal cat Sashimi formed a close friendship when they were very young.  They rode a scooter together for a distance of 16.4 feet in just 4.37 seconds.

  

COPENHAGEN RATED SAFEST CITY.  Copenhagen is named the world's safest city for the first time.  Denmark's capital jumped from eighth place in 2019 to the top of the list, largely thanks to the introduction of an environmental security section  along with personal security.

 

SNAKE CAUSES BLACKOUT.  North Carolina utility officials say a snake is responsible for a substation fire that left more than 1,400 Duke Energy customers in Denton and the surrounding area without power.  The snake came into contact with equipment at a substation, sparking a fire.

RECORD TOMATOES ON SINGLE STEM.  A British gardener harvested 839 tomatoes from a single stem, nearly double the Guinness World Record.  Seeds were planted in March and harvested this month.  It almost doubles the 448 grown on a single truss by the previous record holder in 2010.

COVID-19 HITS ZOO.  Six African lions, a Sumatran tiger and two Amur tigers in the Smithsonian National Zoo tested positive for Covid-19.  Symptoms in the big cats include decreased appetites, coughing, sneezing and lethargy.

AT 101, SHE STILL TENDS LOBSTER TRAPS.  Virginia Oliver, 101 years old, continues to tend to her lobster traps off Rockland, Maine.  She is the oldest lobster fisher in the state and possibly  in the world,

COWS TOILET TRAINED TO CURB GAS EMISSIONS.  Sixteen cows in Germany are toilet trained in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.    At a farm owned by the Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology, the cows  were placed in a “MooLoo pen” and rewarded with food for urinating.

 

TOWN WANTS PHONE BOOTH RETURNED.  Residents of Cope, a small Colorado town, are pleading for the return of a stolen phone booth that served as a landmark and centerpiece of a public park for decades. Residents of the town of t56 people, say the booth didn't provide phone service but attracted travelers who would pose for photos.

 

2021 BRINGS HOTTEST SUMMER ON RECORD

As autumn nears, the contiguous U.S. recorded its hottest summer on record, topping the previous high set in 1936 by less than a hundredth of a degree, tallies the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, notes Grumpy Editor.

NOAA’s climate report says between June and August, average temperature in the lower 48 states was 74 degrees Fahrenheit, adding 18.4 percent of the contiguous U.S. experienced extreme or record-breaking heat during the summer months.

California, Oregon, Utah, Idaho and Nevada are especially hard hit by heat.

At one point last month, more than 200 million Americans were under heat advisories.

The record temperatures come one year after research suggests heat waves that caused the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, resulting in record-setting heat in the summer of 1936, were 2.5 times more likely to occur due to climate change. 

"It is likely that there will be more extreme heat wave conditions in the central U.S. in the future, given the rise in greenhouse gases levels, so communities and governments need to be prepared for this eventuality," study author Dr. Tim Cowan says.

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MACHINE PULLS CARBON FROM AIR.  In Iceland, the world’s biggest machine captures carbon from the air.  Operators say the Orca plant can suck 4,000 tons of CO2 out of the air every year and inject it deep into the ground to be mineralized. Experts say the carbon capturing plant in southwest Iceland could eventually play an important role in reducing greenhouse gases that are warming the planet.

 

ELVIS'S HAIR-RAISING PRICE.  A baseball-sized clump of hair that came from the head of Elvis Presley sold for $72,500 in an auction that also includes the $1,012,500 sale of the performer's iconic jumpsuit from a 1972 Madison Square Garden performance. 

CANINE JOY RIDE ON BUS. A lost dog in England is reunited with his owner after climbing aboard a city bus, where passengers soon realized the canine was riding solo. Concerned riders posted pictures of the dog on social media that led to the dog being united with his family.

PAINT GETTING MORE EXPENSIVE.  Going the toilet paper route?  Paint is getting costlier and harder to find, making home improvement somewhat aggravating as lack of supplies and higher prices are making life more difficult for do-it-yourselfers.

 

OPENS BUSINESS, WINS LOTTERY.  Brian Woodle, 46, of Callahan, Florida just opened a car repair shop. "At the end of our first day,” he says, “I stopped by Circle K to get a few things and picked up a lottery ticket. Just like that, we won a million bucks!"  With the scratch-off ticket, Woodle chose to take a one-time payout of $880,000.

 

GOLD COINS FOUND IN FRENCH MANOR.   Builders discovered a stash of 239 gold coins at a manor in northwestern France that could earn up to 300,000 euros ($356,490) at auction later this month.

 

ROBOTS SERVE RESTAURANT PATRONS.  A restaurant owner in Dallas, Texas, is getting creative amid the nationwide staff shortage.  The operator of the Latin American restaurant La Duni, uses three robots to help serve hungry customers.

SCARCE TOILET PAPER HAPPENING AGAIN?

 

Toilet paper becoming scarce again on grocery shelves? asks Grumpy Editor.

 

Looks that way.

 

With increased demand showing up, Procter & Gamble, a major producer and maker of Charmin toilet paper, is increasing production and running factories around the clock, seven days a week.

 

As The Wall Street Journal points out:  The recent jump in demand comes after many months in which paper-product sales plummeted to below pre-pandemic levels as stocked-up Americans stopped buying.”

 

“PG&G,” it adds, “says government stimulus, preparation for back to school and rising Covid-19 cases have Americans buying more household staples.”

 

It mentions, “the U.S. supply chain is plagued by shortages of raw materials and labor.”

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

ALL CIVILIANS SET FOR SPACEX.   SpaceX’s launch Sept. 15 will mark the world’s first all-civilian space flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  It will orbit Earth for three days.

CHINA ADDING BEIJING STOCK EXCHANGE.  China is setting up a stock exchange in Beijing in efforts to give that nation's capital and political center more influence in the business and finance world.

BEER SHORTAGE HITS BRITISH PUBS.  For thirsty Brits, there are reports of a national beer shortage.  Some pubs say they are running low on pints of Carling and Coors --- latest victims of the United Kingdom’s supply chain crisis, sparked by Brexit and exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

 

N.Y. APARTMENT DWELLING COUGAR MOVES.  Owner of an 80-pound, 11-month old female cougar, keeping it in a New York City apartment, surrendered the cat to the Humane Society of the United States where it will go to more suitable accommodations.

HATE CRIMES IN U.S. JUMP.  The FBI says hate crimes in the U.S. jump to the highest level in 12 years.  More than 10,000 people reported to law enforcement last year that they were victims of such crimes because of their race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, religion or disability.

NEWLYWEDS SEND INVOICES TO NO-SHOWS.  A newlywed Chicago couple send $240 invoices to invited wedding guests who RSVP’d but did not show for the ceremony.  Bills were to cover costs.

 

NO MORE ZIPPING AROUND THE EIFFEL TOWER.  In efforts to make Paris, France, more pedestrian friendly and reduce accidents, the city changes the speed limit to 30 kph --- that’s less than 19 m.p.h.

AP NAMES JULIE PACE TO TOP POST.  Longtime Washington. D.C. journalist Julie Pace is named executive editor and senior vice president of The Associated Press.  She has been AP's Washington bureau chief since 2017 and succeeds Sally Buzbee who became executive editor of The Washington Post in June.