Red Rock On Air

TODAY IS: National Speak Up and Succeed Day : Being an effective communicator is the most important skill for success in your personal and professional life — and yet as many as 97% of all Americans report that they are intimidated by public speaking. Help chart your course for success by practicing your public communication skills today.

BIRTHDAYS

Bob Uecker -75
Wayne Gretzky -49
Scott Glenn-71
Andrew Ridgeley (Wham!)-47

TODAY IN HISTORY

1784 Ben Franklin sends a letter to his daughter saying he isn’t happy about the eagle as the national symbol. He wanted the turkey.
1875 Electric dental drill is patented by George F Green
1905 World’s largest diamond, the 3,106-carat Cullinan, is found in South Africa
1915 Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado established
1939 Filming begins on “Gone With the Wind”
1961 “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” by Elvis Presley peaks to #1
1985 42th Golden Globes Amadeus wins
1998 President Clinton says “I want to say one thing to the American people, I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky”
2005 Dick Clark, 75, is released from the hospital, more than seven weeks after suffering a minor stroke.
2006 Nicole Kidman becomes a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for women.

BREAKING IN
Lots of prisoners want to break out of jail. But one man was caught trying to break into an Oregon jail. Police in Medford report guards spotted a 28-year-old man climbing over the fence at the Jackson County Jail. Officers say the man told them he had been drinking and smoking pot, and was trying to get help. He said he didn’t get an answer at the jail’s front door, so he went around back. The Mail Tribune reports James Merrill DeVore has been cited for disorderly conduct and trespassing.

BEST WEED
Organizers of Colorado’s First Annual Western Slope Cannabis Crown said the medical marijuana convention will include a competition to find the best weed. Bobby Scurlock of Glenwood Springs, co-organizer of the convention with the owners of High Country Caregivers, said the April 17-18 conference in Aspen will award the “cannabis crown” to the grower whose strain is chosen as the top pot by Denver-based Full Spectrum Laboratories, which will analyze levels of active marijuana ingredient THC and how it matches with the needs of patients.

DUMPSTER MONEY
Warren Bendix of Stuart told police he pulled a framed picture of a space shuttle from the trash while he was dumpster diving at Sierra Condominium Apartments, where he lives, at about 1:45 p.m. Saturday. Bendix said he took the photo home to change the frame and discovered 24 $100 bills and 35 $20 bills hidden behind the picture. He may get to keep the cash.

COUGH IT UP
Investigators said Rebecca Moore’s $20,000 two-carat diamond ring, which was passed down from her mother, was taken from her car along with her purse at about noon Thursday at Northpark Mall in Joplin, MO. The cops got a call about a couple trying to get an appraisal for the ring in an hour. Police said the suspects, who have not been identified, initially denied possessing the ring, but the man coughed the jewel out of his mouth while speaking to officers.

BAGGING IT
Don Gould used to pull down 6 figures at a design firm. Now he’s making $8.25 an hour at a Publix Supermarket in Florida as a bagger. He says that he wants to be a good role model for his teen sons. Gould says he’s showing them that “no job is undignified.”

USELESS TRIVIA

Powerful force: An erupting volcano is a powerful natural phenomenon. This destructive force can cause lava flows and mudslides which can obliterate communities, as well as avalanches and falling ash that can blanket the area around the volcano.

Fast Fish: The fastest fish (at least moving a short distance) is believed to be the cosmopolitan sailfish, darting along at more than 60 miles per hour. A blue fin tuna has been recorded traveling at 43.4 miles per hour, while dolphins routinely move at 37 miles per hour.

Tiny tubes: Bronchioles are tiny tubes in the lungs through which air moves towards air sacs called alveoli. Bronchioles are quite small and are even thinner than a human hair

Life of a Beatle: John Winston Lennon of The Beatles fame came into the world on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool, England. He was born during a World War II German air raid, and he died at the hands of gunman Mark David Chapman in New York City on December 8, 1980.