3-21-11 Monday

TODAY’s HOLY MACKEREL: 1951 2,900,000 US soldiers in Korea 

­­______________________________________________________

MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS

First day of spring…Flg to get 2”-4” of snow tonight. The wind has been blowing all day. Sky has been gray most of the day, with a few patches of blue. So cool to live in the mountains. I am not surprised we are getting snow, but it sure plays havoc on spring fever. I’m ready to get some color outside my house. I ready to see the birds enjoying my bird bath. I’m ready to read the paper on the deck, without a jacket. If the weatherman is correct we’ll be back to 60° by Thursday. This won’t be our last snow for the season, so I’ll just pent up my spring fever until late May or June.

I missed my regular Sunday morning news shows. Not because I was not watching. All the channels took that time to update us on Libya and Japan. The up-to-date news is so depressing. One of the best parts of Sunday news shows is that they took a look back on what has happened and place it in some perspective. News from Japan and Libya is happening so fast that there is not time for perspective. I feel a little empty.

I did catch up on some emails to and from friends. Catching up, not with jokes or funny pictures, but with their lives and mine. That too was nice. Those became my perspective as to what is going on.

______________________________________________________

DID YOU KNOW THAT…
Use lip balm as a styling wax to groom unruly mustaches, eyebrows, or other wild hairs.

Out of regular white glue? Egg whites can act as a glue substitute when gluing paper or light cardboard together.

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION…

The champion of hibernation is the Arctic ground squirrel (Spermophilus parryi), a kind of cold-weather prairie dog. It is the only mammal that can survive its body temperature dropping below zero – some have recorded body temperatures as low as 26F, with their hearts beating less than five times a minute. These squirrels are able to wake about once a week to warm up for a few hours, and then they go back to sleep againspecies practice mini hibernation every night when their metabolism drops and their body temperature almost halves, to conserve energy
***
Reptiles and amphibians can’t regulate their body temperature like mammals, but cold weather can induce a similar state of inactivity known as brumation (from Latin bruma ''winter’’), where they take to their burrows and do very little. Low temperatures in southern Florida this year have led to a spate of spontaneously brumating iguanas falling from trees and lying motionless on the ground until the weather gets warmer. . It seems likely that these wake-up periods are to enable essential maintenance of their vital organs and to expel waste.
***
Only one bird is known to hibernate properly: the common poorwill (Phalaenoptilus nuttallii), a North American relative of the nightjar. It will spend most of winter in a hibernated state covered in stones. Some hummingbird

PUZZLE:   Trivia Quiz […answers at bottom…]

1. Dismus and Gestas were who?
2. In what city was the first US circus on April 3rd 1793?
3. How did Alfred Nobel make his money?
4. What fashion trend did General Ambrose Burnside start during the Civil War?
5. Who said 'Give us the tools and we will finish the job' in Feb. 1941?
6. What shape were the sailors plates in Nelson's navy?
7. What was the first manufactured item sold on Hire Purchase?
8. Roller coasters originated in what country?
9. What was Madam Curie's husband's name?
10. Mildrid Harris, Lita Grey Paulette Goddard and Oona O Neil all have what in common? 

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM:

RICHTON PARK, Ill. - An Illinois man says he accidentally set his home on fire when he tried using a smoke bomb to get rid of squirrels inside a wall. Robert Hughes of Richton Park said he lit a smoke bomb in the gutter near
the hole the squirrels were using to enter the home and a blaze quickly broke out, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday. Richton Park Deputy Fire Chief Rodney Wilson said firefighters who arrived at the home had to damage the roof and drywall of the town home and an adjacent residence to extinguish the flames. Hughes said his home sustained fire damage and has been boarded up. The neighbor's town home, which was damaged by firefighters, has also been boarded up. No one was injured in the blaze.
Hughes said he believes the squirrels have vacated the residence.

A LITTLE LAUGH:

At Penn State University, there were four sophomores taking chemistry and all of them had an 'A' so far. These four friends were so confident that, the weekend before finals, they decided to visit some friends and have a big party. They had a great time but, after all the hearty partying; they slept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to Penn State until early Monday morning.
Rather than taking the final then, they decided that after the final they would explain to their professor why they missed it. They said that they visited friends but on the way back they had a flat tire. As a result, they missed the final. The professor agreed they could make up the final the next day. . . The guys were excited and relieved. . . They studied that night for the exam.
The next day the Professor placed them in separate rooms and gave them a test booklet. They quickly answered the first problem worth 5 points. Cool, they thought! Each one in separate rooms, thinking this was going to be easy. . . . then they turned the page. On the second page was written. . .

For 95 points: Which tire? _________

Top 10 In The World:

CLOSEUP PICTURE: Can you identify this close up picture?

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’:Jensen Kimmitt 2010 World yoyo Contest

♫ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ♫ 2010 Inductee The Hollies

Click on Song Title to see and hear it.
♪… "Here I Go Again"
♪… The Hollies Medley
__________________________________________________________________________
DAYBOOK INFORMATION
►THIS WEEK◄
20-26►  American Chocolate Week  ♣  Consider Christianity Week  ♣  National Agriculture Week  ♣  National Animal Poison Prevention Week  ♣  National Inhalant and Poisons Awareness Week  ♣  National Poison Prevention Week  ♣  Act Happy Week  ♣

21-27► Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Week  ♣  Week of Solidarity with People's Struggling Against Racism & Discrimination  ♣   World Folk Tales & Fables Week  ♣  ‘Wellderly’ Week   (for elderly who don’t act their age)  ♣  Yo-Yo and Skill Toys Week  ♣

►TODAY IS◄

Fragrance Day
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Memory Day
National Common Courtesy Day
Noruz (Nauroze) [Iranian/Persian New Year]
Spring Fairy Fun Day
World Downs Syndrome Day
World Poetry Day
♣ ♣ ♣ ♣
Australia: Canberra Day (naming of city in 1913)
México: Benito P Juarez' Birthday (1806) 
Namibia: Independence Day (from South Africa/1990)
Poland: Truant's Day 
South Africa: Human Rights Day
US:Iowa: Bird Day 

■…AUTHORS/COMPOSERS/ARTISTS

1685 Johann Sebastian Bach composer (Matthäus-Passion) 
1816 Charlotte Bronte novelist/poet 
1905 Phyllis McGinley US, poet (Pulitzer 1961, Love Letters) 
■…ATHLETES
1918 Howard Cosell  sportscaster (Monday Night Football) 
Adrian Peterson, 26, football (Vikings)
Ronaldinho (Ronaldo de Assis Moreira), 31, soccer player
■…BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1910 Julio Gallo vintner: Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery, Modesto, CA
1869 Albert Kahn architect, originated modern factory design 
■…ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS)
Matthew Broderick, 49, actor (Godzilla, Inspector Gadget, Election; stage: The Producers)
1930 James Coco actor: The Chair, Ensign Pulver, Man of La Mancha
Timothy Dalton, 65, actor (James Bond movies, Cleopatra, Centennial)
Kevin Federline, 33, dancer
Rosie O’Donnell, 49, actress, television personality
1869 Florenz Ziegfeld producer Ziegfeld Follies
■…POLITICIANS
1806 Benito Pablo Juárez President of México (1858-72) 
■…SCIENCE & RELIGION
1813 James Jesse Strang crowned king of the Mormons [1850-1856]

Today’s Obits:
1994 Macdonald Carey actor (Days of Our Lives), cancer @ 81 
1991 Leo Fender inventor (Fender guitar), @ 81 
1992 John Ireland actor (Rawhide), leukemia @ 78 
1987 Dean Paul Martin actor (Billy-Misfits of Science), F4 jet crash @ 35 
1987 Robert Preston actor (Harold Hill-Music Man), lung cancer @ 68 
1994 Dack Rambo actor (Jack Ewing-Dallas), AIDs @ 52 
1985 Michael Redgrave actor (Goodbye Mr Chips, Mr Arkadin), @ 77 

Today’s Events:

■…ARTS
1859 Scottish National Gallery opens in Edinburgh 
1966 Supreme Court reverses MA ruling that "Fanny Hill" is obscene 
■…ATHLETICS
1934 Babe Didrikson pitches an inning in an A's-Dodgers exhibition game
1953 NBA record 106 fouls & 12 players foul out (Boston-Syracuse) 
1984 NFL owners passed the infamous anti-celebrating rule 
1985 Arthur Ashe is named to International Tennis Hall of Fame 
■…BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1788 Fire destroyed 856 buildings in New Orleans LA 
1868 1st US professional women's club, Sorosis, is founded
1924 1st foreign language course broadcast on US radio (WJZ, NYC, NY) 
■…INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1883 Chiricahua Apaches raid American locations then returning to Mexico. On this date, Chato, Bonito and Chihuahua raid a mining town near Tombstone. This is just the pretext General George Crook needs to mount a raid into Mexico to find the Apaches.
■…POLITICS (International)
1697 Czar Peter the Great begins tour through West-Europe 
1804 French civil Code of Napoleon adopted 
1935 Persia officially renamed Iran 
1975 Ethiopia ends monarchy after 3000 years 
■…POLITICS (US)
1866 Congress authorizes national soldiers' homes 
■…SCIENCE & RELIGION
1824 Fire at Cairo ammunitions dump kills 4,000 horses 
1851 Yosemite Valley discovered in California 
_____________________________________________________
ANSWERS:
Quiz
1. Dismus and Gestas were who?
Robbers next to Jesus
2. In what city was the first US circus on April 3rd 1793?
Philadelphia
3. How did Alfred Nobel make his money?
He invented Dynamite
4. What fashion trend did General Ambrose Burnside start during the Civil War?
Sideburns
5. Who said 'Give us the tools and we will finish the job' in Feb. 1941?
Winston Churchill
6. What shape were the sailor’s plates in Nelson's navy?
Square to ensure a Square meal
7. What was the first manufactured item sold on Hire Purchase?
Singer sewing machine in the 1850's
8. Roller coasters originated in what country?
Russia - ice on sleds
9. What was Madam Curie's husband's name?
Pierre
10. Mildrid Harris, Lita Grey Paulette Goddard and Oona O Neil all have what in common? 
Charlie Chaplain’s wives

Close Up Picture

Slide projector

_______________AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW_________________