Whipped Cream Difficulties

Tom Noonan, who I think was an underappreciated actor.

Other credits include the short film “They’re Made Out of Meat” (wait, what?), “12 Monkeys” (the series), “Roadside Picnic” (the series, wait, what?), “Heaven’s Gate”, and “F/X”.

David Hays, theater designer. He also co-founded the National Theater of the Deaf. I wanted to call this one out because there’s a pretty good “Mannix” episode (“The Silent Cry“, season 2, episode 1) that features actors from the NTD, and (as I recall) was filmed with their cooperation and support.

I’ve been holding this one for a few days, looking for a place for it: Bob Croft, pioneering free diver.

When he made his first record-setting dive, in 1967, Mr. Croft was a U.S. Navy petty officer first class working as a research subject on submarine escape procedures at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn. In a test dive at the 40-foot mark in a 118-foot-deep water tank there, he held his breath for 6 minutes 10 seconds — an astonishingly long time — by inflating his lungs 50 percent longer than normal human beings could.

…

He then embarked on a private expedition, financed largely by himself, to break the free-dive record of 197 feet set in 1966 by Jacques Mayol, one of his main rivals in the sport. On Feb. 8, 1967, about two miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Mr. Croft made his first attempt to top that mark, but fatigue and the water’s cold temperatures forced him to turn back at 185 feet.

…

Once he passed 200 feet, he continued to 212.7 feet — the deepest point of his descent — where he activated the sled’s hand brake and fastened an alligator clip to the rope. He then climbed the rope, hand-over-hand, to the surface.
In all, he had spent 2 minutes 6 seconds underwater.

…

Mr. Croft, a brawny 5-foot-8, raised his record to 217.5 feet in late 1967 and then to a remarkable 240 feet in August 1968, breaking a record of 231 feet that had been set by Mr. Mayol that January.
Mr. Croft retired from free diving after the 240-foot dive, still believing he could have gone deeper. He left his goal of 250 feet to others. It has long since been exceeded: In 2023, Alexey Molchanov of Russia set the current record of nearly 512 feet.

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