Wednesday

~~~ Provocative Quote
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." ~ Wizard of Oz
~~~Free Ramblings
My minor surgery for a basal cell growth on my nose went very well. I got there at 8:15 and was out about 10:30. He said it was easy. Looking at me right now, I look like I either lost a really bad fight or had a nose job. The bandage covers my entire nose, even though the actual spot is fairly small. I go back in a week to get the two or three stitches removed. Tomorrow I take of this huge bandage and put on a normal sized bandage until the stitches come out. I’m sure there is some swelling, since it feels funny when I breathe through my nose. I’ve got to come up with a better story for Thanksgiving Dinner. This one is just boring. I’ve thought about saying it was a lion encounter while in Africa or maybe a very bumpy ride on an airplane, or some shadow boxing with Sugar Ray Leonard. Any of these is better than minor surgery.

Our economic woes continue. Our non-elected governor is making life very difficult for everyone. She doesn’t seem to know what she wants, she refuses to accept something, and then a few weeks later she accepts it. It must be driving the legislature crazy. She is a Republican and there is a Republican majority in both houses. Even so, they can’t agree on how to solve our woes. The Democrats are not that powerful here in Arizona, so when the Republicans can’t agree, we know our state is in trouble. To top it all off, there is talk in Republican circles that Sheriff Joe will be their gubernatorial candidate—rather than current Governor Jan. Sheriff Joe is so far right he isn’t even on the scale. This could be good for democrats, since Sheriff Joe is not that popular outside Maricopa County, and of course he is under several investigations from the Feds. Republicans are also looking at J D Hayworth to run against John McCain. Believe it or not, J D is more conservative than either of our current senators. Twenty-ten will certainly be a good year for political craziness here in Arizona.

Utah has a huge High Pressure Weather System over most of the state. That means that Flagstaff is cold, windy, and fairly miserable. We got to 42° today, which isn’t bad—until you take off about 10° for the wind chill factor. It may be warmer tonight than we are used to—they say it will be 25°, but again the wind chill will continue to drop the temp by 8-10 degrees. I don’t mind the cold, in fact I usually work better in the cold. What I detest is the wind. It doesn’t matter to me if it is a hot wind, a warm wind, a cool wind, or a cold wind. Bottom Line is that it is wind and brings me nuttin’ but frustration. I have met people who work better in warm weather, some who have worked better in hot weather. I have met people who better in cool weather, some who have worked better in cold weather. I have yet to meet anyone who works better in windy weather.
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~~~Random Facts
Less than 3% of Nestlé's sales are for chocolate.

The collecting of Beer mats is called Tegestology.

~~~Unusual News
BRISBANE, Australia - The head of a New Zealand expedition said his team is attempting to retrieve whiskey that explorer Ernest Shackleton took with him on his South Pole expedition. Expedition leader Al Fastier said crates containing the whiskey were abandoned by the British explorer during his failed 1909 journey and are currently frozen in ice in Antarctica, The (Brisbane, Australia) Courier Mail reported.

Fastier said his expedition team will use special drills to gain access to the trapped crates and he hopes to procure a bottle of the McKinlay and Co. whiskey. Even if the expedition is successful, Fastier said he has no intention of drinking what he might recover. "It's better to imagine it than to taste it. That way it keeps its mystery," he said.

The Courier Mail said Whyte & Mackay, the company that owned the now-defunct McKinlay and Co., has asked for a sample of the whiskey so it could attempt to replicate it.

~~~Before They Were Famous
Before becoming famous, JULIA ROBERTS worked in an ice cream shop.
In 1987, long before his Saturday Night Live fame, CHRIS ROCK appeared on Miami Vice as a file clerk who happens to also be an UFO expert.
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~~~November Month Long Observances
Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month ~ American Diabetes Month ~ American Indian Heritage Month ~ Lung Cancer Awareness Month ~ Military Family Appreciation Month ~ National Adoption Month ~ National Homeless Youth Awareness Month ~ National Inspirational Role Models Month ~ National Novel Writing Month ~ Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month ~ Transgender Awareness Month ~ Vegan Month

~~~Week of 24 November

Church / State Separation Week

~~~20 NOV Observances
329 days so far this year…36 days remain in 2009

National Parfait Day
Tie One On Day
Internat’l Day For the Elimination of Violence Against Women Day

^Surinam : Independence Day from Netherlands (1975)
^Bosnia and Herzegovina: National Day—Independence from Croatia (1943)

~~~Births on this day
~ The ARTS
1562…Lope Felix de Vega dramatist/poet (Angelica, Arcadia)
1893…Robert Ripley illustrator (Believe it or Not)
1920…Ricardo Montalban actor (Fantasy Island
1941…Percy Sledge singer: When a Man Loves a Woman
1947…John Larroquette actor
1960…Amy Grant gospel singer
1969…Jill Hennessy actress: Law & Order
1971…Christine Applegate Hollywood, actress

~ATHLETICS
1914…Joe DiMaggio Yankee Clipper (56 game hitting streak)
1940…Joe Gibbs football: coach
1951…Bucky (Russell Earl) Dent baseball: shortstop
1963…Bernie Kosar football: Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins QB

~POLITICS/BUSINESS/EDUCATION
1835…Andrew Carnegie steel industrialist/library builder
1846…Carry Nation scourge of barkeepers & drinkers
1944…Ben Stein lawyer, speech writer [for Pres Nixon and Ford], columnist, author
1960…John F Kennedy “John-John” Jr lawyer

~SCIENCE/RELIGION
1881…Angelo Roncalli--Pope John XXIII [Angelo Roncalli], Bergamo Italy, 261st pope

~~~In Remembrance–
1034…Máel Coluim mac Cináeda King Malcolm II of Scotland battle injuries @ 54
1881…Theobald Boehm German inventor of the modern flute @87
1885…Thomas A Hendricks 21st VP, while sleeping @ 66, 8 months after taking office
1920…Gaston Chevrolet French-born American race car driver and automobile pioneer-- racing injury @ 28
1949…Bill "Bojangles" Robinson African American entertainer @ 71 1974…U Thant UN Secretary-General (1961-72), cancer @ 65
1981…Jack Albertson actor (Chico & the Man), @ 74
1998…Clerow “Flip” Wilson American actor and comedian cancer @ 65

~~~Historical Events on this day
1715…1st English patent granted to an American, for processing corn
1834…Delmonico's, one of NY's finest restaurants, provides a meal of soup, steak, coffee & half a pie for 12 cents
1867…Alfred Nobel invents dynamite
1894…A group of nineteen Hopi "hostiles" are placed under arrest by the army for interfering with "friendly" Hopi Indian activities on their Arizona reservation.
1960…Scottish Parliament met in order to protect the alleged existence of the Loch Ness Monster.
1963…A military coup supported by the army, navy and air force has deposed the Greek government led by President George Papadopoulos.
1963…JFK laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery,
1990…Lech Walesa wins in Poland's 1st popular election
1999…Five-year-old Elian Gonzalez was found clinging to an inner tube off the coast near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

~ Holy Mackerel
1949…Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer appeared on the music charts and became THE musical hit of the Christmas season. Although Gene Autry’s rendition is the most popular, 80 different versions of the song have been recorded, with nearly 20,000,000 copies sold.
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Countries
Place these countries in order by estimated 2009 population—highest to lowest.

Namibia
Nauru (Pacific Island)
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand

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Scroll down for answers

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ANSWERS

Nepal 28,563,377 (growth rate: 1.2%)
Netherlands 16,715,999 (growth rate: 0.4%)
New Zealand 4,213,418 (growth rate: 0.9%)
Namibia : 2,108,665 (growth rate: 0.9%)
Nauru (Pacific Island) 14,019 (growth rate: 1.7%)