Well, I hated to hear the news today that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are getting a divorce. It’s a shame to hear about that happening after they got married with so much fanfare in that huge fairy-tale wedding just two weeks ago.
I heard that the royal couple, in the divorce filing, is citing irreconcilable differences. It turns out, I guess, they simply weren’t compatible at all. Friends say that, hours after the wedding, the two just discovered that they’re like oil and water; they ended up fighting like cats and dogs the whole time they were married.
That’s too bad because I was really pulling for those kids. Oh well, nothing lasts forever. I don’t know what Meghan will get in the divorce since the two weren’t married long. It probably depends on how good her divorce attorney is. I’m guessing she’ll probably get Wales in the settlement and maybe even get a Falkland Island or two thrown in.
(By the way, I’m not completely certain I heard all of the details about the royal divorce exactly right, so check it out before you pass it along. I know I’m going to double check the story as soon as I finish my column.)
On to happier news …
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Speaking of couples that have been in the news in a big way lately, there is, of course, everyone’s favorite new couple – Yanny and Laurel. When I first heard the audio clip, I heard “Laurel” over and over again, but I know a lot of you heard “Yanny” instead.
A few years ago when I saw the gold and white dress – or was it a blue and black dress? – everyone had the same reaction to that that they do now to Yanny and Laurel. Both the picture of the dress and the Yanny/Laurel audio clip went viral and I fully expect this column will as well since I’ve found something very similar and equally astonishing to tell you about.
I did some research and I found a written word that has the exact same effect on people: Even though it’s the same word, some people see it one way and others see it a completely different way.
Here’s the word – read it and tell me which you see. I don’t want to bias you, so I’m not going to say yet which of the two words I see it as. Here you go …
Hunabra.
OK, which word did you see? The first time I saw it, it appeared to me as “Hunabra” but other people looking at the same word said they saw “Hunabra” instead. I have to say that, to me, it is clearly Hunabra and I can’t for the life of me understand how so many people see that word and it appears to them to be Hunabra rather than Hunabra. I will say that one time I did stare at it for a long time, and, for just a second, I could see how people might see it as Hunabra; but, other than that one time, it always appears to me clearly and distinctly as Hunabra.
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I was watching Inside Edition the other night and they showed a video of a man who got into a lion enclosure at a lion preserve in South Africa. In the video, the man looked like he was going in to grab something off the ground real quick before the lion noticed he was there, but of course the lion saw him and ran toward the man. The man turned and ran as fast as he could to the gate but didn’t make it in time, and the lion grabbed him by the neck, dragged him across the ground and mauled him. (The guy, a British man, fortunately is recovering well.)
Inside Edition ran a short teaser of the video at the beginning of the show the other night and then asked, “What did he do wrong? What experts say!”
In the story, they answered that question. They showed the clip of the man turning and running when the lion is coming toward him, and they said, “Experts say you should never do this – never turn your back on a lion.”
They even interviewed a lion expert who explained why you should never turn your back on a lion and he went into great detail about what a bad idea it is.
I was listening to that, thinking, Never turn your back on a lion?? Never turn your back on a lion? What the…? How about: Never get into a lion cage with a lion!
Isn’t that much better advice?
It’s like someone is telling you, “Listen, when you are storing dynamite in the fireplace, make sure you don’t light a fire while the dynamite is in there.”
You know, maybe there are better places to store dynamite.
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I know that no one in the whole city of Greensboro other than myself and Chief Guilford County Deputy Attorney Matt Turcola are big hockey fans; and, from what I can tell in my conversations with people, we are the only two people in Greensboro who are watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs. So I know no one wants to read about hockey but it’s my column and I love hockey and you are going to have to hear a little about it.
The playoff hockey right now is simply fantastic and, if you aren’t watching, you should be. If you don’t know about the Las Vegas Golden Knights, they are in the finals of the Stanley Cut Playoffs in their first year of existence. It is simply unbelievable what they are doing. Think how bad expansion teams always are. Think how many years the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers stunk to high heaven after they formed.
Or take an example from the world of hockey. By comparison, when the team that Vegas is playing in the Stanley Cup Finals – the Washington Capitals – were an expansion team in 1974, the Caps won only eight games all season and, in one streak that year, lost 38 straight road games.
Vegas, on the other hand, may very well win it all this year. The team has been brilliant since the day they were born. Think of it this way: Vegas winning the Stanley Cup is like a 1-year old baby winning the Nobel Prize in physics.
If you had walked into a bookies office in Vegas at the start of the season and bet on the Vegas Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup, you would have gotten 500-to-1 odds on your money.
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There’s been a lot of talk in Greensboro about panhandlers lately and everyone, including this paper’s editor, has been trying to offer solutions to the problem. What do you do about people coming up to you and asking for money?
Well, there is a perfect solution and I learned it years ago from WKZL Program Director Jason Goodman back when I worked for the radio station. Often, a group of us would be downtown at night so we would get hit up a lot by people asking for money.
Here’s Jason’s solution: Whenever anyone is about to come up to him asking for money, Jason walks quickly toward the person and says, “Hey man, listen. Can you spare me some money? Just a dollar or two. Anything you could give me would help me out.”
The panhandler is usually absolutely stunned and is annoyed that he has to come up with an excuse why he can’t give you money. They leave you alone real fast.
Simply brilliant. It’s the best solution I know or have ever heard of and if everyone in town did this the panhandling problem would be solved in a week.
