“On Oct. 18 in NEPA - Scranton Times-Tribune” plus 4 more |
- On Oct. 18 in NEPA - Scranton Times-Tribune
- We're in for a colder, wetter winter -- so says the almanac - Columbus Dispatch
- This week, we pick on someone bigger - Durango Herald
- Inside the Beltway - Washington Times
- Bollywood actors celebrate Diwali - New Kerala
| On Oct. 18 in NEPA - Scranton Times-Tribune Posted: 18 Oct 2009 05:03 AM PDT On this date in NEPA 50 years ago, these films were playing locally: "Girls Town" starring Mamie Van Doren; "The Scapegoat" starring Bette Davis and "Torpedo Run" starring Glenn Ford. 25 years ago, Stewart Clark, Scranton native and current resident of New Orleans, is 85 percent sure that the Hotel Casey will be restored to its former grandeur. Mr. Clark is trying to organize $14 million in financing to restore the hotel. 10 years ago, Mayor Jim Connors made a pitch to the state Department of Transportation for needed repairs to East Mountain. The city needed $3.5 million to correct a drainage problem that caused road erosion and driving problems in the winter. Almanac Today is Sunday, Oct. 18, the 291st day of 2009. There are 74 days left in the year. In 1009, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was destroyed at the order of Fatimid caliph al-Hakim of Egypt. In 1685, King Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau, revoking the Edict of Nantes that had established legal toleration of France's Protestant population, the Huguenots. In 1858, the play "Our American Cousin" by Tom Taylor premiered at Laura Keene's theater in New York. In 1867, the United States took formal possession of Alaska from Russia. In 1944, Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia during World War II. In 1962, Dr. James D. Watson of the United States and Drs. Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins of Britain were named winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work in determining the double-helix molecular structure of DNA. In 1969, the federal government banned artificial sweeteners known as cyclamates because of evidence they caused cancer in laboratory rats. In 1977, West German commandos stormed a hijacked Lufthansa jetliner on the ground in Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 86 hostages and killing three of the four hijackers. In 1982, former first lady Bess Truman died at her home in Independence, Mo., at age 97. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| We're in for a colder, wetter winter -- so says the almanac - Columbus Dispatch Posted: 18 Oct 2009 04:20 AM PDT The long-range national forecast for 2010 in The Old Farmer's Almanac says we're in for an extended period of atmospheric cooling. You might not put much stock in the almanac's forecasts, but I have heard others saying the same thing. The almanac does get professional help in making its forecasts. "Over the coming years, there will be a gradual cooling of the atmosphere that will offset any warming caused by increased greenhouse gases," the almanac says. It attributes the cooling to a prolonged low-level sunspot and space weather activity. As a result, "We are at the beginning of a period of significant change," the almanac says. That will result in below-normal winter temperatures. Snowfall will be above average in most areas along the Atlantic Coast, in the northern tier of states and in the mountains of the West. Hmmm. Global cooling during a period of global warming. How strange. The almanac forecasts that winter in our region will see rapid changes in the weather, from mild to very cold and back to mild again. Temperatures will be slightly below normal while precipitation will be above normal with near-normal snowfall. On another matter, have you noticed that the reds and oranges are mixing in with the yellows in the tree foliage? That heralds a brief period of breathtaking beauty in our forests. I visited the Hocking Hills and Ash Cave last week, and the fall beauty was very apparent. After this period, the trees will lose their leaves and look like skeletons against the gray sky. I don't know what will happen this year, but the third week of October is traditionally the best color time in this area. The recent rain could make the green linger a bit longer, but the weather also has been cooler so the leaves might turn all the way. In fact, a hard freeze was forecast for this morning. That would be rather early. We usually don't have a sub-freezing temperature until November. This tip might already be too late, but I got an e-mail from a reader who asked, "How do I store green tomatoes I picked so that they ripen inside?" I put them in a brown paper bag and store them in a dark, cool place. As a result, I have had tomatoes well into November. A friend told me she once had them on Thanksgiving that way. Some will turn red, and others will not. If I pick some that are already turning red, even a blush of red, I set them on a windowsill to ripen. Retired weather columnist John Switzer writes a Sunday Metro column. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| This week, we pick on someone bigger - Durango Herald Posted: 18 Oct 2009 02:33 AM PDT Herald Features Editor Believe it or not, some Dela-wareans were a little miffed by the last GeoQuiz. All I can say is we achieved our goal, and that was to reassure ourselves that, yes indeed, someone does actually care about our most insignificant, I mean, underrated, state. A look at some of the nice, thoughtful e-mails we received: ► "Acting as if Durango has some special authority because it is part of the 'wonderful' state of Colorado is like touting the virtues of Plattsburgh because it happens to be part of the state of New York." ► "You do realize that the largest attraction in Durango, aside from the Animas and Skiing, is a (expletive) coal locomotive?" ► "Some female in Delaware must have hurt your little feelings. Get over it! Stop talking crap about my home state and get a life!" (I responded by assuring him that, although women in at least 12 other states have hurt my "little feelings," causing many unresolved personal issues, no Delawarean girls are to blame.) Nope, it's just a silly quiz, and we're trying to have fun here. Yes, we crossed the line with the Delaware GeoQuiz but, well, sometimes you just kind of want to see where that line is. Other e-mail respondents played along: ► "Here's another fun fact: Delaware is the only state that does not have a commercial airport. A few carriers tried to start service at the Wilmington airport but never succeeded."
But first, here's this week's GeoQuiz. (Answers on Page 11C.) 2. Name the Texas state flower and bird: a) agave and roadrunner, b) bluebonnet and mockingbird, c) orchid and barn owl, d) dogwood and cardinal. 3. Yes, there is something bigger than Texas. Name the one U.S. state that has more area. 4. Turns out Texas is full of No. 2, um, statistics. Name the one state that has more people. 5. Match these Texas landmarks with the correct Texas cities: Landmarks: Alamo, state capitol, Texas Tech, Cowgirl Hall of Fame. Cities: Lubbock, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Austin. 6. The highest point in Texas is Guadalupe Peak. How much lower in elevation is Guadalupe than Colorado's highest point, Mount Elbert at 14,433 feet? a) 2,000-plus feet, b) 5,000-plus feet, c) 10,000-plus feet, d) 15,000-plus feet. 7. Name all the states that border Texas. For extra-cool-guy credit, name the four Mexican states that border Texas. 8. Name the U.S. president in this list that is not a "famous Texan." George H.W. Bush, Lyndon B. Johnson, George Bush, Barack Obama.
2. b) bluebonnet and mockingbird. Agave and roadrunner probably should be, if you can call an agave a flower. And just FYI, dogwood and cardinal are Virginia's state flower and bird. 3. Alaska. Texas is 268,581 square miles, while Alaska is 663,267 square miles. 4. California. According to The World Almanac, 2006 estimates showed 23.5 million people in Texas and 36.5 million in California. 5. The Alamo is in San Antonio, state capitol in Austin, Texas Tech in Lubbock and Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth. 6. b) 5,000-plus feet. Guadalupe, in western Texas, practically in New Mexico, is 8,749 feet tall. That's nearly 6,000 feet between Guadalupe and Elbert, but hey, we're not trying to rub it in. 7. New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. The Mexican states that border it are Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. 8. Barack Obama. Even if you're from Texas, I bet you got this one right. Coming soon, just to be fair: We have a little fun with Colorado. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Inside the Beltway - Washington Times Posted: 18 Oct 2009 01:57 AM PDT Fictional fact check Beware, the fact checker cometh. Righteous scolds, content police and gaffe patrols are many these days, empowered by the Internet and a sense of mission somewhere between tattletale and patriot. Some are pros, some are not. But their findings can send veteran politicians scurrying from the campaign trail, too weary to defend themselves anymore. And fact-checking boldness grows. No one is excused. Already, the Bible is parsed for logic and accuracy by assorted academes. Perhaps the gaggle of eager Googlers will take on, say, the U.S. Constitution or the Gettysburg Address. Just imagine: "Hey, wait a minute. Is it four score and seven, or four score and eight years ago here?" Oh, it's a scorched-earth policy across the media landscape all right, loaded with the land mines and IEDs of meaning monitors. "I'm glad I'm out the press. Too touchy, too many snares. And I ask you. Is this really journalism?" demanded one scribe who recently ditched the mainstream media and resurfaced in federal service. Good question. "The new Great American Pastime. It's fact checking," says Craig Silverman of the Columbia Journalism Review. "Fact checking, along with its kissing cousin 'calling [bovine excrement],' is becoming one of the great American pastimes of the Internet age. We are in the midst of a blossoming of new forms of fact checking, particularly those that rely on crowdsourcing. This is a crucial addition to the discipline, because the traditional form of fact checking, which was primarily developed and used at American magazines, is declining at a rapid rate. As the professionals are told to pack up their World Almanac and Book of Facts and slouch off to the unemployment office, external groups and individuals are taking up the charge." The permutations of this new art are many. "At the same time, the term 'fact checking' is so popular, and gets thrown around so much, that it's losing its meaning. People say they're fact checking a media report when they're simply disagreeing with it. Major news organizations, caught up in the fact-check frenzy, are also abusing the idea. As noted by the Huffington Post, Mediaite, and a host of other Web sites, we reached a strange milestone when CNN dedicated a story to fact checking a comedy sketch from Saturday Night Live." Yeah, well. Hands off the Constitution, you guys. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Bollywood actors celebrate Diwali - New Kerala Posted: 18 Oct 2009 03:16 AM PDT Mumbai, Oct 18 : Bollywood superstars, Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar celebrated Diwali with family and friends here on Saturday.
Shah Rukh Khan did not disappoint hundreds of his fans who had gathered outside his residence Mannat to catch a glimpse. He came out on the terrace of his residence and waved to the people and wished them. Akshay Kumar was seen celebrating the festival of lights with his wife and son. Kumar thanked his fans for appreciating his work in film 'Blue' that got released on Diwali only. 'I would like to thank all people who appreciated my film 'Blue' and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Diwali,' he said. Deepavali or Diwali is a five-day festival, celebrated across India on Kartik Amavasya (the new moon day), in Kartik month as per Hindu almanac. Legend has it that Lord Rama entered Ayodhya on this day after 14 years in self-exile. People of Ayodhya lit lamps to welcome Lord Rama''s return, and hence Diwali is observed. --ANI
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