12-21-11 Taking a break

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

Today’s “Geez“

• 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock in 1620 
• 1st crossword puzzle (with 32 clues) printed in NY World in 1913 
• 1st group hospital insurance plan offered (Dallas TX) in 1929 
• Dallas Cowboys hire coach Tom Landry (stays until 1988) in 1959
• Fox signs Shirley Temple, 5, to a studio contract in 1933
• Soviet Union formally dissolves 11 of 12 republics sign treaty forming Commonwealth of Independent States in 1991

♪♪ Happy Birthday To:♪♪                        

  Returns with next blog

Free Rambling Thoughts   

This blog is taking a break. It will resume when I return from Chicago around Dec. 27^th .

I decided I had to take a checked bag and give the damn airlines another $50. When I looked at all the gifts, I wish I had mailed them early…live and learn. Since I will be changing planes, the less I have to carry the better. Weather looks good for all flights to Chicago and I only hope they are as good coming back. Getting excited to see family. Not so much for the cold. If the weather channel is right, it will be mild—high in the 40’s and lows in the 20’s…sounds like Flag except for the wind and humidity.

NPR Sunday Puzzle (answers at the end of post)

Each answer is a familiar two-word phrase. The first word starts with H-A and the second word starts with T. For example, given the clue "a brand of tanning lotion," the answer would be "Hawaiian Tropic."

1.     President who said ‘the buck stops here’:

2.     Skimpy article of apparel for women:

3.     It may hang on a rod over a sink:

4.     Part of a mountain road where it doubles back on itself:

5.     Olympic event with a 16lbs attached to a wire:

6.     Difficult surfing move:

7.     Traditional luxury wool cloth for sports jacket:

8.     Period in autumn when crops are brought in:

9.     When you give constantly razz someone, giving him a _____ :

10.  Theme song for Roy Rogers and Dale Evans:

11.  Not a lie, not the whole story:

12.  Quickly responding to the situation with anger:

13.  GI Joe, Mr. Potato Head, Lincoln Logs:

14.  Female abolitionist :

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

   

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

• You can approximate the size of your brain by putting your fists together so that your wrists touch and your thumbnails face you side by side.

Hmmmmm           

• Percentage increase since last year in roadside calls to AAA from drivers who have fun out of gas: 14

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Approx. $700 million in pies (approx. 186 million units) are sold in grocery stores every year. This does not include restaurants, only grocery stores. If you lined up the number of pies sold at U.S. grocery stores in one year, they would circle the globe and then some.
• Pie just isn't for after-dinner dessert. Thirty-five percent of Americans say they've had pies for breakfast.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 

Geneva - A Swiss museum has taken the drastic step of replacing the horns of its rhinoceroses with fake ones to deter thieves fuelling a lucrative global trade, curators said on Tuesday.

Staff at Bern's Natural History Museum cut off the horns of its six display animals and put crude wooden ones in their place amid concerns they would be targeted.

Curators acted after hearing of horn thefts at museums across Europe, including in Britain, France and Germany.

Rhinoceros horn is prized in Asia where many consider it to have aphrodisiac and disease-fighting properties.

In recent months prices have soared, and they currently fetch between 30 000 and 250 000 Swiss francs (€25 000 and €200 000), according to the museum.

"On the black market, rhinoceros horns are more valuable than gold," it said in a statement.

Though a relatively new phenomenon, museum thefts have noticeably increased recently, it added.

A Laff or at least smile     

Never criticize someone unless you walk a mile in his or her shoes, and then when you criticize them you'll be a mile away and have their shoes!

Bonus

It was very crowded and noise in this Restaurant and this blond girl asks the waiter where the restroom was.

 And he says: “I can’t hear you!”

So she gets close to his ear and asks again: “Can you please tell me where the ladies room is?”

And he replies: “On the other side! “

So she turns around and gets close to his other ear, and asks: “Can you please tell me where the ladies room is, please!”

Found on YouTube          

Hang 10 surfing and more

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:  25-31

It's About Time Week 

26-1/1

Kwanzaa

Today Is                                                                       

• Ann & Samantha Day: honoring Anne Frank [wrote during WWII] and Samantha Smith [wrote letter to Yuri Andropov—killed in plane crash at 13]
• Crossword Puzzle Day
• Forefathers Day: commemoration of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in Plymouth
• Hamburger Day
• Humbug Day 
• Look On The Bright Side Day
• National Flashlight Day
• National French Fried Shrimp Day
• National Haiku Poetry Day
• National Homeless Persons' Remembrance Day
• Phileas Fogg Wins A Wager Day
• World Peace Day/
• Winter Solstice: Longest night in N. Hemisphere
• Yalda: Persian Winter Solstice Celebration; this night is the night of the birth of Mithra, Persian angel of light and truth

Today’s Events                                                              

Arts

1st feature-length silent film comedy, "Tillie's Punctured Romance" released. (Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand & Charles Chaplin) in 1914

Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, 1st joint movie (Flying Down to Rio ) in 1932 

1st feature-length color & sound cartoon premieres (Snow White) in 1937 

Frank Capra's  "It's a Wonderful Life," premieres in 1946

Athletics

Vince Lombardi coaches his last football game, losing [overall record 96-34-6] in 1969

Business

1st stone arch Railroad Bridge in US dedicated, Baltimore in 1829 

Education

1st junior high school established (Berkeley CA) in 1909 

Indigenous People

Conference covering peace and the resumption of trade is held for the next 8 days between representatives of the British in North Carolina and the Cherokee in 1759

The 2 treaties the Cherokee signed with Return Meigs are sent to the Senate today for consideration. The Cherokee will give up over four million acres for almost $20,000 [2010US $286,782] in 1804

Cheyennes, Arapho's, Sioux:  Fetterman Massacre in 1866 

Politics [International]

Dutch 1st Chamber accept sovereignty of Indonesia in 1949 

UN General Assembly passes a resolution declaring 1979-Year of Child in 1976

Politics [US]

J Edgar Hoover deports anarchists/feminist Emma Goldman to Russia in 1919 

John Jay becomes 1st US secretary of state (foreign affairs) in 1784 

Supreme Court rules labor injunctions & picketing unconstitutional in 1921 

Religion

--

Science

Scientists Pierre & Marie Curie discovers radium in 1898 

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Artists: [Authors, Composers]

Werner von Trapp, member of the Trapp Family Singers in 1915

Athletes

Chris Evert Lloyd Mills, tennis pro 'Miss Pokerface' is 57

Josh Gibson, pro baseball player, "Negro Babe Ruth" (hit 800+ HRs) in 1911

Florence Griffith Joyner, LA Calif, runner (Olympic-3 gold-1988) in 1959

Joe Paterno, football coach (Penn State, SI Sportsman of 1986) is 85

Entertainers [Actors, Singers…]

Andy Dick, comedian is 46

Phil Donahue, talk show host is 76

Jane Fonda, activist, actress, fitness guru is 74

Paul, [Ray Hildebrand], singer (Hey Paula) is 71

Samuel L Jackson, actor (Amos & Andrew, White Sand, Pulp Fiction) is 63

Jane Kaczmarek, actor (Malcolm in the Middle) is 56

Ray Romano, actor (Ray Barone-Everybody Loves Raymond) is 54

Paul Winchell,ventriloquist (Jerry Mahoney, Knucklehead Smith) in 1922

Frank Zappa, rocker (Mothers of Invention, Catholic Girls) in 1940

Entrepreneurs & Educators

--

Political Figures

Benjamin Disraeli, (Tory) British PM in1804 

Fred M Vinson, US Supreme Court Justice (1946-53) in 1890

Kurt Waldheim, Nazi/4th UN Sec-Gen (1972-81)/Austrian pres (1986-92) in 1918

Roger Williams, English theologian and colonist in 1603

Scientists & Theologians

Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury in 1117

Jean Henri Fabre, France, entomologist (insects & spiders) in1823

Thomas Graham, British chemist and father of colloid chemistry in 1805

Today’s Obits                                                           

Rod Cameron, actor (Santa Fe Passage, Stampede), dies at 73 in 1983

 ‘Doubting’Thomas, dies in 72 the Apostle speared to death in Madras, India in 72

F Scott Fitzgerald, author (Zelda), dies of a heart attack at 44 in 1940

Richard Long, actor (Nanny & Professor), dies of multiple heart attacks at 47 in 1974

George S Patton, US General (Sicily/Normandy), dies in car crash at 60 in 1945

Margaret E Rey, author of children's books, dies at 90 in 1996

Dean Rusk, US Sect of State, dies at 85 in 1994

Dick Schaap, American sports journalist dies of surgery complications at 67 in 2001

Answers                                                                                                                                            

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.     President who said ‘the buck stops here’: Harry Truman

2.     Skimpy article of apparel for women: halter top

3.     It may hang on a rod over a sink: hand towel

4.     Part of a mountain road where it doubles back on itself: hairpin turn

5.     Olympic event with a 16lbs attached to a wire: hammer throw

6.     Difficult surfing move: Hang 10

7.     Traditional luxury wool cloth for sports jacket: Harris tweed

8.     Period in autumn when crops are brought in: harvest time

9.     When you give constantly razz someone, giving the a : hard time

10.  Theme song for Roy Rogers and Dale Evans: Happy Trails

11.  Not a lie, not the whole story: half truth

12.  Quickly responding to the situation with anger: hair trigger

13.  GI Joe, Mr. Potato Head, Lincoln Logs: Hasbro toys

14.  Female abolitionist : Harriett Tubman

Wuzzle

• Stereotyped
• The bottom of the barrel
• Turned upside down

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     §