Jan 29, 2012

FYI: Click on any blue text for a link to more information!

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1834 - Pres Jackson orders 1st use of US troops to suppress a labor dispute

1845 - Edgar Allen Poe's "Raven" 1st published (NYC)

1920 - Walt Disney starts 1st job as an artist; $40 week with KC Slide Co

1924 - Ice cream cone rolling machine patented by Carl Taylor, Cleveland

1963 - Jim Thorpe, Red Grange & George Halas elected to football hall of fame

1988 - Largest NBA crowd-Boston Celtics at Detroit (61,938)

2005 - The first direct commercial flights from the mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines carrier landed in Beijing.

♫Happy Birthday To: ♫                     

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Laundry Saturday….boring. It did give me time to read the articles for tonight’s discussion. I really had no idea how many treaties there are regarding the oceans of the world. Nor did I realize that the US Senate is stalling on several major treaties…since the Reagan years. Those treaties are approved by the military, the scientists, and about 70 other countries. It’s just another of many political gamesmanship messes in our Senate—and it’s been going on for years. Nor did I realize how far technology has come since my days is school when it comes to fishing and mining in the ocean. Can’t wait for the discussion tonight.

A little cool today but was able to take a walk this morning. Haven’t been out for a walk in a few days so it was nice. Not warm enough for a long one, but OK all the same.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game

Returns tomorrow

NPR Sunday Puzzle

My apologies for leaving the answers here yesterday…

Every answer is the first name of one famous person and the last name of another, in which the names are anagrams. For example, "Dolly Lloyd" for "Dolly Parton and Christopher Lloyd." Will Shortz gives the listener the people's other names, the listener gives the names that are anagrams. For example, given "Christopher Parton," the answer would be "Dolly Lloyd."

1.     Ralph Agassi:

2.     Yitzhak Williams:

3.     Sophia Michaels:

4.     Suze Polanski:

5.     Benedict Reagan:

6.     Johnny Powers:

7.     Walt Poitier:

8.     Laurence Hemmingway:

9.     Frankie Hansen:

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

Lifestyle  Substance     

AZ Centennial is in 17 days:  Did you know?…

• Oraibi is the oldest Indian settlement in the United States. The Hopis Indians founded it.
• Grand Canyon's Flaming Gorge got its name for its blazing red and orange colored, twelve-hundred-foot-high walls.
• Grand Canyon's Disaster Falls was named to commemorate the site of a previous explorer's wreck.

New:  Daffynitions: :-)

ABDICATION — Giving up on stomach exercises

ADULT: A person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle.

Found on You Tube         

Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken

Harper’s Index         

Portion of federal financial aide that goes to for-profit schools: 1/4

Joke-of-the-day

Two kids were deciding what game to play.
One said, “Let’s play doctor.”
“Good idea,” said the other. “You operate, and I’ll sue.”

 Planet Earth

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

You should have six months' salary in savings for emergencies.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The first five members to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1935 were Walter Johnson, Christy Matthewson, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, and Ty Cobb.

• Baseball evolved in the early 17th century out of a family of English folk games including rounders, stoolball, and cricket.

• A swinging strikeout is often called a "whiff" and a batter who is struck out by a fastball is often said to have been "blown away."

• Second base is the easiest base to steal, because the catcher must throw a farther distance.

• The green underside of a baseball cap serves to reduce the light reflection that could distract the ballplayers during daytime games.

• An inspector from Major League Baseball visits every ballpark at least twice a year and checks the specifications of the mound including height of the mound, slope of the mound, size of the pitcher's circle, flatness of the pitcher's rubber, and flatness of the area on which the pitcher's rubber is laid.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - The principal of a Connecticut elementary school under fire for use of so-called scream rooms, has announced she is taking a leave of absence. Patricia Girard, principal at Farm Hill Elementary School in Middletown, told The Hartford (Conn.) Courant Wednesday she would take a leave of absence to spend time with her family for personal reasons. She said she plans to return to the school as principal.
Controversy has surrounded the school since some parents showed concern about its use of "scream rooms," where out-of-control students are sent to calm down. Parents at a Jan. 10 board of education meetings said the rooms posed a danger to students and staff and caused disruptions for the rest of the school. One parent started an online petition seeking the ouster of three special education administrators over use of the rooms.
Connecticut state law permits the use of time-out rooms only for students with an Individualized Education Plan. The school district said Jan. 13 it would no longer use the rooms for students without IEPs. Two state agencies are investigating the use of the rooms at Farm Hill, the Courant said Thursday.

Calendar Information        

…Happening This Week:

20-30

Sundance Film Festival

29-2/5

• Catholic Schools Week
• Meat Week
• Intimate Apparel Week
• National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Week
• International Hoof Care Week

Today Is                                                                      

Curmudgeons Day
Freethinkers Day
National Puzzle Day
Seeing Eye Dog Day
Thomas Paine Day
National Corn Chip Day
 US: Kansas Admission Day (34^th state in 1861)

Today’s Other Events                                                             

1500’s

1595 - William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet is probably first performed

1600’s

1613 - Galileo observes Neptune but fails to recognize what he sees

1675 - John Sassamon will be found under the ice of Assawompsett Pond, 15 miles from the Plymouth. A Christian Indian, and educated at Harvard, Sassamon had recently left living with the whites to become Philip's aide. He would the leave Philip, return to the colony as a preacher for the local Indians. He would tell the colony of Philip's plans to attack, but he would not be believed. After his body was found, witnesses would testify in court that 3 Wampanoag murdered Sassamon. Sometime later, 1 of the 3 would confess on the gallows, after his rope broke while being hanged. He would be hanged anyway. This episode, was the spark Philip needed for his war.

1700’s

1728 - John Gays' "Beggar's Opera," premieres in London

1800’s

1832 - Folsom's Choctaw finally reach the Kiamichi River area, their new home. Several people, and lots of animals, die while en route. Cholera will strike all of the groups.

1879 - Custer Battlefield National Monument

1891 - Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch

1900’s

1912 - Martial law declared in textile strike in Lawrence, MA

1921 - Hurricane hits Washington & Oregon

1951 - Liz Taylor's 1st divorce (Conrad Hilton Jr)

1953 - 1st movie in Cinemascope (The Robe) premieres

1959 - Walt Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" released

1964 - 9th Winter Olympic games open in Innsbruck, Austria

1969 - Jimi Hendrix & Peter Townshend wage a battle of guitars

1979 - Pres Carter commuted Patricia Hearst's 7 year sentence to 2 years

1980 - Cleveland Cavaliers beat LA Lakers 154-153 in quadruple OT

1989 - Episcopal church appoints 1st female bishop

1996 - 6,138th performance of "Cats" is held in London, surpassing record of Broadway's longest-running musical, "A Chorus Line"

2000’s

2001 - Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.

2002 - In his State of the Union Address, United States President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as an Axis of Evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 70’s

Katharine Ross, actor is 70

In their 60’s

Tom Selleck, actor is 67

In their 50’s

Oprah Winfrey, actor, TV host, philanthropist  is 58

In their 40’s

Thomas Jane, actor is 43

Remembered for being born on this day

Moses Cleaveland, founder of Cleveland in 1754

Sydney ‘Paddy’ Chayevsky, US, dramatist (Marty, Hospital) in 1923

"Professor" Irwin Corey, comedian (Car Wash, Doc) in 1912

Allen B DuMont, inventor (perfected commercial practical cathode ray tube) in 1901

W C Fields, [William Claude Dukenfield], actor (Bank Dick) in 1880

John Forsythe, actor (Bachelor Father, Charlie's Angels, Dynasty) in 1918

Lawrence Hargrave, inventor (box kite) in 1850

Victor Mature, actor (1 Million BC, Samson & Delilah) in 1913

Thomas Paine, political essayist (Common Sense, Age of Reason) in 1737

Adam Clayton Powell, (Rep-D-NY, 1945-70) in 1908

Today’s Obits                                                           

Robert (Lee) Frost, US poet (New Hampshire, 4 Pulitzers), dies at 88 in 1963

George III, king of Great-Britain (1760-1820), dies at 81 in 1920

Alan Ladd, actor (Shane), OD’s at 50 in 1964

Freddie Prinze, comedian/actor (Chico & the Man), suicide 22 in 1977

Sara Teasdale, American poet, suicide at 49 in 1933

Answers                                                                                                                                            

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.     Ralph Agassi: Andre Nader

2.     Yitzhak Williams: Brian Rabin

3.     Sophia Michaels: Lorne Loren

4.     Suze Polanski: Roman Orman

5.     Benedict Reagan: Ronald Arnold

6.     Johnny Powers: Austin Unitas

7.     Walt Poitier: Sidney Disney

8.     Laurence Hemmingway: Ernest Sterne

9.     Frankie Hansen: Liane Laine

Wuzzle

TopsoilBreakfast without teaLeftovers

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  ☺