TODAY’s “Geez”: 1954 - 1st rocket attains 150 mi (241 km) altitude, White Sands, NM
1954 - IBM announces vacuum tube "electronic" brain that could perform 10 million operations an hour
1976 - In the Judgment of Paris, wine testers rate wines from California higher than their French counterparts, challenging the notion of France being the foremost producer of the world's best wines
Free Rambling Thoughts…
A little windy for my taste today. It finally calmed down late this afternoon. Otherwise, a very good day.
The Republicans are going crazy. The head of the Senate said today that by privatizing Medicare, it will “empower grandma” to shop around for health insurance. What planet does this guy live on? No senior is going to feel ‘empowered’ when shopping for health insurance. I am a well educated, fairly savvy almost senior. I don’t even understand my current health insurance. When a friend turned 65 a few years ago, she asked me to help her figure out what supplement to buy. I looked through several brochures that had been sent to her by possible supplemental plans. It was mostly gibberish. I came down to guessing what your body was going to do for the next twenty years. Luckily, she is Native, and doesn’t need any supplemental plan. I am not going to have the option of no supplemental. There are so many ‘senior scams’ out there, forcing our elders to figure this out is outrageous. The Republicans have always been against any government program that was for everybody—Medicare, social security, affirmative action, Obamacare and the list goes on. It will be interesting to see what happens—since many Republicans are seniors and are using Medicare. They too know the problems of searching for coverage and now finding physicians who will accept Medicare patients.
After talking to Bob about Social Security, guess I need to make an appointment and find out exactly what I would get, if I take it. Sounds like it won’t be around for my super old age.
Trivia Quiz…(answers at the end of psot)
From which year did Martina Navratilova compete officially as an American rather than a Czech player?
Whose marriage was headlined in Variety as "Egghead weds Hourglass?"
At whose castle did Elizabeth Taylor spend her 60th birthday?
Prince Charles said, "Diana only married me so that she could..." what?
Who launched her own perfume called White Diamonds?
Josie Borain was the partner of which rich and famous person during hi difficult divorce settlement?
Which island did Athina Roussel inherit as part of her fortune?
What is Jose Carreras' middle name?
Marlon and Tito were two members of which famous family group?
What breed of dog was Madonna's Chiquita?
Whose funeral caused Sam Goldwin to say, "The only reason people showed up was to make sure he was dead?"
Who directed the $100 million-grossing movie Wayne's World?
Zoom-ed in Picture…Can you Identify what this is? (Answer at end of post)
Hmmmmm…
++ Average number of times a Canadian apologizes each week: 4
++ Number of times George W. Bush’s memoir refers to his loss of the 2000 popular vote: 0
The First Time…
1910 --- 1st licensed woman pilot. (of France, who learned to fly in 1909, received ticket No. 36 on March 8.): Baroness Raymonde de la Roche
1910 --- 1st policewoman in the US. She was hired by the Los Angeles Police Department. She was allowed to design her own uniform and was active in propagating the need for policewomen elsewhere. As a result of her efforts seventeen departments in American were employing policewomen by 1916: Alice Wells
1911 --- 1st man to reach the South Pole, beating out an expedition led by Robert F. Scott: Roald Amundsen - Norwegian explorer
1911 --- 1st person ever to win two Nobel Prizes. Her first was in Physics (1903) and the second in Chemistry (1911.): Marie Sklodowska Curie
Somewhat Useless Information…
++ Viagra: This drug was accidentally created when Pfizer chemists were developing a pill to treat cardiovascular ailments. However, when it was tried out on test subjects, something came up (literally). The pill, later named Viagra and approved by the FDA in 1998, proved a bust in terms of treating heart disease, but its unexpected side effect opened the doors for a brand-new industry.
++ Corn Flakes: In 1894, while employed by the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg tried to find a way to provide a palatable and inexpensive meal to feed his charges. When he accidentally left some boiled wheat unattended, it went stale. He tried to save it by rolling it into dough, but discovered that it tore into pieces and refused to hold a shape. So he and his brother decided to toast the flakes...and the rest is history.
++ Microwave oven: When a Raytheon engineer was experimenting with a device called a magnetron back in 1945, he noticedthe candy bar in his pocket starting to melt. This gave him the inspiration to create the microwave oven, and the first version was released in 1947. However, at over five feet tall and costing roughly $5,000, it didn't really take off. In 1967, Amana, a Raytheon division, began selling sub-$500 versions intended for at-home kitchen use.
Yeah, It Really Happened…
PAINESVILLE, Ohio — A northeast Ohio couple found themselves up to their ankles in trouble for rafting on a flood-swollen river without life preservers and lying about it afterward.
A judge sentenced them to stand in a tiny swimming pool while wearing life jackets and handing out water safety brochures Saturday at a festival in Painesville, 30 miles northeast of Cleveland.
Twenty-year-old Grace Nash and 22-year-old Bruce Crawford pleaded guilty to misdemeanor misconduct during an emergency. Searchers spent hours looking for them last month after they were spotted on the Grand River. They made it to land but lied to an official about being in the water.
They chose the pool punishment and community service over 60 days in jail.
Nash tells The News-Herald in Willoughby they've learned their lesson.
Guffaw…or at least smile…
When the famous politician and orator William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) was a young man, he went to the home of the father of his prospective wife to ask him for her hand in marriage. Bryan was determined to impress the father by quoting from the Bible, and he chose Proverbs 18:22: "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the LORD."
Bryan was unnerved when the father replied by quoting Paul: "So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better." (1 Corinthians 7:38)
Bryan, never at a loss for words, said: "Yes, but Paul had no wife and Solomon had 700. Therefore, I believe Solomon ought to be the better judge as to marriage."
Searchin’ “You Tube” I found…
Daybook Information
…Happening This Week:
21-28
Cover the Uninsured Week * National Safe Boating Week
23-30
National Backyard Games Week * Week of Solidarity With The People of Non-Self-Governing Territories * Old-Time Player Piano Week * Black Single Parents Week
«TODAY IS
Brother's Day
Hug Your Cat Day
Morse Code Day
National Escargot Day
Hug Your Cat Day
Morse Code Day
National Escargot Day
National Geographic Bee
Belize: Commonwealth Day
Bulgaria: Culture Day
Eritrea: Independence Day (1993 from Ethiopia after 30yr war)
Bulgaria: Culture Day
Eritrea: Independence Day (1993 from Ethiopia after 30yr war)
Note: Section Titles are not links.
Today’s Events:
… IN ARTS
1830 - "Mary Had A Little Lamb," is written
1968 - Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithfull arrested for drug possession
1974 - Dean Martin Show, last airs on NBC-TV
… IN ATHLETICS
1929 - Detroit Tigers beats Chicago White Sox, 6-5, in 21 innings
1936 - Tony Lazerri 2 grand slams (11 RBIs); Ben Chapman sets record by reaching 1st 7 times safely, Yanks beat A's 25-2
1981 - Bobby Unser wins, loses, & wins a controversial Indy 500
… IN BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1595 - Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library
1854 - Lincoln University, Penn, 1st Black college in US forms by Presbyterians
1931 - 1st air-conditioned train installed-B&O Railroad
1958 - UP & International News Service merge into United Press International
1976 - 1st commercial SST flight to North America (Concorde to Wash DC)
… FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1856 - Pottawatomie Massacre took place in Kansas
… IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
1689 - English Parliament guarantees freedom of religion for Protestants
1944 - Icelandic voters sever all ties with Denmark
1957 - Anti American riots breakout in Taipei, Taiwan
1980 - Iran rejects a call to World Court to release US hostages
1986 - Margaret Thatcher becomes 1st British PM to visit Israel
2004 - Communications in North Korea: North Korea bans mobile phones.
… IN SCIENCE & RELIGION
1738 - Methodist Church forms
1844 - Samuel FB Morse taps out "What hath God wrought" (1st telegraph msg)
1883 - Brooklyn Bridge opened by Pres Arthur & Gov Cleveland
… IN US POLITICS
1818 - Gen Andrew Jackson captures Pensacola Florida
1965 - Supreme Court declares federal law allowing post office to intercept communist propaganda is unconstitutional
… ARTISTS: AUTHORS: COMPOSERS…
1863 - George Grey Barnard, American sculptor
1895 - Samuel I Newhouse, US millionaire publisher (Parade, Vogue, Glamour)
…ATHLETES
--
…ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS…)
Bob Dylan, musician is 70
Patti LaBelle, singer is 67
John C. Reilly, actor is 46
… ENTREPRENEUR & EDUCATORS
1879 - H. B. Reese, American inventor of Reese's and founder
…POLITICIANS
1918 - Coleman A Young, civil rights leader (Mayor-D-Detroit)
1918 - Coleman A Young, civil rights leader (Mayor-D-Detroit)
…SCIENTISTS / THEOLOGISTS
--
Today’s Obits:
1543 - Nicolas Copernicus, astronomer, dies of stoke at 70
1959 - John Foster Dulles, US Secretary of State (1953-59), dies of colon cancer at 71
1974 - Duke Ellington, blues singer, dies of cancer at 75
2008 - Dick Martin American comedian dies at 86
1981 - Jack Warner, [Waters], actor (Captive Heart), dies at 84
1995 - Harold Wilson, British PM (1964-70, 74-76), dies of cancer at 79
ANSWERS:
Trivia Quiz
From which year did Martina Navratilova compete officially as an American rather than a Czech player?
1981
Whose marriage was headlined in Variety as "Egghead weds Hourglass?"
Arthur Miller & Marilyn Monroe
At whose castle did Elizabeth Taylor spend her 60th birthday?
Sleeping Beauty's
Prince Charles said, "Diana only married me so that she could..." what?
Go through red lights
Who launched her own perfume called White Diamonds?
Elizabeth Taylor
Josie Borain was the partner of which rich and famous person during hi difficult divorce settlement?
Earl Spencer
Which island did Athina Roussel inherit as part of her fortune?
Skorpios
What is Jose Carreras' middle name?
Maria
Marlon and Tito were two members of which famous family group?
Jackson Five
What breed of dog was Madonna's Chiquita?
Chihuahua
Whose funeral caused Sam Goldwin to say, "The only reason people showed up was to make sure he was dead?"
Louis B Mayer
Who directed the $100 million-grossing movie Wayne's World?
Penelope Spheeris
Close Up Picture
…AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW
