News of the Week: Westminster Dogs, Blizzard Lawsuits, and the Correct Way to Alphabetize Soup

In the news for the last week of June 2022 are a bloodhound, a bottle of water, Babe Didrikson, dead voices, Elvis Presley, and more.

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Best in Show

Leading off this week: an apology. I should have posted this last week. It’s the winner of the 2022 Westminster Dog Show. His name is Trumpet. I mean, look at him!

Ice Cream vs. Bottled Water

Last week we had Ohio State University getting a trademark on the word the, and now it looks like Dairy Queen has lost a lawsuit over the word blizzard.

The ice cream chain had filed the lawsuit to stop the W.B. Mason Company from using the word blizzard on their bottled spring water. The company, which sells mostly office supplies and furniture for the workplace, has been using the word on copy paper products since 2003 and then attached the word to their bottles of water in 2010.

There’s an easy solution to this. Dairy Queen should start selling copy paper at all of their locations.

File This Under “Cool but Also Creepy”

You may soon be able to program Amazon’s Alexa to have the voice of a deceased relative. Wasn’t this the plot of a horror movie?

Headline of the Week

“Oregon Man Breaks World Record for Alphabetizing Soup”

RIP Hershel Williams, Mary Mara, Tony Siragusa, Hugh McElhenny, Artie Kane, Margaret Keane, Gregory Jein, and Ken Knowlton

Hershel Williams was the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipient, honored for his bravery in the battle for Iwo Jima. He died this week at the age of 98.

Mary Mara was a regular on such shows as Nash Bridges and ER and also appeared on Law & Order, NYPD Blue, The Handler, Dexter, and Ray Donovan and several movies. She died this week at the age of 61.

Tony Siragusa was a defensive tackle for the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens who went on to become a Fox Sports analyst and an actor, appearing on The Sopranos. He died last week at the age of 55.

Hugh McElhenny was an NFL Hall of Famer known for his incredible runs as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, Minnesota Vikings, and Detroit Lions. He died last week at the age of 93.

As a composer, conductor, or a musician, Artie Kane worked on an amazing number of movies and TV shows. He died last week at the age of 93.

Margaret Keane was an acclaimed artist known for her work depicting wide-eyed children. She proved in court that she actually did the work that her husband took credit for, a story that was depicted in the Tim Burton movie Big Eyes. She died Sunday at the age of 94.

Gregory Jein was a model maker who received Oscar nominations for his work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1941. He also worked on several of the Star Trek movies and TV shows, as well as Avatar and The Dark Knight Rises. He died in May at the age of 76.

Ken Knowlton was an innovator in computer animation and art. He died earlier this month at the age of 91.

This Week in History

Babe Didrikson Born (June 26, 1911)

She’s known as a great golfer, but she was equally adept at baseball, basketball, and track and field, for which she won two gold medals at the 1932 Olympics.

The Guiding LIght Premieres on TV (June 30, 1952)

The soap opera had been a radio staple since 1937 and made the jump to television in 1952. Until 1956 it was on both radio and television. (Full disclosure: I watched it from 1980 until the last episode aired in 2009. Ask me anything.)

This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: “Elvis Presley Portrait” (July 1, 1985)

I was going to go with a Fourth of July cover but chose this one instead, because there’s a new movie out about The King and there are predictions that star Austin Butler will get an Oscar nomination.

Food for the Fourth

But I do have some Fourth of July recipes for you. I bet Elvis would approve of some of these.

I put those in alphabetical order, of course.

Next Week’s Holidays and Events

Tour de France (July 1)

I know, I know, July 1 isn’t “next” week, it’s this week, but the annual bike race runs until the 24th.

Sidewalk Egg Frying Day (July 4)

If you’ve never tried to fry an egg on a sidewalk, whip one out at your July 4 barbecue and amaze your friends! Note: make sure it’s actually hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk or you’re just going to be left with a mess.

Featured image: Shutterstock

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Comments

  1. As for Alexa, a friend of mine kept a late relative’s voice on her answering machine (he’d done the voice.) I think Alexa is creepy enough!

  2. Trumpet is magnificent; no question about it. Look at that beautiful face, long wonderful ears, the tail, the ‘lucky 7’ white marking on his chest. Very smart dog. It’s clearly asking too much for this country’s leaders to be even half as smart as Trumpet.

    Even with the most recent (and drastic!) 1/6 hearing revelations yet, I’m sure Woodward & Bernstein are still sticking by their beliefs Watergate and Nixon was the worst scandal/President in American history, at least publicly. It’s ‘their baby’ after all. Still, they HAVE to know better to at least admit it to themselves. Buckle your seat belts boys! Liz Cheney, Bennie Thompson and Adam Kinzinger have even more whiplash wild rides of accountability coming up for the guilty as the weeks go on.

    The deceased relative voice is kind of creepy, and it also would seem hard to replicate unless you have his or her voice on a message machine, or in some other recorded manner. It’s tech for the sake of tech which is usually really stupid. Alphabetizing soup? Better than trying to break a hot dog consumption record!

    Great art cover of 70’s Elvis. The film looks good, actually. Tom Hanks didn’t need any aging make-up here. He’s aged a lot recently, not sure why. Ben Affleck, get off the booze. Not a happy camper this weekend, Bob. Too many days of draining hot weather, and lost out on seeing Brit Floyd at the Greek Theater 7/2 due to $75+ parking. There are no other viable choices, I really checked. $ refunded. One day closer to death without that wonderful music and laser light show when needed most. It’s pooh-pooh, in Twenty twenty two-two.

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