Sunday July 11

This is Week 28 of 2010, Day 192 with 173 days left. It is Day 83 of the BP Mess.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS

The monsoon arrived at my place this afternoon with a nice 20 minute rain and a little thunder. The clouds even stayed around, so maybe another shower tonight.

I stayed close to home today. No need to go anywhere and after seeing yesterday’s traffic I wasn’t about to look for a reason to go anywhere. I added a thistle net feeder to my back area a couple of weeks ago. Today, after just a few days, the thing was empty. The finches of all colors have found the feeder and spend a lot of time here. Nice to see the greens, reds, and occasional blues. They don’t even mind that I am sitting on the deck. Other birds don’t usually come around when I am sitting on the deck.

The World Cup game—Uruguay and Germany—was a great game. I was pushing for Uruguay but they lost. It was still a good game. Soccer is not a game you can sort of watch like football. So many times in football you can listen and still be able to catch the scoring. Every minute of soccer needs your attention. Every score is instantaneous and certainly unexpected. The scores don’t come very often, but when they do, you want to be glued to the screen. It is an amazing game. Tomorrow is the end of the World Cup for another four years and the game should be very exciting. Spain and Netherlands play and I’ll be pushing for Spain.

Did you ever hear of the sable antelope? I sure hadn’t. One of my FB friends, a guide in SA, mentioned in a post he had seen leopards and sables that day. The only sable I knew was the furry critter from Russia and could not figure out what they were doing in SA. I made a snarky comment on his page. He made another post that he had seen the oldest bull. Thanks to Google I found out about the sable antelope. Always learning, next time I will be more careful about my snarky comments.

Our monsoon rain didn’t come soon enough to keep things really nice. We hit 85° on the deck before the showers. The humidity before and after the rain and basically no breeze kept it kinda sticky most of the day. Looking forward to a better day tomorrow.

HOLY MACKEREL: On this date in 1812 ►US invades Canada (Detroit frontier)

MY QUOTE FOR THE DAY

Hamilton Fish (Gov of NY, Sec of State [Grant]): If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace.

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION

Lightning is a giant discharge of electricity accompanied by a brilliant flash of light and a loud crack of thunder. The spark can reach over five miles in length, raise the temperature of the air by as much as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and contain a hundred million electrical volts.

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1

Here's a riddle you can solve with ease.

You have to think, but if you are wise,

Take note of the special words I use.

You must use your ears and not your eyes.

It's one of a kind, no debt it owes.

What's unique? The answer you must seize.

Although it would help to see some jays,

I'm not talking of the birds and bees.

As you search through two not seven seas,

Note each line ends like a pair of peas.

Don't wait to answer, there are no queues.

You should know by now, I'm such a tease.

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM

VILLA RICA, GA. - Georgia police said they arrested a man who pulled a gun on his mother and detained her for at least 6 hours because she refused to iron his clothes. Sgt. Marc Griffith with the Carroll County Sheriff's Office said Robert Edward Tyrrell Jr., 29, of Villa Rica, argued with his 51-year-old mother at the home he shares with his parents June 30 when she refused to iron his clothes, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday. "He wanted her to do some ironing, and when she said 'no,' they got into an argument," Griffith said. "He told her 'ironing is woman's work.'" "Mama finally said, 'I'm not ironing your clothes,' and he went cuckoo on her," Griffith said. Griffith said Tyrrell then pulled a gun on his mother and took away her keys and cell phone. He said the suspect refused to let his mother leave for at least 6 hours. Police said the mother was eventually able to get away and reported the incident at a police station. Tyrrell was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and false imprisonment.

A LITTLE LAUGH

I answer a lot of questions at the information desk at Olympic National Park, in Washington State. But one visitor stumped me: "Do you have any trails that just go downhill?"

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 2

A couple were invited a local party, they arrived early and were offered some of the freshly made, iced punch. They couldn't stay at the party very long and left early. The next day they found out that everyone else who had drunk the punch had been poisoned and had fallen very ill. Why was the couple not ill?

FOUND ON YOU TUBE

Learning something new Click Here!

GREY MATTER PICTURE

This is a close up of what common object?

SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION

► Weekly Observances ◄

10-12: International Chicken Wing Week

11-17: National Farrier’s Week: Horseshoe People

…………Sports Cliché Week

► Today’s Observances ◄

National Cheer Up The Lonely Day

Bowdler's Day: The guy who ‘cleaned up’ Shakespere and Old Testament for ‘family reading’

World Population Day

Appleton Cheshire, England : Bawming the Thorn Day

Dahomey, Ivory Coast, Niger, Upper Volta : Independence Day (1960)

Mongolia : National Day (1921)

North Belgium : Flemish Day

Northern Ireland: Bonfire Night, precursor to The Twelfth

People's Republic of China: China National Maritime Day

► Hit Songs on this date ◄

Stairway to the Stars: Glenn Miller in 1939

Riders in the Sky (A Cowboy Legend): Vaughn Monroe in 1949

Lonely Boy: Paul Anka in 1959

In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus): Zager & Evans in 1969 Hear It Here!

Bad Girls: Donna Summer in 1979

If You Don't Know Me by Now: Simply Red in 1989

► Born today ◄

…The Arts

Giorgio Armani, 74, fashion designer, born Romagna, Italy

Harold Bloom, 80, literary critic, born New York, NY

Elwyn Brooks ‘E.B.’ White, writer (Charlotte's Web, Elements of Style) born in 1899 Mt. Vernon, NY

+++

Yuliy Borisovich 'Yul' Brynner, actor (King & I) born in Vladivostok, Russian Far East, Russian Empire

Tab Hunter (Arthur Gelien), 79, actor (Damn Yankees, “The Tab Hunter Show”), born New York, NY

…Athletics

Leon Spinks, 57, former boxer, born St. Louis, MO

…Business & Education

Harry Von Zell, TV announcer (Burns & Allen) born in 1906 Indianapolis, IN

…Politics

John Quincy Adams, 6th Pres born in 1767 Braintree (now Quincy), MA

Robert the Bruce (Raibeart Bruis), Scotland’s King (1328-1329) born in 1274 Turnberry Castle,Ayrshire Scotland

…Science / Religion

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► Obituaries today ◄

George Gershwin, composer (American in Paris), brain tumor @ 38 in 1937

Alexander Hamilton, killed by VP Aaron Burr in pistol duel near Weehawken @ 49 in 1804

Sir Laurence Olivier, acting great, @ 82 in 1989

Thomas F Waddell, founder of Gay Olympics, AIDS @ 50 in 1987

► Events ◄

…The Arts

1859 ►A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is published.

1960 ►To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published.

1998 ►The world’s most famous three tenors sing at the world cup open-air concert in Paris with a crowd of 100,000 people gathered around the Eiffel Tower. This is the third time the three tenors ( Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti ) have performed at World Cups ( Italy in 1990 and America in 1994 ) and their concert was watched by an estimated two billion people in 75 countries around the world.

…Athletics

1914 ►Babe Ruth debuted in the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox

1962 ►Fred Baldasare is 1st to swim English Channel underwater (scuba)

1967 ►Longest All Star Game, NL beats AL 2-1 (15 inn) (Anaheim Stadium, Cal)

…Business & Education

1893 ►The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto.

…Indigenous People

1713: ►After the conclusion of "Queen Anne's War" in 1712, local settlers, and the Abenaki Indians finally sign a peace treaty.

…Politics (US)

1781 ►Thomas Hutchins designated Geographer of the US

1798 ►US Marine Corps created by an act of Congress

1916 ►1st federal grant-in-aid for state roads enacted

1955 ►President Eisenhower signed a bill requiring use of the inscription 'In God We Trust' on all paper money.

…Politics (outside US)

1987 ►Today for the first time in history the world’s population exceeded 5 billion when the UN Secretary General proclaimed the infant Matej Gasper born today as the 5 billionth person on earth.

…Science / Religion

1991 ►Total solar eclipse is seen in Hawaii

GREY MATTER ANSWERS

…1

Each line ends with a word that sounds like double letters. "Peas" sounds like two p's. Both "seize" and "seas" sound like two c's.

…2

The poison was in the ice cubes and as the couple had arrived early the ice had not yet melted. As the evening progressed the ice melted and poisoned the punch.

…Photo

Coin slot on bubble gum machine
TODAY’S PHOTO SHOT

Olympia National Park

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