FYI: Click on any blue text for a
link to more information!
♪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 watch…and 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:
unscramble—numbers 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
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
Administrative Professionals Week
National Crime Victims Rights Week
National
Playground Safety Week
Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week
Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week
Preservation
Week
Sky Awareness Week
Week of The Young Child
(Spring) Astronomy Week
Sky Awareness Week
Week of The Young Child
(Spring) Astronomy Week
Safe Kids
Week
24-30
National
Dream Hotline
National Pie Championships
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
><
Canada: National
Day of Mourning
Today’s Other Events
Before 1000CE
585 - War
between Lydia & Media ended by solar eclipse
><
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 - 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
><
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
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
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 ☺