Feb 19

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

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1600 - The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in the recorded history of South America.

1919 - Pan-African Congress, organized by W E B Du Bois (Paris)

1934 - US contract air mail service canceled, replaced by US army for 6 mos

1942 - FDR orders detention & internment of all west-coast Japanese-Americans

1949 - Mass arrests of communists in India

1968 - 1st US Teachers strike (Florida)

1984 - 1st brother combo to win Gold & Silver in same event at Olympics (Phil & Steve Mahre-Slalom)

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪                     

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

A good day for a walk by afternoon. A little chilly this morning. AZ remains such a strange state. A sitting sheriff, tough on illegal border immigration and a candidate for a US Representative is outed. The one outing him, a former lover who is Mexican. The sheriff claims none the allegations are true, except that he is gay. It will be in the news for a couple of days. If he and his political staff did threaten to deport his former lover, then he needs to be held accountable. If not, there shouldn’t be a story. Since he is running on the Republican ticket, I’m sure this is a hard pill for them to swallow. Syria is sure a mess. So much killing by the government against its own people. Sad. Then the Israeli government is getting real testy with Iran. That is not a good sign.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

Oops, a typo yesterday: it should have been prude + u to get Purdue.

Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase with the initials J.R. For example, if the clue is "going for a spin in a stolen car," the answer would be "joy ride."

1.     Pastry with preserve inside:

2.     What married taxpayers usually file with the IRS:

3.     A pirate flag:

4.     What an appellate court exercises over a lower court:

5.     Item used in ‘double Dutch’:

6.     What is practiced by synagogue goers: 

7.     Waterway that is part of the Israel border to the Dead Sea:

8.     Elvis Presley film; or number on song from it:

9.     Nickname for a Southern soldier in the Civil War:

10.  Place for deliberations in a trial:

11.  Place where sushi is served:

12.  Dave Brubeck or Count Basis disc:

13.  What a crime of passion is often committed in:

14.  State license and 2 years experience for example:

15.  Follower of the 3^rd US President; believer in agrarian democracy:

16.  Distinctive alcohol from the Caribbean  used to make a hurricane:

17.  A very fast hare:

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

Lifestyle  Substance     

Planet Earth—Orkney Islands

Found on You Tube         

Note: today’s video contains explicit sexual situations. These are ads from around the world to sell condoms. With the AIDS epidemic still very scary for Africans, I was surprised at the number of billboards throughout South Africa advertizing condoms. Many public restrooms in Ethiopia had a basket of condoms at the wash basin.

World's Best Condom Ads

Harper’s Index         

Percentage of Americans who believe that pornography is ‘morally wrong’: 66

Joke-of-the-day

A young man bought an expensive piece of jewelry as a present for his girlfriend.
“Don’t you want her name engraved on it?” asked the clerk.
The young man thought for a moment, and then, ever the realistic, steadfastly replied, “No, just engrave it: To My One and Only Love. That way, if we break up and she throws it back to me in anger, I can use it again.”

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

Never offer more than two-thirds the asking price for rural land.

Somewhat Useless Information    

During the Russo-Japanese War, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt offered to serve as mediator. He summoned representatives of the warring countries to Portsmouth, New Hampshire in the summer of 1905 to discuss their differences, and the war came to a close shortly thereafter. A year later, in recognition of his role as a peacemaker, Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the first American to receive the prestigious award.

Calvin Coolidge refused to use the telephone while he was President. A man of few words, he once said, "If you don't say anything, you won't be called on to repeat it."

In 1928, Herbert Hoover ran for President of the United States with the campaign slogan "A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage". Hoover carried 58.2 percent of the vote, easily defeating Democratic candidate Alfred E. Smith.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 

CANFIELD, Ohio - Administrators at an Ohio elementary school said the facility was put on lockdown when a mysterious Mickey Mouse was spotted at the school. Superintendent Dante Zambrini said the mother who dressed as Mickey Mouse to surprise her daughter's class at C.H. Campbell Elementary School in Canfield during a Tuesday Valentine's Day party followed procedure when she signed in at the office, but she did not tell officials of her plans to change into the Disney character costume in a restroom and change back after making her party appearance,
The Youngstown Vindicator reported Thursday. "It was a case of, Mickey Mouse was here, and then he was missing," Zambrini said. "Our building principal called our school resource officer and the building went into lockdown as a precaution."
Zambrini said the lockdown was executed perfectly and ended when officials and police spoke to the mother and determined she had no ill intent.

Calendar Information        

…Happening This Week:

14-21

National Condom Week

National Nestbox Week to provide bird houses for winter

NCCDP Alzheimer's & Dementia Staff Education Week

16-19

National Conference on Education

Great Backyard Bird Count

19-25 

National Entrepreneurship Week

Brotherhood / Sisterhood Week

Build A Better Trade Show Image Week

National Engineers Week

National Pancake Week

National Justice for Animals Week

National Future Farmers of America Week

Read Me Week

Texas Cowboy Poetry Week

Today Is                                                                      

National Chocolate Mint Day

Iwo Jima Day (Landing) 

Today’s Other Events                                                             

1600’s

1674 - Netherlands & England sign Peace of Westminster (NYC becomes English)

1700’s

1725: -Documents regarding the Delaware "Walking Purchase" treaty are discovered

1778 - Virginia Governor Patrick Henry is upset by the actions of several white "frontiersmen" against the Indians. They have killed Shawnee Chief Cornstalk, and four other Shawnees, who have lived in peace with their neighbors. Today Governor Henry writes a letter to Colonel William Fleming. Suggesting that perhaps the murderers are British agents trying to instigate a fight with the Indians to divert troops away from the Revolutionary War.

1900’s

1913 - 1st prize inserted into a Cracker Jack box

1922 - Ed Wynn becomes 1st talent to sign as a radio entertainer

1928 - 2nd Winter Olympic games close at St Moritz, Switzerland

1932 - William Faulkner completes his novel "Light in August"

1942 - About 150 Japanese warplanes attacked the Australian city of Darwin

1942 - NY Yankees announce 5,000 uniformed soldiers admitted free at each of their upcoming home games

1949 - 1st Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Ezra Pound

1952 - French offensive at Hanoi

1953 - Georgia approves US 1st literature censorship board

1960 - Bil Keane's "Family Circus" cartoon strip debuts

1963 - Robert Frost wins Bollingen Prize

1964 - UK flies ½ ton of The Beatles wigs to the US

1977 - Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" album released

1980 - Eric Heiden skates Olympic record 10000m in 1:15.18

1983 - Fernando Valenzuela wins his salary arbitration of $1 million

1984 - 14th winter Olympic games close at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia

1997 - FCC makes available 311 for non-emergency calls & 711 for hearing or speech-impaired emergency calls

1998 - US hockey team destroys their rooms at Olympic village in Japan

2000’s

2002 - NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system

2004 - Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal is awarded an honorary knighthood in recognition of a "lifetime of service to humanity."

 2008 - Toshiba announces its formal recall of its HD DVD video formatting, ending the format war between it and Sony's Blu-Ray Disc

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 70’s

Smokey Robinson, American R&B and soul singer-songwriter (The Miracles-Tears of a Clown) is 72

In their 50’s

Jeff Daniels, actor is 57

In their 40’s

Justine Bateman, actor is 46

Benicio Del Toro, actor is 45

Seal, English vocalist/songwriter (Killer, Crazy, Kiss by a Rose) is 49

Remembered for being born on this day

Kay Boyle, novelist (Plagued by Nightingales) in 1903

Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer in 1473

"Mama" Cass Elliot, actress (Mamas & Papas-Monday Monday ) in 1943

Stan Kenton, [Newcomb], jazz musician (Intermission Rift) in 1912

Lee Marvin, actor (Paint Your Wagon, Cat Ballou) in 1924

Merle Oberon, Calcutta India, actress (Assignment Foreign Legion) in 1911

Today’s Obits                                                           

Grandpa Jones, country comic/banjo wizard (Hee Haw ), dies at 84 in 1998

Stanley Kramer, American director [The Defiant Ones (1958), On the Beach (1959),  Inherit the Wind (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Ship of Fools (1965) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)]. dies at 88 in 2001

Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek doctor, inventor of the Pap smear dies at78 in 1962

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.     Pastry with preserve inside:

a.     jelly roll

2.     What married taxpayers usually file with the IRS:

a.     joint return

3.     A pirate flag:

a.     Jolly Roger

4.     What an appellate court exercises over a lower court:

a.      judicial review

5.     Item used in ‘double Dutch’:

a.     jump rope

6.     What is practiced by synagogue goers: Jewish religion;

a.     Jewish ritual

7.     Waterway that is part of the Israel border to the Dead Sea:

a.     Jordan River

8.     Elvis Presley film; or number on song from it:

a.     Jailhouse Rock

9.     Nickname for a Southern soldier in the Civil War:

a.     Johnny Reb

10.  Place for deliberations in a trial:

a.      jury room

11.  Place where sushi is served:

a.     Japanese restaurant

12.  Dave Brubeck or Count Basis disc:   

a.      jazz record

13.  What a crime of passion is often committed in:

a.      jealous rage

14.  State license and 2 years experience for example:

a.     job requirement

15.  Follower of the 3^rd US President; believer in agrarian democracy:

a.     Jeffersonian Republican

16.  Distinctive alcohol from the Caribbean  used to make a hurricane:

a.     Jamaican rum

17.  A very fast hare:

a.     jack rabbit

Wuzzle

• He’s left in the lurch
• Half mast
• Tucson, Arizona [2’s on AZ]

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  ☺

Feb 18

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

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1678 - John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" is published

1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie’s troops occupy Inverness Scotland

1841 - 1st continuous filibuster in US Senate began, lasting until March 11

1857 - Insurrection of Chinese in Sarawak, Borneo

1953 - "Bwana Devil," the 1st 3-D movie, opened in New York

1986 - San Antonio's Alvin Robertson scores NBA 2nd quadruple double-20 pts, 11 rebounds, 10 assists & 10 steals against Phoenix

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪                     

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Finally got the vehicle washed. So much better now, instead of all that chemical all over it. I’m not sure that the chemicals are better than cinders when we have light snowfall. I appreciate it when we have 6” or more, but the few inches we’ve had in the last three storms make it more of a hassle than cinders. It’s President’s Day weekend…very nice. Not sure if I’ll be doing anything spectacular to observe it, but it’s still a nice holiday. As we look back in history…to the time before I was around…we learn a lot about various Presidents and their impact on our country. Then there were their nicknames—here are a few: George Washington--Father of His County; Thomas Jefferson--Apostle of the Constitution; Martin Van Buren--The Little Magician; Millard Fillmore; The Accidental President; James Buchanan--The Do-Nothing President; Ulysses S. Grant--American Caesar; Theodore Roosevelt--The Rough Rider; Woodrow Wilson--The Phrasemaker; Harry S. Truman—Give 'em Hell Harry; Dwight D. Eisenhower--Kansas Cyclone. Happy President’s Day weekend.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

Every answer is the name of a college or university. Given an anagram, the contestant names the school. For example, if the clue is "lay" plus "e," the answer is "Yale."

1.     Worn + b:

2.     Royal + b:

3.     Alloy + o:

4.     Prude + u :

5.     Rhoda + w:

6.     Enroll + c:

7.     Boiler + n:

8.     Biventral + d:

9.     Enamored + t: [2 words]

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

Lifestyle  Substance     

Daffynitions: :-)

CHEF — A cook with a large hat and a head to fill it

VOLUNTEER — Take on work that makes no cents

Found on You Tube         

Michelangelo Buonarroti - La Cappella Sistina

Harper’s Index         

Number of US counties in which life expectancy for women is lower or the same as it was in 1997: 860

Note: The US has: 3009 counties, 64 parishes, 16 boroughs, 41 independent municipalities or cities

Joke-of-the-day

One who runs in front of the car gets tired.
One who runs behind gets exhausted.

Planet Earth

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

Reported error margins in polls and surveys are always under-estimates of the true error margin. According to the American Statistical Association: "Multiply the currently reported margin of error associated by 1.7 to obtain a more accurate estimate of the margin of error."

Somewhat Useless Information    

Louis Braille was born on January 4, 1809, in a town near Paris. At three years of age, an accident deprived him of his sight, and he was consequently sent to the Paris Blind School in 1819.

Louis desperately wanted to read, and he was only 12 years old when he invented the Braille system.

In Braille, any letter becomes a capital by putting dot 6 in front of it. For example, if "a" is dot 1, "A" is dot 6 followed by dot 1, and if "p" is dots 1, 2, 3, and 4, then "P" is dot 6 followed by dots 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Research has shown that the fastest braille readers use two hands, and two-handed braille also seems to make it easier for beginners to stay on the line.The average reading speed is 125 words per minute, although it is possible to read up to 200 words per minute.

A refreshable Braille display or Braille terminal is an electro-mechanical device for displaying Braille characters, usually by means of raising dots through holes in a flat surface. Blind computer users, who cannot use a normal computer monitor, use it to read text output.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 

LEECHBURG, Pa. — Police say a western Pennsylvania man who claims to have split personalities confessed to robbing a Chinese restaurant after reading about it in the newspaper and realizing he was the person who did it.Online court records don't list an attorney for 23-year-old Timothy Beer, of Leechburg, who's been jailed since surrendering in Sunday's robbery of the China King Restaurant about 35 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.Beer came to the police station Tuesday, saying he wasn't feeling well and "did something stupid."Beer told police he ordered food and became angry when he perceived the person waiting on him was continuing to speak Chinese. The next thing Beer remembers, he was playing video games at his cousin's home — but says he later realized he committed the robbery when he read about it in Tuesday's Valley News Dispatch.

Calendar Information        

…Happening This Week:

12-18 

Celebration of Love WeekChildren of Alcoholics WeekJell-O WeekLove a Mench WeekRandom Acts of Kindness Week
International Flirting Week

14-21

 National Condom WeekNational Nestbox Week to provide bird houses for winterNCCDP Alzheimer's & Dementia Staff Education Week

16-19

National Conference on EducationGreat Backyard Bird Count

Today Is                                                                      

Battery Day: (Volta's birthday)
Cow Milked While Flying In An Airplane Day Great Backyard Bird Count Perigean Spring TidesPluto  Day (Planet is Discovered by Clyde Tombaugh)
***Gambia: Independence Day (1964 for UK)

Today’s Other Events                                                             

1300’s

1332 - Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces

1600’s

1688 - Quakers conduct 1st formal protest of slavery in Germantown, Pa

1700’s

1735 - 1st opera performed in America, "Flora," in Charleston, SC

1800’s

1804 - 1st US land-grant college, Ohio University, Athens Ohio, chartered

1856 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore

1861 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis inaugurated

1885 - Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," published

1900’s

1908 - 1st US postage stamps in rolls issued

1921 - British troops occupy Dublin

1954 - The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles

1960 - 8th Winter Olympic games open in Squaw Valley

1968 - 10th Winter Olympic games close at Grenoble, France

2000’s

2001 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 90’s

Helen Gurley Brown, US author/publisher and editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan is 90

Barbara Hale, actress (Della Street-Perry Mason) is 91

In their 80’s

George Kennedy, actor is 87

In their 70’s

Yoko Ono Lennon, [Mrs John Lennon], Tokyo Japan, singer is 79

In their 60’s

Juice Newton, [Judy Cohen], Virginia, vocalist (Angel of the Morning) is 62

In their 50’s

Cybill Shepherd, actor is 62

John Travolta, actor, director is 58

Vanna White, TV letter turner is 55

In their 40’s

Matt Dillon, director, actor is 48

Dr. Dre, [Andre Romelle Young], American rapper and record producer is 47

Molly Ringwald, actor is 44

Under 30 years old

Rihanna, singer is 24

Remembered for being born on this day

Jacques Cassini, French astronomer (rings of Saturn) in 1677

Gladys Cooper, English actress (Margaret-Rogues) in 1888

Bill Cullen, TV game show host (over 20 different games) in 1920

George "The Gipper" Gipp, football star (Notre Dame) in 1895

Mary I Tudor, [Bloody Mary], Greenwich, queen of England (1553-58) in 1516

Jack Palance, [Walter Palanuik], actor (City Slickers) in 1920

Andres Segovia, classical Spanish guitarist in 1894

Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Gerolamo Umberto Volta, Italian physicist known especially for the invention of the battery in 1745

Wendell Wilkie, presidential candidate (R-1940)  /author (One World) in 1892

Today’s Obits                                                           

John Babcock, Last known Canadian veteran of World War I dies at 109 in 2010

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian sculptor/painter (David), dies at 88 in 1564

Harry Caray, sportscaster (Chicago Cubs), dies at 77 in 1998

Andy Devine, [Jeremiah Schwartz], actor (Andy's Gang), dies of leukemia at 71 in 1977

Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver dies in Daytona 500 crash at 50 in 2001

Thomas Hazlehurst, English soap and alkali manufacturer dies at 63 in 1842

Martin Luther, biblical scholar/religious reformer, dies of stroke at 62 in 1546

Robert J Oppenheimer, creator of atomic bomb, dies of throat cancer at 62 in 1967

Johnny Paycheck, American country singer/songwriter (Take This Job and Shove It) dies of emphysema and asthma at 65 in 2003

John Batterson Stetson, American manufacturer dies at 76 in 1906

Tamerlane, Mongol Emperor dies at 69 in 1405

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.     Worn + b: brown

2.     Royal + b: Baylor

3.     Alloy + o: Loyola

4.     Pude + u : Purdue

5.     Rhoda + w Howard

6.     Enroll + c: Cornell

7.     Boiler + n: Oberlin

8.     Biventral + d: Vanderbilt

9.     Enamored + t: Notre Dame

Wuzzle

• Hard times ahead
• The calm before the storm
• Winter overcoat

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  ☺