≈Week 18 of 2010: 121 days this year… 244 days remain≈
≈ Something To Think About
"The world's favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May."
- Edwin Way Teale
≈ Random Fact
Hans Christian Andersen's 1835 Wonder Stories was banned from children's reading lists in Illinois in 1954. The book was stamped “For Adult Readers” to make it “impossible for children to obtain smut.”
• Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1941 ►The movie "Citizen Kane," premiers
≈ Free Ramblings
Here we are at May 1st. The month May might been named for the Greek Earth goddess Maia, who was identified with the Roman era goddess of fertility, Bona Dea, whose festival was held in May. The Roman poet Ovid provides a second etymology, in which he says that the month of May is named for the maiores, Latin for "elders." The first Saturday of May has brought us the Kentucky Derby since 1875. Its birth flower is the Lily of the Valley and the Crataegus monogyna. May's birthstone is the emerald which means love or success. May 1st used to be a day to welcome spring with a may pole, and candy. During the Cold War, the centuries old tradition died out because it was also a military strength celebration in communist countries.
I only hope that May brings us some real warm spring weather. We had wind, clouds, blue sky, wind, clouds, snow and it never really warmed up today. We started at 18° and climbed only to 44°. The wind made it hard to be outside.
Immigration has become quite the hot button issue around here. Law enforcement in Phoenix—Sheriff Joe—has ran another crime sweep and claims to have arrested about 70 undocumented Mexicans. A southern AZ county sheriff deputy may have been wounded by drug smugglers. Several ‘drop houses’ have been raided with three dozen arrests. As a law abiding citizen, it is hard for me to fathom entering another country without proper paperwork. I am not that desperate to leave my country, nor am I that adventurous. I do recall a visit to Mexico, in the late 80’s, while at a conference in Tucson. Three of us, one Navajo and three white guys crossed at Douglas. I had been to Mexico five or six times before, but on this trip the Mexican economy was in the dumps. Vendors were very aggressive. Prices started high, but came down substantially very quickly. We did some shopping, wandered the streets, found a restaurant and ate an early dinner. When we finished dinner and re-entered the streets, the vendors were still there, as were a darker side of the city. We were offered drugs, women, men, and just about anything else that was illegal. I recall seeing the border crossing from several blocks away. It was dark and all we could see at the crossing was the lighted American Flag. This is the only time in my life that I was relieved when I crossed into the states. While the day trip was well worth the trip, I wouldn’t want to spend the night. On all other trips the economy was much better and overnight trips would not have been a concern.
Immigrants to our country need to be lawful. When non-Americans want to live in the US, it needs to be more than simply walking, swimming, flying, or driving here. I understand that this is not happening in lots of cases. I understand that many people in this country do not like living around people who are different than themselves. Hysteria is easy to build. Our country has many instances of hysteria changing our way of life. The Japanese Camps are one example. The Indian Reservations are another. The Salem Witch Trials are another. The list goes on and on. Fear of Muslims is another. Sadly we are now living in hysteria that aliens are here only to destroy our way of life. Forcing legal American citizens or legal American immigrants to carry proof of legal status because they look like others who are not legal is wrong. This hysteria is bringing out a lot of never talked about bias that people have toward those who look, dress, talk, or live differently. Many are hoping for the old melting pot gray soup to the salad bowl our country was built on.
≈ A Quick Smile…
While working in the library at a university, I was often shocked by the excuses students would use to get out of paying their fees for overdue books. One evening an older student returned two books that were way overdue and threw a fit over the "outrageous" $2 fee that I asked her to pay.
I tried to explain how much she owed for each day, but she insisted she should be exempt. "You don't understand," she blurted out. "I didn't even read them!"
≈ Puzzle
The number next to the acronym helps solve what the acronym means... e.g. 365 DIAY = 365 days in a year, and 366 DIALY = 366 days in a leap year.
1. 7 DASW
2. 6 FIAF
3. 9 LOAC
≈ Side Show Stories
Louis Woodcock, 23, testified at his Toronto trial in March that he was not involved in the 2005 shooting of a woman, despite being seen on surveillance video approaching the woman and holding his hand inside his jacket until gunshots rang out. He said he often kept his hand inside his jacket to keep from sucking his thumb, which is a habit he picked up in childhood and which did not go over well on the street. (The jury, apparently not seeing him as the thumb-sucking type, convicted him of manslaughter.) [CTV (Toronto), 3-9-10]
≈ Calendar Information
BUSINESS
International Business Image Improvement Month ☼ International Audit Month ☼ Revise Your Work Schedule Month
EDUCATION
Creative Beginnings Month ☼ American Wetlands Month ☼ Get Caught Reading Month ☼ Latino Books Month ☼ National Photo Month ☼ National Foster Care Month ☼ National Family Month ☼ National Smile Month ☼ Personal History Month ☼ Prepare Tomorrow's Parents Month ☼ Teen Self-Esteem Month ☼ Young Achievers of Tomorrow Month
ENVIRONMENT
Eco-Driving Month ☼ Gifts From The Garden Month ☼ National Moving Month ☼ National Good Car Keeping Month ☼ National Bike Month ☼ Motorcycle Safety Month
FOOD
National Hamburger Month ☼ National Egg Month ☼ National Barbeque Month ☼ National Vinegar Month ☼ National Salsa Month ☼ National Salad Month ☼ Sweet Vidalia Onions Month
HEALTH
ALS Awareness Month (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's Disease) ☼ APS (Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome) Awareness Month ☼ Arthritis Awareness Month ☼ Awareness of Medical Orphans Month ☼ Better Hearing & Speech Month ☼ Borderline Personality Disorder Month ☼ Brain Tumor Awareness Month ☼ Clean Air Month ☼ Family Wellness Month ☼ Fibromyalgia Education and Awareness Month ☼ Heal the Children Month ☼ Healthy Vision Month ☼ Huntington's Disease Awareness Month ☼ Lupus Awareness Month ☼ National Allergy/Asthma Awareness Month ☼ National Hepatitis Awareness Month ☼ Neurofibromatosis Awareness Month (aka NF Month) ☼ (World) Lyme Disease Awareness Month ☼ National Meditation Month ☼ National Mental Health Month ☼ National Osteoporosis Prevention Month ☼ National Physiotherapy Month ☼ National Physical Fitness & Sports Month ☼ National Stroke Awareness Month ☼ Strike Out Strokes Month ☼ Tay-Sachs and Canavan Diseases Month ☼ Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month ☼ Ultra-violet Awareness Month ☼ Women's Health Care Month
HERITAGE
Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month ☼ Jewish-American Heritage Month ☼ Haitian Heritage Month ☼ Older Americans Month ☼ National Preservation Month
PATRIOTISM
National Military Appreciation Month ☼ International Victorious Woman Month
PETS
Go Fetch! Food Drive for Homeless Animals Month
SPORTS
Tennis Month
• Observance Weeks in May•
1-7
Bread Pudding Recipe Exchange Week
• Today’s Observances—US/UN/World •
Amtrak Day
Executive Coaching Day
Free Comic Book Day
Join Hands Day
Keep Kids Alive! Drive 25 Day
Kentucky Derby Law Day
Lei Day in Hawaii since 1923
Loyalty Day: for recognition of American Freedoms
May Day
Mother Goose Day
National Dance Day
National Homebrew Day
National Scrapbooking Day
Silver Star Day: for sacrifice, honoring wounded, ill and dying members of our Armed Forces Massachusetts : Senior Citizens' Day (1963)
• Today’sObservances—by country •
Finland : Vappu Day (Worker’s Day/Spring begins—lots of parties in 16.5 hours of sunlight)
India : Maharashtra Day (1960)
Marshall Islands: Constitution Day since 1979
International Workers' Day
Czech Republic: National Love Day--couples flock to the memorial of the poet Karel Hynek Mácha in Prague and kiss.
Kazakhstan: Unity Day
• Today’s Number One Songs in…
For anyone interested, all these songs are available on iTunes.
1948 ►Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me); Peggy Lee
1958 ►Witch Doctor; David Seville [The Chipmunks]
1968 ►Honey; Bobby Goldsboro
1978 ►Night Fever; The Bee Gees
1988 ►Wishing Well; Terence Trent D'Arby
• Today’s Happenings•
In The Arts
1883 ►Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody) staged his first Wild West Show.
1931 ►Singer Kate Smith begins her long-running radio program on CBS
1939 ►Batman Comics hit the street
1939 ►Pulitzer Prize awarded to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (The Yearling)
1941 ►The movie "Citizen Kane,"
1950 ►Pulitzer prize awarded to Rodgers & Hammerstein (South Pacific)
1961 ►Pulitzer prize awarded to Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)
In Athletics
1751 ►1st American cricket match is played—jus didn’t catch on
1940 ►The 1940 Olympics are cancelled
1951 ►Mickey Mantle's 1st homerun
In Business or Education
1704 ►Boston Newsletter publishes 1st newspaper ad
1867 ►Howard University chartered
1884 ►Construction begins on Chicago's 1st skyscraper (10 stories)
1927 ►1st British airliner to serve cooked meals (Imperial Airways)
1931 ►Empire State Building opens in New York NY
1941 ►General Mills introduces Cheerios
1982 ►The 1982 World’s Fair opens in Knoxville, Tennessee.
In Politics
1833 ►A census of the Creek upper towns shows 14,142 people, including 445 Negro slaves
1866 ►American Equal Rights Association forms
1961 ►1st US airplane hijacked to Cuba
In Science/ Religion
1682 ►Louis XIV & his court inaugurate Paris Observatory
1963 ►1st American (James Whittaker) conquers Mount Everest
• Today’s Births •
Artists, Writers, and Composers
--
Athletes
Charles (Chuck) Bednarik, 85, Hall of Fame football player
Curtis Martin, 37, former football player
Entertainers
Harry [Harold George Jr] Belafonte, 1927, calypso singer (The Banana Boat Song)
Judy Collins, 71, singer
Rita Coolidge, 65, singer
Art Fleming, 1924, TV host (Jeopardy)
Sonny James, 81, singer
Tim McGraw, 43, country singer
Louis Nye, 1922, comedian
Dan O'Herlihy, 1919, Ireland, actor
Jack Parr, 1916, TV host (Jack Paar Show)
Kate Smith, 1907, singer (God Bless America)
Business, Education Leaders
--
Political Leaders
Calamity [Martha] Jane [Burke], 1852, frontier adventurer/Indian fighter
Mary Harris Jones [Mother Jones], 1830, labor leader
Scientists /Religious Leaders
Chardonnet, 1839, inventor (rayon)
Paul Teutul, Sr, 61, motorcycle designer, television personality (“American Chopper”)
• Today’s Obits •
Bebe AKA Flipper, 1997, dolphin, @ 40
Antonín Dvorak, 1904, Czechoslovakia, composer (Slavic Dancing), heart failure @ 62
Lindley Armstrong ‘Spike’ Jones, 1965, composer (Spike Jones Show), emphysema @ 53
David Livingstone, 1873 British physician/explorer (Africa), dysentery @ 60
≈ ANSWERS to puzzle
1. 7 DASW = 7 dwarves and Snow White
2. 6 FIAF = 6 feet in a fathom
3. 9 LOAC = 9 Lives of a cat
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