from "Morning Edition" online summary -- www.npr.org/
February 29, 2012
Traditionally, in many European countries, Leap Day was considered the only day a woman could propose to a man. At the Beefeater Grill, ladies can order the special and get down on one knee. It's a 7-ounce steak branded with the words "Will You Marry Me?"
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/29/147621400/the-last-word-in-business
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
150 years ago: Kellogg brother born -- established Battle Creek, MI as Cereal Production Center
from Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor, Am. Public Media):
February 26 is the birthday of John Harvey Kellogg, doctor and cereal pioneer, born in Tyrone, New York (1852). He ran the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan to promote healthy living and eating. There, he and his brother, Will, invented several grain-based foods, cooking the grain and forcing it through rollers to make dough. They were cooking wheat one day when they were called away, and when they returned, the wheat was apparently overcooked. They decided to put it through the rollers anyway, and cereal flakes were born.
February 26 is the birthday of John Harvey Kellogg, doctor and cereal pioneer, born in Tyrone, New York (1852). He ran the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan to promote healthy living and eating. There, he and his brother, Will, invented several grain-based foods, cooking the grain and forcing it through rollers to make dough. They were cooking wheat one day when they were called away, and when they returned, the wheat was apparently overcooked. They decided to put it through the rollers anyway, and cereal flakes were born.
Friday, February 24, 2012
End of Iraq War (2003 - 2011): "A Nation's Gratitude" White House Dinner for 200 February 29, 2012
FOOD RELATED INFO / PRESS RELEASE : Obama Food-O-Rama
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2012/02/president-obama-first-lady-will-host_06.html
A tribute to 200 heroes: "A Nation's Gratitude"
Two and a half months after the last US troops withdrew from Iraq, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will host a formal dinner at the White House to pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of the veterans and their families, the White House announced today. The Feb. 29 event in the East Room has been designed to replicate a State Dinner, with the theme "A Nation's Gratitude: Honoring Those Who Served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn," according to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Doug Wilson. The President and Mrs. Obama will welcome about 200 specially selected guests, and the event will include performances by high-profile entertainers.
"The template is a State Dinner, the highest honor that a President can give a visiting Head of State, because everyone involved felt this was appropriate to give thanks and to honor America's men and women in uniform," Wilson said.
Senior military leaders will be invited, but most of the invitations "will go to enlisted NCOs and the common fighting man and woman," said Wilson, who represent the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy and the National Guard, and come from all 50 states and the territories. They will include military family members and/or caregivers, members of Gold Star families, and wounded warriors.
"Mrs. Obama wanted to make sure that the room that night represented the America that served in Iraq," Wilson said.
About 1.5 million Americans served in Iraq during the war that lasted from March of 2003 to December of 2011; close to 4,500 were killed, and more than 32,000 wounded. A committee made up of senior enlisted representatives from each branch of service hand-picked the President and Mrs. Obama's guests.
The White House will send out formal invitations to the dinner in the next 7-10 days, Wilson said. Attire will be black tie and dress uniforms, and whether or not there will be a formal arrival ceremony and a red-carpet style entrance has yet to be determined. The names of the entertainers have not yet been announced.
The President and Mrs. Obama annually host a closed-press dinner for top military brass, the Combatant Commanders Dinner, but a dinner to mark the end of a war seems to be a White House first, according to Wilson, who said he was not aware of a similar formal event hosted by a President. America's returning heroes from Iraq have not yet received a ticker-tape style parade in New York, because some troops who served are now re-deployed in Afghanistan, Wilson said. Veterans' groups have been lobbying for such a parade. The city of St. Louis held its own ticker-tape parade in tribute to local Iraq heroes, Wilson said.
"This dinner--an expression of the nation's gratitude for the achievements and enormous sacrifices of the brave Americans who served in the Iraq War and of the families who supported them--will include men and women in uniform from all ranks, services, states and backgrounds, representative of the many thousands of Americans who served in Iraq," read the formal White House announcement.
Google BLOGGER posting Feb. 6, 2012
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2012/02/president-obama-first-lady-will-host_06.html
A tribute to 200 heroes: "A Nation's Gratitude"
Two and a half months after the last US troops withdrew from Iraq, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will host a formal dinner at the White House to pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of the veterans and their families, the White House announced today. The Feb. 29 event in the East Room has been designed to replicate a State Dinner, with the theme "A Nation's Gratitude: Honoring Those Who Served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn," according to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Doug Wilson. The President and Mrs. Obama will welcome about 200 specially selected guests, and the event will include performances by high-profile entertainers.
"The template is a State Dinner, the highest honor that a President can give a visiting Head of State, because everyone involved felt this was appropriate to give thanks and to honor America's men and women in uniform," Wilson said.
Senior military leaders will be invited, but most of the invitations "will go to enlisted NCOs and the common fighting man and woman," said Wilson, who represent the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy and the National Guard, and come from all 50 states and the territories. They will include military family members and/or caregivers, members of Gold Star families, and wounded warriors.
"Mrs. Obama wanted to make sure that the room that night represented the America that served in Iraq," Wilson said.
About 1.5 million Americans served in Iraq during the war that lasted from March of 2003 to December of 2011; close to 4,500 were killed, and more than 32,000 wounded. A committee made up of senior enlisted representatives from each branch of service hand-picked the President and Mrs. Obama's guests.
The White House will send out formal invitations to the dinner in the next 7-10 days, Wilson said. Attire will be black tie and dress uniforms, and whether or not there will be a formal arrival ceremony and a red-carpet style entrance has yet to be determined. The names of the entertainers have not yet been announced.
The President and Mrs. Obama annually host a closed-press dinner for top military brass, the Combatant Commanders Dinner, but a dinner to mark the end of a war seems to be a White House first, according to Wilson, who said he was not aware of a similar formal event hosted by a President. America's returning heroes from Iraq have not yet received a ticker-tape style parade in New York, because some troops who served are now re-deployed in Afghanistan, Wilson said. Veterans' groups have been lobbying for such a parade. The city of St. Louis held its own ticker-tape parade in tribute to local Iraq heroes, Wilson said.
"This dinner--an expression of the nation's gratitude for the achievements and enormous sacrifices of the brave Americans who served in the Iraq War and of the families who supported them--will include men and women in uniform from all ranks, services, states and backgrounds, representative of the many thousands of Americans who served in Iraq," read the formal White House announcement.
Google BLOGGER posting Feb. 6, 2012
Apple CEO & co-founder: Steve Jobs born on this date (1955)
biographical summary by Garrison Keillor (Am. Public Media: The Writer's Almanac):
February 24 is the birthday of Steve Jobs, born in San Francisco (1955) to two University of Wisconsin graduate students who placed him for adoption. Clara and Paul Jobs, an accountant and a machinist, adopted him when he was still a baby. Growing up, Jobs and his father would tinker with electronics in the garage.
He dropped out of college after a semester, went to India in search of spiritual enlightenment, returned a devout Buddhist, experimented with LSD, and then got a job with a video game maker, where he was in charge of designing circuit board for one of the company's games. In 1976, at the age of 21, he co-founded Apple Computers, and less than a decade later, Apple unveiled the Macintosh computer. It was the first small computer to catch on with the public that used a graphical user interface, or GUI (sometimes pronounced "gooey"), where people could simply click on icons instead of typing in precise text commands.
The graphic user interface revolutionized computers, and it's on almost all computers today. It's on a whole lot of other devices as well, like fancy vending machines and digital household appliances and photocopying machines and airport check-in kiosks. And graphical user interface is what's used with iPods, another of Apple's wildly successful products.
Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003. He opted for a variety of alternative treatments, but eventually -- in 2004 -- he underwent surgery to remove the tumor. His health began to decline in 2009, and the disease claimed him last October (2011). He was 56.
Jobs once said, "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
February 24 is the birthday of Steve Jobs, born in San Francisco (1955) to two University of Wisconsin graduate students who placed him for adoption. Clara and Paul Jobs, an accountant and a machinist, adopted him when he was still a baby. Growing up, Jobs and his father would tinker with electronics in the garage.
He dropped out of college after a semester, went to India in search of spiritual enlightenment, returned a devout Buddhist, experimented with LSD, and then got a job with a video game maker, where he was in charge of designing circuit board for one of the company's games. In 1976, at the age of 21, he co-founded Apple Computers, and less than a decade later, Apple unveiled the Macintosh computer. It was the first small computer to catch on with the public that used a graphical user interface, or GUI (sometimes pronounced "gooey"), where people could simply click on icons instead of typing in precise text commands.
The graphic user interface revolutionized computers, and it's on almost all computers today. It's on a whole lot of other devices as well, like fancy vending machines and digital household appliances and photocopying machines and airport check-in kiosks. And graphical user interface is what's used with iPods, another of Apple's wildly successful products.
Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003. He opted for a variety of alternative treatments, but eventually -- in 2004 -- he underwent surgery to remove the tumor. His health began to decline in 2009, and the disease claimed him last October (2011). He was 56.
Jobs once said, "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
Monday, February 20, 2012
Wm. Paul Young (Author of "The Shack") -- details of Author event, South Bend, IN on Feb. 25 - 26, 2012
According to his media - publicity partners at http://windrumors.com/
He will be lecturing / discussing his literary work (THE SHACK -- published 2008) --
at the South Bend COMFORT SUITES -- S. Bend, IN -- details forthcoming
on February 25 - 26 , 2012 -- at 8 a.m. Eastern Time
He will be lecturing / discussing his literary work (THE SHACK -- published 2008) --
at the South Bend COMFORT SUITES -- S. Bend, IN -- details forthcoming
on February 25 - 26 , 2012 -- at 8 a.m. Eastern Time
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Habitat for Humanity (February 2012) - Niles-Buchanan, Michigan
According to information at St. John's UCC (Niles, Michigan 49120) -- www.stjohnsniles.org/
"Niles-Buchanan Habitat for Humanity will be dedicating a new house at 909 Ferry Street, Niles, Michigan 49120 on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012 at 11 a.m. Eastern Time."
"Niles-Buchanan Habitat for Humanity will be dedicating a new house at 909 Ferry Street, Niles, Michigan 49120 on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012 at 11 a.m. Eastern Time."
Born on Feb. 19, 1473 -- Astronomer / Cosmologist Nicolaus Copernicus
from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media: Garrison Keillor):
Today (February 19) is the birthday of the scientist who first proposed that the Earth revolved around the Sun, Nicolaus Copernicus, born in the ancient city of ToruĊ, Poland (1473).
The Christian Church, Protestants and Catholics alike, held the belief that God had created the Universe just for mankind and so the Earth must be the center of it. But that did not fit with what Copernicus knew about physics and the motion of the planets -- he couldn't make the math work or match his observations -- and he realized that, if he created a new model and moved the Sun to the center, the equations all functioned much more smoothly.
Sometime between 1510 and 1514, Copernicus published his "Little Commentary" on his new model, a 40-page outline of his heliocentric -- sun-centered -- universe, which he sent to various astronomers while he continued working on a much longer, more detailed discussion of the idea. That work became On the Revolutions (1543), which Copernicus dedicated to Pope Paul III, hoping the Pope would protect him from vilification for having removed the Earth from its sacred place. On the Revolutions hardly created a revolution when he wrote it; it was groundbreaking and controversial but, contrary to popular lore, the Church didn't immediately condemn him for it.
Today (February 19) is the birthday of the scientist who first proposed that the Earth revolved around the Sun, Nicolaus Copernicus, born in the ancient city of ToruĊ, Poland (1473).
The Christian Church, Protestants and Catholics alike, held the belief that God had created the Universe just for mankind and so the Earth must be the center of it. But that did not fit with what Copernicus knew about physics and the motion of the planets -- he couldn't make the math work or match his observations -- and he realized that, if he created a new model and moved the Sun to the center, the equations all functioned much more smoothly.
Sometime between 1510 and 1514, Copernicus published his "Little Commentary" on his new model, a 40-page outline of his heliocentric -- sun-centered -- universe, which he sent to various astronomers while he continued working on a much longer, more detailed discussion of the idea. That work became On the Revolutions (1543), which Copernicus dedicated to Pope Paul III, hoping the Pope would protect him from vilification for having removed the Earth from its sacred place. On the Revolutions hardly created a revolution when he wrote it; it was groundbreaking and controversial but, contrary to popular lore, the Church didn't immediately condemn him for it.
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