Tag: 230420

B’s get all A’s in 2022-23

The Big Story – Bruins Do It: Congrats to the Bruins for their epic achievement of finishing with the most wins and points in NHL regular season history. The bad news is that’s ancient history for the moment, as the best record ever guarantees nothing in the playoffs. The 2015-2016 Golden State Warriors can tell you that, as they got beat in the Finals by LeBron James and Cleveland after their record-setting 73-win season. Ditto for the John Havlicek-Dave Cowens Celtics, who won a franchise-best 68 games (against 14 loses) in 1972-73, but got beat (much to my delight) in Game 7 by the archrival Knicks in the Eastern Conference Final.

So it’s a whole new season that got started this week vs. the Florida Panthers.

But it doesn’t mean the playoffs don’t begin with great promise and high expectations. They just have to back it by keeping the train rolling into June.

Sports 101: Fourteen is the record for most home runs in April. Name the two players who share that record.

News Item – Casas Not Living Up to Hype: Those over-the-top notions that Triston Casas is the next Lou Gehrig (OK, slight exaggeration), pushed by Red Sox brass to get people to buy tickets, aren’t looking so good. After 13 games he was hitting .123 with 2 homers and 7 RBI. That after a .196 September in 27 games last year. The power numbers, though, actually aren’t that bad, as 7 homers and 19 RBI in 40 games projects to 28 and 76.

News Item–NBA Hits Mavs with Big Fine for Tanking:Some will think the $750,000 fine the Dallas Mavericks got for sitting all their key players to ensure they lost to miss the playoffs was stiff. But we’re guessing owner Mark Cuban isn’t one of them. Because if they won them, they’d have lost the protected top 10 first-round pick they owed the Knicks for their long ago Kristaps Porzingis trade. Instead they’ll now draft a player for next year’s team. So instead of likely losing their one play-in game and having no pick (made more important since Porzingis lasted just two years in Dallas) Cuban likely sees the dough as investment in 2023-24 and not a punishment.

New Item – Xander Bogaerts Update: The ex-Red Sox shortstop was hitting .333 with 3 doubles, 4 homers, 12 RBI and 10 runs scored in his first 12 games with San Diego.

By contrast, replacement Trevor Story likely won’t play until June due to a severe elbow injury the brass knew he had when they let Bogie walk, while Story’s fill-in, Kiké Hernandez, was hitting .083 with 2 homers and 4 RBI in his first 11 games.

Thumbs Up – Minnesota Timberwolves: For doing the right thing by suspending ornery Rudy Gobert for throwing a punch at teammate Kyle Anderson during a game even though it caused him to miss their winner-take-all play-in game vs. the Lakers on Tuesday — which they lost. It said something about the team culture they want.

Thumbs Down – Major League Baseball: Thanks to the new speeding-up-baseball rules, with games quicker, beer sales are down. So their cutoffs have been extended to the eighth inning, which will likely send lubed up fans into traffic sooner than when the seven-inning rule, uh, ruled.

Quote of the Week – Snoop Dogg: After being asked who in today’s NBA reminds him most of Kobe Bryant, Snoop eventually said Steph Curry because “he’s never considered the best, but he’s always the best when it’s time to be the best.”

Random Thoughts:

Earth to Joe Mazzulla: Grant Williams should be in the rotation over Sam Hauser. He’s a better, more versatile defender and rebounder and according to the stats not all that much different a 3-point shooter (41.2 – 39.5).

Celtics should hope Jaylen Brown makes one of the three All-NBA teams. Not for the individual honor, but if he does, it makes him eligible for a $290 million contract extension to increase the likelihood he re-signs with the C’s after next year, because that’s $70 million more than he can get elsewhere.

The Numbers:

7 –Major League homers hit by Rafael Devers 14 games into 2023, which projects to 81 if he remains on the same pace.

11.75 –earned run average for one-time Sox ace Chris Sale after his first three 2023 starts. If Don Meredith were still around you wonder if he’d be singing his favorite tune, “The Party’s Over,” on the career for Sale.

13 – tied for most ever consecutive wins to start a season for the Rays after sweeping four from the Red Sox last week to become the first team since the 1987 Brewers (13-0) to start a season with a double-digit win streak. A string where they led the majors with 31 homers and outscored their opponents by an incredible 101-30 margin. It ended on Friday in Toronto.

30.1 – points per game averaged by Jayson Tatum in the just completed NBA season to make him the first Celtics player ever to average 30 or more points a game.

Sports 101 Answer: The April record of 14 homers is shared by Albert Pujols (2006) and Alex Rodriguez (2007).

Glossary: Don Meredith:QB in the 1960s as the expansion Cowboys were on their way to becoming America’s team who next teamed with Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell in the ABC booth when Monday Night Football was a national sensation. Dandy Don would sing “the party’s over” when the game was out of reach.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The historical record

New state archivist wants to make the past accessible

Meet Ashley Miller, who was recently appointed as New Hampshire’s new state archivist.

How did you become the state archivist?

I did my undergrad at Penn State, where I got my degree in history. After graduating, I knew I wanted to continue [in history], but not be a history teacher. I had worked in the preservation, conservation and digitization department at Penn State in their archives, and I absolutely loved it. I moved to New Hampshire and started working at Concord Public Library as an archivist, reference and outreach coordinator and commuting down to Boston for grad school, where I pursued a master’s in archival management and a master’s in history at Simmons University. Then, this past October, I learned that the state archivist — my predecessor — was retiring. That day, I sent a very bold email to the Secretary of State, David Scanlan, saying, ‘Hey, here’s my resume, and here’s why I think I would be a good fit.’ Two months later I had an interview, and the rest is history.

What does it entail?

Right now I’m doing a lot of planning for what I want to do over the next 18 months, but once I’m into the grind of the job, the essential functions are handling research requests, managing records for state agencies, providing transportation and storage for records, [conducting] polls and refiles for agencies and the general public and preserving the documentation of New Hampshire history. I’m also responsible for the management of the building we’re in.

What kinds of materials do you work with?

We have so much. We have records of state agencies, like the Department of Health and Human Services, which aren’t accessible to the public, but when [a department] needs their records, we’re the ones who pull them and transfer and store them. We also have original town charters, probate records, legislative histories, original bills, records of governor.

Where do they come from?

State agencies, past legislators and sometimes just donors — people who discover things in their attics or they have things that were passed down to them.

What is the oldest item in our state archives?

The oldest record we have is the original New Hampshire charter from 1631.

Any other interesting or surprising finds?

We have a copy of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the ratification documents that were rediscovered here in the Statehouse in 1978. They’re displayed in our front lobby. How cool is it that we have those? As for other surprising finds, I can’t say I’ve come across anything too out of the ordinary. But I’ve only been on the job for about a month and a half, and we have 98,000 boxes in our archives, so there could very well be something shocking that I haven’t discovered yet.

What would you like to accomplish as state archivist?

One of my big goals is to make our records more accessible to the public, which is going to be a matter of scanning — we will really have to double down on our scanning efforts — and getting the software to be able to host browsable [archival materials] on our website, as well as [writing] descriptions and all that. I also want to do more outreach, whether that’s visiting local schools and their history departments or even just posting on social media. I want people to know that we’re here and that we have these resources available. We are the custodians and the caretakers of these records, but they belong to the people. They are meant to be seen and used by the people. … The accessibility of these records will make things much easier for genealogists, school groups, history departments, historians, researchers and students, and hopefully get more people interested in our history.

What do you enjoy about working in archives?

I’ve always loved history, since I was a little girl. It’s part of the reason I wanted to move to New England. Getting to work with primary source records and literally hold history in my hands is a fascinating experience for me. How can you not get excited about history when it’s right in front of your face?

What significance do archives have for the people of today?

There’s a great quote I learned in library school: ‘Archives are arsenals of accountability.’ They’re a record of who we are, what we’ve done and where we’ve been, and that is hugely important.

Featured photo: Ashley Miller. Courtesy photo.

News & Notes 23/04/20

Art school leaves Manch

New England College will be relocating its Institute of Art and Design program from Manchester to its main campus in Henniker starting in the fall of 2023. According to a community update from NEC President Wayne Lesperance posted on the college’s website, the consolidation is part of the school’s efforts to create a more integrated campus community and to offer students greater access to the resources available on its main campus. “Covid-19 depressed participation in the arts and arts education nationally,” Lesperance said in the update. “Unfortunately, NEC was not immune to this downward trend. With this move to unify our academic offerings in Henniker, NEC re-doubles its commitment to its art and design students and faculty, and the arts generally, by dedicating facilities and creating new opportunities in a welcoming setting.” NEC’s Institute of Art and Design is the successor to the New Hampshire Institute of Art (NHIA), which merged with the college several years ago. A new “Art Village” on the Henniker campus will provide dedicated spaces for art and design students to work and collaborate, as well as a new theater in NEC’s Putnam Center for the Performing Arts for students studying performing arts. NEC will continue to hold events at its galleries and assembly space at French Hall in Manchester, according to the update.

Bio-pest control

The University of New Hampshire’s team of New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station scientists has published research in Environmental Entomology on the role of annual insectary plants as habitats for syrphid flies. According to a press release, the team studied flowering plants grown to attract, feed and shelter syrphids, also known as hover or flower flies, which are known to act as biological pest controls, consuming large numbers of common pests, like aphids. The research revealed that sweet alyssum, a low-growing cool-season annual in the Brassicaceae plant family, as well as buckwheat, dill and cilantro attracted and maintained significant numbers of syrphid flies. “We’ll use this information as a springboard to study the behavior and life histories of the key players in our vegetable agroecosystems, which will lead to better landscape management techniques and more sustainable pest management down the line,” Anna Wallingford, NHAES scientist, research assistant professor in UNH’s agriculture, nutrition and food systems department and co-author of the published article, said in the release. The team is considering further study to investigate if and how native perennial plants could be used to attract syrphids.

Autism Acceptance month

Applied ABC, an ABA autism therapy company in Manchester, invites the public to its Autism Acceptance month celebration at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats Minor League Baseball team, on Saturday, April 22, from 1 to 3 p.m. The free event will feature booths set up across the stadium and field as well as ABA games and activities that promote social, cognitive and motor skills in children with autism, according to an email from the organizer. Visit appliedabc.com or call 403-3741 to learn more.

New Chair

Greater Nashua Mental Health has named James Jordan its new Chairman of the Board of Directors. According to a press release, Jordan has been a New Hampshire resident for more than 25 years and has decades of business experience, including having worked for Verizon Communications for 31 years before starting his own telecommunications consulting business. He currently runs Adaptive Techniques & Concepts, a consulting firm for large to mid-size companies across the country.

Drug take-back

The DEA’s bi-annual National Drug Take Back Day is happening on Saturday, April 22. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., New Hampshire town and city police departments will be hosting collection sites across the state for people to drop off their unused, unwanted or expired prescription medications, which can pose public safety risks such as accidental poisoning, overdoses and abuse when not properly discarded. The DEA will accept pills, patches and vaping devices and cartridges, but not liquids, needles, sharps or devices with lithium batteries. For a collection site locator to find a drop-off point near you, visit dea.gov/takebackday.

Looking for lead

The Nashua Regional Planning Commission and the Loon Preservation Committee are calling for anglers in the Nashua Region to check their tackle boxes for illegal lead tackle and dispose of it responsibly at the Household Hazardous Waste Event on Saturday, April 22, from 8 a.m. to noon, at 25 Crown St., in Nashua. The use of small lead tackle has been banned in New Hampshire due to its negative impact on the threatened loon population; according to a press release, lead tackle ingestion is the primary cause of documented adult loon deaths and accounted for 38.5 percent of documented adult loon deaths in the state between 1989 and 2022. There are a number of tests that can be done to identify tackle that is made of lead: according to Harry Vogel, LPC’s Senior Biologist and Executive Director, “When rubbed on paper, lead will leave a gray mark. Lead is soft, so lead tackle can be easily dented with a fingernail or with pliers.” If in doubt, consider the age of the tackle, Vogel added; tackle bought in 2010 or before is likely to be made of lead. The Household Hazardous Waste Event is open to residents of Amherst, Brookline, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, Merrimack, Milford, Mont Vernon, Nashua, Pelham, and Windham, with a fee of $15 per vehicle. Find a list of accepted items at nashuarpc.org/hhw. Additionally, LPC and the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game are offering a Lead Tackle Buyback Program in which anglers who turn in one ounce or more of illegal lead tackle at participating local tackle shops can receive a $10 voucher for that shop. For a list of participating shops, visit loonsafe.org.

Road work is underway on Interstate 393 between Concord and Chichester, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation announced, which includes ramps for exits 1, 2 and 3 and will require intermittent lane closures this summer. The work is part of a $500,000 sign replacement expected to be complete by mid-October. Real-time traffic news can be found at newengland511.org, and travelers can sign up for “My511” alerts to stay informed about incidents and construction work.

Manchester Community College (1066 Front St.) is holding an open House on Thursday, April 27, from 4 to 6 p.m. Prospective students are invited to visit the campus, meet with faculty and staff, and learn about financial aid and transfer opportunities with the New Hampshire Dual Admission Program. Attendees are encouraged to bring their transcripts to have previous credits evaluated for transfer. Visit mccnh.edu/admissions/openhouse or call 206-8000.

United Way of Greater Nashua is inviting people to dispose of their unwanted electronics at its e-recycling event, United w(E)-Recycle, Friday, April 21, through Sunday, April 23, at its location at 20 Broad St. in Nashua, with drop-off times Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. According to a press release, proceeds support the Greater Nashua School Supply Pantry. Email info@unitedwaynashua.org or visit unitedwaynashua.org for a list of accepted items and suggested donation amounts for their disposal.

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