Monday August 23

This is Week 34 of 2010►Day 235 with 130 days left.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS

My Broncos aren’t starting off very well; they are 0-2 in the pre-season. I still enjoy watching them and our local cable company has picked up the NFL station in HD. Last night I watched the Saints/Texans game on the NFL station. It is much different than a game on ESPN or one of the alphabet stations. The NFL station does have good camera angles, but the commentators are unsuccessfully trying to clone the other stations. They also don’t have the graphics we are all so used to watching. I’m sure they are giving us all the pre-season games for free, and then suddenly, when the season starts, they will want a bundle of bucks to watch all the games. They won’t be getting any more of my money. HD is really, really nice, and is especially cool for sports. However, even I have my limits. It’s tough to try and stay up on technology and then not be willing to pay the price for it.

I decided today to spend some time studying the candidates running for office in our Tuesday primary. I am very confused now, even more than before. The Clean Elections group puts out a book with all the candidates statements. One really has to be able to read between the lines to understand what they are saying. So often they just say what we want to hear. After my retirement, I learned that the more you know about a candidate, the less you know about them. One candidate, who made ‘education’ the main topic, stated she had been in Education for 25 years. She is going to fight for the kids in AZ. Good for her. When I went to her campaign site, I learned that she had been a private mentor to students and has never spent anytime inside a public school, a private school, or any school that teaches kids. Nothing wrong with that, but I find that she is going to probably have a very steep learning curve when it comes to public education. Another candidate, running for Sec of State, touted his vast experience in the legislature as his best qualification for the job. He would become Governor, if for some reason, the governor doesn’t complete that term. His vast experience includes one two-year term in the legislature. Strangely, he is not the pick of the Democratic Party for the job. Before one goes into politics, there must be a mandatory training in personal ego development. I already know that it is very difficult to get any democrat elected in a state-wide office in AZ. It is not impossible, just very difficult. Here in Northern AZ, it is a little easier. This year’s campaign ads have been downright dirty. These are all ads that cut down their opponents—from the same party. McCain talks about building the ‘dang fence.’ JD has an ad that has a bunch of McCain quotes, followed by ‘he chose to lie.’ The worst, IMHO, is Ben Quayle—the former VP’s son. This is first run for public office—not in my district. His ad starts out with a close up facial shot, stating the “Barack Obama is the worst president our country has ever had.” I’ll vote on Tuesday and find out which candidates make it to the November election. I’m glad I will be out of AZ most of September and will miss lots of the dirty campaigning.

QUOTES FOR THE DAY--Elections

~Author Unknown: There are always too many Democratic congressmen, too many Republican congressmen, and never enough U.S. congressmen.

…If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

~Carl Sandburg: A politician should have three hats. One for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits out of if elected

~Charles Krauthammer: Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country - and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians.

HOLY MACKEREL: 1833 Britain abolishes slavery in colonies; 700,000 slaves freed

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION about Football

§Baseball's Philadelphia Athletics, managed by Connie Mack, and the Philadelphia Phillies formed professional football teams in 1902, joining the Pittsburgh Stars in the first attempt at a pro football league, named the National Football League. The Athletics won the first night football game ever played, 39-0 over the Kanaweola Athletic Club at Elmira, New York, November 21, 1902.

§New York's original AFL team was called the Titans. When Sonny Werblin took over the franchise in 1963, he changed the team name to the New York Jets to reflect the modern approach of his team and the star-studded performances he hoped his team would produce.

§The Dallas Cowboys were the only team in the 1990s to win three Super Bowls, claiming Super Bowl XXVII (1993), XXVIII (1994), and XXX (1996). The Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers each won two Super Bowls during the 1990s.

§Beattie Feathers, of the Chicago Bears, rushed for 1004 yards in 1934, the first player ever to rush 1000 yards. Remarkably, he did it in only 119 carries, giving him an amazing 8.4 yards per carry average!

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1—Jeopardy Answers: Anatomy

Mark Anthony borrowed them, then bent them

Over ½ of these are in your hands & feet

Number of chambers in a judge's heart

The body has over 60,000 miles of them

Prominent zygomatic bones, considered an attractive facial feature

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM

SKANE, Sweden - Emergency responders were called to a Swedish graveyard when a woman's leg sank into soil that had been softened by recent heavy rains. Witnesses said the woman was leaving flowers at a family grave about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bragarps church in Skane when her leg sank into the muddy terrain and became stuck, The Local reported Thursday. Emergency responders were called to free the woman and she required no medical attention, witnesses said. "I have been working here for 11 years and I have never seen anything like this," the Rev. Jonas Kristiansson said. Kristiansson said recent rains caused subsidence in several areas of the graveyard. He said workers plan to repair the grave Thursday.

A LITTLE LAUGH

Our cat, Figaro, comes home between 10 or 11 at night to eat. If he's late, I turn on the carport light and call him until he appears.

One day my daughter was explaining to a friend where we live, and her friend said, "Is that anywhere near the house where the woman stands on her steps late at night and sings opera?"

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 2--Riddle

What did the carpet say to the wall?

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

Green Acres Theme: Click Here!

GREY MATTER PICTURE

This is a close up of what object?

SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION

♦ Weekly Observances ♦

23-27: National Safe at Home Week

♦ Today’s Observances ♦

National Sponge cake Day

Valentino Day

Day for The Remembrance of The Slave Trade & Its Abolition

European Union: European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism

Romania: Liberation Day (1944 from Nazis)

Swaziland: Umhlanga Day: Reed Dance ceremony, is an annual Swazi and Zulu tradition

♦ Hit Songs on this date ♦

1891 ... The Mocking Bird…John Yorke Atlee Click Here to Hear It

1911 ... Mother Machree…John McCormack Click Hre to Hear It

1941 … Daddy…Sammy Kaye

1951 …Come On-a My House…Rosemary Clooney

1961 …Wooden Heart (Muss I Denn)…Joe Dowell

1971…How Can You Mend a Broken Heart…The Bee Gees

1981 …Endless Love…Diana Ross & Lionel Richie

♦ Today’s Births ♦

• The Arts

Gene Kelly, dancer/actor (An American in Paris, Going My Way) …born 1912…Pittsburg, PA

William Primrose, violist (Method for Violin & Viola)…born 1903… Glasgow Scotland

Mark Russell (Mark Ruslander), 78, political comedian…born Buffalo, NY

~~~

Barbara Eden (Barbara Huffman), 76, actress (“I Dream of Jeannie,” Harper Valley P.T.A.)…born Tucson, AZ

Shelley Long, 61, actress (“Cheers,” Irreconcilable Differences)…born Fort Wayne, IN

Vera Miles, 80, actress (The Wrong Man, Psycho)…born Boise City, OK

Richard Sanders, 70, actor (Les-“WKRP in Cincinnati”)…born Harrisburg, PA

• Athletics

Kobe Bryant, 32, basketball player, born Philadelphia, PA

Christian Adolph 'Sonny' Jurgensen, 76, Hall of Fame football player (Eagles, Redskins)…born Wilmington, NC

• Business & Education

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• Politics

Lisa Najeeb Halaby, Queen Noor of Jordan, 51…born Washington, DC

Oliver Hazard Perry, American naval officer: Battle of Lake Erie: “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” …born 1785…South Kingstown, RI

• Science/Religion

Andreas Floer, Geometry mathematician..born in 1956 in Germany

♦ Today’s Obituaries ♦

Hoot Gibson, silent screen cowboy actor, @ 70 in 1962

Oscar Hammerstein II, Broadway librettist, cancer @ 65 in 1960

Hank Patterson, actor (Fred Ziffel-Green Acres), @ 87 in 1975

Oliver Hazard Perry, naval hero, on 34th birthday in 1819

Rodolpho Alfonzo Rafaello Pietro Filiberto Guglieimi Di Valentina D'Antonguolla (Rudolph Valentino), silent movie idol, peritonitis @ 31 in 1926

Nicola Sacco@ 36 & Bartolomeo Vanzetti @ 39 executed in MA after 3 trials and lots of media, for murder in 1927

♦ Today’s Events ♦

• The Arts

1919 "Gasoline Alley" cartoon strip premiers in Chicago Tribune

• Athletics

1982 Gaylord Perry, Mariner, was tossed out of a game for throwing an illegal spitball.

1985 Paul Hornung awarded $1,160,000 by a Louisville court against NCAA who barred him as a college football analyst for betting on games

• Business & Education

1838 Mt Holyoke Female Seminary (South Hadley, Mass) 1st graduating class

1872 1st Japanese commercial ship visits SF, carrying tea

1892 John H. Stedman of Rochester, NY patented the printed streetcar transfer.

1902 Fannie Merrit Farmer opened her cooking school, Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery, in Boston, MA.

1904 Automobile tire chain patented

• Indigenous People

1732 Today marks the beginning of a peace conference held in Philadelphia with the local Indians. Attending the meeting are several Iroquois Chiefs, including OnondagaChief Shikellamy.

1876 "Treaty 6 Between Her Majesty The Queen and The Plain and Wood CreeIndians and Other Tribes of Indians at Fort Carlton, Fort Pitt and Battle River with Adhesions" is signed in Canada.

• Politics (US)

1917 Race riot in Houston Texas (2 blacks & 11 whites killed)

• Politics (International)

1617 1st one-way streets established (London)

1914 Japan declares war on Germany in World War I

• Science / Religion

1960 World's largest frog (3.3 kg—7.3 lbs) caught (Equatorial Guinea)

GREY MATTER ANSWERS

↔ 1

Mark Anthony borrowed them, then bent them: What are ears?

Over ½ of these are in your hands & feet: What are bones?

Number of chambers in a judge's heart: What is four?

The body has over 60,000 miles of them: What are blood vessels?

Prominent zygomatic bones, considered an attractive facial feature: What are cheek bones?

↔ 2

What did the carpet say to the wall?

↔ Picture

A "sippy cup" lid

TODAY’S NATIONAL PARK PHOTO SHOTS

Crater Lake, 6th National Park as of May 22, 1902: Crater Lake lies in the caldera of Mount Mazama formed 7,700 years ago after an eruption. It is the deepest lake in the United States and is known for its blue color and water clarity. There are two islands in the lake, and, with no inlets or outlets, all water comes through precipitation.

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