This is Week 47 of 2010►Day 330 with 35 days remaining
Flagstaff Weather:
TODAY’S QUOTE—Brian G. Jett
You can determine how confident people are by listening to what they don't say about themselves
FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
I had another great Thanksgiving with some great people. My cranberry sauce and pies were a big hit. The smoked turkey was my favorite. But I ate way too much regular turkey, dressing, southern mac and cheese, … The conversation was great too. Mary, a friend of Martha’s, had decorated the tree and Martha also had her amazing collection of Scottish nutcrackers displayed. A friend of Mary’s plays the Jews Harp and brought quite a collection of them to see and hear. I had heard the Jews Harp before but never seen one. It is an Asian musical instrument that has spread around the world; it is used extensively in Turkey; it has no particular connection to Jewish people or Judism. Guess I need to do some more investigation. I always thought it was like a harmonica. Turns out each Jews Harp is tuned to a specific note and in competition several are connected together with some kind of clamp to that one person can play several different notes. I always felt a little odd saying Jew’s Harp and thought it might be some colloquial semi-slur. That too is wrong. While the name was probably a mispronunciation of one of several words somewhere in the 1500’s its English name became Jew ’s harp. Whatever, it is a cool instrument and I was happy to learn about them. Martha’s Thanksgiving’s are always enjoyable, entertaining, and eclectic. Very cool.
It was a cold day and nice to be able to spend the afternoon in a warm cabin in the beautiful piñon forest.
HOLY MACKEREL: 1864 Charles L. Dodgson, whose pen name was Lewis Carroll, sent a handwritten manuscript to Alice Liddel. The manuscript was titled Alice’s Adventures Underground. It was an early Christmas present to the 12-year-old girl. Later, the manuscript was renamed Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(SuperJeopardy Answers) from 1990-PALACES
This city's Potala Palace was home to Dalai Lamas for over 300 years
This palace facing St. James Park was built for John Sheffield in 1703
A palace in Florence has a mural featuring portraits of this ruling family
Al-Nadwa Palace in Amman is home to this King
Mary, Queen of Scots, bathed in wine in a small building near this palace
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—
When threatened, the hairy frog, or 'horror frog,' intentionally breaks its own bones to produce claws that protrude from its toe pads.
If cornered, some horned lizards species can shoot their potently foul blood from their eye sockets up to six feet.
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
Reuters: A German retiree who wanted to seal off the entrance to his cellar ended up bricking himself into it, a police spokesman told Reuters Thursday.
The senior from Jena told police he only became aware of the mistake once his handiwork was complete, which police described as "pretty stupid" in a statement.
After camping out in the cellar for several days he resolved to free himself by knocking down a wall, but chose to demolish his neighbor's wall rather than the one he had just put up.
The man had been at loggerheads with his neighbors for some time and they informed the police when they heard drilling noises.
The police were waiting for the retiree when he made his great escape and have now launched an enquiry.
A LITTLE LAUGH
Having grown up just outside New York City, I barely knew a cow from an ear of corn. Until, that is, I married a smalltown Ohio girl. While I was in seminary school, I had a temporary assignment at a church in a rural community. The day of my first sermon, I tried very hard to fit in. Maybe too hard.
With my wife sitting in the first pew, I began my discourse: "I never saw a cow until I met my wife."
Bonus Little Laugh:
"A group of economists unveiled a new plan to reduce the deficit by $6 trillion in the next 10 years. The first step of the plan is to look at all our spending over the past five years, determine what's unnecessary...and then ask China for $6 trillion." -Jimmy Fallon
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
UP CLOSE PICTURE
This is a close up of what object?
CALENDAR INFORMATION
♦ Weekly Observances ♦
19-25:National Farm-City Week
21-28: National Bible Week, National Family Week, National Game & Puzzle Week, National Teens Don't Text and Drive Week, Better Conversation Week, Church/State Separation Week
♦ Today’s Observances ♦
Lebanon (اَلْجُمْهُورِيَّة اَللُّبْنَانِيَّة): Independence Day (from France--1941)
Mongolia: Independence Day (from China—1921)
US: Black Friday—the day that kicks off the Holiday shopping season and move many stores from the red to the black on their balance sheets.
♫ One Hit Wonders—1960’s ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear the original
1961 Mexico Bob Moore
♦Today’s Births♦
╥ THE ARTS
1933 Robert Goulet, singer/actor (Camelot, Naked Gun 2)
Richard (Rich) Caruthers Little, 72, impressionist
1912 Eric Sevareid, newscaster
1922 Charles M Schulz, cartoonist (Peanuts)
Tina Turner, 72, singer, born Anna Mae Bullock
╥ ATHLETICS
Shannon Dunn, 38, Olympic snowboarder
Shawn Kemp, 41, basketball (Sonics, Cavaliers, Trail Blazers, Magic)
╥ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1876 Willis Haviland Carrier, developed air-conditioning equipment
1607 John Harvard, English clergyman/scholar, major benefactor to Harvard University (library & half his estate)
╥ POLITICS
1792 Sarah Moore Grimk‚ American antislavery, women's rights advocate
╥ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1894 Norbert Wiener, US, mathematician/defined cybernetics
1937 Boris Yegorov cosmonaut (Voskhod 1)
♦Today’s Obituaries♦
Robert Coote, actor (Timmy-Rogues, Theodore-Nero Wolfe), @ 73 in 1982
Benjamin Sherman Scatman Crothers, actor (Louie-Chico & the Man), cancer @ 76 in 1986
Albert DiSalvo, Boston strangler, stabbed in prison @ 42 in 1973
Tommy Dorsey, Swing bandleader, choked in sleep @ 51 in 1956
James Naismith, Basketball inventor, brain hemorrhage @ 78 in 1939
Sojourner Truth, abolitionist, women's rights advocate @ 86 in 1883
♦Today’s Events♦
╥ THE ARTS
1922 “Toll of the Sea” debuts as the first general release film to use two-tone Technicolor (“The Gulf Between” was the first film to do so but it was not widely distributed).
╥ ATHLETICS
1917 The National Hockey League is formed, with the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators,Quebec Bulldogs, and Toronto Arenas as its first teams.
╥ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1716 1st lion exhibited in America (Boston)
1832 1st streetcar railway in America starts operating (NYC) (12cent fare--$2.55 in 2010 $)
1867 The refrigerated railroad car was patented by J.B. Sutherland of Detroit, Michigan
1991 Condoms are handed out to thousands of NY High School students
╥ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
411 Maya King Siyaj Chan K'awill II (Stormy Sky) ascends the Tikal throne in Guatemala.
1835 Charley Emathla is killed. Emathla signs the agreement at Fort Gibson in Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) committing the Seminoles to their removal from Florida. He is in favor of the removal. He is killed by Seminoles who are against the treaty or leaving Florida. Many believe that he is killed by Chief Osceola.
╥ POLITICS (US)
1789 1st national thanksgiving—in 1863 Lincoln declared it a Nat’l Holiday
1973 Rose Mary Woods, U.S. President Richard Nixon’s personal secretary, told a federal court she had accidentally erased over eighteen minutes of a ‘Watergate tape’
1975 Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme, Manson-family devotee, was found guilty by a federal jury of trying to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford.
╥ POLITICS (International)
1703 Bristol England damaged by hurricane, Royal Navy loses 15 warships
1778 Capt Cook discovers Maui (Sandwich Islands)
1983 Heathrow Airport, robbed of 6,800 gold bars worth $38.7 million
╥ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1885 1st meteor photograph
1922 The tomb of the Boy King, Tutankhamen, was discovered in Egypt by Lord Carnarvon of England and Howard Carter of the United States.
ANSWERS
∞ JEOPARDY
This city's Potala Palace was home to Dalai Lamas for over 300 years
What is Lhasa?
This palace facing St. James Park was built for John Sheffield in 1703
What is Buckingham Palace?
A palace in Florence has a mural featuring portraits of this ruling family
Who are the Medici Family?
Al-Nadwa Palace in Amman is home to this King
Who is King Hussein?
Mary, Queen of Scots, bathed in wine in a small building near this palace
What is Holyrood?
∞ PICTURE
SpongeBob, or at least a guy in a SpongeBob costume
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