Sunday October 17

This is Week 41 of 2010►Day 290 with 75 days left.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS

I had a lazy day, only putting out my fall decorations. Some are in the front area of the house, others are inside. I haven’t been able to decorate the door yet, waiting for the new numbers to be put up, and for the last touch up painting. Nothing like brightening up the neighborhood with a few small scarecrows and some gourds and pumpkins—uncut so far. I also cleaned up my flowerpots, as all the flowers have long since dried up. I’ll do the Halloween decorating a couple of days before the infamous day. I think I am more excited than usual for Halloween, since I was in South Africa last year for Halloween. That was the first Halloween I hadn’t been handing out candy since I grew too old to trick or treat myself. We don’t have a lot of trick or treat-ers out here, partly from our location, and partly I’m sure in the downfall of the activity due to concerns about taking candy or anything else from strangers. I get that, but it sure was fun when I was a kid.

It was a cloudy day, but alas only a couple of sprinkles here in Flag. One of those sprinkle times came as I was putting stuff outside, but even then, I didn’t even get wet or even damp. We are expected to have thunderstorms sometime tonight, but I will believe it when I hear of see them.

Flag…H—68°; L—32°; RH—58%; and no breeze at all.

QUOTE FOR THE DAY-- Chinese proverb

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

HOLY MACKEREL: 1985 Intel introduced the 32-bit 80386 microcomputer chip. It was the first Intel/*86 chip to handle 32-bit data sets. It ran at ‘clock speeds’ of up to 33 MHz -- blazingly fast in 1985.

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—NHL’s Stanley Cup

→The NHL's Stanley Cup was crafted in Sheffield, England and first presented in 1893. It is the oldest trophy competed for by professional athletes. The Cup is the only trophy in all of sport that is passed along from player to player the summer their team wins it.

→The trophy has been a guest of George Bush's and Bill Clinton's at the White House, a guest on Late Show with David Letterman, and has even been used as a baptismal font!

→It takes 13 years to fill the ring of the Stanley Cup with names of winners. Once a bottom ring is full, another one of the same size is removed from the top of the base and retired at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

→The trophy has logged more than 400,000 miles in travel during the past five seasons, and has raised more than $4 million for charity the past three seasons.

→There is a second version of the Stanley Cup that remains in the Hall of Fame which never travels, and is used for display purposes only at the Hall when the Stanley Cup is traveling.

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

$100-Currency where you'll find Lincoln's name on front & back

$200-4 little words carried on all U.S. currency

$300-Replaced Adams in the presidency & the Indian on the nickel

$400-The only U.S. coin with the Presidential Seal

$500-Never asked, never answered

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM

SEATTLE — A Vancouver, British Columbia, man will serve 30 months in a U.S. prison for leading a snowshoe smuggling ring that tried to bring marijuana to Washington state on treacherous mountain trails.

Richard Bafaro tearfully apologized in court Friday, saying he had been forced to pay $70,000 to drug suppliers after he lost a load of B.C. bud pot in the wilderness, which led him to smuggle more marijuana.

The 45-year-old said that on one of the trips to look for the missing pot, one of his friends was badly injured and had to be airlifted out of the Canadian forest.

Five men were arrested with links to Bafaro's operation and were sentenced to prison terms between eight months and one year. Bafaro was convicted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

A LITTLE LAUGH

Grandpa was always going on about the good old days, and the lower cost of living, in particular.

"When I was a kid, my mom could send me to the store, and I'd get a salami, two pints of milk, 6 oranges, 2 loaves o' bread, a magazine, and some new blue jeans... all for a dollar!!"

Then Grandpa said sadly, "You can't DO that anymore..... they got those darn video cameras everywhere you look."

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

It’s National Chemistry Week: Here are students talking about Chemistry…educational. Click Here to View!

And it just wouldn’t be Chemistry Week without it’s song: Click Here to View!

GREY MATTER PICTURE

This is a close up of what object?

SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION

¤ Weekly Observances ¤

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

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 ¤

Gaudy Day: (Latin gaudeo, to rejoice.)—wear something that is outlandish, brightly colored, and, well, gaudy.

Dasara: Hindi festival: derived from the Sanskrit Dasha-hara meaning "remover of bad fate"

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty: UN day since 1987

Mulligan Day or Do Over Day: a day for second chances

National Edge Day: To honor a Punk band that is against tobacco, drugs, illicit sex, and just about everything Punk.

World Toy Camera Day: Post pictures taken with an inexpensive camera: Click Here to View!

Argentina: Loyalty Day (Día de la lealtad: commemoration since 1945, when a massive labor demonstration at the Plaza de Mayo demanded the liberation of Juan Domingo Perón, who was jailed in Martín García island. It is considered the foundation day of Peronism.)

Haiti: Dessalines Day (1806 Haiti Revolutionary Jean Jacques Dessalines died)

Malawi: Mother's Day

¤ Hit Songs on this date ¤

Note: Clicking on the link will take you to the original hit song by the original artist. Most are actually live performances of the song. Caution: Some songs may get stuck in your brain for several hours. Many of the newer songs will bring back a flood of memories and hopefully some smiles of days gone by. The songs before your time will remind you that each generation has its own taste and definition of ‘good’. Many times I don’t recall the oldest songs until I hear them, knowing the tune, but not the name. Of course, some of the songs I have never heard, and probably will never hear again. Enjoy!!!!

1894...My Pearl Is a Bowery Girl / Dan Quinn

1904...Alexander / Billy Murray Click Here to View!

1914...Cohen on the Telephone / Joe Hayman Click Here to View!

1924...Memory Lane / Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians

1934...One Night of Love / Grace Moore Click Here to View!

1944…You Always Hurt the One You Love / The Mills Brothers Click Here to View!

1954…Hey There / Rosemary Clooney Click Here to View!

1964…Do Wah Diddy Diddy / Manfred Mann Click Here to View!

1974…Nothing from Nothing / Billy Preston Click Here to View!

1984…I Just Called to Say I Love You / Stevie Wonder Click Here to View!

¤ Today’s Births ¤

╬ THE ARTS

Eminem, 38, musician, rapper, actor, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III

Jupiter Hammon, 1st American black to publish poetry (Complete Works), in 1711

Alan Jackson, 52, rocker (Don't Rock the Jukebox, Here in the Real World)

Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel, motorcycle daredevil, in 1938

Arthur Miller, playwright (Death of a Salesman, The Crucible), in 1915

Gary Puckett, 68, vocalist (& the Union Gap-Woman Woman, Young Girl)

James Seals, 69, singer (Seals & Crofts-Summer Breeze)

Nathanael West, American novelist (Day of the Locusts), in 1903

♦♦♦♦♦♦

Spring Byington, Colo Springs, actress (Lily Ruskin-December Bride), in 1886

Montgomery Clift, actor (From Here to Eternity), in 1920

Beverly Garland, actress (“My Three Sons,” “Port Charles”), born Beverly Fessenden, in 1926

Rita Hayworth, (Alzheimer victim), actress (Gilda, Pal Joey), in 1919

Margot Kidder, 62, actress (Superman films, The Amityville Horror)

Tom Poston, actor (Steve Allen Show, Newhart, Hollywood Squares), in 1921

Irene Ryan, actress (Granny-Beverly Hillbillies), in 1903

George Wendt, 62, actor (“Cheers,” “The Naked Truth”)

╬ ATHLETICS

William "Candy" Cummings, created the curve ball, in 1848

Ernie Els, 41, golfer, born Johannesburg, South Africa

╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION

Jimmy Breslin, 80, columnist (NY Post, News, Newsday), in 1930

Jerry (Jerome) Siegel, cartoonist: Superman [w/Joe Shuster], in 1914

╬ POLITICS

Richard Johnson, 9th U.S. Vice President [1837-1841: under Van Buren], in 1780

╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION

John Paul I, 263rd Roman Catholic pope (1978),in 1912

¤ Today’s Obituaries ¤

Ralph Abernathy, civil rights leader, blood clots @ 64, in 1990

Tennessee Ernie Ford, country singer (16 Tons), pea-pickin’ heart stopped @ 72, in 1991

Julia Ward Howe, composer (Battle Hymn of the Republic), @ 91, in 1910

Gustav Kirchhoff, discoverer of the laws of spectroscopy, choked @ 63, in 1887

¤ Today’s Events ¤

╬ THE ARTS

1845 According to a Boston newspaper, the entire audience walked out of a reading of The Raven. The audience walked out, not because of the material, but because of their objection to Edgar Allan Poe, the reader and author of the macabre poem.

1919 Radio Corporation of America (RCA) created

1934 "The Aldrich Family" premieres on radio

1967 The play "Hair" is 1st performed

╬ ATHLETICS

1860 1st pro golf tournament held (Scotland) (Willie Park wins)

1987 1st World Series game in a covered stadium (Minnesota Metrodome) (World Series #84)

╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION

1829 Delaware River & Chesapeake Bay Canal formally opened

1904 Bank of Italy (now: Bank of America) opens its doors

╬ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

1782 Today, CHEROKEE Indians will sign the "Long Swamp" treaty with General Andrew Pickens in Selacoa, Georgia. They will cede land in Georgia as reparations for the fighting during the Revolutionary War.

╬ POLITICS (US)

1777 British General John Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga, NY

1787 Boston blacks, petition legislature for equal school facilities

1871 President Grant suspends writ of habeas corpus

1986 US Senate approved immigration bill prohibiting hiring of illegal aliens & offered amnesty to illegals who entered prior to 1982

╬ POLITICS (International)

1957 Britain's Queen Elizabeth & Prince Philip visit White House

╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION

1855 Bessemer steelmaking process patented

1933 Albert Einstein arrives in the US, a refugee from Nazi Germany

1979 Mother Teresa of India, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

GREY MATTER ANSWERS

↔ 1 Jeopardy

$100-Currency where you'll find Lincoln's name on front & back: What is the $5 bill?

$200-4 little words carried on all U.S. currency: What is ‘In God We Trust’?

$300-Replaced Adams in the presidency & the Indian on the nickel: Who is Thomas Jefferson?

$400-The only U.S. coin with the Presidential Seal: What is the JFK fifty-cent piece?

$500-Never asked, never answered

↔ PICTURE

Scissors handle

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