• 4th of July Independence Day 2012 •

I had a great time at the Princeton Centennial celebration; walked around & looked at all the cool stuff for sale, bought a cheeseburger, & actually got to see fireworks this year (other than the ones the neighbors are setting off here & there). I took lots of pictures & a couple videos of the fireworks. I think I sat in line longer to get out of there than I was there before trying to leave. I heard the PD won the FD/PD baseball game & saw a bunch of people I knew. I'd mention some names, but people get really freaky about stuff like that. The entire county can see them at an event, they can post 50 times about the event, they can post pictures of themselves at the event, but let someone ELSE post "I saw John Smith at the event & we had a great time chatting ..." & they freak the heck out. "OMG OMG OMG! WHY are you posting where I was?! It's no one's business where I am or what I'm doing! OMG DELETE THAT NOW! Don't you respect my privacy?!" It's like they're hiding from the FBI or something. It's like everyone around here is in Witness Protection or something. Paranoid much? That's how they act! It's actually pretty funny, but people are weird. So I just leave it up to THEM to post the 50 updates & 25 pictures of them at the event & meanwhile, I just say "I saw a bunch of people I know." ID4 BBQ @ LCFD this evening (although not sure I cam make it ... have had every Wednesday BUSY for a very long time now & there's something scheduled for Wednesday evening that I haven't gotten to in MONTHS!) & then an entire week OFF! NOTHING on my calendar until Tuesday. WOOHOO!!!

American colonies declare independence (1776):

On this day in 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims the independence of a new United States of America from Great Britain and its king. The declaration came 442 days after the first shots of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts and marked an ideological expansion of the conflict that would eventually involve France's intervention on behalf of the Americans.

The first major American opposition to British policy came in 1765 after Parliament passed the Stamp Act, a taxation measure designed to raise revenues for a standing British army in America. Under the banner of "no taxation without representation," colonists convened the Stamp Act Congress in October 1765 to vocalize their opposition to the tax. With its enactment in November, most colonists called for a boycott of British goods, and some organized attacks on customhouses and homes of tax collectors.

After months of protest in the colonies, Parliament finally voted to repeal the Stamp Act in March 1766. Most colonists continued to quietly accept British rule until Parliament's enactment of the Tea Act in 1773, a bill designed to save the faltering British East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and granting it a monopoly on the American tea trade. The low tax allowed the company to undercut even tea smuggled into America by Dutch traders, and many colonists viewed the act as another example of taxation tyranny.

In response, militant colonists in Massachusetts organized the "Boston Tea Party," which saw British tea valued at some £18,000 dumped into Boston Harbor. Parliament, outraged by the Boston Tea Party and other blatant acts of destruction of British property, enacted the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by the colonists, in 1774. The Coercive Acts closed Boston to merchant shipping, established formal British military rule in Massachusetts, made British officials immune to criminal prosecution in America and required colonists to quarter British troops.

In response, the colonists called the first Continental Congress to consider united American resistance to the British. With the other colonies watching intently, Massachusetts led the resistance to the British, forming a shadow revolutionary government and establishing militias to resist the increasing British military presence across the colony. In April 1775, Thomas Gage, the British governor of Massachusetts, ordered British troops to march to Concord, Massachusetts, where a Patriot arsenal was known to be located. On April 19, 1775, the British regulars encountered a group of American militiamen at Lexington, and the first shots of the American Revolution were fired. Initially, both the Americans and the British saw the conflict as a kind of civil war within the British empire. To King George III, it was a colonial rebellion, and to the Americans, it was a struggle for their rights as British citizens. However, Parliament remained unwilling to negotiate with the American rebels and instead hired Hessians, German mercenaries, to help the British army crush the rebellion.

In response to Britain's continued opposition to reform, the Continental Congress began to pass measures abolishing British authority in the colonies. In January 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense, an influential political pamphlet that convincingly argued for American independence and sold more than 500,000 copies in just a few months. In the spring of 1776, support for independence swept the colonies, the Continental Congress called for states to form their own governments and a five-man committee was assigned to draft a declaration. The Declaration of Independence was largely the work of Virginian Thomas Jefferson. In justifying American independence, Jefferson drew generously from the political philosophy of John Locke, an advocate of natural rights, and from the work of other English theorists. The declaration features the immortal lines, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It then goes on to present a long list of grievances that provided the rationale for rebellion. On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to approve a Virginia motion calling for separation from Britain. The dramatic words of this resolution were added to the closing of the Declaration of Independence.

Two days later, on July 4, the declaration was formally adopted by 12 colonies after minor revision. New York, the 13th colony, approved it on July 19. On August 2, the declaration was signed. The American War for Independence would last for five years. Yet to come were the Patriot triumphs at Saratoga, the bitter winter at Valley Forge, the intervention of the French and the final victory at Yorktown in 1781. In 1783, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris with Britain, the United States formally became a free and independent nation.

Approximately how many grains of pollen can a single ragweed plant produce in a season?

Up to a billion.

Bankruptcy's not going to solve anything if someone's got a heart problem. By this, I mean if you buy stuff just to try & be happy with having stuff & living beyond your means in the process. Many people have the idea that they're what they drive, or they're where they live. Those are heart problems, & that's they way a lot of people are until they get some sense knocked into them by going broke. Then they realize they had to stop & make some changes.

Barbecued foods are messy; balancing plates & glasses is hard. Make sure every guest has a seat at a table.

Be a smart shopper. When signing up for a new service (cell phone, cable, etc.) be sure to ask if there are any additional fees. Get all the answers up front so you can make a smart buying decision & avoid the surprise hidden fees.

Death of the founding fathers (1826):

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third presidents of the United States, respectively, die on this day, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Both men had been central in the drafting of the historic document; Jefferson had authored it, and Adams, who was known as the "colossus of the debate," served on the drafting committee and had argued eloquently for the declaration's passage.

After July 4, 1776, Adams traveled to France as a diplomat, where he proved instrumental in winning French support for the Patriot cause, and Jefferson returned to Virginia, where he served as state governor during the dark days of the American Revolution. After the British defeat at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, Adams was one of the negotiators of the Treaty of Paris that ended the war, and with Jefferson he returned to Europe to try to negotiate a U.S.-British trade treaty.

After the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, Adams was elected vice president to George Washington, and Jefferson was appointed secretary of state. During Washington's administration, Jefferson, with his democratic ideals and concept of states' rights, often came into conflict with Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who supported a strong federal government and conservative property rights. Adams often arbitrated between Hamilton and his old friend Jefferson, though in politics he was generally allied with Hamilton.

In 1796, Adams defeated Jefferson in the presidential election, but the latter became vice president, because at that time the office was still filled by the candidate who finished second. As president, Adams' main concern was America's deteriorating relationship with France, and war was only averted because of his considerable diplomatic talents. In 1800, Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans (the forerunner of the Democratic Party) defeated the Federalist party of Adams and Hamilton, and Adams retired to his estate in Quincy, Massachusetts.

As president, Jefferson reduced the power and expenditures of the central government but advocated the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France, which more than doubled the size of the United States. During his second administration, Jefferson faced renewed conflict with Great Britain, but he left office before the War of 1812 began. Jefferson retired to his estate in Monticello, Virginia, but he often advised his presidential successors and helped establish the University of Virginia. Jefferson also corresponded with John Adams to discuss politics, and these famous letters are regarded as masterpieces of the American enlightenment.

By remarkable coincidence, Jefferson and Adams died on the same day, Independence Day in 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Adams' last words were, "Thomas Jefferson still survives," though his old friend and political adversary had died a few hours before.

ID4:

When aliens in enormous spacecraft suddenly arrive in Earth's atmosphere and start blowing things up, it falls to a cocky pilot (Will Smith) and a goofy scientist (Jeff Goldblum) to save the planet from total destruction. With plenty of action, special effects sequences and pithy one-liners, Independence Day is one of the 1990s' best popcorn flicks. Bill Pullman co-stars as the gung-ho president who urges his citizens to fight back.

If you're shopping in July & see the perfect Christmas gift for someone on your list, buy it.

In what distinctive shape was Fort McHenry—the birthplace of the U.S. national anthem—built?

MealBoard:

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• Create meal plans organized by day and meal type
• Create meal plan templates
• Generate your grocery list based on the meal plan you created
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• Option to show grocery prices, and total price, for budget-conscious users!
• Shopping list functionality lets you check off grocery items as you shop
• Mainstains a master list of grocery items
• Assign recipes to multiple categories
• Search recipes by name or ingredient
• Set up recipe prep notifications to remind you of tasks ahead of time
• Email recipes, meal plan and grocery list
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Petard:

1: A case containing an explosive to break down a door or gate or breach a wall. 2: A firework that explodes with a loud report.

The blast occurred on Sunday afternoon ... destroying 6 rooms which stored materials for making petards & firecrackers.

Aside from historical references to siege warfare, & occasional contemporary references to fireworks, "petard" is almost always encountered in variations of the phrase "hoise with one's own petard," meaning "victimized or hurt by one's own scheme." The phrase comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet: "For 'tis the sport to have the enginer / Hoist with his own petar." "Hoist" in this case is the past participle of the verb "hoise," meaning "to lift or raise," & "petar(d)" refers to an explosive device used in siege warfare. Shakespeare uses the example of the engineer (the person who lays the explosive) being lown into the air by his own device as a metaphor for those who schemed against Hamlet being undone by their own schemes. The phrase has endured, even if its literal meaning has largely been forgotten.

Sid Shady asked his wife to accompany him to a war movie being featured that night. During a scene when grenades were exploding & gun were firing, Shady decided the time was right, he pulled out a gun & shot his wife. He then took her out of the theater without anyone trying to stop him. Why not?

Shady shot his wife at a drive-in theater.

What's at the beginning of eternity, the end of time, the beginning of every end, & the end of every place?

Which country 1st used, 2nd used, & 3rd used postage stamps?

A. Brazil

B. Great Britain

C. U.S.

Which of these words are sunonyms for the word "happy"?

Quixotic, blithe, flummoxed, puerile, blissful, exultant.

Which type of month is the longest, 2nd longest, & 3rd longest?

A. Solar month

B. Sidereal month

C. Lunar month

ACB. A solar month is 1/12 of a solar year, which works out to 30 days, 10 hours, 29 minutes, & 3.8 seconds. Enough for now - I've had a tough month.

Whoever thought up the idea of "good" & "bad" foods clearly got their lists confused.