Jots & Tittles: Call The Police... Quick!

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Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
--Isaac Asimov

A teenager is fatally shot by a police officer; the police are accused of being bloodthirsty, trigger-happy murderers; riots erupt. This, we are led to believe, is the way of things in America.

Sunil Dutta, a professor of homeland security at Colorado Tech University, has been an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department for 17 years. The views presented at the link below are his own and do not represent the LAPD.

He says, "I’m a cop. If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t challenge me."

The situation in Ferguson, MO seems to be continuing. I really would rather not write about it, or about my opinion concerning it. I did, however, comment on the blog entry of a friend, over at QUARKSCREW -- with less than pleasant results.

A link to the piece follows:

LINK

I am often amazed, after I've written it down, to discover what I honestly believe deep inside.

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Did You Know . . .?

A British grandmother finally met her American pen-pal nearly 70 years after she first put an ad in a New York newspaper looking for a long-distance friend when she was 15-years-old.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

ON THIS DAY IN 1975, Viking 1, an unmanned U.S. planetary probe, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a mission to Mars. On June 19, 1976, the spacecraft entered into orbit around Mars and devoted the next month to imaging the Martian surface with the purpose of finding an appropriate landing site for its lander In September 1976, Viking 2--launched only three weeks after Viking 1--entered into orbit around Mars, where it assisted Viking 1 in imaging the surface and also sent down a lander. During the dual Viking missions, the two orbiters imaged the entire surface of Mars at a resolution of 150 to 300 meters, and the two landers sent back more than 1,400 images of the planet's surface.

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WORD FOR TODAY

topography
noun
1. Detailed, precise description of a place or region.
2. Graphic representation of the surface features of a place or region on a map.
3. A description or an analysis of a structured entity.
4.
a. The surface features of a place or region.
b. The surface features of an object: The topography of a crystal.
5. The surveying of the features of a place or region.
6. The study or description of an anatomical region or part.

Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary science comprising the study of surface shape and features of the Earth and other observable astronomical objects including planets, moons, and asteroids. It is also the description of such surface shapes and features (especially their depiction in maps). The topography of an area could also mean the surface shape and features themselves.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul

(born August 20, 1935)

Ron Paul is an American physician, author, and former Republican Party congressman, two-time Republican presidential candidate, and the presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party in the 1988 U.S. Presidential Election.

Joan Allen

(born August 20, 1956)

Joan Allen is an American actress. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Nixon and The Crucible, and for Best Actress for The Contender. Her other films include Manhunter, Peggy Sue Got Married, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, In Country, The Ice Storm, Face/Off, Pleasantville, The Notebook, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Death Race, and The Bourne Legacy.

Albert Lincoln "Al" Roker, Jr.

(born August 20, 1954)