News and views to inform or amuse
Does it smell bad in here, or is it just me?
No it smells worse than just you.
“What’s that Smell?!” Merriam-Webster tested readers’ knowledge of “words for odors and such.”
I did not do well on this smelly word quiz. Top 35 %
2360
out of
5600
You’ve got 8/14 correct!
(Average: 1861 points)
See how you compare to others
in your age group. VIEW SCORES
For most of my life, I have been healthy and am still healthier than not–so no chronic illnesses, hospital stays, or unusual restrictions (other than apathy and the don’t wannas.) When I developed osteoarthritis a few years ago, it was a minor inconvenience that gradually became an increasing instrusion into my life.
According to National Day Calendar,
Get to Know Your Customers Day reminds businesses to reach out to patrons and get to know them better. The day is observed annually on the third Thursday of each quarter (January, April, July, October).
So for this quarter, that is today!
I invite you to let other readers of this blog and me get to know you better. Here are two different options.
via Book Giveaway: THE BRAVE CYCLIST: The True Story of a Holocaust Hero
Book will be published on August 1. The cyclist, Gino Batali, was born 105 years ago today on August 18, 1914. He was a Tour de France winner and a Holocaust Hero.
Can we be frank for a moment? On July 4th, Joey Chestnut once again won the eating contest at Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Contest by eating 71 again.
Most of us are not in his league, but if you want to eat hotdogs at free or reduced prices, this day is for you. Lifehacker has put together a list.
What do you call your hot dogs: Franks, Weenies, ‘Dogs, Weiners? Do you prefer hotdogs or hamburgers?
Do you like them grilled, fried, boiled, steamed, or some other way? Do you eat pigs in a blanket?
Should hot dogs be consumed a natural, in a bun, with catsup, mustard, or mayonaise, plain or toppped with chili, cheese, onions or relish?
What is your favorite hot dog side? Beans, coleslaw, mac & cheese, potato chips, some other type of chips, french fries?
What is the perfect beverage to accompany your dog? Beer, coke or pepsi, cold water, milk, iced tea (sweet or unsweetened) ?
110 Years ago: Frist military air craft. Six years after the Wright Brother made their first flight in Kitty Hawk, NC on December 17, 1903, the Army Signal Corps purchased the Wright Brother’s Model A on March 2, 1909. The course of the first flight was from Ft Myer (adjacent to Arlington National Cemetary) to what is now the George Washington Masonic Temple in Alexandria, Virginia. These test flights also incurred the first military casualty when Lt Thomas Selfridge died in a plane crash on Ft. Myer on September 17, 1908 (where pilot, Orville Wright was severely injured.) From Wikipedia:
The Flyer circled Fort Myer 4½ times at a height of 150 feet. Halfway through the fifth circuit, at 5:14 in the afternoon, the right-hand propeller broke, losing thrust. This set up a vibration, causing the split propeller to hit a guide wire bracing the rear vertical rudder. The wire tore out of its fastening and shattered the propeller; the rudder swiveled to the horizontal and sent the Flyer into a nose-dive. Wright shut off the engine and managed to glide to about 75 feet, but the craft hit the ground nose first.[10] Both men were thrown forward against the remaining wires and Selfridge struck one of the wooden uprights of the framework, fracturing the base of his skull. He underwent neurosurgery but died three hours later without regaining consciousness.[2] Wright suffered severe injuries, including a broken left thigh, several broken ribs, and a damaged hip, and was hospitalized for seven weeks.
100 Years ago: First Transatlantic Flight. From an email that George Franhois sent to the Military Libraries Division on July 9, 2019:
“In May 1919, a crew of U.S. Navy aviators flew the NC-4 Naval seaplane from New York State to Lisbon, Portugal, over the course of 19 days. This included time for stops for repairs and crewmen’s rest in Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and twice in the Azores Islands. Its flight from the Azores to Lisbon completed the first Trans-Atlantic flight between North America and Europe. The NC-4’s largely forgotten achievement occurred just over fifteen years after the Wright brothers’ first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and eight years before Charles Lindbergh’s famous solo flight across the Atlantic, in 1927.”
50 Years Ago: First moon landing. “On July 16, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a journey to the Moon and into history. Four days later, while Collins orbited the Moon in the command module, Armstrong and Aldrin landed Apollo 11’s lunar module, Eagle, on the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility, becoming the first humans to set foot on the lunar surface.” Neil Armstrong was a test pilot and naval aviator. Buzz Aldrin was an Air Force officer and “served as a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War. He flew 66 combat missions and shot down two MiG-15 aircraft.” Michael Collins was a pilot and retired Major General in the Air Force Reserves.
Come one, come all–the public library is open and available FOR FREE. Read about one immigrant’s experience at the Public Library.
One of the hardest aspects in the life of an immigrant is not fully belonging anywhere. One foot stays firmly rooted in your country of origin no matter how hard you plant the other one in the host country. Even though I’ve lived in the United States for 24 years, the first thing people ask upon meeting me, courtesy of my accent, is “Where are you from?” And when I go back to Bulgaria, everyone calls me The American. But there is one place where I always feel at home—the library. Any library. Anywhere in the world. The familiar smell of books, the shelves packed with old and new tomes, the friendly staff eager to help.
What I’d like to be when I grow up…..
For me inspiration is not found in the books or idealism of known names. It is in the extra ordinary people whose daily routine is an example for others. Exploring, experimenting and innovating not only creates Artist , also the world of harmony.
Would like to share with you life of someone, who in his view is very ordinary, but for the people who are associated with him in any way (friends, relatives, neighbors) his simplicity and disciplined way of life is worth to follow.
At age of 78, when most people feel that they have nothing to learn or share, here is a man who is multi talented and still learning. He is into wood sculptures , mostly miniatures, a self-taught attempt. Bonsai is one of his interest and he has…
View original post 255 more words
Bits of imagery
Captured by a camera
Reflected
Refracted
Rearranged
As the window distorted
What was actually there.
Sweden and Norway both have floating libraries that take books to citizens on remote islands, twice a year. The Swedish floating library is called Bokbate while the Norwegian boat is called the Epos.
When the boat docks, residents climb aboard to return books they borrowed during the last visit and check out the library’s newest offerings. The boat carries about 3,000 books, and residents can put in requests ahead of time. The three or four volunteer librarians who take turns working on the ship say that, as you might expect, the latest best-sellers are in high demand.
