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MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
This blog will take a small hiatus while I get my thyroid problem solved. I go in tomorrow morning at 5:30a with surgery at 7:30a. I should be in for a couple of days. When I get out, the blog will return.
I finished up some laundry today. So I am ready to get this over with.
Good news from Tucson, Gabby Gibbons has been upgraded to ‘stable’ condition. How cool. This is still something that is in the news everyday and on our minds even more. Nothing will ever explain what happened. All we can do now is do what we can to prevent it from happening again. The first step is to deal with the mental health system…a brain problem is more complicated than a thyroid problem, but that doesn’t mean that we ignore the issues. The second issue is to make gun purchase and ownership of automatic weapons illegal. Times have changed. Some are saying that the 2nd amendment was to not allow the soldiers of our country from taking over individual’s homes during war time, or even peace time. Well, if the military decided to take over, all the automatic weapons on the planet couldn’t stop them. So wake up and smell the roses, no American needs an automatic weapon that can fire 30+ rounds in seconds. No American needs an automatic weapon that can fire 30+ rounds in a minute. We need leadership in our legislatures at the state level and in our congress at the national level that will think about where we are headed with all these automatic weapons. The Republican run Congress knew this when they passed the ban. Sadly, they put a timeline on it. Now they can fix that. AZ has an open carry law, but any merchant can put a sign at their entrance that prevents open carry. If I see an open carry person in a store, I will now go to the manager and let them know that I will not return to that store until I see the sign that prevents open carry. If everyone did that, the point would be made and the law would change.
We celebrate the life of Martin Luther King today. AZ became one of the last states to recognize the holiday. We voted for it, the governor dismissed the vote, boycotts ensued. The NFL would not let AZ host the Super Bowl, the state voted again and it became a legal holiday in 1992. In 2000 South Carolina made it a state holiday. Prior to 2000 state workers could choose between 4 holidays as a day off: MLK Day or one of three Confederate related holidays. I think AZ got the most publicity partially because of a loud mouthed governor that was eventually impeached, partially because of the NFL action. So now the entire country recognizes the work of King. In many ways I am reminded of Nelson Mandela. King was vilified by the FBI, feared by many for his countrymen, honored by many. King, who was seen for so long as a radical, is now seen as a leader of civility in our country. Over the years of celebrating the King Holiday, I have learned a lot about the man, his message, and the good change he brought to our country.
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∞ JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(Super-Jeopardy Answers) from 1990 JIM HENSON
…answers at bottom…
• While it ran from 1976-81, it was the world's most watched first-run syndicated TV show
• Named for a friend, this soft-spoken character was said to be Henson's alter ego
• Back in the '60s this co. asked Jim to develop characters for its NET production of "Sesame Street"
• As Ernie, Jim Henson was "awfully fond" of this title toy that earned him a hit record
• The Skeksis and the Mystics were saved by the Gelflings in this 1982 fantasy film
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM-- CHELMSFORD, England
A British county's police force said about $100,000 has been spent repairing 332 patrol cars filled with the wrong fuel during the past seven years. Essex police said gas caps playing a recorded reminder not to use anything but diesel fuel failed to stop officers from using regular gasoline on the patrol vehicles at least 332 times in the past seven years, The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday. The police department said 222 of the occasions took place in the five years preceding 2008, when the recorded voice reminder system was put in place. However, the system did not stop 110 further incidents during the following two years. "We are constantly reminding staff to ensure they use the correct fuel. However, our staff drive both petrol and diesel vehicles during the course of their work and unfortunately mistakes happen," a police spokeswoman said. "We have around 900 vehicles and do fit devices to prevent wrong fueling. This is not a concern unique to the police service and is a problem nationally."
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—
• During the bloody thirty-eight-year reign of Henry VIII, an estimated 57,000 to 72,000 English subjects lost their heads.
• After victory in battle, Vikings drank blood of vanquished enemies from human skulls, hence the Scandinavian toast, "Skol!"
A LITTLE LAUGH
The boss walked into the office one morning not knowing his zipper was down and his fly area wide open. His assistant walked up to him and said, 'This morning when you left your house, did you close your garage door?' The boss told her he knew he'd closed the garage door, and walked into his office puzzled by the question.
As he finished his paperwork, he suddenly noticed his fly was open, and zipped it up. He then understood his assistant's question about his 'garage door.'
He headed out for a cup of coffee and paused by her desk to ask, 'When my garage door was open, did you see my Hummer parked in there?'
She smiled and said, 'No, I didn't. All I saw was an old minivan with two flat tires..
GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS—Fantastic Pets
• The world record for the highest jump cleared by a dog is 172.7 cm (68 in), achieved by Cinderella May a Holly Grey, owned by Kate Long and Kathleen Conroy (both USA) of Miami, Florida, USA, at the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge National Finals, Gray Summit, Missouri, USA on 7 October 2006.
• The world record for the most tennis balls held in the mouth by a dog at one time is five. Augie, a golden retriever owned by the Miller family in Dallas, Texas, USA, successfully gathered and held all five regulation-sized tennis balls on July 6, 2003.
• The world's oldest dove is Methuselah, a white, male collared dove who was born in April 1975 and is owned by Manfred Meller of Harxheim, Germany.
• The tallest dog living is ‘Giant George’ a Great Dane, who measured 1.092 m (43 in) tall on 15 February 2010 and is owned by David Nasser of Tucson, Arizona, USA.
∞CLOSEUP PICTURE
Can you identify this close up picture
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
♫ T V COMMERICALS OF 1950’s♫
Click on Title to see and hear
As I was doing laundry today, I flashed back to my mom who used a washer and an electric wringer before the laundry went onto the line outside. What a difference a six decades make. Or not.
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DAYBOOK INFORMATION
‡…THIS WEEK…‡
11-17 Cuckoo Dancing Week:
12-16 National Soccer Coaches of America Week:
15-17 Bald Eagle Appreciation Days:
16-22 International Printing Week • Healthy Weight Week • Hunt For Happiness Week • National Activity Professionals Week
17-23 National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week
‡…TODAY IS…‡
Blessing of the Animals at the Cathedral Day
Cable Car Day
Customer Service Day
Hot Heads Chili Day
Kid Inventors' Day
Martin Luther King Day
Poland: Liberation Day
‡…Today’s Births…‡
• AUTHORS
Javed Akhtar, 66, Indian lyricist, poet and scriptwriter
1925 Robert Cormier, American author, columnist and reporter
1914 William Stafford, American poet and essayist
• ATHLETES
Muhammad Ali (Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr), 69, former heavyweight champion boxer
• BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1899 Al Capone ‘Scarface’: gangster, head of crime empire during Prohibition
Vidal Sassoon, 83, hair-stylist
• ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS/…)
1884 Noah Beery US actor (Mark of Zorro, Sea Wolf)
Jim Carrey, 49, actor (Dumb and Dumber, The Truman Show, Ace Ventura), comedian (“In Living Color”)
1925 Rock Hudson actor (McMillian & Wife)
James Earl Jones, 80, actor (The Great White Hope; Roots: The Next Generations)
1927 Eartha Kitt singer/actress (Catwoman-Batman)
1934 Shari Lewis ventriloquist/puppeteer (Lamb Chop)
1932 Sheree North (Dawn Bethel) actress: Marilyn: The Untold Story
Maury Povich, 72, talk show host
1880 Mack Sennett movie creator (Keystone Kops)
Betty White, 87, actress (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Golden Girls”), animal rights activist
1904 Grant Withers Pueblo CO, actor (Oklahoma, Annie)
• POLITICIANS
1853 Alva Vanderbilt Beaumont women's rights advocate & activist
Michelle Robinson Obama, 47, First Lady, wife of Barack Obama, 44th president of the US
1806 James Madison Randolph (Jefferson's grandson) 1st born in White House
• SCIENCE & RELIGION
1706 Benjamin Franklin kite flyer/statesman/wit/inventor
1501 Leonhard Fuchs German botanist (History of Plants)
1761 James Hall Scotland, geologist
‡…Today’s Obituaries…‡
1961 Patrice Lumumba African revolutionary, murdered @ 36
1997 Clyde William Tombaugh discoverer (Pluto), @ 90
‡…Today’s Events…‡
• ARTS
1926 George Burns marries Gracie Allen
• ATHLETICS
1795 The Duddingston Curling Society, the oldest club of its kind, was organized in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1916 The Professional Golfers’ Association was formed in New York City.
• BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1905 Punchboards patented by Charles Brewer & C G Scannell, Chicago IL
1928 1st fully automatic photographic film developing machine patented
1929 Popeye makes 1st appearance, in comic strip "Thimble Theatre"
1989 Gunman opens fire in California schoolyard; 5 students slain, 30 wounded
• INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1813 As a part of the Detroit campaign, General James Winchester's forces of 700 Kentucky soldiers attack British and Indian forces at Monroe, Michigan, then called Frenchtown, on the Raisin River. They liberate the village. A counter attack will be waged on January 22, 1813.
• POLITICS (US)
1874 Armed Democrats seize Texas government ending Radical Reconstruction
1961 Eisenhower allegedly orders the assassination of Congo's Lumumba
1983 Alabama Governor George C Wallace, becomes governor for record 4th time
• POLITICS (International)
1945 Auschwitz concentration camp begins evacuation
1946 United Nations Security Council holds its 1st meeting
1991 Operation Desert Storm began
• SCIENCE & RELIGION
1718 Avalanche destroys every building in Leukerbad, Switzerland; kills 53
1912 English explorer Robert Falcon Scott & his expedition reach the South Pole, only to discover that Roald Amundsen had gotten there 1 month before
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ANSWERS
∞ JEOPARDY
•While it ran from 1976-81, it was the world's most watched first-run syndicated TV show
What was ‘The Muppet Show’?
•Named for a friend, this soft-spoken character was said to be Henson's alter ego
Who was ‘Kermit the Frog’?
•Back in the '60s this co. asked Jim to develop characters for its NET production of "Sesame Street"
What was ‘Children’s Television Network’?
•As Ernie, Jim Henson was "awfully fond" of this title toy that earned him a hit record
Who was ‘Rubber Duckie’?
•The Skeksis and the Mystics were saved by the Gelflings in this 1982 fantasy film
What was ‘The Dark Crystal’?
∞ Close up Picture
Padlock
• AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW •
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