★ June 26, 2012 ★

What started out as hosing off the dining room chairs turned into hosing off the ceiling, the walls, & the floor of the back patio (along with the chairs) & setting up a nice place out there to hang out. 2 chairs with a mini-fridge between them set up facing the back yard with all the peach trees, Crepemyrtles, & the field the other side of 400. Such a calm, pretty, & relaxing place to be. There's even a ceiling fan out there right over the chairs. Training at the station tonight at 7.

A Murder of Crows:

Disbarred lawyer Lawson Russell (Cuba Gooding Jr.) buys himself trouble when he passes off another man's true-life crime book as his own. As the tome climbs the best-seller list, Lawson gets arrested for the killings that are recounted in the book. He then must convince judge and jury that he is innocent, even though he has destroyed all evidence to the contrary. Eric Stoltz and Tom Berenger co-star in this legal thriller.

Amy & Rory Pond's anniversary (2010).

Captain Frank was passing through a small town when he decided to get a haircut. There was only 1 barber shop in town, & it employed 2 barbers. 1 of the barbers had a nice, neatly trimmed head of hair, & the other looked like his hair had been cut with a pair of hedge clippers. Which of the 2 barbers should Captain Frank choose to cut his hair & why?

Dried flowers will hold up well in a window box through the winter season. True or false?

Former U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond dies (2003):

Strom Thurmond, who served in the United States Senate for a record 46 years, dies on this day in 2003. Thurmond's long and controversial political career had ended with his retirement one year earlier.

Thurmond was born on December 5, 1902, in Edgefield, South Carolina, where he also died. He graduated from what is now Clemson University in 1923 with a degree in horticulture and became a teacher and coach, and, later, a superintendent of schools. While working in education, he studied law at night, and passed the bar in 1930. He worked as an attorney and, eventually, a judge, before serving in WWII, where he participated in the D-Day beach-storming at Normandy with the Army's 82nd Airborne division.

Thurmond's political career began in 1946 when he became governor of South Carolina, a position he held for one term. As governor, as well as in the early part of his Congressional career, he was famously pro-segregation, even saying in a 1948 speech, "I want to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the Negro race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches." It was also in 1948 that Thurmond made his one and only run for the presidency, as the candidate of the Dixiecrat party, in protest of Harry Truman's nomination by the Democratic Party, of which he was a member. He was easily defeated, but did win the states of South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, and their combined 39 electoral votes.

In 1954, Thurmond ran for the United States Senate as a Democrat on a pro-segregation platform and became the only candidate ever elected to the Senate by a write-in vote. Three years into this first term, he notoriously staged a record-breaking one-man filibuster to defeat a civil rights bill that lasted more than 24 hours. Although it is unknown whether his personal beliefs regarding racial equality ever changed, his political behavior became more moderate in the 1970s, perhaps as part of an effort to extend his political career in changing times. This change of heart, whether genuine or not, was exemplified by his endorsement of a renewal of the Voting Rights Act in 1982 and his vote in favor of creating the Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday in 1983.

Throughout his career Thurmond was by any account a divisive force in American politics. His critics thought him to be an unabashed racist and condemned his alleged habit of skirt-chasing. Thurmond was married twice, the second time when he was 66 years old to a 22-year-old former Miss South Carolina, but also had a reputation for making frequent advances on a wide variety of women who crossed his path. His fans, however, seemed amused by his reputation as a "rascal" and admired his feistiness and personal discipline–Thurmond never smoked or drank coffee and only rarely indulged in alcohol–as well as his personal strength. Even in his 90s when his health began to fail, Thurmond refused to use a wheelchair or hearing aid in public. He was well known for personally helping out his constituents on a regular basis.

Thurmond retired from the Senate in 2002 and died about a year later in his South Carolina home. In December 2003, Essie Mae Washington-Williams announced that she was his illegitimate daughter, born to Thurmond and her mother Carrie Butler, a black maid who had worked in his family's home. Thurmond was 22 when she was born; Butler was only 16. Although he never publicly acknowledged her while he was alive, a representative for his family did confirm Washington-Williams' statement and it was reported that the two had a relatively close relationship.

If Sid Shady is 80 centimeters plus half his own height, how tall is he?

Sid Shady is an imposing 160 centimeters tall. Since he is 80 cm + half his own height, 80 cm is half his height & the other half must also be 80 cm.

In 1887, Susanna Salter became the 1st woman elected mayor in the U.S. She won by a 2/3 majority in Argonia, Kansas, but she didn't vote for herself because it would have been improper. Instead, she left her ballot for mayor unmarked.

Only people who don't make mistakes are people who don't do anything. You were out there doing something. You screwed up. So what? Welcome to being human. Laugh about it a little bit & cut yourself some slack. I've bet a lot of successful people, & in every case, I've found them to be colossal failures. They have failed their way to the top. The gleaming mountain of success is actually a pile of garbage that we're standing on instead of lying under it.

Saying "I don't think so" or "I probably shouldn't" sends a mixed message that you might say "yes" even if you're not planning to. Don't stretch out the discomfort; be direct.

Sharktown, KY (now Shaker Village):

Some of the finest examples of 19th-century handcrafts & furniture can be found in this restored village, which was founded by people who intended it to be God's kingdom on earth.

TabToolKit:

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This plant can be manageable inside as a houseplant or can fro to 60' outdoors. It has a white sap that's very sticky & hard to remove. What is it?

The rubber plant. The only 2 "shoulds" that really matter in caring for it are "water sparingly" & "don't overfertilize."

Indoors, the size of the plant is limited mostly by the size of the container, the light available, & the determination of the owner.

You can prune the plant by removing new shoots - to maintain a columnar shape - or by pruning right above any leaf node, or above the scar where a leaf used to be, to make more branches on the stem or shoot. The plant will branch at the cut but may not do so evenly. You might have to prune several times over the course of a year or so before you get a balanced plant. Use a very sharp knife, wear gloves, & protect the work surface. And have some powdered rooting hormone or some wood ashes handy; either of them will help seal the cut quickly. That white sap is hard to remove.

Use bed risers to raise up beds to allow for more storage space underneath.

Verdure:

1: The greenness of growing vegetation; also : such vegetation itself. 2: A condition of health & vigor.

The aptly named Hudson River Greenway offers an almost uninterrupted ribbon of verdure along the river.

English-speakers have used "verdure" since the 14th century, when it made its way into Middle English from Anglo-French. Like the more common "verdant," the word traces back to Latin viere, meaning "to be green." Since the early 16th century, "verdure" has also been used to refer to a kind of tapestry with a design based on plant forms. The "verdure" that we sometimes encounter on menus is the Italian verdure, meaning green vegetables or vegetables in general.

What did the creators of the Curious George children’s book series originally call their mischievous monkey?

What did Wisconsin engineer Joseph Zimmerman invent in 1948 when he realized he couldn’t afford a secretary?

The first commercially successful telephone answering machine, which he called the “electronic secretary.” When the phone rang, his 80-pound contraption lifted the receiver off its cradle, played a prerecorded 78-rpm message, and then recorded the caller’s message on a wire recorder.

Which kind of lizard is the biggest, 2nd biggest, & 3rd biggest?

A. Kimodo Dragon

B. Gila Monster

C. Mexican Bearded Lizard

Which mountain is the highest, 2nd highest, & 3rd highest?

A. Qogir (K2)

B. Mount Everest

C. Kanchenjunga

BAC. Mt. Everest is a bit over 29,000'. But maybe Hawaii's dormant volcano, Mauna Kea, should top the list. From its submerged base to the summit it's 33,476'.

Your hair is falling out, your skin is flaking, & you have no energy. Eat! Eat!