This is Week 43 of 2010►Day 300 with 65 days left.
FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
I listen to NPR a lot. I have encountered many ‘driveway moments’—that’s when you are listening to an NPR program and get to your destination and sit in the vehicle until the story ends. Today was one of those days. I was listening to an ‘intellectual’ who was talking about the trend in the country to call opponents an elitist. I heard a word that so explains my feelings of politics in this decade. The word was ‘entertainmentization’ of the news media. That explains so much. We no longer have a news cast anywhere that simply reports the news. Everything has to have an entertainment value with the news. The big news organizations are afraid that if the viewers are entertained, they won’t watch. The politicians are no longer talking about the issue, they are making fancy, eye-catching, entertaining commercials that say little more than the other guy sucks and if the other guy is elected, America as we know it will be gone forever. I am ready to go back to the time when the news department and the entertainment department were separate and really never talked to each other. I want news without bias or opinion or entertainment. I am smart enough to decide on my own. If I want to be entertained, I will do that, too. I realize that this is a big word and will never make it into the everyday vocabulary, but it sure says a lot about what is happening.
I finally got all my videos of Malaysia, Taiwan, and Borneo uploaded on YouTube and was able to send out an email to all the Focus travelers and my long-time friends so they can see them. I got back quite a few positive responses today. Those made me feel good. When I travel and take pictures, I really get to travel a lot of times. These little movies bring back so many memories for me. I know that people who don’t take the trip might not enjoy them that much. I try to keep them short and add some music and keep the pictures moving across the screen. I remember my dear God Parents having us over to their house after they traveled and watching their slides of the trip. Some of those evenings were painful. The pictures were amazing, but the dialogue was never rehearsed ahead of time, and many times just rambled on and on and on. I try really hard to make mine move quickly and with modern technology, the viewer can always hit the pause button if they really want to study a picture. Anyway, all the work pays off, for me and for my friends and fellow travelers. Everyone can find five or ten minutes in their busy day to view them.
November 2nd can’t come any too soon for me. I am sick and tired of the negative ads. The ones that really upset me are the ones from the candidates that I support. Our current US Rep seems to think she is in a tough battle. Maybe she is. She just put out an ad against her opponent that makes little sense. Her opponent is a dentist and from all I can find has never held any public office, unless you count being President of the Northern AZ Dental Assoc. or President of the AZ Dental Assoc. I guess he was elected to those positions. Yet her endorsed campaign ad talks about how he has voted against a bunch of issues. Voted how is my only question. If a candidate wants my vote, then tell me what you will do to make our city, state, country, or world a better place. Don’t tell me how your opponent is a scumbag out to destroy everything sacred. It is time that everyone stand up and demand that politicians get out of the negative ad campaign business and tell us what they will do. The PACs and the candidates can take all their negative ad money and do something positive to improve our country.
Thankfully, the wind stopped today. It wasn’t a great weather day, but was certainly better than the last two. The bad weather news is that we should expect a dry winter, something we don’t need. Our beautiful forest is just recovering from a decade long drought, and we need snow, rain, and more snow this winter.
Flag…H—54°; L—27°; RH—58%; and 3mph breeze
QUOTE FOR THE DAY—William Blake
To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour.
HOLY MACKEREL: 1904 World's 1st subway, the IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit), opens in NYC
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—Old Time Candy
→’Just Born’ got its name when founder, Sam Born, proudly displayed in his store window an evolving line of daily-made candy, declaring them "just born".
→The HOT TAMALES(R) brand was introduced in 1950. Each chewy candy has only seven calories and zero grams of fat.
→Some theories about how MIKE AND IKE(R) was named include: as a result of a company-wide contest, after a 1937 song titled "Mike and Ike (The Twins)" and after a Vaudeville act "Mike and Ike, We're Just Alike".
→PEANUT CHEWS(R) were developed during World War I and used by the U.S. Military as a ration bar. The high energy, high protein recipe and unique taste made it popular with the troops. They were first sold in and around Philadelphia by the Goldenberg Candy Company.
→"Jimmies", the chocolate grains sprinkled on ice cream were invented at Just Born, and named after the employee who made them.
→Yellow and white PEEPS(R) chicks and bunnies came first, followed by pink, lavender, blue, green and orange.
GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1—Jeopardy Answers (1984) THE 20TH CENTURY
$200- Where Sally Ride took her famous ride
$400- Time barrier shattered by runner Roger Bannister in 1954
$600- In Dec., 1941, Representative Jeannette Rankin cast the only dissenting vote on this issue
$800- His masterpiece was painted as a protest against the bombing of the Spanish town "Guernica"
$1000- In 1939, this scientist wrote FDR a letter explaining that an atomic bomb could be built
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
HAILSHAM, England - A British woman said she was lectured by a city official for feeding white bread to ducks instead of whole grain. Lisa Taplin, 34, of Hailsham, England, said she and her sons, Luke, 4, and Dylan, 2, were feeding the ducks at a local pond when a council warden approached and told her the white bread she was using was "unhealthy" for the water fowl, The Sun reported Thursday. Taplin said the warden told her giving the ducks white bread was "like feeding kids chips every day." "He said it would be better to bring whole meal, granary or bird seed. He walked off, leaving me feeling guilty," Taplin said. Nickey Caria, Hailsham's deputy town clerk, said the council warden was "right" to lecture the woman.
A LITTLE LAUGH
Once upon a time in their marriage, my Dad did something really stupid. My Mom chewed him out for it. He apologized, they made up.
However, from time to time, my mom mentions what he had done. "Honey," my Dad finally said one day, "why do you keep bringing that up? I thought your policy was 'forgive and forget.'"
"It is," she said. "I just don't want you to forget that I've forgiven and forgotten."
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
The word ‘jazz’ was first used today: here’s some good jazz: Click Here to View!
GREY MATTER PICTURE
This is a close up of what object?
SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION
¤ Weekly Observances ¤
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 ¤
Sylvia Plath Day: birthday of the ‘confessional poet’
Cranky Co-workers Day
Cuba: Discovery Day (1492)
Iran: Imam Reza's Birthday
St Vincent Islands: Statehood Day (1969)
Turkmenistan: Independence Day, (from USSR in 1991)
US: Navy Day (1775)
¤ Hit Songs on this date ¤
1894...My Pearl Is a Bowery Girl / Dan Quinn (Original not available)
1904...Sweet Adeline (You're the Flower of My Heart) / Haydn Quartet (Original not available)
1914...Ballin' the Jack / Prince's Orchestra (Original not available)
1924...Memory Lane / Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians (Original not available)
1934...One Night of Love / Grace Moore Click Here to View!
1944…You Always Hurt the One You Love / The Mills Brothers Click Here to View!
1954…Hey There / Rosemary Clooney Click Here to View!
1964…Baby Love / The Supremes Click Here to View!
1974…You Haven't Done Nothin' / Stevie Wonder Click Here to View!
1984…I Just Called to Say I Love You / Stevie Wonder Click Here to View!
¤ Today’s Births ¤
╬ THE ARTS
Fred de Cordova, film/TV producer (The Tonight Show), born in 1910
Floyd Cramer, country pianist (Last Date, On the Rebound), born in 1933
(Melvin) Lee Greenwood, 67, CMA Male Vocalist of the Year [1983, 1984]
Simon LeBon, 52, singer (Duran Duran)
Fran Lebowitz, 60, essayist, humorist (Social Studies)
Niccolo Paganini, composer/violin virtuoso (Princess Lucca), born in 1782
Dylan Thomas, poet (Child's Christmas in Wales), born in 1914 Swansea, Wales
♦♦actors♦♦
Roberto Benigni, 58, actor, director (Oscar for Life Is Beautiful)
John Cleese, 71, actor, writer (“Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” A Fish Called Wanda)
Ruby Dee, 86, actress (“Ossie and Ruby,”
Nanette Fabray, 90, actress (Emmy for “Caesar’s Hour”; “One Day at a Time,” Our Gang comedies)
╬ ATHLETICS
--
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
Emily Post, authority on social behavior, writer (Etiquette), born in 1872
╬ POLITICS
Terry Anderson, 63, news correspondent: kidnapped by Lebanese terrorists in Beirut [1985], released [1991],longest held hostage in American history.
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th Pres (1901-09) (Nobel 1906), born in 1858
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
James Cook, captain/explorer, discovered Sandwich Islands, born in 1728
¤ Today’s Obituaries ¤
Morey Amsterdam, actor/comedian (Dick Van Dyke Show) @ 74 in 1996
Xavier Cugart, bandlander, heart failure @ 90, in 1990
S.B. Fuller, founder of Fuller products, @ 83 in 1988
Sammee Tong, actor (Bachelor Father, Mickey), suicide @ 63 in 1964
¤ Today’s Events ¤
╬ THE ARTS
1916 1st published reference to "jazz" appears (Variety)
1947 "You Bet Your Life", with Groucho Marx, premieres on ABC radio
1963 Peter, Paul and Mary were sitting pretty at #1 and #2 on the U.S. album chart with Peter, Paul and Mary and In the Wind.
╬ ATHLETICS
1991 Minn Twins beat Altanta Braves 1-0 in 10 to win the 8th World Series in 7 considered one of the best baseball games in history
╬ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1795 Treaty of San Lorenzo, provides free navigation of Mississippi
1858 RH Macy & Co opens 1st store, (6th Ave-NYC) Gross receipts $1106
1997 The U.S. released a redesigned $50 bill. The new notes incorporated features to protect against counterfeiting and make U.S. currency more easily identifiable for people with low vision
╬ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1832 Today the Peoria, Lahokia, Michigamea, Tamaroa, and Kaskaskia Tribes will sign a treaty at Castor Hill, William Clark's home. They will swap their Illinois lands for land in Kansas.
╬ POLITICS (US)
1810 US annexes West Florida from Spain
1871 Boss Tweed (William Macy Tweed), Democratic leader of Tammany Hall, arrested after NY Times exposed his corruption
1969 Ralph Nader sets up a consumer organization known as Nader's Raiders
╬ POLITICS (International)
1978 Begin & Sadat win the Nobel Peace prize
1982 China announces its population at 1 billion people plus
╬ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1925 Water skis patented by Fred Waller
1938 DuPont announces its new synthetic fiber will be called "nylon"
GREY MATTER ANSWERS
↔ 1 Jeopardy
$200- Where Sally Ride took her famous ride: What is on the space shuttle?
$400- Time barrier shattered by runner Roger Bannister in 1954: What is the 4 minute mile?
$600- In Dec., 1941, Representative Jeannette Rankin cast the only dissenting vote on this issue: What was the Declaration of War after Pearl Harbor?
$800- His masterpiece was painted as a protest against the bombing of the Spanish town "Guernica": Who is Pablo Picasso?
$1000- In 1939, this scientist wrote FDR a letter explaining that an atomic bomb could be built: Who is Albert Einstein?
↔ PICTURE
A soap dispenser
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