This is taken from a CNN release; parts not in quotes are my own comments.....
"When you suit up in green and head to the St. Patrick's Day parade or your favorite Irish bar to celebrate, dropping these facts and figures about the holiday's origins will impress your fellow revelers!" - Originally, the color blue was used to celebrate Saint Patrick.
" 5 - St. Patrick's Day began as a religious holiday to honor the the man who, in the fifth century," did the most to introduce and spread Christianity across Ireland. There were two other Christian 'missionaries' in Ireland prior to Patrick's arrival.
" 1762 - The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place in New York on 17 March 1762.
149 million - Number of people in the United States who plan to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in 2018.
83 - Percentage of those celebrating who plan to wear green.
27 - Percentage of Americans who plan to go to a bar or restaurant to celebrate.
$5.9 billion - Expected St. Patrick's Day spending in 2018.
3,400 - Species of snakes in the world. According to legend, St. Patrick drove all of the snakes from Ireland. " In truth, there were never any snakes living on the land that became Ireland.
" 5 - Approximate number of hours the Chicago River remains emerald green after being dyed for the city's St. Patrick's Day parade.
17-5641 - The Pantone number for the color emerald green, which was the 'Pantone Color of the Year' for 2013.
32.3 million - People in the United States with Irish ancestry, as of 2016.
1 in 10,000 - Your chances of finding a four-leaf clover.
6 - Ireland's global rank in beer consumption per capita in 2016, with 98.2 liters.
21 - The United States' rank in beer consumption per capita in 2016, with 74.8 liters.
170 - Rank in popularity in the United States of the baby name of Patrick in 2016.
460 - Calories in a 12-ounce (small) McDonald's limited-edition green Shamrock Shake. The large size contains 800. "
My husband's male ancestors came from Ireland. The surname is Devine, which was from the Irish Gaelic Ó Daimhín. The root of this name is believed to be "damh," which supposedly means an "ox" or a "stag." The name Devine is chiefly found today in the Irish counties of Tyrone and Fermanagh. Up to the fifteenth century, the chief of the sept was Lord of Tirkennedy in County Fermanagh.
Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Photos - Winter in the Northern United States
Albany, New York
Fairbanks, Alaska
Bismark, North Dakota
Chicago, Illinois
Crested Butte, Montana
Cape Elizabeth, Maine
Marquette, Michigan
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
US EPA Superfund Sites - Map & Photos
EPA map of Superfund sites
Elizabeth Copper Mine, Vermont
Gold King Mine, Colorado
Old coal tar deposits on the Gowanus Canal, New York
Quanta Resources, New Jersey
San Jacinto River, Texas
Tar Creek, California
Cabot-Koppers, Gainesville Florida
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Old Country House Photos
Barnet, Vermont - 1825
Coalwood, West Virginia
Great Malvern, England, United Kingdom
Hiram, Maine
Old Stone House, now in Brooklyn, New York
Cushing-Olson House, Maine - late 1700s
North Carolina - photo by Mike Covington
Friday, March 6, 2015
Old Country Homes
Stockton, Ohio Round house, 1850
Baldwin, Maine 1793
Gilmantown, New Hampshire 1665 Saltbox house
Royalton, Vermont Deniston House, 1805
Kingston, New York Franz-Roggen House
Damariscotta, Maine
Fynskel Landsby, Denmark
Friday, December 5, 2014
Recent Grand Jury Decisions
Wow. Clear blue skies and a high in the low 50s - and this is supposed to continue through the next 8 days. It certainly doesn't seem to be December in Boulder! Other than the unusually warm weather here along the Front Range, nothing much is news-worthy around here. The University of Florida was able to buy out the contract of Colorado State's head football coach, Jim McElwain, and the (now former) Rams coach is on his way to the Gators in Gainesville.
Yesterday I met Boppygee and Francisco Tico - the two new feline clients. Bop is a round-headed brown tabby, who is 7 years old. Tico is the "terror" I was told about. He's a five month old orange tabby with polydactylism. He's just like my niece's cat, Paddle, except he has short hair instead of a medium length coat. And he's not really a terror; he just has a kitten's energy and drive - he's a bundle of energy until he drops off to sleep. Bop is older, and they're both males, and Tico loves to jump on him, trying to get Bop to play. Bop would rather hide than confront Tico.
There's been a lot of racial unrest in the nation due to the decisions of two Grand Juries - one in New York, and the other in Missouri. This is very disturbing for me. Both cases involved the death of an African-American male at the hands of local Caucasian police officers. In both cases, the Grand Jury found there was not sufficient evidence to indict the police involved for murder. Having served on a Grand Jury in Florida, and having dealt with murder and attempted murder charges, I know that there is a very fine line between proof and reasonable doubt. In Florida, we were presented with testimony of witnesses, specialists, law enforcement officers, coroners, and, occasionally, testimony in defense of the alleged crime.
In the case in Missouri, a police officer was charged with shooting and killing an unarmed teenager, named Michael Brown, in a suburb of St Louis, the town of Ferguson. The young man is dead. Nothing can change that. As far as I know, most testimony to a Grand Jury is privileged. We don't know exactly what was said, even though the District Attorney's office will have a transcript of the hearing. I heard that multiple witnesses gave conflicting testimony to the Grand Jury - that Michael Brown was shot while he was standing still with his arms raised in an "I surrender" position, and that he was running straight at the officer with his arms raised, possibly to strike the police man. Only Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson know what each of them was feeling and thinking, when their deadly confrontation happened. Since the Grand Jury did not find cause for a true bill of indictment against Mr Wilson, I can only surmise that a majority of the empaneled Jury felt that there was reasonable doubt that Wilson shot Brown without a thought, or that it was premeditated. I grieve for the loss of this young man's life, and I can understand non-violent protests in his behalf.
In the New York case, a 43-year-old man, Eric Garner, who complained of frequent police harassment for alleged selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, there was video evidence of the encounter. In the video, the man claims to have just "broken up a fight" between other people (not shown), and claims to have done noting wrong, that he wasn't selling anything. The man is overweight and is standing between two police officers. It then seems that more officers arrive, and the two standing on either side of Mr Garner begin to approach him, much more closely. Mr Garner swings his arms and says, "Don't touch me. Please don't touch me." At this point, Officer Daniel Pantaleo leaps behind the man and places him in a "chokehold," while other officers assist in driving the man to the ground. Once on the ground, you can hear Mr Garner stating over and over, "I can't breathe." The officer continues to force Mr Garner's head to the ground, while others hold him down on the sidewalk. You can hear Mr Garner's voice fade away. In the videos that I have seen, there doesn't seem to be any hurry to get an ambulance and EMTs for Mr Garner. - In one of the few cases allowed, Officer Pantaleo spent two hours answering questions from the Grand Jury (according to his lawyer); and it seems that he stated that he hadn't planned on, and he didn't want to, kill Mr Garner. The Coroner's report stated that Mr Garner died from these primary causes: "compression to the neck, compression to the chest, and the prone positioning during police restraint." Eric Garner was a large man, who stood 6 foot 3 inches tall. I, personally, did not see a good reason to place Mr Garner in a chokehold, but when he started to swing his arms as the police closed in around him, it is possible that the much smaller and lighter-weight Pantaleo became scared and did what he thought was defending himself and others.
I was not privy to any information regarding wither case. I can, because of knowing about conflicting witness reports, understand the decision in Missouri regarding Michael Brown. From what I have seen, I don't agree with the decision regarding Eric Garner in New York. But that is just my own personal opinion, without the knowledge that those Grand Juries were given.
Now we'll have to see what happens regarding the shooting of Rumain Brisbon, and unarmed African-American man, by another white police man in Phoenix, Arizona last night. Reports are conflicting; police say the man was stopped, and ran, putting his hand into his pocket. The police say the man was yelling at the policeman chasing him. The policeman says he thought that Brisbon had a gun in his pocket, as they were following up a report of a drug deal involving the suspect. Mr Brisbon made it to his apartment doorway, and fell against it, making a loud noise; his wife opened the door and Brisbon ran inside, then started to remove his hand from his pocket. The police officer thought that he was being drawn upon, and shot the suspect twice in the torso. Brisbon was holding a bottle of Oxycodone pills. Brisbon died from the gunshots. People who live in the apartment building claim that things happened differently.
I am so sorry that my country cannot get along - that there is always an "us" and "them" side. This might just be another start of a huge wave of racial unrest throughout the United States. It makes me sad for all of the people who live here.
Yesterday I met Boppygee and Francisco Tico - the two new feline clients. Bop is a round-headed brown tabby, who is 7 years old. Tico is the "terror" I was told about. He's a five month old orange tabby with polydactylism. He's just like my niece's cat, Paddle, except he has short hair instead of a medium length coat. And he's not really a terror; he just has a kitten's energy and drive - he's a bundle of energy until he drops off to sleep. Bop is older, and they're both males, and Tico loves to jump on him, trying to get Bop to play. Bop would rather hide than confront Tico.
There's been a lot of racial unrest in the nation due to the decisions of two Grand Juries - one in New York, and the other in Missouri. This is very disturbing for me. Both cases involved the death of an African-American male at the hands of local Caucasian police officers. In both cases, the Grand Jury found there was not sufficient evidence to indict the police involved for murder. Having served on a Grand Jury in Florida, and having dealt with murder and attempted murder charges, I know that there is a very fine line between proof and reasonable doubt. In Florida, we were presented with testimony of witnesses, specialists, law enforcement officers, coroners, and, occasionally, testimony in defense of the alleged crime.
In the case in Missouri, a police officer was charged with shooting and killing an unarmed teenager, named Michael Brown, in a suburb of St Louis, the town of Ferguson. The young man is dead. Nothing can change that. As far as I know, most testimony to a Grand Jury is privileged. We don't know exactly what was said, even though the District Attorney's office will have a transcript of the hearing. I heard that multiple witnesses gave conflicting testimony to the Grand Jury - that Michael Brown was shot while he was standing still with his arms raised in an "I surrender" position, and that he was running straight at the officer with his arms raised, possibly to strike the police man. Only Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson know what each of them was feeling and thinking, when their deadly confrontation happened. Since the Grand Jury did not find cause for a true bill of indictment against Mr Wilson, I can only surmise that a majority of the empaneled Jury felt that there was reasonable doubt that Wilson shot Brown without a thought, or that it was premeditated. I grieve for the loss of this young man's life, and I can understand non-violent protests in his behalf.
In the New York case, a 43-year-old man, Eric Garner, who complained of frequent police harassment for alleged selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, there was video evidence of the encounter. In the video, the man claims to have just "broken up a fight" between other people (not shown), and claims to have done noting wrong, that he wasn't selling anything. The man is overweight and is standing between two police officers. It then seems that more officers arrive, and the two standing on either side of Mr Garner begin to approach him, much more closely. Mr Garner swings his arms and says, "Don't touch me. Please don't touch me." At this point, Officer Daniel Pantaleo leaps behind the man and places him in a "chokehold," while other officers assist in driving the man to the ground. Once on the ground, you can hear Mr Garner stating over and over, "I can't breathe." The officer continues to force Mr Garner's head to the ground, while others hold him down on the sidewalk. You can hear Mr Garner's voice fade away. In the videos that I have seen, there doesn't seem to be any hurry to get an ambulance and EMTs for Mr Garner. - In one of the few cases allowed, Officer Pantaleo spent two hours answering questions from the Grand Jury (according to his lawyer); and it seems that he stated that he hadn't planned on, and he didn't want to, kill Mr Garner. The Coroner's report stated that Mr Garner died from these primary causes: "compression to the neck, compression to the chest, and the prone positioning during police restraint." Eric Garner was a large man, who stood 6 foot 3 inches tall. I, personally, did not see a good reason to place Mr Garner in a chokehold, but when he started to swing his arms as the police closed in around him, it is possible that the much smaller and lighter-weight Pantaleo became scared and did what he thought was defending himself and others.
I was not privy to any information regarding wither case. I can, because of knowing about conflicting witness reports, understand the decision in Missouri regarding Michael Brown. From what I have seen, I don't agree with the decision regarding Eric Garner in New York. But that is just my own personal opinion, without the knowledge that those Grand Juries were given.
Now we'll have to see what happens regarding the shooting of Rumain Brisbon, and unarmed African-American man, by another white police man in Phoenix, Arizona last night. Reports are conflicting; police say the man was stopped, and ran, putting his hand into his pocket. The police say the man was yelling at the policeman chasing him. The policeman says he thought that Brisbon had a gun in his pocket, as they were following up a report of a drug deal involving the suspect. Mr Brisbon made it to his apartment doorway, and fell against it, making a loud noise; his wife opened the door and Brisbon ran inside, then started to remove his hand from his pocket. The police officer thought that he was being drawn upon, and shot the suspect twice in the torso. Brisbon was holding a bottle of Oxycodone pills. Brisbon died from the gunshots. People who live in the apartment building claim that things happened differently.
I am so sorry that my country cannot get along - that there is always an "us" and "them" side. This might just be another start of a huge wave of racial unrest throughout the United States. It makes me sad for all of the people who live here.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Scenes Around the World
Guatemala - Fuego Volcano and cloud lightning
Russia - abandoned churches in Ivangorod
A tree house
The Stone Jug in Clermont, New York
Saint Augustine Beach (Florida) welcome sign
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Country and Water Mill Scenes
The Catskill Mountains beyond the Hudson River, New York
The Mabry Mill by the Blue Ridge Parkway
Over-grown tractor
Manchester, England water mill
The water wheel in the Manchester Mill
Monday, June 24, 2013
2013 "Super Moon" Around the World
Moon rise over the Tien Shan Mountains, near Almaty, Kazakhstan
African moon rise
Lady Liberty, New York
Mexico
Mendocino, California
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)