TODAY’s HOLY MACKEREL: 1939 Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of F.D.R. resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution in support of African American opera singer Marian Anderson.
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MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
Tomorrow night I am moderating our discussion group’s topic: Horn of Africa. We ALWAYS meet on Friday night, but this time we made it Saturday night. I guess I am ready, a day early. With all the events in Africa, it should be a lively discussion. The ‘horn’ includes Djiibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan. This is one of the poorest area on earth. It is also an area believed to be where civilization began. I must say I have reviewed my itinerary more than once since I have been reading about this area. Our group is staying in ‘safe’ areas and not traveling near any borders. Looking at the areas we are going show me that this is a very poor country. We may be staying in the ‘better or best’ hotels in the country but none look, from the outside, like the five stars we are used to. That is OK for me, as I am just now getting used to saying hotel instead of motel. I do understand why Hamdy is a little concerned about some of our fellow travelers. I doubt there will be any ‘spas’, massages, or mints on the pillow. With that said, we are going to see some beautiful areas and certainly learn a great deal about the country. It is going to be a different trip, but one I can hardly wait for. It is still a long time until late October. As I listen to the events in Africa, I can only hope that it doesn’t reach the horn before we have our trip. I know I am being selfish, as none of these countries have true democracy and their needs are so much greater than mine. So if the events change, I will be OK with it. Hopefully, I won’t lose too much money. I have insurance, but not sure what is covered—usually it has to do with an illness. I’m sure if the planes can’t fly in, that will be covered. Not sure if our tour operator makes the decision for our safety. I’m also sure that the State Dept will play a role in any decisions too. It will all work out.
Most of the problems in Africa seem to go back to the colonial movement of the Europeans. That’s when all the African borders were drawn. Just like in the US with our indigenous people, there was little if any understanding of the history before the colonist’s arrival. The tribes of Africa had developed. They were not friends with all their neighbors. Yet the colony would be drawn, with historical enemies put together. Their languages, their beliefs, their culture had nothing to do with it. It was more about which European country got the colony. Tribes were split in some cases. Sudan has just voted to split into two countries—based on ancient tribal areas. It is much like the countries in Europe during WWII and after. Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and others were ‘made’ into countries with dictators. When the Soviet Union collapsed and/or the dictators died off, the countries split. The same is true in Africa. The rise of independence in Africa and the Native unrest in the US in the 1960’s is now exploding in Africa. The US may be looking at some changes also. There are still a lot of indigenous people out there that carry the scars of reservations.
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DID YOU KNOW THAT…
Drafty doors? Stuff the leg of an old pair of tights with kitty litter or strips of an old T-shirt. Tie at the end and place in front a door to keep drafts out.
After baking, turn off the oven and leave the door open. Its residual heat will raise the temperature of the rest of the house in no time.
Spend more time on the top floor of your home since heat rises, the air up there will be toastier than that on the ground floor.
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION…
The first Grammy Awards were presented on May 4, 1959. There were only 22 awards; now there are over 100.
Can you name some of the most well known musicians/musical groups who have never won a major performance Grammy? They are Bob Marley, Diana Ross, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, and the Grateful Dead.
In the history of the Grammys, only two comedians have won a major performance award: Bob Newhart, for best new artist in 1961, and Vaughn Meader, album of the year in 1963.
PUZZLE: Trivia Quiz […answers at bottom…]
1. Psychologists say, men who do what during sex are insecure?
2. Fran Philps of Canada was the first woman to do what?
3. Which animal sleeps with one eye open?
4. In which EEC country is abortion still illegal?
5. Who was the first black entertainer to win an Emmy award?
6. In 1643 Evangalisa Torichelli invented the first what?
7. If you had 'distrix' what condition would you have?
8. What is a Bellwether?
9. Maria Magdelana Von Losch Beyyer is better known as whom?
10. What do the quarters of a hot cross bun symbolise?
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM… VILLA RICA, Ga.
— A Girl Scout leader says young members of her troop thought they were headed to jail when a Georgia police officer told them to quit selling cookies.
The girls had set up a stand at a strip mall in Villa Rica about 30 miles west of Atlanta on Wednesday when the officer asked them if they had a peddler's permit. They didn't.
Troop Leader Kathy Crook told WXIA-TV in Atlanta that she was stunned. She says the scouts were told to pack it up.
And she says the younger members thought they would be taken to jail.
The city's police chief and mayor spoke with the officer. They say he did nothing wrong and that it was a misunderstanding.
The troop now has a permit to sell. And to smooth things over, the city is offering the scouts a pizza party.
A LITTLE LAUGH…
When the icemaker in our new refrigerator broke, my husband dropped by the store to arrange for repairs. Because the sun was bright, my husband's eyes hadn't adjusted to the dim light inside in time to see a woman sitting on the floor examining carpet samples.
He stepped on her leg and she screamed, causing him to jump into a display of fireplace tools that went crashing in every direction. Unnerved, my husband stumbled over to the service desk, and as he went to rest his hands on the counter, he flipped over a bowl full of little mints, scattering them everywhere.
After taking a deep breath to calm himself, he announced to the wide-eyed woman working there, "My refrigerator doesn't work."
"I don't doubt it," she replied.
Top 10 In The World
CLOSEUP PICTURE…
Can you identify this close up picture
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’…Amazing Sword Swallower
♫ 60’s Rock ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
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DAYBOOK INFORMATION
¤…THIS WEEK…¤
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…¤
For Pete's Sake Day (origin is a corruption of ‘for pity’s sake’ or talking about St. Peter)
International Sword Swallowers Day
Levi Strauss Day—his birthday
National Pistachio Day
Open That Bottle Night—for that special bottle of wine
Kuwait: Night Liberation Day (since 1991—end of Iraqi occupation during Gulf War)
US:Wisconsin: American Birkebeider Race—36 mi cross country ski race since 1993
Today’s Births...
○ AUTHORS/COMPOSERS
1802 Victor Hugo French author (Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables)
1832 John George Nicolay author (Abe Lincoln's biographer)
○ ATHLETES
Hannah Kearney, 25, American freestyle skier
Joe Mullen, 54 American ice hockey (Bruins)
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1846 William F "Buffalo Bill" Cody, frontiersman, showman
1675 Guillaume Delisle French geographer (Atlas Géographique)
1852 John Harvey Kellogg surgeon, inspired flaked cereal industry
1931 Robert Novak American political columnist
○ ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS/…)
Michael Bolton, 58, Grammy Award-winning singer: When a Man Loves a Woman [1991], How Am I Supposed to Live Without You [1989]
1932 Johnny Cash country singer (I Walk The Line, Folsom Prison Blues, Boy Named Sue)
1933 Godfrey Cambridge actor: Watermelon Man, The Last Angry Man, The President’s Analyst, Beware! The Blob, Friday Foster;
Fats Domino (Antoine Domino), 83, singer, songwriter (“Ain’t That a Shame,” “I’m in Love Again,” “Blueberry Hill”)
1887 William Frawley actor: I Love Lucy and many movies
1916 Jackie (Herbert John) Gleason comedian, actor: The Honeymooners, The Hustler, Smokey and the Bandit
1920 Tony Randall [Leonard Rosenberg], Tulsa OK, actor (Felix-Odd Couple, Love Sidney)
Mitch Ryder (William Levise), 66, singer: group: Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels: Devil with a Blue Dress On, Little Latin Lupe Lu
○ POLITICIANS
Ernst August, Prince of Hanover, 57, heir to the deposed Kingdom of Hanover and husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco
Ariel Sharon, 83, 11th Prime Minister of Israel
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1842 Camille Flammarion Mars researcher & popularizer of astronomy
1876 Pauline Musters shortest known adult (58.9 cm, 1' 11.2")
Today’s Obits…
1996 Audrey Angers charity pioneer
1997 David Doyle actor (Charlie's Angels), heart attack @ 67
1965 Jimmie Lee Jackson civil rights activist, beating injuries @27: inspired Selma-Montgomery March
Today’s Events…
○ ARTS
1848 Marx & Engels publish "The Communist Manifesto"
1957 The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award was established by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
○ ATHLETICS
1935 New York Yankees release Babe Ruth, he signs with Boston Braves
1941 Cowboys' Amateur Association of America organized (California)
1973 Triple Crown horse Secretariat bought for a record $5.7m
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1834 1st US interstate crime compact (New York-New Jersey) ratified
1993 2nd tallest building in world, NYC World Trade Center bombed, 7 die
○ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1757 Built by Pennsylvania troops at Shamokin on the Susquehanna River at the juncture of several Indian trails, Fort Augusta is surrounded, and briefly held under siege by Indians. The Indians leave after a few days, but return in a few months.
1860 The Wiyots lived on the upper California coast between the Little River and the Bear River. An annual ceremony lasting over a week is held in the village of Tutulwat on an island in the river in what is now Eureka, California. By Wiyot tradition, everyone is welcome at the ceremony, including whites. Tonight after the ceremonies are finished, a group of men from Eureka sneak into the village and attack the participants. Several other nearby villages are also attacked. An estimated eighty to 100 Indians are killed in the sneak attack. An annual vigil is now held on a nearby island to commemorate the event.
○ POLITICS (International)
1951 Bread rationing in Czechoslovakia
1992 Irish Supreme Court rules 14 year old rape victim may get an abortion
○ POLITICS (US)
1919 Acadia National Park established (as Lafayette National Park), Maine
1929 President Calvin Coolidge establishes Grand Teton National Park
1944 1st female US navy captain, Sue Dauser of nurse corps, appointed
1954 Michigan Representative Ruth Thompson (R) introduces legislation to ban mailing "obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy" phonograph (rock & roll) records
1998 A jury, in Amarillo today rejected a lawsuit by Texas cattlemen who claimed Oprah Winfrey’s televised comments about mad-cow disease caused the beef market to plummet and cost them millions of dollars.
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1531 Earthquake in Lisbon Portugal, kills 20,000
1616 Spanish Inquisition delivers injunction to Galileo
1732 1st mass celebrated in American Catholic church, (St Joseph's Church, Philadelphia)
1914 New York Museum of Science & Industry incorporated
1977 1st flight of Space Shuttle (atop a Boeing 747)
1979 Last total eclipse of Sun in 20th century for continental US
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ANSWERS
Quiz ANSWERS…
1. Psychologists say, men who do what during sex are insecure? Keep socks on
2. Fran Philps of Canada was the first woman to do what? Reach the North Pole
3. Which animal sleeps with one eye open? Dolphin
4. In which EEC country is abortion still illegal? Ireland
5. Who was the first black entertainer to win an Emmy award? Harry Bellefonte
6. In 1643 Evangalisa Torichelli invented the first what? Barometer
7. If you had 'distrix' what condition would you have? Hair - split ends
8. What is a Bellwether? Leader of flock of sheep
9. Maria Magdelana Von Losch Beyyer is better known as whom? Marlene Dietrich
10. What do the quarters of a hot cross bun symbolise? Four Seasons
Close Up Picture…
Light Bulb
« AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW »
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