05.31.07
About Tuberculosis (TB)
1. Tuberculosis is one of the oldest diseases known to effect humans. It is cause by a bacteria. The most common way for the bacteria to be spread is through the aur in tiny droplets caused by coughing, sneezing or speaking.
2. Early symptoms of tuberculosis can include weight loss, fever, night sweats, and loss of appetite. Symptoms may be vague, however, and go unnoticed by the affected person. For some, the disease either goes into remission (halts) or becomes chronic and more debilitating with cough, chest pain, and bloody sputum.
3. Famous people who have had Tuberculosis include; Judy Collins, Louella Parson, Marie Curie, Vivien Leigh, Adolf Hitler, Alexander Graham Bell, H.G. bell, Ulysses S. Grant and Eugene O’Neill.
4. The common tests for TB are:
A. The Mantoux tuberculin skin test shows if a person has been infected.
B. A chest x-ray is obtained if the Mantoux skin test shows that a person has been infected. The x-ray shows if any damage has been done to the lungs.
C. A sputum test shows if there are TB germs in a person’s lungs. Sputum is phlegm from deep inside the lungs.
5. It is estimated that 10 to 15 million Americans have a Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI). For most of them, the germs will never become active. While the infection is inactive they can’t do damage nor be spread on to others. Many don’t even know that they are infected.
6. In May 2007 the United States Center for Disease Control placed a Georgia man under quarantine for a dangerous form of the Disease. This was the first time since 1963 that a quarantine order had been issued in the US. Earlier in the month, under a strong suggestion not to travel, the man took two trans-Atlantic flights.
05.30.07
Wedding Anniversary Presents
1. The first anniversary. The traditional gift are of paper, but the modern one is a clock. Paper seems like a natural if you create a memory book.
2. The fifth anniversary. The traditional gift are of wood, but the modern one is silverware. Is this the one that you fill create your silverware in an oak box.
3. The tenth anniversary. The traditional gifts are of Aluminium and Tin with a modern theme of diamond jewelery. i think this would be a case of getting the diamond ring and not a can of coke.
4. The 25th anniversary. This is the Silver Anniversary in every way. But what to give that’s silver? A party for 25 may just be the right thing with dinner served on a silver platter.
5. The 50th anniversary. The Golden anniversary is a major milestone since it’s not an easy one to achieve. Since each is in their golden years just being together many times is all that’s needed.
6. The 75th anniversary. The Diamond anniversary.
05.29.07
The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band”
1. The 8th Beatles’ Album Sgt, Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was release in England on June 1, 1967 and in the United States on the next day. However as early as May 26 the album was available at some music stores in London, England. The Album was recorded between December 1966 and April 1967 at Abbey Roads Studios. It reached number one on the Album Charts in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States.
2. The idea was for it to be ‘concept’ album based on Paul McCartney’s idea of alter egos for the four Beatles. The Album was to be not the Beatles sounds but that of their doubles Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. However the alter ego band’s concept ends after the first two tracks, but the music throughout uses imaginative new musical techniques.
3. The original intention was for the title track to be broken into sections to open and close the album. After the recording of With a Little Help From My Friends it was decided to put it as the second track and record a rockier reprise. The final chords of A Day In The Life convinced Martin that it needed to be the final track of the album. He said, ‘The final chord of A Day in the Life was so final that it was obvious nothing else could follow it.’
4. The George Harrison composed Only a Northern Song was to be part of the album, but was left off in favor of Within You Without You that was deemed a better choice. Only A Northern Song is a bitter song that gives a sarcastic commentary on the Beatles’ publishing company “Northern Songs”.
5. The album with a few exceptions has been a critical success. It won the Grammy Award for best Album of the Year and in 2003 in the Rolling Stone list of ‘500 Greatest Albums’ it was rated number 1.
6. The most played song at the press bash for the album was not a song from the album but Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade of Pale which was release just a week before the Sgt. Pepper’s Album. It’s reported that Lennon played the song non-stop on his way to the party.
05.26.07
Memorial Day
1. Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, a day to decorate the graves of the Civil War dead. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868 organized by the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), an organization of former sailors and soldiers. It was inspired by local observances during the 3 years after the end of the Civil War.
2. After World War I the observances began to honor those who had died in all of American’s Wars.
3. With the passage of the National Holiday act of 1971 the national Memorial Day is the last Monday in May. Some states still have an additional separate day for honoring their state’s war deaths. January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.
4. Traditional observance of Memorial Day has diminished over the years with many Americans forgetting or not understanding the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. Towns and cities still hold Memorial Day parades, however many have not held a parade in decades. It’s even thought by some people that the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.
5. Some, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), advocate returning to the originate date May 30. In a 2002 Memorial Day Address the VFW stated, “Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public’s nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.”
6. The number of United States Vietnam War causalities was 58,151. Since the Iraq war began on March 19, 2003 nearly 3500 members of the United States Military have died.
05.25.07
This happened on May 25th
1. On May 25, 1977 the movie Star Wars was released. 2007 is it’s 30th anniversary.
2. In 1961, as part of the State of the Union address, President John F. Kennedy announces plans to send men to the moon. “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”
3. In 1935 American athlete Jesse Owens sets six new world record within 45 minutes at a Big 10 meet at Ann Arbor, Michigan.
4. Also in 1935 the 41 year old Babe Ruth, playing for the Boston Braves against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field hit three home runs. The last that day reported as “a prodigious clout that carried clear over the right field grandstand, bounded into the street and rolled into Schenley Park.” The first ball hit out of Forbes Field. That home run was number 714 and was to be the last of his career.
5. In 1865 in the city of Mobile Alabama an ordnance depot exploded. 300 people were killed. In the nearby Mobile River, two ships sank, and a man standing on a wharf was thrown into the river. From the explosion came fires, which burned until the entire northern part of Mobile lay in smoking ruins.
6. In 1792 Kentucky is admitted as the 15th State of the United States of America. Four years later in 1796 Tennessee become the 16th State.
05.24.07
Slang of the 1920’s
1. Applesauce. In the 1920’s this word an expletive. Example: “Ah applesauce!”
2. Tomato. This usually referred to a dumb silly girl. Example: Did you understand a thing that tomato said.
3. Biscuit. Refers to a pretty girl who is open to advances. Example: Sue sure is cute biscuit.
4. Squirrels. Slang word for the police. Examples: Be on the lookout for the squirrels, we don’t need them busting up the party.
5. Boneless Ham. Used in 20’s era blues to mean penis. Example: In the song Meat Man Pete, “everyone is wild about his boneless ham”.
6. Baloney. Nonsense. Example: Cut the baloney before you get in trouble.
05.22.07
Cheating in Baseball
Over the years that there has been professional baseball there has been those who cheated. Is it really any surprise that drugs (steroids as well as amphetamines and other legal and illegal supplements) have been used to help players? For that reason alone one would have to accept the records of Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, who haven’t been caught (although Sosa was caught using a corked bat) and Palmeiro who did test positive for steroid use.
Grounds crews have since the game began and still today will cut the grass in a way that helps their own batters or to hinder the other team. If a team is a good running team the sidelines may be slanted to keep the balls in play.
Players have doctored the bat so that it will help them. Players who have been caught using corked bats include Sammy Sosa and Albert Belle. Craig Nettles was even caught with super balls inside his bat.
Pitchers have been doctoring balls forever. At one time it was perfectly legal for a pitcher to throw a spitball, but after it was made illegal pitchers still found a way to do it. Gaylord Perry and Don Sutton are rumored to have learned to grease the ball with vasaline and Phil Niekro was caught with a nail file.
Players have been playing dirty since the 1880’s and Jon McGraw. He would use his spikes on players to prevent tags, and created some of the ground keeping tricks. Ty Cobb even sharpened his spikes to intimidate opposing players. Even as recent as the 2004 playoffs there were attempts to pull fielders off the bag to prevent an out.
Perhaps the worst cases involve cheating for the purposes of winning games for gamblers or gambling on the game themselves. 8 men were suspended in 1920 for throwing the 1919 World Series and Pete Rose was suspended for gambling on games.
05.21.07
D.W. Griffith’s Silent Film ‘Birth of a Nation’
1. ‘The Birth of a Nation’ was produced and directed by D.W. Giffith and released on February 8, 1915. It starred Lillian Gish, Henry Walthall and Mae Walsh. The 3 hour 10 minute film was originally presented in two parts separated by an intermission. The film cost $110,000 (over 2 Million in 2006) and grossed over 10 million ($300 in 2006). In 1992 the United States Library of Congress deemed it “culturally significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
2. It is a story of Northern Stoneman family and the Cameron family from Piedmont, South Carolina. Through their eyes we see how their friendship is affected by the Civil War. The consequences of the War in their lives are shown in connection to major historical events, like the development of the Civil War itself, Lincoln’s assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.
3. The movie was based on Thomas Dixon Jr’s ‘The Clansman’. Dixon had committed his entire writing career arguing in favor of the superiority of whites and the Ku Klux Klan’s use of violence. After being angered by a staging ‘Uncle Brown’s Cabin’ in 1901 he decided to produce a play that offered his own interpretation of race relations. He said: “My object is to teach the North, the young North, what it has never known—the awful suffering of the white man during the dreadful Reconstruction period. I believe that Almighty God anointed the white men of the South by their suffering during that time . . . to demonstrate to the world that the white man must and shall be supreme.”
4. After the release of the film in 1915, the NAACP and other groups protested the film. The NAACP published a pamphlet titled ‘Fighting a Vicious Film: Protest Against The Birth of a Nation’. W. E. B. Du Bois published scathing reviews in ‘The Crisis’, which helped spur a debate among the National Board of Censorship of Motion Pictures to whether the film should be shown in New York. In the years after Griffith released ‘The Birth of a Nation’ there were massive race riots throughout the country, peaking in 1919.
5. President and former history professor Woodrow Wilson after viewing the film at the White House proclaimed it not only historically accurate, but like “history writ with lightning.” Many whites feeling it to be a truthful and accurate portrayal of racial politics flocked to join the rejuvenated Ku Klux Klan.
6. ‘The Birth of a Nation’ went on to become one of the most admired and profitable films produced by Hollywood during its silent phase. Many Film scholars agree that it is the most important and a key film in American movie history. It contains many new cinematic innovations and refinements, technical effects and artistic advancements with a formative influence on future films.
05.18.07
Accidental Discoveries
Sometimes when trying to do one thing another completely different item will turn up. Here are 10 accidental discoveries that many of us would not want to do without.
One day in the 1940’s while George de Mestral, a Swiss inventor, was walking his dog he noticed that his pants got covered with cockleburs. When he looked them under a microscope he discover their natural hook-like shape. Even though He recognized the potential for a new fastener it took him eight years to finally have two strips of nylon fabric, one like the burrs containing small hooks, and the other like his pants, with soft loops. Pressing the two strips together formed a strong bond. But it could be easily separated, lightweight, durable, and washable. Velcro.
In 1905 Frank Epperson was just a young lad of eleven. One evening Frank mixed himself a drink of soda water powder and water stirring it with a stirring stick. This was a popular drink in 1905. Before he got around to drinking it he was called away leaving the drink on the back porch. The next morning he discovered that with the cold night the mixture was frozen with the stirring stick making a nice handle. Eighteen years later Frank remembered the incident and started producing a product he called Epsicles, in seven flavors. That name didn’t stick but the Popsicle was born.
In 1970, Spencer Silver, who worked in a 3M research lab was trying to develop a strong adhesive. It looked as if he had developed a failure. The adhesive stuck, but then it easily unstuck. Four years later when a colleague singing in the church choir was while using markers that kept falling out of the a hymn book decided to coated them with Spencer’s glue. They stayed in place but came off easily without damaging the pages. The nuisance of just about every office was born. The Post-it note.
Dr, Harry Coover was trying to develop an optically clear plastic for gun sights. The product was too sticky to be used. In fact he once ruined a pair of very expensive glass lens when he stuck them together in the glue. But he finally realized he might have a marketable item. Superglue.
In 1903 French Scientist was working in his lab when he accidentally knocked a glass flask to the floor. He heard it break, but when he went to clean it up he was amazed to find that the broken pieces had held together. The flask had held liquid plastic. The liquid plastic had evaporated but a thin coat was left behind, that held the glass together. He discovered Safety Glass.
German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was studying the stream of electrons known as cathode rays. Wanting to know whether the rays were escaping from the glass tube and covered it with black paper. He noticed a glow in the laboratory a few feet away. He discovered that these rays penetrated solids and could record images of human skeletons on photographic negatives. Doctors soon adopted as a standard medical tool X-Rays.
3M seem to be the place of accidental discoveries. Patsy Sherman in 1953 was trying to develop a rubber material that would deteriorate when coming in contact with aircraft fuel. An assistant spilled the compounds on her new tennis shoes. The compound could not be removed. Three years later after improving the compound liquid repellency marketed Scotchguard.
Pure rubber is not very nice. It easily rots, smells terrible, gets too sticky when warm and too rigid when cold. But Charles Goodyear continued to try to resolve the natural problems of rubber so that it could be used. He tried boiling it with a number of items such as magnesia, lime, bronze powder and nitric acid, but nothing seemed to work. Finally he tried it with sulphur, but he accidentally dropped the mixture onto a hot stove. The process of treating rubber with sulphur with great heat improved the strength and resilience, reduced its stickiness and stopped it from smelling. The process is Vulcanized Rubber.
Jacques Brandenberger, a Swiss chemist, in 1908 was trying to create a stain proof tablecloth. He coated the cloth with a thin layer of viscose. The coated tablecloth didn’t sell, but he realized that the coating was airtight and waterproof and could be used to package food. This was the beginning of Cellophane.
Alexander Fleming was researching the flu. He noticed that one of the Petri dishes had become contaminated with mould. He found that the intruder was killing off the Staphylococcus bug. What he had accidentally discovered was Penicillin.
© 2006 Steven G. Atkinson – All rights reserved – tt4sb.com
05.17.07
Quotes about Thursday
1. “If I love you Wednesday, What is that to you? I do not love you Thursday – so much is true.” – Edna St Vincent Millay
2. “‘Twas on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean, The children walking two and two, in red and blue and green.” – William Blake
3. “Liverpool can be very lonely on a Saturday night, and it’s only Thursday morning.” – Paul Angelis
4. “This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays.” – Douglas Adams
5. “God runs electromagnetics by wave theory on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and the Devil runs them by quantum theory on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.” – William Bragg Sr.
6. “It wasn’t like it is now. But for the types of teams we had, the fans were very good here. On some Thursday afternoon games, we’d get 25,000 fans. That was remarkable. This has always been a great Red Sox city.” – Curt Gowdy
