Sunday 3-21

♣ 21 March 2010~~Week 12 of 2010: 80 days this year…285 remain ♣

♣ Two Quotes to think about…Today ♣

"If freedom could be had for the wishing, everyone would be free, but an unfaltering attachment to freedom, rising above all difficulties and based on facts, not appearances, is rarely found in men, and that is why those who do possess that attachment are considered virtually superhuman."

~ Carlos Buonapartos (Napoleon' father)

“One should rather die than be betrayed. There is no deceit in death. It delivers precisely what it has promised. Betrayal, though...betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope.”

~ Steven Dietz, playwright

♣ Free Ramblings ♣

I didn’t mention that last night we had a visitor to our Discussions group. She is a friend of one of your members and happens to be a Republican running for the state legislator in Carefree. Following our discussion of the Persian Gulf, she asked our group some questions. Since none of us are voters in her district, she said she just wanted some input. She gave us some very scary figures about the position we are in regarding the state budget. I did take some notes on her questions, since she was claiming to be a ‘centrist’ in the Republican Party. I tried for a couple of hours to verify some of her information. The state of Arizona doesn’t make it easy to find her information. Maybe that’s why we are in such a financial mess. Several of her questions were about education. What are our ideas of how to educate the bottom 10% of students? What about the top 10%? It was interesting to find that within our group most of the group thinks higher education when they hear the word education. Most of the group stated that public education in K-12 was unable to meet their needs when they were in school, and most had taken alternative routes for themselves and for their children. Even the candidate has chosen alternative education for her children and she was the only one who raised her children in Arizona. Her way of ‘fixing’ education in Arizona is to have one school district in Arizona, one curriculum, and one test that is not ‘dummy-downed’. Her belief is that these changes will allow everyone to get the same education. I will try to follow her campaign. While her answers are not my idea of good education, I must say, her question about how to educate the top and bottom 10% really has me thinking. My education battles back in the day to help the top 10% and the bottom 10% by not teaching with the shotgun approach were brought back to mind.

We only got to 47° today, and there was a definite chill in the air all day. Not a lot of snow melted, and I didn’t spend a lot of time outside. Amazing how a few degrees can make such a difference for our comfort. Tomorrow promises to be much warmer and a return to spring like weather. I hope everyone was able to enjoy the equinox today. I for one am really looking forward to longer days.

♣Random Fact: ♣

Tablecloths were originally meant to be served as towels with which dinner guests could wipe their hands and faces after eating!

♣Side Show Stories—♣

NEW YORK - New York police said they were trying to learn why officers have visited an elderly couple's home more than 50 times seeking suspects the couple had never met. Walter Martin, 83, and his wife, Rose, 82, said police have knocked on their door up to 75 times since 2002 and each time said they were seeking a suspect or key witness in crimes including robbery, murder and rape, the New York Daily News reported. "Our identity theft squad is investigating the matter," police spokesman Ed Mullen said. The Martins said they had never heard of any of the suspects until police came to their door. "I'm really worried," Rose Martin said. "How could so many people get my address and how could cops be coming from so many different precincts?"

♣ A quick smile ♣

Speedy Morris was the basketball coach at LaSalle and they were having a pretty good season. One morning, he was shaving and the phone rang. His wife answered it and called out to him that Sports Illustrated wanted to talk to him. Coach Morris was excited that his team was apparently about to receive national recognition in this famous sports magazine. As a matter of fact, he was so excited that he cut himself with his razor.

Covered with blood and shaving lather and running downstairs to the phone, he tripped and fell down the stairs. Finally, bleeding and bruised, he made it to the phone and breathlessly said, "Hello"?

The voice on the other end asked, "Is this Speedy Morris"?

"Yes, yes!" he replied excitedly.

Then the voice continued, "Mr. Morris, for just seventy-five cents an issue, we can give you a one-year subscription to Sports Illustrated."

♣ Puzzle ♣

Each of these phrases is the anagram of a recent celebrity. Rearrange the letters to identify the celeb.

1 Wonder Trash

2 A Lewd Loony

3 Not Top Brains

4 Fine in Torn Jeans

♣ Calendar Information ♣

• March’s Month Long Observances •

BIRTHSTONE: aquamarine and bloodstone (courage) FLOWER: Narcissus [daffodil, jonquil] (vanity)

National Cheerleading Safety Month • National Clean Up Your IRS Act Month • National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month • National Craft Month • National Ethics Awareness Month •National Eye Donor Month • National Frozen Food Month • National Multiple Sclerosis Education & Awareness Month •National Kidney Month• National Nutrition Month • National Social Work Month • National Umbrella Month • National Women's History Month • Optimism Month • Play The Recorder Month • Poison Prevention Awareness Month • Red Cross Month • Save Your Vision Month • Sing With Your Child Month • Small Press Month •Spiritual Wellness Month • Women's History Month • Workplace Eye Health and Safety Month • Youth Art Month

• Observance Weeks in March•

6-21

•Iditarod Race

14-21

•National Toad Hollow Week

15-21

•Act Happy Week •American Chocolate Week •International Brain Awareness Week •Wellderly Week: To recognize Senior Citizens who don’t act their age

16-22

•National Inhalant and Poisons Awareness Week

19-27

National Bubble (blowers) Week

21-27

•Consider Christianity Week •Passion Week •Week of Solidarity with People's Struggling Against Racism & Discrimination

• 21 March Observances—US/UN/World •

Fragrance Day

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Memory Day

National Common Courtesy Day

Spring Fairy Fun Day

World Down Syndrome Day

Iowa : Bird Day

National Agriculture Day (1981)

World Poetry Day (UNESCO)

•21 March Observances—by country •

Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq : Nawroz (Persian New Year)

Arab World: Mother's Day

Australia: Harmony Day: to honor cultural diversity

México : Benito P Juarez' Birthday (1806)

Namibia : Independence Day (1990 from South Africa)

South Africa: Human Rights Day (1960: Sharpeville Massacre, SA police killed 70 Blacks, outlaws ANC)

♣ Number One Songs in…

1944►They Took the Stars Out of Heaven - Floyd Tillman

1952►(When You Feel like You’re in Love) Don’t Just Stand There - Carl Smith

1960►He’ll Have to Go - Jim Reeves

1968►Simon Says - 1910 Fruitgum Co.

1976►December 1963 (Oh, What a Night) - The Four Seasons

1984►Girls Just Want to Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper

• Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1980►President Carter told U.S. Olympic athletes that the U.S. will be boycotting the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow

• Born on this day •

…The Arts

Authors, Artists and Composers

Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685, (Eisenach Germany) composer

Charlotte Bronte, 1816, novelist/poet

Phyllis McGinley, 1905, Pulitzer prize-winning poet

Entertainers in Cinema, Music, Theater, and TV

Matthew Broderick, 48, actor (Godzilla, Inspector Gadget, Election; stage: The Producers)

Timothy Dalton, 64, actor (James Bond movies, Cleopatra, Centennial), (Colwyn Bay, Wales)

Kevin Federline, 32, dancer

Al Freeman, Jr, 76, actor (A Patch of Blue; Roots: The Next Generations)

Rosie O’Donnell, 48, actress (A League of Their Own), host (“The Rosie O’Donnell Show”)

…Athletes

Howard Cosell, 1918, sportscaster

Adrian Peterson, 25, football player, Vikings.

…Business, Education

Julio Gallo, 1910, vintner

Forrest Mars Sr., 1904, American candymake

Florenz Ziegfeld, 1869, producer Ziegfeld Follies

…Politics

István Gyulai, 1943, Hungarian General Secretary of the IAAF

…Science/Religion

Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier, 1768, mathematician/Egyptologist

James Jesse Strang,1813, crowned king of the Mormons [1850-1856]

•Today’s Obits •

Sir Michael Redgrave, 1985,actor (Goodbye Mr Chips, Mr Arkadin), @ 77

(Clarence Leonidas ) Leo Fender, 1991, inventor (Fender guitar), @ 82

John Ireland, 1992, actor (Rawhide), leukemia @ 78

•What Happened on this Day •

…The Arts

1859 Scottish National Gallery opens in Edinburgh

1939 : Kate Smith records the patriotic song "God Bless America."

…Athletics

--

…Business, Education.

1788► Fire destroyed 856 buildings in New Orleans LA

1868► The first club for professional women, Sorosos, was formed in New York City

1983► Only known typo on Time Magazine cover (control=contol), all recalled

…Politics

1824► Fire at Cairo ammunitions dump kills 4,000 horses

1866► Congress authorizes national soldiers' homes

1883►CHIRICAHUA APACHEs are raiding American locations then returning to Mexico. On this date, Chato, Bonito and Chihuahua raid a mining town near Tombstone. This is just the pretext General George Crook needs to mount a raid into Mexico to find the APACHEs.

1891► A Hatfield marries a McCoy, ends long feud in West Virginia; it started with an accusation of pig-stealing & lasted 20 years

1935► Persia officially renamed Iran

1963► Alcatraz federal penitentiary known as "The Rock" closes

1965► Martin Luther King Jr begins march from Selma to Montgomery AL

1972► US Supreme Court rules states can't require 1-year residency to vote

…Science/Religion

1844► Origin of Bahá'í Era-Bahá'í calendar starts here (Bahá 1, 1)

♣ANSWERS to puzzle ♣

1 Howard Stern: Wonder Trash

2 Woody Allen: A Lewd Loony

3 Rob Pattinson: Not Top Brains

4 Jennifer Aniston: Fine in Torn Jeans

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