What is going on with the East Alton Rotary Club? We will cover it here, along with all sorts of other interesting and off-kilter stuff that will inform, enlighten and amuse you.
Monday, December 31, 2012
PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE
Kyle Cummings, a three-year-old boy from Queensland, Australia, was delighted to find a pile of eggs in his backyard, so he did what any toddler would do: he scooped them up and stashed them in his closet. Three days later, his mother discovered the not-so-delightful result of her son’s curiosity, when seven eastern brown snakes–the second most venomous snake in the world–came slithering out. Luckily the newborn snakes were not big enough to inflict dangerous bites (the amount of venom in one bite from an adult brown snake is enough to kill 20 people), and a wildlife group was able to capture the snakes and release them back into the wild. In the understatement of the year, Kyle’s mother, Donna Sims describes her reaction to finding a deadly snake nest in her home: ”I was pretty shocked, particularly because I don’t like snakes.”
HONESTY BEGINS AT HOME
Studies in lab settings have found that people are quite willing to lie when it's to their advantage. But a paper finds that, at home, they're remarkably honest. (click below to read more)
TOP 5 ROTARY STORIES OF 2012
The year got off to an exciting start in January when India marked a year without a new case of polio. By February, the World Health Organization had removed India from the list of endemic countries.
Here’s a look back at this and other memorable Rotary events of 2012. (click below to read more)
TODAY IN HISTORY
DECEMBER 31
1938: Rolla N. Harger's "Drunkometer" is first put to use by Indianapolis police eager to keep tipsy drivers off the roads on New Year's Eve. Harger, an Indiana University biochemist, invented the practical test so law enforcement officers could confidently halt drivers suspected of intoxication. The Drunkometer, a forerunner of the breathalyzer still used today, determines blood alcohol content by sampling a driver's breath in a balloon and mixing it with a chemical solution.
1857:Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada.
1947: Roy Rogers, the "King of the Cowboys," marries Dale Evans, the "Queen of the West" and leading lady in many of his cowboy films, at the Flying L Ranch in Davis, Okla. Although it is his third marriage and her fourth, they remain happily married for 51 years, until Rogers' death in 1998.
1972: Dick Clark hosts Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve for the first time on NBC, featuring guests Al Green, Helen Reddy and Three Dog Night. Clark will host the event (now on ABC) for the next 40 years, sharing hosting duties with Ryan Seacrest from 2005 until 2012. Clark died in April at age 82.
1951:The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than USD $12 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.
1946:President Truman officially proclaims end of WW-II
1890: Ellis Island (New York NY) opens as a US immigration depot
1879:Edison gives first public demonstration of his incandescent lamp
1999:Businesses across the world prepare for the rumored Y2k disaster -whereby computer systems around the world would stop working at midnight.
1995:American cartoonist Bill Watterson concludes his comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" after 10 years.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
TODAY IN HISTORY
DECEMBER 30
1922: Following the consolidation of Bolshevik power in the Russian Revolution, the Congress of Soviets proclaims the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, better known as the USSR, uniting Russia with an eventual 15 sub-national socialist republics.
1936: Employees at the General Motors Fisher Body Plant No. 1 in Flint, Mich., begin a 44-day long strike, demanding recognition of the United Auto Workers unions and the company’s acceptance of a list of pro-worker reforms. The strike is one of the first sit-down strikes in U.S. history.
1948: Kiss Me, Kate, Cole Porter's musical adaptation of the Shakespearean comedy The Taming of the Shrew, opens at the New Century Theatre on Broadway. The original cast includes Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk, and Harold Lang. The following year, Kiss Me, Kate will become the first recipient of the Tony Award for Best Musical.
1953:Television Technology: The first ever NTSC color television sets go on sale for about USD at $1,175 each from RCA.
1940:California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway, also known as the Pasadena Freeway. It joins Los Angeles with Pasadena along the Arroyo Seco.
1924:Edwin Hubble announces existence of other galactic systems. Previously Milky Way Galaxy was considered scope of starry universe, but discovery of Andromeda Galaxy proved otherwise. "We are not alone"
1937:Donald Duck is published under his Italian name, Paolino Paperino, for the first time.
MENSA Q & A
Who first used the phrase “nattering nabobs of negativity” in public?
(click below for the answer)
(click below for the answer)
THE FIRST WORD
never events
They are known as "never events"—the kind of mistake that should never happen in medicine, like operating on the wrong patient or sewing someone up with a sponge still inside—yet new research suggests that they happen with alarming frequency.
Other examples of "never events" that have nevertheless happened include amputation of the wrong limb and insemination with the wrong donor sperm. Items inadvertently left behind in a patient after surgery are sometimes called "surgical souvenirs."
Saturday, December 29, 2012
SAVE YOUR WILLPOWER
Millions of Americans will attempt to turn over a new leaf on Jan. 1, pledging to lose weight, spend less money, and quit smoking, said Oliver Burkeman. But despite what the self-help industry might tell you, “radical, across-the-board” changes like New Year’s resolutions rarely work in practice. (click below to read more)
TODAY IN HISTORY
DECEMBER 29
1170: Archbishop Thomas Becket is murdered inside of Canterbury Cathedral by knights loyal to King Henry II, who had clashed with Becket over the power of the Church in England. Almost immediately, Becket is recognized as a martyr and will become a saint of the Catholic Church less than three years after his death.
1890: Over 200 men, women and children belonging to the Oglala Lakota people are massacred by the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry Regiment at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, sparked by a skirmish when the soldiers tried to disarm the Lakotas. It would be the last major confrontation between the Native Americans of the Great Plains and the U.S. military.
1940:WWII: Germany begins bombing London.
1916: Russian monk and alleged holy man Grigori Rasputin, who ingratiated himself with the family of Tsar Nicholas II, is lured to his death by a group of noblemen led by Prince Felix Yusopov at the Moika Palace in St. Petersburg. The Tsarist calendar listed the date as Dec. 16. Rasputin was shot several times sometime after midnight, but his death ultimately may have come from drowning in a river early on Dec. 30.
1982:Paul 'Bear' Bryant coaches the Alabama college football team for the final time.
PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE
The severed finger of a Washington state man was found in the belly of a fish. Police used its fingerprint to track it back to Haans Galassi, 31, who lost four fingers from his left hand months earlier in a wakeboarding accident. When police called and mentioned the lake, Galassi said, “Let me guess. They found my fingers in a fish.” Asked if he wanted the finger back so it could be reattached, Galassi declined. “Uhhh, I’m good,” he said.
AND I QUOTE
"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."
Thornton Wilder
Friday, December 28, 2012
POLIO SURGERY PROJECT EXTENDS SERVICE BEYOND BORDERS
By Rajiv Pradhan, past governor of District 3132 and primary project contact for the medical mission to Nigeria
The medical mission to Nigeria was a life-changing experience for the Indian doctors who took part and for the children who underwent polio-corrective surgeries.
The orthopedic surgeons, all with experience in these types of surgeries, came from all corners of India. Many more surgeons and anesthesiologists wanted to join than we had room for on the team. (click below to read more)
PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE
A man took to putting on 70 items of clothing to avoid an extra baggage charge at an airport.
The unidentified passenger turned up at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in China, described as looking like a 'sumo wrestler'.
According to Guangzhou Daily, the man's luggage exceeded the weight limit. He did not want to pay the extra baggage costs, and thus took out and wore more than 60 shirts and nine pairs of jeans.
Wanting to board a flight to Nairobi, Kenya, he was stopped by the metal detector and had to undergo a full body search.In his numerous pockets were batteries, thumb drives and device chargers.
TODAY IN HISTORY
DECEMBER 28
1612: Galileo Galilei is the first astronomer to make note of the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly identifies the celestial body as a "fixed star" near Jupiter. The most distant planet in the solar system's official discovery is credited to Urbain Le Verrier, Johann Galle and John Couch Adams in 1846.
1968:Beatles' "Beatles-The White Album," goes #1 & stays #1 for 9 weeks
1944:Leonard Bernstein's "On the Town," introducing the hit song "New York, New York" premieres on Broadway
1832: John C. Calhoun becomes the first politician to resign from the vice presidency of the United States, because of his ongoing disagreements with President Andrew Jackson. Calhoun immediately fills an empty U.S. Senate seat for South Carolina, where he achieves his most lasting fame as an outspoken orator and proponent of states' rights and slavery.
1973: President Richard Nixon signs the Endangered Species Act into law. The legislation categorizes plant and animal species into "threatened" and "endangered" lists, and prohibits the U.S. government from jeopardizing the welfare of these vulnerable populations.
1912:The first municipally owned street cars becoming operational in San Francisco, California - they would become an iconic part of the city.
1846:Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.
MENSA Q & A
When the ink of a cuttlefish is used as a dye, what is the color called?
(click below for the answer)
(click below for the answer)
THE FIRST WORD
supers
In the three operas performed this season, there are nonsinging roles aplenty: 150 in Verdi's "Aida," 28 in Berlioz's "Les Troyens" and 80 in Puccini's "Turnadot." These cast members are called "supers," an encouraging label if there ever was one for someone who doesn't do something.
A super, shortened from "supernumerary" (equivalent to an "extra"), is also called a "spear-carrier," as the actor often stands and does just that.Thursday, December 27, 2012
NOTRE DAME TURNS 850
One of the icons of Paris is turning 850 this coming year. Notre Dame de Paris was founded in 1163, although the beautiful Gothic cathedral wasn't completed until 1345 and the building has been altered several times since. (click below to read more)
PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE
A suspected burglar called 911 to complain that the owner of the Texas home he’d broken into was holding him at gunpoint. The suspect, Christopher Moore, placed the emergency call after he allegedly burglarized the home and found the homeowner and his son pointing guns at him. “I’m out in the country somewhere,” Moore told the 911 operator. “Some guy’s got a gun on me.” The homeowner’s wife told the 911 operator, “You better come quick, or my husband’s going to shoot him.” Police arrived and saved Moore from being shot, but charged him with burglary.
THE NEXT BIG THING?
Who needs pockets? Thanks to a new fabric developed by Swiss scientists, cellphones, tablets, and other electronic devices may soon be woven directly into clothing, said Chris Wickham in Reuters.com. By mimicking “the way tendons connect to bones,” the polyurethane-based material is flexible enough to stretch without breaking but stiff enough to protect delicate circuits. The material “could revolutionize devices from smartphones and solar cells to medical implants.” A Massachusetts start-up has used similar technology for a “flexible skullcap that monitors impacts to the head during sports.” The Swiss researchers say their product can also be used for artificial cartilage. “The vision is that you will be able to make materials that are as heterogeneous as the biological ones,” said André Studart of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
TODAY IN HISTORY
DECEMBER 27
1900: Strong-willed temperance advocate Carrie A. Nation smashes up the bar at the upscale Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kan., causing hundreds of dollars worth of damage. Although Nation will be jailed for the incident, she continues her "hatchetations" around Kansas. While most areas of the state largely ignored the prohibition amendment that went into effect in 1881, Nation tried to enforce the ban on alcohol with her own two hands — and her trademark hatchet.
1978:Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship.
1904: J.M. Barrie's play Peter Pan debuts at the Duke of York's Theatre in London, introducing theatergoers to "the boy who wouldn't grow up" and the inhabitants of Neverland. Actress Nina Boucicault plays Peter in the debut, establishing a long tradition of women playing the role.
1932: Radio City Music Hall opens in New York with an opening night performance featuring Ray Bolger and Martha Graham. Created by John D. Rockefeller Jr. to provide affordable entertainment during the Great Depression, the venue is best known for its annual Christmas Spectacular and beautiful, high-kicking Rockettes. The building remains the largest indoor theater in the world and boasts a stage measuring 66 1/2 feet deep by 144 feet across.
1945:The World Bank was created with the signing of an agreement by 28 nations.
1831:Charles Darwin sets out on HMS Beagle expedition leading to Theory of Evolution.
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