22 April 2010~~Week 17 of 2010: 112 days this year… 253 days remain
‡ Something To Think About
Give me the money that has been spent in war & I will clothe every man, woman, & child.
~Charles Sumner (1811-1874) MA orator and lawyer
• Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1864 ►US mints 2¢ coin (1st appearance of "In God We Trust") AND 1955 ►Congress orders all US coins bear motto "In God We Trust"
‡ Free Ramblings
Look at your calendar. It is APRIL. It should be spring. Everything should be turning green. Flowers (from bulbs) should be popping out of the ground. Today was not a pleasant day outside. I woke up to strong winds and almost horizontal rain. Hard rain…the Navajo call it a Male rain. Then it was graupel, those little tiny little snowballs or hail pellets. Then it was rain again. Then finally, to make the day complete we had thundersnow. Watching the snow fall while listening to the thunder was interesting. All this time the wind was blowing at about 40 mph. About 3pm the wind calmed down and we had tiny, tiny snowflakes falling to the ground. Then the wind picked up. The snow started again. Our high today was 48° and that came just after midnight, during one of the rain showers. We did get two hundredths of an inch of moisture today, so that is good. Some of the ground does still have some snow on the ground, but the streets are just wet. Flagstaff certainly is a destination for all seasons—all in one day.
My travel buddy Bob called today and we talked about our trip to Hadrian’s Wall. He has been checking it out and found a friend of a friend who lives in that part of the UK. Turns out the driest month is May, and that July—when we were thinking of going—is the best time for black flies. So glad he found that out. I didn’t have a lot of trouble with the midges in Scotland, though they did keep us inside on late afternoon we had planned a patio happy hour. I survived the flying bugs in South Africa because the rainy season was just around the corner and they hadn’t returned. I am happy we won’t be dealing with that in the UK. On top of that, I am now excited about the trip. Traveling during the driest month means that we probably won’t have rain every day. I spent almost three weeks in Scotland during their driest month and we had two days of rain that messed up our trip plans. One of those days was at Culloden, and that was still a great time—even though I was soaked from the knees down. The other was Edinburgh and the Tattoo. We saw the whole show, in a downpour and I remember thinking about how sad it was to see those uniforms, made of wool, being soaked. We were a few rows up and weren’t able to get the wet-wool smell, but those performers must have felt like they were at sheep camp. The idea of walking 6-8 miles in rain did not excite me. Now I am ready. At least I am pretty sure it won’t be raining all day every day we are there. I will be checking the weather during May of this year at the towns we are going to visit, just to be sure.
A little good news came from Phoenix today. The non-elected governor didn’t sign the archaic immigration bill. Her office did note in a press release that she had received a little of 1000 emails asking her to sign the bill, and 12,000 emails asking that she veto the bill. I’m glad my email was included in that number. She wants to become an elected governor in November. This may help her decide what to do. I am not expecting a response from her office, but at least she knows where I stand. Better than that, I now know that at least 13,000 people in Arizona express their opinion to the governor using an electronic device. I am not alone.
I don’t use Twitter. I don’t tweet. Just not my thing. I did think about it a few months ago but never did it. Now I am pleased with that decision. Last week the Library of Congress announced that they are archiving all the tweets of all the people who have used that program. Something about letting another generation learn about our lives. 140 character messages are not like a previous generation’s telegrams. Back then, each word cost money, so many telegrams were carefully thought out to get the message to another without spending a fortune. Tweets are free. For the few I have read, or heard about, the required very little, if any, thought. Telegrams were read by a few people—the sender, the operator who sent it, the operator who received it, and the recipient. Tweets can be read by just about anybody with a computer. Now tweeters find out that their little messages will be available at the Library of Congress for a very long time. Scary, very scary. The lesson here must have something to do with those very long complicated privacy policy statements one has to agree to before the software will work. I’m still having a hard time believing that the Twitter policy said anything like we will be giving all your tweets to the Library of Congress for permanent archiving. Live and Learn.
‡ A Quick Smile…
Mary was married to a something of a chauvinist. They both worked full time, but he never did anything around the house and certainly....not any housework. That, he declared, was 'woman's work.'
One evening Mary arrived home from work to find the children bathed, a load of wash in the washing machine and another in the dryer, dinner on the stove and a beautifully set table, complete with flowers. She was astonished, and she immediately wanted to know what was going on.
It turned out that her husband Charley had read a magazine article that suggested working wives would be more romantically inclined if they weren't so tired from having to do all the housework in addition to holding down a full-time job. The next day, she couldn't wait to tell her friends in the office. "How did it work out?" they asked.
"Well, it was a great dinner," Mary said. "Charley even cleaned up, helped the kids with their homework, folded the laundry and put everything away."
"But what about afterward?" her friends wanted to know.
"Oh, that part didn't work out," Mary said. "Charley was too tired."
‡ Random Fact
Your thumb is the same length as your nose
‡ 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.
1. to leave ; arid region
2. an elementary book; preparatory coat of paint
3. a string instrument; a fish
‡ Side Show Stories
Diamond Springs, California: California Highway Patrol office was briefly evacuated earlier this month when investigators became concerned that an arrestee might have been carrying a
concealed explosive device.
When officers collared Steven Ferrini on a drug charge, a search of the 60-year-old suspect turned up "a suspicious wire, with an on/off switch" in his pants pocket. So they called in El Dorado County's "explosive ordinance disposal" team and evacuated "all unnecessary personnel" from the office.
The wire was found to extend from the pants pocket to the subject's anus and was connected to a vibrator. The bomb squad "rendered the device safe" and determined it was not dangerous.
‡ Calendar Information
• Observance Weeks in April•
18-24
Administrative Professionals Week
Cleaning For A Reason Week
Coin Week
National Crime Victims Rights Week
National Volunteer Week
Sky Awareness Week
19-25
Astronomy Week
Consumer Awareness Week
Fish Fry Week
National Inspirational News Week
Police Officers Who Gave Their Lives In The Line of Duty Week
National Paperboard Packaging Week
National Window Safety Week
Turnoff Week
• 22 April Observances—US/UN/World •
National Jelly Bean Day
Chemists Celebrate The Earth Day
Earth Day—since 1970
Take Our Daughters & Sons to Work Day
Nebraska : Arbor Day, where they created it (1872)
Oklahoma : Oklahoma Day (1889)
• 22 April Observances—by country •
Brazil: Discovery Day (Pedro Álvares Cabral became the first European to land in Brazil in 1500 )
Spain, US : Queen Isabella Day
USSR : Lenin's Birthday (1870)
•Number One Songs in…
1945 ►My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time; Les Brown
1955 ►The Ballad of Davy Crockett; Bill Hayes
1965 ►Game of Love; Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders
1975 ►(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song; B.J. Thomas
1985 ►We Are the World; USA for Africa
• 22 April Happenings•
In The Arts
1978 ►'The Blues Brothers' (Dan Akroyd and John Belushi) make their first appearance on Saturday Night Live
1994 ►In Denmark the largest lollipop, weighing 3,011 pounds is made
In Athletics
1981 ►Dodgers rookie Fernando Valenzuela tosses his 3rd shutout in 4 starts
1988 ►Women are allowed to compete in the Little 500 bicycle race in Bloomington IN, for the 1st time
In Business or Education
1964 ►The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its first season.
2000 The Big Number Change takes place in the United Kingdom allowing new telephone exchanges
In Politics
1526 ►1st slave revolt occurs in South Carolina
1793 ►President George Washington attends opening of Rickett's, 1st circus in US
1889 ►The Oklahoma land rush begins.
1915 ►1st military use of poison gas (chlorine, by Germany) in WWI
1951 ►Ticker-tape parade for General MacArthur in NYC
1993 ►Holocaust Memorial Museum opens in Washington D.C.
2000 ►The six year old Elian Gonzalez is taken by a swat team from other Cuban relatives in Miami.
In Science/ Religion
1969 ►1st human eye transplant performed
1970 ►The first Earth Day was observed -- with the purpose of reclaiming the purity of the air we breathe, the water we drink and the environment we live in
1979 ►The Albert Einstein Memorial is unveiled at The National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC.
• 22 April Births •
Artists, Writers, and Composers
Henry Fielding, 1707, author: The History of Tom Jones
Immanuel Kant, 1724, Konigsberg Germany, philosopher
Athletes
Spencer Haywood, 61, NBA star (Supersonics, Knicks, Olympics-gold-1968)
Entertainers
Eddie Albert [Heimberger], 1908, actor (Oliver-Green Acres)
Glen Campbell, 75, singer (“Gentle on My Mind)
Peter Frampton, 60, singer
Hal March (Mendelson), 1920, TV emcee: The $64,000 Question
Jason Miller, 1939, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright
Jack Nicholson, 74, actor (Oscars for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms of Endearment and As Good as It Gets)
Charlotte Rae, 84, actress (“Diff’rent Strokes)
Aaron Spelling, 1923, TV executive producer (Charlie's Angels, Melrose Place, Dynasty, Love Boat, Starsky and Hutch, Mod Squad)
Ryan Stiles, 51, actor (“The Drew Carey Show)
John Waters, 64, filmmaker (Pink Flamingoes)
Business, Education Leaders
Eleazar Wheelock, 1711, American founder of Dartmouth College
Political Leaders
Henry Clay, 1777, the great compromiser
Nikolai Lenin [Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov], 1870, Bolshevik/USSR revolutionist
Scientists /Religious Leaders
J[ulius] Robert Oppenheimer, 1904, head of Manhattan (A-bomb) Project
• 22 April Obits •
Frederick Henry Royce, 1933, motorcar pioneer @ 70 (last words: "I wish I had spent more time in the office.")
Jane Froman, 1980, singer (Jane Froman's USA Canteen), heart attack @ 72
Ansel Adams, 1984, US photographer, @ 82
Huey Newton, 1989, Black Panther leader, shot dead @ 47
Cesar Chavez, 1993, US farm worker (United Farm Workers), in his sleep @ 66
Richard Milhous Nixon, 1994, 37th US President, stroke @ 81
Erma Bombeck, 1996, AZ humorist (Grass is Greener over the Septic Tank), kidney disease @ 69
‡ ANSWERS to puzzle
1. Desert dihZURT- to leave ; DEZert- arid region
2. Primer PRIHMer- an elementary book; PRYmer- the preparatory coat of paint
3. Bass BASE- a string instrument; (rhymes with mass)- a fish
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