News of the Week: Summer Sounds, Roosevelt’s Watch, and Benjamin Franklin Goes Skinny-Dipping

I Still Hate Summer

I’ve complained about this before, but until there’s a solution (getting rid of summer completely) I reserve the right to complain about it over and over again.

I open the windows and doors during the months of June, July, and August (you have to when you don’t have air conditioning), and while this helps cool down my apartment it presents a whole new raft of problems that I don’t encounter in the good, normal seasons of fall and winter.

First there are the bugs, those that crawl and those that fly, getting in when we open and close the door. Second, and just as bad, are the array of irritating street sounds that I never hear when the windows are closed. I hear people walking by, talking loudly; I hear dogs barking manically (there’s a pet groomer next door); people have the windows down in their cars and they play music at a volume guaranteed to raise the dead (and it’s never good music); and then there’s the constant honking of horns and the occasional four-letter word screamed out, because I live at an intersection and many people don’t know how to drive.

And then there are the motorcycles. Oh, the motorcycles.

Between October and March, I never hear motorcycles. But when the warm weather comes around, there seem to be hundreds of them prowling the street outside my home. They are loud, they are constant, and the riders all seem to be going out of their way to annoy the neighborhood, as if the warm months are their time and they finally have their motorcycles out of the garage and damn it we’re going to rev, rev, rev!

So that’s summer: uncomfortable humidity, lots of bugs, and irritating loud noises.

If I were on Facebook, I’d start an “I Hate Summer” group.

Theodore Roosevelt’s Watch Recovered

The pocket watch was stolen from a Buffalo mansion in 1987. It was received by Blackwell Auctions in Florida and put up for sale last year before authorities got wind of it.

The Encyclopedia Project

In this day and age of Google and AI and misinformation on social media, maybe we need to go back to the good old encyclopedia for our information, as this family did.

Benjamin Franklin Swam Nude in the Thames

Picture it! Or better yet, don’t. He did it when he was 19 years old, and he was such a good swimmer he was practically the Esther Williams of Founding Fathers.

Headline of the Week

“New Law Allows 14 1/2 Year-Olds to Drive to Work in Iowa”

RIP Martin Mull, Robert Towne, and Orlando Cepeda

Martin Mull starred on the faux talk show Fernwood 2 Night (later America 2 Night) and appeared on Roseanne, Arrested Development, The Ellen Show, and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, as well as dozens of other shows and movies. He was also a musician and songwriter who toured with everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Frank Zappa. He died last week at the age of 80.

Robert Towne won the Oscar for writing the screenplay for Chinatown and was nominated for Shampoo and The Last Detail. He also wrote Tequila Sunrise (one of my favorite films), The Firm, Days of Thunder, Love Affair, and the first two Mission: Impossible films. He also did uncredited work on The Godfather, Heaven Can Wait, and Marathon Man. He died Monday at the age of 89.

Orlando Cepeda was a Hall of Fame infielder for the New York (later San Francisco) Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals and several other teams. He was an MVP, a Rookie of the Year, and an 11-time All-Star. He died last week at the age of 86.

This Week in History

President Cleveland’s Secret Surgery (July 1, 1893)

It was for jaw cancer, performed on a yacht, and the country didn’t know the whole truth until 24 years later.

Andy Rooney’s First 60 Minutes Commentary (July 2, 1978)

It was the first of 1,097 “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney” (originally called “Three Minutes or So with Andy Rooney”) segments that he did at the end of the CBS Sunday night show. (Sorry, it doesn’t seem to be online.)

Rooney had been with the show since the first episode. Before “A Few Minutes …” he was part of a weekly short debate segment called “A Digression” that was filmed rather oddly. You can see it at 7:34 of this last interview with Rooney after he retired:

Uploaded to YouTube by CBS News

This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: Foremost Ice Cream (July 4, 1959)

For some reason I’ve never liked ice cream on cake or pie.

July Is Ice Cream Month

Some food holidays don’t make sense. Why is National Hot and Spicy Food Day in the middle of muggy August? Shouldn’t National Candy Month be October instead of January? But having National Ice Cream Month in July feels exactly right.

In this video, Andy Rooney shows you how to make Classic Vanilla Ice Cream (don’t use eggs!), here’s a recipe for Very Chocolate from AllRecipes, and here are recipes for eight exotic flavors of ice cream, including Avocado, Roasted Garlic & Raspberry Preserve Ribbon, and Granny Smith Apple Sorbet.

And just because I don’t like it with cake or pie doesn’t mean you can’t have it that way.

Next Week’s Holidays and Events

National Tell the Truth Day (July 6)

Actually, I lied. It’s the 7th.

Nude Recreation Week (July 8-14)

Celebrate like Ben Franklin did!