A Gay Race Horse? Shaft Gives the Shaft? Who’s Dancing with the Stars? When Did World War II Really End? October 25, 2008

NAM Surface Tue Oct 28 12Z

Cat In The Hat Had Good Rain Day Solution

Told you it would be a Lousy Friday: I had remarked on the air last Tuesday that perhaps parents may want to invest in Dr. Suess’s Thing 1 and Thing 2 like the Cat in the Hat for today to keep the kids busy on a rainy day. Well, we got our rain. It would appear that Jefferson County had between 1 and 1.5 inches county-wide. The rain came to an end by the afternoon and the sun made an appearance. So, the rain ended a little sooner than I had been calling for but it was a lousy day nonetheless. Now, this system is a winter-like system in that it will have wrap around clouds that in January might bring snow flakes. In this case, we will have a risk of a return of some very light showers through the early morning and then we will have variable cloudiness and chilly conditions on Saturday. Now, a very strong system will be diving down here on Monday so, in advance of that, sunshine will break out and winds with a southerly component will help us get back to the upper 60′s or even low 70′s on Sunday. Light showers Monday will be followed by cold weather, perhaps the first areawide freeze early Wednesday. Tuesday morning will have a chance but data suggests upper 30′s for part of the area with freezing conditions probable for the northern and eastern outlying areas.

I lounged like my cats, Nit and Wit

Boring Day: I couldn’t find much to interest me on this date in history. So, I snooped about my mailbag for a couple of items that may be of interest…or maybe not…as you will find below.

Letter to the Editor Concerning Dancing with the Stars: I received the sneak-preview photo of the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars. The sender somehow has access to prospective performers practicing for the big show. I don’t know how they come by these pictures but this one is certainly worth a thousand words, though I’ll let you come up with the proper prose. Me? I’ve never watched the show nor have I ever desired to do so.

Gay Horse Racing? I received this little video clip from a colleague who will go un-mentioned to protect the innocent…well, not so innocent…but protected he will be. It is a story from The Onion (note the source when you plant tongue in cheek) about a openly gay racehorse. Be sure to look at the crawl running along the bottom of the “news broadcast” when you CLICK HERE.

Isaac Hayes

Ike Gives The Shaft? Singer, actor, song-writer Isaac Hayes died not long ago at age 65. Hayes burst on to the scene in the early 1970′s with his theme for the movie Shaft. I think it was the Academy Awards that I recall seeing him perform his song wearing all sorts of gold chains with smoke machines all around. It was a classic moment. For the next several years I think every high school band in Texas played that tune during halftime performances. I really like him as “The Duke” in Escape from New York. More recently, he was the voice of “Chef” in Southpark but he left that show when he disagreed with the show’s lampooning of the Church of Scientology, of which he was a follower. Well, it seems that his support for that organization only went so far. Seems that the writer of the Theme From Shaft gave the shaft to the Church in his last will and testament, leaving the Church of Scientology with nothing. Here’s the story(click here). One must keep in mind, however, that the writer of this story does not tell us how much he gave to the church when he was alive.

On This Date in History: The war in Europe ended on this date in 1951 when a treaty was finally signed with Germany. Proclamation 2950 was put in force on October 25, 1951 stating that a cessation of hostilities had gone into effect Oct 19, 1951 ending the war with that nation that was declared on Dec. 11, 1945. See, Germany surrendered in May 1945 but the country was divided by the allies. Then there was the tug-o-war between the Soviets and the West over Germany and Berlin. No treaty could be signed until all of that was settled and President Truman wanted to wait to sign a treaty with a free and democratic Germany, which was finally possible some 6 years following the end of hostilities. People forget that after an invasion and defeat of a country, creating a new country and government from scratch takes time.

Tardy End to War, an Old Lady and an Old Barrel October 25, 2007

 

In a case of “be careful what you wish for” we’ve had our fair share of rain. In fact, it’s been so much that we now have set the record for the most rain in the month of October. Usually, the average October rainfall is 2.79″ and this is the driest month of the year. We are over 8.75 inches and climbing as showers remain in the forecast through the end of the week. Look for improvement for the weekend into early next week. At last check, the airport records indicated we are now less than 2 inches behind in rainfall for the year and at the NWS, we actually have an annual surplus over over an inch.

On This Date in History: The war in Europe ended on this date in 1951 when a treaty was finally signed with Germany. See, Germany surrendered in May 1945 but the country was divided by the allies. Then there was the tug-o-war between the Soviets and the West over Germany and Berlin. No treaty could be signed until all of that was settled and President Truman wanted to wait to sign a treaty with a free and democratic Germany, which was finally possible some 6 years following the end of hostilities. People forget that after an invasion and defeat of a country, creating a new country and government from scratch takes time.

Here’s the good one…on this date in 1901, Annie Edson Taylor made history. The 63-year-old school teacher became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She strapped herself in a leather harness inside a 5 foot high and 3 foot in diameter pickle barrel. She had some sort of padding inside to limit injury. A fine idea when taking a plunge over the 175 foot Horseshoe Falls. She was towed to the middle of the Niagara River and off she went, bobbing to the surface and coming to shore some twenty minutes later none the worse for wear.

Seems the old gal had lost her husband in the Civil War and in 1898 read about the increased popularity of Niagara Falls. In 1829 some guy had survived jumping from a cliff into the falls but no one had gone over in a barrel. She hoped the stunt would bring her fame and fortune. Well, she got her 15 minutes of fame but never made much money from the ordeal. She did inspire others to do the same thing though. Throughout the 20th century, 15 people have tried to go over the falls one way or another. Ten have survived. Jesse Sharp went over in a kayak in 1990. He died. In 1995, Robert Overcracker tried to prove technology was the answer when he went over on a jet ski. He died too. Before you get any ideas, its illegal to attempt to go over the falls so even if you live to tell about it you might be telling your story to your cell mates. Besides that, you’d probably just end up like Annie: lost to history and broke, if not broken.