BubbleGymnast

17/07/2022

What can run a feral, East Campus cat off a liver truck and save a few trees in the process?

Fox urine sprayed on pine and spruce trees might not make much sense to some people who know the beauty of East Campus' Arboretum. But to the landscaping staff at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, it's a front-line tool against tree-nabbing.

Jeff Culbertson, manager for landscape services on East Campus, said young evergreens with a typical Christmas tree shape sometimes are cut down and stolen by people who put the trees in their homes for the holidays.

"When you can buy a Christmas tree for $10, it makes you wonder why someone would do that," Culbertson said. "It's easier just to pick one out."

A mixture of fox urine, glycerin, water and dye usually is applied to trees just before Thanksgiving, he said. While it doesn't have much of an odor in wintry temperatures, the smell quickly can become intolerable in the confines of a warm house.

"It's as rancid as if you had cat urine all over your house. The smell is eye-watering," he said.

Still, about one or two trees are cut down a year, he said.

UNL landscaping services announces the tree-spraying program in the Daily Nebraskan and on local radio stations, but the ads don't reach everyone, he said.

"Once the trees are past seven or eight feet tall and no longer have that classic, Christmas tree shape, we're not so worried about someone taking them," he said. "Trees that are four, five and six feet tall cause the most concern because they can easily be cut down in three or four minutes with a little handsaw."

Tops of larger trees sometimes go missing, too, he said.

The most egregious tree-stealing episode occurred when members of a fraternity stole a tree to display in their house's front window, he said.

"I think the police caught them by following the drag marks through the snow," he said.

The technique is not new. For about 20 years, landscaping services at UNL has been spraying its trees with the mixture.

Jerry Shorney, assistant director of Lincoln Parks and Recreation, said with about 100 parks to supervise, spraying the trees had been an effective turn-off to would-be tree poachers.

"Several years ago, we were losing about 15 or 20 trees a year," Shorney said. "We've been doing this about 10 years, and that number has dramatically decreased. Now we lose about one or two a year."

Like UNL, the department advertises on the radio and in the newspapers. Unlike UNL, the department takes an extra step of posting signs at park entrances to educate visitors, he said.

"There's no way to tell everyone, but we try to let the majority of folks know about the program," Shorney said.

17/07/2022

Canada's victory against Team USA in the Olympic gold-medal game Sunday night was the most-watched hockey game in the United States in 30 years.

The game drew an average viewership of 27.6 million, making it the most-watched hockey broadcast since the U.S. team beat Finland to win gold at 1980 Olympics. That game drew 32.8 million fans and came on the heels of the historic U.S. win against the U.S.S.R. in the "Miracle on Ice" game.

It was also the most-watched television broadcast ever in Canadian history, with an average audience of 16.6 million viewers. Nearly half of the Canadian population watched the entire game on average, while 80 percent of Canadians watched some part of the game (26.5 million). The game aired live on nine television networks in eight languages via Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium.

"That's one of the greatest sports events I have ever seen," NBC Olympic host Bob Costas said of USA-Canada on Sunday. "A script so classic that if it were a movie, they would send it back because it was unrealistic."

The game had a 15.2 rating with a 30 share, putting it far above the ratings for the 2002 gold-medal game, when Canada beat Team USA. in Salt Lake City. The game also was the highest-rated hockey game since the U.S.-Finland 1980 match (23.2/61) The "Miracle on Ice" game had a rating of 23.9/37.

The audience for Sunday's game peaked at 34.8 million viewers from 5:30-6 p.m. ET, when Team USA's Zach Parise sent the game to overtime with the tying goal with just 24.4 seconds left in regulation. Canada's Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal for Canada at 7:40 of overtime.

The number of fans watching the gold-medal game eclipsed a number of other major sports events this season, including the 2010 Rose Bowl (24.0 million), the 2009 World Series (22.8 million for Game 4, the most-watched game), the 2009 NCAA men's basketball championship game (17.6 million), the 2009 NBA Finals (16.0 million for Game 4, the most-watched game) and the 2010 Daytona 500 (16.0 million).

In individual markets, the game garnered the highest ratings in Buffalo, where U.S. goalie Ryan Miller plays (32.6/51) and Pittsburgh, Crosby's home NHL city (31.9/50). Rounding out the top five are Detroit (26.9/47), Minneapolis (26.4/53) and Milwaukee (24.5/43). In all, the game did better than a 20.0 rating in 11 major media markets, including Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Denver, Philadelphia and West Palm Beach, Fla.

"We've been fortunate to have a front-row seat to observe a nation of fans that appreciates winter sports, is proud of their winter sport heritage and celebrates success -- no matter which country wins -- so it was only fitting yesterday when Sidney Crosby scored the goal to give Canadians the gold that meant so much to this country," said Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports and Olympics. "'O Canada' will never be the same."

NBC's Universal Sports will replay the gold-medal game Tuesday and Wednesday at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.

16/07/2022

The Toronto Film Festival proclaimed Friday Bill Murray Day, with a tribute to the star and free public screenings of “Ghostbusters” and “Groundhog Day.” And he lived up to his reputation at a packed Q&A with fans by giving a glimpse into the quirky mind of Murray.

The star, wearing red pants, a plaid shirt and furry winter hat, even though the temperature was 90 degrees, arrived on stage at the Bell Lightbox theater and revealed that “Ghostbusters” was originally written by Dan Aykroyd for John Belushi.

“[Dan] wrote the original treatment for him and Belushi,” Murray recalled, adding, “But John passed away. [Dan] had to look for someone, and I was in the neighborhood,” he joked. “The only thing is, we miss John.”

Murray said that when he saw Ivan Reitman’s early cut of “Ghostbusters,” he knew it was a hit. “I knew I was going to be rich and famous, and be able to wear red pants and not give a damn.”

He recalled that the night before the festival, he got into a taxi in Oakland and ended up driving the cab driver around. “When I’m conscious, it is a conscious decision,” Murray said of his off-screen antics before going on to describe how the driver mentioned he was a saxophone player.

“I said, ‘When do you practice?’ He said, ‘I drive 14 hours a day.’ ” Murray then asked him, “Well, where’s your sax?” The driver replied, “In the trunk.” Murray told the cabbie, “Pull over and get in the back, I know how to drive a car.’ ”

“Not only did he play all the way to Sausalito, which is a long way, we stopped and got barbecue. He [wound up] playing in what some would call a sketchy, weird place in Oakland at 2:15 in the morning. I was like, ‘Relax, man, you’ve got the [bleeping] horn! We’re cool!’ And it was great and it made for a beautiful night!”

Murray — who also premiered his latest film “St. Vincent” at the fest — is so elusive, that when Toronto wanted to create Bill Murray Day, organizers had a tough time pinning him down. The fest finally found him after a Hollywood blog posted, “Paging Mr. Murray, Toronto Wants to Honor You . . . But Cannot Find You.”

15/07/2022

They were ready to land in Australia, at the end of a 14-hour international flight, when the 270 passengers of an Air Canada flight were suddenly thrown into a high-seas search-and-rescue operation.

Flight AC033 diverted after pilot Andrew Robertson got a call from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on Tuesday to help search for a yachtsman who had sailed from Sydney two weeks earlier.

"If we have the fuel, could we investigate an emergency beacon that had just gone off," came the question from maritime officials, Robertson told CNN Canadian affiliate CBC News.

Down below, Glenn Ey of Queensland, Australia, was being tossed about in his crippled 36-foot yacht -- out of fuel and with a broken mast after a storm.
"I thought I had a very good chance of getting back to Sydney without assistance," Ey said after nine days adrift. "I couldn't see any evidence of Sydney, and I had no idea of my exact position, and it was at that point I set off the emergency position indicator radio beacon."

The search began as the Boeing 777, on its way from Vancouver, dropped from 37,000 feet to 4,000 feet. Robertson asked the passengers and crew to train their eyes on the choppy waters below.

"I think everyone's heart started beating a little bit faster," said Jill Barber, a Canadian singer, who was making the trip to Sydney for a concert. "They said ... we'd really appreciate it if everyone could look out their windows, and if anyone has any binoculars that could help us identify this yacht, that would be really helpful."

It didn't take too long to find Ey as passengers and crew scanned the waters below.

"We're doing this big sweeping right turn and almost immediately they said, 'Oh, we see something,' " Robertson said. "We were totally ecstatic."
Total from time from activation of the emergency beacon until he was found by the Air Canada flight: about 25 minutes.

"You know, we cheered and we applauded and I think we all kind of felt a sense of pride," Barber said.

A merchant vessel helped the yacht until the New South Wales water police arrived from Sydney late Wednesday, about 270 nautical miles off the coast.

15/07/2022