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Today’s Historical
Highlights
1516 - 1st
ghetto, Jews are compelled to live in specific area of Venice
1790 - US Patent
system forms
1841 - NY
"Tribune" begins publishing under editor Horace Greeley
1874 - The first
Arbor Day is celebrated in Nebraska
1877 - 1st human
cannonball act performed in London
1919 - Mexican
Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead by government
forces in Morelos
1930 - Synthetic
rubber 1st produced
1947 - Jackie
Robinson becomes 1st black in major league baseball (Dodgers)
1961 - Adolf
Eichmann tried as a war criminal in Israel
1986 - Benazir
Bhutto returns to Pakistan
1989 - H J Heinz,
Van Camp Seafood & Bumble Bee Seafood say they would not buy tuna caught in
nets that also trap dolphins
1998 - The
Belfast Agreement is signed
Free Rambling
Thoughts
Had my MRI today to check
out my brain. The ophthalmologist wants to be sure nothing is causing a blind
spot that has been there for at least 5 years and hasn’t changed, is still
nothing to worry about. Technology has changed since I did this 5 years ago. It
still takes about an hour to take the pictures. Interesting for sure, I kinda
felt like I was in one of those Alien movies from the 1960’s…where the aliens come in a UFO, take you to the mother ship and
probe you without leaving any marks. Lots of loud sounds in that tube…I decided one was to move the camera, one was
to take the pictures, and one that I never figured out. It wasn’t bad, but don’t
look for another one for at least 5 years…and hope that by then they
figure out a better way than earplugs to soften the sound.
The weatherman sez snow
this weekend for Flag. We’ll see…he’s been wrong before…lots of times.
My June trip to The Great
Migration is getting closer. Ellie called today to verify that I wanted aisle
seats for the trip. Some of the group is going on to Victoria Falls and their
trip back home will be 32 hours. Glad I opted out of that extension. The Falls
are magnificent and well worth a view…but I’m a ‘been there,
done that’ guy.
Game Center
(answers at the end of post)
Brain Game—A
close up picture of what?
NPR Sunday Puzzle
The clues are sentences.
Each sentence conceals the name of a make of an automobile somewhere in
consecutive letters inside it. You name the automobile. For example, if the
clue is "give them a 'z,' the answer would be Mazda because it's hidden in
consecutive letters.
1.
Alex uses hair dye:
2.
We were attacked by ninja guards:
3.
The vapor’s chemicals overwhelmed me:
4.
At DuPont I accomplished a lot:
5.
Ellen simply mouthed the words:
6.
It was Harold’s mob I let loose:
7.
Is the golfer rarin’ to go:
8.
The subway has a turnstile:
9.
Alan drove really fast:
Riddle of the day
Below are six clues to six
words. When arranged in the correct order, each word is an anagram of the
previous word with a letter removed. capital of France, snake, headache tablet,
single article, twisted ankle, coarse file, equally
Anagram:
unscramble—numbers represent the number of letters in
each answer word
Lifestyle Substance
Harper’s
Index
Rank of US Congress among
world legislatures for gender parity: 89
Found on You
Tube
Planet Earth—
Joke-of-the-day
The boss was concerned
that his employees weren’t giving him enough respect, so he tried and old
fashioned method of persuasion: He brought in a sign that said “I’m the Boss”
and taped it to his door.
After lunch, he noticed
someone had taped another note under his. “Your wife called. She wants her sign
back!”
Rules of
Thumb
Easy shortcuts to make
an ‘educated’ guess
Seems to have disappeared from the web…one more try tomorrow.
Yeah, It Really
Happened
A team of engineers at Purdue University has
set the world record for "Largest functional Rube Goldberg machine"
with a
mind-boggling contraption that takes 300 steps to inflate and pop a balloon.
In doing so, they bested
themselves, as they had the previous record, with 244 steps.
While they've captured the
current record as set by the World Records Academy (which has more than 2,300
records listed online and more than 250,000 in an offline database), they're
still waiting on verification from Guinness World Records, which is a lengthy
process. (They achieved the Guinness Record in March 2011.)
They broke the record on
March 31 at the National Rube Goldberg Machine Competition, after six months
and thousands of attempts for the individual components. The machine had its
first perfect run on March 29 and the video below records that.
I wish the video guys who
captured the action had been able to zoom in a bit more, because it's a
dizzying array in 2:17 minutes to behold -- especially with the team cheering
on in the background. But I did catch some things on repeated viewings that
made me chuckle, and yes, even gasp (in awe and appreciation that so much could
go into such a simple task).
It had the usual water
flowing through funnels and ball rolls, but it also added some perks, like
toasting a piece of bread, a mini-putt on a mini-golf hole (upside down, no
less!) and a watermill. But each module -- that is task -- was so clever in
itself, that to see it choreographed as a whole is a real treat.
Somewhat Useless
Information
The Dalai Lama of Tibet,
Tenzin Gyatso, is both the spiritual leader and head of the state of Tibet.
Born on July 6, 1935, he was just 2 years old when he was recognized as the
reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso. He took the throne at age
4 and became a monk at age 6.
The Dalai Lama has a range
of pastimes including meditating, gardening, and repairing watches.
Calendar Information
…Happening This
Week:
4-10
Hate
Week
7-15
National
Robotics Week
Passover Week
Bat Appreciation Week
National Library Week
National Networking Week
Orthodox Holy Week
Pan American Week
Consider Christianity Week
Passover Week
Bat Appreciation Week
National Library Week
National Networking Week
Orthodox Holy Week
Pan American Week
Consider Christianity Week
10-16
Health
Information Privacy and Security Week
National
Animal Control Appreciation Week
Today Is
ASPCA (American
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) Day
1866
Commodore
Perry Day
Equal
Pay Day
Golfers
Day
National
Be Kind To Lawyers Day
National
Farm Animals Day
National
Library Day
National
Library Workers Day
National
Sibling Day
One
Day Without Shoes Day
Salvation
Army Founder's Day
Safety
Pin Day
Today’s Other Events
Before 1000CE
837 - Comet 1P/837
F1 (Halley) approaches within 0.0334 AUs of Earth
><
1500’s
1500 - France
captures duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan
><
1700’s
1790 - Robert Gray
is 1st American to circumnavigate the Earth
1800’s
1825 - 1st hotel
in Hawaii opens
1845 - More than
1,000 buildings damaged by fire in Pittsburgh Pa
1849 - Safety
pin patented by Walter Hunt (NYC); sold rights for $100
1858 - The
original Big Ben, a 14.5 tonne bell for the Tower of London is cast in
Stockton-on-Tees by Warner's of Cripplegate. This however cracked during
testing and was recasted into the 13.76 tonne bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry
and is still in use to date.
1864 - Austrian
Archduke Maximilian becomes emperor of Mexico
1869 - Congress
increases number of Supreme Court judges from 7 to 9
1871 - Apache raid the San
Xavier mission, south of Tucson, and steal livestock.
1887 - President
Abraham Lincoln's re-buried with his wife in Springfield Il
1900’s
1916 - The Professional
Golfers Association of America (PGA) is created in New York City
1925 - Scribners
publishes "The Great Gatsby" by F Scott Fitzgerald
1938 - Austria
becomes a state of Germany
1938 - NY makes
syphilis test mandatory in order to get a marriage license
1942 - Cigarettes
& candy rationed in Holland
1955 - Dr Jonas Salk
successfully tests Polio vaccine
1971 - US table
tennis team arrives in China PR
1972 - US, USSR
& 70 other nations agree to ban biological weapons
1981 - Computer
glitch keeps Space Shuttle Columbia grounded
2000’s
2006 - Hundreds
of thousands protest H.R. 4437 (aka the "Sensenbrenner Bill") in the
United States
2010 - Polish
Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board
including President Lech Kaczyński
Today’s Birthdays
In their 80’s
Max Von Sydow, Lund
Sweden, actor (Hawaii, Exorcist, Dune, Dreamscape)is 83
In their 70’s
John Madden, NFL coach
(Oakland Raiders)/sports commentator (CBS, FOX) is 76
In their 60’s
Ken Griffy, Sr, baseball
player (Cin Reds, NY Yanks) is 62
Steven Seagal, Detroit MI,
actor (Above the Law, Hard to Kill) is 60
><
In their 40’s
Q-Tip (Kamaal Ibn John
Fareed), American musician/rapper is 42
Orlando
Jones, American actor and comedian is 44
In their 30’s
Michael Pitt,
actor will be 31
Remembered for being
born on this day
William Booth, founder
(Salvation Army) in 1829
James ‘Jim’ Bowie,
American pioneer and soldier in 1796
Don Meredith, Mount Vernon
Texas, NFL QB (Cowboys)/Mon Night Football in 1938
Harry Morgan, Detroit
Mich, actor (December Bride, M*A*S*H, Dragnet) in 1915
Matthew Calbraith Perry,
Commodore, opened Japan in 1794
"Alvin" Junior
Samples, Cummings Ga, country singer (Hee Haw) in 1926
Today’s Obits
Little Eva (Eva Narcissus
Boyd), American singer ("The Loco-Motion" ), dies at 59 of cervical
cancer in 2003
Mark Alexander Boyd,
Scottish poet dies at 39 in 1601
Walker Evans, US
photographer (Fortune Magazine), dies at 71 in 1975
Khalil Gibran, Lebanese
poet and painter dies at 48 of cirrhosis/TB in 1931
Thomas Jones, Archbishop
of Dublin dies at about 69 in 1619
Marjorie Main, actress (Ma
& Pa Kettle), dies at 85 in 1975
Emiliano Zapata, Mexican
leader, murdered at 39 in 1919
Answers
Brain Game: Close
Up Picture
Riddle of the day
Aspirin, sprain, Paris,
rasp, asp, as, a.
NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.
Alex uses hair dye:
a.
Lexus
2.
We were attacked by ninja guards:
a.
Jaguar
3.
The vapor’s chemicals overwhelmed me:
a.
Porsche
4.
At DuPont I accomplished a lot:
a.
Pontiac
5.
Ellen simply mouthed the words:
a.
Plymouth
6.
It was Harold’s mob I let loose:
a.
Oldsmobile
7.
Is the golfer rarin’ to go:
a.
Ferrari
8.
The subway has a turnstile:
a.
Saturn
9.
Alan drove really fast:
a.
Land Rover
Anagrams
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 ☺
