FYI: Click on any blue text for a
link to more information!
Today’s Historical
Highlights
1556 - Most deadly
earthquake kills 830,000 in Shensi Province, China
1812 - 7.8 earthquake shakes
New Madrid, Missouri
1855 - The first bridge over
the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis
1908 - US &
Great-Britain demand end of abuses in Congo
1930 - Clyde Tombaugh
photographs planet Pluto
1972 - Entire population of Istanbul under 24 hour
house arrest
♫Happy Birthday To:
♫
Free Rambling
Thoughts
I did some work on the
T-shirt design. Took more time than expected to get rid of some of the grey
from the copy. Will try to finish it
tomorrow.
The wind let up, but it
was still cloudy and dreary with a little snow on and off.
Gabby, the injured US
Representative from Tucson, has decided to step down now. She has made a miraculous
recovery, but has made the decision to spend her time in rehab. Sad for the
country, sad for Arizona, and sad for Tucson. It is not unexpected; her YouTube video
is very moving.
60 Minutes just ran a
repeat of the Great Migration….Amazing…and I will be seeing it in
June of this year. WOW
Game Center
(answers at the end of post)
Brain Game
NPR Sunday Puzzle
Every
answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name with the initials V.C. For
example, given "serving of calf's meat," the answer would be
"veal chop."
1.
Piece
of equipment for housekeeper:
2.
Something
given on Feb. 14th:
3.
A
small bag for women’s cosmetics or toiletries:
4.
Women
use it to clean the skin and remove age spots:
5.
World’s
smallest country in size:
6.
Processed
dairy product made by Kraft:
7.
Part
of CA between Santa Barbara and LA:
8.
Investment
money for a new business:
9.
Where
to take a sick cat:
10. Part of the throat that allow you to
speak:
11. It can film things for You Tube:
12. Solo works by Bach or Brahms:
13. Sport venue divided by a net that is 7’
11 5/8” high:
Wuzzles
What concept or phrase do these suggest?
Lifestyle Substance
AZ Centennial is in 22 days: Did
you know?…
- In Glendale, Arizona cars may not be driven in reverse.
- Arizona Highways has an approximately 85% circulation rate outside of the state of Arizona.
Found on You Tube
Salvador Dali on "What's My Line?"
Harper’s Index
Number of people killed in Ecuador by bootleg liquor since last summer: 35
Joke-of-the-day
Why did Mickey Mouse go to space? ..................... To visit Pluto
BONUS
A beautiful, sexy, good looking lady was sitting next to a guy in a plane......
The lady said to him ' Can you help me remove something from my breast please? ‘The exciting young man replied, 'Wow! It will be my pleasure....... So what is it?'
"Your Eyes, idiot!"
Planet Earth
Rules of Thumb
Easy shortcuts to make
an ‘educated’ guess
Relative testes size is strongly and positively correlated with a species' degree of polygyny.
Somewhat Useless Information
- "Alphabet" is derived from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha and beta.
- There were only 23 letters in the Classical Latin alphabet. During medieval times, the letter "I" was used for both "I" and "J," and the letter "V" was used for "U," "V," and "W." Hence the 26 letters in the modern alphabet.
- An abjad, also called a consonantary of consonantal alphabet, is a vowel-less alphabet system which still exists in scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac.
- The earliest known alphabet was devised in Ugarit in present-day Syria around 1500 BC.
- The Hawaiian alphabet only contains 12 letters: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p, and w. Every word ends with a vowel. There are only 162 possible syllables in Hawaiian.
- Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of Japan.
Yeah, It Really Happened
SARASOTA, Fla. - The
Florida Department of Law Enforcement revealed it paid 15 employees to get
drunk to test the accuracy of the Intoxilyzer 8000 breath test. The FDLE
revealed to a panel of judges in Sarasota County in December that it spent $330
on alcohol, mixers and Doritos for 15 employees to drink on company time and
blow into the Intoxilyzer 8000s to test their accuracy, the Sarasota (Fla.)
Herald Tribune reported Thursday.
However, the judges
expressed skepticism about the accuracy of the study because the blood work
from the employees was not ready in time for the December hearing. The judges
are considering the future of the use of the machines in Sarasota and Manatee
counties. The $8,000 study was performed after investigators found many flawed
machines had stayed in service in the state and breath test results from about
100 cases in the two counties were thrown out as a result of the probe. The
judges are expected to issue a ruling in the coming days.
Calendar Information
…Happening This Week:
20-30
Sundance Film Festival
21-22
Bald Eagle Appreciation Days
21-27
World Leprosy WeekNational Activity Professionals WeekKid Film FestivalNational Nurse Anesthetists WeekClean Out Your Inbox WeekNational Handwriting Analysis WeekNational Medical Group Practice WeekNational Nuclear Science WeekNo Name Calling WeekNational Take Back Your Time Week
Today Is
Chinese New Year: begins at midnight: Year of the Dragon
The Dragon is anything but a formidable foe in Chinese culture. Unlike the demon that gets slain in Western literature, the Dragon is a symbol of good fortune and intense power in Eastern culture. In Chinese tradition, the Dragon is regarded as a divine beast.According to Sung dynasty manuscripts, the Dragon is described as having the "head of an ox or donkey, eyes of a shrimp, horns of a deer, body of a serpent covered with fish scales, and a feet of a phoenix," and it usually clutches a pearl, meant to symbolize its supernatural powers.
Measure Your Feet Day
National Handwriting Day
National Pie Day
Snowplow Mailbox Hockey Day
Today’s Other Events
Before 1000CE
638 - Start of Islamic
calendar
1500’s
1552 - 2nd version of Book
of Common Prayer becomes mandatory in England
1600’s
1647 - Scottish
Presbyterians sell captured Charles I to English parliament
1700’s
1789 - Georgetown, 1st US
Catholic college, founded
1793 - Humane Society of Philadelphia (1st aid
society) organized
1800’s
1845 - Uniform US election
day for president & VP authorized
1849 - Patent granted for an envelope-making machine
1870 - 173 Blackfoot (140
women & children) killed in Montana by US Army
1879 - National Archery
Association forms (Crawfordsville IN)
1900’s
1907 - Charles Curtis of
Kansas becomes 1st Native American US senator
1933 - 20th amendment
changes date of presidential inaugurations to 1/20
1941 - Ground breaking for
NACA (now NASA) Lewis Research Center
1943 - Duke Ellington plays at Carnegie Hall in New
York City for the first time
1948 - Huston's "Treasure of Sierra Madre" starring Humphrey Bogart opens
1953 - NFL Dallas Texans become Baltimore Colts
(now Indianapolis Colts)
1961 - Supreme Court rules
cities & states have right to censor films
1964 - 24th Amendment to the
United States Constitution ratified, barring poll tax in federal elections
1977 - Miniseries "Roots"
premieres on ABC
1986 - 1st induction of Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame
(Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Domino, Everly Bros, B Holly, J L Lewis
& Elvis Presley)
1996 - The first version of the Java programming
language was released
2000’s
2002 - Reporter Daniel Pearl
was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan. He was subsequently murdered.
Today’s Birthdays
In their 30’s
Tito Ortiz, American UFC fighter is 37
Tiffani Thiessen, actor is 38
In their 40’s
Mariska Hargitay, actor is 48Gail O'Grady, actor is 49
In their 60’s
Richard Dean Anderson, actor (MacGyver) is 62
Gil Gerard, actor (Buck Rogers in 25th Century) is 69
In their 70’s
Chita Rivera, actress (West Side Story, Sweet Charity) is 79
Remembered for being
born on this day
John Barclay, Scottish satirist/Latin poet (Argenis) in 1582
Dan Duryea, actor (Pride of the Yankees) in 1907
Ernie Kovacs, comedian (Ernie Kovacs' Show) in 1919Takamori Saigo, Samurai, leader of Satsuma rebellion in 1827
Randolph Scott, actor (Last of the Mohicans, Western Union) in 1898
Sir William Samuel Stephenson, Canadian soldier, W.W.II codename, Intrepid. Inspiration for James Bond in 1897
Potter Stewart, 94th Supreme Court justice (1958-81) in1915
Today’s Obits
Johnny Carson, American television host dies at 80 in 2005
Nell Carter, American singer and actress dies of heart disease at 55 in 2003
Albert Collins, guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd), dies of pneumonia at 57 in 1990
Salvador DalÃ, Catalan artist dies at 85 in 1989
Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer dies at 78 in 1803
E. Howard Hunt, American Watergate figure dies at 89 in 2007
Jack LaLanne, American fitness and nutritional expert dies at 97 in 2011
Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (The Scream), dies at 80 in 1944
Paul Robeson, athlete/lawyer/singer, dies in Philadelphia at 77 in 1976
Matthew Stewart, Scottish mathematician dies at 68 in 1785
Answers
Brain Game
NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.
Piece
of equipment for housekeeper: vacuum cleaner
2.
Something
given on Feb. 14th: valentine card
3.
A
small bag for women’s cosmetics or toiletries: vanity case
4.
Women
use it to clean the skin and remove age spots: vanishing cream
5.
World’s
smallest country in size: Vatican City
6.
Processed
dairy product made by Kraft: Velveeta Cheese
7.
Part
of CA between Santa Barbara and LA: Ventura County
8.
Investment
money for a new business: Venture capital
9.
Where
to take a sick cat: Veterinary clinic
10. Part of the throat that allow you to
speak: vocal chords
11. It can film things for You Tube: video
camera
12. Solo works by Bach or Brahms: violin concerto
13. Sport venue divided by a net that is 7’
11 5/8” high: volleyball court
Wuzzle
- Excellent movies
- Fading away
- Talks behind your back
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
☺
