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Friday, June 29, 2001
1925 - A patent for the frosted electric light bulb was filed by
Marvin Pipkin. What a bright idea. The frosting inside the light
bulb created less glare because it diffused the light emitted, spreading
it over a wider area, providing a much softer glow.
1953 - The US Interstate Highway System was born. The Federal Highway
Act authorized the construction of 42,500 miles of freeway from
coast to coast.
***
These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not
in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that
great characters are formed... Great necessities call out great
virtues.
-- Abigail Adams
Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display
qualities which he does not possess, and to gain applause which
he cannot keep.
-- Dr. Samuel Johnson
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink.
Water, water everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
-- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The water was not fit to drink.
To make it palatable, we had to add whiskey.
By diligent effort, I learned to like it.
-- Sir Winston Churchill
A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.
-- William Blake
No one can earn a million dollars honestly.
-- William Jennings Bryan
Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that you've got it
made.
-- George Burns
'Tis strange- but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than
fiction.
-- George Gordon, Lord Byron
Goals too clearly defined can become blinkers.
-- Mary Catherine Bateson
An ignorance of means may minister to greatness, but an ignorance
of aims makes it impossible to be great at all.
-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
***
Ice Cream Firm Making Amends
Orange Lake, FL (AP) - It may taste great, but it was more filling
than some Florida ice cream lovers realized. Big Daddy Ice Cream
plans to make amends with its customers through a coupon offer and
a new nutrition label.
The product, which had become a favorite of dieters because of its
claims of 100 calories and two grams of fat for a 12-ounce serving,
was mislabeled. Laboratory tests conducted for the South Florida
Sun-Sentinal show that the 12-ounce serving actually contained 300
calories and seven grams of fat -- about the same as a chocolate
doughnut.
An attorney for the firm says details are being worked out on either
a coupon offer or free products.
***
Answers From Students On Music Exams
-- J. S. Bach died from 1750 to the present.
-- Handel was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was
rather large.
-- Henry Purcell is a well-known composer few people have heard
of.
-- Aaron Copeland is one of our famous contemporary composers.
It is unusual to be contemporary. Most composers don't live until
they are dead.
-- Most authorities agree that music of antiquity was written a
long time ago.
***
The late Jesse White, an accomplished character actor, was the
Maytag Repairman. He played the repairman from 1968 until 1989,
but there was another before him in that role, named Tom Pedi.
If biblical personalities had their own theme songs:
Noah: "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"
Adam and Eve: "Strangers in Paradise"
Lazarus: "The Second Time Around"
Moses: "The Wanderer"
Jezebel: "The Lady is a Tramp"
Samson: "Hair"
Salome: "I Could Have Danced All Night"
Daniel: "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
Joshua: "Good Vibrations"
Esau: "Born To Be Wild"
Jeremiah: "Take This Job and Shove It"
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: "Great Balls of Fire!"
The Three Kings: "When You Wish Upon a Star"
Jonah: "Got a Whale of a Tale"
Methuselah: "Stayin' Alive"
***
What are the only two words in the English language that contain
all the vowels, including "y," in alphabetical order?
Facetiously and Abstemiously.
---
Was There A Real Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde?
No, but there was a Scottish cabinet maker named William Brodie
who inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's story. Brodie, a respectful
businessman by day, wore a mask and led a gang of robbers by night.
Born in 1741, Brodie was hanged in 1788. The story interested Stevenson
and inspired The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886).
---
How Many Brothers Karamazov Are There?
In Dostoyevsky's 1880 novel, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov has four
sons: Dmitri, Ivan, Alyosha, and Smerdyakov, a bastard. Dmitri is
the son accused of killing his father.
---
What Were The Real Names Behind These Famous Pen Names?
Boz - Charles Dickens
George Eliot - Mary Ann Evans
George Orwell - Eric Arthur Blair
Ellery Queen - Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee
Stendhal - Marie-Henri Beyle
Saki - Hector Hugh Munro
Voltaire - Francois-Marie Arouet
Maksim Gorki - Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov
---
Thursday, June 28, 2001
1981 - Variety, the movieland trade paper, reported that the biggest
single weekend in box-office history saw American moviegoers spending
a blockbusting $56,101,095 at the box office. The popular movies
bringing in the bucks were Superman II with Christopher Reeve, Raiders
of the Lost Ark, with Harrison Ford, and the Great Muppet Caper,
with Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.
***
Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that you've got it
made.
-- George Burns
Truth is the safest lie.
(Jewish proverb)
For the uncontrolled there is no wisdom, nor for the uncontrolled
is there any power of concentration.
-- Bhagavad Gita
There is probably an element of malice in our readiness to overestimate
people- we are, as it were, laying up for ourselves the pleasure
of later cutting them down to size.
-- Eric Hoffer
He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.
-- Napoleon
***
Washington Whopper
Dobbs Ferry, NY (AP) - Maybe George Washington could not tell a
lie, but that's not true of a monument in his honor in Dobbs Ferry,
New York. A new bronze plaque with the REAL story was attached to
the monument yesterday.
For 107 years, the marker had spread several Washington whoppers.
It claimed to be the place where Washington planned the final departure
instructions. None of that was true according to Robert Stackpole
of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Stackpole says the embellishments were meant to give pride to Dobbs
Ferry, but instead have long been a source of embarrassment. The
new plaque says Washington "ordered the building of two artillery
batteries and a redoubt," a defensive structure.
***
What does a Deltiologist Collect?
Postcards.
***
The penny and the Sacajawea dollar are the only coins currently
minted in the United States with profiles that face to the right.
All other US coins -- the half dollar, the quarter, dime and nickel
-- feature profiles that face to the left.
***
Do you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days
a week? Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And each
day has a different color twist tie:
Monday - Blue
Tuesday - Green
Thursday - Red
Friday - White
Saturday - Yellow
***
What South American Country is named for an Italian City?
Venezuela - which translated means "Little Venice." An
early explorer was impressed by the houses on stilts he found there,
which reminded him of the canals of Venice.
***
Just Dakota
Mitchell, SD (AP) - "Just Dakota" is just funny to people
in the other Dakota. A proposal to drop "North" from the
name of North Dakota is drawing widespread ridicule from people
in South Dakota.
The Greater North Dakota Association proposed changing the state's
name as part of an effort to dispel the state's image as a place
with brutal winter weather.
One South Dakotan says changing the name won't change the temperature.
And a South Dakotan lawmaker put it this way: "You can put
a pig in a dress, but it wouldn't change the fact that it's a pig."
***
Why do graduates wear those strange square caps with their gowns?
Those mortarboards are modeled after the biretta, a similar cap
worn by church officials in the Middle Ages to symbolize their knowledge,
experience and high place. With an optimism that borders on religious
faith, the mortarboard states that the graduate has reached a similar
point in life. The square cardboard was added to the top to keep
the biretta's high crown from flopping on the grad's face
***
During the McCarthy period in the US in the 1950s, anti-communist
feeling was so strong that it even reached into the world of sports.
The Cincinnati Reds baseball team, in order to prevent any misunderstandings,
temporarily changed its name to the Cincinnati Redlegs. After the
hysteria died down they reverted to their original name.
Wednesday, June 27, 2001
CLARABELL KANGAROO DAY
"Hey kids ... what time is it? It's Howdy Doody time!"
The year was 1947
and the peanut gallery surrounded Buffalo Bob Smith, Phineus T.
Bluster,
Indian Princess Summer-Fall-Winter-Spring, Judy, Flubadub and a
clown who
didn't talk named, Clarabell. The clown could make noise with a
horn, like
Harpo Marx, and could spray seltzer water. But that was it. Clarabell
was Bob
Keeshan in disguise, a man who was born on this day in 1927.
Two years later, Clarabell got restless. He wanted to talk. So,
despite what
Buffalo Bob and an NBC players contract said, Clarabell was determined
to
talk -- even silently. As relations between the clown and the star
of the
show (Buffalo Bob, not Howdy) got even more tense, Clarabell mouthed
the
words "Bye Kids" at the close of a Howdy Doody show and
was fired on the
spot.
Clarabell was out of a job until getting the big payback in 1955.
Clarabell
-- now back to being Bob Keeshan -- signed on with CBS for the only
network
children's show to be broadcast on a daily basis. That show, Captain
Kangaroo, became an integral part of American culture for two decades.
Keeshan introduced us to Grandfather Clock, Mr. Green Jeans, Bunny
Rabbit,
Mr. Moose and many other characters who taught kids a lesson. The
phrase,
"And be sure to say 'please' ... and 'thank you'!" was
just one of many.
Captain Kangaroo became the model for truly excellent children's
television
which led the way to Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, Sesame Street and
others.
----
1949 - Captain Video and His Video Rangers premiered on the Dumont
Television
Network. Captain Video was initially played by Richard Coogan. The
voice of
radio's Green Hornet, Al Hodge, replaced Coogan in 1951. Don Hastings
played
the roll of the ranger until the series ended in 1955. Maybe, if
you check
the basement or the attic, you'll find your Captain Video decoder
ring.
Now's the time to use it, kids!
***
Half the work that is done in this world is to make things appear
what they are not.
-- E. R. Beadle
If you can, help others. If you cannot do that, at least do nothing
to harm them.
-- His Holiness, the fourteenth Dalai Lama
It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you
know that you would lie if you were in his place.
-- H. L. Mencken
I never know how much of what I say is true.
-- Bette Midler
Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and
murder respectable, and to give and appearance of solidity to pure
wind.
-- George Orwell
It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important
to be right.
-- Winston Churchill
Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves
up and hurry off as if nothing happened.
-- Winston Churchill
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters can not be
trusted with important matters.
-- Albert Einstein
A pleasant illusion is better than a harsh reality.
-- Christian Nevell Bovee
Disillusion comes only to the illusioned. One cannot be disillusioned
of what one never put faith in.
-- Dorothy Thompson
Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still
exist, but you have ceased to live.
-- Mark Twain
Woe unto you, when all men speak well of you!
-- Luke, 6:26
A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life,
will have left only the hard, clean question: Was it good or was
it evil? Have I done well -- or ill?
-- John Steinbeck
***
It's rare in wars for Commanding Generals to be killed in battle,
but in 1759, as part of the "French and Indian War," there
was a one-day battle in which both the French and British commanding
generals were killed. That battle was the Battle of Quebec, in which
both British General Wolfe and French General Montcalm were killed.
The battlefield was an area outside the city of Quebec, known as
the Plains of Abraham. After that battle, which the British won,
essentially all of Canada from Gaspe to the great lakes belonged
to Britain.
***
While Mr. is common these days, it began as a term of respect,
coming from two sources. "Master" as a title evolved into
"Mister" to match the female title, "Mistress."
Mister also developped as a title to set apart skilled workers,
or artisans, from the peasantry and common laborers. Here it descends
from the Latin, "ministerium," which meant craft or trade.
Over the centuries, ministerium became mister.
***
Why do cats like to rub against people's legs?
If you have a cat, you probably suspected this: it's an ownership
thing. Cats rub against furniture, legs, and other items in order
to place their scent on it and let other cats know what's what.
They can do this because they have glands in their faces.
---
Just how much do cats really sleep?
A lot. If sleeping up to 18 hours a day is your dream life, then
it's too bad you weren't born a cat. Cats sleep quite a bit, but
they don't sleep deeply as we do. Rather, they fall asleep
instantly and wake up quite often to make sure the environment
remains safe. Hence, the term "cat nap" to refer to a
short,
quick nap.
***
"Feet of Flames" -- Michael Flatley
Washington (AP) - Dancer Michael Flatley's legs are worth 50 times
more than Mary Hart's. Flatley legs are insured for $50 million.
He says it doesn't change the way he lives his life. Flatley says
life is too short for him to stop dancing. He says "whatever's
going to happen is going to happen. It's a matter of fate."
Flatley says his "Feet of Flames" tour is his last. He
performs tonight in Washington.
***
Smelly Plant Set to Bloom
Davison Township, MI (AP) - Crowds are expected to gather in Davison
Township, Michigan, for a smelly plant that's expected to bloom
this week. The titanum belongs to Jerome Leflore. Botanists have
nicknamed titanums "corpse plants" because of their unique
odor, which has been compared to rotting flesh.
Leflore calls his plant "Tina."
Most of the two-foot plants are grown in botanical gardens or universities.
That's...because Leflore says it grows in "soil" consisting
of bone meal, chicken manure, slow-release fertilizer, peat moss
and sand. He also uses lights to heat the soil and a humidifier
to simulate the plant's native environment -- the Indonesian rain
forests.
According to The Flint Journal, Leflore's plant isn't in a greenhouse,
it's in his living room. If it blooms, the plant could be worth
thousands.
Tuesday, June 26, 2001
TOP OF THE WORLD DAY
Early into the 1970s, the folks in Toronto, Canada were having
problems with their TV and radio reception. Interference from the
many skyscrapers being built in the city were causing TV shows to
be superimposed on top of each other. To remedy the situation, the
Canadian National Railway Company was commissioned to build an antenna
that would tower over every building ever built. The antenna design
turned into a tourist attraction design by John Andrews Architects
and Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Architects; and after 40 months,
the completed CN Tower opened ... on this day in 1976. 63 million
dollars and 1,537 people were needed to complete the tallest free
standing structure and building in the world. The CN (Canadian National)
Tower, including the 335 foot (102 meters), steel, broadcasting
antenna, is 1,815 feet, 5 inches tall (553.33 meters). At 1,465
feet, you'll be standing on the world's highest public observation
deck, the Space Deck. You can take one of six elevators to the Sky
Pod level at a speed of 15 miles per hour. After your 58-second-long
trip, you can take another elevator inside the tower to the Space
Deck. Or, you could climb the 1769 steps up the tower. You'll have
the distinction of dining in the world's highest and largest revolving
restaurant, aptly named "360", the home of the world's
highest wine cellar. Wine cellars are usually under the building,
this one's on top of the world!
Sixteen Toronto TV and FM radio stations broadcast their signals
from the antenna ... and all over Southern Ontario, Canada, TV viewers
and radio listeners can see and hear clearly, all because of the
CN Tower ... Toronto's favorite tourist attraction.
***
1284 - The Pied Piper exacted his revenge upon the German town
of Hamelin on this day in the account by the brothers Grimm.
1949 - Entertainer Fred Allen closed out his amazing radio career.
Allen was making the transition to TV. His final radio guest was
his old pal, Jack Benny. Allen's caustic wit didn't play well on
TV and he found himself out of the medium in short order. Benny
went on to become a television legend.
1959 - CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow interviewed his 500th --
and final -- guest on Person to Person: actress Lee Remick. Just
hours before this final broadcast, Murrow had presented his last
news broadcast on the CBS radio network. CBS-TV had reportedly made
$20 million from Murrow's Person to Person series.
1985 - You've heard of players, managers and owners being ejected
from baseball games. But have you ever heard of an organist being
given the heave-ho? It happened at Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater,
Florida (the home of the Philadelphia Phillies during spring training;
a Class A League team uses the stadium for the rest of the season).
Wilbur Snapp played Three Blind Mice following a call by umpire
Keith O'Connor. The umpire was not amused, and saw to it that Mr.
Snapp was sent to the showers.
***
When I was a young man I vowed never to marry until I found the
ideal woman. Well, I found her -- but, alas, she was waiting for
the perfect man.
-- Robert Schuman (French Statesman)
The only way to predict your future is to create it.
(unattributed)
All truth passes through 3 stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second,
it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
-- Arthur Schopenhauer
This above all' to thine own self be true.
-- William Shakespeare "Hamlet"
Though I am not naturally honest, I am sometimes so by chance.
-- William Shakespeare
When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know she lies.
-- William Shakespeare "Sonnet 138"
The truth is always the strongest argument.
-- Sophocles
Truly, to tell lies is not honorable;
but when the truth entails tremendous ruin,
To speak dishonorably is pardonable.
-- Sophocles
What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising?
Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical
advertising uses truth to deceive the public.
-- Vilhjalmur Stefansson
***
OXFORD SCHOLAR -- NOT!
Homer Simpson's favorite expression - "doh!" - has made
it into the Oxford English Dictionary.
People.com reports the phrase is one of 1,250 new or revised entries
published Thursday on the OED Web site. It will be added to the
next edition of the print dictionary, though its publication is
years away.
The OED's online edition defines Homer's trademark expression --
which is usually accompanied by a slap to the forehead -- as "expressing
frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly
or not as planned or that one has just said or done something foolish.
Also implying that another person has said or done something foolish."
***
William Shakespeare detailed "7 ages of man," through
the voice of the melancholic Jacques in his comedy "As You
Like It." They are:
1. The infant
2. The whining schoolboy
3. The lover
4. The soldier
5. The justice
6. The lean and slippered Pantaloon
7. Second childishness and mere oblivion
***
The Seven Wonders of the World were recorded by Antipater of Sidon
in the second
century BC. They are:
1.) The Pyramids of Egypt
2.) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
3.) The Colossus at Rhodes
4.) The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
5.) The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
6.) The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
7.) The Lighthouse at Alexandria
Of the seven, only the pyramids are still standing.
***
New York to Ban Cell Phones
Albany, NY (AP) - One lawmaker says a bill which would make New
York the first state to ban the use of hand-held cell phones while
driving will save lives. Assemblyman Steve Levy says "The benefit
is quite large in the number of deaths that we will avoid."
The state Assembly approved the measure yesterday. The bill already
passed the state Senate last week. A spokesman says Governor George
Pataki will sign the bill into law this week.
But opponents say there's no proven need for it. Assemblyman Thomas
Kirwin says "We're putting the cart before the horse."
He complains the measure calls for studying accidents involving
cell phones -- after making their hand-held use illegal.
At least 23 countries, including Great Britain, Italy, Israel, and
Japan, have bans on drivers using hand-held cell phones.
***
Back in Brooklyn Again
New York (AP) - It took 44 years, but Brooklyn finally has another
baseball team -- and a winning one to boot. The minor-league Brooklyn
Cyclones won their home opener last night, beating the Mahoning
Valley Scrapers 3 to 2 in ten innings.
[Brooklyn] had been in mourning since 1957 0-- when its beloved
Dodgers packed up and headed for Los Angeles.
The new team was welcomed with a parade and a sell-out crowd at
its park , which sits in Coney Island. The team is named for the
Cyclone, the famed old wooden roller coaster that clatters along
beyond left field.
Monday, June 25, 2001
KEWPIE DAY
How many of you remember ... or ever heard of ... the Kewpie Doll?
Are we dating you? The Kewpie Doll was created by Rose O'Neill,
who was born on this day in 1874. Rose was raised in Wilkes-Barre,
Pennsylvania and had a rather successful career as an illustrator
and author. She then began to design dolls, specifically, the Kewpie
Doll.
A 1910 issue of Ladies Home Journal printed a full page of Ms. O'Neill's
doll designs catapulting the Kewpie Doll into a marketing success
in the toy industry for over three decades.
The Kewpie Doll was a small, cupid-like, plump figure with a top-knot
and was made of plaster or celluloid.
---
Events
June 25
1788 - The Virginia colony including Jamestown, the first permanent
English settlement in North America, entered the United States of
America as the tenth state. The state, also known as Old Dominion,
was named after the "Virgin Queen", Elizabeth I of England.
Virginia and its capital, Richmond, have played major roles in American
history. Like West Virginia, it names the cardinal as the state
bird. The official state flower of Virginia is the flowering dogwood.
1844 - John Tyler took Julia Gardiner as his bride, thus becoming
the first U.S. President to marry while in office.
1886 - Nineteen-year-old Arturo Toscanini moved from the cello
section to the conductor's stand of the Rio de Janeiro Orchestra.
The maestro conducted Aida this day.
1951 - The first commercial color TV program was seen. It was a
four-hour-long show presented on CBS and carried in New York City,
Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, DC. Arthur Godfrey,
Faye Emerson, Sam Levenson and Ed Sullivan starred in the TV milestone.
An interesting side note to this event is that the public didn't
own any color TVs at the time and CBS, itself, owned only about
three dozen sets.
***
The greatest fault of the day is the absence of silence.
-- Hazrat Inayat Khan
I have found nothing so deceives you adversaries as telling them
the truth.
-- Otto von Bismarck
Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong
half.
(unknown)
I am different from Washington; I have a higher, grander standard
of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie, but won't.
-- Mark Twain
THINK -- it gives you something to do while the computer is down.
(unattributed)
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings;
the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
-- Sir Winston Churchil
Capitalism needs to function like a game of tug-of-war. Two opposing
sides need to continually struggle for dominance, but at no time
can either side be permitted to walk away with the rope.
-- Pete Holiday
The capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert to fleece
the people.
-- Abraham Lincoln
Champaign, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector.
It encourages a man to be expansive, even reckless, while lie detectors
are only a challenge to tell lies successfully.
-- Graham Greene
I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true.
-- Katherine Hepburn
All truth, in the long run, is only common sense clarified.
-- Thomas Henry Huxley "On the Study of Biology"
***
The biggest rock in the world is in northern Australia. Ayer's
Rock is 1,175 feet tall, but that's less than the half of it. It
also extends 6,890 feet underground. The reddish-brown monolith
changes color throughout the day and it glows.
***
Signs commonly hung in the office:
- I can only please one person per day, and today is not your day.
Tomorrow isn't looking too good either.
- If swimming is so good for your figure, how do you explain whales?
- I don't suffer from stress. I'm just a carrier.
- Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along without
it.
- I have not yet begun to procrastinate.
- I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
***
Why do we associate Dalmatians with firemen?
The key facts are that there is a natural affinity between Dalmatians
and horses, and Dalmatians make good watchdogs. People who owned
valuable horses often kept Dalmatians around to guard them against
horse thieves. Fire engines used to be drawn by fast and powerful
horses, a tempting target for thieves. So, Dalmatians were kept
in the firehouse as deterrence to theft. The horses have long since
gone, but the Dalmatians, by tradition, have stayed.
***
Back in 1959, Otto Preminger made the movie "Anatomy of a
Murder," with Jimmy Stewart, Arthur O'Connell, Ben Gazara and
Lee Remick. He wanted, however, a very different musical score from
the usual Hollywood fare, so he hired a Washington, DC native to
write and perform the music.
That composer was Duke Ellington, whose jazz score for that movie
was a kind of milestone for movie music. The Duke even makes a cameo
appearance in the movie as the pianist of a small jazz combo.
Parenthetically, the murder occurred in the town of Thunder Bay,
a town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The actual name for the town
is Big Bay. Thunder Bay, Michigan was a fictional name, and is not
to be confused with the city of Thunder Bay in Ontario, a huge grain
exporting port at the West end of Lake Superior. The inn at Big
Bay served as a location in the film, and is still there today.
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