What’s believed to be a rare snowy owl has been seen at Robertson Park at Lake Ray Hubbard, just east of Dallas recently. This is the 6th reported sighting of the bird, which is usually confined to the Arctic Circle.
Quote of the Day
“I don’t think we’ve seen in the history of this country the kind of attack on religious freedom we’ve seen in Barack Obama most recently requiring the Catholic Church to provide for its employees and its various enterprises health care insurance that would include birth control, sterilization and the morning after pill. He tried to retreat from that, but he retreated in a way that was not appropriate, because these insurance companies have to provide these same things, and now the Catholic Church will have to pay for them.”
– Newt Gingrich at the GOP debate in Mesa, AZ, February 22
Fact check: the Catholic Church is exempt from Obama’s contraception mandate.
Filed under News
1966 Citroen DS/ID
I’ve always liked the look of an older model Citroen and don’t know why they never gathered much popularity in the U.S. I fell in love with it when I got a Hot Wheels model of a 1960’s era Citroen as a kid. The first series of Citroens were produced from 1955 to 1965, but the second group – manufactured from 1966 to 1975 – appears to have some significant advantages. Starting in 1966, the Citroen DS/ID engine had more horsepower with upgraded transmissions and axles. The front disc brakes – still relatively new in 1966 – were improved and easier to service. These adjustments made the Citroen more reliable and allowed it to perform better. There are an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 Citroen DS/ID cars in the U.S. today.
Digital Publishing Advances in Developing Countries Foretell Dramatic Change and Challenges
In 2000, at the age of 23, Argentine-born writer Octavio Kulesz founded an independent publishing house, Libros del Zoral, with his brother Leopoldo. Libros del Zoral has published more than a hundred titles since, mostly works by fellow Argentine scribes. But, he’s expanded his reach across the globe in recent years and wants to help people in the “Digital South,” the metaphoric area that is home to the greatest number of developing nations. Literature, like art and music, has always been able to give the average person a voice; free of political and economic restraints. Now technology is helping to increase that power with the rise in sales and distribution of e-books. “The exchange with colleagues across the globe remains essential, both in terms of knowledge and business,” Kulesz says of his efforts to bridge that proverbial digital divide. This is not just a noble endeavor, but a significant achievement. Already home to the vast majority of people on Earth, the “Digital South” can’t be locked in a prehistoric time capsule and forgotten.
Filed under News
February 23, 2012 – 301 days Until Baktun 12
Survivalist Tip: Burlap bags are a good means for the minimalist survivor to carry his or her belongings. They’re sturdy and long-lasting. You can place them on the back of a mule, on the roof of your vehicle, or a shopping cart. (Just make sure the apocalypse has hit before you run around outside with a shopping cart; otherwise people will think you’re a homeless bum.) Burlap sacks are made of densely woven coarse fabric. Indians used them to carry such valuable as corn, clay pots and the butts of White people who pissed them off. You, of course, can utilize them in the same fashion. Large and stretchable, all of your survival gear can be stuffed into a burlap bag: food rations, bottles of water, firearms, flashlights and dandruff shampoo. They’ll be extremely valuable if you have to evacuate your home amidst the chaos and flee into the woods or a relative’s house. And, once things settle down, you can use them to bury the bodies of those you killed when they threatened to steal your shampoo.
Filed under Mayan Calendar Countdown
Today’s Birthdays
Journalist Sylvia Chase (ABC) is 74.
Director – actor Peter Fonda (Easy Rider, Futureworld, The Wild Angels) is 72.
Guitarist Mike Maxfield (The Dakotas) is 68.
Musician Johnny Winter (Still Alive and Well, Second Winter) is 68.
Guitarist Rusty Young (Poco) is 66.
Musician – singer Steve Priest (The Sweet) is 62.
Guitarist Brad Whitford (Aerosmith) is 60.
Actress Dakota Fanning is 18.
Filed under Birthdays
On February 23…
1821 – The Philadelphia College of Apothecaries, the first pharmacy college in the U.S., was established.
1839 – William F. Harnden organized the nation’s first express mail service between Boston and New York City.
1886 – Charles M. Hall completed his invention of aluminum, using electricity.
1905 – The Rotary Club was founded in Chicago, IL by Attorney Paul Harris to advance goodwill and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.
1927 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill into law that created the Federal Radio Commission, “to bring order out of this terrible chaos,” an effort to regulate the nation’s radio stations. The name was changed to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on July 1, 1934.
1945 – During the bloody Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Regiment of the 5th Division mounted the U.S. flag on the crest of Mount Suribachi, the island’s highest peak and most strategic position. Marine photographer Louis Lowery was with them and recorded the event. Joe Rosenthal, a photographer with the Associated Press, met them along the way and recorded the raising of the second flag along with a Marine still photographer and a motion-picture cameraman.
1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demanded $4 million more for the release of Patty Hearst. Hearst had been kidnapped on February 4th and her father, publisher William Randolph Hearst, had already given up $2 million. Randolph said he would consider this second request.
1997 – News broke that Dr. Ian Wilmut, of the Roslin Institute in Roslin, Scotland, had cloned an adult mammal in July of 1996 – a sheep named Dolly.
Filed under History
Cartoon of the Day
Personal observation: he apparently evolved just after homo-erectus. Being a recovering Catholic, I feel I’ve evolved, too – homo and erect.
Filed under News
Picture of the Day
Tornado-like plasma twisters dance across the sun in this still from a NASA video recorded by the Solar Dynamics Observatory during a 30-hour period between Feb. 7 and 8 in 2012.In this still from a NASA video recorded by the Solar Dynamics Observatory during a 30-hour period between February 7 and 8, 2012, tornado-like formations dance across the sun’s surface. Made of plasma, these phenomena are the size of Earth and are shaped by the sun’s magnetic field.
Filed under News
Chief Writing Wolf 