Last Blog...for a while

~~~Free Ramblings
LAST BLOG UNTIL MID NOVEMBER.

I got my final packing done. I got all my bills paid. I am overly ready to hit the friendly skies. I’ll be flying to Denver tomorrow, and then our group takes off Friday morning for South Africa. Adventure awaits.

Notifying my banks so that my debit and credit cards would work was easy with one bank and a real pain with the other. Something was wrong with the Wells Fargo computer and the lady had to call me back to let me know that my card was tagged to accept out of country charges. It’s always a little scary to do this and scary not to do this. To do it, if I lose my cards, the bank won’t worry about charges on the card until I call them. If I don’t call them, they will just refuse the purchase. Hard to tell which to do.

The wind really died down today. My deck is covered with dry pine needles. My front area is covered with dry pine needles. The home owner’s assoc will take care of the front, but I will have to deal with the deck when I get back. I’m sure there will be at least one snow while I am gone, so it will be quite a mess. I just didn’t want to take time today to deal with it.

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~~~Random Facts
On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens
every year.

"Go" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

The guy featured in the NBA logo is former Laker, Jerry West.

~~~Unusual News
ST. GALLEN, Switzerland – Swiss police said an Italian man set a record for traffic violations in their country by racking up 15 moving violations in the space of 11 minutes.
Police in St. Gallen said the 47-year-old’s spree of road violations began when he drove past police while speeding 100 mph in a 60 mph zone during the weekend, the Daily Mail reported. Officers said the ensuing offenses include driving too close to other cars, driving too close to the curb, weaving across the white dividing line, failing to stop for police sirens, barreling through red lights, speeding through a construction zone and driving on a hard shoulder of a roadway. The driver was finally stopped at a roadblock and issued additional violations including driving under the influence of drugs, failing to drive with due care and attention and using a mobile telephone at the wheel.
“This character will be getting his driving license back around the time Haley’s Comet makes its next appearance,” a St. Gallen police spokesman said.
Note: The comet should be back July 28, 2061.

~~~Before They Were Famous
Before beginning his musical career, Johnny Mathis was a star high jumper at San Francisco State College and was invited to try out for the 1956 US Olympic Team.

Matthew McConaughey spent a year in Australia after high school shoveling chicken manure.

As a teenager, Ed McMahon worked as a bingo caller and carnival barker. He also sold gadgets on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, most notably the Morris metric vegetable slicer.
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~~~October Month Long Observances

Birthstone: Opal Birth flower: calendula
Adopt A Shelter Animal Month ~ Apple Month ~ Celebrate the Bilingual Child Month ~ Domestic Violence Awareness Month ~ Emotional Intelligence Month ~ Gay & Lesbian History Month ~ Halloween Safety Month ~ Month of Free Thought ~ Nat’l Arts and Humanities Month ~ Nat’l Book Month ~ Nat’l Cyber Safety Awareness Month ~ Nat’l Popcorn Poppin’ Month ~ Nat’l Sarcastic Awareness Month ~ Photographer Appreciation Month ~ Squirrel Awareness Month ~ Vegetarian Month

~~~Week of 24 Oct
Disarmament Week
Give Wildlife A Break Week
Peace, Friendship, and Good Will Week

~~~22 OCT Observances
295 days so far this year…70 days remain in 2009
Wombat Day
• India, Mauritius, Singapore : Deepavali Day-- 'Lead us from the unreal to the Real; from darkness to Light; from death to Immortality.'
• Japan : Jidai Matsuri/Festival of the Eras (1895)
• Puerto Rico : Veterans Day
• Vatican City : National Day

~~~Births on this day
~ The ARTS)
1811__Franz Liszt Raiding, Hungary, romantic composer/virtuoso pianist
1845__Sarah Bernhardt France, silent film actress

1903__Curly Howard (Jerome Lester Horwitz) comedian: The Three Stooges
1919__Doris Lessing novelist (Golden Notebook)
1920__Timothy Leary Harvard prof, LSD taker
1930__Dory Previn songwriter: Come Saturday Morning
1938__Christopher Lloyd Stamford Ct, actor (Taxi, Back to the Future)
1942__Annette Funicello Utica NY, actress (Mickey Mouse Club and Beach movies)
1943__Catherine Deneuve [Dorleac], actress
1952__Jeff Goldblum actor

~ATHLETICS
1925__Slater Martin Basketball Hall of Famer

~POLITICS/BUSINESS/EDUCATION
1701 – Maria Amaliaof Austria Holy Roman Empire Empress
1734 – Daniel Boone American pioneer and hunter
1939 – Joaquim Chissano President of Mozambique

~SCIENCE/RELIGION
1896__Charles Glenn King biochemist (discovered vitamin C)

~~~In Remembrance–
1883__Thomas Mayne Reid Irish-American novelist died of acute melancholia @ 65
1906__Paul Cezanne French painter @ 67 of pneumonia
1918__Myrtle Gonzalez American silent film (78) actress @ 73
1934__Pretty Boy (Charles Arthur) Floyd American gangster shot by FBI @ 30
1973__Pablo Casals Catalan cellist and conductor @ 97

~~~Historical Events on this day
1746__Princeton University (NJ) received its charter
1804__Lewis & Clark visit a Sioux war party today.
1836__Sam Houston inaugurated as 1st elected pres of Republic of Texas
1883__Original Metropolitan Opera House (NYC) grand opening (Faust)

1914__Congress pass the Revenue Act mandating the first tax on incomes over $3,000—that’s $63,060 in 2009.
1928__Pres Hoover speaks of "American system of rugged individualism"
1938__1st Xerox copy made by inventor Chester Carlson
1939__The first televised pro football game was telecast Brooklyn beat Philadelphia, 23-14
1978__Karol Józef Wojtyła first non-Italian Pope since Adrian VI (1522-1523), the first Polish Pope, and the youngest Pope since Pius IX (1846-1878) becomes Pope John Paul II
1979__Walt Disney World's 100-millionth guest
1981__The first French TGV / high-speed train service(200 mph) begins
1986__The pressure on the South African government to dismantle its apartheid policies continues to mount as more American companies withdraw from doing business in South Africa
~ Holy Mackerel
1998__The Lion population in Krugar National Park are facing the biggest threat—TB--to their existence since they were nearly hunted to extinction by man.
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Jeopardy Categories Quiz
(These answers all relate to artists or authors who tried to depict life in a truthful manner)
1. A French painter of the mid-19th Century, this artist was known for such starkly realistic works such as The Stonebreakers which depicted two laborers, one too old for the job, another too young.
2. An American photographer who made sensitive portraits of migrant workers and dust bowl refugees, she is known for "Migrant Mother."
3. This 19th century Russian playwright is known for such works as The Cherry Orchard and The Three Sisters. His style emphasizes internal drama rather than plot.
4. This Depression-Era singer and songwriter is well known for his songs such as "This Land is Your Land," and his autobiography Bound for Glory. He had a great influence on many contemporary musicians, including Bob Dylan.
5. Critics called this playwright's A Doll's House (1879) "an open drain" because of its frank treatment of socially unaccepted topics.
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Answers:
1. Who is Gustave Courbet?
2. Who is Dorothea Lange?
3. What is Anton Chekhov'?
4. Who is Woody Guthrie?
5. Who is Henrik Johan Ibsen?

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