Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for December 22, 2022

Hernest Emingway What’s so special about that?

One time there were 8,000,000,001 people.

Yawning is definitely not contagious to gorillas. If you yawn in front of one of those creatures, you can expect trouble.

In Japan the most popular Christmas dinner is a Kentucky Fried Chicken dinner. It seems like I read that while playing Wheel of Fortune.

May the Lord be with you as He is with me.

So after EH’s suicide, A&F stopped selling rifles thereafter?

The NY Times (at the time) said Hemingway’s death was accidental when he was cleaning the shotgun.

How do you shot yourself with a shotgun?

Yeah, about Hemingway, that happened on my birthday in 1961—-July 2. That’s also the day Amelia Earhart disappeared in 1937. And the Declaration of Independence was supposed to have been issued on July 2, 1776, but that got postponed until July 4. Anybody else with a historically cursed birthday?

Eight billion and counting. I’d like to meet them all. ~ Bob Dole, and Bob Dole loves every single one of you who Bob Dole has already met, and Bob Dole is dead, yes, but Bob Dole is still getting around, that’s Bob Dole, glad to meet you.

Take care, may retired Guns and Ammo Magazine editorialist Jack “Hey There Are Lots Of Deadly Things Under Your Sink So Stop Blaming Gun Makers And Bullet Makers For What People Do With Guns And Bullets And What About Bab-O And Comet Cleanser They Kill Germs By The Millions What About All Those Poor Germs” Bangpowboomord be with you, and gesundheit.

My understanding is that Hemingway shot himself with the same weapon his father had used to commit suicide.

8 billion is a big number, almost as big as what congress spent this year

A & F sold hunting and fishing and camping gear and clothing in those days. High quality clothing, not crappy t-shirts.

Why was the piece about Hemingway and his gun pertinent? Merry Christmas to you, too!

Were/are Abercrombie and Fitch shotguns high quality?

I don’t blame Ernest, if you have an important job to do make sure you have the finest equipment. I mean do you want to do something like that with a shotgun from Sears.

That’s a scary fact to the rifle Ernest Hemingway obtained from the now-online company!!

Where’s Hal today?

Why do we yawn? There is not a consensus

In relevant science communities yet.

One popular theory: It cools down the brain, tho

We don’t do it more when we’ve started to sweat.

It once was believed that a yawn helped move oxygen

Into the blood and move CO2 out,

But studies have shown that inhaling each gas makes

No difference for yawning; that theory’s in doubt.

It could be that stretching the lungs and lung tissue

Will quicken your pulse so you feel more awake,

Or maybe a yawn redistributes surfactant

In lungs so deep breaths remain easy to take.

And why’s it contagious in humans? Reportedly,

That doesn’t happen till circa age four,

When children develop the right mental pathways

They need for an adequate empathy score.

Perhaps yawns evolved to communicate something,

Like “This is unpleasant but not a big threat.”

If so, human progress has made it ambiguous,

Hardly a message we’re likely to get.

Whatever it is, we don’t yawn voluntarily;

Don’t take the act as a gesture of scorn.

And please, if you find yourself yawning too frequently,

Talk to a doctor, as specialists warn.

—me

I suppressed an urge to yawn while reading this one…

I guess he couldn’t live with himself after buying a firearm from a wimpy clothing store, not that I can blame him. ;-p

Why is it of note that Hemingway bought his gun (although they are showing a rifle) from Abercrombie & Fitch?