This is Week 40 of 2010►Day 288 with 77 days left.
FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
Mary is back from Oregon so we had our weekly lunch today. She shared some great wedding stories and life where her mother is staying. The nursing home stories sure brought back memories of my mom’s stay at a similar facility. Eating with mom was always fun, but many times, the same people I had met at one meal, didn’t know who I was at the next. Mary was braver than I in that she went on a bus outing with the residents. One lady always wanted to be the first off the bus, so at every stop light, she was up and ready. Another was concerned that someone had forgotten her walker. Mary’s mother-in-law had come to Flag to cook for her son while Mary was gone. She left Flag at 5am on the morning of the tornado and the shuttle riders all got to see at least one. She said it would be a long time before she returns to Flagstaff. Cheryl, living only a few miles from the tornadoes didn’t even know they had happened until she turned on the news that night. She did say that the area is still quite a mess, and the travel trailer dealership proved that they are made of tin foil and balsa wood. Cheryl will be having some surgery in mid-November to help her deal with her diabetes. She has been on insulin for a long time, and this surgery should provide her with an insulin injection free life. It is a big deal and she is excited that everything is in order. It may be that our weekly lunches will be changing, as she will not be able to eat lots of food. She said her stomach will be the size of an egg, rather than the normal stomach, the size of a football. The expected loss of weight, and the less food consumed should straighten out the insulin issue.
As if the amazing story about the Chilean Miners was not enough, now more is coming out. In the beginning of their ordeal there were fights, depression, and concerns of possible cannibalism if they were not found. Somehow, the few drillings missed the cave where these miners were. Then finally, after 17 days, they were found. That small tube was able to get them the food and hope they needed to survive. Turning around a group mentality is not an easy task at any time. Turning around a group mentality at 2000+ feet below the surface in a small cave must have been monumental. Those miners had some real leadership down there. As more stories come out, the miracle in Chile becomes even more amazing.
One of my fellow travelers sent a video of the orangutans out today. It was short—about 8 seconds, but made me realize that I was not the only one who found videoing animals is not easy. It is really quite good, and I had tried for longer videos. Live and learn.
I finally got in contact with Bob. He had knee surgery over my trip. I missed his call to me on Sunday. I had called him each day, at different times and never got an answer. Today I decided to try his cell. I figured he might be recovering at his daughters across town. He answered on the second ring, and asked if I had just called his land line. He was out on his porch, with an icepack on his knee and said it was just too much trouble to walk back inside to answer. He is healing very well and against doctor orders has taken a few walks without his walker. His youngest daughter is there helping him recover. Neither one could figure out how I missed them so many days in a row, but said that they take walks every day, at different times, and reminded me that if there had been any issues with his recovery I would have been notified. Lisa says that he will be ready for a spring trip to Hadrian’s Wall, which is good news. So I told him to make the plans whenever he felt like it. He wants to do the wall walk—about 7 days of walking the length of the wall, then up to visit some friends in England, then over to Normandy and possibly Paris. I told him that I didn’t want to join the Focus group that is doing either Holland or Italy about the time we are doing our thing. I may change my mind, we’ll see. I try real hard to be culturally aware and to accept a culture for what it is. My problem is accepting cultures that expanded their own culture at the detriment of the indigenous people. As I have said before, I was raised in a world where Holland was taught as a country with cute little hats, tulips, and their famous wooden shoes. In fact I still recall the WWII story about the Dutch falling under Nazi control and going to the factories and throwing their wooden shoes (sabots) into the gears to ruin the machines. This gave the world the word sabotage, and even today, some 50 years after I leaned this, I still see those Dutch shoes being tossed whenever I hear the word sabotage. Sadly, the Rockwell picture I had of the Dutch was destroyed as I began traveling. It began in South Africa, as I heard the Dutch leadership explaining Apartheid to the 1960’s news media. Things like ‘these people are happy to carry ID cards that limit their travel as it helps them find their way home’, or the story of the Black townships being bulldozed while children were at school and parents were working. Even in 2009 our Afrikaans guide in Cape Town, seemed oblivious to the actions of apartheid she had seen as she grew up. I also saw the changes the Dutch made in Taiwan and Malaysia. I’m sure that my current view of the Dutch is way off, but I’m not ready for Holland. Italy would be great to visit, and I need to have a broader view of Catholicism, so maybe.
Flag’s warm fall just continues. It was a great day to be outside, and a good day to have the windows open. The really warm weather is keeping the finches around much longer than last year. The leaves in town are just starting to turn and they are doing it very slowly. I am even able to leave the bedroom window partially open at night—and it is mid-October. Lee, our weather guy, says this will all change on Sunday. It’s Flagstaff, so who knows. We have High Pressure being pushed out by a weak Low Pressure system, which looks really cool on the enhanced weather map on TV but sometimes our mountain makes it own decision about what a clash of H’s and L’s will actually do in Flagstaff. Somehow, the mountain doesn’t study the fancy maps. Lee told us that all those clouds we saw throughout the day were very high and incapable of providing any moisture for the ground.
Flag…H—71°; L—31°; RH—51%; and not even the hint of a breeze.
QUOTE FOR THE DAY--Nietzsche
The most fundamental form of human stupidity is forgetting what we were trying to do in the first place.
HOLY MACKEREL: 1993 African National Congress leader Nelson (Rolihlahla) Mandela and South African President F.W. (Frederik Willem) de Klerk were awardedthe Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to usher in reforms that 1) ended South Africa’s era of white minority rule and 2) laid the foundations for democracy.
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION--Hemp
For thousands of years, up until 1883, hemp was the world’s largest agricultural crop, from which the majority of fiber, fabric, soap, lighting oil, paper, incense, and medicines were produced.
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Because hemp seeds contain all the essential amino acids necessary for health, it was a primary source of essential food oil and protein for humans and animals. The oil from hemp seeds has the highest percentage of essential fatty acids and the lowest percentage of saturated fats.
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An acre of hemp produces more paper than an acre of trees. Paper made from hemp lasts for centuries, compared to 25-80 years for paper made from wood pulp. The US Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper. Although industrial hemp contains less than 1% of THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, it was forced from the market in the late 19th century by a campaign launched by newspaper magnates who also held controlling shares in the paper mill and cotton industry.
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In 1937, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act which effectively halted hemp production in the United States. It was briefly overridden during the Second World War when overseas supplies dried up but the campaign, called Hemp For Victory, was quickly withdrawn after the war.
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In 1941, the Ford motor company produced an experimental automobile with a plastic body composed of 70% cellulose fibers from hemp. The car body could absorb blows 10 times as great as steel without denting. The car was also designed to run on hemp fuel. Because of the ban on both hemp and alcohol the car was never mass produced.
GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1—Jeopardy Answers (1984)—Silly Songs
$100-To treat it "you're gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion"
$200-"She was afraid to come out of the water" because she wore this scanty outfit
$300-He offered THIS prescription
$400-Herman's Hermits' song about widow whose 8 husbands all had the same name
$500-According to Ray Stevens, "He swings through the trees without a trapeze in his B.V.D.'s"
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
Denver—Hungry rabbits are being blamed for a series of car problems after apparently munching on vehicle wiring on cars parked at Denver International Airport: Click Here to View!
A LITTLE LAUGH
A neutron walks into a bar. "I'd like a beer" he says. The bartender promptly serves up a beer. "How much will that be?" asks the neutron.
"For you?" replies the bartender, "no charge."
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
Pictures of Mata Hari: Click Here to View!
GREY MATTER PICTURE
This is a close up of what object?
SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION
¤ Weekly Observances ¤
10-16: Build Your Business with Business Cards Week ^ Emergency Nurses Week ^ Home-based Business Week ^ National Chestnut Week ^ National Food Bank Week ^ National Metric Week ^ Take Your Medicine Americans Week ^ World Rainforest Week
11-17: Fall Astronomy Week ^ National School Lunch Week
17-23: Food and Drug Interaction Education and Awareness Week ^ Getting The World To Beat A Path To Your Door Week ^ International Credit Union Week ^ Teen Read Week ^ National Chemistry Week ^ National Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy Week ^ YWCA Week without Violence ^ National Character Counts Week ^ National Forest Products Week ^ National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week ^ National School Bus Safety Week
18-24: Freedom From Bullies Week ^ Freedom of Speech Week ^ Medical Assistants Recognition Week ^ National Food Bank Week ^ National Infertility Awareness Week ^ National Massage Therapy Week ^ National Businesswomen's Week
24-31: Disarmament Week ^ Give Wildlife a Break Week ^ Pastoral Care Week ^ Peace, Friendship and Good Will Week ^ Prescription Errors Education & Awareness Week ^ International Magic Week ^ National Respiratory Care Week
27-11/3: World Hearing Aid Awareness Week
¤ Today’s Observances ¤
White Cane Safety Day
Boss's Day (or National Boss's Day)
Global Handwashing Day
International Day of Rural Women
Mammography Day
National Grouch Day
National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day
Brazil: Teachers' Day
Guyane (French Guiana): Cayenne Holiday
Tunisia: Evacuation Day
¤ Hit Songs on this date ¤
1902…The Mansion of Aching Hearts / Harry MacDonough
1912...Waiting for the Robert E. Lee / Heidelberg Quintet Click Here to View!
1922 ...Hot Lips / Paul Whiteman Click Here to View!
1932...Please / Bing Crosby
1942…(I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo / Glenn Miller Click Here to View!
1952…I Went to Your Wedding / Patti Page Click Here to View!
1962…Monster Mash / Bobby "Boris" Pickett & the Crypt Kickers Click Here to View!
1972…My Ding-a-Ling / Chuck Berry Click Here to View!
1982…Jack and Diane / John Cougar Click Here to View!
¤ Today’s Births ¤
╬ THE ARTS
Barry McGuire, 75, singer (Eve of Destruction)
Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher/anti-semite (šbermensch), in 1844
Mario Puzo, author (Godfather), in 1921
P.G. Wodehouse. British-American writer, in 1881
Virgil, poet: The Aeneid, in 70BC
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Linda Lavin, 71, actress (Tony for Broadway Bound; “Alice”)
Penny Marshall, 68, director (Big, A League of Their Own), actress (“Laverne & Shirley”)
╬ ATHLETICS
James Alvin (Jim) Palmer, 65, Hall of Fame baseball player (Orioles), sports-caster
John L. Sullivan, International Boxing Hall of Famer: World Heavyweight champion [1881-1889], Marquis of Queensbury Champion [1885-1892]; last bareknuckle championship fight [75 rounds in 1889, in 1858
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
John Kenneth Galbraith, writer (Affluent Society-1958 Hillman Award), in 1908
Arthur Schlesinger Jr, historian/author (1946 Pulitzer-Age of Jackson), in 1917
╬ POLITICS
Jos Miguel Carrera, president of Chile (1811-14), in 1785
Sarah Ferguson, 51, Duchess of York (former wife of Prince Andrew) Lee Iacocca, 86, former automobile executive (Ford and Chrysler)
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
Asaph Hall, discovered satellites of Mars, Phobos & Deimos, in 1829
¤ Today’s Obituaries ¤
Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichmarshal, poisons himself in prison @ 53 in 1946
Mata Hari, Dutch dancer/German spy executed by firing squad @ 41, in 1917
John Hamilton, actor (Perry White-Superman), @ 71, in 1958
Cole Porter, composer, kidney failure @ 73, in 1964
¤ Today’s Events ¤
╬ THE ARTS
1914 ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers) founded
1937 Ernest Hemingway novel "To Have & Have Not" published
╬ ATHLETICS
1520 King Henry VIII of England orders bowling lanes at Whitehall
1986 Longest post season game, Mets beat Astros 7-6 in 16 & win NL pennant
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1881 1st American fishing magazine, American Angler published
1951 "I Love Lucy" debuts on CBS TV
1959 "Untouchables" premieres
╬ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1892 The U.S. government convinced the Crow Indians to give up 1.8 million acres of their reservation for 50 cents per acre. (That’s about $12/acre in 2010 $)
╬ POLITICS (US)
1789 1st presidental tour-George Washington in New England
1860 Grace Bedell, age 11, wrote Abe Lincoln with a suggestion. She urged Lincoln to grow a beard.
1962 Byron R White appointed to the Supreme Court
1969 Vietnam Moratorium Day; millions nationwide protest the war
1974 National Guard mobilizes to restore order in Boston school busing
1991 Clarence Thomas is confirmed as Supreme Court Justice (52-48)
╬ POLITICS (International)
1990 Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the USSR (1985-1991), won the Nobel Peace Prize.
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1655 Jews of Lublin are massacred
1846 Dr William Thomas Green Morton 1st public use of ether
1949 Billy Graham begins his ministry
GREY MATTER ANSWERS
↔ 1 Jeopardy
$100-To treat it "you're gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion": What is Poison Ivy?
$200-"She was afraid to come out of the water" because she wore this scanty outfit: What is Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polka Dot Bikini?
$300-He offered THIS prescription: Who is the Witch Doctor?
$400- Herman's Hermits' song about widow whose 8 husbands all had the same name: What is Henry the 8th?
$500-According to Ray Stevens, "He swings through the trees without a trapeze in his B.V.D.'s": Who is Gitarzan?
↔ PICTURE
A kitchen timer
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