Feb 25

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Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1793 - 1st cabinet meeting (At George Washington's home)

1837 - 1st US electric printing press patented by Thomas Davenport

1859 - 1st use of "insanity plea" to prove innocence

1862 - Paper currency (greenbacks) introduced in US by Pres Abraham Lincoln

1901 - US Steel Corp organized under J P Morgan

1913 - 16th Amendment ratified, authorizing income tax

1956 - Khrushchev denounces Stalin at 20th Soviet Party Conference

1964 - Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) TKOs Sonny Liston in 7 for heavyweight title

1986 - Corazon Aquino becomes president of Philippines, Marcos flees

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪                     

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

The Flagstaff Celtic community is abuzz with news of an upcoming concert. The three world class top pipers are coming to America to tour Route 66. They will be playing in Flagstaff in mid-April. Very exciting to say the least. To top that off, the local Southwest Skye Pipe and Drums will be on stage too. The excitement of old Route 66 is still alive and well in Europe. Reminds me of the three Finnish guys I met on a plane who were celebrating their 50^th birthdays by taking motorcycles from Chicago to LA.

 Tomorrow night is our discussion group. We will be discussing Mexico. Should be an interesting discussion. Here in the SW, Mexico has some very bizarre rumors and fears shared daily from people who don’t know. Mexico is so much more than drugs, cartels, and illegals slipping across the border. Yes, these are problems, but not as bad as the politicians make them sound.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

Each clue is a word that contains the letter "I" inside. Rearrange the letters to get a new word that starts with the letter "I." For example, if the clue is "Susie," the answer would be "issue."

1.     Coin:

2.     Aide:

3.     Annie:

4.     Runic:

5.     Bedim:

6.     Sunlit:

7.     Renoir:

8.     Cinema:

9.     Stifle:

10.  Region:

11.  Umpire:

12.  Excitation:

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

Lifestyle  Substance     

Planet Earth—Orkney Islands

Found on You Tube         

Palenque – Mexico

Harper’s Index         

Value of public-health benefits for every dollar spent on pollution control, according to the EPA: $30

Joke-of-the-day

A boy was teaching a girl arithmetic, he said it was his mission. He kissed her once; he kissed her twice and said, "Now that's addition."
In silent satisfaction, she sweetly gave the kisses back and said, "Now that's subtraction."
Then he kissed her, she kissed him, without an explanation. And both together smiled and said, "That's multiplication."
Then her Dad appeared upon the scene and made a quick decision. He kicked that boy three blocks away and said, "That's long division!"Rules of Thumb  
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guessWhen attending a meeting, walk in with one thing in mind - what is your primary objective? Knowing what you want to get out of the meeting will help you keep discussion on-track and eliminate digression.

Somewhat Useless Information    

The term "zugzwang" is frequently used in chess. A player whose turn it is to move, but whose move would serve to worsen their position is said to be in zugzwang.Chess originated in India during the Gupta empire, where its early form in the 6th century was known as "caturanga," which translates to "four divisions of the military" (infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry). In time, these pieces evolved into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively.Diana Lanni, one of America's top ten female chess players, used chess to beat a drug addiction problem and suicidal tendencies.Marcel Duchamp, the renowned French artist, was also a chess player who competed in the 1924 world amateur championship, four French championships from 1924 to 1928, and four Olympiads from 1928 to 1933.The rook is named from an Arabic word rukh, meaning chariot. This reflects its ability to move quickly in straight lines, but not leap over obstacles. During the Middle Ages, when chariots were no longer in use, the rook was gradually modified to look more like the turret of a castle.The folding chess board was originally invented in 1125 by a chess-playing priest. Since the Church forbid priests to play chess, he hid his chess board by making one that looked simply like two books lying together.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 

As Facebook gets ready to go public, the eyes of the world will become even more focused on the Menlo Park-based social network.

That's just partly why Friday's report of an insurance advertisement on Facebook featuring the face of 9/11 terrorist Mohamed Atta is not the type of publicity the site wants ahead of its initial public offering.Atta's face reportedly appeared on the site as part of an ad selling car insurance.

The ad appeared on the right hand side of some users' profiles and it read "Important: Drivers in Texas Who Drive Less than 35 Miles a Day Read This."The text was alongside a Texas driver's license with Atta's picture on it, which was actually originally taken from his Florida's driver's license.The company behind the ad has since removed it and said it is conducting a full investigation as to how the image was used.A request for comment from Facebook was not immediately returned.Often times smaller advertisers on Facebook pick images randomly from the Internet to show in their graphic.But this is also not the first time Atta's face has appeared on the social network.

Two years ago Atta's image was reportedly used in another insurance ad, but it was not clear if it was by the same company.Atta was named as one of the terrorists who crashed planes into the World Trade Center in New York more than 10 years ago.

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                   

International Sword Swallowers Day

Pistol Patent Day (Samuel Colt) 1836

Kuwait: National Day (1961 from UK and Iran)

Today’s Other Events                                                             

Before 1000CE

529 - Palenque Maya Lord Kan - Xul I ascends the throne according to the museum at Palenque, Mexico

1600’s

1634 - Irish captain Walter Devereaux kills duke Wallenstein

1700’s

1751 - 1st performing monkey exhibited in America, NYC (admission 1 cent)

1799 - Congress passes 1st federal quarantine legislation

1799 - Congress passes "An Act Making Appropriations for Defraying the Expenses Which May Arise in Carrying into Effect Certain Treaties Between the United States and Several Tribes or Nations of Indians."

1800’s

1836 - US Showman Phineas Taylor Barnum exhibits African American slave Joice Heth

1838 - London pedestrian walks 20 miles backward then forward in 8 hours

1839 - Seminoles & black allies shipped from Tampa Bay Florida, to West

1862 - Congress forms US Bureau of Engraving & Printing

1875 - Kiowa Indians under Lone Wolf (Guipago) surrender at Ft Sill

1885 - US Congress condemns barbed wire around government grounds

1900’s

1908 - 1st tunnel under Hudson River (railway tunnel) opens

1925 - Glacier Bay National Monument established in Alaska

1950 -  "Your Show of Shows" with Sid Caesar & Imogene Coca premieres on NBC Writers include Mel Brooks, Neil Simon & Woody Allen

1951 - 1st Pan American Games opens (Buenos Aires Argentina)

1952 - 6th Winter Olympic games close at Oslo, Norway

1954 - Abdul Nasser appointed Egyptian premier

1969 - Pension plan for baseball is agreed to

1982 - Final episode of "The Lawrence Welk Show" airs

1987 - Michael Jordan, scores Chicago Bull record 58 points in a game

1989 - Dallas Cowboys fire coach Tom Landry after a 29-year career

1991 - US, barracks in Dhahran Saudi Arabia, hit by scud missile, kills 28

2000’s

2011 - In the Irish general election, the Fianna Fáil-led government suffered the worst defeat of a sitting government since the formation of the Irish state in 1921

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 70’s

Diane Baker, actress (Diary of Anne Frank, Marnie) is 74

Karen Grassle, American actress(Caroline-Little House on Prairie) is 70

Bob Schieffer, newscaster (CBS Weekend News) is 75

In their 60’s

Rick Flair, [Richard Fliehr], wrestling champ (NWA/WWF/WCW/AWA) is 62

Sally Jessy Raphael, American TV talk show host (Sally) is 69

In their 40’s

Carrot Top, [Scott Thompson], comedian (Amer Comedy Award-1994) is 47

In their 30’s

Chelsea Handler, TV host is 37

Remembered for being born on this day

Jim Backus, Cleve, actor (Mr Magoo, Thurston Howell III-Gilligan Is) in 1913

Anthony Burgess, essayist/novelist (Clockwork Orange) in 1917

Enrico Caruso, Naples Italy, operatic tenor (Faust) in 1873

Mary Coyle Chase, playwright (Harvey-Pulitzer Prize) in 1907

John Foster Dulles, US Secretary of State (1953-59) in 1888

George Harrison, rocker (Beatle/Travelling Willberries-My Sweet Lord) in 1943

[Herbert] Zeppo Marx, comedian/actor (Marx Brothers) in 1901

Tommy Newsom, musician/bandleader/saxophonist (Tonight Show) in 1929

Pierre Auguste Renoir, Limoges France, Impressionist painter/sculptor in 1841

Robert Lorimer "Bobby" Riggs, US tennis star (US Open 1939, 41) in 1918

Faron Young, country singer/actor ("He Stopped Loving Her Today", Daniel Boone) in 1932

Today’s Obits                                                           

James Coco, actor (Joe-Dumplings), dies of heart attack at 56 in 1987

Darren McGavin, American actor dies at 83 in 2006

Thomas Moore, writer (Utopia), dies at 72 in 1852

Elijah Muhammad, leader of Nation of Islam, dies in Chicago at 78 in 1975

Paul Julius von Reuter, founder of the news agency (Reuters), dies at 83 in 1899

Tennessee Williams, US playwright and writer (Streetcar Named Desire), chokes to death at 71 in 1983

Christopher Wren, England, astronomer/architect, dies at 90 in 1723

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.     Coin:

a.     icon

2.     Aide:

a.     idea

3.     Annie:

a.     inane

4.     Runic:

a.     incur

5.     Bedim:

a.     imbed

6.     Sunlit:

a.     insult

7.     Renoir:

a.     ironer

8.     Cinema:

a.     iceman

9.     Stifle:

a.     itself

10.  Region:

a.     ignore

11.  Umpire:

a.     impure

12.  Excitation:      

a.     intoxicate

Wuzzle

• A punch in the nose
• Pennies from heaven
• Self-centered

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  ☺