This is Week 31 of 2010►Day 218 with 147 days left.
It is Day 109 of the BP Mess.
FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
We had our weekly lunch today. We invited Dawn, who just returned from Mexico with her husband and two cute girls. She said she couldn’t leave her house—as she is 8++ months with child, so we met there. We had BBQ and it was nice. Dawn will be here the entire school year, because her two girls are in school and down in their town in Mexico, if you arrive late for the start of school, you wait till the next year to attend. It’s a small town. Dawn, one of my first T-ball players, back in the day, has such a good outlook on life. She is quite funny and sees the world through very old eyes. It was a great lunch.
I ran some errands before lunch, got a haircut, had a good lunch experience—what more could I ask for?
Our president is trying to right a wrong from 1972. Good for him. The widow is now 91 and has been working for years to get her husband’s good name and have his rank returned to him. He died 31 years ago. Today, Nixon tapes released show that the good general did exactly what any 4 star General would do—he followed the orders of the commander in chief. When his mission made headlines and a congressional hearing, Nixon did not support his general. When the general was stripped of two of his four stars for the mission, and forced to retire Nixon said it was the right thing to do. In private, on some of his less famous White House tapes, he admits the general did as he was told. Turns out that Henry Kissinger was in the oval office, hearing all this. He also did nothing to protect the general. Politics and re-election ethics really suck sometimes.
I don’t live in New York City. I don’t want to live in New York City. While my brother thinks that Manhattan is the only place to live, I disagree. The building of a mosque a few blocks from ground zero is dividing NYC much like SB1070 has divided Arizona. So many events in this country today seem to be dividing the country. All the press shows that those behind the building of the mosque are moderate Muslims. They have no ties to any radical groups. How is this mosque disrespectful to those who died? It is time for us to realize that Muslim and terrorist are not synonyms. There are lots of crazy and dangerous people in this world. Some are Muslim, some are Christian, some are Jewish, some are atheist, some are agnostic. The crazy guy who killed his coworkers in PA was Black. That doesn’t mean that all Blacks are killers. The crazy guy who blew up the OK building a few years back was white and that doesn’t mean that all whites blow up buildings. Many people have been asking since 9-11 why the moderate Muslims don’t stand up and say the crazies in their religion do not represent them. Now we know why. The group wanting to build the mosque has said that they want an education center for all to learn about the Muslim faith. They have now been labeled as radicals and how dare they do this. Once a minority has been labeled ‘dangerous’ just about anything any member of the minority does will become lose-lose. I have never been able to find a label that fits all the people in that label. Many of my Native friends have been labeled Mexican. I have some Indian (from India) friends who have been labeled Muslim. Let the mosque be built, let us learn to live together. Let us learn from each other.
Flagstaff was 81° with little breeze. It was nice most of the day.
QUOTE FOR THE DAY
Henry Ward Beecher: The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
HOLY MACKEREL: 1930 Joseph Crater, 41 years old and a New York Supreme Court Justice, mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again.
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION about insects
>There are about 91,000 different kinds (species) of insects in the United States. In the world, some 1.5 million different kinds (species) have been named.
>To survive the cold winter months, many insects replace their body water with a chemical called glycerol, which acts as an "antifreeze" against the temperatures.
> When the droppings of millions of cattle started ruining the land in Australia, dung beetles were imported to reduce the problem.
>Wasps feeding on fermenting juice have been known to get "drunk' and pass out.
>Houseflies find sugar with their feet, which are 10 million times more sensitive than human tongues.
>Male mosquitoes do not bite humans, but rather live on plant juices and other natural liquids from plants and decomposing organic material.
GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1
What number comes next in this sequence: 1 3 6 11 18 ==?==
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
LITTLE ROCK, AR. — Elvis Presley is running for Arkansas governor. No, not that Elvis.
Elvis D. Presley, of Star City, filed papers with the secretary of state's office Wednesday to run as a write-in candidate for governor.
Presley indicated in the paperwork that he wants to "supply the people with a broader array of employment and newer chain of state government."
He declined to tell The Associated Press how he got his name but says he is an Elvis impersonator in his spare time.
"People will find out I'm for real," Presley told the Arkansas News Bureau. "I hope to debate the governor on TV."
Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe is seeking re-election in November. He faces Republican Jim Keet and Green Party nominee Jim Lendall in November. Two other candidates have filed to run as write-ins for governor.
Presley must still file with each of the state's 75 counties.
A LITTLE LAUGH
When we finished a personality assessment at work, I asked my friend Dan if he would share the results with his wife.
"That would require me to go home and say, 'Hi, honey. I just paid someone $400 to tell me what's wrong with me,'" he said. "And based on that, considering we've been married 23 years, she'd hand me a bill for about $798,000."
GREY MATTER PUZZLE 2
What do you call a billionaire that never showers?
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
Carl Lewis at the LA Olympics: Click Here!
GREY MATTER PICTURE
This is a close up of what object?
SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION
♦ Weekly Observances ♦
1-7: World Breastfeeding Week…Simplify Your Life Week…National Clown Week…National Fraud Awareness Week…Single Working Women's Week
2-6: Exhibitor Appreciation Week…Intimate Apparel Market Week…Psychic Week
4-7: Rock for Life Week
6-9: Hobo Week
♦ Today’s Observances ♦
Hiroshima Day—on this side of the IDL
National Fresh Breath (Halitosis) Day
Braham Pie Day: city of Braham MN share pies and celebrate
Australia: Bank Holiday
Bolivia: Independence Day (1825 from Peru)
Hiroshima, Japan: Peace Festival at Peace Memorial Park (1945)
Iceland: Bank Holiday
Jamaica: Independence Day (1962 from Britain)
Malawi: Ireland: August Holiday
UAE: Accession of H.H. Sheik Zayed Ben Sultan Al-Nahayan
♦ Hit Songs on this date ♦
Give My Regards to Broadway Billy Murray 1905
Home, Sweet Home Alice Nielsen 1915
Sweet Georgia Brown Ben Bernie 1925
Paris in the Spring Ray Noble 1935
On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Johnny Mercer 1945
Rock Around the Clock Bill Haley & His Comets 1955
I'm Henry VIII, I Am Herman's Hermits 1965
Jive Talkin' The Bee Gees 1975
Shout Tears for Fears 1985
♦ Today’s Births ♦
• The Arts
Alfred Lord Tennyson, poet laureate of England…born in 1809 Somersby, Lincolnshire, England
Andy Warhol, pop artist (or 08081930) …born in 1927 Pittsburgh, PA
~~~
Lucille Ball, comedienne/actress (I Love Lucy, Mame) …born in 1911 Jamestown NY
Peter Bonerz, 72, actor (The Bob Newhart Show, 9 to 5), director...born Portsmouth, NH
Soleil Moon Frye, 34, actress (Punky Brewster)...born Glendora, CA
Hoot (Edmund Richard) Gibson, actor: Death Valley Rangers, Frontier Justice, The Marshal’s Daughter, The Prairie King, Sonora Stagecoach, Wild Horse,Roaring Ranch, Fighting Parson…born in 1892 Tekamah, NB
Robert Mitchum, actor (Winds of War, North & South) …born in 1917 Bridgeport Ct
• Athletics
David Robinson, 45, basketball player (Spurs)...born Key West, FL
• Business & Education
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• Politics
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• Science/Religion
Sir Alexander Fleming, discovered penicillin (Nobel 1954) …born in 1881 Lochfield, Scotland
♦ Today’s Obituaries ♦
Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini), heart attack @ 80 in 1978
Harry Reasoner, newscaster (60 Minutes), blood clot @ 68 [An editorial cartoon the day after his death showed Reasoner arriving at the Pearly Gates, with a startled St. Peter crying, "Oh, no! It's 60 Minutes!"], in 1991
Ellen Wilson, Pres Wilson's wife, Bright’s Disease @ 54 while 1st Lady in 1914
♦ Today’s Events ♦
• The Arts
1926 You would have paid $10 a seat to see the first talking picture, Don Juan, starring John Barrymore. ($126 today)
• Athletics
1890 Cy Young pitches & wins 1st game
1926 NY's Gertrude Ederle becomes 1st woman to swim the English Channel
1948 Bob Mathias, US, wins decathlon and Fanny Blankers-Koen (Neth) is 1st women to win 3 golds at London Olympics
1984 Carl Lewis wins 2nd (long jump) of 4 gold medals in LA Summer Olympics
• Business & Education
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• Indigenous People
1676 Weetamoo is the Sachem of the Wampanoag town of Pocasset, Rhode Island. The sister-in-law of King Philip, she leads as many as 300 warriors in battle. While trying to escape from European soldiers from Taunton, Massachusetts, she drowns in the Taunton River. Her head is cut off, and displayed on a pole in the town.
1840 Hundreds of Comanche, led by Buffalo Hump, surround, and attack Victoria, Texas. In the next two days, fifteen settlers are killed in the fighting. The Comanches take several hundred head of livestock.
• Politics (US)
1815 US flotilla ends piracy by Algiers, Tunis & Tripoli
1890 1st use of electric chair in US, John Hart, in NY for murder
1930 Joseph Crater, 41 years old and a New York Supreme Court Justice, mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again.
1934 US troops leave Haiti, which had been occupied since 1915
1965 Federal Voting Rights Act guarantees black voting rights
• Politics (International)
1806 Holy Roman Empire ends
1990 UN Security Council votes 13-0 (2 abstentions Cuba & Yemen) to place economic sanctions against Iraq
• Science / Religion
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GREY MATTER ANSWERS
↔ 1
29: each term increases by the next prime number.
↔ 2
Filthy rich!
↔ Picture
An ice cube tray
TODAY’S PHOTO SHOT
Muhammed Ali by Andy Warhol
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