Yep, today wrapped up the 2021-2022 season for Club 58. Jeff Raynes Reigns is what I’m going with. Congratulations on the repeat Championship, Jeff!! Also congratulations to Kristy Haught on her 28-hand! We are going to have the Summer League as we’ve had in past years. For a $20 buy-in, I will keep track of everyone's winnings between June and August (except for July 25th - the only Monday we don't play). The best 8 scores will be added together, and we will pay out 1-in-6, like we do for side pools. I'll be collecting for it through the rest of May and the first week in June, so if you're interested, just hit me up at club! And finally, a public service announcement -- it's important to count the cards in the deck before the start of the night. In the final game last night, both Mike Due and I cut a seven of clubs. Yup. We had two severns of clubs. Stranger yet, a deck a few boards down was light one seven of clubs. We got it sorted out, but not until the end of the night. So.... Count Dem Cards, Folks! On this day in 1754, Benjamin Franklin published one of the most famous cartoons in history: the Join or Die woodcut. Franklin, then the publisher of a newspaper called the Pennsylvania Gazette, sought to drum up support for a unified colonial government. He wrote an impassioned editorial, in which he warned of hordes of French intruders converging on the western frontier in Ohio. The cartoon was published alongside the article. Franklin’s goal was to unite the colonists to combat the French and their Native American allies, and to convince the British government to support a unified colonial government in America. He didn’t achieve that goal, but the image was so powerful and persuasive that it took on a life of its own. A few years later, in the prelude to the Revolutionary War, colonists repurposed it as a symbol of their unity against British rule. On May 9, 1868, the city of Reno, Nevada, was founded. Reno began as the preferred crossing point of the Truckee River, an inland river that flows west to east from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake, for travelers on their way to the California gold rush of the late 1840's and 50's. With the discovery of the Comstock Lode in the nearby Virginia City foothills in 1859, the river crossing became increasingly important for the growing trade in mining and agriculture. Reno was officially established in 1868, the same year that the transcontinental railroad, which paralleled the Truckee River, reached the town. In 1874, the University of Nevada was founded as a land-grant university, and in 1885, the primary campus was built on a rise of land overlooking Reno from the north. From its inception, the university was an integral component of the young town’s identity and contributed to Reno’s reputation as a cultural center. This was reflected in Reno’s nickname, “Biggest Little City in the World,” Reno became a quickie divorce destination in the early 1900's, and in 1931, Nevada legalized gambling. Reno was a front runner in creating the model of destination hotel/casino gaming – a model which has been replicated throughout the world. For most of the 20th century, tourism and the gaming and entertainment industries formed the backbone of Reno’s economy. On this date in 1958 "Vertigo", the film noir psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak, was released. Stewart plays former police detective John "Scottie" Ferguson, who has retired because an incident in the line of duty that has caused him to develop acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo (a false sense of rotational movement). Scottie is hired by an acquaintance, Gavin Elster, as a private investigator to investigate the enigmatic doings of his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak), fearful that she may be possessed by her dead great-grandmother Carlotta Valdez. Ever the realist, Scottie is reluctant to take the case until he sees Madeleine and falls in love with her...except that Madeleine subsequently commits suicide...or does she? The film was the first film to use the dolly zoom, an in-camera effect that distorts perspective to create disorientation, to convey Scottie's acrophobia. As a result of its use in this film, the effect is often referred to as "the Vertigo effect". Vertigo received mixed reviews upon initial release, but is now often cited as a classic Hitchcock film and one of the defining works of his career. We had a relatively small showing for the last week of the year -- 18 peggers came out to play. As such, we paid out four prizes and three teams. 1st Place: Kristy Haught (she of the 28-hand) with an 18/8/141 2nd Place: Jerry Gooden with a 17/8/126 3rd Place: Jennifer Johnson with a 14/7/49 4th Place: Champion Jeff Raynes, with a 13/6/96 1st Team: Joe Greiner (12) and Liz Henderson (8) 2nd Team: Robert Hewitt (10) and Larry Phifer (8) 3rd Team: Al Robinson (10) and Bernard Whitfield (8) The full results are up on the website, but here's who finished out the season in the top-10: Thanks for an awesome season, everyone! See some of ya'll next week! ~ Jennifer
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I'm sure ol' Blue Eyes won't mind me appropriating his lyrics just this one time :) But we're in the last home stretch now. This is week 35! And it's MAY already for goodness' sake! On this date in 1878, the US 20 cent piece was retired. Proposed by Nevada Senator John P. Jones, it proved a failure due to confusion with the quarter, to which it was close in both size and value. In 1874, the newly elected Jones began pressing for a twenty-cent piece, which he stated would alleviate the shortage of small change in the Far West. The bill passed Congress, and Mint Director Henry Linderman ordered pattern coins struck. Linderman eventually decided on an obverse and reverse similar to that of other silver coins. Although the coins have a smooth edge, rather than reeded as with other silver coins, the new piece was close to the size of, and immediately confused with, the quarter. Adding to the bewilderment, the obverse, or "heads", sides of both coins were almost identical. After the first year, in which over a million were minted, there was little demand, and the denomination was abolished in 1878. In 1932, Jack Benny's first radio show premiered on NBC's Blue Network. Jack Benny was one of the most popular American comedians of the 20th century. He was known for his radio show, The Jack Benny Program, which aired for more than 30 years. In the first several years of his show, Benny followed the format of many other radio comedians, standing at the microphone, telling jokes and stories, and introducing band numbers. As the characters of Jack and his cast became more defined, the show took on a "variety show" format, blending sketch comedy and musical interludes. Benny began his career in vaudeville and later transitioned to radio. His radio show became one of the most popular programs of the 1930s and 1940s. Benny also appeared in a number of films, including To Be or Not to Be (1942) and The Sunshine Boys (1975). Benny died of cancer in 1974 and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980. And on this day in 1977, a revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical "The King & I"', with Yul Brynner reprising the role he created in 1951, opened at the Uris Theater in New York City, running for 695 performances. When Yul Brynner showed up to audition for The King and I, he was a 30-year-old journeyman actor, folk singer and TV director. The Russian-born Brynner had traveled the world as a circus acrobat and arrived in America in 1941 barely able to speak English. In his autobiography, Richard Rodgers recalled that at the audition, Brynner “scowled in our direction, sat down on the stage…then plunked one whacking chord on his guitar and began to howl in a strange language that no one could understand. He looked savage, he sounded savage, and there was no denying that he projected a feeling of controlled ferocity.” We had 25 come out, including a couple of guests, and newcomer Robert Hewitt, to whom we were MOST unkind. Robert, if you're reading, we're usually much friendlier to newcomers, so please come back and see us again! With that number of players, we paid out 6 places and 3 teams. Also, the order below is correct, though it differs from what was paid out on Monday. There was an error on one of the cards, which resulted in a 15-point card actually being a 13-point card (for guest Russell Brauer). Sorry, Folks. 1st Place: Frank Abernathy, with a 17/8/59 2nd Place: Liz Henderson, with a 15/6/88 3rd Place: Jennifer Johnson, with a 14/6/116 4th Place: Brian Wilson, with a 13/6/70 5th Place: Russell Brauer with a 13/6/49 6th Place: Pete Amacher, also with a 13/6/49. He had fewer plus points than Russell, so kept the 6th position. 1st Team: Steve Podolsky (13) and Ernie Hodgson (11) 2nd Team: Jim Townsend (12) and John Morch(12) 3rd Team: Kristy Haught (13) and Fran Ward (10) And our buddy Bernard scored 6 this week -- how'd you do? The full results are up on the website (though GRNT is still unofficial), but here is the current unofficial top-10: Have a great week, everyone! See ya'll next Monday! ~ Jennifer |
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