This is Week 31 of 2010►Day 215 with 152 days left.
It is Day 104 of the BP Mess. Day 16 with Small(?) leaks
FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
Gotta leave it to the politicians. Our non-elected governor is appealing the hold on SB1070 but she is also considering changing the controversial parts so it will not be overturned. Saner brains are on the appeals court—she asked for an expedited hearing, which usually means extraordinary circumstances where something really bad will happen if the hearing isn’t held quickly. The court said the status quo has been fine for years and AZ will just have to wait in line like everybody else. Her ‘changes’ have not been given to the public, but should be politically interesting—she has to keep the very far right on her side so she can be really elected in November and she has to calm the right and center right to get their votes. She and Senator Pearce have turned out state into a legal circus and she is walking a very high tightrope with no net. Everyone is breathlessly watching as she attempts this dangerous stunt. For me, I just hope she walks back to the stand and climbs down the ladder.
Cardinal’s camp has returned to Flagstaff. Daily workouts can be watched for free. Always an autograph time before they leave the field. The Cardinals have been coming to Flagstaff ever since they came to Arizona. It’s good for tourist business; it’s good for the players to be in reasonable temperatures; everyone seems to gain from their visit. Even our very wet monsoon season didn’t keep the crowds away from practice today. The Phoenix sportscasters are always surprised by the crowds that show up. Every year they start off camp talking about how many fans show up. I know that part of it is to build fan pride, but I also think these guys feel like they have been sent to the Outback when they drive up from Phoenix. The drive up here is a little desolate for urban people—lots of miles of I-17 are just beautiful desert with no cities and few towns and very few exits. We have a very good venue for their practice and the townsfolk and university-folk do offer the visitors lots of hospitality. Go Cards!
I was reminded today one thing I had forgotten about the monsoons. We have been in a drought for over a decade. Our pinons have been infested with the bark beetle and due to the lack of water can’t fight them off. Pinons have been dying at a rapid rate. The only solution is water, and lots of it. So while our everyday rain is causing havoc for those in the flood/burn area, it is really helping the forest fight off the beetle. We had another day with a good amount of rain at my place. We were a very nice 74° and had rain on and off most of the day. The 88% humidity wasn’t that bad as we had a slight breeze throughout the day. I didn’t take a walk today since I knew it would start raining as soon as I got away from the house. Tomorrow looks good for a nice long early morning walk.
QUOTE FOR THE DAY
Betty Williams (co-recipient with Mairead Corrigan of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work as a cofounder of Community of Peace People): There's no use talking about the problem unless you
talk about the solution.
HOLY MACKEREL:1794 Whiskey Rebellion begins
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION about RATS
>The first albino rats to be bred in captivity were born to a single albino rat captured in a graveyard in England by Queen Victoria's royal rat catcher Jack Black.
>Some rat species can grow to enormous sizes like the Gambian Pouch Rat whose largest specimens can reach around eight pounds.
>Domestic female rats and their wild counterparts can successfully breed as early as six weeks of age and produce one litter of 1-20+ offspring a month until they are 1 1/2-2 years of age.
>A rat's teeth are always yellow upon maturity (a rodent characteristic) and don't stop growing until the animal's death.
>Rats have terrible eyesight and therefore are rarely seen in the middle of rooms or clearings where their whiskers aren't touching the perimeter of a landmark or wall.
>Rats use their tail to control their body temperature because they cannot sweat.
GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1
A number that can be written in capital letters made up of straight lines only - for instance, 9 - is called a straight number. If the value is equal to the number of lines that comprise it, it is called straight and true or 'orthonymic'. Can you find one? NINE has 11 straight lines.
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
MOUNT PLEASANT, MI. - A Michigan couple's wedding in the shoe section of a TJ Maxx store was the clothing chain's first ever in-store ceremony, company officials said. Drew Ellis, a reporter for the Mount Pleasant (Mich.) Morning Sun, married former reporter Lisa Satayut in the shoe section Saturday while customers shopped in other areas of the store, the Morning Sun reported. The store widened the size 8 shoe aisle, the bride's chosen location for the wedding, and provided white chairs with red bows and a vine-covered arch for the occasion. Sonya Cosentini, a spokeswoman for TJ Maxx's Boston corporate offices, said officials were delighted by Satayut's e-mail asking for the unconventional wedding facility. "This is very exciting," she said. "We never had a wedding in a TJ Maxx store before."
A LITTLE LAUGH
A little boy went up to his father and asked: 'Dad, where did my intelligence come from?'
The father replied. 'Well, son, you must have got it from your mother, cause I still have mine.'
GREY MATTER PUZZLE 2
I am in Paris but I am not in France, among my siblings I am the thinnest, Who am I?
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
Whales breaching in open ocean: Click Here!
GREY MATTER PICTURE
This is a close up of what object?
SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION
♦ Monthly Observances and information ♦
§ August's birthstone is the peridot or onyx. Its birth flower is the gladiolus or poppy, meaning beauty, strength of character, love, marriage and family.
§ Originally named Sextilis in Latin, because it was the sixth month in the original ten-month Roman calendar
§ In Afrikaans, the month is called augustus; In Arabic, the month is called أغسطس ʾUġusṭuṣ or آب ʾĀb; usage varies from place to place and person to person; In Chinese, the month is known as 八月 meaning, simply, "eighth month"; in French, the month is called août (pronounced "OOT" or just "OO") derived from the Latin augustus; In Indonesian, the month is known as Agustus; in Irish, August is known as Lúnasa, a modern rendition of Lughnasadh, from the god Lugh; in Thai, the month is called Sing-ha-kom representing the Singha (lion); In Welsh, the month is called Awst
§Some of Ireland's most famous battles have been fought in this month.
Month Long Obervances: American Adventures Month☼American Indian Heritage Month☼Audio Book Appreciation Month☼Black Business Month☼Cataract Awareness Month☼Edinburgh Festival Month☼Get Ready for Kindergarten Month☼Golf Month☼Happiness Happens Month☼Motorsports Awareness Month☼ National Goat Cheese Month☼National Immunization Awareness Month☼National Inventor's Month☼National Panini Month☼National Water Quality Month☼National Win With Civility Month☼Neurosurgery Outreach Month☼Psoriasis Awareness Month☼What Will Be Your Legacy Month☼
♦ Weekly Observances ♦
1-7: World Breastfeeding Week…Simplify Your Life Week…National Clown Week…National Fraud Awareness Week…Single Working Women's Week
♦ Today’s Observances ♦
Friendship Day
Lughnasa: Celtic: beginning of harvest season
National Minority Donor Awareness Day
National Raspberry Cream Pie Day
Respect For Parents
Rounds Resounding Day
Sister's Day
US Air Force Day
World Scout Day, since 1907, when Robert Baden-Powell began scouting
World Wide Web Day
Colorado: Statehood Day (38th state in 1876)
Angola: Armed Forces Day
British West Indies: Slavery Abolition Act 1833 which ended the slavery in the British Empire
Botswana: August Holiday
China PR : Army Day
Guyana: Commonwealth Day
Iran: 12th Imam's Birthday
Lebanon: Armed Forces Day
Nicaragua: Fiesta Day
Scotland: Lammas Day, term day
Switzerland : Confederation Day (1291)
Trinidad & Tobago, St Lucia: Emancipation Day/Caribbean Day
Zaire : Parents Day
♦ Hit Songs on this date ♦
Dancing with Tears in My Eyes Nat Shilkret 1930
I'll Never Smile Again Tommy Dorsey 1940
Mona Lisa Nat "King" Cole 1950 Click Here to Hear It
I'm Sorry Brenda Lee 1960 Click Hear to Hear It
(They Long to Be) Close to You The Carpenters 1970
Magic Olivia Newton-John 1980 Click Here to Hear It
♦ Today’s Births ♦
• The Arts
Francis Scott Key, composer (Star-Spangled Banner)—born in 1779 Frederick county, Md
Herman Melville, US, author (Moby Dick, Billy Budd)—born in 1819 New York City, NY
Robert James Waller, 71, author: The Bridges of Madison County, Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend; professor of economics, business management--born in Rockford, Iowa
Tom Wilson, 79, cartoonist (“Ziggy”)--born Grant Town, WV
~~~
Coolio (Artis Ivey Jr.), 47, rapper: LPs: It Takes a Thief, Gangsta’s Paradise, My Soul—born in Monessen, PA: Early fans called him ”Coolio Igleseas”.
Dom DeLuise, 77, comedian, actor (Cannonball Run)--born Brooklyn, NY
Jerry Garcia, SF, rocker (Grateful Dead-Uncle Joe's Band)—born in 1942 San Francisco, CA
• Athletics
Cliff Branch, 62, football: Univ Of CO; Oakland Raiders wide receiver: Super Bowl XI, XV; LA Raiders: Super Bowl XVIII—born in Houston, TX
Nwankwo Kanu, 34, soccer player--born Owerri, Nigeria
• Business & Education
Yves Saint Laurent, (Henry Mathieu)fashion designer—born in 1936 Oran, French Algeria
• Politics
Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus), 4th Roman emperor—born in 10 BC Lugdunum, Gaul
• Science/Religion
William Clark, explorer: Lewis and Clark Expedition—born in 1770 Caroline County, VA
Maria Mitchell, 1st American woman astronomer—born in 1818 Nantucket, MA
♦ Today’s Obituaries ♦
Julian "Cannonball" Alderly, sax player, dies of a stroke @ 47 in 1975
Trinidad Silva, actor; Hill St Blues, auto accident @ 38 in 1988
♦ Today’s Events ♦
• The Arts
1944 13-year-old Anne Frank made the last entry in her diary
• Athletics
1716 1st sculling race (London Bridge to Chelsea)
1936 Adolph Hitler opens Berlin Olympic Games
• Business & Education
1893 Henry Perky and William Ford of Watertown, NY patent shredded wheat.
1972 1st article exposing Wategate scandal (Bernstein-Woodward) 1981 MTV premiers at 12:01 AM
• Indigenous People
1735 According to some sources, an agreement covering "amity and commerce" is reached by representatives of the British in New York, and Western Abenaki, Housatonic, Mohegan and Scaghticoke Indians.
1739 Several Shawnee Chiefs sign a peace treaty with British Pennsylvania authorities not to become allies with any other country. The British agree to enforce previous treaties banning the sale of rum to the Indians.
• Politics (US)
1619 1st black Americans (20) land at Jamestown, Virginia
1789 US Customs begins enforcing Tariff Act
1794 Whiskey Rebellion begins
1916 Hawaii National Park established
• Politics (International)
1831 London Bridge opens
1946 Pres Truman establishes Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
1953 Calif introduces sales tax (for education)
• Science / Religion
1774 Priestly discovers oxygen
1957 1st commercial building heated by Sun (Albuquerque NM)
GREY MATTER ANSWERS
↔ 1
TWENTY NINE has 29 lines.
↔ 2
The letter "I"
↔ Picture
A drinking fountain
TODAY’S PHOTO SHOT
Sculls on the river in Boston, MA
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