Saturday October 16

This is Week 40 of 2010►Day 289 with 76 days left.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS

As I was running errands today I ran into a lot of TC people. Most were parents and former students I hadn’t seen for quite a few years. Of the four different groups I saw, they were all in town, getting ready for the fair. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that Flag will have a shortage of paper plates and cups and other standard fare for a cook out. The Fair brings back a flood of memories. The parade was always amazing. Walking though the booths and carnival and seeing old students and their families from most of the schools where I worked, the yei’bi’che’ dance late into the night, and of course the traffic. Everyone I saw invited me to come up and enjoy. Visitors never really see that this is a great weekend for families to have reunions and see how all the family has grown. Everyone I know has their annual parade viewing place, their favorite food stand, and their excitement in visiting with TC family and friends. Young or old, traditional or Christian, everyone seems to have a great time. Two things are keeping me away this year: the first is the traffic, since it can take three hours to make the 75 mile drive (actually the last five miles is what takes the time) and the second is having a place to stay. I know I could stay with a number of friends, but they all have their own family coming in, and it would be hard to take off and just show up to eat and sleep. Anyway, the fair will be happening all weekend, and I have great memories of past fairs. I still have one small problem with the fair committee. The Navajo Nation always encourages the importance of education, the importance of youth being the leaders of tomorrow, and then the Fair committee always sets up Thursday—a school day—as Kid’s Fair Day. For years they have offered free admission, kid’s entertainment, and reduced carnival ride prices. For many years schools from around the area would haul their students in on busses to enjoy the day. I always saw the fair as a family event, not a school event. Many schools tried to get the fair committee to drop kid’s day or move it to Sunday, the last day of the fair. Sometimes, traditions are impossible to break, so the compromise was two-fold, the fair committee would add more ‘educational’ and ‘kid-centered’ activities and the schools would make Thursday a non-instructional day (education speak for a day kids don’t come to school and teachers have some kind of training). This worked well for the schools with few or no boarding students. Parents found ways to either get a day off or found relatives to take their kids to the fair. All worked out well in this compromise.

Flagstaff had another great weather day. While the sky had lots of grey clouds, they did little but occasionally block the sun a little. I had the windows open most of the day, I took a short walk this morning, ran some errands and enjoyed the fall day.

Flag…H—72°; L—31°; RH—62%; and no breeze at all.

QUOTE FOR THE DAY-- Thornton Wilder

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.

Bonus: Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Lord Chesterfield, (1694-1773)

HOLY MACKEREL: 1848 1st US homeopathic medical college opens in Pennsylvania 

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—Fred and Wilma Flintstone or Gladstone or Flagstone

→The Flintstones didn't always go by that name. In the demonstration pilot pitched to ABC, Fred and Wilma had the last name of Flagstone. After the series was commissioned by the network, the title was changed to The Gladstones for a short period of time.

→When The Flintstones premiered in late September 1960, it didn't start with the opening sequence millions of viewers have become familiar with over the years. Instead, it showed a solo Fred running a few errands in Bedrock on his way home to watch TV.

→For the first two years on air, The Flintstones catered to a more mature audience with its portrayal of marriage (the first animated program to show two members of the opposite sex sleeping together in one bed), work and friendship. The show's sponsorship included advertisements for Winston cigarettes that showed Fred, Barney and Wilma lighting up.

→The Flintstones' started the trend of using famous folks as guests voices on the show with appearances by Ann-Margaret, Tony Curtis, Dick Clark, pop group The Beau Brummels, as well as Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York as their 'Bewitched' characters Samantha and Darrin.

→Just as The Flintstones was ending its run in 1966, Columbia Pictures released the musical comedy The Man Called Flintstone to movie theaters. A parody of the spy films of that time, Man Called Flintstone focused on Fred as he is recruited by a spy organization to replace their top agent, who looks just like him.

→The most famous spin-offs of the show were the 1971 The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, which focused on the Flintstone and Rubble children as teenagers, and the 1980s The Flintstone Kids, which transformed the older Flintstones and Rubbles into kids themselves.

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1—Jeopardy Answers (1984 games)—Trivia

$100- Rubber is an ingredient in this type of chewing gum

$200- Easter creature created by Gene Autry in '55 hit record

$300- Though a northern state, N.J. didn't abolish it until 1860

$400- U.S. coin 97.6% zinc

$500- Ohio City named for an ancestor of the 24th president

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM

BELLEVUE, Wash. — A 19-year-old woman was charged with second-degree assault after allegedly stabbing another woman during an anger-management class, the Seattle Times reported.

The incident occurred Saturday while a video on anger management was being shown, the Times said. Police said Faribah Maradiaga walked into a classroom at Bellevue College and started complaining about the video. The victim told her "to give it a chance," according to charging documents.

After words were exchanged, Maradiaga pulled out a knife with a 3-inch blade and stabbed the other woman, police and prosecutors said. Maradiaga also is accused of threatening to kill the other woman's family, the Times said.

Maradiaga told police that the other woman threatened her first. She was being held on $50,000 bail.

A LITTLE LAUGH

When my coworker Donsa was promoted, we decided to celebrate. Her boss called the baker and ordered a cake.

"Two questions," said the baker. "Is Donsa a man or a woman?

And what do you want the cake to say?"

"The cake should read 'Congratulations'" the boss said. "Oh, and Donsa's a woman."

The next day, the office celebrated with a cake that read "Congratulations—Donsa's a woman."

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa on AIDS:Click Here to View!

GREY MATTER PICTURE

This is a close up of what object?

SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION

¤ Weekly Observances ¤

10-16: Build Your Business with Business Cards Week ^ Emergency Nurses Week ^ Home-based Business Week ^ National Chestnut Week ^ National Food Bank Week ^ National Metric Week ^ Take Your Medicine Americans Week ^ World Rainforest Week

11-17: Fall Astronomy Week ^ National School Lunch Week

16–21. High Point&Thomasville, NC. The largest wholesale home furnishings market in the world

17-23: Food and Drug Interaction Education and Awareness Week ^ Getting The World To Beat A Path To Your Door Week ^ International Credit Union Week ^ Teen Read Week ^ National Chemistry Week ^ National Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy Week ^ YWCA Week without Violence ^ National Character Counts Week ^ National Forest Products Week ^ National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week ^ National School Bus Safety Week

18-24: Freedom From Bullies Week ^ Freedom of Speech Week ^ Medical Assistants Recognition Week ^ National Food Bank Week ^ National Infertility Awareness Week ^ National Massage Therapy Week ^ National Businesswomen's Week

24-31: Disarmament Week ^ Give Wildlife a Break Week ^ Pastoral Care Week ^ Peace, Friendship and Good Will Week ^ Prescription Errors Education & Awareness Week ^ International Magic Week ^ National Respiratory Care Week

27-11/3: World Hearing Aid Awareness Week

¤ Today’s Observances ¤

Dictionary Day

Bridge Day: for the architecture that crosses rivers and canyons, not the card game

Fall Astronomy Day: Look to the sky

Sweetest Day: started in the Great Lakes region to spread love and joy

World Food Day

Jamaica: National Heroes Day

Poland: Day of Pope John Paul II (1978- Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected the 264th Pope)

¤ Hit Songs on this date ¤

1903...Harrah for Baffin's Bay / Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan

1913...Last Night Was the End of the World / Henry Burr

1923...Yes! We Have No Bananas / Billy Jones

1933...The Last Round-Up / George Olsen

1943…Sunday, Monday or Always / Bing Crosby

1953…St. George and the Dragonet / Stan Freberg

1963…Sugar Shack / Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs

1973…Angie / The Rolling Stones

1983…Total Eclipse of the Heart / Bonnie Tyler

¤ Today’s Births ¤

╬ THE ARTS

Gunter Grass, 83, author (The Tin Drum, Dog Years)

John Mayer, 33, singer

Eugene O'Neill, dramatist (Desire Under the Elms-Nobel 1936), in 1888

Oscar Wilde [Fingal O'Flahertie Wills], author (Pic of Dorian Gray) , born in Dublin, 1854

♦♦♦♦♦♦

Angela Lansbury, 85, actress (“Murder She Wrote,” National Velvet; Tony for Sweeney Todd)

Alice Pearce, comedienne/actress (Gladys Kravitz-Bewitched), in 1913

Tim Robbins, 52, actor (Oscar for Mystic River; The Player), director

Suzanne Somers, 64, actress (“Three’s Company,” “Step by Step,” American Graffiti)

╬ ATHLETICS

Melissa Louise Belote, 54, Olympic gold medal swimmer ’72 & ‘76

Leon (Goose) Goslin, baseball hall of famer (AL bat champ 1928), in 1900

╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION

J. B. Bury, Irish historian, in 1861

Noah Webster, lexicographer (Webster's Dictionary), in 1758

╬ POLITICS

David Ben-Gurion , 1st PM of Israel (1948-53, 55), born in 1886-Plonsk Poland

George Washington Williams, Black Civil War Hero and historian, helped change Belguim rule in Congo, in 1849

╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION

William Buell Sprague, American clergyman and author, in 1795

Leon Sullivan, American civil rights leader and pastor, in 1922

¤ Today’s Obituaries ¤

Marie Antoinette, queen of France, beheaded @ 58, in 1793

Leo G Carroll, actor (Topper, Man From Uncle), @ 80 in 1972

Moshe Dayan, Israel's general, heart attack @ 66, in 1981

Cornel Wilde, actor, leukemia @ 77, in 1989

¤ Today’s Events ¤

╬ THE ARTS

1941 "Gordo" comic strip (by Gus Arriola) 1st appears in newspapers

1972 John C. Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival called it a career ... and the group disbanded.

╬ ATHLETICS

1968 During Olympics Tommie Smith & John Carlos give black power salute

╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION

1829 Tremont Hotel, 1st US modern hotel opens (Boston)

1869 Hotel in Boston becomes the 1st to have indoor plumbing

1923 Disney Co founded

╬ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

1826 The POTAWATOMI Indians sign a treaty with the United States today. The Americans were represented by Lewis Cass, James Ray and John Tipton.

╬ POLITICS (US)

1861 Confederacy starts selling postage stamps

1775 Portland, Maine burned by British

1781 Washington takes Yorktown

1995 Hundreds of thousands of black men met at Washington, DC, for a “holy day of atonement and reconciliation” organized by Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam.

╬ POLITICS (International)

1945 UN's Food & Agriculture Organization comes into existence

1962 Cuban missile crisis began as JFK becomes aware of missiles in Cuba

╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION

1916 Margaret Sanger opens 1st birth control clinic (46 Amboy St, Brooklyn)

1928 The frosted electric light bulb was patented by Marvin Pipkin . No, it wasn’t the work of Thomas Edison, Westinghouse, General Electric, or any of his army, either.

1984 Bishop Desmond Tutu, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “his role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa.”

GREY MATTER ANSWERS

↔ 1 Jeopardy

$100- Rubber is an ingredient in this type of chewing gum: What is Bubble Gum?

$200- Easter creature created by Gene Autry in '55 hit record: Who is Peter Cottontail?

$300- Though a northern state, N.J. didn't abolish it until 1860: What is slavery?

$400- U.S. coin 97.6% zinc: What is a penny?

$500- Ohio City named for an ancestor of the 24th president: What is Cleveland?

↔ PICTURE

Computer printing, on a lottery ticket

^ ^ ^ ^ ^