May 16


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

Today’s  Historical  Highlights
1763: Samuel Johnson meets his future biographer James Boswell in London
1770: Marie Antoinette (14) marries future King Louis XVI (15) of France
1817: Mississippi River steamboat service begins
1836: Edgar Allan Poe marries his 13-year-old cousin Virginia
1860::18] Chicago: Republican convention selects Abraham Lincoln candidate
1866: Congress authorizes nickel 5 cent piece (replaces silver half-dime)
1868: By one vote, Senate fails to impeach President Andrew Johnson
1891: George A Hormel & Co introduce Spam
1910: US Bureau of Mines forms
1920: Joan of Arc (Jean D'arc) canonized a saint
1939: Food stamps are 1st issued
1956: Egypt recognizes People's Republic of China
1985: Michael Jordan named NBA Rookie of Year
2005: Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪ 

 
Free Rambling Thoughts   
I learned quite a bit today about Wells Fargo Bank. I have had an account with them since my days in Tuba. I didn’t keep much money in the account and only used it for cash I needed during the week as there was no ATM for Chase in Tuba. When I was on a detail, I used it more to keep my records straight. I then used it for travel. I noticed a few months ago that I was paying an $8 fee/month. I knew I had really dropped the balance of the linked savings account for my trips. So today I stopped by to find out what total balance I needed for no fees. Well it seems WF changed my account to make it a non-free checking account. They said that they sent me an email, but I guess I didn’t read the ‘fine print’. I told them that I wanted a free account or I would close both accounts. After way too many questions I got it. Then I found out that my mom’s name was never removed from the account, even though I took a death certificate in. The guy says that she is marked ‘deceased’ on the account, but without scanning in death certificate, it would still be possible for someone to steal her identity and use that account. He played with the phone, used a bunch of numerical verbal codes and finally said I had to bring in the death certificate AGAIN. A nice guy but a total bureaucrat with no power. Interestingly, his trainee, who had to sit though all this, was from Shonto. I knew his mom, an aide who became a teacher, and we had a good conversation. I let the trainee know something too. An elderly Navajo grandpa was at the other desk, trying to get information. He spoke some English, but was having trouble. He kept saying that his grandson was in the truck outside. Neither of the two people helping him went out to get the grandson. They just kept stumbling through and getting nowhere. I told the trainee that it was too bad that the bank didn’t have a translator to help the customer. As I was leaving, the young lady, another trainee, went outside and got the grandson…who was in his thirties.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)
Brain Game—A close up picture of what?

NPR Sunday Puzzle
Given anagrams plus an extra letter that must be unscrambled to name a river. For example, given "roil" plus E, the answer would be "Loire," the river in France.
Goal + v:
Heir + n:
Goon + c:
Bite + r:
Agnes + g:
Haste + m:
Grits + i:
Gnome + k:
Unbag + i:
Preheats + U:

Riddle of the day
There are four brothers in this world that were all born together. The first runs and never wearies. The second eats and is never full. The third drinks and is always thirsty. The fourth sings a song that is never good.
Anagram: unscramble—numbers represent the number of letters in each answer word

Lifestyle  Substance     
Harper’s Index         
Portions of the Veterans Health Administration’s budget devoted to veterans with mental-health or addiction problems: 1/3
Found on You Tube 
  Monty Python – Spam      
Planet Earth—

Joke-of-the-day
Officer to driver going the wrong way up a one way street. "And where do you think you are going?" Driver: - "I'm not sure, but I must be late as everyone else is coming back."
Rules of Thumb   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
Returns tomorrow
Yeah, It Really Happened
STOCKHOLM, N.Y. (AP) --Authorities say a northern New York man had his friend shoot him in the leg with a rifle because he wanted to know what it feels like to be shot.State police in St. Lawrence County say the shooting occurred around 5 p.m. Sunday in the rural town of Stockholm when 25-year-old Shawn Mossow of neighboring Norfolk relented to his friend's repeated requests and shot him once in the right leg with a .22-caliber rifle.The 24-year-old man from Norfolk is expected to make a full recovery. Police haven't released his name.Mossow was charged with reckless endangerment. He's being held in the county jail on $10,000 bail. It could be immediately determined if he had a lawyer.
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • When a female horse and male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule, but when a male horse and female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny.
  • Whales and dolphins can literally fall half asleep. Their brain hemispheres alternate sleeping, so the animals can continue to surface and breathe.
  • Unlike most fish, electric eels cannot get enough oxygen from water. Approximately every five minutes, they must surface to breathe, or they will drown. Unlike most fish, they can swim both backwards and forwards.
  • The underside of a horse's hoof is called a frog. The frog peels off several times a year with new growth.
  • The term "dog days" has nothing to do with dogs. It dates back to Roman times, when it was believed that Sirius, the Dog Star, added its heat to that of the sun from July 3 to August 11, creating exceptionally high temperatures. The Romans called the period dies caniculares, or "days of the dog."
  • The Pacific Giant Octopus, the largest octopus in the world, grows from the size of pea to a 150 pound behemoth potentially 30 feet across in only two years, its entire life-span.


Calendar Information        
…Happening This Week:
10-16
Universal Family Week
12-19 
National Tourism Week
National Nursing Home Week
Reading is Fun Week
Salute to Moms 35+ Week
National Return To Work Week
National Women's Health Week
American Craft Beer Week
National Bike to Work Week
National Etiquette Week
National Hospital Week
15-21
National Dog Bite Prevention Week
National Educational Bosses' Week
National New Friends, Old Friends Week
National Police Week
National Transportation Week
World Trade Week
EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Week

Today Is                                                                      
Biographer's Day
National Employee Health & Fitness Day
National Sea Monkey Day
Turn Beauty Inside Out Day
Wear Purple for Peace Day

Today’s Other Events                                                             
1500’s
1568: Mary Queen of Scotland flees to England
1600’s
1606: 2,000 foreigners murdered in Russia
1700’s
1760: Creek warrior Chief Hobbythacco (Handsome Fellow) has often supported the English, but, at the outbreak of the Cherokee war, he decides to support the Cherokees. He leads an attack on a group of English traders in Georgia. Thirteen of the traders are killed during the fighting. Creek Chief "The Mortar" also participates in the fighting.
1792: Denmark abolishes slave trade
1800’s
1864: Last battles at Drewry's Bluff, Virginia (6,666 casualties)
1875: Quake in Venezuela & Colombia kills 16,000
1879: Antonin Dvorák's "Slavic Dancing," premieres
1881: World's 1st electric tram goes into service in Lichterfelder (near Berlin)
1894: Fire in Boston destroys baseball stadium & 170 other buildings
1900’s
1903: George Wyman makes 1st motorcycle trip across the US
1927: Supreme Court ruled bootleggers must pay income tax
1941: Germans made their last major air attack on Britain (Birmingham)
1944: 1st of 180,000+ Hungarian Jews reach Auschwitz
1946: Musical  "Annie Get Your Gun," starring Ethel Merman premieres in NYC
1951: The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between John F Kennedy International Airport in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines
1956: Kraft Theater presents an act from "Profiles in Courage"
1965: The Campbell Soup Company introduces SpaghettiOs under its Franco-American brand
1966: Beach Boys' "Pets Sounds" is released
1971: 1st class postage now costs 8 cents (was 6 cents)
1975: Muhammad Ali TKOs Ron Lyle in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
1981:  "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes hits #1 for next 9 weeks
1986: "Top Gun," premieres 1986: Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) comes back from dead on Dallas
1988: Surgeon Gen C Everett Koop reports nicotine as addictive as heroin
1991: Queen Elizabeth becomes 1st British monarch to address US congress
2000’s
2003: In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks
2007: Alex Salmond is elected First Minister of Scotland. He is the first Scottish National Party leader to be elected as First Minister after winning a historic victory at the Scottish general election on the 3rd May
2011: Space shuttle Endeavour launches for its final commission in space

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Remembered for being born on this day
Philip Danforth Armour, founder (Armour Foods) in 1832
Ernest Watson Burgess, US sociologist (ecological school) in 1886
Henry Fonda, Grand Is Nebraska, actor (Mr Roberts, On Golden Pond ) in 1905
Billy Martin, baseball 2nd baseman/manager (NY Yankees, Oakland A's) in 1928
Levi Parsons Morton, (R) 22nd US VP (1889-93) in 1824
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, educator/founder (US kindergarten) in 1804
William H. Seward, United States Secretary of State, bought Alaska at 2 ¢/acre in 1801
Studs Terkel, NYC, author/host (Stud's Place, Working) in 1912
Robert Tisdall, Ireland, 400m hurdler (Olympic-gold-1932) in 1907
In their 50’s
Pierce Brosnan, County Meath Ireland, actor (Remington Steele , Golden Eye) is 59
Debra Winger, Columbus Oh, actress (Officer & Gentleman) is 57
In their 40’s
David Boreanaz, actor (Bones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is 41
Tracey Gold, NYC, actress (Carol-Growing Pains, Incredible Sunday)is 43
Janet Jackson, Gary Indiana, singer, Michael's sister (Control) is 46
John Salley, NBA star (Detroit Pistons is 48
In their 30’s
Tori Spelling, actress is 39
Under 30 years old
Megan Fox, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, American actress (Transformers) and model is 26


Today’s Obits                                                           
Lean Bear (Awoninahku), Cheyenne chief, murdered in 1864 at about 50
Bodacious the Bull, Famous rodeo bull dies of infected foot in 2000 at 12
Sammy Davis Jr, singer (Candy Man)/actor (Golden Boy), dies of throat cancer in 1990 at 64
Jim Henson, puppeteer (Sesame Street, Muppet Show), dies of septic shock in 1990 at 53
Andy Kaufman, comedian (Latka-Taxi), dies of cancer in 1984 at 35
Levi P. Morton, United States Vice President under Benjamin Harrison dies in 1920 at 96
Mugg, an Arosaguntacook Indian Chief, dies  in 1677 in Black Point, Maine. At the outset of King Philip's war, Mugg attempted to arrange a peace treaty with the British. Instead they jail him for a short time, and gain a bitter enemy. He destroys much of Black Point, Maine in a raid on October 12, 1676. Later he captures a few ships and stages a brief naval war before his death
Eliot Ness, American federal agent dies of heart attack in 1957 at 54

Answers                                                                                                                                            
Brain Game: Close Up Picture

Riddle of the day
Water, fire, earth, wind
NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.      Goal + v: Volga
2.     Heir + n: Rhine
3.     Goon + c: Congo
4.     Bite + r: Tiber
5.     Agnes + g: Ganges
6.     Haste + m: Thames
7.     Grits + i: Tigris
8.     Gnome + k: Mekong
9.     Unbag + i: Ubangi
10.  Preheats + u: Euphrates

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  ☺

May 15


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

Today’s  Historical  Highlights
1672: 1st copyright law enacted by Massachusetts
1718: James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents world's 1st machine gun
1862: Department of Agriculture created
1918: 1st airmail postal service (NY, Phila & Wash DC)
1934: Dept of Justice offers $25,000 reward for Dillinger, dead or alive
1942: Gasoline 1st rationed in US (17 Eastern States)
1948: Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq & Saudi-Arabia troops attack Israel

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪ 

 
Free Rambling Thoughts   
A little windy but a really nice day. Sometime during the night my bedroom screen blew off and landed on my deck. Quite a little shock when I was opening the window this morning with no screen. Easily fixed. I was out and about most of the morning, just enjoying our great weather.

Anderson Cooper of CNN did an amazing story on what is happening in Syria and Turkey. Thousands of refugees have fled to Turkey. To slow them down, the Syrian Army has placed land mines along the trails used to cross the border. Young Syrian men with no training in explosives are searching to the mines and taking them off the trails. Some are successful, others are not and loose feet, legs, arms. So sad. It appears the regions other governments are waiting for ‘someone else’ to step in and stop this.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)
Brain Game—A close up picture of what?

NPR Sunday Puzzle
Every answer is a word or familiar phrase of no more than 12 letters. The word contains at least four T's.
For example: A German city where the philosopher Hegel lived. Answer: Stuttgart
1.      A snitch:
2.     A Coke V Pepsi competition:
3.     An Oscar prize:
4.     Stuff put in the bottom of a cat box to absorb odors:
5.     Ice cream containing many kinds of fruit:
6.     Native people of Namibia known for their fierceness:
7.     Ready for some action, as on a date:
8.     Italian painter of the Renaissance:
9.     Image once seen on TV after a station went off the air:
10.  perfect vision:
11.    See-saw:

Riddle of the day
What goes round and round the wood but never goes into the wood?
Anagram: unscramble—numbers represent the number of letters in each answer word

Lifestyle  Substance     
Harper’s Index         
Minimum number of US colleges that offer cources in unmanned-drone operations: 5
Found on You Tube 
Planet Earth—

Joke-of-the-day
An elderly couple stood before the family court judge after a long divorce trial. The judge asked why they wanted a divorce after having been married for nearly 70 years.
They answered:" We wanted to wait, till after the kids had died".
Rules of Thumb   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guessNo matter how simple, all DIY plumbing projects will require 3 trips to the hardware store.
Yeah, It Really Happened
Lewiston, Idaho (AP) --A man says he reached down to pick up a stick lying in the gardening aisle of a Wal-Mart in Idaho, only to discover that it was a rattlesnake that then bit his hand.Mica Craig says he was shopping in the outdoor garden department of a Lewiston store when he was bitten Saturday. The 47-year-old man from Clarkston, Wash., says it latched onto his hand and that he screamed and managed to shake loose the snake and stomped it to death.The Lewiston Tribune (http://bit.ly/J4pfe5 ) reports a bystander drove Craig to a local emergency room. Craig says he was treated with six bags of anti-venom and was told that his hand could be permanently disfigured. 
Somewhat Useless Information   
Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.The color blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to release calming hormones.

Calendar Information        
…Happening This Week:
10-16
Universal Family Week
12-19 
National Tourism Week
National Nursing Home Week
Reading is Fun Week
Salute to Moms 35+ Week
National Return To Work Week
National Women's Health Week
American Craft Beer Week
National Bike to Work Week
National Etiquette Week
National Hospital Week
15-21
National Dog Bite Prevention Week
National Educational Bosses' Week
National New Friends, Old Friends Week
National Police Week
National Transportation Week
World Trade Week
EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Week

Today Is                                                                      
Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season begins
International Day of Families
National Chocolate Chip Day
National Safety Dose Day
Nylon Stockings Day
Peace Officer Memorial Day
Straw Hat Day
UN International Day of Families

Japan: Hollyhock Festival
Mexico: San Isidoro Day
Paraguay: Independence Day
(1811 from Spain)

Today’s Other Events                                                             
Before 1000CE
756: Abd-al-Rahman I becomes emir of Cordova Spain
à
1200’s
1252: Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition
à
1600’s
1602: Cape Cod discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold
1700’s
1716: French commander Bienville sends three Natchez Indians to their village to bring back the head of a Chief, Oyelape, who ordered the killings of five Frenchmen. Bienville holds several other Natchez as hostages. From "friendly" Tonica Indians, Bienville learns that the Natchez are planning an attack on his makeshift fort on an island in the Mississippi River.
1791: Maximilien Robespierre proposes the Self-denying Ordinance
1800’s
1846: A treaty is signed by Texas Governor Pierce Butler, and Colonel M.G. Lewis (Meriwether Lewis' brother), and sixty-three Indians of the Aionai, Anadarko, Caddo, Comanche, Kichai (Keehy), Lepan (Apache), Longwha, Tahuacarro (Tahwacarro), Tonkawa, Waco, and Wichita tribes. It is ratified on February 15, 1847, and signed by President Polk on March 8, 1847
1869: National Woman Suffrage Association forms
1900’s
1905: Las Vegas Nevada founded
1915: A T & T becomes 1st corporation to have 1 million stockholders
1918: Washington Senator Walter Johnson pitches 1-0, 18 inning game
1919: Brooklyn Dodgers score 10 runs in 13th to beat Reds 10-0
1928: Mickey Mouse made his 1st appearance in  "Plane Crazy"
1933: 1st voice amplification system to be used in US Senate
1940: McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California
1944: Eisenhower, Montgomery, Churchill & George VI discuss D-Day plan
1963: Peter, Paul & Mary win their 1st Grammy (If I Had a Hammer)
1970: Beatles' last LP, "Let It Be," is released in US
1972: George Wallace shot & left paralyzed by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, Md
1972: The island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control
1988: Moscow began withdrawing its 115,000 troops in Afghanistan
2000’s
2008: California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional
2010: Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Remembered for being born on this day
Eddy Arnold, Henderson TN, country singer (Cattle Call , Anytime) in 1918
Pierre Curie, France, physicist (Nobel 1903) in 1859
Williamina Fleming, Scottish-born astronomer in 1857
Katherine Anne Porter, US, novelist (Ship of Fools) in 1890
Chief Nipo T Strongheart, Yakima, US Indian actor (Pony Soldier) in 1891
Johnny Walker (Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi), Indian actor in 1923
James Mason, England, actor (Lolita, Bloodline, Boys From Brazil) in 1909

In their 70’s
Lainie Kazan, Brooklyn, singer /actress (Lust in the Dust, Beaches) is 72
Trini Lopez, Trinidad, singer/guitarist (If I Had a Hammer) is 75
In their 60’s
Miruts Yifter, Ethiopia, 5K/10K runner (Olympic-gold-1980) is 68
In their 50’s
George Brett, WV, KC Royal 3rd baseman (1980 AL MVP) is 59
In their 40’s
David Charvet, actor (Baywatch, Melrose Place) is 40
Emmitt Smith, running back (Dallas Cowboys, 3-time NFL rushing leader) is 43

Today’s Obits                                                           
June Carter Cash, American musician and singer (Wildflower) of complications from surgery in 2003 at 73
Emily Dickinson, US poet, dies of Bright's disease in 1886 at 55
Jerry Falwell, American evangelist dies of respiratory failure in 2007 at 73
Wayman Tisdale, American basketball player dies of cancer in 2009 at 44
Theodore H White, US journalist (Making of Pres, Pulitzer), dies from stroke in 1986 at 71

Answers                                                                                                                                            
Brain Game: Close Up Picture

Riddle of the day
The bark
NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.      A snitch: tattletale
2.     A Coke V Pepsi competition: taste test
3.     An Oscar prize: statuette
4.     Stuff put in the bottom of a cat box to absorb odors: kitty litter
5.     Ice cream containing many kinds of fruit: tutti fruiti
6.     Native people of Namibia known for their fierceness: Hottentots
7.     Ready for some action, as on a date: hot to trot
8.     Italian painter of the Renaissance: Tintoretto
9.     Image once seen on TV after a station went off the air: test pattern
10.  perfect vision: twenty-twenty
11.    See-saw: teeter-totter

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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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.