This is Week 25 of 2010, Day 173 with 192 days left. It is Day 63 of the BP Mess.
Free Rambling Thoughts
Our main fire has grown to 10,000 acres today. Two more subdivisions have been evacuated. The wind continues. Thanks to the great firefighters, hot shot crews, and all other first responders there have been no homes lost. These people are real heroes. The local university, the mayor, and the local paper are keeping us all up to date with excellent on-line coverage. Seldom are they giving good news, but all the news comes out very professionally. Amazing, still, how technology has improved our small mountain town communication process. Since this is Nat’l news, I got lots of email and txts from people I know around the country. All concerned after watching our mountain burn. To make matters worse, the humidity has dropped to 7% and the wind continues to gust around 40-50 mph at various places where the fire actually is. Big planes with all their fire retardant have been grounded at various times due to the wind. My place is in the flight path to the fire, so I know every helicopter and every plane that flies. They were busy late last night when the wind finally died down.
Since the Fires of Flagstaff have taken up most of my news watching, I have not been keeping up with the Gulf mess. Last year I thought the bad guys were the Wall Street brokers and banks for messing with our money. (Just read today that US banks charged $38.9 Billion in overdraft fees in 2009). So they certainly are not on the side of the customer. On top of that almost pure profit, they are not loaning money either. Now the bad guys are the oil companies. NASA has a program—Project Omega—that takes waste water, puts algae in it in a big plastic bag and over time, clean and drinkable water comes out. They are doing the development for long space flights. Big Oil is pressuring Congress to not fund this technology. Several say they have a better way that needs government funding. For some reason I don’t believe them. It seems that the business model has one, and only one bottom line—profit. So unfortunate that Education has taken on this model. The only ‘profit’ in education has become ‘test scores’. Our children do not fit into a balance sheet. Neither does our higher ed students. Our country needs critical thinkers, not people who do well on multiple choice tests.
It was 80° away from the fire. The smoke made it hard to spend a lot of time outside.
Holy Mackerel: On this date in 1942 ►V-Mail, or Victory-Mail, was sent for the first time. V-Mail used a special paper for letter writing during WWII. It was designed to reduce cargo space taken up by mail sent to and from members of the armed services. The letters written on this special paper were opened at the post office, censored and reduced in size by photography. One roll of film contained 1,500 letters.
My Quote For The Day
Mark Twain: When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.
Somewhat Useless Information
The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.
Grey Matter Puzzle 1
Can you take three letters away from a four-letter word and manage to have it mean the same thing?
Hint: It’s a number
Unusual News Item
VICTORIA, British Columbia - Canadian police said a rowdy French sailor who drunkenly shed his clothes in public twice was turned over to his commanding officer. Victoria police said there were few problems among the 5,000 sailors visiting the city for the Canadian Navy's centennial, but one French sailor had a bit too much to drink and took off his uniform in the lobby of a hotel, CanWest News Service reported. Deputy Police Chief John Ducker said officers escorted the sailor back to his ship where he again slipped out of his clothing while waiting to board. Ducker said the ship's captain was standing behind him during the second incident. "The punishment a sailor would get from his commanding officer is much worse than anything we can do," police spokesman Sgt. Grant Hamilton said.
A Little Laff
A husband and wife were involved in a petty argument, both of them unwilling to admit they might be in error.
"I'll admit I'm wrong," the wife told her husband in a conciliatory attempt, "if you'll admit I'm right."
He agreed and, like a gentleman, insisted she go first.
"I'm wrong," she said.
With a twinkle in his eye, he responded, "You're right!"
Grey Matter Puzzle 2
Sir, I bear a rhyme excelling
In mystic force and magic spelling
Celestial sprites elucidate
All my own striving can't relate
My You Tube Site of the Day
Lots of people showed up at Stonehenge for the solstice. Click HERE!
Grey Matter Picture--This is a close up of what common object?
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One person allowed.
Some Calendar Info
► Weekly Observances ◄
20-26: Carpenter Ant Awareness Week and National Mosquito Control Awareness Week
► Today’s Observances ◄
Perigan Spring Tides
Stupid Guy Thing Day
National Columnists Day
Congo : Army Day
Croatia: Anti-Fascist Struggle Day
El Salvador : School Teacher's Day/D¡a del Maestro
Haiti : Sovereignty Day/President's Day
Virgin Islands : Organic Act Day (1954)
Yemen PDR : Corrective Move Day
► Hit Songs on this date ◄
Tuxedo Junction: Glenn Miller in 1940
'The Third Man' Theme’: Anton Karas in 1950
Everybody's Somebody's Fool: Connie Francis in 1960
The Love You Save: The Jackson 5 in 1970
► Born today
…The Arts
Dan Brown, 46, author (The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons), born Exeter, NH
Paul Frees, 1920, animation voice (Bullwinkle) , born in Chicago
Don Henley, 63, drummer/singer (Eagles) , born in Gilmer, TX
Michael Todd (Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen), 1909, producer: Oklahoma!, Around the World in 80 Days , born in Minneapolis
Billy Wilder, 1906, movie director (Some Like It Hot, Apartment, Stalag 17) , born in Sucha Beskidzka, Austria-Hungary (now Poland)
+++
Amy Brenneman, 46, actress (“Judging Amy”), born Glastonbury, CT
Carson Daly, 37, host (“MTV Live,” “Last Call with Carson Daly”), born Santa Monica, CA
Kris Kristofferson, 74, singer, actor (Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, A Star Is Born), born Brownsville, TX
Freddie Prinze (Preutzel), 1954, comedian/actor (Chico & the Man) , born in NYC
Todd Rundgren, 62, singer (Something/Anything), producer, born Upper Darby, PA
Meryl Streep, 61, actress (Doubt, The Devil Wears Prada, Oscars for Kramer vs Kramer and Sophie’s Choice), born Summit, NJ
Lindsay Wagner, 61, actress (“The Bionic Woman,” The Paper Chase), born Los Angeles, CA
…Athletics
Clyde Austin Drexler, 48, basketball coach and former player, born Houston, TX
"Pistol" Pete Maravich, 1948, NBA star (Atlanta Hawks) , born in Aliquippa, PA
…Business & Education
Bill Blass, 1922, fashion designer (Nancy Reagan) , born in Ft Wayne, IN
Ed Bradley, 1941, CBS news correspondant (60 Minutes) , born in Philadelphia
John Dillinger, 1903, one of America's Most Wanted, born in Indianapolis
…Politics
Dianne Feinstein, 77, US Senator (D, California), born San Francisco, CA
…Science / Religion
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1907, aviator/author (Gift from the Sea) , born in Englewood, NJ
► Obituaries today ◄
Fred Astaire actor/dancer, @ 88 in 1987
Dennis Day Jack Benny Show singer, Lou Gehrig’s disease @ 71 in 1988
Judy Garland singer/actress, overdose @ 47 in 1969
David O Selznick Gone With the Wind's producer, @ 63 in 1965
Judy Garland singer/actress, overdose @ 47 in 1969
David O Selznick Gone With the Wind's producer, @ 63 in 1965
► Events ◄
…The Arts
1969 ►Aretha Franklin arrested in Detroit for creating a disturbance
…Athletics
1938 ►In front of 80,000 people at Yankee Stadium Joe Louis knocked out the great German White Hope Max Schmeling in two minutes and four seconds.
1959 ►Eddie Lubanski bowls 2 consecutive perfect games
…Business & Education
1851 ►Fire destroys part of SF
…Politics (US)
1944 ►FDR signs "GI Bill of Rights" (Servicemen's Readjustment Act)
1964 ►The United States Supreme Court voted that Henry Miller’s controversial book, Tropic of Cancer, could not be banned.
1970 ►President Nixon signed a bill to lower the voting age to 18 for all federal, state and local elections
…Politics (outside US)
1611 ►Henry Hudson & son set adrift in Hudson Bay by mutineers
1675 ►Royal Greenwich Observatory established in England by Charles II
…Science / Religion
1874 ►Dr Andrew T Sill, of Macon, Missouri, finds science of osteopathy
1991 ►Underwater volcano, Mount Didicas, erupts in Phillipines
Grey Matter Answers
…1
Five, if you take away F, I, and E, it leaves V which is the Roman numeral for five.
…2
The number PI, the digits of which are illustrated by the length of each word in the riddle.
Grey Matter Photo
Mr. Klotz's sander
Today’s Photo Shot
