Jan 21, 2012

FYI: Click on any blue text for a link to more information!

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1677 - 1st medical publication in America (pamphlet on smallpox), Boston
1799 - Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination is introduced
1887 - Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) forms
1915 - Kiwanis International founded in Detroit
1919 - Sinn Fein proclaims parliament of Free Ireland
1968 - Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh - One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins1977 - Pres Jimmy Carter pardons almost all Vietnam War draft evaders

♫Happy Birthday To: ♫                     

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Another great day in Flag. Ran errands around town and was very surprised that most stores had lots of workers and very few customers. At BB&B I must have been greeted throughout the store by no less than 8 workers. I saw two customers.

My brother called to let me know that his wife’s maternal grandfather has passed. Hermann had been sick for the past few years. He will be missed by many, including his wife of 65 years.

My cable service went bonkers this afternoon. It has an Emergency Response that will interrupt your show to tell you that there is some kind of emergency. They say they test it every month…and that’s a joke. They test it two or three times a month. Well today, while trying to watch a movie, it went off seven times in 30 minutes. There was never any message…just cutting off the show and running a bar across the top stating that there is an emergency. After number 7 I called the damn company. After punching at least 15 numbers to get to a human, he knew nothing about it and had to check with his ‘lead’. The ‘lead’ decided to reset my box remotely. That didn’t work. So the tech had me unplug the box from power. That means it takes at least an hour to get back the guide. The damn interruption did stop but the tech didn’t know why. In the process, the box lost all of my favorite channels. I had four lists—HDTV channels I usually watch, movies, sports, and channels I record episodes from. This makes it easier and faster than going though all the many, many channels that they offer. I was too lazy to set up the favorites again, so now I just scroll though all the channels. Technology is great when it works and a real pain in the ass when it doesn’t. I kept hoping the favorites would reappear, but after a couple of hours, still no favorites lists.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

Remove the vowel in the first syllable of one word to come up with a new word that's a syllable shorter but sounds the same. For example, "succumb" becomes "scum."

1.     A big event before the Rose Bowl, made in treaties to God:

2.     Author of Walden; to fling or pitch:

3.     Music of Bach, Handel,  Vivaldi ; flat out of money:

4.     Special forces hat; sound like a donkey:

5.     Awkward fellows- slang; muscles of the buttock:

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

Lifestyle  Substance     

AZ Centennial is in 30 days: Did you know?…

The famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral only lasted about thirty seconds.

The hottest recorded day in Phoenix was June 26, 1990, when the temperature hit 122 degrees.

In World War II, many Navajos enlisted as secret agents. Our enemies could never understand the Navajo language to learn our military secrets.

If you bother the cottontails or bullfrogs, in Hayden, Arizona, you will be fined.

The sun shines in southern Arizona 85% of the time, which is considerably more sunshine than Florida or Hawaii.

Found on You Tube         

 Uxmal, Mexico, Maya Temples

Harper’s Index         

Percentage of Egyptians who say they want the new government to amend or abandon the Camp David accords: 70

Joke-of-the-day

His pediatrician asked six-year-old Johnny, who watched a good many TV, adds, just to make conversation. Johnny, if you found a couple of dollars and had to spend them, what would you buy?”

 “A box of Tampax,” he replied without hesitation.

 “Tampax?” said the doctor. “What would you do with that?”

 “Well,” said Johnny, “I do not know exactly, but it’s sure worth two dollars.

With tampax, it says on TV, you can go swimming, go horseback riding, and also go skating, any time you want to.”

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

Wean a calf when it consumes more than a pound of grain a day on a regular basis.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia (Frigga being the free-spirited goddess after whom "Friday" is named and triskaidekaphobia meaning fear of the number "13").
• As many as 21 million Americans are afflicted by this phobia, according to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina.
• Most tall buildings in the U.S. don't have a 13th floor while some airport terminals don't have a 13th gate.
• The number was feared to such an extent even among top officials in the country that, in the 1880s, an organization called "The Thirteen Club" was created to demystify the belief that 13 people seated together at a table will die within a year of each other.
• President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had an abnormal fear of the number "13." The President would never host 13 guests at a meal and refused to travel on the 13th day of any month.
• The dollar bill features 13 steps on the pyramid, 13 stars above the eagle's head and in its right talon holds an olive branch with 13 leaves and 13 olives.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 

NEW YORK - An unemployed New York doorman was cured of pneumonia, but says the $44 million hospital bill almost gave him asthma. Alexis Rodriguez, 28, was one of several hundred patients to receive wildly inflated bills because of a computer error, the New York Daily News reported. The bill from Bronx-Lebanon Hospital should have been for no more than $300, but instead was listed as $44,776,587. Rodriguez told the newspaper, "I almost had an asthma attack." The billing firm, PHY Services, said it wasn't too hard to find the problem -- a subcontractor that prints the bills put the invoice number into the "amount due" space, the Daily News reported.

NEW!!! Planet Earth

Calendar Information        

…Happening This Week:

15-21

• Healthy Weight Week
• International Printing Week
• National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week
• Week of Christian Unity

20-30

• Sundance Film Festival

21-22

• Bald Eagle Appreciation Days

21-27

• World Leprosy Week
• National Activity Professionals Week
• Kid Film Festival
• National Nurse Anesthetists Week
• Clean Out Your Inbox Week
• National Handwriting Analysis Week
• National Medical Group Practice Week
• National Nuclear Science Week
• No Name Calling Week
• National Take Back Your Time Week

Today Is                                                                      

• AFRMA [American Fancy Rat & Mouse Association] Fancy Rat & Mouse Day
• International Fetish Day
• National Hugging Day

Today’s Other Events                                                             

1100’s

1189 - Philip II, Henry II & Richard Lion hearted initiate 3rd Crusade

1600’s

1674 - Father Pierre Millet "foretells" the coming of today's lunar eclipse, using an almanac. Challenging Iroquois shamen to predict the time or date of the eclipse, which they don't, Millet will make religious inroads among the Iroquois by his successful prediction.

1698 - French missionary Father de Montigny reaches the Taensa Indian village on the Mississippi River, today. He will stay with them to instruct them in his religion.

1700’s

1789 - 1st American novel, WH Brown's "Power of Sympathy," is published

1800’s

1818 - Keats writes his poem "On a Lock of Milton's Hair"

1827 - Freedom Journal, 1st Black paper, begins publishing

1880 - 1st US sewage disposal system separate from storm drains, Memphis

1899 - Opel manufactured its first automobile

1900’s

1908 - NYC regulation makes it illegal for a woman to smoke in public

1927 - 1st national opera broadcast from a US opera house (Faust, Chicago)

1935 - Wilderness Society forms

1942 - Bronx magistrate rules all pinball machines illegal

1949 - 1st inaugural parade televised (Harry Truman)

1953 - John Foster Dulles appointed as Secretary of State

1976 - Supersonic Concorde, 1st commercial flights, by Britain & France

1989 - Wayne Gretzky passes Marcel Dionne to become NHL's 2nd all time scorer

1990 - John McEnroe becomes 1st ever player to be expelled from the Australian Open

2000’s

2008 - Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 9/11, and Asian stocks drop as much as 15%

2008 - The Eyak language in Alaska becomes extinct as its last native speaker dies: Marie Smith Jones, at 90

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 50’s

Geena Davis, actor is 56

In their 60’s

Jill Eikenberry, actor is 65

In their 70’s

Mac Davis, singer/actor (Mac Davis Show, North Dallas 40) is 70

Placido Domingo, Spanish Tenor is 71

Richie Havens, folk singer (Here Comes the Sun and Freedom) is 71

Jack Nicklaus, golfer (Player of Yr 1967,72,73,75,76) is 72

Remembered for being born on this day

Roger Nash Baldwin, founder (American Civil Liberties Union) in 1884

John Cabell Breckinridge, (D) 14th US VP (1857-61)/mjr-gen (Confed) in 1821

John M Browning, US, weapons manufacturer in 1855

Barney Clark, 1st to receive a permanent artificial heart in 1921

Christian Dior, Franench fashion designer (long-skirted look) in 1905

John Fitch, inventor (had a working steamboat years before Fulton) in 1743

Tsjalling Hiddes Halbertsma, Fries story teller (Rhymes & Tales) in 1792

Alan Hewitt, actor (Det Brennan-My Favorite Martian) in 1915

Benny Hill, comedian (Benny Hill Show) in 1924

Thomas Jonathan " Stonewall" Jackson, Lt Gen 2nd Corps (ANV, Confed) in 1824

J Carrol Naish, NYC, actor (Charlie Chan-Adv of Charlie Chan) in 1897

Steve Reeves, actor (Hercules, Hercules Unchained) in 1926

Telly Savalas, American actor in 1922

Paul Scofield, English actor (Man for All Seasons, Train) in 1922

Wolfman Jack, [Bob Smith], DJ (Midnight Special) in 1939

Horace Wells, dentist (pioneered use of medical anethesia) in 1915

Today’s Obits                                                           

James Beard, American chef and author dies at 82 in 1985

John Couch Adams, English co-discoverer of Neptune, dies after long illness at 72 in 1892

Cecil B[lount] de Mille, producer (10 Commandments), dies at 77 in 1959

Howard "Red" Grange, football's galloping ghost, dies at 87 in 1991

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin, Russian leader, dies of a stroke at 53 in 1924

Louis XVI, French king (1774-93), beheaded by revolutionaries at 38 in 1793

George Orwell, author (Animal Farm, 1984), dies of ruptured artery at 46 in 1950

Jackie Wilson, US singer (I Get the Sweetest Feeling), dies of heart attack at 49 in 1984

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.     A big event before the Rose Bowl, made in treaties to God: parade; prayed

2.     Author of Walden; to fling or pitch: Thoreau; throw

3.     Music of Bach, Handel,  Vivaldi ; flat out of money: baroque, broke

4.     Special forces hat; sound like a donkey: beret; bray

5.     Awkward fellows- slang; muscles of the buttock: galoots; glutes

6.     Mess around with other women; French speaking part of Belgium: philanders; Flanders

Wuzzle

• Attorney General
• Handwritten
• Wandering around for days

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  ☺

Jan 20, 2012

FYI: Click on any blue text for a link to more information!

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1809 - 1st US geology book published by William Maclure
1841 - China cedes Hong Kong to British
1930 - 1st radio broadcast of "Lone Ranger" (WXYZ-Detroit)
1945 - FDR sworn-in for an unprecedented 4th term as president
1969 - U of Az reports 1st optical id of pulsar (in Crab Nebula)1997 - Comet Hale-Bopp crosses Mars' orbit

♫Happy Birthday To: ♫                     

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

A nice day here…I got a lot done running errands. It was so pleasant outside this afternoon. Just can’t beat life in Flag.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

You are given a five-letter word and a seven-letter word. Rearrange the letters of one of the words to get a synonym of the other word. For example, given "alloy" and "devoted," the answer would be "loyal." (Loyal is an anagram of "alloy" and a synonym of "devoted.)

1.     Thing; evening:

2.     State; cleared:

3.     March; delight:

4.     Timer; deserve:

5.     Irate; grenade:

6.     Nadir; deplete:

7.     Onset; boulder:

8.     Awful; inhouse:

9.     Girth; correct:

10.  Agree; itching:

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

Lifestyle  Substance     

AZ Centennial is in 30 days: Did you know?…

Navajo Community College [now Dine’ College] in Tsaile, was the first college on an Indian reservation.

There is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus.

Arizona is roughly the size of Italy.

Arizona has more parks and national monuments than any other state, more mountains than Switzerland, and more golf courses than Scotland.

Found on You Tube         

Dine College Commercial

Harper’s Index         

Percentage of millionaires who said in a recent survey that they are concerned about global unrest: 94

Joke-of-the-day

A man was walking along a California beach and stumbled across an old lamp. He picked it up and rubbed it and out popped a genie. The genie said, "OK. You released me from the lamp, blah blah blah. This is the fourth time this month and I'm getting a little sick of these wishes so you can forget about three. You only get one wish!"

The man sat and thought about it for a while and said, "I've always wanted to go to Hawaii but I'm scared to fly and I get very seasick. Could you build me a bridge to Hawaii so I can drive over there to visit?"

The genie laughed and said, "That's impossible. Think of the logistics of that! How would the supports ever reach the bottom of the Pacific? Think of how much concrete...how much steel!! No, think of another  wish."

The man said OK and tried to think of a really good wish. Finally, he said, "I've been married and divorced four times. My wives always said that I don't care and that I'm insensitive. So, I wish that I could understand women....know how they feel inside and what they're thinking when they give me the silent treatment....know why they're crying, know what they really want when they say 'nothing'....know how to make them truly happy...."

The genie asked, "Do you want that bridge two lanes or four?"

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

You lose about 2 to 3 percent of your body weight as sweat for every hour of heavy exercise, but don't confuse temporary dehydration for real weight loss. Losing more than 4 percent of your body weight as sweat can hurt your athletic performance.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) had originally been titled Alice's Adventures Underground. The original draft was published in 1886.
• Author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson used the pen name "Lewis Carroll" when he published the book. The book is reportedly filled with allusions to his friends (and enemies).
• Although Tweedledum, Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty and the Jabberwock are included in film versions called "Alice in Wonderland," these characters did not appear in the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; but rather, the sequel Through the Looking Glass.
• The patient with "Alice in Wonderland Syndrome" suffers from distorted space, time and body image and has feelings and/or visual hallucinations that the entire body or part of it has been altered in shape and size. The majority of patients with this syndrome have a family history of migraine headaches or has overt migraines themselves. Perhaps not coincidentally, Lewis Carroll suffered from severe migraines, also known as a Lilliputian hallucination."
• In 1931, the book was banned in Hunan, China, because animals spoke using human language.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 

In a story from the BBC two prominent futurologists take some shots at what the world will be like in 100 years. Following are their 10 most likely predictions.

1. Oceans will be extensively farmed and not just for fish.

We will need to feed 10 billion people and nature can't keep up with demand, so we will need much more ocean farming for fish. But algae farming is also on the way for renewable energy.

2. We will have the ability to communicate through thought transmission.

Transmission will be just as easy as other forms of brain augmentation. Picking up thoughts and relaying them to another brain will not be much harder than storing them on the net.

3. Thanks to DNA and robotic engineering, we will have created incredibly intelligent humans who are immortal.

It is more likely that direct brain links using electronics will achieve this, but GM will help a lot by increasing longevity - keeping people alive until electronic immortality technology is freely available at reasonable cost.

4. We will be able to control the weather.

There is already some weather control technology for mediating tornadoes, making it rain and so on, and thanks to climate change concerns, a huge amount of knowledge is being gleaned on how weather works.

5. We will all be wired to computers to make our brains work faster.

We can expect this as soon as 2050 for many people. By 2075 most people in the developed world will use machine augmentation of some sort for their brains and, by the end of the century, pretty much everyone will.

6. We will have figured out nuclear fusion.

This is likely by 2045-2050 and almost certain by 2100. It's widely predicted that we will achieve this. What difference it makes will depend on what other energy technologies we have.

7. There will only be three languages in the world - English, Spanish and Mandarin.

This does look like a powerful trend, other languages don't stand a lot of chance. Minor languages are dying at a huge rate already and the other major ones are mostly in areas where everyone educated speaks at least one of the other three.

8. California will lead the break-up of the US.

There are some indications already that California wants to split off and such pressures tend to build over time. It is hard to see this waiting until the end of the century.

9. Space elevators will make space travel cheap and easy.

First space elevators will certainly be around, and although "cheap" is a relative term, it will certainly be a lot cheaper than conventional space development.

10. Deserts will become tropical forests.

Desert greening is progressing so this is just about possible.

NEW!!! Planet Earth

Calendar Information        

…Happening This Week:

15-21

Healthy Weight Week
International Printing WeekNational Fresh Squeezed Juice WeekWeek of Christian Unity

20-30

Sundance Film Festival

Today Is                                                                      

Camcorder Day
International Fetish Day
National Butter crunch Day
National Disc Jockey Day
Zodiac: Aquarius Begins

Azerbaijan: Martyrs Day

Today’s Other Events                                                             

1200’s

1265 - 1st English Parliament called into session by Earl of Leicester

1300’s

1356 - Scottish king Edward Baliol resigns abdicates 

1500’s

1502 - The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro is first explored

1576 - The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almansa

1600’s

1648 - Cornerstone of Amsterdam town hall laid

1700’s

1778 - 1st American military court martial trial begins, Cambridge

1800’s

1801 - John Marshall appointed US chief justice

1805 - Lewis and Clark repair Indian tools for food

1830: Red Jacket (Sagoyewatha) was a Seneca Chief born around 1779. While he was often called a coward in war, he was respected as a great speaker, and for his refusal to adopt white ways. Following the way of many before him, he would eventually become an alcoholic. He would die today.

1869 - Elizabeth Cady Stanton becomes 1st woman to testify before Congress

1892 - 1st basketball game played (MA)

1900’s

1920 - The American Civil Liberties Union is founded

1943 - Lead SD, temp is 52°F, while 1.5 miles away Deadwood SD records -16°F

1960 - Patrice Lumumba sentenced to 6 months in Belgian Congo

1961 - Robert Frost recites "Gift Outright" at JFK's inauguration

1968 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Peggy Fleming

1980 - President Jimmy Carter announces US boycott of Olympics in Moscow

1980 - Superbowl XIV: Pittsburgh Steelers beat LA Rams, 31-19 MVP: Terry Bradshaw

1981 - Ronald Reagan inaugurated as president; 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days freed

1985 - Superbowl XIX: SF 49ers beat Miami Dolphins, 38-16 in Stanford Superbowl MVP: Joe Montana

1989 - Reagan becomes 1st pres elected in a "0" year, since 1840, to leave office alive

2000’s

2009 - Barack Obama, inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becomes the United States' first African-American president

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 40’s

Rainn Wilson, actor is 46

In their 50’s

Lorenzo Lamas, actor is 54

Bill Maher, comedian (Politically Incorrect, Real Time) is 56

In their 60’s

David Lynch, filmmaker, director is 66

Ivana Trump, former wife of Donald is 63

In their 80’s

Edwin E "Buzz" Aldrin Jr, USAF/astronaut (Gem 12, Ap 11) is 82

Arte Johnson, comedian (Laugh-in, Don't Call Me Charlie) is 83

Slim Whitman, yoddler/country singer (Home on the Range) is 88

Remembered for being born on this day

George Burns, [Nathan Birnbaum], actor/comedian (Oh God) in 1896

Charles A Ellwood, US, sociologist/psychologist is 1873

Anson Jones, 5th and last President of Texas in 1798

DeForest Kelley, actor (Dr McCoy-Star Trek) in 1920

Leadbelly, blues 12 string guitarist (Rock Island Line) in 1888

Patricia Neal, actress (Hud, Subject Was Roses) in 1926

Today’s Obits                                                           

John Burman, Dutch botanist/director (botanical gardens), dies at 71 in 1779

James Connolly, 1st Oly winner (1896) since Barasdates (369 CE), dies at 88 in 1957

Alan Freed, DJ (Big Beat), dies of alcoholism complications at 42 in 1965

George V, King of Britain (1910-36), dies after lengthy illness when physician gave a fatal dose of morphine at 70 in 1936

Bishop Henry, patron saint of Finland, dies a martyr in 1156

Audrey Hepburn, actress (Roman Holiday), dies of colon cancer at 63 in 1993

Barbara Stanwyck, [Ruby Stevens], actress (Big Valley), dies at 82 in 1990

Carl Switzer, actor (Alfalfa-Our Gang), shot to death at 31 in 1959

Johnny Weissmuller, US swimmer (Olympics-5 gold-1924, 28), dies at 79 in 1984

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Brain Game

The arrow points from the A to the Z, symbolizing that Amazon sells just about everything from A to Z

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.     Thing; evening: night

2.     State; cleared: declare

3.     March; delight: charm

4.     Timer; deserve: merit

5.     Irate; grenade: enraged; angered

6.     Nadir; deplete: drain

7.     Onset; boulder: stone

8.     Awful; inhouse: heinous

9.     Girth; correct: .right

10.  Agree; itching: eager

Wuzzle

ArcadesThe start of something bigTip of the iceberg

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  ☺