15 April 2010~~Week 16 of 2010: 105 days this year…260 days remain
Tax Forms are Due TODAY!
‡ Something To Think About
Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
--Charles Dickens (1812-1870) English novelist
• Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1981 ►Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke relinquished the Pulitzer Prize she had received two days earlier for her feature "Jimmy's World published in The Washington Post on September 29, 1980" about an 8-year-old heroin addict after admitting she had fabricated the story.
‡ Free Ramblings
I e-filed my taxes today. Amazing how software programs can crunch the numbers to tell me how much I owe and how much I get back. I was glad it was over, and pleased that both AZ and the Feds will be giving me some of my money back. I still don’t fully understand why I should be happy that the two governments kept so much of my money interest free. When I was working the State of AZ caught me a couple of times when I owed them money. That pissed me off. Now, when I get money back, I figure, ah…time for another travel adventure. I still want a flat tax where everyone pays the same percentage of their income. I think I would be able to deal with purchases that had a flat tax as part of the price. Things would seem more expensive but April 15 would just be another nice spring day. It would save so many trees. Revolutionary for sure, but the current IRS system is not working. Even the tax preparers have a hard time keeping up with the laws. Of course, all good software programs say they can handle it. My income is very complicated and even though my preparer has a very good program and a Peace of Mind Guarantee that if a mistake is made, all I have to pay is the tax, and none of the penalties. My guy was telling me how no one else in the office wants to do my forms. Not because I am a bad guy. Only because it is so complicated and the preparer has to spend mucho hours reading and re-reading tax codes to be sure that I get back as much as possible. Others in the office don’t like that challenge. They just want to sit down with the client, ask the questions, type in the numbers, and hit finish. Quick, easy, and no thinking involved. One last thing, I got two emails this afternoon. The first told that I will be getting my Federal refund in 8-10 days, the second that my AZ forms were accepted. The AZ gov’t has been saying that it may take 14 weeks to get OUR money. More on that later.
John McCain appears to be in political fight of his life within his own party. For the first time since he was first elected—about the time AZ became a state—he has a strong Republican challenger. His opponent is even more conservative than ol’ John. This has McCain trying to show all us Arizonians that he actually is not a Maverick, but a Conservative. Health Care Reform is bad, very bad. Change is bad, very bad. Today he suggested that it was about time to seriously consider bombing Iran to prevent them from getting the bomb. He even took a Beach Boys song of the 60’s—Barbara Ann—and changed it into a ditty about “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb…Bomb Bomb Iran.” He also came out today against changing Bank Regulations to get rid of ‘too big to fail.’ Great.
Flagstaff had a great weather day. I was outside, working on the area between my deck and the fence, cleaning up the winter pine needles and trying to figure out if I want to build a small garden out there. We made it to 60° and had very little wind. To be fair, the weather service says that we had some 30mph gusts, but I sure didn’t have them over here. I was even able to keep a couple of window upstairs open most of the afternoon. Soon I will be able to keep them open 24/7 and the smell of the forest will fill my house. That will be very nice.
‡ A Quick Smile…
"What kind of music do you sing?"
"Aqua-pella."
"Don't you mean 'a cappella', singing without instrumental accompaniment?"
"Nope. I mean 'aqua-pella', singing accompanied only by the water coming out of the shower-head."
‡ Random Fact
Camel's milk does not curdle.
‡ Puzzle
Heteronyms are words that are spelled identically but have different meanings when pronounced differently. For example: Lead, pronounced LEED, means to guide. However, lead, pronounced LED, means a metallic element. Identify the heteronyms below from their definitions
1. a resister; to resist
2. keeping within reason; to preside over
3. carefully considered; to consider
‡ Side Show Stories
RICHMOND, Va. - Members of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles' "Word Committee" said they meet once a month to try to keep dirty words off vanity license plates. Committee members, all employees of the department, said they meet on the second Tuesday of every month and scrutinize applications for personalized license plates to make sure they do not contain concealed profanity or references to drugs, alcohol, gangs or crime, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported Monday. Melanie Stokes, who sits on the committee and serves as the department's head of public relations, said a computer program weeds out the obvious banned combinations of letters and numbers before the committee, made up of people from all demographics, looks over those still in question.
"Our job is to look at the combination as if it's driving down the road," Stokes said. "We discuss what it could be, and one person's interpretation can be very different from another's." Stokes said some of the less-profane submissions rejected by the committee include: BITETHS, IHAV2P, LVVODKA, PMPNVAN, IGETHI, NOGOD and AHCRAAP.
‡ Calendar Information
• Observance Weeks in April•
11-17
National Environmental Week
National Library Week
National Personal Training Week
Pan American Week
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Week
Week of The Young Child
12-18
National Crime Victims Rights Week
14-18
International Whistler's Week
• 14 April Observances—US/UN/World •
Rubber Eraser Day
High Five Day
Income Tax Pay Day
Take a Wild Guess Day
That Sucks Day
Equal Pay Day
Major League Baseball: Jackie Robinson Day, to commemorate his debut breaking major-league baseball's color barrier
• 14 April Observances—by country •
Africa : African Freedom Day
North Korea: Arirang Festival, held to commemorate Kim Il-sung's birth
•Number One Songs in…
1945 ►Smoke on the Water - Bob Wills
1953 ►Doggie in the Window - Patti Page
1961 ►Dedicated to the One I Love - The Shirelles
1969 ►Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In - The 5th Dimension
1977 ►Dancing Queen - Abba
• 14 April Happenings•
In The Arts
1923 ►1st sound on film public performance shown at Rialto Theater (NYC)
In Athletics
1947 ►Jackie Robinson, becomes the first African American player in Major League Baseball
In Business or Education
1794 ►Courrier Francais became the first French daily newspaper to be published in the U.S.
1817 ►1st American school for the deaf opens (Hartford CT)
1817 ►1st American school for the deaf opens (Hartford CT)
1878 ►Harley Procter introduces Ivory Soap
1952 ►Franklin National Bank issues 1st bank credit card
1955 ►Ray Kroc starts the McDonald's chain of fast food restaurants (Illinois)
In Politics
1942 ►The people from the tiny Island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea ( 121 sq miles ) are awarded The George Cross by King George VI. Malta played a crucial role in World War II
1960 ►Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), organizes at Shaw University
1985 ►South Africa will repeal sex & marriage laws against whites & non-whites
2002 ►The US Food and Drug Administration approved the cosmetic use of Botox
In Science/ Religion
1738 ►Bottle opener invented
1784 ►1st balloon flight in Ireland
1800 ►James Ross discovers North Magnetic pole
1923 ►Insulin became available for general use on this day—My maternal grandmother, Katherine, was part of the early experiments, in 1922, and lived until 1958.
• 14 April Births •
Artists, Writers, and Composers
Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, 63, TV producer (Designing Women, Murphy Brown)
Henry James, 1843, author: The Turn of the Screw
Leonardo da Vinci, 1452, Italy, painter/sculptor/scientist/visionary
Athletes
Willie (William Henry) Davis, 1940, baseball: LA Dodgers [World Series: 1963, 1965, 1966]
Ricardo Ricky Otero, 38, outfielder (Philadelphia Phillies), born Vega Baja, Puerto Rico
Ted Sizemore, 65, baseball: St. Louis Cardinals; National League Rookie of the Year: LA Dodgers 2B [1969]
Entertainers
Roy Clark, 77, country singer (Hee Haw)
Hans Conried, 1917, actor: host: Fractured FlickersTV Series
Elizabeth Montgomery, 1933, actress (Samantha/Serena-Bewitched)
Seth Rogan, 28, actor (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Pineapple Express), born Vancouver, BC, Canada
Bessie Smith, 1894, ‘Empress of the Blues’: blues singer
Emma Watson, 20, actress (Harry Potter films), born Oxford, England
Business, Education Leaders
Adrian Cadbury, 81, candy manufacturer (Cadbury, Schweppes), British Olympic Rower
Heloise (Ponce Kiah Marchelle Heloise Cruse Evans), 59, newspaper columnist, writer: Hints from Heloise; she took over the Heloise empire after her mother, the original Heloise, died in 1977
Asa Philip Randolph, 1889, labor leader (Railroad Porter's Union)
Political Leaders
Harold Washington, 1922, 1st black mayor of Chicago
Scientists /Religious Leaders
Leonhard Euler, 1707, mathematician (Euler's Constant), born Bassle Sweden
Nanak, 1469, 1st guru of Sikhs
Mary Harris Thompson, 1829, 1st American woman surgeon
• 14 April Obits •
Raymond Bailey, 1980, actor (Mr Drysdale-Beverly Hillbillies), @ 75
Wallace Beery, 1949, US actor (The Champ), heart attack @ 64
Leslie Charteris, 1993, British mystery writer (Saint), @ 85
Richard Conte, 1975, actor (B-movie film noir), heart attack @ 65
Greta Garbo, 1990, actress (Anna Karenina, Camille), @ 84
Boris Godunov, 1605, tsar of Russia, dies (Boris Badenov—Rocky and Friends-was a pun)
President Abraham Lincoln, 1865, assasniated @ 56
Jean-Paul Sartre, 1980, existentialist philosopher/writer (Nobel 1964), @ 74
‡ ANSWERS to puzzle
1. Rebel REBBell- a resister; rihBELL- to resist
2. Moderate MODerit- keeping within reason; MODerATE- to preside over
3. Deliberate diLIBerit- carefully considered; diLIBerATE- to consider
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