5-18-11



TODAY’s “Geez”: 1965 - Gene Roddenberry suggests 16 names including Kirk for Star Trek Capt
1980 - Mount St Helens blows its top in Washington State, 60 die

Free Rambling Thoughts…
Another windy day…hmmm.
I had some errands to run today, including a blood test to check my thyroid meds. I was gone about two and a half hours. When I got back the complex, the grounds crew had been busy. They had trimmed all the bushes and trees. Very nice. They stayed around till about 3pm cleaning up and continuing to trim. I have a blue spruce in my front. For those who don’t know about Blue Spruce, first it is Colorado’s state tree. It has very sharp needles and would make a lousy Christmas tree unless you wear Kevlar to put the decorations on the tree. Third, the branches start at ground level and to up from there. One seldom sees the ground around a Blue Spruce. This last little fact is great, if you live in the forest. When one is planted near the sidewalk, as mine is, it is a real pain in the ass. At the end of my first winter here, I trimmed some of the ground branches, so that I would have additional space for removing snow from the sidewalk. Ever since then I had wanted to remove all the lower branches—about two feet high—so there would be some way to clean out the leaves and trash that invariably get stuck in the sharp needles and branches near the ground. Well, today, those trimmers must have read my mind. They did exactly that. I have the only Blue Spruce in the complex and am happy to have it. Now I can keep the area a little neater. Cool.
Most of the news today was about sex on all the major news outlets. Arnold cheated on Maria and ended up with a kid. I’ve always been a Kennedy fan and do feel sorry for Maria and the kids. Many of their great uncles were not pristine after taking their wedding vows. Arnold apologized. Probably for getting caught and now for making a baby with one of his staff. The John Ensign thing is moving toward criminal charges. The French guy is charged with forcibly raping a hotel maid. So many politicians just think they are above the law. Maybe Saturday will change all that…as some believe that will be the end of the world. Short of the end, sex scandals will continue.
The AZ legislature and governor passed and signed a law to let the Tea Party have their own vanity license plates. Well, now to show how there is no leadership in the Tea Party, several ‘local Tea Party leaders’ came out today to say the license plate is a very very bad idea. Why? Each plate gives the Tea Party $17 every year. Well some of the Tea Party think they stand for smaller government and the creation of the plate will make the government bigger by having to hire extra people to approve the plates. Since that is bigger government, the hard core Tea Party people say they will not get the plate, and encourage others not to get it either. Only in AZ.

Trivia Quiz…(answers at the end of psot)
Who was born Karl Herbert Frahm?
Errol Flynn's Last film was a documentary tribute to which world leader?
Who was the first Prime Minister of independent South Africa?
In what year did Hussein become king of Jordan?
Which leader did Churchill say was like a "female llama surprised in her bath?"
Who did Lionel Jospin replace as French Prime Minister?
Which part of Lenin was preserved after his death?
In what year was the world's first woman Prime Minister elected?
Which British Prime Minister was Rudyard Kipling's cousin?
What did Mao Tse Tung call the "Great leap forward"?
Who became Russian Prime Minister in September 1998?
Who was described by his foreign minister as having, "a nice smile. but he has got iron teeth?"

Zoom-ed in Picture…Can you Identify what this is? (Answer at end of post)

Hmmmmm…
>Percentage of the pedestrians stopped in 2009 for random searches in Philadelphia who were black: 71
>Percentage of the population that is balck: 44
Portion of the stops that didn’t lead to an arrest: 11/12

The First Time…
1897 --- her "Gaelic Symphony" is the first symphony by a woman performed in the United States, and possibly the world:  H.H.A. Beach
1897 --- winner of the the 1st annual Boston Marathon - the first of its type in the US:  John J. McDermott

Somewhat Useless Information…
++ One of the companies involved with the U.S. Rubber Company was the U.S. Rubber Company. This company was the first licensee of a new manufacturing process called vulcanization, discovered and patented by Charles Goodyear. Vulcanization uses heat to meld rubber to cloth or other rubber components for a sturdier, more permanent bond. 
++ From 1892 to 1913, the rubber footwear divisions of U.S. Rubber were manufacturing their products under 30 different brand names. The company consolidated these brands under one name. The original name idea was Peds, from the Latinmeaning foot, but someone else held that trademark. By 1916, the two final alternatives were Veds or Keds, with the stronger sounding Keds being the final choice.
++ Keds were first mass-marketed as canvas-top "sneakers" in 1917. The word "sneaker" was coined by Henry Nelson McKinney, an advertising agent for N. W. Ayer & Son, because the rubber sole made the shoe stealthy or quiet.

Yeah, It Really Happened…
SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake City woman has been arrested after authorities say she asked an undercover officer to give her drugs in exchange for a salad.
KSL-TV reports the 33-year-old woman approached the officer who was working on a street corner known for drug sales. Police say she asked the officer for $10 worth of cocaine, but said she only had $2 and an Olive Garden salad in a to-go box.
She told the undercover officer she could return a little later with more money or some gift cards to Olive Garden.
Police allege another officer searched the woman and found a glass pipe inside a cigarette pack in her pocket.
The woman was arrested and charged Monday with attempted possession or use of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Guffaw…or at least smile…
A number of years ago, we had a rather pompous pastor. One Sunday morning when he called for the offertory, he folded his hands across his chest and intoned, "Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find; knock and it will be opened unto you."
Then he spread his arms wide and called, "Therefore...come unto the Lord all ye askers, seekers and knockers."

Searchin’ “You Tube” I found…

Daybook Information
…Happening This Week:
15-21
National Dog Bite Prevention Week * National New Friends, Old Friends Week * National Police Week * National Transportation Week * World Trade Week * EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Week * American Craft Beer Week * National Bike to Work Week *

«TODAY IS
International Museum Day
Mother Whistler Day
National Employee Health & Fitness Day
Turn Beauty Inside Out Day

Visit Your Relatives Day


Today’s Events:
…  IN ARTS
1593 - Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy leads to arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
1897 - Irish Music Festival 1st held (Dublin)
1897 - Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker is published
1934 - Academy Award 1st called Oscar in print 
…  IN ATHLETICS
1929 - Dodgers beat Phillies 20-16 & lost 8-6 in 2nd game (record 50 runs)
1942 - NYC ends night baseball games for rest of WW II
1956 - Mickey Mantle hits HR from both sides of plate for record 3rd time
…  IN BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1642 - Montreal Canada founded
1852 - Massachusetts rules all school-age children must attend school
1927 - Grumman’s Chinese Theater opens in Hollywood 
1934 - TWA began commercial service
1949 - Antiquarian Booksellers Assoc of America incorporates
1998 - United States v. Microsoft: The United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states file an antitrust case against Microsoft.
…  FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1661 - Captain John Odber is order by the Maryland General Assembly to take fifty men and go to the "Susquesahannough Forte." According to a treaty signed on May 16th, Maryland is required to help protect the Susquehannocks from raids by the Seneca. Odber’s force is to fulfill that part of the treaty. 1839 - General Alexander Macomb announces the peace terms with the Seminoles. The Seminoles are able to stay in Florida, if they remain near Lake Okechobee
…  IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
1291 - Sultan of Egypt & his son take last Christian stronghold of Acre
1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed Emperor of France
1899 - World Goodwill Day-26 nations meet in 1st Hague Peace Conference
1940 - German troops conquer Brussels
1948 - Arab Legion captures fort on Mt Scopus
1951 - UN moves HQ to NYC
1964 - Supreme Court rules unconstitutional to deprive naturalized citizens of citizenship if they return to home country for more than 3 years
1986 - South African army occupies Botswana, Zimbabwe & Zambia
…  IN SCIENCE & RELIGION
1843 - United Free Church of Scotland forms
1926 - Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanished in Venice Calif She showed up a month later & said she had been kidnapped
1953 - 1st woman to break sound barrier (Jacqueline Cochrane, USA)
…  IN US POLITICS
1631 - English colony Massachusetts Bay grants puritarian voting right
1860 - Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln for president
1863 - Siege of Vicksburg, MS
1896 - US Supreme court affirms race separation (Plessy v Ferguson)
1917 - US passes Selective Service act
1933 - Tennessee Valley Act (TVA) Act signed by FDR, to build dams
1934 - Congress approves "Lindbergh Act," makes kidnapping a capital offense
1983 - Senate revises immigration laws, gives millions of illegal aliens legal status under an amnesty program

… ARTISTS:  AUTHORS:  COMPOSERS…
1785 - John Wilson, Scottish writer 
1902 - [Robert] Meredith Willson, Mason City Iowa, composer (Music Man)
…ATHLETES
Rodger Davis Australian golfer turns 60
Reggie Jackson "Mr October" baseball rightfielder (Yankees, A's) turns 65
Walter Scott NFL defensive tackle (Green Bay Packers-Superbowl 31) turns 38
…ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS…)
Yun Fat Chow , actor (Better Tomorrow) turns 56
1912 - Perry Como, [Pierino], Canonsburg Pa, singer/TV (Perry Como Show)
Dwayne Hickman, actor (Dobie Gillis, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini) turns 77
Robert Morse actor (That's Life, Jack Frost) turns 80 
1928 Pernell Roberts  actor (Adam Cartwright-Bonanza, Trapper John MD) 
… ENTREPRENEUR & EDUCATORS
1912 - Georg von Opel, German auto manufacturer, great grandson of founder
…POLITICIANS
1904 - Jacob K Javits, (Sen-R-NY)

…SCIENTISTS / THEOLOGISTS
1788 - Hugh Clapperton, Annan Scotland, African explorer
1048 - Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician, poet and philosopher 
1872 - Bertrand Russell, England, mathematician/philosopher (Nobel 1950)
1920 - John Paul II, [Karol Wojtyla], Poland, Pope (1978-2005)

Today’s Obits:
1724 - Johann K Amman, Swiss/Dutch doctor for deaf-mutes, dies at 54
1733 - Georg Bohm, German organist/composer, dies at 71
1967 - Andy Clyde, Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick, dies at 75
1990 - Jill Ireland, actress (Carry on Nurse, Family), dies of cancer at 54
1973 - Jeannette Rankin, 1st Congresswoman (1917-19, 41-43), dies at 92
1992 - Lawrence Welk, bandleader (L Welk Show), dies of pneumonia at 89

ANSWERS:
Trivia Quiz
Who was born Karl Herbert Frahm?
Willy Brandt
Errol Flynn's Last film was a documentary tribute to which world leader?
Castro
Who was the first Prime Minister of independent South Africa?
Louis Botha
In what year did Hussein become king of Jordan?
1952
Which leader did Churchill say was like a "female llama surprised in her bath?"
Charles de Gaulle
Who did Lionel Jospin replace as French Prime Minister?
Alain Juppe
Which part of Lenin was preserved after his death?
Brain
In what year was the world's first woman Prime Minister elected?
1960 Siramavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)
Which British Prime Minister was Rudyard Kipling's cousin?
Stanley Baldwin
What did Mao Tse Tung call the "Great leap forward"?
Enforced industrialization
Who became Russian Prime Minister in September 1998?
Yevgeny Primakov
Who was described by his foreign minister as having, "a nice smile. but he has got iron teeth?"
Mikhail Gorbachev

Close Up Picture

…AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW

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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.