TODAY’s HOLY MACKEREL: 1943 American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
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MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
The weatherman was off a little. We have about 18” of snow, so far today. He said 12”. When he said it would be wet, he wasn’t kidding. About 9am I went out to clear about 3” off the sidewalk and car. As a former skier, when I saw all that snow, all I could think was what great powder skiing. Wrong. The sidewalk was 2.5” of heavy slush with a little snow on top. It had not frozen so it slid right off my vehicle, and slid easily off the sidewalk. It has been snowing most of the day and looks like it’s going to keep going a long time. It has not gotten cold, so the slush is difficult, if it freezes, watch out. Winter Wonderland in Flag.
I have never been a big fan of Unions. I was ignored while I was a carry out boy at $1.25/hr. Two days after becoming a checker at $1.40/hr the union rep showed up and told me I had to join. If I had joined as a carry out boy it would have been $50 and $2/month. Joining as a checker it was $100 and $4/month. My second union experience was when the BIA made me a ‘career seasonal’ employee—along with all teachers—which in essence dropped our salary about 20% per year. In that encounter I ended up being the President of the Union that represented BIA teachers in Navajo Area and Albuquerque Area—basically the BIA teachers in the Southwest. During contract negotiations I learned a lot. Both sides come to the table with goals. We asked for a lot, the BIA wanted to give nothing. At the time, newer teachers basically received no leave except for school vacations and sick leave. Personal days were non-existent. For non-Indian teachers and for all teachers in isolated areas this made life difficult. We were off only on Federal Holidays, Christmas, and a two or three days at Easter. Sounds like a good deal, but banks are closed on Federal holidays, loan officers were off too. That meant that it could take two or more trips to Flagstaff to buy a vehicle or get any kind of loan. We were able to get 3 personal leave days in those negotiations. This all leads to the mess in Wisconsin. The Tea Party seems to hate unions. The Governor is basically trying to stop all unions for state employees. Back in the day, it was Wisconsin that made sure Americans only worked 5 days a week, got paid for overtime, made a livable wage, required certain safety standards for workers. What the Tea Party doesn’t realize is that both the union and the state agreed to the salaries and benefits. Now the Governor wants to take away the bargaining chips. Turns out I have a couple of Chicago family in-laws who teach in Wisconsin. The Governor’s plan will decrease their salary by adding more days to the 5 day furlough they have already accepted. They will now have to pay more into their healthcare insurance and their pensions will be decreased and they will have to work longer to be eligible for it. All these changes are without any contract negotiations. Yeah, these are tough times and everyone has to tighten their belt. My relatives say they get that, but don’t want to lose the pension benefits they were promised in good faith. Interestingly the cuts do not include the governor, his staff, the legislature or its staff. He isn’t one of those $1/yr CEO’s to help the state. Many other state governors are watching all this play out, and if the governor wins, they will follow suit and so will Congress. It has never been easy to be a government worker, now it is getting much much more difficult. One final thing, the only unions that the governor has gone after are the ones that did not back his bid for the top post. Hmmm.
Big parades down South honoring the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of Jeff Davis as President of the Confederacy. I wonder how they would feel if there was a parade and reenactment for the Battle of the Little Big Horn, or if Germany held a parade and reenactment of the swearing in of Hitler? The Civil War almost destroyed our country. A little odd that part of the US still celebrates its terrorist actions. FYI: terrorism: the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear
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DID YOU KNOW THAT…
Calm an upset stomach with club soda. Add a dash of bitters to 6 ounces of club soda and soothe that indigestion or a hangover.
To keep your bathroom free of mildew once a month spray your ceiling, shower, and tub with a combination of half hydrogen peroxide and half water.
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION… Super Bowl
From 1967 to 1984, only CBS and NBC ever aired the Super Bowl, trading off each year. ABC entered the rotation in 1985, and FOX followed suit in 1997.
Until 1995, what aired in the lead-out spot varied wildly. Networks tried everything from cheesy TV movies (NBC’s Brotherhood of the Rose, in 1989) to dud pilots (ABC’s Davis Rules, in 1991) to long-running golf tournaments (Bing Crosby Pro-Am, a.k.a. AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, in 1971) to news magazines (60 Minutes, which CBS aired multiple times after the game) to old favorites like Lassie (in 1967) and All in the Family in (1978).
On occasion, the lead-out slot has launched huge hits—including The Wonder Years (which premiered in 1988) and Homicide: Life on the Street (which premiered in 1993). The New Perry Mason is the only show to ever air its series finale after the Super Bowl (in 1974). Though it only ran for one season, anyway.
PUZZLE: Trivia Quiz […answers at bottom…]
1. What was the first ocean liner to have a swimming pool?
2. The song 'You'll Never Walk Alone' came from which 1945 musical show?
3. In the Bolshoi Ballet what does the word 'Bolshoi' mean?
4. In 1656, Christian Huygens invented what type of timekeeper?
5. Mathew Webb, who swam the channel died in a drowning acident. Where did he drown?
6. What song was The Pittsburgh Pirates' anthem?
7. One eighth of the US population has done what?
8. In which country do they play houlani a type of hockey?
9. Why did Roselin Franklin (pre discovery of the dna helix) not get a Nobel?
10. Which actor was dubbed the 'Muscles from Brussels'?
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM… MALMO, Sweden
--Police in Sweden said a man who drove to the police station to pick up a friend who was arrested for drunk driving also was arrested for the same crime.
Malmo police said the 28-year-old man, who was charged Tuesday with aggravated drunken driving, drove to the police station late at night to pick up his friend, who was arrested earlier in the day on a drunken driving charge, and a guard inside the facility suspected he had been drinking, The Local reported Thursday. The guard alerted a nearby police officer, who administered a breath test and determined the man's blood alcohol content was well over the legal limit for driving. "I didn't feel drunk, but I had been drinking, so it was unnecessary and poorly thought out," the Skanska Dagbladet newspaper quoted the man as saying after the September 2010 incident. Police said the man had driven the same car his friend was driving at the time of his arrest.
A LITTLE LAUGH…
A man goes into a bar with his dog. He goes up to the bar and asks for a drink.
The bartender says "You can't bring that dog in here!" The guy, without missing a beat, says "This is my seeing-eye dog."
"Oh man,” the bartender says, "I'm sorry, here, the first one's on me." The man takes his drink and goes to a table near the door.
Another guy walks into the bar with a Chihuahua. The first guys sees him, stops him and says "You can't bring that dog in here unless you tell him it's a seeing-eye dog."
The second man graciously thanks the first man and continues to the bar. He asks for a drink. The bartender says "Hey, you can't bring that dog in here!"
The second man replies "This is my seeing-eye dog." The bartender says, "No, I don't think so. They do not have Chihuahuas as seeing-eye dogs."
The man pauses for a half-second and replies "What??! They gave me a Chihuahua??!"
Top 10 In The World...Greatest Population
CLOSEUP PICTURE…
Can you identify this close up picture
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’…
♫ 60’s Rock ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
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DAYBOOK INFORMATION
¤…THIS WEEK…¤
14-21 ► Alzheimer’s and Dementia Awareness Week ♥ Love a Mench Week ♥ National Condom Week: ♥ National Nestbox Week ♥ NCCDP Alzheimer's & Dementia Staff Education Week ♥ International Friendship Week ♥ National Conference on Education
20-27 ► National Future Farmers of America Week ♥ National Engineers Week National Entrepreneurship Week ♥ Build A Better Trade Show Image Week ♥ National Eating Disorders Awareness Week ♥ Read Me Week ♥ Learning Disabilities Week ♥ Texas Cowboy Poetry Week
¤…TODAY IS…¤
Brotherhood Day (1934)
Clam Chowder Day
Daytona 500
Hoodie Hoo Day
Love Your Pet Day
World Day for Social Justice
US: John Glenn Day (1962)
Today’s Births...
○ AUTHORS/COMPOSERS
1902 Ansel Adams photographer (1966 ASMP Award)
1925 Robert Altman director: M*A*S*H, Nashville, Brewster McCloud
○ ATHLETES
Charles Barkley, 48, former basketball (76ers, Suns, Rockets), sportscaster
Philip Anthony (Phil) Esposito, 69, hockey executive, former coach and Hall of Fame hockey player
Stephon Marbury, 34, basketball (Timberwolves, Nets, Suns, Knicks, Celtics)
Robert William (Bobby) Unser, 77, auto racer
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
Patty Hearst
Gloria Vanderbilt, 87, fashion designer, artist
○ ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS/…)
1929 Amanda Blake (Beverly Louise Neill) actress: Gunsmoke: Miss Kitty; Betrayal, The Glass Slipper, Sabre Jet, Stars in My Crown
Cindy Crawford, 45, model, actress
1914 John Daly South African newscaster/TV game show host (What's My Line)
Sandy Duncan, 65, actress (Funny Face, “The Hogan Family,” Peter Pan)
Mitch McConnell, 69, US Senator (R, Kentucky)
Jennifer O’Neill, 63, actress (The Summer of ’42, “Cover-Up”), born Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Sidney Poitier, 84, actor (In the Heat of the Night; Oscar for Lilies of the Field)
Rihanna, 23, singer, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty
Buffy Sainte-Marie, 70, Canadian folksinger
French Stewart, 47, actor (“3rd Rock from the Sun”)
Peter Strauss, 64, actor (“Rich Man, Poor Man,” Soldier Blue)
Nancy Wilson, 74, singer
○ POLITICIANS
Gordon Brown, 60, former prime minister of Great Britian (2007–10), born Glasgow, Scotland 1904 Aleksei N Kosygin Soviet premier (1964-80)
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
Robert Huber, 74, German chemist, 1988 Nobel laureate in chemistry
1759 – Johann Christian Reil, German physician, founder of psychiatry
Today’s Obits…
1895 Frederick Douglass escaped slave, anti-slavery leader, @ 78
1976 Kathryn Kuhlman religious leader/faith healer, complications in surgery @ 69
1966 Chester W Nimitz US Admiral (WWII), @ 80
1920 Robert E Peary US pole explorer (North Pole, 6/4/1909), of premature aging due to cold temperatures @63
1992 Dick York actor (Bewitched), emphysema @ 63
Today’s Events…
○ ARTS
1872 Metropolitan Museum of Art opens (New York NY)
1944 Batman & Robin comic strip premieres in newspapers
1950 Dylan Thomas arrives in New York NY for his 1st US poetry reading tour
1952 A true American classic, The African Queen, opened at the Capitol Theatre in New York City
○ ATHLETICS
1997 San Francisco Giants Barry Bonds signs record $22.9 million 2 year contract
1998 Tara Lipinski wins Olympics figure skating gold medal
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1673 1st recorded wine auction held (London)
1872 Silas Noble & JP Cooley patents toothpick manufacturing machine
1872 Luther Crowell received a patent for a machine for manufacturing paper bags.
○ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1725 10 sleeping Indians scalped by whites in New Hampshire for £100/scalp bounty
1805 Kagohami talks of a 120-year-old man to Lewis and Clark.
1832 Northeastern District Choctaw Chief, Peter Pitchlynn, and his followers, arrive in Fort Smith, in western Arkansas, . Floods, cold weather, low rivers, and mud have delayed their trip considerably.
1893 A Congressional Act modifies the White Mountain-San Carlos-Camp Apache Reserve, in western Arizona Territory.
○ POLITICS (International)
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's troops occupy Fort August, Scotland
1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Castle of Inverness
○ POLITICS (US)
1809 Supreme Court rules federal government power greater than any state
1839 Congress prohibits dueling in District of Columbia
1929 American Samoa organized as a territory of US
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1835 Concepción, Chile destroyed by earthquake
1937 1st automobile/airplane combination tested, Santa Monica CA
1962 John Glenn is 1st American to orbit Earth (Friendship 7)
1989 Total eclipse of the Moon
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ANSWERS
Quiz ANSWERS…
1. What was the first ocean liner to have a swimming pool? Titanic
2. The song 'You'll Never Walk Alone' came from which 1945 musical show? Carousel
3. In the Bolshoi Ballet what does the word 'Bolshoi' mean? Big
4. In 1656, Christian Huygens invented what type of timekeeper? Pendulum clock
5. Mathew Webb, who swam the channel died in a drowning accident. Where did he drown? Niagara Falls
6. What song was The Pittsburgh Pirates' anthem? 'We are Family' by Sister Sledge
7. One eighth of the US population has done what? Worked in MacDonald's
8. In which country do they play houlani a type of hockey? Turkey
9. Why did Roselin Franklin (pre discovery of the dna helix) not get a Nobel? She was dead
10. Which actor was dubbed the 'Muscles from Brussels'? Jean Claude Van Dam
Close Up Picture…
Rope
« AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW »
Shaw, 57, newspaper heiress who was kidnapped
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