Tuesday, December 31, 2013
MAN'S BEST FRIEND
A guide dog jumped onto New York City subway tracks and began licking his blind owner, who had fainted and fallen in front of an oncoming train. The two survived when they ducked down and the train passed over them.
PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE
An Indiana man installed 86 Christmas trees inside his home and decorated them with more than 52,000 lights, which heat his house to about 85 degrees. “We love Christmas,” said Brandon Smith. “There’s no denying that.”
MORE MONEY
Global wealth has doubled since 2000 to $241 trillion, according to a report by Credit Suisse, and is projected to increase by another 40 percent by the year 2018.
TheDailyBeast.com
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE THROUGH ROTARY
By Bill Pollard, past governor of District 7600 (Virginia, USA), and member of the Rotary Club of Churchland, Virginia
One of my favorite things about the holiday season is watching It’s a Wonderful Life. The movie shares with us two important messages: the importance of friends and the positive impact each of us makes on the lives of others. (click below to read more)
.png)
TODAY IN HISTORY
December 31
| 1775 | George Washington orders recruiting officers to accept free blacks into the army. | |
| 1852 | The richest year of the gold rush ends with $81.3 million in gold produced. | |
| 1862 | Union General William Rosecrans' army repels two Confederate attacks at the Battle of Murfreesboro (Stone's River). | |
| 1910 | John B. Moisant and Arch Hoxsey, two of America's foremost aviators, die in separate plane crashes. | |
| 1911 | Helene Dutrieu wins the Femina aviation cup in Etampes. She sets a distance record for women at 158 miles. | |
| 1915 | The Germans torpedo the British liner Persia without any warning killing 335 passengers. | |
| 1923 | The Sahara is crossed by an automobile for the first time. | |
| 1930 | Brewery heir Adolphus Busch is kidnapped. | |
| 1941 | General MacArthur reports that U.S. lines in Manila have been pushed back by the Japanese. | |
| 1942 | After five months of battle, Emperor Hirohito allows the Japanese commanders at Guadalcanal to retreat. | |
| 1944 | Hungary declares war on Germany. | |
| 1965 | California becomes the largest state in population. | |
| 1977 | Cambodia breaks relations with Vietnam. |
Monday, December 30, 2013
THEY SHOULD KNOW BETTER
Forty-six percent of financial advisers in the U.S. do not have a retirement plan for themselves, a poll by the Financial Planning Association has found, and 75 percent have no succession plan for their firm.
WSJ.com
GAINS AGAINST POLIO IN 2013
"She argued with us for over 15 minutes," says Yank, a member of the Rotary Club of St. Clair County Sunset in O'Fallon, Illinois, USA. After the team explained to her the importance of what they were doing, she finally agreed to allow her children to be immunized. (click below to read more)
TODAY IN HISTORY
December 30
| 1460 | The Duke of York is defeated and killed by Lancastrians at the Battle of Wakefield. | |
| 1803 | The United States takes possession of the Louisiana area from France at New Orleans with a simple ceremony, the simultaneous lowering and raising of the national flags. | |
| 1861 | Banks in the United States suspend the practice of redeeming paper money for metal currency, a practice that would continue until 1879. | |
| 1862 | The draft of the Emancipation Proclamation is finished and circulated among President Abraham Lincoln's cabinet for comment. | |
| 1905 | Governor Frank Steunenberg of Idaho is killed by an assassin's bomb. | |
| 1922 | Soviet Russia is renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. | |
| 1932 | The Soviet Union bars food handouts for housewives under 36 years of age. They must now work to eat. | |
| 1947 | Romania's King Michael is forced to abdicate by Soviet-backed Communists. Communists now control all of Eastern Europe. | |
| 1965 | Ferdinand E. Marcos is sworn in as the Philippine Republic's sixth president. | |
| 1972 | After two weeks of heavy bombing raids on North Vietnam, President Nixon halts the air offensive and agrees to resume peace negotiations with Hanoi representative Le Duc Tho. | |
| 1976 | Governor Carey of New York pardons seven inmates, closing the book on the Attica uprising. | |
| 2006 | Saddam Hussein, former Iraq dictator, is executed by hanging for crimes committed against his own people during his rule. |
TRIVIA Q & A
What is the name of the device used to measure your feet at a shoe store?
(click below for the answer)
(click below for the answer)
THE FIRST WORD
hayseed
PRONUNCIATION:
(HAY-seed) 
MEANING:
noun: An unsophisticated person who comes from a rural area.
ETYMOLOGY:
Alluding to a person with straw in his clothes or smelling of hayseed and regarded as a country bumpkin. Earliest documented use: 1577.
USAGE:
"A hayseed with a Midwestern twang, Carnegie arrived in New York in his 20s with the usual mix of big dreams and shallow pockets."
How to Succeed; Dale Carnegie; The Economist (London, UK); Nov 2, 2013.
How to Succeed; Dale Carnegie; The Economist (London, UK); Nov 2, 2013.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE
A jealous Walmart worker in Florida was charged with shooting a hole in his co-worker’s SUV, after she was named “employee of the month.” It’s now clear, said the sheriff, why the perpetrator “wasn’t chosen as employee of the month.”
MAYBE NOT
China’s state-run Global Times newspaper claimed the country’s choking air pollution was good for national defense, because the smog would blind enemy missile- guidance systems and drones.
PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE
A Japanese man was arrested after going on a year-long burglary spree, stealing $185,000 worth of cash and jewelry in order to feed his 120 cats a gourmet diet. Mamoru Demizu, 48, told police he broke into homes at least 32 times so he could cater to his felines’ expensive tastes. “He would give them fresh fish and chicken, not cheap canned food,” said an officer. Demizu kept 20 cats in a warehouse, and fed 100 more neighborhood strays. “He said he felt happiest when he rubbed his cheek against cats,” said police.
IT'S LONELY OUT THERE
Even though car commuting is falling in 99 of the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, more than eight in 10 working Americans drive to work, most of them alone.
TheAtlantic.com
CHARITY OF THE WEEK
Since 1979, Helping Hands Monkey Helpers (monkeyhelpers.org) has provided more than 150 highly trained capuchin monkeys free of charge to people with spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, and other physical impairments, enabling them to live more independent lives. The dexterous capuchins, which can live to be 40 years old, are trained for three to five years at a specialized facility. They help their owners with everyday tasks, such as scratching itches, turning book pages, retrieving dropped objects, and flipping light switches. Helping Hands carefully matches the monkeys to the recipients, making 10 to 12 placements each year. At the start of each placement, staff members provide extensive in-home coaching to ensure the comfort of the new owner and thereafter offer ongoing support.
The charity has earned a four-star overall rating from Charity Navigator, which rates not-for-profit organizations on the strength of their finances, their control of administrative and fundraising expenses, and the transparency of their operations. Four stars is the group’s highest rating.
IN MEAT WE TRUST
By the 1960s, cattle-feeding was controlled by punch cards that mixed precise formulas of corn, plants, meat, vitamins and antibiotics.
By CHARLES R. MORRIS
In Meat We Trust
By Marilyn Ogle
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 368 pages, $28)
In the depths of the Great Depression in rural Georgia, Jesse Jewell contemplated the ruin of his seed business—like many businessmen in that unhappy time, he had lots of inventory but only destitute customers. So he persuaded a local bank to finance a risky purchase of young chicks, which he distributed to local farmers along with seed and meticulous instructions on how to feed them. When the chickens reached market size, he brought them to Atlanta—some live, some slaughtered and packed in ice—sold them all, and paid off the farmers who raised them. (click below to read more)
By CHARLES R. MORRIS
In Meat We Trust
By Marilyn Ogle
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 368 pages, $28)
In the depths of the Great Depression in rural Georgia, Jesse Jewell contemplated the ruin of his seed business—like many businessmen in that unhappy time, he had lots of inventory but only destitute customers. So he persuaded a local bank to finance a risky purchase of young chicks, which he distributed to local farmers along with seed and meticulous instructions on how to feed them. When the chickens reached market size, he brought them to Atlanta—some live, some slaughtered and packed in ice—sold them all, and paid off the farmers who raised them. (click below to read more)
TODAY IN HISTORY
December 29
| 1170 | Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury, is murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by four knights of Henry II. | ||
| 1607 | Indian chief Powhatan spares John Smith's life after the pleas of his daughter Pocahontas. | ||
| 1778 | British troops, attempting a new strategy to defeat the colonials in America, capture Savannah. | ||
| 1845 | Texas (comprised of the present state of Texas and part of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming) is admitted as the 28th state of the Union, with the provision that the area (389,166 square miles) should be divided into no more than five states "of convenient size." | ||
| 1849 | Gas lighting is installed in the White House. | ||
| 1862 | Union General William T. Sherman's troops try to gain the north side of Vicksburg in the Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs. | ||
| 1890 | The last major conflict of the Indian wars takes place at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota after Colonel James W. Forsyth of the 7th Cavalry tries to disarm Chief Big Foot and his followers. | ||
| 1914 | The production of Belgian newspapers is halted to protest German censorship. | ||
| 1921 | Sears Roebuck president Julius Rosenwald pledges $20 million of his personal fortune to help Sears through hard times. | ||
| 1926 | Germany and Italy sign an arbitration treaty. | ||
| 1934 | Japan formally denounces Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. | ||
| 1940 | In a radio interview, President Roosevelt proclaims the United States to be the "arsenal of democracy." | ||
| 1940 | London suffers its most devastating air raid when Germans firebomb the city on the evening of December 29. | ||
| 1948 | Tito declares Yugoslavia will follow its own path to Communism. | ||
| 1956 | President Dwight Eisenhower asks Congress for the authority to oppose Soviet aggression in the Middle East. | ||
| 1965 | A Christmas truce is observed in Vietnam, while President Johnson tries to get the North Vietnamese to the bargaining table. | ||
| 1981 | President Ronald Reagan curtails Soviet trade in reprisal for its hash policies on Poland. |
AND I QUOTE
"Life is like a card of games. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will."
Jawaharial Nehru
Saturday, December 28, 2013
FOR THOSE THAT HAVE EVERYTHING
$50,000, kalfin.com.au
Source: TrendHunter.com
GOING UP
Global energy use will rise by 35 percent by 2040, Exxon estimates, with the fastest growth expected in natural gas. That increase, however, will fuel a doubling of world economic output, thanks to more efficient energy technology.
Houston Business Journal
HOME ALONE
A passenger fell asleep on a flight to Houston, and awoke to find himself locked in a dark, empty airplane. “I mean, who shut the door?” said Tom Wagner after calling for help.
THE BETTER YOU LOOK...
Good-looking high school students get better grades, increasing their chances of going to college and being economically successful. (click below to read more)
YOUR NEXT HOME
TODAY IN HISTORY
December 28
| 1688 | William of Orange makes a triumphant march into London as James II flees. | |
| 1694 | George I of England gets divorced. | |
| 1846 | Iowa is admitted as the 29th State of the Union. | |
| 1872 | A U.S. Army force defeats a group of Apache warriors at Salt River Canyon, Arizona Territory, with 57 Indians killed but only one soldier. | |
| 1904 | Farmers in Georgia burn two million bales of cotton to prop up falling prices. | |
| 1920 | The United States resumes the deportation of communists and suspected communists. | |
| 1933 | President Franklin D. Roosevelt states, "The definite policy of the United States, from now on, is one opposed to armed intervention." | |
| 1936 | Benito Mussolini sends planes to Spain to support Francisco Franco's forces. | |
| 1938 | France orders the doubling of forces in Somaliland; two warships are sent. | |
| 1946 | The French declare martial law in Vietnam as a full-scale war appears inevitable. | |
| 1948 | Premier Nokrashy Pasha of Egypt is assassinated by a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood because of his failure to achieve victory in the war against Israel. | |
| 1951 | The United States pays $120,000 to free four fliers convicted of espionage in Hungary. | |
| 1965 | The United States bars oil sales to Rhodesia. | |
| 1968 | Israel attacks an airport in Beirut, destroying 13 planes. | |
| 1971 | The U.S. Justice Department sues Mississippi officials for ignoring the voting ballots of blacks in that state. |
TRIVIA Q & A
Who was the only American in Monty Python’s Flying Circus?
(click below for the answer)
(click below for the answer)
THE FIRST WORD
milksop
PRONUNCIATION:
(MILK-sop)
MEANING:
noun: One who is timid or indecisive.
ETYMOLOGY:
A milksop is, literally, a piece of bread soaked in milk, a diet considered suitable for babies and the sick. A synonym of this term is milquetoast. Earliest documented use: 1390.
USAGE:
"This is for the milksop who does not want a mouse in the house but is too timid or pious to do anything about it."
Nicholas Lezard; Down and Out; New Statesman (London, UK); Mar 27, 2013.
Nicholas Lezard; Down and Out; New Statesman (London, UK); Mar 27, 2013.
Friday, December 27, 2013
THERE'S NO MONEY IN SKINNY JEANS
America’s love of skinny jeans once threatened the integrity of the U.S. money supply, said Ylan Q. Mui in WashingtonPost.com. Since the late 1800s, U.S. currency has been printed on a unique, cotton-blend paper, and for decades the sole supplier of that paper, Boston-based Crane & Co., relied on recycled denim scraps from the garment industry to meet almost a third of its cotton needs. But that secure source was undermined in the 1990s, when the fashion world began blending spandex with denim to create stretchier, “curve-hugging” jeans. “Even a single fiber of spandex can ruin a batch of currency paper” by weakening the cotton, and by the early 2000s it was in “almost every pair of jeans.” The company had to start buying cotton directly from the source in order avoid giving a new meaning to the term “elastic money supply.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)