11-20-11

FYI: Blue text is a link… click on any blue text for more information!

Today’sGeez”                                                                                 .

1873 - Rival cities of Buda & Pest unite to form the capital of Hungary

1919 - 1st municipally owned airport in US opens (Tucson Az)

1959 - UN adopts Universal Declaration of Children's Rights

1969 - Alcatraz Island off SF, is seized by militant Native Americans

1984 - McDonald's made its 50 billionth hamburger

♪♪Happy Birthday To:♪♪                                                           .  

Free Rambling Thoughts                                                                  .

• It was another windy day and it was a cold wind. No fun being outside. I really need to clean the deck and the front area, but won’t do it in all this wind.
• Our governor is not happy about losing her case against the redistricting chair. Even after the AZ Supreme court ruled that she fired the chair illegally, Brewer is looking for a new way to get her way. We citizens of AZ voted to make this committee non-partisan. Too bad the Gov doesn’t believe in the vote of the people.
•  I spent a little time today working on my Ethiopian pics. I have a set of panoramas from various places on the visit. I’ve gotten them together for a short movie. Now to get captions for some of them. I have about 500 shots total and about 25 panoramas. Not all are worthy of adding to the movie, but most of the panoramas came out nice. Then to find some music. I did pick up a ‘classical Ethiopian’ CD, show at least that part is going to be easy.

Trivia Quiz…(answers at the end of post)                             .

1.     Which Gwen won Olympic gold on the athletics track?

2.    Kitty Kelley wrote an Unauthorized Biography about which First Lady?

3.    Which American athlete fell over during the final of the 3000 meters at the LA Olympics?

4.    Which heptathlete was born on exactly the same day as footballer Herschel Walker?

5.    How was choreographer William Busby Enos better known?

6.    What is the name of Margaret Thatcher's husband?

7.    Who was the first black tennis player to win the Australian Open?

8.    Who led a jazz band called The All Stars?

9.    Who did Cassius Clay beat to win the world heavyweight title for the first time?

10.  Who was Marilyn Monroe's last husband?

Wuzzles…What concept or phrase do these suggest?                    .

 Rules of Thumb                                                              .

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

• To check a fire ladder for proper lean, stand perfectly erect with the toes against the ladder beam and the arms straight out. If your hands fall on the rung in a comfortable grasping position, the ladder is set properly for climbing. If only the fingertips touch the rung, the base of the ladder is too far from the building. If the heel of the hand touches the rung, the base of the ladder is too close to the building.

Hmmmmm                                                                                 .

• Minimum number of blows thrown during a recent Ukrainian Parliamentary session: 12

Somewhat Useless Information                                                  .

• Paintball draws a wide array of people, and the Sporting Goods Manufacturer's Association estimates that over 10 million people play the game in the United States annually, with 1.9 million playing at least 15 times a year.
• Insurance statistics show that paintball is one of the safest sports, with fewer injuries per exposure than sports like tennis, golf, and bowling.
• Never share mascara, as this is the most common way that people pass on pink eye, which is highly contagious.
• Do you wear a ring? If so, there could be as many germs underneath as the entire population of Europe.

Yeah, It Really Happened                                                              .            

UNION CITY, Tenn. - Police in Tennessee said a man arrested on a domestic assault charge admitted to throwing a ham that struck his mother in the back.

Union City police said Brenda King, 55, told officers her son, Emanual Cordell Kennedy, 37, threw an object that struck her in the back while she was walking down the hall during an argument Tuesday, The (Union City) Messenger reported Thursday. Officers said Kennedy admitted to throwing the ham and said he was not expecting his mother to be walking down the hall at the time and had not meant to hit her with the meat. Kennedy was arrested on a charge of domestic assault.

Guffaw…or at least smile                                                  .

A guy tells his psychiatrist, “I always have this weird dream at night. I am locked in a room with a door on which there is a sign. I try to push it with all my strength, but no matter how hard I try, it won’t budge."

The psychiatrist muses, “Interesting. But tell me what does the sign on the door say?"

The guy replies, “It says 'Pull'”!!!

Searchin’ “You Tube” I found                                                          .     

Online Puzzle Game

Daybook Information                                                                                    .

…Happening This Week:

18-24

National Farm-City Week 

20-26 

National Bible Week 

National Family Week 
National Game 
Puzzle Week 
Better Conversation Week 
Church/State Separation Week

Today Is                                                                                   .

• Absurdity Day
• African Industrialization Day
• Children's Day
• Globally Organized Hug A Runner Day aka G.O.H.A.R.D.
• Name Your PC Day
• Transgender Day of Remembrance
• World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

~*~

• Germany--Totensonntag ((Sunday of the Dead) "general Luthern celebration in memorial of the deceased")
• Mexico--Revolution Day (1910)

Today’s Events                                                                           .

Arts

1947 - "Meet the Press" makes network TV debut on NBC

Athletes

1977 - Walter Payton (Bears) rushes for NFL-record 275 yards

Business

1866 - 1st nat’l convention of Grand Army of Republic (veterans' org)

1931 - Commercial teletype service begins (AT&T)

Education

--

Indigenous People

1817 - 1st Seminole War begins in Florida

1831: While looking for rumored "lost silver mines" in Texas near the old San Sabá Mission, Jim Bowie, and ten companions, encounter almost 150 Caddo and Waco Indians. A fight ensues which becomes legendary in Texas history. After frontal attacks prove ineffective, the Indians set fire to the brush and trees surrounding the Americans. This ploy also fails to work. After losing over fifty warriors, to Bowie's one, the Indians leave the field.

Politics [International]

1431 - 1st meeting of Order of Guilder Flies

1521 - Arabs attribute shortage of water in Jerusalem to Jews making wine

1945 - 24 Nazi leaders put on trial at Nuremberg, Germany

1965 - UN Security council calls for boycott of Rhodesia

1970 - UN General Assembly accepts membership of China PR

1977 - Egyptian Pres Sadat became 1st Arab leader to address Israeli Knesset

1992 - Queen Elizabeth's home Windsor Castle catches fire

1995 - Princess Di admits she cheated on Prince Charles in a TV interview

Politics [US]

1789 - New Jersey is 1st state to ratify Bill of Rights

1914 - US State Department starts requiring photographs for passports

1993 - Savings and Loan scandal: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his "dealings" with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating

2008 - After critical failures in the US financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level since 1997

Religion

1938 - 1st documented anti-semitic remarks over US radio (by Father Coughlin)

Science

1866 - Pierre Lalemont patents rotary crank bicycle

1923 - Garrett Morgan invents & patents traffic signal

1984 - SETI is founded

1998 - The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched

Today’s Birthdays                                                                           .

Artists: [Authors, Composers]

1908 - Alistair Cooke, TV host (Masterpiece Theatre)

1900 - Chester Gould, cartoonist (Dick Tracy)

Athletes

Dominique Dawes, gymnast (Olympics-gold/brz-92, 96) is 35

Entertainers [Actors, Singers…]

1907 - Fran Allison, actress (Kukla, Fran & Ollie)

1946 - Duane Allman, rock guitarist (Allman Brothers)

Dick Clark, TV host (American Bandstand) is 82

Bo Derek, actor is 55

Richard Dawson, actor; game show host is 79

Veronica Hamel, actor is 68

Estelle Parsons, actress (Rachel Rachel, Bonnie & Clyde) is 84

Dick Smothers, comedian (Smother Brothers' Show) is 72

1920 - Gene Tierney, actor (Laura, Razor's Edge, Ghost & Mrs Muir)

Joe Walsh, guitarist/rocker (Eagles-Take it Easy) is 64

Entrepreneurs & Educators

--

Political Figures

Joseph R Biden Jr, (Sen- DE, VP) is 69

1917 - Robert C Byrd, (Sen-WV)/majority leader served record 9 terms

1925 - Robert Francis Kennedy, (Sen-NY; AG) assassinated

1884 - Norman Thomas, socialist (Pres Candidate 1928-48)

1620 - Peregrine White, son of Wm & Susanna White, born aboard Mayflower

Scientists & Theologists

1889 - Edwin Hubble, astronomer (discoverer of galaxies, red shift)

Today’s Obits                                                                 .

1527 - Wendelmoet "Weyntjen" Claesdochter, 1st Dutch woman burned as heretic

1898 - John Fowler, English engineer (London Metropolitan Railway), dies at 81

1975 - Francisco Franco, [y Bahamonde], Spanish dictator (1936-75), dies at 82

2010 - Rob Lytle, Bronco football player dies of heart attack at 56

1973 - Allan Sherman, parodist (Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda, Harvey & Sheila), dies  of emphysema at 48

1910 - Leo Tolstoy, Russian author (Anna Karenina), dies at 82

1695 - Zumbi, Brazilian runaway slave and leader beheaded at 55

Answers                                                                .                                                                            

Trivia Quiz

1.     Which Gwen won Olympic gold on the athletics track?

a.    Torrence.

2.    Kitty Kelley wrote an Unauthorized Biography about which First Lady?

a.    Nancy Reagan.

3.    Which American athlete fell over during the final of the 3000 meters at the LA Olympics?

a.    Mary Decker.

4.    Which heptathlete was born on exactly the same day as footballer Herschel Walker?

a.    Jackie Joyner Kersee.

5.    How was choreographer William Busby Enos better known?

a.    Busby Berkeley.

6.    What is the name of Margaret Thatcher's husband?

a.    Dennis.

7.    Who was the first black tennis player to win the Australian Open?

a.    Arthur Ashe

8.    Who led a jazz band called The All Stars?

a.    Louis Armstrong.

9.    Who did Cassius Clay beat to win the world heavyweight title for the first time?

a.    Sonny Liston.

10.  Who was Marilyn Monroe's last husband?

a.    Arthur Miller.

Wuzzle

Truth is stranger than fiction

Cross examines

Seminars

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’S ALL FOR NOW     §

11-19-11

FYI: Blue text is a link…be sure and click on it for more information!

TODAY’s “Geez”                                                                                            .

1805 - Lewis & Clark reach Pacific Ocean, 1st European Americans to cross continent

1850 - Lord Tennyson becomes British poet laureate

1893 - 1st newspaper color supplement (NY World)

1928 - 1st issue of Time magazine, Japanese Emperor Hirohito on cover

1965 - Kellogg's Pop Tarts pastries created

1947 - 200" mirror arrives at Mt Palomar

1989 - US beats Trinidad, 1-0 qualifying for 1990 world soccer cup finals it was US' 1st qualification since 1950

♪♪ Happy Birthday To:♪♪                                                                   .                     

Free Rambling Thoughts                                                                              .

Sure was a windy Friday here in Flag. It’s been a while, but memories came back quickly. I was out and about this morning and it was tolerable but not enjoyable. Sam’s was cranking up for the Thanksgiving holiday with free food samples throughout the store. Nice.

Travel sure ain’t what it used to be. I heard a story on NPR this morning that helped explain the changes…and surprise…it’s all about money. I noticed on my last trip that the pre-boarding was different, but wasn’t sure what was going on. Now, thanks to NPR I know. I noticed that first class passengers still board first. I noticed that ‘families and those traveling with small children’ wasn’t heard. It was the platinum card holders next. Then the gold card holders, then the purple card holders, then the pink card holders, then the Zone passengers. I like an aisle seat when I travel so I’m always zone 456. I’ve discovered that that means bin storage is usually gone or very limited by the time I get on. With the increase cost of checking luggage, most people take advantage of the one carry on and one personal item—like a purse. We ain’t talkin’ a small evening clutch—we’re talking a fully expanded, stuffed, beach bag with stuff hanging out. Women, men, small children all carry the ‘personal item’ along with the largest carry on allowed. I learned that since the airline started charging for advanced seat assignments, families are no longer sitting together, unless the family shells out bucks to be together….great idea…a four year old sitting several rows away from a parent with total strangers. NPR talked about changing seats once aboard…just try and find someone with a window or aisle seat agreeing to move to a middle seat for a 4 hour flight. Also for kids, milk is no longer a choice as a beverage…even if you pay. Of course, in order to make flying more profitable, the airlines have cut the number of flights so the good ol days empty seats is gone forever. The last few times I’ve flown in or out of Flagstaff, the 16 passenger plane is always full…and the carry on bins are the size of a car’s glove box are always full. I am so happy that my flying days are always to an adventure, and not for business. I just got an email from Ellie that our flight from Houston to Kenya in late June has been cancelled…I thought the Ethiopian trip was a fluke, but I guess even international schedules are subject to early cancellation. And Hamdy says the flight could change again. Of course we will have a flight the next day…when the plane will be overflowing. It also means that my flight to Houston can’t be made too early. Oh well. Adventures are still the only way to travel.

Trivia Quiz…(answers at the end of post)                                                 .

1.     Originally, ENIAC, the world's first "modern" computer was constructed to do what?

2.    The Los Angeles Police Department developed a computer program to help solve homicides. What was it called?

3.    The first computer used for weather research was named what?

4.    The displays commonly found in notebook and laptop computers are called what?

5.    After breaking into physicist Tsutomu Shimomura's computer on Christmas in 1994, what legendary hacker was taken down?

6.    What personal computer became a video production system with the addition of New Tek's Video Toaster?

7.    Digital Equipment Corporation sued what computer chip manufacturer claiming it stole the technology to develop the Pentium Pro?

8.    What was the name of the computer language named after a French philosopher and mathematician?

9.    What was the name of the computer company that was named after the founder's memories of a summer in an Orchard in Oregon?

Wuzzles…What concept or phrase do these suggest?                           .

NEW: Rules of Thumb                                                                          .

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

• If you're taking a multiple choice test and you don't know the right answer to a question: 1) Choose the longest answer; 2) Eliminate the answer that includes the words "always" or "never;" 3) Choose B or C because test makers avoid A and D.

Hmmmmm                                                                                                       .

• Percentage of Egyptians who say that improving economic conditions is ‘very important’: 82

Somewhat Useless Information                                                                     .

• From 1961–1966, the American TV network NBC carried a karaoke-like series, Sing Along with Mitch, featuring host Mitch Miller and a chorus, which superimposed the lyrics to their songs near the bottom of the TV screen for home audience participation.
• There are various disputes about who first invented the name karaoke. One claim is that the karaoke styled machine was invented by Japanese musician Daisuke Inoue in Kobe, Japan, in 1971.
• Inoue was asked frequently by guests in the Utagoe Kissa, where he performed, to provide a recording of his performance so that they could sing along on a company-sponsored vacation. He made a tape recorder that played a song for a 100-yen coin. Instead of giving his karaoke machines away, Inoue leased them out so that stores did not have to buy new songs on their own.
• Karaoke machines were initially placed in restaurants and hotel rooms; soon, new businesses called karaoke boxes, with compartmented rooms, became popular. In 2004, Daisuke Inoue was awarded the tongue-in-cheek Nobel Peace Prize for inventing karaoke, "thereby providing an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other."
• Roberto del Rosario, a Filipino inventor, who developed a sing along system in 1975 and patented it in the 1980s called his sing-along system "Minus-One," holds the patent for the device now commonly known as the "karaoke machine". Following a court battle with a Japanese company which claimed to have invented the system, del Rosario's patents were issued in 1983 and 1986, a decade after the device was supposedly invented.
• Early karaoke machines used cassette tapes, but technological advances replaced this with CDs, VCDs, laserdiscs and, currently, DVDs. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Pioneer Electronics dominated the international karaoke music video market, producing high quality karaoke music videos.

Yeah, It Really Happened                                                                               .            

WEITERSTADT, Germany - Police in Germany said a motorist in a Yoda costume was unable to use his Jedi powers to get out of charges stemming from a drunken driving incident. Investigators said the 42-year-old Weiterstadt man, whose name was not released, had apparently been out celebrating Halloween Saturday night, dressed as the "Star Wars" character, and struck a pedestrian while driving home early Sunday morning, the Berliner Kurier reported Monday. Police said the driver was stopped about two minutes after striking the pedestrian, who sustained minor injuries, and was forced to walk home when officers took his license. The man is facing drunk driving, negligent injury and hit and run charges, police said.

Guffaw…or at least smile                                                                               .

For a couple years I 've been blaming it on lack of sleep and too much pressure from my job, but now I found out the real reason: I'm tired because I'm overworked.

The population of this country is 237 million. 104 million are retired. That leaves 133 million to do the work. There are 85 million in school, which leaves 48 million to do the work. Of this there are 29 million employed by the federal government, leaving 19 million to do the work. 2.8 million are in the Armed Forces, which leaves 16.2 million to do the work. Take from the total the 14,800,000 people who work for State and City Governments and that leaves 1.4 million to do the work. At any given time there are 188,000 people in hospitals, leaving 1,212,000 to do the work. Now, there are 1,211,998 people in prisons. That leaves just two people to do the work. You and me. And you're sitting at your computer reading jokes.

Searchin’ “You Tube” I found                                                                        .     

TWA AIRLINES VINTAGE TV COMMERCIALS

American Airlines Vintage Commercials

Daybook Information                                                                                    .

…Happening This Week:

13-19 American Education Week

Geography Awareness Week National Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week

National Global Entrepreneurship Week

18-24

National Farm-City Week 

TODAY IS                                                                                                         .

Equal Opportunity Day 

Gettysburg Address Day

Family Volunteer Day

Have A Bad Day Day

National Adoption Day

National Day of Play

National Survivors of Suicide Day

World Toilet Day

~*~

Monaco--National Holiday

Puerto Rico--Discovery Day (1493)

Today’s Events                                                                                                .

ARTS

1861 - Julia Ward Howe committed "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to paper

1980 - CBS TV bans Calvin Klein's jean ad featuring Brooke Shields

ATHLETICS

1953 - US Supreme Court rules (7-2) baseball is a sport not a business

1984 - NY Met Dwight Gooden, 20, is youngest to be named NL Rookie of Year

BUSINESS

1911 - NY receives 1st Marconi wireless transmission from Italy

1916 - Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures (the company later became one of the most successful independent filmmakers)

1955 - National Review publishes its first issue

EDUCATION

--

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

1794: According to the Jay Treaty and Northwest Territory Treaty, Indians can cross borders.

1870: On the Wichita River in Texas, Private James Anderson, Company M, Sixth Cavalry, will "earn" a Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in the pursuit and subsequent fight with a group of "hostile Indians," according to army records.

POLITICS [International]

1620 - Mayflower reaches Cape Cod & explores the coast

1950 - US General Eisenhower becomes supreme commander of NATO-Europe

POLITICS [US]

1794 - Jay Treaty, 1st US extradition treaty, signed with Great Britain

1874 - William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, of Tammany Hall (NYC) convicted of defrauding city of $6M [$114.2--2010USD], sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment

1903 - Carrie Nation attempts to address Senate

1919 - US Senate rejects (55-39) Treaty of Versailles & League of Nations

1944 - World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces the 6th War Loan Drive, aimed at selling $14 billion ($171.6 billion in 2010 USD) in war bonds to help pay for the war effort

1976 - Patty Hearst is freed on $15 million [USD 2010-$57M] bail

RELIGION

1644 - 1st protestant ministry society in New England

SCIENCE

1824 - Storm causes St Petersburg flood, killing 10,000

Today’s Birthdays                                                                                          .

ARTISTS:  (AUTHORS, COMPOSERS,…)

1905 - Tommy Dorsey, orch leader (Stage Show, Mahogany)

1859 - Mikhail Mikhayl Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian musician ( Armenian Rhapsody)

ATHLETES

1921 - Roy Campanella, Brooklyn Dodger catcher (NL MVP 1951/53/55)

ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS…)

Dick Cavett, talk show host is 75

1919 - George Fenneman, Peking China, TV announcer (You Bet Your Life)

Jodie Foster, actor is 49

Dan Haggerty, actor (Grizzly Adams) is 71

Allison Janney, actor  52

Larry King, talk show host is 78

Meg Ryan, actor is 50

Ted Turner, broadcasting mogul/owns (Atlanta Braves)/won America's Cup is 73

1889 - Clifton Webb, American actor 

1919 - Alan Young, England, actor (Time Machine, Wilbur Post-Mr Ed)

ENTREPRENEURS & EDUCATORS

Calvin Klein, fashion designer (Calvin Klein Jeans, CK) is 69

POLITICIAL FIGURES

1917 - Indira Gandhi, Allahabad India, Indian PM 

1831 - James A Garfield, 20th Pres 

1926 - Jeane J Kirkpatrick, US ambassador to UN

SCIENTISTS & THEOLOGISTS

--

Today’s Obits                                                                 .

1915 - Joe Hill, Labor leader/songwriter, executed for murder at 36

1703 - Man in the Iron Mask, prisoner in Bastille prison in Paris, dies

1828 - Franz P Schubert, Austrian composer (Ave Maria), dies of typhoid fever at 31

1897 - William Seymour Tyler, American educator and historian dies at 87

2007 - Dick Wilson, American actor [Mr. Whipple] dies at 91

ANSWERS                                                                            

Trivia Quiz

1.     Originally, ENIAC, the world's first "modern" computer was constructed to do what?

a.     To compute ballistic trajectories for artillery shells.

2.    The Los Angeles Police Department developed a computer program to help solve homicides. What was it called?

a.     HITMAN, for Homicide Information Tracking Management Automation Network.

3.    The first computer used for weather research was named what?

a.     MANIAC - Mathematical Analyzer, Numerical Integrator and Computer.

4.    The displays commonly found in notebook and laptop computers are called what?

a.     Liquid Crystal Display.

5.    After breaking into physicist Tsutomu Shimomura's computer on Christmas in 1994, what legendary hacker was taken down?

a.     Kevin Mitnick.

6.    What personal computer became a video production system with the addition of New Tek's Video Toaster?

a.     Amiga.

7.    Digital Equipment Corporation sued what computer chip manufacturer claiming it stole the technology to develop the Pentium Pro?

a.     Intel Corporation.

8.    What was the name of the computer language named after a French philosopher and mathematician?

a.     PASCAL.

9.    What was the name of the computer company that was named after the founder's memories of a summer in an Orchard in Oregon?

a.     Apple.

Wuzzle

Odd couple

Consequences

Sharp cheese

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’S ALL FOR NOW     §