Tuesday

America and the world learned today that ‘talking works’. The two American journalists who have been held in North Korea were released today. While I am sure there was some behind the scenes work, Former President Clinton met with the North Korean leadership and the two ladies were released. Yes, it gave North Korea some photo ops. Everyone in DC is saying he went as a private citizen. This visit sure worked better than the ‘Axis of Evil’ we lived with for 8 long years. There can be no talks with another country if we give them such scary names. In another story, Arizona—home of Barry Goldwater, John McCain, and Jon Kyle, a recent Gallup Poll shows that we are no longer a Republican stronghold. We are now a toss-up state.

I helped my friend Martha set up here new digital camera to work on her laptop today. She got a great Canon camera, and, surprisingly, everything loaded easily onto her Mac laptop. It is so amazing what digital cameras can do these days. There is a learning curve, but it sure does some great stuff. I also got a free lunch out of my work…that was cool. My four year old digital camera is now an antique. I may have to upgrade before I go to Africa. The one thing I will miss is that none of the current cameras have a view finder. You have to look at the screen. I’m an old fashioned guy who never uses the screen on my digital camera. I don’t feel ‘right’ just holding the camera away from my face. My screen is small and hard to see in bright sunlight. But it looks like all that stuff has been improved. So I guess I’ll start looking around. The new HD cameras are the thing, but it seems to be hard to find the right memory cards. Sam’s was selling a really cool 14 meg HD camera but didn’t sell the memory cards. I’m sure the cards are around, but why would any store sell a camera and not sell the much needed memory cards? The cards that come with the camera hold very few pics and at 14 meg, they probably hold even less pics. Maybe the cards will become more available in a few months.

We had another hot day today, and again no rain. And we got the smoke of the prescribed burns. I cleaned up my deck again today. It has been so hot, and the wind and rain have done some messing up of the deck. I have a huge Ponderosa Pine right off the deck. It is taller than my two story townhouse. Sticks, needles, and pine cones are always falling onto the deck. The tree does provide shade from above, but with a price. I have had three small deck planters for two years. They hang on the railing. The heat is just too much for anything I grow in them. This year I put two tub planters at the front area and the three on the deck. The front planters are doing great, as long as I water them every day. The deck planters got watered daily. I even used a water spray bottle every day. Just wouldn’t work. I planted three different times with those 6 pack colorful flowers. They lasted about three weeks, then no matter what I did, they just shriveled up. So today, I tossed the whole mess. Nothing looks worse to me than planters filled with dead and or dying foliage. The deck looks a little bare, but I will work on it.

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Random Fact…

Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's forests.

The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts, and as of 2001 has a population of 80, 20 less people than the Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years. Technically though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island. There has been no rainfall there for two million years.

Crazy Stuff In The News…
After 3 years of providing worker-training grants to a San Francisco-area multi-media coalition that includes a maker of sexualized torture videos, the California Employment Training Panel cut off funding, claiming that it had not realized the nature of what the outfit called “Kink.com” does. The coalition protested the panel’s decision, point out that Kink is a law abiding, tax-paying entity that employs 100 local people and keeps California video “competitive in the international marketplace” by training employees in video editing, Photoshop, and other multimedia skills. A typical Kink.com production may feature paid, consenting women bound, gagged and supposedly electrically shocked.

Month long events in August

Edinburgh Festival is an internationally famous arts festival that takes place during August National Immunization Awareness Month… National Psoriasis Awareness Month… Women's Small Business Month... National Back to School month…American Adventures Month…Golf Month…National Inventor’s Month…National Win with Civility Month…What will be your legacy Month

Week of Aug 5…

Intimate Apparel Market Week

5 Aug…

217 days so far this year…148 days remain in 2009
National Underwear Day
International Beer Day
*Croatia: Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day [1995]


BIRTHS ON THIS DAY…

1604…..John Eliot "Apostle to Indians," Bible translator
1624…..William Jamestown Va, 1st black child born in English America

1850…..Guy de Maupassant author
1860…..Joseph Carey Merrick "Elephant Man"
1876…..Mary R Beard Indianapolis, historian (Woman as a Force in History)
1899…..Conrad Aiken US, poet/short story writer/critic (Selected Poems)

1906…..John Huston Nevada Mo, director/writer (African Queen, Chinatown)
1920…..Selma Diamond London Ontario, comedienne
1930…..Neil Armstrong Ohio, X-15 pilot, 1st Moonwalker
1940…..Roman Gabriel College Football Hall of Famer: quarterback
1944…..Loni Anderson St Paul Minn, actress
1962…..Patrick Ewing basketball

Events on this day…

695…..Forces under Maya King Jasaw Chan K'awiil I (Sky Rain) defeat an army from Calakmul under Maya King Yich'aak K'ak' (Fiery Claw).

1305…..Sir William Wallace, who led the Scottish resistance to an English invasion in 1298, is captured near Glasgow.

1583…..Gilbert claims Newfoundland (1st English colony in North America)

1846…..Oregon country divided between US & Britain at 49th parallel
1861…..US Army abolishes flogging
1884…..Cornerstone for Statue of Liberty laid on Bedloe's Island (NYC)

1923…..1st American to swim the English Channel (Henry Sullivan)
1924…..The comic strip Little Orphan Annie debuted in the New York Daily News
1957….."American Bandstand," goes on network TV
1962…..1st quasar located by radio
…..Movie star Marilyn Monroe is found dead of a barbiturate overdose at her home in Los Angeles.
1967…..1st time an AFL team beats an NFL team, Broncos beats Detroit 13-7
1972…..Moody Blues release "Nights in White Satin"
1981…..Pres Regan fires 11,500 air traffic controllers who struck 2 days ago
1983 …..AT&T is broken down into seven regional companies ( often called Baby Bells )


Word Fragment Puzzle

In each of these puzzles, a word fragment is given, and you must think of an English word that contains the fragment -- that is, you must form a word by adding letters to the beginning and/or the end of the fragment. You may not add letters to the middle of the fragment, nor may you rearrange the letters given. Multiple solutions are given for several word fragments (although we omitted most alternate solutions that rely on variations of the same word). To solve the puzzles, however, you only need to find one word for each fragment.

1. zzw [1]
2. zv [1]
3. guta [1]
4. momet[1]
5. rtoi [2]
6. wnt [3]
7. thora [2]
8. ptil [2]
9. rolo [6]
10. ffa [6]
*Bonus: maes

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Answers:
1. buzzword
2. rendezvous
3. orangutan
4. thermometer
5. repertoire tortoise
6. downtown downtrodden downturn
7. plethora thorax
8. reptile septillion
9. astrology hydrology meteorology numerology prologue prolong
10. affable affair buffalo efface guffaw offal
*bonus: maestro

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