Monday

~~~Free Ramblings
A great Sunday afternoon. Denver won in an OT. I didn’t get to see the whole game, but after the Cardinal win, they switched to the Denver game and I got to see the last 5 minutes of regulation and the OT. Denver is still undefeated. Arizona finally got a win. It’s hard to get into a football game when its 60° outside, but when your team is playing you do what has to be done. Here is Flag we dropped to 29° last night, so soon the flowers will be gone for another season.

AOL ran an interesting piece today. It seems that students in many elementary, middle, and high schools are learning more about Columbus and his impact on the Native population that was already here. This has been happening in Native schools for a long time. Glad to see it is finally happening across the country. The word ‘discovery’ and its variations are being downplayed. One State Superintendent commented that it is hard to teach ‘discovery’ when people were already here.

The next step in this process is to teach students that just because you find something, you can’t claim it as your own. It is an easy lesson if you ‘find’ a set of keys and try to keep them without looking for the owner. Even that is a culture-based example. For centuries the various European cultures have believed that just about anything can be claimed for your leader. If the culture that is already there doesn’t fight you and win, then your claim holds back home. A sad commentary is that too many cultures believe that it is OK to take things and people if you are stronger than they are. Most, if not all, of the cultures that do not believe this have been taken over and destroyed by those who do believe you can take and keep whatever you want.
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~~~Random Facts
As of 2008, Harry Potter books have sold over 400 million
copies and have been translated into 67 languages

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the
letters only on one row of the keyboard.

The drive-through line on opening day at the McDonald's
restaurant in Kuwait City, Kuwait was at times seven miles long.

~~~Crazy News
McDonald’s know what sells in various cultures…
In India, there are no Big Macs because the Hindu people don’t eat beef. However, they have the Maharaja Mac, which is a Big Mac made of lamb or chicken meat. There is also a vegetarian burger, the McAloo Tikki.

It’s bottoms up in Germany, where McDonald’s serves – Beer!
In parts of Canada, have a lobster dinner with the McLobster lobster roll. Pardon me – “McHomard” (in French).

Japan totally reinvents McDonald’s with its Ebi Filet-O (shrimp burgers), Koroke Burger (mashed potato, cabbage and katsu sauce, all in a sandwich), Ebi-Chiki (shrimp nuggets) and Green Tea-flavored milkshake!

In fish-loving Norway, they have the McLaks, a sandwich made of grilled salmon and dill sauce.

In Chile, you can dress your burgers with – not ketchup – avocado paste!

In Costa Rica, unsurprisingly, you can order Gallo Pinto, meaning rice and beans.

It’s not Greek without pita, so when in Greece, have a Greek Mac, a burger made of patties wrapped in pita.

Rice-loving Hong Kong, has – of course – Rice Burgers, where the burgers are in between, not burger buns, but two patties of glutinous rice.

Despite Jewish religious dietary laws, most McDonald’s are not Kosher (there are a few exceptions), and they serve “McPitzutz” ice creams and cheeseburgers… and Israel is one of the only countries that cooks the meat over charcoal versus frying. They also have the McKebab, two patties with Middle Eastern seasonings, stuffed into a pita bread.

In Uruguay, they have the McHuevo, which is like a regular hamburger, but it is topped with a poached egg.

~~~Before They Were Famous
Don Johnson appeared as a contestant on "The Dating Game" in the late 1960s.

Angelina Jolie admitted in an interview that when she was younger she wanted to be a funeral director.

Tommy Lee Jones was once roommates with Al Gore at Harvard.
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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 12 Oct
National School Lunch Week
World Rainforest Week

~~~12 OCT Observances
285 days so far this year…80 days remain in 2009
Columbus Day
Free Thought Day
Nat’l Kick Butt Day
Nat’l Salesperson Day
^Equatorial Guinea – Independence Day (from Spain, 1968)
^Malawi – Mother's Day
^Spain – National Day—for Columbus’ landing
^Latin America - El Dia de la Raza
^Brazil – Children's Day

~~~Births on this day
~ The ARTS
1844__George W Cable American writer (Northampton Years)

1929__Robert Coles Milton Mass, author (Pulitzer 1973)
1932__Dick Gregory comedian/political activist
1935__Luciano Pavarotti Modena Italy, operatic tenor
1947__Chris Wallace Chicago Ill, newscaster
1970__Kirk Cameron Panorama City Calif, actor
~ATHLETICS
1906__Joe (Joseph Edward) Cronin Baseball Hall of Fame
1935__Tony (Anthony Christopher) Kubek baseball: outfielder/shortstop
1951__Sally Little golf champion

~POLITICS/BUSINESS/EDUCATION
1923__Jean Nidetch Brooklyn, founded Weight Watchers

~SCIENCE/RELIGION
1860__Elmer A Sperry inventor (gyrocompass)

~~~In Remembrance
1870__Robert E. Lee, American Confederate general @ 63

1940__Tom Mix, American actor @ 60
1969++Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater @ 57
1985__Johnny Olson, American game show announcer @ 75
1989__Jay Ward, American animator (Rocky and Bullwinkle, etc.) @ 69
1997__John Denver, American singer @ 54
1999__Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player @ 63
2003__Willie Shoemaker, American jockey @ 72


~~~Historical Events on this day
1823__Charles Macintosh of Scotland begins selling raincoats (Macs)

1920__Construction of the Holland Tunnel got underway
1931__Olympic gold medal swimmer Johnny Weissmuller is chosen to play Tarzan in the movies 1960 Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe at UN General Assembly session
1968__19th modern Olympic games opens in Mexico City
1975__Archbishop Oliver Plunkett became 1st Irish-born saint in 7 centuries

~ Holy Mackerel
1999__The United Nations Population Fund designate today in history as the approximate day on which world population reached six billion
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Jeopardy Categories
(these answers are all pairs of people who collaborated on works or shared a style)
1. Two 20th Century Americans who depicted dust bowl refugees with sympathy and understanding. One wrote Of Mice and Men; the other, a photographer, is known for her Migrant Mother.
2. Two French Impressionists. One was known for his paintings of water lilies. The other, a composer, wrote La Mer or The Sea.
3. One's a dancer and one's a composer. They worked together on the Ballet Russe production of The Rites of Spring.
4. Two 20th Century Americans who combined symphony and ballet. The first is a composer who created the score for Appalachian Spring. The second is the choreographer who collaborated with him on the same production, and was also an innovator in modern dance.
5. Often performing together, their folk-rock music of the early 1960s expressed rebellion and desire for change. She is a 3 octave vocal range folk singer known for her version of the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome," and he is known for such early folk songs as "Blowin In the Wind," as well as his current Grammy-winning rock music.

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Answers:
1. Who are John Steinbeck and Dorothea Lange?
2. Who are Monet and Debussy?
3. Who are Nijinsky and Stravinsky?
4. Who are Aaron Copeland and Martha Graham?
5. Who are Joan Baez and Bob Dylan?
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