10/1/14

     

Tucson Weather Today

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Perhaps I became so vague, so exhilarated with vagueness, precisely in order to forestall a recognition of the final term of the syllogism that begins: If one man loves another he is a homosexual; I love a man...
--Edmund White


I just discovered that the word brooch is pronounced either as [BROOCH] or [BROACH] - either one.

Imagine that.


A long time ago I signed up with NASA to have my name added to a list to be carried on a space ship destined to arrive at an asteroid sometime in the future. I had forgotten all about it until yesterday when I received an email informing me:

Charles,

Thanks for signing up to send your name to asteroid Bennu. NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission will be the first U.S. mission to return samples from an asteroid to Earth, and you'll be there! Well, not you per se, but your name. 

Traveling is better with company, so tell your friends! Tell your family! All they need to do is visit http://www.planetary.org/get-involved/messages/bennu/ and fill in the information..

There seems to be no limit to the powers and abilities of animals other than humans, and to the incredible ignorance of said humans.

What can dolphins and myriad other creatures do that we cannot do?

The journal Naturwissenschaften -- The Science of Nature -- reveals that dolphins are attracted to magnets, behaving differently when in proximity to magnetized objects as opposed to any that are demagnetized.

LINK to original paper.

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Did You Know . . .?

One medium avocado contains about 350 calories, while an entire pineapple only has about 450 calories.

One cup of apple juice contains about 115 calories, while one medium apple contains only about 60 calories.

Nutritional Information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1944, the first of two sets of medical experiments involving castration are performed on homosexuals at the Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany. The persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany began in 1933, even before Buchenwald was built in 1937. The Nazis aimed to eradicate homosexuality, which they saw as a threat to the survival of the German people. The culminating points of their maltreatment in Buchenwald were the use of homosexuals in experiments to develop immunization against typhus fever and the attempt by an SS doctor to "cure" homosexuality through the implantation of sexual hormones.

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WORD FOR TODAY

syllogism
noun
1. an extremely subtle, sophisticated, or deceptive argument.
2. a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two or more propositions that are asserted or assumed to be true.
3. an instance of a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn (whether validly or not) from two given or assumed propositions (premises), each of which shares a term with the conclusion, and shares a common or middle term not present in the conclusion (e.g., all dogs are animals; all animals have four legs; therefore all dogs have four legs).

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr.

(born October 1, 1924)

Jimmy Carter is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.

Julie Elizabeth Andrews

(born 1 October 1935)

Julie Andrews is an English film and stage actress. Andrews is a former child actress and singer who rose to prominence starring in musicals such as My Fair Lady and Camelot. In 1957, she appeared on television with the title role in Cinderella, which was seen by over 100 million viewers. Andrews made her feature film debut in Mary Poppins. She received her second Academy Award nomination for The Sound of Music,

Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid

(born October 1, 1950)

Randy Quaid is an American actor nominated for an Academy Award for his role in The Last Detail. Quaid also won a Golden Globe Award for his portrayal of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson in LBJ: The Early Years. Quaid is well known for his roles in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies, Brokeback Mountain, Independence Day, and Kingpin.

Stella Stevens

(born October 1, 1938)

Stella Stevens is an American film and television actress. She began her acting career in 1959 and starred in such popular films as The Nutty Professor, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, The Silencers, Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, and The Poseidon Adventure.

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“All talk of winning the people by appealing to their intelligence, of conquering them by impeccable syllogism, is so much moonshine.”
--H.L. Mencken

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

Stopped In My Tracks . . .

Tucson Weather Today

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Quite by accident, I stumbled across a website that startled me. It's called The Weed and is written by a Mormon, one who happens to be homosexual. One particular entry  on June 7, 2012 was exceptionally startling to me -- it is titled  Club Unicorn: In which I come out of the closet on our ten year anniversary.

Below is a description of the writer:

Facts about The Weed (written by his wife, who has adopted the role as his publicist):

1. He's a Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice in Auburn, WA (Come and see him if you would like counseling -- seriously!)

2. He's an active Mormon

3. He's gay

4. He's married to a woman (who is awesome!)

5. He's amazing.

6. He writes this blog. He writes about ALL kinds of things. It will make you laugh. It will make you cry. It might even make you mad or offended. Give it a try.

This entry is long so if you decide to read it, you might wish to wait until you can devote sufficient time to it.

Here is The Link

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WORD FOR TODAY

polemic
Noun
A strong verbal or written attack on someone or something.
The art or practice of engaging in controversial debate or dispute.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Michael J. Fox

Born June 9, 1961

Canadian American actor, author, celebrity, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy (1985-1990); Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties (1982-1989) for which he won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award; and Mike Flaherty from Spin City (1996-2000), for which he won an Emmy, three Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991, and disclosed his condition to the public in 1998. Fox semi-retired from acting in 2000 as the symptoms of his disease worsened. He has since become an activist for research toward finding a cure. This led him to create the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and on March 5, 2010, Sweden's Karolinska Institutet gave him a honoris causa doctorate for his work in advocating a cure for Parkinson's disease.

ALSO

Cole Porter

  Born June 9, 1891

Died Oct 15, 1964

"Night and Day," "I Get A Kick Out of You" "You’re the Top," "Begin the Beguine," "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" --  some of the cleverest, funniest, and most romantic songs ever written came from the pen of Cole Porter. He was unmatched as a tunesmith, and his Broadway musicals -- from "Kiss Me Kate" and "Anything Goes" to "Silk Stockings" and "Can Can" -- set the standards of style and wit to which today’s composers and lyricists aspire.

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The ruling passion, be it what it will.
The ruling passion conquers reason still.
--Alexander Pope