Thursday August 26

This is Week 34 of 2010►Day 238 with 137 days left.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS

Ah, the AZ primary season is over, well almost anyway. Several elections are still in question. AZ has early voting and it has ‘provisional’ voting—voting when not on the list and you have five days to prove who you are. The machines don’t count the early voting ballots and the ‘provisional’ ballots until the day after the election. This is a real pain in close elections as the official results don’t come out for five days after the election. We waited almost two weeks in our close Mayoral election earlier this year. With all this technology, I sometimes wonder if my vote is even counted. There is no way to find out. If my ballot is ‘invalid’ because I didn’t fill in the bubbles correctly or the ballot is misread and becomes ‘invalid’ I will never know. Anyway, AZ history was made last night. The November ballot will have a Navajo from LeChee on the ballot for Secretary of State—the second highest office in the state. This is the first time any tribal Native has run for this office. Good luck Chris…he may just win.

I am pleased that McCain will be on the ballot, since JD, his primary opponent, is so conservative he would have caused havoc in DC, with both his party and everyone else. I heard about some other interesting election results for congress. On a conservatives website it said “I will shut down the Dept of Education” but now that she will be on the November ballot her website now says “Education will be one of my priorities.” She hasn’t changed her view, just the way she presents it. Another race winner changed his website from “end social security” to “revamp social security”. It’s all about how you say something so that everyone can believe in you and therefore vote for you.

Flag was really nice today. We got to 79° with 52% humidity and a slight breeze. There were no clouds most of the day, and when they came in they didn’t bring me any moisture. My morning walk was very nice…sunflowers everywhere along the trail. So nice to live in the mountains of Flag.

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

William Shakespeare: We know what we are, but know not what we may be.

HOLY MACKEREL:1920 The 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was certified by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby 

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION on lots of stuff

§Chicago's Lincoln Park was created in 1864. The original 120 acre cemetery had most of its graves removed and was expanded to more than 1,000 acres for recreational use.

§Captain Cook lost 41 of his 98 crew to scurvy (a lack of vitamin C) on his first voyage to the South Pacific in 1768. By 1795 the importance of eating citrus was realized, and lemon juice was issued on all British Navy ships.

§Former President Cleveland defeated incumbent Benjamin Harrison in 1892, becoming the first (and, to date, only) chief executive to win non-consecutive terms to the White House.

§Martha Washington, Pocahontas, and Susan B. Anthony are the only three women to have been represented on U.S. currency. Martha was on the front of the $1 silver certificate of 1886 and 1891.

§From the Middle Ages up until the end of the 19th century, barbers performed a number of medical duties including bloodletting, wound treatment, dentistry, minor operations and bone-setting. The barber's striped red pole originated in the Middle Ages, when it was a staff the patient would grip while the barber bled the patient.

§Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1—Jeopardy Answers—Trios

--D'Artagnan's best buddies

--With them under foot, Uncle Donald's life wasn't duck soup

--"Candy Man" who began with the Will Mastin Trio

--Classic TV puppet show which also featured Beulah Witch & Delores Dragon

--Apollo II trio; while Collins circled Moon, these 2 landed

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM

HADDONFIELD, N.J. — For anyone who's ever entered the wrong number on a tax return and been denied a refund, or accidentally over tipped, here's some consolation: A silly error on New Jersey's application for the highly competitive Race to the Top education grants might have cost the state $400 million.

On Tuesday, the federal government announced that nine states and the District of Columbia had won the coveted grants. New Jersey was the top runner-up.

A panel judged the lengthy applications on a 500-point scale. New Jersey finished just three points behind Ohio, which received the grant — and was only barely ahead of Arizona and Louisiana, which didn't.

But New Jersey lost all five points on one section in which officials were asked to show that the state gives a consistent percentage of its revenue to education. The application called for using data from 2008 and 2009 to make the case. New Jersey used figures from the 2010 and 2011 state budgets.

It's not certain that the state would have aced the section if the right numbers had been used — but it certainly would have done better.

The gaffe was first reported by the Star-Ledger of Newark. It appears that the governor's administration made the error just before it submitted the application on June 1, according to differences between a draft of the application and the form that was submitted.

State Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, a Democrat, called it "a stunning mistake that is going to hurt New Jersey's children."

Republican Gov. Chris Christie said in a news conference Tuesday that it was one error in a document that ran hundreds of pages, and that it was more significant for the state's score that the state's main teachers union didn't endorse his plan.

Before the deadline, Education Commissioner Bret Schundler worked out some compromises with the union, the New Jersey Education Association, to get the union's support.

Dawn Hiltner, a union spokeswoman who was on the committee, provided a draft of the application that included the budget data from the right years. But before that application was submitted, Christie said he wouldn't abide by the compromises — most of which dealt with how merit pay for teachers would work.

The reworked application used numbers from the wrong years.

A LITTLE LAUGH

My father was extremely nervous about his first funeral service as a Navy chaplain, but the undertaker assured him that he would prompt him. All went well until, at the close, the undertaker whispered to him to instruct the family to come up and view the body. "Will the family now come forward and pass around the bier," said my father.

He cringed inwardly when he heard his own words. Later, as my father was leaving, he overheard two of the cemetery workers talking. "I didn't get any beer," one said. "Did you?"

"You heard the chaplain," the other replied. "It was just for the family."

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 2--Riddle

A woman is sitting in her bed reading a book. She then closes the book, turns off the light, and goes to sleep. The next morning, the woman reads the daily newspaper and discovers a boat had crashed and sunk the night before, and all of its passengers had died as well. The woman then kills herself.

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

Namibia National Anthem:Click Here to Hear It!

GREY MATTER PICTURE

This is a close up of what object?

SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION

♦ Weekly Observances ♦

23-27: National Safe at Home Week

25-31: Be Kind To Humankind Week

♦ Today’s Observances ♦

National Dog Day

Susan B Anthony Day from 1920-1973: now Women's Equality Day

Namibia: Heroes' Day for those who fought against South Africa domination

Zanzibar : Sultan's Birthday

♦ Hit Songs on this date ♦

1914 ... By the Beautiful Sea...Heidelberg Quintet

1934 ...Love in Bloom...Bing Crosby

1944 ...Swinging on a Star...Bing Crosby Hear It Here!

1954... Sh-Boom...The Crew-Cuts Hear It Here!

1964... Where Did Our Love Go...The Supremes Hear It Here!

1974... (You're) Having My Baby...Paul Anka with Odia Coates Hear It Here!

1984... What's Love Got to Do with It...Tina Turner Hear It Here!

♦ Today’s Births ♦

• The Arts

Earl Biggers, author ("Charlie Chan" detective series) …born 1884…Warren, OH

Bob Cowsill, 61, singer: group: The Cowsills: The Rain, the Park and Other Things

Hear It Here! …born Newport, RI

Vic Dana, 68, singer: Red Roses for a Blue Lady Hear It Here! …born Buffalo,NY

Branford Marsalis, 50, musician…born Beaux Bridge, LA

~~~

Macaulay Culkin, 30, actor (Home Alone, My Girl)…born New York, NY

Chris Pine, 30, actor (Star Trek)…born Los Angeles, CA

• Athletics

Alex (Alejandro Castro) Trevino, 53, baseball: catcher: Mets, Reds, Braves, Giants, Dodgers, Astros…born Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico

• Business & Education

Irving R. Levine, broadcast journalist; author…born 1922… Pawtucket, RI

• Politics

Geraldine Ferraro, 75, first woman vice-presidential candidate…born Newburgh, NY

• Science/Religion

Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, father of modern chemistry (Oxygen)…born 1743…Paris, France

Lee De Forest, inventor (Audion vacuum (radio) tube) …born 1873… Council Bluffs, IA

Dr Albert B Sabin, polio vaccine discoverer…born 1906… Białystok, Russia (now Poland)

♦ Today’s Obituaries ♦

Roger Nash Baldwin, founder of the ACLU, @ 97 in 1981

Charles Boyer, actor (The Rogues), @ 78 in 1978

Ted Knight, actor (Mary Tyler Moore Show), cancer @ 62 in 1986

Charles Lindbergh, aviator, @ 72 in 1974

♦ Today’s Events ♦

• The Arts

1498 The master artist, Michelangelo, was commissioned to make the Pieta

1907 Houdini escapes from chains underwater at Aquatic Park in 57 sec

• Athletics

1939 Red Barber announced the first televised baseball games

1947 1st black baseball pitcher Don Bankhead (Hit a HR on 1st at bat)

1972 Summer Olympics open in Munich, West Germany

• Business & Education

1957 The Ford Motor Company rolled out the first Edsel automobile

• Indigenous People

1842 The Caddoes sign a treaty in Texas. They agree to visit other tribes and try to convince them to also sign treaties with Texas.

• Politics (US)

1842 The U.S. Congress established the fiscal year, which begins on July 1st

1987 President Ronald Reagan proclaims September 11, 1987 as 9-1-1 Emergency Number Day.

• Politics (International)

55BC Roman forces under Julius Caesar invade Britain

1992 A no-fly zone was imposed on southern Iraq.

• Science / Religion

1883 Krakatau erupts with increasingly large explosions kills 36,000

GREY MATTER ANSWERS

↔ 1

D'Artagnan's best buddies: Who were the three musketeers?

With them under foot, Uncle Donald's life wasn't duck soup: Who are Huey, Dewey, and Louie?

"Candy Man" who began with the Will Mastin Trio: Who was Sammy Davis, Jr.?

Classic TV puppet show which also featured Beulah Witch & Delores Dragon: Who were Kukla, Fran,and Ollie?

Apollo II trio; while Collins circled Moon, these 2 landed: Who were Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin?

↔ 2

The woman is a lighthouse keeper. When she had turned off the light the night before, the boat had no light to see through the darkness, so it crashed and sank. The woman killed herself out of guilt of causing the deaths of all those passengers.

↔ Picture

A turkey neck

TODAY’S NATIONAL PARK PHOTO SHOTS

Glacier National Park, 10th Park since May 11, 1910, Montana: Part of Waterton Glacier International Peace Park, this park has 26 remaining glaciers and 130 named lakes under the tall Rocky Mountain peaks. There are historic hotels and a landmark road in this region of rapidly receding glaciers. These mountains, formed by an overthrust, have the world's best sedimentary fossils from the Proterozoic era

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