Wednesday

~~~Free Ramblings
I got some good mail today. First I got my monthly check for my propane investment. It was three times its normal size. Actually the dollar amount was three times its normal size, the check was the same size it is every month. I also got a letter from a bank in Denver that my mother must have had an account at that I didn’t know about. It too was a goodly sum. Must have been a rainy day fund.

The Health Care debate is just getting crazier. The new ‘report’ was put out by the Insurance companies who want to scare the be-Jesus out of everyone. It seems that everyone in the know is aware it is a flawed report but it is still making the news. Like all reports that come out, many will believe it, just because it is in writing. On that note, BCBS has changed the way they send out their notices of payment. In the past, an office visit would show no money would be charged to me and my co-pay of $20 was listed as paid. Now the co-pay is not listed, and it shows that I could be billed $20. It’s just another way to confuse us. I am also sure that some not-so-honest physicians will try to bill their patients twice for this co-pay. The insurance companies continue to make so much profit overall and are seldom held accountable. Whenever money is involved all we can do is be vigilant to be sure we aren’t paying too much or too little.

It was a little breezy here today, but not bad. We only made it to 58° and last night was a balmy 45°. So hard to know what to wear when going out these days, long sleeves, short sleeves, sweater, light jacket…so many choices and I seem to always make the incorrect ones.

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~~~Random Facts
The first TV commercial showed a Bulova watch ticking onscreen for exactly 60 seconds

The first hard drive available for the Apple II had a capacity of only 5 megabytes.

~~~Unusual News Story
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Police in Indiana said a woman invited to spend the night at a man’s apartment apparently summoned an armed attempted robber with a text message. The South Bend (Ind.) Tribune reported that South Bend police said the 22-year-old man told them the woman he invited to spend the night at his apartment began sending frequent text messages after she saw him remove a large roll of money from his jacket pocket. The man said he soon heard a knock at the door and answered it to find a masked man holding a gun. He said the armed man hit him in the head and demanded money, but instead the man fled and called police from another part of the apartment complex. The armed man and the woman were gone when police arrived and the man said there did not appear to be anything missing from his apartment.

~~~Before They Were Famous
When Nicole Kidman was 15, she appeared in a music video for Australian singer Pat Wilson. The song was called "Bop Girl."

Val Kilmer at the age of 17 was the youngest person ever to be accepted to Julliard's prestigious drama program. He then co-authored and starred in the play "How It All Began" at the New York Shakespeare Festival before becoming a film star.

Stephen King’s first two jobs were at a mill in Lisbon Falls, bagging loose fabric, and at the New Franklin Laundry. His experiences here inspired later stories such as "Graveyard Shift" and "The Mangler".
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~~~October Month Long Observances

Birthstone: Opal Birth flower: calendula
Adopt A Shelter Animal Month ~ Apple Month ~ Celebrate the Bilingual Child Month ~ Domestic Violence Awareness Month ~ Emotional Intelligence Month ~ Gay & Lesbian History Month ~ Halloween Safety Month ~ Month of Free Thought ~ Nat’l Arts and Humanities Month ~ Nat’l Book Month ~ Nat’l Cyber Safety Awareness Month ~ Nat’l Popcorn Poppin’ Month ~ Nat’l Sarcastic Awareness Month ~ Photographer Appreciation Month ~ Squirrel Awareness Month ~ Vegetarian Month

~~~Week of 12 Oct
National School Lunch Week
World Rainforest Week

~~~14 OCT Observances
287 days so far this year…78 days remain in 2009
Be Bald and Be Free Day
Internat’l Top Spinning Day
Nat’l Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work or School Day
World Standards Day
^Bangladesh : Durga Puja
^Malagasy Republic : Independence Day (1958)
^Poland National Education Day
^ South Yemen (Dem Rep of Yemen) : Independence Day (1962)

~~~Births on this day
~ The ARTS
1894__e. e. cummings Cambridge Mass, poet
1896__Lillian Gish silent film/stage actress
1927__Roger Moore London England, actor
1939__Ralph Lauren fashion designer
1952__Harry Anderson actor: Night Court

~ATHLETICS
1873__Raymond C Ewry Indiana, polio victim who won 10 Olympic golds
1910__John Wooden basketball coach (UCLA)
1947__Charlie Joiner Pro Football Hall of Famer

~POLITICS/BUSINESS/EDUCATION
1644__William Penn English Quaker & founder of PA

1857__Elwood Haynes auto pioneer, built one of 1st US autos

1890__Dwight D Eisenhower Denison, Tx (R) 34th Pres

~SCIENCE/RELIGION
1916__C Everett Koop surgeon general

~~~In Remembrance
1318__Edward Bruce, High King of Ireland @ 38

1758__Francis Edward James Keith, Scottish soldier and Prussian field marshal @ 62

1944__Erwin Rommel German field marshall---chose cyanide over going to trial @ 53
1959__Errol Flynn Australian actor @ 50
1977__Bing Crosby American singer and actor @ 74
1986__Keenan Wynn American actor @ 74
1990__Leonard Bernstein American composer and conductor @ 72
1998__Cleveland Amory American writer & animal rights activist @ 81

2006__Freddy Fender American musician @ 69

~~~Historical Events on this day
1066__Battle of Hastings in which William the Conqueror wins England

1884__George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film

1912__Bull Moose Teddy Roosevelt shot while campaigning
1930__”I Got Rhythm”, by Ethel Merman, was a show-stopper
1947__Chuck Yeager in Bell XS-1 makes 1st supersonic flight (Mach 1.015)
1960__Peace Corps 1st suggested by JFK
1964__Martin Luther King Jr wins Nobel Peace Prize
1986__Concentration camp survivor Elie Wiesel wins Nobel Peace Prize
1994__Yasser Arafat, Israeli Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin shared the Nobel Peace Prize

~ Holy Mackerel
1973__The first Gay Rights March on Washington, D.C., draws 200,000 people.
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Jeopardy Categories
(these answers are all names of women artists/writers from the USA)
1. This 20th century painter was known for Red Poppy and was married to photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Her first name is one of the states.
2. Known for her realistic paintings of women and children, she left the USA for Paris and became one of the Impressionists of the late 19th Century.
3. This author explores her Chinese-American heritage in such novels as The Joy Luck Club.
4. This African-American novelist won the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature for such works as Beloved and Jazz.
5. Called "the first major woman sculptor of the 20th century," this American artist uses found pieces of wood as her medium, and is known for such works as America--Dawn, done in 1962.

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Answers:
1. Who is Irmgard Lucht?
2. Who Is Mary Cassatt?
3. Who is Amy Tan?
4. Who is Toni Morrison?
5. Who is Louise Nevelson?

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