Mar 16

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Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1802 - Law signed to establish US Milt Academy (West Point, NY)

1802 - US army Corps of Engineers established (2nd time)

1869 - Hiram R Revels makes 1st official speech by a black in the Senate

1881 - Barnum & Bailey Circus debuts

1934 - Congress passes Migratory Bird Conservation Act

1938 - Temple defeats Colorado to win 1st NIT

1950 - 1st annual National Book Awards

1968 - My Lai massacre occurs (Vietnam War); 450 die

1978 - US Senate accepts Panama Canal treaty

1991 - Members of Irish Gay & Lesbian Organization march in NYC parade

1995 - Mississippi House of Representatives formally abolishes slavery & ratifies 13th Amendment

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪                     

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

A great lunch with the retirement group. Mary spent last week with her grandkids. Lots of places for kids in Phoenix area. Their favorite: the zoo. Lots of fun for all concerned. Cheryl is ready to leave tomorrow for California to meet up with her son and his family, then on to Hawaii for a week +. They have rented a condo on the main island and will be relaxing by the ocean, and I’m sure, seeing lots of tourist stuff. Next week Mary and I will be going to the Home Show at the famous Dome on the NAU campus. It is returning there after an unsuccessful run at the old K-Mart while the Dome was being remodeled.

 Only in AZ…a bi-partisan bill to stop bullying in public schools was killed after a non-elected female lobbyist convinced enough that a bill was part of a ‘secret agenda’ of the LBGT to infiltrate the school system to promote their radical views. Really?!? So sad. As one principal said, ‘sometimes people know nothing about schools and still influence school policy.’  The bill had been backed by many school officials.  Then there’s the bill about our own ‘state volunteer militia’ to stop illegals at the border. It has moved to the floor for a vote, even after every county sheriff except one said it was a very bad idea. Surprise, that sheriff is the ‘other sheriff’—the one who is not on the border and has his own problems with law suits about his affair with a boyfriend. As I said…only in AZ.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

Three of the most common consonants of the English language are R, S and T. Every answer today is a word, name or phrase that contains each of the letters R, S and T exactly once, along with any number of vowels. For example, if the clue is "short-winded," the answer would be, "terse." Note: The R, S and T can appear in any order.

5 letters:

1.      a fixed look:

2.      Unit of a mall:

3.      The trunk of the body:

4.      Where a chicken sits overnight:

5.      A stringed musical instrument of India:

6 letters:

6.      Stitch made after surgery:

7.      Sign of the zodiac after Aries:

8.      A sound system:

9.      Holiday at end of Lent:

10.   Expulsion:

7 letters:

11.   Vienna is its capital:

12.   Very very funny:

2 word phrase

13.   Ventilates: 

8 letters—2 words:

14.   A path across the ocean:

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

Lifestyle  Substance     

Planet Earth—Ireland

Found on You Tube         

Returns tomorrow

Harper’s Index         

Date on which Florida began requiring potential welfare recipients to pass a drug test before receiving benefits: 7/1/2011

Percentage who have failed the test: 2.5

Joke-of-the-day

Recently on a routine police patrol parked outside a local neighborhood bar the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk. The man stumbled around the parking lot for a few minutes with the officer quietly observing. After what seemed an eternity and trying his keys on five different vehicles, the man managed to find his own car which he fell into. He was there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the bar and drove off.Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off (it was a dry night), flicked the hazard flasher on and off, tooted the horn, and then switched on the lights. He moved the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed a little, and then remained stationary for a few more minutes as more patrons left in their vehicles. At last he pulled out of the parking lot and started to drive slowly down the street.The police officer, having patiently waited all this time, now started up his patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and carried out a breathalyzer test. To his amazement, the breathalyzer indicated no evidence of the man having consumed alcohol at all!Dumbfounded, the officer said, "I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the Police Station. This breathalyzer equipment must be broken.""I doubt it," said the man, "Tonight, I'm the designated decoy."

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

To get a thirty degree angle on a knife blade (good for many kinds of work) grind it so that the breadth of the exposed diagonal cutting-edge is twice the thickness of the blade.

Somewhat Useless Information    

Ska, Jamaican is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues.In 1995, punk band Rancid released the ska single "Time Bomb" which reached #8 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks, becoming the first major American ska hit of the 1990s. Over the next few years, a string of notable ska and ska-influenced singles became hits on mainstream radio, including "Spiderwebs" by No Doubt, "Sell Out" by Reel Big Fish and "The Impression That I Get" by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, all of whom would reach platinum status with each of their respective albums.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A Florida fortune-teller has drawn a 15-month prison sentence for her part in a fraud scheme that tricked victims out of more than $2 million. Olivia Evans, 22, of Hollywood, Fla., was handed a sentence of one year and three months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of more than $402,700, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. Evans' two sisters are already serving prison terms along with their mother. Her sentencing was delayed so she could give birth to her second child. She pleaded guilty in September to federal charges of mail and wire fraud. Evans' attorney, Richard Merlino, asked for leniency, saying she was adopted into the Romany gypsy culture and did not choose that way of life. "At the age of 5, she was taught by her adoptive mother the art of psychic mysticism," Merlino told the court.

Calendar Information        

…Happening This Week:

3-18

Iditarod Race

11-17

Girl Scout Week

Turkey Vultures Return to the Living Sign

National Agriculture Week

12-18

International Brain Awareness Week

Wildlife Week

13-19

Campfire USA Birthday Week

16-18

American Crossword Puzzle Weekend

Sherlock Holmes Weekend

Today Is                                                                      

Curlew Day Traditional arrival date for the long-billed curlew at the Umatilla (Oregon) National Wildlife Refuge

Everything You Do Is Right Day

Freedom of Information Day

Goddard Day 1926. Commemorates first liquid-fuel-powered rocket flight launched by Robert Hutchings Goddard 

Lips Appreciation Day

St. Urho's Day Finnish folklore hero

Well-Elderly  or Wellderly Day

Today’s Other Events                                                             

Before 1000CE

597 BC - Babylonians capture Jerusalem, replace Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king

> 

1100’s

1190 - Crusades begin massacre of Jews of York England Jews of York commit mass suicide rather than submit to baptism

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1300’s

1345 - Holy spirit glides above fire: "the miracle of Amsterdam" (legend)

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1600’s

1621 - Native American chief Samoset visits colony of Plymouth Mass

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1800’s

1830 - After some "politicking", Greenwood le Flore is elected as Chief of the Choctaw Nation, during a "rump" council, today. Previously, there were 3 regional Chiefs. Le Flore is in favor of selling the Choctaw lands, and moving to Indian Territory.

1861 - Arizona Territory votes to leave the Union

1861 - Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who was evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy

1867 - First publication of an article by Joseph Lister outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery, in The Lancet

1871 - 1st fertilizer law enacted

1882 - US Senate ratifies treaty establishing the Red Cross

1900’s

1912 - Mrs William Howard Taft plants 1st cherry tree in Wash DC

1915 - Federal Trade Commission organizes

1930 - USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) floated out to become a natl shrine

1955 - President Eisenhower upheld the use of atomic weapons in case of war

1968 - Robert F Kennedy announces presidential campaign

1977 - US president Carter pleads for Palestinian homeland

1985 - Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson taken hostage in Beirut

1994 - Tonya Harding pleads guilty to felony attack on Nancy Kerrigan

1998 - Pope John Paul II asks God for forgiveness for the inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust

2000’s

2005 - Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian control

2006 - The United Nations General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to establish the UN Human Rights Council

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Jerry Lewis, comedian and fund raiser is 86

> 

In their 70’s

Bernardo Bertolucci, Parma Italy, director (Last Tango in Paris) is 71

Chuck Woolery, TV game show host (Love Connection) is 71

In their 60’s

Erik Estrada, actor (Chips) is 63

In their 50’s

Nancy Wilson, rock guitarist (Heart-Never, What about Love) is 58

Remembered for being born on this day

Contessa Marie Madeleine La Fayette, novelist in 1634

James Madison, (D-R), 4th US president (1809-17) in 1751

Mike Mansfield, (Sen-D-Mont) majority whip in 1903

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, US ambassador to UN/(Sen-D-NY, 1977- ) in 1927

Patricia Nixon, [Thelma Catherine], Ely Nevada, 1st lady (1968-74) in 1912

Georg Simon Ohm, physicist (discovered Ohm's Law) in 1787

James E Smith, became father at 100 with woman 64 years younger in 1849

Henny Youngman, London England, comedian (Take my wife please) in 1906

Today’s Obits                                                           

Nathaniel Bowditch, astronomer/navigation expert, dies of stomach cancer at 64 in 1838

Thomas E Dewey, US president candidate (R 1944, 48), dies of heart attack at 68 in 1971

Arthur Godfrey, TV host (Arthur Godrey Show), dies at 79 in 1983

Lord Lovat, [Shimi], Scottish landowner, dies at 83 in 1995

Sergeant Stubby, decorated World War I dog dies at 10 in 1926

T-Bone Walker, blues guitarist (Funky Town, Well Done), dies of stroke at 64 in 1975

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

5 letters:

1.      a fixed look:

a.      stare

2.      Unit of a mall:

a.      store

3.      The trunk of the body:

a.      torso

4.      Where a chicken sits overnight:

a.      roost

5.      A stringed musical instrument of India:

a.      sitar

6 letters:

6.      Stitch made after surgery:

a.      suture

7.      Sign of the zodiac after Aries:

a.      Taurus

8.      A sound system:

a.      stereo

9.      Holiday at end of Lent:

a.      Easter

10.   Expulsion:

a.      ouster

7 letters:

11.   Vienna is it’s capital:

a.      Austria

12.   Very very funny:

a.      riotous

2 word phrase

13.   Ventilates:

a.      airs out

8 letters—2 words:

14.   A path across the ocean:

a.      sea route

Wuzzle

Mixed emotions

Eating leftover food

Smokestack

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  ☺