Quotes from American Presidents (1 of 16): William McKinley

Greetings to our blog-readers in Malaysia, Colombia and Egypt.

Today, we begin our series quoting American presidents from yesterday. On this blog, we are quoting presidents 25-40, and thus we begin with William McKinley. Most young people probably recognize the name William McKinley from the cult tv show "Freaks and Geeks," which took place at William McKinley High School in suburban Michigan.

There actually is a real William McKinley High School quite far away from Michigan in Honolulu, Hawaii.

McKinley was one of several presidents from Ohio, but many of them did not have much luck as two of the four assassinated presidents (James Garfield being the other besides McKinley was the second). McKinley was gunned down by a left-wing extremist in Buffalo, NY, in 1801, who was later executed. McKinley is actually considered by many historians to be the most right-wing president in American history, even ahead of Ronald Reagan.

McKinley has seen a bit of hoopla lately as right-wing scholars have written many articles and even books about him, and we imagine he is loved at the Libertarian think-tank the Cato Institute in Washington, DC, whose views we pretty much strongly differ with. But, we'll give their link any way.

Here is the quote from McKinley:

"In the time of darkest defeat, victory may be the nearest."

PS: We thought we'd throw in our favorite line from Sunday's "Roanoke Times" comics page. This quip is from "Dilbert": "Go sit at your desk or you're fired." (no exclamation point!)......


http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williammckinley

http://www.cato.org/

http://www.dilbert.com

Election Day #s (4 of 4)_ Ok, Yeah, Perhaps This Was a Bad Idea

Wow~! We are almost done..........eight entries in two blogs dealing with Election Day numbers. It might be time for Anacin, but before we do that, let's take one last look at the numbers:

62.6-Percentage U.S. Senate-elected Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) got in an open seat election

374.-Percentage Linda Lingle, Hirono's Republican opponent got in the election.

60.5- Percentage Cong. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) got in his re-election bid.

39.5- Percentage Cong. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), ironically Sherman's opponent, got.

48.7-Percentage Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana) got in his re-election bid

44.8- Percentage Tester's Republican opponent Denny Rehberg got.

50.1- Percentage President Barack Obama got in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire

48.4- Percentage Mitt Romney got in Hillsborough County, NH

49.9- Percentage Romney got in Carroll County, NH

49.1-Percentage Obama got in Caroll County, NH

55.7- Percentage Romney got in Maricopa County, Ariz., which has a highly controversial right-wing sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has also made dubious efforts to prove Obama was not born in America.

79-Percentage of the evangelical vote that went for Romney

68.8- Percentage Obama got in King County (Seattle), Washington

73.5- Percentage Obama got in Denver County, Colo.

55.3-Percentage Obama got in Charlottesville, Va.

61.6-Percentage Obama got in Miami-Dade County, Fla.

50.1- Percentage Sen. elect- Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) got in an open seat election

45.6- Percentage Flake's Democratic opponent Richard Carmona got.

332- Final electoral college tally for Obama

Olympic Cities Destination Quiz (5 of 6)- Helsinki-Antwerp

Hey kids, for those of you who are not sitting at a multi-plex in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, watching "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises," we offer you free entertainment and a geography lesson as we look at the distance between Antwerp, Belgium, which hosted the Olympics way back in 1920, and Helsinki, Finland, which did the honors in 1952.

A mere 29 countries competed in Belgium, but among them was American swimmer Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968), whew glad, we double-checked the spelling!, who won gold. He would later become an actor and an icon in his native Hawaii.

In Antwerp, Italian fencer Nedo Nadi (1894-1940) won a record five gold medals in his sport.

As for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, which had 69 countries participating, Soviet/Ukrainian gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya (1921-2001) who might have the longest surname in Olympics history won an all-around gold medal in women's gymnastics and six medals overall. In 1990, she emigrated to Israel.

So, we are asking just how far apart these two European Olympics cities are from one another; is the answer:

A) 1,061 miles

B) 1,265 miles

C) 1,333 miles

D) 1,409 miles

Note: The above images are of the iconic Belgian comic book hero Tintin and his dog Snowy, and a member of the very unique Finnish band the Leningrad Cowboys.

Silly Picture to Fill Space- Honduran Blue Frogs

Today, we honoring Leap Day with a photo of the Honduran blue frog, well that is not the species' scientific name but Tilly Gokbudak, the managing of this blog, only made a C in biology at Central High School in Woodstock, Va. (not really where I went to school).

We have also decided to list the sunset times for eight American cities, including Greensboro, NC, and Salt Lake City, Utah, as well as Barrow, Alaska, which, being that it's in northern Alaska, may be one place where there are no Red Box dvd machines.

Here are the sunset times for today (Leap Day); the earliest one is for Nashua, NH, and the latest one is for Hilo, Hawaii (all times are local):

Greensboro, NC 6:13 p.m.

Nashua, NH 5:34 p.m.

Madison, Wisc. 5:46 p.m.

Tulsa, Okla. 6:18 p.m.

Salt Lake City, Utah 5:39 p.m.

Tacoma, Wash. 5:54 p.m.

Barrow, Alaska 6:19 p.m.

Hilo, Hawaii 6:25 p.m.

Things We Learned on Google Today- Gyumri is Armenia's Second City

Today, we continue our look at former republics of the Soviet Union that are now independent countries with a look at Armenia. By the way, we think this sheep is from Scotland. Armenia is a predominantly rural country that overlooks Mount Ararat, with lots of hills, and therefore, lots and lots of sheep.

As it is, since I am a Turkish-American (Turkey and Armenia are traditional rivals, and yes there is a controversial, dark chapter of history between the two sides which we are not going into), there are plenty of other things I will need to do here, including making sure that I have spelled Armenia's prime minister Tigran Sargsyan's name correctly. Sargsyan is relatively close to age to President Barack Obama, as he is 51, which makes him a year older than Obama.

Gyumri is actually the answer to what is Armenia's second largest city behind the capital Yerevan. It is in fairly close proximity to Kars, Turkey.

In May of 2010, Gyumri was the site of major political demonstrations organized by the Armenian National Congress. During these protests, former prime minister Hrant Bagratian criticized the government in Yerevan, according to Radio Free Europe.

Gyumri has a population of 168, 918, roughly the same size as the American city of Greenville, South Carolina. Gyrumi has many historic Orthodox churches, including Saint Jacob and Holy Mother of God.

The city is also home to a large domestic brewery and the Armenian League soccer team FC Shirak, a team that has a player named Hovhannes Tahmazyan, who turns 42 in January (wow!).

Gyumri is also the hometown of Soviet Olympic weight-lifting great Yurik Vardanian who won gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

This is the next-to-last profile of former Soviet states in our series. The final entry will be dedicated to Azerbaijan.

SIDEBAR: We wanted to give a quick update from yesterday's first round NCAA women's volleyball games. The University of North Carolina Tarheels prevailed over the tenth ranked California Bears in a game that was played in 'neutral' Malibu, Calif., which is considerably closer to Berkeley than Chapel Hill.

The 'Heels won the match 3-2 (25-17, 16-25, 23-25, 25-17, 15-9). Junior Emily McGee lead the way with 23 kills and 18 digs for UNC. The 'Heels now face Pepperdine on the California school's home court.

But, the 'other UNC' the University of Northern Colorado was swept by Hawaii in a game that didn't finish until the wee hours of the morning on the east coast as it was played in Honolulu. The final score of that match was 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-15). Hawaii had a 29-1 record coming into the match, and were highly favored; they will next play Colorado State.

It was also a bad day for UNC's traditional rival Duke University (the two teams only played each other once this year in Durham, NC, a game that Duke won) as they fell to Tennessee 3-1 in a game that was played on the Lady Vols' home court; the Vols next face Ohio State.

Quoting William Shakespeare (1 of 5)

For those of you who have actually read both of my blogs today (people in Slovenia are actually reading this?!; ok!) if you look closely this is not the same William Shakespeare bobblehead doll that I used on "The Daily Vampire."

As it is, we are quoting the Bard on Thursdays this month. Interestingly enough, the last time we referenced Shakespeare on this blog was regarding CliffsNotes. Hopefully, young people will go that route rather than merely digging up stuff from Wikipedia. It's ironic that modern technology has made some previous classroom taboos, such as reading CliffsNotes, more acceptable in this modern age.

And, with that said here is our quote from Shakespeare, and for the record, I think he really wrote his plays:

"An overflow of good converts to bad."

Currently, a stage production of the Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol" is being performed by the North Carolina Shakespeare Company at the High Point Theatre, which is in (of course) High Point, NC.

A production of the same play is being performed by Triad Stage in nearby Greensboro; the two companies are separate from each other.

SIDEBAR: Since today is World AIDS Day, well it is late at night now everywhere except perhaps Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, I thought I would post an appreciation to the late Freddie Mercury, who was the lead singer of the pioneering
'70s and '80s rock band Queen. Mercury died 20 years ago of AIDS complications at age 45 on November 24th, 1991.

The band's most famous song (well, arguably) "Bohemian Rhapsody" become a popular hit again shortly after Mercury's death as it was used in the movie "Wayne's World."

Domestically, AIDS has hit many cities hard, especially Washington, DC, and New Orleans. And, many countries in Africa, including South Africa and Tanzania have dealt with AIDS epidemics.

SIDEBAR 2: The answer to our Rabbit Ears Quiz question from earlier in the week is
C) $199. Yes, this is what a "Land of the Lost" lunchbox from the early '70s is reportedly worth!

Sports Desk- Women's NCAA Volleyball Tourney Begins

The University of Hawaii Rainbow (picture; 29-1) will be among the 64 teams seeking the NCAA Women's national championship in volleyball. The team will start play in Honolulu against the University of Northern Colorado Bears. Among the standouts for Hawaii are Kanani Danielson, Emily Maeda and Jane Croson. The Rainbow have won 24 games in a row; the Bears have not played in Hawaii since 2003.

Eight teams from the Big 10 made the field as did five teams from the PAC 12, including Oregon, which will play against Colorado State in Honolulu.

The more familiar UNC, the school in Chapel Hill, NC, will head all the way out to Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., to face the University of California. Last week, the Cal Bears upset sixth-ranked Stanford thanks to Tarah Murray, who was named Pac 12 Player of the Week. But, the Bears will face a solid challenge from the Tarheels as the team features Cameron Von Noy, the ACC Freshman of the year. And, three All ACC players in Kaylie Gibson, Emily McGee and Chaniel Nelson. The two teams play at 5:00 p.m. (esatern time) on Dec. 1.

Two of the other three ACC schools in the field of 64 include both Florida State and Miami (Fl).

The Seminoles actually get to host their first round game against the University of Albany. The 'Noles have perhaps the most internationally diverse squad in the field as their roster includes the likes of Duygu Duzceler and Fatma Yildirim (both from Turkey), Rachael Morgan (New Zealand), Patricia Fiqueriedo (Brazil) as well as two players from Serbia and one from Latvia. Their opponents, the Great Danes, lead by senior Brooke Stanley also have a player from Croatia. That game will take place on Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m.

Their conference and in-state rivals Miami (Fl) travel to Ames, Iowa (Iowa State University), to face Northern Illinois. The Hurricanes team includes ACC Player of the Year Lane Carico.

The top four teams in the field are Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa State and Texas. The national championship game will be played on Dec. 17th in San Antonio, Texas.

In the whoops department, we misinformed the public by saying that my alma mater Radford University had won the Big South Tournament in Charleston, SC, several days ago. It was in fact our arch rivals, the Liberty Flames, that won the tournament. But, the team from Lynchburg, Va., now has the challenge of facing defending four-time NCAA champion Penn State on the Nittany Lions' home floor.

SIDEBAR: Since we have many blog readers in Turkey, at least as of late (I am a Turkish-American), I thought it would be good to run a list of scores from this weekend's soccer action. In what was arguably the game of the week, Istanbul powerhouse Besiktas beat Trabzonspor 1-0. A feat that is made more impressive because Trabzonspor is playing Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League at the moment.

Here is a partial list of other scores from the Turkish Premiere League:

Samsunspor 1 Antalyaspor 0
GalataSaray 2 Sivasspor 1
Ankara GB 0 Fenerbahce (Istanbul) 0
Karabukspor 2 Bursaspor 0

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Dick Durbin Talks

According to NPR, the most boring day in the 20th century was April 11, 1954. I am not sure if today was one of those days even though assuredly everyone from Hilo, Hawaii, to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is talking about the infamous Wikileaks fiasco, but not much was going on today, at least on Twitter.

But, we did find out that Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill) will talk to progressive-leaning PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley. The shows airs at 12:30 a.m. in Mount Airy, NC, but hopefully ultra-right wing Cong. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) will suffer from insomnia and tune in.

Here is the actual tweet from "The Tavis Smiley Show:"

"Also tonight @ PBS, Sen. Dick Durbin shares his thoughts on deficit reduction, unemployment benefits and tax cuts."

SIDEBAR: Are you wondering how the heck you spell Chanukah/Hannukah/Hanuka. Well, the hip magazine "Mental Floss" has an article on it. Assuredly, it will be more popular in Tel Aviv, Israel, than Aleppo, Syria, but we are sure it's a fascinating topic.