How Can I Make You Happy Today

July 5 – July 11th – This Week in History Podcast – William Faulkner, 50 cent and more

marcus@redshoesplanet.com (Marcus Vannini) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 02:39:00 +0000

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June 28 - July 4th This Week in History with C-Dawg & Skookumchuck

marcus@redshoesplanet.com (Marcus Vannini) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:12:00 +0000

Notable events, people, quotes, births and deaths hosted by C-Dawg and Skookumchuck...this week we cover everything from America's birthday, hot models suspicious deaths, spooner acts, serial killers and more...
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This Week in History Podcast – June 21 – June 27

marcus@redshoesplanet.com (Marcus Vannini) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:29:00 +0000

http://blog.marcusstuartvannini.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/July-28-July-4-THis-Week-in-History.mp3

On itunes under 'How Can I Make You Happy Today'

This Week in History June 21 - 27

This Week in History Podcast - June 7th - 13th with Guest C-Dawg

marcus@redshoesplanet.com (Marcus Vannini) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:11:00 +0000

http://blog.marcusstuartvannini.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/June-7-13-Marcus-C-Dawg.mp3

February 26 2010 Podcast In the Papers News, Events, Famous Birthdays, Quotes and Special Guests

marcus@redshoesplanet.com (Marcus Vannini) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:40:00 +0000

Click here to download February 26 2010 Podcast

February 26 Daily Dose Famous Birthdays, Quotes & History

marcus@redshoesplanet.com (Marcus Vannini) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:28:00 +0000

Happy Birthday Victor Hugo (1802)

"A great artist is a great man in a great child."
"Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters."
"All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come."
"Men like me are impossible until the day when they become necessary. "
"No one knows like a woman how to say things which are at once gentle and deep."

Happy Birthday William Frederick Cody AKA Buffalo Bill (1846)

"Every Indian outbreak that I have ever known has resulted from broken promises and broken treaties by the government."
"I could never resist the call of the trail."
"My restless, roaming spirit would not allow me to remain at home very long."

Happy Birthday Jackie Gleason (1916)

"The second day of a diet is always easier than the first. By the second day you're off it."
"Our dreams are firsthand creations, rather than residues of waking life. We have the capacity for infinite creativity; at least while dreaming, we partake of the power of the Spirit, the infinite Godhead that creates the cosmos."

Happy Birthday Tony Randall born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg (1920)

"Awards sell tickets, and they're a clever publicity stunt."
"Everyone town of 100,000 in the United States should have a Classical Theater supported by the town, or the state of the county, or the Federal Government, as they have in every civilized country. "
"Sooner or later, we sell out for money."
"There's only one thing worse than a man who doesn't have strong likes and dislikes, and that's a man who has strong likes and dislikes without the courage to voice them. "

Happy Birthday to Fats (Antoine) Domino (1928)

“I'm worried about all the people in New Orleans.”
“I sure do appreciate that people think so much about me,”

Happy Birthday Johnny Cash (1932)

"Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight."
"You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space."

Famous Events Today in History...

1815 - Napoleon left his exile on the island of Elba, returning to France to attempt a second conquest.

1919 - Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

1929 - President Calvin Coolidge established Grand Teton National Park.

1933 - Ground was broken for the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

1935 - Nazi leader Adolf Hitler signed a secret decree authorizing the founding of the Reich Luftwaffe as a third German military service to join the Reich army and navy.

1951 - The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified.

1952 - Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.

1993 - A bomb built by a group of Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1000.

2001 - The Taliban destroy two giant Buddha statues in Bamyan, Afghanistan.

2004 - Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Poem of the Day... by Robert Frost
A Hillside Thaw

To think to know the country and now know
The hillside on the day the sun lets go
Ten million silver lizards out of snow!
As often as I've seen it done before
I can't pretend to tell the way it's done.
It looks as if some magic of the sun
Lifted the rug that bred them on the floor
And the light breaking on them made them run.
But if I though to stop the wet stampede,
And caught one silver lizard by the tail,
And put my foot on one without avail,
And threw myself wet-elbowed and wet-kneed
In front of twenty others' wriggling speed,--
In the confusion of them all aglitter,
And birds that joined in the excited fun
By doubling and redoubling song and twitter,
I have no doubt I'd end by holding none.
It takes the moon for this. The sun's a wizard
By all I tell; but so's the moon a witch.
From the high west she makes a gentle cast
And suddenly, without a jerk or twitch,
She has her speel on every single lizard.
I fancied when I looked at six o'clock
The swarm still ran and scuttled just as fast.
The moon was waiting for her chill effect.
I looked at nine: the swarm was turned to rock
In every lifelike posture of the swarm,
Transfixed on mountain slopes almost erect.
Across each other and side by side they lay.
The spell that so could hold them as they were
Was wrought through trees without a breath of storm
To make a leaf, if there had been one, stir.
One lizard at the end of every ray.
The thought of my attempting such a stray!

Daily Encouragement, Wit & Wisdom for February 25

marcus@redshoesplanet.com (Marcus Vannini) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:01:00 +0000

Happy Birthday to Pierre Renoir (1841)

“The pain passes, but the beauty remains.”
“When I've painted a woman's bottom so that I want to touch it, then [the painting] is finished.”
“Shall I tell you what I think are the two qualities of a work of art? First, it must be the indescribable, and second, it must be inimitable.”

Happy Birthday to Enrico Caruso (1873)

"It was he who impressed, time and again, the necessity of singing as nature intended, and - I remember - he constantly warned, don't let the public know that you work. So I went slowly. I never forced the voice."
"A big chest, a big mouth, 90 percent memory, 10 percent intelligence, lots of hard work, and something in the heart."

Happy Birthday to Millicent Fenwick (1910)

"Never feel self-pity, the most destructive emotion there is. How awful to be caught up in the terrible squirrel cage of self.”
“I have come to believe that the one thing people cannot bear is a sense of injustice. Poverty, cold, even hunger, are more bearable than injustice.”

Happy Birthday to George Harrison (1943)

"As long as you hate, there will be people to hate."

"Gossip is the Devil's radio."

"I wanted to be successful, not famous."

"Love one another."

"There's high, and there's high, and to get really high - I mean so high that you can walk on the water, that high-that's where I'm going."

Happy Birthday Davey Allison (1961)

“I realized I better enjoy & appreciate & contribute as much as I can today because all of this could be gone tomorrow."
“Darlington is tough. The third turn got me again, but this time I took out Dad, too. That really hurts”

Events This Day in History...

1570 - Pope Pius the Fifth excommunicated England's Queen Elizabeth I.

1601 - Robert Devereux, the second Earl of Essex and former favorite of Elizabeth I, was beheaded in the Tower of London for high treason.

1779 - The British surrendered the Illinois country to Lieutenant George Rogers Clark at Vincennes, Indiana.

1793 - President George Washington held the first Cabinet meeting.

1836 - Samuel Colt patented his revolver.

1901 - United States Steel Corporation was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.

1913 - The Sixteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, authorizing the income tax, went into effect.

1919 - Oregon became the first state to tax gasoline.

1950 - "Your Show of Shows" starring Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris debuted on TV.

1964 - Cassius Clay dethroned world heavyweight boxing champ Sonny Liston in a seventh-round technical knockout. Clay then announced his conversion to Islam, changing his name to Muhammad Ali.

1976 - U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states may ban the hiring of illegal aliens.

1986 - President Ferdinand E. Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.

1988 - American televangelist Jimmy Swaggart was defrocked by the Assemblies of God for one year after it became known that he had visited a prostitute for three years.
2005 - Dennis Rader was arrested near his home for the BTK serial killings that terrorized Wichita, Kansas between 1974 and 1991.
2006 - The world's estimated population reaches 6.5 billion....

Poem of the Day....

A Poet to His Beloved
by William Butler Yeats
I bring you with reverent hands
The books of my numberless dreams,
White woman that passion has worn
As the tide wears the dove-grey sands,
And with heart more old than the horn
That is brimmed from the pale fire of time:
White woman with numberless dreams,
I bring you my passionate rhyme

Something Good from V

marcus@redshoesplanet.com (Marcus Vannini) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:34:00 +0000

My last serious girlfriend gave me this one...pretty good...

A REASON, A SEASON OR A LIFETIME
People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are.

They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die.

Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.!

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friend ship is clairvoyant.

Thank you for being a part of my life, whether you were a reason, a season or a lifetime.

Daily Encouragement, Wit & Wisdom - February 6, 2010 How Can I Make You Happy Today?

marcus@redshoesplanet.com (Marcus Vannini) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:25:00 +0000

Success is getting up just one more time than you fall down...

Food for thought from famous people born today...

Live and die in Aristotle's works.
I count religion but a childish toy, and hold there is no sin but ignorance.
Money can't buy love, but it improves your bargaining position.
Accursed be he that first invented war.
Excess of wealth is cause of covetousness.

Christopher Marlowe (1564)

I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.
A man who knows he's making money for other people ought to get some of the profits he brings in.

George Herman "Babe" Ruth (1895)

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind.
Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight.
Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction.

Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!

Bob Marley (1945)

I'd rather be in a tent than in a house.
I had never passed a single school exam, and clearly never would.

She stops, pauses, turns to the left to glance at some possible threat or irregularity, and then continues to the north. This motion, so intensely human, transcends time.

Mary Douglas Leakey
Sometimes your friends are your lovers, or have been at one time.

Axl Rose (1962 born William Bruce Rose, Jr.)

And what would a day be with out a few notable deaths...

1989 - Chris Gueffroy, the last person reportedly killed escaping over the Berlin Wall...

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
Clothes and manners do not make the man; but when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance.
From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.
If I were to say, "God, why me?" about the bad things, then I should have said, "God, why me?" about the good things that happened in my life.

Arthur Ashe (1993)

One of My Favourite Letters of All Time

marcus@redshoesplanet.com (Marcus Vannini) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:33:00 +0000

A week before the battle of Bull Run Sullivan Ballou, a Major in the 2nd

Rhode Island Volunteers, wrote home to his wife in Smithfield.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 14,1861
Camp Clark, Washington DC

Dear Sarah:

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days - perhaps tomorrow. And lest I should not be able to write you again I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I am no more.

I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing - perfectly willing - to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this government, and to pay that debt.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but omnipotence can break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly with all those chains to the battlefield. The memory of all the blissful moments I have enjoyed with you come crowding over me, and I feel most deeply grateful to God and you, that I have enjoyed them for so long. And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes and future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and see our boys grown up to honorable manhood around us.

If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I loved you, nor that when my last breath escapes me on the battle field, it will whisper your name...

Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless, how foolish I have sometimes been!...

But, 0 Sarah, if the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they love, I shall always be with you, in the brightest day and in the darkest night... always, always. And when the soft breeze fans your cheek, it shall be my breath, or the cool air your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for me, for we shall meet again...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sullivan Ballou was killed a week later at the 1st Battle of Bull Run.

Daily Encouragement & Wisdom - February 5, 2010 How Can I Make You Happy Today?

marcus@redshoesplanet.com (Marcus Vannini) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:26:00 +0000

Starting with quotes from famous people born today...

- Every age needs men who will redeem the time by living with a vision of the things that are to be.

- All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions.
- A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular.
- A hungry man is not a free man.
- A beauty is a woman you notice; a charmer is one who notices you.
Adlai E. Stevenson (1900)

- After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say 'I want to see the manager.'

- How I hate those who are dedicated to producing conformity.

- Anything that can be done chemically can be done by other means.

- After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military.

- A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on.
William S. Burroughs (1914)

- Never raise your hand to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.
- When people ask me if Dean Martin drank, let me put it this way. If Dracula bit Dean in the neck, he'd get a Bloody Mary.
Red Buttons (born Aaron Chwatt 1919)

- Didn't come up here to read. Came up here to hit.
- It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course.
- I never doubted my ability, but when you hear all your life you're inferior, it makes you wonder if the other guys have something you've never seen before. If they do, I'm still looking for it.
Hank Aaron (1934)

Finally, some quotes from a great author and historian who died today in 1881

- A laugh, to be joyous, must flow from a joyous heart, for without kindness, there can be no true joy.

- A strong mind always hopes, and has always cause to hope.

- A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.

- A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.

- A well-written life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.

Thomas Carlyle