Night Skies from Dvergastein on Vimeo.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
GLOBAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY
Join millions of children, teens, and young adults to change the
world through service on Global Youth Service Day, 20-22 April.
Issues like health, education, hunger, poverty, disaster
preparedness, human rights, and the environment can seem overwhelming.
But on Global Youth Service Day, young people in over 100 countries on
six
continents will take action by educating others, volunteering in their
communities, advocating for change, and giving back.
We encourage all New Generations participants to get involved. Find ideas and resources, see
what's happening around the world, and register your project at www.GYSD.org.
TSUNAMI GHOST SHIP
When last year's earthquake and resulting tsunami rocked
Japan, the destruction of property and disruption to travel plans were
immediate. Minor quakes after the initial tremor did little more damage.
But a Japanese squid-fishing boat has been drifting across the Pacific
Ocean all year and is now closing in on British Columbia's north coast. (click below to read more)
TODAY IN HISTORY
MARCH 31, 1968
At the end of a televised address about the Vietnam War, President Lyndon B. Johnson stuns viewers by announcing his “irrevocable” decision not to seek a second full term as president of the United States.
1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Emergency Conservation Work Act into law, creating the Civilian Conservation Corps. At the height of the Great Depression, the CCC will employ hundreds of thousands of young men to create and preserve national and state parks and public land.
At the end of a televised address about the Vietnam War, President Lyndon B. Johnson stuns viewers by announcing his “irrevocable” decision not to seek a second full term as president of the United States.
1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Emergency Conservation Work Act into law, creating the Civilian Conservation Corps. At the height of the Great Depression, the CCC will employ hundreds of thousands of young men to create and preserve national and state parks and public land.
1945: "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway
1995: Popular Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez is shot and killed by Yolanda Saldívar, the president of Selena’s fan club, in Corpus Christi, Texas. She was 23.
1995: Popular Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez is shot and killed by Yolanda Saldívar, the president of Selena’s fan club, in Corpus Christi, Texas. She was 23.
I DON'T WANT TO SEE THE BIRD THAT COULD USE THIS NEST
An 80-Ton Bird’s Nest was constructed at the Clemson University Botanical Gardens. “The
nest was built with the assistance of numerous students and other
volunteers using 80 tons of pine logs harvested from the local Oconee
County pine plantation and hundreds of bamboo stocks that were carefully
organized into a circular structure dug in gardens rich red clay.”
Friday, March 30, 2012
SPACE
Image Credit: Daniel Fernández (DANIKXT)
Explanation:
What just above that ridge?
The Moon.
Specifically, the Earth's Moon was caught just above the horizon in a young crescent phase.
The familiar Moon might look a bit odd as the exposure shows significant
Earthshine -- the illumination of the part of the
Moon hidden from direct sunlight by the sun-reflecting Earth.
Also captured in the image is the
bright planet Venus on the right.
Venus and Jupiter passed only three degrees from each other last week during a photogenic
planetary conjunction.
The above image was taken two days ago near
Madrid,
Spain.
The foreground horizon silhouette includes some of the Seven
Peaks of the
Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range.
Just a few minutes after this picture was taken, the Moon set.
MEXICAN FOOD IN THE USA
As American as Fajita Pie
From Chicago to Disneyland, Mexican food has taken a surprising path to U.S. dominance
As the fast-food chain Taco Bell celebrates its 50th anniversary this week, you may have noticed ads for its latest offering: the Doritos Locos taco. (That would be a taco with a shell made of Doritos chip material.) You might even have eaten one. Could anything be more American—or more Mexican?
That's "Mexican" in the sense of the hugely varied Mexican food that has taken over much of America's food landscape over the past century. In its combination of the exotic and the familiar, Mexican food has always occupied a unique place in the culinary history of the U.S. (click below to read more)
From Chicago to Disneyland, Mexican food has taken a surprising path to U.S. dominance
As the fast-food chain Taco Bell celebrates its 50th anniversary this week, you may have noticed ads for its latest offering: the Doritos Locos taco. (That would be a taco with a shell made of Doritos chip material.) You might even have eaten one. Could anything be more American—or more Mexican?
That's "Mexican" in the sense of the hugely varied Mexican food that has taken over much of America's food landscape over the past century. In its combination of the exotic and the familiar, Mexican food has always occupied a unique place in the culinary history of the U.S. (click below to read more)
TODAY IN HISTORY
 |
| halley's Comet |
MARCH 30
240 B.C.:Chinese astronomers in Cathay observe the first verified sighting of
Halley’s Comet, which they describe as a “broom star” due to its tail.
In 1705, British astronomer Edmond Halley theorizes that many of the
comet sightings over the last two millennia are in fact visits from the
same comet, returning on a parabolic orbit about every 75 to 76 years.
Halley’s Comet is the best short-period comet visible to the naked eye
on Earth; it will next be seen in 2061.
1867:Russia sells Alaska to U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward for $7.2 Million.
1964: Merv Griffin’s trivia quiz show Jeopardy! with original host Art Fleming, premieres on NBC’s daytime lineup.
1981: President Ronald Reagan
is wounded by gunman John Hinckley, Jr., outside the Washington Hilton
Hotel. Hinckley also shoots White House Press Secretary James Brady, a
Secret Service agent and a D.C. police officer. In his trial, Hinckley,
Jr., will be found not guilty by reason of insanity—he claimed to have
shot Reagan to gain attention from Taxi Driver actress Jodie Foster. He
has been a patient in St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., ever
since.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
MEETING PROGRAM MARCH 29, 2012
PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE
 |
| Crawley Town crest (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
(Reuters) - A
referee sent off five players in the dressing rooms after a post-match
brawl at an English League Two (fourth tier) game between Bradford City
and promotion-chasing Crawley Town.
"I can't believe this has
happened," Bradford manager Phil Parkinson, who had three players shown
red cards after the 2-1 home defeat on Tuesday night, told the BBC.
"I
have never been in a situation before where a ref has come into the
dressing room, pulled players on one side and sent them off. He wouldn't
allow me in there."
Six Crawley
players and one from Bradford were booked during the match with
Bradford's Andrew Davies, who was sent off, now set for a five-match ban
after being shown red cards twice previously this season.
TODAY IN HISTORY
MARCH 29
1999:Wayne Gretzky, hockey’s “Great One,” scores his final goal in the
National Hockey League. Playing for the New York Rangers, Gretzky
completes his professional career with 1,072 goals, breaking Gordie Howe’s record of 1,071.
1962: Jack Paar hosts The Tonight Show for the final time, ending a five-year stint with NBC’s popular nighttime variety program that Paar described as making him feel “bone tired.” Paar will be succeeded behind the desk by Johnny Carson.
1973: Two months after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, the last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam, ending America’s lengthy and costly involvement in the Vietnam War.
1962: Jack Paar hosts The Tonight Show for the final time, ending a five-year stint with NBC’s popular nighttime variety program that Paar described as making him feel “bone tired.” Paar will be succeeded behind the desk by Johnny Carson.
1973: Two months after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, the last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam, ending America’s lengthy and costly involvement in the Vietnam War.
AND I QUOTE
"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it within us or we will find it not."-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
THE NEXT BIG THING?
The Handpresso
Auto is a neat, single-serve portable espresso machine. It sits easily
into a cup holder and conveniently plugs into the car lighter socket.
Just add water and an ESE espresso pod of your choice, press the button,
and you’ll have a proper cup of coffee in no time!
THE BEAUTY PREMIUM
When a photo accompanies a job application (as is common in
Argentina), attractive job seekers of both sexes get called back 36%
more often than unattractive ones, a study finds. (click below to read more)
NOW YOU KNOW
Playing
cards had a role in the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong were
apparently superstitious and fearful of the Ace of Spades, which was
previously used by French fortunetellers in the area to signify death.
American commanders requested decks full of only the Ace of Spades and
Bicycle of course provided them (for free). American troops left the
cards in strategic places, and some Viet Cong would flee upon seeing
what they believed to be a bad omen
TODAY IN HISTORY
MARCH 28
1941:Troubled English novelist and modernist literary critic Virginia Woolf,
author of Mrs. Dalloway and To The Lighthouse, drowns herself in the
River Ouse, near her home in East Sussex. She was 59. 1964: Founded by Rohan O’Rahilly, Radio Caroline, the United Kingdom’s first all-day “pirate” radio station, begins broadcasting on Easter Sunday from the former Danish ferry Fredericia, moored in international waters off the English coast. The pirate radio station is a response to the growing demand for popular music and a protest against the BBC’s de facto broadcasting monopoly in the United Kingdom.
1984: Owner Robert Irsay moves the Baltimore Colts NFL team to Indianapolis in the middle of the night, in order to avoid losing his team to the state of Maryland through eminent domain. Twenty-eight years later, many Baltimore fans are still bitter over the unannounced departure of their city’s football team.
MENSA Q & A
What is the English name for the country the natives call Oesterreich?
(click below for the answer)
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
ROTARY CLUBS HAVE WATER PROJECTS ON TAP
Villages in four regions of Ghana are being
equipped with ventilated pit latrines, showers, and boreholes featuring
hand pumps and mechanized pipes through the efforts of dozens of Rotary
clubs in Latin America, North America, and Ghana. (click below to read more)
PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE
LaDondrell Montgomery, 36, had been sentenced in November in Houston to
life in prison for armed robbery despite his vigorous protestations of
innocence, and about a week later, in December, he was exonerated in
fact. Although he had testified at his trial, he had not mentioned that
he had an ironclad alibi -- that he had been in jail during the time the
robbery was committed. Once jail records were reviewed, Montgomery was
freed. The prosecutor hadn't checked the records before trial, and
neither had Montgomery's attorney, but then neither had Montgomery ever
mentioned it (because, he had told his lawyers, he had been in and out
of jail so many times in his life that he just could not remember if he
had been locked up at the time of the armed robbery). [Houston
Chronicle, 12-9-2011]
TODAY IN HISTORY
MARCH 27
1912:First lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, plant two Yoshina cherry trees along the banks of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., in celebration of Japan's gift of 3,020 cherry trees to the United States. Since 1935, the nation's capital has celebrated the blooming of the cherry trees with the popular National Cherry Blossom Festival. The original two trees are still standing.
1836: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leaders Joseph Smith Jr. and Sidney Rigdon lead the dedication ceremony for Kirtland Temple, the first-ever Mormon temple, in Kirtland, Ohio.
1973:Marlon Brando wins the Best Actor Oscar for his work in The Godfather, but he declines the award
1997: Dexter Scott King, son of slain civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., meets with James Earl Ray, the man convicted of his father's 1968 murder, in a Nashville prison hospital. Ray denies his involvement in the assassination, to which King replies, "I believe you."
1912:First lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, plant two Yoshina cherry trees along the banks of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., in celebration of Japan's gift of 3,020 cherry trees to the United States. Since 1935, the nation's capital has celebrated the blooming of the cherry trees with the popular National Cherry Blossom Festival. The original two trees are still standing.
1836: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leaders Joseph Smith Jr. and Sidney Rigdon lead the dedication ceremony for Kirtland Temple, the first-ever Mormon temple, in Kirtland, Ohio.
1973:Marlon Brando wins the Best Actor Oscar for his work in The Godfather, but he declines the award
1997: Dexter Scott King, son of slain civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., meets with James Earl Ray, the man convicted of his father's 1968 murder, in a Nashville prison hospital. Ray denies his involvement in the assassination, to which King replies, "I believe you."
Monday, March 26, 2012
AND I QUOTE
"To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might just be the world."-Author Unknown
MENSA Q & A
Give the English name for the country once known as Helvetia.
(click below for the answer)
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