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MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
Super Bowl Day. I’m ready for whatever happens. I’m pushin’ for a Packer win. My dad was a meat packing accountant and if the Broncos didn’t make the Super Bowl he would always push for the Packers. I just don’t like the Steelers. I think they, like the Cowboys, are just a little too cocky. Fox is the broadcaster for the Super Bowl. They have done a good job in season’s past. Maybe they should just be a sports and entertainment network and drop their news channel…now there is an idea worth considering.
I was able to watch all my Sunday news programs, and thanks to them, have a much better understanding of what is going on in Egypt. The two big parts of the week’s events, for me at least, were the economic devastation that is hitting the people and the fact that Coptics and Muslims stood together at the demonstrations, holding up the Bible and the Koran. The other part of the events that still has me confused is the American position. We talk the talk of wanting the dictator gone so there can be a democracy but don’t seem willing to walk the walk. I get that it is difficult; I get that is the Egyptian people’s decision. The problem is that one day we act like the power change should take place now, then the next day we talk about taking time for the change. This on-the-fence stand must be very difficult for the Egyptian people. They know that we have sponsored this regime for its entire existence and they know we talk about the importance of democratic rule. They like our tourists; they like our dollars; many come to the US for a better life. It seems to me a better stance would be to say—everyday—that the events are part of the internal struggle every country goes through for democracy and that outside input is not important. Of course our need for the Suez Canal to stay open makes difficult.
Our gas prices have gone up to a little over $3 a gallon. It was just a few weeks ago that we were paying $2.50. I’m sure this has something to do with the tension over there. The big gas companies are concerned that if the Suez Canal is closed, oil will take a whole lot longer to get to the US and there will be less of it for a time. So raise the prices now so that their profit remains steady. In oil crisis raises of the past, the US population has freaked out when gas crossed the $1 a gallon mark. We freaked again when they passed $2 a gallon. This time there seems to be very little news coverage of any outrage or concern…and I have to wonder why.
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DID YOU KNOW THAT…
○ To get rid of this awful lingering burnt popcorn smell out of your microwave, fill as large microwave-safe bowl with one cup of water and sprinkle your favorite spice like cinnamon or add several drops of vanilla or lemon extract. Bring to a boil. You must let it sit inside for 10 to 15 minutes to cool down. Simply wipe the walls down with paper towels. Leave the door open to further air it out.
○ Fill a spray bottle with one part alcohol-based mouthwash to three parts water, and spray directly onto your plant's leaves and into the soil. The mouthwash protects plants from fungi!
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION… Capone Part II
○ Al Capone expanded into the suburbs, sometimes using terror as in Forest View, which became known as "Caponeville." Sometimes he simply bribed public officials and the police as in Cicero. He established suburban headquarters in Cicero's Anton Hotel at 4835 W. 22nd Street and in the Hawthorne Hotel at 4823 22nd Street. He pretended to be an antique dealer and a doctor to front his headquarters.
○ "Scarface Al" got his hated nickname from the ear to mouth scar on his left cheek. Capone often romanticized this scar by pretending he'd received it as a member of the Lost Battalion. The truth is he got it when he was 17 by a man named Frank Gallucio.
○ Capone's most notorious killing was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. On February 14, 1929, four Capone men entered a garage at 2122 N. Clark Street. The building was the main liquor headquarters of bootlegger George "Bugs" Moran's North Side gang. Because two of Capone's men were dressed as police, the seven men in the garage thought it was a police raid. As a result, they dropped their guns and put their hands against the wall. Using two shotguns and two machine guns, the Capone men fired more than 150 bullets into the victims.
PUZZLE: Who Wants To Be a Millionaire […answers at bottom…]
1. How many legs does a human have?
42 4 2 1
2. What cartoonist created and drew the famous 'Peanuts' comic strip?
Gary Trudeau Jim Davis Charles Schulz Bill Watterson
3. Which of the following is not a Disney animated film?
The Lion King Harunga! Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Hercules
4. Which of these countries is largest in area?
USA Guam Canada China
5. What does B.C. stand for when referring to years?
Bad Congo Bionary Chalupas Before Christ Big Computers
6. In which U.S. state is Yale University located?
Rhode Island Connecticut New York Massachusetts
7. Which U.S. President weighed the most?
Abraham Lincoln Woodrow Wilson Chester Arthur William Howard Taft
8. Which of the following months does not have a regular U.S. national holiday (i.e., when banks, schools, post offices close)?
May September October March
9. What company makes the cereal 'Grape Nuts'?
Kellogg's Best Yet General Mills Post
10. How many moons does Neptune have?
fewer than 5 6 more than 10 8
11. What team was the first NFL league champion in 1921?
Cleveland Bulldogs Chicago Cardinals Chicago Staleys Canton Bulldogs
12. Who was President of the United States during the Utah War?
Zachary Taylor James Buchanan Millard Fillmore Andrew Johnson
13. What is the Ivory Coast's capital as known by its natives?
Abidjan N'Djamena Bouake Yamoussoukro
14. Who was the famous Zog?
Rumanian statesman Nazi leader King of Albania Cuban Composer
15. Which of the following is the correct spelling for a word that means the eighth power of a number? Zenzizenzezenzic Zenzizenzizenzic Zenzezenzezenzic Zenzizenzizenzec
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM… SARASOTA, FL
-- Scientists say an underwater blob of goo off the Florida Panhandle coast isn't oil, but rather a mass of dead plankton, algae and bacteria. The underwater mass of dead sea life, at least three feet thick and spanning 2/3 of a mile off to the coast, appears to be growing as microscopic algae and bacteria get trapped in it and die, the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune reported Wednesday. Scientists investigating whether oil from last year's deepwater Horizon disaster was a factor in the creation of the blob say tests so far have found no sign of oil. "It seems to be a combination of algae and bacteria," David Hollander of the University of South Florida said, describing the substance as toxic and "extraordinarily sticky." Researchers say they are not ruling out a possible connection to the oil spill that gummed up that part of the gulf for 30 to 40 days and pumped 186 million to 227 million gallons of crude into the ocean.
"We don't know all the ramifications, the implications of a spill like this," Hollander said.
A LITTLE LAUGH…
Bob was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business.
When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed to find a wife with whom to share his fortune.
One evening, at an investment meeting, he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away.
"I may look like just an ordinary guy," he said to her, "but in just a few years, my father will die and I will inherit $200 million."
Impressed, the woman asked for his business card, and three days later she became his stepmother.
MORAL: Women are so much better at financial planning than men.
TOP 10 HISTORICAL FINDS… 3. The Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is a black basalt stela (an ancient upright stone slab bearing markings) that dates back to 196 BC. An Egyptian decree honoring King Ptolemy V is carved into the stone in Greek, Demotic Egyptian and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The stone would have originally been displayed in a temple and was later moved and used as building material in a fort at the village of Rashid (Rosetta). It was discovered there by Captain Pierre-Francois Bouchard on July 15, 1799, during Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt. Attempts to decipher it were first made by Thomas Young, who translated the Demotic text, and by French Egyptologist Jean Francois Champollion who is generally known as the translator of the Rosetta Stone. Champollion used the Coptic language to realize that hieroglyphs served as a spoken language and not just symbols.
Importance: The discovery of the Rosetta Stone and the realization that it is the same passage written in three languages allowed scholars to get a glimpse into a civilization that for a long time had been a mystery to scholars. Egyptologists have been able to figure out the entire Ancient Egyptian language from its inscriptions.
CLOSEUP PICTURE…
Can you identify this close up picture
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
♫ Rock Anthems ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
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DAYBOOK INFORMATION
¤…THIS WEEK…¤
1-7 ► Children's Authors & Illustrators Week ♥ National Patient Recognition Week ♥ Solo Diners Eat Out Weekend ♥ Women's Heart Week
3-9 ► Boy Scout Anniversary Week
4-6 ► International Snow Sculpting Week
6-12 ► Dump Your Significant Jerk Week ♥ Freelance Writers Appreciation Week ♥ International Coaching Week ♥ Jell-O Week
7-11 ► International Networking Week ♥ Just Say No to PowerPoint Week ♥ National Green Week ♥ National School Counseling Week
7-14 ► Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week ♥ Publicity for Profit Week ♥ Risk Awareness Week ♥ Love Makes the World Go Round; But, Laughter Keeps Us From Getting Dizzy Week ♥ World Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Week
¤…TODAY IS…¤
Charles Dickens Day ♥ Ballet Day ♥ Wave All Your Fingers At Your Neighbor's Day
Grenada: Independence Day (1974 from UK)
Today’s Births
○ AUTHORS/COMPOSERS
1883 Eubie (James Hubert) Blake pianist, composer
1812 Charles Dickens English novelist (Oliver Twist, Tale of 2 Cities)
1612 Thomas Killigrew English humorist/playwright/leader (King's Men)
1885 (Harry) Sinclair Lewis 1st American Nobel prize-winning author [1930]: Elmer Gantry; refused Pulitzer prize: Arrowsmith [1926]; Main Street
1867 Laura Ingalls Wilder children's book author (Little House on Prairie)
○ ATHLETES
Juwan Howard, 38, basketball(Wizards, Mavericks, Nuggets, Magic, Rockets, Bobcats, Trail Blazers, Heat
Steve Nash, 37, basketball (Mavericks Suns), born in Johannesburg, South Africa
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1862 Bernard Maybeck US architect (Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco) 1837 Sir James Augustus Henry Murray Scottish creator: Oxford Dictionary
○ ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS/…)
Oscar Brand, 91, folksinger
(Troyal) Garth Brooks, 49, country singer
Ashton Kutcher, 33, actor (“That 70s Show,” Dude, Where’s My Car?)
Chris Rock, 45, actor, comedian
Gay Talese, 79, author (The Kingdom and the Power, Unto the Sons)
○ POLITICIANS
1817 Frederick Douglass high ranking black in US government
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1870 Alfred Adler Austrian psychiatrist (Inferiority Complex)
1478 Sir Thomas More lawyer/lord chancellor of England/saint (Utopia)
Today’s Obituaries…
1968 Nick [Aloysius Adamschock] Adams actor (Interns, Pillow Talk, FBI Story, Johnny Yuma-The Rebel), ODs @ 36
2001 Dale Evans, American actress and singer @ 89
1964 Hermann A J Kees German Egyptologist, @ 77
2001 Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author and aviator @ 95
1979 Josef Mengele concentration camp doctor, drowns @ 67
1937 Elihu Root US Minister of War/Foreign affairs (Nobel 1912), @ 91
Today’s Events…
○ ARTS
1914 Charlie Chaplin debuts "The Tramp" in "Kid Auto Races at Venice"
1974 Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" opens in movie theaters
1994 Jim Nabors undergoes a liver transplant
○ ATHLETICS
1964 Cassius Clay becomes a Muslim & adopts the name Muhammad Ali
1998 The XVIIIth Winter Olympic games opened at Nagano, Japan
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1818 1st successful US educational magazine "Academician" begins (New York NY)
1894 The Cripple Creek miner's strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado
1943 Shoe rationing begins in US (may purchase up to 3 more pairs in 1943)
○ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1861 Convinced that they will get better treatment from a southern government than from the one in Washington, D. C., Today, the CHOCTAWs will announce their support of the Confederacy.
1983 The Inuit Circumpolar Conference is held at the United Nations.
○ POLITICS (US)
1795 11th Amendment to US Constitution ratified, affirms power of states
1839 Henry Clay declares in Senate "I had rather be right than president"
1936 A U.S. Vice President’s flag was established by executive order.
1983 1st female secretary of transportation sworn-in (Elizabeth Dole)
1990 Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.
1992 The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.
○ POLITICS (International)
1569 King Philip II forms inquisition in South America
1962 President Kennedy begins blockade of Cuba
1978 Ethiopian offensive in Ogaden desert
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1979 Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was discovered.
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ANSWERS
Millionaire ANSWERS…
1. How many legs does a human have? 2
2. What cartoonist created and drew the famous 'Peanuts' comic strip? Charles Schulz
3. Which of the following is not a Disney animated film? Harunga!
4. Which of these countries is largest in area? Canada
5. What does B.C. stand for when referring to years? Before Christ
6. In which U.S. state is Yale University located? Connecticut
7. Which U.S. President weighed the most? William Howard Taft
8. Which of the following months does not have a regular U.S. national holiday (i.e., when banks, schools, post offices close)? March
9. What company makes the cereal 'Grape Nuts'? Post
10. How many moons does Neptune have? more than 10 [Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Proteus, Triton, and Neried (plus three unnamed moons found in 2003)]
11. What team was the first NFL league champion in 1921? Chicago Staleys
12. Who was President of the United States during the Utah War? James Buchanan [The Utah War, also known as the Utah Expedition, Buchanan's Blunder,[1] the Mormon War,[2] or the Mormon Rebellion[3] was an armed confrontation between Latter-day Saint ("Mormon") settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the United States government. The confrontation lasted from May 1857 until July 1858.]
13. What is the Ivory Coast's capital as known by its natives? Yamoussoukro
14. Who was the famous Zog? King of Albania [from 1928-1939]
15. Which of the following is the correct spelling for a word that means the eighth power of a number? Zenzizenzizenzic [Zenzizenzizenzic was created in 1557 by a mathematician named Robert Recorde, found in his book 'The Whetstone of Whit'.]
Close up Picture…
Grinding Stone
« AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW »
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