Cellar Scribblings

[CellarDweller]

It's the anniversary of the attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan when she was practicing for the US Nationals.

[southendmd]

It was a figure skating rivalry.  The evil Tonya Harding had her ?bf smash the lovely Nancy Kerrigan's knee with a hammer. Or something like that.

[Sason]

Sounds horrible.

Isn't sport meant to bring out the best in people? What about fair competition and all that?

[southendmd]

I said she was evil. 

She pleaded guilty to conspiracy, and later became a professional wrestler and idiot.

[Sason]

I quite like the title professional idiot. I know a lot of people who really ought to apply for that job 

[Kelda]

I said she was evil. 

She pleaded guilty to conspiracy, and later became a professional wrestler and idiot.

Did she not have a horrid sex tape too?

[southendmd]

Did she not have a horrid sex tape too?

I'm sure most evil people do.  I just don't want to see it.

[CellarDweller]

Ok,

The date was January 6th, 1994, and the top US female skaters were practicing for the US National Championships.  Normally, the top 3 skaters go on to represent the US at World and Olympic competitions.  However, that year the US was only allowed two skaters, so competition was fierce.

Tonya Harding had won the US competition before, and was considered one of the top two skaters, but that wasn't enough for her circle.  Husband Jeff Golooly figured it would be easier for Tonya if Nancy was out of the competition, and hired someone to attack Nancy.

At the nationals Nancy left the practice ice, and a man ran out of the crowd, clubbed Nancy on her right leg (the leg she used to land her jumps) and ran off, leaving Nancy in a heap backstage.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYk0EHgjBys[/youtube]

The plan quickly fell apart, when the group involved discarded evidence poorly, and they were found and arrested.  Tonya was implicated in the case, but there was not enough evidence to ban her from being in the Olympics.

In the end the pressure was too much for Tonya, who finished 8th at the Olympics.  As for Nancy, the attacker missed his mark (her knee - he hit above it) and she healed quickly enough to go to the Olympics, and win the silver medal.

[CellarDweller]

Hello Bettermost Friends!

For those who don't get the pic, here's a brief explanation.

Weather 'experts' are calling our deep freeze a "polar vortex" because of the cold wind coming down from up north.

"Sharknado" is a bad made-for-tv movie that was on the SyFy network.   I haven't seen it, but I believe a tornado touches down over the ocean and sucks up sharks and flings them onto beaches where they eat people.  So someone created that image, which struck me funny.

We are almost to the weekend!     No big plans here, other than to give my apartment a good cleaning, which it needs.

How is everyone else?

[CellarDweller]

Hello Bettermost Friends!

Yup, my state is the center of "bridge gate" and it couldn't have happened to a nicer ( ) governor.

For those of you who have heard something about this but are not sure of what the story is, here is a brief explanation.

Our Governor (Chris Christie) is a Republican, and has the image/reputation of a bully.  He's a big, loud, pushy man who has shouted at people and been rude.  Some like this quality, others don't.   He has voted against funding women's health clinics and vetoed gay marriage in NJ, but his held in high regard by most for his response to Hurricane Sandy

In November our state had the elections, and he was running against Barbara Buono.   When he was campaigning, a number of Democrats supported him (out of fear) but some didn't.  One democrat who refused to endorse him was the mayor of a city called Fort Lee, which is by the George Washington Bridge.

In September before the election, three lanes of the bridge were shut down for "construction and repairs" and this caused massive traffic jams in the streets of the town of Fort Lee.  Traffic was snarled for hours, people were late for work, school busses were deadlocked and kids missed classes.  Emergency vehicles (police cars, ambulances) were stuck in traffic and unable to respond to calls.  This went on for four days.

After 4 days the lanes were reopened, but Democrats began to investigate the event.

Emails have recently surfaced that show the construction was not needed on the bridge, and it was faked and all the lanes were closed with the intent of 'punishing' the mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing Chris Christie by completely clogging their streets with traffic.

So far, Christie has said that he knew nothing about the plans, that it was carried out by his 'underlings', but they were pretty high up in his group of supporters, and so far about 3 people have resigned from jobs due to this.

It's also been reported that a 95 year old woman was unconscious at her home, and her family called 911 for help.  They waited over an hour for an ambulance to arrive, it couldn't get through the traffic to their house.  by the time she got to the hospital, she was dead.