Susanna Giovanardi goes by the moniker "Tennis Girl" on Instagram.
To support that, she has pictures like the following, as well as videos demonstrating that she's got a pretty good game (including a solid two-handed backhand):
She also has pictures like this, indicating that she's outstanding from both sides.
Just a warning, I may have more posts like this.
Vaccination During Pregnancy Protects Newborns From Whooping Cough"A research team under the auspices of Prof. Beate Kampmann, Director of the Institute of International Health at Charité and Scientific Director of the Charité Center for Global Health, has now been able to prove for the first time that the antibodies transmitted by the mother are not only present in the blood but also in the nasal mucosa of newborns – which is precisely where the pathogens enter the body. "We knew that maternal antibodies are passed on by way of the placenta. We were surprised, however, to find that we could also detect them in the nasal mucosa of newborns – in a manner that is gentle on the children. This underlines the effectiveness of indirect vaccination"
"Even today, whooping cough remains a deadly disease in many parts of the world. Every year, between 200,000 and 300,000 people die from it, mainly young children in low- and middle-income countries where good vaccines are not always available. Consequently, the research team is planning further studies to help improve existing pertussis vaccines and test the efficacy of new vaccines."
REFERENCE:
This post is about swimmer extraordinaire Kate Douglass.
Just a few weeks ago, she set a world record in the 50 meter (long course, of course) freestyle. Several days after that, her former teammate at Virginia and current teammate on the USA team, Gretchen Walsh, broke that record.
So, at the Pan Pacific Championships that just concluded in Irvine, California, Douglass rebroke/reset the 50 meter freestyle world record by a few hundredths of a second. That happened in the preliminary heats in the morning.
So, in the evening, in the lane right next to Walsh, and with a few other darned good sprinters in pursuit, she did it again. But she didn't just lower it a bit -- she eradicated it by nearly three-tenths of a second. In a swimming sprint, that's enormous.
Furthermore, in about 20 minutes, she was second in the 200 meter breaststroke, which is a crazy mix. Maybe she was a little tired.
But not so tired that she couldn't anchor the winning 4x100 meter medley relay -- over the Aussies. (OK, they were missing a couple of stars. But still, it was the Aussies.)
But wait -- the night before, leading off the 4x100 meter freestyle relays, which also beat the Aussies, she missed breaking the world record for the 100 meter freestyle by one-hundredth of a second.
Seriously, that is a massive set of accomplishments over a couple of days.
Finally, I think she's also taking her image a bit more seriously, too. I tried to find some advertisements I'd seen recently, but couldn't immediately locate them.
Instead, if one wonders how she's doing this, one clue is her arms. She's slender, but ...
Combine those with unnatural flexibility, and she can slice through the water with power.
By the way, was she even mentioned on ESPN Sports Center?
If she was, I missed it.
I fear that I can never catch up with the pace of events happening in the world. Politically, environmentally, athletically -- everything seems to be going on at an accelerated pace. And my own life is similar; such that I have not been able to blog at the pace that I have been accustomed to.
As I've noted before, I want to change that and get back on a regular pace. Once a day would be fine -- if I can get that going. Three times a month is not worth it. So I am going to try and change my trajectory.
I'm also going to have a lot of Lighthouses of the Week. I have an extended backlog there, too. But I intend to catch up, even if I have to have five Lighthouses of the Week in one week a couple of times.
So, meanwhile, let's finish with a picture. This is Pointe de Dinan in France, which can at times have surfable waves. This was not one of those times.
Why is this place interesting? Well, for one thing, it also has this incredible sea arch.
You can see more pictures of it (and the Pointe) on this page.
