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♪Happy Birthday To: ♪
Today’s Historical Highlights
1780: William Herschel
discovers 1st binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris
1808: Uprising against French
occupation begins in Madrid
1863: Stonewall Jackson
attacks Chancellorsville, wounded by his own men South defeats North
1878: US stops minting 20 cent
coin
1885: "Good
Housekeeping" magazine is 1st published
1908: "Take me out to the
Ball Game registered for copyright
1932: Pulitzer prize awarded
to Pearl S Buck (Good Earth)
1938: Pulitzer prize awarded
to Thornton Wilder (Our Town)
1949: Arthur Miller wins
Pulitzer Prize (Death of a Salesman)
1955: Pulitzer prize awarded
Tennessee Williams for (Cat on Hot Tin Roof)
1960: Pulitzer prize awarded
to Al Drury (Advice & Consent)
1970: KOAI (then KNAZ) TV
channel 2 in Flagstaff, AZ (NBC) 1st broadcast
2011: Osama bin Laden, the
suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man
is killed by the United States Special Forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan
Free Rambling
Thoughts
It sure tried to rain
most of the day, but alas, none made it down even close to the ground. Maybe
tomorrow.
I was able to clean out
one closet today…at least that’s a start. Still gotta get rid of more stuff. I’m
sure Goodwill as happy to see me this afternoon. Tomorrow our retirement group
is doing lunch and seeing a movie. Actually we are seeing the movie first, so
it will be a light lunch I’m sure.
So Obama made a secret
trip to Afghanistan today. His speech was informative but I’m not happy that we
are staying there. Our troops need to be home. I’m sure the war people on the
right will be upset that he said that we were talking directly to the enemy.
Can’t end a war without some talk.
Game Center
(answers at the end of post)
Brain Game—A close up
picture of what?
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NPR Sunday Puzzle
You are given clues that
end in a six-letter word. Rearrange the letters in the last word to get the
answer to the clue. For example, given "Jewels a pirate buries," the
answer would be "rubies."
1.
Turkey part that may be moistened with a baster:
2.
When a bridge is out, where the traffic is routed:
3.
Important member of a religious circle:
4.
You might need one to get through a military sector:
5.
Game for bridge haters:
6.
Big holiday for St. Teresa:
7.
What you can’t do to something that is silent:
8.
Rock whose chances of hitting the earth are remote:
9.
Island 1000 miles ENE of Bogata:
10.
What someone might be who posts a sign “Silence Please”:
Riddle of the day
Violet, indigo, blue and
green, yellow, orange and red; these are the colors you have seen after the
storm has fled. What am I?
Anagram: unscramble—numbers represent the number of letters in
each answer word
Lifestyle Substance
Harper’s Index
Number of letters from
Americans President Obama reads each evening: 10
Number of staffers in the
Correspondence Office responsible for selecting those letters from the 11,000
received each day: 7
Found on You Tube
Clown College
Planet Earth—
Joke-of-the-day
A Spanish teacher was
explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated
as either masculine or feminine.
"House" for instance, is feminine:
"la casa."
"Pencil," however, is masculine:
"el lapiz."
A student asked, "What gender is
'computer'?"
Instead of giving the
answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked
them to decide for themselves whether "computer" should be a
masculine or a feminine noun.
Each group was asked to give four reasons for
its recommendation.
The men's group decided that
"computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la
computadora") because:
1. No one but their creator understands their
internal logic.
2. The native language they use to communicate
with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in
long term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one,
you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.
The women's group, however, concluded that
computers should be masculine ("el computador") because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have
to turn them on.
2. They have a lot of data but still can't
think for themselves.
3. They are supposed to help you solve
problems, but half the time, they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize
that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.
The women won.
Rules of Thumb
Easy shortcuts to make
an ‘educated’ guess
The quality of food at a restaurant is inversely proportional to the size of the restaurants freezer.
Yeah, It Really
Happened
Returns tomorrow
Somewhat Useless
Information
John Ringling and his
wife started spending their winters in Sarasota, Florida, in 1909. They fell in
love with the area and in 1927 made it the winter headquarters of their circus.
Ringling used his elephants to help with construction as he developed a commercial
and residential center in the area.
John Philip Sousa's
"Stars and Stripes Forever" is known as the Disaster Song in the
circus world. It is only played in case of emergency as a way to signal to
circus personnel that something is wrong without alarming the audience.
Professional clowns
unofficially "trademark" their faces by sending close-up photos of
themselves in full makeup to the Department of Clown Registry in Milwaukee. The
clown submits a close-up photo of his face, and an artist painstakingly
recreates it using acrylic paints on a goose egg, where it is kept "on
file."
Famed clown Emmett Kelly
portrayed himself in the Academy Award-winning film The Greatest Show on Earth.
However, he wasn't completely happy with the finished film because in one shot
he is seen without trademark makeup.
The Flying Wallendas were
famous for performing their act without a safety net. This led to tragic
consequences in Detroit in 1962, when their 7-person pyramid collapsed on the
high wire, causing three performers to plummet 30 feet onto a concrete floor.
In 1999, 22-year-old
Johnathan Lee Iverson became the youngest ringmaster in the history of the
Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. He was also the first African
American to hold the position.
Calendar Information
…Happening This Week:
1-7
Bread Pudding Recipe Exchange Week
Update Your References Week
Today Is
Fire Day—a computer thing evaluating
file extensions
Great American Grump Out
Roberts Rule of Order Day
Today’s Other Events
1400’s
1497: John Cabot
departs to North America
Ã
1600’s
1670: King Charles of
England gives all trade rights to "all the Landes Countreyes and
Territoryes upon the Coastes and Confynes of the Seas" lying within the Hudson
Strait to the Hudson’s Bay Company. This monopoly remains in effect until 1859.
1700’s
1776: France &
Spain agreed to give weapons to American rebels
1800’s
1865: Pres Johnson
offers $100,000 reward for capture of Jefferson Davis
1871: Apache raid
settlements near Fort Seldon, in southern New Mexico. According to army records
Buffalo Soldiers cavalry troops chase them for 280 miles, but they do not catch
them.
1890: Territory of
Oklahoma created
1900’s
1918: General Motors
acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware
1930: Des Moines
(Western League) defeats Wichita 13:6 to open 1st ballpark with permanently
installed lights
1932: Jack Benny's
1st radio show premieres (NBC Blue Network)
1936: Emperor Haile
Selassie & family flee Abyssinia
1946: The
"Battle of Alcatraz" takes place, killing two guards and three
inmates.
1953: Hussein I
installed as king of Jordan
1960: Harry
Belafonte 2nd Carnegie Hall performance
1968: Israeli
television begins transmitting
1974: Former VP
Spiro Agnew disbarred
1988: Jackson
Pollock's "Search" sold for $4,800,000
1994: Dr Kervokian
found innocent on assisting suicides
2000’s
2000: President Bill Clinton
announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United
States military
2011 : The 2011 E. coli O104:H4
outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead
and many others sick from the bacteria outbreak
Today’s Birthdays
In their 60’s
Ã
In their 40’s
Dwayne "The
Rock" Johnson, American professional wrestler and actor is 40
In their 30’s
David Beckham, soccer
player is 37
Remembered for being born on this day
James F. Byrnes, American
statesman, and Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1882
Catherine the Great
[Catherine II], Stettin, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia, Empress of Russia in
1729
John Galt, Scotland,
novelist (Ayrshire Legatees, Lawrie Todd) in 1779
Philippe Halsman,
American photographer in 1906
Hedda Hopper, American
gossip columnist in 1885
Benjamin Spock, CT,
pediatrician (Common Sense Book of Baby Care) in 1903
Manfred Freiherr von
Richthofen [The Red Baron], Breslau, German World War I fighter ace in 1892
Today’s Obits
Jack Barry, game show
emcee (Joker's Wild), dies of heart attack in 1984 at 66
Julio Gallo, wine maker
(Gallo), dies in a car accident in 1993 at 82
Donald A Hall, airplane
designer (Spirit of St Louis), dies of heart attack in 1968 at 69
J Edgar Hoover, first
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1924-72) dies of heart attack in 1972 at 77
Jack Kemp, former United
States Congressman and 1996 Vice Presidential Candidate dies in 2009 of cancer
at 73
Osama bin Laden, leader
of al-Qaeda and 'the most wanted man in the world' killed in 2011 at 54
Lynn Redgrave, British
actress dies of breast cancer in 2010 at 67
Leonardo da Vinci,
artist/scientist, dies in 1519 at 67
Answers
Brain Game: Close Up
Picture
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Riddle of the day
I am a Rainbow.
NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.
Turkey part that may be moistened with a baster:
a.
breast
2.
When a bridge is out, where the traffic is routed:
a.
detour
3.
Important member of a religious circle:
a.
cleric
4.
You might need one to get through a military sector:
a.
escort
5.
Game for bridge haters:
a.
hearts
6.
Big holiday for St. Teresa:
a.
Easter
7.
What you can’t do to something that is silent:
a.
Listen
8.
Rock whose chances of hitting the earth are remote:
a.
Meteor
9.
Island 1000 miles ENE of Bogata:
a.
Tobago
10.
What someone might be who posts a sign “Silence Please”:
a.
asleep
Anagrams
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 ☺
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