Daily Dispatch

The Last Living Veteran of World War One

Please meet Mrs. Florence Green (this article is from February):

The revels were not quite as wild as on Armistice Day. Still, there was plenty to celebrate yesterday when the world’s last surviving female veteran of the First World War celebrated her 110th birthday.

Florence Green, from King’s Lynn, Norfolk, was 17 years old when she joined the Women’s Royal Air Force, in the late summer of 1918.

She looks good! 110? Wow!

Imagine telling the good Florence when she was still a young woman in the 1920s, “Hey Flo, you’re going to have your own Wikipedia page some day!” She’d be like, “Umwut? LOL.”

The Hawaiian Island You Cannot Go To

Niihau

FORBIDDEN ISLAND, USA

If you’ve ever visited the Hawaiian islands, you may already know that
one of them, Niihau, west of Kauai, is off-limits to outsiders. Here’s the
story of how that came to be, and what life on the island is like today.

RIP, Andy Rooney

Andy Rooney‘Andy Rooney, the “60 Minutes” commentator known to generations for his wry, humorous and contentious television essays – a unique genre he is credited with inventing – died Friday night in a hospital in New York City of complications following minor surgery. He was 92, and had homes in New York City, Rensselaerville, N.Y. and Rowayton, Conn.’

His last appearance on 60 Minutes was on October 2—just one month ago.

Here’s a nice writeup from his hometown of Albany, New York.

John Hodgman on Uncle John’s [updated]

Update: Mr. Sir Hodgman has responded. We are humbled.

John Hodgman of Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show fame has a new book coming out: That is All, the third in his groin-pullingly funny The Areas of My Expertise series.

Hodgman talked to Publishers Weekly about it—and a fan sent us the link:

Hodgman shares the four books that inspired his oeuvre.

He saved the best for last. Ahem:

Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader
There are many volumes now of this great work of disposable facts for disposable time, but I discovered the first edition lying around back when I was still an agent at Writers House in New York City. I was not a very good agent, but Writers House itself, a beautiful 18th-century townhouse once belonging to John Jacob Astor, was a lovely place to read and scheme up a new life. And thankfully, it also had a bathroom.

Thankfully indeed!

We can think of only one thing to say to this, Mr. Hodgman…sir…your highness:

Gander

In 2002, in Uncle John’s Ahh-Inspiring Bathroom Reader, we wrote about what happened in a little Canadian town called Gander in the aftermath of the attacks of 9/11. It’s the kind of story we can all use on a day like today.

GANDER

Far too few people know the heartwarming story about what
happened in a small town on a remote island in the North Atlantic on
September 11, 2001. Canadian air traffic controller (and BRI member)
Terry Budden told us about it, and we decided to share it with you.

“I Did Not Realize I Was P***ing on Her Leg”

Oh, yeah, we should mention that he said that…after being taken off the airplane:

An 11-year-old girl asleep on a flight was horrified when she woke up to find a drunken man urinating on her leg, reports say.

The alleged incident occurred on a JetBlue flight between Portland and New York when a reportedly inebriated teenager stumbled out of his seat and began emptying his bladder on the sleeping child.

Associated Press reports angry scenes broke out on the flight when the girl’s father returned from the toilet and caught 18-yearo-old Robert Vietze in the act.

98-year-old Gets 10th-degree Judo Blackbelt

Impressive:

Just two years before her 100th birthday, Sensei Keiko Fukuda has  become the first woman to achievea tenth-degree black belt—the highest rank in the martial art and combat sport Judo. Fukuda is now one of only four living people who’ve earned the tenth-degree (or dan) black belt. To put the accomplishment into better perspective, throughout history, only sixteen people have ever achieved this honor.

RIP Bill Morrissey

Dang, we had not even heard that the great American folksinger Bill Morrissey had died. His website says it very simply:

Bill Morrissey passed away on July 23, 2011, in his room at a hotel in Georgia. He was staying there on his way home after several gigs. Bill’s fans and the folk music community are deeply saddened by his loss.

Just 59 years old. Ai yai yai.

Here’a a video that someone apparently just put together as a tribute. It’s actually quite nice – and what a song:

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