This is not a Book in Review:

Today I was planing on writing up a Book in Review for "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters", but even with Sea Monsters it is taking forever to read this book. It is in no way as fast a read as the Jane Austen novel with the zombies and ninjas. So instead to have something to write today I will talk about the turkey I cooked yesterday. Yes, I know that there is 2 weeks until Thanksgiving, but it was on sale for only 40 cents a pounds. And why not have turkey more then once or twice a year. Anyway, first I apparently have the worlds coldest fridge. I put it in to thaw on Saturday afternoon. On Wednesday morning when I opened it up there was still chunks of ice on it. I had to thaw it in a low oven. Then, when it was thawed out and I went to remove the giblets and neck it had two necks in it. It was a mutant bird! Anyway even with all that it turned out well. And we can eat turkey for the next week. (Or freeze some for later.)

Famous Veterans:

Here are some people who you make be suprised to hear are veterans.

- Ice T - Army
- Al Gore - Army
- Mel Brooks - Army
- James Earl Jones - Army
- Alan Alda - Army
- Charlton Heston - Army (I know not a suprise)
- Tony Bennett - Army
- Andy Rooney - Army
- Charles Schultz - Army
- Charles Bronson - Army
- Pat Sajak - Army
- George Steinbrenner - Air Force
- Clark Gable - Air Force
- Bill Cosby - Navy
- Humphrey Bogart - Navy
- Drew Carey - Marine
- Shaggy - Marine
- Captain Kangaroo - Marine
- Bea Arthur - Marine

Happy Veterans Day

Also called Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other countries.
Interesting note: according to the US government the holiday is Veterans Day and not Veteran's Day or Veterans' Day.

Today in American History

Today is the aniversery of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. For the story we wrote on it a few years ago click here

Quotes from the Wright Brothers

Note quotes labled O are from Orville and ones labled W are from Wilbur.

- I confess that in 1901 I said to my brother Orville that man would not fly for fifty years. -W
- If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance. -O
- Men become wise just as they become rich, more by what they save than by what they receive. -W
- No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris. -O
- The fact that the great scientist believed in flying machines was the one thing that encouraged us to begin our studies. -W
- With all the knowledge and skill acquired in thousands of flights in the last ten years, I would hardly think today of making my first flight on a strange machine in a twenty-seven mile wind, even if I knew that the machine had already been flown and was safe. -O
- I am an enthusiast, but not a crank in the sense that I have some pet theories as to the proper construction of a flying machine. I wish to avail myself of all that is already known and then, if possible, add my mite to help on the future worker who will attain final success. -W
- The airplane stays up because it doesn't have the time to fall. -O

Quotes from Thomas Edison:

- Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.
- If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.
- Great ideas originate in the muscles.
- Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
- I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
- Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.
- Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
- The value of an idea lies in the using of it.
- I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence. Everything that surrounds us- everything that exists - proves that there are infinite laws behind it. There can be no denying this fact. It is mathematical in its precision.
- To have a great idea, have a lot of them.
- To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.

A Book in Review: Death in Lacquer Red

Death in Lacquer Red By: Jeanne M. Dams
fiction: mystery 225 pages
Book Count: 66

This book takes place in the 1900's in South Bend Indiana and features Hilda Johnansson as the main character. She is a reasont immigrant and works in the biggest house in town. This book appears to be well researched. The mystery itself is about the death of a member of the town's judge who just came back from being a missionary in China. It deals a lot with the corruption and biases of that time, but not in a way that distracts from the story. And the ending is surprising with out making you feel if the author was hiding things to make it so.

Famous People Descended from Mayflower Passangers

Politicians:

John Adams - John Quincy Adams
Zachary Taylor
Ulysses S. Grant
James A. Garfield
Franklin D. Roosevelt
George H. W. Bush - George W. Bush
Sarah Palin - who is descended from 5 seperate Mayflower families
Dan Quayle

Artists, Actors and Writers:

Grandma Moses
Bing Crosby
Richard Gere
Humphrey Bogart
Clint Eastwood
Orson Welles
Marilyn Monroe
The Baldwin Brothers
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Some Other Famous People:

Joseph Smith
Hugh Hefner