Sprinting at 104

At one hundred and four, Ida Keeling, is a very busy lady.

She grew up "Happily," she says, as one of eight children in Harlem. The days when police opened the hydrants with with sprinklers on them there were wonderful times--dancing to drum music, (boys made pails in to drums). But drugs came, everyone was after the quick money that killed both her sons in drug related violence in 1978 and 1981. Their deaths broke her spirit. She was 67 and began running. Ida says: The more I ran, the faster and stronger I became. It released the hold that death had on me.

Preparing for races--sprints of 60 to 100 meters--I'd go to the gym, ride my bike, work out. Age aint' got nothing to do with it. When you really want to do something for yourself, you go and do it.

She doesn't run as fast as she used to, but this American sprinter still competes, and being the only sprinter in her age group, of course, always wins.


km

(wee issue may 3, Keanu wissue

shd's marvelous

WHY ARE RACE HORSES DYING

After more than two dozen horses in  just three months. died at the Santa Anita track in Southern California, the track officials are suspending operations to figure out why.

Horse fatalities at Turf Paradise horse racing track in Phoenix have spiked recently. No one seems to know why. Browsing around, I learned that 10 horses have died at the four day Cheltenham Racecourse Festival in Great Britain. I visited "Equine Death and Breakdown" on Open Data NY, and was stunned. Throughout America 817 horses are known to have died while  training in 2018. (Activists says the toll is actually 2000.)

Some authorities say the 1,200 pound "equine athletes" are often heavily drugged to mask injuries and fatigue. During training and running a race, horses develop fractures that lead to sudden leg breaks, forcing trainers to put them down.

I think we should keep our eyes on the sports news for May--see how many thorobreds die, before, after or during a race.

• Kentucky Oaks – May 3, 2019
• Kentucky Derby – May 4, 2019
• Virginia Gold Cup – May 4, 2019
• Iroquois Steeple Chase – May 11, 2019
• Runhappy Stakes – May 11, 2019
• Preakness Stakes – May 16, 2019

AND remember the Ringling Brothers Circus--public revulsion over the mistreatment of elephants--it shuttered the circus.

Alas, if horse racing can't halt the epidemic, it too, will disappear

CAN NUCLEAR POWER HELP CLIMATE CHANGE...

The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Week Magazine are talking about Nuclear power. They are quoting scientists who are saying that keeping existing nuclear plants open and building dozens of new ones can help many countries, and enable the U.S. to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Here's the scary numbers: If we don't reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by 45 percent by 2030, and get to zero by 2050, extreme weather--devastating droughts, floods, wildfires, and storms--will get worse and occur more frequently.

After seeing Jane Fonda, and Jack Lemon in "China Syndrome," we're remembering "The Three Mile Island Incident" of 1979, and Chernobyl, 1986. And Fukushima, 2011 is still haunting us.

Actually, there have been at least 56 "accidents," (no deaths, but millions spent on repairs), at various nuclear reactors in the U.S. Even so, building more nuclear plants to generate electricity is being touted as a miraculous solution to the world's energy needs. Perturbing fact--Germany spent $580 billion on renewables (wind and solar), but electric bills in Germany are the highest in Europe, and its emissions have not been reduced. On the other hand, Sweden's three nuclear power plants with just eight nuclear reactors, along with the hydroelectric plants in Sweden's rivers, using water, a renewable, are generating electricity, and supply more than 40 percent of Sweden's energy needs, while other renewables supply the rest. Fascinating fact: Sweden's emissions have dropped by half.

Dams 

Couldn't the U.S and other countries do what Sweden has done?

Renewables

 None of the articles in the prestigious newspapers suggest action.

Hey, I'm an ex dancer blogger-writer, not a facilitator or activist, but guys, THIS is something we need to investigate--not ASAP--but do now--start doing right away, immediately!

(VIDEO) SNACKING ON THIS AND THAT

John Cullum and wife Emily Frankel are revving up do a video and sharing visions of things to nibble.
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Also contemplating sharing some fascinating 'snacks for the mind.'