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Today’s “Geez”
- 1851 - 1st Young Men's Christian Association in North America (Montreal)
- 1793 - Noah Webster establishes NY's 1st daily newspaper, American Minerva
- 1961 - SS Col Adolf Eichmann found guilty of war crimes in Israel
- 1990 - Lech Walesa wins presidential election in Poland
- 1985 - Phoenix Arizona, gets 3" of snow
♪♪ Happy Birthday To:♪♪
Free Rambling Thoughts
I was right…we had a
great bistro lunch. Quiche, soup and salad, and chocolate crème brulèe. I’m
sure it had about 3 days worth of fat and calories, but was well worth it. We
had a great time, great service, great food. It’s OK to splurge once in a
while.
I also went to one of my
favorite Christmas sights from last year. It is still there. It is pretty cool.
You fill out a few details about a person—kid or adult—and get a great
personalized video card from Santa…the real one. If you want to check it out--Click Here. I guarantee any kid, and most
adults will enjoy the video send.
NPR Sunday Puzzle…(answers
at the end of post)
You are given three
words, starting with the letters T, O and P, and must come up with a fourth
word that can follow the words and complete a familiar two-word phrase. For
example, given the words "taste," "oral" and
"paternity," the answer would be "test," as in "taste
test," "oral test" and "paternity test."
1.
Ticket,
oval, patent:
2.
10
gallon, old, panama:
3.
Tree,
open publishing:
4.
Tree
onion, piston:
5.
Triple,
outer, parking:
6.
Telephone,
ordinal, prime:
7.
Tapas,
oyster, parallel:
8.
Throne,
operating, cool:
9.
Tar,
orchestra peach:
10. Tea old punching:
11. Tray, operating, periodic:
Wuzzles…What concept or
phrase do these suggest?
Rules of Thumb
Easy shortcuts to make
an ‘educated’ guess
- Immediate gratification aside, a 4-3 win for your team makes for a much better hockey game than a 6-0 win.
Hmmmmm
- Estimated number of people in the developing world employed collecting virtual resources for online gamers: 100,000
Somewhat Useless Information
- Animal crackers began as edible ornaments. Nabisco introduced Animal Crackers to the American public in 1902 as a seasonal item and its brightly colored boxes were promoted as Christmas tree ornaments (that's what the string was for!)
- The Oreo, the best-selling cookie of the 20th century, was developed and introduced by the American company Nabisco, in 1912.
- In 1989, New Mexico named the 'bizcochito' its official state cookie. Bizcochito, derived from the Spanish word 'bizcocho' which means biscuit, is a shortbread cookie flavored with anise and topped with cinnamon sugar.
- Early American tinsmiths began making cookie cutters by hand back in the 1700s.
- American cookie jars evolved from British biscuit jars and first appeared during the Depression in the 1930s when housewives began making more cookies at home, rather than buying them at the bakery, and needed containers for them.
- The Wellesley Cookie Exchange, A most famous American cookie exchange, began in 1971 as a way to relieve holiday stress.
Yeah, It Really Happened
NEW YORK - Residents of
a New York neighborhood said their homes are being swarmed by mosquitoes that
have not been deterred by the December weather. Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal
said residents of West 84th Street on the Upper West Side said the mosquito problem
in the area is akin to "something from the Third World," but
residents have received no help from the city, the New York Post reported
Monday.
"People on West
84th have been contacting city agencies and other officials complaining about
the enormous number of mosquitoes, but they haven't listened. They tell them to
hire a private exterminator," Rosenthal said. "I've heard people are
sleeping under mosquito netting because their children are being bitten
up."
Rosenthal said she was
able to convince the city to lay traps in the sewers and Con Ed workers paved
over sinkholes allowing the insects to escape from underground, but the problem
persists.
Guffaw…or at least smile
A prisoner in jail
receives a letter from his wife:
"Dear Husband, I
have decided to plant some lettuce in the back garden. When is the best time to
plant them?"
The prisoner, knowing
that the prison guards read all mail, replied in a letter:
"Dear Wife,
whatever you do, do not touch the back garden. That is where I hid all the
money." A week or so later, he received another letter from his wife:
"Dear Husband, You
wouldn't believe what happened, some men came with shovels to the house, and
dug up all the back garden."
The prisoner wrote
another letter back:
"Dear wife, now is
the best time to plant the lettuce."
~*~BONUS
A head-on collision
occurred between a man and a woman. Both emerged from the scene intact while
their cars were totally demolished.
The woman said,
"This is quite a predicament. We should drink a toast to celebrate this
miracle."
The man replied,
"What a great idea; I just happen to have a bottle with me."
With this he handed it
to the man. The man downed half the bottle and handed it back.
The woman would not take
it back and said, "I think I will wait until after the police arrive to
celebrate."
Searchin’ “YouTube” I found
Daybook Information
…Happening This Week:
4-10
Clerc-Gallaudet Week:
6-12
National Handwashing Awareness Week
Today Is
- Christmas Card Day
- International Anti-corruption Day
- National Pastry Day
- National Salesperson's Day
- Weary Willie Day [the character made famous by Emmett Kelly, who was born on this day in 1898]
~*~
- Tanzania: Independence Day (1961 from UK) formerly Tanganyika
Arts
1963 - Frank
Sinatra Jr is kidnapped
Athletes
1926 - USGA
legalizes steel shaft golf clubs
1934 - NY
Giants defeat Chicago Bears 30-13 for NFL championship
1973 - St Louis
Cardinal Jim Bakken kicks 6 field goals vs Atlanta Falcons
1985 - Jerry Rice
begins NFL streak of 100+ consecutive game receptions
Business
1875 - Massachusetts
Rifle Association "America's Oldest Active Gun Club" is founded
1897 - Activist
Marguerite Durand founds the feminist daily newspaper, La Fronde in Paris
1907 - 1st
Christmas Seals sold (Wilmington Del post office)
Education
--
Indigenous People
1729 - The Natchez send
2 Indians to visit the Tunica today. The Natchez want them to join them in a
war against the French. The Tunica will refuse.
Politics [International]
536 - Byzantine General Belisarius
enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city,
returning the old capital to its empire
1905 - In France,
the law separating church and state is passed
Politics [US]
1994 - Surgeon
General Joycelyn Elders resigns after masturbation comments
2008 - The
Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is arrested by federal officials for a
number of alleged crimes including attempting to sell the United States Senate
seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama's election to the Presidency
Religion
--
Science
1968 - NLS (a
system for which hypertext and the computer mouse were developed) is publicly
demonstrated for the first time in San Francisco
Today’s Birthdays
Artists: [Authors, Composers]
1608 - John
Milton, poet/puritan (Paradise Lost)
Athletes
Kurt Angle, 220 lbs freestyle wrestler (Oly-gold-96) is
42
[David] Deacon Jones, NFL defensive end (LA,
SD, Washington) is 73
Entertainers [Actors, Singers…]
Beau Bridges, actor
(Hotel New Hampshire, The Decendents) is 70
1929 - John
Cassavetes [Γιάννης Νικόλαος Κασσαβέτης ],
actor (Dirty Dozen, Rosemary's Baby)
Judi Dench, actor is 77
Kirk Douglas, [Issur
Danielovitch], American actor (Gunfight at OK Corral) is 95
1909 - Douglas
Fairbanks Jr, actor (Ghost Story)
1922 - Redd
Foxx, comedian (Sandford & Son, Redd Foxx Show)
1897 - Hermione
Gingold, English actress (Gigi, Music Man)
1902 - Margaret
Hamilton, actress (Wicked Witch-Wizard of Oz)
Buck Henry,
screenwriter/comedian (SNL, Get Smart) is 81
Felicity Huffman, TV
actor is 49
John Malkovich, actor/director
(Killing Fields) is 58
Donny Osmond, singer is 54
Entrepreneurs & Educators
1886 - Clarence
Birdseye, frozen vegatable king (Birdseye)
Political Figures
Tom Daschle, American
politician is 64
1912 - Thomas P
"Tip" O'Neill, (Rep-Mass 1977-86)/Speaker of the House
Scientists & Theologians
Nancy J Currie, Mjr
Army/astronaut (STS 57, 70, sk: 88) is 53
Today’s Obits
1819 - Ann C
Coleman, fiancee of future Pres. James Buchanan, commits suicide a few months
after breaking up with James
1995 - Douglas
"Wrong Way" Corrigan (aviator), dies at88
1996 - Mary Douglas
Nichol Leakey, archaeologist/anthropologist, dies at 83
1979 - Fulton
J Sheen, archbishop/religious broadcaster, dies at 84
1996 - Faron Young,
country singer, commits suicide at 64
Answers
NPR Sunday Puzzle
12. Ticket, oval, patent: office
13. 10 gallon, old, panama: hat
14. Tree, open publishing: house
15. Tree onion, piston: ring
16. Triple, outer, parking: space
17. Telephone, ordinal, prime: number
18. Tapas, oyster, parallel: bar
19. Throne, operating, cool: room
20. Tar, orchestra peach: pit
21. Tea old punching: bag
22. Tray, operating, periodic: table
Wuzzle
That’s beside the point
Shrinking violets
Stars and Stripes
Forever
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 §
