“Along the line of the pills creating immorality, I don’t see it that way. I think the immorality creates the problem of wanting to use the pills. So you don’t blame the pills.”
— U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, addressing questions about the morality of contraception at Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate in Arizona.
After the 20th Republican debate (yawn) in Mesa, Arizona Wednesday night, the winner is President Obama!
Filed under News
Survivalist Tip: Your arsenal of supplies should include some hurricane lamps. Hurricane lamps got their name from the fact that Isaac Klein, a meteorologist, tried to warn the residents of Galveston Island, Texas that a hurricane was approaching by riding through town the night before shouting, “The waves are coming! The waves are coming!” It was a reference to the fact that massive tidal surges were already inundating the island’s seashores, which he saw firsthand, when he apparently decided to hunt for clams. No one believed him, in part, because it was a Friday night, but also because he kept screaming about the waves, instead of the storm itself. If he’d shouted, “The storm is coming! The storm is coming!” instead, the reaction would have been different. But, since he was a meteorologist, he couldn’t think in practical terms. Fortunately, though, most of the island’s residents had plenty of wrought-iron lamps, as they’d just converted to electricity. Hence the name: “hurricane lamp.” They’re not just for patio decoration! Those lamps definitely proved a lifesaver for many of the Galvestonians; helping everyone search for food, clean water and valuables in the pockets of dead people. In the aftermath of the apocalypse, electricity may be out, so you’ll need some source of light. Therefore, the appropriately named hurricane lantern will be a critical asset. There’s actually a valid connection here. Hurricane is derived from the Taino Indian word “Huracán,” which basically means “menopausal woman needs chocolate.” Huracán is the Taino Indian goddess of wind, and since the Tainos are related to the Maya on their mother’s younger cousin’s side, it all fits into the grand scheme of things. So, get some hurricane lanterns and don’t piss off any menopausal women!
Filed under Mayan Calendar Countdown
This extraordinary editorial by Leonard Pitts who writes for the Miami Herald could just as easily have the word “Indian” in place of “Black.” It’s amazing that – more than a decade into the 21st century and more than fifty years since the start of the modern civil rights movement, with a biracial president in the Oval Office – the issue of race and ethnicity in this country hasn’t waned. When I consider some South Carolinians’ celebration of the sesquicentennial of the start of the Civil War in 2010 – insisting the conflict was all about states’ rights – it’s as depressing as it is aggravating. While some White southerners have been fighting the Civil War since 1860 (and still haven’t won!), others continue to believe Christopher Columbus really did discover America. Change may come slowly on the cultural front, but as Jorge Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And, remembering the past means remembering it exactly as it happened; not as people wish or thought it had happened.
Director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, Melvin and Howard) is 68.
Former professional basketball player Julius Erving II (Virginia Squires 1971-1973; NY Nets 1973-1976; Philadelphia 76ers 1976-1987) is 62.
Actress Miou-Miou (Sylvette Héry) (Little Indian Big City, Going Places, Entre Nous) is 62.
Actress Julie Walters (Educating Rita, Prick Up Your Ears, Harry Potter series) is 62.
Actor Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Dune) is 53.
Actress Drew Barrymore (E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Batman Forever, Scream) is 37.
Filed under Birthdays
1732 – George Washington, the 1st President of the United State (1789 – 1797) was born.
1819 – The United States acquired Florida from Spain under the Adams – Onís Treaty.
1879 – Frank W. Woolworth opened his first 5 and 10-cent store in Utica, NY.
1918 – The Montana legislature passed a Sedition Law in reaction to fears of treacherous German spies and domestic labor violence. Three months later, the U.S. Congress adopted a federal Sedition Act modeled on the Montana law.
1919 – The first dog race track to use an imitation rabbit opened in Emeryville, CA.
1923 – The first successful chinchilla farm opened in Los Angeles, CA.
1954 – ABC radio’s popular Breakfast Club, program with longtime host, Don McNeill, was simulcast on TV beginning this day. The telecast didn’t do well, but the radio program went on to break records as the longest-running program on the air.
1956 – Elvis Presley entered the music charts for the first time, when Heartbreak Hotel began its climb to the number one spot on the pop listing, reaching the top on April 11, 1956. It stayed at the top for eight weeks.
1969 – Barbara Jo Rubin became the first woman to win a U.S. thoroughbred horse race. She was riding Cohesian at Charlestown Race Course in West Virginia.
1980 – The ‘Miracle on Ice’ occurred during the XIII Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, NY, when the U.S. defeated the Soviet Union in a dramatic 4-3 victory in men’s hockey. The U.S. went on to defeat Finland, 4-2, two days later to win the gold medal.
Filed under History
By Thomas P. Peschak, “National Geographic,” March 2012, “The Seas of Arabia”
Filed under News
“You have to ask him. I cannot answer that question for anybody … He has said he’s a Christian, so I just have to assume that he is.”
— Franklin Graham, evangelist and son of Billy Graham, saying in an interview he cannot say for sure that President Obama is a Christian. Later in the same interview Graham said he is certain that Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum is a Christian.
Which is like saying, “I’m not sure if the Earth is round. I think it’s round, but I’m still not sure. I have to go to the edge myself to find out.”
Filed under News
This is the first official color photograph, produced in 1861 by Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell. Various people experimented with color photography throughout the 19th century, but most results were temporary projected images, rather than permanent color images. Until the 1870’s, available emulsions weren’t sensitive to red or green light. This particular image, “Tartan Ribbon,” is still remarkable, considering that the first actual photograph had been taken less than a quarter century earlier, in 1838 or 1839, by Louis Daguerre.
Filed under Classics
Chief Writing Wolf 