Monday

Week 3 of 2010: 18 days so far this year…347 days remain

►Provocative Quote                        .

"No really great man every thought himself so."

~William Hazlitt

►Free Ramblings                            .

The horrors of Haiti continue to fill the news. For those few who do not want to help Haiti, it is not that much different than Yemen. While the major difference is that Haiti is mostly Roman Catholic, the youth of Haiti—like the youth of Yemen--are looking for an answer. Not just a short term answer to getting water, food, and shelter, but they are looking for a long term answer for stopping the poverty. Many NGO’s have been working there for years to prepare the youth for a better life. The Cubans, like the Haitians, had a mistrust of their government some fifty years ago and their rebel leader led them down a very different path than they expected.

Most of us are somewhat familiar with Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. As we celebrate his life, here are some lesser known quotes:.

~In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

~Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

~Success, recognition, and conformity are the bywords of the modern world where everyone seems to crave the anesthetizing security of being identified with the majority.

~ A good many observers have remarked that if equality could come at once the Negro would not be ready for it. I submit that the white American is even more unprepared.

~A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.

~An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

~Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

~He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

~I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

~Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. That old law about 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing. The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. ~Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.

~Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

~We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

People in Flag seem to be getting ready for the big storms that are approaching. It is hard to believe we are getting ready to be snowed in for a week. Today we made it to 42° and while there was a 20mph breeze, it wasn’t that bad a day outside.

►Quotes from Values.com—TEACHING BY EXAMPLE .

“Old people love to give good advice to console themselves for no longer being able to set a bad example.”

~François Duc De La Rochefoucauld - Writer, Moralist

►Side Show Stories                                             .

DALLAS - Organizers of a pantless ride on the Dallas public train system said about 70 people turned out to drop their trousers in the cold and ride the rails. Brian Alguire and Chris Linville, organizers of Sunday's no-pants ride, said the event marked the first time Dallas Area Rapid Transit riders participated in what has become an annual tradition in many cities, The Dallas Morning News reported. The organizers said most of the participants were in their 20s but nearly every age group was represented. The pair gave only vague reasons for organizing the unsanctioned event. "Why not? I didn't have anything better to do today," Alguire said. Participants offered similar reasons for coming out in the cold and shedding their pants. "I'm a lifelong nudist. I usually stay in a warm place when being nude, though," said Ashley Ross, 19.

►Random Fact                               .

The blue whale’s heart is the size of a small car.

§ Interesting Statistics

*Note: I realize that statistics can be made to say just about anything.

~A study found almost three-quarters of fatal crashes (74%) in NYC involved a head injury and nearly all bicyclists who died (97%) were not wearing a helmet. Helmets have been found to be 85% effective in preventing head injury.

§ January Month Long Observances

Birthstone: Garnet …Flower: Carnation

Book Blitz Month * Bath Safety Month * Birth Defects Month * California Dried Plum Digestive Month * Celebration of Life Month * Cervical Cancer Screening Month * Financial Wellness Month * High Tech Month * International Creativity Month * International Quality of Life Month * International Wayfinding Month * International Wealth Mentality Month * National Be On-Purpose Month * National Bird Feeding Month * National Clean Up Your Computer Month * National Get Organized Month * National Glaucoma Awareness Month * National Hot Tea Month * National Mail Order Gardening Month * National Mentoring Month * National Personal Self-Defense Awareness Month * National Poverty in America Awareness Month * National Radon Action Month * National Skating Month * National Soup Month * National Volunteer Blood Donor Month * Oatmeal Month * Rising Star Month * Self-help Group Awareness Month * Senior Women’s Travel Month * Shape Up US Month * Thyroid Awareness Month

§ Observance Weeks in January

National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week: 18-23

International Printing Week: 17-23

National Handwriting Analysis Week: 17-23

Healthy Weight Week: 17-23

Hunt For Happiness Week: 17-23

National Activity Professional Week: 17-23 to recognize all those gym people.

§ 17 January Observances—US/UN/World

Winnie The Pooh Day: It’s AA Milne’s birthday

Thesaurus Day: It’s Roget’s birthday

Martin Luther King Day

§17 January Observances—by country

Tunisia : Revolution Day (1956—from France)

§ Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1943…Pre-sliced bread sale banned to reduce bakery demand for metal parts. Sales resume after WWII.

§Who was born on this day?

~ The Arts

Kevin Costner (55): Oscar-winner

Cary Grant (Archibald Alexander Leach) in 1904 - actor

Bobby Goldsboro (69) - singer (Honey)

Oliver Hardy in 1892- actor

Danny Kaye (David Daniel Kaminski) in 1913 – actor, dancer

Jesse L. Martin (41) –actor: Law & Order

A.A. (Alan Alexander) Milne in 1882 - creator of Winnie the Pooh

~Athletics

Scott McGregor (56) -baseball: pitcher: Orioles

Mark Messier (49): NHL hall-of-famer

Bud Stallworth (60) - basketball: SuperSonics

~Business, Education, Politics

Montesquieu in 1689 - political philosopher and writer

Peter Roget in 1779 thesaurus fame/inventor (slide rule, pocket chessboard)

Daniel Webster in1782 - statesman and orator

~Science/Religion

Joseph Farwell Glidden in 1813 inventor (1st commercial usable barbed wire)

Thomas Sopwith in 1888 – aviation: WWI Sopwith Camel

Thomas Watson in 1854 - telephone pioneer; plus, aircraft designer

§Who Died on this day?

John Tyler in 1862 10th US President @ 71

Rudyard Kipling in 1936 author (Gunga Din, Nobel 1907), @ 70

Sydney Greenstreet in 1954 actor (Maltese Falcon, Casablanca), @ 74

Carl Betz in 1978 actor (Alex Stone-Donna Reed Show), cancer @ 56

Minnesota Fats [Rudolf Wanderone Jr], in 1996 billiard hustler, @ 82

§What happened on this day?

1535…Francisco Pizarro founds Lima Peru

1733…1st polar bear exhibited in America (Boston)

1862…Confederate Territory of Arizona is formed

1943…Pre-sliced bread sale banned to reduce bakery demand for metal parts. Sales resume after WWII.

1944…For quite awhile railroads were seized by the government, and operated by government bodies. On this day, labor disputes were settled, and the control of railroads was given back to their original owners.

1948…Ted Mack came to television as The Original Amateur Hour debuted on the DuMont network.

1958…1st black in the NHL (William O'Ree, Bruins)

1964…Plans for the World Trade Center announced

1975…The Jeffersons was seen for the first time on CBS-TV

1983… Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals are given to his heirs.

1985…Running in competition for the first time since her famed collision with Zola Budd during the 1984 Olympic

1990…South Africa says its reconsidering ban on African National Congress

1993…Martin Luther King Jr holiday observed in all 50 states for 1st time: NC, SC, AZ were the last states to make it a state holiday

►Rhyme & Reason Puzzle                 .

Answer the following clue in two rhyming words (e.g. an obese feline is a fat cat) If only one number is given, the answer is a word featuring internal rhyme (e.g. voodoo)

1. Singapore Sling, lemonade, or rose wine (4,5):

2. failure to point your toes after springing? (5,5):

3. I'm the spookiest specter (spectre..BR.)! (5,5):

4. gummed label on a bottle of rum (6,7):

5. circumference of our planet (5,5):

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ANSWERS

1. Singapore Sling, lemonade, or rose wine (4,5): pink drink

2. failure to point your toes after springing? (5,5): vault fault

3. I'm the spookiest specter (spectre..BR.)! (5,5): ghost boast

4. gummed label on a bottle of rum (6,7): liquor sticker

5. circumference of our planet (5,5): earth girth