Presidential Quotes (10 of 16): General Grant Said.....

With perhaps the exception of Dwight D. Eisenhower, whom we are quoting on our sister blog http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com Ulysses S. Grant(1822-1855; president from 1869-1877)  was perhaps more known for his life before the presidency as a Civil War general for the winning Union side, than he was for his years in the White House.

Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio. He signed an end to the Civil War with General Robert E. Lee, who headed the losing Confederate side of the Civil War, in Appomattox, Va.

Grant also defeated Horace Greeley of New Hampshire to win reelection in 1872, and Greeley also had the misfortune of dying before all the votes were tallied!

Here is Grant's quote:

"My failures have been errors in judgment, not of intent."

http://www.millercenter.org/grant

Presidential Quotes (6 of 16): Franklin Pierce, the Only President from New Hampshire

Greetings to our blog-readers in Canada, The Bahamas and Peru.

When one plays the "Name All the Presidents" trivia game on the web site for "Mental Floss" magazine, President Franklin Pierce, the 14th president and the only to hail from the Granite State, New Hampshire, may be one of the names one is most likely to forget.

But, Pierce, who served in office from 1853-57, was able to overcome the tea party radicals of his day, and defeat the conservative Whig Party candidate Winfield Scott by a 50-44 margin. Pierce's veep was William King, from Alabama, who alas died of tuberculosis a mere 45 days after becoming vice president.

Here is his quote: "Frequently the more trifling the subject, the more animated and protracted the discussion."

http://www.millercenter.org/presidents/pierce

http://www.mentalfloss.com

http://www.visitnh.org

10 People Who Will Decide the Election (8 of 10) _ New Hampshire

Name: Mary Murphy (a fictional person)

Age: 68

Occupation: Antiques Dealer

Residency: Dover, New Hampshire 03820

Political Affiliation: Independent leaning Republican

Will Likely Vote for: Mitt Romney (but her state will likely vote for Barack Obama)

Today, we continue to look at how an individual in a given swing state can impact the election. Older people tend to vote Republican, so much so that the faux news publication "The Onion" wrote an article stating that GOP operatives were working diligently to keep older voters alive on Election Day, which is four weeks from today. But, women voters are favoring President Barack Obama.

In New Hampshire, Obama holds a relatively comfortable lead over Mitt Romney by a 50-44 margin according to the "Politico" swing state map. Obama is faring even better in Massachusetts, a state that Romney governed. The margin there is 59-34.

It thus appears highly likely that Romney will be the first presidential candidate to lose his home state in an election since Al Gore lost Tennessee to George W. Bush, in the highly controversial/dubious election of 2000. 

The last person elected president to lose their home state was Richard M. Nixon in 1968.

And, in case you were wondering, Barry Goldwater's running mate in 1964 was William E. Miller.

That's all we have time for today; there will be another installment in this series tomorrow.

http://wiswallhouseantiques.com (An antique store in Durham, NH)

http://www.politico.com

http://www.theonion.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Charles Darwin

Today, Google used the image of Danish bishop and scientist Nicolas Steno (1638-1686) on his 374th birthday as their 'google doodle." Steno was instrumental for many things, including discovering human salivary ducts, and there is a Steno Museum in Arhus, Denmark, which is dedicated to displaying findings in the arenas of science and medicine. But, alas, for our purposes, Steno really didn't leave behind a meaningful quip.

The same can not be said for English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) whose findings on the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador are taught in classroom and disputed in places of worship around the globe; hence 'the Darwin fish' that is displayed here.

With that, here is our quote from Darwin, who made these comments long before the 'evolution of video games,' including Donkey Kong and Angry Birds:

"A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the whole of life."

SIDEBAR: We love this tweet from Onion Politics, a subdivision of the satirical faux news publication "The Onion:" "Fiercely independent New Hampshire voters pick guy everybody thought would win." For those of you in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, that person is Mitt Romney.

Bonus Road Trip (8 of 10)_ In the Ivy League

Today, we ask you the blog reader how far apart two Ivy League towns are. They are Princeton, New Jersey, where (of course) Princeton University is, and Hanover, New Hampshire, the home of Dartmouth College, where Ron Paul might very well be trying to pump students up for the upcoming New Hampshire Republican Primary so he can surge past Newt Gingrich, or as we like to call him here (we are a center-left blog) Sigmund the Sea Monster (forgive the retro humor).

Until today, we were unaware of Dartmouth's nickname; they are the 'Big Green.' And, their men's basketball team will have a daunting task when they face nationally ranked Harvard on the road at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. As for Princeton, they can boast at least one NBA star and U.S. Senator from their alumni, as Bill Bradley, who was both, graduated from the school as a Rhodes scholar. Alas, he still lost the Democratic Party nomination to Al Gore in 2000, perhaps New Hampshire was to blame.

So, for this trip, our destination points are the Ivy Inn in Princeton, NJ, and Molly's Restaurant in Hanover, NH. Feel free to take a guess so you can win an 8-track tape of the Oak Ridge Boys' greatest hits.

Is the answer:

A) 4 hours even

B) 5 hours even

C) 6 hours even

D) 7 hours even

Republican Humor- A Big Decision

Since I've decided to refrain from making political humor on Facebook in order to not trade barbs with life-long friends and Republicans, at least in the modern era, are such targets, I thought I would sock it to 'em here. And, there is my joke:


"Was thinking to myself today if I were on a desert island and all I was a 1970s black and white tv set with rabbitt ears and the only two channels I got were one with the Republican debate and one with a Three Stooges marathon, which one I would choose."

For the record, the next Republican debate will be held at Darthmouth College in Hanover, NH, on Oct. 11th at 8:00 p.m. The event will be televised and sponsored by Bloomberg News. Though I'm a fairly partisan Democrat, if I would choose from one of the 'Big Three' (Mitt Romney, who is pictured here, Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann), I would go with Romney. Though I agree with an assesment which I believe originated in "The Boston Phoenix" that he is about as authentic as a three-dollar bill!

As for The Three Stooges, the Independent Film Channel (IFC) has been showing their vintage 1950s shorts fairly often.

Quote of the Week- Robert Frost

As National Poetry month comes to a gradual close, we are featuring a quip from Robert Frost (1874-1963) who is perhaps best known for his poem "Fire and Ice" that perhaps 93 percent of us were required to read in high school.

We learned that there are actually two Robert Frost museums in New England. The Robert Frost Stone Home Museum is in South Shaftsbury, Vt. And, the Robert Frost Place Home, which is also the house where the poet resided from 1915-1920, is in Franconia, New Hampshire. Obviously, this might be quite a field trip for students from Provo High School in Provo, Utah (a real place)!

Here is the quip from Frost:

"A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer."

Lastly, fans of Gary Shteyngart (whew, we almost didn't get it right!) who feel that the author of the great novel "Absurdistan" was snubbed from our "Difficult, Long Names" list yesterday should know that we are planning to post another such list in May.

Road Trips USA (4 of 20) New Hampshire to Oklahoma

Greetings to those of you enjoying your well-deserved lunch hours in Long Beach, Calif.

Today, we continue our either much-loved or much-disdained Road Trips USA series of entries as look at how far the women's gymnastics team from The University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH, will have to travel for their 'regional' meet at The University of Oklahoma in Norman, Ok.

But, rather than examining the exact distances between the two campuses which are quite far away, we are going to go with the distance between Ozzie's Diner on 1700 Lexington Ave. in Norman, Ok., and Young's Restaurant/Coffee Shop on 48 Main Street in Durham, NH.

We almost went with the Pink Cadillac Diner in Rochester, NH, since we love the Pink Cadillac Diner in Natural Bridge, Va. (we presume they have no other connections), but we decided it was only fair to stick to the zip codes in question.

Is the answer:

A) 28 hours even

B) 28 hours and 20 minutes

C) 28 hours and 50 minutes

D) 29 hours and 35 minutes

The UNH Wildcats are also very competive in men's hcokey as they got to the Final-8 before losing to Minnesota-Duluth over the weekend.

Of course, those of us here in ACC country are more familiar with Durham, NC, where Duke University is. The Blue Devils terminated their women's gymnastics program many years ago. If you want a precise answer, ask Google.

In our last entry in this series, we asked how far Durham, NC, was from Tucson, Az. The answer was A) 32 hours even!

Today is My 41st Freakin' Birthday

You are assuredly asking why this image of the Bath Covered Bridge in Bath, New Hampshire, is the chosen image for this blog entry.

Well, I've learned over the years that finding a good birthday to post with a blog is nearly impossible as for some reason more birthday cake photographs seem to be copyrighted or blocked that anything else.

As it turns out, covered bridges are not easy to hotlink either mainly due to their sizes. We tried to get images of the Humpback Covered Bridge in Covington, Va., the Meems Bottom Bridge in Mount Jackson, Va. (near Edingburg, Va., where I once lived in the Shenandoah Valley) and the Mud River Covered Bridge in Milton, WVa., before settling with this one.

And, I also chose this image because we found out, just today, that Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water" was actually the number one song in America when I was born, not "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" by B.J. Thomas, as I had long assumed.

So, I have Wikipedia to thank for making me realize I had been spreading misinformation over the years.

As it turns out, the theme song from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" ('Raindrops') was the number one song in January of 1970.I guess if I had been born prematurely, then I would have been accurate!

50 Beers From Around the Globe- OB Beer (South Korea)

One may not expect a brew to have a rice flavor, but OB Beer from South Korea (OB stands for Oriental Brewery) is indeed made from rice as opposed to barley!

OB Beer, which started in 1952, has a Facebook page which promotes itself as "The True Korean Beer."

A guy from New York was asking how to find the brew on the Internet. One recommendation was a Korean grocer in the city. Another person said he should try Pioneer Supermarket on 74th Street. We have no idea if he found the beer or not, but it is apparently available in some markets in America.

While koamart.com does NOT offer OB Beer (at least it was not listed on their web site), they do have an Orange Bon Bon soda for 89 cents which looks like an Orange Crush.

Interestingly enough, there is a Korean grocery store in Salem, NH, called The Uhen Heh Grocery Store. We were not able to tell from their site if they offered OB Beer, but anyone here who is from New Hampshire can let us know!

SIDEBAR: My friend Jason Garnett is continuing an impressive list of screenings at The Shadowbox Cinema in downtown Roanoke, Va., this month. On Wednesday, the venue shows the vintage 1966 French New Wave classic "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg." The 1931 Charlie Chaplin film "City Lights" will be screened on Friday. "Caddyshack," which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, will be shown on Saturday. And, lastly, on Monday, Aug. 30 the Japanese shock horror film "Audition" will fill the screen. In case you weren't aware of this, it is not 'exactly Mary Poppins.'

More info is available at the web site theshadowboxcinema.com

Top 10- Best Countries I've Been To (Besides Turkey and the USA)

We are dedicating today's entry to students at Berlin Senior High School in Berlin, NH, where the principal is Gary Brisson, the school nickname is The Mountaineers and the school newspaper is "Mountaineer Today."

While school at UNC starts on Monday and at my alma mater Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, Va., begins on Aug. 23, students at BSHS have summer vacation until Sept. 1 when school starts (must be nice!).

Berlin, NH, is incidentally where John Irving's famed novel "The Hotel New Hampshire" takes place. It was made into a film with Rob Lowe and Jodie Foster in 1984. I found a copy at an antique store in Fairfield, Va. (between Lexington and Staunton) which I read during a trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. It was actually better than the movie (and I'm not someone who always says that!).

I thought it would be quite subjective to put the USA, the country of my birth and residency, and Turkey, where my late my father was from and a place I have been to many times on the list since that would be blatantly subjective and we are not working for Fox News!

So, here is the list:

1. Holland
2.Canada
3. France
4. Guatemala
5. Greece (I know this will not go well with my friends in Ankara!)
6. Italy
7. Hungary
8. Germany
9. Belgium
10. England/UK

It should be pointed out that while I have been to both Germany and New Hampshire, I haven't been to either Berlin!

And, there are many countries on this list, including England, Hungary and Italy that I have not been to in a very, very long time (since I was a child in the '70s).

Cyprus and Luxembourg both just missed the cut.