≈Week 21 of 2010: 146 days this year… 219 days remain≈
≈ Something To Think About
"Time is the most precious element of human existence. The successful person knows how to put energy into time and how to draw success from time."
~Denis Waitley
≈ Random Facts on recycling
~Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.
~Since 1978, the weight of a soda bottle has been reduced by 29 percent.
~Around 45% of the paper Americans use each year is recovered for recycling.
• Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1948 ►The National Party of the Dutch Afrikaners headed by Daniel François Malan who had been campaigning on the policy of implementing full scale apartheid came to power and begin the policy of apartheid.
≈ Free Ramblings
We had a great weather day today. Very little wind for a change. I’m going to have to wash my windows pretty soon. The second story windows are the problem. I’ll get to them sometime this week.
I am starting to have a very hard time watching the oil spill. Disaster was used the second week, catastrophe was used the second week. The media has rapidly run out of adjectives to describe this mess. This is week four and the pictures and stories just get worse. BP has let America down. The Federal regulatory Agencies have let the country down. Today, there was a memorial service for those who died on the rig. Relatives talked about how they knew it was dangerous, but it paid really well. That is the same story I heard from relatives of the recent mining disaster. [Reality Check: while the families say their relatives were paid well on the oil drilling rig, it turns out the average salary for a manager of the rig is about $75K, and the workers make about $60K. While the families of the miners say their relatives were well paid, the average salary for a mine worker in West VA is about $68K.] Then I saw the newsman who put on a hazardous waste suit and dove into Gulf. His pictures, from the surface to about 20 feet, were frightening to say the least. He didn’t go any deeper because it was too dangerous—water pressure, not oil. In my little world, in the high desert of AZ, it seems to me that all deep well drilling in the oceans should be halted, until each company can prove that they can handle the worst case scenario. I find it hard to believe that BP is the only deep well driller who doesn’t have worst case scenario plans. What do I know? I live in a desert.
When I was teaching in Tuba, in the late 70’s some of my former students would stop by to say high. I remember one kid who had graduated from high school and got a job at the Kayenta mine—a surface mining operation. He had done well in school but didn’t want to go to college. He like an outside job and didn’t like paperwork. We talked about salary, and at that time he was making more than I did, almost twice as much. He was happy, I was happy. We all have different priorities. Another student visited another time; he was a high up in the air welder. He too was making almost double my salary. He was happy doing what he did. Talk about long term goals with either student was difficult. Asking if they planned to be mining or welding at 50 or 60 was impossible for them to envision. Looking back, it was hard for me to imagine what I would be doing at 50 or 60 too.
We do need to make many work environments safer. I don’t believe that anyone should have a career where the records show that they are really putting their life on the line every day because the company they work for is more interested in profit than safety. Miners and oil drillers are just two careers that could be made much safer, if the owners didn’t need an outrageous profit each year.
What a great weather day. I was able to clean up my deck after way too many days of high winds. I was able to take a nice walk this afternoon. My deck got up to 67° and it was nice. Several neighbors have moved out during this month. The unit next to mine has a new tenant. I haven’t met her yet, but her dad saw me outside and asked me few questions about the unit. She is a 20-something girl. Today she and her boyfriend were outside as I was dumping my trash. The young girl looks like a young professional who might have just graduated from college. The boyfriend is full out Goth. He’s got the tats, the black fingernails, the body jewelry, and the light skin with dyed black hair. I’m sure I’ll get to know them, but I’m sure I looked as strange to them as they looked to me. We spoke about the nice weather, but that was it.
≈ A Quick Smile…
I was sound asleep when the telephone jarred me awake.
"Hi!" It was my peppy mother-in-law. She proceeded to rattle on about the busy day she had ahead and all the things that awaited her the rest of the week.
"Mom," I interrupted. "It's five in the morning."
"Really? What are you doing up so early?"
≈ Puzzle 1
When you behead a word, you remove the first letter and still have a valid word. You will be given clues for the two words, longer word first.
Example: Begin -> Sour, acidic Answer: The words are Start and Tart.
1. Female parent -> Not one already mentioned; alternate
…Hint—the shorter word starts with O
2. Several; large indefinite number -> One; some indefinite number
…Hint—the shorter word starts with A
3. A story's lesson -> Relating to the mouth; using speech
…Hint—the shorter word starts with O
4. Face disguise -> To request
…Hint—the shorter word starts with A
5. Trough for animal food -> Wrath; strong displeasure
…Hint—the shorter word starts with A
6. Sparse, poor quality -> Showing keen interest
…Hint—the shorter word starts with E
7. Symbolic team figure -> Necktie or scarf with broad ends
…Hint—the shorter word starts with A
8. Anything that belongs to a group -> Glowing wood fragment
…Hint—the shorter word starts with E
≈ Side Show Stories
New City, N.Y. (AP) --It wasn't quite man-bites-dog, but there were men and there were dogs and there was biting. A sheriff's office said Monday that one man bit another during a fight over a couple of dogs at a park in suburban New York City. Rockland County sheriff's Capt. William Barbera said two dog owners got into it Sunday night. One didn't like the way their pets were playing at a dog park in New City, about 30 miles north of New York.
Barbera said that a third man tried to break up the fight and that one of the combatants bit him on the wrist. He said that no one has been arrested but that the case is still being investigated.
≈ Puzzle 2: Brain Food
No sooner spoken than broken. What is it?
≈ Calendar Information
• Observance Weeks in May•
22-29
Cover the Uninsured Week
National Safe Boating Week
25-31
Week of Solidarity with the People of Non-Self-Governing Territories
26-30
International Whistler's Week
• Today’s Observances—US/UN/World •
National Senior Health & Fitness Day
• Today’s Observances—by country •
Guyana: Independence Day
Denmark: Crown Prince's Birthday (since 1966)
Georgia: Independence Day, commemorate the day of the First Republic in 1918.
Poland: Mother's Day
• Today’s Number One Songs in…
For anyone interested, all these songs are available on iTunes.
"Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies." ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
1943 ►That Old Black Magic; Glenn Miller
1953 ►The Song from Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your Heart); Percy Faith
1963 ►It's My Party; Lesley Gore
1973 ►Frankenstein; The Edgar Winter Group
1983 ►Flashdance ... What a Feeling; Irene Cara
• Today’s Happenings•
In The Arts
1897 ►The vampire novel Dracula, by Irish writer Bram Stoker, goes on sale in London bookshops
1913 ►Actors’ Equity Association was organized in New York City.
1969 ►John & Yoko begin their 2nd bed-in (Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montréal)
In Athletics
1977 ►George Willig climbs the South Tower of New York City's World Trade Center.
In Business or Education
1957 ►The religious program "The Fourth R" aired for the last time over NBC television. Produced by several different religious organizations, this short-lived series aired on Sunday mornings.
In Politics
1540 ►The "Lady of Cofitachequi" has been taken with the de Soto expedition, against her will. With a large quantity of the pearls that de Soto's men took from her village, she escapes.
1830 ►The Indian Removal Act is passed by the U.S. Congress; it is signed into law by President Andrew Jackson two days later.
1868 ►President Andrew Johnson avoids impeachment by 1 vote
1868 ►President Andrew Johnson avoids impeachment by 1 vote
1922 ►Lenin suffers a stroke
1938 ►House Committee on Un-American Activities begins work
1943 ►1st president of a black country to visit US (Edwin Barclay, Liberia)
In Science/ Religion
1805 ►Lewis & Clark 1st see Rocky Mountains
1975 ►Secretary of State Henry Kissinger today outlined a trillion dollar program to save oil consuming nations from being held hostage by the world’s oil producing nations including the increased use of Nuclear Power and funding to find alternative forms of energy. This is in response to the oil producing nations saying a sixth increase in oil prices can be expected later this year
• Today’s Births •
Artists, Writers, and Composers
Miles Davis, jazz trumpeter/pioneered cool jazz , born in 1926 Alton IL
Lenny Kravitz, 46, singer, musician, songwriter, born New York, NY
Athletes
Zola Budd, 44, track star, born in Bloemfontein South Africa
Brent Musburger, 71, sportscaster, born Portland, OR
Entertainers
James Arness, 87, actor (“Gunsmoke,” “How the West Was Won”), born James Aurness at Minneapolis, MN
Al Jolson [Asa Yoelson] jazz singer/silent film actor, born in 1886 Seredžius,Lithuania
Peggy Lee (Norma Delores Egstrom) singer: Fever, born in 1920 Jamestown, North Dakota
Stevie[Stephanie Lynn] Nicks, 62, singer (Fleetwood Mac), songwriter, born Phoenix, AZ
Jay Silverheels (Harold J. Smith) actor (Tonto-Lone Ranger) , born in 1912 Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, near Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Philip Michael Thomas, 61, actor (“Miami Vice,” Hair), born Los Angeles, CA
John "Duke" Wayne [Marion Michael Morrison], actor, born in 1907 Winterset IA
Hank Williams, Jr, 61, singer, born Shreveport, LA
Business, Education Persons
--
Political Persons
Mary queen of Great Britain/North Ireland [Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes], born in 1867 Kensington Palace, London
Scientists /Religious Persons
Sally K. Ride, 59, astronaut, first American woman in space, born Los Angeles, CA
• Today’s Obits •
Édouard Michelin, managing partner and co-chief executive of the Michelin Group, drowning @ 43 in 2006
≈ ANSWERS to Puzzle 1
1. Mother -> Other
2. Many -> Any
3. Moral -> Oral
4. Mask -> Ask
5. Manger -> Anger
6. Meager -> Eager
7. Mascot -> Ascot
8. Member -> Ember
≈ ANSWERS to Brain Food
Silence or a secret
≈ Something you might enjoy…
In 2005, YouTube changed the internet forever. It is now available in 22 languages. Check out this one…
There are Mac people and there are PC people. Here is a parody of Microsoft. Enjoy.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
