11-23-11

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Today’s “Geez”                                                                .

1783 - Annapolis Maryland, becomes US capital (until June 1784)

1863 - Patent granted for a process of making color photographs

1904 - 3rd Olympic games close in St Louis

1936 - 1st issue of Life, picture magazine created by Henry R Luce

1942 - Coast Guard Woman's Auxiliary (SPARS) authorized

1964 - Vatican abolished Latin as official language of Roman Catholic liturgy

1974 - 60 Ethiopia gov’t officials executed

1992 - 10,000,000^th cellular telephone sold

♪♪ Happy Birthday To:♪♪                                              .

 

Free Rambling Thoughts                                                      .

It warmed back up in Flag. Nice to have good weather and be able to run errands with the window open and the heater off. I wore one of my Ethiopian T-shirts today and several clerks commented on it.

My brother is almost ready for his big opening. He now has a like page on  Face Book  and soon the website will be up. Sure is strange to see our family name on such a nice line of furniture. He is still smiling, so guess it hasn’t taken too much of a toll on him. What a task he has ahead.

I’m still suffering with finding the right TV channels since the cable company upgraded. While I have a bunch of junk in the package, I do have some favorite stations and favorite shows. I guess I will learn the new channels someday. Thank goodness the main TV downstairs has a search function to find what I want. I’m too cheap to have a box on my upstairs TV’s. If a show is not available upstairs I just record it and watch it later. Most of my TV watching is just for having the noise.  Speaking of TV, a new study shows that those who watch Faux News are less informed than people who don’t watch any news on TV. Not a surprise to me. I seldom watch their channels and usually do quite well on Fareed Zakaria’s news quiz each week. What I found most bothersome with the results of the poll…that Fox News viewers were less likely to know that Egypt had overthrown its government than those who didn’t watch the news. And they were more likely to think that Syria had overthrown its government. Uniformed people vote.

NPR Sunday Puzzle…(answers at the end of post)                             .

Name the well-known island concealed in consecutive letters of each sentence. For example: "Helga is a saucy Prussian." The answer: "Cyprus."

1.     It was the defendant I guarded.

2.    Listen to Rita’s maniacal laugh.

3.    The plane made a nice landing.

4.    It’s Motrin I’d add to the shopping list.

5.    These are the decors I could live with.

6.    Did the baseball get a hit I wondered.

7.    The german hat tanked at the fashion show.

8.    Conan, tuck Ethan in bed.

Wuzzles…What concept or phrase do these suggest?                          .

   

Rules of Thumb                                                              .

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

• All putts break toward the water because the slope of greens is contoured for drainage.

Hmmmmm                                                                     .

• Percentage decrease in tweets by US elected officials in the week following ‘Weinergate”: 28

Somewhat Useless Information                                                .

• The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead."
• Parker Brothers once sent an armored car with one million dollars of the MONOPOLY game money to a marathon game in Pittsburgh that had run out of funds.

Yeah, It Really Happened                                                   .

MOSCOW - Officials with the Russian Defense Ministry said all military units are being provided with badminton equipment to help them sharpen their skills. Alexander Schepelev, head of physical training for the ministry, said about 10,000 rackets and tens of thousands of shuttlecocks are being purchased for the units to help soldiers with their eye muscles, cardiovascular strength and reaction speed, RIA Novosti reported Monday.

"Badminton is very useful for every soldier without exception. But it will be particularly useful for shooters and snipers," Schepelev said.

However, Alexander Khramchikhin, deputy director of Russia's Institute of Political and Military Analysis, said playing the sport would likely only benefit soldiers by providing a way to relieve stress. The move comes after President Dmitry Medvedev posted a clip to his official blog of a badminton game he played with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Medvedev said in the clip, which was aimed at children, the sport "develops your physical form, eye coordination, accuracy and reactions."

Guffaw…or at least smile                                                     .

He asked for a putter, then drove three hundred yards onto the green. Then he asked for a driver and drove the ball to within two feet of the cup. Then he asked for a niblick and got the ball into the cup.

“Now I’m in trouble,” he told the caddie.

“Why?”

“I don’t know what club to use to get it out.”

Searchin’ “You Tube” I found                                                 .     

Walter Cronkite Presents Life Magazine Photos

Daybook Information                                                         .

…Happening This Week:

18-24

National Farm-City Week 

20-26 

Better Conversation Week

Church/State Separation Week

National Bible Week

National Family Week

National Game & Puzzle Week

Today Is                                                                     .

Dr. Who Day (1st broadcast-1963)
Fibonacci Day (because the first numbers of the Fibonacci Series are 1, 1, 2, 3.  The Fibonacci sequence adds the previous 2 numbers to get the third.)

National Cashew Day

Tie One On Day

~*~

Japan: Labor Thanksgiving Day (an occasion for commemorating labor and production and giving one another thanks)

Today’s Events                                                               .

Arts

1644 - Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship, and written by John Milton is published

1903 - Enrico Caruso US debut (Metropolitan Opera House, NY) in "Rigoletto"

Athletes

1876 - Columbia, Harvard & Princeton form Intercollegiate Football Assn

1887 - Notre Dame loses its 1st football game 8-0 to Michigan

1960 - Dodgers outfielder Frank Howard is voted NL Rookie of Year

1988 - Wayne Gretzky scores his 600th NHL goal

Business

1889 - Debut of 1st jukebox (Palais Royale Saloon, San Francisco)

1960 - Tinseltown dedicated its Walk of Fame at Hollywood Blvd & Vine St

Education

--

Indigenous People

1868 - Custer and the Seventh Cavalry leave Camp Supply looking for "hostiles" in the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma). There are 800 soldiers who start this march in a heavy snow storm.

1877 - While authorities are attempting to arrest an Indian named Naught, who is accused of shooting two teamsters, other Indians become agitated. One of them shoots Alex Rhoden, who is walking across the street at the time, in Nalad City, Idaho. This incident leads to the Bannock War.

Politics [International]

1867 - The Manchester Martyrs were hanged in Manchester, England for rescuing two Irish men from jail.

Politics [US]

1903 - Colorado Governor James Peabody sends the state militia into the town of Cripple Creek to break up a miners' strike.

1921 - Pres Harding signs Willis Campell Act (anti-beer bill) forbidding doctors prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes

1945 - Most US wartime rationing of foods, including meat & butter, ends

Religion

1584 - English parliament throws out Jesuits

1906 - Joseph Smith, leader of the Mormon Church, convicted of polygamy

1971 - China People's Republic seated in UN Security Council

Science

1334 - St Clemens Flood: Dike breaks at Flemish/Zeeuwse/Dutch coast

1654 - French mathematician, scientist, and religious philosopher Blaise Pascal experiences an intense, mystical vision that marks him for life.

1835 - Henry Burden patents Horseshoe manufacturing machine (Troy NY)

1852 - Just past midnight, a sharp jolt causes Lake Merced (SF, CA) to drop 30' (9m)

1897 - Andrew J Beard invents "jerry coupler," to connect railroad cars

1897 - Pencil sharpener patented by J L Love

1948 - Dr Frank G Back (NYC) patents lens to provide zoom effects

Today’s Birthdays                                                            .

Artists: [Authors, Composers]

1883 - Jose Clemente Orozco, Mexican painter (Epic of Culture in New World)

Athletes

Oscar Robertson, NBA guard (Cin, Milwaukee, Olympic-gold-1960) is 73

Entertainers [Actors, Singers…]

Miley Cyrus, singer, actress is 19

Steve Landesberg, comedian/actor (Barney Miller) is 66

1888 - Harpo Marx, [Adolph], actor/comedian (Marx brothers)

1917 - George O'Hanlon, actor (Calvin-Life of Riley, voice of George Jetson)

David Rappaport, actor is 60

Robin Roberts, American television reporter is 51

Entrepreneurs & Educators

--

Political Figures

1902 - Aaron Bank, American OSS officer and founder of the US Army Special Forces

1859 - Billy the Kid, [William H Bonney], criminal

1943 - Andrew Goodman, civil rights worker, murdered in 1964

1804 - Franklin Pierce, 14th Pres (1853-1857)

Scientists & Theologists

1924 - Colin Turnbull, British anthropologist in Africa: 1^st ethnomusicology expert

Today’s Obits                                                            .

1992 - Ray Acuff, country singer (Wahbash Cannonball), dies at 89

1872 - Ten Bears (Parra-Wa-Samen), US poet/Comanche chief, dies at 82

1982 - "Reverend" Grady Nutt, actor (Hee Haw), dies in plane crash at 47

1902 - Walter Reed, US bacteriologist (Yellow Fever), dies  of ruptured appendix at 51

1995 - Junior Walker, tenor saxophonist, dies of cancer at 64

Answers                                                                .     

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.     It was the defendant I guarded. ANTIGUA

2.    Listen to Rita’s maniacal laugh. TASMANIA

3.    The plane made a nice landing. ICELAND

4.    It’s motrin I’d add to the shopping list. TRINIDAD

5.    These are the decors I could live with. CORSICA

6.    Did the baseball get a hit I wondered. TAHITI

7.    The german hat tanked at the fashion show. MANHATTAN

8.    Conan, tuck Ethan in bed. NANTUCKET

Wuzzle

Sign on the bottom line

I am ahead of you

Tipsy (tip ‘c’)

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     §