• On July 2, 1900, in the sky over Germany, Count Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin successfully demonstrates the world’s first rigid airship. The 420-foot, cigar-shaped craft was lifted by hydrogen gas and powered by a 16-horsepower engine.
I was dismayed when reading how King County Executive Ron Sims outlined cuts to the 2009 county budget highlighting the need to trim $65 million dollars. Cuts were primarily across the board rather than selectively looking at specific programs and departments. The biggest concern is cuts to public safety, with the possibility of 100 deputies being cut to reduce costs at the King County Sheriff’s office.
Thank you to Valley
W hat makes someone great at what they do? What propels them to the top of the pack?
• Are you interested in pogonotrophy? If you’re a woman, the answer is probably no. The word, derived from the Greek word “pogon,” or “beard,” and the suffix “-trophy,” or “nourishment,” refers to the growing of a beard.
• On June 15, 1877, Henry Ossian Flipper, born a slave in Thomasville, Ga., in 1856, is the first black cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy. Flipper was never spoken to by a white cadet during his four years at West Point.
With his party’s nomination in hand, would Barack Obama be better off with Hillary Clinton as his running mate?
Maybe. But for every reason Obama has for considering Hillary Clinton, there are at least twice as many reasons to flee from the idea.
I have heard there have been a few McKiernan spottings around the Valley. Someone at QFC saw McKiernan holding onto a shopping cart. Another saw him in the passenger seat of a family car while driving through North Bend. Still another saw him at the Fall City Cemetery on Memorial Day.
• The next time you’re in Dublin, Ireland (if ever you are there), you might want to stop by the pub known as Charlie P’s and check out its unique look. The building where it’s located used to be a morgue, and the flooring is made entirely of gravestones.
• On June 3, 1800, President John Adams becomes the first acting president to take up residence in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, the White House was not yet finished, so Adams moved into temporary digs at a tavern called Tunnicliffe’s City Hotel.
• It was famed journalist and news anchor Edward R. Murrow who made the following sage observation: “Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn’t mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.”
• On May 30, 1593, playwright Christopher Marlowe, 29, is killed. Marlowe had been arrested when “heretical” papers were found in his room. While out on bail, Marlowe became involved in a fight over a tavern bill and was stabbed to death.
I helped a friend and his wife load their stuff into a big U-Haul some days ago. They were moving to southern California. Some people think a move from this part of the world to that part is sort of like trading a gentle scalp massage for a whack on the head with a garden rake. That’s a bit of an exaggeration. A small shovel would be more like it.
