Elvis, Nuclear Fusion, and a Hank Aaron Tribute

Welcome to the Good Times. We all need a break, and we’d love to be yours in your regular news diet. Count on us for great writing, amusements, and fascinating stuff from the last week or so (in 5 mins or less).

Yes, we're doing this to amuse America (and ourselves), but we’ll also donate 10% of revenue to education and affordable housing charities when we start monetizing (not to worry though, this will remain a free newsletter). So kick back and enjoy.

The Good Times Roundup

• BROKE GRADS: A good idea re student loans (finally): Regardless of your politics, Ron Desantis took aim last week at the real problem with student debt: the universities. He unveiled a plan where debt can be discharged if grads go bankrupt, and colleges, not taxpayers, would be on the hook to pay the balance. This is a fantastic idea - let's drain endowments, not the treasury. And while I don't think Ronny's winning anything this election cycle, let's hope the idea catches on with others.

• NUCLEAR FUSION: US Scientists successfully repeat nuclear fusion. And this time, they yielded more net power than last year’s breakthrough test. The race is on to commercialize the tech and scientists estimate it'll take 10-20 years to build the 1st fusion power plant. Two big problems before we get there:

  • Building materials that can withstand insanely high temperatures (150M°C)

  • And more efficient power production. These net energy gains don't factor in power pulled from the grid, so to be net positive on the whole, fusion will have to generate 30-100 times more energy than it has to date.

• SURFING OTTER UPDATE: On the run from Johnny Law, otter 841 now has propaganda poster merch and her own ice cream flavor (described as 'cute, sweet, but with a bit of bite'). Shine on you crazy diamond, we love this story:

• WATER: We’re all probably drinking enough water. We’ve all heard it: eight 8-ounce glasses a day is vital lest we risk de-hydration, that hell state of vaguely suspecting you’re not running with a full tank but stopping well short of actual thirst. Well it turns out water from food delivers most of what we need on a daily basis and scientific opinions vary wildly on how much we should drink to supplement - in other words, the mass scourge of dehydration might’ve been overblown, so we’ll need something else to blame for our fatigue, laziness, and grumpiness (‘science-backed’ replacement excuses welcome).

• SPORTS: 34-yr old walk-on kicker makes UVa football team. Former marine helicopter pilot, 2nd year MBA student, and now D1 college athlete. Matt Ganyard's a talented dude and per top scouts, a very legit prospect (go Hoos!):

Take the Day Off 🎸

It’s Elvis Week. Break out the sequined bell bottoms and head to Vegas, and here’s a superb ‘That’s All Right’ for the flight.

Sixteen years ago Monday (August 7, 2007) Barry Bonds ‘broke’ Hank Aaron’s record, so we’re taking the occasion to celebrate the true home run king. Below is an article I wrote shortly after Hank passed a couple years ago. Cheers 44.

Today's Article: The Steady Drumbeat of a Hammer

Furman Bisher, the legendary Atlanta Journal Constitution sports writer, ran that headline (The Steady Drumbeat...) above his column the day after Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s record.

While every other writer in America probably tripped over themselves to spin a definitive yarn, Bisher bemoaned covering something he'd seen hundreds of times before.

Clever take. Try naming something you've done 715 times and then writing a newspaper column about each of them.

But Bisher wasn't being contrarian for its own sake, it's important to remember that we're talking about hitting a 90 mph baseball ~375 feet. Few can do it at all, and Hank did it 755 times - and Bisher's ‘exasperation’ drives home the wonder of it.

I returned to Bisher after Hank's passing - he co-wrote his autobiography, 'Aaron.' It’s not an easy read (Bisher was a wordsmith) but it captures Hank's HR chase in detail and the facts weren't pretty as we know. Lesser characters would have surrendered to anger and self-pity, but not Hank. He got angry of course, but it never got the better of him.

Reading tribute after tribute has been a delight, and I've been reminded of incredible things like Hank’s hold on the all-time total bases record, a much better measure of total production than HRs (total bases correlates to total runs, etc.).

Hank's record stands at 6,856 total bases and Stan Musial's second with 6,134. In a vacuum those numbers mean nothing, but when you look at the daylight between the successive players on the list, Hank's separation from the field astonishes.

In percentage terms, 5.6 points separate Hank from Stan. But Stan from number three on the list, Willie Mays? .6 of a point. And Mays from Barry Bonds, number four? .7 of a point.

Easier to see how Hank lapped the field this way:

Tiger at Pebble, Secretariat at Belmont, and Hank over his entire career. I don’t think that’s an outrageous grouping.

Hank's greatness as a player often takes a backseat to his standing as a moral figure nowadays. Rightly so, but it's the combination of the two, greatness on the field and goodness off it, that made him a national hero.

I've written before that some people carry character in their bearing - you know it when you see them. And so it was with Hank, his character as steady as his on-base percentage, so when I'd read a backwards news story (take your pick from the past five years), I'd often wonder how Hank read it. Sort of a moral compass thing.

I hope I keep that up. Listening for the drumbeat. RIP 44.

More Good Stuff

• Rare pink bird emerges in Wisconsin after 178 years

• Man makes $250k per month selling Buc-ee’s snacks online 

• Starfish photo wins life science pic of the year

• Steph Curry's super power? 'Irrational confidence'

• Mattel's hiring for a Chief UNO Player

Lastly, a Good Tune