Cleaning out the Inbox-Non-Sports Version

We finally begin the inbox cleaning of the non-sports notes as time has become a little more manageable.

The Cavaliers play the next two nights without competition from the Devils,but both games are eight o'clock starts,so there might not be any game coverage from either team until next week.

If that indeed is the case,look for lots of various articles coming up.

I'd also like to thank those of you that sent me emails or liked the status on Facebook about the beginnings of the podcast.

I'm very excited about it and I'm hoping that the show will be a success.

I think it is going to be easier to have interviews and it might help us add more of them.

I'm hoping that the biggest issue might be transcribing the verbal interview into the written word (I'm taking volunteers to you fast typists out there).

I plan on having interviews on the podcast and then over the long term having them available here as well.

The hope is to have the blog and podcast complement each other and have fun with both.

I hope you'll enjoy it.....

Onto the inbox and we begin with the picture above from long time favorite of mine and Ryan's-Battlebots,which will be returning this summer to ABC for a six episode season.

The first run was on Comedy Central,so Battlebots hits the networks for the first time and I'm hoping that it catches on,so that perhaps a full season could be ordered in the future.

I loved the show,which features homemade robots slugging it out in a battle for destruction.

Think UFC (the arenas are very similar) for remote controlled robots.

Ryan and I loved it and he sent me the note letting me know about the return.

I'm very excited for this!!!

We move to the space world where the late Neil Armstrong apparently didn't leave ALL of the lunar module Eagle on the moon as Armstrong's wife found a small bag of parts from the lander in Armstrong's closet.

Those few parts are all that is left from Eagle as it was crashed back into the lunar surface after Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin returned and entered Columbia for the return trip to Earth.

Armstrong was notorious for being buttoned to the vest and he never spoke of having these souvenirs.

The items are now on loan to the Smithsonian with the intent of a permanent donation...

Krista Anderson posted this on Facebook and Rachel and I leaped at the chance to look at this-Cuddle Clones.

Cuddle Clones takes pictures of your late pets and creates a very realistic looking stuffed animal of your pet.

They aren't cheap (some can be 200 dollars),but they are extremely well done and far less creepy looking than work done by a taxidermist.

I wouldn't be against one of our Teddy.....

Vox discusses the issues of retaining sounds from long ago using technology from days gone by.

Every generation has its version of cutting edge and all are destined to become obsolete,so this problem will never go away,although the digital format will be much easier to deal with,I would think,than vinyl or especially tape which degrades so quickly.

It's incredibly interesting from how these are being saved and the decisions that archivists face in their job....

FiveThirtyEight takes a look at ten of the biggest busts in Presidential primary history with this article on candidates from both parties.

All of these candidates were well thought entering primaries and for various reasons,badly sputtered.

I even voted for one of the guys on this list and remember writing a school paper on another,so it is not always bad people that make failed candidates..

We wrap up with a look at a President that didn't carry a positive legacy after his Presidency,but did have an interesting game that his doctor created for him to stay in shape.

Herbert Hoover's tenure in office might not have the fans of others,but the game of Hooverball combines some features of volleyball and tennis with the use of a net,but uses a four or six pound medicine ball to play.

Iowa State has started a Hooverball league in Ames on the club level,which makes sense as Hoover was born in Iowa and his Presidental library is there as well.

Hoover's great-granddaughter is the Republican commentator often seen on CNN,(and a Thoughts of RS favorite from her appearances on Real Time with Bill Maher) Margaret Hoover.

That cleans up the inbox for now.
May be back tonight from the road office with another post....