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MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
It was a cold day outside. I am ready for at least a couple of warm days. Roads are good, snow still isn’t melting.
For an old-er guy I am so naïve sometimes. The Admiral on the USS Enterprise is being investigated for making an anti-gay video and showed it to the entire 5000 on board. It should be noted this was in 2005-06..when Bush was in office. At some point, after the video he became the top guy on the ship. What I find amazing is that his boss at the time saw the video and the guy was still promoted. What an unnecessary mess.
Just found out that a buddy of mine from San Carlos is the new Tribal Vice Chair. John and I went to summer grad school. He used a school I were I was working for part of his doctoral thesis. He has been the superintendent of the local public school system for over 25 years and always had higher goals. Guess I better reconnect. I just read his inauguration speech from the on-line paper in San Carlos. Technology is amazing. I’m still searching for pics but I know they have to be out there somewhere. I also found that the tribe in on facebook. John’s thesis had to do with using technology of the day to improve education. It’s amazing how far we have come since those days.
I have a busy week ahead—for a retired guy anyway. Dental cleaning, regular doctor visit, and my throat trimming thing. New Year, new deductibles, might as well get it out of the way early. I’m sure I will have a big deductible bill when this is done. No one seems to be able to tell me how much the surgery will be, but BC has approved me so I guess they will be paying most of it. Can’t really get all bothered as it seems that it has to be done to prevent big problems later. I’ve lived with the ‘extra soft tissue’ for quite a while but the surgeon says I shouldn’t be dealing with it.
I am hoping to have our retirement lunch sometime this week since we haven’t gotten together since just before Christmas and we all have stories to share. What with travel, and then the cold and snowy weather none of us felt like trying to meet. Mary lives on a tertiary street, meaning that the snowplows save her road for late plowing. Cheryl has to drive about 30 miles on I-40 which is famous for closing during bad weather and last week was no exception. It would open for a time, close, re-open and re-close. They also had a lot of ‘slide offs’ in both directions. While we like to get together, none of wants to deal with that. It was hard enough for Mary when she commuted for 20+ years to Tuba. I am so glad that now I don’t really mind being at home for two or three days without driving around town. A quick trip to Safeway—about a mile away—is all I really need to do and could even survive without that trip. I do get cabin fever after three days and have to get into town if just to walk around a little. I still have two Christmas wind socks outside. There is about two feet of snow under them and they are basically frozen solid. I’ll get to them if it ever warms up enough—or they will just hang out there wishing everyone a Merry Christmas until May.
This latest storm and the extreme cold did allow me time to do all my laundry. I usually wait until I have used up all my whites before I go through the hassle of soaking them. It is much easier to do the largest load possible than to do several small loads. The same is true for sweaters. I did break down and used the dryer on low/fluff for the sweaters as I didn’t want to have them trying to dry on my fold out wooden rack. It takes about a day and a half on the rack and I have to flip them a couple of times. The dryer worked OK as they were still a little damp when I took them out. Boring, I know.
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∞ JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(Super-Jeopardy Answers) from 1990 WORLD GEOGRAPHY USA
…answers at bottom… Note: I just read that there have been over 6000 episodes of Jeopardy since it started. That’s over 360,000 questions…Awesome.
→Running from April 1860 to October 1861, it lost the mail only once
→A new Orleans park near Basin Street is named for this late trumpeter
→Among official state nicknames there isn't a “later” state, but there is a “Sooner” state, this one
→Now known as this, in the 17th century this island was owned by a man named Isaac Bedloe
→Thomas McKean of Delaware was the last to sign this & may have done it as late as 1781
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM— LAKE WORTH, FL
Florida firefighters said a man caused heavy damage to his home when he tried and failed to smoke a bee colony out of his house. Capt. Don DeLucia, spokesman for Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue, said Mario Go of Lake Worth was trying to smoke the bees out of a column supporting a second-story balcony Tuesday and accidentally set the house on fire, The Palm Beach Post reported. DeLucia said the fire caused about $50,000 worth of damage but no one was injured. He said the fire failed to drive away the bees.
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—New Years
→The first-ever celebration of New Year's Eve in Times Square happened in 1904, the same year that the city's first subway line opened. The NYE bash commemorated the official opening of the new headquarters of The New York Times. The newspaper's owner, German Jewish immigrant Alfred Ochs, had successfully lobbied the city to rename Longacre Square, the district surrounding his paper's new home, in honor of the famous publication.
→The Times Tower was the focus of Ochs' elaborate celebration which featured an all-day street festival culminating in a fireworks display set off from the base of the tower. At midnight, the over 200,000 attendees joyfully rang in the new year with sounds of cheering, rattles and noisemakers. The night was such a rousing success that Times Square instantly replaced Lower Manhattan's Trinity Church as "the" place in New York City to ring in the new year.
→When the city banned the fireworks display two years later, Ochs arranged to have a large, illuminated seven-hundred-pound iron and wood ball lowered from the tower flagpole precisely at midnight to signal the end of 1907 and the beginning of 1908. The original ball was built by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, and for most of the twentieth century the company he founded, sign maker Artkraft Strauss, was responsible for lowering the ball.
A LITTLE LAUGH
Every December it was the same excruciating tradition. Our family would get up at the crack of dawn, go to a Christmas tree farm and tromp across acres of snow in search of the perfect tree. Hours later our feet would be freezing, but Mom would press on, convinced the tree of her dreams was "just up ahead."
One year I snapped. "Mom, face it. The perfect tree doesn't exist. It's like looking for a man. Just be satisfied if you can find one that isn't dead and doesn't have too many bald spots."
GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS—Unusual Skill
→Kevin Fast (Canada) pulled a CC-177 Globemaster III aircraft, weighing 188.83 tons (416,299 lb), a distance of 8.8 m (28 ft 10.46 in) at Canadian Forces Base in Trenton, Ontario, Canada, on 17 September 2009.
→The longest duration a person has hung from Roman rings (gymnastic double rings) is 32.84 sec achieved by Tyler Yamauchi (USA) at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois, USA, on 7 December 2008.
→ England's John Evans balanced a 159.6 kg (352 lb) Mini Cooper vehicle on his head for 33 seconds at The London Studios, UK on May 24, 1999. Dangling cars from his head is all in a day's work for professional 'Head Balancer' Evans. He's balanced people, books and beers, but the car's by far the most deadly trick - a strong wind and it could be the end of the road for John. John's a gigantic guy. He's 2 meters (6’ 5”) tall and weighs in at 155.7 kg (343 lb). But it's his 60.9cm (24-inch) neck that's the only part of his body strong enough to take such immense weights. So the slightest slip, trip or nudge could send him tumbling to a crushing death, as his arms wouldn't be able to cope with the load!
→The heaviest weight lifted using only the ear is 73 kg (160 lb 15 oz) by Zafar Gill (Pakistan), who lifted gym weights hanging from a clamp attached to his right ear in Lahore, Pakistan, on 3 January 2009.
→The most push-ups using the backs of the hands in one hour is 1,940 and was set by Paddy Doyle (UK) at Stamina's Boxing Self Defense Gym in Erin Go Bragh Sports Centre, Birmingham, UK, on November 8, 2007.
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
♫ T O P T V T H E M E S O N G S OF ALL TIME♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
Hawaii has always provided the iconic locale for some of television's greatest moments. Just think about Hawaii Five-0, The Brady Bunch Go To Hawaii, and of course Magnum P.I.. Crafted by Ian Freebairn-Smith (the man responsible for the Airwolf theme, as well) went for a borderline funk-lite-cum-sweeping instrumental vibe with this instrumental ditty that utilizes plenty of cascading chicka-chicka guitar and swooning strings to create a memorable sonic romp.-SA
♪… 21. Three's Company Note: no video of the actual opening is available.
Don Nicholl and Joe Raposo bucked the instrumental funk trend of the mid-to-late '70s, opting instead for a more updated take on the Broadway oriented vocal song for their theme to this classic sexcapade. Then again the duo's choice shouldn't come as much of a surprise since Nicholl produced shows like All In The Familyand The Jeffersons, both of which relied on similar show tune oriented theme songs, and Raposo had worked prior on Sesame Street. Resonating with a somewhat cheesy lounge act vibe, the song features wah-wah guitar, tambourine, and plenty of rich orchestration making it the perfect number to perform at a Vegas karaoke spot, should you feel so inclined.-SA
Ah, Mayberry… where have towns like you gone? The whistling, happy theme of The Andy Griffith Show perfectly introduces the wholesome family entertainment to come. Plus, it's the only TV show theme to heavily feature whistling, and whistling is cool.
If you do not immediately see the three pairs of feet that comprise the My Three Sons opening graphic upon hearing this song, you probably have never seen TV Land. This upbeat theme song to the long-running sit-com evokes feelings of cocktail parties and wool and Fred McMurray's fatherly face
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DAYBOOK INFORMATION
‡…THIS WEEK…‡
Celebration of Life Week: Diet Resolution Week: Silent Record Week: 1-7
National Lose Weight/Feel Great Week: 1-8
Someday We'll Laugh About This Week: 2-8
New Year's Resolutions Week: 3-9
‡…TODAY IS…‡
Festival of Sleep Day
Drinking Straw Day
Earth at Perihelion
J.R.R. Tolkien Day: his birthday
Memento Mori "Remember You Die" Day
National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day
"Thank God It's Monday" Day
Western Christianity: The tenth day of Christmas (The ten lords a-leaping are the Ten Commandments. Check Exodus 20:2–17 or Deuteronomy 5:6–21 if you can’t list them all)
France: St. Genevieve Feast Day (protected Paris by Attila the Hun invasion through fasting and prayer)
Hakozaki Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan: Tamaseseri Festival (Imagine a kind of religious handball match. The ball is 30cm (1ft) in diameter and made of solid wood. The teams line up in loin cloths after purification at Hakozaki Hachiman Shrine. One team represents the land and the other the sea. If the land wins, there will be a good harvest. If the sea wins, there will be a good catch.)
Russia: Passport Presentation (16 yr olds become eligible for passport)
Scotland : Handsel Monday: small tips and gifts of money that it was customary to give at the beginning of the first working week of a new year
US: Alaska: Admission Day (1959: 49th state)
‡…Today’s Births…‡
• AUTHORS
Joan Walsh Anglund, 84, author, illustrator of children’s books (Crocus in the Snow, Bedtime Book)1803 Douglas William Jerrold English author/playwright/wit (Punch Magazine)
1892 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien South African philologist/writer (Lord of Rings)
• ATHLETES
Robert Marvin (Bobby) Hull, 71, Hall of Fame hockey (Black Hawks, Jets, Whalers)
Eli Manning (Elisha Nelson Manning), 29, football (Giants)
• BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1887 Helen Parkhurst US educator (Education on the Dalton plan)
1624 William Tucker 1st Black child born in America
• ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS/…)
1909 Victor Borge [Borge Rosenbaum], Danish pianist/comedian
1916 Betty Furness actress/consumer activist (Studio 1)
Mel Gibson, 54, actor (Braveheart, Lethal Weapon), director (The Passion of the Christ)
1905 Ray Milland Welsh actor (Lost Weekend-Academy Award 1945)
1898 ZaSu Pitts actress (Life With Father, Dames)
Victoria Principal, 60, actress (“Dallas”)
Robert Loggia, 80, actor (An Officer and a Gentleman, Scarface)
Stephen Stills, 65, musician, songwriter
1922 Bill Travers producer, director, actor: Born Free
• POLITICIANS
1901 Ngo Dinh Diem President/Dictator of South Vietnam (1955-63)
106BC-Marcus Tullius Cicero Roman statesman/author (Academica)
• SCIENCE & RELIGION
1810 Antoine T d'Abbadie French explorer (Ethiopia)
1840 Father Joseph Damien de Veuster Belgium, helped lepers in Hawaii
‡…Today’s Obituaries…‡
1992 Dame Judith Anderson actress (Star Trek 3, Laura, Rebecca), pneumonia @ 93
1875 George Bizet composer (Carmen) heart attack @ 36
1543 Juan Cabrillo conqueror of Central America, discoverer of California, gangrene @ 44
1979 Conrad Hilton US founder (Hilton Hotels), @ 91
1967 Jack Ruby assassin who killed assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, lung cancer @ 55
1795 Josiah Wedgwood British ceramic craftsman/woodworker, inventor of modern marketing, specifically direct mail, money-back guarantees, traveling salesmen, self-service, free delivery, buy one get one free, and illustrated catalogues, bad tooth @ 64
‡…Today’s Events…‡
• ARTS
1967 Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys is indicted for draft evasion
1987 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducts 1st female artist Aretha Franklin
• ATHLETICS
1962 Ground is broken for the Houston Astrodome
• BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1825 Scottish factory owner Robert Owen buys 30,000 acres in Indiana as site for New Harmony utopian community
1825 The first engineering college in the U.S., Rensselaer School
1831 1st US building & loan association organized, Frankford PA
1847 California town of Yerba Buena renamed San Francisco
1890 1st US college-level dairy school opens at University of Wisconsin
1977 Apple Computer incorporated
• INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1541 de Soto visits the main Chickasaw town. He wants to visit Caluca, and he gets guides and interpreters from the Chickasaw.
1879 U.S.Army Captain Henry Wessells at Fort Robinson, in northwestern Nebraska, receives orders from General Sheridan and Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz which states that Dull Knife and his Cheyennes return to their reservation.
• POLITICS (US)
1852 1st Chinese arrive in Hawaii
1939 Gene Cox becomes 1st girl page in US House of Representatives
1947 1st opening session of Congress to be televised
• POLITICS (International)
1925 Mussolini dissolves Italian parliament/becomes dictator
1941 Canada & US acquire air bases in Newfoundland (99 year lease)
1961 US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba
1984 Syria frees captured US pilot after appeal from Jesse Jackson
1988 Margaret Thatcher becomes longest-serving British PM this century
• SCIENCE & RELIGION
1871 Oleomargarine patented by Henry Bradley, Binghamton NY
1888 Marvin C. Stone of Washington, DC patented the drinking straw
1958 Edmund Hillary reaches South Pole overland
1962 Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro
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ANSWERS
∞ JEOPARDY
→Running from April 1860 to October 1861, it lost the mail only once
What was the Pony Express? (19 months of operation, 616,000 miles, 34,753 letters)
→A New Orleans Park near Basin Street is named for this late trumpeter
Who is Louis Armstrong?
→Among official state nicknames there isn't a “later” state, but there is a “Sooner” state, this one
What is Oklahoma?
→Now known as this, in the 17th century this island was owned by a man named Isaac Bedloe
What is Liberty Island? (Home of the Statue of Liberty, it was first called Oyster Island, the Bedloe’s Island, and finally Liberty Island. In 1800 it became Federal Land. Prior to that both NY and NJ claimed it. It was used for smallpox quarantine and as a fort before Lady Liberty arrived in 1884 and unveiled in 1887).
→Thomas McKean of Delaware was the last to sign this & may have done it as late as 1781
What was the Declaration of Independence?
That's All For N ow
