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Today’s Historical Highlights
1659: Richard Cromwell resigns
as English Lord Protector
1776: The United States
Congress resolves that it would be "highly expedient" if they can
engage Indians to fight on their side of the Revolutionary War
1895: Oscar Wilde sentenced to
2 years hard labor for being a sodomite
1922: Babe Ruth suspended 1
day & fined $200 for throwing dirt on an ump
1932: Goofy, aka Dippy Dawg,
1st appears in 'Mickey's Revue' by Walt Disney
1961: JFK sets goal of putting
a man on Moon before the end of decade
1986: 7,000,000 Americans form
"Hands Across America"
2011: Oprah Winfrey airs her
last show, ending her twenty five year run of The Oprah Winfrey Show
♪Happy Birthday To: ♪
Free Rambling
Thoughts
Last night was very windy.
I was awakened several times, which is unusual since I usually sleep through
just about anything. Today was a lot calmer but still windy. We had our weekly
lunch at a great Chinese restaurant. Mary is talking about becoming a child
advocate in court cases. Sounds like a really interesting volunteer
opportunity. Cheryl is heading out to California next month to see the
grandkids. She also mentioned that her recent eye surgery has taken hold and
she is seeing much better. We all had a good week.
Getting ready for the
Memorial Day weekend. No plans to leave town, but am sure some friends from the
Rez will stop by. Flag will have lots of stuff going on too. As long there isn’t
too much wind, I’ll be out and about.
Game Center
(answers at the end of post)
Brain Game—A close up
picture of what?
.jpg)
NPR Sunday Puzzle
Every answer is a
familiar three-word phrase in the form of "______ of ______." The
first word starts with M, and you are given the third word. For example, given
"production" the answer would be "means" for "means of
production."
1.
Magnesia:
2.
Dimes:
3.
Zorro:
4.
Steel:
5.
Truth:
6.
Parliament:
7.
Pearl:
8.
Ceremonies:
9.
Fact:
10.
Life:
Riddle of the day
What fastens two people yet touches only one?
Anagram: unscramble—numbers represent the number of letters in
each answer word
Lifestyle Substance
Harper’s Index
Estimated tons of debris from the Japanese earthquake headed for the West Coast of the US: 5,000,000
Found on You Tube
Hands Across America 1986
Planet Earth—
Joke-of-the-day
A man got really drunk one night in his local pub. The barman refused to serve him any more alcohol and told him he should be heading home. The man thought this was a good idea so he stood up to leave but fell over straight away. He tried to stand up again but only fell over again. He thought if only he could get outside and get some fresh air he'd be grand. So he crawled outside then tried to stand up and fell over again. In the end after falling over lots more he decided to crawl home. When he got back to his house he pulled himself up using the door handle but as soon as he let go he fell over again. He had to crawl up the stairs and managed to fall over onto the bed and fell asleep. When he finally woke up the next morning his wife asked him what he was doing at the pub last night.
He denied it but she said, "I know you were there..." he maintained his innocence until "...the barman rang to say you forgot your wheelchair again...."
Rules of Thumb
Easy shortcuts to make
an ‘educated’ guess
When the spring peepers start, the maple sugaring stops.
Yeah, It Really
Happened
ULGHAM, England - British bird sanctuaries said they are filling up with owls as Harry Potter-inspired pet owners get tired of the birds. Pam Toothill, of the Owlcenter in Corwen, Wales, said she had only six of the birds prior to the release of the first Harry Potter film, but the number has since grown to 100 owls, The Mirror reported Monday.
"People saw Harry's owl in the movies and thought how cute and cuddly they looked. Now they are bored and fed-up with all the work involved looking after an owl," Toothill said. Kim Olson, owner of the Sanctuary Wildlife Care Center in Ulgham, England, said many people have been illegally releasing their pet owls into the wild.
"When people saw Harry Potter loads of them wanted an owl. They've kept them in their shed or garage for a bit and now they've got bored and they hand them in to us," she said. "It's illegal to release an owl into the wild because they would take over from the native wild owls, but obviously a lot of people have ignored that law."
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has asked her fans to do the proper research before deciding to obtain an owl as a pet. "If anybody has been influenced by my books to think an owl would be happiest shut in a small cage and kept in a house, I would like to take this opportunity to say as forcefully as I can, 'You are wrong,'" she said.
Somewhat Useless
Information
- The diamond mining industry in South Africa began in 1866, when Stephanus Erasmus Jacobs found an unusual pebble on the south bank of the Orange River. He gave it to a friend, who gave it to a friend, and so on, until it finally ended up in the hands of a professional, who determined that the "pebble" was a 21 1/4-carat diamond.
- Princess Margaret of England once commented on Elizabeth Taylor's 39-carat Krupp diamond, calling it the most vulgar thing she'd ever seen. When Liz let the Princess try the ring on, she noticed Margaret admiring it in the light and said, "See? It's not so vulgar now, is it?"
- In 1947, DeBeers hired the N.W. Ayer advertising agency to come up with a campaign that would encourage Americans to buy more expensive diamonds and hang on to them, instead of pawning or reselling them. The result was the "A diamond is forever" slogan.
- Hawaii's Diamond Head got its name in the late 1700s when western traders found what they thought were diamonds on the crater. The stones they'd found, however, turned out to be calcite crystals, not valuable gemstones.
- A chemically pure diamond has no color and is clear. Impure diamonds tend to have a yellowish or brownish hue. So-called natural "fancy color" diamonds occur when trace elements in the stone are irradiated during the gem's creation.
- Only about 20 percent of the world's diamond supply is used for jewelry. Diamonds are used in industry for cutting, grinding, and polishing everything from eyeglasses to the drums in copying machines to automobile pistons.
For AZ centennial
celebration: town names
- Flagstaff, AZ: a city located in northern Arizona Coconino County, named after a Ponderosa Pine flagpole made by a scouting party from Boston (known as the "Second Boston Party") to celebrate the United States Centennial on July 4, 1876, early economy was based on the lumber, railroad, and ranching industries; remains an important distribution hub for companies such as Nestlé Purina PetCare and Walgreens, and is home to Lowell Observatory,The U.S. Naval Observatory, the United States Geological Survey Flagstaff Station and Northern Arizona University; population of the city was 60,611; the racial makeup of the city was 77.9% White, 1.8% Black or African American, 10.0% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 6.1% from other races, and 2.9% from two or more races. 16.1% of the population is Hispanics or Latinos of any race.
- Forest Lakes, AZ: a small unincorporated community in Coconino County in the northern part of Arizona; began as a mining operation manganese in 1939; is located on the edge of the Mogollon Rim and is in close proximity to several recreational lakes within the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest; population is 266 people, The racial makeup is 99.20% White, 0.40%Native American, and 0.40% Asian. Hispanic or Latino of any race is 6.61% of the population.
- Fountain Hills, AZ: is a town in Maricopa County neighboring the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and Scottsdale, Arizona; the population is 22,554; 18.2 sq mi (47 km2); the eponymous fountain was built in 1970, by Robert P. McCulloch, the year before the reconstruction of the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, another of McCulloch's projects; the ethnic makeup of the town was 94.1% White, 1.0% Black or African American, 0.6% Native American, 1.8% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 1.1% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race makes up 4.1% of the population.
- Fredonia, AZ: is a town in Coconino County population of 1,314; area is 7.4 sq mi (19.2 km2); Fredonia was originally started in 1885 as a business venture by five men who invested time, money, and energy to build a dam so they could create farmland under irrigation; the racial makeup of the town was 85.71% White, 1.06%Black or African American, 11.39% Native American, 0.39% from other races, and 1.45% from two or more races. 1.45% is Hispanic or Latino of any race.
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
Cookie Monster's Birthday
Don't Fry Day
Heat Awareness Safety Day
National Missing Children's Day since 1983
National Senior Health and Fitness Day
National Tap Dance Day
National Wig Out Day
Nerd Pride Day or Geek Pride Day
Old-Time Player Piano Day
Towel Day: an annual celebration, as a tribute
to the late author Douglas Adams (1952-2001) fans around the universe proudly
carry a towel in his honor.
Jordan: Independence
Day (1946
End of British League of Nations mandate)
Today’s Other Events
1600’s
1637: "The Battle of Mystic": As a part of the Pequot war Mohegan Chief Uncas
is leading approximately 100 Indian allies, but he is doubtful of the ability
of Captains John Underhill and John Mason's seventy-seven Europeans to defeat
the Pequot, near modern
Mystic, Connecticut, as many as 700 old
men, women and children are burned or shot to death. Only about a dozen Pequot in the village survive.
1700’s
1721: John Copson becomes
America's 1st insurance agent
1784: Jews are expelled from
Warsaw by Marshall Mniszek
1787: Constitutional
convention opens at Phila, G Washington presiding
1793: Father Stephen Theodore
Badin is 1st US Roman Catholic priest ordained
1800’s
1825: American Unitarian Association founded
1837: The Patriots of Lower
Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for freedom
1900’s
1927: Henry Ford stops
producing Model
T car (begins Model A)
1935: Jesse Owens equals or
breaks 6 world records in one hour
1945: Arthur C Clark proposes
relay satellites in geosynchronous orbit
1949: Chinese Red Army occupies Shanghai
1959: Supreme ct rules La
prohibiting black-white boxing unconstitutional
1968: Gateway Arch in St Louis
dedicated
1981: Bobby Unser becomes 1st
Indy 500 winner to be disqualified
1986: 30,000,000 watch
"Live Aid," a massive benefit concert
2000’s
2003: Néstor Kirchner
becomes President of Argentina after defeating Carlos Menem. He is the first
elected President since the economic crisis
2009: North Korea
allegedly tests its second nuclear device. Following the nuclear test,
Pyongyang also conducted several missile tests building tensions in the
international community
Today’s Birthdays
Remembered for being born on this day
Rachel Carson,
conservationist/writer (silent springs) in 1907
Dixie Carter, TN, actress
(Designing Women, Edge of Night) in 1939
Bennett Cerf, publisher
(Random House) panelist (What's My Line)in 1898
Ralph Waldo Emerson, US,
essayist/philosopher (Concord Hymn) in 1803
Eddie Maxwell, singer
(Yes We Have No Bananas) in 1912
John Raleigh Mott, organizer
(YMCA, Nobel 1946) in 1865
U Nu, premier Burma
(1948-58, 1960-62) in 1907
Bill
"Bojangles" Robinson, actor (Stormy Weather, Little Colonel) in 1878
Beverly Sills, [Belle
"Bubbles" Miriam Silverman], Bkln NY, soprano in 1929
Gene Tunney, world heavyweight
boxing champion (1926-30) in 1897
In their 90’s
Hal David, lyricist
(Promises Promises-Grammy 1969) is 91
à
In their 60’s
Jessi Colter, American
country music artist is 69
Frank Oz (Frank Richard
Oznowicz), Hereford England, American muppetteer (Grover-Sesame Street, Muppet
Show) is 68
Leslie Uggams, NYC,
singer/actress (Leslie Uggams Show, Roots) is 69
Karen Valentine, Santa
Rosa CA, actress (Love American Style, Room 222) is 65
In their 50’s
Connie Selleca, Bronx,
actress (Hotel, Capt America II) is 57
In their 40’s
Anne Heche, actress (Donnie Brasco,
Juror, Volcano) is 43
Mike Myers, comedian,
Canadian actor is 49
In their 30’s
Cillian Murphy, Irish actor is 36
Molly Sims, actress,
model, goodwill ambassador is 39
Today’s Obits
Buck, dog (Married with
Children), dies in 1996 at 13
Charles Nelson Reilly,
American actor and host of pneumonia in 2007 at 76
Vic Tayback, actor
(Mel-Alice), dies of a heart attack in 1990 at 60
Madame C J Walker,
wealthy cosmetics manufacturer, dies in 1951 at 51
Answers
Brain Game: Close Up
Picture
.jpg)
Riddle of the day
A wedding ring
NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.
Magnesia: milk
2.
Dimes: March
3.
Zorro: mark
4.
Steel: man
5.
Truth: moment
6.
Parliament: member
7.
Pearl: mother
8.
Ceremonies: master
9.
Fact: matter
10.
Life: meaning
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 ☺
