TODAY’s HOLY MACKEREL: 1936 Federal Register, 1st magazine of the US government, publishes 1st issue
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MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
Another nice day outside, but I have missed doing the entire blog so I’m back in full power. It is so nice to have the windows open during the day. I can even have my office window open well into the evening, as long as I keep the office door closed, which cuts down on a breeze through the house. Spring is a wonderful time of year.
We are certainly in a global economy. If you have any question about that just watch the prices of technology over the next year. With the disaster in Japan, the big tech companies over there are already talking about decreased production, difficult shipping, and some shortages. [Think: Sony, Panasonic, Apple]. The idea of a nuclear reactor in your backyard, or even in your state is making people think. The Japanese have been the leaders of nuclear safety. Now we see that even their double and triple backups can’t protect everyone from nature. A wakeup call for our safety on this planet for sure.
While most of the country has returned to DST, AZ—accept for the Navajo Rez has not. The upside is that we let nature wake us up with the sun. The downside is that all the TV stations in AZ stay on AZ time, but the national stations are now an hour earlier. We get all our national feeds from California and since they change time, our programs move to an hour earlier. The same is true for the local NPR station. I can now watch The Daily show and Colbert Report on the night it is first broadcast. I can also watch my Sunday morning news shows and be finished by 11am instead of noon. Every year, many question the AZ non-compliance with DST. The original reason back in the late 60’s was that it messed up farmers. For years I believed it was that the Phx population just didn’t want anymore daylight clock time than was absolutely necessary in the summer—due to the 100°+ temps. Now that I have more time to look at AZ politics, I think that many of the legislators did it more out of a refusal for the Feds to tell them what to do. AZ fought the 55mph speed limit and finally accepted it when Federal funds were not available if we kept a higher speed limit. Our governor didn’t accept MLK day until the NFL moved the Super Bowl out of Phx. I don’t recall any loss of any funding when we refused DST. It is our legislature’s way of thumbing their nose at the Feds. Our state government is busy filling out forms to get a waiver from our cuts in Medicaid. If the waiver is approved, AZ will continue to thumb its collective nose. If not, the politicians will be find a way to make us feel good about the outcome. It is so sad that our leaders have so little understanding or compassion.
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DID YOU KNOW THAT…
To keep hairspray cans from clogging, store the cans upside down with their caps on when not in use. This keeps them completely free from buildup and clogging.
Old chalkboards that are not looking their best can be rubbed with a soft cloth covered with WD 40. Let this sit overnight and tomorrow you can use chalk anywhere on that new looking board!
Forgot to buy long matches for candle lighting, etc., use a piece of dry spaghetti. It's long enough to reach every area.
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION… Social Security
The first three digits of a Social Security number are known as the "area number." Area numbers assigned before 1972 reflect the state where you applied for your number; otherwise, they are based upon the Social Security card application mailing address ZIP code. Area numbers are assigned geographically, with the lowest numbers in the Northeast and the highest in the Northwest. That practice will no longer apply, however, after a new randomized assignment methodology officially goes into effect on June 25.
Some people believe the next two digits, called the "group number," helps identify a person’s race. It doesn't. The two-digit group number was actually created as a way to organize Social Security Administration filing cabinets into subgroups to make them more manageable. The last four digits on a Social Security card are serial numbers that are issued consecutively within a group from 0001 to 9999.
PUZZLE: Trivia Quiz […answers at bottom…]
1. Leonard Sly became which famous actor?
2. Who directed the 'Halloween' series of films?
3. Marilyn Munroe was the model for which Disney Character?
4. In the TV show Bonanza, Hoss Cartwright was afraid of what?
5. Which 1936 film started with a world war and ended with a space flight?
6. What hotel hosted the first Oscar ceremony?
7. What star once sold lingerie door to door?
8. What was Jimmy Stuart's middle name?
9. Who said "Too much of a good thing is wonderful"?
10. What was the name of the plantation in movie 'Gone with the Wind'?
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM:
SOUTH GREENSBURG, Pa. - Police in Pennsylvania said a suspected car thief spent about 2 1/2 hours hiding in the ceiling of a building before they caught a whiff of his cigarette smoke. South Greensburg police Chief Scott Fanchalsky said he went to a BP gas station Wednesday on a report of a man who had no money to pay for his gasoline and the suspect fled when Fanchalsky ran the vehicle's registration and discovered it was reported stolen, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Thursday. The suspect, who lost his shirt during a brief struggle with Fanchalsky, fled to the nearby Wellington Square professional building, where authorities soon instituted a lock-down. Fanchalsky said the building was on lock-down for about 2 1/2 hours before pieces of broken ceiling tile were noticed on a fourth-story bathroom floor and the telltale odor of cigarette smoke was noticed coming from the ceiling crawlspace. Fanchalsky said he crawled into the ceiling and found the suspect, who agreed to surrender at about 1:40 p.m. The suspect's name was not released but police said charges are pending.
A LITTLE LAUGH:
At the beginning of my junior year of high school in Arkansas, our homeroom teacher had us fill out a form stating our future goals. Out of curiosity, I leaned over to see what my friend put down for her aspirations. Where it read "Vocational Plans" –she had written, "Florida."
Top 10 In The World:
CLOSEUP PICTURE: Can you identify this close up picture?
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’:Perry Como - Catch a Falling Star Interesting clip
♫ ‘Hair Bands’ ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear it.
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DAYBOOK INFORMATION
►THIS WEEK◄
13-19► Campfire USA Birthday Week ♣ Wildlife Week ♣ International Brain Awareness Week ♣ National Money Week ♣
►TODAY IS◄
National Potato Chip Day
Pi Day: 3.14
♣ ♣ ♣ ♣
Albania: Spring Day
Andorra: Constitution Day
Estonia: Mother Tongue Day
Japan and Korea: White Day, complimentary day of Valentine's Day when men give gifts to women.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Heroes' Day
UK: Commonwealth Day
■…AUTHORS/COMPOSERS/ARTISTS
Quincy Jones, 78, composer, producer
1920 Hank Ketcham cartoonist: Dennis the Menace
1919 Max Shulman novelist, playwright: Strictly for Laughs, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, I Was A Teenage Dwarf, The Tender Trap, Rally Round The Flag Boys
■…ATHLETES
Bobby Jenks, 30, baseball (White Sox, Red Sox)
■…BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1800 James Bogardus US inventor/builder (made cast-iron buildings)
Frank Borman, 83, former astronaut, airline executive
1837 Charles Ammi Cutter US librarian (Expansive classification/originated Cutter system)
1864 (John Luther) Casey Jones railroad engineer: subject of The Ballad of Casey Jones
■…ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS)
1912 Les Brown orchestra leader (& his band of renown)
Michael Caine (Maurice Micklewhite), 78, actor (Oscars for The Cider House Rules and Hannah and Her Sisters)
Billy Crystal, 64, actor (Analyze This, When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers, “Soap”)
■…POLITICIANS
1854 Thomas Riley Marshall 28th Vice President (1913-21)
■…SCIENCE & RELIGION
1879 Albert Einstein (E=mc²/Theory of Relativity, Nobel 1921)
1854 Paul Ehrlich 1908 Nobel Prize in Medicine; founded chemotherapy, discovered Salvarsan - a remedy for syphilis, developed antitoxin for diphtheria
1833 Lucy Hobbs Taylor 1st US woman dentist
Today’s Obits:
1989 Edward Abbey (environmental author) after surgery @ 62
1925 Walter Camp father of American football, @ 65
1997 John Curtis Jr president/CEO (Luby's Cafe), suicide @ 58
1932 George Eastman US industrialist (Kodak-camera), suicide @ 77
1883 Karl Marx German philosopher (Communist Manifesto), bronchitis/pleuracy @ 64
Today’s Events:
■…ARTS
1958 RIAA (Recording Industry Association of American)is created and certifies 1st gold record (Perry Como's Catch A Falling Star)
■…ATHLETICS
1969 Less than one month after winning her first horse race, Barbara Jo Rubin became the first woman jockey to win at Aqueduct Race Course
1993 Johan Koss skates world record 5 km (6 :6.57)
1997 68 year old Gordie Howe signs AHL contract with Syracuse Crunch
■…BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1794 Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin
1913 John D Rockefeller gives $100 million to Rockefeller Foundation
■…INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1493 Columbus writes a letter today describing the generous nature of the Indians he has encountered. He will describe them as "men of great deference and kindness."
1833 The Secretary of War has the Indian Department issue orders, again, to U.S. Marshals to remove whites from Creek lands.
■…POLITICS (International)
1644 England grants patent for Providence Plantations (now Rhode Island)
1689 Scotland dismisses Willem III & Mary Stuart as king & queen
1992 Soviet newspaper "Pravda" suspends publication
■…POLITICS (US)
1629 England granted a royal charter to Massachusetts Bay Colony
1743 1st American town meeting (Boston's Faneuil Hall)
1812 Congress authorizes war bonds to finance War of 1812
1900 US currency goes on gold standard
1923 President Warren G Harding became 1st President filing income tax report and pay taxes
1950 FBI's "10 Most Wanted Fugitives" program begins
1964 Dallas jury sentences Jack Ruby to death for Lee Harvey Oswald murder
■…SCIENCE & RELIGION
1903 1st national bird reservation established in Sebastian FL
1933 Civilian Conservation Corp, begins tree conservation
1995 1st time 13 people in space
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ANSWERS:
Quiz
1. Leonard Sly became which famous actor? Roy Rogers
2. Who directed the 'Halloween' series of films? John Carpenter
3. Marilyn Munroe was the model for which Disney Character? Tinker Bell
4. In the TV show Bonanza, Hoss Cartwright was afraid of what? The Dark
5. Which 1936 film started with a world war and ended with a space flight?
'Things to Come' by H.G. Wells
6. What hotel hosted the first Oscar ceremony? Roosevelt Hotel
7. What star once sold lingerie door to door? Burt Lancaster
8. What was Jimmy Stuart's middle name? Crane
9. Who said "Too much of a good thing is wonderful"? Mae West
10. What was the name of the plantation in movie 'Gone with the Wind'? Tara
Close Up Picture
Remote Control
________AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW________
