Mar 23


FYI: Click on any blue text for a link to more information!

Today’s  Historical  Highlights
1708 - English pretender to the throne James III lands at Firth of Forth
1857 - Elisha Otis' 1st elevator installed (488 Broadway, NYC)
1903 - Wright brothers obtain airplane patent
1912 - Dixie Cup invented
1925 - Tennessee becomes 1st state to outlaw teaching theory of evolution
1957 - US army sells last homing pigeons
1966 - 1st official meeting in 400 years of Catholic & Anglican Church
1983 - US president Ronald Reagan introduces "Star Wars"-plan (SDI)
Happy Birthday To:                      
 
Free Rambling Thoughts   
What a great weather day…our 2+ feet of snow is gone around town…I still have some on my east facing entrance, but not bad. Spring is sure here…now the only question…for how long? And the ice cream truck, who comes through our neighborhood regularly through the summer, has already stated his drive. He is a real dreamer! 
Tomorrow is the Home Show. Can’t wait. Should be a good couple of hours to see what’s new. And it’s free. Then off to lunch with Mary, from our retirement group. Cheryl is still basking in the sun in Hawaii.
Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)
Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle
Each clue is a pair of four-letter words. Each can be found inside the first and last names, respectively, of a famous person. For example, given "rend" and "rase," the answer would be "Brendan Fraser," the actor.
1.      arlo; rand:
2.      lady; nigh:
3.      meld; arco:
4.      acid; ming:
5.      else; lint:
6.      list; lock:
7.      rove; alon:
8.      rook; bins:
9.      pole; part:
10.   bell; sell: Isabella Rossellini

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

Lifestyle  Substance     
Planet Earth—

Found on You Tube         
Harper’s Index         
Percentage change in the gap between the wages of US males and women since 1998: +9
Joke-of-the-day
Guy: Haven’t I seen you someplace before?Girl: Yes, that’s why I don’t go there anymore.
Rules of Thumb   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
The more you need your job for financial reasons, the worse you will be treated.
Somewhat Useless Information   
Margaret Knight, an employee at the Columbia Paper Bag Company, was one of the first women in the United States to hold a patent. She invented a machine that folded and glued flat-bottomed bags, the type most grocery stores use today.Plastic grocery store sacks, properly called "T-shirt bags," were introduced in 1977. Kroger and Safeway were the first two supermarket chains to replace brown paper craft bags with T-shirt bags.
In 1988, the Supreme Court upheld the right of law enforcement officials to search through a person's curb-side garbage bags without a warrant.Plastic dry-cleaning bags became controversial shortly after their introduction in 1958. Many parents, unaware of the suffocation danger inherent in the lightweight plastic, used the bags as leak-proof crib linings and mattress covers. The tragic infant deaths due to the plastic bags resulted in the warnings that are printed on all dry-cleaning bags today.
Dow Chemical introduced the Ziploc bag in 1968. The company test-marketed them in select U.S. regions the following year with outstanding results. Today it is estimated that the average American uses 40 of these bags per year.Felix the Cat was created by Otto Messmer in 1919, but it wasn't until the "wonderful, wonderful cat" was retooled in 1954 by Dell Comics artist Joe Oriolo that his Magic Bag of Tricks was added to the mix.
Yeah, It Really Happened                 
Stillwater, OK: A major fumble on the life insurance gridiron has cost the Oklahoma State Cowboys $33 million. As Forbes reports, the OSU athletic department's attempt to bet on the deaths of 27 geriatric boosters with $10 million life insurance policies backfired when not one died.
Talk about a Hail Mary gone wrong.
Obviously, the way the scenario played out was less than a blessing for OSU. The "Gift of a Lifetime" fundraiser plan was allegedly the brain-child of OSU alum and tycoon T. Boone Pickens. By cashing in on the life insurance policies following the death of the 65- to 85-year-olds, OSU expected to rake in as much as $350 million.
Instead, the athletics department was forced to resort to a legal maneuver in an attempt to recover some of the $33 million it paid in premiums on the policies. But Forbes reports that a U.S. district judge sided with the life insurance company, this week -- noting that the premiums paid on the policies were made legally.
The OSU athletic department, which netted $14.4 million last year according to Forbes, relies on its football profits to fund other, non-revenue-generating sports programs. This unsuccessful play-action may force the school's head honchos to seek a plum check from Uncle Boone.
Calendar Information        
…Happening This Week:
18-24
National Animal Poison Prevention Week
National Inhalant and Poisons Awareness Week
19-25
Act Happy Week
American Chocolate Week
Wellderly Week
21-25
YoYo and Skill Toys Week
21-27
Week of Solidarity with People's Struggling Against Racism & Discrimination

Today Is                                                                      
National Day of Unplugging asks people to take a tech detox by unplugging
National Puppy Day
Near Miss Day: 1989. A mountain-sized asteroid passed within 500000 miles of Earth, a very close call according to NASA.
OK Day: OK first appeared in print in article by Allan Metcalf, a renowned popular writer on language in 1839
World Meteorological Day
National Organize Your Home Office Day
National Chip and Dip Day
Liberty Day to commiserates Patrick Henry’s speech with "Give me liberty or give me death!" in 1775

Pakistan: Republic Day (1956—a Muslim Republic of the Commonwealth)

Today’s Other Events                                                             
1000’s
1066 - 18th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
> 
1700’s
1730 - On Keowee, western North Carolina, Sir Alexander Cuming will hold a conference with 300 Cherokee Chiefs. Using threats and gifts, Cuming will get the Cherokee to agree to acknowledge King George II of England as their sovereign.
1794 - 1st US patent (Joseph G Pierson for a riveting machine)
1800’s
1840 - Draper takes 1st successful photo of the Moon (daguerrotype)
1880 - Flour rolling mill patented (John Stevens of Wisc)
1889 - Pres Harrison opens Oklahoma for white colonization
1889 - The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian India
1900’s
1910 - 1st race at Los Angeles Motordrome (1st US auto speedway)
1919 - Benito Mussolini forms Fascist movement in Milan Italy
1929 - 1st telephone installed in White House
1934 - US Congress accepts Philippines independence in 1945
1940 - 1st radio broadcast of "Truth or Consequences" on CBS
1948 - John Cunningham sets world altitude record (54,492' (18,133 m))
1965 - Gemini 3 launched, 1st US 2-man space flight (Grissom & Young)
1972 - Evil Knievel breaks 93 bones after successfully clearing 35 cars
1981 - Supreme Court upholds law making statutory rape a crime only for men
1981 - Supreme Court rules states could require, with some exceptions, parental notification when teen-age girls sought abortions
1992 - Florida Marlins begin selling tickets 1994 - Wayne Gretzky sets NHL record with 802 goals scored
1996 - Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President
2000’s
2005 - The United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, refuses to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.
2007 - Iranian Navy seizes Royal Navy personnel in Iraqi waters.

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
In their 80’s
Roger Bannister, England, 1st to run a 4 minute mile (May 6, 1954) is 83
In their 70’s
Jim Trelease, American educator and children's literature author is 71
In their 60’s
Karen English, (Rep-D-Arizona) is 63
In their 50’s
Chaka Khan, [Yvette Marie Steven], Great Lakes Il, rocker (Rufus-I am Every Woman) is 59
Moses Malone, NBA center (Atlanta Hawks, Milw Bucks, Phila '76ers) is 58
In their 40’s
Richard Grieco, , actor (21 Jump Street, Booker) is 47
Dante Jones, NFL linebacker (Denver Broncos, Chicago Bears) is 47
In their 30’s
Perez Hilton (Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr.), American television personality and blogger is 34
Jason Kidd, NBA guard (Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks) is 39
Remembered for being born on this day
John Bartram, naturalist/explorer, father of American botany in 1699
James Brown, actor (Lt Rip Masters-Rin Tin Tin) in 1920
Joan Crawford, American actress[Lucille Le Sueur] in 1905
Fannie Farmer, actress (namesake of a candy company) in 1857
Maynard Jackson, first black mayor of Atlanta in 1938
John Payne, actor (Dodsworth, Razor's Edge) in 1912
Nathaniel Reed, American outlaw turned evangelist in 1862
William Smith, geologist (Strata Identified by Organized Fossils) in 1769
Werner von Braun, Wirsitz Germany, rocket expert (I Aim at the Stars) in 1912

Today’s Obits                                                           
Rowland Evans, American journalist dies at 80 in 2001
Barney Clark, 1st artifical heart recipient, dies after 112 days at 62 in 1983
Peter Lorre, actor (Casino Royale), dies of stroke at 59 in 1964
Singing Nun (Sister Luc Gabriel), singer ("Dominique"   English version: commits suicide over tax bills after leaving the convent in Belgium at 51 in 1985  
Dean Paul Martin, musician The Rebel Kind /tennis pro, killed in plane crash at 29 in 1987
Elizabeth Taylor, English-American actress dies at 80 in 2011
Patience Wright, 1st US woman pro artist, dies in 1786
Answers                                                                                                                                            
Brain Game
 NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.      arlo; rand:
a.      Marlon Brando
2.      lady; nigh:
a.      Gladys Knight
3.      meld; arco:
a.      Imelda Marco
4.      acid; ming:
a.      Placido Domingo
5.      else; lint:
a.      Chelsea Clinton
6.      list; lock:
a.      Calista Flockhart
7.      rove; alon:
a.      Grover Cleveland
8.      rook; bins:
a.      Brooks Robinson
9.      pole; part:
a.      Napoleon Bonaparte
10.   bell; sell:
a.      Isabella Rossellini

Wuzzle
  • Topnotch
  • Paralyze
  • Laziness


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 

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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.