Saturday, June 28, 2014

PIX OF THE DAY


AROUND THE GLOBE



CONGRATS TO OUR NEWEST PAUL HARRIS FELLOW



PIN POWER

Rotary Wheel_3
By Ron Nethercutt, past chair of the Rotarians on the Internet Fellowship and a member of the Rotary Club of Mabalacat, Pampanga, Philippines
One of my unexpected surprises as a member of Rotary came during a large chamber of commerce meeting held at the Trade Center in New Orleans.A young lady approached me and said “I want to thank you.” I asked “Why? Have we met?” She responded by saying she saw my Rotary pin that I was wearing and that she gave thanks to every Rotarian she saw. She went on to tell me how she had been named a Rotary Scholar and earned a master’s degree in international banking at Oxford University, following undergraduate work in accounting. Upon returning from Oxford, she was hired at the largest bank in New Orleans, and after a few short years, she was named vice president for that bank’s investments in Latin America. She specialized in bank loans to young people to financially assist in their development.I’m sure we all have some personal stories to tell about those being helped by Rotary. My own club has a constant flow of young children who we have helped receive both minor and major medical operations.I share the above story since it came as a complete surprise for something for which I had no personal involvement. Our only link was that Rotary pin.

FASTER

Putting a motor on a skateboard seems like such a simple adaptation that “you wonder why these things aren’t everywhere already.” Apparently, the engineering challenge is formidable. The new Boosted Boardrepresents the product of several years of trial-and-error development. Twin motors spin the rear wheels, drawing juice from a lithium battery mounted behind the front wheels. A handheld remote controls the speed, allowing a top motor-generated velocity of 20 mph. The Boosted Board isn’t as maneuverable as a standard long board and thus “takes some practice.” Still, “it sure is a blast.”
$1,995, boostedboards.com

YOUR NEXT HOUSE

Easton, Conn.: Renowned architect Frazier Peters built this four-bedroom house in 1937. Set on a 7.2-acre lot, the home features arched doorways, a living room with a 20-foot exposed-beam ceiling, and a stone-floor dining room with French doors that lead to a canopied patio. The property has a small cottage and the option to subdivide. $799,900. 

TODAY IN HISTORY

June 28
1635 The French colony of Guadeloupe is established in the Caribbean.
1675 Frederick William of Brandenburg crushes the Swedes.
1709 Russians defeat the Swedes and Cossacks at the Battle of Poltava.
1776 Colonists repulse a British sea attack on Charleston, South Carolina.
1778 Mary "Molly Pitcher" Hays McCauley, wife of an American artilleryman, carries water to the soldiers during the Battle of Monmouth.
1839 Cinque and other Africans are kidnapped and sold into slavery in Cuba.
1862 Fighting continues between Union and Confederate forces during the Seven Days' campaign.
1863 General Meade replaces General Hooker three days before the Battle of Gettysburg.
1874 The Freedmen's Bank, created to assist former slaves in the United States, closes. Customers of the bank lose $3 million.
1884 Congress declares Labor Day a legal holiday.
1902 Congress passes the Spooner bill, authorizing a canal to be built across the isthmus of Panama.
1911 Samuel J. Battle becomes the first African-American policeman in New York City.
1914 Austria's Archduke Francis Ferdinand is assassinated at Sarajevo, Serbia.
1919 Germany signs the Treaty of Versailles under protest.
1921 A coal strike in Britain is settled after three months.
1930 More than 1,000 communists are routed during an assault on the British consulate in London.
1938 Congress creates the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to insure construction loans.
1942 German troops launch an offensive to seize Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus and the city of Stalingrad.
1945 General Douglas MacArthur announces the end of Japanese resistance in the Philippines.
1949 The last U.S. combat troops are called home from Korea, leaving only 500 advisers.
1950 General Douglas MacArthur arrives in South Korea as Seoul falls to the North.
1954 French troops begin to pull out of Vietnam's Tonkin province.
1964 Malcolm X founds the Organization for Afro-American Unity to seek independence for blacks in the Western Hemisphere.
1967 14 people are shot during race riots in Buffalo, New York.
1970 Muhammed Ali [Cassius Clay] stands before the Supreme Court regarding his refusal of induction into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.
1971 The Supreme Court overturns the draft evasion conviction of Muhammad Ali.
1972 Nixon announces that no new draftees will be sent to Vietnam.
1976 The first women enter the U.S. Air Force Academy.

TRIVIA Q & A

What is the only state that has hosted the (summer) Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games?
(click below for the answer)


Friday, June 27, 2014

THE FIRST WORD

canaille

PRONUNCIATION:
(kuh-NAYL, -NY

MEANING:
noun: The common people; the masses; riffraff.

ETYMOLOGY:
From French canaille (villain, rabble), from Italian canaglia (pack of dogs, rabble), from cane (dog), from Latin canis (dog). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kwon- (dog), which is also the source of canine, chenille (from French chenille: caterpillar, literally, little dog), kennel, canary, hound, dachshund, corgi, cynic, and cynosure. Earliest documented use: 1676.

USAGE:
"The gang in the alley was not canaille; fine gentlemen from the court were raging here."
Isak Dinesen; Last Tales; Random House; 1957. 

PIX OF THE DAY


PROTEIN PRICES

Protein is getting pricey. The cost of beef, beans, bacon, and nine other protein sources jumped 28 percent in the last five years. In 2014 alone, protein prices have risen roughly 5 percent—twice the pace of increase for any other food group.
Bloomberg.com

AROUND THE GLOBE


LET ME CHECK





LOVE YOU SOME JOB

Turns out, being stuck-up can improve your chances of landing a job. In a study from the University of British Columbia, researchers found that job interviewers tended to favor narcissistic candidates over equally qualified but more humble applicants.
Forbes.com

TODAY IN HISTORY

June 27
363 Roman Emperor Julian dies, ending the Pagan Revival.
1743 English King George defeats the French at Dettingen, Bavaria.
1833 Prudence Crandall, a white woman, is arrested for conducting an academy for black women in Canterbury, Conn.
1862 Confederates break through the Union lines at the Battle of Gaines' Mill–the third engagement of the Seven Days' campaign.
1864 General Sherman is repulsed by Confederates at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.
1871 The yen becomes the new form of currency in Japan.
1905 The crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin mutinies.
1918 Two German pilots are saved by parachutes for the first time.
1923 Yugoslav Premier Nikola Pachitch is wounded by Serb attackers in Belgrade.
1924 Democrats offer Mrs. Leroy Springs the vice presidential nomination, the first woman considered for the job.
1927 The U.S. Marines adopt the English bulldog as their mascot.
1929 Scientists at Bell Laboratories in New York reveal a system for transmitting television pictures.
1942 The Allied convoy PQ-17 leaves Iceland for Murmansk and Archangel.
1944 Allied forces capture the port city of Cherbourg, France.
1950 The UN Security Council calls on members for troops to aid South Korea.
1963 Henry Cabot Lodge is appointed U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam.
1973 President Richard Nixon vetoes a Senate ban on the Cambodia bombing.
1985 The U.S. House of Representatives votes to limit the use of combat troops in Nicaragua.

AND I QUOTE

“In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”- M.J. Adler

Thursday, June 26, 2014


MIXED BLESSING

In 2012, 16 percent of the parents who stayed home to care for kids were dads, up from just 10 percent in 1989. But more than half of those stay-at-home dads say they made that choice because of a disability or inability to find a job.
TheAtlantic.com

SPACE

The Hercules Cluster of Galaxies 
Image Credit & Copyright: Ken Crawford



Explanation: These are galaxies of the Hercules Cluster, an archipelago of island universes a mere 500 million light-years away. Also known as Abell 2151, this cluster is loaded with gas and dust rich, star-forming spiral galaxies but has relatively fewelliptical galaxies, which lack gas and dust and the associated newborn stars. The colors in this remarkably deep composite image clearly show the star forming galaxies with a blue tint and galaxies with older stellar populations with a yellowish cast. The sharp picture spans about 3/4 degree across the cluster center, corresponding to over 6 million light-years at the cluster's estimated distance. Diffraction spikes around brighter foreground stars in our own Milky Way galaxy are produced by the imaging telescope's mirror support vanes. In the cosmic vista many galaxies seem to be colliding or merging while others seem distorted - clear evidence that cluster galaxies commonly interact. In fact, the Hercules Cluster itself may be seen as the result of ongoing mergers of smaller galaxy clusters and is thought to be similar to young galaxy clusters in the much more distant, early Universe.

FROM POETRY TO POLIO READICATION

By Chirag Trivedi, president of the Rotary Club of Bhavnagar Royal, Gujarat, India

Since 1985, Rotary has been at the forefront of the effort to eradicate polio from the world. Here is a unique way a member of my club has been supporting this monumental effort with his own individual talent. Himal Pandya has been a valuable member of our club since its chartering, having served as an assistant governor, past president, and Group Study Exchange Team leader for an exchange to Scotland in 2012-13. In fact, he played a pivotal role in the club’s formation. Our club has become one of the real success stories in our district, attracting more than 60 members with an average age below 40. (click below to read more)

POST MEETING HANG OUT





TODAY IN HISTORY

June 26
1096 Peter the Hermit's crusaders force their way across Sava, Hungary.
1243 The Seljuk Turkish army in Asia Minor is wiped out by the Mongols.
1541 Former followers murder Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish Conqueror of Peru.
1794 The French defeat an Austrian army at the Battle of Fleurus.
1804 The Lewis and Clark Expedition reaches the mouth of the Kansas River after completing a westward trek of nearly 400 river miles.
1844 Julia Gardiner and President John Tyler are married in New York City.
1862 General Robert E. Lee attacks McClellen's line at Mechanicsville during the Seven Days' campaign.
1863 Jubal Early and his Confederate forces move into Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
1900 The United States announces it will send troops to fight against the Boxer Rebellion in China.
1907 Russia's nobility demands drastic measures to be taken against revolutionaries.
1908 Shah Muhammad Ali's forces squelch the reform elements of Parliament in Persia.
1916 Russian General Aleksei Brusilov renews his offensive against the Germans.
1917 General Pershing arrives in France with the American Expeditionary Force.
1918 The Germans begin firing their huge 420 mm howitzer, "Big Bertha," at Paris.
1926 A memorial to the first U.S. troops in France is unveiled at St. Nazaire.
1924 After eight years of occupation, American troops leave the Dominican Republic.
1942 The Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter flies for the first time.
1945 The U.N. Charter is signed by 50 nations in San Francisco, California.
1951 The Soviet Union proposes a cease-fire in the Korean War.
1961 A Kuwaiti vote opposes Iraq's annexation plans.
1963 President John Kennedy announces "Ich bin ein Berliner" at the Berlin Wall.
1971 The U.S. Justice Department issues a warrant for Daniel Ellsberg, accusing him of giving away the Pentagon Papers.
1975 Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is convicted of election fraud.
1993 Roy Campanella, legendary catcher for the Negro Leagues and the Los Angeles Dodgers, dies.

TRIVIA Q & A

Besides tomato (which is technically a fruit), name any four of the seven (remaining) vegetables found in V8 vegetable juice.
(click below for the answer)

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

THE FIRST WORD

pungle

PRONUNCIATION:
(PUNG-uhl) 

MEANING:
verb tr.: To make a payment; to shell out.

ETYMOLOGY:
Alteration of Spanish póngale (put it down), from poner (to put), from Latin ponere (to put). Ultimately from the Indo-European root apo- (off or away) that is also the source of after, off, awkward, post, puny, appositeapropos, and dispositive. Earliest documented use: 1851.

USAGE:
"Congress pungled up $700 billion for a bailout."
Steve Rubenstein; 2008 in Review; San Francisco Chronicle; Dec 30, 2008. 

PIX OF THE DAY


IT'S JAVA TIME

The Dutch are the world’s biggest coffee drinkers, with each person knocking back an average of 2.414 cups a day. Finland is second (1.848), Sweden third (1.357), and Denmark fourth (1.237). The U.S. comes in 16th, with a per capita average of just under a cup a day (0.931).
Vox.com

AROUND THE GLOBE


A RING FOR THE ROAD






TODAY IN HISTORY

June 25
841 Charles the Bald and Louis the German defeat Lothar at Fontenay.
1658 Aurangzeb proclaims himself emperor of the Moghuls in India.
1767 Mexican Indians riot as Jesuit priests are ordered home.
1857 Gustave Flaubert goes on trial for public immorality regarding his novel, Madame Bovary.
1862 The first day of the Seven Days' campaign begins with fighting at Oak Grove, Virginia.
1864 Union troops surrounding Petersburg, Virginia, begin building a mine tunnel underneath the Confederate lines.
1868 The U.S. Congress enacts legislation granting an eight-hour day to workers employed by the federal government.
1876 General George A. Custer and over 260 men of the Seventh Cavalry are wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians at Little Big Horn in Montana.
1903 Marie Curie announces her discovery of radium.
1920 The Greeks take 8,000 Turkish prisoners in Smyrna.
1921 Samuel Gompers is elected head of the American Federation of Labor for the 40th time.
1941 Finland declares war on the Soviet Union.
1946 Ho Chi Minh travels to France for talks on Vietnamese independence.
1948 The Soviet Union tightens its blockade of Berlin by intercepting river barges heading for the city.
1950 North Korea invades South Korea, beginning the Korean War.
1959 The Cuban government seizes 2.35 million acres under a new agrarian reform law.
1962 The U.S. Supreme Court bans official prayers in public schools.
1964 President Lyndon Johnson orders 200 naval personnel to Mississippi to assist in finding three missing civil rights workers.
1973 White House Counsel John Dean admits President Nixon took part in the Watergate cover-up.
1986 Congress approves $100 million in aid to the Contras fighting in Nicaragua.