12-03-11


FYI: Blue text is a link… click on any blue text for more information!

Today’s “Geez”
  • 1557 - 1st Covenant of Scottish Protestants form
  • 1775 - 1st official US flag raising (aboard naval vessel Alfred)
  • 1910 - Neon lights, 1st publically seen (Paris Auto Show)
  • 1931 - Alka Seltzer goes on sale
  • 1947 - Tennessee Williams' "Streetcar Named Desire," premieres in NYC
  • 1967 - 1st human heart transplant performed (Dr Christian Barnard, S Africa)
  • 1968 - Pitcher's mound drops from 15" to 10" & strike zone reduced from knees to shoulders to top of knees to armpits, to help hitters

♪♪ Happy Birthday To:♪♪                       
 
Free Rambling Thoughts   
Snow on and off again all day. Kept me inside and working on videos. I posted two really videos—one on Ethiopian dancing, one on our 4 wheeling experience. They are on you tube—same place as the others. That will be all I’ll be posting until I get some more videos from other travelers. It was a great day to sit by the window, work on the videos, and enjoy the snow from the warmth of my office. Here’s the link:  Ethiopian Videos
I have enjoyed the comments I got on the Ethiopian stuff. Thanks to everyone who sent me a comment.
This snow storm has gotten me in the Christmas spirit…I’ll be decorating tomorrow. My dad’s father died on Christmas Eve in 1921 while shopping for last minute presents for his wife and two kids. My dad didn’t have many nice Christmas celebrations. When I showed up, my parents agreed that we would celebrate with a family Christmas every year. So we had lots of traditions—the main one being that we would always spend Christmas together. That tradition continues for my brother and me—60 Christmas days together and counting. My parents grew up in the depression and WWII. My brother and I still have some of the decorations from the ‘early years’ as well as ones that were added each year. We don’t save the wrapping paper anymore, but just about everything else is the same. Opening the boxes of decorations always brings back a flood of happy memories. I must admit that some of the decorations are showing their years of use, but neither of us has the gumption to toss them. Tomorrow will be a day of memories and I can’t wait. I’ll have Bing and Perry singing Christmas carols as I dig through all the boxes. I have added some of my own memories with Native decorations from the Tuba Christmas Bazaars over the years, some new LED lights, but Christmas is always about the Nativity Scene from the mid 1950’s, the early plastic balls, and all the homemade decorations from friends and my mom.

NPR Sunday Puzzle…(answers at the end of post)
Every answer is the name of a state capital. You are given a word. The first letters in the word are the first letters in the name of the capital. The last letter in the word are the last letter in the name of that capital's state. For example, given the word "main," the answer would be "Madison," the state capital of Wisconsin. Madison starts with M-A and Wisconsin ends with I-N.

1.     Augustine:
2.     Colombo:
3.     Coming:
4.     Salon:
5.     Topes:
6.     Biota:
7.     Prod:
8.     Trey:
9.     Tada:

Wuzzles…What concept or phrase do these suggest?
   
Rules of Thumb   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
  • If you are using a rope with a knot or a sharp bend, you should assume that its strength is reduced by 50 percent.

Hmmmmm          
  • Length in years of the contract a Dutch soccer team offered a one-year-old boy after seeing him kick soccer balls on YouTube: 10

Somewhat Useless Information   
  • Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander the Great was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. Alexander began his reign by eliminating potential rivals to the throne.
  • Alexander tried three times to take Gaza in Egypt before it fell, and he was injured during the conquest. He was nothing short of brutal to Gaza's citizens, killing all the able bodied men and selling the women and children into slavery.
  • Only beer which is brewed within the city limits of Munich is allowed to be served in this festival. Upon passing this criterion, a beer is designated Oktoberfest Beer. Oktoberfest Beer is a registered Trademark by the Club of Munich Brewers. Large quantities of German beer are consumed, with almost 7 million liters served during the 16 day festival in 2007.
  • Oktoberfest is one of the most famous events in Germany and is the world's largest fair, with more than 5 million people attending every year.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - An Arizona gun club is giving families the chance to take Christmas card photos with Santa Claus in front of firearms-themed backdrops. The Scottsdale Gun Club said families can come in during the Santa and Machine Guns event, scheduled for Dec. 10 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and have photos taken with jolly old St. Nick in front of backdrops ranging from an $80,000 Garwood mini-gun to common pistols, KSAZ-TV, Phoenix, reported Monday. "I think it's going to be all in fun from those who support the second amendment and those who don't. Whether you're a gun advocate or not, you should have a lot of fun with it," gun club member Richard Jones said.

Guffaw…or at least smile     
Pilot: Control tower, what time is it?
Control tower: What airline is this?
Pilot: What difference does that make?
Control tower: Well if it is UA, it is 6:00p.m.; if it is TWA, it is 1800 hours; if it is Ozark, the big hand is on the…..”
~*~Bonus
A boy was having a lot of difficulty in French class. To encourage him, his teacher said, "You'll know you're really beginning to get it when you start dreaming in French."
The boy ran into class all excited one day, saying, "Teacher, teacher! I had a dream last night and everyone was talking in French!"
"Great!" said the teacher; "what were they saying?"
"I don't know," the boy replied; "I couldn't understand them."

Searchin’ “You Tube” I found        

Daybook Information        
…Happening This Week:
1-7 
  • Cookie Cutter Week 
  • Tolerance Week  Recipe Greetings for The Holidays Week

Today Is                                                                      
  • Earmuff Day or Chester Greenwood Day [invented them at 15 in 1873]
  • International Day of Disabled Persons
  • Make a Gift Day
  • National Roof-Over-Your-Head Day
  • Skywarn Recognition Day Coats
  • Toys for Kids Day

~*~
  • US: Illinois: Admission Day (1818 as 21st state)

Today’s Events                                                             
Arts
1922 - 1st successful Technicolor movie (Toll of the Sea), shown in NYC
1960 - Frederick Loewe/Alan Jay Lerner's "Camelot," premieres in NYC
1979 - 11 trampled to death at Cincinnati Who concert
Athletes
1929 - Boston Bruins begins then NHL record 14 game winning streak
1938 - AAU's decides to continue linear measuring system over metric
1997 - Golden State Warrior guard Latrell Sprewell, four-year, $32 million, contract terminated for attacking his coach P J Carlesimo
Business
1586 - Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England, from Colombia
1835 - 1st US mutual fire insurance company issues 1st policy (RI)
1917 - After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic
1950 - Paul Harvey begins his national radio broadcast
1952 - 1st TV broadcast in Hawaii
1984 - 2,000 die from Union Carbide poison gas emission in Bhopal, India
Education
1833 - Oberlin College in OH, 1st truly coeducational college opens
Indigenous People
1598 – Juan de Zaldivar "discovers" Acoma and is killed with 12 other Spaniards
1837 - Accompanied by Cherokee mediators, Mikanopy, and 30 other Seminole leaders arrive at Fort Mellon, near St. Augustine, Florida, today, under a flag of truce, to discuss peace. The Cherokee mediators were there with the approval of the Secretary of War. General Thomas Jesup, much to the shame of the Cherokee, takes the Seminole hostage. Jesup hopes to force the Seminole to surrender by holding their leaders as prisoners.
Politics [International]
1958 - Indonesian parliament accepts nationalization of Dutch businesses
1962 - Pravda criticizes western art
Politics [US]
1847 - Frederick Douglass publishes 1st issue of his newspaper "North Star"
1868 - Trial of Jefferson Davis starts; 1st blacks on US trial jury
1964 - Police arrests 800 sit-in students at U of Cal at Berkeley
Religion
1639 - 1st annulment by court decree passes
1685 - Charles II bars Jews from settling in Stockholm Sweden
Science
1621 - Galileo invents telescope
1834 - 1st US dental society organized (NY)
1973 - Pioneer 10 passes Jupiter (1st fly-by of an outer planet)

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Artists: [Authors, Composers]
1857 - Joseph Conrad, Poland, novelist (Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness)
1684 - Ludvig Baron Holberg, founder (Danish & Norwegian literature)
1755 - Gilbert Stuart, US, portrait painter (painted Washington)
Athletes
Bobby Allison, auto racer (3 time winner of Daytona 500) is 74
Rick Mears, Indy-car racer (over 25 wins) is 60
Katarina Witt, Staaken GDR, figure skater (Olympic-Gold-1984, 88) is 46
Entertainers [Actors, Singers…]
1923 - Maria Callas, opera singer
Brendan Fraser, actor is 43
Daryl Hannah, actor is 51
Jaye P Morgan, Mancos Colo, singer/actress (Gong Show, Night Patrol) is 80
Ozzy Osbourne, actor, singer is 63
Andy Williams, Wall Lake Iowa, singer (Moon River, Andy Williams Show) is 84
Entrepreneurs & Educators
1842 - Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American industrialist
Political Figures
--
Scientists & Theologians
1838 - Cleveland Abbe, US, meteorologist (Father of Weather Bureau)
1900 - Richard Kuhn, Austria, biochemist, worked with vitamins (Nobel 1938)
1924 - John Backus, inventor (FORTRAN computer language

Today’s Obits                                                           
1815 - John Carroll (priest), first Roman Catholic archbishop in the U.S. dies at 80
1882 - Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury dies at 71
1997 - Steve Hamilton, pitcher (NY Yankees), dies of cancer at 63
1999 - Madeline Kahn, American actress dies of ovarian cancer at 57
1967 - Annette Kolb, German writer and WWI pacifist, dies at 92
1919 - Pierre A Renoir, French painter/sculptor, dies at 78
1894 - Robert Louis Stevenson, Engl writer (Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde), dies of cerebral hemorrhage at 43
2009 - Richard Todd, Irish-born British actor dies at 90
1552 - St Francis Xavier, Jesuit missionary to the East dies of fever at 46

Answers                                                                                                                                            
NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.     Augustine: Augusta, Maine
2.     Colombo: Columbus, Ohio
3.     Coming: Cheyenne, Wyoming
4.     Salon: Salem, Oregon
5.     Topes: Topeka, Kansas
6.     Biota: Bismarck, North Dakota
7.     Prod: Providence, Rhode Island
8.     Trey: Trenton, New Jersey
9.     Tada: Tallahassee, Florida

Wuzzle
Feeling left out
Blockbuster
Polka dots

Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.
All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site has mistakes and sadly once out the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.
§     AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW     §

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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.