Keener 13

Notable:

It’s opening day for Major League baseball. The Tigers open on the road in Tampa at 3:10pm. Their first home appearance at Comerica Park happens April 6 vs the Boston Red Sox. Today’s featured image is how we remember baseball in Detroit, at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull.

Speeding up the games: MLB is implementing four major rule changes in an effort to decrease the length of games and increase the action:

1. Pitch clock: There’ll be a 30-second timer between batters and 15 or 20 seconds between pitches depending on whether the bases are empty.
2. Shift restrictions: In an attempt to increase the batting average on balls in play, defenses must have a minimum of four players on the infield dirt, with at least two on either side of second base.
3. Limited pickoffs: Pitchers may only disengage from the rubber twice per at-bat with a man on base. If they try a third time and the pickoff is unsuccessful, the runner advances a base.
4. Bigger bases: 15-inch bases have been replaced with 18-inch bases, reducing the distance between first and second (and second and third) by 4.5 inches to promote more steals.

Bandages that heal: A new group of “smart bandages” medicate wounds and monitor healing progression, according to a study published last week.

Springsteen in Motown: By the numbers – Two hours and forty-one minutes, 26 songs, 18 band members. 17,000 satisfied customers, including UM football coach Jim Harbaugh and former NBC news anchor Brian Williams.

The tattoo that can measure blood pressure: Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University have developed an ultra-thin, temporary tattoo that can be used to accurately monitor blood pressure for 300 minutes. Continue reading “Keener Today – March 30” →

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Today in 1982, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney released their duet single “Ebony and Ivory.” The single reached number one on both the UK and the US charts and was among the top-selling singles of 1982. But some critics say it has not aged well. In 2007, BBC 6 Music listeners voted “Ebony and Ivory” the worst duet in history.

Tomorrow is opening day for Major League Baseball. The Tigers debut on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays at 3:10pm with Eduardo Rodriguez facing odd against Shane McClanahan. Detroit hosts the Red Sox to kick off the home season at Comerica on April 6.

Taking the fam out to the ballgame vista a lot more than it used to. Four adult tickets, parking, drinks and hot dogs averaged $256 dollars last season.

Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury and Uranus align in the evening sky this week. The best viewing is right around sunset, with the quintet sinking toward the horizon after about 30 minutes.

Electricity generated from renewable sources surpassed coal in the United States for the first time in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Renewables also surpassed nuclear generation in 2022 after first doing so in 2021.

Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton will host the 58th Academy of Country Music Awards.  The event will take place on Thursday, May 11th at Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, TX, and stream live exclusively on Prime Video.

Want a Mammoth Burger? A cultured meat company claims to have grown a meatball from the DNA of a very-extinct woolly mammoth. According to The Guardian, the DNA sequence was placed in stem cells from a sheep to grow the meatball. No one has tasted the mammoth meat, Professor Ernst Wolvetang, who worked with Australian company Vow to make the meat said, since “we have no idea how our immune system would react.” Continue reading “Keener Today – March 29” →

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Today’s deep dive takes us back to 1966. Newspaper headlines warned of continuing inflation as conservatives called for budget cuts. Sound familiar? Page-one of the Detroit Free Press this week in that year detailed multiple sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects. We’ve got the story, after a review of today in history and our usual birthday celebrations.

37 years after Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,  Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck reconnected for a series of photo booth pics (left) at the season three premiere of HBO’s Succession.

Nothing stays the same. We knew when the popular royalty free photo site Unsplash.com was bought by Getty Images that what was once free would begin to elicit fees. Unsplash Plus now gives contributors a chance to earn revenue by offering some of their work for a price.

Once upon a time, LastPass was the gold standard for those of us who have trouble remembering passwords. Not anymore. Continue reading “Keener Today: March 28” →

Notable:

Everybody’s brackets are busted. With a win over Texas yesterday, Miami joins San Diego State, Connecticut and Florida Atlantic in the NCAA Men’s 2023 Final Four.’ Meanwhile: Caitlin Clark put up 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds as No. 2 seed Iowa beat fifth-seeded Louisville 97-83 to send the Iowa Hawkeyes to their first women’s Final Four in 30 years.

What’s the ultimate competitive advantage? Keener’s curator-in-chief shares the secret.

Think Tik Tok is troublesome? The top four smart phone apps downloaded during the last 30 days have roots in China.

There’s one CMU professor who gets uniformly great student ratings. He’s Chad, an eight year old labrador service animal who assists his master, Melba Vélez Ortiz with her communication classes. Ortiz earned her doctorate in communications ethics at the University of Illinois. And Chad, whom she introduces on the first day of class as “Professor of Unconditional Love and Service,” Continue reading “Keener Today – March 27” →

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Ski resorts around Lake Tahoe are extending the ski and snowboard season into summer — as late as July 4 — thanks to the Sierra Nevada Mountains’ second snowiest season in 77 years of record-keeping.

Tired of the social noise? Let us teach you how to mute it.

If you are sick of how hard it is to cancel subscriptions, The US Federal Trade Commission may enact a rule requiring businesses to make it as easier. The proposed rule change announced this week would apply to vast swaths of the US economy, covering both digital and physical subscriptions. Products subject to the new rule would include gym memberships, digital streaming and e-commerce, cable TV service, traditional print media and more. Continue reading “Keener Today – March 26” →

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Spring is in the air. But how do you get rid of unpleasant odors? Leaving a bowl of vinegar out overnight, keeping windows open, and investing in odor-absorbing charcoal bags can all help. Here are more tips and tricks from The Washington Post, as well as a list of expert-recommended air freshening products that don’t include harmful chemicals.

Ever wanted to be a bear hugger? New Mexico is hiring. The Guardian reports the department of game and fish is seeking “professional bear huggers” to patrol parks and wilderness areas and potentially encounter some of the state’s 6,000 black bears.

What do the NCAA seeders know anyway? Last night, San Diego State upset overall seed Alabama, Miami beat Houston, and the NCAA Tournament is without a No. 1 seed in the Elite Eight for the first time since seeding began in 1979.

The Wolverine Icers are on a roll. Michigan routed Colgate 11-1 in the NCAA Hockey regional semi-finals in Allentown. The Wolverines will face No. 2-seed Penn State in Sunday’s regional final (6:30 p.m., ESPN2) after the Nittany Lions defeated Michigan Tech 8-0. Michigan was 3-1 against Penn State in conference play. Continue reading “Keener Today – March 25” →

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Did you see the Northern Lights last night? Michiganders in both the upper and lower peninsulas got a fantastic light show.

The Last Camaro: Chevy will roll the last of it’s Camaro’s off of the production line in Lansing in January, 2024. Slumping sales are what killed the GM muscle car. When the current generation Camaro came out in 2016, 72,705 were sold. By the end of 2021, that dropped 70% to 21,893. It rebounded a little last year to 24,652, not enough to justify continuing production.

The Eiffel Tower will get it’s 19th paint job ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Over it’s 130 year history the landmark has been repainted on average every 7 years.

Apple on the Big Screen: Apple plans to spend $1 billion per year to produce movies that will be released in movie theaters, according to Bloomberg. The tech giant is hoping that theatrical releases will help market Apple TV+, while also raising its profile in Hollywood, where many of the town’s biggest stars and filmmakers have made rallying calls to preserve theatrical distribution. (The Information)

The lowest wage workers got big pay increases over the last 4 years. Covid and the great resignation were contributing factors.  Still, these workers still aren’t making much money. In 2022, the 10th percentile hourly wage, i.e. the workers at the bottom, was just $12.57.

Ann Arbor Film Festival, the oldest avant-garde and experimental film festival in North America runs from Sunday through March 29. The 61st festival will screen more than 180 films. We’ve got the schedule. Continue reading “Keener Today – March 24” →

Notable:

The 2022-23 winter was Detroit’s seventh-warmest on record, with the average temperature from December-February of 33°F — 11° warmer than in 1970. Our mild winter means fewer potholes. In Detroit we reported 429, 20% fewer than last year. Oakland County received 758 pothole complaints from January through March 20, a 60% decrease from last year. Macomb County residents saw the biggest year over year drop. Just 488 compared to 1,255 over that period in 2022. Continue reading “Keener Today – March 23” →

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The compact disc turns 40 this month — in March 1983, the CD revolutionized the we consumed music. CD sales peaked in 2000, when *NSYNC was topping the charts with “No Strings Attached.” But the media isn’t going away anytime soon. In 2021, CD sales increased for the first time since 2004. Continue reading “Keener Today – March 22” →

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Detroit’s historic Book Tower is about to re-open as a retail, hotel, office and residential space. Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock companies purchased the long-unoccupied Italian Renaissance-style building at 1265 Washington Blvd in 2015. The original limestone and masonry façade has been renovated and more than 2,400 historically accurate windows were replaced. Book Tower will also be home to a 117 ROOST Apartment Hotel, 52,000 square feet of retail, offices, three dining options and over 220 residential space. There will also be co-working, meeting and event space. Continue reading “Keener Today – March 21” →

What’s Happening?

A sign of Spring: The National Park Service’s “Peak Bloom Projection” says puffy blossoms will envelop the Tidal Basin this Wednesday through Saturday.

The American Kennel Club announced that, after a record 31-year reign, the Labrador retriever has been eclipsed as the most prevalent purebred dog in the U.S. — by the French bulldog.

Attending sporting events may be good for you. Sports fans will certainly love the findings of this study out of the United Kingdom. There’s good reason to attend your favorite team’s games in person — and it’s not to catch some potential sports history or enjoy greasy stadium food. Scientists at Anglia Ruskin University say that watching live sporting events actually improve well-being and can reduce feelings of loneliness. The findings come after a survey of more than 7,000 adults which shows that sports fans who attend games in person — be it professional or amateur — scored better than those who didn’t in terms of life satisfaction Continue reading “Keener Today – March 20” →

Today in History:

1892 – The General Electric Company was formed by the merger of Edison General Electric of Schenectady, New York and Thomson-Houston Electric Company of Lynn, Massachusetts. The company was incorporated in New York, with the Schenectady plant serving as its headquarters for many years.

1912 – After midnight, two wireless radio operators at Cape Race, Newfoundland heard the last of the RMS Titanic‘s distress calls. At 2:27 a.m., the “unsinkable” ocean liner sank in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg the evening before. There were 711 survivors. A total of 1,517 people died, of which 328 bodies were recovered. Those too badly damaged or deteriorated were buried at sea, and the remaining 209 were taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they were claimed from the morgues or buried over an 11-day period starting May 3. Continue reading “Keener Today – March 15” →