Thursday 4-8

8 April 2010~~Week 15 of 2010: 98 days this year…267 days remain

‡ Scottish Proverbs 

He that lives upon hope has a slim diet.

Time and tide will tarry on nae man.

• Holy Mackerel : On this day in 1756 ►Today, Governor Robert Morris will declare war on the DELAWARE and SHAWNEE Indians. As a part of his declaration, he will offer the following bounties: prisoners: men over 12=150 Spanish pieces of eight, women or boys=130; scalps: men=130, women and boys=50. The bounty on scalps will lead to the killing of many innocent Indians who were members of neither tribe. The legislation for this would be called "The Scalp Act".

‡ Free Ramblings   

We are heading into forest cleaning season. That means we will have our fair share of prescribed burns. There is a huge project covering four forests and 2.5 million acres that begins this year. I learned today that these prescribed burns are far from cheap, even when they stay in their prescribed area. Turns out it costs as little as $50/acre if no humans have to prepare the burn and up to $2,000/acre for prep and burn. The forest service says this prevents wildfires, something all of us in forest country fear. One thing I know is that many prescribed burns have gotten away from the forest service in the past few years. That is why they stopped calling them controlled burns and changed the name to prescribed burns. The other thing I know is that whatever you call them; they produce a lot of smoke. Living in a low area as I do, the smoke is drawn to our area. A fire can be fifty or more miles away and that smoke finds us.

Flag was still windy, with winds bringing in cold air from the north. We made it to 48° but the 32mph gusts kept if feeling about 8° cooler all day. I decided that I really didn’t need to go anywhere today so I let others suffer from the cold and windy conditions.

Most of our daily lives are so far removed from things that are happening to make our lives so good. This week we have been reminded, yet again, that flipping on a light, using a computer, watching TV, listening to the radio, or doing anything with cheap electricity is not so cheap. Many just assume that the coal that helps to make all that electricity is just there and cheap. Listening to the miners and their families, listening to the mine owners, listening to the regulators, it becomes clear that Americans want cheap electricity, the miners and their families live in fear every day of something like the WV mine disaster, and that nothing is going to really change. Very sad indeed.

Today is DARE Day. Here is some stuff about DARE you might not know. DARE (Drug Abuse Residence Education) is in thousands of elementary schools throughout the country. It brings police officers into the schools to get students to see ways to avoid peer pressure. It started in 1983 by then LA Police Chief Daryl Gates. He also had the first SWAT team in the US. He was police chief during the Rodney King incident, trial, and subsequent riots. Here are two quotes of Chief Gates: infrequent or casual drug users "ought to be taken out and shot" because "we're in a war" and even casual drug use is "treason." Then there is this: Gates attributed several deaths of people held in his cop approved chokeholds to the theory that "blacks might be more likely to die from chokeholds because their arteries do not open as fast as they do on 'normal people.'” (in his autobiography, Gates explained that he had been misquoted, saying that black people were more predisposed to vascular conditions and therefore less likely to have normally-functioning arteries.) Several studies have shown that the DARE program may actually increase drug use among certain populations. Drug abuse was a real fear in the 1990’s and Rez schools all had DARE programs. I was shocked when police officers brought ‘weed’ into the classrooms for kids to see, touch and smell so they would know what to avoid. They also brought in other drugs for kids to look at. The DARE cops were interesting. Some were good, others not so much. I did agree with the idea that our students needed to see the cops in some role other than arresting their relatives, but DARE was never the answer.

‡ A Quick Smile…from actual memos 

~ "As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday, and employees will receive their cards in two weeks." (Fred Dales, Microsoft Corp. in Redmond WA )

~ "What I need is an exact list of specific unknown problems we might encounter." ( Lykes Lines Shipping)

~ “E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business." (Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)

~"This project is so important we can't let things that are more important interfere with it." (Advertising/Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)

‡ Random Fact   

North Dakota is the only state in the US that has never had an earthquake.

‡ Puzzle   

State Mottos: Name the state with this motto

1. Deo gratiam habeamus, Let us be grateful to God

2. Freedom and Unity

3. L'étoile du Nord, The star of the North

4. Fatti maschii, parole femine, Manly deeds, womanly words

5. Equal Rights

‡ Side Show Stories   

LOS ANGELES - An 81-year-old woman is suing her ex-husband in Los Angeles for the $50-per-month child support she says he was supposed to start paying in 1950. Rosemary Douglas, 81, said she became pregnant in 1950 and the father, Urban Joseph Grass, 52, to whom she was not married, wanted nothing to do with the baby and was ordered to pay $50 per month in child support. She says she never received the money, the Houston Chronicle reported Monday. "He was ordered to do something. He didn't do it," Douglas said.

"He didn't challenge it, not legally anyway. I'd always thought about this. It was never far from my mind. Finally I decided, why not? Why not try one more time?" A lawyer for Grass, who now lives in Pearland, Texas, said the 82-year-old was unaware of the order until the lawsuit was filed. Attorney Pedram Mansouri said his client attended only one hearing on the subject before shipping to Korea with the Army and never received a child support order. The suit is seeking $57,000 in unpaid child support.

‡ Calendar Information   

• Observance Weeks in April•

1-7

International Pooper-Scooper Week

Laugh at Work Week

Golden Rule Week

Medication Safety Week

Testicular Cancer Awareness Week

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

• 8 April Observances—US/UN/World •

All Is Ours Day

DABDay - Draw A Bird Day (since 1940’s) the act of drawing a bird brings cheeriness

National D.A.R.E. Day (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)

•8 April Observances—by country •

Japan: Buddha's Birthday, also known as Hana Matsuri, "Flower Festival"

International Day of the Roma: To recognize the Romani people and culture throughout the world

•Number One Songs in…

1946 ►Guitar Polka - Al Dexter

1954 ►Wanted - Perry Como

1962 ►Johnny Angel - Shelley Fabares

1970 ►Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel

1978 ►Stayin’ Alive - Bee Gees

•8 April Happenings•

In The Arts

1918 ►World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district.

In Athletics

1974 ►Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth's legendary record of 714 homers

1991 ►Oakland A's Stadium becomes 1st outdoor arena to ban smoking

In Business or Education

1766 ►1st fire escape patented, wicker basket on a pulley & chain

1869 ►American Museum of Natural History opens (New York NY)

1873 ►Alfred Paraf of New York City patented the first successful oleomargarine.

1879 ►Milk is sold in glass bottles for 1st time

1904 ►Long Acre Square in Manhattan, New York, was renamed Times Square

1971 ►1st legal off-track betting system begins (OTB-New York)

In Politics

1944 ►Ernest Childers, Creek tribe, gets the Medal of Honor today for heroics in WWII.

1985 ►India files suit against Union Carbide over Bhopal disaster

1986 ►Clint Eastwood elected mayor of Carmel CA

In Science/Religion

1730 ►1st Jewish congregation in US consecrates synagogue, "Shearith Israel, NYC"

• 8 April Births •

Artists, Writers, and Composers

Nnedi Okorafor, 36, Nigerian American writer

Clarence Hudson White, 1871, American photographer

Athletes

John J. Havlicek, 70, Hall of Fame basketball player

Sonja Henie, 1912, Oslo Norway, ice skater/actress

Jim (James Augustus) ‘Catfish’ Hunter, 1946.baseball: pitcher: Athletics, Oakland Athletics [Cy Young Award- winner: 1974], Yankee

Entertainers

Patricia Arquette, 42, actress (“Medium”)

Shecky Greene, 85, comedian, actor

Julian Lennon, 47, musician, singer, son of John Lennon

John Schneider, 50, actor (“Dukes of Hazzard”)

Mary Pickford [Gladys Louise Smith], 1893, Toronto Ontario Canada, actress

Business, Education Leaders

Ray (O. Raymond) Knight, 1872, ‘Father of Canadian Rodeo’: conceived, coined, organized first Canadian stampede in 1902

Political Leaders

Kofi Annan, 72, former UN secretary general (1997–2006), Kumasi, Ghana

Elizabeth (Betty) Ford, 92, former First Lady, wife of Gerald Ford

Ponce de León, 1460, San Tervas de Campos Spain, Spanish conqueror/explorer, searched for fountain of youth, found Florida instead

Scientists /Religious Leaders

Gautama Buddha, 0563 –BC

Melvin Calvin, 1911, US chemist (photosynthesis, Nobel 1961)

William Henry Welch, 1850, pathologist, founded John Hopkins

•8 April Obits •

General Omar Bradley, 1981, last 5-star General, @ 88

Denton Cooley, 1969, got 1st fully artificial heart, @ 48
Arthur William Foote, 1937, US organist/composer, @ 84
Henry Ford, 1947, US industrialist (Ford cars), cerebral hemorrhage @ 83
Junius P. Morgan, 1890, philanthropist, @ 76
Laura Nyro, 1997, singer, ovarian cancer @ 49
Elisha G Otis, 1861, US elevator builder (Otis), diphtheria @ 50
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, 1973, artist, @ 92
Jan W Pieneman, 1853, historical painter (Battle at Waterloo), @ 73
Ryan White, 1990, hemophiliac aids sufferer, @18
‡ ANSWERS to puzzle 

1. Kentucky: Deo gratiam habeamus, Let us be grateful to God

2. Vermont: Freedom and Unity

3. Minnesota: L'étoile du Nord, The star of the North

4. Maryland: Fatti maschii, parole femine, Manly deeds, womanly words

5. Wyoming: Equal Rights

  ‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡