17 April 2010~~Week 16 of 2010: 106 days this year…259 days remain
‡ Something To Think About
This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love.
~ Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Holy Mackel: On this day in 1985 ►The U.S. Postal Service unveiled its new 22-cent LOVE stamp.
‡ Free Ramblings
Tonight was our Great Discussions group. Tonight it was on China. I’m writing this before the discussion as we will be late tonight. Looking forward to the discussion as one of our members was in China last year.
Yesterday I forgot to publish the Battle of Culloden in Happenings. Don’t know how that happened. I had it on my list, and since I have been there, can’t figure out how I left if out. For those of you unfamiliar with the Battle, it took place in 1746. It was the final battle of the Jacobite Uprising. Two thousand Jacobites were slaughtered. The aftermath of the battle was that Scots were banned from wearing their clan tartans and playing the bagpipes. The battlefield today has a wonderful interactive museum, obviously designed with educator’s input. Many displays have journal quotes from both sides. A 360° film room puts you right in the middle of the battle. You can also walk through the battlefield and find many markers for the clans that lost that day. The Fraser's of Lovat were there and I found thier marker. An amazing site.
The Wild West became wilder today in Arizona. Now, not only do we have an open carry law, now it is legal to carry a concealed weapon without a permit, without any training, just like the wild west. Yee-hah! In some warped sense of justice our non-elected governor believes this will make us all safer. In her little world, the bad guys will no longer know who has a gun and this will stop them from using a gun while committing a crime. She also believes this will stop criminals from committing crimes in general because everyone might be armed. Sure, that will happen. And our streets are paved with gold, everyone in AZ is above average, and you can follow a yellow brick road to meet the wizard.
Flagstaff had another beautiful Spring day. We made it to 65° and the sky was very blue. It is getting harder and harder to remember that there is still snow on the horizon.
‡ A Quick Smile…
The local high school has a policy that the parents must call the school if a student is to be absent for the day. Alice decided to skip school and go to the mall with her friends. So she waited until her parents had left for work and called the school herself.
"Hi, I'm calling to report that Alice is unable to make it to school today because she is ill."
Secretary at high school answered, "I'm sorry to hear that. I'll note her absence. Who is this calling please?"
"This is my mother."
‡ Random Fact
The Baby Ruth candy bar was actually named after Grover Cleveland's baby daughter, Ruth.
‡ 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.
1. vegetables; bring forth
2. a bird; jumped off
3. an agreement; to shrink or to agree on a project
‡ Side Show Stories
Oklahoma City, OK: Be careful what bars you go into in Oklahoma City. You just might get your nose cut off! Police say the manager of a small bar attacked several customers with a sword. The suspect, Adan Zapata, is charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
Police say Zapata thought the victim and his friends were making too much noise. Zapata supposedly got mad, grabbed the 34-inch sword, chased the men outside and slashed one man in the face.
One witness thinks the victim is lucky to be alive.
"He was scared. He cried, 'Oh my nose, he cut my nose,'" said the witness.
"This individual was seriously injured. He was slashed on the shoulder, hand and on his face," said a police spokesman.
In addition to the assault charge, Zapata faces a lesser citation for destroying private property...if you consider a man's face private property.
His friend says doctors have used pieces of skin from his ear and forehead to try and fashion a new nose. Remember the good, old days when all a bar tender kept behind the bar was a Louisville Slugger?
‡ 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
17-23
National Park Week
• 17 April Observances—US/UN/World •
National Cheeseball Day
Auctioneers Day
Blah! Blah! Blah! Day
Ellis Island Family History Day
Ford Mustang Day
Husband Appreciation Day
Nothing Like A Dame Day
Record Store Day
Teach Your Daughter to Volunteer Day
• 17 April Observances—by country •
American Samoa : Flag Day (1900)
Democratic Kampuchea : Day of the Great Victory: 1975 Now known as Cambodia
Gabon: Women's Day
Japan : Children's Protection Day
Syria : Evacuation Day/Independence Day (1946 from France)
•Number One Songs in…
1955 ►The Ballad of Davy Crockett - Bill Hayes
1963 ►He’s So Fine - The Chiffons
1971 ►Joy to the World - Three Dog Night
1979 ►What a Fool Believes - The Doobie Brothers
1987 ►Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now - Starship
• 17 April Happenings•
In The Arts
--
In Athletics
--
In Business or Education
1817 ►1st US school for the deaf founded by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc (American School for the Deaf-Hartford CT)
1875 ►"Snooker" (variation of pool) invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain
1964 ►The Ford Motor Co. unveiled its new Mustang
In Politics
1629 ►Horses were first imported into the colonies by the Massachusetts Bay Colony
1818: Jackson sets out for Florida today to fight the SEMINOLEs.
1971 ►Egypt, Libya & Syria form federation (FAR)
1985 ►The U.S. Postal Service unveiled its new 22-cent LOVE stamp.
In Science/ Religion.
1521 ►Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church
1534 ►Sir Thomas More confined in London Tower
1986 ►IBM produces 1st megabit-chip
• 17 April Births •
Artists, Writers, and Composers
Don Kirshner, 76, music publisher, promoter—first to publish ‘bubblegum’
Thornton Wilder, 1897, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist
Athletes
[Norman] Boomer Esiason, 1961, NFL quarterback (Bengals, Jets)
Pedro (Modesto Delfi) Garcia, 60,baseball: Brewers, Tigers, Blue Jays
Entertainers
--
Business, Education Leaders
Charles R Gallas, 1868, Dutch lexicographer (French dictionary)
J.P. (John Pierpoint) Morgan,1837, financier
Political Leaders
Nikita S Khrushchev, 1894 1st Secretary USSR
Harry Reasoner, 1923, Dakota City IA, newscaster
Scientists /Religious Leaders
--
• 17 April Obits •
Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, 1990, civil rights activist, blood clot @ 64
Dick Shawn comedian (Producers), 1987, on stage from a heart attack @ 63
‡ ANSWERS to puzzle
1. Produce PROdoos- vegetables; proDOOS- bring forth
2. Dove DUV- a bird; DOEV- jumped off
3. Contract CONtract- an agreement; conTRACT- to shrink or to agree on a project
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