Baldur

Thank you again to everyone who sent along their Birthday greetings.

sheftali52

Re United Airlines Flight 811 in 1989, what a horrible incident that was. I believe the flight originated in my home state Hawaii. Cannot imagine the horror of those aboard when the cargo door separated from the aircraft, and several passengers were sucked out. Chilling and terrible.

Baldur

I had read the story this morning on Wikipedia but have absolutely no recollection of ever having heard it before. I would have been 30 years old, certainly it had to have been all over the news for days.

Dragon

I don't recall this either but I would only have been 12 and probably wouldn't have been watching very much news then. Still, I remember the story of the Aloha Airline plane which lost a huge portion of it's fusilage in 1988, but that may just be because they made it into a TV movie.

I think the most horrible thing about Flight 811 was that the FAA had issued directives to fix these cargo doors and obviously this airline hadn't gotten to it yet on this plane. If only they'd moved quicker all those people would have lived.

Baldur

Elizabeth I is excommunicated (1570)
Sir Christopher Wren dies (1723)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir is born (1841)
Enrico Caruso is born (1873)
Jim Backus is born (1913)
Sister Wendy Beckett is born (1930)
Adolf Hitler becomes a naturalized German citizen (1932)
George Harrison is born (1943)
James (J.B.) Brown is born (1951)
Tennessee Williams dies (1983)
Ferdinand Marcos flees the Phillipines (1986)
The Mosque of Abraham Massacre (1994)

Happy Plum Blossom Festival

Baldur

Today's question comes directly from the 'Cheeses of France' page on Facebook.

What type of cheese is made backwards?

Baldur

Despite the cool weather it was a good day for getting some yardwork done here at Boughbreak.
Baldur removed the dead flowers that had still been clinging onto the Butterfly bushes. Then I did a little work on my stone retaining wall.

Here it is late February and the ground still hasn't frozen solid.

I am about ready pot up some seeds. Today the Good King Henry seeds went into water. They germinate best if soaked overnight.
Indecision is a problem however. It is possible to direct seed them now, they would appreciate the cold temperature but they will probably get put in small peat-pots and placed outdoors in a sheltered location.

Baldur

It also appears that something is happening with my African violet cutting already!
The single leaf was put in moist potting soil just 11 days ago and there are already some sort of nodes forning where the base of the leave meets the soil. This was quite quick.

lynnspotter

Sprinkle a little EDAM cheese in the soil & the violet will REALLY grow! Hehehehe!

sandm

Now I am sending my (belated) birthday wishes to Baldur. I was stuck in the "What is real challenge", and Im not sure if I am still there or not. Anyway, a present has been made on facebook.
And there is still an offer available, based on a number. When I add the recent informations on birthdate, the result was 31. I would write and post the complete description on my channel, if I got a feedback, which was clear. But I dont want to obtrude it upon anybody.

Baldur

lynnspotter, as I think back upon it, you are usually the first to crack our riddles. Congratulations

Baldur

Thank you sandm, numbers? I wish my skills at Deutsch were somewhat better.
I will look around on FaceBook for the present.

Baldur

'after a short break we now resume our regularly scheduled broadcast'

Baldur

The University of Constantinople is founded (425)
Lord Byron defends Luddites in his premiere speech as a member of the House of Lords (1812)
Louis Vuitton dies (1892)
Elizabeth Taylor is born (1932)
The Reichstag is set on fire (1933)
Ralph Nader is born (1934)
Ivan Pavlov dies (1936)
Italy asks for help in keeping the Leaning Tower of Pisa from tumbling down (1964)
Kuwait is liberated (1991)
Lillian Gish dies (1993)
Fred Rogers dies (2003)

Happy Clean Monday!

Dragon

Funny a friend of mine is in Istanbul right now (which, of course was Constantinople). I wonder if he'll visit the University, and I wonder if it's still called the University of Constantinople or if they changed it to Istanbul? Or if it's even still around at all, 425 was quite a few years ago.

In that vein I must offer this bizarre little video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsRuurcTTSk

bluemoon

Great video, Baldur!

bluemoon

Actually , Thanks Dragon..you found the video.

Baldur

I see your video Dragon and raise you this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adzywe9xeIU

Baldur

Cuauhtemoc is executed by forces led by Hernando Cortez (1525)
Cosimo II de Medici dies (1621)
Gioacchino Conti is born (1714)
John Tenniel is born (1825)
The first vaudeville theatre is opened in Boston (1883)
Vincente Minnelli is born (1903)
Nylon is invented by Wallace Carothers (1935)
The word 'dord' is discovered (1939)
Bernadette Peters is born (1948)
The first color televisions go on sale (1954)
Jane Russell dies (2011)

Happy Rare Disease Day (celebrated on the last day of February..so why today?)

Dragon

How does one 'discover' a word? (And in a related note, what does dord mean anyway?)