Sunday 4-11

11 April 2010~~Week 16 of 2010: 101 days this year…264 days remain

‡ Something To Think About 

"The function of the law is not to provide justice or to preserve freedom. The function of the law is to keep those who hold power, in power." --Gerry Spence, trial lawyer

• Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1970 ►NASA launched ill-fated Apollo 13 , America's third manned moon-landing mission, from Cape Kennedy, Florida today. John Swigert, one of the astronauts was a family friend.

‡ Free Ramblings   

I spent most of the day in Prescott today. The local Pipe Band, Southwest Skye Pipes and Drum, was celebrating Tartan Day at the Prescott Library. Weather was good, good teaching about the pipes, and also great Pipe music. Everyone there had a great time. Lots of the audience members, young and old, really got into the music. There were the big pipes we all know, and the small pipes which many had never heard. We were in a grassy area right next to the library that was a perfect venue for the pipes—outdoors and arranged so that the speakers could be heard without amplification. As we all know, the big pipes never need amplification, but the smaller pipes are really indoor pipes. The small pipes piper walked or marched around the crowd so everyone could hear their more delicate sound. This was a great way to spend a beautiful day. I also got a little sun burn, as I forgot my SPF—it’s been so long since I needed it.

I can’t believe the story of the Russian adoptee that was sent back alone by his homeland alone on a plane. First of all I agree with the Russian government threatening to stop all adoptions of their children to Americans while this is sorted out. Raising a child from a different culture is difficult at best, unless you just want the child to be ‘your culture’. Then it is easy until the child reaches the age of reason. It is not a good idea to take this route. I just can’t believe, in this day and age, there are adults who see adoption as an experiment. I was adopted and know many adopted children. A family friend had adopted a baby. When the boy became a criminal at about 18, his adopted family claimed he was just a ‘bad seed’. ‘Hogwash’ was my parent’s belief, and the parents were no longer family friends. By this time the family had moved to another state, and while my parents tried to stay in contact with the boy, it just didn’t happen. He was, I believe, more devastated by his adoptee family’s reaction than by his petty crime. A child is a child and should never be seen as a commodity. In today’s world in the US, there are many services available to parents who are having problems with their child. No one can just put a 7 year old on a plane with a note and send them back to the adoption agency across town, let alone across the ocean. I hope that the woman responsible for this inhumane act is punished to the full extent of the law. There is no difference between an adopted child and a birth child. Even if this boy was as bad as the woman says, she should never have an expectation that she isn’t responsible for raising this child and finding him a way for him to live a good life. No child gets to pick the parent. When a parent picks a child, they have the same responsibility as any parent—to provide for the child. One last tirade, in this day and age of broken homes, the Airline has said it is not unusual for a child to fly internationally alone. The child is dropped at the gate by a responsible adult, the child is watched over by the flight crew, and picked up by a responsible adult at the end of the flight. That also is very frightening.

Flagstaff had good weather too. I left about 8:30 this morning and already had my office window open. I forgot to close it, and when I got home, the office was still a nice temperature and since the door was closed, I know the furnace didn’t run all day. Spring can be so nice. Flag made it to 62°, while Prescott mad e it to 70°.

‡ A Quick Smile…   

A preacher of the old school was describing the events of Judgement Day and, of course, he used Biblical phraseology whenever he could.

"Oh, my friends," he intoned, "imagine the suffering of the sinners as they find themselves cast into the outer darkness, removed from the presence of the Lord and given to eternal flames. My friends, at such a time there will be weeping, wailing and a great gnashing of teeth!"

At this point, one of the elders of the congregation interrupted to say, "But Reverend, what if one of those hopeless sinners has no teeth?"

The preacher crashed his fist on the pulpit, "My friends, the Lord is not put out by details. Rest assured... teeth will be provided!"

‡ Random Fact   

A one ounce milk chocolate bar has 6 mg of caffeine.

‡ New Puzzle   

Heteronyms are words that are spelled identically but have different meanings when pronounced differently. For example: Lead, pronounced LEED, means to guide. However, lead, pronounced LED, means a metallic element. Identify the heteronyms below from their definitions

1. to change, a person's feelings or emotion

2. the next choice, switch back and forth

3. to consider resulting from, a characteristic of someone

‡ Side Show Stories   

Honolulu Advertiser: Sabrina Medina filed a lawsuit against the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort in Hawaii in January, claiming that an employee had caused her husband's death. The late Humberto Murillo had swiped two 12-packs of beer from a store at the resort, but the manager pursued and confronted him. Murillo started punching, and bystanders came to the manager's aid, restrained Murillo and held him down. Murillo, who was bipolar and had marijuana in his system, passed out and asphyxiated.

‡ Calendar Information

• Observance Weeks in April•

5-11

National Networking Week

National Women's Nutrition Week

11-17

National Environmental Week

National Library Week

National Personal Training Week

Pan American Week

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Week

Week of The Young Child

• 11 April Observances—US/UN/World •

Barbershop Quartet Day

Eight-Track Tape Day

International "Louie Louie" Day: remember the controvery over the lyrics?

World Parkinson's Disease Day

• 11 April Observances—by country •

Costa Rica : Juan Santamaria Day/Battle of Rivas Commemoration (1856)

Czechoslovakia : Resistance Movement Day (1945)

Liberia : Fast & Prayer Day

•Number One Songs in…

1949 ►Red Roses for a Blue Lady - Vaughn Monroe

1957 ►Little Darlin’ - The Diamonds

1965 ►Game of Love - Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders

1973 ►The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia - Vicki Lawrence

1981 ►You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma - David Frizzell & Shelly West

• 11 April Happenings•

In The Arts

1936 ►Barbershop quartets across the country breathe a sigh of relief when the SPEBSQSA (Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America) is created.

In Athletics

1940 ►Andrew Ponzi of New York set a world’s record in a New York pocket billiards tournament. Ponzi ran 127 balls straight. No relation to the Ponzi scheme.

In Business or Education

1876 ►Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks is organized

1961 ►Bob Dylan made his professional singing debut in Greenwich Village. He sang Blowin’ in the Wind.

1992 ►Euro-Disney opens near Paris France

In Politics

1689 ►William III & Mary II crowned as joint rulers of Britain

1865 ►Lincoln urges a spirit of generous conciliation during reconstruction

1898 ►President William McKinley asks for Spanish-American War declaration

1945 ►Allies liberate 1st Nazi concentration camp, Buchenwald, Germany

1951 ►President Harry Truman fires General Douglas McArthur

1968 ►President Lyndon Johnson signs 1968 Civil Rights Act

1968 ►The American Indian Civil Rights Act is passed.

1977 ►Ireland sets fishing zone at 50 mile

In Science/ Religion

1906 ►Einstein introduces his Theory of Relativity

1965 ►40 tornadoes strike US midwest killing 272 & injuring 5,000

2006 ►Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that his country had succeeded in enriching uranium on a small scale for the first time

• 11 April Births •

Artists, Writers, and Composers

Ellen Goodman, 62, Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist

John Milius, 1944, writer (Red Dawn, 1941, Big Wednesday)

Athletes

Bret William Saberhagen, 46, former baseball player

Entertainers

Joel Grey, 78, actor

Louise Lasser, 71, actress (“Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”)

Meshach Taylor, 63, actor (“Designing Women”)

Business, Education Leaders

Lillie P. Bliss, 1864, founder [with 2 other women] of New York City’s Museum of Modern Art

Oleg Cassini, 1913, Paris France, fashion designer

Political Leaders

Dean G Acheson, 1893, statesman/US Secretary of State (1949-53)

Scientists /Religious Leaders

Percy Julian, 1899, scientist: developer of synthetic progesterone, inexpensive production method to produce cortisone, a drug to treat glaucoma, chemical foam to smother oil fires

• 11 April Obits •

James A Bailey, 1906, circus showman (Barnum & Bailey), bacterial infection @ 58

James Brown, 1992, actor (Rip-Adventures of Rin Tin Tin), @ 72

SS Van Dine [William Huntingdon Wright], 1939, detective writer, heart attack @ 50

Louis Osman, 1996, artist/goldsmith/craftsman, @ 82

‡ ANSWERS to puzzle   

1. Affect: to change, a person's feelings or emotion

2. Alternate: the next choice, switch back and forth

3. Attribute: to consider resulting from, a characteristic of someone

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