Tuesday 4-6

6 April 2010~~Week 15 of 2010: 96 days this year…269 days remain

‡ Scottish Proverbs 

Better keep the devil at the door than have to turn him out of the house.

One man's meat is another man's poison.

• Holy Mackerel:   On this day in 1925 ►1st film shown on an airplane (British Air)

‡ Free Ramblings   

Today was one of the windiest days we have had in quite a little while. We had 30mph winds with gusts to 61 (sixty-one)mph numerous times throughout the day. We did make it to 54° but the wind chill dropped that a good ten degrees. I had to run some errands this morning, and while it didn’t feel cold, the wind certainly paid havoc. This afternoon I met a friend at the local Starbucks. It felt cold on this trip. Thankfully all this wind is not brining any snow for this week. My snow banks are almost gone. All that is slowing the melt is that much of what is left is the ice blocks that fell from the roof. The small evergreen bush in front of the window used to about three feet high and about six feet in diameter. After being buried for almost five months, it is now one branch about three feet high with the rest of the bush still either on the ground or just broken segments. There is still some snow on about 1/5 of the bush, so when that melts, I’ll give the bush a few days to recover and then decide if it can be saved.

The friend is an artist from an isolated part of the rez. He has always made good money with his art and has been putting much of it back into his community. Seems that some of his regular buyers are suffering from the economic downturn and sales have been much more difficult. Of course, living on the Rez, in a small community, many of the locals don’t understand this issue and therefore make his life quit difficult at times. While I don’t fully understand the Navajo culture, I have certainly seen many who have attempted to live and deal, at least economically with the majority culture, while living in a traditional community. A very fine line to walk for sure and Ted, at 50 years old, is finding it harder and harder. No matter how much time, energy, and money he gives to the community, many want more. During the hard winter, he used his truck and his gas to haul food and hay to neighbors buried in the snow. A chapter official’s truck, newer than Ted’s, was at the chapter house. Ted loaded up food and hay for his sisters. The chapter wanted him to take more to a stranded neighbor on his way to his sister’s place. He told them his truck was overloaded already and suggested the use of the Chapter Official’s truck. Impossible—roads to icy. Ted said he would break his springs with more food and hay. They insisted, the Navajo Way. He finally agreed, and sure enough, broke a spring. No help from the Chapter or the officials to get it fixed. Just part of living on the Rez. “Go My Son” makes it sound so easy. In real life it is so difficult and no real choices available.

I have been a Cadbury Cream Egg Fan. It might because you can only get them around Easter and there I no way to really save them throughout the year. It might be that they have one of the best formulas for candy ever. Maybe it’s the white center with the yellow ‘yolk’. The price of these delights has climbed quite a bit over the years, much more than similar products. So today was the day after Easter and all the Easter candy was half price. Cadbury might not have made a lot of profit today, but I have a six week supply of Cadbury eggs, and that makes it worth the hassle of the wind.

Great Final…Duke is awesome and Butler was almost awesome

‡ A Quick Smile… Wisdom from Grandpa.

~Whether a man winds up with a nest egg, or a goose egg, depends a lot on the kind of chick he marries.

~Trouble in marriage often starts when a man gets so busy earnin' his salt that he forgets his sugar.

~On anniversaries, the wise husband always forgets the past - but never the present.

~A foolish husband says to his wife, "Honey, you stick to the washin', ironin', cookin' and scrubbin'. No wife of mine is gonna "work"."

~Many girls like to marry a military man - he can cook, sew, and make beds and is in good health, and he's already used to taking orders.

~Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

~Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know "why" I look this way. I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved.

~How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?

~You know you are getting old, when everything either dries up or leaks.

~Old age is when former classmates are so gray and wrinkled and bald, they don't recognize you.

‡ Random Fact   

The first novel ever written on a typewriter was Tom Sawyer

‡ Puzzle   

State Mottos: Name the state with this motto

1 Virtue, Liberty, and Independence

2 Nil sine numine: Nothing without Providence

3 Union, justice, confidence

4 State sovereignty, national union

5 Equality before the law

‡ Side Show Stories   

Novinte (Sofia, Bulgaria) via AOL News: Dimitar Kerin was voted off of a key committee at a Bulgarian City Council meeting as punishment for playing the online game FarmVille during a Council meeting (after warnings–in that several members had been playing). FarmVille, though, requires quick, real-time decisions, since (wrote AOL News) "crops are going to mature and even die whether or not players are logged on. If they want to maximize their yield, they better be [continuously logged on and] ready to bring in their crops the second they're ready to harvest," even if that's in the middle of a city council meeting.

‡ 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

• 6 April Observances—US/UN/World •

Sorry Charlie Day

Drowsy Driver Awareness Day

Tartan Day:

The Declaration of Arbroath, declaring Scotland as an Independent nation was signed today in 1320. The current format of celebration began in Canada in the mid 1980’s, the US began a different celebration in NYC in 1982 based on the Act of Proscription (August 12, 1747), the law forbidding Scots to wear tartan. In the 2005 the US House of Representatives accepted the Canadian format. In 1998, Senate Resolution 155 recognized the importance of The Declaration of Arbroath which they stated was a model for the US Declaration of Independence. Scotland began celebrating Tartan Day in 2004. In the US there are approximately 6 million who claim Scottish ancestry. Argentina began celebrating the holiday in 2006. Argentina has 100,000 people claiming Scottish descent—the largest such community outside the English speaking countries.

Teflon Day: for its invention in 1938

•6 April Observances—by country •

Ethiopia : Victory Day

Thailand: Chakri Day, commemorating the reign of the Chakri Dynasty

South Africa : Van Riebeeck Day-founding of Capetown: 1st European settlement in South Africa

•Number One Songs in…

1952 ►Wheel of Fortune - Kay Starr

1960 ►Sink the Bismarck - Johnny Horton

1968 ►(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding

1976 ►You’ll Lose a Good Thing - Freddy Fender

1984 ►Footloose - Kenny Loggins

•6 April Happenings•

In The Arts

1931 ►Little Orphan Annie, the comic strip character developed by Harold Gray, came to life on theNBC Blue network.

In Athletics

1977 ►Kingdome opens, Seattle Mariners 1st game, loses to Angels 7-0

1980 ►Gordie Howe completes a record 26th season

1987 ►Boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard won a 2-1 decision in a stunning upset over Marvelous Marvin Hagler in a bout held in Las Vegas, NV.

In Business or Education

1889 ►George Eastman places Kodak Camera on sale for 1st time

1912 ►Electric starter 1st appeared in cars

1934 ►The Ford Motor Company becomes one the first car makers to announce the option for white sidewall tires on its new cars at a cost of $11.25 per set

1954 ►TV Dinner is 1st put on sale by Swanson & Sons

1980 ►Post It Notes are introduced

In Politics

1722 ►Peter the Great ends tax on men with beards

1862 ►Battle of Shiloh, Union defeats Confederacy in SW Tennessee

1886 ►City of Vancouver British Columbia Canada incorporated

1917 ►US declares war on Germany, enters World War I

In Science/Religion

0648 -BC- ►Earliest total solar eclipse; chronicled by Greeks

1830 ►Joseph Smith & 5 others organize Mormon church in Seneca County, New York

1868 ►Brigham Young marries his 27th & final wife

1869 ►1st plastic, Celluloid, patented

1909 ►North Pole reached by Americans Robert Peary & Matthew Henson

• 3 April Births •

Artists and Composers

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806, poet

Andre Previn, 81, (Berlin, Germany)composer, conductor

Raphael [Raffaello Sanzio], 1483, Urbino Italy, painter/master builder (Madonna Sistina)

Athletes

Herb Thomas, 1923, NASCAR auto racer: champ: 48 NASCAR Winston Cup

Entertainers

Zach Braff, 35, actor (“Scrubs”)

Merle Haggard, 73, singer, songwriter (“Okie from Muskogee”)

Marilu Henner, 58, actress (“Taxi”)

Barry Levinson, 68, director, producer, writer, actor (“The Carol Burnett Show,” Rain Man)

Bob (Nesta Robert)Marley, 1945, reggae musician/singer

[Holly] Michelle [Gilliam] Phillips, 66, singer (Mama & Papas)

John Ratzenberger, 63, actor (“Cheers”)

George Reeves (George Keefer Brewer), 1914, actor (Superman, Gone With the Wind)

Roy Thinnes, 72, actor (“The Invaders,”

Billy Dee Williams, 73, actor (Brian’s Song, Lady Sings the Blues, Return of the Jedi)

Business, Education Leaders

James Mill, 1773, Scotland, philosopher/historian (Hist of British India)

Lowell Thomas, 1892, newscaster

Political Leaders

Butch Cassidy [Robert Parker], 1866, US desperado

Rose Schneiderman, 1882, U.S. women’s rights activist: organized 1913 strike of 25,000 women blouse makers & ILGWU (International Ladies Garment Workers Union)

Scientists /Religious Leaders

Philip Gosse, 1810, inventor of institutional aquarium

James Watson, 82, discoverer (with Francis Crick) of the structure of DNA

•3 April Obits •

Prince Rainier III of Monaco,2005, @ 82

Richard I the Lion-hearted, 1199, King of England (1189-99), gangrene @ 41

Raphael [Sanzio], 1520, artist (Sistine Madonna), fever on his 37th birthday

Bobby Hutton, 1968, US Black Panther leader, shot @ 18

Isaac Asimov, 1992, science fiction writer (I Robot), kidney failure @ 72

‡ ANSWERS to puzzle   

1 Pennsylvania: Virtue, Liberty, and Independence

2 Colorado: Nil sine numine: Nothing without Providence

3 Louisiana: Union, justice, confidence

4: Illinois: State sovereignty, national union

5 Nebraska: Equality before the law

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