Why was Efimova on drug suspension?

I missed that cute Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova (who I wrote about in this post), served a drug suspension.  I wondered why, as I hadn't heard about it.  Turns out she truly did take a supplement she shouldn't have, that had a banned substance in it.  I know it's tough being a world-class athlete, but as the ruling said, when you're a world-class athlete, you have to be real careful.  She lost some medals and world records, too.

Well, she's back, and she won the World Championships women's 100 meter breaststroke in an upset, catching the favorite Meilutyte in the second half of the race. Definitely made the Russian crowd happy.  And she's still real cute.  (Just about everything is Getty Images, so if you want to see her in and out of the water, click this link for a lot of pictures.)

One of my favorite swimmers, Alia Atkinson of Jamaica, was third, first swimming World Championship medal for a Jamaican ever.

Now THAT's pregnant

Model (Victoria's Secret) Anne V. (the V is for Vyalitsyna), former paramour of Maroon 5's Adam Levine, had a baby five weeks ago fathered by her current paramour Adam Cahan, and looks great post-partum, according to this Daily Mail article.

But what got me was her baby bump.  Rarely do you see the momma-to-be on the day she becomes momma, but Anne V. wasn't shy about showing us.  (I'll just link to the pic;  don't want to shock anyone).

Laughing through the tears about Republican climate stances

Sad but terrifyingly true -- and funny while being tragic.




This does NOT mean I'm entirely comfortable with Hillary Clinton's Presidential campaign. But it's a pretty great parody of the level of idiocy demonstrated by many of the Republican candidate clowns.

and they are climate a**holes

While President Obama is revealing a plan to address climate change -- and yes, we can be one of the international leaders on addressing this critical issue -- the Republicans, as is their usual way, are being, well,

A**HOLES.  Stupid moronic A**HOLES, as it were.

As reported by Greg Sargent:

Get ready for another ideological death struggle, this time over climate

This is why:

"Indeed, Congressional Republicans are encouraging GOP governors to resist the new rule with the explicit purpose of undermining the chances of getting an international climate deal by sowing doubts as to whether the U.S. can meet its own pledges."

Sickening, nauseating, and distressing.

Sighted

This is Alena Shishkova, and she's quite a sight.

There's more to this sight to be revealed shortly.

Something's missing

On the first day of the FINA World Swimming Champions in Kazan (hence their moniker, Kazan 2015 -- Kazan happens to be in Russia, in Tartarstan, to be exact), the audience was looking for something in the men's 4x100 freestyle relay.  Here are the team's in the final, from Lanes 1-8:

Poland
Japan
Italy
Russia
Brazil
France
Canada
China

What's missing?  Well, the USA, obviously.  (But Germany is missing, too.)  It looks like the days of swimming a couple of alternates in the prelims are over.

Happily, Jeanette Ottesen, who got hurt in a road rage incident (I wrote about that here, in this article) is still swimming fast, but not fast enough to catch Sara Sjostrom, it looks like.  Sjostrom set a WR in the semifinals, with Ottesen about 1.5 seconds back.  So Ottesen looks in decent shape for a medal in this event, just not of the golden color.

Hopefully the USA can get gold out of swimmers that are not named Ledecky (she won the 400 rather handily).

Lighthouse of the Week, August 2-8, 2015: Faro di Piave, Italy

On the coast of the Adriatic Sea, near Venice, is the Lido Beach.  North of the famous Lido is the Lido di Jesolo,  There are lighthouses on the Lido di Jesolo.  One of them is the Faro di Piave.

Click on this to see where it is.

It's a black-and-white stripe tower, quite tall, and quite prominent.

UNC says:

"1950 (station established 1853). Active; focal plane 45 m (148 ft); four white flashes every 20 s. 48 m (157 ft) round cylindrical stone tower with lantern and gallery, attached to a 3-story harbor control building. Lighthouse painted with gray and white horizontal bands.

The building at the base of the lighthouse is the harbor master's office for Venice. The original lighthouse was destroyed by German troops during World War II. Located on the west side of the Sile River entrance, about 11 km (7 mi) east of the Porto di Lido."

Here are four good pictures of it:

by Giacomo Lazzarini