4-5-11 Tuesday

TODAY’s HOLY MACKEREL:  1965 Lava Lamp Day celebrated 

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MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS

Spring has arrived in Flag. That means the winter parking ordinance has ended. People can park on city streets overnight again. It also means road construction season has begun. I don’t seem to be affected by any of the major jobs that were announced, but I’m sure traffic on my regular routes will change during construction.

NPR had a very informative program today on the Airlines. According to recent studies while flight times and ‘misplaced’ luggage reports are better than they have been in years, people are still upset with the airlines. DUH… One of the major complaints was the pricing of seats. Two people sitting side by side can be paying absurdly different prices for their seat. It turns out it is not uncommon for a one full plane, in coach, to have passengers paying up to 60 different prices. This is not a nickel and dime difference. One passenger can be paying $99 for the seat; the passenger next to them might have paid….wait…..$900. I have never asked my seatmates how much I paid for the ticket, nor have I ever been asked. I get that frequent travelers pay less. I get that there are ‘special deals’ on flights. But this seems a little outrageous. It turns out that seats on a plane prices are not listed….anywhere. Logging on to get a ticket, going to a travel agent, going to the airport makes no difference…nobody can rent a seat and find out how much your seatmates paid. This is NOT a ‘better service’ seat or a ‘bigger’ seat, it is just whatever the airline is charging at the time you book. No wonder travelers are upset. One guy in the interview travels on the same airline to and from the same destination every week. He is a frequent flyer participant for that airline. Sometimes his flight is $120 and a week later it might be $425. In neither case is he using his ‘miles’ to get an upgrade or better deal. It’s time for some ‘transparency’.

I thought about it and was thinking where else this happens. Turns out it appears to be in the pharmaceutical industry. When the doctor gives a patient the script, it is taken to the local pharmacist. The pharmacist fills the script and charges whatever the insurance company says to charge—called a ‘co-pay’. The patient never sees the regular price—the one without insurance. Every insurance company has a different ‘deal’ for their co-pay. Every insurance company has different monthly rates. Depending on your health insurance coverage, your prescription plan changes when you have big medical bills. When I had my emergency gall bladder surgery and spent a week in the hospital, I paid zero for my prescriptions for the rest of the year. With my two one-day surgeries my cost has dropped, but not to zero. I get one script that has been $1.47 for several months. After my surgery it dropped to $0.95 for the rest of the calendar year. I have another script that was $46.25 for three months. When I refilled it yesterday, it was $42.15. What is going on? Both are brand name scripts. I called the pharmacy and that medication is $265 without insurance. The percentages just don’t work out. So I called BCBS and talked to the retail pharmacy. They couldn’t explain the difference. They said to call BCBS. I told them I did. Turns out I didn’t. The number for retail pharmacy is not part of BCBS even though the number is on the card. The main office was closed so tomorrow I will try to get more information. What a mess. It’s too bad that some big news organization doesn’t do some stories on this rip off. People without insurance are paying though the nose. People with insurance all pay different prices. Cost comparison is virtually impossible. In order to get pricing for BCBS you have to give your member number to the pharmacist who will run it. Of course that puts that number in one more database. The other downside is that the pharmacist needs to know all the meds one takes, from various doctors, to check for possible interactions. One wants to stay with one pharmacy rather than shopping around.

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DID YOU KNOW THAT…

~A great way to clean your keyboard is to use post-it notes. 

Take one, sticky side down and slide it back and forth along each row of keys. You'll be amazed at what comes out. Cut the yucky sticky part off and use the paper for your grocery list.

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION…

In 1765, the first billiard room was built in England. Played there was One-Pocket, which was a table with one pocket and four balls.
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Throughout most of the 1800s, the chalk used on the new leather cue tips was carbonate of lime, better known as blackboard chalk. Most chalk used today is comprised of fine abrasives and does not contain any actual chalk at all.
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The word “cue” is derived from the French queue, meaning tail. Before the cue stick was designed, billiards was played with a mace. The mace consisted of a curved wooden (or metal) head used to push the ball forward, attached to a narrow handle.

PUZZLE:   Trivia Quiz […answers at bottom…]

1. The Rimac river runs through what city?
2. Which city is the closest to Copacabana Beach?
3. In what country are the Drakesberg mountains?
4. Vladivostok stands on what body of water?
5. What country is known to its inhabitants as Suomen Tasavalta?
6. What is the capital of Sicily?
7. If you landed at Lindberg airport where are you?
8. What city stands on the river Torens?
9. The Pampero blows over which mountains?
10. What is France's longest river?

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM:

MANATEE COUNTY, FL- Sheriff’s deputies arrested two men after a traffic stop when, following a thorough search of the car’s trunk, they found marijuana. IN fact, the search of the messy trunk was so thorough that they also turned up a bong, which the driver said he had lost and had been looking for almost seven years.

A LITTLE LAUGH:

While working in the library at a university, I was often shocked by the excuses students would use to get out of paying their fees for overdue books. One evening an older student returned two books that were way overdue and threw a fit over the "outrageous" $2 fee that I asked her to pay.
I tried to explain how much she owed for each day, but she insisted she should be exempt. "You don't understand," she blurted out. "I didn't even read them!"

CLOSEUP PICTURE: Can you identify this close up picture?

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’:

Kareem Abdul Jabbar: The Unstoppable Sky Hook

♫ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ♫

2007 Inductee: Patti Smith--In 1975, rock and roll caught a glimpse of what lay ahead when Patti Smith—a bohemian New York poet and punk-rock artiste—released her debut album, Horses. Its inspired garage-band amateurism flew in the face of increasingly slick rock production values. Smith’s lyrics were street poetry that nodded toward Beat Generation and French symbolist poets, as well as literate rockers like Jim Morrison and Lou Reed.

Click on Song Title to see and hear it.

♪… Because of the Night

♪… Patti Smith Interview

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DAYBOOK INFORMATION

«THIS WEEK

1-7 

Golden Rule Week

International Pooper-Scooper Week
Laugh at Work Week
Medication Safety Week
2-7

Testicular Cancer Awareness Week

3-9

Explore Your Career Options

National Week of the Ocean
National Blue Ribbon Week
National Window Safety Week
4-10

Hate Week
National Networking Week
National Public Health Week
National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week

«TODAY IS

Go For Broke Day

World Health Organization Day

National Deep Dish Pizza Day

§   §  §  §

China: Cold Food Festival

China: National Tomb-Sweeping Day/Qing Ming Festival

Iceland: 1st Day of Summer

South Korea: Arbor Day 

Taiwan: National Tomb-Sweeping Day

… ARTISTS:  AUTHORS:  COMPOSERS…

1920 Arthur Hailey author: Airport

1588 Thomas Hobbes English philosopher (Leviathan) 
…ATHLETES

1951 Brad Van Pelt football: Michigan State Univ. [Maxwell Award Winner: 1972], Buffalo Bills, NY Giants

…BUSINESS & EDUCATION

1856 Booker Taliaferro Washington pioneer educator (1st black on US stamp)

…ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS…)

1908 Bette Davis actress, (Of Human Bondage, Jezebel) famous eyes

Max Gail, 68, actor (“Barney Miller,” Pearl)

Vince Gill, 54, country singer (When I Call Your Name) 

1933 Frank Gorshin impressionist, actor: Batman

1911 Gordon Jones actor (Mike the Cop-Abbott & Costello) 

1916 Gregory Peck actor (To Kill a Mockingbird, MacArthur) 

1922 Gale Storm (Josephine Cottle) singer: Ivory Tower, actress: My Little Margie

1900 Spencer Tracy actor (Father's Little Dividend, Adam's Rib) 

…POLITICIANS
Colin Luther Powell, 74, former US Secretary of State, general, former Chairman US Joint Chiefs of Staff

…SCIENCE & RELIGION

1827 Joseph Lister British surgeon, inventor: Listerine mouthwash

1949 Dr. Judith A. Resnik electrical engineer, astronaut: mission specialist on the ill-fated space shuttle Challenger 

Today’s Obits:

CORRECTION: Adam Powell died of a prostate infection

1982 Abe Fortas Supreme court justice, @ 71 

1997 Allen Ginsberg beat poet, @ 80 

1975 Chiang Kai-shek Nationalist Chinese leader, heart attack @ 87 

1991 John Tower (Senator-TX), plane crash @ 65 

1992 Sam Walton billionaire CEO (Wal-Mart), cancer @ 74 

Today’s Events:

…  ARTS

1895 Oscar Wilde loses libel case against Marquess of Queensberry, who accused him of homosexual practices 

1987 Fox TV network premieres showing Married With Children

…  ATHLETICS

1896 1st modern Olympic Games officially open in Athens 

1927 Johnny Weissmuller set records in the 100 & 200 meter freestyle 

1984 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks Wilt Chamberlain's all-time career scoring record of 31,419 points (31,421) 

…  BUSINESS & EDUCATION

1887 Anne Sullivan teaches "water" to Helen Keller 

1922 KOB-AM in Albuquerque NM begins radio transmissions 

1923 Firestone Company puts their inflatable tires into production 

1964 1st driverless trains run on the London Underground 

1974 Then tallest building, World Trade Center opens in NYC (110 stories) 

…  INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

1614 Indian princess Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe 

1832 After being removed from Illinois in 1831, Black Hawk, and his SAC followers lived in Iowa. Wanting to return to their old home land, today, Black Hawk, and almost 1000 of his tribe, will cross the Mississippi River back into Illinois. Not much later, they will be attacked by the whites.

1879 Having been cast out of Little Wolf's Band of Cheyenne for killing 2 of their fellow Northern Cheyenne, a group of 8 Indians are moving on their own. Today, they will attack a sergeant, and a private, of the 2nd Cavalry, on Mizpah Creek. The sergeant will be seriously wounded, and the private will be killed.

…  International POLITICS

1603 New English king James I departs Edinburgh for London 

1762 British take Grenada, West Indies, from French 

…  SCIENCE & RELIGION

2348 -BC Noah's ark grounded, Mount Ararat (calculated date) 

1722 Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island 

1753 British Museum forms (opens in 1759) 

1933 The first operation to remove a lung was performed -- at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, MO.

…  US POLITICS

1792 George Washington casts 1st presidential veto 

1865 Battle at Amelia Springs/Jetersville VA (Appomattox Campaign) 

1951 Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, atomic spies, sentenced to death 

1989 Solidarity granted legal status in Poland

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ANSWERS:

Quiz

1. The Rimac river runs through what city?
Lima, Peru
2. Which city is the closest to Copacabana Beach?
Rio de Janeiro
3. In what country are the Drakesberg mountains?
South Africa
4. Vladivostok stands on what body of water?
Sea of Japan
5. What country is known to its inhabitants as Suomen Tasavalta?
Finland
6. What is the capital of Sicily?
Palermo
7. If you landed at Lindberg airport where are you?
San Diego
8. What city stands on the river Torens?
Adelaide, Australia
9. The Pampero blows over which mountains?
Andes
10. What is France's longest river?
Loire 
Close Up Picture

Security Camera

________________AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW_______________