Man has Knife in Brain for 4 Years!

Yunnan Province, China -- A man in China complaining of headaches was found to have a 4-inch knife buried in his brain.

Doctors examining Lee Fu realized the blade had been in his head for four years without him knowing it.  The 37-year-old suffered a stabbing during a robbery in 2006 while he worked as a cab driver.  Lee just had the blade removed this week and is recovering in stable condition. According to reports the robber stabbed Lee in the head following a September, 2006, robbery attempt and at the time Lee was treated at a local hospital where doctors cleaned his wound and gave him disinfectant shots.  His skin and hair grew over the wound, which gradually healed and Lee didn't think anything else of it.

Police later apprehended the suspect in the case and retrieved a broken knife handle, but never found the blade until they reviewed Lee's recent x-ray.

John Daly's Caddy Shack Golf Bag

Pebble Beach, CA - John Daly sported his new golf bag this past week as an opportunity to entertain his golf partners and the galleries.  Daly’s new golf bag that looks like something straight out of the movie Caddy Shack.

"My new bag was built w/flat screen, video player & music," said Daly, “Rodney Dangerfield inspired me and now I’m working on his dance."  The bag also has a loud red pattern that matches the Daly trousers he wears on the golf course.  The bag looks very much like the one owned by Rodney Dangerfield's character in the cult-favorite movie Caddy Shack. All that is lacking is the beer tap and it does not have clubs that shoot out of the bag.

NY Limo Driver Scams Passenger

New York, NY -- A New York City limo driver has admitted illegally scamming a multi-millionaire Hong Kong feng-shui master by running up unauthorized credit card purchases.  Peter Rahhaoui pleaded guilty to credit-card fraud in a Brooklyn federal court.

In 2008, the limo driver drove businessman Tony Chan 13 miles from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Manhattan. However, after Chan used his credit card to pay for the ride, the cabby retained the number and used it for several months to buy things for himself.  All told, Rahhaoui racked up $800,000 in charges using Chan's American Express credit card number.  Chan reportedly did not notice the fraudulent activity on his credit card until his bank's security department contacted him about the charges.

And there you have em, strange, but true as our Bottom of the News on this Friday, 2-25-2011!  ###

Famous Guys in History this Week

Good morning my fellow Rotarians on this Friday, February 18th.  Thought I would share with you a few 'famous guys' from this week in history...

In 1801...  Thomas Jefferson was finally elected the 3rd US president after one tie vote in the Electoral College and 35 indecisive ballot votes in the House of Representatives.  He defeated running mate, Aaron Burr. The election took five months to complete with Jefferson not inaugurated until March 4th.  This clearly exposed the need for change with the electoral process and that led to the 12th Amendment. The formation of political parties happened this year as well; Jefferson formed the Democratic-Republicans (forerunner of the Democratic Party) and Alexander Hamilton started the conservative Federalists Party.

In 1885...  Mark Twain published "the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" which was a follow up to his tremendously successful novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, published 9 years earlier in 1876. Twain saw Huck's story as a kind of sequel to his earlier book, but this new novel was far more serious, focusing on the institution of slavery and other aspects of life in the South.  The book was took a look at racism, religion and other social attitudes of the time and thus is became very popular and yet controversial, long after Twain's death in 1910.  Today it is required reading in most US high schools and is considered a masterpiece.

In 1933...  Adolph Hitler came up with the Volkswagen Beetle idea.  The car became the highest production vehicle in history, in 1972, when 15,007,034 Beetles were produced.  For over 40 years Ford Model T held the record during 1908 thru 1927. Hitler wanted a small, inexpensive 'people's car' and he hired Austrian-born engineer Ferdinand Porsche as the designer.  When the Beetle arrived in the US In the 1950s it was not well received, but with a new ad agency in the early '60s and with some help from the 'Love Bug' Disney movie, the Beetle eventually became the #1 US import. 

And finally, in 1962...  John Glenn Jr. was the first American astronaut to go in to space and orbit the earth aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft.  Glenn, a Marine lieutenant colonel, was a decorated pilot who flew nearly 150 combat missions during World War II and the Korean War.  Glenn endured many mechanical and functional issues during his five hours in space, but in the end he was considered a national hero because his flight put the US back as the leader in the space race, which had been led by the Russians who had put two men in space two years earlier.  Glenn did not fly any other space missions until 38 years later when he was designated as a payload specialist on the space shuttle Discovery. On this flight the 77-year-old Glenn became the oldest human ever to travel in space.

And there you have it, famous guys this week in history as our bottom of the news on this Friday, February 18th, 2011.  ###

Kids Defining ‘Love’

Good morning my fellow Rotarians.  How many guys in the room know what month this is???  (It’s the LOVE month, hint, hint!)  To honor this holiday let’s hear what a group of 4 to 8 year-old kids had to say to the question…  “What does love mean to you?” 

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” Billy – age 4

“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss” Emily – age 8

“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.” Karl – age 5

“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” Chrissy – age 6

“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” Danny – age 7

“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” Terri – age 4

“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, and then he wears it everyday.” Noelle – age 7

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross.” Mark – age 6

“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.” Tommy – age 6

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.” Chris – age 7

“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.” Jessica – age 8

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” Bobby – age 7 (Wow!)

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her now, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” Rebecca- age 8

As the Beatles said…  ‘All you need is love...’  Happy Valentine’s Day!  That’s our Bottom of the News on this Friday, 2-11-2011!  ###

The Day the Music Died

Good morning my fellow Rotarians. Yesterday, February 3rd, 1959 was a notable day in music history… it was “the day the music died.” Don McLean’s 1971 folk hit “American Pie” was a tribute to the three rock ‘n rollers who were killed in a cornfield just 6 miles north of Clear Lake, IA. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper died in an airplane crash following their show at the Surf Ballroom.

"The Winter Dance Party" tour was set for 24 cities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and the Dakotas over three weeks. Unfortunately tour organizers did not take in account the travel time needed between cities and so it was a grueling pace. Their transportation was on a bus ill-equipped for the cold weather and the bus heating system stopped working shortly after the tour began. Holly's drummer had to be hospitalized with frost bitten toes.

The Surf Ballroom was not originally on the tour, but the promoters were able to fill an open date on Monday, February 2nd. By the time Buddy Holly arrived in Clear Lake that evening he was very frustrated with the tour bus and he was mad when he learned that the Clear Lake Laundromat was closed because he was out of clean clothes. Holly told his other two band mates Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup to book a charter plane to their next show 380 miles away in Moorhead, MN.

Flight arrangements were made with a 21-year-old local pilot from Mason City with room for three passengers. Jennings gave up his seat to the Big Bopper, who had the flu, and Allsup lost his seat to Ritchie Valens, who had never flown in a small plane before, on a coin flip. When Holly learned that Jennings wasn't going to fly, he said in jest, "Well, I hope your ol' bus freezes up" and Jennings responded, also in jest, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes". This exchange would haunt Jennings for the rest of his life.

Holley, known as a rock ‘n roll pioneer, influenced many who followed him, including the Beatles, The Grateful Dead, the Rolling Stones and the Hollies (named in tribute to him). Holley was 22, newly married, with a career less than two years old. His best known song was “Peggy Sue”. Valens was the youngest at age 17, his career was only 8 months old, his big hit was “LaBamba.” The Big Bopper, known for “Chantilly Lace” and “White Lighting” was 28, with a 4-year old daughter and son yet to be born. Big Bopper, Jr. followed in his dad’s footsteps with a very successful lifelong music career.

Don McLean’s “American Pie” was notable to me, not at first because of his tribute, because in early 1959 I wasn’t even in school yet and I even lived just a few miles from Clear Lake. But rather, in my early days of radio, I loved the long-play version of this song because it was 8 ½ minutes long, a perfect bathroom break song! However, as my interest in music grew, I came to know these rock ‘n roll legends, their place in music history and the significance of that day when their music died.

And that’s our Bottom of the News on this Friday, February 4, 2011!

###