Mar 23

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Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1708 - English pretender to the throne James III lands at Firth of Forth

1857 - Elisha Otis' 1st elevator installed (488 Broadway, NYC)

1903 - Wright brothers obtain airplane patent

1912 - Dixie Cup invented

1925 - Tennessee becomes 1st state to outlaw teaching theory of evolution

1957 - US army sells last homing pigeons

1966 - 1st official meeting in 400 years of Catholic & Anglican Church

1983 - US president Ronald Reagan introduces "Star Wars"-plan (SDI)

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪                     

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

What a great weather day…our 2+ feet of snow is gone around town…I still have some on my east facing entrance, but not bad. Spring is sure here…now the only question…for how long? And the ice cream truck, who comes through our neighborhood regularly through the summer, has already stated his drive. He is a real dreamer! 

Tomorrow is the Home Show. Can’t wait. Should be a good couple of hours to see what’s new. And it’s free. Then off to lunch with Mary, from our retirement group. Cheryl is still basking in the sun in Hawaii.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

Each clue is a pair of four-letter words. Each can be found inside the first and last names, respectively, of a famous person. For example, given "rend" and "rase," the answer would be "Brendan Fraser," the actor.

1.      arlo; rand:

2.      lady; nigh:

3.      meld; arco:

4.      acid; ming:

5.      else; lint:

6.      list; lock:

7.      rove; alon:

8.      rook; bins:

9.      pole; part:

10.   bell; sell: Isabella Rossellini

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

Lifestyle  Substance     

Planet Earth—

Found on You Tube         

Roger Bannister breaks the four minute mile

Harper’s Index         

Percentage change in the gap between the wages of US males and women since 1998: +9

Joke-of-the-day

Guy: Haven’t I seen you someplace before?Girl: Yes, that’s why I don’t go there anymore.

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

The more you need your job for financial reasons, the worse you will be treated.

Somewhat Useless Information   

Margaret Knight, an employee at the Columbia Paper Bag Company, was one of the first women in the United States to hold a patent. She invented a machine that folded and glued flat-bottomed bags, the type most grocery stores use today.Plastic grocery store sacks, properly called "T-shirt bags," were introduced in 1977. Kroger and Safeway were the first two supermarket chains to replace brown paper craft bags with T-shirt bags.

In 1988, the Supreme Court upheld the right of law enforcement officials to search through a person's curb-side garbage bags without a warrant.Plastic dry-cleaning bags became controversial shortly after their introduction in 1958. Many parents, unaware of the suffocation danger inherent in the lightweight plastic, used the bags as leak-proof crib linings and mattress covers. The tragic infant deaths due to the plastic bags resulted in the warnings that are printed on all dry-cleaning bags today.

Dow Chemical introduced the Ziploc bag in 1968. The company test-marketed them in select U.S. regions the following year with outstanding results. Today it is estimated that the average American uses 40 of these bags per year.Felix the Cat was created by Otto Messmer in 1919, but it wasn't until the "wonderful, wonderful cat" was retooled in 1954 by Dell Comics artist Joe Oriolo that his Magic Bag of Tricks was added to the mix.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 

Stillwater, OK: A major fumble on the life insurance gridiron has cost the Oklahoma State Cowboys $33 million. As Forbes reports, the OSU athletic department's attempt to bet on the deaths of 27 geriatric boosters with $10 million life insurance policies backfired when not one died.

Talk about a Hail Mary gone wrong.

Obviously, the way the scenario played out was less than a blessing for OSU. The "Gift of a Lifetime" fundraiser plan was allegedly the brain-child of OSU alum and tycoon T. Boone Pickens. By cashing in on the life insurance policies following the death of the 65- to 85-year-olds, OSU expected to rake in as much as $350 million.

Instead, the athletics department was forced to resort to a legal maneuver in an attempt to recover some of the $33 million it paid in premiums on the policies. But Forbes reports that a U.S. district judge sided with the life insurance company, this week -- noting that the premiums paid on the policies were made legally.
The OSU athletic department, which netted $14.4 million last year according to Forbes, relies on its football profits to fund other, non-revenue-generating sports programs. This unsuccessful play-action may force the school's head honchos to seek a plum check from Uncle Boone.

Calendar Information        

…Happening This Week:

18-24

National Animal Poison Prevention Week

National Inhalant and Poisons Awareness Week

19-25

Act Happy Week

American Chocolate Week

Wellderly Week

21-25

YoYo and Skill Toys Week

21-27

Week of Solidarity with People's Struggling Against Racism & Discrimination

Today Is                                                                      

National Day of Unplugging asks people to take a tech detox by unplugging

National Puppy Day

Near Miss Day: 1989. A mountain-sized asteroid passed within 500000 miles of Earth, a very close call according to NASA.

OK Day: OK first appeared in print in article by Allan Metcalf, a renowned popular writer on language in 1839

World Meteorological Day

National Organize Your Home Office Day

National Chip and Dip Day

Liberty Day to commiserates Patrick Henry’s speech with "Give me liberty or give me death!" in 1775

Pakistan: Republic Day (1956—a Muslim Republic of the Commonwealth)

Today’s Other Events                                                             

1000’s

1066 - 18th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet

> 

1700’s

1730 - On Keowee, western North Carolina, Sir Alexander Cuming will hold a conference with 300 Cherokee Chiefs. Using threats and gifts, Cuming will get the Cherokee to agree to acknowledge King George II of England as their sovereign.

1794 - 1st US patent (Joseph G Pierson for a riveting machine)

1800’s

1840 - Draper takes 1st successful photo of the Moon (daguerrotype)

1880 - Flour rolling mill patented (John Stevens of Wisc)

1889 - Pres Harrison opens Oklahoma for white colonization

1889 - The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian India

1900’s

1910 - 1st race at Los Angeles Motordrome (1st US auto speedway)

1919 - Benito Mussolini forms Fascist movement in Milan Italy

1929 - 1st telephone installed in White House

1934 - US Congress accepts Philippines independence in 1945

1940 - 1st radio broadcast of "Truth or Consequences" on CBS

1948 - John Cunningham sets world altitude record (54,492' (18,133 m))

1965 - Gemini 3 launched, 1st US 2-man space flight (Grissom & Young)

1972 - Evil Knievel breaks 93 bones after successfully clearing 35 cars

1981 - Supreme Court upholds law making statutory rape a crime only for men

1981 - Supreme Court rules states could require, with some exceptions, parental notification when teen-age girls sought abortions

1992 - Florida Marlins begin selling tickets 1994 - Wayne Gretzky sets NHL record with 802 goals scored

1996 - Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President

2000’s

2005 - The United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, refuses to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.

2007 - Iranian Navy seizes Royal Navy personnel in Iraqi waters.

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Roger Bannister, England, 1st to run a 4 minute mile (May 6, 1954) is 83

In their 70’s

Jim Trelease, American educator and children's literature author is 71

In their 60’s

Karen English, (Rep-D-Arizona) is 63

In their 50’s

Chaka Khan, [Yvette Marie Steven], Great Lakes Il, rocker (Rufus-I am Every Woman) is 59

Moses Malone, NBA center (Atlanta Hawks, Milw Bucks, Phila '76ers) is 58

In their 40’s

Richard Grieco, , actor (21 Jump Street, Booker) is 47

Dante Jones, NFL linebacker (Denver Broncos, Chicago Bears) is 47

In their 30’s

Perez Hilton (Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr.), American television personality and blogger is 34

Jason Kidd, NBA guard (Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks) is 39

Remembered for being born on this day

John Bartram, naturalist/explorer, father of American botany in 1699

James Brown, actor (Lt Rip Masters-Rin Tin Tin) in 1920

Joan Crawford, American actress[Lucille Le Sueur] in 1905

Fannie Farmer, actress (namesake of a candy company) in 1857

Maynard Jackson, first black mayor of Atlanta in 1938

John Payne, actor (Dodsworth, Razor's Edge) in 1912

Nathaniel Reed, American outlaw turned evangelist in 1862

William Smith, geologist (Strata Identified by Organized Fossils) in 1769

Werner von Braun, Wirsitz Germany, rocket expert (I Aim at the Stars) in 1912

Today’s Obits                                                           

Rowland Evans, American journalist dies at 80 in 2001

Barney Clark, 1st artifical heart recipient, dies after 112 days at 62 in 1983

Peter Lorre, actor (Casino Royale), dies of stroke at 59 in 1964

Singing Nun (Sister Luc Gabriel), singer ("Dominique"   English version: commits suicide over tax bills after leaving the convent in Belgium at 51 in 1985  

Dean Paul Martin, musician The Rebel Kind /tennis pro, killed in plane crash at 29 in 1987

Elizabeth Taylor, English-American actress dies at 80 in 2011

Patience Wright, 1st US woman pro artist, dies in 1786

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Brain Game

 NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.      arlo; rand:

a.      Marlon Brando

2.      lady; nigh:

a.      Gladys Knight

3.      meld; arco:

a.      Imelda Marco

4.      acid; ming:

a.      Placido Domingo

5.      else; lint:

a.      Chelsea Clinton

6.      list; lock:

a.      Calista Flockhart

7.      rove; alon:

a.      Grover Cleveland

8.      rook; bins:

a.      Brooks Robinson

9.      pole; part:

a.      Napoleon Bonaparte

10.   bell; sell:

a.      Isabella Rossellini

Wuzzle

• Topnotch
• Paralyze
• Laziness

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  ☺