Whatever Happened to Putnam Park?

Back in 1963 when I was mid-way through the third grade, my family moved to Poughkeepsie, NY.  One of the best things about living at our new location on Dwight Street was a park about 300 yards away.  There was no sign indicating the name of this park, but none was needed. Everybody called it Putnam Park, and it was fantastic. My grade school friends and I had epic two-on-two football games there. My older brother and I hit hundreds of fly balls to each other there. My younger brother skated there in the winter when the city turned a natural depression in the southern end into an ice rink. Most important, I fell in love with basketball there, playing on a black-topped full court in its northern end.   

Sometime in the early 1970's, though, some city official decided that the park simply had to have a sign. Accordingly, a cheap wooden sign was installed at the corner of Hooker and Hanscom Avenues. To our amazement, the sign read "Bartlett Park" which totally mystified us. Why did they rename our beloved park, and who the hell was Bartlett? For that matter, who the hell was Putnam?  These and many other questions remained a mystery for over 45 years until a high-school friend challenged me to figure it out. So here you go, Tom. This blog's for you!

Brooks Seminary for Young Ladies

 

The story of the park begins back in the 1800's when Poughkeepsie was a thriving city chock-full of impressive schools.  According to this publication from 1937, Poughkeepsie was actually referred to as the "City of Schools".  One of these schools was the Brooks Seminary for Young Ladies, also informally known as the Brooks Institute or the Brooks Seminary.  According to Wikipedia, it was founded in 1871:

"Mary Bryan Johnson was its founder.  She and her future husband, Edward White, erected a building on six acres of elevated grounds in the southeastern section of Poughkeepsie at the corner of what then was Southeast and Hanscom Avenues."

At its peak, the Brooks Seminary was advertised in newspapers across the United States and was regarded as one of the best schools of its kind. Per this review in 1872, the New York Times wrote that, in many respects, it was even superior to Vassar College, a highly regarded institution only a mile away from the Brooks Seminary:

"While there are a great many schools of a high order in most respects, probably there are few that equal, and fewer still that as a whole excel, the Brooks Seminary at Poughkeepsie, New-York, a city on the Hudson, of extraordinary advantages in many respects, more especially as to health.

"Next door to Vassar, both in location and standing, and in some sort a preparatory school, it in some respects excels, and many would deem it superior to, that great institution."

Despite reviews like this, the Brooks Seminary found it difficult to compete with Vassar's preparatory school. In 1880, the seminary relocated to 11 Montague Terrace in Brooklyn, New York where it appears to have survived for only a year or two.

 

Ellen Clizbe Bartlett and the birth of Putnam Hall School

According to "The Eagles History of Poughkeepsie" by Edmund Platt, after Brooks Seminary vacated the building, it was used as hotel and as a dormitory for Vassar students. In 1901, however, Ellen Clizbe Bartlett and Frances A. Welbasky established a new boarding school for women at this location, renaming it the Putnam Hall School. It's unclear who the school was named after. Putnam County of New York was named after Israel Putnam, a Revolutionary War hero. There was also another hero of the Revolution, Israel's cousin Rufus Putnam, who was appointed by George Washington in 1776 as the nation's first Chief Engineer. In this position Rufus helped design the fortifications of Fort Putnam and West Point in New York. It seems highly unlikely that a boarding school for women would be named after one of these long-dead military men. I'm guessing the school was named in honor of a rich patron or benefactor named Putnam. Below is a colorized postcard photo of the Putnam Hall School, circa 1907:

In the early 20th century, the Putnam Hall School and Miss Bartlett were held in high regard, both locally and nationally. As such, when Miss Bartlett announced her intention to close the school on May 31, 1912 due to financial difficulties, it was news coast to coast: 

Locally, the reaction to Miss Bartlett's announcement was swift. On April 15, 1912, the Poughkeepsie Eagle News reported that "Prominent Men" were going to try and save the school:

It's not clear who these "prominent men" were, but the results they achieved were spectacular. As reported in the Poughkeepsie Eagle-News on September 23, 1912, the school was out of financial difficulties and had been"greatly improved for the fall term":

The school continued to operate through the 1933 school year but then closed abruptly, possibly due to Miss Bartlett's retirement. In 1940, the school was torn down and, a few years later, Miss Bartlett deeded the property to the city with the stipulation that it be "used only for public purposes by the citizens of the city of Poughkeepsie". The event was captured in the photo, below, in the June 15, 1943 edition of the Poughkeepsie Journal:

 On March 16, 1944, Ellen Clizbe Bartlett died at the age of 87. Her obituary was carried in the New York Times:

Creating the Park

Almost immediately, the local government took action to utilize Miss Bartlett's gift to the city. As shown in the article below from the Poughkeepsie Journal, the Department of Public Works was asked to clean up the grounds, plans were made for a dedication ceremony and the Planning Commission suggested that a sign proclaiming the area as "The Ellen Clisby Bartlett Memorial Park" be erected. The fact that the Poughkeepsie Journal misspelled Miss Bartlett's middle name indicates that perhaps the park needed a simpler name.

As stated in the article, the Planning Commission didn't have the authority to name the park, so the issue was transferred to the Common Council. They, in turn, transferred it to the Public Property Committee, suggesting that it be called "The Ellen Clisbie Bartlett Memorial Park", again misspelling her middle name. 

Apparently, though, little was actually done to create a functioning park. On June 27, 1947, the headline of the Poughkeepsie Journal indicated that the area might become the location of the new Poughkeepsie High School.

Seven years later, a 1954 Poughkeepsie Journal article stated that the Board of Directors of the Jewish Community Center agreed that Bartlett Park would be "acceptable .. in exchange for its College Avenue property which has been designated as part of a site for a new Poughkeepsie High School".

On February 20, 1958, a Poughkeepsie Journal article made it very clear that very little had been done to create a functioning park. A former alderman, Mrs. Cummins, proposed that the city give back the site to the heirs of Miss Bartlett who could then sell the land for housing:

In 1961, the city considered using Bartlett Park as the site for its new YMCA:

In 1963, the city finally began taking steps to honor the stipulations made by Miss Bartlett that the area be "used only for public purposes by the citizens of the city of Poughkeepsie". In April 30, 1963, the Poughkeepsie, Journal reported that a public discussion would be held to demand "improved playground facilities for the Clinton-Sixth ward area". Bartlett Park was mentioned as a possible site for improvement. Per one of the organizers of the event, there had currently been "no offer of Bartlett Park for play purposes" prior to that meeting. Apparently, the discussions were fruitful because on August 12, 1964,the following small article appeared in the Poughkeepsie Journal:

A sign identifying the area as Bartlett Park would not be erected until a decade later.

Postscript

Two final points worth mentioning. First, even though the area was officially referred to as Bartlett Park (or a variation thereof) since 1943, those who visited the park well into the 1970's always called it Putnam Park. Even the Poughkeepsie Journal occasionally referred to it as Putnam Hall Park: 

Second, this article began with fond memories I had of playing basketball at Putnam Park in the late 60's and early 70's. Strangely enough, I can find no documentation whatsoever that the City of Poughkeepsie ever planned, built or maintained an outdoor basketball court at that location. The only proof I have that the court even existed is this tangential mention in a Poughkeepsie Journal article in January of 1983:

Not the type of documentation I was looking for, but I'll take it.

 

Keeping Grocery Workers Safe

The risks being taken by grocery store workers these days are all too real. On April 13 the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), representing over 900,00 grocery store workers, estimated that 30 of their members have died from COVID-19 and nearly 3,000 are not working because they are quarantined, hospitalized or awaiting test results. When asked what could be done to improve their safety, here's how members responded:

• Limit the number of customers (72%)
• Ban unruly customers (49%)
• Hire more security (41%)
• Hire more workers to meet demand (26%)
• Create advertisements with customer safety tips (23%)

The UFCW has also asked shoppers to take the "#ShopSmart Pledge" which includes wearing masks, keeping 6 feet or more from workers and other shoppers, and proper disposal of safety gloves.

Blissfully unaware of the #ShopSmart Pledge

All of these suggestions make tremendous sense. The biggest risk by far to grocery store workers is their constant and close proximity to shoppers, any of whom could easily infect them via airborne transmission of the coronavirus. What doesn't make sense is this memo, sent by the President and CEO of the NJ Food Council to mayors of many townships in New Jersey. Inexplicably, the memo concludes that reusable bags are a major health threat to grocery store workers, an issue that wasn't even mentioned by UFCW members. Almost certainly, this memo was motivated by this bit of propaganda created by the Plastic Industry Association. While a dirty reusable bag could conceivably pose a safety issue to its owner, there is no link whatsoever between reusable bags and grocery worker safety.

There's no denying that a shopper's reusable bag could become infected with the coronavirus. But so could every other object within the store, including the paper and plastic bags that are provided. That's why everything you purchase should be washed or put into quarantine when you return home.
   
While the State of New Jersey hasn't banned reusable bags, my local grocery store now forbids their use, even for customers willing to do their own bagging. Rather than argue the illogic of this policy with an overworked and over-stressed cashier, I settled on a workaround. When asked whether I wanted paper or plastic I responded, “No bags at all, please!” and unloaded my groceries onto the conveyor belt. I then went to the end of the checkout and loaded my groceries back into my shopping cart as soon as they were scanned. I think the cashier really appreciated it. I was done loading and out of her way seconds after she had scanned the last item. I rolled the cart out to my car, loaded everything into reusable bags that were stored in my trunk and went home. I was happy, the store was happy, and the environment was happy.

The Ten Plagues Easter Eggs

Two years ago, Marilynn and I drove to Massachusetts to attend our first-ever Seder with my son, his wife and members of her family. As a (lapsed) Catholic, I figured that the perfect way to bridge the two faiths was to bring our set of Easter eggs based on the Ten Plagues of Egypt.We made them back in the late 90's when all of our kids were either in high school or college. They quickly became a family heirloom, always good for a laugh during the holiday season.

Sadly, that particular family heirloom never got to experience a Seder. On our way to the event, our 2017 Toyota Prius caught fire in West Hartford and, to quote the incident report, "burned to a shell". Within that burned shell were 10 tiny shells as crispy as potato chips. The heirloom was toast. Worse, we never took a picture of this heirloom, something unheard of in these days of smartphones and Facebook.

This year we had once again planned to travel to Massachusetts to attend another Seder. Afterwards, we planned to swing over to New Hampshire to spend Easter with my daughter and her family. But another disaster (named COVID) intervened, forcing all of us stay sequestered for the holidays. But desperate times call for desperate measures. It was time to recreate the Ten Plagues of Egypt Easter Eggs!

Since we all had some time on our hands, we decided to turn this into an event.  The first step was the plague selection process. We quickly determined that the plagues had to be assigned randomly; otherwise we'd all fight over the flagship plague, the "Angel of Death". Each participant's name was written on a Domino Rally tile and all 10 tiles were loaded into another Mullen heirloom: my 1994 Rangers Stanley Cup mug. (They were on well on their way to winning the Cup again this year too!) I then opened a Zoom meeting to allow everyone to bear witness as I randomly drew holy tiles from the Sacred Cup. The resulting Scripture (showing the results of the assignation process) has been preserved and is shown below. If you click on it, you might have a few questions.
The first thing you'll note is the unique numbering sequence. Rather than the usual boring 1-10 format your grandfather would use, this list breaks into freestyle following "5". Next, you'll note that two plagues were assigned to families. With 10 plagues and 8 adults, we decided to give an extra plague to families with kids living with them. (No symbolism intended!).

Then there's the assignment of the flagship 10th plague. Somehow, this plague was assigned to the Angel of Death himself! I'm not sure what happened here but clearly the note taker was under more stress than the group realized. Finally, the list also reflects an issue that has bedeviled biblical scholars for thousands of years: What the hell was that Fourth Plague anyway? Some believe that the original Hebrew should be translated as "swarm of insects". However, per the  English version of the Passover Haggadah, this plague should be translated as a "swarm of wild animals". In an attempt to broker a truce between these two warring factions, let me just point out the obvious. When you categorize an item as "animal, vegetable or mineral", an insect is an animal. Therefore, both translations are accurate.  Q.E.D.

As a bonus, each participant was also tasked to create a "COVID-19 egg". Not all participants participated, though. Some just assumed the role of "idea man" and let their spouse do the actual work. At any rate, we only ended up with six COVID-19 eggs. All the eggs are shown below (click to enlarge). There was talk of having an elaborate scoring system to determine the Ultimate Egg of the contest, but everyone's jaw dropped when they saw the egg at the top of this post. Game over, man. Some of the other plague eggs are superb: the lice, the flies; hell, the Angel of Death works as comic relief and even the River of Blood is surprisingly artistic in an Yves Klein sort of way. But there's no topping that frog in a teacup.  Congratulations, Sara! And congratulations to the entire family for recreating a true Mullen Heirloom!

Shopping in the COVID-19 World

 

At this point, everyone living in the COVID-19 world undoubtedly understands the importance of sequestering, thoroughly washing your hands, covering your mouth when coughing or sneezing, and keeping a "social distance" from other human beings. You should also be shopping online as much as possible and wiping down packages once they arrive. But what exact procedure should you follow when you have to leave your house to pick up urgently needed items such as food, medicine or home supplies?  The procedure below may seem like overkill but think again. When it comes to the coronavirus, being safe and being "pretty safe" may be the difference between life and death. This procedure will only take a few additional minutes of your time.  You'll get used to it.

Goal:

Minimize the chance of catching the coronavirus while shopping

Assumptions:

1. You are clean (you don’t have the coronavirus), your house is clean and your car is clean.
2. You don’t want to disinfect your car, wash your clothes or take a shower when you return home.
3. You’re wearing a pair of pants with 2 deep pockets.
4. You have two keys/cards/fobs to operate your car.

Going out to Shop:

1. Scrupulously plan your shopping trip.  You want to spend as little time as possible in the store.Before leaving, put a credit card and one of your car “keys” into a small reusable, washable cloth bag. 
2. Put on your “outside” shoes (i.e., shoes you never wear inside the house).
3. Put your other car “key”, your wallet and your phone completely in your pockets.
4. Pack a bunch of reusable washable cloth bags to hold your purchases.
5. When you arrive at the store, put on a pair of disposable medical gloves. 
6. Once the gloves are on, don’t touch your face or your clothes.
7. Bring only what you absolutely need into the store: shopping list; the small bag containing your credit card and key; and reusable shopping bags. Your wallet, phone and second "key" are in your pockets.
8. Be sure to keep the small bag and your shopping list in your hand or in the shopping cart at all times.  Do not put either item in your pocket!
9. Shop as you normally would, but maintain a 6’ distance from all other human beings. 
10. Don’t sit, lean against a wall, or allow your clothes (other than shoes) to come into contact with anything.
11. When checking out, maintain a 6’ distance from the cashier (your biggest risk on this trip). Put all of your purchases on the checkout counter and bag your purchases at the other end of the counter using reusable washable bags. Use separate bags for items that can be left in quarantine for 3 days to decontaminate.
12. To pay, use the credit card in the small bag. After paying, put the credit card back in the bag and put that bag in the top of the shopping cart or in a shopping bag where it can be easily reached later.
13. Put your groceries in the cart and walk to your car. Take the “key” out of the small bag, unlock your car and load your groceries into the trunk. At no time let any of the bags come into contact with your clothing.
14. Safely take off your gloves (see the graphic below) and discard in a nearby trash can.  If no trash can is available, drop them into a shopping bag for disposal at home. 
15. Close the trunk without touching the same spot that you used to open it.
16. Using the key in your pocket, get in your car and drive home. (Your hands and car interior should be clean.)

Once You Arrive Home:

1. Put on your “inside” shoes.
2. Take your purchases out of the trunk. Discard gloves if you still have them.  Your hands are now contaminated.
3. Bring all non-essentials to a special quarantined area within your house and don't touch them for at least 3 days.  If no area exists, leave them in your garage.
4. Bring produce, items needed immediately, items needing refrigeration/freezing and the small bag containing your key and credit card to a pre-defined “dirty” counter near your kitchen sink.
5. Wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds.
6. Thoroughly rinse all produce with cool/cold water; no soap or disinfectant should be used.
7. Fill a basin in your sink with warm soapy water. Submerge and wash all purchases that can be cleaned in this manner (bottles, cans, items sealed in plastic packaging, etc.)
8. Spray and wipe down all other items (including your credit card and “key”) with soap and water or disinfectant solution. 
9. Place all washed items on a pre-defined “clean” counter to be used only for cleaned items.
10. Put all reusable washable cloth bags into your washing machine.
11. Wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds.
12. Thoroughly clean all countertops used in the cleaning process.
13. Since you can’t be sure you won’t need your car within the next 3 days, clean any external areas of your car that you touched while unloading. Cleaning your trunk is optional, but remember that it will be“dirty" for at least the next 3 days!
14. Clean any doorknobs that you touched and any place that was touched while cleaning your purchases.
15. Clean the spray bottle and any other items you used during the cleaning process that weren’t discarded.
16. Put all washcloths and towels that were used in the washing machine.
17. Clean the places that were touched on the washing machine; throw that cloth in the wash too!
18. Wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds one more time.
19. Have a drink. I don’t care what time it is. You’ve earned it.

Nancy (Mullen) Benco Oswald (1928 - 2018)

On Saturday morning, February 18, 2018, , Nancy (Mullen) Benco Oswald died at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, PA. She was one month shy of her 90th birthday. Nancy was the daughter of Patrick Mullen (born in Ballina, County Mayo) and Bridget McHugh (born in Glangevlin, County Cavan). She lived her entire life in the Philadelphia and Allentown areas and is predeceased by two husbands, Joseph P. Benco and Walter T. Oswald.

Although her health had been failing over the past couple of years, Nancy was determined to attend the wedding of her granddaughter, Laura, last May. A few months after attending that wedding, she set her sights on another goal: attending the annual Mullen Christmas Party this past January. She accomplished that goal, participating in a rousing Irish sing-a-long lead by her son, Joe.

She died peacefully in her sleep surrounded by all of her children. Below is her official obituary, along with a few photos of her throughout the years.

 Nancy T. (Mullen) Benco Oswald, 89, of Allentown, died Saturday, February 17, 2018 at Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest. She was the beloved wife of the late Joseph P. Benco, Sr. to whom she has now rejoined in Heaven. Born in Philadelphia, March 13, 1928, Nancy was the daughter of the late Patrick J. and Bridget Agnes (McHugh) Mullen. She was employed as a unit clerk at Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest for 17 years before retiring. Nancy was a member of St. Joseph the Worker Roman Catholic Church, Orefield serving as Lector, Eucharistic Minister and sang with the funeral choir. She volunteer as a religious counselor at the Lehigh County Prison. Survivors: Loving and devoted mother of Maureen T. Benco of Allentown, Elaine P. Benco Hersh and her husband, Frederick of Emmaus, Janet A. Benco McShane and partner, Robert S. Lavin of Macungie, Joseph P. Benco, Jr. and his wife, Mary of Hampton, NJ, James Patrick Benco of Allentown; brother, Joseph Mullen of Wayne; sister, Patricia Sears of Willow Grove; grandchildren, William, Laura, Christopher, Andrew, Julie, Joseph III, Jessica; predeceased by siblings, Jack, Mary, Thomas, James.

Service: A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 10:30 am. Friday, February 23, 2018 at St. Joseph the Worker Roman Catholic Church, 1879 Applewood Drive, Orefield. The Rev. Joseph P. Becker will be the celebrant. Family and friends may pay their respects from 6 - 8:00 pm. Thursday and 9 - 9:45 am. Friday in the Heintzelman Funeral Home, Inc., 4906 Route 309, Schnecksville. Interment will take place at 2:00 pm. Saturday, February 24, 2018 at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Philadelphia. Online expressions of sympathy may be recorded at www.heintzelmancares.com. Contributions: In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Joseph the Worker Angel Fund c/o the funeral home, P.O. Box # 196, Schnecksville, PA 18078-0196.

Nancy at the wedding of my parents in 1948

With her husband, Joseph Benco, at the same wedding

At the 2005 Mullen Christmas Party

Reviewing passenger ship manifests at the 2006 Mullen Christmas Party

A better photo of Nancy at the 2006 Mullen Christmas Party

Checking in at the 2008 Mullen Reunion in Ballina

At the "family farm" in Ballina in 2008

With her son, Jim, in Puerto de Cádiz in 2014

At her birthday party in March, 2017

At her granddaughter's wedding in May, 2017

Kathleen Duffy (1923-2017)

It is with sadness that I report the death of Kathleen Duffy on October 26, 2017, from complications caused by pneumonia.  Although she lived to the age of 94, her sudden sickness and death still caught me by surprise.  When I spoke with her on her birthday last August she still sounded strong and clear of mind. Her obituary, written by her nephews Patrick Mills (standing, center, in the photo above) and  Brian Fowler (standing, upper right) can be found here.  

From a genealogical perspective, Kathleen Duffy was my third cousin once removed, but from every other perspective she was much closer than that.  I first "met" Kathleen back in 2005 after my first visit to Ireland.  During that visit my interest in genealogy was fueled by a meeting in Ballina with Vince Duffy who showed me a large family tree that had been put together by his late father (Sean Duffy) and his father's cousin (Madge Messenger).  When I returned to the States, I sent a packet of information to Madge describing my interest in genealogy and asking for her help. A few months later, though, that packet was returned to me unopened with a note stating that it had never been claimed.  I decided to send the packet to Madge's sister, Kathleen Duffy, who called me at my home a week or so later.  She informed me that Madge's health had deteriorated to the point that she could no longer participate in detailed genealogical discussions, but that she would help me if she could.  This phone call initiated a friendship between us that would last until Kathleen's unexpected death. 

Letter to Aunt Mary

In early 2006 I began to organize a reunion of the extended Mullen Family in Ballina. Kathleen was overjoyed when she heard of this.  She stated that she was battling a number of physical ailments but that she would try her best to be there. I told her that I completely understood if she could not attend and mentioned that my Aunt Mary (a year older than Kathleen) was facing a similar dilemma.  A day or two later I received an email from Kathleen.  Embedded within was a note that Kathleen asked me to forward to Aunt Mary, a woman that Kathleen had never even met!  Click on the image on the right and take a minute or two to read this note.  It will provide you with a small inkling of Kathleen's unique personality and her ability to connect with others.  Ultimately, Aunt Mary's illness prevented her from attending the Reunion and meeting Kathleen.  Still, Kathleen would often ask me about Aunt Mary in her emails. 

At the 2008 Reunion

Kathleen and I finally met face-to-face at the Mullen Reunion in Ballina in 2008. While that event was, in many ways, a tremendous success, I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked with Kathleen.  Thankfully, my extended family had a chance to talk with her at length, and she made a deep and lasting impression on them -- and vice-versa.  This was epitomized on the morning after the Reunion as the U.S. contingent was climbing on a bus for a tour of western Ireland.  Kathleen, of course, had insisted on being there to see us off.  As the bus pulled away from the Downhill House Hotel, the last thing we all saw was Kathleen waving goodbye to us with her handkerchief.  I didn't capture that moment in a photo but I can still see it in my mind's eye as I type these words.  

In the years which followed, we continued to stay in touch, but it was mostly by email (Kathleen was very good with email into her 90's!)  She would often ask when Marilynn and I would return for another visit.  Sadly, we only managed to get back to England twice -- once during a week long vacation in 2009 (when the photo at the top of the post was taken) and again in 2015 when we attended Maire Davies' 70th birthday party.  It was during the 2015 visit that we had the pleasure of meeting Bridie Simkins, a woman whom Kathleen called "my best friend".  Marilynn and I had brought some gin and tonic with us as Bridie had told us that it was Kathleen's favorite drink.  We spent a lovely evening with Kathleen at Bridie and Ernie's house but, somehow, forgot to drink a gin and tonic!  After we returned to the States, Bridie sent us a short video of Kathleen.  I think it's fitting to end this memorial to Kathleen by clicking on the link below and hearing a few words from Kathleen herself -- sitting around with her best friend while enjoying a gin and tonic.

Kathleen and Bridie enjoying a G&T:  November 2015

My Day of Living Dangerously

A couple of days ago I inadvertently sliced my finger while unwrapping an Oster blender / food processor that I got for my birthday.  (Damn!  I should have looked at that YouTube unboxing video first!)   It wasn't a huge slice but it was bleeding like a sonovabitch, so I hustled to the medicine cabinet for a BAND-AID® (registered trademark of Johnson & Johnson) and some kind of ointment.  Sadly, the cabinet contained only a box of minimally sticky CVS bandages and no antiseptic ointment of any kind. With no real option, I decided to use a CVS bandage sans ointment.  Then I spotted a little bottle hiding in the corner of the cabinet containing a substance that I had almost forgotten about, something that -- if you're under 30 -- you've probably never heard of.  Its chemical name is "merbromin" but it was mass-marketed in the United States for the better part of a century under a different name: Mercurochrome. 

Opening the Oster blender box without assistance took courage, but what happened next was truly living dangerously.  I unscrewed the top off of the bottle, removed the glass applicator and placed a daub of Mercurochrome on my cut finger.  And there you have it.  I have just admitted to self-medicating myself with a drug that has been banned in the United States of America.  #politicalcareerover.

 

Click to enlarge

At this point you're probably wondering why Mercurochrome is a banned substance. Well, there's a short answer and a long answer.  The short answer is that it contains mercury, a substance identified by the EPA as a neurotoxin which, in sufficient quantities, is detrimental to your health.  The long answer is much more interesting.

The Long Answer

After extensive research via that fake-news pipeline known as the Internet, I learned that, in 1889, a John Hopkins professor named Ira Remsen created a substance called phenolsulfonphthalein (as difficult to pronounce as it looks).  In 1919, Hugh H. Young, another John Hopkins professor, built on that discovery to create merbromin, a related compound containing a trace amount of mercury. Finally, a third guy named Dr. H.A.B. Dunning developed a two percent solution of merbromin that would become known as Mercurochrome.  While initially used as a urinary antiseptic, Mercurochrome was soon sold to the public as an all-purpose antiseptic for small cuts and scratches.  Its trace amount of mercury acted as a disinfectant, disrupting the metabolism of microorganisms that could infect an exposed wound.

Mercurochrome quickly became a staple of every first aid kit in America. The FDA, which in those days didn't have the power or the resources to effectively regulate every drug, classified it as "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS).  Things stayed that way until 1978 when the FDA began a twenty year review of all over-the-counter antiseptics. While it found no evidence that Mercurochrome caused mercury poisoning, the FDA removed it from the GRAS list in 1998 anyway.  It also reclassified it as a "new drug.  This meant that a company wishing to continue producing Mercurochrome had to go through the FDA's onerous (and expensive!) approval process.  Unsurprisingly, no company elected to go through this process since:

• There were already many other non-mercury based antiseptics available to consumers.
• The patent on Mercurochrome had expired.  If a company chose to invest the time and money and managed to persuade the FDA to approve Mercurochrome, any other  company would then be able to produce a generic version. 
• Mercurochrome was a very inexpensive drug to make with a very low profit margin.
• The public had become wary of anything that contained even a trace amount of mercury.

Is it Safe?

According to this publication on a website called ISPUB (Internet Science Publications), Mercurochrome is as safe as bath water:

"Generally speaking, methylmercury is the poisonous form which is not the form of mercury found in Mercurochrome, thermometers, dental fillings, electrical switches, or vaccines. Mercurochrome contains mercury in a disodium salt form which is considered to be perfectly safe."

Despite it's impressively sounding name, ISPUB has all of the earmarks of a fake news site or, at bare minimum, a site without the proper amount of scientific oversight.  I resorted to quoting from it because, after 4 hours of searching the web, it was the only site I could find that even attempted to address the safety question.  Every other site avoided the issue with variants of "If the FDA banned it, it must be dangerous!" or "Better safe than sorry!".  While I understand those sentiments, there still should be some objective scientific evidence as to whether Mercurochrome is safe or not, especially since it is still being produced and used by other countries.   But as far as I've been able to determine, the effect of Mercurochrome on humans has never been rigorously tested and documented.

Since there appears to be no medical proof for the relative safety of Mercurochrome, let me leave you with the following logical proof:

• References to Mercurochrome describe it as a 2% aqueous solution of merbromin containing a "trace amount of mercury".
• Per FDA documents, a "trace amount" of mercury must be less than 1 part per million.
• The FDA has also set the maximum permissible safe level of mercury in seafood at 1 part per million.  
• A drop of Mercurochrom (which is mostly water) weighs approximately 0.050 grams.
• A recommended serving size of swordfish is approximately 100 grams.
• Therefore, eating a meal consisting of a recommended serving size of swordfish will expose your body to 2,000 times the amount of mercury that is contained in a drop of Mercurochrome. 
• Stated another way, you can put 2,000 drops of Mercurochrome on your body before it becomes a mercury health-hazard greater than a single FDA-approved swordfish dinner.

  Q.E.D.                             

PS:  Mercurochrome remains banned in the United States, France, Germany and Switzerland.

William J. Behrens and the Man of Steel

About four years ago, I joined a genealogical research site called Ancestry and began investigating the Hugues branch of my mother's family tree.  In a relatively short period of time, that tree has grown to over 1,100 verified names.  That may sound like a lot of names but, in genealogical terms, it's not that impressive.

Think of it this way:  Assume that you want to build a comprehensive family tree that extends from the present day back to the signing of the Declaration of Independence (1776).  That's a span of 241 years or approximately 10 generations.  Let's also assume that, as you progress down through the generations, three children from each family marry and have (on average) three children of their own who marry,  and so on, down through the generations.  The chart on the left shows how quickly a family tree based on these simple assumptions can explode into almost 200,000 names!  All of this is a roundabout way of saying that there are quite a few names on my Hugues Family Tree that have not been fully explored.  One such name belongs to a man named William J. Behrens.

William J. Behrens was my mother's second cousin.  He was the son of Henry Behrens and Martha Mehan and was born in San Francisco, CA, on September 12, 1921.  Per Ancestry's California Marriage Index, William married a woman named Noel Heill in Los Angeles, CA, on August 27, 1953.  He died in Los Angeles on February 12, 2011, at the age of 89.  That, in a nutshell, was everything I could find out about William J. Behrens.  Ancestry contained no other information about his wife and no leads at all regarding children.  After a while, I marked William Behrens as a "cold case" and moved on to other names. 

Who called him "Papa"?

Last week, though, a colleague on Ancestry (and also my third cousin) posted a photo of the gravestone of William J. Behrens.  I already had this photo but I clicked on it anyway, just for the hell of it. Surprisingly, I saw something I hadn't noticed before.  Above his name was the word "Papa".  To me, this was a strong indicator that he had, indeed, fathered at least one child.  The game was once again afoot!  I dusted off my Ancestry research skills and dove in. 

Pay dirt!

It had been quite a while since I'd done any research on this guy so I was hoping to find a fresh, new lead.  That hope was quickly dashed.  After about an hour of searching I hadn't turned up anything meaningful on him or his wife, Noel Heill.  In fact, other than that reference in the California Marriage Index, I had absolutely nothing on his wife, not even a date of birth!  I decided to bring up a scanned image of that marriage index to see if it contained anything else of use ... and did it ever!  William's wife was not named Noel Heill.  Her name was Noel Neill!  If that name means nothing to you, it's probably because you weren't born before 1960 and didn't watch the Superman TV show on channel 11, WPIX, starring George Reeves as the Man of Steel.  Noel Neill was the name of the actress that played Lois Lane!

All this seemed a little too good to be true.  Before I could announce this monumental discovery, I needed ironclad proof.  Now that I had Noel's correct name, this turned out to be pretty simple: 

1. The California Birth Index confirmed that William J. Behrens, with a mother whose maiden name was Mehan, was born on September 12, 1921.
2. The Minnesota, Birth Index confirmed that Noel Darleen Neill was born on November 25, 1920.
3. The California Marriage Index (above) confirmed that William Behrens (age 31) and Noel Neill (age 32) were married on August 27, 1953.  Both ages correspond exactly to the information contained in their birth index records.

On top of that, there's this excerpt from a Wikipedia entry on Noel Neill:

Personal life
In 1943, Neill married makeup artist Harold Lierley in Hollywood, California. The marriage was annulled shortly afterward. Neill then married William Behrens in 1953 in Santa Monica, California; the marriage ended in divorce in 1962. While still married to Behrens, the Superman television program was cancelled. 

That sealed the deal for me.  In the TV series, Lois Lane never married Superman.  But in real life, William J. Behrens was her Man of Steel! 

George Reeves and Noel Neill in the 1950's

Noel Neill died last year. In her obituary, the New York Times failed to mention any children, noting only that she had "no surviving family members".  Since Behrens was in his 40's at the time of their divorce, it's probably a safe bet that he, too, died without children.  Maybe the word "Papa" on his gravestone was simply his nickname:  "Papa Behrens", a play on "Papa Bear".  Whatever.  It's time to close this case again and move on to a new name.  

---

Postscript:

Here we go again.  While writing this story, I couldn't resist the urge to continue researching.  When the Ancestry well ran dry I switched to a second genealogical site called Family Search.  I created a search using everything I now knew about Noel Neill and William Behrens and hit ENTER.  Unbelievably, my results included a copy of their actual marriage certificate from a database called "California, County Marriages, 1850-1952":

Mind blown ... again!

This document confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that William John Behrens, my mother's second cousin and the son of Martha Mehan and Henry Behrens, married Noel Darleen Neill in 1953.  But it also raises a brand new issue:  Before marrying Noel Neill, William Behrens had been married twice before!  So maybe he does have descendants after all!

The game is afoot!

Thoughts on Inauguration Eve

I have no intention of watching any of this weekend’s Inauguration festivities for the 45th President of the United States.  But I also have no intention of participating in any of the protest marches taking place around the nation.   At this point, Trump hasn't done anything as President of the United States to warrant such an action.  It is true, though, that he continues to do things that border on the ridiculous and the petulant, as though he’s deliberately thumbing his nose at his detractors.   Here are a few of his highlights since Election Day: 

Rex Tillerson:  Amid fears that Russia possessed comprising information on him, and despite proof that Russia successfully hacked the email accounts of Democratic party leaders during the election and attempted to hack into the U.S. electrical grid, Trump nominated Rex Tillerson as his Secretary of State.  Mr. Tillerson was the CEO of ExxonMobil until last month and is a multi-millionaire with deep ties with Russia dating back to the 1990’s.   He is also strongly opposed to the 2014 sanctions that were imposed on Russia by the EU and the US in response to Russia’s military intervention in the Ukraine.  Those sanctions have already cost ExxonMobil an estimated $1 billion.  Not exactly an appointment that “drains the swamp.” 

Ben Carson: Following his November victory, Trump nominated Ben Carson for Surgeon General, a position for which Dr. Carson could actually be qualified.  Surprisingly, he declined the position because, as stated by his business manager:  “Dr. Carson feels he has no government experience, he’s never run a federal agency.  The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency.”  At that moment on that day, I had new-found respect for Dr. Carson.  But it didn’t last long.  A few weeks later, Trump nominated him again, this time to head up the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  You’d think that Dr. Carson would once again decline, but you’d be wrong.  He quickly accepted the nomination, stating as one of his qualifications, “I grew up in the inner city … and have dealt with a lot of patients from that area”. 

Betsy DeVos:  Ms. Devos is a Michigan billionaire nominated by Trump to head the Department of Education despite the fact that she has been a longtime foe of public education.  She’s an advocate of the voucher system and the use of public funding to pay for private and religious schools.  The National Education Association (NEA) calls her “dangerously unqualified”, stating that she has “spent decades working to dismantle public education and privatize public schools”.  The ACLU denounced her attempts to “create a voucher system that would divert public money to private and religious schools and erode the bedrock value of separation of church and state.” And then there’s her support for guns in schools, citing grizzly bears in Wyoming as a compelling reason. 

Rick Perry:  While this sounds like a Saturday Night Live bit, it’s true:  Donald Trump nominated Rick Perry to head up the Department of Energy, the very department that Perry said should be eliminated back in 2012.  While being a scientist isn’t necessarily a prerequisite for the position, it's worth noting that the current DOE head is a nuclear physicist and the guy before him won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics.  Rick Perry graduated from Texas A&M with a D+ average in his science courses and supports the teaching of Creationism in public schools.  On the positive side, though, he has appeared on Dancing With the Stars.  That has to count for something.

Twitter Response to John Lewis:  Trump continues to use Twitter as his main method of communication, retribution and revisionism.  After Congressman John Lewis criticized Trump in a television interview, Trump tweeted, “Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!”  He tweeted this despite the fact that Lewis’s district is fairly affluent and his life has been committed to public service and activism, particularly in the cause of Civil Rights. 

There are more examples (Monica Crowley, Stephen Bannon, Mike Pompeo, etc.) but I think we’ve both had enough. I just want it to be clear that I’m aware of  Trump’s recent actions before you read the next paragraph. 

--------------------------------------------------------------

I fervently hope that four years from now, on the eve of the 2021 Inauguration, my candidate, Donald J. Trump, is preparing to embark on his second term as President of the United States.  This has happened because he, once again, has confounded the "lamestream media" and become one of the best and most effective presidents in the history of the United States.  How could he possibly do this?  Well, here’s a scenario:

• Ruling by caustic tweets that rewrite history, all of Congress – Democrats and Republicans – live in fear of crossing Trump.  In contrast to the last 8 years of a do-nothing Congress, the next four years are marked by a blizzard of new legislation.
• Since Trump purposely surrounded himself with puppets like Rick Perry and Ben Carson, there is no discord or opposition within his Cabinet or inner circle.
• Trump appoints two Supreme Court justices in his first term, creating a solid majority that rules in favor of virtually any legislation that he supports. 
• With all of this power, Trump feels completely unfettered by any promises that he made in the past.  As such, his first term is marked by legislation, social programs and foreign policy that is long overdue and beneficial for the country and the world. 

That last bullet might be a tad far-fetched, I agree.  But something just that stupefying would have to occur before I could ever vote for Trump.  In the meantime, let's all be very wary of any movement, no matter how faint, to repeal the 22nd Amendment.

The Trump Presidency and a Glimmer of Hope

When I realized that Trump had been elected as the 45th President of the United States, I fell into a deep despair.  I wasn't ashamed of being an American, but I was angry, sad and frightened for America. Our ignorance is appalling, and I'm not saying this simply because my candidate lost. Trump won this election because the majority of the electorate believed all of his lies, despite the abundance of unbiased fact-checking that was available to them. They just didn't care enough to read.

What happens next?  Pundits like Bill Maher believe that this is just the beginning of a "slow right-wing coup" in which Trump, once he gains control, will not give it up.  A year ago such a statement would have been laughable.  After last night, though, anything is possible.  At this point you're probably wondering "Where the hell is that glimmer of hope?" Read on.

There are two characteristics that epitomize Donald Trump: his huge ego and his skill at lying.  He is such a good liar that he received over 80% of the white evangelical vote, despite the fact that he has been married three times, has admitted to committing adultery, has been caught on audiotape making incredibly misogynistic statements, and has been accused of sexual assault by at least 12 women, one of whom has accused him of raping her in 1994 when she was 13.  Why "in God's name" would evangelicals support this man?  Because he promised that, if elected, he would appoint Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade.  That's it.  That's all it took to lock up the white evangelical vote.  But will Trump actually follow through on this promise?  This video from 1999 would suggest otherwise.  In it, Trump characterizes himself as "pro-choice in every respect" and states that he is not even in favor of banning partial birth abortions.  It's impossible to know what Trump truly believes but the "glimmer of hope" is that he will not follow through on most of the promises he made in order to win the election. No wall, no Muslim ban, no repeal of Obamacare, no repeal of Roe v. Wade.

And then there's the Trump ego.  Everything with Trump has to be the best. The best steaks.  The best University.  The best hotel.  The second "glimmer of hope" is that he truly wants to go down in history as the best President of the United States.  If that's the case, he can't preside over a 4-year train wreck and then leave saying "I was the greatest President ever!" Trump may be the master at controlling our malleable media but he can't control history.  Even he knows that.  So for Trump to truly be the greatest President he is going to have to do a complete about face, work harder than he ever has in his life and lead this country to the "greatness" he has promised.  And, to be honest, with Republican majorities in the both the Senate and the House and with a favorable Supreme Court in the near future, Trump will be in a much better position to do this than Hillary would have been had she been elected last night.

As I said, though, this is only a glimmer of hope, one that will keep me functioning for the next few days.  If Trump appoints Chris Christie as his Attorney General, Rudy Giuliani as head of the FBI, and Sara Palin for Secretary of the Interior, then all is lost. 

Why I'm Special

Everybody's special, right?  Isn't that what your Mom always told you?  Finding out what makes you special, though, isn't always easy.  I'm proud to say that I finally figured it out.  

Today is my birthday, June 22.  (Thanks for the card!)  As a kid I always equated my birthday with the first day of summer, otherwise known as the summer solstice.  Whenever I mentioned this to other people, though, I was almost always told, "No way kid, the summer solstice is on June 21st", and that would be the end of that.  I didn't care enough to dig into it further. 

A couple of days ago, though, I read that this year's summer solstice (in the northern hemisphere) was on June 20th.  That was two days ago!  How could I have been that wrong as a kid?  There's no way I was off by two full days.  It was time to go down the Internet rat-hole and investigate.  

It was a quick investigation.  My first stop was, of course, Wikipedia, which authoritatively stated that, "depending on the shift of the calendar, the summer solstice occurs some time between June 20 and June 22 in the northern hemisphere".  It also displayed the table shown on the right which provided the dates of the summer solstice between 2010 and 2020. If you click on that graphic, though, you'll notice that June 22 does not appear anywhere.  What gives?  At this point, Wikipedia does a fairly poor job of explaining, citing simply the "leap shifting in the Gregorian Calendar" as the cause.  In a nutshell this refers to the fact that the Gregorian Calendar is slightly out of sync with the Astronomical Calendar, requiring corrective measures like leap-days and leap-seconds.  There's undoubtedly a much more academic discussion of this phenomenon somewhere on the web but I'm not interested in searching for it and you sure as hell aren't interested in reading it.

But here is something that is interesting and what makes me so special.  This website contains a table showing the exact date of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere from the years 1600 to 2400.  In that 800 year span, it occurs on June 22 exactly 87 times.  And -- you guessed it -- one of those times was in 1955, the year I was born.  Yes!!  I win the game!!   I was born on the summer solstice!!!  

One other thing.  Since my birth, the summer solstice has occurred on June 22 only five times, the most recent being in 1975.  Amazingly, it won't happen again until the year 2203!  So from a slightly skewed viewpoint, I'm not 61 today.  From a Gregorian/Astronomical Congruence viewpoint, I'm only 5, and I won't be 6 for a very, very long time.  Naturally, birthday cards and presents will be graciously accepted on a Gregorian basis.  

"Alright boys, let's get two!"

Just when I was pretty much convinced that Facebook was nothing more than collection of pet pictures, baby photos and fabricated news, a guy that I barely knew posted a photo of my 1967 Little League team, Western Printing.  I'm the little kid with the huge baseball glove in the bottom row, second from the left.  This simple photo has caused me more introspection than I would have thought possible.

Why do I have absolutely no recollection of this photo?  According to the guy who posted it on Facebook, it was taken after Western Printing had just won the 1967 Poughkeepsie Little League Championship!  If so, this photo almost certainly would have found its way into the sports section of the Poughkeepsie Journal.  My mother would have clipped it out and preserved it somewhere.  As a 12-year old kid who loved watching the Yankees, this should have been a huge moment for me, but I have nothing but a blank slate.

While many of the faces in the picture look vaguely familiar most of their names have been lost to the fog of time, with one notable exception.  The big kid with glasses standing behind me was named Sam Forman.  His father, also named Sam Forman, was our manager.  He's the guy standing in the back.  Sam Jr. was one of our pitchers (I think) and our first baseman.  He wasn't much of an athlete at the time and slow as hell, but the ball would go a long way whenever he made contact.  I wonder how he turned out?  A 12-year old kid can change a lot.

Sam Sr. was a nice, easy going man who was generous with his time.  He was probably one of those guys who watched a lot of baseball but never really played it.  During practice, his big thing was to hit grounders to us while saying, "Alright, boys, let's get two!".  For anyone not familiar with that phrase, it means to scoop up the grounder and throw the ball to the guy covering second who would then relay it to first for an imaginary double play.  It didn't matter that I was a right fielder, he always wanted me to "get two".

Why do I have such a big smile on my face in that photo?  I hated playing Little League.  I was a tiny kid, probably about 4'8" and 75 pounds at the time.  There are kids smaller than me in this photo but they were probably 9 or 10 years old.  I was 12 years old, the oldest you could possibly be and still play Little League.  I was a pretty fast runner but I couldn't hit worth a damn, probably because I was deathly afraid of the ball.  Pitchers like Scotty Coleman and Skippy Allen could throw a baseball at least 80 mph.  Scotty inspired much more fear than Skippy, though, because he had much less control of where his pitches were going (think Nuke LaLoosh in "Bull Durham").  Every time I stepped into the batter's box I had visions of getting hit in the head and ending up like poor Tony Conigliaro of the 1967 Boston Red Sox. As I recall I got about 3 or 4 hits all season with about 30 strikeouts. 

So, based on all of this, why is it that I still have that old baseball glove?  As an adult, I played in softball leagues every now and then, but I never used that glove.  My kids played T-Ball and baseball, but they never used that glove.  My grandkids will probably never use that glove. My daughter is a pack rat and I'm always trying to get her to throw stuff away, but as I sit here typing this blog I know that I'll never throw away that glove.  Why am I so attached to it?

Although I hated playing Little League, I loved going up the street to Putnam Park and shagging fly balls with my brother, Tom.  It has to be one of my best childhood memories.  One of us would stand in the batter's box, toss a ball in the air and hit it as far as he could.  The other would play the outfield and try to catch the ball before it hit the ground.  After 10-15 fly balls, we'd switch places and continue hitting fly balls until it was time to go home.  I suppose I could say that I'm hanging onto the glove in memory of my brother, but that wouldn't be true.  I had already been hanging onto it for over 25 years when Tom died in 1993, so I must be hanging onto it because of the memory of shagging those fly balls.  I've forgotten a lot of my childhood (and my adult life, for that matter) but the memory of tracking down a fly ball while running full speed up that hill in left-center field is still as clear as a bell.

Putnam Park, now Bartlett Park

"Tree Falling"

After almost 40 years of research I now have definitive proof that a Supreme Being exists, that it communicates with its creations in a purely random manner, and that it has an excellent sense of humor.  All was revealed to me a few weeks ago when I finally began to convert my old home movies from VHS to digital.

It's a project that has been gnawing at me ever since I retired in 2012.  According to the experts, VHS tapes can degrade by as much as 20% within 10 years due to magnetic decay alone – and that's if they are stored properly.  Improperly stored tapes can become brittle and totally unusable within 20 years.  My VHS tapes were inexpensive Scotch T-120's, over 30 years old, and haphazardly stored in a dusty bookcase.  Lord knew what condition they were in, and since He wasn't talking to me (yet), I decided to find out on my own.

I began by purchasing a VHS capture and conversion product from Amazon called Diamond One-Touch.  It promised "easy to use capture by the touch of one button" and Windows 10 support. Neither claim was true.  Fortunately (or was it Divine Providence?) I still had an old Windows 7 computer that had been gathering dust for the last 10 months.  I cleaned it off and powered it up, making damn sure to keep it off the Internet.  After installing the conversion software and hooking up my 1990's-era Zenith VHS player to my computer (using the cable shown above) I managed to figure out how to capture a video despite the valiant effort of the instruction manual to prevent me.  Certain religions would no doubt claim that getting this far was a full-fledged Miracle, but much more definitive proof of the Divine Hand was awaiting. 

After testing everything out with a videocassette containing nothing of significance, I bit the bullet and tested the conversion process on one of my precious home movies.  Before beginning, though, I fast-forwarded the tape for a few minutes to make sure that there were no mechanical problems and that the tape moved freely within the VCR.  I then stopped the tape and captured this video.  I'll give you a few minutes to look at it.

From a production standpoint, it's a pretty horrible video.  It's grainy and shaky and there are instances where the audio is almost unintelligible.  But, by sheer luck, it captured an iconic phrase that is a Mullen Family touchstone, the origin of which I had completely forgotten.  While I knew that Dave (while under a bit of stress) had randomly called something "tree falling", I had no idea that it was his bike and that we had the event on film.  While this incredibly chance discovery caused chills to run down my back, it still didn't smack of Divine Intervention.  What happened next, though, rolled the stone away from the tomb.

Like any responsible parent in this day and age, I uploaded this video to YouTube.  As part of the upload process, YouTube selected a random frame from the video and assigned it as the video's thumbnail photo. The frame that was "randomly" selected is shown at the top of this post. Yep.  It's Dave at the exact nanosecond that he begins to say "Tree Falling"!  Since the video is 2 minutes and 39 seconds long and was captured at 30 frames per second, the odds of that particular frame being selected by chance are astronomical.*  

There is only one reasonable explanation.  The Supreme Being saw this video, rolled on the clouds laughing (ROCL), and felt compelled to give it a stamp of celestial approval.  The seemingly "random" thumbnail photo that He assigned to this video is as clear to me as that burning bush was to Moses. 

*  Well, maybe not astronomical; more like one chance out of five thousand.