TODAY’s HOLY MACKEREL: 1886 1st US alternating current power plant starts, Great Barrington MA
____________________________________
MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
I didn’t make it to the St. Patty Day Parade in Sedona. The parade is organized by NAU students—well not exactly. The NAU students do a whole lot of leg work while a Celtic board makes the decisions. This means that the parade can’t interfere with Spring Break. It is usually the weekend before St. Patty’s Day but this year that is spring break. From what I hear, the students get a grade for their hard work and the parade couldn’t be as successful without their hard work. I am sure that everything went off without a hitch.
Times have really changed. When I was in grad school one of my profs and mentors was very involved in the AZ Bilingual Conference—later, AZ-TESOL. Many of her adult, working students, got involved. Several of us went on to become officers from Program Chair, President, Director, and newsletter editor. This was a statewide organization attached to international TESOL. Back in those days none of the working officers go any time off work, Our conferences were always on Friday night and Saturday so that both the officers and the teacher attendees could actually attend. I think that each of us did get some free printing, some free office supplies, and other things for the conference. I was once invited to participate in the International TESOL conference in Miami, FL. It took a letter from the International head to the BIA to allow me to attend at government expense. While I enjoyed my many years with AZ-TESOL, I never even considered attending a state conference during work hours. I would take leave, or sometimes be given leave as soon as the kids left for the day. I would then drive to Phoenix or Flagstaff or Tucson for the Friday night events. This was a great organization, doing very good things for teachers of children who didn’t speak English as their first language. I know that many of our attendees were sent to our conferences by their districts.
Students today don’t seem to have that kind of dedication to a program that our officers had. The same is true of our local news program. I have been very happy with their professionalism and their work in informing our local community. However, the program is only on M-Th during the time school is in session. It starts about 3 weeks after the fall and winter terms begin—so that students can be prepared for on-air live news. I keep hoping that the students who are really into broadcasting will suggest that they do the news five nights a week or during breaks. (It could be much like student teaching). Now that I have learned about the St. Patty’s Day Sedona parade, I doubt that it will happen anytime in the near future.
As my facial keeps coming in, I am a little disappointed. While I have had white hair for many years, my facial hair is still salt and pepper with a lot more pepper than salt. My mustache is almost totally pepper, to match my eyebrows. I’m not sure I like that look. I’ll give it a couple more days so see what happens.
____________________________________
DID YOU KNOW THAT…
Motion sickness causes you to produce excess saliva, which can make you nauseated, some doctors say. Compounds in olives called tannins dry out your mouth and can help soothe the queasiness. Pop a couple at the first hint of nausea; sucking on a lemon can also do the trick.
Use Kool-Aid in Dannon plain yogurt as a fingerpaint. Your kids will love it and it won't hurt them if them eat it.
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION… Youtube Part II
The first video ever to be uploaded on YouTube was shot by Yakov Lapitsky at the San Diego Zoo. It shows co-founder Jawed Karim in front of the elephant enclosure going on about long trunks. It has racked up 4,282,497 views since its online debut on April 23, 2005.
As of February 2011, YouTube has 490 million unique users worldwide per month, who rack up an estimated 92 billion page views each month. These stats are just for the main YouTube website -- they don't incorporate embedded videos or video watched on mobile devices.
Not counting music videos (which due to licensing restrictions are often shown only in the U.S. on YouTube), the most viewed video of all time is the classic "Charlie bit my finger," with an astounding 282,151,886 (at the time of writing).
PUZZLE: Trivia Quiz […answers at bottom…]
1. By area what is the world's largest sea?
2. What capital city began as the village of Edo?
3. On which national flag is there an eagle and a snake?
4. In which country would you find the Negev desert?
5. Which American State is nicknamed the 'Diamond State'?
6. What is the capitol of Morocco?
7. If you landed at Hanedi airport where are you?
8. Where does the White and Blue Nile join?
9. What does Calabria, Liguria, Puglia and Veneto have in comoon?
10. What is the capital of Ghana?
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM:
HEDGESVILLE, Md. - Authorities in West Virginia said a man arrested on an explosives charge was making "cat bombs" to scare felines away from his yard. West Virginia State Police said Brian Michael Bailey, 42, of Hedgesville, was arrested Monday after several complaints were lodged about him setting off some manner of explosive devices at his home, The (Hagerstown, Md.) Herald-Mail, reported Thursday. Bailey told troopers he had been making "cat bombs" from combining aluminum foil and toilet bowl cleaner in empty plastic soda bottles and throwing them into his yard, frightening away roaming cats with the resulting explosion. Troopers said they found three exploded bottles at Bailey's home and two bottles of The Works toilet bowl cleaner. Bailey was charged with a felony count of illegal possession of destructive devices, explosive material or incendiary devices.
A LITTLE LAUGH:
To prepare for my daughter's First Communion, I called the church in the town where we used to live to get a copy of her baptismal certificate.
We lived there for only a short while, so I didn't know the clergy well. When the secretary asked me the name of the father, I told her that I couldn't remember.
After a brief silence, she said, "Ma'am, I'm talking about the name of the baby's father."
Top 10 In The World:
CLOSEUP PICTURE: Can you identify this close up picture?
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’: Cronkite: In His Own Words
♫ 60’s Rock ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear it.
____________________________________
DAYBOOK INFORMATION
►THIS WEEK◄
1-7 National Cheerleading Week ♣ National Ghostwriters Week ♣ National Write A Letter of Appreciation Week ♣ Universal Human Beings Week ♣
5-20► Iditarod Race ♣
6-12► Celebrate Your Name Week ♣ National Consumer Protection Week ♣ National Pancake Week ♣ National Words Matter Week ♣ Save Your Vision Week ♣ Read an E-Book Week ♣ Return The Borrowed Books Week ♣ Teen Tech Week ♣ Women in Construction Week ♣
►TODAY IS◄
National Frozen Food Day
Namesake Day
Belgium: Carnival of Binche (celebrations leading up to Ash Wednesday)
Austria & Germany: Fasching Sunday (celebrations leading up to Ash Wednesday)
Ghana: Independence Day (1957 from UK)
Guam: Magellan Day/Discovery Day (1521)
Territory of Norfolk Island, Australia: Foundation Day, the founding of Norfolk Island in 1788
U.S. Stoneware Pottery Appreciation Day
U.S. Snowshoe Day
■…AUTHORS/COMPOSERS/ARTISTS
1806 Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Moulton) poet: Sonnets from the Portuguese - “How do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways.”
1475 Michelangelo Buonarroti painter/sculptor/architect (David, Pièta)
1619 Cyrano de Bergerac famous nose, dramatist (A Voyage to the Moon)
Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, 83, Nobel Prize–winning Colombian author (A Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera)
■…ATHLETES
Ryan Nyquist, 32, BMX bike racer
Shaquille Rashan O’Neal, 39, basketball (Magic, Lakers, Heat, Suns, Cavaliers, Celtics)
■…BUSINESS & EDUCATION
Alan Greenspan, 85, economist, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board
■…ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS)
Tom Arnold, 52, actor (“Roseanne,” McHale’s Navy, True Lies)
1906 Lou Costello comedian/actor (Abbott & Costello)
1893 [Walter] Furry Lewis father of the blues
Dave Gilmour, 67, singer, guitarist (Pink Floyd)
D.L. Hughley, 48, comedian, actor (“The Hughleys,” The Original Kings of Comedy)
1923 Ed McMahon TV host (Johnny Carson Show, Star Search)
Rob Reiner, 64, actor (“All in the Family”), director (When Harry Met Sally . . . , This Is Spinal Tap)
1905 Bob Wills fiddler, composer, bandleader: Light Crust Doughboys, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys: San Antonio Rose; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
■…POLITICIANS
Saul Anuzis, 52, former chair of Republican Party
Marion Barry Jr., 52, former mayor of DC
■…SCIENCE & RELIGION
1787 Joseph von Fraunhofer German physicist (studied Sun's spectrum)
Valentina Tereshkova-Nikolayeva, 74, cosmonaut
Today’s Obits:
1888 Louisa May Alcott US author (Old-fashioned Girl), stroke @ 55
1973 Pearl S[ydenstricker] Buck author (Good Earth-Nobel 1938), @ 80
1836 Davy Crockett US pioneer (Alamo), killed in battle @ 49
1967 Nelson Eddy US baritone/actor (Phantom of the Opera), cerebral hemorrhage @ 65
1968 Joseph Martin Jr Speaker of the House, @ 83
1932 John Philip Sousa US composer (Stars & Stripes Forever), heart failure @ 77
Today’s Events:
■…ARTS
1831 Edgar Allen Poe removed from West Point military academy
1985 Yul Brynner appears in his 4,500th performance of "King & I"
■…ATHLETICS
1922 Babe Ruth signs 3 years at $52,000 a year New York Yankee contract
1964 Elijah Muhammad renames Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali
1967 Muhammad Ali is ordered by selective service to be inducted
■…BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1808 1st college orchestra in US founded, at Harvard
1978 Hustler publisher Larry Flynt shot & crippled by a sniper in Georgia
1981 Walter Cronkite signs-off as anchorman of "The CBS Evening News"
■…INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1777 70 SHAWNEE warriors, led by Chief Blackfish, will attack some settlers near Harrodsburg, Kentucky. One of the men, James Ray, managed to escape and warn the settlement of the war party. The SHAWNEE will attack Harrodsburg tomorrow.
1873 After hearing from Hooker Jim of the "trap" at the Fairchild ranch, Captain Jack has his sister Mary Write a letter to the commissioners. The letter states Captain Jack's wish for both sides to forget the killings on both sides and for the slate to be wiped clean. Captain Jack wants no more killing, but he will not give up his people to be hanged. He states he has not asked for the whites who have killed his people
■…POLITICS (International)
1521 Magellan discovers Guam
1926 China asks for a seat in the Security council
■…POLITICS (US)
1857 Dred Scott Decision: Supreme Court rules slaves cannot be citizens
■…SCIENCE & RELIGION
1840 Baltimore College of Dental Surgery Opened, the first Dental school.
1869 Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society.
1899 Bayer registers aspirin as a trademark.
1992 Michelangelo computer virus begins to affect computers.
____________________________________
ANSWERS:
Quiz
1. By area what is the world's largest sea? South China
2. What capital city began as the village of Edo? Tokyo
3. On which national flag is there an eagle and a snake? Mexico
4. In which country would you find the Negev desert? Israel
5. Which American State is nicknamed the 'Diamond State'? Delaware
6. What is the capitol of Morocco? Rabat
7. If you landed at Hanedi airport where are you? Tokyo
8. Where does the White and Blue Nile join? Khartoum, in Sudan
9. What does Calabria, Liguria, Puglia and Veneto have in comoon? Regions of Italy
10. What is the capital of Ghana? Accra
Close Up Picture
Toy Oven
________AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW________
