On September 30^th, 1659 the story is told how Robinson Crusoe shipwrecked on an island 40 miles at sea and spent the next 28 years there. The story of Robinson Crusoe was first published in 1719 and is perhaps one of the first English Novels published. Variations of the story have been retold including the Swiss Family Robinson. But since it all started on this day with a shipwreck, we’ll look at some of the more famous shipwrecks from history.

1. The RMS Titanic – This shipwreck was famously caused by an iceberg in April of 1912. It attracted quite a bit of media attention both because of the size of the ship, but also because of the unsinkable claims.

2. SS Edmund Fitzgerald – I admit, I only know about this one because of Gordon Lightfoot. For those of you who haven’t heard the song, check it out here. While only 29 sailors died in 1975, the song has immortalized the ship.

3. SS Andrea Doria – one of the last transatlantic liners still running before airplanes became more affordable and much faster. The Andrea Doria collided with the Stockholm off Nantucket, MA in heavy fog in July of 1956. While there were over 1700 people on the Doria, only 46 died due to the Stockholm staying and shuttling survivors to their ship and the quickness with other ships responded.

4. USS Arizona/Utah – Both ships were sunk in Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941.

5. Mary Rose – one of the oldest known shipwrecks, having gone down in 1545, off the coast of the UK. It was raised out of the silt in 1982 with an estimated 60 million people watching and was sprayed extensively to prevent further rot. It is now drying, getting ready for display.

6. Bismark – the largest warship the Germans had in WWII, it sunk the British flag ship, the “Hood” in just a few minutes in 1941, causing Winston Churchill to order, “Sink the Bismark”. Quite a chase ensued and after a fairly lucky torpedo hit, the Bismark could only go in a slow circle. The British closed in and finished off the huge warship, or it least damaged it to a point, rather than risk capture, the boat was scuttled, at least according to some. The phrase, “Sink the Bismark” lives on in song and as a film by that name.

7. RMS Lusitania – sunk in 1915 by a German Torpedo. While not an American ship, the 128 Americans who died on board were remembered and put the US on the road to entering the first World War. Many of the Americans who died were prominent in some way (the head of both US Rubber and the US Chemical Corporation died). It should be noted that the Lusitania’s captain would have received a cash bonus for ramming a German sub.

8. PT-109 – The patrol ship that was sunk on a very insignificant skirmish during WWII. Rather than being shot, they were simply run over, almost by accident. If John F. Kennedy hadn’t been on the boat, we’d never even have heard of it, but he was, and by saving a crew member, he became a war hero and we all know the rest of that story.

9. MS Estonia – a fairly recent shipwreck, going down in 1994 probably due to rough weather and claiming 852 lives. But of course, there are rumors that something more happened, but nothing was ever proven.

10. H.L. Hunley – Confederate Submarine, the first submarine to sink a ship in battle, although it sunk itself shortly afterwards. The sub recovered with the help of Clive Cussler, one of my favorite authors. While he claims credit for discovering sub, there is still a debate regarding this, but he most certainly provided the financing to recover it. He used the story in his novel, “Flood Tides”.

On this day in 1963, John Paciorek had the greatest one day career of any baseball player ever.  He had 5 plate appearances, walked twice and had three singles.  Not only that, he knocked in 3 runs and scored 4 himself.  He hurt his back the following season and was never able to get back into the majors.  Jose Morales has since tied Mr. Paciorek, however, he is still young and still playing.  Chances are, he’ll get back to the majors and lose his 1.000 batting average.  This got me thinking about what else might be regarded as perfect.

1)  The Perfect Game in baseball is defined by getting 27 batters out in a row with no walks, errors, or hits.  It has occurred only 17 times in the last 132 years.  Wikipedia points out that more men have circled the moon than have pitched a perfect game.  Most recently, this was done by Randy Johnson in 2004 but the most famous perfect game was tossed by Don Larson, in the 1956 World Series.

2)  In the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Nadia Comaneci scored the first modern olympic perfect score.  Interestingly enough, the scoreboards reported her scores as 1.0 because they weren’t setup to handle a perfect 10.

3.  In bowling 300 is a perfect score and Jim Hosier of New Jersey has accomplished it 95 times.  On 10 different occasions, people have bowled 300 for three consecutive games as part of a competition.

4)  The Miami Dolphins are famously known for their perfect season.  16-0 including the Superbowl.  New England came close last year, in fact beating the record for the most wins in a season, but, falling 35 seconds short of a 19-0 perfect record.  5 Teams have finished the regular season with a perfect record.

5)  College sports has more than its share of perfect seasons.  With its short football seasons, dozen of schools have finished perfectly.  But basketball is a little tougher.  Only 7 teams have finished with a perfect season in NCAA basketball with Indiana doing it most recently (1976) and almost doing it again in 1979.  Of course, the most impressive record is UCLA doing it two consecutive years (1972-1973).

6)  The last less than perfect numbers I could find show 939 perfect scores on the SAT out of 1.4 million people who took it.  Of course since those numbers, they added the writing portion, cutting the percentage of people getting the perfect score in half.

7)  A Hole in one has to be the perfect golf shot.  Norman Manley of California has 59 of them.  Tiger Woods scored one when he was just 6.  The odds of it occurring are about one in 12,500 for the average golfer (1 in 12 million for me) and 1 in 2500 for a pro.

8)  The NBA season is too long and the games too fast to think many people can achieve perfection, however, Wilt Chamberlain once had a game where he made all 18 of his shots and Dominque Wilkens holds the records for shooting 23 free throws in a game without a miss.

9.  Goalies in the NHL are much more likely to have a perfect game than anyone else on the ice and Terry Sawchuk holds the record for the most shut outs in his career with 103 shut outs (though Brodeur is closing in on him).  Patrick Roy has the record for shut outs in the playoff though with 23 (and again, Broduer is moving closer, only 1 shut out away in playoff shut outs).

10.  The number 6 is the lowest mathematical perfect number.  While I could spend some time laying out what a perfect number is, it would easier just to check out Wiki for this.

There is also a Perfect 10 might mean Bo Derek or some male model.  There is the Perfect Storm, the Perfect Stranger, the Perfect Man or Woman.  There are a lot of things which we might think of as a perfect.  I find perfection on hot days by the beach while at the same time thinking the perfect ski run is the first one of the day on a slope of fresh powder.  I may not get a hole in one, but an afternoon on the links sure seems perfect when compared to the office.  Each of us find something that feels perfect, and Mr. Paciorek found his in 1963. 

What is your perfect day?

It’s always sad when one of the good guys is gone, and Paul Newman was certainly one the finer good guys.  While many of the roles he played were anything but good, in his role as a fellow human, there are very few who were any better.  His charitable work has not only improved the lives of thousands of people, he actually made salad taste better.  Just an average day in the office for him I suppose.  For today’s list, my favorite films he was involved with, in not particular order.

1)  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid -  number one if for no other reason than his camp for kids got its name from the movie.

2)  Slap Shot – pure comedy from an actor otherwise not known for this aspect of his work. 

3)  Absence of Malice – A good guy with an edge.

4)  The Verdict  – could easily be my favorite on some days.  Watch for Bruce Willis and Jerry Seinfeld in the court room!

5)  The Sting – light hearted scam, who can resist?

6)  The Hudsucker Proxy – how can you go wrong with a Coen brothers film with Mr. Newman?

7)  Road to Perdition -  Where we see Paul playing the Piano, who would have ever imagined?

8)  Cars -  While we never see him, its always good to hear his voice.

9)  The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean -  “I know the law. And I have spent my entire life in its flagrant disregard.” 

10)  Hud -  Just goes to show, everyone seems to love the bad boys sometimes.

Here is hoping the Hole in the Wall Gang keeps up its fine work!

When I first heard the song Kryptonite, my mind immediately started putting together this list of songs I like that are about Superman, but I just needed a good reason to do it.  Well,  with today being Brad Arnold’s (Singer and Drummer from 3 Doors Down)  Birthday and all, I felt its only appropriate to share the list today.  Of course, my list is in no way completely, according the to Superman Home Page there are 444 songs that are about Superman and another 30-40 that reference him but not by name.  I’ve included the link at the bottom of this post.  My list is just a subset of that list, the ones I’ve heard and liked for the most part.  However, it should be noted that while Shaq did not make my list, 7 of his songs are about Superman.  What a surprise.  Soulja Boys added another 5 to this list and Enimen, 50 cents, and Travis Tritt have all written multiple songs about Superman.  Feel free to post your own rankings.

1) In honor of the Birthday boy, we’ll put “Kryptonite” on top.  Its a fun song with a good beat that really kick started 3 Doors Down fame.

2)  “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues” – The Spin Doctors put an interesting twist on the Superman theme by creating a song with a plan.  Jimmy trying to get a date with Louis because, as the song is more widely known as, he has a pocket full of Kryptonite.

3)  “Superman’s Song” – Crash Test Dummies – Another lead singer named Brad singing about Superman.  One day I might have to do all the Brad sung songs.  This song is so slow and mournful, it doesn’t get played on the radio nearly as much as I think it should.  Thank goodness for CD’s and IPOD’s though.

4)  “Land of Confusion” – Genesis -  This song could have easily been left off, as I tend not to like too much politics in my music.  But its still a great song.  Interestingly enough, a former member of Genesis, Peter Gabriel also has a song mentioning Superman.

5)  “White Wedding” – Billy Idol  -  Can’t help but to like this song, even though it can wear on you if heard in large doses.

6)  “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” – Five for Fighting  -  One of the softer songs on the list.  Absolutely amazing piano work and some of the best lyrics on this list.  While I like Rush’s “Time and Motion” it doesn’t come close to this song.

7)  While not a big fan of Rap or hip hop, this list could not be complete without something from the genre.  Enimen has done 5 songs about Superman, and the one I found most catchy and in theme, was appropriately named Superman.

8)  “Superman” -  Alanis Morissette, Bush,  Barbra Streisand  -  Easy to add more than 10 songs to the list when several artists all use the same name for their songs.  Me?  I am partial to Bush, but I don’t mind the Morissette song either.  While Streisand has a great, even classic voice, this is not what I like hearing by her, even if it was featured in one of the movies.

9)  I better toss in a country/western song as well, as Superman is represented well across all types of Music.  Hank Williams Jr’s “Man of Steel” seems to be a good representative of this, although Tritt’s song could have been used as well.

10)  While I am dying to include Jimmy Buffet’s “I can’t be your hero today”, I would let you down if number 10 wasn’t “I can’t get started” by Frank Sinatra.  Either one makes a good ending to the list but how can ignore Frank on any list.

Of course, there are so many others.  I struggled to find a way to include AC/DC but they fell just a little bit short.  Maybe Angus’s Birthday is coming up and we can do a list on their songs.  Who knows.  Here is the link I promised you -  Superman Songs! Enjoy.