Pizza Acrobatics! Lengthy Last Names! Air Turbulence and More!

Pizza acrobatics, the waning popularity of greeting cards, a last name that’s 666 letters long, and my latest lament about life in Reno! It’s all a little random, a little silly, just a little this and that in the middle of a long week.

Yes, Pizza Acrobatics

Attention sports enthusiasts and foodies! At last, a sport that’s good for the muscles and the taste buds!

It’s pizza acrobatics, and yes, it’s a legit sport. Started in the 1980s, pizza acrobatics is played in the U.S. and across the globe. The competitive sport is also called pizza tossing and pizza freestyle.

Competitions consist of tossing mounds of stretched pizza dough into the air and performing tricks. Some pizza toss athletes can juggle two pies at a time. This does not surprise me because in my eating heyday, I could easily down two pies at a time!

Competitors must design three-minute routines accompanied by music and performed in front of a live audience. They are judged on dexterity, difficulty, showmanship, synchronization, and creativity. Points are deducted for dropped dough.

I’m not sure what else to say about it, but I really do believe this is a sport I can sink my teeth into! However, if you’re hungry for more, here’s the link to a championship match in Las Vegas. Mama Mia!

What Ever Happened to Greeting Cards?

Remember when we all dutifully sent birthday, anniversary, holiday greetings, and “just thinking of you” cards? Remember the countless hours and countless dollars we spent bellied up to card racks, agonizing over the right selections for our loved ones? Then, all the time we spent worrying that our cards would arrive on time?

Not today.

Nowadays, the number of greeting cards given, and therefore received, seems smaller. I don’t know about you, but I used to struggle each year arranging the dozens of  Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s cards that arrived.

Now we only get a handful of cards. It isn’t that we’re unpopular — at least I don’t think that’s the issue! It’s just that most of our holiday well-wishers send their greetings via e-cards or texts. I’m not complaining. I love hearing from them all, no matter how they communicate. I’m merely observing that it’s a big change.

The only people who send actual physical cards are parents with young children. They send glorious multi-photo extravaganzas packed with news of the kids — and the pups. I relish those annual updates. It makes me long for the days of the much-maligned holiday newsletters when people bragged about their promotions and travels, and also shared/overshared their familial travails.

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt

Remember that mouthful of a children’s song and name? Well, recently I learned another humdinger of a name:

Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff Sr. — and that’s the short version.

Mr. W. (for still more brevity’s sake) was a German-born typesetter who was born in 1914, and he held the Guinness Book of Records for the longest personal name.

His full name consisted of 27 names. Each of his 26 given names (non-last names) starts with a different letter of the English alphabet in alphabetical order, and there’s also a longer, much longer version of his last name.

One of the longest and most reliable published versions, with a 666-letter surname, is:

Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfeschlegel­steinhausen­bergerdorff­welche­vor­altern­waren­gewissenhaft­schafers­wessen­schafe­waren­wohl­gepflege­und­sorgfaltigkeit­beschutzen­vor­angreifen­durch­ihr­raubgierig­feinde­welche­vor­altern­zwolfhundert­tausend­jahres­voran­die­erscheinen­von­der­erste­erdemensch­der­raumschiff­genacht­mit­tungstein­und­sieben­iridium­elektrisch­motors­gebrauch­licht­als­sein­ursprung­von­kraft­gestart­sein­lange­fahrt­hinzwischen­sternartig­raum­auf­der­suchen­nachbarschaft­der­stern­welche­gehabt­bewohnbar­planeten­kreise­drehen­sich­und­wohin­der­neue­rasse­von­verstandig­menschlichkeit­konnte­fortpflanzen­und­sich­erfreuen­an­lebenslanglich­freude­und­ruhe­mit­nicht­ein­furcht­vor­angreifen­vor­anderer­intelligent­geschopfs­von­hinzwischen­sternartig­raum Sr.

Mr. W., son of Violet and Edward Wolfstern, was born in Bergedorf, Germany. Documents from there and the U.S. indicate his last name was also Wolfstern. It has been speculated that he adopted the massively longer name for publicity purposes. He, however, denied that and claimed that his great-grandfather chose the name in the 19^th Century.

I find this idea fascinating since I complain when people mispronounce my last name (and it’s only six letters long, and I cannot fathom the idea of picking one that causes deliberate confusion and consternation!

My latest Reno Rant!

I love to give Handsome Hubby grief about the multiple purported failings of his beloved Reno, NV. Well, now I, faint-hearted flyer, have a legitimate reason to rant.

“The Biggest Little City in the World” recently made headlines as one of the “Top 10 most turbulent airports in North America” — as if I need a news story to verify what my nerves and white knuckles tell me every time we land at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport!

The rankings are based on the “eddy dissipation rate,” or EDR, a standard aviation measure of turbulence intensity.

Here’s the list of the dubious “Top 10.”

1. Denver International Airport
2. Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport
3. Albuquerque International Sunport
4. Salt Lake City International Airport
5. Jackson Hole Airport
6. Vancouver International Airport
7. Harry Reid International Airport
8. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
9. Reno-Tahoe International Airport
10. Boise Airport

As an aside, I would point out that my beloved hometown, NYC, is NOT on this list. ANOTHER reason we should live there.

That’s it. Roger. Over and out, as they say in airplane speak.

✈️ ✈️ ✈️

Until next time.

Happy, healthy Muddling through Middle Age to you all!

And as always, if you like this week’s blog, please share it with a friend!

Photo Credit: Pizza Today