Thursday 3-25

♣ 24 March 2010~~Week 12 of 2010: 84 days this year…281 remain ♣

♣ Two Quotes to think about…Today ♣

Scottish Proverbs

A fool may earn money, but it takes a wise man to keep it.

Be slow in choosing a friend but slower in changing him.

♣ Free Ramblings ♣

Mark you calendar—Sat. Mar 27 8:30p. That is Earth Hour. This is an annual event from WWF (World Wildlife Fund—now World Wide Fund for Nature). Across the globe governments and citizens are asked to turn off their lights for one hour. This occurs on local time, wherever you are. What a simple idea, that has been around for a couple of years. I will be joining an expected one billion people spending an hour in the dark.

Only in Arizona. How surprising. The great leadership in Phoenix has put millions of Federal dollars in jeopardy when the budget cut funding to KidsCare. This is the AZ state program that offers health insurance to children who don’t have health insurance and whose parents make too much money for AHCCCS. By not funding this program anymore, the state may lose much more. KidsCare costs the state $18 billion dollars but brings in $56 million in matching Federal Funds. Not only that, this could put all Federal Medicaid at risk. Penny wise and Pound foolish. Not only does KidsCare helps 39,000 children in Arizona, it is tied to a lot more Federal Funding. Now it’s gone. This could only happen in AZ. If nothing else, we have cute acronyms.

Another beautiful spring day in Flag. We made it to 55°, no wind, and a really blue sky. Most of Flag has lost all of its winter snow. Those of us with a Northern Exposure still look like winter, but every day it gets smaller and smaller. I know that this will not last much longer, but it sure is nice while it does.

♣Random Fact: ♣

A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court

♣Side Show Stories—♣

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Colorado wildlife officials said no one was injured or sprayed when an officer freed a skunk from an empty peanut butter jar. State Division of Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton said a homeowner called authorities about 10 a.m. Saturday to report the skunk was wandering around the resident's yard with its head apparently stuck in a jar, The (Grand Junction) Daily Sentinel reported Monday. Hampton said the officer used a noose affixed to the end of a 6-foot pole to grip the jar and guide the animal away from the yard. The officer spent about 10 minutes removing the container from the animal's head, Hampton said. The skunk "took off and ran toward a television guy," he said. "Only the media around there were at risk, and nobody was injured or sprayed." Hampton said the skunk likely became stuck while digging through some trash.

♣ A quick smile ♣

On a spring break trip to Italy, my friends and I were standing just inside St. Peter's Basilica, the second largest church in the world. The tour guide explained, "This church is so large that no man on earth could hit a baseball from one end to the other, not Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, or even Mark McGuire."

My group stared in silence at the beautiful marble sculptures, intricate paintings, and glorious mosaics all around the enormous building. Then one girl interrupted the silence with an astonished question: "You mean, they actually let them hit baseballs in here?"

♣ Puzzle ♣

In each of these puzzles, a proverb is written with exactly one letter of each word replaced with another. Can you figure out what the original proverb is?

1 So nets if goof mews.

2 Take hat white she sin whines.

3 Won't budge I took my ids covet.

♣ 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•

19-27

National Bubble (blowers) Week

21-27

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

22-28

World Folk Tales & Fables Week

• 23 March Observances—US/UN/World •

International Day of Remembrance of The Victims of Slavery and The Transatlantic Slave Trade

Letting Go of Stuff Day

Old New Year's Day

National Day of Celebration of Greek & American Democracy

Pecan Day

Maryland : Maryland Day (1634)

Waffle Day

•23 March Observances—by country •

Belarus: Freedom Day (1918 from Germany)

England : New Year's Day 1155-1752 (Gregorian Calendar)

Greece : Independence Day (1821 from Turks)

Slovenia: Mother's Day

♣ Number One Songs in…

1948►I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover - The Art Moonie Orchestra

1956►Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley

1964►She Loves You - The Beatles

1972►A Horse with No Name - America

1980►Another Brick in the Wall - Pink Floyd

• Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1916► Ishi ("the last of his tribe") dies @ 56, When asked his name he replied "I have none, because there were no people to name me," meaning that no tribal ceremony had been performed. Last member of the Yahi, in turn the last surviving group of the Yana people of California.

• Born on this day •

…The Arts

Artists and Composers

John Gutzon Borglum, 1867,sculptor: Mt. Rushmore National Memorial

Sir Elton John (Reginald Kenneth Dwight), 63, musician, singer, songwriter

(Mary) Flannery O’Connor, 1925, writer: A Good Man is Hard to Find

Arturo Toscanini, 1867, 68 years in musical career: conductor

Entertainers in Cinema, Music, Theater, and TV

Hoyt Axton, 1938, actor, singer, musician, songwriter: Greenback Dollar

Anita Bryant, 70, singer, former Miss America, homophobe

Andy Clyde, 1892, (Scotland) actor (George-Real McCoys, Cully-Lassie)

Marcia Cross, 48, actress ( “Desperate Housewives”)

Aretha Franklin, 68, singer (“Respect,”)

Paul Michael Glaser, 67, actor (“Starsky and Hutch”), director (Butterflies Are Free)

Mary Gross, 57, comedienne, actress (“Saturday Night Live”)

Sarah Jessica Parker, 45, actress ( “Sex and the City”)

Gloria Steinem, 76, feminist; publisher: Ms.

…Athletes

Howard Cosell (Cohen), 1918, TV sports commentator

Avery Johnson, 45, basketball coach (Mavericks), former player (Supersonics, Nuggets, Spurs, Rockets, Warriors, Mavericks)

Dutch (Emil) Leonard, 1909, pitcher (Red Sox, 1.01 ERA 1914)

…Business, Education

Eileen Ford, 88, model agency executive

…Politics

Howard Pyle, 1906, (Governor-Republican-AZ, 1951-55)

…Science/Religion

James Lovell, 82, astronaut (Gemini 7, 12, Apollo 8, 13)

John Winebrenner, 1797, clergyman, founded Church of God

•Today’s Obits •

Max F Eastman, 1969, US critic/essayist (Love & Revolution), @ 86

Nancy Walker, 1992, actress (Ida Morgenstern-Rhoda), cancer @t 69

Warren E Burger, 1995, chief justice of US (1969-86), @ 88

•What Happened on this Day •

…The Arts

1939 ►Billboard Magazine introduced the ( country music ) hillbilly music chart. The term country music did not begin to be used until the 1940's

1960 ►DH Lawrence' "Lady Chatterley's Lover" ruled not obscene (New York NY)

…Athletics

1896 ►Modern Olympics begin in Athens Greece

1916 ►Women are allowed to attend a boxing match

1980 ►Boycott of the Moscow Olympics. Although many governments pressurised their Olympic Atheletes only 16 countries did not compete including The United States, Japan, West Germany, China, Canada and 9 others.

…Business, Education.

1668 ►1st horse race in America takes place

1807 ►1st railway passenger service began in England

1882 ►1st demonstration of pancake making (Department store in New York NY)

…Politics

1957 ►France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg sign the treaty in Rome establishing the European Economic Community (EEC)

1961 ►Elvis Presley performed his first post-Army appearance, a benefit for planning and building the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii

1965 ►25,000 civil rights supporters march from Selma to Montgomery

1975 ►King Faisal is fatally wounded by his nephew Prince Faisal Ibu Musaed when he fires 3 shots directly at the king during a royal audience. Prince Faisal bin Musaed was later found guilty of the murder of his uncle and was beheaded in public in the capital Riyadh.

…Science/Religion

0031 ►1st Easter, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus

1954 ►Radio Corporation of America (RCA) began commercial production of TV sets that were equipped to receive programs in living color

♣ANSWERS to puzzle ♣

1 So nets if goof mews: No news is good news.

2 Take hat white she sin whines: Make hay while the sun shines.

3 Won't budge I took my ids covet: Don't judge a book by its cover

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