Cleaning out the Inbox- Passings Non-Sports Edition

 The non-sports passings are equally important as those from the sports world and sadly they fill up just as quickly.

Goodbye to Bobby Rydell at the age of 79.

One of the original Philadelphia "Teen Idols" of the early to mid-1960s, Rydell placed thirty-four hits in the Billboard Top 100 including his biggest hit "Wild One" which reached second on the charts, and a cover of "Volare".

Rydell would star on Broadway as "Conrad Birdie" in the original adaptation of "Bye Bye Birdie and would have a cameo role in the 1978 film "Grease"

Rydell is also credited as the inspiration for John Lennon and Paul McCartney writing the Beatles hit "She Loves You" as both said that a Rydell song was playing on the radio as the duo penned the song,

Rydell's biggest claim to fame here was in the 1990s when the 1960s NBC program Hullaballoo was released on VHS and DVD and an episode with Rydell singing the song below in such an over-the-top manner is one that Ryan and I still laugh about to this day.

Goodbye to Liz Sheridan at the age of 93.

Sheridan is best known for portraying Jerry Seinfeld's mother in "Seinfeld" but to me, Sheridan will be forever "Raquel Ochomanek" the nosy busy-body next-door neighbor on "ALF" that was constantly trying to figure out what was really going on at the Tanner residence.

A long-time character actress in film and television, Sheridan was a singer and dancer in the 1950s in the New York nightclubs and was the first person in show business to have a relationship with the young James Dean.

Goodbye to Neal Adams at the age of 80.

Adams, a long-time artist, and writer in comics, made his biggest mark with DC Comics where Adams created such characters as Ras Al Ghul, Man-Bat, and John Stewart as Green Lantern as well as doing classic work for years with Batman.

It was Adams that brought the Batman into his dark brooding figure and away from the campy version popularized by the television show starring Adam West, revitalized the Joker into his homicidal maniac from his clownish version during the same period, and brought Two-Face back into the Batman rogues gallery after a long absence from the comic.

But it will be Adams and Denny O'Neil's run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow that is most remembered. GL/GA is so fondly recalled that many are surprised to hear that the title only lasted a surprisingly short time of only two years and was canceled for low sales.

The title dealt with controversial social issues (for its time) of the day and the most remembered issues dealt with Green Arrow's ward and former sidekick Speedy in secret identity Roy Harper admitting an addiction to heroin.

Adams would later be heavily involved with artists' and creators' rights with their work being returned to them after the comics had been printed.

Goodbye to David Birney at the age of 83.

Birney may be best remembered as a husband to Meredith Baxter, who Birney married after their television show, "Bridget Loves Bernie", but had a career that saw him star in his own drama "Serpico", was part of the first season of "St. Elsewhere", and starred in many guest roles on television as well as stage work.

Birney was lambasted by the former Baxter Birney in her 2011 autobiography as being physically and emotionally abusive during their marriage, charges that Birney denied.

Sidebar: "Bridget Loves Bernie" remains to this day- the only program in television history to have finished in the top ten in the ratings in its first season and would not be renewed for a second season.

Sidebar part two: Meredith Baxter during the run of this show ranks high (as in highest level) on the TRS beauty scale...

Goodbye to Mike Hagerty at the age of 67.

The longtime character actor never had the opportunity to star in a breakout role but spent years in both film and television usually playing regular, working man type roles.

Hagerty would only receive one shot as a regular on a series, which was during the only season of "The George Carlin Show" in 1994-85.

My favorite supporting role that Hagerty performed was as "Bad Billy Platt" the best friend of Kurt Russell in the 1987 film "Overboard" starring Russell and Goldie Hawn.

Cleaning out the Inbox

  Time to clean the inbox with various interesting works around the web!

BBC Sky at Night Magazine discusses the importance of returning to the two outer "Giant Planets".

Uranus and Neptune have only been visited by one probe, both as objects that Voyager 2 flew by on its mission- Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989.

The article makes the case for a return to one or the other and notes that with the current propulsion for probes an orbital swing past Jupiter is needed to assist the probe towards the planet of choice.

However, the alignment of the planets needed to allow only occurs every 12-13 years and the next window is in the early 2030s, so if this is to happen it will need to be decided soon to start the project.

A wooden knife that is sharper than steel?

Some scientists say so and others are skeptical as wood will degrade over time where steel would not.

There also are questions about which knife is more environmentally friendly with cases to be made for each knife.

Dan Greenfield at 13th Dimension writes of the recent death of Neal Adams and how Adams along with Adam West with the TV series and the Batman Mego action figure all combined together to make him a Batman fan for life.

It's a really cool article that people of my age and are fans of all three can relate to very well.

Researchers seem to have finally found the first biomarker for babies that may be more vulnerable to dying from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

There are many biomarkers still to find before SIDS can be considered eliminated, so the cause is still unknown but this is an interesting study to reach that end.