May 24

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

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1513: While exploring the Gulf Coast of Florida. Ponce de Leon encounters Calusa Indians near Charlotte harbor. In a fight with the Calusa, de Leon captures four warriors.

1798: Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins

1830: "Mary Had A Little Lamb," is published

1844: Samuel Morse taps out "What hath God wrought" (1st telegraph message)

1899: 1st auto repair shop opens (Boston)

1930: 1st woman to fly from England to Australia solo, lands (Amy Johnson)

1941: Bismarck sinks British battle cruiser HMS Hood, 1,416 die 3 survive

1951: Racial segregation in Wash DC restaurants ruled illegal

1957: Anti American riots breakout in Taipei, Taiwan

1985::25) cyclone hits Bangladesh; about 10,000 die

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪ 

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

A windy, windy day…drying out everything. Not a good sign. A small wildfire just north of Flag, on the road to the Grand Canyon. Hopefully it will be quickly contained. There are currently 9 wildfires, destroying almost 76,000 acres (118 sq. miles). Such a disturbing time in AZ.

Our less than brilliant Sec of State has heard from Hawaii and says that Obama is a natural born citizen and eligible to be President. Interesting that the AZ Secretary of State is also the Chairman of the ‘Elect Romney’ team in AZ…even though he said, while running for the office, that he would not get involved in politics outside his stated constitutional duties. Of course, Sheriff Joe is still conducting his ‘investigation’ and has sent a Deputy to Hawaii to protect his volunteers…claims it is not on the state dollar. Wanna buy a bridge?

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game—A close up picture of what?

NPR Sunday Puzzle

Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase, where the first word starts with V and the second word starts with A. For example, given "subject of a tax in Britain" the answer would be "value added."1.      The second in command in the Navy:
2.     Residue around Mauna Loa for example:
3.     Law that ushered in prohibition:
4.     Painting, sculpture, etc:
5.     Period in England known for formality:
6.     Kind of belt in astronomy:
7.     18 in the US:
8.     Effort that isn’t successful:
9.     Form that is filled out to travel to another country:
10.  The last cabinet level position before Homeland Security:
11.    Military force that doesn’t rely on the draft:
12.   Contract or understanding that is not written down:
13.   Ancient poem:
14.   British Airline with lots of routes between US and England:
15.   A person’s sudden disappearance:

Riddle of the day

What is is that you will break even when you name it?

Anagram: unscramble—numbers represent the number of letters in each answer word

Lifestyle  Substance     

Harper’s Index         

Minimum number of weapons confiscated from visitors to the Statue of Liberty last year: 11,488

Found on You Tube 

Ann Coulter Debates Cheech & Chong About Legalizing Marijuana        

Planet Earth—

Joke-of-the-day

Two guys were riding in a car, arguing about how to say the name of the city that they were in. One said "Louieville" and the other "Louiseville." They went on arguing and arguing, until they came upon a fast-food restaurant. The one guy goes inside and says to the waitress,

"Tell me the name of the place where I am right now really, really, really slowly."

The waitress goes, "Bur-ger-King."

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

To determine where subway doors will open, look at the yellow stripe painted along the edge of the platform. The doors are most likely to open adjacent to the areas where the paint is most worn.

Yeah, It Really Happened

A story, where the teacher, or track coach in this case, befriended the lonely, awkward kid and then went to prom with him.

The coach is Melissa Bowerman, 41, who had been coaching the Condon/Wheeler track and field team in Oregon.

Bowerman said attending the Condon High School prom with a boy from the track team was an error in judgment, but she said the pair did not have an inappropriate relationship. She said they danced to a few slow songs but mostly played ping pong and foosball.

The coach -- or former coach, rather -- who has a son on the track team, said she went to the prom because the boy felt bad that he lacked a date and had been struggling in English class.

"If they go on (academic) probation and suspension, then they can't go to the track meets," Bowerman said. "I said, 'OK, I will go with you, but we've got to talk about English first. You're going to do better in English."

 So apparently the prom date was a success. It was only afterward that a problem arose.

"There was an investigation done and through that there were some potential details that arose," Condon superintendent Jan Zarate said. "We started an investigation that led to us asking her to un-volunteer."

             

Somewhat Useless Information   

Your eyes are composed of more than 2 million working parts, and they focus on about 50 things per second.

The eye of a human can distinguish 500 shades of gray.

For AZ centennial celebration: town names

• Eagar, AZ: a town in Apache County, Arizona, the population of the town is 4,126, first settled in 1871 and founded by John Thomas Eager, The largest ski resort in Arizona is only a 30 minute drive from Eagar. The racial makeup of the town was 87.08% White, 3.35% Native American, 0.42% Black or African American, 0.12% Asian, 0.35% Pacific Islander, 4.91% from other races, and 3.77% from two or more races. 13.98% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race. 

• Eden, AZ: unincorporated community in Graham County, he population is 150, The area hosted the Eden Mansion until February 2008, when it burned down. The mansion was rumored to host the likes of the Rolling Stones on more than one occasion. The mansion had a 70' × 270' pool, the largest ever in Graham County.

• El Mirage, AZ: a city in Maricopa County, the population is 31,767, total area of 9.7 square miles (25 km²), El Mirage is near Luke U.S. Air Force Base, the largest Fighter Pilot Training Base in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, The racial makeup of the city was 66.26% White, 3.29%Black or African American, 0.85% Native American, 0.38% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 26.18% from other races, and 2.98% from two or more races. 66.82% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race.

• Elfrida, AZ: a small unincorporated community in Cochise County, the population is 1,366, Elfrida gained a library circa March 2000

Calendar Information        

…Happening This Week:

19-25

National Safe Boating Week

21-27

Recreational Water Illness and Injury Prevention Week

National Medical Transcription Week

National Backyard Games Week

Week of Solidarity With The People of Non-Self-Governing Territories Old-Time Player Piano Week

Today Is                                                                      

Brother's Day

Hug Your Cat Day

International Tiara Day

Morse Code Day

National Escargot Day

Bulgaria: Culture Day
Eritrea: Independence Day (1993 from Ethiopia)

Today’s Other Events                                                             

1100’s

1153: Malcolm IV becomes king of Scotland

à

1500’s

1539: Mexican Viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoza has decided to send an expedition to search for wealthy cities north of Mexico. On March 7, 1539, Friar Marcos de Niza started the expedition from Culiacan. Accordiong to Niza’s journal, he finally sees Cibola, although he never sets foot in the pueblo. His report will lead to future expeditions looking for the "Seven Cities of Gold."

à

1700’s

1738: John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day

1800’s

1818: Gen Andrew Jackson captures Pensacola Florida

1856: Pottawatomie Massacre took place in Kansas

1866: Berkeley, California named (for George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne)

1884: Anti-Monopoly party & Greenback Party forms People's Party in US

1900’s

1915: Thomas Edison invents ‘telescribe’ to record telephone conversations 1921: 1st parliament for Northern Ireland elected

1931: 1st air-conditioned train installed-B&O Railroad

1958: UP & International News Service merges into United Press International

1959: 1st house with built-in bomb shelter exhibited (Pleasant Hills Pa)

1971: A commuter bus plunges into Panama Canal, killing 38 of 43 aboard

1981: Bobby Unser wins, loses, & wins a controversial Indy 500

1983: Supreme Court rules government can deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminated against students

1986: Margaret Thatcher becomes 1st British PM to visit Israel

1989: "Indiana Jones & Last Crusade" premieres

2000’s

2001: Mountain climbing: 15-year-old Sherpa Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest

2004: Communications in North Korea: North Korea bans mobile phones.

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Remembered for being born on this day

John Riley Banister, American law officer and cowboy in 1854

William Gilbert, Essex England, physicist (researcher into magnetism) in 1544

Coleman A Young, civil rights leader (Mayor-D-Detroit) in 1918

à

In their 70’s

Tommy Chong, Edmonton, Alberta, comedian/actor (Cheech & Chong)is 74

Bob Dylan  [Zimmerman], Minn, singer/songwriter ( Blowin' in Wind) is 71

In their 60’s

Gary Burghoff, Bristol CT, actor (Radar-M*A*S*H) is 69

Patti LaBelle, [Holt], Phila Pa, singer (LaBelle-Lady Marmalade) is 68

Priscilla Presley, Bkln NY, actress (Jenna-Dallas, Naked Gun) is 67

à

In their 40’s

John C. Reilly, Chicago, Illinois, American actor (Chicago, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story)is 47

Today’s Obits                                                           

Gene Clark, folk-rocker (Byrds-Tambourine Man), dies of heart attack in 1991 at 49

John Foster Dulles, US Secretary of State (1953-59), dies of bone cancer in 1959 at 71

Duke Ellington, blues singer, dies of cancer in 1974 at 75

Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold, actress (Gigi, Music Man), dies in 1987 at 89

George Jessel, actor (Diary of a Young Comic), dies in 1981 at 83

Dick Martin American comedian (Laugh-In) does in 2008 at 89

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Brain Game: Close Up Picture

Riddle of the day

Silence

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.      The second in command in the Navy: Vice Admiral

2.     Residue around Mauna Loa for example: volcanic ash

3.     Law that ushered in prohibition: Volstead Act

4.     Painting, sculpture, etc: visual arts

5.     Period in England known for formality: Victorian Age

6.     Kind of belt in astronomy: Van Allen

7.     18 in the US: voting age

8.     Effort that isn’t successful: vain attempt

9.     Form that is filled out to travel to another country: Visa application

10.  The last cabinet level position before Homeland Security: Veteran’s Affairs

11.    Military force that doesn’t rely on the draft: volunteer army

12.   Contract or understanding that is not written down: verbal agreement

13.   Ancient poem: Virgil’s Aeneid

14.   British Airline with lots of routes between US and England: Virgin Atlantic

15.   A person’s sudden disappearance: vanishing act

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 23

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

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1430: Joan of Arc is captured at Compiegne & sold to the British

1853: Buenos Aires gains independence from Argentina (reunited 1859)

1863: Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan

1922: Walt Disney incorporates his 1st film company Laugh-O-Gram Films

1958: Schools 1st use Cliff's Notes

1959: Presbyterian Church accepts women preachers

1960: Israel announces capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Argentina

1982: Colin Wilson rides a surfboard 294 miles

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪ 

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

I had a busy and educational day. Started off with buying airline tickets from Phx to Houston for my Kenya trip. Got on Expedia about 7am and the round trip was $360. That sounded a little high, but not a lot of choices. Filled out the form, get to the price page and see a big red flag at the top stating that the price had changed since it was posted and was now $425. Outrageous price…and I have to wonder how long a brick and mortar store would stay in business if they raised their prices 20% from the time the customer picked an item on the shelf and made it to the check-out stand. So I closed that site and went to Kayak and found a ticket, on the same airline, at the same time of day, on the same day for $318. Bought it. I also read today that families traveling this summer by air will no longer necessarily get seated together without paying. Great… just what every airline passenger looks forward to…a three year old next to them with the parents 14 aisles away. Then I called the pharmacy to renew some eye drops. I didn’t have the little box they come in, so had to wait 10 minutes to talk to someone. This is at 10am. At 11:30 they called to say that the prescription needs to be renewed by the eye doctor. I called at 3pm to see if the script was ready. They said they hadn’t heard from the Dr. So I called the Dr., who is usually on top of this stuff. They said the fax came in 2:00pm and would call the pharmacy. They did. I asked the Pharmacy Tech why it took from 11:30s until 2:00pm to fax the script across town. The answer…the fax line must have been busy. I worked with fax lines when I was working, they automatically redial every minute or so until it goes through.

I decided today was a good day to set up my front fountain. I saw a cool idea on making a homemade fountain so I tried it. It works great. It works much better than the one I designed last year. Happy Camper.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game—A close up picture of what?

NPR Sunday Puzzle

Clues are given for two words. The first word has two or more G's in it. Remove all the G's and the remaining letters, in order, will spell the answer to the second clue. For example, given "joke writers" and "prayer ending," the answer would be "gag men" and "amen."

1.      Uses Listerine or Scope; French city in Van Gogh paintings:

2.     Keeps several ball in the air; writer—Verne:

3.     Long and matted as a dog’s hair; a rural carriage:

4.     A non-Wizard in Harry Potter books; offspring of horse and donkey:

Each first answer has more than two g’s

5.     Exercise activity on track or street; become a member of:

6.     Protective eye wear; cries at a bull fight:

7.     Boasting, intellect:

8.     Sound of a drowning person (2 words); sang “To Sir with Love”:

Riddle of the day

What belongs to you but others use it more than you do?

Anagram: unscramble—numbers represent the number of letters in each answer word

Lifestyle  Substance     

Harper’s Index         

Percentage of Americans who believe it is ‘extremely important’ to halt the flow of illegal immigration at the border: 53Who believe that illegal immigrants already in the country should be allowed to stay and become US citizens: 64

Found on You Tube 

Joe DiMaggio on What's My Line       

Planet Earth—

Joke-of-the-day

Q. How many programmers does it take to change a light bulb? A. None. That's a hardware issue.

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

If you get a group of 100 people online then one will create content, 10 will "interact" with it (commenting or offering improvements) and the other 89 will just view it. Quoting Charles Arthur in The Guardian, July 20, 2006.

Yeah, It Really Happened

WINDSOR, Ontario, Canada (AP) --Police in the Canadian province of Ontario say they are holding a man who is accused of swallowing a $20,000 diamond as long as it takes for him to produce the evidence.It has been nearly a week since Richard Mackenzie Matthews, 52, is alleged to have switched a diamond at Precision Jewellers and swallowed the real one.Matthews has been held at police headquarters while they wait for the 1.7-carat stone to pass through his system. Sgt. Brett Corey said Thursday that Matthews has gone to the washroom numerous times, but the diamond hasn't passed.Corey says a recent X-ray showed a pair of fake diamonds, or cubic zirconiums, stuck in the man's intestines but because a diamond is translucent, it isn't visible. He says the suspect is eager to get the ordeal over with and is co-operating.In the early stages, Corey says Matthews was being given laxative type foods, but is now being fed whatever he wants, in an effort to get things moving.Matthews is charged with theft and breach of court conditions, and is also wanted on warrants in Toronto.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Advertisements for coffee in London in 1657 claimed that the beverage was a cure for scurvy, gout and other ills.

• Almonds are the oldest, most widely cultivated and extensively used nuts in the world.

• In 1932 James Markham obtained the 1st patent issued for a tree. The patent was for a peach tree.

• Rice paper isn't made from rice but from a small tree which grows in Taiwan.

• Willow bark, which provides the salicylic acid from which aspirin was originally synthesized, has been used as a pain remedy ever since the Greeks discovered its therapeutic power nearly 2,500 years ago.

• The first American advertisement for tobacco was published in 1789. It showed a picture of an Indian smoking a long clay pipe.

For AZ centennial celebration: town names

• Dateland, AZ: unincorporated community in Yuma County, specialize in growing dates, the population is 852

• Dennehotso, AZ:  (Navajo: Deinihootso—green valley) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Apache County, Arizona, United States,. the population is 734 , 9.9 sq mi (25.6 km2), The racial makeup of the CDP was 98.64% Native American, 0.82% White, and 0.54% from two or more races. 0.27% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race.

• 1. Dragoon, AZ: unincorporated community in Cochise County, the population is 297

• Duncan, AZ: a town in Greenlee County, the population of the town is 713, primarily populated by ranchers and miners (especially from copper and silver mines , Justice Sandra Day O'Connor  grew up near Duncan, the town has a total area of 2.6 square miles (6.7 km2),  the racial makeup of the town was 81.77% White, 0.49% Black or African American, 0.86% Native American, 0.12% Asian, 13.55% from other races, and 3.20% from two or more races. 31.53% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Calendar Information        

…Happening This Week:

19-25

National Safe Boating Week

21-27

Recreational Water Illness and Injury Prevention Week

National Medical Transcription Week

National Backyard Games Week

Week of Solidarity With The People of Non-Self-Governing Territories Old-Time Player Piano Week

Today Is                                                                      

Declaration of the Bab Day (Baha’i)

National Taffy Day

Penny Day

World Crohn's and Colitis Day

World Turtle Day

Canada: Victoria Day

Sweden: Linnaeus Day (for Carl Linnaeus (b. 1707). Botanist who gave order to the plant and animal kingdoms)

Today’s Other Events                                                             

1200’s

1275: King Edward I of Engld orders cessation of persecution of French Jews

à

1400’s

1421: Jews of Austria imprisoned & expelled

1500’s

1568: The Netherlands declare their independence from Spain

à

1700’s

1785: Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals

1800’s

1807: The Chickasaw Treaty of July 23, 1805 is publicly proclaimed

1813: South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador ("The Liberator")

1838: Under the provisions of the New Echota Treaty of December 29, 1835, this the deadline for Cherokees to emigrate to the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma). Any Cherokees still east of the Mississippi River, after today, are force to leave

1865: Flag flown at full staff over White House, 1st time since Lincoln shot

1873: 1st Preakness: G Barbee aboard Survivor wins in 2:43 (2012 winning time: 1:55.94)

1882: 6" of snow falls in eastern Iowa

1900’s

1940: 1st great dogfight between Spitfires

1945: Heinrich Himmler, German Nazi leader & Gestapo leader, commits suicide in prison at 44

1945: Winston Churchill resigns as British PM

1948: Joe DiMaggio hits 3 consecutive HRs

1949: Federal Republic of [West] Germany proclaimed (Republic Day)

1958: Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) start "Great leap forward" movement in China

1962: Scott Carpenter orbits Earth 3 times in US Aurora 7

1969: Who release rock opera  "Tommy"

1970: A fire breaks out in the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits in north Wales contributing to its partial destruction and causing approximately £1,000,000 worth of fire damage

1977: Moluccan extremists hold 105 schoolchildren & 50 others hostage on a hijacked train in Neth, children released May 27, siege ends June 11

1990: Cost of rescuing savings & loan failures is put at up to $130 billion

1998: The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes

2000’s

2002: The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland

2008: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Remembered for being born on this day

Rosemary Clooney, Kentucky, singer(Come'on my House) /paper towels spokeswoman (Coronet)in 1928

Scatman Crothers, [Benjamin], Terre Haute IN, actor (Zapped, Shining) in 1910

Douglas Fairbanks, Denver CO, actor (Zorro/3 Musketeers/Robin Hood)in 1883

Robert A Moog, inventor (Moog Synthesizer) in 1934

Artie Shaw, [Arthur Arshawsky], NYC, bandleader in 1910

In their 80’s

Barbara Barrie, actress (Breaking Away, Barney Miller) is 81

In their 70’s

Joan Collins, actress, author is 79

à

In their 50’s

Drew Carey, comedian, game show host is 54

"Marvelous" Marvin Hagler, NJ, middleweight boxing champ (1982-83) is 58

Shelly West, Cleve OH, country singer (Red Hot, West by West) is 54

à

In their 30’s

Ken Jennings, American game show contestant (Jeopardy) is 38

Today’s Obits                                                           

Archibald Alison, Scottish historian, dies in 1867 at 74

Clyde Barrow, outlaw (Bonnie & Clyde), killed in police ambush in 1934 at 23

Lloyd Bentsen, US Senator (TX), Sec. of Treasury, VP candidate (1988) dies in 2006 at 85

Kit Christopher Houston Carson, American trapper, scout, and Indian agent dies of aneurysm in 1868 at 58

Ismail I, Shah of Persia and poet,  dies in 1524 at 36

William Kidd, Scottish pirate, hanged in 1701 at 56

George Jessel, US comic/toastmaster (Diary of Young Comic), dies in 1981 at 83

Jackie "Moms" Mabley (Loretta Mary Aiken), comedienne (Amazing Grace), dies in 1975 at 81

Bonnie Parker, outlaw (Bonnie & Clyde), killed in police ambush in 1934 at 24

John Davison Rockfeller, industrialist, dies in 1937  at 97

Sam Snead, American golfer dies in 2002 at 89

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Brain Game: Close Up Picture

Riddle of the day

Your name

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.      Uses Listerine or Scope; French city in Van Gogh paintings: gargles; Arles

2.     Keeps several ball in the air; writer—Verne: juggles, Jules

3.     Long and matted as a dog’s hair; a rural carriage: shaggy; shay

4.     A non-Wizard in Harry Potter books; offspring of horse and donkey: Muggle; mule

Each first answer has more than two g’s

5.     Exercise activity on track or street; become a member of: jogging; join

6.     Protective eye wear; cries at a bull fight: goggles: oles

7.     Boasting, intellect: bragging; brain

8.     Sound of a drowning person (2 words); sang “To Sir with Love”: glug, glug: Lulu

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  ☺