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Welcome to the Reader Rant Round Table for the week of February 12-18, 2012.
This week in History February 12 1554 - Lady Jane Grey, queen of England for nine days (in 1553), was executed for high treason. 1733 - Led by philanthropist James Edward Oglethorpe, the first English colonists arrived in Georgia, at the site of Savannah. 1818 - Chile formally proclaimed its independence from Spain. 1870 - The Utah Territory granted women the right to vote (revoked in 1887). 1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded. 1912 - Pu Yi, the last emperor of the Manchu (Ch'ing) dynasty in China, renounced his throne following the establishment of a republic under Sun Yat-sen. 1973 - The first release of American prisoners of war from the Vietnam war took place. 1999 - The Senate voted to acquit President Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. 2002 - Yugoslavian ex-president Slobodan Milosevic went on trial for war crimes. 2010 - The 2010 Winter Olympics opened in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The games got off to a tragic start when a luger from the Republic of Georgia, Nodar Kumaritashvili, dies tragically in a crash during training run.
February 13 1635 - Boston Latin School, the oldest public school in the United States, was founded. 1866 - The gang that included Jesse James and Cole Younger committed their first bank robbery in Liberty, Mo. 1867 - Johann Strauss's Blue Danube waltz premiered in Vienna.
1935 - Bruno Hauptmann was found guilty of murder in the Lindbergh kidnapping case. 1960 - France exploded its first atomic bomb. 1974 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who won the 1970 Nobel Prize for literature, was deported from the Soviet Union. 2002 - The French judge was accused of throwing the pairs skating decision to the Russians at the Olympics.
February 14 1859 - Oregon became the 33rd state in the United States. 1912 - Arizona became the 48th state in the United States. 1920 - The League of Women Voters was founded. 1929 - Members of Al Capone's gang killed rival gang members in the St. Valentine's Day massacre. 1989 - Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, calling for the death of Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. 2001 - The Kansas Board of Education reversed its 1999 ruling and restored evolution to the state's science curriculum. 2003 - Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was euthanized because of incurable lung cancer.
February 15 1764 - St. Louis, Mo., was founded as a French fur-trading post. 1879 - President Rutherford Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court. 1898 - USS Maine blew up in Havana harbor, touching off the Spanish-American War. 1913 - The New York Armory Show opened, introducing America to Picasso, Duchamp, and Matisse. 1933 - Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak was killed in an assassination attempt on president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami. 1965 - The Maple Leaf Flag officially became the new national flag of Canada. 1989 - More than 100,000 Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan almost 10 years after the USSR invaded the country. 2002 - Olympics officials resolved the judging scandal by awarding Canadian pairs figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier a gold medal while allowing the Russians, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, to keep their medal. 2003 - Millions of protesters around the world demonstrated against the threat of a U.S. war on Iraq.
February 16 1804 - U.S. frigate Philadelphia, captured and held by Barbary pirates at Tripoli during the Tripolitan War, was set fire to and destroyed by a small group of men led by Stephen Decatur. 1918 - Lithuania proclaimed its independence from Russia. 1923 - The tomb of King Tutankhamen, discovered in 1922, was opened.
1937 - Nylon was patented. 1959 - Fidel Castro became the leader of Cuba after having ousted the right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista. 1968 - The country's first 911 phone system went into service in Haleyville, Ala. 1999 - Turkish commandos captured Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya, sparking seizures of embassies in Europe by Kurds.
February 17 1600 - Italian philospher, alchemist, and Copernican theory advocate Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for heresy by the Inquisition. 1801 - The electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr was broken by the House of Representatives who elected Jefferson president. 1817 - Baltimore became the first U.S. city lit by gas. 1864 - The Confederate submarine Hunley, equipped with an explosive at the end of a protruding spar, rammed and sank the Union's ship Housatonic off the coast of Charleston, S.C. 1904 - Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly premiered in Milan. 1972 - President Richard Nixon left on his trip to China. 1996 - Chess champion Garry Kasparov beat the IBM computer, Deep Blue, winning the six-game match. 2008 - Kosovo declared independence from Serbia
February 18 1546 - Martin Luther, German leader of the Protestant Reformation, died. 1564 - Michelangelo Buonarotti, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect, died. 1885 - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was published. 1930 - Pluto, the ninth planet in the solar system, was discovered by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. 1953 - The first 3-D movie, Bwana Devil, opened in New York.
2001 - FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested and charged with spying for Russia. 2001 - Dale Earnhardt, Sr., died from injuries sustained at the Daytona 5000
RIP Whitney.
Life is a banquet -- and most poor suckers are starving to death -- Auntie Mame You are born naked and everything else is drag - RuPaul
I was able to attend the showing of King Tut's tomb when I was still in high school. It was being exhibited at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History. It was a sight to see, and I have always wanted to see it again. But so far, I have not been able to do so.
milk and Girl Scout cookies ;-)
Save your breath-You may need it to blow up your date.
May I add a lovely duet sung by seriously beautiful voices. These gals never miss a key or a note.
They studied for 20 years before they even tried this famous duet. No short cuts, drugs or booze. When I had my music group in Cambria I found only one soprano who could sing it so I took it off the program. I will not try to introduce good music here again. You either love the sound or you don't. Stick with the pop sound as it never gets any better.
May I add a lovely duet sung by seriously beautiful voices. These gals never miss a key or a note.
They studied for 20 years before they even tried this famous duet. No short cuts, drugs or booze. When I had my music group in Cambria I found only one soprano who could sing it so I took it off the program. I will not try to introduce good music here again. You either love the sound or you don't. Stick with the pop sound as it never gets any better.
Sandy, that is one of my favorites. The vocal pairing was exquisite. I do not have a narrow love of good music. I enjoy several genres-Opera and classical are only two. I like limitless possibilities. That way, I never get bored.
milk and Girl Scout cookies ;-)
Save your breath-You may need it to blow up your date.
You know Scout. I knew your respect for the good music. I'm just horrified that Whitney Houston took top story over the weekend. When my favorite Puccini, Verdi soprano, Bidu Sayao died several years ago without a single mention except at the Met itself. Pavarotti was mentioned only because he sang pop stuff too. I don't know anyone who can remember Pinza's Mozart operas.
Most of Europe laughs at American culture. JJ, her husband and his family head for Europe every other year to get an injection of true art and music. They set me up with my satellite radio that gets performances from the Met all day and night. Having seen the actual operas sung by their recordings, I can relive all of them.
Don't forget the Westminster Dog Show starts tonight on USA. I only had one perfect example of any breed and it was my Doberman who loved being around other people and dogs and would never stand to be admired as she wanted to show her loving nature by crawling in the laps of everyone. Her name was Leontyne Price. Yes, she could hit "C" above high C but only in traffic. She is the one that destroyed Jack in the Box in Woodland Hills. Never to be forgotten for this.
I always compare the Dobies who are being shown to my own who died at 15 and replaced by a yellow lab who may be the dumbest dog ever born. She was a Marley Dog. The whole family bought me that book to show Kate was not alone in this category.
I will stick to cats. I shared some thoughts with Emma, my 22 year old cat. I never knew a cat who had so little personality. She was like having a black velvet pillow on the couch that would move only when the sunbeam moved. That was it! She does not meow or even purr. She eats, poops in the litter box and goes back to her place as a pillow on the couch. On the other hand we have Zasu Pitts my year old black kitten who is a personality born to annoy the hell out of Emma. I had Zasu declewed because I know that one day she would strike back and Emma would be eaten alive by my tiny panther.
I have many speakers furnished by my satellite company all over the house and the cats love opera. They prefer Mozart but love French operas like Samson and Delilah. My speakers can be moved from room to room but pick up from my small satellite in the office here.
I had a lot of cousins who have competed in musical competitions all over the world but I never had a dog who was disciplined enough to make a dog show like the Westminster.
My kids won swim meets. My grandkids don't compete in anything.
I snuck into El Lay this weekend. With the windows rolled-up, I could smell the night-blooming jasmine as I drove along Franklin Av, turned left onto La Brea and could still smell the fragrance in the air at La Brea and Hollywood Bl.
It's too cold for the plant here in NorCal.
I was saddened to learn of Whitney Houston's death - not shocked as the local reporters where stating of people's reaction. C'mon, we all knew she was addicted to drugs.
Whitney Houston was an awesome artist with a severe addiction. Too many talented people have died because of an addiction of one sort or another.
Perhaps we all have addictions of one sort, but because of our station in life, the lack of money to purchase anything we want - when we want - keeps the lid on our addictions. Blessing in disguise?
Had dinner at McCormick & Schmicks on the SE corner of Rodeo and Wilshire. Beverly Hills has made that corner very nice. It's feels like an European walkway and I like the way the architect designed the walkway to go uphill. Very nice.
Had the oven-roasted lobster tail with squid ink risotto and calamari. Awesome.
F/A/O Ken Hill: Don't bet against me on the marriage thingy - you're gonna lose.
Had dinner at McCormick & Schmicks on the SE corner of Rodeo and Wilshire. Beverly Hills has made that corner very nice. It's feels like an European walkway and I like the way the architect designed the walkway to go uphill. Very nice.
![[Linked Image from artinthepicture.com]](http://www.artinthepicture.com/artists/Michelangelo/crouching.jpeg)
![[Linked Image from a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net]](http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/424294_320472484672430_244753448911001_918708_2046731630_n.jpg)
I do not have a narrow love of good music. I enjoy several genres-Opera and classical are only two. I like limitless possibilities. That way, I never get bored.
![[Linked Image from i48.photobucket.com]](http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f228/ca_rickf/Bh.jpg)