Tuesday 4-27

≈Week 18 of 2010: days this year… days remain≈
≈ Something To Think About 
All the problems we face in the United States today can be traced to an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of the American Indian.
~Pat Paulsen
≈ Random Fact 
Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song “Happy Birthday”
• Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1971 ►Eight members of the Welsh Language Society ( The Society wishes to preserve the Welsh Language and part of that was to include all signs in Wales to be bilingual ) they are accused of conspiring to damage, remove or destroy English language road signs in Wales.
≈ Free Ramblings 
I have never liked statistics. I learned early in my post graduate work that one could easily distort the stats. Partial distortion comes from the way the question is asked, and partial distortion comes from the choices given. Then there are the elaborate mathematical formulas that are used to determine results. In today’s world one hears poll results every day. Like so many, I hear the results and make a mental note about where I stand. I have heard on the news for the last few days that a recent Rasmussen Poll stated that 70% of Arizonians were glad our non-elected governor had signed SB 1070. Since AZ has about a 30% Hispanic/Latino population and since the poll was kept being repeated endlessly, I had to know more about it. First, while Rasmussen is a respected polling organization, it is also been shown to have more conservative leanings and several news organizations will not use their results. There is a some statisticians who believe their phone poll methodology is not the best way to get accurate results. That said, I tried to find the exact questions and possible responses. I couldn’t find that data. I did find out that 77% of Republicans in AZ, 63% of un-affiliated, and there was an even split of Democrats on the measure. Also I found that 58% of all those polled in AZ were concerned that this measure will lead to a violation of civil rights. That number included 29% who were very concerned. 18% of those polled were not concerned at all. The last thing I learned is that, according to Rasmussen, 60% of a nationwide poll favored local police stopping and verifying immigration status. Major immigration reform must come. While Arizona is in the limelight right now, our new law is certainly bringing the immigration issue back on the front burner. That may be a good thing, in the long run. If nothing else, it shows me that lots of work needs to be done to educate the population on what is going on in immigration.
We had another great day in Flagstaff. We got to 68° so shorts and Tevas were the dress of the day. So nice to have a few nice days. Tomorrow will bring us 40mph steady winds with gusts to 60 mph. Whoopee! We are told all this wind will bring us…wait for it….yep, you are right…more snow. Ah the joys of living at 7000 feet in the spring.
≈ A Quick Smile… 
After I took a job at a small publishing house, the first books I was assigned to edit were all on the topic of dieting.
"Isn't the market flooded with these types of books?" I asked another editor. "How do we expect to turn a profit?"
"Don't worry," he assured me. "These books appeal to a wide audience."
≈ Puzzle 
The number next to the acronym helps solve what the acronym means... e.g. 365 DIAY = 365 days in a year, and 366 DIALY = 366 days in a leap year.
1. 6 OOAHADOTO
2. 7 COTR
3. 8 MAM
≈ Side Show Stories   
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - A Riverside County man was arrested for allegedly stealing dozens of fire hydrants to sell for scrap. The man, 45, was arrested Wednesday and remained jailed on Friday. Authorities in San Bernardino and Riverside counties say they suspect the man stole 45 hydrants. They believe he posed as a repairman, shut off the water, unbolted the 80- to 100-pound hydrants and hauled them away in broad daylight.
≈ Calendar Information
• Observance Weeks in April•
24-30
National Scoop The Poop Week
• 27 April Observances—US/UN/World •
Tell A Story Day
Matanzas Mule Day: 1st naval action of Spanish American War. Death toll: 1 mule
Morse Code Day
National Teach Your Children To Save Day
World Graphic Design Day
• 27 April Observances—by country •
Austria : 2nd Republic Day (1945)
Finland: National War Veterans' Day
Sierra Leone: Independence Day (from UK, 1961)
Slovenia: Day of the Uprising Against the Occupying Forces (1941 to fight German, Italian, Hungarian troops)
South Africa: Freedom Day: since 1994—1st free elections after end of apartheid.
Togo: Independence Day (from France, 1960)
•Number One Songs in…
For anyone interested, all these songs are available on iTunes.
1941 ►Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy); Jimmy Dorsey
1951 ►How High the Moon; Les Paul & Mary Ford
1961 ►Runaway; Del Shannon
1971 ►Joy to the World; Three Dog Night
• 27 April Happenings•
In The Arts
1954 ►The Movie White Christmas featuring the songs of Irving Berlin, including the Title Song White Christmas, starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, opens at Radio City Music Hall.
In Athletics
1953 ►Wrestler Freddie Blassie coins the term "Pencil neck geek"
1983 ►Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros broke Walter Johnson’s strikeout record. He struck out the3,509th batter of his career.
In Business or Education
1865 ►Cornell University (Ithaca NY) is chartered
In Politics
1763 ►Today, Pontiac will hold a council with a large group of OTTAWA, WYNADOT, and POTAWATOMI Indians. He will tell them of his plans to attack Fort Detroit. He will extol the virtues of returning to the old Indian ways, before the coming of the Europeans.
1877 ►President Rutherford Hayes removes Federal troops from Louisiana, Reconstruction ends
1937 ►US Social Security system makes its 1st benefit payment
1938 ►Geraldine Apponyi was the first American woman to become a Queen. She married King Zog of Albania.
1941 ►Nazis take and occupy Athens in Greece
1977 ►Bloody riots in Soweto South Africa
In Science/ Religion
4977 -BC ►Johannes Kepler's date for creation of universe
1958 ►Scientists around the world are asking politicians to stop nuclear bomb tests including the Nobel Prize Winner Dr Albert Schweitzer.
1967 ►Expo '67 opens in Montréal
• 27 April Births •
Artists, Writers, and Composers
Walter Lantz, 1900, animator (Woody Woodpecker's creator)
Athletes
Rogers Hornsby, 1896, 2nd baseman (Cardinals)
Chuck Knox, 78, football coach: Rams, Bills, Seahawks
Jim Ryun, 63, middle distance runner
Entertainers
Judy Carne, 71, Northhampton England, comedienne (Laugh-in)
Sandy Dennis, 1937, actress
Sheena Easton, 51, singer (“Morning Train”), born Sheena Shirley Orr at Bellshill, Scotland
Casey Kasem, 78, radio, television host (“America’s Top 40”
Jack Klugman, 88, actor (“The Odd Couple,” “Quincy, ME”)
Business, Education Leaders
Edward Gibbon, 1737, historian, author: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Political Leaders
Ulysses S. Grant, 1822, 18th U.S. President
Coretta Scott King, 1927, civil rights leader
Scientists /Religious Leaders
Samuel Finley Breece Morse, 1791, US painter/inventor (telegraph)
Edward Whymper, 1840 ,1st to climb Matterhorn (1865)
• 27 April Obits •
Alexander I, 1124,king of Scotland, natural causes @ 46
Ken Curtis, 1991, actor (Festus: Gunsmoke), @ 74
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1882, US poet (Representive Men), @ 78
Ferdinand Magellan, 1521, world traveler, killed by Filipino natives @ 50
Edward R Murrow, 1965, newscaster (Person to Person), cancer @ 57
Zebulon M Pike, 1813, US explorer (Pike's Peak), in battle in Toronto @ 34
≈ ANSWERS to puzzle 
1. 6 OOAHADOTO =6 Of One And A Half A Dozen Of The Other
2. 7 COTR = 7 Colors of the rainbow
3. 8 MAM = 8 MAIDS A MILKING
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