January 10, 2022

Report: Rachel Balkovec will manage New York Yankees' low-A minor league affiliate

Rachel Balkovec will manage the low-A team for the New York Yankees this season, making her the first female skipper in affiliated professional baseball, according to a report by The Athletic.

Balkovec, who joined the Yankees as a minor league hitting coach in November 2019, will lead the minor league Tampa Tarpons, according to The Athletic.

A 34-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska, Balkovec got her first position in pro ball with the St. Louis Cardinals as a minor league strength and conditioning coach in 2012.

snip

She briefly left baseball in 2018 to pursue a second master's degree at Vrije University in the Netherlands, where she also worked with the country's national baseball and softball teams. She then worked for Driveline Baseball, a data-driven baseball center that has trained numerous major leaguers, before being hired by New York.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33031319/report-rachel-balkovec-manage-new-york-yankees-low-minor-league-affiliate

January 10, 2022

Happy Coming of Age Day

Today (2nd Monday in Japan) is Coming of Age Day, where the country celebrates all those who are turning 20
All across Japan 20-year olds will dress in Kimonos, or suits (I'm always disappointed to see them not wearing Kimonos)
Coming of Age
Many will return to their hometown and reunite with their friends from elementary and high school (provided they still claim residency in the area -- usually their parents and, or grandparents live there), take photos and listen to speeches from locals of importance.
The pay off is, after the festivities it will be time to go drinking.
At 20, they can also smoke, vote in elections, and get married without parental approval
Unfortunately, with covid and the like, many events will either be very subdued, or possibly cancelled

As a note, Coming of Age Day celebrates those who turn 20 from April 2, of the previous year and April 1 of the New Year
Starting of April 2 of this year some areas may change the event to when they turn 19. Personally, I think it's a bad idea unless they are going to change the age restrictions as well. What's the purpose of doing a ceremony celebrating you are an adult if you don't get any of the benefits?

January 8, 2022

Tony Blair's Knighthood - Historian's Perspective

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January 4, 2022

California twins born just 15 minutes apart, but in different years

Two fraternal twins in California were born just 15 minutes apart, yet their birthdays fall on different days, in different months and years.

Alfredo Trujillo was born on December 31, 2021 at 11:45 p.m., the Natividad Medical Center announced Sunday. His twin sister, Aylin Trujillo, was born 15 minutes later — right at midnight on January 1, 2022.

"It's crazy to me that they are twins and have different birthdays," their mother, Fatima Madrigal, said, according to the hospital. "I was surprised and happy that she arrived at midnight."

Aylin Trujillo was also the first baby to be born at Natividad Medical Center in 2022, the hospital said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/california-twins-born-just-15-minutes-apart-but-in-different-years/ar-AASoUxR?ocid=msedgntp

January 3, 2022

China Evergrande shares suspended amid reports of demolition order

Shares in China’s Evergrande Group have been suspended from trading, the embattled property developer announced on Monday, without giving any reason.

It came amid Chinese media reports that the world’s most indebted developer was ordered by authorities in southern Hainan province to demolish 39 buildings in 10 days because the building permits were illegally obtained.

The order reportedly concerns the huge Ocean Flower project, which is a resort-style development built on islands off the coast of Hainan, according to the Chinese news outlet Cailian.

snip

Evergrande is struggling to repay more than $300bn (£222bn) in liabilities, including nearly $20bn of international market bonds that were deemed to be in cross-default by ratings firms last month after it missed payments.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/03/china-evergrande-shares-suspended-from-trading-in-hong-kong

Those international bond holders may as well kiss their money good-bye. They are always last when any Chinese company defaults

January 2, 2022

Why news organizations need an editor or proofreader

From msn. An article about a woman in Colorado who was arrested for murder:

She was taken into custody and cooked at the Garfield County Jail.

January 2, 2022

Posting with no comment

December 25, 2021

Stupidest stuff said in 2021. This why you wait til after Dec 31 is over

https://crooksandliars.com/2021/12/kilmeades-christmas-story

It started out with him praising Mary and Joseph for finding the manger so that the animals could heat the baby Jesus with their breath:

"I know we had this conversation before, but were the animals used, were their breaths used to heat Jesus?" Kilmeade wondered. "Remember the animals would go around because it was so cold in Bethlehem. I get them confused. It was so cold at that time, the animals breathed on him to keep him warm."

It was Steve Doocy - of all people - who had to remind Kilmeade that the original Bible story was that they were in the manger because there was no room at the inn.

Kilmeade agreed and added that the inn was full because of people traveling for the holiday season.

******************
Gotta wait until the year is completely over, because they've got 6 whole days to say stupider things.

December 12, 2021

Vatican Nativity creche inspired by Peru's Andean region

The representation of Peru's diverse indigenous communities in this year's Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square embodies the joy and hope of their faith, said Peruvian Bishop Carlos Alberto Salcedo Ojeda of Huancavelica, Peru.

Bishop Salcedo joined Jorge Eduardo Román Morey, the Peruvian ambassador to the Vatican, and other Peruvians to show journalists around the Vatican Nativity scene on Dec. 9.

Statues of Joseph and Mary, as well as the Three Kings, are dressed in the traditional bright, multicolored garments of the region's indigenous Chopcca people.

Unlike more traditional depictions of the Magi, trudging to Bethlehem with camels and gifts of gold, incense and myrrh, the Andean interpretation has them accompanied by llamas and bearing sacks of food from the region, including corn, quinoa and potatoes.

In front of the llamas, an angel, dressed in traditional Andean clothing, hails the birth of the Messiah by playing a flute in one hand while banging a drum with the other. Overlooking the Peruvian Nativity scene atop a tree is an Andean condor, the country's national symbol, with its massive wings spread preparing to soar the heavens.

https://www.ucanews.com/news/vatican-nativity-creche-inspired-by-perus-andean-region/95315

December 10, 2021

China Evergrande defaults on its debt. Now what?

For weeks, global markets have been watching the struggles of China Evergrande, a teetering real estate giant weighed down by $300 billion or more in obligations that just barely seemed able to make its required payments to global investors.

On Thursday, three days after a deadline passed leaving bondholders with nothing but silence from the company, a major credit ratings firm declared that Evergrande was in default. But instead of resolving questions about the fate of the Chinese behemoth, the announcement only deepened them.

The firm, Fitch Ratings, said in its statement that it had placed the Chinese property developer in its “restricted default” category. The designation means Evergrande had formally defaulted but had not yet entered into any kind of bankruptcy filing, liquidation or other process that would stop its operations.

snip

For years, many investors gave money to companies like Evergrande on the basis of this assumption. But more recently, authorities have shown greater willingness to let companies fail in order to rein in China’s unsustainable debt problem.

To emphasize this point, China’s central bank has blamed Evergrande’s “own poor management and reckless expansion” for its problems and said the crisis was limited to Evergrande. Yi Gang, the central bank governor, indicated Thursday that Evergrande would go through something resembling a typical reorganization, suggesting a bailout was not in the cards.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/12/10/business/china-evergrande-default/