Feb 24

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

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1541 - Santiago, Chile founded by Pedro de Valvidia 

1836 - 3,000 Mexicans attack 182 Texans at Alamo, lasts 13 days

1857 - 1st perforated US postage stamps delivered to government

1863 - Arizona Territory created

1868 - 1st US parade with floats (Mardi Gras-Mobile Alabama)

1924 - Mahatma Gandhi released from jail

1942 - Voice of America begins broadcasting (in German)

1974 - Pakistan officially recognizes Bangladesh

1988 - South African apartheid regime bans the UDF

1998 - Elton John knighted

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪                     

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Kinda windy this morning. Strangely it was warm. It was OK to be out and about, as it wasn’t so windy that things couldn’t be done.

Speculation on Wall Street isn’t something I have never really understood. Today’s story that Wall Street speculators are making money on every tank of gas hit hard. The speculators make bids on the cost of the crude oil. Their actions are not regulated by anyone. Today the chair of the committee that watches over energy speculation told us that about $15/tank goes directly to speculators. Imagine stopping this—well the speculators are suing the committee to keep the current status quo. Really?!? 

A committee in AZ has just sent to the floor of the House a new law that will require all college students to pay $2000 out of pocket to attend any college or university/year. The money cannot be part of a scholarship, PAL grant or any other source except the student. The author says there are just too many students not taking college seriously because they are getting a free ride. He believes if the $2000 fee is an appropriate amount for the student to pay each year so they will take their education seriously. Really?!?

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase in which the first word starts with S-H and the second word starts with H. For example, if the clue is "restraining device with a diagonal strap across the chest," the answer would be "shoulder harness."

1.     What you usually do when you meet someone:

2.     A detective who debuted in ‘A Study of Scarlet’:

3.     What a crew cut results in:

4.     Where the water comes out when you are washing yourself:

5.     A person in charge of a flock:

6.     They might be from 9am to 9pm at a mall:

7.     One who might go looking for Great Whites:

8.     Medical facility overseen by members of an organization who wear a red fez:

9.     He played George Jefferson on ‘The Jeffersons’:

10.  Author of report on Female Sexuality:

11.  To play basketball, informally:

12.  Suburb of Cleveland, Ohio:

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

Lifestyle  Substance     

Planet Earth—Orkney Islands

Found on You Tube         

Winslow Homer paintings

Harper’s Index         

Date on which the federal government declassified the Pentagon Papers: 6/13/2011

Joke-of-the-day

There was a little old lady who was nearly blind. She had three sons and they wanted to prove which one was the best son to her.
So son #1 bought her a 15-room mansion thinking this would surely be the best any of them could offer her.
Son #2 bought her a beautiful Mercedes with a chauffeur included thinking he would surely win her approval.
Son #3 had to do something even better than these so he bought her a trained parrot. This parrot had been trained for 15 years to memorize the entire Bible. You could mention any verse in the Bible and the parrot could quote it word for word. How useful his nearly blind mother would find that!
Well, the old lady went to the first son and said, "Son, the house is just gorgeous but it's really much too big for me. I only live in one room, and it's much too large for me to clean and take care of. I really don't need the house, but thank you anyway."
Then she explained to her second son, "Son, the car is beautiful, it has everything you could ever want on it, but I don't drive and I really don't like that driver, so please return the car."
Next, she went to son number three and said, "Son, I just want to thank you for that thoughtful gift. The chicken was small, but delicious."

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

A male who changes his sex to female will look like a woman who is five years older because men's faces look more rugged than women's. On the other hand, female to male sex-change patients will look 10 to 12 years younger. A 30-year-old woman will look and sound like a boy of 18 or 20. We call it the "Peter Pan" effect.

Somewhat Useless Information    

One of the first cities in the country to industrialize, Providence, Rhode Island became noted for its jewelry and silverware industry. Today, the City of Providence is home to eight hospitals and seven institutions of higher learning, which has shifted the city's economy into service industries, though it still retains significant manufacturing activity.

Montpeiler, Vermont is the only US state capital without a McDonald's.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 

NEW YORK - A New York man said the museum he created in his apartment to honor 1988 film "Beetlejuice" has more than 75 pieces. Bruce Christensen, 48, said his Hell's Kitchen apartment contains items including plastic toys, bobble head dolls, trading cards, a beach towel, a full copy of the movie script and even a six-pack of wine coolers called Dr. Thirsty's Beetlejuice Alcoholic Fruit Crush, the New York Daily News reported Monday.

"This is definitely one of the top 10 attractions in New York City," said Christensen, who said more than 200 people have toured the "Bruce & His Beetlejuice Collection" museum since he opened just before Halloween."The absolute highlight of our recent trip to New York City was the private viewing of the Beetlejuice Museum," tourist Melodee Hill of Maryland told the Daily News. Christensen said he would love to have director Tim Burton or some of the film's stars tour his collection, but he joked about being wary of Winona Ryder. "I'd have to keep an eye on that klepto!" he quipped.

Calendar Information        

…Happening This Week:

19-25 

National Entrepreneurship Week

Brotherhood / Sisterhood Week

Build A Better Trade Show Image Week

National Engineers Week

National Pancake Week

National Justice for Animals Week

National Future Farmers of America Week

Read Me Week

Texas Cowboy Poetry Week

Today Is                                                                      

Gregorian Calendar Day 1582

National Personal Chef Day

National Tortilla Chip Day

Estonia: Independence Day (1919 from Russia)

Mexico: Flag Day

Today’s Other Events                                                             

Before 1000CE

303 - 1st official Roman edict for persecution of Christians issued

1500’s

1510 - Pope Julius II excommunicates the republic of Venice

1530 - 1st imperial coronation by a Pope, Charles V crowned by Clement V

1700’s

1730 - With both sides running out of ammunition, the French, and the Natchez Indians agree on a peace settlement. The Natchez release all of their prisoners, and the French withdraw to the Mississippi River.

1800’s

1803 - Supreme Court 1st rules a law unconstitutional (Marbury v Madison)

1848 - As a part of the war against the Cayuse who attacked the Whitman Mission in Oregon Country, a fight takes place. The Cayuse lose eight men, including Chief Gray Eagle, and have five warriors wounded. Lieutenant Colonel Waters, and four other soldiers are wounded.

1857 - LA Vineyard Society organized

1876 - Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt," premieres in Oslo

1895 - Cuban war for independence begins

1900’s

1909 - The Hudson Motor Car Company is founded

1938 - Du Pont begins commercial production of nylon toothbrush bristles

1946 - Juan Peron elected President of Argentina

1966 - Coup ousts Pres Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana

1968 - 1st pulsar discovered (CP 1919 by Jocelyn Burnell at Cambridge)

1977 - Pres Carter announces US foreign aid will consider human rights

1983 - A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II

1989 - Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers $1M-$3M bounty on Salman Rushdie's death due to his novel, "Satanic Verses"

1996 - Cuba downs 2 US planes

1998 - NHL resumes season since Feb 8th to accomodate the Olympics

1999 - The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery, in spite of Germany's legal action to attempt to save him

2000’s

2002 - XIX Winter Olympics closes in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

2008 - Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years

2011 - Final Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103)

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 90’s

Abe Vigoda, actor is 91

In their 60’s

Barry Bostwick, actor is 68

Edward James Olmos, actor (Miami Vice, Stand & Deliver, Triumph) is 65

George Thorogood, American singer and guitarist (The Delaware Destroyers- Bad to the Bone) is 62

In their 50’s

Paula Zahn, news anchor (ABC, CBS This Morning)  is 56

In their 40’s

Kristin Davis, actor is 47

Billy Zane, actor is 46

In their 30’s

Floyd Mayweather, featherweight boxer (Oly-br-96) is 35

Remembered for being born on this day

Catherine I, Empress of Russia in 1684

William Fairbank, physicist (superconductivity) in 1917

Wilhelm Karl Grimm, Hanau Germany, story teller (Grimm's Fairy Tales) in 1786

Winslow Homer, US, painter (Gulfstream) in 1836

George A Moore, Ireland, painter/novelist (Esther Waters) in 1852

Chester Nimitz, US admiral (commanded Pacific fleet in WW II) in 1885

John Vernon, Canada, actor (Animal House, Chained Heat, Dirty Harry) in 1932

Today’s Obits                                                           

Malcolm Forbes, CEO (Forbes Publishing), dies of a heart attack at 70 in 1990

George Gobel, Chicago, comedian (George Gobel Show), dies following heart surgery at 71 in 1991

Don Knotts, American actor die at 82 in 2006 

Dinah Shore, singer (Chevrolet), dies of cancer at 76 in 1994

Dennis Weaver, American actor dies at 82 in 2006

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Brain Game

The R runs into the single letter A, the initial S and A turn into the pairs of letter CO and IS

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.     What you usually do when you meet someone:

a.     shake hands

2.     A detective who debuted in ‘A Study of Scarlet’:

a.     Sherlock Holmes

3.     What a crew cut results in:

a.     short hair

4.     Where the water comes out when you are washing yourself:

a.     shower head

5.     A person in charge of a flock:

a.     sheep herder

6.     They might be from 9am to 9pm at a mall:

a.     shopping hours

7.     One who might go looking for Great Whites:

a.     shark hunter

8.     Medical facility overseen by members of an organization who wear a red fez:     Shiners’ Hospital

9.     He played George Jefferson on ‘The Jeffersons’:

a.     Sherman Hemsley

10.  Author of report on Female Sexuality:

a.     Shere Hite

11.  To play basketball, informally:

a.     Shoot Hoops

12.  Suburb of Cleveland, Ohio:

a.     Shaker Heights

Wuzzle

• Highway overpass
• Agony
• Flattering write-up

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  ☺