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Today’s “Geez“
- 1810 - 1st Irish magazine in US, Shamrock, is published
- 1891 - James Naismith invents basketball (Canada)
- 1938 - Groundbreaking begins for Jefferson Memorial in Wash DC
- 1961 - Adolf Eichmann convicted of crimes against humanity in Israel
- 1979 - Deposed Shah of Iran leaves US for Panama
- 2001 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean
♪♪ Happy Birthday
To:♪♪
Free Rambling
Thoughts
A break in the weather
today. I was out and about…found my last few Christmas gifts. It was really
nice around town…only wet streets, clear sky, no really long lines and friendly
customer service. Gotta love small towns at this time of year.
Another storm is heading
in for the weekend. I decided today why I have been so freaked by the latest
storm. I keep remembering the 3 feet we got two years ago, and the very cold
temps of last year. This is a different year, and our storms just seem to come
and go with no big mess—much more the norm for around here. I’m ready now.
NPR Sunday
Puzzle (answers
at the end of post)
You are given the
first names of famous people and must figure out their last names. The last two
letters of the first name, when reversed, are the first two letters of the last
name. For example, given "Brad," the answer would be
"Davis," as in Brad Davis, the actor.
1.
Mamie:
2.
Arthur:
3.
Christopher:
4.
Richard:
5.
Dana:
6.
Georges:
7.
Gertrude:
8.
Jonas:
9.
Laila:
10. David:
11. Deborah:
12. Eleanor:
Wuzzles What concept or
phrase do these suggest?
Rules of Thumb
Easy shortcuts to make
an ‘educated’ guess
- The safe working load of steel cable, in tons, is the diameter in inches squared times eight. For example: 1/2" squared times 8 = 2 tons; 5/8" squared times 8 = 3.125 tons.
Hmmmmm
- Percentage increase in suspected mortgage fraud since 2000: +1,900
Somewhat Useless Information
- Schools districts from Florida to Pennsylvania banned students from wearing baggy pants. In Orlando an actual "baggy pants" law suspended students who "exposed underwear or body parts" with a little loose hanging fabric.
- A Maryland hospital banned baby photos in the first five minutes after a child is delivered. The hospital explained that family photographers were causing risky distractions, though those in opposition to the policy believed it was put in place to avoid malpractice lawsuits.
- A Chicago public school banned kids from bringing food from home, forcing them to eat the cafeteria lunches or nothing at all. The school says it's healthier for kids but not all parents agree. They're also not in agreement on the price-point, considering home-made leftovers are a lot less money than the daily cafeteria fee.
- New Zealand courts decided to crack down on parents' rights, banning the name Lucifer from the baby books because of its satanic association.
- At a San Jose high school, cheerleaders are required to buy a micro-mini uniform if they make the squad. But they're also required to take it off when they go to class, because it's way too short.
- Hospitals in Massachusetts, New York, Arizona, Texas and California ban elective C-sections and inductions before 39 weeks gestation due to serious health risks.
Yeah, It Really
Happened
There's really no other
way to put this: During a Pilates stretching exercise, a 59-year-old woman said
her body "swallowed" one of her fake boobs. Sounds like something we
just made up, but the woman's case is the subject of an unbelievable report,
just published online in the latest New England Journal of Medicine.
The woman was a breast
cancer survivor who'd had a double mastectomy, and afterward had gotten breast
implants. During a Pilates routine, she was doing a Valsalva maneuver, a
breathing technique in which a person takes a deep breath and holds it while
bearing down. (In other words, you're going through the motions of exhaling
forcibly, but without letting any air escaping through the mouth or nose.)
Doing a Valsalva
maneuver increases pressure inside your chest cavity. In this lady's case,
enough pressure built to essentially send her right breast implant through the
thin tissue between her ribs and into the space in between the lungs. This left
her more perplexed than anything -- where did it go?! Fortunately (and
incredibly), she said upon arriving in the the emergency department of the
Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore that she wasn't experiencing any chest pain
or shortness of breath.
"I can picture how this could happen in a
freak occurrence," says Dr. Anthony Youn, a Michigan-based cosmetic
surgeon and frequent contributor to msnbc.com, who didn't treat this patient
but gave us his professional opinion on what the heck happened here.
Note that Youn called
this a "freak occurrence" -- this is not exactly going to happen to
your average fake-breasted Pilates lover, as this woman's case had some extra
complications. She'd recently undergone a surgery to repair her heart's mitral
valve, a procedure that typically involves some separating of the muscles that
run between the ribs.
"What likely
happened in this instance is that the breast implant was placed under the chest
muscle and on top of the ribs, an extremely common practice in breast
reconstruction," Youn says. "When the patient Valsalva'd, the
pectoralis (chest) muscle likely contracted and pushed the implant through the
space between her ribs," which was particularly fragile after the valve
surgery.
"The weakened scar
tissue was easily torn, and the strength of the pectoralis muscle pushed the
implant deep into her chest," Youn explains.
The woman was treated at
Johns Hopkins, where surgeons retrieved the implant from within her chest and
put it back where it belonged.
A Laff or at
least smile
One day the school
principal was talking to Little Johnny's teacher about his behavior, when all
of a sudden Johnny comes running down the hallway.
The principal stops
Johnny and asks him, why are you running?
Little Johnny says; I’m
keeping two kids from fighting, sir.
“Who?” asked the
principal.
“Me and the kid chasing
me”; and off he went.
Found on YouTube
Daybook
Information
…Happening This Week:
10-17
- Human Rights Week
- Halcyon Days [In the myth of Alcyone, the seven days in winter when storms never occur]
- Bill of Rights Day [ 1791 ratification]
- Cat Herders Day [ to honor all of the people in the world whose lives can be compared to the impossible task of herding cats] Cat herding
- National Lemon Cupcake Day
Arts
Athletes
1973 - Golf Resort
(Disney Inn) opens
1973 - Sandy Hawley
becomes 1st jockey to win 500 races in 1 year
1992 - Arthur
Ashe is named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of Year
Business
1854 - 1st
street-cleaning machine in US 1st used in Philadelphia
1918 - American
Jewish Congress holds its 1st meeting
1939 - 1st
commercial manufacture of nylon yarn, Seaford, Delaware
Education
1791 - 1st US
law school established at University of Pennsylvania
Indigenous People
1855 - Governor Stevens
gets Nez Perce honor guard.
1869 - The military
guard at Bunker Hill Station, Kansas, repels an attack by Indians with no
significant injuries.
Politics [International]
1569 - Westmoreland
flees to Scotland
1944 - Hizbu'allah
(Arm forces for Allah) forms
Politics [US]
1836 - Patent
Office burns in Wash, DC
1874 - 1st
reigning king to visit US (of Hawaii) received by Pres Grant
1948 - Former
state dept official Alger Hiss indicted in NYC for perjury
1961 - JFK visits
Puerto Rico
Religion
--
Science
1593 - State
of Holland grants patent on windmill with crankshaft
1612 - Simon
Marius, is 1st to observe Andromeda galaxy through a telescope
1877 - Thomas
Edison patents phonograph
1964 - 1st
time 4 people in space
Today’s Birthdays
Artists: [Authors,
Composers]
Edna O'Brien, Irish
novelist and short story writer is 81
1906 - Betty Smith,
novelist (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)
Athletes
Dan Williams, NFL
defensive end (Denver Broncos, KC Chiefs) is 42
David Wingate, NBA
guard/forward (Seattle Supersonics) is 48
Entertainers [Actors,
Singers…]
Adam Brody, actor is 32
1918 - Jeff
Chandler, [Ira Grossel], Bkln, actor (Broken Arrow)
Dave Clark, rock drummer
(Dave Clark 5-Glad All Over) is 69
Entrepreneurs &
Educators
1848 - Edwin Howland
Blashfield, decorated the dome of Library of Congress
1922 - Alan Freed, DJ,
accepted payola/introduced term "rock-n-roll"
1892 - J Paul Getty,
oil magnate (Getty Oil)
Political Figures
--
Scientists &
Theologians
1863 - Arthur D
Little, US, chemist (patented rayon)
Today’s Obits
1966 - Walt Disney,
animator, dies of lung cancer at 65, cremated
1951 - Eric
Drummond, 1st sec-gen League of Nations (1919-33), dies at 75
1944 - Glenn Miller,
US band leader/jazz composer, MIA [plane crash] at 40
2005 - William
Proxmire, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin dies at 90
2009 - Oral Roberts,
American television evangelist and author dies at 91
1943 - Thomas W
"Fats" Waller, jazz pianist (Hot Chocolate), dies of pneumonia at 39
1978 - Chill Wills,
actor (Frontier Circus, Rounders), dies at 75
Answers
NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.
Mamie:
Eisenhower (1st lady)
2.
Arthur:
Rubenstein (pianist)
3.
Christopher:
Reeve (actor)
4.
Richard:
Dreyfuss (actor)
5.
Dana:
Andrews (actor)
6.
Georges:
Seurat (Impressionist painter)
7.
Gertrude:
Ederle (1st woman to swim English Channel)
8.
Jonas:
Salk (polio vaccine)
9.
Laila:
ali (boxer)
10. David: Dickens (NY gov)
11. Deborah: Harry (Blondie)
12. Eleanor: Roosevelt (1st
lady)
Wuzzle
- Back to basics
- Trombones
- Beeline
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 Is All For Now §
