TODAY’s HOLY MACKEREL: 1952 Big Bang theory proposed in Physical Review by Alpher, Bethe & Gamow
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MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
I have been confused about the AZ educational system for four decades. First it was why AZ had no reciprocity with any state for certification. Then it was the state system not wanting to deal with ESL for anyone but Spanish speakers, and finally it was the state proficiency test. I only had one semester with high school students and that was in SD, so I can’t say a lot about what happens in the upper grades. But I did know K-8 education pretty well. Our goal was to prepare students for life. That meant basic reading, writing, speaking, and math skills. My schools were never affected by budget changes in AZ. We had to deal with budget changes at the Federal level. Earlier this week a report was listed that only 31% of the incoming Freshman graduate from NAU in 4 years. The number jumps to 35% in five years. I thought that was pretty low and something was wrong. I checked my Alma mater, Univ. of CO, to see what their stats were. In 2009, the CU graduation rate for all students was 68% with athletes a little lower at 57%. I felt a little better.
If less than one in three freshmen makes it to graduation, there are problems. Students at NAU are paying about $4,000 per semester for in-state tuition and fees. Are the students leaving NAU because of the tuition costs? I’m still trying to figure that out. Many students get scholarships, grants, and other loans to pay these rates. Most are tied to grades. Grade inflation has always been a problem at universities and NAU is no exception. Are the NAU students there because they want an education, or is just that the high schools only push college attendance? Do they leave because they just have too much fun their first couple of semesters? Do students leave because the work was too difficult? How are the AZ high schools preparing students for the freedom and the responsibility of college?
I don’t have any answers but as AZ falls lower and lower on the education scale—currently at 46th in the US, I sure hope someone is asking these questions and more. More importantly I hope that someone is finding answers. I know many students who have found happiness with a high school diploma. I know some who found happiness with less than a high school education. They didn’t do well with ‘book learning’ in school, but were hard working, reliable, driven people who wanted to have a good life for themselves and their families. I also know students who were unsuccessful in school and unsuccessful in life. Education is only part of the big picture. It is time the public schools look at that big picture and teach the skills needed to be successful in that world. We need doctors, lawyers, teachers; we need techies, mechanics, warehouse workers, and janitors; we need artists, writers, and actors; we need entrepreneurs, dreamers, and leaders. A one size fits all high school not the answer, but having high schools that are magnets for various skills may be the answer to our educational dilemma here in AZ.
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DID YOU KNOW THAT…
~If you've been yanking on a cork in a wine bottle and it just simply won't budge, here's a quick tip: Take a hot, wet towel and wrap it around the neck of the bottle. The heat will cause the glass to expand a little so the cork will pop right out.
~Electric bulbs get dirty just like everything else, and that makes them less efficient. By simply dusting them with a microfiber cloth, they'll give off 50% more light so your rooms will be lighter and brighter.
~Next time you boil potatoes, let the water cool and use it to give your thirsty plants a drink. It contains starch, nutrients and organic water that help plants thrive.
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION…
~McDonald's fast food restaurant opened an official school, Hamburger University, in Oak Brook, IL, (a suburb of Chicago) in 1961.
~McDonald's purchases the more beef than any other entity in the world.
PUZZLE: Trivia Quiz […answers at bottom…]
1. In the movie 'Casablanca' what is the name of the nightclub?
2. Detective Philip Marlow smokes what brand of cigarette?
3. What was Colombo's dog called?
4. Who directed the movie 'Sharky's Machine'?
5. Pat Sullivan created which cartoon character?
6. What was the world's first X rated cartoon?
7. What TV character lived in Waratah National Park?
8. Maurice Micklewhite became famous as who?
9. Who was Dan Dare's greatest enemy in the Eagle?
10. Wo Fat was the enemy of which TV detective?
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM:
Unreal Estate: The collapse of the economy in 2008 might have reached the far corners of Earth, but evidently not to Planet Calypso, the make-believe asteroid containing make believe real estate in the multiplayer online game Entropia Universe, where resort entrepreneur Jon Jacobs, a 44 year old high school dropout, recently cashed out his properties for $635,000—in real (not make believe) US dollars. Since Jacobs’ original 2005 investment of $100,000 (a record at the time), he thus has earned an average 35% annual return. A recent study by the marketing firm In-Stat estimated that online players spent $7 billion in 2010 on make believe property and goods.
A LITTLE LAUGH:
A man was sitting alone in his office one night when a genie popped up out of his ashtray.
"And what will your third wish be?"
The man looked at the genie and said, "Huh? How can I be getting a third wish when I haven't had a first or second wish yet?"
"You have had two wishes already," the genie said, "but your second wish was for me to put everything back the way it was before you made your first wish. Thus, you remember nothing, because everything is the way it was before you made any wishes. You now have one wish left."
"Okay," said the man, "I don't believe this, but what the heck. I've always wanted to understand women. I'd love to know what's going on inside their heads."
"Funny," said the genie as it granted his wish and disappeared forever, "That was your first wish, too!"
Top 10 Game Shows:
10. Sale Of The Century
9. Takeaway
8. Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Countdown
7. Family Fortunes
6. Wheel Of Fortune
5. The Generation Game
4. The Price Is Right
3. Jeopardy
2. Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?
1. Deal or no Deal
CLOSEUP PICTURE: Can you identify this close up picture?
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’:
♫ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ♫
Madonna (born Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccon)
Click on Song Title to see and hear it.
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DAYBOOK INFORMATION
►THIS MONTH◄
Atlanta Food & Wine Month ♦ Alcohol Awareness Month ♦ Amateur Radio Month ♦ Autism Awareness Month ♦ Brussels Sprouts and Cabbage Month ♦ Cancer Control Month ♦ Car Care Month ♦ Celebrate Diversity Month ♦ Child Abuse Prevention Month ♦ (International) Cesarean Awareness Month ♦ Confederate History Month ♦ Couple Appreciation Month ♦ Cranberries and Gooseberries Month ♦ Defeat Diabetes Month ♦ Emotional Overeating Awareness Month ♦ Fair Housing Month ♦ Financial Literacy Month ♦ Fresh Florida Tomatoes Month ♦ Frog Month ♦ Global Child Nutrition Month ♦ Grange Month ♦ Grilled Cheese Month ♦ Holy Humor Month ♦ Home Improvement Time ♦ Informed Women Month ♦ International Customer Loyalty Month ♦ International Guitar Month ♦ International Twit Award Month ♦ IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) Month ♦ Jazz Appreciation Month ♦ Keep America Beautiful ♦ Month of the Young Child ♦ Month of the Military Child ♦ National African American Women's Fitness Month ♦ National Child Abuse Prevention Month ♦ National Card and Letter Writing Month ♦ National Decorating Month ♦ National DNA & Genomics & Stem Cell Education & Awareness Month ♦ National Donate Life Month ♦ National Garden Month ♦ National Humor Month ♦ National Kite Month ♦ National Knuckles Down Month ♦ National Landscape Architecture Month ♦ National Occupational Therapy Month ♦ National Parkinson's Awareness Month ♦ National Pecan Month ♦ National Pet Month ♦ National Poetry Month ♦ Nationally Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) Month ♦ National Sexual Assault Awareness Month ♦ National Youth Sports Safety Month ♦ Pharmacists War on Diabetes Month ♦ Pet First Aid Awareness Month ♦ Physical Wellness Month ♦ Prevent Lyme in Dogs Month ♦ Prevention of Animal Cruelty Month ♦ Rosacea Awareness Month ♦ School Library Media Month ♦ Soy Foods Month ♦ Straw Hat Month ♦ Stress Awareness Month ♦ Testicular Cancer Awareness Month ♦ Tomatillo and Asian Pear Month ♦ Women's Eye Health & Safety Month ♦ Workplace Conflict Awareness Month ♦ World Habitat Awareness Month
►THIS WEEK◄1-7
Golden Rule Week
International Pooper-Scooper Week
Laugh at Work Week
Medication Safety Week
►TODAY IS◄
April Fools or All Fools Day
Atheist Day
Boomer Bonus Days (anyone over 50 celebrates)
Hospital Admitting Clerks Day
International Tatting Day
National Fun Day
National Fun at Work Day
National Geographic Bee (State Level)
One Cent Day (to wonder why we still have the penny)
Poetry & the Creative Mind Day
Reading is Funny Day
Sorry Charlie Day (for those who have been rejected and survived)
§ § § §
Iran: Islamic Republic Day
Bulgaria: Saint Lazarus Day
San Marino: National Day
Sri Lanka: Sinhal/Tamil New Year
US: Air Force Academy Day
■…AUTHORS/COMPOSERS/ARTISTS
David Eisenhower, 64, author (Eisenhower at War), lawyer
1922 William Manchester writer: The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur
1873 Sergei Vasilievitch Rachmaninov, composer (Prelude in C# Minor)
■…ATHLETES
Libby Riddles, 55, first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Alaskan dogsled race
Daniel Joseph “Rusty” Staub, 67, former baseball player
■…BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1887 Leonard Bloomfield US linguist
1866 Sophonisba Breckenridge scholar/teacher/social activist
Rachel Maddow, 38, political commentator
■…ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS)
1883 Lon Chaney man of 1000 faces, actor (High Noon, Phantom of Opera)
Jon Gosselin, 34, television personality
1932 Gordon Jump actor: WKRP in Cincinnati
Ali MacGraw, 72, actress (Goodbye, Columbus; Love Story)
Jane Powell (Suzanne Burce), 82, actress (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) Debbie Reynolds, 79, actress
■…POLITICIANS
Samuel A. Alito, Jr, 61, Associate Justice of the US
■…SCIENCE & RELIGION
Wangari Maathai, 70, Kenyan environmentalist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
1919 Joseph Murray, American surgeon, Nobel laureate
Today’s Obits:
1870 Patrick Gass Sergeant of Lewis & Clark Expedition, @ 98
1984 Marvin Gaye shot by his father @ 44
1917 Scott Joplin ragtime composer (Sting), dementia/syphilis @ 48
1969 Helena Rubinstein US cosmetic manufacturer, @ 89
1997 Nancy Woodhull news editor (USA Today), cancer @ 52
1930 Zawditu 1st reigning female monarch of Ethiopia, typhoid @ 53
Today’s Events:
■…ARTS
1724 Jonathan Swift publishes Drapier's letters
■…ATHLETICS
1876 1st official National League baseball game (Boston-6, Philadelphia-5)
1980 Wayne Gretzky breaks Bobby Orr's record with 103rd assist
■…BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1889 1st dishwashing machine marketed (Chicago)
1946 400,000 US mine workers strike
1946 Weight Watchers forms
■…INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1536 After being shipwrecked in Galveston, Texas, Cabeza de Vaca and a few men march across the continent to California. They will be the first "white men" to visit many Indian tribes.
■…POLITICS (International)
1977 Attempt for Moslem state in Chad fails
■…POLITICS (US)
1934 Bonnie & Clyde kill 2 police officers
■…SCIENCE & RELIGION
1748 Ruins of Pompeii found
1826 Samuel Morey of Oxford, New Hampshire patented the internal combustion engine
1920 Church disestablished in Wales
1931 Earthquake devastates Managua Nicaragua, kills 2,000
1960 The first U.S. weather satellite was launched. TIROS I
1987 Steve Newman became the first man to walk solo around the world
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ANSWERS:
Quiz
1. In the movie 'Casablanca' what is the name of the nightclub?
Rick's
2. Detective Philip Marlow smokes what brand of cigarette?
Camels
3. What was Colombo's dog called?
Fang - Basset Hound
4. Who directed the movie 'Sharky's Machine'?
Burt Reynolds
5. Pat Sullivan created which cartoon character?
Felix the Cat
6. What was the world's first X rated cartoon?
Fritz the cat
7. What TV character lived in Waratah National Park?
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
8. Maurice Micklewhite became famous as who?
Michael Caine
9. Who was Dan Dare's greatest enemy in the Eagle?
Mekon
10. Wo Fat was the enemy of which TV detective?
Steve MacGarett
Close Up Picture
Covered Auto
________AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW________
