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Today’s “Geez“
- 1st Japanese bombing of Calcutta : 1942
- Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom : 1955
- Ethiopia becomes socialist one-party state: 1974
- "Harvey," starring James Stewart, premieres in NY: 1950
- Louisiana Purchase formally transferred from France to US for $27M: 1803
- Richard the Lionhearted captured in Vienna: 1192
♪♪ Happy
Birthday To:♪♪
Free
Rambling Thoughts
Countdown to Chicago has
started. I leave on the 21st…at 10pm. I keep thinking I leave on
Thursday cause that’s when I get into Chicago, and I am crossing either the
prime meridian or the International Dateline. Oh well. Picked up my last few
stocking stuffers. Tomorrow I’ll deal with figuring out the packing situation.
Just saw a crappy story
on the news. I discovered Simply Orange about 9 months ago—not from
concentrate, fresh orange juice. Then last week I saw an article that said
Minute Maid Fresh OJ won a taste test over Simply Orange. They are both more
expensive than OJ that is made from concentrate, but the taste is much better.
Now, sadly, I know why. It’s true that it isn’t made from concentrate, but they
squeeze the oranges, and put them in million gallon vats—sometimes for months.
Then just before they package it, they add ‘orange essence’ from new oranges to
give it the fresh taste. Since they are adding orange to orange, the brilliant
FDA says it’s still fresh OJ, not from concentrate. Seems a little odd to me and
really dis-tasteful. Guess it’s time to get out the juicer, where I know the
juice is fresh.
NPR Sunday
Puzzle (answers
at the end of post)
Every
answer is a seven-letter word in which the middle five letters are the letters
in the word "inset" in some order. For example, given the first
letter F and the last letter S with the clue "what physical exercise
promotes," the answer would be "fitness."
1.
DT--tooth
doctor:
2.
UL--fork
knife, spoon:
3.
JG--making
jokes:
4.
DD--stretch
as the stomach:
5.
AR--more
on edge:
6.
DY--fate
:
7.
DY--compactness:
8.
WS--a
person who may give testimony:
9.
MR--a
large or important church:
10. [2 words] WD--limit of one’s sanity:
Wuzzles What concept or
phrase do these suggest?
Rules of
Thumb
Easy shortcuts to make
an ‘educated’ guess
- Avoid setting type columns to lines less than 35 characters long. Shorter lines cause sentences to be so broken they are hard to understand.
Hmmmmm
- Chances that a retiree reports spending more savings than planned to meet basic expenses last year: 1 in 3
Somewhat
Useless Information
- Mint was no doubt one of the earliest herbs discovered. It has been found in Egyptian tombs dating back to 1000 BC and has been part of the Chinese pharmacopoeia even longer.
- The early Romans believed eating mint would increase intelligence. The scent of mint was supposed to stop a person from losing his temper and royal ambassadors carried mint sprigs in their pockets. It was also used to sweeten the often rank smell of medieval halls.
- One drum of oil (weighing about 400 pounds) can be used to flavor approximately five million sticks of chewing gum or 400,000 tubes of toothpaste.
- The United States produces more than 70% of the world's supply of peppermint and spearmint.
- Recent research conducted at the University of Cincinnati has shown that sniffing mint improves concentration; several Japanese companies now pipe small amounts through their air conditioning systems to invigorate workers and improve productivity.
- The genus Mentha is believed to have originated in the Mediterranean basin. Mint or Mintha, is named after the Greek nymph Minthes, who was turned into a mint plant by Proserpine, the jealous wife of Pluto, for casting covetous eyes on the philandering god of the underworld.
Yeah, It
Really Happened
BBC-UK "Rudolph the
Red-Nosed Reindeer, made a very tasty pâté ..." That's far from the
traditional version of the song, but the prospect of turning Dasher or Dancer
into a snack had animal-rights activists in the U.K. seeing red. The group Vegetarians
International Voice for Animals launched a campaign against upscale department
store Harvey Nichols for selling cans of reindeer pâté.
VIVA's website urges
supporters to "politely complain" to the store, claiming that the
process of harvesting the venison is traumatic to the animals. Admittedly, the
packaging of the pâté seems designed to tweak delicate sensibilities, claiming
the product is a "farm-raised relative of Rudolph" and "an
indulgent Christmas treat." The pâté includes cognac and spices as well as
its signature ingredients, ground meat and fat.
In a statement, the
retailer defended the its choice to stock reindeer pâté, saying, "reindeer
is growing in popularity in the U.K. … The reindeer we stock is farmed in
Sweden and complies to EU legislation."
At £15 for 190 grams
(around $23 for 6.7 ounces), it's a pricey snack. Even so, adventurous eaters
are probably out of luck; it's listed as unavailable on Amazon.com and on the
website of manufacturer Edible. It's also no longer available at Harvey Nichols
stores or online — not because the retailer yanked it from its inventory at
activists' request, according to a spokeswoman, but because the publicity led
to a spike in sales.
"[O]ur online stock
has sold out due to the publicity and demand we've received," spokeswoman
Constance Cooper said via email. "It's a seasonal product and stocks are
limited so we will not be restocking prior to Christmas." Until next year,
foodies with a taste for the wild side will have to content themselves with Harvey
Nichols' other edible oddities like green curry crickets or toasted ants.
A Laff or at
least smile
Two buddies are fishing,
but they haven’t caught anything all day. Then, another fisherman walks by with
a huge load of fish. They ask him "excuse me, but where did you get all
those fish?"
The other fisherman replies,” If you just go
down the stream until the water isn't salty, there are a ton of hungry
fish."
They thank him and go on
their way. 15 minutes later, one fisherman says to the other "fill the
bucket up with water and see if the water is salty."
He dips the bucket in
the stream and drinks some. "Nope. Still salty." 30 minutes later, he
asks him to check again.
"Nope, still
salty." One our later they check again. "Nope. Still salty."
"This isn't good," the fisherman
finally says. "We have been walking for almost two hours and the water is
still salty!"
"I know," says the other. "And
the bucket is almost empty!"
Found on
YouTube
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
- Cathode-Ray Tube Day: used in early TV’s and computer monitors
- Games Day: first and foremost a celebration of the Games Workshop hobby—with multimedia
- Hanukkah: Festival of Lights—Jewish; begins at sundown and continues for 8 days
- International Human Solidarity Day
- Mudd Day: Dr. Mudd helped JW Booth hide
Today’s Events
Arts
Ian Anderson & Glenn
Cornick form rock group Jethro Tull [ Bungle in the Jungle]: 1967
Phileas Fogg completes
around world trip, according to Verne: 1892
"Graduate", starring
Dustin Hoffman & Anne Bancroft, premieres: 1967
Bob Hope became an
American citizen: 1920
Peter, Paul & Mary's
"Leaving on a Jet Plane" reaches #1: 1969
Elvis Presley given
draft notice to join US Army for National Service: 1957
Neil Simons
"Sunshine Boys," premieres in NYC: 1972
Athletics
NBC broadcasts NY
Jets' 24-17 win over Dolphins without audio: 1980
Nancy Lopez/Miller Barber wins LPGA Mazda
Golf Championship: 1987
Business
1st successful US cotton
mill to spin yarn (Pawtucket, RI) : 1790
1st international
dogsled mail leaves Minot, Maine for Montreal, Quebec : 1928
Animal rights terrorists
fire-bomb Harrod's dept store, London : 1988
Education
--
Indigenous People
Sacagawea, Shoshone interpreter for Lewis & Clark, dies at 24 in 1812 [oral Shoshone history is that she died at 96 in 1884]
Politics [International]
England declares war on
Netherlands : 1780
14 republics form Union
of Soviet Socialistic Republics (USSR) : 1922
World War II: First
battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying
Tigers" in Kunming, China : 1941
Trial against 21 camp
guards of Auschwitz begins: 1963
NATO begins peacekeeping
in Bosnia: 1995
The first same sex civil
partnerships in Scotland are celebrated: 2005
Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing
Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days: 2007
Politics [US]
Virginia Company
settlers leave London to establish Jamestown VA: 1606
1st jury trial in
Delaware; Marcus Jacobson condemned for insurrection & sentenced to
flogging, branding & slavery : 1669
US House of
Representatives restricts immigration: 1919
US troops invade Panama
& oust Manuel Noriega, but don't catch him: 1989
Religion
Missouri imposes a
$1[US2010$:15.39]bachelor tax on unmarried men between 21 & 50: 1820
1st state anti-lynching
statue approved, in Georgia: 1893
Science
Pneumatic automobile
tire patented, Syracuse, NY : 1892
Today’s Birthdays
Artists: [Authors,
Composers]
David Bohm,
American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist in 1917
Sidney Hook,
anticommunist philosopher (Paradoxes of Freedom) in 1902
Athletes
Tim Hauck, NFL safety
(Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks) is 45
Entertainers [Actors,
Singers…]
Robert Colomby, rock
drummer (Blood Sweat & Tears-And When I Die) is 67
Uri Geller, Israel,
psychic (bends forks) is 65
Jonah Hill, actor is 28
Larry Willis, rock
keyboardist (Blood, Sweat & Tears) is 71
Entrepreneurs &
Educators
Harvey S Firestone,
Industrialist, where the rubber meets the road in1868
Political Figures
Charles Edward Stuart,
[Bonnie Prince Charlie/Young Pretender] in 1720
Scientists &
Theologians
Samuel A Mudd, doctor,
convicted of giving medical aid to JW Booth in 1833
Today’s Obits
Vincent Ciccone,
inventor (Blow-Pops candy), dies at 81 in 1997
Bobby Darin, singer (Mack the Knife), dies of heart failure at 37 in
1973
Richard J Daley,
(Mayor-D-Chicago), dies at 74 in 1976
James Hilton, English
author (Lost Horizon), dies of liver cancer at 54 in 1954
Steve Landesberg,
American actor and comedian [Dietrich--Barney Miller], dies at 74 in 2010
Max Robinson, 1st black
network (ABC) TV anchor, dies of AIDS at 49 in 1988
Artur Rubinstein,
pianist (Chopin - Heroic Polonaise Op. 53), dies in Geneva at 95 in 1982
Dean Rusk, US Sect of
State (1961-69), dies at 85 in 1994
Carl Sagan, scientist
(Contact), dies of pneumonia at 62 in 1996
Answers
NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.
DT--tooth
doctor: Dentist
2.
UL--fork
knife, spoon: utensil
3.
JG--making
jokes jesting
4.
DD--stretch
as the stomach: distend
5.
AR--more
on edge: antsier
6.
DY--fate
:destiny
7.
DY--compactness:
density
8.
WS--a
person who may give testimony: witness
9.
MR--a
large or important church: minster
10. WD--limit of one’s sanity: wit’s end
- Wuzzle
- An error in judgment
- Tripoli
- Stereotyped
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 §
