12-19-11

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Today’s “Geez“

• 1776 - Thomas Paine published his 1st "American Crisis" essay, in which he wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls"
• 1777 - Washington settles his troops at Valley Forge, Pa for winter
• 1928 - 1st autogiro (predecessor of helicopter) flight in US
• 1941 - US Office of Censorship created to control info pertaining to WW II
• 1980 - Iran requests $24 billion in US guarantees to free hostages
• 1983 - The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro
• 1984 - China PR Premier Zhao Ziyang & Margaret Thatcher sign Hong Kong Treaty

♪♪ Happy Birthday To:♪♪                        

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

I went to a Christmas Cookie party today with one of our discussion groups. Maggie makes many, many different cookies…the guests eat them. Real fun. I also found that my financial advisor is selling her business to her business manager. She met a fella at a business meeting and is moving to SC to be with him. Interesting, yep. Surprising...you bet.. All I can do is wish her happiness.

While not much snow stayed on the ground, it snowed on and off all day. Coming back into town on the East side, it was almost white out for part of the drive. Thankfully there was little wind and it wasn’t that cold.

I got quite a few compliments on my Christmas letter and a lot of thank yous for the e-card. That is always nice.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (answers at the end of post)

Every answer is the name of a famous person. The first and second letters of the person's last name are the third and second letters of the first name. For example, given the first name "Harold," the answer would be "Ramis" (the actor, screenwriter and director).

1.     Ralph:

2.     James:

3.     Alan:

4.     Benjamin:

5.     Kurt:

6.     Norman:

7.     Rachael

8.     Johns:

9.     Janet:

10.  Walter:

11.  Fernando:

12.  Martha:

13.  Sam [fictional TV character]:

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

   

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

• Zigzag to outrun a crocodile.

Hmmmmm           

• Minimum number of times the calculation of the Consumer Price Index has been ‘improved’ since 1980: 20

Somewhat Useless Information   

• In the 1965 TV special "A Charlie Brown Christmas", the ever-filthy Pigpen can't keep his snow clean and builds a gray snowman.
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was originally created for Montgomery Ward department stores as part of a promotional gimmick. They hired a writer named Robert L. May in 1939 to write a Christmas story which could be given away to holiday shoppers. May's brother-in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, liked the story and decided to write a song to go with it. The resulting "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", eventually recorded in 1949 by Gene Autry, has become a Christmas classic.
• Although Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) originally disputed casting Boris Karloff for fear that he would make the Grinch too scary, it turned out to be a perfect match, and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" became an instant classic.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 

MEMPHIS - A cat destined for euthanasia in a Philadelphia animal shelter has a new life and new home after giving up a kidney to a cat in Memphis, Tenn. Catherine Addy-Bernstein, whose Siamese cat, Opie, suffered from terminal kidney disease, agreed to take the year-old stray, Cadbury, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported. That is one of the requirements of a feline transplant program that matches pets in need of organs with potential donors in shelters. This week, Addy-Bernstein and the two cats marked the three-month anniversary of the surgery. Both cats are doing well, although Addy-Bernstein said the anti-rejection medication makes Opie short-tempered. She said the two cats have a "special connection" and Cadbury occasionally licks Opie on a spot just above the kidney. Opie, now 12 years old, had suffered from kidney disease for years. But the disease worsened during the summer and a vet gave him two months to live without a transplant. Opie is scheduled to be featured on the Animal Planet show "Must Love Cats" early next year.

A Laff or at least smile     

A Saudi Prince went to Germany to study.

A month later, he sends a letter to his dad saying:"Berlin is wonderful, people are nice and I really like it here, but I'm a bit ashamed to arrive to school with my gold Mercedes when all my teachers travel by train."

Sometime later he gets a letter from his dad with a ten million dollar check saying:"Stop embarrassing us, go and get yourself a train too”!

Found on YouTube          

• Cicely Tyson

Daybook Information        

…Happening This Week:

15-29

Halcyon Days
16-24

Posadas
17-23

Saturnalia
18-24 

Christmas Bird Count Week
Gluten-free Baking Week:

Today Is                                                                       

• Day for South-South Cooperation [an important element of international cooperation for development, offers viable opportunities for developing countries and countries with economies in transition in their individual and collective pursuit of sustained economic growth and sustainable development ]
• International Human Solidarity Day
• Oatmeal Muffin Day

Today’s Events                                                              

Arts

1971 - CBS airs "Homecoming A Christmas Story," (introducing the Waltons)

1971 - Stanley Kubrick's X-rated "A Clockwork Orange" premieres

Athletics

1917 - 1st NHL game played on artificial ice (Toronto)

1959 - 1st Liberty Bowl game-Penn State beats Alabama 7-0

1984 - Wayne Gretzky, 23, is 18th & youngest NHL-er to score 1,000 points

1987 - Gari Kasparov becomes world chess champ

Business

1732 - Benjamin Franklin under the name Richard Saunders begins publication of "Poor Richard's Almanack"

Education

--

Indigenous People

2007 - The Lakotah people, a Native American tribe, proclaim independence and withdraw all their treaties with the United States. They then proceed to establish the Republic of Lakotah, with an ongoing process of international recognition as a separate country

Politics [International]

1950 - Gen Eisenhower named NATO commander

1961 - British government begins decimal coin system

1986 - USSR frees dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile

Politics [US]

1795 - 1st state appropriation of money for road building, Kentucky

1823 - Georgia passes 1st US state birth registration law

1828 - South Carolina declares right of states to nullify federal laws

1842 - US recognizes independence of Hawaii

1974 - Nelson A Rockefeller sworn-in as 41st VP

1998 - Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives forwards articles I and III of impeachment against President Bill Clinton to the Senate

Religion

1950 - Tibet's Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion

Science

1919 - American Meteorological Society found

1972 - Apollo 17 (last of Apollo Moon landing series) returns to Earth

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Artists: [Authors, Composers]

--

Athletes

Kevin McHale, NBA forward (Boston Celtics) is 54

Reggie White, NFL defensive end (Green Bay Packers-Superbowl 31) is 50

Entertainers [Actors, Singers…]

Criss Angel, Illusionist, Actor, Musician, etc. is 44

1920 - Little Jimmy Dickens, American country singer

Marianne Faithfull, Hampstead English singer (Money, As Tears Go By) is 65

Jake Gyllenhaal, actor is 31

Alyssa Milano, actor is 39

1940 - Phil Ochs, anti-war folk singer (I Ain’t Marching Anymore , Joe Hill)

Tim Reid, American actor (Venus Flytrap—WKRP) is 67

Cicely Tyson, actress (Roots, Miss Jane Pittman) is 78

1946 - Robert Urich, actor (SWAT, Spenser for Hire, Vega$)

Entrepreneurs & Educators

1849 - Henry Clay Frick, built world's largest coke & steel operation

1894 - Yoshida Isoya, Japanese architect (modern sukiya style)

1920 - David Susskind, TV host (Open End, David Susskind Show)

Political Figures
1906 - Leonid I Brezhnev, Ukraine, 1st Secretary of USSR (1964-82)

1926 - Jeanne Kirkpatrick, US ambassador to UN

1821 - Mary Ashton Livermore, American reformer/women's suffrage leader

Scientists & Theologians

1813 - Thomas Andrews, Belfast Ireland, chemist/physicist (ozone)

William C De Vries, surgeon/inventor (artificial heart) is 68

1714 - John Winthrop, American astronomer

Today’s Obits                                                           

• Carol Chomsky, American linguist and Noam’s wife, dies of cancer at 78 in 2008
• Mel Fisher, American treasure hunter (1622 wreck of the Spanish galleon Nuestra dies at 76 in 1998
• Hope Lange, American actress dies of infection at 70 in 2003
• Desmond Llewelyn, Welsh actor (Q—James Bond) dies at 85 in 1999 
• Nellie Tayloe Ross, 1st woman governor, dies at 101 in 1977 
• Bayard Taylor, American author and poet dies of repeated illness at 53 in 1878 

Answers                                                                                                                                            

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.     Ralph: Ralph Lauren

2.     James: James Madison

3.     Alan: Alan Ladd

4.     Benjamin: Benjamin Netanyahu

5.     Kurt: Kurt Russell

6.     Norman: Norman Rockwell

7.     Rachael Rachel Carson

8.     Johns: Johns Hopkins

9.     Janet: Janet Napolitano

10.  Walter: Walter Lantz

11.  Fernando: Fernando  Rey

12.  Martha: Martha Raye

13.  Sam: Sam Malone

Wuzzle

• Torn between two lovers
• Triumphs
• Theatre in the round

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     §