Gettin' On In Years

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

As I lie abed after waking too early in the morning I think about how sad it is that in my old age the amazingly fine memory I have always had is now weakened to the point where every event and person I have ever known is now prone to be but a suspected wisp of possibility and not a true memory. And I realize that the real damage brought on by old age is the weakening of the mind, not the ravages of the physical body... and then I roll over and suddenly that aching, decrepit, body says to  me, "Oh yeah?"

_____

Did You Know . . .?

The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1974, 28-year-old Karen Silkwood is killed in a car accident near Crescent, Oklahoma, north of Oklahoma City. Silkwood worked as a technician at a plutonium plant operated by the Kerr-McGee Corporation, and she had been critical of the plant's health and safety procedures. In September, she had complained to the Atomic Energy Commission about unsafe conditions at the plant (a week before her death, plant monitors had found that she was contaminated with radioactivity herself), and the night she died, she was on her way to a meeting with a union representative and a reporter for The New York Times, reportedly with a folder full of documents that proved that Kerr-McGee was acting negligently when it came to worker safety at the plant. However, no such folder was found in the wreckage of her car, lending credence to the theory that someone had forced her off the road to prevent her from telling what she knew.

On the night of November 5, Silkwood was polishing plutonium pellets that would be used to make fuel rods for a "breeder reactor" nuclear-power plant. At about 6:30 P.M., an alpha detector mounted on her glove box (the piece of equipment that was supposed to protect her from exposure to radioactive materials) went off: According to the machine, her right arm was covered in plutonium. Further tests revealed that the plutonium had come from the inside of her gloves -- that is, the part of her gloves that was only in contact with her hands, not the pellets. Plant doctors monitored her for the next few days, and what they found was quite unusual: Silkwood's urine and feces samples were heavily contaminated with radioactivity, as was the apartment she shared with another plant worker, but no one could say why or how that "alpha activity" had gotten there. (In fact, measurements after her death indicated that Silkwood had ingested the plutonium somehow; again, no one could say how or why.)

After work on November 13, Silkwood went to a union meeting before heading home in her white Honda. Soon, police were summoned to the scene of an accident along Oklahoma's State Highway 74: Silkwood had somehow crashed into a concrete culvert. She was dead by the time help arrived. An autopsy revealed that she had taken a large dose of Quaaludes before she died, which would likely have made her doze off at the wheel; however, an accident investigator found skid marks and a suspicious dent in the Honda's rear bumper, indicating that a second car had forced Silkwood off the road.

Silkwood's father sued Kerr-McGee, and the company eventually settled for $1.3 million, minus legal fees. Kerr-McGee closed its Crescent plant in 1979.

From HISTORY

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

gerontology
noun
the scientific study of ageing and the problems associated with elderly people.

Gerontology is the study of the social, psychological and biological aspects of aging. It is distinguished from geriatrics, which is the branch of medicine that studies the diseases of older adults.

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Joseph Anthony "Joe" Mantegna, Jr.

(born November 13, 1947)

Joe Montegna is an American actor, producer, writer, director, and voice actor. He is best known for his roles in box office hits such as Three Amigos (1986), The Godfather Part III (1990), Forget Paris (1995), and Up Close & Personal (1996). He currently stars in the CBS television series Criminal Minds as FBI Special Agent David Rossi.

Neil Richard Flynn

(born November 13, 1960)

Neil Flynn is an American actor and comedian, known for his role as Janitor in the medical comedy-drama Scrubs. He currently portrays Mike Heck in the ABC sitcom The Middle.

Christopher David "Chris" Noth

(born November 13, 1954)

Chris Noth is an American actor. He is known for long-running television roles as Detective Mike Logan on the police procedural and legal drama television series, Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and as Big on Sex and the City. For the latter role, he has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. As of 2013, he is a star of the CBS drama series The Good Wife. 

William Scott "Jack" Elam

(Nov 13, 1920 - Oct 20, 2003)

Jack Elam was an American film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies (sometimes spoofing his villainous image). His most distinguishing physical quality was the left iris of his eye, which was skewed to the outside, making him look unnaturally "wide eyed" (the opposite of cross eyed).

__________

I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.
--Francis Bacon


NASA TV

This Is Who I Am