May 22

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Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1803: 1st public library opens (Connecticut)

1807: Former VP Aaron Burr is tried for treason in Richmond Va (acquitted)

1843: 1st wagon train, 1000+ depart Independence Missouri for Oregon

1856: Violence in Senate, SC rep Brooks used a cane on Mass Sen Sumner

1931: Canned rattlesnake meat 1st goes on sale in Florida

1933: Loch Ness Monster is 1st reportedly sighted by John Mackay

1953: President Eisenhower signs Offshore Oil Bill

1957: South Africa government approves race separation in universities

1964: LBJ presents "Great Society"

1973: President Nixon confesses his role in Watergate cover-1973: President Nixon confesses his role in Watergate cover-up

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪ 

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Another great weather day in Flag; just a little hazy from the fires down south. Thankfully the fire lines have held at just over 39,000 acres. There was little wind in the fire area and while the humidity is still very low, the lines held and a couple of the fires are now 35% contained. No great winds expected until late in the week, so hopefully the dedicated crews will get a much better handle on the fires.

My brother is having knee surgery this week. It is a simple cartilage removal he has done before. The difference this time is that he has passed the magic age (60) where everything seems to change. A few years ago, he went in the day of the surgery, they took his blood pressure, his temperature, and did the surgery. Today he spent 3 hours in pre-op with an EKG, X-ray of his lungs, and the BP. I was happy to tell him that I too had the pre-op stuff when I had my thyroid operation last year. At the time, I thought it was a little over the top for a day surgery but accepted it. With the same thing happening to my brother, I realized that this is part of why medical costs are so friggin’ high. As we get old-er the medical profession gets more paranoid, so they seem to be over testing to avoid lawsuits. In my case, I was asleep during the operation, but my brother will be awake, only slightly sedated.  As I told my brother, it’s a way to reach your deductible quickly.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game—A close up picture of what?

NPR Sunday Puzzle

Name something that belongs in the category that begins with each of the following letters: C, H, A, M and P. For example, given "girls' names," you might say Carol, Henrietta, Alice, Mary and Penelope. (Many other answers may apply)1.      US Presidents: Coolidge,
2.     Things seen in a church:
3.     Shakespearean plays:
4.     6 letter words that start and end with the same letter:

Riddle of the day

As I went across the bridge, I met a man with a load of wood which was neither straight nor crooked. What kind of wood was it?

Anagram: unscramble—numbers represent the number of letters in each answer word

Lifestyle  Substance     

Harper’s Index         

Rank that the 396,906 deportees of 2011 in the Agency’s history: 1

Found on You Tube 

  Bob Dylan - Thunder On The Mountain     

Planet Earth—

Joke-of-the-day

Two Musicians’ in a major symphonic orchestra were discussing who they thought the LEAST talented musician in the band was.
One of them said; that’s easy. See that guy standing in the back? Well, we just put two sticks in his hands and we call him a Drummer.
The other responded; well, if we take one stick away, we call him a Conductor!

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

A quart jar will hold 1,000 crickets.

Yeah, It Really Happened

Star Wars is the most successful movie-related toy line ever sold, with 250 million action figures sold between 1978 and 1986. Imagine those numbers since the digitally re-mastered re-release, new trilogy and Clone Wars cartoon series!Han Solo's ship in the Star Wars trilogy, The Millennium Falcon, was inspired by a hamburger with an olive on the side.             

Somewhat Useless Information   

Russia -- A man who had to be cut from a garbage chute in the Russian city of Tyumen told emergency workers he was hiding from his girlfriend. The 32-year-old man said he was on the eighth floor of his building when he decided to disappear. He went into free fall before getting wedged in at the fifth-floor level of the garbage chute."A witness reported to the regional rescue service that there was a man in the chute," said a spokeswoman for Emergency Response Services.

For AZ centennial celebration: town names

• Cameron, AZ:  (Navajo: Naʼníʼá Hasání). population was 885; a total area of 18.7 square miles (48.5 km2); The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.68% Native American, 1.74% White, 0.10%Black or African American, 0.10% Asian, 0.82% from other races, and 2.56% from two or more races. 4.09% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race

• Carefree, AZ: a master-planned community; a town in Maricopa County, Arizona; population of the town is 3,799; The racial makeup of the town was 98.39% White, 0.24% Black or African American, 0.03% Native American, 0.44% Asian, 0.34% from other races, and 0.55% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race is 2.66% of the population.

• Chino Valley, AZ: "Chino" is the Spanish name for the abundant curly grama grass growing in the area; site of the first Territorial Capital of Arizona; population of the town is 10,817; a town in Yavapai County, Arizona; The racial makeup of the town was 94.07% White, 0.23% Black or African American, 0.94% Native American, 0.15% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 2.59% from other races, and 1.94% from two or more races. 9.78% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race.

• Crown King, AZ: site of a former gold mining town; the population of the 133; an unincorporated community in Yavapai County that is threatened by one of the fires in AZ

Calendar Information        

…Happening This Week:

19-25

National Safe Boating Week

21-27

Recreational Water Illness and Injury Prevention Week

National Medical Transcription Week

National Backyard Games Week

Week of Solidarity With The People of Non-Self-Governing Territories Old-Time Player Piano Week

Today Is                                                                      

Buy-A-Musical-Instrument Day

International Day for Biological Diversity

National Maritime Day since 1933

Canada: Canadian Immigrants' Day

Sri Lanka: National Heroes Day

US: Rhode Island: Neighbor Day
Yemen: National Day 1918 from Ottoman Empire

Today’s Other Events                                                             

1300’s

1370: Jews are expelled/massacred from Brussels Belgium

à

1500’s

1570: 1st atlas, with 70 maps, published

à

1700’s

1761: 1st life insurance policy in US, issued in Philadelphia

1800’s

1807: Townsend Speakman 1st sells fruit-flavored carbonated drinks (Phila)

1840: The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished

1849: Abraham Lincoln patents a buoying device

1851: As one of the last conflicts in the "Mariposa Indian Wars" in California, a large group of Yosemite Indians are captured at Lake Tenaija.

1863: As a part of the "Owens Valley War" in California, Paiute Chief Captain George arrives at Camp Independence. He tells the soldiers the Paiutes want peace. This effectively ends the war.

1897: The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames was officially opened

1900’s

1915: Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain, other than Mount St. Helens, to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century

1938: Dodgers announce contracts to install lights at Ebbets Field

1941: British troops attack Baghdad

1947: 1st US ballistic missile fired

1954: Robert Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan is Bar Mitzvahed

1961: 1st revolving restaurant (Top Of The Needle in Seattle), opens

1965: "Super-cali-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious" hits #66

1967: "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," debuts on NET (now PBS)

1990: Microsoft releases Windows 3.0

1992: Johnny Carson's final appearance as host of Tonight Show

2000’s

2004: The U.S. town of Hallam, Nebraska, is wiped out by a powerful F4 tornado that broke a width record at an astounding 2.5 miles wide. It also kills one local resident

2011: An EF5 Tornado strikes the US city of Joplin, Missouri killing at least 158 people, the single deadliest US tornado since modern record keeping began in 1950

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Remembered for being born on this Day

Mary Cassatt, US, Impressionist painter (Woman Bathing) in 1844

Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish author, physician brought Sherlock Holmes to life twice in 1859

Thomas Gold, astronomer (proposed steady-state theory of universe) in 1920

Quinn Martin, American television producer in 1922

Laurence Olivier, England, actor (Rebecca, Hamlet, Jazz Singer)in 1907

Vance Packard, Granville Summit Pa, author (Hidden Persuaders) in 1914

Richard Wagner, Leipsig Germany, composer (RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES , Flying Dutchman) in 1813

In their 80’s

T Boone Pickens, CEO (Shamrock, Mesa Petroleum Co) is 84

In their 70’s

Richard Benjamin,  director/actor (Goodbye Columbus, He & She) is 74

Theodore Kaczynski, American terrorist (Unabomber) is 70

Peter Nero ( Bernard Nierow) NYC, conductor/pianist (A Sunday in NY)is 78

à

In their 40’s

Naomi Campbell, model/actress (Cool as Ice, Unzipped) is 42

Today’s Obits                                                           

Joan Davis, actress (I Married Joan), dies of heart attack in 1961 at 53

Rocky Graziano, boxer/writer/actor (Mr Rock & Roll), dies in 1990 of heart failure at 71

Victor(-Marie) Hugo, French writer (Les Miserables), dies in 1885 at 83

Margaret Rutherford, English actress (Murder Ahoy, VIP's), dies in 1972 at 80

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Brain Game: Close Up Picture

Riddle of the day

Sawdust

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.      US Presidents: Coolidge, Hoover, Adams, Madison, Pearce
2.     Things seen in a church: Cross, Holy water , Aisle, Missile, Priest
3.     Shakespearean plays: Comedy of Errors, Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth , Pericles-- Prince of Tyre
4.     6 letter words that start and end with the same letter: : Cognac , Hurrah , Asthma, Museum , Pick Up (truck)

 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  ☺