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MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
Mary and I had lunch at the southside Greek restaurant. Parking has always been a problem, but there is a dirt lot that has a few spots marked with a Reserved sign. The rest of the open field is just that, an open field. We parked there, as usual. When we came out, there was a flyer on our windshields. Expecting a ‘lose weight now’ or something similar we were both surprised to find that it said TOW THIS VEHICLE, with our license numbers, time and date on it. Upon leaving the lot, there is a small sign that says private parking. There are at least four businesses in the same building, including the restaurant. I’m sure it is some kind of feud going on, but one can’t shop or eat if one can’t park.
I have been trying to follow the events in Bahrain, and those events are not nearly as peaceful as Egypt. With Egypt, I could recognize many of the places; I knew people still living there; and I felt somehow connected. With Bahrain, I don’t have any of those connections, but the events there do show how this movement is moving across the area. From what I can tell, Bahrain has been seen as a ‘meeting place’ in that area for making oil deals, bank deals, and other business deals. No one has seen it as a hot bed of Sunni / Shiite protests or even Sunni / Shiite tension. The big concern for all Americans is the Strait where oil moves toward the US. The Bahrain monarchy has been our ‘friend’ and our government has paid little attention to how the people are treated, how the economy works, or wheat Draconian methods are used inside the country. Our concern seems to have been that the oil moves through the Strait. Our decades of short sighted views are starting to catch up with us.
All weather signs for a foot of snow over the next few days. Flag is very dry and looks like things will be changing. I have to fill up with gas tomorrow morning and then I’m set, if it gets really bad. I would have gotten gas today, but by the time I realized I needed gas, I was way past Sam’s and didn’t want to turn around. Sam’s gas is about 10 cents cheaper than anywhere else in Flag. Since most of the stations are at $3.20, it is worth going to Sam’s. Mary is heading for Phoenix, so she is watchin the sky, Martha is headed for Sedona and to Winslow, so she is watchin’ the sky. Sure hope they both have safe travels.
I got an email for World Market today. I like shopping there and signed up for their emails. The last email coupon was for 25% off my entire purchase. This one was a $10 Happy Birthday coupon. This is really good advertising.
What comes to mind when you think of Wisconsin? For me, first is cold, then cheese, then that cheese commercial with the cows moving to California, then the accent, and finally a couple of Indian tribes—Wyandot and Winnebago as I know a few people from each tribe. What has never come to mind is protest. However today the Democrats in the legislature left Wisconsin so they wouldn’t be forced to go to a vote on the Republican governor’s bill to basically shut down all state employee union’s bargaining power. The governor seems to believe that fire fighters, teachers, police, and other state workers are paid too much, do to little work, and need to take a 10% pay cut. He took office in January on the Republican sweep and sure sounds like a Tea Party guy. Schools in the Madison area had to be closed as too many teachers were at the capital with protest signs. It was in the 50’s today and only down to 30° last night, so my first impression of Wisconsin isn’t accurate. I guess the rest of my impressions are probably wrong too. This is the first governor to really attack budget, although his figures don’t seem to match the WI OMB figures. I have to wonder what other countries think when they see these large protests.
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DID YOU KNOW THAT…
Bait a mouse or rat trap with Jif Peanut Butter. Mice actually prefer peanut butter over cheese.
Used cooking water from boiling vegetables or seafood ? Take the pot with the water in it directly outside to water your flowers or lawn instead of pouring it down the drain.
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION… Super Bowl
The official cost of tickets for the Super Bowl game cost $200 to watch it outside on huge video screens up to $1,200 for club seats inside Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. You could buy a ticket for just $6 for the very first Super Bowl back in 1967.
Each team in the game receives 17.5 percent of the money, the host team gets five percent, the other teams in the league split up 34.8 percent and the league keeps 25.2 percent of it.
Between 2001 and 2010, the Super Bowl has sold a total of seven hours of television advertising time. This represents 850 adverts that cost a total of $1.62 billion.
PUZZLE: Trivia Quiz […answers at bottom…]
1. Playing card, Raymond Shaw trance and the Manchurian Candidate what do these things have in common?
2. Which county has the largest army in the world?
3. What type of acid is used in car batteries?
4. What new domestic device was launched by Hoover in 1963?
5. What animal can sleep for 3 years but only mates once?
6. What weapon was invented by Ernest Swinton, in 1916?
7. What is the fastest swimming ocean fish, at over 60 mph?
8. Tracey and Hepburn's first film in 1942 was what?
9. Which children's character was created by Mary Tourtel?
10. In which war did the charge of the Light Brigade occur?
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM… ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.
— The good news about a giant fiberglass cactus reported stolen in New Mexico is that it wasn't the target of thieves.
The bad news is that the $50,000 cactus is in a landfill and won't be returning to the park where it once stood.
Albuquerque city officials reported the statue stolen this week. But two city employees quickly came forward, saying they removed the bright-green cactus from the park and mistakenly had it sent to the dump.
The workers were sent to the park to fix things after the statue was reported vandalized. But then things went awry.
City spokesman Chris Ramirez said Wednesday that the employees didn't realize the cactus was part of a public art project.
High school students spent a summer building the art piece shaped like a prickly pear cactus. They were part of a nonprofit group that provides art education for at-risk kids.
“After talking extensively with the employees involved is that they just didn't know and that it was an honest mistake,” Ramirez said.
“The solid waste truck took it took it to the landfill, where's it's since been compacted and buried,” Ramirez said, according to KOAT.com.
“It’s incredibly tragic and inexcusable that city employees made that decision by themselves,” said Nan Elsasser, who runs Working Classroom, the nonprofit organization whose students created the sculpture for the city with $50,000 in state funds, KOAT.com reported.
A LITTLE LAUGH…
My two daughters were discussing the less than desirable physical attributes they had inherited from their father.
The older one said: "I hate my freckles from Dad."
Her unsympathetic younger sister replied: "At least you got his freckles. I got his eyebrow."
Top 10 In The World; Countries with the most billionaires
CLOSEUP PICTURE…
Can you identify this close up picture?
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’…
♫ 60’s Rock ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
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DAYBOOK INFORMATION
¤…THIS WEEK…¤
13-19 ► International Flirting Week ♥ National Secondhand Wardrobe Week ♥ PTA Take Your Family To School Week
14-21 ► Alzheimer’s and Dementia Awareness Week ♥ Love a Mench Week ♥ National Condom Week: ♥ National Nest box Week ♥ NCCDP Alzheimer's & Dementia Staff Education Week ♥ International Friendship Week ♥ National Conference on Education
¤…TODAY IS…¤
National Battery Day
Perigean Spring Tides
Pluto Day (Discovered today through Flagstaff telescope)
Great Backyard Bird Count
Snow Moon
Gambia: Independence Day (1965 from UK)
Iceland: National Bun Day
Iran: Mohammed's Death
Israel: Mother's Day
Nepál: Constitutional Day (1951)
Today’s Births...
○ AUTHORS/COMPOSERS
Helen Gurley Brown, 89, author (Sex and the Single Girl), magazine editor (Cosmopolitan)
Toni Morrison, 80, Nobel Prize–winning novelist (Beloved, Jazz, Tar Baby, Sula)
1890 Boris L Pasternak Russian poet/writer (Dr Zhivago)
○ ATHLETES
1853 August Belmont Jr breeder (Man 'O War)/founder (New York Jockey Club)
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1795 George Peabody merchant/philanthropist
○ ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS/…)
1920 Bill Cullen TV host: I’ve Got a Secret, The Price is Right
1907 Billy De Wolfe (William Andrew Jones) actor: The Perils of Pauline, Lullaby of Broadway
Matt Dillon, 47, actor (Crash, There’s Something About Mary, Drugstore Cowboy)
George Kennedy, 84, actor (Oscar for Cool Hand Luke; “The Blue Knight”)
Jillian Michaels, 37, personal trainer, television personality (“The Biggest Loser”)
Juice Newton, 59, singer, born Judy Cohen
Yoko Ono, 78, artist, musician
1919 Jack Palance (Vladimir Palahnuik) Academy Award-winning actor: City Slickers [1991]
Molly Ringwald, 43, actress (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink)
Cybill Shepherd, 61, actress (The Last Picture Show, “Moonlighting,” “Cybill”)
John Travolta, 56, actor (Pulp Fiction, Urban Cowboy, Saturday Night Fever, “Welcome Back, Kotter”)
Vanna White, 54, television personality (“Wheel of Fortune”)
○ POLITICIANS
1516 Mary I Tudor [Bloody Mary] 1st reigning queen of Great Britain
1892 Wendell Wilkie Presidential candidate (R-1940)/author (One World)
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1677 Jacques Cassini French astronomer (rings of Saturn)
1836 Ramakrishna (Bengali: রামকৃষ্ণ পরমহংস Ramkṛiṣṇo Pôromôhongśo), Hindu saint (preached unity of all religions)
Today’s Obits…
1217 Alexander Neckum de Sancto Albano English encyclopedist, @ 59
1564 Michelangelo Buonarroti Italian sculptor/painter/architect/poet (David), @ 88
1998 Harry Christopher Carabina, (Harry Caray) sportscaster (Chicago Cubs), brain damage from fall @ 83
1933 James Corbett (Gentleman Jim), heavyweight box champion (1892-97), @ 66
2001 [Ralph] Dale Earnhardt NASCAR driver/"The Intimidator", crash during Daytona 500 @ 49
1546 Martin Luther biblical scholar/religious reformer, stroke after years of poor health @ 62
1998 Robert Merrill songwriter (Funny Girl), commits suicide @ 76
1967 Robert J Oppenheimer creator of atomic bomb, throat cancer @ 62
Today’s Events…
○ ARTS
1678 John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" is published
1885 Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" published
1953 Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz signed a contract worth $8,000,000 [2010USD-$64.5million]to continue the I Love Lucy TV show through 1955.
○ ATHLETICS
1839 Detroit Boat Club forms (still exists today)
1932 Sonja Henie wins her 6th straight World Women's figure skating title
1960 8th Winter Olympics games open in Squaw Valley CA
1968 10th Winter Olympics games close at Grenoble, France
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1804 1st US land-grant college, Ohio University, Athens OH, chartered
○ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1833 The Ottawa sign a treaty (7 stat. 420) at Maumee.
1867 The Sac and Fox sign a treaty (15 stat.495). They sell much of what remains of their reservation.
1876 Twenty-Fifth Infantry soldiers fight some Indians in the Carrizo Mountains in Texas. According to army documents, no casualties are recorded.
○ POLITICS (International)
1857 Insurrection of Chinese in Sarawak, Borneo
1921 British troops occupy Dublin
1927 US & Canada begin diplomatic relations
○ POLITICS (US)
1841 1st continuous filibuster in US Senate began, lasting until March 11
1861 Confederate President Jefferson Davis inaugurated at Montgomery AL
1908 1st US postage stamps in coils issued
1970 Chicago 7 defendants found innocent of inciting to riot
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1688 Quakers conduct 1st formal protest of slavery in Germantown PA
1901 H Cecil Booth patented a dust removing suction cleaner
1930 US astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto in Flagstaff, AZ
1979 Snow falls in the Sahara Desert
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ANSWERS
Quiz ANSWERS…
1. Playing card, Raymond Shaw trance and the Manchurian Candidate what do these things have in common? The Queen of Diamonds
2. Which county has the largest army in the world? China
3. What type of acid is used in car batteries? Sulphuric
4. What new domestic device was launched by Hoover in 1963? Steam Iron
5. What animal can sleep for 3 years but only mates once? Snails
6. What weapon was invented by Ernest Swinton, in 1916? Tank
7. What is the fastest swimming ocean fish, at over 60 mph? Sailfish, Marlin
8. Tracey and Hepburn's first film in 1942 was what? Woman of the Year
9. Which children's character was created by Mary Tourtel? Rupert the Bear
10. In which war did the charge of the Light Brigade occur? Crimean
Close Up Picture…
Escalator
« AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW »
