Thomas F. Shubnell's Blog, page 504

How Lobbyists Got Their Name

A lobbyist is a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest.

One story states that the term originated at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, where it was used by Ulysses S. Grant to describe the political wheelers and dealers frequenting the hotel's lobby in order to access him, because he was often found there, enjoying a cigar and brandy.

Here is the lobby data

Quotable

I don't take a dime of their [lobbyist:] money, and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House. Barack Obama

Google Faces

If you need to find some images for various occasions and find searching for images is too difficult. Google has a parameter in place for images, in situations where you might need an image which describes a face.


Suppose I search for the term "happy" then the Google results page displays smileys, but I would like to use images of happy people. Even if I choose the term as "happy face" the

Quotable

A smile is the greatest weapon a face can have.

Columbus Day

Don't forget Columbus Day, or Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) as they call it in many countries in Latin America, is observed on Oct 12.


OK - Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria - The Pinta and Nina were nicknames and their real names were Santa Barbara and Santa Clara. The other one was nicknamed La Gallega. If Chris really looked like that, can you imagine what Queen Isabella looked like?

Wife Carrying

This is a sport in which male competitors race while each carrying a female teammate. The objective is for the male to carry the female through a special obstacle track in the fastest time. The sport was first introduced at Sonkajärvi, Finland.

Several types of carry may be practiced: piggyback, fireman's carry (over the shoulder), or Estonian-style (the wife hangs upside-down with her legs

Hunky Dory

The term meaning, everything is OK, was coined from a street named "Honki-Dori" in Yokohama, Japan. Since the inhabitants of this street catered to the pleasures of sailors, it is easy to understand why the street's name became synonymous for anything that is enjoyable, or at least satisfactory.

Green Checkmark

You will soon see them on food and cereal boxes in your local supermarket and in future commercials touting that these green checkmarks are designed to "to help shoppers easily identify smarter food and beverage choices."

It is part of a new 'Smart Choices campaign' and the types of foods that have been approved are Fruit Loops and Cocoa Krispies.

Ten companies have signed up for the Smart

Honda or Segway

Here is the U-3X, Honda's personal mobility device. I think it is a little too odd for mass appeal, but like all things Honda, it is cute in a different sort of way.


Honda developed the new personal mobility technology, a compact experimental device to provide free movement in all directions just like human walking - forward, backward, side-to-side, and diagonally. It acts like a sittable

Bacon Air Freshener

It smells like, well, you know, cooking bacon. For those times when you don't have time to cook up a batch. It costs only $2.95 on the web.  













Aren't you glad I shared this one.