Tuesday

~~~Free Ramblings
Today was a holiday for many, just another work day for others. Our fine city workers voted to exchange Columbus Day with the Friday after Thanksgiving. That meant city offices were open today and will be closed the day after Thanksgiving. It’s a simple change that doesn’t affect me at all. So if they are happy, maybe they will work harder.

I got a call from Hamdy this morning. It seems that one of our fellow travelers is 85 years old and traveling with his nurse. I already knew about this. Well, turns out he and his nurse were very late in paying their travel fees. By the time they paid, one of our Safari camps was sold out. Hamdy called to see if it was OK for the two of us to stay at another camp and have a private driver for those three nights. I told him it would be fine. He said he was worried that I would feel cheated, so he got an upgrade at the camp where we are staying. This guy is amazing. When we were on the Nile, he was given another room because the ship was not full. So I got a private room for the five days. Now we are staying at an upgrade. I guess it pays to have a tour guide as your roommate.

The Jet Stream keeps moving north. It gave Colorado and points north some snow and cold temperatures. Here in Flag it was a nice day. Last night was only 35° and today we hit 63°. As the Stream moved north, it took any moisture with it, so it was a very dry day. The 13mph breeze, with gusts to 30mph only helped to really dry thing out even more.

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~~~Random Facts
A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

Men get hiccups more often than women.

The Pentagon has twice as many restrooms as necessary.When it was built, segregation was still in place in Virginia, so separate restrooms for blacks and whites were required by law.

~~~Unusual News Story
TARNSJO, Sweden – The Church of Sweden said it is preparing to open the country’s first church-operated gas station near a Central Sweden town with no other fuel pumps. The gas station near the village of Tarnsjo, (pop 1200) which hasn’t had its own gas station since last winter, is set for a grand opening Saturday alongside a connected convenience store, The Local reported. The church said a joint-stock company it created will be responsible for operating the service station, which was built using a $715,000 investment from parish members. “Our own petrol station is important for the survival of the whole village,” parish council chair Per Eriksson said.

~~~Before They Were Famous
Before finding fame, Ashley Judd graduated from the University of Kentucky, Lexington with a degree in French.

Boris Karloff was a truck driver, asphalt spreader, and farm hand before making it big.

In 1985, Alicia Keys appeared in an episode of The Cosby Show titled "Slumber Party." She was one of several girls appearing as Rudy Huxtable's sleepover friends.

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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

~~~13 OCT Observances
286 days so far this year…79 days remain in 2009
Face Your Fears Day
^ Burundi : Hero of the Nation Day

~~~Births on this day
~ The ARTS
1754__Molly Pitcher (Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley) American heroine
1917__Burr Tillstrom Chicago Ill, puppeteer (Kukla, Fran & Ollie)
1920__Nipsey Russell Atlanta Ga, comedian
1925__Frank Gilroy American writer (Subject Was Roses)
1925__Lenny Bruce comedian
1942__Paul Simon Newark NJ, singer/actor
1949__Sammy Hagar singer-musician (Van Halen-Jump)
1959__Marie Osmond Ogden Ut, singer/actress

~ATHLETICS
1921__Lou Saban football: Head Coach: Denver Broncos & others
1948__Randy (Randall James) Moffitt baseball: pitcher brother of tennis great Billie Jean King
1969__Nancy Kerrigan Olympic ice skating medalist

~POLITICS/BUSINESS/EDUCATION
1925__Margaret (Hilda) Thatcher (Roberts) ‘The Iron Lady’: British leader: Prime Minister of Great Britain [1979-1990]

~SCIENCE/RELIGION
1769__Horace H Hayden cofounded 1st dental college

~~~In Remembrance
1938__E.C. Segar, American cartoonist (Popeye) @44
1945__Milton S. Hershey, American chocolate tycoon @ 88
1968__Bea Benaderet, “Petticoat Junction” and more @ 62
1974__Ed Sullivan, American television personality @ 73
1989__Jay Ward animator (Rocky & His Friends), @ 69

~~~Historical Events on this day
1792__The cornerstone of what was termed the President’s House was laid by George Washington in Washington, DC. The name, White House, was not officially adopted until 1902.

1843__B'nai B'rith founded in NY
1860__1st aerial photo taken in US (from a balloon), Boston

1923__Ankara becomes the capital of modern Turkey, succeeding the Ottoman capital of Constantinople
1947__"Kukla, Fran & Ollie" premieres
1958__The first of a series of books featuring Paddington Bear is published
1962__A young 34-year-old named Edward Albee brought his play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, to Broadway.

~ Holy Mackerel
1983__Ameritech Mobile Communications, LLC provides cellular mobile phone service to the general public in Chicago.
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Jeopardy Categories
(these answers all contain the "O" sound in 'go')
1. Often classified as an expressionist, this 19th Century painter spent time in Arles painting wheat fields in the year preceding his mental breakdown.
2. This American woman is known for her eerie western landscapes, cow's sculls, and gigantic flowers.
3. This Athenian philosopher was interested in "What is real?" and "What is eternal?" He is known for his Allegory of the Cave.
4. This Spanish painter is known as "The Greek." His paintings, such as View of Toledo, have eerie distortions.
5. This early Renaissance painter experimented with a new sense of space in works such as The Lamentation.

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Answers:
1. Who is Vincent Van Gogh?
2. Who Is Georgia O’Keeffe?
3. Who is Plato?
4. Who is El Greco?
5. Who is GIOTTO di Bondone?

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