A blue-eyed, red-furred view of the world!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

What's snew?


Tucker:  I did not see much interesting news yesterday. Some. A chihuahua took a rattlesnake bite intended for a baby. Pit bulls get training so more of them will be adopted. A big Newfie got his head stuck in a cat door.

You may think I will make a comment about Newfies. But Siberian Huskies have these problems too. We just try not to make it into the newspaper!

It was too hot to pay attention to news of the day. So when it cooled off I read some old news. Things that happened on other July 24ths.

In 1487 some people in the Netherlands went on strike. They couldn't get foreign beer. Sibes might do this, but not over beer. Maybe they had too much local beer when they decided to go on strike.

Eighty years later 1-year-old Jimmy the 6th became king of England. A 1-year-old Sibe isn't old enough to be the alpha of the pack. I bet Jimmy wasn't either. This is the guy whose name is on the King James Version of the Bible. The Human Assistant said there is interesting history about that.  ::Yawn::  Maybe. I'd have to chew it over.

H.A. also said Shakespeare was writing at the same time. Shakespeare and the Bible put lots of new words into the language. He said. ::shrug::  Doesn't matter to dogs. Words, words, words. Show me the treats!

News of the north
  • 1534 - Jacques Cartier claimed Canada for France. Iroquois natives annoyed;
  • 1701 - Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Motown. Predicted a wagon will be called the La Mothe;
  • 1814 - General Phineas Riall moved to stop American invaders. How did nice Quaker boy Jacob Brown later become commanding general of the U.S. army?
  • 1899 - Chief Dan George born. Said, "Today is a good day to die" in movie Little Big Man;
  • 1967 - French President Charles de Gaulle told 100,000 in Montreal, "Vive le Québec libre!" Prime Minister annoyed;
  • 1984 - Canadian politicians held first French-language television debate. Nobody especially annoyed. They had an option. But John Turner was nailed in English-language debate when told, "You had an option, sir.";
  • 1988 - World's largest milk shake made in Montreal. More crazy thirsty people. Maybe it's the heat;
  • 1991 - Police pulled 270+ barrels of hashish from St. Lawrence River. "Cool cat" fish annoyed.
Oh, other stuff happened too. Lance Armstrong won his 7th Tour de France. Since we're talking about Things French.

Brigham Young reached Salt Lake Valley. His scouts don't get much credit for getting there first. O. Henry finished a prison term for embezzlement. Bob Dylan's croaking "Like a Rolling Stone" was released. The moon men of Apollo 11 came back to earth.

Birthdays
  • Simón Bolívar, the George Washington of much of South America. Only he didn't chop down cherry trees;
  • Alexandre Dumas (the father), called by someone on the old Steve Allen show "Alexander Dumb-ass";
  • Amelia Earhart, awarded French (!) Legion of Honor and U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross (1st woman). Designed clothing and luggage. Associate editor at Cosmo;
  • Pat Oliphant, Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist. He puts a little animal in his cartoons. A penguin! Not an elephant. Or a Sibe. Good thing he's not in Denver anymore!
  • Charles Émile Picard, French (!) mathematician who loaned his name to Star Trek;
  • Jennifer Aniston's father (John), Barry Bonds, Ruth Buzzi, Lynda Carter, ...;
  • I think I better stop. Soon it will be time for tomorrow's blog!
-- sources: Wikipedia, Sympatico/MSN

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