Friday July 23

This is Week 29 of 2010►Day 204 with 161 days left.

It is Day 95 of the BP Mess.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS

Oops, yes, it was FDR, not Churchill who talked about fear. Senior moment. He said it in his inaugural address: “… So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance….”

My doctor says I am doing fine. He is doing fine. He wants to re-run some of my blood tests but said it’s nothing to be concerned about. He said I was probably a little dehydrated when I took the test. Well it was a fasting test, and I didn’t drink much water before the test—at 8am when they opened. So maybe. I got the prescription for anti-malaria which I take once a week for two weeks before and five weeks after the trip.

Cheryl called this morning and she was back from Alaska and headed for town. We had lunch with Faith too. Cheryl and the two kids had a good time on their trip. Cheryl got a bad cough, as did the oldest grandkid. The other kid spent 4 hours in the hot tub one day and got a good rash. The doctor said the sign said that you should only be in the tub for 20 minutes and then take a shower. Live and learn. Faith has been working most of the summer and finally got a short term contract. She goes back full time in two weeks. She and Andy spent a week on St. Martin and she said they spent each day walking the beaches and relaxing. Good for them.

Lots of rain today. More flash floods for those in the path of the fire. Lots of cleanup going on in the whole area. I was all around town today, and everywhere I went, it was wet. Not as much as in the burn area, but lots of rain. Our high was only 72° and late in the afternoon we hit 90% humidity. I don’t quite get that humidity, since it was raining most of the day and I thought that meant 100%. It was nice to see the dew point was 57° so all that water on the ground and dirt and grass and the streets was rain and not with dew. Good to know.

MY QUOTE FOR THE DAY

Emil Cioran, Romanian philosopher and essayist: Anyone can escape into sleep, we are all geniuses

when we dream, the butcher's the poet's equal there.

HOLY MACKEREL: 1827► The first swimming school in the U.S. opened in Boston, MA. Actually, the first lesson proved interesting: A student was suspended from a pole on a rope while “learning the use of his limbs.” Famous people who were students: John Quincy Adams, James Audubon.

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a normal stage of sleep characterized by rapid movements of the eyes. REM sleep in adult humans typically occupies 20-25% of total sleep, about 90-120 minutes of a night’s sleep. During REM sleep the body is paralyzed by a mechanism in the brain in order to prevent the movements which occur in the dream from causing the physical body to move.

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1

In Aberland, you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why not?

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM

MIDWEST CITY, OK — A woman wearing underwear on her head robbed an Oklahoma McDonald's restaurant and remained at large as authorities sought to identify her, police said on Wednesday.

Authorities said a surveillance video shows a middle-aged woman, wearing black pants and a black shirt, gloves, and a blond wig walking up to a McDonald's drive-through window. The woman has what appears to be a pair of men's underwear wrapped around her face and held in place with paper clips, according to Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes. Midwest City is a suburb of Oklahoma City. She reached inside the drive-through window when employees had stepped away for a moment, slid open a cash register drawer apparently using a key and took an undisclosed sum of money.

"It was pretty brazen. There were employees inside the business when all this was going on," Clabes told Reuters.

A LITTLE LAUGH

My husband and I had been trying to have a third child for a while. Unfortunately, the day I was to take a home pregnancy test, he was called out of town on business.

I had told our young daughters about the test, and they were excited. We decided if it was positive, we would buy a baby outfit to surprise their father when he got home.

The three of us stood in the bathroom eagerly waiting for the telltale line to appear. When it did not, my thoughtful seven-year-old gave me a hug. "It's okay, Mom," she said. "The next time Daddy goes out of town, you can try and get pregnant again."

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 2

A man was in a car accident and sent to the hospital. Another man wanted to see him. The nurse said that only family is allowed. She asked if he was family. He answered: Brothers and Sisters I have none, but this man's father is my father's son. Is he allowed in?

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

Probably never heard “Hey Jude” this way: Click Here!

GREY MATTER PICTURE

This is a close up of what object?

SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION

► Weekly Observances ◄

18-25: Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week

………..Captive Nations Week

………..National Independent Retailers Week

► Today’s Observances ◄

Gorgeous Grandma Day

Hot Enough For Ya’ Day

Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, Oman: National Day (1952)

Egypt: Revolution Day

► Hit Songs on this date ◄

I Found a Million-Dollar Baby (in a Five-and-Ten-Cent Store) Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians in 1931

I'll Never Smile Again Tommy Dorsey in 1941

Come On-a My House Rosemary Clooney in 1951 Click Here to Hear!

Tossin' and Turnin' Bobby Lewis in 1961

Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian) Paul Revere & the Raiders in

1971 Click Here to Hear!

The One That You Love Air Supply in 1981

► Born today ◄

…The Arts

Arthur Treacher, announcer, born in 1894 Brighton England

+++

Bert Convy, actor (Snoop Sisters, Win Lose or Draw), born in 1933 St Louis Mo

Gloria DeHaven, 85, actress (Two Girls and a Sailor, “Nakia”), born Los Angeles, CA

Woody Harrelson, 49, actor (Emmy for “Cheers”; White Men Can’t Jump, Natural Born Killers), born Midland, TX

Don Imus, 70, controversial radio talk show host, media icon and author, born Riverside, CA

Daniel Radcliffe, 21, actor (Harry Potter films), born London, England

Marlon Wayans, 38, actor (“In Living Color,” Scary Movie), born New York, NY

…Athletics

Don Drysdale, pitcher (LA Dodgers-Cy Young 1962), born in 1936 Van Nuys, CA

Pee Wee Reese, Hall of Fame shortstop (Dodgers), born in 1919 Ekron, Meade County, KY

…Business & Education

Charles S Frazier, my father, in 1914 New Bruswick, Maine
Vincent Sardi, Jr., restaurateur: Sardi’s Restaurant, born in 1915 New York, NY

…Politics

Anthony M. Kennedy, 74, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, born Sacramento, CA

Haile Selassie (Tafari Makonnen), emperor of Ethiopia, born in 1892 Ejersa Goro, Harar province of Ethiopia: His Haile Selassie name means "Power of the Trinity” and his full title in office was "His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and Elect of God"

► Obituaries today ◄

Ulysses S Grant, 18th US pres, dies destitute of throat cancer @ 63 in 1885

Van Heflin, actor (Great Adventure), heart attack @ 60 in 1971

Vic Morrow, killed during filming of "Twilight Zone" @ 53 in 1952

► Events ◄

…The Arts

--

…Athletics

--

…Business & Education

1715► The first lighthouse in America was authorized for construction at Little Brewster Island, MA

1829► The first typewriter was patented -- by William Burt of Mt. Vernon, MI

1903►The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.

1984►Vanessa Williams, 1st black Miss America, resigns

…Indigenous People

1766►According to some reports, a peace conference between representatives of Great Britain and the Huron, Ojibwa, Ottawa, Potawatomi and "Six Nations" tribes is held for the next nine days.

1832►The Eastern Cherokees hold a council, in Red Clay, Tennessee, to discuss President Jackson's special envoy Elisha Chester's proposals for their removal to Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma). They reject the proposal out-of-hand.

…Politics (US)

1632►Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France

…Politics (outside US)

  636►Arabs gain control of most of Palestine from the Byzantine Empire

1253► Jews are expelled from Vienne France by order of Pope Innocent III

1798►Napoleon captures Alexandria, Egypt

1920►Kenya becomes a British crown colony

1931►France announces they can't afford to send a team to 1932 LA Olympics

1958►1st 4 women named to peerage in House of Lords

…Science / Religion

1962► The Telstar communications satellite sent the first live TV broadcast to Europe.

1995►Comet Hale-Bopp is discovered and becomes visible to the naked eye nearly a year later.

GREY MATTER ANSWERS

…1

You cannot take pictures with a wooden leg, you use a camera.

…2

Yes. The man wants to see his son, he is the father.

…Photo

A corn flake in cereal

TODAY’S PHOTO SHOT

Little Brewster Island Lighthouse

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