This is Week 40 of 2010►Day 277 with 88 days left.
FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
As a linguist, I am always fascinated by other languages. While in Taiwan I found myself asking a lot of questions of Angus regarding Chinese characters and translations. Angus had attended Oxford for his undergraduate work in Business and Tourism. I had grown up calling the island of Formosa. I don’t remember when the maps changed it to Taiwan. I remember when the island government claimed to be the government of mainland China. I remember learning of lots of tension over the two governments. The Chinese people of the island have known the island as the Chinese equivalent of Taiwan. It is also the name of a common tree on the island. Formosa is actually Portuguese for ‘beautiful island’. The Portuguese were the first of a long line of invaders. The list includes the Dutch (early 1600s), the Japanese (late 1500s), and the Chinese (before and after the others). While in Taipei, they had Red Coca Cola. It had the English logo and on the side of the can were Chinese Characters. The four Chinese Characters sounded like “Coke”. There meaning was “OK (good), mouth, OK, and refreshing”. The Coca Cola execs wanted the English sound of “Coke” and were not that concerned about what it meant. Pepsi, also available, didn’t have any Chinese Characters on the label.
While in Taiwan, I really had to listen hard the whole five days. Usually after a day our brains quickly begin to recognize speech differences and most pidgin English becomes much easier to understand. I seem to have been listening just as hard at the end as I was on the first encounter. Andy is a member of Toastmasters and he works very hard to speak English that is understandable. I’m sure that Brits and Aussies found his English much easier to hear. He tried really hard to speak to us and was successful. He taught us some Chinese—greetings, etc. I talked to him in a quiet moment and ask him to try an old ESL trick I learned. In order to get the correct inflections, start at the back of the word and pronounce the last syllable, class repeats then do the last two syllables, class repeats, and so on until the entire word or phrase is said completely. At one point in the tour he tried it, and everyone found it much easier to pronounce the phrase. He thanked me for that trick. At one of the dinners we were celebrating a birthday. He taught the group how to sing “Happy Birthday” in Chinese. The restaurant staff came over with the cake and chimed in with us. Very cool.
Flag…H—72°; L—42°; RH—55%; and with wind gusts of 35mph—a cloudy day with only a couple of sprinkles here, but the Cinder Hills just east of me were covered with hail.
QUOTE FOR THE DAY--Malay Proverb
If you lost at the end of the route, go back to the beginning of the route
(meaning of proverb: if you make a mistake or get stuck, you should start over)
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION
There are approximately 61,269 pizzerias in the United States. Each year in the United States, 3 billion pizzas are sold. Americans eat around 350 slices of pizza each second, or 100 acres per day.
GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1—Jeopardy Answers
$100-Italian-American's have made this their equivalent of St. Patrick's Day
$200-Though we "love" his "day", he's been taken off calendar of saints
$300-The eve of All Saints' Day
$400-In colonial Massachusetts, Puritans made this Christian holiday illegal
$500-Several Southern states celebrate his June 3rd birthday instead of Lincoln's
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
MIDDLETOWN, CN - Two alleged burglars in Middletown, Conn., were nabbed after one of them was betrayed by an act of nature that led, naturally, to flushing a toilet, police say. A homeowner was pulling her car into the driveway of her house Wednesday around noon when she heard the sound of a toilet flushing, the Hartford Courant reported.
She pulled out of the driveway to a spot nearby and called police. The woman then followed an alleged intruder in her car, relaying information to police after he emerged from the house and took off on foot, the newspaper said.
Police apprehended Said Oruczadeh, 23, of Middletown carrying $9,905 worth of jewelry and later arrested Derek Mandeville, 21, also of Middletown whom police claim is an accomplice. Both were being held on burglary-related charges, the Courant said.
A LITTLE LAUGH
Noah was told that of all the animals on the ark, only the adders refused to obey God's command and go forth and multiply.
"Well," said Noah. "I'll have to ask the Lord what to do about that." And so he prayed to God and said, "These snakes won't go forth and multiply"
And God said, "Don't worry. Find some the trees and saw them into logs and create a platform sitting upon four legs. Then put the snakes on the platform."
"But how will that help the snakes?" asked Noah.
"Easy," replied God, "Everyone knows even adders can multiply using a log table!"
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
While I saw a lot in Taiwan, there is so much more. I also found the first page of comments very interesting. Click Here to See
GREY MATTER PICTURE
SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION
¤ Weekly Observances ¤
1-7: Universal Children's Week
2-9: No Salt Week
3-9: National Newspaper Week ^ National Work From Home Week ^ Fire Prevention Week ^ Mental Illness Awareness Week ^ Mystery Series Week ^ National Carry A Tune Week ^ Nuclear Medicine Week
4-10: Customer Service Week ^ Financial Planning Week ^ Spinning & Weaving Week ^ World Space Week
5-10:Great Books Week
6-12: Physicians Assistant Week
8-12: Kids' Goal Setting Week ^ New York Comic Con Week
10-16: Build Your Business with Business Cards Week ^ Emergency Nurses Week ^ Home-based Business Week ^ National Chestnut Week ^ National Food Bank Week ^ National Metric Week ^ Take Your Medicine Americans Week ^ World Rainforest Week
11-17: Fall Astronomy Week ^ National School Lunch Week
17-23: Food and Drug Interaction Education and Awareness Week ^ Getting The World To Beat A Path To Your Door Week ^ International Credit Union Week ^ Teen Read Week ^ National Chemistry Week ^ National Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy Week ^ YWCA Week without Violence ^ National Character Counts Week ^ National Forest Products Week ^ National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week ^ National School Bus Safety Week
18-24: Freedom From Bullies Week ^ Freedom of Speech Week ^ Medical Assistants Recognition Week ^ National Food Bank Week ^ National Infertility Awareness Week ^ National Massage Therapy Week ^ National Businesswomen's Week
24-31: Disarmament Week ^ Give Wildlife a Break Week ^ Pastoral Care Week ^ Peace, Friendship and Good Will Week ^ Prescription Errors Education & Awareness Week ^ International Magic Week ^ National Respiratory Care Week
27-11/3: World Hearing Aid Awareness Week
¤ Today’s Observances ¤
Ten-Four Day
Child Health Day
Improve Your Office Day
Universal Children's Day (1928)
World Animal Day
World Habitat Day
Lesotho : Independence Day (1966 from Great Britian)
Missouri : Missouri Day
Sweden: Cinnamon Roll Day or kanelbullens dag
¤ Hit Songs on this date ¤
1892 ... Michael Casey Taking the Census / Russell Hunting
1912 ... I Love You Truly / Elsie Baker Click Here to Hear
1922 ... Hot Lips / Paul Whiteman Click Here to Hear
1932 ... Say It Isn't So / George Olsen
1942… (I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo / Glenn Miller Click Here to Hear
1952… You Belong to Me / Jo Stafford
1962… Sherry / The Four Seasons
1972… Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me / Mac Davis Click Here to Hear
1982…Jack and Diane / John Cougar Click Here to Hear
1992… End of the Road / Boyz II Men
¤ Today’s Births ¤
╬ THE ARTS
Sidney Paget, illustrated Sherlock Holmes adventures, in 1860
Frederic Remington, US, artist/sculptor of the American West, in 1861
Anne Rice, 69, novelist (Interview with the Vampire)
Susan Sarandon (Susan Tomaling), 64, actress (Oscar for Dead Man Walking; Thelma and Louise)
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Armand Assante, 61, actor (Belizaire the Cajun, The Mambo Kings, Fatal Instinct)
Abraham Benrubi, 41, actor (“ER,” “Men in Trees”)
Jackie Collins, 69, author (Lucky)
Clifton Davis, 65, singer, actor (“That’s My Mama,” “Amen”), composer Charlton Heston(John Charlton Carter). actor (10 Commandments, Ben Hur, Planet of the Apes), gun advocate (NRA), in 1923
Buster (Joseph Frank) Keaton (VI), actor (The Navigator, Steamboat Bill, Jr), in 1895
╬ ATHLETICS
Tony La Russa, Jr, 66, baseball manager and former player
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
--
╬ POLITICS
Richard Cromwell, lord protector of England (1658-59), in 1626
Rutherford B Hayes, 19th pres (1877-81), in 1822
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
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¤ Today’s Obituaries ¤
Frederic Auguste Bertholdi, French sculptor ("Statue of Liberty"), TB @ 70
Janis Joplin rock singer, overdose @ 27
Leonard C Odell wrote 7,000 Burma Shave poems, @ 83 in 1991
¤ Today’s Events ¤
╬ THE ARTS
1881 The player piano was invented by Edward Leveaux of Sussex, England, who received a patent for it this day.
1931 The comic strip Dick Tracy by Chester Gould debuts
1954 Comedienne Spring Byington began the successful network TV series, December Bride
1957 Leave It to Beaver premiered on CBS-TV
╬ ATHLETICS
1895 First U.S. Open Men's Golf Championship administered by the United States Golf Association is played at the Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island.
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1648 Peter Stuyvesant establishes Americas 1st volunteer firemen
1883 Orient Express' 1st run, linking Turkey to Europe by rail
╬ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1779 Today, 5 boatloads of ammunition and powder are working their way up the Ohio River. As they reach the Licking River, in Kentucky, Colonel David Rigers sees some Indians on the shore. He sends his four dozen men after the Indians. In wait for Rogers are over 130 DELAWARE, MINGO, SHAWNEE and WYANDOT warriors, led by Mathew Elliot and Simon Girty. All but a few of of the Americans are killed in the ambush. The Indians will lose only 2 men.
1838 Elijah Hicks, and 748 CHEROKEEs will be the second group of CHEROKEEs to leave the Tennessee Cherokee Agency area under their own supervision. They are part of the forced removal of the CHEROKEEs to the Indian Territory. They will arrive on January 4, 1839.
╬ POLITICS (US)
1636 1st code of law for Plymouth Colony
1984 US gov’t closes down due to budget problems
╬ POLITICS (International)
1824 Mexico becomes a republic
1854 Honest Abe Lincoln made his first great political speech while attending the Illinois State Fair in Springfield.
1940 Adolph Hitler & Benito Mussolini confer at Brenner Pass in the Alps
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1955 Rev Sun Young Moon leaves prison in Seoul
1957 USSR launches Sputnik I, the 1st artificial Earth satellite
GREY MATTER ANSWERS
↔ 1
$100-Italian-American's have made this their equivalent of St. Patrick's Day: What was Columbus Day?
$200-Though we "love" his "day", he's been taken off calendar of saints: Who was St. Valentine?
$300-The eve of All Saints' Day: What is Halloween
$400-In colonial Massachusetts, Puritans made this Christian holiday illegal: What is Christmas?
$500-Several Southern states celebrate his June 3rd birthday instead of Lincoln's: Who is Jefferson Davis?
↔ PICTURE
An almond
