This is Week 35 of 2010►Day 245 with 120 days left.
FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
Note: I have been having trouble with the color of the internet links on this template. I have it set for the standard blue, but it gives me a light blue which I have to manually change. So today I am trying hot pink so I won’t have to spend time changing them. As each blog has been having four or more links, it became too cumbersome. So while hot pink is not a standard, they will still work. If I have to change that color to get a bright color, I will try some other color tomorrow. So for readers who expect certain standardizing on this blog, I’ll just say that I don’t know how to do it. I did finally figure out how to drop the posting of the day of the week I post and now you will only see the date. I’m sure it was confusing when there was a tiny Tuesday under the title, and then a title in larger print that read Wednesday m/d/y. I can fix some things but not everything.
One short week from today I will be sitting at LAX waiting for my plane and my traveling friends. I am now spending time each day getting stuff ready for the trip. We will be in Taipei, Taiwan for five day trips to local markets, temples, a daylong river cruise and the scenic countryside and a National Park. Then it’s off to Malaysia. We travel all around, and I learned today that VISA will not approve card use there. They say that there is too much fraud in that country. Master Card doesn’t have such a barrier so I will be OK, except that my ATM card also has a VISA logo, so I will find out tomorrow if the ATM card will work. Very few countries take traveler’s checks any more as they too are too easy to forge. We visit many temples, National Parks, countryside, and markets. We fly off to Borneo for a river cruise, and a couple of walking tours in the jungle—where the leeches reside. There will be many chances to see wildlife—orangutans, other monkey species, water birds, more temples, more markets, and more National Parks. I know I am overcompensating for the leech issue, the cash issue, and some other stuff. But what is a great trip without some over-preparedness? This part of the world has always fascinated me, so I know I will get lots of great pictures, videos, and see many great things—many of them will surprise me. All of the countries enjoy the art of bartering. My dad would have really enjoyed it. I don’t, but try—so as not offend. When I find something I like, and it costs $50 and the vendor asks for $75 I don’t mind bartering. When the object is $10 and I only want to pay $7 I have a hard time bartering. These people work hard for their money and I hate looking cheap. After Egypt and South Africa, I have learned it is expected. I have traveled with people who brag about how they really got a good deal by cutting the price by as much as 75%. I can’t do that, knowing that the vendor really needed that sale for some reason. Culturally, it is considered a sign of good luck when you make your first sale of the day. A vendor who hasn’t sold anything by noon will just about give that item away for the sale. The next customer won’t be able to get anywhere near that good a price. So, here I go, ready to barter—or as my dad said ‘dicker’.
Our non-elected governor and the other candidates held a debate tonight. It is interesting to listen to her continual interruptions. Four candidates debated—Republican, Democratic, Green, and Libertarian party. Some good ideas about how to fix our state’s problems. Sad to see such an angry Jan Brewer.
Flagstaff had another great day. High: 79°, Low: 44° with only the slightest breeze. Our humidity is back to a more normal 22% for our high desert.
QUOTE FOR THE DAY
Jimi Hendrix: When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
HOLY MACKEREL: 1949 Alben W. Barkley, the Vice President of the United States under President Harry S Truman, wrote a letter that made reference to his office as the Veep. The term stuck.
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION on the US Open Tennis Championship
§ The U.S. Open originated in 1881 in Newport, RI. Back then it was named the US National Singles Championship for men.
§ The women's side of the tournament was held in Philadelphia, PA and started six years after the men's tournament. The event entered a new era in 1968 when both the men's and women's tournaments merged and was renamed the U.S. Open.
§ The youngest men's singles champion in US Open history was Pete Sampras, who was 19 years old when he won it in 1990.
§ The youngest women's singles champion was Tracy Austin, who won it in 1979 at the age of 16.
§ Serena and Venus Williams became the first sisters to play for a U.S. singles championship - and did so in the very first Grand Slam tournament final ever scheduled for a prime time national network telecast.
§ Jimmy Connors is the only player to win the U.S. Open on three surfaces: grass at Forest Hills in 1974, clay at Forest Hills in 1976, and hardcourt in 1978 at Flushing Meadows.
§ The U.S. Open Trophy is made by Tiffany & Co.
§ In 2002, Serena Williams made a fashion statement - and headlines - by wearing a black PVC cat suit during play throughout the U.S. Open.
GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1—Jeopardy Answers: “JACKS" OF ALL TRADES
$100-He celebrated his 39th birthday 41 times
$200-Between him & his wife, they licked the platter clean
$300-He didn't find gold in the Klondike, so he wrote "The Call of the Wild"
$400-His nickname was the "Manassa Mauler"
$500-2nd generation pop singer, he's sung on every "Love Boat" voyage
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
SYDNEY — An Australian school principal has asked students to stop using the word "gay" when singing a classic children's song, but said Thursday no offense was intended — he was simply trying to keep the kids from laughing.
Principal Garry Martin of Le Page Primary School in Melbourne said he instructed students to substitute the line "Fun your life must be" for the original "Gay your life must be" when singing "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree." The song about a native Australian bird is a favorite around campfires from New Zealand to Canada.
Martin said he was playing a recording of the song for the students about a month ago when the line "gay your life must be" produced a flurry of giggles throughout the classroom. Some of the students use the word "gay" as a schoolyard taunt, he said, but don't understand its true meaning. And so, to calm them down, he told them to swap in the word "fun" for "gay."
"It wasn't misplaced political correctness, it wasn't homophobia, there was nothing really calculated in doing it," he told The Associated Press. "I could've stopped the whole class and gone into a very caring, supportive explanation of gay being quite a reasonable choice in lifestyle that some people make, but I was only talking with 7- and 8-year-olds and I think that sort of thing is better explained more fully with parents."
His decision erupted into a controversy, he said, after one of the students told his parents about Martin's change to the song. Word then spread from the parents to friends to the local newspaper, which ran a story — and Martin found himself being bombarded with angry e-mails.
"Some think I'm the devil incarnate," he said.
Crusader Hillis, CEO of the gay and lesbian advocacy group The Also Foundation, didn't go that far — but he did call the lyrical swap an overreaction.
"It sends a signal to people that just because a word has two meanings, that one of those meanings is unacceptable and that's really putting us backwards," Hillis said. "Even if it's done for good intentions because 'gay' is being used in schoolyards as a slur, I think they need to use the word as a conversation rather than banning it."
Martin said his decision was a mistake made with the best of intentions, and he plans to speak to the students about how different words hold different meanings across generations.
He also plans to ask students to sing the original version of the song.
But, he added, "We might not sing it that often now."
A LITTLE LAUGH
Manning the computer help desk for the local school district was my first job. And though I was just an intern, I took the job very seriously. But not every caller took me seriously.
"Can I talk to a real person?" a caller asked.
"I am real," I said.
"Oh, I'm sorry," the caller said. "That was rude of me. What I meant to say was, could I talk to someone who actually knows something?"
GREY MATTER PUZZLE 2--Riddle
What two questions can you be asked that you can never say yes to and be correct?
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
Jan Brewer ran this commercial: See It Here!
GREY MATTER PICTURE
This is a close up of what object?
SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION
¤ Weekly Observances ¤
-9/4: Minority Enterprise Development Week
1-8: International Enthusiasm Week: Self-University Week
¤ Today’s Observances ¤
Victory over Japan: signing end of war on USS Missouri
Vietnam: Independence Day (1945 from France)
Namibia & South Africa: Settlers' Day
¤ Hit Songs on this date ¤
1891...The Mocking Bird...John Yorke Atlee
1911...Mother Machree...John McCormack Hear It Hear!
1921...Cherie...Paul Whiteman
1941...Green Eyes (Aquellos Ojos Verdes) ...Jimmy Dorsey Hear It Hear!
1951...Because of You...Tony Bennett Hear It Hear!
1961...Michael...The Highwaymen Hear It Hear!
1971...Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey...Paul & Linda McCartney Hear It Hear!
¤ Today’s Births ¤
╬ THE ARTS
Laurindo Almeida, Grammy Award-winning composer, musician: guitar: Guitar from Ipanema [1964]; Viva Bossa Nova; underscore: Viva Zapata…born 1917… São Paulo, Brazil
Cleveland Amory, conservationist/TV reviewer (TV Guide) …born 1917… Nahant, MA
Allen Drury, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist: Advise and Consent [1960] …born 1918…Houston, TX
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Mark Harmon, 59, actor (“NCIS,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Chicago Hope”), born Burbank, CA
Salma Hayek, 44, actress (Ask the Dust, Bandidas, Frida), born Veracruz, Mexico
Keanu Reeves, 46, actor (The Matrix, Speed), born Beirut, Lebanon
╬ ATHLETICS
Terry Paxton Bradshaw, 62, sportscaster, Hall of Fame football player (Steelers), born Shreveport, LA
Dorothy May Bundy-Cheney, winner of more than 141 US tennis titles…born 1916…Los Angeles, CA
Jimmy Connors, 58, former tennis player, born East St. Louis, IL
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
Guy Laliberté, 51, founder of Cirque du Soleil…born Quebec City, Canada
Albert Goodwill Spaulding, baseball player/founded Spaulding sports company…born 1850…Byron, IL
Peter Victor Ueberroth, 73, former commissioner of baseball and Olympic organizer, born Evanston, IL
╬ POLITICS
Joan Kennedy, 74, 1st wife of Mass Senator, Ted…born Bronx, NY
Queen Lydia Kamekeha Liliuokalani, last queen of Hawaii…born 1838…Honolulu, HI
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
--
¤ Today’s Obituaries ¤
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, Spanish general defeated Aztec Indians, dysentery @ 62 in 1547
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, revivor of Olympics, @ 74 in 1937
¤ Today’s Events ¤
╬ THE ARTS
1995 The Concert for the Hall of Fame was presented at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. It was the grand-opening celebration for the $92-million, I.M. Pei-designed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
╬ ATHLETICS
490 -BC Phidippides runs 1st marathon, seeking aid from Sparta vs Persia
1999 Cal Ripken, Jr. hit his 400th home run as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore.
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1859 Gas lighting introduced to Hawaii
1897 The first issue of McCall’s magazine was published.
1930 1st non-stop airplane flight from Europe to US (37 hrs) OMG!!!
1987 Donald Trump takes out a full page NY Times ad lambasting Japan
╬ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1862 Santee Sioux engage in another fight in the Minnesota Uprising. Called the "Birch Coulee Battle," it happens three miles north of Morton, Minnesota. The Minnesota forces are led by Major Joseph Brown. The Sioux are led by Big Eagle, Mankato, and Red Legs. The army has been on a burial detail. At dawn, the Siouxattack. The soldiers lose thirteen killed and forty-seven wounded.
╬ POLITICS (US)
1789 US Treasury Department established by Congress
1901 VP Theodore Roosevelt advises, "Speak softly & carry a big stick"
1944 During WW II, George Bush ejects from a burning plane
1978 John McClain performs 180 outside loops in an airplane over Houston
╬ POLITICS (International)
1752 Last day of Julian calendar in Britain, British colonies
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1666 Great Fire of London starts; destroys St Paul's Church
GREY MATTER ANSWERS
↔ 1
He celebrated his 39th birthday 41 times: Who was Jack Benny?
Between him & his wife, they licked the platter clean: Who was Jack Spratt?
He didn't find gold in the Klondike, so he wrote "The Call of the Wild": Who is Jack London?
His nickname was the "Manassa Mauler": Who is Jack Dempsey?
2nd generation pop singer, he's sung on every "Love Boat" voyage: Who is Jack Jones?
↔ 2
1. Are you sleeping?
2. Are you dead?
↔ PICTURE
Paper money - the back of a US $5 bill
TODAY’S NATIONAL PARK PHOTO SHOTS
Zion National Park, Utah, 18th National Park as of November 19, 1919: This geologically unique area has colorful sandstone canyons, high plateaus, and rock towers. Natural arches and exposed formations of the Colorado Plateau make up a large wilderness of four ecosystems
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