Saturday Sept. 4

This is Week 35 of 2010►Day 247 with 118 days left.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS

So much to do before I leave, so little time. The joy of travel. I finally got in contact with my bank and found that my ATM, VISA and MC all work on my trip. Good news and I asked them to verify that they would work. I guess the info I got earlier was wrong. Good news for me. I also charged all the electronic stuff. I know I will need to recharge on the trip, but want to start out charged up. I am going to start a campaign when I get back. All electronics need to have a universal charging system. My camcorder, camera, laptop, iPod, and phone all use a different cord. The cords take up more room than necessary in a tightly packed suit case. I thought about taking a power strip so I could charge everything at night, but that really takes up way too much room. Of course, each country we visit has a different plug. Just crazy.

My talks-to-herself neighbor finally got her hot tub hooked up and running today. She is a tiny person and appears to have scoliosis or some other problem that makes it hard for her to walk a straight line. She is going to have quite a time taking the lid off the hot tub. My upstairs window looks right down on her tub. She had quite a time while the installer was showing her how to use the tub. It sure is impressive and I hope she gets a lot of use out of it. I was cleaning my bedroom and am not a peeping Tom. My bedroom window was open and their voices really carried.

The city council finally voted on the selling of drinking water to a ski lodge in our high desert town. By a 5-2 vote they decided not to sell drinking water to make snow. Good for them. Our mayor voted to sell the drinking water, and I can only say that she just doesn’t get it. Oh well, it means I was correct in believing this vote would not be the end of the water issue. The lawsuit against the ski area for putting reclaimed water on the sacred peaks is still in court. So no machine made snow next season for sure. Right now only golf courses can use reclaimed water on their turf. Lot of letters are appearing in the paper with homeowners wanting to use reclaimed water on their turf. That’s the water that is not drinkable and may contain higher than safe amounts of various contaminants, including flushed prescriptions. We’ll see where that goes.

I’m headed to the County Fair tomorrow. Always an interesting and enjoyable time. The bagpipers will be playing, lots of politicians will be at their booths, some free stuff, and lots of carnival food. I’ll probably see lots of Rez friends around too. Weather forecast is good.

Flag…H—81°; L—44°; Relative Humidity (RL)—17%; and only a breeze of 5mph—a really nice day.

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

William McDougall, from The Group Mind, printed in 1920: It is well recognized that almost any emotional excitement increases the suggestibility of the individual, though the explanation of the fact remains obscure.

HOLY MACKEREL: 1864 Bread riots in Mobile, Alabama

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION on Spiders

§The Goliath Birdeater Tarantula from South America has been known to be 10-11 inches wide. Even though it is so big, the Goliath Birdeater Tarantula is not dangerous to humans.

§The majority of spiders will only live for a year or two. However, some tarantulas can live to be 30 years old.

§The spitting spider, a small spider that could be living in your basement, can catch it's prey (such as a fly) through spitting. It sends a gummy glue-like substance in a zig-zag pattern to trap its prey like strapping tape. There are over 150 species of spitting spiders.

§While many spiders only lay a few eggs, some spiders can lay up to 2,000 eggs. The wolf spider will carry her young on her back for a few days.

§In the 1970's, P.N. Witt, a spiderologist and other scientists sent spiders into space on Skylab to see how spiders would build their webs without any gravity. Even though they had complete weighlessness (zero gravity), the spiders still built normal webs.

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1—Jeopardy Answers: 1789

-Washington proclaimed Nov. 26, 1789 this first national holiday

-Why April 28th was a bad day for Capt. Bligh

-Now totaling over $1 trillion, it began 11 days after Treasury was established in 1789

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM

AURORA, OR -- A small plane crashed into a house near the Aurora Airport Friday afternoon and the pilot walked away with minor injuries.

Marion County deputies said 70-year-old George Bahrman was doing touch and go landings at the Aurora Airport when the plane veered off course and crashed into the mobile home on 14071 N. Cessna Street just after noon.

Bahrman was able to climb up on the roof and was taken to a local hospital, but should be fine, deputies said. He was listed in serious condition at OHSU. No one else was aboard. A small fire broke out, but was soon put out by emergency crews The Federal Aviation Administration said they sent investigators to the scene.

Homeowner Sally Jones said she came outside just before the crash and eventually turned around to find the conscious, but dazed pilot sitting on top of her garage. She was not injured. Her 18-year-old dog also escaped injury.

"I had just checked on my little dog, she was OK, sleeping on the couch on the side of the house," Jones said, "I went out my door and closed it and then I was on the ground ... bang!"

"It blew me off the porch and on the ground," she said.

A LITTLE LAUGH

The problem - There's a box with a hole at each end and there's a rabbit in the box. The rabbit sticks his head out of the hole in one end, and a minute later he sticks it out the other end. Half a minute later, his head appears at the opposite end, a fourth of a minute later it appears at the end opposite to that one, an eighth of a minute later... etc., etc.

How long will it take before the rabbit sticks its head out of both ends of the box at the same time?

In theory, two minutes. In practice, no answer is possible unless you split hares.

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 2--Riddle

A woman walks into a cafe. She goes to the cashier and asks for a glass of water. The man pulls out a gun. A few moments later she thanked him and left. What happened?

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

Mutiny on the Bounty 1935 movie trailer: Click Here to View!

GREY MATTER PICTURE

This is a close up of what object?

SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION

¤ Weekly Observances ¤

-9/4: Minority Enterprise Development Week

1-8: Self-University Week and International Enthusiasm Week

¤ Today’s Observances ¤

Newspaper Carrier Day

Vatican City: Triumph of the Cross

Lutherns: Commemoration of Albert Schweitzer, missionary

Argentina: Immigrant's Day: to honor all immigrants who have made Argentina what it is today.

¤ Hit Songs on this date ¤

1913...When Irish Eyes Are Smiling...Chauncey Olcott

1923...Swingin' Down the Lane...Isham Jones

1943...In the Blue of Evening...Tommy Dorsey

1953...Vaya con Dios (May God Be with You) ...Les Paul & Mary Ford

1964...The House of the Rising Sun...The Animals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmdPQp6Jcdk

1974... (You're) Having My Baby...Paul Anka with Odia Coates

¤ Today’s Births ¤

╬ THE ARTS

Beyoncé Knowles, 29, singer, actress (Dreamgirls, Austin Powers in Goldmember), born Houston, TX

Richard Wright, US, author (Native Son, Uncle Tom's Children) …born 1908…Roxi, MI

♦♦♦♦♦♦

Damon Wayans, 50, actor, comedian (“In Living Color”), born New York, NY

╬ ATHLETICS

Ken (Kenneth Smith) Harrelson, 69, ‘Hawk’: baseball: Athletics, Senators, Red Sox, Indians; baseball broadcaster: WSBK-TV, Boston; GM: White Sox…born Woodruff, SC

Michael Joseph (Mike) Piazza, 42, former baseball player (Dodgers, Marlins, Padres, Mets, Athletics), born Norristown, PA

Tom Watson, 61, PGA golfer…born KC Mo

╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION

Daniel Burnham, architect: Railway Exchange Building [Chicago, one of the 1st skyscrapers in U.S.] …born 1846…Henderson, NY

Paul Harvey, news commentator (The rest of the story) …born 1918… Tulsa OK

╬ POLITICS

Thomas Eagleton, (Sen-D-Mo, Dem VP candidate 1972) …born 1929… St. Louis, MO

Sarah Childress Polk, 1st lady…born 1803…Murfreesboro, TN

╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION

Nyota Uhura, communications officer (Star Trek) …born 2179…Nairobi Kenya

Marcus Whitman, missionary, led to US securing Oregon…born 1802…Federal Hollow, NY

¤ Today’s Obituaries ¤

Irene Dunne, actress (5 oscars), heart failure @ 91 in 1990

Albert Schweitzer, humanitarian @ 90 in 1965

Walter Tetley, voice (Sherman-Bullwinkle Show), 5 yrs after serious motorcycle accident @ 60 in 1975

Dottie West, country singer, car crash @ 58 in 1991

¤ Today’s Events ¤

╬ THE ARTS

--

╬ ATHLETICS

1966 Houston Oilers holds Denver Broncos to no 1st downs winning 45-7

1972 US swimmer Mark Spitz becomes 1st athlete to win 7 olympic gold medals

1988 Phoenix Cardinals play 1st regular-season NFL game

╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION

1781 Los Angeles founded in Bahia de las Fumas by 44 settlers, (Valley of Smokes)

1833 1st newsboy hired (Barney Flaherty-NY Sun)

1864 Bread riots in Mobile, Alabama

1866 1st Hawaiian daily newspaper published

1885 1st cafeteria opens (NYC)

1888 George Eastman patents 1st roll-film camera & registers "Kodak"

[Both the Kodak camera and the name were the invention of founder George Eastman. The letter "K" was a favorite with Eastman; he felt it a strong and incisive letter. He tried out various combinations of words starting and ending with "K". He saw three advantages in the name. It had the merits of a trademark word, would not be mis-pronounced and the name did not resemble anything in the art. There is a misconception that the name was chosen because of its similarity to the sound produced by the shutter of the camera.]

1951 NBC extends to become a 61 station coast-to-coast network

1957 Ford Motor Co introduces the Edsel

╬ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

1863 The Concow-Maidu had ancestral homes in the Butte County area of northern California. They were forced to move to different lands. One group of 461 Concows leaves Chico, but only 277 will survive the two-week trip to Round Valley

1886 Geronimo is captured, ending last major US-Indian war

╬ POLITICS (US)

1945 US regains possession of Wake Island from Japan

1950 1st helicopter rescue of American pilot behind enemy lines

╬ POLITICS (International)

 626 Li Shimin, posthumously known as Emperor Taizong of Tang, assumes the throne over the Tang Dynasty of China.

1609 Navigator Henry Hudson discovers island of Manhattan

1884 The United Kingdom ends its policy of penal transportation to New South Wales in Australia.

1964 Scotland's Forth Road Bridge over the "Firth of Forth"  near Edinburgh officially opens.

╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION

1956 The IBM RAMAC 305 is introduced, the first commercial computer to use magnetic disk storage.

1998 Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University.

GREY MATTER ANSWERS

↔ 1

Washington proclaimed Nov. 26, 1789 this first national holiday: What is Thanksgiving?

Why April 28th was a bad day for Capt. Bligh: What is Mutiny on the Bounty?

Now totaling over $1 trillion, it began 11 days after Treasury was established in 1789: What is the National Debt?

↔ 2

The man pulled out a gun to scare her so her hiccups would go away. She got the glass of water to try and get rid of her hiccups.

↔ PICTURE

A milk can

TODAY’S NATIONAL PARK PHOTO SHOTS

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina, 20th National Park since May 22, 1926: The Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains, have a wide range of elevations, making them home to over 400 vertebrate species, 100 tree species, and 5000 plant species. Hiking is the park's main attraction, with over 800 miles (1,300 km) of trails, including 70 miles (110 km) of the Appalachian Trail. Other activities are fishing, horseback riding, and visiting some of nearly 80 historic structures.

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