Feb 2

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

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1802 - 1st leopard exhibited in US, Boston (admission 25 cents)

1852 - 1st British public men's toilet opens (Fleet St London)

1887 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed

1922 - It was 2:22:22 on 2/2/22

1948 - President Truman urges congress to adopt a civil rights program

1964 - GI Joe, debuts as a popular American boy's toy

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪                     

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Happy Groundhog Day…more winter…hope not…more moisture…hope so. Sure glad I’m not in Europe or Japan right now…they are really having a lot of snow and frigid temps. Brrrrr.

 A good day to be out and about…Target had some great clearances today…I just can’t pay full price for very much anymore.  

And AZ gets ready for more news…some idiot legislator has proposed an anti-worker, pro-business bill that is stronger than the one in Wisconsin. AZ just loves to be in the news. OMG…Satire reigns: Last week Romney and others used the term ‘self-deportation’ that states that illegals will simply leave when jobs aren’t available. Turns out, the term is from a satire done in LA during the time when CA was considering a strong anti-immigrant bill by a Mexican-American radio commentator. It was and of course still is a joke.  So sad that no one in the Republican Party knew that term was satire.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

For each word you are given, change one letter to get a common name for a newspaper. For example, given "tomes" the answer is "Times."

1.     Tribute:

2.     Posh:

3.     Hedger:

4.     Glove:

5.     Resister:

6.     Empress:

7.     Would:

8.     Reword:

9.     Deporter:

10.  Lender:

11.  Onion:

12.  Preps:

13.  Nets:

14.  Sue:

15.  Stay:

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

Lifestyle  Substance     

AZ Centennial – Feb 14:  Did you know?…

The name Tucson is derived from the Indian word, 'Chuk-son,' meaning village of the dark spring at the foot of the mountains.

In 1867 Jack Swilling of Wickenburg stopped to rest by the White Tank Mountains, and envisioned a place that, with just some water, looked like promising farm land. He organized the Swilling Irrigation Canal Company, and moved to the Valley. In 1868, as a result of his efforts, crops began to grow and Swilling's Mill became the name of the new area about four miles east of where Phoenix is today. Later, the name of the town was changed to Helling Mill, then Mill City. Swilling wanted to name the new place Stonewall after Stonewall Jackson. The name Phoenix was actually suggested by a man named Darrell Duppa, who is purported to have said "A new city will spring phoenix-like upon the ruins of a former civilization."

First known as Horsehead crossing, it was re-named Holbrook, after H.R. Holbrook, first chief engineer of Atlantic and Pacific Railroad.

New:  Daffynitions: :-)

HEADACHE — A cheap and effective contraceptive

LOTTERY — A tax on people who are lousy at math

Found on You Tube         

Sarum Candlemas 03

Imbolc Ritual

Harper’s Index         

• Percentage of private-sector workers who believe that public sector workers receive better benefits: 60
• Percentage of public-sector works who believe this: 44

Joke-of-the-day

A young man, who was also an avid golfer, found himself with a few hours to spare one afternoon. He figured that if he hurried and played very fast, he could get in 9 holes before he had to head home. Just as he was about to tee off, an old gentleman shuffled onto the tee and asked if he could accompany the young man as he was golfing alone. Not being able to say no, he allowed the old man to join him.

To his surprise, the old man played fairly quickly. He didn't hit the ball far, but plodded along consistently and didn't waste much time. Finally, they reached the 9th fairway and the young man found himself with a tough shot. There was a large pine tree right in front of his ball and directly between his ball and the green. After several minutes of debating how to hit the shot, the old man finally said, "You know, when I was your age, I'd hit the ball right over that tree."With that challenge placed before him, the youngster swung hard, hit the ball up, right smack into the top of the tree trunk and it thudded back on the ground not a foot from where it had originally laid.The old man offered one more comment, "Of course, when I was your age, that pine tree was only 3 feet tall."

Planet Earth

  These photos are from Africa Geographic where Greg and Richard also post pictures and available to 'like' on Facebook.

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

The ground cushion is an invisible area near the runway where the interaction between the airplane's wing and the ground cause changes in an airplane's flight characteristics. Measured scientifically, the height of the ground cushion is about equal to the wingspan of the airplane. A pilot, however, will notice the effects at an altitude half the wingspan of the airplane.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• In 1888, Alexander Graham Bell was the president of the National Geographic Society.
• His father, grandfather, and brother were all associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf.
• Mark Twain expressed initial interest in Bell's company but decided against an investment of $5000, because he saw possibilities in another invention called the Paige typesetting machine. Unfortunately, the machine proved to be much less successful and cost Twain an investment of $250,000. By 1894, Twain declared bankruptcy.
• On March 7, 1876, the U.S. patent office issued a patent on Bell's invention that sent words over a wire by converting the sound waves to a varying current of electricity.
• The film, The Story of Alexander Graham Bell debuted in 1939. After it was released, the telephone was commonly the "Ameche" which was a slang reference to the actor Don Ameche who played the telephone's inventor.
• When he was born, he was just Alexander Bell. When he turned ten though, he begged his parents to give him a middle name like they had given to each of his brothers. It wasn't until his 11th birthday that the famous "Graham" was added to his name.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 

BOSTON - Animal rescuers in Massachusetts said a woman who bought two rats to save them from being snake food soon found herself with 71 rodents. The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the woman bought the rats from a pet shop in Sandwich to save them from being food for a snake and she contacted the society about three months later when the number of rapidly breeding rats ballooned to 71, the Boston Herald reported Monday. "She realized she was in over her head, and she drove to Boston," MSPCA spokesman Rob Halpin said. Halpin said the incident took place only days after a Lawrence man brought in 94 hamsters that resulted from his adopting only two. The spokesman said the hamsters will likely have better luck finding new homes. "There are many more homes for hamsters than there are homes for rats. It is a smaller audience of enthusiasts for rats," Halpin said.

Calendar Information        

…Happening This Week:

1-5

Catholic Schools Week
Meat WeekIntimate Apparel WeekNational Cowboy Poetry Gathering WeekInternational Hoof Care Week

1-7International Snow Sculpting WeekSolo Diners Eat Out Weekend  Women's Heart Week

Today Is                                                                      

Candelmas: Purification Day: Purification of the Blessed Virgin (Greek Hypapante), Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the TempleCrepe Day
Groundhog Day
Groundhog Job Shadow Day
Imbolic or St Brigid’s Day

(Scots Gaelic Là Fhèill Brìghde, Irish Lá Fhéile Bríde, the feast day of St. Brigid), is a Celtic festival marking the beginning of spring

Marmot Day:  Alaskan holiday established to celebrate marmots and Alaska's unique cultureNational Girls and Women In Sports DaySled Dog Day
World Wetlands Day

Today’s Other Events                                                             

1500’s

1536 - Pedro de Mendoza finds Argentine city of Buenos Aires

1600’s

1653 - New Amsterdam becomes a city (later NYC)

1800’s

1848 - 1st ship load of Chinese arrive in SF

1848 - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends Mexican War; US acquires Texas California, New Mexico & Arizona for $15 million

1869 - James Oliver invents removable tempered steel plow blade

1887 - A law is passed which will prohibit the use of Indian languages in schools.

1892 - Bottle cap with cork seal patented by William Painter (Baltimore)

1900’s

1913 - NY football Giants sign Jim Thorpe

1922 - James Joyce's "Ulysses" published in Paris (1,000 copies)

1923 - Ethyl gasoline 1st marketed, Dayton, Ohio

1935 - Lie detector 1st used in court (Portage Wisc)

1940 - Frank Sinatra's singing debut in Indianapolis (Tommy Dorsey Orch)

1950 - 1st broadcast of "What's My Line,"on CBS-TV

1955 - 1st presidential news conference on network TV-Eisenhower on ABC

1959 - Buddy Holly's last performance

1962 - 1st pole vault over 16' (4.88m) (John Uelses-16', Melrose Games)

1970 - Pete Maravich becomes 1st to score 3,000 college basketball points

1971 - Idi Amin ousts Milton Obote to become dictator of Uganda

1974 - Barbra Striesand's 1st #1 hit, "The Way We Were"

1986 - Dalai Lama meets Pope John Paul II in India

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Elaine Stritch, actor is 86

In their 70’s

Barry Diller, founder (Fox-TV), chairman Expedia, Ticketmaster is 70

Graham Nash, guitarist (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young-Southern Cross) is 70

Tom Smothers, comedian (Smother Brother Show, Serial) is 72

In their 50’s

Christie Brinkley, [Ex-Mrs Billy Joel], model/actress (SI, Vacation) is 58

Holly Hunter, actress (Broadcast News, Once Around) is 54

In their 30’s

Shakira, pop singer is 35

Remembered for being born on this day

Clarence "Buster" Crabbe, swimmer (Olympic-gold-1932)/actor in 1908

Farrah Fawcett, actress (Charley's Angels, Burning Bed) in 1946

Stan Getz, jazz tenor saxophonist (Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey) in 1927

John Glover, English chemist (sulfuric acid) in 1817

Solomon R Guggenheim, philanthropist (Guggenheim Museum NYC) in 1861

James Joyce, Irish novelist/poet (Dubliners, Ulysses, Finnigan's Wake) in 1882

Frank Lloyd, Scottish actor/director (Mutiny on Bounty, Oliver Twist) in 1888

Frank McGrath, actor (Wagon Train) in 1903

Mehmed VI, last sultan of Ottoman Empire in 1861

Ayn Rand, writer (Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead) in 1905

Today’s Obits                                                           

Stringfellow Barr, US educationalist (100 Great Books), dies at 85 in 1982

John Cassavetes, US actor (Rosemary's Baby)/director, dies of cirrhosis at 59 in 1989

Boris Karloff, [Pratt], British actor (Frankenstein), dies at 81 in 1969

Gene Kelly, actor/dancer (Singing in the Rain), dies at 83 in 1996

Bert Parks, [Jacobson], TV host (Miss America), dies at 77 in 1992

Bertrand Russell, philosopher, British MP, dies in Merioneth at 97 in 1970

Max Schmeling, German boxer dies at 99 in 2005

Sid Vicious, [John Simon Ritchie], bassist (Sex Pistols), OD's at 31 in 1979

Eric von Schmidt, American folk/blues singer-songwriter (for Bob Dylan) dies at 76 in 2007

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Brain Game

Upside down you see an old man, sitting in a canoe, being attacked by a large fish near a small island that has two trees.

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.     Tribute: Tribune

2.     Posh: Post

3.     Hedger: Ledger

4.     Glove: Globe

5.     Resister: Register

6.     Empress: Express

7.     Would: World

8.     Reword: Record

9.     Deporter: Reporter

10.  Lender: Leader

11.  Onion: Union

12.  Preps: Press

13.  Nets: News

14.  Sue: Sun

15.  Stay: Star

Wuzzle

• Copyright
• Out in left field
• Sign on the dotted line

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  ☺