Apr 28


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♪Happy Birthday To: ♪ 

Today’s  Historical  Highlights
1686 - 1st volume of Isaac Newton's "Principia" published
1818 - Monroe proclaims naval disarmament on Great Lakes & Lake Champlain
1919 - 1st jump with Army Air Corp (rip-cord type) parachute (Les Irvin) 1932 - Yellow fever vaccine for humans announced
1965 - US marines invade Dominican Republic, stay until October 1966
1967 - Muhammad Ali refuses induction into army & stripped of boxing title
 
Free Rambling Thoughts   
Ah the weekend is arriving. And so did the spring weather. As I read on FB, the great part of Flagstaff is that you can have all four seasons in a couple of days. So true.

Cable company confusion. I have digital TV with the cable company’s HDbox that includes a DVR. It’s nice. There are more channels than I can ever watchand a lot I would never watch. But the ones I watch are usually enjoyable. Because historically the cable companies of our great country had convinced Congress and everybody else that a-la-carte channels is impossible. A-la-carte simply means that instead of having to pay for packages for channels you never watch, the customer picks the channels they want and pay for them. The argument against this is that some channels would not be on the air if they had to be purchased a-la-carte and that the cable companies bundle channels for everyone. I don’t like that, but I live with it. Now the cable company is going completely digital. I have small TVs in my bedroom, den and office that just get basic channels. Now they say I need a digital adapter for TVs that don’t have a box. They say it has no up-front cost or monthly rate. I wish they had added ‘yet’. I’m sure they will find a way to get more of my money.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)
Brain Game—A close up picture of what?

NPR Sunday Puzzle
You are given a sentence that's missing two words. The word that goes in the first blank has a T in it. Change this to a D, and phonetically, you'll get the word that goes in the second blank. For example, given "The church's wooden _______ was made from an old _______ tree," the answer would be "altar" and "alder." Hints: The answers are always two syllables long, and the T is always inside the word, not at the start or the end.
1.     The musical, The ­­­_____ of the Opera has always had a _____:
2.     The flowers with the largest _____ is what the florist _____ for a living:
3.     In England the rising cost of a _____ of petrol got the _____ out of office:
4.     For a serf a thousand years ago, it was _____ to rebel against the _____ system:
5.     The amusement park prohibits pets so the visitors can’t even take a _____ even on a _____ ride:
6.     In negotiating with the Scandinavian businessman to _____ the deal, we offered him a free ride home to _____:
7.     With my own hands I fashioned a bust of the Greek philosopher _____ out of _____:

Riddle of the day
I'm the part of the bird that's not in the sky. I can swim in the ocean and yet remain dry. 
Anagram: unscramblenumbers represent the number of letters in each answer word

Lifestyle  Substance     
Harper’s Index         
Number of ‘major threats’ the Transportation Security Administration has detected in the decade since its creation: 0
Found on You Tube 
Muhammad Ali Interview       
Planet Earth—

Joke-of-the-day
A passenger in a taxi leaned over to ask the driver a question and tapped him on the shoulder. The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove up over the curb, and stopped just inches from a large plate glass window.
 For a few moments everything was silent in the cab, and then the still shaking driver said, "I'm sorry but you scared the daylights out of me."
 The frightened passenger apologized to the driver and said he didn't realize a mere tap on the shoulder could frighten him so much.
 The driver replied, "No, no, I'm sorry, it's entirely my fault. Today is my first day driving a cab. I've been driving a hearse for the last 25 years."
Rules of Thumb   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
The average person speaks at a rate of a little over 150 words per minute. That means that a full page of text, which contains an average of 600 words, represents four minutes of time.
Yeah, It Really Happened
A principal’s intimate classroom encounter with his secretary, secretly filmed by a student, has cost the pair their jobs at a small Arizona charter high school, according to local media reports.
Stephen McClenning resigned earlier this week from his post as principal of The Scholars Academy in Quartzsite, Ariz., a town of 3,650 residents west of Phoenix, according to 3TV in Phoenix. According to ABC15, also, in Phoenix, the secretary was identified as Billie Madewell. There were conflicting reports on whether Madewell had been fired or resigned, according to local media reports. McClenning and Madewell both had spouses.
The academy’s students told local media on Friday that they were upset to come across the couple kissing at the school, and during school hours. It was unclear from the reports when the encounter occurred.
According to ABC15, Garber said other teens had been in a classroom when they heard noises from the room next door. Garber said they went to check it out and when she couldn’t see what was happening, she pulled out her cell phone to record it.
“We saw their legs, so we knew something was going on, but I never thought I would see it personally,” Garber told ABC15. “It was crazy.”
Quartzsite parents said they felt betrayed by their school’s leader.
“They're supposed to be role models for our students there," said Cindy Joans, a parent, 3TV reported.
"This is on school campus, with our children present, while they are there, while these two are being paid. They are supposed to be educating our children," said Erin Joslin, another parent, according to 3TV.
According to the school's website, McClenning was in his 12th year as an educator in the Quartzsite community. "I assure you that I will do my best to make sure your child will have the best educational experience possible," he wrote on the site’s “The Principal’s Corner.”
Somewhat Useless Information   
The title of the Paul Simon 1972 hit single "Mother and Child Reunion" was adopted from the name of a chicken-and-egg dish he spotted on the menu of Say Eng Look, a Chinese restaurant in the Chinatown section of New York City.
In China, "pork" is synonymous with "meat." The Chinese do eat beef, but because cattle are more valued as work animals, most of their dishes are made with swine.
Chop Suey is strictly an American concoction. Chinese immigrants who worked on the railways would cook together whatever vegetables and meat they had available. The name comes from the Mandarin phrase "tsa sui," which means "mixed pieces."
When 110 different players claimed second prize in the March 30, 2005, Powerball drawing, lottery officials suspected some type of fraud. However, it turned out that all those winners had played numbers they'd found in fortune cookies.
During the Chou dynasty, China struggled to feed its people. What little forestation the area had was cleared for agricultural purposes. Traditional Chinese cuisine evolved in reaction to the wood shortage; because baking and boiling would take too long (and thus too much firewood), food was cut into small pieces and quickly stir-fried.
The cardboard cartons with metal handles that we associate with Chinese food carryout were originally used as oyster pails along the Eastern seaboard. In the 1940s, the burgeoning Chinese restaurant market discovered that the oyster pails made convenient and distinctive containers for their carryout wares.              

Calendar Information        
…Happening This Week:
19-5/4
Kentucky Derby Week
20-29 
National Dance Week
21-28
Money Smart Week
Administrative Professionals Week
National Crime Victims Rights Week
National Playground Safety Week
Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week
Preservation Week
Sky Awareness Week
Week of The Young Child
(Spring) Astronomy Week
Safe Kids Week
24-30
National Scoop The Poop Week:
Fiddler's Frolic

Gathering of the Nations PowWow
National Dream Hotline
National Pie Championships

Today Is                                                                      
Biological Clock Day
Eeyore's Birthday Day
Great Poetry Reading Day
Kiss-Your-Mate Day
National Go Birding Day
National Rebuilding Day
Penguin Day
Poem in Your Pocket Day
Save The Frogs Day
Sense of Smell Day
Spring Astronomy Day
World Tai Chi & Qigong Day
Workers Memorial Day
World Healing Day
World Veterinary Day
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Canada: National Day of Mourning

Today’s Other Events                                                             
Before 1000CE
585 - War between Lydia & Media ended by solar eclipse
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1100’s
1192 - Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin.
1200’s
1253 - Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for the first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
>< 
1500’s
1521 - Treaty of Worms: Emperor Charles names his brother Ferdinand Arch duke of Neth-Austria
1600’s
1611 - Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, the oldest existing university in Asia and the largest Catholic university in the world.
1700’s
1788 - Maryland becomes 7th state to ratify constitution
1800’s
1848 - Free last slaves in French colonies
1871 - Either convinced that Eskiminzin's Apache are responsible for raids near Tucson, or just looking for an excuse to attack the Aravaipsa, William Oury sets out with 140 armed whites and Indians for the Apache camp near Camp Grant.
1882: Remnants of Loco's Chiricahua Apache who fought in the battles south of Stein's Pass, and in Horseshoe Canyon, on April 23, 1882, are attacked today by Captain Tullius Tupper, Troops G, and M, 6th Cavalry, and a company of Indian scouts, 25 miles south of Cloverdale, Arizona. Six Apache are killed, and 72 head of livestock are seized, according to Army reports. The surviving Indians head toward Mexico.
1892 - 1st performance of Antonin Dvorák's overture "Carneval"
1900’s
1914 - 181 die in coal mine collapse at Eccles WV
1924 - 119 die in Benwood West Virginia coal mine disaster
1925 - Kurd rebels surrender to Turkish army
1931 - Program for woman athletes approved for 1932 Olympics track & field
1934 - Tigers' Goose Goslin grounds into 4 straight double plays
1937 - 1st animated cartoon electric sign displayed (NYC)
1940 - Glenn Miller records "Pennsylvania 6-5000"
1947 - Thor Heyerdahl & "Kon-Tiki" sail from Peru to Polynesia
1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Commander of NATO
1956 - Last French troop leave Vietnam
1965 - Barbra Streisand stars on "My Name is Barbra" special on CBS
1965 - Richard Helms replaces Marshall S Carter as deputy director of CIA
1967 - Expo 67 opens in Montreal
1971 - Samuel Lee Gravely Jr becomes 1st black admiral in US Navy
1987 - NBA announces expansion to Charlotte NC & Miami Fla in
1988 & Minneapolis Minn & Orlando Fla in 1989
1989 - Argentina, hit by rocketing inflation, runs out of money
2000’s
2001 - Millionaire Dennis Tito becomes the world's first space tourist.
2005 - The Patent Law Treaty goes into effect

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
In their 70’s
Ann-Margret, actress (Bye Bye Birdie, Tommy) is 71
In their 60’s
Jerome "Jay" Apt, Springfield Mass, astronaut (STS 37, 47, 59, 79) is 63
Jay Leno. comedian/talk show host (Tonight Show) is 62
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In their 30’s
Jessica Alba, television and film actress is 31
Penelope Cruz, Spanish actress (Vanilla Sky, Waking Up in Reno) is 38

Remembered for being born on this day
Robert Woodruff Anderson, New York, writer (Tea & Sympathy, Never Sang for My Father) in 1917
Lionel Barrymore, [Blythe], Phila, actor (Free Soul, Dr Kildare) in 1878
Charles Cotton, English poet in 1630
William F A Ellison, Irish clergyman/director (Armagh Observatory) in 1864
Saddam Hussein, [At-Takriti], Al-Awja, president of Iraq (1979-2003) in 1937
Carolyn Jones, Amarillo Texas, actress (Morticia-Addams Family) in 1930
Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer in 1916
Harper Lee, author (To Kill a Mockingbird) in 1926
James Monroe, Westmoreland Va, (D-R) 5th pres (1817-25) in 1758
Jan Hendrik Oort, Dutch astronomer (hypothesized "Oort Cloud") in 1900
Eugene M. Shoemaker, American planetary scientist in 1928
Sidney Toler, Warrensburg MO, actor (Charlie Chan) in 1874

Today’s Obits                                                           
Rory Calhoun, American actor dies in 1999 at 76
Ken Curtis, actor (Festus-Gunsmoke), dies in 1991 at 74
Dabbs Greer, American actor (Reverend Alden-Little House on the Prairie ) dies in 2007 at 90
Benito Mussolini, Fascist leader (Italy), shot after trial in 1945 at 61
Tommy Newsom, American bandleader dies in 2007 at 78
Jim Valvano, basketball coach (NC State), dies of cancer in 1993 at 47

Answers                                                                                                                                            
Brain Game: Close Up Picture

Riddle of the day
A shadow
NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.     The musical, The ­­­_____ of the Opera has always had a _____:
a.      phantom, fandom
2.     The flowers with the largest _____ is what the florist _____ for a living:
3.     petals, pedals
4.     In England the rising cost of a _____ of petrol got the _____ out of office:
a.      liter, leader
5.     For a serf a thousand years ago, it was _____ to rebel against the _____ system:
6.                    futile, feudal
7.     The amusement park prohibits pets so the visitors can’t even take a _____ even on a _____ ride:
a.       kitty, kiddie
8.     In negotiating with the Scandinavian businessman to _____ the deal, we offered him a free ride home to _____:
a.      sweeten, Sweden
9.     With my own hands I fashioned a bust of the Greek philosopher _____ out of _____:
a.      Plato, play-doh
Anagrams

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 

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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.