Saturday 4-10

10 April 2010~~Week 15 of 2010: 100 days this year…265 days remain
‡ Scottish Proverbs
Double drinks are good for drouth (thirst).
What may be done at any time will be done at no time.
• Holy Mackerel:  On this day in 1981 ►The Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands is elected to Westminster as the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone. Bobby Sands continued his hunger strike and died less than a month later on 5 May 1981.
‡ Free Ramblings
Spring is actually here. It was so nice outside most of the day I couldn’t stay inside. We were at 65° and it wasn’t until late afternoon that the wind cooled things off a little. Every day it is getting harder and harder not to get some spring color for my planters. I know it is way too early and that any purchases will become victims of our next snow. I know that the two small snow piles in my front area will, all too soon, be joined by some more snow. I realize that our controversial ski area is closing this week, a sure sign that snow is on the way out. I also remember, not too many years ago, when the ski area re-opened in late April after a huge spring snow storm. A friend in Phoenix was discussing her tomato plants. Seems she planted them a few months ago and now they are filled with tomatoes. Her only concern is that they won’t ripen before the Phoenix heat shrivels them. It is amazing what a few hundred miles and a few thousand feet in elevation can create.
The new hassle of living in Arizona: A 30 year old white guy walks into a Wal-Mart in a Phoenix suburb. He has a loaded semi-automatic pistol strapped to his waist. All legal—we are an open-carry state. He goes to the electronics department and looks around and talks to the associate. During the conversation he un-holsters his weapon. He and his weapon then move to the magazine section. He finds a mag he wants, holsters his pistol and goes to the check out. The manager has been called and is observing him. There is a line, he is bored. He pulls out the gun again and plays with it. Somehow he drops his magazine and reaches down to get it, but first he re-holsters his weapon. Except, somehow, the weapon fires a shot into the ceiling. Luckily no one was hurt. He was detained and arrested and now faces numerous charges. Somehow nothing he did was arrestable until the gun fired. The staff and management of Wal-Mart couldn’t ask him to put it away. They couldn’t ask him to stop ‘messing’ with it. It was no different than playing around with a set of keys. No different, except that his toy would easily kill or maim several innocent people. Somehow the new open carry law doesn’t make me feel any safer.
‡ A Quick Smile…
Although desperate to find work, I passed up a job I found on an employment website. It was for a wastewater plant operator. Among the job requirements: "Must be able to swim."
‡ Random Fact
There is more real lemon juice in Lemon Pledge furniture polish than in Country Time Lemonade.
‡ Puzzle 
State Mottos: Name the state with this motto
1. Industry
2. Labor omnia vincit, Labor conquers all things
3. Forward
4. Sic semper tyrannis, Thus always to tyrants
5. Agriculture and commerce
‡ Side Show Stories 
WWMT-TV (Grand Rapids: It wasn't pretty, but sheriff's deputies in Montcalm County, Mich., got their man on March 3. Mark McCuaig, in court on an earlier charge, became unruly and escaped from two different sets of officers (despite a Tasering). Another court officer tried to stop him outside, but McCuaig got loose (despite being maced). He locked himself inside a van, but officers surrounded it, broke a window, and Tasered him again, yet couldn't stop McCuaig from driving off. After a high-speed chase, state troopers disabled his tires with "stop sticks" but couldn't apprehend him before he reached his home, where he barricaded himself. Officers surrounded the house, and four of them (plus a police dog) entered, but McCuaig escaped and got into another vehicle. Finally, after another chase, he was forced off the road, Tasered a third time, and subdued.
‡ Calendar Information 
• Observance Weeks in April•
4-10
Hate Week: taken from George Orwell’s 1984
Hilo, HI. Hula Festival: Cultural event honoring King David Kalakaua, culminates with the world’s largest hula competition
National Blue Ribbon Week: to raise awareness of the annual 3.2 million abused children
National Public Health Week
National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week
National Week of the Ocean: to raise awareness of the ocean’s role on our planet
5-10
Explore Your Career Options
5-11
National Networking Week
National Women's Nutrition Week
• 10 April Observances—US/UN/World •
Baby Massage Day
Every Day is Earth Day
National Love Our Children Day
National Sibling Day
• 10 April Observances—by country •
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•Number One Songs in…
1948 ►I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover - The Art Moonie Orchestra
1956 ►Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley
1964 ►Can’t Buy Me Love - The Beatles
1972 ►A Horse with No Name – America
1980 ►Another Brick in the Wall - Pink Floyd
• 10 April Happenings•
In The Arts
1953 ►"House of Wax", 1st 3-D movie is released (New York NY)
1974 ►Magicians Penn & Teller 1st meet
In Athletics
1971 ►US table tennis team arrives in People's Republic of China
In Business or Education
1825 ►1st hotel in Hawaii opens
1849 ►Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt (New York NY); sold rights for $100
1970 ►Officially resigning from The Beatles, Paul McCartney disbanded the most influential rock group in history
1991 ►Last automat (coin operated cafeteria) closes (3rd & 42nd St, New York NY)
In Politics
1790 ►Robert Gray is 1st American to circumnavigate the Earth
1790 ►US Patent system is established
1866 ►American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) forms
1871 ►APACHEs raid the San Xavier mission, south of Tucson, and steal livestock.
1960 ►Senate passes landmark Civil Rights Bill
1998 ►After many years of violence in Ireland the Peace Accord ( called the Good Friday Agreement )
In Science/ Religion
1912 ►Titanic sets sail on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York
1930 ►Synthetic rubber 1st produced
1936 ►200" mirror blank arrives in Pasadena
1955 ►Dr Jonas Salk successfully tests Polio vaccine
1963 ►Nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Thresher and her crew of 129 was lost at sea
• 10 April Births •
Artists, Writers, and Composers
Paul Edward Theroux, 69, author (The Mosquito Coast, Millroy the Magician)
Athletes
John Earl Madden, 74, sportscaster, former football coach
Joe “ Dandy” Don Meredith, 72, former sportscaster, actor and football player
Entertainers
Chuck (Kevin Joseph) Connors, 1921, actor: The Rifleman
Harry Morgan (Harry Bratsburg), 95, actor (Emmy for “M*A*S*H”; “Dragnet”)
Steven Seagal, 59, actor, producer (Hard to Kill, On Deadly Ground)
Omar Sharif, 78, actor (Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago), born Michael Shalhoub at Alexandria, Egypt
Sheb Wooley, 1921, singer, songwriter: The Purple People Eater, Hee Haw theme
Business, Education Leaders
Bernard Gimbel, 1885, merchant: Gimbels Department Stores
Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, 1794, opened Japan
Joseph Pulitzer, 1847, publisher, annual prizes for literature, drama, music and journalism
Political Leaders
Dolores Huerta, 80, cofounder, with Cesar Chavez, of the United Farm Workers Union
James I, 1512, king of Scotland (1513-42)
Hugo Grotius, 1583, Holland, jurist, father of international law
Frances Perkins, 1880, 1st woman to hold cabinet-level position (Labor)
Scientists /Religious Leaders
William Booth, 1829, founder (Salvation Army)
• 9 April Obits •
Emiliano Zapata, 1919, Mexican leader, murdered @ 39
Chuck Willis, 1958, rocker, The Stroll, peritinitis @ 30
‡ ANSWERS to puzzle 
1. Utah: Industry
2. Oklahoma: Labor omnia vincit, Labor conquers all things
3. Wisconsin: Forward
4. Virginia: Sic semper tyrannis, Thus always to tyrants
5. Tennessee: Agriculture and commerce
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