From SecurityNewsPro.com today:
AOL’s Top Spam Dishes In 2005:
“Spam is always a favorite food in the tech world and 2005 was no different. AOL published their top recipes for the delightful dish for the past year. Topping the list were things like Donald Trump and ‘penis patch’ but there were others.
“Here’s the Top 10 List as presented by AOL:
“1) Donald Trump Wants You - Please Respond (popular recognition)…”
Interesting take. And how many of these have you gotten this year? All of them, I’ll bet.
30 December 2005
Yum, Yum!!
19 December 2005
Rain Numbers - 19 December 2005
.63", for today
8.5", for the storm
11.75", for the month
14.81", for the (rain) year
New Horizons
From the Washington Post today:
NASA Readies to Launch Pluto Mission:
“NASA is making final preparations to launch the fastest spaceship ever made on a 10-year odyssey to Pluto, the scarlet-colored ‘ice dwarf’ that shines brightly in the chill wilderness of deep space nearly 4 billion miles away.
“Pluto is the only planet that has never yet had a human-engineered visitor, but if all goes well, New Horizons, a piano-size spacecraft wrapped in thermal blankets, will spend five months in close flyby, taking pictures and gathering data on features such as the planet’s atmosphere, its surface geology and its temperature.
“‘We really expect the mission to be transformational,’ said New Horizons lead scientist Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado. ‘This is the capstone of the original visits to the planets. It takes us 4 billion miles away and 4 billion years back in time.’
“The $700 million mission is the first space expedition aimed specifically at a celestial body beyond Neptune in the Kuiper Belt, a remote region filled with debris from the creation of the solar system. Pluto is also the solar system’s only known ‘binary planet,’ orbiting the sun in tandem with a moon, Charon, that is more than half as big as Pluto itself. Two other tiny moons were discovered earlier this year.
“NASA plans to launch New Horizons from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida as early as possible during a 29-day window that opens at 1:24 p.m. on Jan. 17. If liftoff occurs during the first 11 days, the spacecraft will reach Pluto in the summer of 2015. Launching later will result in substantial delays; starting the voyage on Valentine's Day would mean arrival as late as 2020.…”
AIX Rising?
From Sci-Tech Today recently:
IBM Creates Unix Collaboration Center:
“IBM (NYSE: IBM) today opened a research center designed to drive innovation for the company’s Unix-based AIX technology and to help develop and test new applications and middleware for the AIX OS.
“The Austin, Texas-based AIX Collaboration Center (ACC) represents a $200 million investment by Big Blue, which hopes to build on the momentum of its pSeries Unix machines. The idea is to foster collaboration among customers, developers, software vendors, and academics.
““Focus areas include systems-level innovations for key technology areas like virtualization, performance, and scalability,’ said Karl Freund, vice president of IBM's pSeries server division.…”
Another One? Again???
From the Daily Times (Pakistan) today:
Microsoft warns of ‘critical’ flaw:
“Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday warned users of its Windows operating system of a “critical” security flaw in its software that could allow attackers to take complete control of a computer.
“The world’s largest software maker issued a patch to fix the problem as part of its monthly security bulletin. The problem mainly affects the Windows operating system and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser. Computer security experts and Microsoft urged users to download and install the patch available at www.microsoft.com/security.
“Microsoft said the vulnerability exists in its Internet Explorer Web browser, which an attacker could exploit to take over a PC by running software code after luring users to malicious Web pages. Microsoft also issued one other security warning it rated at its second-highest level of “important.” A vulnerability defined as “important” is one where an outsider could break into a machine and gain access to confidential data but not replicate itself to other computers, Microsoft said.
“Microsoft defines a flaw as “critical” when the vulnerability could allow a damaging Internet worm to replicate without the user doing anything to the machine. The “critical” flaw affects Internet Explorer which is a part of Windows while the “important” flaw is a vulnerability in the fundamental code that the higher level functions of Windows are all based on.”
Just as well they're discontinuing “support” for the Mac version of IE…
Afghan parliament meets for first time in decades
From Reuters UK today:
First Afghan parliament in decades sworn in:
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - “Warlords, former communists, women’s rights activists and technocrats were sworn in on Monday as members of the first Afghan parliament in more than 30 years amid hopes of national reconciliation after decades of bloodshed.
“‘I thank God that today I am participating in a ceremony that is a step towards rebuilding Afghanistan after decades of fighting,’ former King Zahir Shah, overthrown in 1973 by his cousin, Daud Khan, who dissolved the last parliament.
“‘The people of Afghanistan will succeed!’ the 91-year-old Zahir Shah told the assembly to applause.
“The inauguration was the culmination of a U.N.-backed plan to bring democracy drawn up after U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001 and security was tight after a spate of Taliban suicide attacks and threats to the assembly.…”
18 December 2005
Rain Numbers - 18 December 2005
6.15", for today
7.87", for the storm
11.12", for the month
14.18", for the (rain) year
It was an intense evening: whilst I was at St Michael’s for the joint Christmas Pageant, Bob reported he’d noticed 3/4" of rain in one 15 minute period, and a rain intensity reading of 2.74"/hour…
The (Somewhat Abbreviated and Hacked off at the Knees) Bem Sex Role Inventory Test
| Feminine You scored 40 masculinity and 56 femininity! |
| You scored high on femininity and low on masculinity. You have a traditionally feminine personality. |
 |
| My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender :
|
| Link: The Bem Sex Role Inventory Test written by weirdscience on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test |
Today in History
From wikipedia.org:
Events
218 BC - Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia - Hannibal’s Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Roman Republic
1352 - Innocent VI is elected Pope
1787 - New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the United States Constitution
1865 - History of slavery in the United States: William Henry Seward proclaims that the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution has been ratified by the legislatures of 27 of the then 36 states.
1892 - The first performance of Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker is held at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg
1926 - The first performance of Leoš Janáček’s opera The Makropulos Affair is held in Brno, Czechoslovakia
1966 - Saturn’s moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker
1997 - HTML 4.0 is published by the World Wide Web Consortium
2001 - The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City, is damaged by fire
2002 - The film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is released worl
2002 - 2003 California recall: Governor of California Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier
Births
1610 - Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist (d. 1688)
1661 - Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist and inventor (d. 1751)
1856 - Sir J.J. Thomson, British physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
1863 - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (d. 1914)
1870 - Saki (Hector Hugh Munro), British writer (d. 1916)
1886 - Ty Cobb (Tyrus Raymond Cobb), American baseball player (d. 1961)
1890 - Edwin Armstrong, American inventor (d. 1954)
1897 - Fletcher Henderson, American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer (d. 1952)
1917 - Ossie Davis, American actor (d. 2005)
1928 - Józef Glemp, Polish cardinal
1939 - Michael Moorcock, British author
# 1939 - Harold E. Varmus, American scientist and Nobel Prize laureate
1943 - Keith Richards, British guitarist (The Rolling Stones)
1946 - Steven Spielberg, American film director
1946 - Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 1977)
1950 - Leonard Maltin, American film critic
1961 - Brian Orser, Canadian figure skater
1971 - Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Spanish tennis player
Deaths
1737 - Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin maker (b. 1644)
1787 - Francis William Drake, British Admiral and Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1724)
1869 - Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American composer and pianist (b. 1829)
1936 - Andrija Mohorovičić, Austro-Hungarian-born Yugoslav seismologist (b. 1857)
1971 - Bobby Jones, American golfer (b. 1902)
1990 - Paul Tortelier, French cellist and composer (b. 1914)
1991 - George Abecassis, British Formula 1 driver (b. 1913)
Holidays and Observances
R.C. Saints - Gatianus of Tours
17 December 2005
Rain Numbers - 17 December 2005
1.72", for today
1.72", for the storm
4.96", for the month
8.02", for the (rain) year
I Don’t Know Why the Prez Is So Hot and Bothered…
…about protecting the country from terrorists by wiretapping international communications without a warrant; it looks as if our “educational” system is on track to ruin the country without any terror help at all:
From the Bad Astronomy BABlog: The Sun of all fears
14 December 2005
Which of C.S. Lewis's Narnia Books Are You?
I’m not quite sure at all how this one worked out the way it did…
 | You scored as The Horse and His Boy. You are the horse and his boy. This is my personal favorite Narnia story. Though not as well known, the story is an important link to the other chronicles and a good read. Interesting fact: The Horse and His Boy is the only story to take place entirely in the lands surrounding Narnia.
Which of C.S. Lewis's Narnia Books Are You? created with QuizFarm.com |
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Listening to: Orleans - Dance with Me
via FoxyTunes
13 December 2005
Howling Up a Storm
Spotted in The Internet Scout’s blog, a post from 29 November 2004:
What’s in a howl
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Listening to: G. Palestrina - Benedictus For Holy Week
via FoxyTunes
12 December 2005
Some Important Films
The Vatican Film List from Decent Films Guide
“Some Important Films”
for the 100th Anniversary of Cinema
Pontifical Council for Social Communications
1995
Religion
Andrei Rublev * Andrei Tarkowsky (1969, USSR)
The Mission * Roland Joffé (1986, UK)
La passion de Jeanne d’Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc) * Carl T. Dreyer (1928, France)
La vie et la passion de Jésus Christ (Life and Passion of Christ) * Ferdinand Zecca and Lucien Nonguet (1905, France) -Identified on the Vatican film list as La Passion Pathé
Francesco, giullare di Dio (The Flowers of St. Francis / Francis, God’s Jester) * Roberto Rossellini (1950, Italy)
Il vangelo secondo Matteo (The Gospel According to Matthew) * Pier Paolo Pasolini (1964, France/Italy)
Thérèse * Alain Cavalier (1986, France)
Ordet (The Word) * Carl T. Dreyer (1955, Denmark)
Offret - Sacrificatio (The Sacrifice) * Andrei Tarkowsky (1986, Sweden/UK/France)
Francesco (St. Francis of Assisi) * Liliana Cavani (1989, Italy/Germany)
Ben-Hur [A Tale of the Christ] * William Wyler (1959, USA)
Babettes gæstebud (Babette’s Feast) * Gabriel Axel (1987, Denmark)
Nazarín * Luis Buñuel (1958, Mexico)
Monsieur Vincent * Maurice Cloche (1947, France)
A Man for All Seasons * Fred Zinnemann (1966, UK)
Values
Gandhi * Richard Attenborough (1982, UK/USA/India)
Intolerance * D. W. Griffith (1916, USA)
Dekalog (The Decalogue) * Krzysztof Kieslowski (1987, Poland) -Identified on the Vatican film list as Il Decalogo
Au Revoir, Les Enfants (Goodbye, Children) * Louis Malle (1987, France)
Dersu Uzala * Akira Kurosawa (1974, Japan)
L’albero degli zoccoli (The Tree of the Wooden Clogs) * Ermanno Olmi (1978, Italy/France)
Roma, città aperta (Open City) * Roberto Rossellini (1946, Italy)
Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries) * Ingmar Bergman (1957, Sweden)
Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal) * Ingmar Bergman (1957, Sweden)
Chariots of Fire * Hugh Hudson (1981, UK)
Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief) * Vittorio de Sica (1948, Italy)
It’s a Wonderful Life * Frank Capra (1946, USA)
Schindler’s List * Steven Spielberg (1993, USA)
On the Waterfront * Elia Kazan (1954, USA)
Biruma No Tategoto (The Burmese Harp) * Kon Ichikawa (1956, Japan)
Art
2001: A Space Odyssey * Stanley Kubrick (1968, UK/USA)
La Strada * Federico Fellini (1954, Italy)
Citizen Kane * Orson Welles (1941, USA)
Metropolis * Fritz Lang (1927, Germany)
Modern Times * Charlie Chaplin (1936, USA)
Napoléon * Abel Gance (1927, Italy)
8 1/2 * Federico Fellini (1963, Italy)
La grande illusion (Grand Illusion) * Jean Renoir (1937, France)
Nosferatu * F. W. Murnau (1922, Germany)
Stagecoach * John Ford (1939, USA)
Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) * Luchino Visconti (1963, Italy/France)
Fantasia * (1940, USA)
The Wizard of Oz * Victor Fleming (1939, USA)
The Lavender Hill Mob * Charles Crichton (1951, UK)
Little Women * George Cukor (1933, USA)
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Listening to: Joan Osborne - St. Teresa
via FoxyTunes
11 December 2005
If You Were in Beowulf…
I like the dragon part; I’m not so keen on the mutually-insured destruction,but it is Beowulf…
 | You scored as The Dragon. Ancient, chaotic, and a bit mysterious is the Dragon figure. Awakened from your happy slumber upon a pile of gold, you go about the country slaying its occupants. Beowulf manages to kill you, but not before you ensure his death. Congrats.
If You Were in Beowulf... created with QuizFarm.com |
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Listening to: Los Straitjackets & Raul Malo - Black Is Black
via FoxyTunes
10 December 2005
Which Narnia character are you?
I’d have had to go out and shoot myself if I’d been Susan…
You scored as Peter. You are Peter, the High King, just, loyal, and courageous!
Which Narnia character are you? created with QuizFarm.com |
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Listening to: Peter, Paul And Mary - Wedding Song (There Is Love)
via FoxyTunes
01 December 2005
Grown-ups and Children
On the spine of this month’s Real Simple:
All grown-ups were once children. (But few of them remember it.)
-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
29 November 2005
America can’t abandon 27 million Iraqis to 10,000 terrorists
From the WSJ’s OpinionJournal today:
Our Troops Must Stay
“…Here is an ironic finding I brought back from Iraq. While U.S. public opinion polls show serious declines in support for the war and increasing pessimism about how it will end, polls conducted by Iraqis for Iraqi universities show increasing optimism. Two-thirds say they are better off than they were under Saddam, and a resounding 82% are confident their lives in Iraq will be better a year from now than they are today. What a colossal mistake it would be for America’s bipartisan political leadership to choose this moment in history to lose its will and, in the famous phrase, to seize defeat from the jaws of the coming victory.…”
As colossal a mistake as the one the former President Bush made when he cut short the action the first time around in Iraq?
Interesting Collection of Nominees
From E! Online today:
Sabbath, Sex Pistols on Rock’s Rolls:
“After repeatedly being dissed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Ozzy Osbourne famously demanded that Black Sabbath be removed from consideration for the ‘totally irrelevant’ institution.
“Good thing no one was paying attention. The seminal metal mavens, on their seventh ballot, finally got the nod Monday and will be one of five acts saying ‘Hello, Cleveland!’ in 2006.
“Joining Sabbath in the Class of 2006 are the Sex Pistols, Blondie, Lynyrd Skynyrd and jazz great Miles Davis.…”
Yeah, right, Ozzie…
Rolling Stone’s take:
Sabbath Enter Rock Hall
“The Sex Pistols, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blondie also tapped
“After years of eligibility, Black Sabbath, the Sex Pistols and Lynyrd Skynyrd will finally be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Also slated for induction at the institution’s 21st annual ceremony on March 13th at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel are jazz legend Miles Davis and New York New Wavers Blondie.…”
Rolling Stone’s Sabbath bio page
16 November 2005
A.Word.A.Day -- dendrochronology
A.Word.A.Day -- dendrochronology: “This week’s theme: words from the plant kingdom.
dendrochronology (den-dro-kruh-NOL-uh-jee) noun
Tree-ring dating.…”
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Patric Schmid
From The Guardian today:
Impresario dedicated to the revival of bel canto operas:
“In April 1801, Giovanni Simone Mayr’s opera Ginevra di Scozia was premiered at the newly opened Teatro Nuovo in Trieste. Exactly 200 years later, Opera Rara performed it there again. That special anniversary was one of the typically imaginative projects organised by Patric Schmid, who has died of a heart attack, aged 61. Schmid was the co-founder of Opera Rara in 1970, and for 35 years oversaw the rediscovery of dozens of neglected or forgotten works by the masters of bel canto.…”
12 November 2005
French Terror Alert Redux
AP and UPI reported today that the French government announced that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender”. The raise was precipitated by a recent fire which destroyed France's white flag factory, thereby disabling its military.
President Bush May Send Up To 5 Marines For French Assistance
President Bush has authorized the Joint Chiefs to begin drawing up a battle plan to pull France’s ass out of the fire again. Facing an apparent overwhelming force of up to 400 pissed off teenagers, Mr. Bush doubts France’s ability to hold off the little pissants. “Hell, if the last two world wars are any indication, I would expect France to surrender any day now”, said Bush.
Joint Chiefs head, Gen. Peter Pace, warned the President that it might be necessary to send up to 5 Marines to get things under control. The general admitted that 5 Marines may be overkill, but he wanted to get this thing under control within 24 hours of arriving on scene. He stated he was having a hard time finding even one Marine to help those ungrateful bastards out for a third time but thought that he could persuade a few female marines to do the job before they went on pregnancy leave.
In an unrelated matter, President Bush told reporters that he was considering a “Flu for Oil” Program to ease our country’s energy problem and prevent the upcoming pandemic. Nobody had a clue as to what the hell he was talking about.
(Cap’t. Thom striks again!)
11 November 2005
Freedom Isn’t Free!
I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers’ tears?
How many pilots’ planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves?
No, freedom isn’t free.
I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That taps had meant “Amen,”
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother, sister or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn’t free.
Author Unknown
God Bless America
10 November 2005
Turkey Poem
When I was a young turkey, new to the coop
My big brother, Tom, took me out on the stoop
Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow
And he told me there was something that I just had to know.
His look and his tone I will always remember
When he told me of the horrors of, well… Black November!
“Come about August, now listen to me
Each day you’ll get six meals instead of your three.
And soon you’ll be thick, where once you were thin
and you’ll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin.
“And then one morning, when you’re warm in your bed
In comes the farmer’s wife, to hack off your head
Then she’ll pluck out all your feathers until you’re bald ’n’ pink
And scoop out your insides and leave you in the sink
And then comes the worst part,” he said, not bluffing
“She’ll spread your hindquarters and pack your bottom with stuffing!”
Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat
I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat
And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked
I’d have to lay low to remain overlooked.
I began a new diet of nuts and granola
High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola
And as they ate pastries, chocolates, and crepes
I stayed in my room doing Jane Fonda tapes.
I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,
And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed
But it was I who was laughing, under my breath
As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death.
And sure enough when Black November rolled around
I was the last turkey left in the Turkey compound.
So now I’m a pet in the farmer’s wife’s lap
I haven’t a worry, so I eat and I nap.
She held me today, while sewing and humming
And smiled at me and said “Christmas is coming.”
(Spotted on the walking_cane-9s list.)
Sony Needs to Be Hit by More than Lawsuits…
…(a REALLY big stick comes immediately to mind…)
From el Reg today:
Sony hit by lawsuits over root kit | The Register:
…“Any copies of the CD kept on a laptop or other device must be deleted if the original CD is stolen or lost. They cannot be stored on your work computer only a ‘personal home computer system owned by you’. If you move countries you must delete all songs covered by the license. If you file for bankrupcy you must delete all relevant files.
“Any consumer who fails to keep up-to-date with the hidden software is in breach of the agreement.”…
Super, er, Croc!!
From TheState.com (in South Carolina) today:Prehistoric ‘Godzilla’ discovered in Argentina:
…“‘The recent film monster Godzilla frightened the people of New York City, but our Godzilla terrorized creatures in the Pacific Ocean,’ said the leader of the discovery team, Argentine paleontologist Zulma Gasparini, of the National University of La Plata.
“‘We are calling him the chico malo - the `bad boy' of the ocean.’”…
04 November 2005
29 October 2005
Claim: Illustrations show a proposed Grand Canyon skywalk.
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Photo Gallery (Grand Canyon Skywalk):
“…The $30 million all-glass Skywalk will hover 4,000 feet above the Colorado River over a rim of the Grand Canyon, allowing tourists to stroll on a semicircular platform 80 yards beyond the canyon rim, surrounded by Plexiglas that will provide a spectacular view of the canyon floor directly below. The Skywalk’s opening is planned for early 2006, the attraction being part of a new Grand Canyon West resort on the Hualapai reservation at the western edge of the park, about 120 miles from Las Vegas.…”
Hualapai Indian Reservation
17 October 2005
This Is Not One of Randy’s…
…“Put down your glass/mug/cup before you read this.” posts:
Thoughts on New Orleans:
“This has been attributed to George Carlin, and New Orleans blues musician Bill Boudreaux, but apparently neither wrote it. There are several versions, and it’s not a joke; rather, it’s some thought-provoking plain speaking about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
---
“Been sitting here with my ass in a wad, wanting to speak out about what’s going on in New Orleans. For the people of New Orleans… First I would like to say, Sorry for your loss.
“Unlike an earthquake, we know when a hurricane is coming. With that said, Let’s go through a few hurricane rules:
“#1. A mandatory evacuation means just that. Get the hell out. Don’t blame the Government after they tell you to go. If they hadn’t said anything, I can see the argument. They said get out. If you didn’t, it’s your fault, not theirs. Even if you don’t have a car, you can get out.…”
15 October 2005
Rain Numbers - 15 October 2005
.04", for today
.04", for the storm
.05", for the month
.05", for the (rain) year
:::sigh:::
The battery/capacitor/solar panel combination in the weather station seems to be trying to behave, but the display was still showing 6.04" as the total for the year; the rain year here begins 1 October… Since I wasn’t sure if that was controlled by the panel or HCA, I didn’t dare contemplate fiddling.
I did notice, however, on a day following a nearly fully moon, that the display panel was depicting a new moon. I’m still not sure how I got there, but I pushed the right button to display the date and time, and we were still back in September!
Called Davis’ tech support, and the very nice, helpful young man stepped me through resetting the date and the time, and the yearly rain total (which is a good approximation).
11 October 2005
I Don’t Know Where Randy Finds These…
…but he really needs to put a “Put down your glass/mug/cup before you read this.” warning on some of them:
France Elevates its Security Level:
“As many are aware, the French government recently announced a raise in its terror alert level from ‘Run’ to ‘Hide’. The normal level is ‘General Arrogance’, and the only two higher levels in France are ‘Surrender’ and ‘Collaborate’. The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country’s military capability.
“It’s not only the French that are on a heightened level of alert:…”
05 October 2005
I’m a Nut. Or Not…
Today’s word:
A.Word.A.Day -- algophobia:
“…Usually having a phobia might brand you as a nut but here is a phobia that indicates you’re a regular human being, if you have it. Algophobia is the fear of pain. Though the word indicates an unusual, morbid fear of pain, producing intense anxiety.
“There is even an instrument called an algometer to measure pain. Now I know why they called that grueling course ‘algorithms’ in my computer science curriculum.…”
1918 Flu = Bird Flu
From The New York Times tomorrow:
Experts Unlock Clues to Spread of 1918 Flu Virus:
“The 1918 influenza virus, the cause of one of history’s most deadly epidemics, has been reconstructed and found to be a bird flu that jumped directly to humans, two teams of federal and university scientists announced yesterday.
“It was the culmination of work that began a decade ago and involved fishing tiny fragments of the 1918 virus from snippets of lung tissue from two soldiers and an Alaskan woman who died in the 1918 pandemic. The soldiers’ tissue had been saved in an Army pathology warehouse, and the woman had been buried in permanently frozen ground.…”
Interesting implications.
The Guardian’s take: From frozen Alaska to the lab: a virus 39,000 times more virulent than flu:
“…‘I didn’t expect it to be as lethal as it was,’ Dr Terrence Tumpey, a scientist on the project from the US Centres of Disease Control and Prevention, told the journal Nature.…”
From CBC World News: Scientists re-create deadly pandemic virus
“…The growing fear of a flu pandemic led U.S. President George Bush to speculate Tuesday on possible American reactions to such a crisis, including quarantines of infected groups of people.…”
01 July 2005
RIP
On cnn.com today:
Luther Vandross dead at 54 - Jul 1, 2005
“…Of ‘Dance With My Father,’ he once said that title song ‘was very emotional for me and, yes, it is based on my own experience.
“‘It’s not just about losing one’s father, but about missing someone who is gone — for whatever reason — and the longing you feel for that moment in the past when you were together,’ he said.…”
How Supremely Appropriate
On WorldNetDaily, a few days ago:
Supreme Court justice faces boot from home?
“…According to a statement from Clements, the proposed development, called ‘The Lost Liberty Hotel’ will feature the ‘Just Desserts Café’ and include a museum, open to the public, ‘featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America.’ Instead of a Gideon’s Bible in each room, guests will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged, the statement said.
“Clements says the hotel must be built on this particular piece of land because it is a unique site – ‘being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans.’”
Not quite what Supreme Souter had in mind, I’ll wager.
25 June 2005
Did They Really Do That??
From LiveScience.com:
Lions to the Rescue! Big Cats Save Kidnapped Girl
“…‘They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest,’ Wondimu said, adding he did not know whether the lions were male or female.”
22 June 2005
Pluribus or Unum?
From snopes.com recently:
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Politics (Richard Lamm on Multiculturalism):
“A Frightening Analysis
We all know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration-overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of American's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor named Victor Hansen Davis talked about his latest book, ‘Mexifornia,’ explaining how immigration — both legal and illegal — was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.…”
Read the whole piece. It’s not politically correct in the least, which is to say it’s firmly based in reality, and it’s pretty scary.
19 June 2005
Pondering Around
We went on the San Francisco Bay Area Koi Club’s annual pond tour yesterday. What fun!!
The first ponds we saw were at a place in Los Altos Hills. The first “pond” was more like a lake: 250,000 gallons! It had about 15? good-sized koi lazing around, and tons and tons of tiny ones, too. The next pond on the path, near the house, was the hospital/quarantine pond; not a tank, mind you, but a permanent installation. (I want one!) The “house pond” was on the back porch/deck. Lots of big koi, and lots of big rocks and ledges for them to swim over and around and under.
Our next stop was just up 280 in San Mateo. This house had a relatively small back yard with a in-ground swimming pool. They had a very nice waterfall/stream arrangement, down the side fence, into a gravity-feed arrangement to the koi pond next to the side of the house.
We had planned to visit the pond in Hillsborough, just up 280 from our 2nd stop; the ticket-taker in Los Altos Hills mentioned that that pond was not available, due to an emergency.
Instead, we headed over 92 and arrived at “the moat”. In this backyard, the waterfall was in the back corner, and the water split around an “island” where there was just enough room for a standing umbrella and a few chairs. The two waterflows met across from the waterfall, where the goldfish and koi live.
This was our favorite pond of the bunch! Such a clever idea, the noise level of the waterfall was just right; if we didn’t already have a pond, I’d be lobbying heavily for something along these lines. OTOH, maybe we can sneak one in somewhere…
17 June 2005
Our Across-the-Pond Cousins’ Take On It
From the Sun Online this morning:
News: Quake hits California:
“RESIDENTS of northern California were this morning lucky to escape injury when the region was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 6.4.…”
This One, We Felt
On SFGate.com this morning:
Two aftershocks rattle California:
“…Seismologists said the latest quake, which hit at about 10:21 p.m. Thursday some 127 miles west of Eureka and about 6 miles beneath the sea, most likely was an aftershock to the magnitude 7.2 shaker that rumbled to life Tuesday on the ocean floor west of Crescent City. …”
The Santa Cruz City Council Did Something Right?
From MercuryNews.com yesterday:
Santa Cruz council backs arts project:
“A $43 million project aimed at injecting new life into Santa Cruz’s struggling arts community won unanimous support from the city council early Wednesday after dancers, sculptors and glass-blowers begged the council to give them a cool place to live and work.
The Tannery Arts Center may soon become the heart and soul of the city’s arts community, as artists and performance venues move closer to Santa Cruz’s quirky but vibrant downtown. It’s also expected to draw “cultural tourists,” adding to the tens of thousands who come to Surf City each weekend to lounge on the beach.…”
Oh, Dear, the “Ethicists” Aren’t Going to Be Happy with BusinessWeek…
From BusinessWeek Online today:
Commentary: Color-Blind Drug Research Is Myopic:
“…‘It’s imperative that we look at racially specific differences,’ says Dr. Esteban González Burchard, assistant professor at the University of California at San Francisco. ‘The one-size-fits-all approach to developing drugs is no longer valid.’ Certainly there is growing evidence that a number of drugs seem to offer different benefits — or pose different risks — depending on race. Studies have shown that hypertension drugs called ACE inhibitors are less effective in black patients than in other groups. The lung cancer drug Iressa has shown higher rates of effectiveness in Asians. And when GlaxoSmithKline PLC warned of a possible link between its asthma drug Serevent and life-threatening asthmatic episodes, the problem appeared to be more common in blacks.…”
Today in History
From wikipedia.org:
Events
1497 - Battle of Deptford Bridge - Forces under King Henry VII soundly defeat troops led by Michael An Gof
1579 - Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England
1631 - Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spent more than 20 years to build her tomb, the Taj Mahal
1839 - In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the Edict of Toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace is later established as a result
1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor
1928 - Aviator Amelia Earhart starts her attempt to become the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. She was a passenger; Wilmer Stutz was pilot and Lou Gordon, mechanic
1944 - Iceland becomes independent from Denmark and forms a republic
Births
1818 - Charles Gounod, French composer (d. 1893)
1882 - Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (d. 1971)
1898 - M. C. Escher, Dutch artist (d. 1972)
1917 - Lena Horne, singer
Deaths
1696 - John III Sobieski, king of Poland (b. 1629)
1940 - Arthur Harden, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
1986 - Kate Smith, American singer
Holidays & observances
1944 - Icelandic Independence Day, from Denmark
On This Day
From the BBC:
2001: Catholic leader Cardinal Winning dies
1961: Russian dancer in freedom dash
16 June 2005
Why, Do You Think?
From Gear Live, today:
OSX on a Dell? Over Steve’s Dead Body!:
“Michael Dell, of Dell Computers, has noted that should Apple “decide to open the MacOS to others,” they’d be glad to offer it up over at Dell.
Over Steve Jobs’ dead body,…”
You don't suppose it’s because Steve has nightmares about the Dull, er, Dell Dude hawking OS X?? OTOH, “Offer it up” doesn’t have quite the ring I’d be looking for in a business arrangement…
Southern California Gets Back Into the Act
From Reuters.com today:
Moderate earthquake shakes Los Angeles area:
“…The temblor was the third significant seismic event in California this week and came two days after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake off the coast of northern California that briefly triggered tsunami warnings and four days after a 5.2 quake shook the Anza-area of Riverside County.…”
From the Daily Press in Victorville:
Moderate earthquake shakes Los Angeles area
15 June 2005
And The Mercury Chimes In
On MercuryNews.com today:
Major quake hits off Calif. coast prompting brief tsunami warning
Holy Upheavals, Batman!!
On geotimes.com today:
Earthquake offshore California spawns tsunami worry:
“Yesterday, a magnitude-7.2 earthquake struck off northern California, triggering an hour-long tsunami warning along the coast and prompting the evacuation of Crescent City, a community that has had previous experience with devastating tsunami waves. In the end, however, no major tsunami ensued.
The epicenter (shown here on this ShakeMap with a star) of a magnitude-7.2 earthquake that occurred Tuesday evening local time set off a tsunami warning for the entire West Coast, leading to an evacuation from Crescent City, Calif. The aqua-colored areas indicate reports of light shaking on the Mercalli intensity scale, and blue indicates weak-intensity shaking. Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.…”
The Chronicle’s take:
7.0 quake shakes up North Coast / Crescent City residents flee after tsunami warning
And the LA Times’:
Tsunami Warning Rattles West Coast
13 June 2005
Today in History
From wikipedia.org:
Events
1625 - King Charles I is married to the French princess Henrietta Maria de Bourbon
1774 - Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain's North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves
1777 - American Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette lands near Charleston, South Carolina, in order to help the Continental Congress to train its army
1798 - Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is founded
1805 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: Scouting ahead of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four companions sight the Great Falls of the Missouri River
1871 - In Labrador, a hurricane kills 300 people
1881 - The USS Jeannette is crushed in an Arctic Ocean ice pack
1886 - A fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia
1898 - Yukon Territory is formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital
1920 - The United States Postal Service rules that children may not be sent via parcel post
1927 - A ticker-tape parade is held for aviator Charles Lindbergh down 5th Avenue in New York City
1944 - World War II: Germany launches a V1 Flying Bomb attack on England. Only four of the eleven bombs actually hit their targets
1953 - Hungarian Prime Minister Mátyás Rákosi is replaced by Imre Nagy
1966 - The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them
1983 - Pioneer 10 becomes the first manmade object to leave the solar system
1997 - A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to the death penalty for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing
2004 - A 4 kg meteorite hits the house of Phil and Brenda Archer in Ellerslie, New Zealand, destroying the roof and a couch
Births
1773 - Thomas Young, scientist, polymath, child prodigy
1786 - Winfield Scott, United States general (d. 1866)
1831 - James Clerk Maxwell, physicist (d. 1879)
1865 - William Butler Yeats, poet and dramatist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature 1923 (d. 1939)
1870 - Jules Bordet, physicist and microbiologist (d. 1961)
1876 - William Sealey Gosset - chemist and statistician (d. 1937)
1892 - Basil Rathbone, actor (d. 1967)
1903 - Harold ‘Red’ Grange, American football player (d. 1991)
1926 - Paul Lynde, actor (d. 1982)
1951 - Richard Thomas, actor
Deaths
1886 - King Ludwig II of Bavaria (b. 1845)
1918 - Mikhail Alexandrovitch Romanov (Grand Duke Michael), Tsar Mikhail II of Russia (b. 1878)
1986 - Benny Goodman, musician (b. 1909)
1998 - Reg Smythe, Andy Capp cartoonist
Holidays & observances
Feast of St Anthony of Padua
12 June 2005
11 June 2005
But… But… Al Gore Invented the Internet, Didn’t He??
From MercuryNews.com today:
‘Father’ of Internet, partner in Bay Area for more honors:
“…On Saturday, Cerf and his former research partner, Robert E. Kahn, will receive the prestigious Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery at a banquet in San Francisco. It’s the latest in a long string of honors that includes a presidential technology medal in 1997.…”
Today in History
From wikipedia.org:
Events
1184 BC - According to the calculations of Eratosthenes, the date that Troy was sacked and burned
1509 - Marriage of King Henry VIII of England and Katherine of Aragon
1534 - Jacques Cartier and crew celebrate the first recorded Catholic mass in North America
1770 - Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef
1788 - Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska
1838 - Iowa Territory is organized
1899 - Pope Leo XIII dedicates the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
1955 - Eighty-three are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healy and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the Le Mans Grand Prix
1962 - Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin apparently escape from Alcatraz
1970 - After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays officially receives her rank as a U.S. Army General, becoming the first female to do so
1977 - Seattle Slew wins the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
1985 - A Fabergé Egg Was sold for £1,375,00 in New York
2002 - Antonio Meucci was recognised as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress
2004 - Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of Phoebe
Births
1519 - Cosimo I de Medici, Duke of Florence (d. 1574)
1572 - Ben Jonson, English dramatist (d. 1637)
1672 - Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (d. 1749)
1776 - John Constable, English painter (d. 1837)
1842 - Carl von Linde, German engineer and industrialist (d. 1934)
1847 - Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist and feminist (d. 1929)
1864 - Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor (d. 1949)
1867 - Charles Fabry, physicist (d. 1945)
1876 - Alfred L. Kroeber, anthropologist
1910 - Jacques Cousteau, explorer, inventor (d. 1997)
1918 - Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, Nobel Peace prize winner
1928 - Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen-Dowager of the Belgians
1933 - Gene Wilder, actor
1939 - Jackie Stewart, race car driver
1956 - Joe Montana, American football player
Deaths
1216 - Henry of Flanders, emperor of the Latin Empire (b. c. 1174)
1882 - Louis Maigret, ss.cc., Roman Catholic prelate
1911 - James Curtis Hepburn, missionary and linguist (b. 1815)
1924 - Théodore Dubois, composer and teacher (b. 1837)
1979 - John Wayne, actor (b. 1907)
1999 - DeForest Kelley, actor (b. 1920)
2003 - David Brinkley, television reporter (b. 1920)
Holidays and Observances
Kamehameha Day, official state holiday of Hawai'i, United States, in honor of its first monarch, celebrated with floral parades, hula competition and festivals
Feast of St Barnabas
On This Day
From the BBC:
1959: Hovercraft marks new era in transport
1955: Le Mans disaster claims 77 lives
10 June 2005
Today in History
From wikipedia.org:
Events
1190 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the Saleph River while leading an army to Jerusalem
1692 - Salem witch trials: Bridget Bishop is hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem, Massachusetts for “certaine Detestable Arts called Witchcraft & Sorceries”
1793 - The Jardin des Plantes museum opens in Paris (becoming, a year later, the first public zoo)
1829 - First Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge
1846 - Mexican-American War: The California Republic declares independence from Mexico
1854 - The first class of United States Naval Academy students graduate
1886 - Eruption of Mount Tarawera in New Zealand, killing 153 people and destroying the famous Pink and White Terraces
1935 - Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio by William G. Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith
1947 - Saab produces its first automobile
1956 - 1956 Summer Olympics: Equestrian events open in Stockholm, Sweden
1967 - Six-Day War ends: Israel and Syria agree to a cease-fire
1977 - Apple Computer ships its first Apple II personal computer
1991 - In what was dubbed “The Mother of All Parades”, New York City hosts a parade welcoming back troops from Operation Desert Storm
Births
1688 - James Francis Edward Stuart, “The Old Pretender” (d. 1766)
1895 - Hattie McDaniel, actress, and the first African American to win an Academy Award (d. 1952)
1897 - Grand Duchess Tatiana of Russia (d. 1918)
1901 - Frederick Loewe, Austrian-born American composer (d. 1988)
1922 - Judy Garland, American actress, singer (d. 1969)
1928 - Maurice Sendak, writer, producer, illustrator
1949 - Ronald James Padavona, (a.k.a. Ronnie James Dio) Heavy metal singer
1951 - Dan Fouts, American football star
Deaths
323 BC - Alexander the Great (b. 356 BC)
1190 - Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor (drowned) (b. 1122)
1654 - Alessandro Algardi, Italian sculptor (b. 1598)
1692 - Bridget Bishop, accused witch
1836 - André-Marie Ampère, French physicist (b. 1775)
1902 - Jacint Verdaguer, Catalan poet (b. 1845)
1909 - Edward Everett Hale, author
1926 - Antoni Gaudí, Catalan architect (b. 1852)
1949 - Sigrid Undset, Norwegian author, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature (b. 1882)
09 June 2005
Rain Numbers - 9 June 2005
.08", for the day
.15", for the storm
.15", for the month
5.74", for the (rain) year, since the battery got back in the weather station
Who?
From MercuryNews.com today:
Ex-SRI scientist tells institute’s story:
“SRI is known in Silicon Valley mostly as the birthplace of the mouse — as far as it’s known at all.
Most people don’t know that SRI International also developed the first system to electronically sort checks. It created the first fax machine. And it has been responsible for major innovations in everything from less invasive surgery to robotics.…”
Sometimes, Low Tech *Is* Best
From Mercury News.com today:
Man escapes from cell by digging hole in wall:
“LOS ANGELES - A robbery suspect escaped from a holding cell Thursday by boring a hole through the wall and slithering out, then slipping through an emergency exit, authorities said.…”
Huh! San Jose’s Not the Only Place with Tons of Rain…
From the MercuryNews.com today:
Pitter-patter: Rainfall returns
Life and Its Twists and Turns
Roy scheduled this week’s rehearsal for last night, because the gang at work was going to the Giants’ game tonight, and had a ticket for him. While we were waiting in the vestibule for the after-Mass Rosary to be said, Fr Mike asked if one of us could be at the church today to offer assistance with the sound system and setup to the out-of-parish musicians for the scheduled funeral. I raised my hand.
The funeral was scheduled for 2:00p; figuring the musicians could be arriving about 1:00p, I bugged out from home about 12:40p. There was already plenty of bustle about the church when I got there, including a San Jose Fire truck and a paramedic bus; a white Ben Lomond Fire vehicle appeared some time later. When I walked into the church, the front was stuffed with flowers, and more kept coming, both from the funeral directors and a florist.
There was also a portrait of the beloved deceased, who didn’t look that much older (in the portrait, anyway) than Marisa…
He was a local boy, Benjamin Richard Gutierrez, who graduated from SLV High School in 2002; a paramedic, working his way to being a fireman.
The church was jammed with mourners: the pews, SRO, the vestibule, the steps outside the front door, the passage from the church to the parish hall, the two front parking lots…
May he rest in peace, Lord; comfort his family and friends in their hours of need.
Benjamin Richard Gutierrez
Tributes
Today in History
From wikipedia.org:
Events
1534 - Jacques Cartier is the first European to discover the St. Lawrence River
1732 - James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of Georgia
1790 - Philadelphia Spelling Book by John Barry becomes the first book to be copyrighted in the United States
1856 - 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts
1934 - Donald Duck debuts in The Wise Little Hen
1953 - Flint-Worcester Tornadoes: A tornado spawned from the same storm system as the Flint tornado hits in Worcester, Massachusetts killing 94
1954 - McCarthyism: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army
1957 - First ascent of Broad Peak (12th highest mountain)
1973 - Secretariat wins the Triple Crown
1986 - The Rogers Commission releases its report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Births
1812 - Johann Gottfried Galle, German astronomer (d. 1910)
1900 - Fred Waring, bandleader, inventor (d. 1984)
1916 - Les Paul, guitarist
1956 - Patricia Cornwell, author
Deayhs
373 - Ephrem the Syrian, Christian hymnodist
597 - St. Columba, Christian missionary, patron saint of Ireland (b. 521)
1572 - Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre (b. 1528)
1870 - Charles Dickens, English author (b. 1812)
2004 - Rosey Brown, American football player (b. 1932)
Holidays and observances
Catholicism - Saint Columba (called Saint Columcille in Ireland, where he is honoured as one of the island’s three patron saints)
On This Day
From the BBC:
1995: First man jailed for male rape
1975: First live broadcast of Parliament
1970: King Hussein escapes gunman’s bullet
08 June 2005
This Will Be One Heck of a Switch
From MercuryNews.com today:
Rosetta is a key to Apple’s Intel shift
Foster Parents Like That Should Be Shot
From MercuryNews.com today:
Against all odds, student triumphs:
“…Madrid’s salvation was schoolwork, although even that caused him trouble. Several foster parents resented his extracurricular activities and scholarly ways, even when he earned a coveted spot at the private Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks. Most of the foster homes functioned more like a Motel 6 than a home, Madrid wrote in a recent scholarship application.…”
On further consideration, shooting’s too good…
Today in History
From wikipedia.org:
Events
536 - St. Silverius becomes Pope (probable date)
793 - The first Viking raid on British soil at Lindisfarne where a set date for the raid is known
1624 - Earthquake strikes Peru
1776 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Trois-Rivières - American invaders are driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec
1783 - The volcano Laki, in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine
1887 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his punch card calculator
1949 - Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is published
1949 - Red Scare: Such celebrities as Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members
1953 - Flint-Worcester Tornadoes: A tornado hits in Flint, Michigan and kills 115. This is the last tornado to claim more than 100 lives
1953 - The United States Supreme Court rules that Washington, D.C. restaurants could not refuse to serve black patrons
1968 - James Earl Ray is arrested for the murder of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr
1968 - The body of assassinated U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy is laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery
1995 - Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O’Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia
1998 - Charlton Heston assumes the presidency of the National Rifle Association
2004 - First Transit of Venus in this millennium
Births
1625 - Giovanni Domenico Cassini, scientist (d. 1712)
1724 - John Smeaton, civil engineer (d. 1794)
1810 - Robert Schumann, composer (d. 1856)
1847 - Ida McKinley, former First Lady of the United States (d. 1907)
1867 - Frank Lloyd Wright, architect (d. 1959)
1910 - John W. Campbell Jr., science fiction writer, publisher, editor (d. 1971)
1916 - Francis Crick, scientist, Nobel laureate, helped discover the molecular structure of DNA (d. 2004)
1925 - Barbara Bush, former First Lady of the United States (to 41st President, George Bush, mother to 43rd President George W. Bush)
1927 - LeRoy Neiman, painter
1929 - Jerry Stiller, comedian, actor
1933 - Joan Rivers, comedienne, author
1944 - Boz Scaggs, singer, songwriter
1955 - Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web
1957 - Scott Adams, cartoonist (“Dilbert”)
Deaths
1809 - Thomas Paine, American revolutionary and writer: Common Sense (b. 1737)
1845 - Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States (b. 1767)
1874 - Cochise, Apache leader (b. c. 1812)
1982 - Satchel Paige, baseball player (b. 1906)
07 June 2005
Today in History
From wikipedia.org:
Events
1099 - Beginning of Siege of Jerusalem (1099)
1494 - Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas which divides the New World between the two countries
1654 - Louis XIV is crowned King of France
1692 - Port Royal, Jamaica is hit by a catastrophic earthquake at 11:43am; in just three minutes, 1600 people are killed and 3000 are seriously injured
1776 - American invaders skirmish with British at Trois-Rivières, Quebec
1800 - David Thompson reaches the mouth of the Saskatchewan River in Manitoba
1832 - Asian cholera brought to Quebec by Irish immigrants kills about 6,000 people in Lower Canada
1862 - The United States and United Kingdom agree to suppress the slave trade
1863 - Mexico City is captured by French troops
1866 - 1800 Fenian raiders are repelled back to the United States after they loot and plunder around St-Armand and Frelighsburg, Quebec
1905 - Norway declares the union with Sweden dissolved
1914 - The first vessel passes through the locks of the Panama Canal
1929 - Vatican City becomes a sovereign state
1935 - Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of France
1938 - The Douglas DC-4 makes its first test flight
1942 - World War II: The Battle of Midway ends
1948 - Edvard Beneš resigns as President of Czechoslovakia rather than sign a Constitution making his nation a Communist state
1981 - The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq’s Osiraq nuclear reactor
1989 - At 01:23:45 AM the time and date by US reckoning was 01:23:45 6/7/89. This was also true 12 hours later excepting 24-hour time
Births
1761 - John Rennie, engineer (d. 1821)
1811 - James Simpson, obstetrician (d. 1870)
1831 - Amelia Edwards, English author and Egyptologist (d. 1892)
1848 - Paul Gauguin, French painter (d. 1903)
1868 - Charles Rennie Mackintosh, architect, designer, and illustrator (d. 1928)
1879 - Knut Rasmussen, explorer (d. 1933)
1896 - Imre Nagy, Hungarian politician (d. 1958)
1897 - George Szell, Hungarian conductor (d. 1970)
1909 - Virginia Apgar, childbirth specialist (d. 1974)
1952 - Liam Neeson, Irish actor
Deaths
1329 - Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland (b. 1274)
1866 - Chief Seattle, Native American leader
1936 - Stjepan Seljan, Croatian explorer (b. 1875)
1954 - Alan Turing, mathematician, computer scientist (b. 1912)
On This Day
From the BBC:
1981: Israel bombs Baghdad nuclear reactor
1977: Queen celebrates Silver Jubilee
1942: Japanese beaten in Battle of Midway
01 June 2005
Fatherhood
On the spine of this month’s Real Simple:
To become a father is not hard,
To be a father is, however.
-Wilhelm Busch
31 May 2005
Newspaper Glossary
Another one from JumboJoke.com:
Newspaper Glossary:
“When a newspaper uses a term like ‘informed source’, what does it really mean? Herewith a glossary of newspaper terms.…”
A Pretty Sad State of Affairs
On MercuryNews.com today:
The day the music died in Redwood City schools:
“…Vivian Euzent will lift her baton this evening to lead the Kennedy Middle School concert band in ‘Drums On A Budget.’
She hadn’t planned the irony -- but it will be her last concert with the Redwood City Elementary School District. And it will be the last concert for all 800 district students whom Euzent and three other teachers have taught to play violins, flutes, trumpets and, yes, drums during the past decade.
For all of those students, the music is over. When voters failed to pass a parcel tax this month by a narrow margin, the district, which has cut $8 million from its budget in five years, made the heartbreaking decision to eliminate instrumental music teaching in its 15 schools.
This San Mateo County school district is not alone. Music and art programs sit on a fragile edge as educational funds retreat. Many districts nationwide now depend on the help of volunteers and foundations to sustain arts education.
In the South Bay, parent boosters keep alive Buchser Middle School’s music program in Santa Clara. Cupertino, recently named one of the 100 best communities for music education in America, depends on the Cupertino Education Endowment Foundation. San Jose’s Eastside Union High School District kept its music instruction afloat by sacrificing summer school at seven of its 12 schools.…”
Vineyards… Housing Developments; Vineyards… Housing Developments;
On MercuryNews.com today:
End of the Vine
I know which one I’d choose…
24 May 2005
Redneck IQ Test
Another one from JumboJoke:
Redneck IQ Test:
“As an added bonus for taking the ‘Redneck IQ Test’, here's some southerly advice that may come in handy down the road a piece: Next time you are too drunk to drive, walk to the nearest pizza shop and place an order. When they go to deliver it, catch a ride home with ’em.”
23 May 2005
16 May 2005
But the Orthodox Don’t Want to Play (again)…
From CTV.ca, recently:
New pope vows to strive for Christian unity:
“…But the Greek Metropolitan Bishop, Chrisostomos of Zakynthos, expressed his concern that Benedict may not work to unite Christians. Unless his record changes, he said, ‘it will be a huge thorn, a great difficulty in continuing the efforts of his predecessors with the Orthodox for convergence, as was the will of Christ.’”
11 May 2005
The LA Times’ Take on the Thing
From LATimes.com, this evening:
Wayward Cessna Triggers Massive Security Repsonse:
“‘…My understanding is, they were not allowed to leave in the airplane,’ Maddox [a spokesman for the Baltimore FBI field office] said…”
Do tell…
How the H*ll Do You Miss a Black Hawk??
From NYTimes.com, tomorrow morning:
Off-Course Plane Prompts Brief Evacuation in the Capital:
“…After it was chased by a Black Hawk helicopter and two fighters fired warning flares, the Cessna, which was flown by a pilot and his student who apparently veered off course, finally responded…”
22 April 2005
Please Tell Me the Archbishop Is *Not* Wearing a T-Shirt…
From the BBC, tomorrow morning:
Archbishop to meet Pope Benedict
Lots of interesting links.
21 April 2005
Maybe It’s a Good Thing My Dad Doesn’t Have a Computer…
From chigacotribune.com recently:
Pope Benedict XVI Gets E-Mail Address:
“In English, the address is benedictxvi@vatican.va. In Italian: benedettoxvi@vatican.va.”
Cardinal George (of Chicago): “The choice was clear”
From chicagotribune.com yesterday:
Cardinal George: The choice was clear:
“…When George greeted Ratzinger for the first time as Holy Father, he said he kissed his hand and promised his love and obedience in halting German. The new pope responded in English and indicated to George that he would renew a U.S. church policy that gives bishops the power to discipline sexually abusive priests without having to appeal to the Vatican for their removal from the priesthood.”
On This Day
From the BBC:
1994: ‘Guildford Four’ man cleared of IRA murder
1945: Red Army enters outskirts of Berlin
20 April 2005
Makes Sense…
From Catholic.net:
The Altar and the Direction of Liturgical Prayer - by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger - Catholic Dossier - September/October 2000:
“The following essay is Chapter Three of The Spirit of the Liturgy by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Cardinal Ratzinger summarizes the argument for the traditional celebration of the sacred liturgy facing liturgical East (“ad orientem”).”
Alert the Media!!
From TimesOnline, tomorrow morning:
Shock! New Pope a Catholic:
“…Journalists and pundits for whom the Catholic Church has long been an object of anthropological curiosity fringed with patronising ridicule have really let themselves go since the new pontiff emerged. Indeed most of the coverage I have seen or read could be neatly summarised as: “Cardinals elect Catholic Pope. World in Shock."
“As headlines, I’ll grant you, it’s hard to beat God’s Rottweiler, The Enforcer, or Cardinal No. They all play beautifully into the anti-Catholic sentiment in intellectual European and American circles that is, in this politically correct era, the only form of religious bigotry legitimised and sanctioned in public life. But I ask you, in all honesty, what were they expecting?
“Did the likes of The Guardian, the BBC or The New York Times think there was someone in the Church’s leadership who was going to pop up out on the balcony of St Peter’s and with a cheery wave, tell the faithful that everything they’d heard for the past 26 — no, make that 726 — years was rubbish and that they should all rush out and load up with condoms and abortifacients like teenagers off for a smutty weekend? Or did they think the conclave would go the whole hog and elect Sir Bob Geldof (with Peaches, perhaps, as a co-pope) in an effort to bring back the masses?
“It has been fun (and revealing) to watch as the cardinals’ deliberations have been portrayed, with so little imagination or understanding, as a classic left-right battle between conservatives (bad, of course) and progressives (good). But it bears little reality to the way the Church’s leadership really thinks about its future…”
22 March 2005
Santorum rethinks death penalty stance
On postgazette.com today:
Santorum rethinks death penalty stance
18 March 2005
Witness for the Prosecution
From JumboJoke.com:
Witness for the Prosecution:
“In a trial in a small North Carolina town, a prosecuting attorney called his first witness to the stand. She was sworn in, asked if she would tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help her God.
She says ‘I do.’
She was a proper well-dressed elderly lady, the grandmother type, well-spoken and poised.
The prosecuting attorney approached the woman and asked, ‘Mrs. Jones, do you know me?‘”
And it’s all downhill…
17 March 2005
Capturing scarred earth on film
From The Oregonian's Web site recently:
Capturing scarred earth on film
01 March 2005
I Never Knew Engineering Was So Funny
From JumboJoke.com:
Engineering Conversions:
“1. Ratio of an igloo’s circumference to its diameter?
Eskimo Pi
2. 2,000 pounds of Chinese soup?
Won ton”
Etc., etc., etc.
28 February 2005
Today in History
From wikipedia.org:
Events
1700 - February 28 is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar
1827 - The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad offering commercial transportation of both people and freight
1844 - A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing two United States Cabinet members and several others
1849 - Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, 4 months 21 days after leaving New York Harbor
1850 - The University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah
1854 - The United States Republican Party is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin
1861 - Colorado is organized as a United States territory
1883 - The first vaudeville theater is opened, in Boston, Massachusetts
1885 - The American Telephone and Telegraph Company was incorporated in New York State as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone. (American Bell would later merge with its subsidiary.)
1935 - Nylon is discovered by Wallace Carothers
1940 - Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden)
1952 - End of 8th Winter Olympic Games in Oslo
1953 - James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; formal announcement April 25 following publication in April Nature (pub. April 2)
1960 - End of 10th Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, California
1974 - After seven years, the United States and Egypt re-establish diplomatic relations
1983 - The final episode of M*A*S*H is broadcast in the USA, becoming the most watched television episode in history, with 106–125 million viewers in the U.S. (estimate varies by source)
1993 - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest cult leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff
2001 - An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter Scale hits the Nisqually Valley area of Washington. There were no reports of any deaths
Births
1827 - Blondin, French tightrope walker whose spectacular crossings of Niagara Falls (USA/Canada) made him world famous (d. 1897)
1862 - Canon Edwin Sidney Savage, Rector of Hexham Abbey and St Bartholomew the Great (d. 1947)
1878 - Pierre Fatou, French Mathematician, who worked on iteration theory which was later analysed by Benoit Mandelbrot
1901 - Linus Pauling, the only winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1954 and Peace 1962 (d. 1994)
1929 - Hayden Fry, college football coach
1942 - Brian Jones, musician ("The Rolling Stones") (d. 1969)
1945 - Bubba Smith, American football player, actor (Police Academy)
1948 - Bernadette Peters, actress, singer
2001 - Smarty Jones, winner of the 2004 Kentucky Derby
Deaths
1916 - Henry James, writer (b. 1843)
1979 - “The famous Mr. Ed”, the talking horse
1998 - Dermot Morgan, actor, comedian (b. 1952)
2003 - Roger Michael Needham, professor of cryptography at Cambridge University
27 February 2005
A Little Humor Is Good For the Soul
From the Mac News Wire:
IGM: ‘Don’t Get Ripped Off - Buy a Windows PC’:
“We love the occasional rant about how people should buy a PC. It just reminds us that Apple is doing far too well for some people’s liking.
“What caught our eye was Adam Steinberg’s Fusion column in Wayne State University’s South End.
““You’re paying for the image” when you buy a Mac, Steinberg writes. “The fact of the matter is, if you’re doing any serious (or obscure) computing, you need to be on a Windows PC.”
No, Mr Steinberg, I’m paying for the privilege, the pure pleasure, the delight of not having to use (and I “use” the term very loosely) Windows. Any computing I do is serious enough, even if I’m playing games, that Windows is not an option…
RIP
From the Mac News Wire:
IGM: Jef Raskin dead at 61:
“The Digibarn Computer Museum reports that Jef Raskin died on Saturday, Feb 26 of cancer. Hired as employee No 31 in 1978, he was the early driving force behind the Macintosh.”
From MercuryNews.com today:
Macintosh computer creator Raskin dead at 61:
“Raskin joined Apple in 1978 - employee No. 31 - to start the young company’s publications department. At the time, computers were primarily text based and users had to remember a series of arcane commands to perform the simplest tasks.
“In 1979, Raskin had a different idea: A computer that’s priced affordably, targeted at consumers and extremely easy to use. A small team, under his command, was put together at Apple to pursue his concept that would eventually become the Macintosh.
““His role on the Macintosh was the initiator of the project, so it wouldn't be here if it weren’t for him,” said Andy Hertzfeld, an early Mac team member.
“Raskin also named the Macintosh after his favorite apple, though the name was slightly changed because of a trademark issue with another company.
“Raskin led the project until the summer of 1981, when he had a falling out with Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder. He left the company entirely the following year.
““One of the biggest things I give Jef credit for was putting together the very beginnings of the Mac team with some extraordinary people who didn’t necessarily have the credentials, but had everything else to do something great,” Hertzfeld said Sunday.”
26 February 2005
Randy Moss and the Prince of Darkness: A Match Made in, well…, er…
From MercuryNews.com recently:
He’s perfect fit for sad Raiders
And They Wonder Why They're Getting Less and Less Popular in More and More Places?
From the Bozeman Daily Chronicle’s Web site Friday:
Rangers tickets snowmobilers who didn’t know they were in the park or just couldn’t resist
24 February 2005
Who's Your Daddy???
When someone puts in for Child Support in Dallas, Texas, proper procedure requires finding out who the father is to determine why he is not providing support. The following are responses entered by Dallas women on Child Support Agency forms in the section for listing fathers’ details. These are actual excerpts from the forms. Reviewers felt that number 11 was very good - it took the prize, in their collective opinion; number 3 was runner up.
1. Regarding the identity of the father of my twins, child A was fathered by Jim Munson. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of child B, but I believe that he was conceived on the same night.
2. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of my child as I was being sick out of a window when taken unexpectedly from behind. I can provide you with a list of names of men that I think were at the party if this helps.
3. I do not know the name of the father of my little girl. She was conceived at a party at 3600 Grand Avenue where I had unprotected sex with a man I met that night. I do remember that the sex was so good that I fainted. If you do manage to track down the father, can you send me his phone number? Thanks.
4. I don't know the identity of the father of my daughter. He drives a BMW that now has a hole made by my stiletto in one of the door panels. Perhaps you can contact BMW service stations in this area and see if he’s had it replaced.
5. I have never had sex with a man. I am still a Virginian. I am awaiting a letter from the Pope confirming that my son’s conception was immaculate and that he is Christ risen again.
6. I cannot tell you the name of child A’s dad as he informs me that to do so would blow his cover and that would have cataclysmic implications for the economy. I am torn between doing right by you and right by the country. Please advise.
7. I do not know who the father of my child was as all blacks look the same to me.
8. Peter Smith is the father of child A. If you do catch up with him, can you ask him what he did with my AC/DC CDs? Child B who was also borned at the same time… well, I don’t have a clue.
9. From the dates it seems that my daughter was conceived at Disney World; maybe it really is the Magic Kingdom.
10. So much about that night is a blur. The only thing that I remember for sure is Delia Smith did a program about eggs earlier in the evening. If I’d have stayed in and watched more TV rather than going to the party at 146 Miller Drive, mine might have remained unfertilized.
11. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of my baby, after all when you eat a can of beans you can't be sure which one made you fart.
(This one’s April’s fault…)
I’m SO Surprised
From MercuryNews.com today:
Dell hit with class-action lawsuit in S.F.:
“Two San Francisco residents have filed a class-action lawsuit against computer manufacturer Dell, alleging the company regularly uses bait-and-switch techniques, and promises favorable financing terms that it doesn’t deliver.”
District boots falsely enrolled students
From MercuryNews.com today:
District boots falsely enrolled students
22 February 2005
I’ll Bet Environmentalists Aren’t the Only Ones Worried
From MercuryNews.com today:
Plan to spur building worries environmentalists
Hmmmm… Mountain Bikers Tend to Irk Hikers…
From MercuryNews.com today:
Judge’s ruling irks mountain bikers
21 February 2005
Another One (Political Correct Construct) Bites the Dust
From MercuryNews.com recently:
Gene researchers find variations by ancestry
19 February 2005
The Rock in Iowa
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Photo Gallery (The Rock in Iowa):
“Claim: Photographs show a rock painted with patriotic scenes alongside an Iowa highway.
Status: True.”
McMoose!!
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Photo Gallery (McMoose):
"Claim: Photograph shows a moose poking its snout into a McDonald's drive-through window.
Status: Undetermined."
Tunnel Vision
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Photo Gallery (Tunnel Vision)
Claim: Photograph shows a bridge-tunnel system passing underwater between Sweden and Denmark.
Status: Real photograph; inaccurate description."
17 February 2005
08 February 2005
07 February 2005
Serves the Sunny Beach Right!
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Autos (Sound Beating)
OMG!!! Bob (who had no idea what was coming when I hit the go button on the audio) was rolling on the floor!! It’s hysterical!
06 February 2005
NTB (Not Too Bright)
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Media (G.I. Don't Know . . .)
“I cannot provide any information about me because, as I mentioned earlier, I am unarmed, and any information about me might jeopardize my life and the lives of my family.
My apologies to everyone.”
Today in History
From wikipedia.org:
Events
1778 - American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic
1788 - Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution
1815 - New Jersey grants the first American railroad charter to a John Stevens
1819 - Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore
1820 - The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society established a settlement in present-day Liberia
1843 - The first minstrel show in the United States The Virginia Minstrels opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City)
1862 - American Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant gives the United States its first victory of the war, by capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee
Births
1564 - Christopher Marlowe, playwright (d. 1593)
1895 - Babe Ruth, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1948)
1911 - Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)
1913 - Mary Leakey, anthropologist (d. 1996)
1914 - Thurl Ravenscroft, voice-over actor (“Tony the Tiger”)
1922 - Patrick Macnee, actor
1945 - Bob Marley, Jamaican roots rock reggae singer and musician, (d. 1981)
1950 - Natalie Cole, singer
Deaths
1617 - Prospero Alpini, Italian scientist (b. 1553)
1685 - King Charles II of England (b. 1630)
1740 - Pope Clement XII (b. 1652)
1952 - King George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)
1989 - Chris Gueffroy, last person killed escaping over the GDR border
1991 - Danny Thomas, singer, comedia, actor (b. 1914)
1993 - Arthur Ashe, tennis star (b. 1943)
Holidays & observances
Feast day of Saint Paul Miki and companions
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