Sunday Sundries: Sumo, Saints, and SHARKS!
by meep
I’m resting on the couch, suffering from my regular chronic neurological pain (I’m going the the neurologist tomorrow… but it’s my regular appointment, and this has been ongoing since 2010, so… yay).
So why not have a bit of enjoyment to share around?
SUMO!
The July sumo tournament in Nagoya just wrapped up with a super-exciting win for Hoshoryu, but let’s ignore all that.
CHECK OUT THIS THROW!
Day15
— Sumo Soul 相撲魂(@TheSumoSoul) July 23, 2023
M3e
Midorifuji 3-11 (L)
M6 Hokuseihō 5-9
This is worth a few views! Sumo and judo are oft compared, and sometimes the similarities are blatant! #nagoyabasho2023 pic.twitter.com/FycDyH64fh
Going to my height/weight graph, here is the difference between the two:
Over a foot height difference and 150 pounds in weight difference. And Midorifuji just flipped Hokuseiho down to the ground.
In a 7-second match.
Maybe you can understand why I love sumo.
Saint Mary Magdalene: July 22
St. Mary Magdalene’s day was yesterday, but we can still remember her and celebrate her with a cocktail!
If you listen to that episode, a few minutes in, you may hear a story from Brothers Karamazov (and a familiar name… cough). It relates to a prior episode of the podcast.
In artistic renderings of Magdalene, she is often shown holding a skull, so you can see why I am a fan. She was one of the few followers who were at the cross with Jesus, along with John and Christ’s mother (the BVM). Catholic tradition holds she was the Mary who was the sister of Martha & Lazarus… so you can kind of see her connection to death.
Anyway, here is one painting of Mary Magdalene I like:
It’s by Artemisia Gentileschi, an Italian painter of the 17th century, who you may know better from her painting of Judith cutting off the head of Holofernes. Love that one.
SHARKS! Sharks? ….Sharks.
I hear it’s shark week.
Back in 2017, when a goose decided to splatter itself across my windshield, I did a post looking at all sorts of injuries and deaths due to animals.
Here is the code for shark bite:
W56.41 Bitten by shark
I just did a query on CDC WONDER, and I can’t do sub-codes there:
What we are seeing here are for the entire period of 1999-2020, only 32 deaths are attributed to “Contact with marine animal” — that goes well beyond sharks. Could be starfish for all we know.
Hey, they can be dangerous.
But let’s contrast that to W54: being bitten (or struck) by dogs.
734 deaths over the 22-year period.
Look, this is still a very low cause of death, but it’s much more common than sharks.
Let me just pull all the animal-related deaths (not involving hitting them with a vehicle)
Lesson: watch out for insects and other bugs. Forget about the sharks.
Yes, I know there’s an exposure aspect.
Also, these are all very rare causes of death.
Yes, all of these can cause injuries, etc. But these definitely are not racking up the numbers that drug overdoses are.
