October 10, 2023 - More Waves, Bravery, Spider, Repeats

Every time I wave off the other fielders, I trip over a spider. Again and again, endlessly....

Nuggets of Information:  Full of Ups and Downs 

Last week I wrote about microwaves, and keen-eyed reader Chris R. noticed a mistake that I’d like to claim I put in to see if anyone would catch it. I had stated that microwaves had a wavelength smaller than that of light waves. That is not correct. Light waves are much smaller.  

I don’t want to just wave off this mistake. So get ready for a tidal wave of information on... waves! 

For electromagnetic waves, from largest to smallest: Radio – Microwaves – Infrared – Visible light – UV light – X-rays – Gamma rays. The last might be the smallest, but that’s what gave Bruce Banner Hulk powers.  #respect 

For sound waves, from largest to smallest: Infrasound – Sound audible to humans - Ultrasound 

For waves in the ocean: Tsunami – Ocean swells – Surf waves. The largest wave ever recorded in human history? It happened in July 1958, at Lituya Bay on Alaska’s southern coast.  An 8.3 magnitude earthquake caused a massive landslide that then created a huge tsunami. The run-up height, or the height the wave reaches after it makes landfall, was 1,719 feet. That’s 265 feet taller than the Empire State Building. Georgia Tech professor of civil and environmental engineering Hermann Fritz led a study where they recreated the Lituya Bay tsunami using a scaled lab tank that matched the components of the bay. Their estimations based on the farthest line of felled trees was that the wave would have been 492 feet high. That wave was almost four times taller than the largest wave ever surfed. On October 29, 2020, 18-year old António Laureano, rode a 101.4 foot wave at Praia do Norte in Nazaré, Portugal. Some people baked bread during the pandemic. This kid glided on top of the world.  

WAVES is an acronym for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, a military unit formed in June 1942 as part of the U.S. Navy. During World War II, 100,000 WAVES served. While many WAVES performed administrative or other office work, the war also gave many women the chance to work in jobs typically held by men. At least one-third of WAVES served in naval aviation, and the Navy actively recruited college-educated women with backgrounds in mathematics, the physical sciences, and engineering. 

According to Wikipedia, “Waving has four variables: the open palm (is the palm curved or straight), the angle of the wave (big waves or short waves), the elevation of the hand (above the head or held low), and the movement pattern of the wave (sideways rotation, up and down motion, side to side motion). There are different ways to wave the hand; some include the standard side-to-side wave, palm wide wave, wiggly wave (finger wiggle wave), "flirtatious" wave, open-and close finger wave, arm wave, and the "Miss America" wave.” 

Waves are an important part of my own routine. Every time I get ready to go out in public, I look in the mirror, and repeat to myself the motivational wisdom of Cameo, from their 1986 anthem “Word Up!”: 

'Cause we're about to go down 
And you know just what to do 
Wave your hands in the air like you don't care 
Glide by the people as they start to look and stare 

Finally, while there are scores of unverified or flat-out fully rebuked claims of earlier appearances of the Wave at sporting events, the first verified Wave happened in Oakland California during an Athletics' playoff game against the New York Yankees on Oct. 15, 1981. The Yankees won 4-0. It was started by Krazy George Henderson – and yes – it was on TV. Here you go! 

Enrichment:  Lots of Balls in the Air 

If you are a sports fan, there are a lot of top tier events going on right now. Boo’s N.E.W.S. Sports Desk is here with an overview.  

MLB Playoffs – October means Major League Baseball playoffs, and the team I care about, the Atlanta Braves, are again National League East Division Champs, and are battling the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS. I am a long-time Braves fan. Where I grew up in South Florida, the Braves and the Montreal Expos both held Spring Training, and I would go watch games as a boy. College brought me to Atlanta, and I lived through every minute of the Braves magical ‘90s teams. I love the team we have now – young, exciting, talented. When the Braves lost Game 1, I knew I had to get involved. Luckily, Boo’s N.E.W.S. frequent subject of articles/Walkin’ Man Tom Cutler reached out with an extra ticket to last night’s Game 2. I was an honorary Cutler, joining Tom, and his sons Henry and Nathan. Their love of baseball, and of the Braves in particular, runs deep. Tom grew up a Royals fan, but his boys grew up in Atlanta, and share a love of this team. The brothers bonded over baseball two years ago, during the Braves’ World Series run, while Nathan was battling leukemia. And like the Braves in 2021, Nathan never stopped fighting, was cheered on by everyone we know, and came out victorious. In our community, Nathan was the unanimous pick for MVP.

The game was incredible. It was a beautiful Fall night, we had great seats, but the Braves started off not looking very good. The Phillies went up 4-0, and by the middle of the game a sense of dread started to settle in. But then the Braves rallied back - with the highlight being Austin Riley’s 2-run homer hit to right below our section to put them up 5-4. I’m sure you can see us in the replay. Electrifying! The best part for me was seeing the happiness that Tom and his sons shared. They deserve it, and I hope they continue to celebrate through another World Series title. GO BRAVES!

WNBA Finals – The WNBA Finals are taking place right now with the Las Vegas Aces having a 1-0 lead against the New York Liberty. The next game is Wednesday Oct. 11th. Fans and experts alike all predicted these two teams would meet up in the Finals – they are both loaded with talent and accustomed to playing at the highest level. The Aces won it last year, and after picking up free agent Candace Parker, a two-time MVP, the buzz had them returning as heavy favorites. But the Liberty also made moves – signing Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot. The Finals features 3 former MVPs, five former Number 1 draft picks, and two of the best point guards playing.  

Rugby World Cup – The Men’s Rugby World Cup is taking place in France this year. This tournament takes place every four years. Lots of drama and excitement through the initial pool play matches. Next up are the Quarterfinals, or “Knockout” matches. Wales vs. Argentina, Ireland vs. New Zealand, England vs. Fiji, France vs. South Africa. These teams will battle until two face off at the Final on Saturday October 28th. You can probably tell by looking at me that I have been involved with rugby for many years. Well, I attend Daily Scrum meetings at work, which is basically the same thing. It’s all about agility.  

Cricket World Cup – The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup is also a quadrennial event, this year taking place in India, with ten teams participating: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka. The play continues until the final on November 19th. The Cricket World Cup is one of the most viewed events in the world, coming in fourth place (3.5 billion in 2019) behind the FIFA World Cup (5.5 billion in 2022), Summer Olympic Games (3.6 billion in 2016) and the Tour de France (3.5 billion annually). 

Workshop: If You Got It, Haunt It 

Most of our free time this week has been spent decorating for Halloween. Our basement has dozens of bins covering every major holiday we participate in – 6 Halloween bins, at least 10 Christmas bins, Thanksgiving (2), 4^th of July (2), Easter (2), Luau (1), Valentine’s (3) and New Years (2). Note to self: I need a Groundhog’s Day bin. 

Despite inflatables, spider-web table runners and serving racks, spooky potholders and loads of semi-clever punny signs and pillow covers, the crown jewel of our decorations is our giant spider. Since before the girls were born, we’ve had a large black spider in our front yard. We spared ALL expenses. Spoiler alert: If you want to keep it magical and mystical, don’t read any further. The body of the spider is two laundry baskets, zip-tied together, wrapped in black garbage bags. The legs are segments of PVC pipes, sprayed black. The body is covered in black garlands and boas. The head is a wicker ball we painted black. Baby spiders and human skulls surround it. It is both a tribute to the love a spider family shares AND a terrifying warning to the humans. One year, an old, mostly blind dog barked at it for a few seconds!  

Our spider is easily the largest spider ever recorded. The second largest, according to fossil records from around 300 million years ago, was the Megarachne which had a 21-inch span. More recently, a male goliath bird-eating spider collected by members of the Pablo San Martin Expedition at Rio Cavro, Venezuela in April 1965 had a leg-span of 11 inches.  

Boo’s N.E.W.S. web reporter Keating M. recently shared her unexpected encounter with a Joro spider – an invasive species from East Asia that is harmless, but really spooky looking. She shared this video that discusses their emergence across the East Coast.  

Selected Content: Didn’t I Read This Already? 

The other night, Lisa, Alex and I were having dinner, and had The Book of Questions open. A question came up about amnesia – would you rather lose all the memories you have but be able to form new memories moving forward, or would you prefer only having memories from before and not be able to form new memories? Tough question. Alex posited that Lisa and I should keep our memories because we are old, and our memories are all we have left. Damn. She does have a point - I would not want to lose many of my memories. Well maybe the memory of her calling us old - we can forget that one.

Sometimes we get the sense that an experience we are having has happened before - the sense of déjà vu, the feeling that a new situation has occurred before, especially when that is not the case. In this video, @thoughty2 goes into great depth about the various theories around what is happening when you experience déjà vu. From Groundhog Day to the Matrix, from “normal” déjà vu to pathological déjà vu, from forgotten memories to dual processing, this video gives an informative overview of different theories for this experience.  

Speaking of Groundhog Day, the 1993 Harold Ramis film has Bill Murray playing weatherman Phil Connors, who relives the same day over and over again. This YouTube video tries to determine how many actual days Phil repeated. The video presents three different possible options. Ramis originally thought the duration of Phil’s repeatings was about ten years, but later revised his estimate to 30-40 years. Note to self: I need a Groundhog’s Day bin.