FYI: Click on any blue text for a
link to more information!
Today’s Historical
Highlights
- 1993 - The oil tanker MV Braer, on the coast of the Shetland Islands, spills 84,700 tons of crude oil
- 1972 - Pres Nixon signs a bill for NASA to begin research on manned shuttle
- 1970 - 23,000 Belgian mine workers strike
- 1961 - US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba
- 1940 - FCC hears 1st transmission of FM radio with clear, static-free signal
- 1905 - National Association of Audubon Society incorporates
- 1887 - 1st US school of librarianship opens at Columbia University
♫Happy Birthday To: ♫
Free Rambling
Thoughts
This blog is taking a
break until January 11th.
I had a great lunch with
our retirement group. Cheryl traded in her two vehicles for a new RAV4…very
cool. We shared Christmas stories with the various kids we were around. Also
cool. We all agree that 2012 is going to be a great year.
I’m ready for my Merida
trip. Mail on hold, paper donated, plants watered, passport ready. This trip is
going to be short, but should be a lot of fun. Laura, my brother’s wife, has
put together quite an itinerary. Each of us is being picked up by a driver
holding my name…muy bueno. Never had that happen in all my travels. When I
travel with Focus, our guide usually has a sign saying Focus Travel…that is
used only at the airport. One of the things I like about Focus is that we aren’t
following a sign everywhere we go. Our guide learns all our names, by the end
of day one. Anyway, Merida is beautiful during the day and cool at night…I’m
ready.
Game Center
(answers
at the end of post)
NEW—Brain Game
NPR Sunday Puzzle
2010..
You are given names you've probably never heard of before 2010, but that became
famous during those 12 months. You must identify each person.
1.
Scott
Brown: Senator from Mass who won Ted Kennedy’s seat
2.
Tony
Hayward: Chairman of BP who said it ruined his vacation
3.
Shirley
Sherrod: Ag dept released her over the phone while on duty in GA
4.
Elena
Kagan: supreme justice appointee
5.
Steve
Slater: jet blue steward who made news for quitting
6.
Julian
Assange: Wikileak founder
7. Kathryn Bigelow: best director for Hurt Locker
8.
Liu
Xiaobo: Chinese Nobel winner
9.
John
Tyner: ‘don’t touch my junk” to TSA guy
10. Marc Mezvinsky: married Chelsea Clinton
11. Paul the Octopus: world cup predictor
12. Eyjafjallajökull: volcano in Iceland
Wuzzles What concept or
phrase do these suggest?
Lifestyle Substance
AZ Centennial is in
days: Did you know?…
- The amount of copper on the roof of the Capitol building is equivalent to 4,800,000 pennies.
- Wyatt Earp was neither the town marshal nor the sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona at the time of the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral. His brother Virgil was the town marshal, who had temporarily deputized Wyatt, Morgan and Doc Holliday prior to the gunfight.
- Arizona observes Mountain Standard Time on a year round basis. The one exception is the Navajo Nation, located in the northeast corner of the state, which observes the daylight savings time change.
Found on You Tube
Harper’s Index
- Percentage of the current US debt that was accumulated during Republican presidential terms: 71
Joke-of-the-day
With high-definition TV
everything looks bigger and wider. Kind of like going to your 25th high school
reunion!
--
Man: Excuse me Miss, but
were you born in Tennessee?
Woman: No, why?
Man: Because you’re the
only ten-I-see!
Old-er people in the
News
SUNSHINE Coast
great-grandmother Terry Horder got the fright of her life when she accidentally
stuck her eyes shut with super-strength glue.
The 78-year-old Wurtulla
resident was defrosting the fridge when her eyes started watering and she
reached for a bottle of allergy eye drops. But instead of grabbing the
medicated drops she got Loctite 401 instant glue. The powerful adhesive was
being kept in the fridge to avoid heat damage.
"That second my
eyes were glued shut and I realised the glue was next to the drops in the
fridge," Mrs Horder said.
Her husband of 57 years,
Joe Horder, said his normally outspoken wife was suddenly very quiet.
"Normally you can't shut her up but she went very silent and I just heard
this little voice say 'Dad, I think I've glued my eyes shut'," Mr Horder
said.
Mr Horder called
Triple-0 and paramedics soon arrived to take her to Caloundra Hospital's
emergency ward. Nurses then used vegetable oil to try to remove the glue, which
had fused Mrs Horder's eyelashes together and seeped under the lids.
"There was a pool
of glue against the eyeball itself but lucky it couldn't dry because of the
water on the eye," Mrs Horder said.
"They soaked my
eyes for around five minutes and then tried to pry the lashes apart, which
wasn't pleasant. But about 10 minutes later I was good as new."
Rules of Thumb
Easy shortcuts to make
an ‘educated’ guess
- As a rule, the distance between your fingertips, with your arms outstretched at shoulder height, is equal to your height.
Somewhat Useless
Information
- The popular toy company Lego began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen (7 April 1891 - 11 March 1958), a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In 1934, his company came to be called "LEGO", from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means "play-well".
- Each Lego piece must be manufactured to an exact degree of precision. When two pieces are engaged they must fit firmly, yet be easily disassembled. The machines that make Lego bricks have tolerances as small as 10 micrometers.
Yeah, It Really
Happened
CHARLTON, Mass. - A
Massachusetts woman said her 5-year-old daughter burst into tears when police
officers showed up at her door and demanded her overdue library books. Shannon
Benoit of Charlton said she was shocked when Charlton Police Sgt. Dan Dowd showed
up to her door and informed her that her daughter, Hailey, had two overdue
library books and needed to either return the tomes or pay for them, WBZ-TV,
Boston, reported Tuesday.
"I thought it was
way overboard," Benoit said. "I closed my door, I looked at my
daughter and she started crying." She said her daughter asked if the
police were going to arrest her.
Dowd said the duty was
not his choice. "Nobody wanted to, on this end to get involved in
it," the sergeant said. "But the library contacted us, and the chief
delegated, and apparently I was one of the low men on the totem pole."
Benoit said she located and returned the books.
Calendar Information
…Happening
This Week:
1-7
- Celebration of Life Week
- Diet Resolution Week
- Silent Record Week
- National Lose Weight/Feel Great Week
- Someday We'll Laugh About This Week
- New Year's Resolutions Week
5-9
- Women's Self Empowerment Week
Today
Is
- Asara B'Tevet (Jewish fast commemorating the siege of Jerusalem)
- Bean Day (a day to celebrate beans in every way)
- Elvis' Birthday Celebration Day
- Twelfth Night
Today’s
Other Events
1500’s
1527 - Felix
Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zürich, is executed by
drowning
1700’s
1709 - Sudden
extreme cold kills 1000s of Europeans
1781 - British
naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burns Richmond, VA
1800’s
1806 - Sacajawea
tells Lewis and Clark she wants to see a dead whale washed up on the beach in
Oregon.
1834 - Kiowa
Indians record this as the night the stars fell
1852 - One in a
series of treaties with California Indians is signed today at Temecula. The
treaty is to set aside land and to protect the San Luis Rey Indians from
Europeans.
1896 - German
physicist Wilhelm Roentgen's discovers x-rays
1900’s
1900 - Irish
leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule
1911 - Portuguese
expel Jesuits
1914 - Ford
Motor Co wages jump from $2.40/9-hr day(US2010- $53.53) to $5.00/8-hr day (US2010-$107.49)
1930 - Mao
Tse-tung [Mao Zedong] writes "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie
Fire"
1937 - Only
unicameral state legislature in US opens 1st session (NE)
1944 - The
Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper
1959 - "Bozo
the Clown" live children's show premieres on TV
1976 - Cambodia is
renamed "Democratic Kampuchea"
1981 - "Nightline"
with Ted Koppel extended from 20 mins to 30 mins
1982 - Arkansas
judge rules against obligatory teaching of creation
1993 - Reggie
Jackson elected to Hall of Fame
1996 - Miami
Dolphin coach Don Shula announces his retirement
Today’s
Birthdays
In their 40’s
Marilyn Manson,
entertainer is 43
Renaldo Turnbull, NFL
defensive end (NO Saints, Carolina Panthers) is 46
In their 50’s
George Tenet, American
CIA director is 59
In their 60’s
Diane Keaton, actor
is 66
In their 70’s
Charlie Rose, newscaster
is 70
In their 80’s
Robert Duvall, actor
is 81
Walter Fritz Mondale,
(Sen-MN)/42nd VP (1977-81) is 84
Remembered for being
born on this day
Jeane Dixon, American
astrologer in 1904
Paul C la Fargue,
cartoonist/painter in 1729
King Camp Gillette,
inventor (safety razor) in 1855
Sam Phillips,
musician/record founder (Sun) in 1923
Zebulon Montgomery Pike,
explorer (Pike's Peak) in 1779
George Reeves, [George
Lescher Bessolo], actor (Superman) in 1914
Richard, 1st Earl of
Cornwall, Holy Roman Emperor in 1209
Jane Wyman, American
actress (Magnificent Obsession) and 1st Mrs Ronald Reagan in 1917
Xu Xiake, Chinese
geographer in 1587
Today’s
Obits
Sonny Bono,
(Rep-Ca)/singer (Sonny & Cher), dies skiing at 62 in 1998
Max Born, German/British
physicist (Nobel 1954), dies at 87 in 1970
George Washington
Carver, scientist, dies at 81 in 1943
Calvin Coolidge, 30th
President (1923-29), dies of heart attack at 60 in 1933
Amelia Earhart, American
aviator declared dead after disappearance in 1937 at 42 in 1939
Rogers Hornsby, baseball
player, dies of a heart ailment at 66 in 1963
Arthur Kennedy, actor
(Air Force), dies of a brain tumor at 76 in 1990
‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich,
American basketball player dies of heart failure at 41 in 1988
Tug McGraw, American
baseball player, father of Tim McGraw dies of brain tumor at 60 in 2004 Thomas P "Tip" O'Neill,
(MA)/Speaker of House (1977-86), dies at 81 in 1994
Don Wilson, pitcher
(Astro), dies at 29 of carbon monoxide poisoning in 1975
Answers
Brain Game
NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.
Scott
Brown: Senator from Mass who won Ted Kennedy’s seat
2.
Tony
Hayward: Chairman of BP who said it ruined his vacation
3.
Shirley
Sherrod: Ag dept released her over the phone while on duty in GA
4.
Elena
Kagan: supreme justice appointee
5.
Steve
Slater: jet blue steward who made news for quitting
6.
Julian
Assange: Wikileak founder
7. Kathryn Bigelow: best director for Hurt Locker
8.
Liu
Xiaobo: Chinese Nobel winner
9.
John
Tyner: ‘don’t touch my junk” to TSA guy
10. Marc Mezvinsky: married Chelsea Clinton
11. Paul the Octopus: world cup predictor
12. Eyjafjallajökull: volcano in Iceland
Wuzzle
- A drop in the ocean
- Away from home
- Pieces of the puzzle
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 ☺
