All Blue text is a link…be sure and click on it for more information!
‡ TODAY’s “Geez”:
¬ 1937 - The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, essentially rendering marijuana and all its by-products illegal
¬ 1985 - 5 die in a train crash in Westminster CO
¬ 1989 - NASA confirmed Voyager 2's discovery of 3 more moons of Neptune designated temporarily 1989 N2, 1989 N3 & 1989 N24
‡ Free Rambling Thoughts…
It was very good to see Gabby Giffords back on the House floor today. What a shock. Her recovery is no less than miraculous.
I ran errands today and discovered that only Walgreens develops film and provides a disk. The advertise one hour, but when I arrived they said at least two hours. No problem…I’ve waited this long. I’ll drive across town again tomorrow to pick it up. That way I will be able to finish my blog on the trip. It is not a day by day account, just my usual ramblings about 13 days on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. The more I write and find out how big some of the rapids were do I realize how adventurous I really was. My financial advisor had lent me a book that listed the canyon trip mile by mile. I left it home, as I didn’t want it ruined, but several of the oarers had copies of it. I plan to stop at the bookstore tomorrow to find a couple of Grand Canyon books too. Bookmans should have what I’m looking for.
I did quite a bit of walking than I have since I got back. My feet are very tender tonight. I still have a couple of stubborn spots on each foot and have used ½ the cream. If they don’t get better near the end of the tube I’ll go to the dermatologist. It’s only been six days, but seems like it’s been at least a month. While I am fine most of the day, if I walk a lot, the tenderness makes it uncomfortable. Most people seeing me don’t know I have any problems so that’s a good sign.
It’s been a good day for rain, and burn area flooding. We have had several downpours throughout the day. I was in the middle of one on my way home and it sure cut down on traffic, slowed the traffic there was, and made driving a little challenging. The flood area closed a lot of roads in the flood’s path and reports of ‘boulders’ in the middle of several streets out there. Such an unnecessary hassle for all those residents—one careless camper’s fire created the mess that will take several decades to abate the flooding. Those poor people are stuck in their homes as their property values have plummeted, insurance costs have skyrocketed, and our county and state budgets have been hit hard. So has the forest service budget. All at a time when everyone says their pot of money is empty.
I got a response from my congressman today about my Social Security decrease because I worked for the Feds. His response was a form so he can look at my SS records. Not sure I’ll reply. My question was regarding the law and the cut to all Civil Service employees under CSRP. I figure it’s just a delay tactic to not answer my question. I know the hassle that occurs when a citizen asks a congressman for help to the agency involved. More than once I had to respond to a congressman or senator regarding an issue raised by a private citizen. Believe me, it is difficult and takes many hours away from doing the job you were hired to do. Not only do you have to do all the leg work, then it has to go through the solicitor’s office where they basically rewrite everything into government talk. Then they send you the answer and you have to sign it as though it was your work. I’ll wait a few days to decide it I want to hassle the workers because my congressman can’t simply answer a question on his own.
‡ Trivia Quiz…(answers at the end of post)
1. Who was the first American woman to win Wimbledon?
2. Who was the first man to die in a US airplane crash?
3. Which millionaire yachtsman perished on the Lusitania in 1915?
4. How old was the man who was granted the first divorce in Irish history?
5. How many years elapsed between DH Lawrence's writing of Lady Chatterley's Lover and the book's publication?
6. Lindbergh wrote about his New York to Paris flight in which book?
7. Maria Montessori was the first woman in Italy to be awarded a degree in which subject?
8. In which country was Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago first published?
9. In what year did Caruso make his first American record?
10. Child expert Dr. Spock won an Olympic gold medal in what event?
11. Slippery Frank Cline was whose bodyguard?
12. Who created Popeye?
13. Who was the Lindbergh baby's nanny when he was kidnapped?
‡ Zoom-ed in Picture…Can you Identify what this is? (Answer at end of post)
‡ Hmmmmm…
¬Minimum number of birds killed by crashing into windows in NYC each year: 100,000
‡ Somewhat Useless Information…
¬ The best estimates available suggest that the total volume of gold ever mined up to the end of 2006 was approximately 158,000 tones, of which around 65% has been mined since 1950.
¬ An oyster takes ten years to produce a pearl that is about the size of a pea.
‡ Yeah, It Really Happened…
A gun, a knife, a bat, a broken beer bottle and a camcorder. These are among the offensive weapons the Portland police feel threatened by enough to use non-lethal force in order to subdue anyone carrying them.
According to a report four men say Portland police ran roughshod over their constitutional rights, and one of the men's bodies, and they are taking their case to court.
It all started when police officers followed a police dog onto the property during a search for a fleeing suspect. After the dog keyed on a car, officers broke out a window. Upset residents, insisting no one had run onto their property, started to videotape the police search.
One man with the video camera walked to the edge of the property to record the police activity. At one point, he yelled to his friend, "Yes, I got it all on film. They had no right to come on this property."
He says in the suit that police immediately came after him, and yelled at him "put it down." Officers moved towards him, and he said, "Don't come after me." Seconds later he was shot with a bean bag gun and a Taser and fell to the ground.
Not that he was threatening them, he was just recording them in case they did anything illegal...like violently assault an innocent bystander.
It was all explained later, though. Officers wrote in their reports that Waterhouse, "...had refused to drop the camera which could be used as a weapon."
‡ Guffaw…or at least smile…
A sign at Budapest’s Zoo requests:
PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS. IF YOU HAVE ANY SUITABLE FOOD GIVE IT TO THE GUARD ON DUTY
Bonus:
You know you’re getting old when your best friend tells you he's having an affair and you want to know if it's catered
‡ Searchin’ “You Tube” I found…
‡ Daybook Information…
…Happening This Week:
1-7: Exhibitor Appreciation Week / Psychic Week / National Fraud Awareness Week / Simplify Your Life Week / Single Working Women's Week / World Breastfeeding Week
‡ TODAY IS
¬National Night Out
~*~
Macedonia: National Day
‡ Today’s Events:
· IN ARTS
1865 - Lewis Carroll publishes "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
1961 - Beatles 1st gig as house band of Liverpool's Cavern Club
· IN ATHLETICS
1875 - 1st roller skating rink opens (London)
1987 - Kevin Seitzer (KC Royals), gets 6 hits in one baseball game
· IN BUSINESS
1791 - Samuel Briggs & his son, patent nail-making machine
1858 - 1st mailboxes installed in Boston & NYC streets
· IN EDUCATION
--
· FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1689 - A small force of thirty men, led by Lieutenant James Weems, are occupying the fort at Pemaquid, Maine. They are attacked by almost 100 Abenaki Indians. The soldiers eventually surrender, and those who aren't killed, are taken as prisoners to Canada
1792 - Mohegan Samson Occom dies in New Stockbridge, New York. A protégé of Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, Occom learns numerous foreign languages, become an ordained minister, be the first Indian to preach in England, minister to many Indian tribes, and be instrumental in the establishment of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire
1832 - 1,300 Illinois militia defeat Sac & Fox indians, end Black Hawk War
· IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
1943 - Lt John F Kennedy's PT-boat 109 sinks at Solomon Islands
· IN RELIGION
1492 - Jews are expelled from Spain by King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella
· IN SCIENCE
1610 - Henry Hudson enters bay later named after him, the Hudson Bay
1892 - Charles A Wheeler patents a prototype of the escalator
1922 - China, hit by a typhoon; about 60,000 die
1962 - NASA civilian test pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 32,600 m
· IN US POLITICS
1776 - Formal signing of Declaration of Independence
1790 - The first US Census is conducted
1909 - 1st Lincoln head pennies minted
1939 - Hatch Act prohibits political activity by federal workers
· ARTISTS: AUTHORS: COMPOSERS
1924 - James Baldwin, NY, author (Go Tell it on Mountain, Another Country)
1834 - Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor (Statue of Liberty)
Wes Craven director, turns 72
1892 - Jack Warner, US movie studio head (Warner Bros)
· ATHLETES
Ed West, NFL tight end (Phila Eagles, Atlanta Falcons) turns 50
· ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS…)
Joanna Cassidy actress turns 66
Kathy Lennon, singer (Lennon Sisters) turns 68
1905 - Myrna Loy, actress (Jazz Singer, Thin Man, Vanity Fair)
1922 - Carroll O'Connor, NYC, actor (All in the Family, Heat of the Night)
Peter O'Toole turns 79
Mary-Louise Parker, actress (Fried Green Tomatoes) turns 47
· ENTREPRENEUR & EDUCATORS
1754 - Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French architect laid out Wash DC
· POLITICIANS
Lance Ito, judge (OJ Simpson trial) turns 62· SCIENTISTS / THEOLOGISTS
--
‡ Today’s Obits:
1922 - Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish/US physicist (telephone), dies at 75
1696 - Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, Scottish military commander dies at 66
1903 - Calamity Jane, [Martha Jane Cannary], US desperado, dies of alcohol abuse at 51
1921 - Enrico Caruso, Italian opera singer, dies of peritonitis at 48
1978 - Totie Fields, [Sophie Feldman], comedienne, dies of pulmonary embolism at about 48
1788 - Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (Blue Boy), dies of cancer at 61
1923 - Warren Harding, 29th Pres (1921-23), dies of apoplexy or congestive heart failure at 57
1876 - Wild Bill Hickok, shot dead (from behind) by Jack McCall while playing poker at 39. He held a pair of Aces & a pair of 8's
1998 - Shari Lewis, American puppeteer dies of uterine cancer at 65
1979 - Thurmon Munson, NY Yankee, killed in a plane crash at Akron Oh at 32
‡ ANSWERS:
Trivia Quiz
1. Who was the first American woman to win Wimbledon?
a. May Sutton in 1905
2. Who was the first man to die in a US airplane crash?
a. Lieutenant Thomas E Selfridge—passenger in Orville Wright plane in 1908
3. Which millionaire yachtsman perished on the Lusitania in 1915?
a. Alfred Vanderbuilt
4. How old was the man who was granted the first divorce in Irish history?
a. 68
5. How many years elapsed between DH Lawrence's writing of Lady Chatterley's Lover and the book's publication?
a. 32
6. Lindbergh wrote about his New York to Paris flight in which book?
a. Spirit of St. Louis
7. Maria Montessori was the first woman in Italy to be awarded a degree in which subject?
a. Medicine
8. In which country was Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago first published?
a. Italy in 1957 from a smuggled manuscript as USSR refused to publish it.
9. In what year did Caruso make his first American record?
a. 1903
10. Child expert Dr. Spock won an Olympic gold medal in what event?
a. Rowing—1924--Paris
11. Slippery Frank Cline was whose bodyguard?
a. AL Capone
12. Who created Popeye?
a. Elzie Segar
13. Who was the Lindbergh baby's nanny when he was kidnapped?
a. Betty Gow
Close Up Picture
Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree. All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site has mistakes and sadly once out the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] may not be totally accurate.
‡ AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW ‡
