FIREFLY - ARIEL (episode 09)

I have moved all my Firefly episodes to my other blog.

Just click here.

These episodes are now independent of the Hulu feed and will not continuously disappear.


"Let's all be careful out there!"

JULY 31ST

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Today is Thursday, July 31, the 213th day of 2008. There are 153 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On July 31, 1948, President Truman helped dedicate New York International Airport (later John F. Kennedy International Airport) at Idlewild Field.

On this date:

• In 1556, St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus — the Jesuit order of Catholic priests and brothers — died in Rome.
• In 1777, the Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army.
• In 1875, the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, died in Carter County, Tenn., at age 66.
• In 1919, Germany's Weimar Constitution was adopted by the republic's National Assembly.
• In 1945, Pierre Laval, premier of the pro-Nazi Vichy government, surrendered to U.S. authorities in Austria; he was turned over to France, which later tried and executed him.
• In 1957, the Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line), a system of radar stations designed to detect Soviet bombers approaching North America, went into operation.
• In 1964, the American space probe Ranger 7 reached the moon, where it transmitted pictures of the lunar surface.
• In 1972, Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment.
• In 1987, Iranian pilgrims and riot police clashed in the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, resulting in some 400 deaths, according to the Saudi government, which blamed the Iranians for the violence.
• In 1991, President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow.

Ten years ago:

• President Clinton said he would "completely and truthfully" answer prosecutors' questions about Monica Lewinsky in testimony to be beamed by closed-circuit television to a grand jury.
• IBM's Russian subsidiary agreed to pay $8.5 million in federal fines for selling powerful computers ultimately destined for a Russian nuclear weapons laboratory.

Five years ago:

• The Vatican launched a global campaign against gay marriages, warning Catholic politicians that support of same-sex unions was "gravely immoral" and urging non-Catholics to join the offensive.
• Two of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's daughters and their nine children were granted refuge in Jordan.

One year ago:

• The Army censured retired three-star Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger for a "perfect storm of mistakes, misjudgments and a failure of leadership" after the 2004 friendly-fire death in Afghanistan of Army Ranger Pat Tillman.
• The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force for Sudan's Darfur region.

Today's Birthdays:

• Actor Don Murray is 79.
• Jazz composer-musician Kenny Burrell is 77.
• Actor Geoffrey Lewis is 73.
• Actress France Nuyen is 69.
• Actress Susan Flannery is 65.
• Singer Lobo is 65.
• Actress Geraldine Chaplin is 64.
• Former movie studio executive Sherry Lansing is 64.
• Singer Gary Lewis is 63.
• Rock singer Bob Welch is 62.
• Tennis player Evonne Goolagong Cawley is 57.
• Actor Barry Van Dyke is 57.
• The mayor of Fresno, Calif., actor Alan Autry, is 56.
• Actor James Read is 55.
• Actor Michael Biehn is 52.
• Rock singer-musician Daniel Ash (Love and Rockets) is 51.
• Rock musician Bill Berry is 50.
• Actor Wesley Snipes is 46.
• Country singer Chad Brock is 45.
• Musician Fatboy Slim is 45.
• Rock musician Jim Corr is 44.
• Author J.K. Rowling is 43.
• Actor Dean Cain is 42.
• Actor Ben Chaplin is 39.
• Actor Loren Dean is 39.
• Actress Annie Parisse is 33.
• Actor Robert Telfer is 31.
• Actor-producer-writer B.J. Novak is 29.
• Actor Eric Lively is 27.
• Country singer Blaire Stroud (3 of Hearts) is 25.
• Singer Shannon Curfman is 23.

Thought for Today:

"We tell our thoughts, like our children, to put on their hats and coats before they go out."
Henry Watson Fowler, English lexicographer-author (1858-1933).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-213

"Let's all be careful out there!"

MEN OR WOMEN...

WHO ARE HAPPIER?

The answer changes with the demographics. As might be expected.

Well, bless my soul and kiss my grits. The San Andreas fault is longer than thought. Just an additional 18 miles but that explains the mud pots and mud volcanoes.

Right out of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. A guy in kiwi-land has developed the first practical "jet pack". Well, a least practical enough that the NYT wrote about it.


An 8 sq mile (28 sq km) chunk of arctic ice has broken free from the Canadian coast and could become a shipping hazard. Do you think global warming was part of some sinister master plan to make the oil at the north pole more accessible?

I knew it had to happen someday. A cop in Michigan, while riding a Segway, makes a bust for DUI.

Do you remember the Simba and Nala (The Lion King) dolls that communicated with each other? Now cars are doing the same thing to prevent theft.

Allah loves you and wants to chop you into many small pieces. The latest taboo in Saudi Arabia, being enforced by their religious police, are pets. Well, more specificly the selling of same and also taking them for exercise in the capital city of Riyadh. Seems that certain low life, scandalous pigs were using this as a way to approach women.

Wasn't this one of the running jokes in the movie Cat Balou?

Enjoy the last day of July. Hope to see you back here soon. Thanks for visiting.


"Let's all be careful out there!"