Paul Newman’s Rolex auctioned

“Observers knew that Paul Newman’s Rolex watch, estimated to sell for around $1 million, would be the highlight of Phillips’s first ever New York watch auction yesterday. But no one expected the hand-crafted Daytona watch—which the late actor wore in movies, magazine shoots, and at parties—to sell for $17.8 million, going to an unidentified buyer after 12 minutes of heated bidding.

“The sale smashed the previous record for a watch, $11.1 million for a stainless steel Patek Philippe, which sold at Phillips last November.

“The ‘Paul Newman’ has won legendary status in the watch community, both because it is considered to be one of the most coveted timepieces in the world—the New York Times compared it to the Mona Lisa for the watch collecting world—and because, until the sale’s announcement in August, few people outside of the Newman family knew where it was. It was first given to Newman by his wife, actress Joanne Woodward, who inscribed it with the message ‘DRIVE CAREFULLY ME.’”

http://neveryetmelted.com/2017/10/30/rather-pricey/

Yep. $17.8 million. Godfrey Daniels!

John Greenig

Civil War soldier at 16, major league baseball pitcher at age 40.

John A. Greenig played one game, starting pitcher for the Washington Senators on May 9, 1888.

Of that Senators team, a baseball writer for The Washington Post said: "a pitcher and catcher and Mr. Hoy constitute the Washington Baseball Club. The other six men who accompany them are put in the field for the purpose of making errors."

In that May 9 game, Greenig faced the Chicago White Stockings, in Chicago. “The Chicago batters pounded his curve balls and scored nine runs in the first two innings. Greenig settled down after that and pitched a complete game, but after the 13-2 loss he was released.”

Twenty-four years before that May 1888 baseball game, “John A. Greenig… enlisted in the Indiana 132nd Infantry, Company K…”

Sixteen-year-old soldier, 40-year old major league baseball player. Obviously, a determined man.

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ec3201f6

Greenig statistics: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=greenjo01

As a cross-country truck driver said ...

When you pass an 18-wheeler or it passes you, remember the tires are mostly bald and the brakes don't work.

Worse than that: You are driving in Russia and you see a truck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukLuVZPzxWA

I'm going to be ethnically insensitive: Considering the video is Russian, alcohol might have been involved in some of the crashes.

A’s catcher who wouldn’t stand for the anthem?

Busted for (allegedly) pulling a gun on “a female food delivery driver.” Charges of aggravated assault pending.

http://www.tmz.com/2017/10/28/mlb-bruce-maxwell-arrested-aggravated-assault-allegedly-pulled-gun-delivery-driver/

Link at http://knuckledraggin.com/2017/10/so-you-want-to-be-a-role-model/


Last week Maxwell had some horseshit story that a restaurant in Alabama refused to serve him because of his courageous anthem stance. Turned out his bud tried to use an expired ID to get a beer. A server said "No can do," and Maxwell got all self-righteous.

Hungary MP speaks truth

Jobbik Party MP Dora Duro: “I do not support the marriage of homosexuals, nor the registration of their civil unions, which has unfortunately already been written into law, and I also oppose the adoption of children in their case. I would ban the provocative [Budapest] Pride, which causes mass hooliganism. Furthermore, I would ban homosexual propaganda from cinemas that belong to the Budapest municipality, where it receives a platform year after year courtesy of Fidesz. I think ensuring the rise of Hungarians can be done by men and women having children in marriages based on free decisions. The biggest current problem for Hungarians is the catastrophic demograpJhic situation, which is why we cannot promote anything that exacerbates it.”

https://budapestbeacon.com/jobbiks-dora-duro-ban-pride-homosexual-propaganda-cinemas/

So I’m working on my house …

“A couple remodeling an old home in north-central France found a cache of ammo, grenades and submachine guns hidden under a granite floor, The Lyonne Republicaine reported.

“The find was made in July by the couple in the Quarré-les-Tombes area, about 150 miles away from Paris. Cached under the floor were three STEN guns, over a dozen Britsh Mills bomb type fragmentation grenades, three handguns, more than 1,000 rounds of ammo, and several Bren light machine gun magazines.”

http://www.guns.com/2017/10/19/french-resistance-cache-unearthed-including-stens-named-pepette-and-alice-photos/

The story does not speculate on whether the previous owners were captured by the Gestapo or just left the weapons, ammunition, grenades, et al, in place.

Lavon, Texas

Lavon is out by Dallas. Lavon has a Sonic (“Half-Price Shake After 8 p.m.”) and a Big Daddy’s Roadhouse BBQ, Established 1999 (“Nationally Acclaimed”). There is even a barn barely standing. Lots of good-size house on decent lots, too. Lake Lavon is near by.

One housing area is on Corn Silk Drive. The concrete streets and the brick houses most likely grow on what used to be a big corn pasture. There are streets named Austin, Crockett and Bowie. Outside of town there are even some farms remaining.

Wikipedia says the 2010 population was 2,219. That makes Lavon a small town. That number also is a 473.4% increase from the 2000 population of 387.

The city web site says Lavon “is a growth community with a vision and strategic plan focused on maintaining a rural atmosphere while encouraging commercial and residential development.”

Uh-huh.

http://cityoflavon.com/

“In 1980 the newly incorporated Lavon had one business serving 306 residents. In 1990 the population was 303.”

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hll23