Saturday, December 19, 2009

Almanacs “SENIOR CALENDAR - Port Clinton News Herald” plus 4 more

Almanacs “SENIOR CALENDAR - Port Clinton News Herald” plus 4 more

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SENIOR CALENDAR - Port Clinton News Herald

Posted: 19 Dec 2009 05:27 AM PST

  • Friday: Center closed.

    ELDERCARE THE LOCATOR

    Call the Eldercare Locator at 800-677-1116, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. For information about home and community services that help older persons.

    This is a public service of the Administration on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and is administered by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging and the National Association of State Units on Aging. The service helps link callers to information about community organizations that provide meals, transportation, housing, home care and legal and other community services, enabling older persons to remain independent in their own homes. A brochure is available by writing the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, 1112 16th St., N.W., Suite 100, Washington, DC 20036-4823.

    OSHIP

    The Ohio Senior Health Insurance Program, a program of the Ohio Department of Insurance, operates a toll-free Senior Hot Line at 1-800-686-1578 to answer questions about Medicare and other health insurance. There is Web site created to help Ohioans find and utilize patient assistance programs to help with prescription drug costs. The site is RxForOhio.org

    SOCIAL SECURITY AND SSI

    For information on Social Security or Supplemental Security Income claims, call 800-772-1213 or 419-259-6250 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

    A Social Security office is located on the 10th floor of Four Seagate, Suite 1000, at the corner of Summit and Jackson streets in Toledo. The mailing address: Social Security Administration, Four Seagate, Suite 1000, Toledo, OH 43604.

    MOBILE MEALS

    Senior citizens who are shut-ins, handicapped or unable to prepare their meals can receive home-delivered meals. Special diet meals are available and also the choice of three meals or one meal daily. For information on the program in your area call:

    PORT CLINTON -- Susan Chaney, 419-798-9911.

    GENOA -- Phil, 419-855-8289.

    HOME DELIVERED MEALS -- If you are 60 or older, are home-bound and in need of a well-balanced noon lunch, you may be eligible for a home-delivered meal, which may be either hot or frozen.

    For information, call Senior Resources 877-898-6459.

    INFORMATION, REFERRAL SERVICE -- United Way's First Call for Help provides information about needs of seniors, alcohol and drug abuse, counseling, domestic violence, emergency housing, employment, family problems, financial assistance, food, health problems and support groups. Available around the clock, call 419-734-6645. Callers outside of Port Clinton area may call collect.

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    The Almanac - OfficialWire

    Posted: 19 Dec 2009 04:22 AM PST

    The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Venus, Mars, Saturn and Mercury. The evening stars are Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus.

    Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include women's suffrage leader Mary Livermore in 1820; novelist Eleanor Porter ("Pollyanna") in 1868; actor Ralph Richardson in 1902; Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev in 1906; French dramatist Jean Genet, a pioneer in the theater of the absurd, in 1910; singer Edith Piaf in 1915; and actors Cicely Tyson in 1933 (age 76), Tim Reid in 1944 (age 65), Robert Urich in 1946, Jennifer Beals in 1963 (age 46) and Alyssa Milano in 1972 (age 37).

    On this date in history:

    In 1777, Gen. George Washington and the Continental Army began a winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pa.

    In 1958, the U.S. satellite Atlas transmitted the first radio voice broadcast from space, a 58-word recorded Christmas greeting from U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower.

    In 1972, the splashdown of Apollo 17 ended the United States' manned moon exploration program.

    In 1984, the United States formally withdrew from UNESCO in a effort to force reform of the U.N. cultural organization's budget and alleged Third World bias.

    Also in 1984, the prime ministers of Britain and China signed an accord, returning Hong Kong to China in 1997.

    In 1986, U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese said U.S. President Ronald Reagan didn't know that money Iran paid for U.S. arms was going to Nicaraguan rebels.

    In 1991, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International agreed to plead guilty to federal racketeering charges, forfeiting $550 million.

    In 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton became only the second U.S. president to be impeached when the House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment, charging him with perjury and obstruction of justice. He was acquitted in the subsequent trial.

    In 2002, South Korea elected Roh Moo-hyun as its president.

    In 2003, Libya announced it would abandon efforts to develop nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

    In 2004, at least 60 people were killed in Iraq by car bombings in the Shiite Muslim holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.

    In 2005, a Shiite Muslim coalition showed a strong overall lead in preliminary returns from Iraq's parliamentary election.

    In 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush said he would increase the number of Americans in the military to deal with terrorism worldwide. Bush acknowledged that U.S. military forces were stretched too thin.

    Also in 2006, a Libyan court sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a doctor to death for deliberately infecting 426 children with HIV.

    In 2007, U.S. President George W. Bush signed energy legislation that increases average vehicle's fuel economy by 2020 to 35 miles per gallon, a 40 percent hike.

    Also in 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said states cannot set their own emission standards. Seventeen states, including California, sought tougher restrictions.

    And, conservative Lee Myung-bak won the South Korea presidential election.

    In 2008, U.S. President George W. Bush announced he would lend General Motors and Chrysler $17.4 billion to help the automakers survive the next three months.

    Also in 2008, a landmark $200 billion program intended to support consumer credit will allow hedge funds to borrow from the Federal Reserve for the first time.

    And, Mark Felt, an FBI official who became known as the Washington Post journalists' shadowy source "Deep Throat" in the Watergate scandal, died at the age of 95.

     

    A thought for the day: George Bernard Shaw said, "There are no secrets better kept than the secrets that everybody guesses."

     

    Farewell to 2009, a year in which almost everyone was wrong - Edmonton Journal

    Posted: 19 Dec 2009 02:06 AM PST

    Writing a column for a living can be humbling. When you're wrong, there's nowhere to hide.

    Your gaffes become a matter of public record, and they remain there forever.

    Over the past year, I've taken a few pokes at all the high-priced gurus who inexplicably failed to anticipate the worst recession since the 1930s.

    But today, as I look back on this crazy, turbulent year, I can only sympathize with them. I've made some big goofs myself.

    So as 2009 draws to a close, before I kick sand in anyone else's face, let me own up to my own failures. To wit:

    Back in March, a few days after U.S. stock market indexes hit their lowest levels in 12 years, I dismissed the then-fledgling stock market rally as meaningless.

    "The global economy still sucks, and it's likely to remain in the ditch for the rest of this year, notwithstanding Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's hope-and-a-prayer pronouncement that the recession might end in 2009," I declared. "That's not exactly a firm basis for a new bull market."

    Oops. Wrong.

    Fuelled by rock-bottom interest rates and huge government stimulus packages, equity indexes have been on a rocket ride ever since.

    Despite ongoing worries about the durability of the recovery, the S&P 500 Index has soared some 64 per cent since March, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up roughly 60 per cent, and Toronto's lead index has advanced more than 50 per cent.

    Sure, those gains could be unwound in 2010 if the recovery falls apart. But that's no excuse. While I fixated on all the things that were wrong with the economy in 2009 -- and there was plenty wrong -- I merely missed the biggest equity rally in history.

    Then, I compounded my mistake by stubbornly refusing to capitulate. Dumb.

    Of course, I wasn't alone. A few others missed the train too, including Elliott Wave disciple Robert Prechter, Gluskin Sheff strategist David Rosenberg, Morgan Stanley guru Jason Todd, and perma-bears like Nouriel Roubini (alias Dr. Doom), the oft-quoted New York University business prof.

    Usually reliable market indicators were no more accurate. The so-called "January barometer" -- developed by Yale Hirsch, founder of the Stock Traders' Almanac -- was a flop in 2009.

    If stocks nosedive in January, Hirsch's benchmark dictates, the whole year will stink. Well, it didn't work out that way. Although markets tanked in the first month of 2009, it proved to be an anomaly.

    Likewise, forecasts for Toronto's main equity index were all over the map in 2009. Merrill Lynch Canada economist David Wolf predicted the S&P/TSX Composite Index would end the year at the 8,000 mark, while George Vasic, UBS's market guru, saw it hitting 12,500.

    Vasic later slashed his target to 11,000, the same level forecast last January by Avery Shenfeld, CIBC World Markets' senior economist. With only a few trading days left in 2009, Shenfeld's forecast looks closest to the mark. Wolf is in line for the booby prize.

    And what about oil prices? After peaking at $147 US a barrel in July 2008, crude crashed to a low of just $33 in early 2009. It subsequently bounced back to the $80 range, although it has slid back to the low $70s since.

    With wild gyrations like that, I don't envy the energy analysts who have to forecast average prices for the year. But by and large, they've done an admirable job.

    Most expected prices to bounce back in the second half of 2009, and that's what they've done. According to a Reuters poll of energy analysts last January, crude prices would average $55 US a barrel this year. Through early December, the actual year-to-date average was about $61.

    On the other hand, the surging loonie caught more than a few gurus by surprise this year. Craig Wright, the Royal Bank of Canada's chief economist, figured the Canadian dollar would approach 80 cents US by year's end.

    Instead, the loonie threatened to reach 98 cents a few weeks ago, before retreating. It's currently in the 93-cent range. That's not far off the 90-cent level that Donnie MacKay of Greystone Managed Investments forecast last January, when he addressed the Edmonton CFA Society's annual forecast dinner.

    Gold also surprised on the upside in 2009, touching a new high of more than $1,220 an ounce in early December. But even as the gold bugs began forecasting $1,300 gold by year's end, prices for the precious metal staged a sudden retreat. By Thursday of this week, gold had plunged below $1,100, while the battered greenback rallied to a five-week high against the loonie.

    Although most forecasters expect the U.S. dollar to resume its descent in 2010, as massive government deficits and feeble economic growth weigh on the currency, don't be too surprised if the current rally in the greenback continues for a while.

    Why? Because it's the opposite of what everyone expects. And in a year when just about everyone has been wrong -- including yours truly -- that seems like a fitting way to end it.

    glamphier@thejournal.canwest.com

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    Daily almanac - Columbus Dispatch

    Posted: 19 Dec 2009 12:55 AM PST

    Today is Saturday, Dec. 19, the 353rd day of 2009. There are 12 days left in the year.

    Highlights in History

    • On Dec. 19, 1843, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, was published in England.

    • In 1777, Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to camp for the winter.

    • In 1907, 239 workers died in a coal-mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pa.

    • In 1946, war broke out in Indochina as troops under Ho Chi Minh launched attacks against the French.

    • In 1972, Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, winding up the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.

    • In 1984, a fire at the Wilberg Mine near Orangeville, Utah, killed 27 people. Britain and China signed an accord that would return Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.

    • In 1998, President Clinton was impeached by the Republican-controlled House for perjury and obstruction of justice. (He was later acquitted by the Senate.)

    • Ten years ago: Space shuttle Discovery traveled toward the crippled Hubble Space Telescope.

    • Five years ago: In Iraq, car bombs tore through a Najaf funeral procession and Karbala's main bus station, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 120 in the two Shiite holy cities.

    • One year ago: Citing imminent danger to the national economy, President George W. Bush ordered an emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry.

    Thought for Today

    "I never could see why people were so happy about Dickens' A Christmas Carol, because I never had any confidence that Scrooge was going to be different the next day." -- Karl Menninger, American psychiatrist (1893-1990)

    Source: Associated Press

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    On Dec. 19 in NEPA - Scranton Times-Tribune

    Posted: 19 Dec 2009 01:02 AM PST

    On this date in NEPA

    50 years ago, the new school district formed by five Upvalley districts decided on its name. The new 1,600-pupil district would be called Lakeland Joint School District. Peter Mensky of the Scott Twp. School District was named supervising principal.

    25 years ago, an application by three Scranton Hospitals and two radiological groups to develop a nuclear magnetic resonance imaging scanner near the Montage Recreational Area was put on hold.

    10 years ago, police raided an alleged hotbed of drug activity in Scranton - the Village Park Apartments. Police arrested 11 people on drug-related charges.Almanac

    Today is Saturday, Dec. 19, the 353rd day of 2009. There are 12 days left in the year.

    In 1777, Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to camp for the winter.

    In 1843, "A Christmas Carol," by Charles Dickens, was first published in England.

    In 1907, 239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pa.

    In 1946, war broke out in Indochina as troops under Ho Chi Minh launched widespread attacks against the French.

    In 1972, Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, winding up the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.

    In 1984, a fire at the Wilberg Mine near Orangeville, Utah, killed 27 people.

    In 1998, President Bill Clinton was impeached by the Republican-controlled House for perjury and obstruction of justice. He was later acquitted by the Senate.

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