Wednesday

6 days so far this year…359 days remain in 2010
►Provocative Quote
"The average woman would rather be beautiful than smart because the average man can see better than he can think."
~unknown—but my guess is that it was a woman who first said it.
►Free Ramblings
I believe news correspondent Brit Hume went down the rabbit hole Sunday. I used to watch him when he was on ABC, and he gave thoughtful reports in numerous issues. He left ABC a few years ago, and I assumed he had retired. Turns out he went to Fox News—a station I almost never watch. He was on a panel on a News (?) Show on Fox. They were discussing Tiger’s fall. His suggestion to Tiger is that he shed his Buddhist Religion and become a Christian, because Christianity offers more forgiveness than other religions. His remarks have been all over the news channels. I just don’t get why a news show would suggest that one religion is better than another. For me, religion is a very personal belief. I have friends from many different religious backgrounds. I listen to their beliefs, and then I see how they live their lives. I don’t try to convert, I don’t try to change them. My belief system works for me, and I assume their system works for them. Too bad that so many others feel that they have the answer and then must coerce others into believing that way.

President Obama looked pissed off today when he talked about the underwear bomber. He laid out what happened, how he is changing things, and showed us that he is on top of this screw-up. He didn’t require that we all have to take our underwear off for TSA. Thank goodness he didn’t follow his predecessor with a knee-jerk reaction. Eight years ago a Brit, with ties to his Jamaican family put a bomb in his shoe and tried to detonate it. The flight crew and passengers stopped him. He is in a Super Max Prison for Life without Parole. Yet, today, every flying passenger at every airport in the US must remove their shoes before going through security. I’m sure it has been good for the loafer shoe business. When shoe removal first started, it was a pain in the butt. Now people just do it, like little robots. It is always interesting to watch the neophyte flyer who is not prepared for this. So, Obama did a good thing. He took his personnel to the wood shed. He then met with the whole group to figure out how to make our flights safer. He then told us what he was doing. He told us that some things will change. We are at war. We need to be prepared, but we don’t need knee-jerk reactions.

50° and a slight breeze. What a great day. Like a spring day, sort of. It started out cold and stayed that way till almost noon, then it nice. Tonight will be warmer than last night.

►Quotes from Values.com—LIVE LIFE
“Life is too deep for words, so don't try to describe it, just live it.”
~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963); Writer, Theologian, Scholar
►Unusual News
MUNCIE, Ind. - An Indiana fifth-grader is in hot water with his grandparents for taking $10,331 from a safe and attempting to distribute it to classmates, authorities said. Delaware County sheriff's deputies said the Selma Elementary School student took the money from a safe at the home where he lives with his custodial grandparents and handed out a little more than $300 to classmates on the bus ride to school before teachers confiscated the cash, the Muncie (Ind.) Star-Press reported Wednesday. "I doubt any of our administrators have experienced this before," Principal Joel Mahaffey said. He declined to comment further on the incident. Deputies said the boy was sent home with his grandmother. They said the money, which was in the sheriff's department's custody, would likely be returned to the family Monday.
Note: They should have lived on the Rez. During my career, similar things happened. One boy, in the mid-70’s, brought 25 $100 bills his parents had in a coffee can, money for a new truck. All was recovered. At least 10 times a student gave a $100 bill to a friend, sometimes for a cute toy. Each time the teacher discovered the money, the parents were happy we were able to recover the money. Kids never understood how much money it really was. It reminds me of the Shel Silverstein Poem where a child trades a dime for a penny because the penny is bigger.
►Random Fact
In a 1936 ping pong tournament, the players volleyed for more than two hours on the opening serve.
§ Interesting Statistics
*Note: I realize that statistics can be made to say just about anything.
~the high tides were 12” above average in Philadelphia in June, 2009.
~33% of US Households that own a Prius also own a SUV.
§ January Month Long Observances
Birthstone: Garnet …Flower: Carnation
Book Blitz Month * Bath Safety Month * Birth Defects Month * California Dried Plum Digestive Month * Celebration of Life Month * Cervical Cancer Screening Month * Financial Wellness Month * High Tech Month * International Creativity Month * International Quality of Life Month * International Wayfinding Month * International Wealth Mentality Month * National Be On-Purpose Month * National Bird Feeding Month * National Clean Up Your Computer Month * National Get Organized Month * National Glaucoma Awareness Month * National Hot Tea Month * National Mail Order Gardening Month * National Mentoring Month * National Personal Self-Defense Awareness Month * National Poverty in America Awareness Month * National Radon Action Month * National Skating Month * National Soup Month * National Volunteer Blood Donor Month * Oatmeal Month * Rising Star Month * Self-help Group Awareness Month * Senior Women’s Travel Month * Shape Up US Month * Thyroid Awareness Month
§ Observance Weeks in January
Celebration of Life Week: 1-7
Diet Resolution Week: 1-7
National Lose Weight/Feel Great Week: 1-8
Someday We'll Laugh About This Week: 2-9
Home Office Safety and Security Week: 3-9
Women's Self Empowerment Week: 4-10
§ 6 January Observances—US/UN/World
Epiphany or Twelfth Night or Three Kings Day for Christians
New Mexico: Admission Day (1912) 47th state
§ 6 January Observances—by country
Armenian Christmas (except in the Holy Land)—a second day of celebration for Christ’s birth
Iraq: Army Day
Ireland: Little Christmas (Nollaig Bheag) or Women’s Christmas (Nollaig na mBan) marks Epiphany: Celebrations include “Girls Day Out” type activities and children give presents to their mothers
Rastafari movement – Celebration of the ceremonial birthday of Haile Selassie—Ethiopian leader—direct descendent of King Solomon and Queen of Sheba
Ancient Latvia – Zvaigznes Diena [Day of Stars] observed: Christian
Italy: La Befana Day—legend says an old woman was visited by the Three Wise Men. Now she delivers small gifts and candies to children.
Uruguay: Children's Day
► Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1864…To force the NAVAJOs to move to the Bosque Redondo Encampment, the Army gets Kit Carson to mount an expedition against the NAVAJOs in the Canyon de Chelly.
►Who was born on this day?
     ~ The Arts
Rowan Atkinson in 1955 - comedian/actor (Mr Bean)
Robert Englund in 1949 - actor (Nightmare on Elm Street)
Bonnie Franklin in 1944 - TV actress
Sherlock Holmes in 1854 - fictional detective (via Arthur Conan Doyle)
Pepe Le Pew in 1945 - cartoon skunk
Tom (Thomas Hezikiah) Mix in 1880 - actor
Carl Sandburg in 1878 - poet/biographer of Lincoln
Earl Scruggs in 1924 - bluegrass musician
Vic Tayback in 1930 - actor (Mel-Alice)
Danny Thomas (Amos Jacobs) in 1914 - Actor, founded St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital
Benedict Vilakazi in 1906 South Africa - Zulu poet, novelist, educator (Zulu-English Dictionary)
Loretta Young (Gretchen Michaela Young) in 1913 - Academy Award-winning actress
Malcolm Young in 1953 in Glasgow Scotland - guitarist (AC/DC)
     ~Athletics
Lou Holtz in 1937 - football: college head coach
Nancy Lopez Knight in 1957 - pro golfer
     ~Business, Education, Politics
Joan of Arc in 1412 - martyr
Richard II in 1367 in Bordeaux, France - king of England
Samuel Rayburn in 1882- Speaker of the House
Jedediah Strong Smith in 1799 - US fur trader/explorer
     ~Science/Religion
Reverend Sun Myung Moon I 1920 - evangelist (Unification Church-Moonies)
►Who Died on this day?
Peter C Asbjørnsen in 1885 Norwegian fairy tale writer (Three Billy Goats Gruff and others), @ 72
John B "Dizzy" Gillespe in 1993 blues trumpeter - cancer @ 75
Gregor Mendel in 1884 Augustine monk/heredity pioneer – kidney disease @ 61
Rudolph Nureyev in 1993 Russian ballet dancer - AIDS @ 54
Theodore Roosevelt in 1919 26th President – heart attack @ 60
Robert H W Welch Jr in 1985 US founder/leader John Birch Society, @ 85
►What happened on this day?
1639…Virginia is 1st colony to order surplus crops (tobacco) destroyed
1745…Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army draws to Glasgow
1759…'George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Curtis
1838…Samuel Morse made 1st public demonstration of telegraph
1900…Boers attack at Ladysmith, about 1,000 killed or injured
1907…Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome.
1914…Stock brokerage firm of Merrill Lynch founded
1929…Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta to begin a her work amongst India's poorest and diseased people.
1945…Future President George Bush marries Barbara Pierce in Rye NY
1952…Peanuts debuted above the fold in newspapers across the U.S.
1963…"Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins begins on NBC
1971…Berkeley chemists announces 1st synthetic growth hormones
1975…"Wheel Of Fortune" debuts
1994…Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed in the knee at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit.
►Rhyme & Reason Puzzle
Answer the following clue in two rhyming words (e.g. an obese feline is a fat cat) If only one number is given, the answer is a word featuring internal rhyme (e.g. voodoo)
1. hag swap (5,6) :
2. bashful Londoners (8,7):
3. ship of the moon (5,8):
4. blood shed in battle (3,4):
5. sixty minutes enjoyed in a secluded garden spot (5,4):
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ANSWERS
1. hag swap (5,6) : witch switch
2. bashful Londoners (8,7): skittish British
3. ship of the moon (5,8): Lunar schooner
4. blood shed in battle (3,4): war gore
5. sixty minutes enjoyed in a secluded garden spot (5,4): bower hour