Tues Nov 9

This is Week 45 of 2010►Day 313 with 52 days left.
Flagstaff Weather: H—51°; L—26°; RH—61%; —partly cloudy sky and wind—15mph—rain and snow expected

QUOTE FOR THE DAY—Robert F. Kennedy
Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
I woke to wind and then turned on the computer. Snow expected tonight—maybe an inch in Flag. I guess I’m ready for a little snow. I guess it doesn’t really matter if I’m ready or not, it’s a comin’. Just as the sun was setting the sky got really grey. There had been clouds here and there all day, but didn’t become overcast until sunset. Now our reliable local weatherman says that it will just be colder and more windy but doesn’t believe we will get any moisture out of the less than exciting weather the rest of the week.

This afternoon I had my first angioedema incident since the one I had when I got back from Malaysia. I realize that one incident a month is not serious or concerning to the medical community. I must say, over the past two years I have moved from a swollen lip that looked like I had lost a fight very badly to the current swollen tongue. The last four of five times have simply been one side of my tongue swelling. It doesn’t really hurt. People can’t see this one and my speech is just a tad lisp-y. It is sort of like when you have that numbing feeling after a trip to the dentist. It is difficult to eat and difficult to drink anything. Not impossible, just frustrating. My PCP has given me a pill that helps with the swelling much faster than the one my allergist gave me. Now, instead of 6-8 hours of swelling, I am down to just a couple of hours. I was slow in taking the pill today, not realizing it was happening until I suddenly realized about two hours after it started that it was happening. I was busy, I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t talking, so I just kinda missed the signs. It’s been about two hours since I took the pill and can tell that the swelling is going down. I know if I took a nap for about an hour I would be fine…but then wouldn’t be able to get to sleep tonight, so I’ll just suffer through

HOLY MACKEREL: 1912»Pop Warner was a legendary coach of the Carlisle School for Indians in Pennsylvania (Jim Thorpe played for Warner at Carlisle). On this day, Carlisle hammered Army 27-6. Playing right halfback on the Army team was a future U.S. war hero and president: Dwight D. Eisenhower.

JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(1984 games)(answers below) Saintly Cities
$100-Minneapolis' "twin", it's capital of Minnesota
$200-California mission town which is annual destination for famed swallows
$300-8th most populous city in the world, it was once capital of Brazil
$400-Reputed site of Columbus' tomb, it's capital of Dominican Republic
$500-Poshest of all Swiss ski resorts

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—birds
Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day.
A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
Wassau Daily Herald- Wisconsin authorities have rescued and arrested a drunken man who plunged into the Wisconsin River while chasing a one-legged goose.
The 40-year-old Wausau man told officers he wanted to catch the bird and roast it. He says he took off his shirt and shoes last Thursday afternoon and jumped into the frigid water.
Authorities say he was overcome by the cold water and had to be rescued by firefighters. Police say the man had been drinking heavily before the stunt.
The man was arrested on an outstanding warrant for bail jumping.
Witness Sergio Lopez works by the river. He says he often sees people jump in the water during hot summer days but rarely in October.
Police tell the Wausau Daily Herald that as far as they know, the goose is still on the loose.

A LITTLE LAUGH
Once my divorce was final, I went to the local Department of Motor Vehicles and asked to have my maiden name reinstated on my driver's license.
"Will there be any change of address?" the clerk inquired.
"No," I replied.
"Oh, good," she said, clearly delighted. "You got the house."

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
In honor of Paul Robeson’s birthday: Old Man River; Shenandoah; Joe Hill; Let My People Go;

GREY MATTER PICTURE
This is a close up of what object?
SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION
¤ Weekly Observances ¤
7-13: National Nurse Practioner's Week, Pursuit of Happiness Week, National Rad Tech Week , Fraud Awareness Week, Dear Santa Letter Week, National Young Reader's Week, World Kindness Week
14-20: American Education Week, Geography Awareness Week, National Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week, National Global Entrepreneurship Week
19-25:National Farm-City Week
21-28: National Bible Week, National Family Week, National Game & Puzzle Week, National Teens Don't Text and Drive Week, Better Conversation Week, Church/State Separation Week
¤ Today’s Observances ¤
Chaos Never Dies Day
Kristallnacht: night of broken glass 1938 Germany
National Young Reader's Day
World Freedom Day
Bolivia
Cambodia: Independence Day, from France in 1953.
Germany, Austria, Switzerland: Inventor's Day
Germany: Schicksalstag (fateful day since 1945)
Pakistan: Iqbal Day: birthday of National Poet in 1877
Tunisia: Arbor Day/Tree Festival Day
Turks & Caicos Island: Peacemaker's Day
¤ Top 10 songs of 1965¤
Click on Song Title to see and hear the original

¤ Today’s Births ¤
╬ THE ARTS
Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton, 46, Grammy Award-winning rap singer: Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa
Tom Fogerty, musician, songwriter, singer: group: Creedence Clearwater Revival—in 1941
Nick Lachey, 37, singer, television personality
Carl Perkins. singer (Blue Suede Shoes)—in 1932
♦♦Actors♦♦
Nikki Blonsky, 22, actress (Hairspray)
Hedy Lamarr (Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler), actress (Ecstacy, Samson & Delilah)—in 1913
Ed Wynn (Isaiah Edwin Leopold), character actor—in 1886
Dorothy (Jean) Dandridge, actress: Island in the Sun, Carmen Jone
Lou Ferrigno, 59, actor (Pumping Iron, “The Incredible Hulk”), former bodybuilder
Paul Robeson, actor/singer/football star (King Solomon's Mines)—in 1898
╬ ATHLETICS
David Duval, 39, golfer
Robert (Bob) “Hoot” Gibson, 75, Hall of Fame baseball (Cardinals)
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
Carl Sagan, astronomer/author/professor (Cosmos, Broca's Brain)—in 1934
╬ POLITICS
Spiro T. (Theodore) Agnew, U.S. Vice President under Richard Nixon [1969-1973: resigned Oct 10, 1973]; Governor of Maryland [1967-1969]—in 1918
James William Fulbright, (Sen-D-Mo)—in 1905
Sargent Shriver, 95, Dem VP candidate (1972)/directed Peace Corp
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
Benjamin Banneker, black mathematician/surveyor (Wash DC)—in 1731
Lewis Lewin, toxicologist/father of psychopharmacology—in 1850
Gregory Pincus, inventor (birth control pill)—in 1903
¤ Today’s Obituaries ¤
Israel Bak, created 1st hebrew printing press @ 77 in 1874
Charles DeGaulle, French President, @79 in 1970
Abdul-Aziz ibn Sa'ud, founder of Saudi Arabia (22 wives and 37+ children, @ 73 in 1953
Dylan Thomas, author-poet, pneumonia @ 39 in 1953
Chaim Weizmann חיים עזריאל ויצמן, st President of Israel, long illness @ 57 in 1952
Victor Sen Yung, actor (Bonanza, Bachelor Family), carbon monoxide @ 65 in 1980
¤ Today’s Events ¤
╬ THE ARTS
1858»1st performance of NY Symphony Orchestra
1967»The first issue of Rolling Stone was published. John Lennon was on the cover.
╬ ATHLETICS
1982»Sugar Ray Leonard retires for the 1st time
1985»Gary Kasparov (USSR) becomes World Chess Champion at age of 22
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1872»Fire destroys nearly 1,000 buildings in Boston
1911»Georges Claude of Paris, France applied for a patent on neon advertising signs
1938»The kids’ magazine, Jack and Jill, was published.
1965» A huge blackout in the northeast U.S. left millions without electricity. 800,000 people wound up trapped in New York subways, elevators and skyscrapers
╬ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1813»General Ferdinand Claiborne is leading a large force of Mississippi recruits to fight the Creeks. They enter Choctaw lands, where they are received warmly. ManyChoctaws, led by Chief Pushmataha, join Claiborne.
1875»Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse are ordered to go to the reservation.
╬ POLITICS (US)
1862»US Grant issues orders to bar Jews from serving under him
1990»President Bush announces DOUBLING of US forces in Gulf
╬ POLITICS (International)
1799»Napoleon becomes dictator (1st consul) of France
1918»Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates after German defeat in WWI
1989»The 27.9-mile-long Berlin Wall, the symbol of the Cold War that separated East and West Germany for 28 years, was opened
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1904»1st airplane flight to last more than 5 minutes
1927»Giant Panda discovered, China
GREY MATTER ANSWERS
↔ JEOPARDY
$100-Minneapolis' "twin", it's capital of Minnesota
What is St. Paul?
$200-California mission town which is annual destination for famed swallows
What is San Juan Capistrano?
$300-8th most populous city in the world, it was once capital of Brazil
What is Sao Paulo?
$400-Reputed site of Columbus' tomb, it's capital of Dominican Republic
What is Santo Domingo?
$500-Poshest of all Swiss ski resorts
What is St. Moritz?
↔ PICTURE
Oatmeal and raisins

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: Day of the Skulls or Dia de los ñatitas
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Mon Nov 8

This is Week 45 of 2010►Day 312 with 53 days left.
Flagstaff Weather: H—59°; L—34°; RH—30%; —fair sky and wind—17 mph w/ gusts to 25

QUOTE FOR THE DAY—unknown
No one needs a smile as much a person who fails to give one

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
I did a whole bunch of laundry, rearranged my bedroom furniture and flipped the mattress. Then I worked on trying to figure out why google won’t recognize my additional storage space in my blog. I found a site that will tell me for $38. Not to that point yet. So I went back and removed all the pictures of my most recent trip. I did figure out that I can easily make the pictures have fewer pixels without changing the original. That used to be a big deal. Thank you Windows 7. I will be going back and putting the new smaller pictures on the site, which is one way to solve the problem—I hope. I did know that while I was downloading the pictures that the site was taking the originals as it took forever to download them. Live and learn I say.

The Cardinals were ahead until the last quarter and then they blew it. The Broncos didn’t play. I half watched the Cards game while cleaning up. Glad I am not a big football fan.

Now that daylight time has ended for everybody else, I forgot that many of the cable channel’s shows are now an hour off. Our local alphabet channels do not change their show times. However, our cable channels like CNN and MSNBC are really a west coast feed and now that AZ is not the same time as CA, so my shows are all off by an hour. The biggest inconvenience will be either using the DVR for the Daily Show or watching it the next afternoon. I won’t be staying up till 12:30a to watch it every night. It also means my Sunday morning news shows are now late morning, early afternoon shows. I did watch them today and am more concerned than I was before about the results. I get it, that the voting populace wants a more conservative government. Every new congress person, every new governor, every new senator said that we need to stop spending money. The really scary part is the follow up question—what government program would you cut? Every single one said they would vote to stop government waste. When pressed for which waste, there was silence. Every American would like to cut ‘government waste’—it is great for campaigning. I think they should have suggestions. Historically the voters have wanted to cut waste—just not in programs they benefit from. We are in very scary times. I sure hope the new congress can look to the future and pull us out of this boondoggle we are in.

HOLY MACKEREL: 1984»The first attempt to rescue two crippled satellites took place as the space shuttle Discovery lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (The mission was accomplished on November 14th.)

JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(1984 games)(answers below) Super Heros
$100-He's been played by Reeves & Reeve
$200-Still seen in Thanksgiving parades, Wally Cox gave this hero his voice
$300-His theme was the following: http://www.j-archive.com/media/1984-11-29_J_11.mp3
$400-His archenemy, Dr. Sivana, nicknamed him "The Big Red Cheese"
$500-Originally Reed Richards, his wife Sue, The Human Torch & The Thing

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—a hodgepodge
~There are 18 different animal shapes in the Animal Crackers cookie zoo.
~The king of hearts is the only king without a moustache on a standard playing card.
~Tablecloths were originally meant to be served as towels with which dinner guests could wipe their hands and faces after eating.
~Until the nineteenth century, solid blocks of tea were used as money in Siberia.
~The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. It was the fashion in Renaissance Florence to shave them off.
~The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley’s gum.

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
STATESVILLE, N.C. - A North Carolina restaurant said it will attempt to break a Guinness World Record by distributing Groucho Marx glasses at a high school football game. Brandon Sutton, owner of Groucho's Deli, said workers will hand out 5,500 pairs of Groucho glasses Friday at the Statesville High School football game against West Iredell, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported Thursday. Sutton said he is aiming to set a Guinness World Record for "most people wearing Groucho Marx glasses." The owner said photographs and videos will be taken of the halftime record attempt and official Guinness counters will be placed at the entrances.

A LITTLE LAUGH
Marketing VP: Why haven't you kept me up-to-date on this account?
Ops Guy: I've cc'd you on every e-mail I sent to them!
Marketing VP: I don't have time to read my e-mails. There's too much information in them. If you send me an important e-mail, give me a call to let me know I need to check it.

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

GREY MATTER PICTURE
This is a close up of what object?
SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION
¤ Weekly Observances ¤
7-13: National Nurse Practioner's Week, Pursuit of Happiness Week, National Rad Tech Week , Fraud Awareness Week, Dear Santa Letter Week, National Young Reader's Week, World Kindness Week
14-20: American Education Week, Geography Awareness Week, National Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week, National Global Entrepreneurship Week
19-25:National Farm-City Week
21-28: National Bible Week, National Family Week, National Game & Puzzle Week, National Teens Don't Text and Drive Week, Better Conversation Week, Church/State Separation Week
¤ Today’s Observances ¤
Dunce Day
Abet and Aid Punsters Day: Share a Pun and ignore the groans
Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day
National Parents As Teachers Day
World Orphan’s Day
World Urbanism Day
Montana: Admission Day (1889): 41st state
¤ Top 10 songs of 1964 ¤
Click on Song Title to see and hear the original
¤ Today’s Births ¤
╬ THE ARTS
Mary Hart, 59, television host
Margaret Mitchell, writer (Gone With the Wind)—in 1900
Patti Page, 83, singer (“Doggie in the Window”), born Clara Ann Fowler
Bonnie Raitt, 61, singer
Bram (Abraham) Stoker, author: Dracula—in 1847
♦♦Actors♦♦
Esther Rolle, actress (Florida-Good Times, Maude)—in 1922
Joe Flynn, actor (McHale's Navy)—in 1924
╬ ATHLETICS
Edgardo Alfonzo, 37, baseball (Mets, Giants, Angels, Blue Jays)
Angel Cordero Jr, 68, jockey (won over 6,000 races)
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
Christie Hefner, 58, business executive (Playboy)
Gordon Ramsay, 44, chef, television personality (“Hell’s Kitchen,” “The F Word”), born Glasgow, Scotland
Morley Safer, 79, journalist (“60 Minutes”)
╬ POLITICS
Driss Basri, Moroccan Interior Minister—in 1938
Nguyen Khanh, 83, Prime Minister of South Vietnam
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
Christiaan Barnard, South Africa, surgeon (performs 1st heart transplant)—in 1922
Sir Edmond Halley, 1st to calculate comet's orbit (Halley's Comet)—in 1656
Margaret Rhea Seddon, 63, MD/astro (STS 51D, STS 40)
¤ Today’s Obituaries ¤
Wendell Corey, actor (11th Hour, Peck's Bad Girl), cirrhosis @ 54—in 1968
Dorothy Kilgallen, columnist (What's My Line?), undetermined: suicide, murder, accidental overdose @ 52—in 1965
Norman Rockwell, artist, @ 84—in 1978
Duns Scotus, who coined the word "dunce", @ 43 in 1308
Kam Tong, actor (Have Gun Will Travel -as Hey Boy), @ 62 in 1969
¤ Today’s Events ¤
╬ THE ARTS
1793»Louvre in Paris, opens
1900»Theodore Dreiser's novel "Sister Carrie" is published
╬ ATHLETICS
1959»The ‘Big E’, Elgin Baylor of the Minneapolis Lakers, scored 64 points and set a National Basketball Association scoring mark.
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1789»Bourbon Whiskey, 1st distilled from corn (by Elijah Craig, Bourbon KY)
1837»Mount Holyoke Seminary in Massachusetts-1st US college founded for women
1910»William H. Frost of Spokane, Washington patented the insect exterminator
╬ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1978»The Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Vincent Little, ratifies a fourth amendment to the Constitution and By-Laws of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Organization in Washington State.
╬ POLITICS (US)
1910»1st Washington State election in which women could vote
1933»FDR creates the Civil Works Administration
1983»Martha Layne Collins (D) elected 1st female governor of Kentucky
…Presidents elected
1864»Abraham Lincoln elected to his 2nd term as President
1892»Grover Cleveland (D) elected President
1904»President Theodore Roosevelt (R) defeats Alton B Parker (D)
1932»Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D) elected President for 1st time
1960»JFK (MA-D-Sen) beats VP Richard Nixon (R) for President
1988»George Bush (R) beats Mike Dukakis (D) for Presidency
╬ POLITICS (International)
1950»1st jet-plane battle of Korean War
1987»11 die as a bomb planted by the Irish Republican Army exploded at Ulster Remembrance Day Service
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1895»Wilhelm Rontgen discovers x-rays
1997»The mighty Yangtze River (China’s largest) was successfully diverted in preparation for the construction of the Three Gorges Dam
GREY MATTER ANSWERS
↔ JEOPARDY
$100-He's been played by Reeves & Reeve:
Who is Superman?
$200-Still seen in Thanksgiving parades, Wally Cox gave this hero his voice
Who is Underdog?
$300-His theme was the following: http://www.j-archive.com/media/1984-11-29_J_11.mp3
Who is Mighty Mouse?
$400-His archenemy, Dr. Sivana, nicknamed him "The Big Red Cheese"
Who is Captain Marvel?
$500-Originally Reed Richards, his wife Sue, The Human Torch & The Thing
Who are the Fantastic Four?
↔ PICTURE
A pedestrian "Walk" light
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Sun Nov 7

This is Week 45 of 2010►Day 311 with 54 days left.
Flagstaff Weather: H—66°; L—31°; RH—30%; —clear sky and wind— 5 mph

QUOTE FOR THE DAY—Dietrich Bonhoeffer
It is the nature, and the advantage, of strong people that they can bring out the crucial questions and form a clear opinion about them. The weak always have to decide between alternatives that are not their own.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
We had another great weather day, so hard to believe that it is November. I am certainly not complaining, just a little stunned.

Many people are setting their clocks back tonight. AZ doesn’t change it’s clocks, unless you live on Navajo. I think it has something to do with the belief that changing clocks is an invitation for the devil and the liberals to take over the state. After all, we refused to go on Daylight time when a President ordered DST to save energy, then when another President and another congress lengthened DST we refused again. So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when 1070 was passed as it was just seen by the state as another way Washingdoon was telling AZ what to do. So to all you out there who have to change your clocks twice a year, join us. Don’t change your clocks again, get your state legislature to pass a law to stop this radical liberal idea. What you say? You like warm summer evenings with some extra light? Well, do like the City of Flagstaff does. While everyone else in the country is busy changing their clocks, they just change their alarm clocks. Normal working in the winter is 8-4:30, but in the summer it’s 7-3:30. So you just go to work an hour early, get off an hour early, and stand proud that you don’t let Washingdoon tell you what time it is. We have been refusing DST for decades and it makes us feel so good and so very powerful.

The Breeder’s Cup was Zenyatta’s last race. She came in second—by a nose. She will go down in history with a 19-1 record. She has been an amazing runner. The horse racing world has seen a great horse have a great run. When a male horse retires, they command a huge stud fee for most of the rest of their life. I wonder what happens with a female like Zenyatta? She has retired once before and came out of retirement for this year’s racing season. Like many other athletes, retirement doesn’t always fill the bill. Time will tell what she will do. I hope she finds something to occupy her time that she enjoys. Maybe just a morning workout, a Guinness, lunch, a nice walk, another Guinness and spend some time with all the boys she has beaten in her races. Just saying…

The media is trying to keep the election in the news. Alaska won’t know for months who their senator will be. History may be made since the current senator up there ran as a write-in and each ballot with a write-in has to be hand counted by a human. AZ has to count some huge number of ballots yet to count. They are saying that there are almost 300K mail-in ballots that were mailed on the last day or simply dropped off at the polling place and also some 90K that were ‘provisional’. AZ allows people to vote on election day even if their name is not in the book or the voter doesn’t have proper ID. Each of those ballots has to be human verified to be sure the person only voted once, that the person is a registered voter, and who knows what else. So while we don’t change our clocks, we still take a long time to verify our election results.

HOLY MACKEREL: 1990»Mary Robinson becomes the first woman to be elected President of the Republic of Ireland.

JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(1984 games)(answers below)--Science
$200- Fahrenheit equivalent to 0º Centigrade
$400- You might have to put F. Lee Bailey on one to admit he had a show about one
$600- The science which deals with the motion & behavior of bullets
$800- What you're "stuck with" boiling down collagen, softening it with hot water & letting it swell
$1000- In 1808, this metalsmith made copper plates for a Fulton steamboat boiler

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—Candy
»Candy corn was invented in the 1880s by George Renninger of the Wunderlee Candy and is produced today by the Jelly Belly Candy Company. An estimated 35 million pounds of candy corn will be produced this year.
»Recorded history traces several types of actual candy to the Egyptians 3,500 years ago. Boiled candies were popularized in 17th century Europe. By the mid-1800s, more than 380 American factories were producing candy.
»Hershey's Kisses hit the scene in 1907 and have been on candy shelves ever since with a brief interruption from 1942 to 1949 due to the rationing of silver foil during WWII.
»Lollipops were first made in New Haven, Connecticut in 1908 by George Smith. They were named after a race horse of the time, Lolly Pop.
»"Trick or Treat for UNICEF" started 1950 in Philadelphia. A group of young trick-or-treaters, accompanied by their pastor, collected $17 for children-in-need overseas. The money was sent to UNICEF and an American tradition was born.
»Originally introduced in 1929 by Frank and Ethel Mars, the Snickers bar was named after their family horse. The original Snickers bars were sold for a nickel.

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
LINCOLN, NE - Police in Nebraska said they cited a drunken driving suspect who was dressed as a Breathalyzer for a Halloween party. Lincoln police said Matthew Nieveen, 19, received citations for second-offense driving under the influence, being a minor in possession of alcohol, an open container violation and negligent driving after he was pulled over early Monday while on his way home from a party, the Lincoln Journal Star reported Thursday. Officers said Nieveen, who was dressed as an alcohol breath tester, had slurred speech and had a bottle of vodka, several cans of beer and a half-full bottle of vodka mixed with Mountain Dew in the trunk of his 1992 Ford F-150. Nieveen's blood alcohol content was measured at more than twice the .08 legal limit for driving, police said.

A LITTLE LAUGH
When the famous politician and orator William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) was a young man, he went to the home of the father of his prospective wife to ask him for her hand in marriage. Bryan was determined to impress the father by quoting from the Bible, and he chose Proverbs 18:22: "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the LORD."
Bryan was unnerved when the father replied by quoting Paul: "So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better." (1 Corinthians 7:38)
Bryan, never at a loss for words, said: "Yes, but Paul had no wife and Solomon had 700. Therefore, I believe Solomon ought to be the better judge as to marriage."

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
Two great interviews with Mary Robinson First click Here! Second-Click Here!

GREY MATTER PICTURE
This is a close up of what object?
SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION
¤ Weekly Observances ¤
Ending today: 1-7: Intimate Apparel Market Week, Give Wildlife A Break Week, National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week, Give Wildlife A Break Week, National Patient Accessibility Week, World Communication Week
Beginning today: 7-13:
National Nurse Practioner's Week,
Pursuit of Happiness Week,
National Rad Tech Week ,
Fraud Awareness Week,
Dear Santa Letter Week,
National Young Reader's Week,
World Kindness Week
14-20: American Education Week, Geography Awareness Week, National Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week, National Global Entrepreneurship Week
19-25:National Farm-City Week
21-28: National Bible Week, National Family Week, National Game & Puzzle Week, National Teens Don't Text and Drive Week, Better Conversation Week, Church/State Separation Week
¤ Today’s Observances ¤
National Bittersweet Chocolate W/ Almonds Day
Daylight Saving Time ends
Fala Day: honoring FDR’s Scottish terrier
International Tongue Twister Day Danny Kaye Tongue Twisters
Zero Tasking Day
Mexico: National Railway Memorial Day (1907)
Northern Catalonia: National Day, after Treaty of Pyrenees
USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Mongolia: October Revolution Day (1917)
¤ Top 10 songs of 1963 ¤
Click on Song Title to see and hear the original
¤ Today’s Births ¤
╬ THE ARTS
Dee (Delectus) Clark, singer: Just Keep It Up, Raindrops, Ride a Wild Horse—in 1938
Albert Camus, novelist/director (The Just-Nobel 1957)—in 1913 in Algeria
Al Hirt, musician: trumpet: Java, Sugar Lips, Flight of the Bumble Bee as theme song for TV’s The Green Hornet—in 1922
Joni Mitchell, 67, singer, songwriter, born Roberta Joan Anderson
Johnny Rivers, 68, singer (“Poor Side of Town,” “Secret Agent Man”), born John Ramistella
Joan Sutherland, singer: opera soprano—in 1926
Mary Travers, singer (Peter, Paul and Mary), in 1937
♦♦Actors♦♦
Dean Jagger, actor (Albert Vane-Mr Novak, Elmer Gantry)—in 1903
Rio Ferdinand, 32, soccer player
Billy Graham, 92, evangelist, born William Franklin Graham
Keith Lockhart, 51, Boston Pops conductor
Jeremy London, 38, actor (“I’ll Fly Away,” “Party of Five”)
Barry Newman, 72, actor (“Petrocelli,” Vanishing Point)
Dana Plato, actress: Diff’rent Strokes—in 1938
╬ ATHLETICS
Kris Benson, 36, baseball: Diamondbacks, Pirates, Mets, Rangers
Andy Houston, 40, NASCAR driver
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
Muhammad ibn Hazm, historian/jurist/writer of Islamic Spain—in 994
╬ POLITICS
--
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
Madame Marie Sklodowska Curie, discovered radium (Nobel 1903, 1911)—in 1867
Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux, TV preacher—in 1883
¤ Today’s Obituaries ¤
Elijah P Lovejoy, publisher, murdered by proslavery mob @ 35 in 1837
Solomon Luria (Maharshal), talmudic author (Yam Shel Shelomo), flu epidemic @63 in 1573
Steve McQueen, actor, cancer @ 50 in 1980
Eleanor Roosevelt, Former 1st Lady, anemia/TB @ 78 in 1962
Gene Tunney, former heavyweight boxing champ, @ 80 in 1978
¤ Today’s Events ¤
╬ THE ARTS
1786»The oldest musical organization in the United States is founded as theStoughton Musical Society.
╬ ATHLETICS
1933»Pennsylvania voters overturn blue law, by permitting Sunday sports
1991»Magic Johnson announces he has HIV virus & retires from Lakers
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1865»London Gazette, oldest surviving journal, is founded
1876»Edward Bouchet, is 1st black to receive a PhD in US college (Yale)
1876»The cigarette manufacturing machine was patented by Albert H. Hook of New York City
1908»Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are reportedly killed in San Vicente, Bolivia.
1946»A coin-operated television receiver was displayed in New York City.
╬ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1519»According to some sources, Spaniards have their first view of Tenochtitlán
╬ POLITICS (US)
1811»Battle of Tippecanoe, gave Harrison a presidential slogan
1874»1st cartoon depicting elephant as Republican Party symbol, by T Nast
1893»Women in the U.S. state of Colorado are granted the right to vote.
1942»1st US President to broadcast in a foreign language-FDR in French
1967»Carl B Stokes elected 1st black mayor of a major city-Cleveland, Ohio
1967»LBJ signs a bill establishing Corporation for Public Broadcasting
1983»Bomb explodes in US Capitol, causing heavy damage but no injuries
1989»Douglas Wilder elected 1st US black governor (D-Va)
1989»NYC elects its 1st black mayor (Dinkins) & female comp (Holtzman)
--Presidents elected
1820»James Monroe, the 5th President of U.S., was reelected.
1848»General Zachary Taylor emerged as a hero of the Mexican War (1846-1948) and was nominated as the presidential candidate at the Whig convention in June 1848. He defeated the Democratic candidate, Lewis Cass, and was elected the 12th President
1876»President Rutherford B Hayes & Samuel J Tilden claim presidential victory-19th President
1916»Woodrow Wilson (D) re-elected President—28th
1917»British capture Gaza Palestine from the Turks
1944»FDR wins 4th term in office, defeating Thomas E Dewey (R)
1972»President Nixon (R) re-elected defeating George McGovern (D)
╬ POLITICS (International)
1775»Lord Dunmore, promises freedom to male slaves who join British army
1875»Verney Cameron is 1st European to cross equatorial Africa
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1805»Lewis & Clark 1st sight Pacific Ocean
GREY MATTER ANSWERS
↔ JEOPARDY
$200- Fahrenheit equivalent to 0º Centigrade
What is 32°--freezing point
$400- You might have to put F. Lee Bailey on one to admit he had a show about one
What is a lie detector?
$600- The science which deals with the motion & behavior of bullets
What is ballistics?
$800- What you're "stuck with" boiling down collagen, softening it with hot water & letting it swell
What is glue?
$1000- In 1808, this metalsmith made copper plates for a Fulton steamboat boiler
Who is Paul Revere?
↔ PICTURE
A purple crayon
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Sat. Nov. 6

This is Week 44 of 2010►Day 310 with 55 days left.
Flagstaff Weather: H—68°; L—25°; RH—33%; —fair sky and wind—8 mph

QUOTE FOR THE DAY—Henry David Thoreau
Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
What a story: Edison Peña was trapped in a mine for 69 days. During that time he ran daily and led his fellow trapped miners in Elvis sing-a-longs. Then 17 days after coming out of that mine he competed in a triathlon in Chile. The organizers of the NY Marathon decided to invite and pay for the trip so Edison could watch the marathon. He responded with “I want to run the marathon, not watch it.” So he will. What an amazing man.

A WT_? story: I am a big fan on MSNBC. I realize that their air personalities are liberal and progressive. I have seldom considered MSNBC as a news source—it is a source of stories that are commented on. And their evening show comments are liberal. Always. I learned today that NBC News has a policy that its employees are not to work for or donate to political campaigns without getting special exception. It seems that Keith Olbermann has been indefinitely suspended without pay for donating $2500 to each of two campaigns in AZ and one in KY. As much as I enjoy his commentary on the news, he broke the rules and should be reprimanded. Oddly or not, he has been hounding corporations for their donations to the Republicans and demanding that donation lists become public record so we know who is donating to whom. Well, I don’t know what led him to donate to elections outside his home state and why he didn’t announce them—at least to his bosses. Anyway, I will miss his James Thurber readings every Friday. He made some very good commentary while he watched his father die, in a hospital, over about four months. He put into words what many of us go through when we lose a parent. He hit the good, the bad, and the ugly parts and always with professionalism. I’m sure there is more to the donation story, but again, he admits making the donations and didn’t follow the rules and he should be reprimanded. If he wanted to question the rule, or change the rule, I think he took the wrong approach. I await, as conservative Paul Harvey would be saying, the rest of the story.

Have you heard of Zenyatta? She is the an amazing race horse. If she wins again tomorrow, everyone will know her. She is undefeated in her racing career. She also has one Guinness along with her oats and carrots after her morning workout. That right, every day one Guinness. The trainer says they have tried other beers, but for Zenyatta—she will only drink the Guinness. I was going to say “Isn’t that a horse’s patoot” but wasn’t sure how to spell it, Google said I was right in the spelling, but when I found out what it means, I won’t be using that phrase again.

The weekend is upon us, and I am going to keep myself busy. We are still having grrrrrreat fall weather and I should be able to get some outside work done. I ran a few errands today and discovered that my supermarket price war will probably not come to pass. I tried to do my weekly shopping at the new WalMart. Sorry to say, the prices aren’t any better than other grocery stores, and they certainly don’t have the selection. To top it off, they don’t have ‘weekly specials’. So without prices lower than other stores, less selection than other stores, and no specials I won’t be doing a lot of shopping in their supermarket. It will save me a trip to the other side of town for household staples but I’m afraid that will be it.

HOLY MACKEREL: 1936 RCA displays TV for the press

JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(1984 games)(answers below) Ancient Greece
$200-The Greeks' word for world or Sagan's word for universe
$400-"Amazing" home of the Minotaur
$600-City-state ruled by Pericles
$800-The name of poetry with a lyre accompaniment
$1000-Founder of "Lyceum", his students walked with him as he taught

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—Music Test Results
Maybe this is why they don't teach music in high school any more. Following are actual answers from students on music tests...
- The principal singer of nineteenth century opera was called pre-Madonna.
- Gregorian chant has no music, just singers singing the same lines.
- Sherbet composed the Unfinished Symphony.
- All female parts were sung by castrati. We don't know exactly what they sounded like because there are no known descendants.
- Young scholars have expressed their rapture for the Bronze Lullaby, the Taco Bell Cannon, Beethoven's Erotica, Tchaikovsky Cracknutter Suite, and Gershwin's Rap City in Blue.
- Music sung by two people at the same time is called a duel; if they sing without music it is called Acapulco.
- A virtuoso is a musician with real high morals.
- Contralto is a low sort of music that only ladies sing.
- Probably the most marvelous fugue was the one between the Hatfields and the McCoys.
- I know what a sextet is but I'd rather not say.
- Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a great many musical compositions and had a large number of children. In between he practiced on an old spinster which he kept up in his attic.
- Rock Monanoff was a famous post-romantic composer of piano concerti.

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
TAMPA, FL. — Lizabeth the terrier experienced the canine terror of being dragged underwater in an alligator's jaws — and lived to bark the tale.
The gator wasn't so fortunate.
Tom Martino said he and his Jack Russell terrier were taking their afternoon walk along the Hillsborough River in Tampa on Thursday when he heard splashing — the alligator had snatched the 15-pound dog off riverside rocks and pulled her into the water.
Martino, who has a concealed weapons permit, pulled out his handgun and started shooting at the water around the alligator to frighten it into releasing the dog, he told WFLA-TV.
The 6-foot-4 alligator eventually let her go. Using a rod, Martino was able to rescue his dog, he told WFLA. He then performed CPR on her.
"She coughed up a bunch of water," said Martino, who had never performed CPR on a dog. "I was scared. That's my little baby."
Nine-year-old Lizabeth, who is named after Fred Sanford's deceased wife from the 1970s sitcom "Sanford and Son," is in critical but stable condition and is being cared for at Florida Veterinary Specialists in Tampa.
Veterinarian Miryam Reems told WFLA that the dog suffered bites and lung injuries from being underwater. Before the alligator attack, Lizabeth was being treated for a suppressed immune system. Reems told WFLA the CPR saved Lizabeth's life. At about 7 p.m. Thursday, a trapper contracted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission used a treble hook and fish line to capture the alligator, WFLA reported.
Martino took photos of the capture as neighbors watched and news crews filmed the action. The alligator was taped, roped and placed in the back of the trapper's pickup truck.
The animal was declared a nuisance and was to be euthanized, WFLA reported.
"I'm glad he's gone and nobody else got hurt," Martino said.

A LITTLE LAUGH
I was traveling through Georgia last summer and stopped at a little backwoods country store. In the men's room there was a handwritten sign above the malfunctioning potty which said, "Please Wiggel Handel".
Below that some wit had written, "If I do, will it wiggel Bach?"

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

GREY MATTER PICTURE
This is a close up of what object?
SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION
¤ Weekly Observances ¤
1-7: Intimate Apparel Market Week
Give Wildlife A Break Week
National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week
Give Wildlife A Break Week
National Patient Accessibility Week
World Communication Week
7-13: National Nurse Practioner's Week, Pursuit of Happiness Week, National Rad Tech Week , Fraud Awareness Week, Dear Santa Letter Week, National Young Reader's Week, World Kindness Week
14-20: American Education Week, Geography Awareness Week, National Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week, National Global Entrepreneurship Week
19-25:National Farm-City Week
21-28: National Bible Week, National Family Week, National Game & Puzzle Week, National Teens Don't Text and Drive Week, Better Conversation Week, Church/State Separation Week
¤ Today’s Observances ¤
Saxophone Day
Marooned Without A Compass Day
International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict
Sadie Hawkins Day
Dominican Republic: Constitution Day (1884)
Finland: Finnish Swedish Heritage Day, a flag day
Mauritius: Ganga Asnam (First Aide Training)
Morocco: Green March
Sweden: Gustavus Adolphus Day, death of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and official flag day
Tajikistan: Constitution Day (1994)
Tatarstan: Constitution Day (1992)
¤ Top 10 songs of 1962 ¤
Click on Song Title to see and hear the original
¤ Today’s Births ¤
╬ THE ARTS
Ray Conniff, chorus director (Ray Conniff Singers), born in 1916
Glenn Frey, 62, musician, songwriter, singer (The Eagles)
James Jones, novelist (From Here to Eternity), born in 1921
Jim Jordan, radio comedian (Fibber McGee), born in 1896
Mike Nichols (Michael Igor Peschkowsky), 79, film and stage director and producer (Oscar for The Graduate)
Adolphe Sax, musician/inventor (saxophone) , born in 1814
John Phillip Sousa, march king (Stars & Stripes Forever), born in 1854
♦♦Actors♦♦
Sally Field, 64, actress (Oscars for Norma Rae, Places in the Heart; Emmy for Sybil)
Nigel Havers, 61, actor (Chariots of Fire, Empire of the Sun)
Ethan Hawke, 40, actor (Training Day, Dead Poets Society), novelist
╬ ATHLETICS
James A Naismith, inventor (basketball), born in 1861
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
Arne Duncan, 46, US Secretary of Education
Alois Senefelder, inventor (lithography), born in 1771
Charles H Dow, co-founded Dow Jones/1st editor of Wall St Journal, born in 1851
╬ POLITICS
Maria Owings Shriver, 55, First Lady of California, broadcast journalist
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 70, LDS apostle
Jerry Yang, 42,Chinese American entrepreneur (Yahoo!, Inc.)
¤ Today’s Obituaries ¤
King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden killed in battle @ 38 in 1632
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer, cholera or suicide @ 53 in 1893
Gene Tierney, actress, emphysema @ 70 in 1991
¤ Today’s Events ¤
╬ THE ARTS
1905-The original stage production of Sir James Barrie’s Peter Pan opened in New York
1966-1st entire lineup televised in color (NBC)
1967-Phil Donahue began a TV talk show in Dayton, Ohio.
╬ ATHLETICS
1956-Holland & Spain withdraw from Olympics, protest Soviets in Hungary
1961-US government issues a stamp honoring 100th anniv. of James Naismith’s birth
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1850-1st Hawaiian fire engine
╬ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1864-Colonel Kit Carson, and his troops, leave Fort Bascom, in western New Mexico, en route for the Texas panhandle to "punish" the "hostile" Comanches, and Kiowas
1868-Four "Ogallalah Sioux," including Red Cloud, two "Brule Sioux," eighteen "Uncpapa Sioux," ten "Blackfeet Sioux," five "Cuthead Sioux," three "Two Kettle Sioux," four "Sans Arch Sioux," and seven "Santee Sioux" sign the Fort Laramie treaty (15 stat. 635).
╬ POLITICS (US)
1850-Yerba Buena & Angel Islands (San Francisco Bay) reserved for military use
1885-US mint at Carson City, Nevada directed to close
1973-Abe Beame elected 1st jewish mayor on NYC
1973-Coleman Young elected mayor of Detroit
1986-Reagan signs landmark immigration reform bill
--Presidents elected today-
1860-Abraham Lincoln (R-Ill-Rep) elected 16th President
1861-Jefferson Davis elected to 6 year term as Confederate President
1888-Benjamin Harrison (R-Sen-Indiana) beats President Grover Cleveland (D), 233 electoral votes to 168, Cleveland received slightly more votes
1900-President William McKinley (R) re-elected, beating William Jennings Bryan
1928-Herbert Hoover (R) beats Alfred E Smith (D) for President
1956-President Eisenhower (D) re-elected defeating Adlai E Stevenson (R)
1984-President Reagan (R) landslide (won 49 states) re-election over Mondale (D)
╬ POLITICS (International)
1813-Chilpancingo congress declares Mexico independent of Spain
1917-Bolshevik revolution begins with the capture of the Winter Palace
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1572-Supernova is observed in the constellation known as Cassiopeia
1789-Pope Pius VI appointed the Rt. Rev. John Carroll the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States (in the diocese of Baltimore)
GREY MATTER ANSWERS
↔ JEOPARDY
$200-The Greeks' word for world or Sagan's word for universe
What is cosmos?
$400-"Amazing" home of the Minotaur
What is a maze or labyrinth?
$600-City-state ruled by Pericles
What is Athens?
$800-The name of poetry with a lyre accompaniment
What is lyric poetry?
$1000-Founder of "Lyceum", his students walked with him as he taught
Who is Aristotle?
↔ PICTURE
Inside a washing machine
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Fri Nov 5

This is Week 44 of 2010►Day 309 with 56 days left.
Flagstaff Weather: H—68°; L—°; RH—31%; clear sky—wind— 3 mph

QUOTE FOR THE DAY—Henry David Thoreau
Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
I got an email today from my neighbor-friend Bob’s daughters. Turns out his next birthday will have him turning 80. Time sure flies when one is having fun. Bob is the guy I am planning to go to England with this spring. I knew he was in his 70’s when we went to Scotland, and somehow I guess he didn’t age after that. Amazing. His daughters are doing a cool thing for the big day, besides the party. They are making a ‘memory jar’ which will be stories and anecdotes from his friends and relatives on pieces of paper, folded and put in the jar for him to read whenever he wants to. My brother and I did a memory album for our parents for their 50th anniversary. We had about 60 people who sent letters with an anecdote, then my brother had an artist-type friend put them into an amazing album. It was treasured by them both for years, and was still being read by my mom when she is in the care facility.

We had another beautiful day here in Flagstaff—I keep looking at the calendar to be sure that it really is November.

Some of you might recall my loud neighbor who lives about 4 doors down from me. She is the one who was screaming at a neighbor that the entire facility was racist. An acquaintance of mine from Leupp was looking to rent that townhouse. She met with the lady, paid a good-faith deposit to rent it. After a few weeks she checked with the lady, and the lady said that she had raised the monthly rent and someone else had rented it at the higher price. While the story hardly seemed ethical, the renter said she was upset and asked for her good faith deposit back. The lady said it would be ready in a week, in case the other renter backed out. Even stranger. So the week went by, no check. She called the number and the cell had been turned off. She stopped by and no one would answer the door. Today the lady moved out. Even that was strange. A U-haul truck pulled up, the lady driver of the U-Haul watched as the lady and her friends loaded the U-haul. I was emptying trash about an hour later and the driver was opening a sealed envelope with a padlock and key in the envelope. She gave the padlock to the lady, who promptly put it on the back of the truck so it couldn’t be opened. The driver appeared to keep the key, got in the truck and drove off. Then the lady and her friend drove off. I know this sounds like I am a very nosy neighbor, but when I am in my upstairs office, at the computer, I can glance out the window. I did watch the lock part and was being nosy, but the other parts were mere glances out the window. So I guess my friend lost her good faith deposit, my screaming neighbor is gone, and we may soon have a new neighbor—or not. I had told the lady from Leupp that I thought that lady was just a renter. When they moved in about a year or so ago, there was never a for sale sign on the unit. My guess is the lady who lived there pulled off a scam and that my acquaintance from Leupp was only one of several who were taken in.

Back in the 60’s and early 70’s my mom was a poll worker at the local polling place. That was the day of the pull the handle and the curtain closed, you pushed down the levers for your candidate, and pulled a handle to vote and magically the curtain opened. At the end of the day, the workers would go behind the machine, unlock and open the secret box container, and take the box, unopened to the county election headquarters. The election results were published the next morning or you could watch TV to see the results. Now it is 2010. Poll workers still show up at the voting place about 5am and stay until about 8pm. I don’t think any states still use the old lever machines as technology has convinced the states that there are better, safer, easier, more accurate machines these days. Back in the olden days, very few people ever got absentee ballots and there was no such thing as ‘early voting’. So my question is—why does it now take days, weeks or months to find out the results of a close election? When the Minnesota Senate race was close back in 2008, it took until mid January or February to find out that Al Franken was the winner. I remember this, only because I always enjoyed Franken’s humor and wondered how he ended up running for the Senate. Well Minnesota had a close election for governor. Results aren’t expected until February. AZ has a couple of ballot measures that still haven’t been announced and two Congressional districts that were not announced until late this afternoon. Several other states are still not calling some of their counts either. If the elections had a near 100% I might find it a little more understandable. Why is it taking so long to get results? It seems to me that the recorder’s office would be able to plan ahead and have enough staff around election time to make this process go a bit faster. When the people of Afghanistan had to make their thumb purple in order to vote, the results were in with a couple of days. Afghanistan is about the size and population of Texas, has 4 official languages. Minnesota has a population about ¼ that of Texas. No US state is as isolated, as undeveloped, or as involved in a war like Afghanistan. Maybe I just expect too much.

HOLY MACKEREL: 1935▬Parker Brothers launches game of Monopoly

JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(1984 games)(answers below)--Trivia
$100-Words used instead of the cursing in Watergate tape transcripts
$200-Specialty store in which you'd buy lug nuts & feeler gauges
$300-Speed of an LP
$400-Number of vowels on the bottom row of keys of a standard typewriter
$500-Howard Garis' bedtime tale-teller whose last name is Longears

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—Recordings
→Magnetic recording was invented in 1898 by Valdemar Poulson of Denmark. Called the “telegraphone,” it was used to record telephone messages by applying magnetic pulses to a steel wire.
→The patent for the invention of the phonograph was awarded to Emile Berliner in 1887. But the recording format of choice would become the iron oxide-coated tape, a paper version of which was invented in 1927 by Joseph A. O’Neill and a film version of which was invented in 1928 by Fritz Pfleumer.
→The tape recorder, or “magnetophone”, was invented in 1936, the year that the Volkswagen Beetle was launched. Dutch company Philips introduced the audio cassette in 1963.
→The video recording machine was invented by the Ampex Corporation of California in 1956. The first video recorder, the Ampex VR1000, stood 3 ft 3 in high [or more than 6ft when fully assembled] and weighed as much as a small car: 1,466 lb.
→The home video recorder was introduced in 1972 by Philips. JVC introduced the VHS system in 1976. Sony introduced the first handheld film camera, the Sony Mavica camcorder, in 1981.
→The first musical film was made in 1896 by George Thomas. It was a series of still shots depicting the song The Little Lost Child by Edward B. Marks and Joseph W. Stern.

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
MSNBC--An elderly couple who won around $11 million from a lottery ticket in Canada have given the money away to good causes and family, according to media reports.
Violet and Allen Large, who live in rural Nova Scotia, decided they had no need for the money and, four months after the Lotto 6-49 win, have given virtually all of it to churches, animal charities, hospitals and other groups, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald reported.
'We have each other' "That money that we won was nothing — we have each other," Allen Large told the newspaper, which said he choked back tears as he spoke. Violet Allen had her final course of chemotherapy last week, the Chronicle-Herald said. "I've been very fortunate not to be bedfast," she told the paper. The Chronicle-Herald said after giving some money to family, the couple made donations to various good causes such as: the local fire department; churches; cemeteries;the Red Cross; the Salvation Army;hospitals in Truro and Halifax that treated Violet Large for cancer; and organizations that fight cancer, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes.
"We're the lucky ones. I have no complaints," Violet Allen said. Click Here for full story!

A LITTLE LAUGH
One of my college friends asked a group of us for advice on organizing his final report for the year. "Why don't you use Roman numerals to head the different sections?" another friend suggested.
"I already thought of that," he replied. "But my keyboard doesn't have Roman numerals on it."

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
Johnny Horton did great songs: Sink The Bismark! Battle of New Orleans

GREY MATTER PICTURE
This is a close up of what object?
SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION
¤ Weekly Observances ¤
1-7: Intimate Apparel Market Week
Give Wildlife A Break Week
National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week
Give Wildlife A Break Week
National Patient Accessibility Week
World Communication Week
7-13: National Nurse Practioner's Week, Pursuit of Happiness Week, National Rad Tech Week , Fraud Awareness Week, Dear Santa Letter Week, National Young Reader's Week, World Kindness Week
14-20: American Education Week, Geography Awareness Week, National Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week, National Global Entrepreneurship Week
19-25:National Farm-City Week
21-28: National Bible Week, National Family Week, National Game & Puzzle Week, National Teens Don't Text and Drive Week, Better Conversation Week, Church/State Separation Week
¤ Today’s Observances ¤
Gunpowder Day
National Medical Science Liaison Awareness & Appreciation Day
Pumpkin Chunkin Days: hurling pumpkins by mechanical device: Championships held in Delaware and Belgium.
El Salvador: 1st Cry for Independence (1811)
Sweden: All Saints Day
United Kingdom, New Zealand and the Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador: Guy Fawkes Night, failure of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in 1605 is celebrated with bonfires, fireworks and burning of effigies.
¤ Top 10 songs of 1961 ¤
I don’t always remember these songs by their title, but after the first few notes, memories flow.
Click on Song Title to see and hear the original
¤ Today’s Births ¤
╬ THE ARTS
Bryan Adams, 51, singer, songwriter
Will Durant, writer/historian (Story of Civilization), born in 1885
Arthur (Art) Garfunkel, 69, singer (Simon and Garfunkel), actor (Carnal Knowledge)
Kevin Jonas, 23, singer (The Jonas Brothers), actor (“J.O.N.A.S.”)
Peter Noone, 63, rocker (Herman-Herman's Hermits-Silhouettes)
Sam Shepard, 67, dramatist, actor (Buried Child, The Right Stuff), born Samuel Shepard Rogers
Ike Turner, AKA EX-Mr Tina Turner!, singer (A Fool in Love), born in 1931
Geoffrey Wolff, 73, author (The Duke of Deception, The Age of Consent)
♦♦Actors♦♦
Joel McCrea, actor (Marshal-Wichita Town), born in 1905
Roy Rogers (Leonard Slye), cowboy (Happy Trails, Roy Rogers Show), born in 1911 Happy Trails
Natalie Schaeffer, actress (Lovey Howell-Gilligan's Island), born in 1912
John McGiver, actor (Patty Duke Show, Jimmy Stewart Show), born in 1913
Vivien Leigh (Vivian Mary Hartley), (Gone With Wind) Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn, born in 1913
Jon-Erik Hexum, actor (Voyager, Cover-up), born in 1957
Tatum O’Neal, 47, actress (Oscar for Paper Moon; The Bad News Bears)
Elke Sommer, 69, actress (A Shot in the Dark, The Prize), born Elke Schletze
╬ ATHLETICS
Javy Lopez, 40, baseball, born Ponce, Puerto Rico, Braves, Red Sox, Orioles
William Theodore "Bill" Walton III, 58, broadcaster, Hall of Fame basketball (Trailblazers, Celtics, Clippers)
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
Moe Biller, labor union officer (AFL-CIO, Postal Workers), born in 1915
Ida Tarbell, muckraker (Standard Oil was very unhappy), born in 1857
╬ POLITICS
Benjamin F Butler, Union general/presidential candidate (anti-monopoly), born in 1818
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
Bernard Chazelle, 55, French computer scientist
Paul Sabatier, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate, born in 1854
¤ Today’s Obituaries ¤
Ward Bond, actor, heart attack @ 55 in 1960
Al Capp, cartoonist (Lil' Abner), emphysema @ 70 in 1979
Vladamir Horowitz, pianist, @ 85, in 1989
Johnny Horton, singer (Ballad of New Oreleans), auto accident @ 35 in 1960
Guy Lombardo, orchestra leader (Auld Lang Syne), heart attack @ 75 in 1977
Fred MacMurray, actor (My Three Sons), leukemia @ 84 in 1991
Stafford Repp, actor (Chief O'Hara-Batman), heart attack @ 56 in 1974
Barry Sadler, singer (Green Berets), shot in robbery in Guatamala @t 49 in 1989
¤ Today’s Events ¤
╬ THE ARTS
1930▬Sinclair Lewis, novelist, playwright, and social critic, won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was the first American to win the prize and went to him “for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters.”
╬ ATHLETICS
1971▬The Los Angeles Lakers began the longest winning streak in the history of pro sports by winning the first of 33 consecutive basketball games
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1492▬Christopher Columbus learns of maize (corn) from the Indians of Cuba
1973▬BART starts San Francisco-Daly City train shuttle service
╬ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1768▬The Iroquois sell some land. According to many historians, the treaty signed at Fort Stanwix, near modern Rome, New York, causes such anguish among Indian tribes, it leads to Dunsmore's War. The treaty is signed at a meeting of several thousand Indians.
1857▬The Tonawanda Band of the Seneca sign a treaty (11 stat. 735).
╬ POLITICS (US)
1781▬John Hanson elected 1st "President of the US in Congress assembled"
1872▬Susan B Anthony fined $100 for trying to vote for Ulysses S Grant
1917▬Supreme Court decision (Buchanan v Warley) strikes down Lousiville KY ordinance requiring blacks & whites to live in separate areas
1935▬Maryland Court of Appeals orders U of M to admit (black) Donald Murray
1946▬John F Kennedy (D-MA) elected to House of Representatives
--Presidents elected today
1912▬Woodrow Wilson (D) beats Theodore Roosevelt (Prog) & President Taft (R)
1940▬President FDR (D) wins unprecedented 3rd term beating Wendell Willkie (R)
1956▬Britain & France land forces in Egypt
1968▬Nixon (R) beats VP Humphrey (D) & George C Wallace for Presidency
╬ POLITICS (International)
1605▬Gunpowder Plot; Catholics try to blow up English Parliament. Plot uncovered & leader Guy Fawkes hanged
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1987▬Iceberg twice the size of Rhode Island sighted in Antarctic
╬ BONUS: Guy Fawkes Refrain still chanted today
Remember, Remember the Fifth of November
Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot.
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes twas his intent
To blow up the houses of Parliament,
With three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow.
But by God’s providence he was catched,
With darkened lantern and slow burning match.
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, ring bells ring,
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God saved the King!
GREY MATTER ANSWERS
↔ JEOPARDY
$100-Words used instead of the cursing in Watergate tape transcripts
What is ‘expletive deleted’?
$200-Specialty store in which you'd buy lug nuts & feeler gauges
What is a auto supply store?
$300-Speed of an LP
What is 33 1/3 rpm?
$400-Number of vowels on the bottom row of keys of a standard typewriter
What is zero?
$500-Howard Garis' bedtime tale-teller whose last name is Longears
Who is Uncle Wigley?
↔ PICTURE
Video game controller
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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.