FYI: Blue text is a link… click on any blue text for
more information!
Today’s “Geez”
- 1557 - 1st Covenant of Scottish Protestants form
- 1775 - 1st official US flag raising (aboard naval vessel Alfred)
- 1910 - Neon lights, 1st publically seen (Paris Auto Show)
- 1931 - Alka Seltzer goes on sale
- 1947 - Tennessee Williams' "Streetcar Named Desire," premieres in NYC
- 1967 - 1st human heart transplant performed (Dr Christian Barnard, S Africa)
- 1968 - Pitcher's mound drops from 15" to 10" & strike zone reduced from knees to shoulders to top of knees to armpits, to help hitters
♪♪ Happy Birthday To:♪♪
Free Rambling Thoughts
Snow on and off again
all day. Kept me inside and working on videos. I posted two really videos—one on
Ethiopian dancing, one on our 4 wheeling experience. They are on you tube—same place
as the others. That will be all I’ll be posting until I get some more videos
from other travelers. It was a great day to sit by the window, work on the
videos, and enjoy the snow from the warmth of my office. Here’s the link: Ethiopian Videos
I have enjoyed the comments I got on the Ethiopian stuff. Thanks to
everyone who sent me a comment.
This snow storm has
gotten me in the Christmas spirit…I’ll be decorating tomorrow. My dad’s father
died on Christmas Eve in 1921 while shopping for last minute presents for his
wife and two kids. My dad didn’t have many nice Christmas celebrations. When I
showed up, my parents agreed that we would celebrate with a family Christmas
every year. So we had lots of traditions—the main one being that we would
always spend Christmas together. That tradition continues for my brother and me—60
Christmas days together and counting. My parents grew up in the depression and
WWII. My brother and I still have some of the decorations from the ‘early years’
as well as ones that were added each year. We don’t save the wrapping paper
anymore, but just about everything else is the same. Opening the boxes of
decorations always brings back a flood of happy memories. I must admit that
some of the decorations are showing their years of use, but neither of us has
the gumption to toss them. Tomorrow will be a day of memories and I can’t wait.
I’ll have Bing and Perry singing Christmas carols as I dig through all the
boxes. I have added some of my own memories with Native decorations from the
Tuba Christmas Bazaars over the years, some new LED lights, but Christmas is
always about the Nativity Scene from the mid 1950’s, the early plastic balls,
and all the homemade decorations from friends and my mom.
NPR Sunday Puzzle…(answers
at the end of post)
Every answer is the name of a state capital. You
are given a word. The first letters in the word are the first letters in the
name of the capital. The last letter in the word are the last letter
in the name of that capital's state. For example, given the word
"main," the answer would be "Madison," the state capital of
Wisconsin. Madison starts with M-A and Wisconsin ends with I-N.
1.
Augustine:
2.
Colombo:
3.
Coming:
4.
Salon:
5.
Topes:
6.
Biota:
7.
Prod:
8.
Trey:
9.
Tada:
Wuzzles…What concept or
phrase do these suggest?
Rules of Thumb
Easy shortcuts to make
an ‘educated’ guess
- If you are using a rope with a knot or a sharp bend, you should assume that its strength is reduced by 50 percent.
Hmmmmm
- Length in years of the contract a Dutch soccer team offered a one-year-old boy after seeing him kick soccer balls on YouTube: 10
Somewhat Useless Information
- Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander the Great was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. Alexander began his reign by eliminating potential rivals to the throne.
- Alexander tried three times to take Gaza in Egypt before it fell, and he was injured during the conquest. He was nothing short of brutal to Gaza's citizens, killing all the able bodied men and selling the women and children into slavery.
- Only beer which is brewed within the city limits of Munich is allowed to be served in this festival. Upon passing this criterion, a beer is designated Oktoberfest Beer. Oktoberfest Beer is a registered Trademark by the Club of Munich Brewers. Large quantities of German beer are consumed, with almost 7 million liters served during the 16 day festival in 2007.
- Oktoberfest is one of the most famous events in Germany and is the world's largest fair, with more than 5 million people attending every year.
Yeah, It Really Happened
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - An
Arizona gun club is giving families the chance to take Christmas card photos
with Santa Claus in front of firearms-themed backdrops. The Scottsdale Gun Club
said families can come in during the Santa and Machine Guns event, scheduled
for Dec. 10 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and have photos taken with jolly old St.
Nick in front of backdrops ranging from an $80,000 Garwood mini-gun to common
pistols, KSAZ-TV, Phoenix, reported Monday. "I think it's going to be all
in fun from those who support the second amendment and those who don't. Whether
you're a gun advocate or not, you should have a lot of fun with it," gun
club member Richard Jones said.
Guffaw…or at least smile
Pilot: Control tower,
what time is it?
Control tower: What
airline is this?
Pilot: What difference
does that make?
Control tower: Well if
it is UA, it is 6:00p.m.; if it is TWA, it is 1800 hours; if it is Ozark, the
big hand is on the…..”
~*~Bonus
A boy was having a lot
of difficulty in French class. To encourage him, his teacher said, "You'll
know you're really beginning to get it when you start dreaming in French."
The boy ran into class
all excited one day, saying, "Teacher, teacher! I had a dream last night
and everyone was talking in French!"
"Great!" said
the teacher; "what were they saying?"
"I don't
know," the boy replied; "I couldn't understand them."
Searchin’ “You Tube” I found
Daybook Information
…Happening This Week:
1-7
- Cookie Cutter Week
- Tolerance Week Recipe Greetings for The Holidays Week
Today Is
- Earmuff Day or Chester Greenwood Day [invented them at 15 in 1873]
- International Day of Disabled Persons
- Make a Gift Day
- National Roof-Over-Your-Head Day
- Skywarn Recognition Day Coats
- Toys for Kids Day
~*~
- US: Illinois: Admission Day (1818 as 21st state)
Today’s Events
Arts
1922 - 1st
successful Technicolor movie (Toll of the Sea), shown in NYC
1960 - Frederick
Loewe/Alan Jay Lerner's "Camelot," premieres in NYC
1979 - 11 trampled
to death at Cincinnati Who concert
Athletes
1929 - Boston Bruins
begins then NHL record 14 game winning streak
1938 - AAU's decides
to continue linear measuring system over metric
1997 - Golden State
Warrior guard Latrell Sprewell, four-year, $32 million, contract terminated for
attacking his coach P J Carlesimo
Business
1586 - Sir Thomas
Herriot introduces potatoes to England, from Colombia
1835 - 1st US mutual
fire insurance company issues 1st policy (RI)
1917 - After nearly
20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic
1950 - Paul Harvey
begins his national radio broadcast
1952 - 1st TV
broadcast in Hawaii
1984 - 2,000 die
from Union Carbide poison gas emission in Bhopal, India
Education
1833 - Oberlin
College in OH, 1st truly coeducational college opens
Indigenous People
1598 – Juan de Zaldivar
"discovers" Acoma and is killed with 12 other Spaniards
1837 - Accompanied by Cherokee
mediators, Mikanopy, and 30 other Seminole leaders arrive at Fort Mellon, near
St. Augustine, Florida, today, under a flag of truce, to discuss peace. The Cherokee
mediators were there with the approval of the Secretary of War. General Thomas
Jesup, much to the shame of the Cherokee, takes the Seminole hostage. Jesup
hopes to force the Seminole to surrender by holding their leaders as prisoners.
Politics [International]
1958 - Indonesian
parliament accepts nationalization of Dutch businesses
1962 - Pravda
criticizes western art
Politics [US]
1847 - Frederick
Douglass publishes 1st issue of his newspaper "North Star"
1868 - Trial of
Jefferson Davis starts; 1st blacks on US trial jury
1964 - Police
arrests 800 sit-in students at U of Cal at Berkeley
Religion
1639 - 1st annulment
by court decree passes
1685 - Charles II
bars Jews from settling in Stockholm Sweden
Science
1621 - Galileo
invents telescope
1834 - 1st US dental
society organized (NY)
1973 - Pioneer 10
passes Jupiter (1st fly-by of an outer planet)
Today’s Birthdays
Artists: [Authors, Composers]
1857 - Joseph
Conrad, Poland, novelist (Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness)
1684 - Ludvig
Baron Holberg, founder (Danish & Norwegian literature)
1755 - Gilbert
Stuart, US, portrait painter (painted Washington)
Athletes
Bobby Allison, auto
racer (3 time winner of Daytona 500) is 74
Rick Mears, Indy-car
racer (over 25 wins) is 60
Katarina Witt, Staaken
GDR, figure skater (Olympic-Gold-1984, 88) is 46
Entertainers [Actors, Singers…]
1923 - Maria
Callas, opera singer
Brendan Fraser, actor is 43
Daryl Hannah, actor is 51
Jaye P Morgan, Mancos
Colo, singer/actress (Gong Show, Night Patrol) is 80
Ozzy Osbourne, actor,
singer is 63
Entrepreneurs & Educators
1842 - Charles
Alfred Pillsbury, American industrialist
Political Figures
--
Scientists & Theologians
1838 - Cleveland
Abbe, US, meteorologist (Father of Weather Bureau)
1900 - Richard Kuhn,
Austria, biochemist, worked with vitamins (Nobel 1938)
1924 - John
Backus, inventor (FORTRAN computer language
Today’s Obits
1815 - John
Carroll (priest), first Roman Catholic archbishop in the U.S. dies at 80
1882 - Archibald
Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury dies at 71
1997 - Steve
Hamilton, pitcher (NY Yankees), dies of cancer at 63
1999 - Madeline
Kahn, American actress dies of ovarian cancer at 57
1967 - Annette
Kolb, German writer and WWI pacifist, dies at 92
1919 - Pierre
A Renoir, French painter/sculptor, dies at 78
1894 - Robert Louis
Stevenson, Engl writer (Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde), dies of cerebral hemorrhage
at 43
2009 - Richard
Todd, Irish-born British actor dies at 90
1552 - St
Francis Xavier, Jesuit missionary to the East dies of fever at 46
Answers
NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.
Augustine:
Augusta, Maine
2.
Colombo:
Columbus, Ohio
3.
Coming:
Cheyenne, Wyoming
4.
Salon:
Salem, Oregon
5.
Topes:
Topeka, Kansas
6.
Biota:
Bismarck, North Dakota
7.
Prod:
Providence, Rhode Island
8.
Trey:
Trenton, New Jersey
9.
Tada:
Tallahassee, Florida
Wuzzle
Feeling left out
Blockbuster
Polka dots
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] the dates may not be totally accurate.
§ AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW §
