This is our 537th post. I thought that might be a prime number, but it’s not. The closest prime numbers are 523, below it, and 541, above. In all, there are 168 prime numbers between 1 and 1000, with 997 the highest.
Our Father’s Day message was written by Hannah Sward as a Tiny Love Story in the NYT:
“How will I know?” I asked my father before he died. “Talk to me like we are now and listen,” he said. Months passed. I was scared to talk to him. What if I didn’t hear him? On Father’s Day, running barefoot on the beach, I called out “Dad?” The sharp edge of a shell sliced my foot. My father’s father was a podiatrist. My father was a poet who wrote endlessly about feet. He believed, “The soul is rooted in the foot.” Seven stitches, a beautiful scar. I feel hollow with loss, but my father is still with me.
Who doesn’t like haiku? The Poetry Foundation yesterday sent us a poem by Robert Hass called “After the Gentle Poet Kabayashi Issa.” It’s a collection of haiku. Yesterday was the date of birth of Issa, back in 1763.
New Year’s morning—
everything is in blossom!
I feel about average.
A huge frog and I
staring at each other,
neither of us moves.
This moth saw brightness
in a woman’s chamber—
burned to a crisp.
Asked how old he was
the boy in the new kimono
stretched out all five fingers.
Blossoms at night,
like people
moved by music
Napped half the day;
no one
punished me!
Fiftieth birthday:
From now on,
It’s all clear profit,
every sky.
Don’t worry, spiders,
I keep house
casually.
These sea slugs,
they just don’t seem
Japanese.
Hell:
Bright autumn moon;
pond snails crying
in the saucepan.
FYI, our friend Miriam says the plural of haiku can be either haiku or haikus.
I visited the Dull Men’s Club (UK) this morning and found this photo of a British postal box posted by Joe Westy.
And here’s what he wrote: The rare golden postbox in the UK. There are a great many red boxes, as any Brit will tell you, but did you know that there are a few golden ones dotted around? These postboxes are painted gold in honour of an Olympic gold medalist who lives in the area. This postbox is in Wimbledon, in honour of Andy Murray.
There were 103 comments, most pointing out other gold postboxes in other areas, along with the Olympians (or para-Olympians) whom they honor. One gent pointed out a rare blue box in Manchester, which is blue for other historic reasons: blue used to be for airmail postal boxes, but that was only temporary and they were repainted red, except for the one in Manchester because it’s outside the air and space museum.
Here’s your basic red one, which has become iconic. Many people use them as lawn decorations or for other non-postal reasons. This one goes for $900, but there are many much cheaper models.
The typical box was once green, but they were difficult to locate because of the drabness of the color. Hence, the shift to red.
I’m not sure how this matter got by the Dull Men’s Club guardians. Is it dull enough? Borderline, I guess.
Neil Dorman posted this photo and wrote:
“It’s mid June and I have had to light the fire. I promise I am not burning a beast’s head 
“
I guess it’s been a cold spring over there. I commented: “Sure looks like a beast’s head. Not that I’m doubting you.” There were over 100 other comments — mostly on the weather.
The Gnats are doing well, kinehora. They won their series against the Braves and Tigers and swept three from Miami. Brilliant young pitching augurs well for the future. But major league baseball is stressful. And things exploded two nights ago between Mackenzie Gore and Nick Senzel. Gore was on the mound when a grounder was hit to deep third by a speedy batter. Senzel’s throw to first was just late and a run scored. Gore thought he should have nailed him and told him so in the dugout. Senzel didn’t appreciate the lecture and shoved Gore. They were quickly separated. Gore later admitted he was wrong, under baseball etiquette. You don’t deride your teammates for their misplays. At the least, it was noted, they should have discussed it in the runway off the dugout and not in full view of the public and the press. BTW, Gore had a brilliant night and the Gnats coasted to an easy win.
But let’s get to the merits of Gore’s claim. Could Senzel have made the play? Amazingly, we have data on it. Senzel entered the game with an 83.9 mph average arm strength, but threw the ball to first at a 72.7 mph arm strength. The runner beat out the play, running at 28.0 feet per second (the Major League average is 27.0 feet/second).
“I’ve probably got to do a better job of getting rid of it with a better throw,” said Senzel. “Maybe a little lackadaisical so that one’s on me.” Still, Gore should not have incited the shove.
There was a bit of a hoo-hah over the clue/answer at 103A today. All it’s doing for me is making my brain hurt. The clue is “Lives as lovers,” and the answer is SHACKS UP. Rex himself didn’t mention a problem, but several nitpickers noted that a lover (singular) “shacks” up, but lovers (plural, as in the clue) “shack” up. I guess these folks think the clue should be “Lives as a lover” (SHACKS UP), or “Live as lovers” with the answer SHACK UP. Arggggh!! My feeling is: SHUT UP!!
Rex commenter Andrew has always been a bit crusty but his recent adoption of a rescue dog has turned him into a teddy bear, and the gang is enjoying his conversion. Today, he shared this song with us by Alun Davies, who produced a solo album after playing with Cat Stevens.
And here’s our style consultant Ana with one of her pups.
Woof woof. See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 