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MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
OK, so my follow up went good. He stuck the flashlight up my nose and down my throat. He seems to be really intrigued whenever he does this. It has a name: pachylaryngitis—a condition not even mentioned on the internet. It means something about ‘thick skin’ in the larynx. He keeps saying he wished I could see it and appreciate how unusual it really is. He says that it probably has a genetic trigger. Whatever…the ID tag will simply say ‘difficult intubation’…not nearly as exotic as I had hoped. But something even a new EMT would understand, I hope. He actually gave me a prescription for the bracelet. I get a blood check in about 3 weeks to see if I have to use any meds and see him again in three months. I still have the strips on my neck and he said to just let them fall off on their own, but that I was healing well. He also said that he again reviewed my gall bladder and they had ‘some’ trouble with the breathing tube, but said they probably just brushed it off as a ‘bad day’ thing. He said, now with three difficult procedures it really isn’t just a ‘bad day’ thing. He says it isn’t anything to worry about, just exciting to look at and watch. OK then. I’ll see tomorrow what the insurance company pays for. He did comment again on what an upbeat attitude I have. I asked him if we wanted me to come in more melancholy, I added that since there wasn’t anything I could do to fix this, why should I be upset? He just laughed and added he wished all of his patients had my attitude. I saw what he meant, sort of, when a teenager and her mom came in after me. The girl needed to have her tonsils removed. She acted like it was the end of the world. She was almost in tears as she and her mom filled out the forms. One would have thought she had just been told that she was going to have her neck removed and that she would be disfigured for the remaining three weeks of her life. Her mom seemed to think that her perfect little girl was somehow no longer perfect. Her words of comfort were ‘honey…there won’t be a visible scar.’ A comment like ‘you won’t be having sore throats, or missing your cheerleading practice when this is over’ would have been much better. I must say that the office staff is one of the happiest, friendly, professional group I have ever visited. There are four people in the outer office. They always look busy and are smiling even when no one is watching. Very nice to be at an upbeat office.
I keep forgetting it is winter. I am a little tired of the chilly and dry weather. But for winter, this was a great day. I still have some snow-ice on the front sidewalk but can get around it with no trouble so am not going to try and break it up. Enuf snow has melted that I did find 5 small silver ball ornaments from the two outdoor Christmas trees. That is a good sign that some snow is melting. Much still remains near the house but nothing like the amount from last year.
As I was waiting to see the ENT, I was checking headlines on my phone. Egypt is in a definite crisis. When I was there a couple of years ago, I was surprised at the locals view of their government. President Mubarak had been in office about 30 years. He is an elected dictator. I heard comments like ‘that’s the government, not the people.’ ‘He is the leader and that’s the way it is.’ Well today, following the Tunisian events, that may change. It is a little scary to see pictures of places I stood a few years ago, now rimmed by armed military that are shooting rubber bullets and tear gas. This is not yet a nationwide uprising and most of the events are taking place in the populated areas. Also interesting is that when the ‘call for prayer’ is sounded, the demonstrators and the military stop and pray. This is a difficult time for all Egyptians and my hope is that it will remain peaceful and no lives will be lost. Sadly the government has cut off Twitter in the country. That is never a good sign.
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DID YOU KNOW THAT…
Whenever you repair something or take it apart, tape the nuts, bolts or screws to the object so that you won't misplace any tiny pieces.
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION… Library Part II
○ The second trend was the "circulating" library, which also developed in the late 1700s. These were often housed in bookstores or print shops, and rented out books. They offered popular materials such as the latest fiction, including that 18th century innovation - novels. What was probably the first circulating library was opened by William Rind of Annapolis, MD, in 1762. It only lasted two years, but the idea caught on.
○ Horace Mann, secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, was responsible for the third trend - school district libraries. Mann pushed for school libraries in the 1830s, raising a basic question: After we educate our children, what do they have to read? Educators and eventually legislators looked to the school district library (funded through taxes) to provide reading for adults as well as children.
○ The first library to combine those three principles was the town library of Peterborough, New Hampshire, founded in 1833. The state had collected taxes to start a state college, but the effort fizzled and the money was allocated among various towns to support education. Peterborough decided to use some of the money to purchase books for a town library--a publicly owned institution, free to all residents. The idea apparently proved popular; in 1849, New Hampshire became the first state to pass a law permitting local taxesto support public libraries.
¤… Who Wants to be a Millionaire PUZZLE
…answers at bottom…
1. How many colors are in a rainbow, according to a popular memory aid?
2 7 12 19
2. Which of these words has the most different letters ?
Teeth Hundred Science Scissors
3. Which of these men is most commonly associated with World War II?
Adolf Hitler Saddam Hussein Bill Gates Chris Sawyer
4. What country is the Taj Mahal located in?
India Pakistan China Argentina
5. What cookie's slogan is 'America's Favorite Cookie'?
Chips Ahoy Oreo Keebler Droxies
6. In terms of size, what is the largest U.S. State?
Texas Montana California Alaska
7. What would be the correct thing to do secondly on an average combination number lock?
Clockwise directly to number
Turn the arrow once 360 degrees counterclockwise, then go to number
Turn arrow 360 degrees clockwise, then go to number
Turn arrow clockwise 3 times around, then go to number
8. What does the S in Ulysses S. Grant's name stand for?
Nothing Soldier Simpson Stark
9. In what country is the Kalahari desert primarily located?
Sudan South Africa Oman Lesotho
10. How did drummer John Bonham of Led Zeppelin die?
Alcohol Food poisoning Drugs Suicide
11. What part of the human body does phrenology study?
earlobe lungs skull tonsils
12. What number does the Book of Revelations in the New Testament primarily focus on?
Six Three Seven Nine
13. What country's longest river is the Vltava?
Oman Ukraine Czech Republic Papua New Guinea
14. Who played the part of Archibald in the original broadway cast of 'The Secret Garden'?
Robert Westenberg Tom Wopat James Cameron Mandy Patinkin
15. What is the molecular formula of monosaccharide sugar?
C6, H12, O6 C6, H6, O12 C12, H6, O12 C6, H12, O12
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM… MIAMI
— A grand piano recently showed up on a sandbar in Miami's Biscayne Bay, about 200 yards from condominiums on the shore. The piano, which weighs at least 650 pounds, was placed at the highest spot along the sandbar so it doesn't get underwater during high tide.
While officials aren't sure how it got there, they know it won't be going anywhere unless it becomes a hazard to wildlife or boaters.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Jorge Pino says the agency is not responsible for moving such items. And, he adds, unless it becomes a navigational hazard, the U.S. Coast Guard won't get involved.
For now, the piano has become a fancy roost for seagulls.
A LITTLE LAUGH…
After doctors set my broken arm and put a cast on it, I paid the bill and went on my way. Shortly thereafter, I received a bill from the hospital, this time for the $1.57 they claimed I still owed.
Apparently to prove that this was a hospital with heart, they included a payment book. It had me paying 3 cents a month for four years.
¤…CLOSEUP PICTURE
Can you identify this close up picture
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
For Cowboy Poetry Week:So Lucky to be an American - Baxter Black (from Los Cruses, NM; living in Benson, AZ)
♫ Rock Anthems ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
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DAYBOOK INFORMATION
¤…THIS WEEK…¤
20-30
Sundance Film Festival
22-25
Kid Film Festival
23-29
National Handwriting Analysis Week ◘ National Nurse Anesthetists Week ◘ World Leprosy Week
24-Feb 4
Clean Out Your Inbox Week
24-28
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Week ◘ National Medical Group Practice Week ◘ No Name Calling Week ◘ National Nuclear Science Week ◘ National Take Back Your Time Week
¤…TODAY IS…¤
Australia Day: since 1838 when British took over; also called Day of Mourning for indigenous people
Cockroach Race Day
Lotus 1-2-3 Day
National Peanut Brittle Day
Toad Hollow Day of Encouragement: legendary as a day to connect with people through the heart
Dominican Republic: Duarte's Day/Dia de Duarte: Father of Dominican Republic
India: Republic Day (1950)
Uganda: Liberation Day
US: Arkansas: General Douglas MacArthur Day
US: Michigan: Admission Day (1837: 26th state)
Today’s Births
○ AUTHORS / ARTISTS
1786 Benjamin Robert Haydon painter (Waiting for The Times)
1831 Mary Mapes Dodge writer (Hans Brinker & the Silver Skates)
1804 Eugane "Marie Joseph" Sue France, novelist (Wandering Jew)
○ ATHLETES
Wayne Gretzky, 50, Hall of Fame hockey player
Robert George (Bob) Uecker, 76, sportscaster, former baseball player, actor
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
--
○ ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS/…)
Ellen DeGeneres, 53, comedienne, actress (“Ellen”), television personality
1915 William Hopper actor (Paul Drake-Perry Mason)
1928 Eartha Kitt singer/actress (Catwoman-Batman)
1925 Paul Newman Academy Award-winning actor: director: race car driver; salad dressing and spaghetti sauce maker
1946 Gene Siskel movie critic (Siskel & Ebert)
Eddie Van Halen, 56, guitarist
1913 Jimmy Van Heusen (Edward Chester Babcock) Academy Award-winning composer: Swinging on a Star [1944], All the Way [1957], High Hopes [1959], Call Me Irresponsible [1963]; wrote the music to over 75 songs for Frank Sinatra with lyricists Johnny Burke and Sammy Cahn: My Kind of Town, Second Time Around
1905 Maria Augusta von Trapp Austrian singer, inspired "Sound of Music"
○ POLITICIANS
Angela Davis, 67, political activist
1826 Julia Dent Grant 1st lady (1869-77)
1880 Douglas MacArthur General of the Army (WWII), born in Little Rock
1904 Sean MacBride Irish statesman/Amnesty International co-founder (Nobel '74)
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
Father George Harold Clements, 79, Roman Catholic priest, civil rights leader
¤…Today’s Obituaries…¤
1983 Paul "Bear" Bryant college football coach, heart attack @ 69
1893 Abner Doubleday credited with inventing baseball, on 74th birthday
1992 José Ferrer Puerto Rico, actor/director (Cyrano de Bergerac), @ 80
1949 Victor Fleming director (Wizard of Oz, Gone With Wind), heart attack @ 65
1993 Jan Gies Dutch resistance fighter (helped Anne Frank), @ 87
1824 Edward Jenner discoverer (vaccination: smallpox) @ 73
1962 Charles "Lucky" Luciano ( Salvatore Lucani )Mafia gangster, heart attack @ 65
1973 Edward G Robinson [Goldenberg], actor (Little Caesar), @79
1979 Nelson Rockefeller former Vice President & 4 time Governor of NY, heart attack @ 70
1998 Shinichi Suzuki music teacher (Suzuki Method), @ 99
1932 William K Wrigley owner (Wrigley Gum, Chicago Cubs) @ 70
¤…Today’s Events…¤
○ ARTS
1911 Richard Strauss' opera Der Rosenkavalier receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.
○ ATHLETICS
1956 7th Winter Olympic games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
1977 Soviet figure skaters Sergei Shakrai & Marine Tcherkasova are 1st to perform a quadruple twist lift, Helsinki
1980 Mary Decker became 1st woman to run a mile in under 4½ minutes
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1850 1st German-language daily newspaper in US published, New York City NY
1905 World's largest diamond, the 3,106-carat Cullinan, is found in South Africa
○ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1875 As many as 40 "Mexican Indians-cattle thieves" allegedly attack a corporal, and 4 soldiers from troop G, ninth cavalry, 18 miles from Ringgold Barracks, Texas. Two of the troopers are killed in the attack. Col.Edward Hatch, and troops B, and G, 9th Cavalry, capture several of the suspects. A coroner's jury will find 9 "Mexicans" guilty of murdering the troopers.
○ POLITICS (US)
1784 Ben Franklin expresses unhappiness over the eagle as America's symbol
1802 Congress passes an act calling for a US Capitol library
1861 Louisiana becomes 6th state to secede
1915 Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado established
○ POLITICS (International)
1952 Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
1992 Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
2004 President Hamid Karzai signs the new constitution of Afghanistan.
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
0066 5th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1697 Isaac Newton receives Jean Bernoulli's 6 month time-limit problem, solves problem before going to bed that same night
1875 Electric dental drill is patented by George F Green
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ANSWERS
¤…Millionaire ANSWERS…¤
How many colors are in a rainbow, according to a popular memory aid? 7 (The memory aid is 'ROY G. BIV' or 'Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain')
Which of these words has the most different letters ? Hundred
Which of these men is most commonly associated with World War II? Adolf Hitler
What country is the Taj Mahal located in? India
What cookie's slogan is 'America's Favorite Cookie'? Oreo
In terms of size, what is the largest U.S. State? Alaska
What would be the correct thing to do secondly on an average combination number lock?
Turn the arrow once 360 degrees counterclockwise, then go to number
What does the S in Ulysses S. Grant's name stand for? Nothing
In what country is the Kalahari desert primarily located? South Africa
How did drummer John Bonham of Led Zeppelin die? Alcohol
What part of the human body does phrenology study? skull
What number does the Book of Revelations in the New Testament primarily focus on? Seven: In the Book of Revelations, the number seven is used fifty-four times total. The only real mention of six would be in the number 666, which is the number of the beast. In Revelations, there are seven churches, seven spirits, seven stars, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vials, seven personages, seven dooms, and seven new things.
What country's longest river is the Vltava? Czech Republic
Who played the part of Archibald in the original broadway cast of 'The Secret Garden'? Mandy Patinkin
What is the molecular formula of monosaccharide sugar? C6, H12, O6
¤…Close up Picture…¤
Fire Escape
« AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW »
