24 April 2010~~Week 17 of 2010: 114 days this year… 251 days remain
‡ Something To Think About
First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer—Luthern Minister hanged in Nazi Germany
• Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1984 ►Apple released the Apple IIc portable computer costing $1,295
‡ Free Ramblings
Tonight is another Great Decisions Group. We meet about 10 times a year, and have decided to try and finish up by May so we can send in our comments on this year’s topics. Keeps me hoppin’. Tonight is on the Great Recession and its implications. I must say, I read the five articles and after the first couple of paragraphs of each one it was just blah, blah, blah. I’m hoping the rest of the group will be a little less bored, and able to understand this stuff in plain ol’ English. I do know all the words in the articles and don’t need a dictionary to read it, but it is just plain boring.
Our retirement group met at a little restaurant on the South Side of Flag. Great food. Good conversation. So many unique individuals wander around South San Francisco St. It’s almost like a step back into the late 1960’s. Living on the East side, I forget that this part of Flagstaff even exists. It’s nice to see. The owner of the restaurant is a friend of Mary’s and she treated us very well. They don’t have a big lunch crowd but it was steady with people in and out.
I listened to non-elected Governor Brewer as she signed SB1070. Not in the mood. Trouble is already brewing and she is just living on another planet.
We are still in Winter-Spring with snow coming and going every few hours. We only got to 42° but it was not a nice day outside.
‡ A Quick Smile…
According to my mother, she and Dad decided to start a family soon after he became an officer in the Air Force. When months went by without success, they consulted the base physician, who chose to examine Mom right then and there.
"Please disrobe," he told her.
"With him in the room??" she yelled, pointing to my father.
Turning to Dad, the doctor said, "Captain, I think I found the problem."
‡ Random Fact
In 1962, Silent Spring by aquatic biologist Rachel Carson exposes the harm caused by insecticides such as DDT. The book leads to the development of safer insecticides and to a ban on the sale of DDT within the United States. More significantly, it heightens the awareness of ordinary people, who demand new legislation aimed at protecting the environment—a word that enters common parlance around this time.
‡ Puzzle
Heteronyms are words that are spelled identically but have different meanings when pronounced differently. For example: Lead, pronounced LEED, means to guide. However, lead, pronounced LED, means a metallic element.
1. to shut; near
2. to show a movie; a task
3. to put it down again, such as a carpet; a race by teams; to pass along, such as information
‡ Side Show Stories
JAYWICK, England - A British man banned from driving for four years for drunkenly driving a battery-powered Barbie toy car admitted he had acted like "a twit." Paul Hutton, 40, said he found the toy car, designed for 3-to-5-year-olds, abandoned about a year ago and he has been working on it at his Jaywick, England, home for about a year with his 17-year-old son, the Colchester Gazette reported.
Hutton said he had been drinking while working on the toy the day of his arrest and decided to take it for a spin. "The police pulled up and asked if I was all right," Hutton said. "I'd had a few drinks but I felt fine. I hadn't spoken to anyone all day -- then I found out I couldn't talk. "I was very surprised to get done for drink-driving, but I was a twit to say the least," he said. Hutton was sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge. His driver's license was suspended for three years. The Barbie car runs on a 12-volt battery and has a top speed of about 4 mph.
‡ Calendar Information
• Observance Weeks in April•
18-24
Administrative Professionals Week
Cleaning For A Reason Week
Coin Week
National Crime Victims Rights Week
National Volunteer Week
Sky Awareness Week
19-25
Astronomy Week
Consumer Awareness Week
Fish Fry Week
National Inspirational News Week
Police Officers Who Gave Their Lives In The Line of Duty Week
National Paperboard Packaging Week
National Window Safety Week
Turnoff Week
23-25
National Dream Hotline: Call to have your dreams interpreted. Sponsored by the School of Metaphysics in MO
National & Global Youth Service Days
National Dance Week
National Pie Week
24-30
National Scoop The Poop Week
• 24 April Observances—US/UN/World •
National Pigs In A Blanket Day
Astronomy Day
Bulldogs are Beautiful Day
Interstate Mullet Toss Days
National Go Birding Day
National Rebuilding Day Sense of Smell Day
World Tai Chi & Qigong Day
• 24 April Observances—by country •
Armenia : Armenian Martyrs' Day (1915)
Australia: Kapyong Day, a day of remembrance for Korean War veteran
The Gambia: Republic Day
Niger: Concord Day, commemorating the 1995 peace accord ending the Tuareg Rebellion
Nepal: Democracy Day, commemorating the reinstitution of parliament in 2006
•Number One Songs in…
For anyone interested, all these songs are available on iTunes.
1948► Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me); Peggy Lee
1958► Witch Doctor; David Seville [The Chipmunks]
1968► Honey; Bobby Goldsboro
1978► Night Fever; The Bee Gees
1988► Where Do Broken Hearts Go; Whitney Houston
• 24 April Happenings•
In The Arts
--
In Athletics
1974 ►NFL grants franchise to Tampa Bay Bucaneers
In Business or Education
1704 ►"Boston News-Letter", 1st successful newspaper in US, is established
1865 ►Fire alarm & police telegraph system put into operation (San Francisco)
1888 ►Eastman Kodak forms
1985 ►There were a reported 832,602 millionaires in the United States on this day
In Politics
1754 ►DELAWARE Chief Teedyuscung will lead a group of 70 Christian Indians out of the village of Gnadenhuetten today. They will leave to live in the village of Wyoming, Pennsylvania.
1800 ►Library of Congress is established with $5,000 allocation
1833 ►Patent granted for 1st soda fountain to Jacob Evert & George Dulty
1897 ►1st reporter, William Price (Washington Star), is assigned to White House
1898 ►Spain declares war on the United States after rejecting America's ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba
1916 ►The Easter uprising begins when some 1,600 militant Irish republicans who are members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood seize several key sites in Dublin
1968 ►Students at Columbia University in New York City begin a week long occupation of several campus buildings
In Science/ Religion
1990 ►The Space Shuttle Discovery launched the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit.
• 24 April Births •
Artists, Writers, and Composers
Robert Penn Warren, 1905, 1st US poet laureate (All the King's Men)
Athletes
Vince Ferragamo, 54, NFL/CFL quarterback (Los Angeles Rams, Montréal Alouettes)
Entertainers
Cedric the Entertainer, 46, comedian, actor (Street Kings, Barber-shop, Be Cool), born Cedric Kyle
Kelly Clarkson, 28, singer
Shirley MacLaine, 76, author, actress (Oscar for Terms of Endearment; The Turning Point, Being There)
Michael O’Keefe, 55, actor
Barbra Streisand, 68, singer, actress (Oscar for Funny Girl; The Way We Were, Yentl), director (Prince of Tides)
Business, Education Leaders
Robert Bailey Thomas, 1766, founder, editor: The Farmer’s Almanac
Political Leaders
Richard M. Daley, 68, Mayor of Chicago
Scientists /Religious Leaders
John Graunt, 1620, statistician, founder of science of demography
• 24 April Obits •
Vladimir M Komarov, 1967, cosmonaut (Voshkod I), is 1st to die in space, aboard Soyuz 1 @ 40
Wallis Warfield Simpson (Duchess of Windsor) ,1986, dies @ 90
Pat Paulsen, 1997, comedian (Smothers Brothers Show), cancer @ 69
‡ ANSWERS to puzzle
1. Close CLOZE- to shut; CLOS- near
2. Project proJEKT- to show a movie; PRAHjekt- a task
3. Relay reeLAY- to put it down again, such as a carpet; REElay- a race by teams; rihLAY- to pass along, such as information
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