Saturday Dec 11



TODAY’S QUOTE—Richard Lamm, former Gov of CO
Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
Santa’s elves were really out today. I don’t go to the mall very much anymore. But Penny’s, Dillards, and Sears are there and at this time of year the mall is filled with seasonal kiosks. I basically was able to finish my shopping. When I was in Borneo, on the ship, I learned this very strange game with pebbles and cups. It is a two player game and the object is to take turns in getting all your pebbles into your house. It starts off fast, slows down, then can really get going. There is a definite strategy and not a lot of rules to remember. The TV commentator taught it to us and four of us really really got into it. I was not the champion but sure had a good time playing. It is called Mancala and has been played in various forms in Africa and Asia for centuries. The oldest remnants of the game pieces have been found in Ethiopia. While I was in Botswana I saw people playing it on small tables outside their homes. They got really loud when playing, as did the audience watching. On the ship, we were a little more refrained, but only had one Native playing. A kiosk had an inexpensive set—like chess the board and pebbles can run from $10 to thousands, depending on what the pebble are made of and what the board is made of. The sales guy wanted to know where I learned to play. He had learned in Japan. He was surprised it was played in Malaysia and Africa too. I’ll give it to my brother and his wife and keep a set for myself. Like any good kiosk he had games, games, games and hundreds of calendars. So he became a one-stop shop for me. Then there was the crazy Israeli lady who was selling skin products from the Dead Sea. I am usually pretty good at avoiding the aggressive kiosk salesperson, but somehow fell into her trap. Before I knew what was happening, she was rubbing some stone on one of my fingernails. Suddenly she was removing the dirt and pollution from the top of the nail. In about 15 seconds she wiped the fingernail and it was all shiny. Just what I wanted, a shiny fingernail. And then she told me that it would be that way for two weeks with this magic stone. Whee. She tried to get me to buy a bunch of lotions and sea salt cleaners for a mere $59, off from the regular $90. I told her my wife would come back and get what she wanted. She was way too aggressive and way to inquisitive and won’t ever have my business, no matter how important it is to do all that crap with my skin, finger and toenails. I’ve lived six decades without it, and don’t plan to start using it now. I also stopped at the Verizon kiosk and almost bought an Android phone. Before my Blackberry the idea was to keep getting smaller and smaller phones. Now they seem to be getting bigger. The Android is thinner but a little taller than my Blackberry. I’ll probably get one as soon as all my Elf shopping is finished, assuming that my middle finger fingernail isn’t still shiny.

It was a good shopping trip and when I got home, I made piles of the gifts for each person getting something. Now the job of wrapping awaits.

Back during my time at Shonto, we had a full hour lunch hour. The dorm aides came to the school at 12N and took all the students, then at 1pm they brought them all back to the school. Many of the ladies would rush home to watch some soap opera. Then they would discuss the events after school before we all went home. What is happening in DC right now reminds me of those days. The Congress has a full plate before Christmas. Just when one thinks that a bill will finally get a vote, it is pulled and everyone is told it is strategy. I am tired of the games. We need START passed, we need the DREAM act passed, we need the government bill passed so the government can keep operating, we need DADT voted on—and hopefully passed. There aren’t many days left. Stop the Soap Opera, vote and let the cards fall where they may. Waiting for the new Congress will only mean another year of no action while the new members get their footing. They all talked big about how to fix the country, but we can already see the returning people won’t let that happen—from either party.

HOLY MACKEREL: 1932 San Francisco's coldest day (27ºF) - snow falls

∞ JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(SuperJeopardy Answers) from 1990 LANDMARKS
☼The president of Venezuela has his offices in the Miraflores Palace in this city
☼This historic New York fort overlooks both Lake George & Lake Champlain
☼To honor W. Churchill, London's Church of St. Mary the Virgin was moved stone by stone to this Mo. Town
☼The Cappella della Sacra Sindone was built in the 17th century to house this relic
☼The famous Oracle of Delphi was located on the lower slope of this sacred Greek mountain

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—
In the movie "A Christmas Story," when Flick's tongue sticks to the flagpole, a hidden suction tube was used to safely create the illusion that his tongue had frozen to the metal.
<>
In the movie "Elf," the costumes for the elves were modeled after those used in the 1964 television special "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer."
<>
In Mexico, wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve is said to bring new love in the upcoming year.

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM  WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —
A camel and its rider are unhurt after toppling onto audience members during a rehearsal for a costumed Christmas pageant at a South Florida church.
The camel named Lula Bell walked down the aisle and was supposed to stop and kneel. Instead, the animal balked and then stumbled sideways. It fell onto several pews and the rider was also tossed into the audience.
No one was injured during the Thursday night rehearsal at the First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach. But the pastor organizing the pageant says the camel won't be in any shows.
The camel was on loan from Animals in Motion, a Florida company that trains and transports animals for movies, shows and parties.

A LITTLE LAUGH
When it comes to wine I'm very particular about what I buy. There are two things I look for before making my selection.
First, the word "Wine" must appear somewhere on the label. This is something I insist on.
Second, I look for a sign nearby that says "On Sale."
Follow these two rules and you won't go far wrong.

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

DAYBOOK INFORMATION
♦ THIS WEEK ♦
6-12: National Handwashing Awareness Week
10-17: Human Rights Week
♦ TODAY IS… ♦
Day of The Horse
International Mountain Day
International Shareware Day
National Noodle Ring Day
UNICEF Birthday since 1946
Geneva Switzerland : Scaling Day/Escalade (1602, 1816)
US: Indiana: Admission Day (1816—19th state)
Upper Volta: Republic Day (1958)
Wales: Remembrance Day of Llywelyn II (Llywelyn ap Gruffydd or Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf which means Llwelyn Our Last Leader)
♫ Academy Awards Best Original Song—1940’s ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
♦Today’s Births♦
ARTS
1904 Marjorie (Henderson) Buell cartoonist: Little Lulu
Mos Def, 37, rapper, actor (16 Blocks, The Italian Job), born Dante Terrell Smith
David Gates, 70, singer (Bread), songwriter ’Goodbye Girl’
Brenda Lee, 66, singer, born Brenda Mae Tarpley
1918 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Russian writer (Cancer Ward, Nobel 1970)
1849 Ellen Key Swedendish theory/author/feminist (Courageous Woman)
1926 Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton blues singer: pre-Elvis version of Hound Dog
<>
Teri Garr, 61, actress (Young Frankenstein, Tootsie, The Black Stallion)
Rita Moreno, 79, singer, actress (Oscar for West Side Story; Tony for The Ritz)
ATHLETICS
1976 Shareef Abdur-Rahim, basketball (Grizzlies, Trail Blazers, Hawks, Kings)
1969 Viswanathan Anand, Indian chess grandmaster, current World Chess Champion
BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1889 Walter Knott, American farmer, Knott’s Berry Farm
POLITICS
Tom Hayden, 70, journalist, activist, politician
John F. Kerry, 67, US Senator (D, Massachusetts), born Denver, CO
1882 Fiorello LaGuardia ‘Little Flower’: politician: NYC mayor
SCIENCE & RELIGION
1781 Sir David Brewster Scottish physicist/inventor (kaleidoscope)
1863 Annie Jump Cannon astronomer: discovered five stars
1843 Robert Koch German bacteriologist (TB, cholera, Nobel 1905)
1475 Leo X [Giovanni de' Medici] Italy, Pope (1513-21)
♦Today’s Obituaries♦
Sam Cooke singer (You Send Me, Sad Moon), slain @ 33 in 1964
Robert Q Lewis comic/TV panel member (RQL Show), emphysema @ 70 in 1991
Robert Shelton (Shapiro) journalist, @ 69 in 1995
♦Today’s Events♦
ARTS
1882 The Bijou Theatre in Boston, MA became the first theatre to be lighted by electricity.
ATHLETICS
1951 Joe Dimaggio announces his baseball retirement
1981 Muhammad Ali's 61st & last fight, losing to Trevor Berbick
BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1919 Boll weevil monument dedicated in Enterprise AL
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1620 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock
1753 French, under Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, are at Fort le Boeuf on French Creek, near present day Waterford, in northwestern Pennsylvania. Major George Washington arrives today delivering a message from Virginia Governor Dinwiddie. The message says the French are trespassing, and to leave.
1833 Captain Page and almost 700 Choctaws reach their destination at Fort Towson, in eastern Indian Territory. The others in the group had split off and gone to Fort Smith.
POLITICS (US)
1906 US President Roosevelt attacks abuses in the Congo
POLITICS (International)
1792 France's King Louis XVI went on trial, accused of treason
1931 British Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Newfoundland
1941 Japanese attack Wake Island (only failed WWII-landing)
1961 Adolf Eichmann is found guilty of war crimes, in Israel
1967 People's front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) established
SCIENCE & RELIGION
1719 1st recorded display of Aurora Borealis in US (New England)
1844 1st dental use of nitrous oxide, Hartford CT
1972 Astronauts Cernan & Harrison become 11th & 12th on the Moon
1992 Nor'easter storm hits New York, doing $650 million+ worth of damage

ANSWERS
∞ JEOPARDY
☼The president of Venezuela has his offices in the Miraflores Palace in this city
What is Caracus?
☼This historic New York fort overlooks both Lake George & Lake Champlain
What is Ticonderoga?
☼To honor W. Churchill, London's Church of St. Mary the Virgin was moved stone by stone to this Mo. Town
What is Fulton?
☼The Cappella della Sacra Sindone was built in the 17th century to house this relic
What is the Shroud of Terin?
☼The famous Oracle of Delphi was located on the lower slope of this sacred Greek mountain
What is Mount Parnassus?
Posted by No comments:

Friday Dec 10

TODAY’S QUOTE—Eric Sevareid

Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
Our retirement group had lunch at Little America today. It was the first resort hotel in Flagstaff, back in the day. Our AZTESOL group used their conference facilities many times. Over the years it has met with competition. It is still very nice. The old coffee shop is gone. The buffet lunch is gone. We did have a nice menu lunch though. I still need to go back over there at night, as they have one of Flagstaff’s best light displays. They have always had a high end gift shop and with the coffee shop gone, the gift shop is a little larger. It has always had a western theme with cowboy, wildlife, and Native items. Sadly, they have dropped most of their Native items for clearly marked ‘made in China’ items. Why any high end tourist would want to buy cheap imitations is beyond me. Somehow I don’t think the plastic dream catchers with blue plastic beads are going to do their job.

I was concerned when I saw how the US stood up in reading to other countries. Now for the math scores—we are 31st and 19 points below the average score. The children of these nations scored higher than our students, in order of scores: Shanghai-China , Singapore, Hong Kong-China, Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei, Finland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland , Japan, Canada, Netherlands, Macao-China, New Zealand, Belgium, Australia, Germany, Estonia, Iceland, Denmark, Slovenia, Norway, Slovak Republic, France, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Hungary, and Luxembourg. The one upside to all this is that since the American schools are not teaching geography and very little history, most of the American kids couldn’t find most of these nations on a globe. Even more disturbing, many teachers and other adults can’t find them either. As we move more and more to computers for our information, our social networking, our shopping, and other daily events do we not know that all this stuff is based on complex series of 1’s and 0’s? Our governor just announced that there will be even bigger cuts in education during her term.

This healthcare mess is hitting AZ very hard. Our governor announced today that many of the AHCCCS patients are being denied transplants due to the cost of the transplants. First, AHCCCS is the AZ form of Medicaid. While the voluntary Medicaid program was first developed in 1965, it was not available across all states until 1982 when good ol’ AZ finally set up AHCCCS system—which is ironically pronounced ‘access’. Our governor’s reasoning for stopping transplants is that ‘these procedures are expensive and voluntary…and are available in Cadillac health care programs. To be eligible for AHCCCS I would have to have an income of $903 or less/month; a married couple would have to have an income less than $1215/month; and a family would add $300 per child to the $1215/month. The AHCCCS participants are living in poverty and it doesn’t seem to me that any of them could afford any insurance, let alone a Cadillac plan. Many ACHHHS patients are on transplant lists. I have always been a ‘quality over quantity’ of life person. Spending $200 or $200K to give a patient another few months bed ridden does not make sense to me. However, to give a person another 5-10 years of active living does make sense. Worse yet for the transplant denied patients is that while they are living productive lives, they had been told they would be getting the needed transplant. Then with the swipe of a pen, they were told they were no longer eligible. One poor man had gotten a call that a liver was available. He headed for the hospital, and while his family was arriving, he was being prepped for surgery. It was then, and only then, that the hospital bean counter came in with the list of forms and told him that he would need to cough up $250K because AHCCS had just informed her that the patient was no longer eligible for the AHCCCS payments. He didn’t have the money, so he got dressed and went home. I’m sure the rest of the story will be that he will be billed for prep work and that AHCCCS will not pay, since no surgery actually took place. Where is the humanity?

HOLY MACKEREL: 1936 King Edward VIII abdicates throne to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson, England replaces King Edward VIII stamp series

∞ JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(SuperJeopardy Answers) from 1990 "H"ISTORY
☼This Communist revolutionary founded the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945
☼Janos Kadar assumed power in this country after a revolt was suppressed by Soviet tanks
☼Although this British general opposed coercion in North America, he led troops at the Battle of Bunker Hill
☼In 29 A.D. lava from Mt. Vesuvius buried this city named for its mythical founder
☼This Medieval confederacy of N. German cities was formed to defend their mutual trading interests

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—
The first president to decorate the White House Christmas tree in the United States was Franklin Pierce.
<>
‘Hot cockles’ was a popular game at Christmas in medieval times. Players took turns striking a blindfolded player, who had to guess the name of the person delivering each blow.
<>
Child singer Jimmy Boyd was 12-years-old when he sang the Christmas favorite "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — An alligator is taking the heat for sparking an apartment fire in Rhode Island.
Firefighters that responded to a Central Falls, R. I. home got more than they bargained for. Inside the second floor apartment was a three-foot alligator, a 10-foot Burmese python, two other 10-foot snakes, a smaller snake and a large iguana.
The tenant blamed the alligator for starting a small fire, claiming the reptile knocked over a small heating lamp.
“The alligator usually knocks it over, but it usually just shuts off. This time it didn’t shut off,” said Jesus Romero, the reptile owner.
The tenants who live below the animal house said they called 911 when they smelled smoke. They said they are angry about all the reptiles.
“We don’t live in South Africa. We live in Central Falls, Rhode Island, that shouldn’t even be taking place at all,” said Michelle Florez, a tenant.
“I won’t let them get out of the room. I make sure I take care of them,” said Romero.
Firefighters have confirmed the fire started when a heating lamp made contact with the alligator’s plastic kiddie pool.
The housing authority is now investigating whether it is legal for the animals to live there.

A LITTLE LAUGH
Every morning, I do a mad dash to drop off my son Tyler at day care so I can get to work on time. My impatience hit home one morning when he piped up from the back of the car, "Our car is really fast and everyone else's is slow because they're all idiots, right, Mom?"

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’ Returns tomorrow

DAYBOOK INFORMATION
♦ THIS WEEK ♦
5-10: Clerc-Gallaudet Week
6-12: National Handwashing Awareness Week
10-17: Human Rights Week
♦ TODAY IS… ♦
Dewey Decimal System Day
Festival for The Souls Of Dead Whales
Human Rights Day
International Animal Rights Day
National Salesperson Day
Nobel Prize Day (1896: obit of Alfred) 
World Freedom Day
Khmer Republic: Rights of Man Day
Thailand: Constitution Day (1932)
US: Mississippi (Ojibwa for ‘Great River’) : Admission Day (1817 as 20th state)
US: Wyoming: Wyoming Day (women's suffrage) (1869)
♫ Academy Awards Best Original Song ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
Note: some of these clips work up to the song but it will be there!
♦Today’s Births♦
ARTS
1830 Emily Dickinson, poet (Collected Poems)
1824 George MacDonald Scottish sci-fi author (Lilith, Princess & Curdie)
1903 - Mary Norton author: children’s books: Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Borrowers
<>
1928 - Dan Blocker actor: Bonanza
Kenneth Branagh, 50, actor (Shackleton), director (Hamlet, Henry V), born Belfast, Northern Ireland
Susan Dey, 58, model, actress (“The Partridge Family,” “LA Law,”)
1923 - Harold Gould actor: Romero, Dream Chasers, Seems Like Old Times, Kenny Rogers as the Gambler, The Sting, Rhoda, Under One Roof, The Golden Girls, Spencer,Singer & Sons, He & She, The Feather and Father Gang
Tommy Kirk, 69, actor: Pajama Party, Son of Flubber, The Absent-Minded Professor, The Swiss Family Robinson, The Shaggy Dog, Old Yeller, Bikini Beach
1914 Dorothy Lamour [Mary (Leta Dorothy Slaton) Kaumeyer], actress (Road to Bali, Greatest Show on Earth)
1941 - Tommy Rettig actor: Lassie
ATHLETICS
Steve (Steven) Renko, 66, baseball: pitcher: Expos, Cubs, White Sox, Athletics, Red Sox, Angels, Royals
BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1851 Melville [Louis K] Dewey created Dewey Decimal System for libraries
1911 Chet Huntley, newscaster (NBC Huntley-Brinkley Report)
POLITICS
Rod Blagojevich, 54, former Governor of Illinois
SCIENCE & RELIGION
1894 Earnest Haenchen German new testament expert
♦Today’s Obituaries♦
Freeman "Amos" Gosden US radio actor (Amos 'n' Andy), @ 83 in 1982
Eugene McCarthy, U.S. Senator, Presidential candidate @ 89 in 2005
Alfred Nobel Swedish Nobel Prize ceremony on this date, @ 63 in 1896
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III, American comedian and actor cardiac arrest @ 65 in 2005
Otis Redding singer (Dock of Bay), plane crash @ 26 in 1967
Red Cloud (Maȟpíya Lúta)), Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Chief @ 87 in 1909
Otogaki Rengetsu zen nun/benefactress of Tessai, @ 84 in 1875
Damon Runyon US journalist/writer (Guys & Dolls), throat cancer @ 66 in 1946
Fulton J Sheen archbishop/religious broadcaster (Life is Worth Living), heart attack @ 84 in 1979
♦Today’s Events♦
Nobel Prizes Awarded today..a sampling only
1911 Marie Curie for Chemistry
1930 Sinclair Lewis Literature
1938 Enrico Fermi Physics
1938 Pearl S. Buck Literature
1948 T. S. Eliot Literature
1953 Winston Churchill Literature
1950 1st black American awarded Peace - Ralph J Bunche
1952 Albert Schweitzer Peace
1964 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Peace Prize
1966 Israeli Shmuel Yosef Agnon literature
1979 Mother Teresa Peace
1983 Danuta Walesa, wife of Lech Walesa, accepts his Peace Prize
1984 South African Bishop Desmond Tutu Peace
1986 Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel Peace
1994 Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres & Yasser Arafat Peace
2009 Barack Obama Peace
ARTS
1991 IM Pei receives $5 million for design of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
ATHLETICS
1810 The first interracial, title boxing bout was staged at Copthall Common in England. An American, Tom Molineaux, lost to Tom Cribb on a fluke punch. The fight went 40 rounds!
BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1953 With an investment of $7,600, Hugh Hefner published the first Playboy magazine.
1986 Exxon announced the sale of its Manhattan landmark, the 53-story Exxon Building, to a Japanese real estate developer.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1834 William Marshall, representing the United States, and Potawatoomi Indians will sign a treaty today at Tippecanoe. Six sections of land will be traded annual payments of $1000, and a small amount of supplies.
1836 The second part of the fifth group of "friendly" Creeks, approximately 1600 in number, arrive at Fort Gibson, in eastern Indian Territory. The total of both groups will be 2237.
POLITICS (US)
1971 William H Rehnquist confirmed as Supreme Court justice
POLITICS (International)
1941 Japanese troops overrun Guam
1948 UN General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1965 Dutch ends economic boycott of Rhodesia
1983 Raul Alfonsin inaugurated as Argentina's 1st civilian president
SCIENCE & RELIGION
1984 1st "planet" outside our solar system discovered
1995 Worst snowstorm in Buffalo history, 37.9" in 24 hours
ANSWERS
∞ JEOPARDY
☼This Communist revolutionary founded the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945
Who was Ho Chi Minh?
☼Janos Kadar assumed power in this country after a revolt was suppressed by Soviet tanks
What is Hungary?
☼Although this British general opposed coercion in North America, he led troops at the Battle of Bunker Hill
Who was (William) Howe?
☼In 29 A.D. lava from Mt. Vesuvius buried this city named for its mythical founder
What is Herculaneum?
☼This Medieval Confederacy of N. German cities was formed to defend their mutual trading interests
What is the Hanseatic League?
Posted by No comments:

Thursday Dec 9


TODAY’S QUOTE—Andy Rooney
One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
We had a great day to run errands. Now just if I could find some Christmas presents from my brother and his wife. Their professions require careful dressing and I learned years ago not to buy my brother any clothes. They eat out all the time, so kitchen stuff ain’t gonna work. Jewelry usually works for Laura, but haven’t found anything eye popping yet. Tomorrow I’ll hit Dillards and see if there is something there. My other problem is that when I am in a store, I seem to always find something I need and say that tomorrow I will find something for the relatives. Not the best plan. I’ve always been a Christmas Eve shopper, but the last two years I haven’t been able to do that. It is very hard to break old habits. I also have to pick up some small gifts for the in-laws—as last year they each gave me something and I was present-less for them except for a couple of bottles of wine that were last minute purchases as we headed for several dinners. They are all very nice people, but I don’t really know them, except that they really cook at Christmas time and decorate much more than I do. Getting gifts that travel well in a carry-on is also a challenge. Something will be found, by me, before I leave….I hope.

I was surprised when I did yesterday’s blog and realized it had been thirty years since John Lennon was assassinated. He was barely 40 years old. Listening to some of his last interviews he had really become a visionary. At 61 I still believe that we have to ‘give peace a chance’, that many times we must just ‘let it be’, and so much more. I also like ‘imagine’, even though many Christians find it blasphemy. I don’t get that, as I understand the meaning of the word ‘imagine’. He was such a force in music, he is still greatly missed. He sure was influential in my growth from a teenager to an adult and beyond.

Another thing I learned yesterday…Popeye was created by a guy named Elzie. That is a very unusual first name, and happens to be the name of my maternal grandfather. I remember asking him and asking his older brothers and sisters how he got his name. No one really seemed to know. He was born in the 1880’s on a farm in Iowa. Neither my brother or I had ever known anyone with that name, or even heard of anyone with that name. I did google it today and found out that it wasn’t a totally unique name. It was most popular in the 1900s decade when a whopping 71/1,000,000 had that name on their birth certificate. I tried about a dozen baby name databases. Some just said ‘no results’, others said ‘did you mean Elsie?’. He never said that he was teased with that name, or that he didn’t like the name. So the mystery continues, but now I know that his name was not as unique as I thought it was.

I wonder when the politicians who set the standards for American Education are going to realize that American is falling farther and farther behind in educating the leaders of tomorrow. The latest results show that in READING scores for US teenagers now place us at 15th in the world. Who has better reading scores? Shanghai-China, Republic of Korea, Finland, Hong Kong-China, Singapore, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Australia, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, and Estonia. I guess the politicians aren’t concerned because all these countries are currently our friends. As long as Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and the other terrorist nations are not testing their students, everything is A-OK. We don’t need to be the best readers in the world. We just need to be sure our enemies are lower on the list. Besides, reading leads a population to think, to question, to draw conclusions based on facts, to recognize propaganda, and a long list of other odd traits that might bring about change.

HOLY MACKEREL: 1788 - George Washington sold his race horse, Magnolia, to Colonel Henry Lee. Washington reportedly got 5,000 acres of Kentucky farmland in the trade.

∞ JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(SuperJeopardy Answers) from 1990 LAKES
☼Fur trappers called this Great Lake the "Upper Lake" in French
☼Located in South America, it's the world's highest large navigable lake
☼The construction of this created Lake Nasser
☼A castle on this French-Swiss lake was made famous by the poem "The Prisoner of Chillon"
☼A part of Minnesota, the northernmost point in the lower 48 states, juts into this U.S.-Canadian lake

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—Middle Ages
►During most of the Middle Ages, few people, including kings and emperors, were able to read or write. The clergy were virtually the only ones who possessed these skills.
<>
►Brothels were under the protection of the community and the prostitutes formed guilds in German cities during the Middle Ages.

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
LAS VEGAS,NV — It wasn't blue suede shoes but a pair of sneakers that led a San Francisco doctor dressed as Elvis Presley to a woman who passed out at a Las Vegas restaurant after a marathon.
Claudio Palma tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal he was dressed as the King after Sunday's Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll half-marathon when he performed CPR and resuscitated another runner at the Burger Bar at Mandalay Place.
The 36-year-old was clad in a jumpsuit, sideburns and scarf for the race and may have looked like Presley, but in real life, he's an anesthesiologist.
Palma says paramedics then arrived, and the woman gave him a weird look. He said the patient kind of "freaked out" when she came to and he thinks that is because she didn't know why Elvis was kissing her. "She was giving me a weird look and telling me she was okay," Palma told the paper.
He says the incident wasn't the only heart-stopping one that day: Dr. Palma and his new wifeRhanee wed at a run-through chapel set up at Mile 2 of the race.

A LITTLE LAUGH
One day while out on our fishing boat, we heard a woman calling for help. Pointing frantically toward a sinking row boat, she shouted to us, "My husband can't swim!"
Although the water was up to his chest, the man remained a fisherman through and through: as we reached down to pull him aboard our boat, he lifted a large, still-struggling salmon in his hand, and yelled, "Take the fish!"

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

CALENDAR INFORMATION
♦ Weekly Observances ♦
1-9: Chanukah (Hanukkah)
5-10: Clerc-Gallaudet Week
6-12: National Handwashing Awareness Week
♦ Today’s Observances ♦
National Pastry Day
International Anti-corruption Day
Weary Willie Day: honoring Emmett Kelley born in 1898
Antigua and Barbuda: National Heroes Day, formerly V.C. Bird Day
Sweden and Finland: Anna's Day, (a Swedish name day, celebrating all people named Anna and marks the day to start the preparation process of the lutefisk to be consumed on Christmas Eve)
Tanzania: Independence Day/Republic Day (1961 from UK)
♫ University Fight Songs ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
♦Today’s Births♦
ARTS
1899 Jean de Brunhoff French children's book author (Babar the Elephant)
1922 Redd Foxx comedian (Sanford & Son, Redd Foxx Show)
1848 Joel Chandler Harris US journalist (created Uncle Remus stories)
1898 Emmett Kelly clown: Ringling Bros.: hobo, Weary Willie
1608 John Milton English poet/puritan (Paradise Lost)
ATHLETICS
Richard Marvin (Dick) Butkus, 68, Hall of Fame football (Bears), sportscaster, actor
Thomas O. Kite, Jr, 61, golfer
<>
Beau Lloyd Bridges III, 69, actor (“James Brady Story,” The Fabulous Baker Boys)
1911 [William] Broderick Crawford, actor (All the King's Men, Highway Patrol, Hunter, Liar's Moon)
Dame Judi Dench, 76, actress (Mrs Brown, Iris; Oscar for Shakespeare in Love)
Kirk Douglas, 94, actor (Champion, Lust for Life), author, born Issur Danielovitch Demsky
1909 Douglas Fairbanks Jr, actor (Ghost Story)
1902 Margaret Hamilton, actress (Wicked Witch-Wizard of Oz)
Felicity Huffman, 48, actress (Transamerica, “Desperate Housewives,” “Sports Night”)
Joe Lando, 49, actor (“Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman”)
Donny Osmond, 53, actor, singer
Dick Van Patten, 82, actor (“Eight Is Enough,” “Mama”)
BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1886 Clarence Birdseye frozen vegatable king (Birdseye)
POLITICS
1594 Gustavus II Adolphus king who made Swedenden a major power (1611-32)
1906 Grace Hopper computer developer: COBOL; U.S. Naval officer: Rear Admiral, oldest naval officer on active duty [retired at age 79]
1912 Thomas P "Tip" O'Neill (Representative-MA 1977-86)/Speaker of the House
SCIENCE & RELIGION
1569 Martinus de Porres Peruvina saint (patron of social justice)
♦Today’s Obituaries♦
Ralph J Bunche UN delegate/Nobel Prize winner, lengthy illness @ 67 in 1971
Leon Jaworski Watergate special prosecutor dies @ 77 in 1982
Mary Douglas Nichol Leakey archaeologist/anthropologist, @ 83 in 1986
Malcom IV king of Scotland (1153-65), Paget’s disease @ 24 in 1165
Kim II Sung President of North Korea (1945-94), @ 82 in 1994
Anthonie "Antoon" van Dyck Flemish painter, @ 42 in 1641
Faron Young country singer, commits suicide @ 64 in 1996
♦Today’s Events♦
ARTS
1854 Lord Tennyson's poem, "Charge of the Light Brigade" published
1965 "A Charlie Brown Christmas" premieres
ATHLETICS
1851 1st Young Men's Christian Association in North America (Montréal)
1902 American League announces purchase of grounds for a stadium in New York
BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1793 Noah Webster establishes New York's 1st daily newspaper, American Minerva
1878 Joseph Pulitzer buys St Louis Dispatch for $2,500
1953 General Electric announces all Communist employees will be fired
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1729 The NATCHEZ send 2 Indians to visit the TUNICAs today. The NATCHEZ want them to join them in a war against the French. The TUNICA will refuse.
POLITICS (US)
1941 1st US WWII bombing mission in the Far East, Luzon, Philippines
1983 Attorney General Edwin Meese says people go to soup kitchens "...because the food is free and that's easier than paying for it"
1994 Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders resigns after masturbation comments
POLITICS (International)
1212 Frederik II crowns himself Roman Catholic king
1941 China declares war on Japan, Germany & Italy
SCIENCE & RELIGION
1640 Settler Hugh Bewitt banished from Massachusetts colony when he declares himself to be free of original sin
1907 1st Christmas Seals sold (Wilmington DE post office)
ANSWERS
∞ JEOPARDY
☼Fur trappers called this Great Lake the "Upper Lake" in French
What is Lake Superior?
☼Located in South America, it's the world's highest large navigable lake
What is Lake Titicaca?
☼The construction of this created Lake Nasser
What is the Aswan Dam?
☼A castle on this French-Swiss lake was made famous by the poem "The Prisoner of Chillon"
What is Lake Geneva?
☼A part of Minnesota, the northernmost point in the lower 48 states, juts into this U.S.-Canadian lake
What is Lake of the Woods?
Posted by No comments:

Wednesday Dec 8


This is Week 49 of 2010►Day 342 with 23 days remaining

17 Days until Christmas
Flagstaff Weather:
TODAY’S QUOTE—Burton Hillis
The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
It was another nice day so I put out some outside decorations. I have a couple of entry door lighted trees and a lighted reindeer. I’m sure I’ll be putting out the icicle lights and tree lights tomorrow. I have some great Christmas music playing throughout the day. Gotta show that Christmas Spirit. I just hope they don’t get buried until May.

Mary had a very odd experience at her interview. When she arrived she was told she had to do a drug test. I get that—can’t have drug crazed meth addicts working with the infirm. They handed her the cup and pointed her to the bathroom. At the end of the interview she was told she didn’t pass the drug test. She asked why? The guy says, “I’m not a doctor, so if you want to work here you have to go to a walk in clinic within 24 hours, pay $60 and if you pass, bring in the results and we will start working on placement.” What I find odd is that while an employer has the right to require a drug test before and during employment; I don’t think that means some over-the-counter (OTC) drug test, performed and read by non-medical personnel. [When I was working we had to do random drug tests on our bus drivers. They had to take the first one at their own cost, and then each year, the government paid for the test. If the employee failed the test, they could take another test, at their cost to get a clean test. All the tests had to be done by a certified lab. The closest lab for most of the schools was Flagstaff.] Mary is not using illegal drugs of any kind. But when one hears that someone failed a drug test, it does lead to much speculation. She does take prescribed meds, like most of us. She had already listed all her meds, including OTC drugs, on her friggin’ application. Now she is in a quandary. If she doesn’t get the drug test, everyone she has told about her possible employment will wonder why she didn’t get hired. John had recommended her, and I’m sure the boss might make a slip when John asks about the interview and say the interview was good, but she didn’t pass the drug test. If Mary tells people about the less than scientific test, it looks like she is covering something. Most people I know would think that failing a drug test means they are using illegal drugs of some kind. Now I find out that employer with no medical background can refuse employment to anyone using prescribed medicine with results from an OTC kit. I really don’t think this was the intent of the law that made it acceptable for employers to require drug tests. This care giving business has certainly taken on a new light. One would think that they would want caregivers who follow their own doctor’s instructions. If not, they could have caregivers telling clients that it is OK to stop taking a certain med because it really doesn’t work that well. Very strange.

HOLY MACKEREL: 1962 Striking workers of the International Typographical Union closed nine New York City newspapers. The strike lasted 114 days, ending on April 1, 1963. A total of 5,700,000 readers were affected by the shutdown. It made people turn on radio and TV

∞ JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(SuperJeopardy Answers) from 1990 FAMOUS POLITICIANS
☼In his bid for an unprecedented 4th term, this NYC mayor was defeated in the 1989 Democratic Party
☼Ironically, the Arizona Democratic Party Organization was founded by his father & uncle
☼Tho this senate minority leader won the 1988 GOP Iowa caucauses, he lost the presidential nomination
☼This Minnesota congressman wrote the 1919 act that enforced prohibition
☼The 2 late sons of John D. Rockefeller Jr. who became governors

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—Sharks Part 2
Each type of shark has a different shaped tooth depending on their diet. A shark may grow and use over 20,000 teeth in its lifetime! If one tooth is lost another spins forward from the rows and rows of backup teeth.
<>
A shark's skin is made of denticles instead of ordinary fish scales. The denticles are constructed like hard, sharp teeth and help to protect the shark from injury.
<>
Baby sharks are called pups. There are three ways that sharks are born: eggs are laid, eggs hatch inside the mother and then are born, or pup sharks grow inside the mother. Sharks can have from 1 to 100 babies at a time, depending on the type of shark.

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
Note: The Philippines is 90% Christian (with 80% of those-Roman Catholic) and 5-10% Muslim
MANILA, Philippines — Visitors to the Philippines may get smiles from airport immigration officials, but they shouldn't expect to hear "Merry Christmas."
Immigration Bureau Chief Ronaldo Ledesma says officers at passport counters are banned from offering Christmas greetings because they may be misconstrued as soliciting gifts or cash.
It is a tradition in the Philippines for children to offer Christmas wishes to solicit gifts from godparents and relatives. The practice has been hijacked by corrupt officials who sometimes use it as code for extortion requests.
Ledesma said Tuesday that a Christmas greeting, even if sincere, may sound like asking for a tip. Instead, he said officials should give a warm smile, and efficient service.
Ledesma's bureau has been criticized as a beehive of corruption, and he has promised to clean it up.

A LITTLE LAUGH
I was in my ‘wills and trusts’ course when the professor posed this question to the students: Why do people choose to have their children, rather than their siblings, inherit their estate?
After students offered various theories, one fellow raised his hand. "This may be a bit off the point," he said, "but when I was little, when my brother and sister finished playing with me, they would put me into a drawer."

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

From CNN—recalling John Lennon’s Last Day

The Last Interview with John Lennon, hours before he was assassinated.

CALENDAR INFORMATION
♦ Weekly Observances ♦
1-9: Chanukah (Hanukkah)
5-10: Clerc-Gallaudet Week
6-12: National Handwashing Awareness Week
♦ Today’s Observances ♦
Brownie Day: the food!
Take It In The Ear Day—means something about listening better ?
Bulgaria: National Students' Day
CARICOM and Cuba: CARICOM-Cuba Day, celebrate diplomatic ties between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) (15 Caribbean nations are members with 5 associate members) and Cuba.
Guam: Lady of Camarin Day
Japan: Bodhi Day (Enlightenment of the Buddha)
Romania: Constitution Day
Spain, Panamá, Canal Zone: Mother's Day
Spain: School Reunion Day
Uruguay: Beaches Day/Family Day
Uzbekistan: Constitution Day (1992)
♫ University Fight Songs ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
♦Today’s Births♦
ARTS
Gregg Allman, 63, singer (The Allman Brothers band)
1832 Björnstjerne Björnson, novelist (Pa Guds Veje, Nobel-1903)
1925 Sammy Davis Jr, singer/dancer/actor (Ocean's 11, Candy Man)
James Galway, 71, flutist, born Belfast, Northern Ireland
1906 Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd, novelist (How Green Was My Valley) born in Middlesex, Wales
1943 Jim Morrison, singer (Doors)
Sinead O’Connor, 44, singer, songwriter, born Dublin, Ireland
1894 Elzie Segar cartoonist: creator of Popeye
1865 Jean Sibelius, Finish composer (Valse Triste, Finlandia)
1894 James (Grover) Thurber, humorist (Men, Women & Dogs, Secret Life of Walter Mitty)
1933 [Clerow] Flip Wilson Jr, comedian (Flip Wilson Show)
<>
Kim Basinger, 57, actress (Oscar for L.A. Confidential; Batman, The Natural)
1936 David Carradine, actor (Kung Fu, Mean Streets)
1911 Lee J Cobb, actor (Virginian, 12 Angry Men, On the Waterfront)
Teri Hatcher, 46, actress (“Desperate Housewives,” “Lois & Clark”)
1937 James MacArthur actor: Hawaii Five-O: Dano of “Book ’em, Dano”
Maximilian Schell, 80, actor (Deep Impact, Topkapi, Judgment at Nuremberg)
ATHLETICS
Dwight Howard, 25, Basketball (Magic)
BUSINESS & EDUCATION
Ann Coulter, 49, political commentator, author
1861 William Crapo Durant founded General Motors
POLITICS
1626 Christina queen of Swedenden who abdicated after becoming Catholic
SCIENCE & RELIGION
1508 Gemma Frisius [Jemme Reinersz] Frisian geographer/astronomer
1765 Eli Whitney inventor (Cotton Gin)
♦Today’s Obituaries♦
Bob Bell clown (WGN's 1st Bozo), @ 75 in 1997
Robert H Lawrence USAF/astronaut, flight training accident @ 32 in 1967
John Lennon assassinated @ 40 by Mark David Chapman in 1980
Carlotta Monti lover of WC Fields, @ 86 in 1993
Slim Pickins western actor (Blazing Saddles), after brain surgery @ 64 in 1983
Marty Robbins country singer, heart surgery complications @ 57 in 1982
Omar I 2nd kalief of Islam, murdered in 644
♦Today’s Events♦
ARTS
1813 Ludwig von Beethoven's 7th Symphony in A, premieres
1963 Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He was set free three days later after his father paid a $240,000 ransom with no questions asked.
ATHLETICS
1955 Brooklyn catcher Roy Campanella wins his 3rd MVP Award
1994 Darryl Strawberry indicted on tax evasion charges
BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1931 Coaxial cable patented
1936 NAACP files suit to equalize the salaries of black & white teachers
1997 A $25 billion deal: Swiss Bank and Union Bank of Switzerland announced a plan to form a single bank with assets of well over half a trillion dollars. The combined group would be called the United Bank of Switzerland and would become the world’s biggest money manager.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1780 John Sevier, and volunteers from North Carolina, soundly defeat the Chickamauga Cherokees in a fight at Boyd's creek, Tennessee.
1829 In his first "State of the Union Address," President Andrew Jackson will state his goal to remove all Indians in the southeastern part of the United States to lands west of the Mississippi. A law to that effect would pass Congress on May 28, 1830.
POLITICS (US)
1776 George Washington's retreating army crosses Delaware River from New Jersey
POLITICS (International)
1880 5,000 armed Boers gather in Paardekraal South-Africa
SCIENCE & RELIGION
1854 Pope Pius IX proclaims Immaculate Conception, makes Mary, free of Original Sin
1863 Jesuit Church of La Compana in Santiago Chile catches fire, 2,500 die in panic
1909 Bird banding society found
1966 US & USSR sign treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons in outer space
ANSWERS
∞ JEOPARDY
In his bid for an unprecedented 4th term, this NYC mayor was defeated in the 1989 Democratic Party
Who was Ed Koch?
Ironically, the Arizona Democratic Party Organization was founded by his father & uncle
Who is Barry (AUH2O) Goldwater?
Tho this senate minority leader won the 1988 GOP Iowa caucuses, he lost the presidential nomination
Who was Bob Dole?
This Minnesota congressman wrote the 1919 act that enforced prohibition
Who was Volstead?
The 2 late sons of John D. Rockefeller Jr. who became governors
Who were Nelson (NY) and Winthrop (AR)?
Posted by No comments:

Tuesday Dec 7


This is Week 49 of 2010►Day 341 with 24 days remaining

18 Days until Christmas
Flagstaff Weather:
TODAY’S QUOTE—W.J. Cameron
Christmas is the gentlest, loveliest festival of the revolving year - and yet, for all that, when it speaks, its voice has strong authority.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
I got up this morning and decorated the tree. It looks nice, and as always, I found memories in the boxes I had forgotten about. This is the first year for some very unique animal decorations I got from Martha last year. There is an elephant, a hippo, and a giraffe (for my trip to South Africa). They were supposed to arrive last year, but somehow didn’t, so I got them for my birthday. They look very nice with just the right amount of whimsy on the tree. For the past four years I have put outside lights up, nothing spectacular, but lights on the bush, a couple of ‘door entry’ small trees, some candy cane path markers, and a couple of big ornaments. For the past four years I have had them buried in snow. I must say the lights on the tree and bush look great with a covering of snow, but the others lose some of their splendor. The other problem, of course, is that my entry way continues to face north. That means that some of the snow doesn’t melt until May and that some of the lights and decorations remain outside, buried until May. It seems to me that since the earth rotates around the sun and that there is a slight tilt, some scientist should be able to figure out how to have my north facing townhouse change every other year so it faces south. That way, all the residents of the complex can enjoy the joys of having snow on their sidewalk and front area stay the entire winter. If that is not possible, I can see putting our complex on a huge buried lazy susan that slowly rotates through the seasons. It could be slower than the restaurant on the Seattle Space Needle or the one on Malaysia Tower One. Each of those does one full rotation during a two hour meal. I figure one full rotation each season would suffice for my complex. That way, directionally challenged people like me wouldn’t be stuck always facing north and dealing with permasnow throughout the winter. Of course I high today almost had me putting out the lights, but then I remembered the snow and decided to wait another day to see if I am ready for the hassle. One of my neighbors did put out some outside stuff today—a neighbor who doesn’t face north.

It seems that John has convinced Mary that she needs to work for Comfort Keepers. It is a great concept. Elderly or physically challenged adults can have someone come into their home to do light chores, fix meals, converse, take them to appointments, all the way to 24/7 in home care. This lets the elder remain in their home when they can no longer do all that is necessary to do that. They also help out people for short-term care after an illness or hospital stay. They pay their workers $8/hr and I’m not sure how much they charge the clients. My brother and I checked into some of that when my mom first got sick. All I remember about the Denver people was that it wasn’t cheap. None of the family was very excited about having a stranger come into my mom’s home and we were fortunate enough not to have to use a service. The guy who called me for a reference seems like a very nice, compassionate care giver/PR person. Mary is really not looking for full time employment. Neither was John, but now John is working more than 40 hrs per week. He is really enjoying it. I know it takes a certain personality to be that kind of care giver and there is also a certain personality to be on the receiving end of the care. It is great when the right mix is found. When I talked to Mary about all this, she said part of it is to help her prepare for her own mother’s passing and since her mom is 98, it will be difficult.

HOLY MACKEREL: 1941 Japan bombs Pearl Harbor Hawaii, US. 188 aircraft destroyed; 155 aircraft damaged; 2,402 military killed; 1,247 military wounded; 57 civilians killed; 35 civilians wounded

∞ JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(SuperJeopardy Answers) from 1990 ORGANIZATIONS
☼Originally, this amateur boxing organization was sponsored by the Chicago Tribune Charities
☼"Show a kid how America works" is the slogan of this young people's business organization
☼Members of SPEBSQSA usually sing in a group of this many people
☼Candy manufacturer Robert Welch founded this organization in 1958
☼This farmers’ organization is officially called the Order of Patrons of Husbandry

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—Sharks
☼Sharks are able to feel vibrations in the water using a line of canals that go from its head to its tail. Called a "lateral line", these canals are filled with water and contain sensory cells with hairs growing out of them. These hairs move when the water vibrates and alerts the shark to potential prey.
☼In some form, sharks have been around for about 400 million years. Even before dinosaurs roamed the earth, sharks hunted through the oceans. They're such good survivors that they've had little need to evolve in the last 150 million years.
☼Sharks have the most powerful jaws on the planet. Unlike most animals' jaws, both the sharks' upper and lower jaws move. A shark bites with its lower jaw first and then its upper. It tosses its head back and forth to tear loose a piece of meat which it swallows whole.

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
DETROIT — A Michigan woman whose hand was broken while she was reaching for toilet paper can sue a restaurant over her injury.
The case is dividing the Michigan Supreme Court. The court's liberal majority says a jury should decide whether the dispenser created an unreasonable risk of harm at Texas Roadhouse in Taylor.
The court's three conservative justices say there should be no liability for ordinary accidents.
Sheri Schooley says it's a "bizarre story." She says the cover on the dispenser fell on her right hand, breaking it.
The 58-year-old South Rockwood woman says she can't work as an administrative assistant because she can't type. Schooley also says her bowling average dropped by 40 pins after she was forced to switch hands.
A lower court refused to dismiss the lawsuit.

A LITTLE LAUGH
On a recent trip to Washington, D.C., my brother-in-law overheard a patriotic father pointing out a well-known building to his son. "You see that triangular-shaped octagon over there? That's the Pentagon."

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

CALENDAR INFORMATION
♦ Weekly Observances ♦
1-7: Cookie Cutter Week ¤ Tolerance Week ¤ Recipe Greetings For The Holidays Week
1-9: Chanukah (Hanukkah)
5-10: Clerc-Gallaudet Week
6-12: National Handwashing Awareness Week
♦ Today’s Observances ♦
Muharram 1 Islamic New Year Celebration
National Cotton Candy Day
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
International Civil Aviation Day
Armenia: Spitak Remembrance Day (1988 earthquake destroyed most of country’s infrastructure)
Colombia: Día de las Velitas, begins after sunset. (Day of Little Candles—to honor Immaculate Conception & Virgin Mary)
India: Armed Forces Flag Day (since 1949 to honor all branches of military)
Iran: Student Day (since 1958 to remember 3 students killed by police during demonstration against Nixon visit.
Ivory Coast: National Day (1960)
US: Delaware: Ratification Day (1787-1st state to ratify US Constitution)
♫ University Fight Songs ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
♦Today’s Births♦
ARTS
1598 Giovanni Bernini Italy, baroque sculptor (St Teresa in Ecstasy)
1873 Willa (Sibert) Cather Pulitzer Prize-Winning author: One of Ours [1923]
1942 Harry Chapin, folk/rock singer/songwriter (Taxi, Cat's in the Craddle)
1912 Louis Prima, singer (That Old Black Magic)
<>
Ellen Burstyn, 78, actress (Tony for Same Time, Next Year; Oscar for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore), born Edna Rae Gilhooley
1910 Rod Cameron, actor (City Detective, State Trooper)
C. Thomas Howell, 44, actor (“Two Marriages,” Soul Man, Tank)
1923 Ted Knight, actor (Mary Tyler Moore, Too Close for Comfort)
Eli Wallach, 95, actor (The Tiger Makes Out; Emmy for “The Poppy Is Also a Flower”)
ATHLETICS
Johnny Lee Bench, 63, Hall of Fame baseball player
Larry Joe Bird, 54, Hall of Fame basketball player
1908 John H Doeg tennis champion (US Open-1930)
BUSINESS & EDUCATION
Noam Chomsky, 82, linguist (founded transformational grammar)
POLITICS
1542 Mary Stuart Queen of Scots (1560-1587)
SCIENCE & RELIGION
967 Abu Sa'id ibn Aboa al-Chair Persian mystic
1823 Leopold Kronecker German mathematician (Tensor of Kronecker)
♦Today’s Obituaries♦
William Bligh British naval officer of "Bounty" fame dies in London @ 63 in 1817
Delecta "Dee" Clark US singer (Raindrops) heart attack @ 52 in 1990
George Darwin theorized Moon was pulled out of Pacific Ocean @ 67 in 1912
John Flaxman English sculptor (tombs at St Paul's Cathedral), @ 71 in 1826
Rube Goldberg US cartoonist (Mike & Ike, Pulitzer 1948), @ 87 in 1970
Edgar Graham member of Northern Ireland Assembly, shot by IRA @ 29 in 1983
♦Today’s Events♦
ARTS
1842 New York Philharmonic's 1st concert
1952 My Little Margie, starring Gale Storm and Charles Farrell, made its debut on CBS radio.
ATHLETICS
1925 Swimmer Johnny Weissmuller set a world record in the 150-yard freestyle
BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1926 Gas refrigerator patented
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
0036 -BC Earliest known Mayan inscription, Stela 2 at Chiapa de Corzo
1804 Lewis & Clark go on a buffalo hunt with Big White (Mandan).
1831 The CHOCTAW removal process has begun. Indian Commissioners John Eaton, and John Coffee, meet with the Choctaws and the Chickasaws on Oaka Knoxabee Creek today.
POLITICS (US)
1917 US becomes 13th country to declare war on Austria during World War I
1941 1st Japanese submarine sunk by a US ship (USS Ward)
POLITICS (International)
0043 -BC- Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman writer, gets his head & right hand chopped off by Mark Antony's soldiers
1986 President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees Haïti
SCIENCE & RELIGION
1909 Leo Baekeland, Yonkers NY, patents 1st thermosetting plastic (Bakelite)
1934 Wiley Post discovers the jet stream
1988 Earthquake in Armenia - 6.9 on the Richter scale (>100,000 killed, 5,000,000 homeless)
1995 US space probe Galileo begins orbiting Jupiter
ANSWERS
∞ JEOPARDY
Originally, this amateur boxing organization was sponsored by the Chicago Tribune Charities
What is the Golden Gloves?
"Show a kid how America works" is the slogan of this young people's business organization
What is Junior Achievement?
Members of SPEBSQSA usually sing in a group of this many people
What is Four? (…Barber Shop Quartet…)
Candy manufacturer Robert Welch founded this organization in 1958
What is the John Birch Society?
This farmers’ organization is officially called the Order of Patrons of Husbandry
What is The Grange?
Posted by No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Followers

Total Pageviews

Blog Archive

About Me

My photo
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.