JUNE 20 MOUNT EVEREST IS A GARBAGE DUMP

JUNE 20 MOUNT EVEREST IS A GARBAGE DUMP

Poor Mount Everest! For many a millennium, he looked down at the rest of the unspoiled world. He saw the lush valley of Kathmandu. He peered over at the slightly smaller peak of Annapurna. All was peaceful and clean. Until one day, these tiny humans began to appear. Unlike all other creatures on the planet, people don't clean up after themselves. Everest gazed in horror as humans destroyed the Kathmandu Valley. Everest gasped in fear when people scaled to the top of Annapurna. Sigh. Even though he is the highest spot in the planet, Mt. Everest knew homo sapiens would someday conquer him too.

That day came in 1953, when Tenzing Norgay and Edmond Hilary first scampered to the summit. The latter planted a Union Jack flagpole into the ground. Ouch! Yet it wasn't all bad. For the next thirty years, attempts were few and far between: Only two hundred other climbers reached the top. Then, in the 1990's, everything changed. Humans developed new technology enabling them to climb higher. Smaller oxygen tanks, stronger clothing and better communications aided to the quest. Since the year 2000, seven thousand people have conquered Mt. Everest...a staggering increase!

At first, Everest found the tenacious humans entertaining. He saw the joy in their hearts when they accomplished the feat. He watched in disbelief when they tripped and fell to their death. (Over 200 people have perished on the steep slopes). Yet regardless of whether they lived or died, all Everest climbers have one trait in common: They litter. See, it's not the environmentalists who want to scale the tallest peak. Rather, it's the thrill-seekers and bucket-listers who desperately need to prove their importance. In short, these climbers are so preoccupied with their task at hand, they don't think twice about their own garbage.

The result is over 200,000 pounds of waste, scattered all over the mountain. It's an assortment of empty oxygen tanks, broken tents, beer bottles and frozen feces. In response, Nepal passed a law stating all climbers must descend with ten kilograms of garbage. Although difficult to monitor, the ordinance sends a clear message. In addition, crews of yaks, Sherpas and helicopters are busy cleaning things up. They empty the brand-new 46 trash cans and three toilets that have been installed. It's just a start, but it's a sign that humans can change.

Today, Everest is a bit happier. He now has an Internet connection and chats with Kilimanjaro and Denali. They commiserate about the crazy humans. They ponder about homo sapiens' insipid motivation to do things the other species on earth don't care about. It's great, but there is one thing that bothers all three. For some reason (NOT GLOBAL WARMING), large sections of the mountains that have always been covered by snow have recently become bare. And on Mt. Everest, this means rotting bodies are now being exposed. Eww! Gross!

ANNOUNCEMENT: THE DUNER BLOG WILL BE ON SUMMER VACATION. NEW POSTS BEGIN IN MID-JULY. THANKS FOR READING!


       

JUNE 15 BASEBALL'S BEST GIVE-AWAY PROMOTIONS

JUNE 15  BASEBALL'S BEST GIVE-AWAY PROMOTIONS

It's summertime in America and that means Major League Baseball is in full swing. Attendance is down 6%, and teams are dreaming up new ways to sell tickets. So just about every game has a special theme: Giveaways, Special Promotions and Heritage Nights. All toll, there will be 1,800 such events this season. Our favorite is Vegan Night at Pittsburgh's PNC Park. Most involve free gifts handed to  the first 10,000 fans at the ticket gate. Here are seven notable examples from this season:

Aaron Judge Jedi Bobblehead. New York Yankees. The key to a successful giveaway is to tap into something that is already currently popular. Star Wars fits the bill, and almost every club has a promotion involving The Force. The Yanks took it a bit too far by turning their slugger into a Jedi knight.

Inflatable Prince Guitar, Minnesota Twins. Prince was not known as a sports fan, so it's doubtful he'd approve of this purple novelty item. (The reclusive artists wouldn't even let Weird Al spoof his hit songs!) Nonetheless, on the 60th anniversary of his birth last week, the Twins honored the coolest dude ever born in Minneapolis with this!

Mother's Day Tote Bag, Arizona Diamondbacks. Shopping for Mom is always difficult, so let the thoughtful folks at the ballpark take care of it for you! What mother wouldn't love a shiny polyester purse with a rattlesnake logo on it?

Boston Red Socks, Boston Red Sox. Baseball began in the 1800's, and players initially wore Victorian era clothes. Loose knickers were covered at knee level by long stockings. These leggings were so prominent, the whole team got named after them. Next month, you can get replica red socks at a Red Sox game. NOTE: Everyone already has white socks, so Chicago is not having this promotion.

Mets Cereal Bowl, New York Mets. It's always a safe bet to have a promotion aimed towards children. Backpacks, hoodies and caps are always sure bets to get kids' attention. But a cereal bowl? This is the exact type of thing that gets thrown out by mom when no one is looking.

Nelson Cruz Wine Stopper. Seattle Mariners. Some promotions are geared exclusively for adults. For example, last month in Seattle the first 10,000 folks (21 years and up) received this very classy item for your formal dining room ensemble. Watch out, mom's gonna toss this one out too!

Boogie Board, Tampa Bay Rays. If you want to surf, but aren't coordinated enough, head to Florida for a free boogie board. It's two feet of floating foam fun. Simply hug on tight and ride a wave...without having to try to stand up. This looks like the best of the giveaways this season!

JUNE 9 LIST OF RUSSIAN HOST CITIES FOR THE WORLD CUP

JUNE 9 LIST OF RUSSIAN HOST CITIES FOR THE WORLD CUP

The World Cup is a mere week away! For the first time ever, Russia is hosting the massive spectacle. Matches will be held in eleven different cities...covering an area as large as Western Europe itself. For those of us unfamiliar with Russian cities other than Moscow, here's a quick rundown of the venues by stadium capacity.

Moscow: Luzhniki Stadium. Capacity: 81,000. Originally named Lenin Stadium, Russia's national stadium has hosted numerous memorable events since opening in 1956...including the 1980 Summer Olympics. It was remodeled for soccer and is now home to both the Spartak and CSKA Moscow clubs. It's new name is after the meadows nearby on the banks of the Moskva River.

St. Petersburg: Krestovsky Stadium. 66,881. The semifinals and 3rd place game will be held in the crown jewel of this year's World Cup. Nicknamed 'The Spaceship,' the state-of-the-art, technologically advanced arena is the pride and joy of the World Cup. At a cost of $1.1 billion, it's one of the most expensive stadiums ever built.

Sochi: Olympic Stadium. 47,659. Constructed for the 2014 Winter Olympics, this stunning arena has since been converted into a soccer stadium. It's located next to the centuries-old resort town and is the southernmost venue for this year's cup.

Volgograd Arena. 45,015. History buffs know this city as the site of the bloodiest battle ever. Two million Russian, German and Italian soldiers perished at the Battle of Stalingrad. Modern residents want to move forward, but it's hard when you're always in the shadow of the world's tallest statue commemorating the battle.

Saransk: Mordovia Arena. 45,000. The smallest city on the list has just 300,000 people. Yet Saransk boasts 1,000 years of history. Tartar mosques, Leninist monuments and Tsarist palaces dot the landscape. Hopefully, the new stadium will bring more visitors here in the future.

Nizhny Novgorod Stadium. 44,899. Another city steeped in history, 'Newtown' dates back to 1221. It was home to many principalities and serfdoms before Genghis Khan burned it all down. In 1923, it was renamed 'Gorky' after the Soviet poet.

Rostov-on-Don Arena. 43,702. Located on the Sea of Azov, Greeks first built a colony here in ancient times. Tanais was later settled by Goths, Mongols, Venetians, Turks and Cossacks. Today, the city is known as Russia's tech hub, as it is the place for a new start-up.

Kazan Arena 41,405. The longtime capital of the Tartar Golden Horde, Kazan was a longtime rival of Moscow. This spectacularly ended in 1552, when the aptly-named Ivan the Terrible came in and murdered everyone. Afterward, Catherine the Great built a Kremlin just like the one in Moscow. It remains intact and is the symbol of the city.

Ekaterinburg: Central Stadium. 35,000. The Easternmost location for the cup cities, Ekaterinburg is at the foot of the Ural Mountains, the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia. Formerly known as Sverdlovsk, it's where a fictional Dr. Zhivago took refuge and where real-life Tsar Nicholas II was assassinated.

Kaliningrad Stadium, 35,000. Putin is making a statement with this selection. Kaliningrad is not part of Russia proper...it's a small enclave wedged between Poland and Lithuania. When known as Koninsburg, it was the easternmost Baltic port in the Prussian Empire. Russia grabbed it during World War One and never gave it back. It's a source of anger in the region, and Putin loves to exacerbate his neighbors.

JUNE 1 POP MUSIC IS GETTING SADDER

JUNE 1  POP MUSIC IS GETTING SADDER

A recent study at the University of California, Irvine revealed what many Americans already knew: Pop music getting progressively sadder and angrier. Researchers found a "clear, downward trend" in bright, happy songs and an upward trend in melancholy tunes. Another study by the Royal Society for Open Science went even farther, analyzing 50,000 songs released between 1985 and 2015. They categorized the mood of each track and then assigned each a Happiness Index. Their results were the same as the UCI study.

We here at the DUNER BLOG conducted our own study to confirm the results of the previous two studies. We concur. A staffer feels the matter is best described by one song in particular. "Out of My Head" was a #5 hit in 1998 by the band Fastball. The chorus is "I never meant to do bad things to you." However, when it was remade by Camila Cabello in 2017, she changed key words. She croons: "I only want to do bad things to you." See? Camila knows the current pop climate is all about anger and revenge, not kindness and remorse.

Why the change from glad to sad? Researchers feel it's simple: Happy isn't 'cool' any more. Look no further than the 2016 Presidential election. Trump ran a campaign based on attacks and insults...a stark contrast to the traditional, uplifting and positive presidential runs of the past. Other mediums feel it too. A show like 'Happy Days' could never top the Neilsons these days. Nope, crime show CSI is #1 today. Likewise, violent movies out-earn romantic comedies at the box office.

Thankfully, not everything in the two studies was gloom and glum. Two very positive trends were also noted. First, the happy songs that do top the charts in this decade are extremely fun. Flo-Rida's 'My House' and...of course....Pharrell Williams' 'Happy' (duh) both scored 10's on the Index. Secondly, they found pop music is no longer the male-dominated realm of the past. In fact, three of the top five artists of the 2000's are women. Way to go Beyoncé, Rhianna and Adele!

Finally, one possible reason for the increase in somber songs is the fact the methodology Billboard employs to rank the pop charts has changed. Nowadays, things that didn't exist twenty years ago are added to the formula. YouTube hits and I-Tunes sales were added to the equation five years ago. Radio stations prefer upbeat and fun songs, but today they only account for 25%. At any rate, we here at the DUNER BLOG are hoping for a compromise. We don't want to return to the Partridge Family ordering us to 'C'mon, get happy!" But we've also had enough of Sam Smith. Cheer up, mate!