12-17-11



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

Todays Geez
  • 1798 - 1st impeachment trial against a US senator (Wm Blount, TN) begins
  • 1821 - Kentucky abolishes debtor’s prisons
  • 1852 - 1st Hawaiian cavalry organized
  • 1862 - Gen US Grant issues order #11, expelling Jews from Tennessee
  • 1914 - Great Britain declares Egypt a protectorate
  • 1954 - 1st fully automated railroad freight yard (Gary, Indiana)
  • 1957 - US successfully test-fires Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile
  • 1965 - Astrodome opens, 1st event is Judy Garland & Supremes concert
  • 1969 - 50m TV viewers saw singer Tiny Tim marry Miss Vicky, on Tonight Show


♪♪ Happy Birthday To:♪♪                        
 
Free Rambling Thoughts   
Twas a nice sunny day, but the ice cold wind made it miserable to be outside. The wind chill dropped our temp by at least 10° throughout the day. Our retirement group had our Christmas lunch at the best Chinese place in town. It’s on the east side of town, as we were all avoiding the NAU side…it’s graduation day. Cheryl gave me coolest wall map of the world. It is a ‘scratch and see’ map…so when you visit a country, you scratch it and there is a colorful map behind. While I now see myself as a world traveler, there are so many places I haven’t visited yet the map looks kinda strange. It will be a treasure for years to come. We both got Mary’s present early, her brother’s poetry book. But she surprised us with some great homemade candy. A good meal, good conversation, and a nice gift exchange. Mary liked the diffuser and the peach-mango soap; Cheryl liked the tea, tea mug and English biscuits. Cheryl is heading for CA next week, I’m headed for Chicago, and Mary has her Chicago family coming in. Next week will be busy for all of us.

I also almost finished my Christmas e-mail letter today. Should get it finished and off tomorrow. I’m using a Word Template that is really cute, but having problems saving it. Every time I try to save it, it tries to change my Normal file…which I don’t want it to do. Every time I have to save it with a different name and hope it works. I’m one of the people who is hurting the PO business as I only do e-cards and e-mail Christmas letters. So much easier. Even so, I continue to get some really nice snail mail cards and letters. That is nice too.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (answers at the end of post)
Every answer is a pair of homophones, like "wait" and "weight." You are given a word that can precede one homophone and follow the other, in each case, to complete a familiar two-word phrase. For example, given "chess" and "pipe," the answer would be "piece" and "peace."
1.     Anthracite _____ slaw:
2.     Bus _____ shake:
3.     Honeymoon _____ sixteen:
4.     False _____ sharing:
5.     Anchors _____ game:

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?
   
Rules of Thumb   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
  • The third restaurant to go into a space is generally the one that succeeds.


Hmmmmm           
  • Chances that an American who earned a bachelor’s degree in 2008 will be paying off student loans in 2028: 1 in 3


Somewhat Useless Information   
  • The original candy cane had a shape different then the modern day design. It was straight, all white, and hard.
  • The first historical reference in America to the candy cane dates back to 1847. A German immigrant from Wooster, Ohio decorated his Christmas tree with candy canes.
  • Around the year 1670, the choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral began passing out sticks of candy bent into the shape of a shepherd's crook to children who attended the Christmas pageants there. This became a popular tradition, that eventually spread throughout Europe.
  • The flavor of peppermint is similar to another member of the mint family, hyssop. In the Old Testament hyssop was used for purification and sacrifice, and this is said to symbolize the purity of Jesus and the sacrifice he made.
  • The red and white striped candy canes were first made around 1900.
  • A candy cane turned upside down reveals the letter J, which many believe represents Jesus.


Yeah, It Really Happened                 
WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — The truth is sometimes stranger than the fiction you see at the movies.
Deputies in Florida say a man stole a woman's car while they were on a date at a Tampa area movie theater.
The St. Petersburg Times reports that 27-year-old Michael Pratt told the woman he needed to get something from the car while they were watching the movie.
She gave him her keys. When he didn't return, she called him. Authorities say Pratt laughed then told the woman he had stolen her car.
Pasco County Sheriff's deputies say he now faces grand theft charges.
The car, a silver  2012 Ford Focus, was a rental.
The victim, who is 35, tried contacting Pratt for two days before calling the sheriff's office, according to the paper. Pratt called her four days after the movie outing and said he dumped the car in a Walmart parking lot in New Port Richey, authorities said. Deputies found it and arrested Pratt on Wednesday.
According to the Times, Pratt previously served more than a year in prison for the same charge, as well as fraud, uttering forged bills and failing to return rental property.
He is in the Pasco County Jail. No attorney was listed on Pratt's jail records.

A Laff or at least smile     
A man went to the Police Station wishing to speak with the burglar who had broken into his house the night before.
 "You'll get your chance in court," said the Desk Sergeant.
 "No, no, no!" said the man. "I want to know how he got into the house without waking my wife. I've been trying to do that for years!"

Found on YouTube          
Daybook Information        
Happening This Week:
10-17
Human Rights Week 
15-29
Halcyon Days 
16-24
Posadas 
17-23
Saturnalia: an ancient Roman festival in honor of the deity Saturn



Today Is                                                                       
  • National Maple Syrup Day
  • Take a New Year's Resolution to Stop Smoking (TANYRSS)
  • Underdog Day
  • Wright Brothers Day:  codified in the US Code, and commemorates the first successful flights in a heavier than air, mechanically propelled airplane


Today’s Events                                                              
Arts
1936 - Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen & dummy Charlie McCarthy , appear on TV
1953 - FCC approves RCA's black & white-compatible color TV specifications
1959 - "On The Beach" is 1st film to premiere on both sides of Iron Curtain
1989 - The longest-running American sitcom The Simpsons had its debut
1991 - Soap opera "One Life To Live" airs its 6,000th episode
Athletes
--
Business
1924 - 1st US diesel electric locomotive enters service, Bronx, NY
1965 - Largest newspaper-Sunday NY Times at 946 pages (50 cents)
Education
--
Indigenous People
1754: According to some reports a land cession agreement is reached today by representatives of the British and the "SIX NATIONS."
1890: Sitting Bull and the police killed during his arrest are buried with honor. Today, members of the Hunkapapa Sioux arrive at Big Foot's camp of Minneconjou Sioux seeking refuge. However, today will also see the issuing of an arrest warrant for Big Foot, himself, for his part as a "trouble maker" in the ghost dance religion.
Politics [International]
1718 - England declares war on Spain
1885 - France declares Madagascar a protectorate
1941 - German troops led by Rommel [Desert Fox] begin retreating in North Africa
1978 - OPEC raises oil prices 18%
1983 - The IRA bombs Harrods Department Store in London, killing six people
Politics [US]
1777 - George Washington’s army returns to Valley Forge Pa
1900 - New Ellis Island Immigration station completed costing $1.5 million [US2010 $38,780,914]
1944 - US Army announces end of excluding Jap-Americans from West Coast
1975 - John Paul Stevens appointed to Supreme Court
1975 - Lynette Fromme sentenced to life for attempt on Pres Ford's life
Religion
1526 - Pope Clemens VII publishes degree Cum ad zero - forms Inquisition
1531 - Pope Clement VII establishes a parallel body to the Inquisition in Lisbon, Portugal
1728 - Congregation Shearith Israel of NY purchases a lot on Mill Street in lower Manhattan, to build NY's 1st synagogue
1914 - Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv by Turkish authorities
Science
1790 - Aztec calendar stone discovered in Mexico City
1895 - George Brownell patents a machine to make paper twine (Mass)
1903 - At 10:35 AM, 1st sustained motorized aircraft flight (Orville Wright)
1935 - First flight of the Douglas DC-3 airplane

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Artists: [Authors, Composers]
1807 - John Greenleaf Whittier, US, poet (Snow-bound)
Athletes
1892 - Sam Barry, American basketball coach
Tyrone Braxton, NFL safety (Denver Broncos-Superbowl 32) is 47
Tammie Green, LPGA golfer (1989 du Maurier Ltd Classic) is 52
Jeff[rey] Klepacki, rower (Olympics-1992, 96) is 43
Chuck Liddell, American mixed martial artist is 42
1930 - Bob Mathias, American decathlete and congressman
Manny Pacquiao, Filipino boxer, the first eight-division world champion; six world titles, first to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes is 33
Entertainers [Actors, Singers…]
1942 - Paul Butterfield, blues musician (Better Days)
Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian actress (Return to Blue Lagoon, Chaplin) is 36
1939 - Eddie Kendricks, rocker (Temptations-My Girl, Boogie Down)
1927 - Richard Long, actor (Prof-Nanny & the Professor, Nick-Big Valley)
Bill Pullman, actor is 58
Entrepreneurs & Educators
1930 - Bob Guccione, [Robert C J Edwa], US publisher (Penthouse, Omni)
Political Figures
1929 - William Safire, political columnist (NY Times)/speech writer (Nixon)
Scientists & Theologians
1778 - Hunphry Davy, English chemist (discovered potassium, calcium, magnesium, boron and barium)
1797 - Joseph Henry, US, scientist/inventor/pioneer of electromagnetism
1908 - Willard Frank Libby, inventor (carbon-14 "atomic clock" (Nobel 1960))

Today’s Obits                                                           
1999 - Rex Allen, Wilcox Arizona actor, singer and songwriter (Tying Knot's In The Devil's Tail) dies at 79
2005 - Jack Anderson, American journalist dies at 83
1992 - Dana Andrews, US actor (Laura), dies of pneumonia at 83
2010 - Captain Beefheart [Don Glen Vliet], American musician dies of MS at 69
1830 - Simón Bolívar, South American revolutionary and president (Colombia), dies of TB at 47
1967 - [Francis] Barry Byrne, Chicago Ill, architect, dies at 83
1964 - Victor Franz Hess, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel laureate dies at 81
1961 - Marion Perkins, sculptor (Man of Sorrow), dies of cancer at 53
Answers                                                                                                                                            
NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.     Anthracite _____ slaw: coal, cole
2.     Bus _____ shake: fare, fair
3.     Honeymoon _____ sixteen: suite, sweet
4.     False _____ sharing: prophet, profit
5.     Anchors _____ game: aweigh, away
  
Wuzzle
  • A splitting headache
  • inadequate
  • parts of speech 



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 Is 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.