More Pet Treats Recalled. So Who Was Kilroy? Just Delete Me From Internet. Life-saving Viruses. USA Captures Mexico City. Theodore Roosevelt.

 

For “Summary Saturday”, News, some new, some old, that you might have not seen.

More Toxic Pet Treats Recalled: Why Pet Owners Must Remain Vigilant

“Dogswell Joins Nestle Purina, Del Monte, Hartz Mountain, Publix Stores and IMS Pet Industries in Recalling Pet Treats Due to Antibiotic Contamination

The Dogswell brands pulled from store shelves include Breathies, Happy Heart, Happy Hips, Mellow Mut, Shape Up, Veggie Life, Vitality and Vitakitty, all with a “best before” date of January 28, 2015 or any earlier date.”  More at:  http://www.care2.com/news/member/827551733/3640541

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Recommendations for Avoiding Toxic Pet Treats

Tip #2: Treats Should Be Sourced in the U.S. and Made in the U.S.

“The chicken jerky dog treats and other treats suspected of causing illness and death in pets have ingredients imported from China. Despite the efforts of the FDA and independent laboratories to isolate the contaminant, nothing has been identified, and five years after the first reports of sick and dying pets, the treats are still being produced by major pet food companies and sold by major retailers. So I would certainly strongly recommend avoiding any product containing ingredients sourced from China.

That said, I have found several excellent quality treats from New Zealand and Canada. The important point is to know and trust your treat company's commitment to purity and quality control.” Complete article at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-karen-becker/pet-treats_b_3634992.html

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So who was Kilroy?

“...for those of you who don't know, here's the story... KILROY WAS HERE:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He is engraved in stone in the National War Memorial in Washington, DC- back in a small alcove where very few people have seen it.  For the WWII generation, this will bring back memories. For you younger folks, it's a bit of trivia that is a part of our American history.  Anyone born in 1913 to about 1950, is familiar with Kilroy. No one knew why he was so well known- but everybody seemed to get into it.  So who was Kilroy?

 
In 1946 the American Transit Association, through its radio program, "Speak to America ," sponsored a nationwide contest to find the real Kilroy, offering a prize of a real trolley car to the person who could prove himself to be the genuine article. Almost 40 men stepped forward to make that claim, but only James Kilroy from Halifax , Massachusetts, had evidence of his identity.

'Kilroy' was a 46-year old shipyard worker during the war who worked as a checker at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy . His job was to go around and check on the number of rivets completed. Riveters were on piecework and got paid by the rivet. He would count a block of rivets and put a check mark in semi-waxed lumber chalk, so the rivets wouldn't be counted twice.  When Kilroy went off duty, the riveters would erase the mark.

Later on, an off-shift inspector would come through and count the rivets a second time, resulting in double pay for the riveters.
One day Kilroy's boss called him into his office.  The foreman was upset about all the wages being paid to riveters, and asked him to investigate.  It was then he realized what had been going on.

The tight spaces he had to crawl in to check the rivets didn't lend themselves to lugging around a paint can and brush, so Kilroy decided to stick with the waxy chalk. He continued to put his check mark on each job he inspected, but added 'KILROY WAS HERE' in king-sized letters next to the check, and eventually added the sketch of the chap with the long nose peering over the fence and that became part of the Kilroy message.

Once he did that, the riveters stopped trying to wipe away his marks. Ordinarily the rivets and chalk marks would have been covered up with paint. With the war on, however, ships were leaving the Quincy Yard so fast that there wasn't time to paint them. As a result, Kilroy's inspection "trademark" was seen by thousands of servicemen who boarded the troopships the yard produced.

 

His message apparently rang a bell with the servicemen, because they picked it up and spread it all over Europe and the South Pacific.

 

 

Before war's end, "Kilroy" had been here, there, and everywhere on the long hauls to Berlin and Tokyo. To the troops outbound in those ships, however, he was a complete mystery; all they knew for sure was that someone named Kilroy had "been there first." As a joke, U.S. servicemen began placing the graffiti wherever they landed, claiming it was already there when they arrived.

Kilroy became the U.S. super-GI who had always "already been" wherever GIs went. It became a challenge to place the logo in the most unlikely places imaginable (it is said to be atop Mt. Everest , the Statue of Liberty , the underside of the Arc de Triomphe, and even scrawled in the dust on the moon.

As the war went on, the legend grew. Underwater demolition teams routinely sneaked ashore on Japanese-held islands in the Pacific to map the terrain for coming invasions by U.S. troops (and thus, presumably, were the first GI's there).

On one occasion, however, they reported seeing enemy troops painting over the Kilroy logo!

 

In 1945, an outhouse was built for the exclusive use of Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill at the Potsdam conference. Its' first occupant was Stalin, who emerged and asked his aide (in Russian), "Who is Kilroy?"

 

To help prove his authenticity in 1946, James Kilroy brought along officials from the shipyard and some of the riveters.  He won the trolley car, which he gave to his nine children as a Christmas gift and set it up as a playhouse in the Kilroy yard in Halifax, Massachusetts.

 

And The Tradition Continues...

EVEN Outside Osama Bin Laden's House!!!”

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How To Erase Yourself From The Internet

Who knew a page full of links could be so useful?

JustDelete.me is a page full of links -- not ugly blue hyperlinks but links disguised as buttons. Each button represents an online service; anything from LinkedIn to Skype to Wikipedia.

Click a button and JustDelete.me will take you to the page on that online service that allows you to delete your account. If you click the "show info" link under each button, meanwhile, JustDelete.me will tell you, in plain English, how to delete your account from that site.'”  More and video at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/04/justdeleteme_n_3866288.html

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Did You Know That Viruses Are Saving Your Life Right Now?

“New research reveals that a group of viruses called bacteriophages (phages) actually help you stay healthy by destroying harmful bacteria and encouraging beneficial bacteria to flourish in and on your body

Scientists found that these mucus-dwelling phages have symbiotic relationships with their host (you), and help control the delicate microbial balance in your body, giving you “smart mucus”

Similar symbiotic relationships have been detected in the mucus of other animals, including fish and the slime layer around sea coral

Phages sometimes insert their genetic material into a bacterium’s genome rather than killing it outright, a process that can actually protect the bacterium against other phages

This new information has exciting therapeutic implications for illnesses such as Crohn’s disease, IBD, ulcerative colitis, acne, and antibiotic-resistant infections like MRSA and deadly CRE.”

An epic take on viruses.

More at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/08/26/mucus-phages.aspx

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“Housework is something you do that nobody notices until you don't do it.” ~ Anonymous

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“Did you know America ranks the lowest in education but the highest in drug use? It's nice to be number one, but we can fix that. All we need to do is start the war on education. If it's anywhere near as successful as our war on drugs, in no time we'll all be hooked on phonics.” ~ Leighann Lord

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On This Day:

Scott captures Mexico City, Sep 14, 1847:

“During the Mexican-American War, U.S. forces under General Winfield Scott enter Mexico City and raise the American flag over the Hall of Montezuma, concluding a devastating advance that began with an amphibious landing at Vera Cruz six months earlier.

The Mexican-American War began with a dispute over the U.S. government's 1845 annexation of Texas. In January 1846, President James K. Polk, a strong advocate of westward expansion, ordered General Zachary Taylor to occupy disputed territory between the Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers. Mexican troops attacked Taylor's forces, and on May 13, 1846, Congress approved a declaration of war against Mexico.

On March 9, 1847, U.S. forces under General Winfield Scott invaded Mexico three miles south of Vera Cruz. They encountered little resistance from the Mexicans massed in the fortified city of Vera Cruz, and by nightfall the last of Scott's 10,000 men came ashore without the loss of a single life. It was the largest amphibious landing in U.S. history and not surpassed until World War II. By March 29, with very few casualties, Scott's forces had taken Vera Cruz and its massive fortress, San Juan de Ulua. On September 14, Scott's forces reached the Mexican capital.

In February 1848, representatives from the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, formally ending the Mexican War, recognizing Texas as part of the United States, and extending the boundaries of the United States west to the Pacific Ocean.”

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An adoptive westerner becomes president of the United States, Sep 14, 1901:

“On this day in 1901, the 42-year-old Theodore Roosevelt is suddenly elevated to the White House when President McKinley dies from an assassin's bullet. But while McKinley's untimely death brought Roosevelt the presidency, 17 years earlier two other deaths had sent the young Roosevelt fleeing to the far West where his political ambitions were almost forgotten.

In February 1884, Roosevelt's young wife died after giving birth to their daughter; a mere 12 hours later his much-beloved mother also died. Devastated by this cruel double blow, Roosevelt sought solace in the wide open spaces of the West, establishing himself on two ranches in the Badlands of Dakota Territory and writing to friends that he had given up politics and planned to make ranching "my regular business." Despite this, three years later he returned to New York City and resumed the political career that would eventually take him to the White House. Even after he had returned to the civilized East, Roosevelt always credited his western interlude with restoring his mental and physical vitality.

From an early age, Roosevelt had been convinced of the benefits of living the "strenuous life," arguing that too many American males had succumbed to the ease and safety of modern industrialized society and become soft and effeminate. Roosevelt thought more men should follow his example and embrace the hard, virile, pioneer life of the West, a place where "the qualities of hardihood, self-reliance, and resolution" were essential for survival. Roosevelt's own western experience was hardly as harsh and challenging as he liked to claim, yet the eastern tenderfoot did adapt quickly to the rougher ways of ranch life. He earned the respect of Dakotans by tracking down a gang of bandits who had stolen a riverboat and once knocked out a barroom bully who had taunted him. Though he spent the vast majority of his life in the East, Roosevelt thereafter always thought of himself as a westerner at heart, and he did more than any president before him to conserve the wild western lands he loved.”

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Yesterday:

Misty and I went to get Jay, and she wanted to walk further than I did during our walk down there.

Back here, Ray painted most of the main part of the shed white, while Jay and I screwed down the roofs over the screen porch and front porch, more securely.  Well, Jay was up there, and I was below, handing him things. Each panel had been put in place with just a few screws, to make sure we had it right, so it was time to batten it down permanently.

Having lived 100 miles from the TX coast for many years, I know that hurricanes can do weird things, and we wanted to be prepared just in case we got high winds.

Hurricane Humberto isn’t likely to affect us, but you never know if it will change direction and get into the Gulf.

Hurricane Humberto

“The name Humberto has been used for four tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean. The name replaced Hugo, which was retired after the 1989 season.

Hurricane Humberto (1995) - reached Category 2 Strength but remained in open sea.

Hurricane Humberto (2001) - passed near Bermuda but caused no damage.

Hurricane Humberto (2007) - rapidly forming storm which struck the U.S. state of Texas as a strong Category 1 hurricane, causing one death and $50 million in damage.

Hurricane Humberto (2013) - Category 1 hurricane currently active in the eastern Atlantic Ocean after briefly affecting the Cape Verde Islands.”    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But we might have some rain from Tropical Storm Ingrid in the southern Gulf - “Significant rainfall and flood threat this weekend across eastern Mexico - Heavy rains will spread into south Texas later this weekend, with increasing rip current risk, large swell, and beach erosion possible.”

We will see if the new roofs leak, as we have thunderstorms forecast for a few days.