TODAY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY

Hello Friends!  Here is our Today in United States History. 

On February 25, 1913,  The 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox. 

Now, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) eases on Taxpayers' Income Taxes because they currently are unemployed.  IRS was willing to hold on their Income Taxes without levies and penalties according to high unemployment rate with U.S. Department of Labor.
 

VRS Today! Telecoms equality for the BSL community

Hello Friends, Glad to see this video from the United Kingdom where the British Sign Language Community developed their own webcams and plasma TVs in homes to the British Video Relay Service. You know about Sorenson Video Relay Service created in United States first time before gave an idea to United Kingdom.

The Changing of the Guard

Hello Friends, I have been in London, England where I saw the Changing of the Guard in front the Great Gate of the Buckingham Palace since Summer 1998 before next 10 years until Fall 2008,
I entered inside the Buckingham Palace where I stayed and learned inside the place for 3 hours.
Frankly, I am American Tourist and feel strange inside the Buckingham Palace. It was very interesting history and okay to me.

Arlington Cemetery Changing of the Guard (Full Ceremony)

Hello Friends,  I used to live in Washington, DC while I was at Model Secondary School for the Deaf in 1986-87 and Gallaudet University in 1996-98.   I came to the Arlington Cemetery where I used to watch the Changing of the Guard few times.

Czech changing of the guards

Hello Friends,  I have been in Prague, Czech Repulic where I saw the Changing of the Guards at the Gate of the Palace last Summer 1998.  

Hello, Wednesday! Guess what?

Hello Friends!  

I am good today.  I learned from Election Day, Chicago, IL, I enjoyed reading on the website of future Mayor, Rahm Emanuel.  I hope he will win tonight so I think he is a popular leader to People in Chicago.

Let me send some information to you all...

http://www.chicagoforrahm.com/home/

I learned about Rahm's Biography and his Leadership Experience

and Skills.  

Rahm Israel Emanuel (pronounced /ˈrɑːm/; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician who is currently Mayor-elect of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama. He served as senior advisor to President Clinton at the White House from 1993 to 1998 and as a Democratic United States House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 5th congressional district, from 2003 until his resignation in 2009 to take up his position in the Obama Administration. member of the

Emanuel was chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2006 mid-term elections and remained a top strategist for House Democrats during the 2008 cycle. After Democrats regained control of the House in 2006, Emanuel was elected chairman of the Democratic Caucus. This made him the fourth-ranking House Democrat, behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn.

Two days after Obama's election victory, he was announced as Barack Obama's designate for White House Chief of Staff. Emanuel resigned from the House on January 2, 2009 and began his duties as Chief of Staff on January 20, 2009, the day of Obama's inauguration.

Emanuel resigned as Chief of Staff effective October 1, 2010, in order to pursue a campaign to run for Mayor of Chicago following the retirement of Richard M. Daley. He was elected on February 22, 2011, with 55% of the vote. On January 27, 2011, the Illinois Supreme Court had reversed a lower court's ruling that had cast doubt on Emanuel's candidacy; the court unanimously held that Emanuel did not abandon his Chicago residency by serving in the White House, thus affirming his eligibility to run for mayor.

 

How did the Valentine's Day create?

 
Hello Friends!   I wonder about where did the Valentine's Day come from.....????  I saw a lot of people always have a traditional Valentine custom in my country most time.   Let us find out about history time...

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs, Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

Historical Facts

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae) and Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae). Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome, and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.

Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni (Basilica di San Valentino).

The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him.

No romantic elements are present in the original early medieval biographies of either of these martyrs. By the time a Saint Valentine became linked to romance in the 14th century, distinctions between Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni were utterly lost.

In the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feast day of Saint Valentine on February 14 was removed from the General Roman Calendar and relegated to particular (local or even national) calendars for the following reason: "Though the memorial of Saint Valentine is ancient, it is left to particular calendars, since, apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14." The feast day is still celebrated in Balzan (Malta) where relics of the saint are claimed to be found, and also throughout the world by Traditionalist Catholics who follow the older, pre-Second Vatican Council calendar. February 14 is also celebrated as St Valentine's Day in other Christian denominations; it has, for example, the rank of 'commemoration' in the calendar of the Church of England and other parts of the Anglican Communion.

Romantic legends

The Early Medieval acta of either Saint Valentine were expounded briefly in Legenda Aurea. According to that version, St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer.

Since Legenda Aurea still provided no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail.

There is an additional modern embellishment to The Golden Legend, provided by American Greetings to History.com, and widely repeated despite having no historical basis whatsoever. On the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he would have written the first "valentine" card himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved, as the jailer's daughter whom he had befriended and healed, or both. It was a note that read "From your Valentine."

Modern times

In 1797, a British publisher issued The Young Man’s Valentine Writer, which contained scores of suggested sentimental verses for the young lover unable to compose his own. Printers had already begun producing a limited number of cards with verses and sketches, called “mechanical valentines,” and a reduction in postal rates in the next century ushered in the less personal but easier practice of mailing Valentines. That, in turn, made it possible for the first time to exchange cards anonymously, which is taken as the reason for the sudden appearance of racy verse in an era otherwise prudishly Victorian.

Paper Valentines became so popular in England in the early 19th century that they were assembled in factories. Fancy Valentines were made with real lace and ribbons, with paper lace introduced in the mid-19th century. In the UK, just under half the population spend money on their Valentines and around 1.3 billion pounds is spent yearly on cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts, with an estimated 25 million cards being sent. The reinvention of Saint Valentine's Day in the 1840s has been traced by Leigh Eric Schmidt. As a writer in Graham's American Monthly observed in 1849, "Saint Valentine's Day... is becoming, nay it has become, a national holyday." In the United States, the first mass-produced valentines of embossed paper lace were produced and sold shortly after 1847 by Esther Howland (1828–1904) of Worcester, Massachusetts.

Her father operated a large book and stationery store, but Howland took her inspiration from an English Valentine she had received from a business associate of her father. Intrigued with the idea of making similar Valentines, Howland began her business by importing paper lace and floral decorations from England. The English practice of sending Valentine's cards was established enough to feature as a plot device in Elizabeth Gaskell's Mr. Harrison's Confessions (1851): "I burst in with my explanations: '"The valentine I know nothing about." '"It is in your handwriting," said he coldly. Since 2001, the Greeting Card Association has been giving an annual "Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary."

Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The mid-19th century Valentine's Day trade was a harbinger of further commercialized holidays in the United States to follow.

In the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts in the United States. Such gifts typically include roses and chocolates packed in a red satin, heart-shaped box. In the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine's Day as an occasion for giving jewelry.

The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately 190 million valentines are sent each year in the US. Half of those valentines are given to family members other than husband or wife, usually to children. When you include the valentine-exchange cards made in school activities the figure goes up to 1 billion, and teachers become the people receiving the most valentines. In some North American elementary schools, children decorate classrooms, exchange cards, and are given sweets. The greeting cards of these students sometimes mention what they appreciate about each other.

The rise of Internet popularity at the turn of the millennium is creating new traditions. Millions of people use, every year, digital means of creating and sending Valentine's Day greeting messages such as e-cards, love coupons or printable greeting cards. An estimated 15 million e-valentines were sent in 2010.

HVD 2011!

Disaster planning: Los Angeles' disaster plans are inadequate for people with disabilities, judge rules - latimes.com

Disaster planning: Los Angeles' disaster plans are inadequate for people with disabilities, judge rules - latimes.com

Verbatim

Hello Friends!  I read this Time, magazine issued on
February 14, 2011. 

I learned this Verbatim on Saturday afternoon, 
February 12, 2011.

'Everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love.'

BARBARA BUSH, daughter of former President George W. Bush, expressing her support for marriage equality in a video spot for the Human Rights Campaign; her father is opposed to the legalization of same-sex marriage.

'It's a legal product.  I choose to smoke.  Leave me alone.'

JOHN BOEHNER, Speaker of the House, after being asked about his cigarette habit.

Deaf Nation Expo in Miami, FL

Hello Friends!  

On Saturday, February 5th, 2011, I enjoyed visiting and seeing many, many, many new and old faces in our Deaf Nation Expo in Miami especially I finally was very glad to see our CEO, Joel Barish where we met in front of the door with the Registration's Desk.  Joel and I already knew each other since we met in Phoenix, AZ from couple previous years ago.  A huge of thousands of deaf and hearing people came there!

Brent is cool model.

Thanks to my wonderful deaf friend, Lee of Venezuela.  He sent few good photos to me on my Facebook.   I really love my new photo of me.  I am proud to be model!  LOL!

 

A Trip to Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, Florida on Weekend

Hello Friends!  I am writing on my new blog today.  I enjoyed visiting in Ft. Lauderdale (FTL) and Miami (MIA), Florida last weekend starting Friday, Feb. 4th and ending Sunday, Feb. 5th.

On Friday morning,  I went to Payless Car Rental Agency in Tampa (TPA) where I picked up a nice car, KIA Rio LX with 4 doors.  I checked in @ 10:18 a.m.  and drove away.  I really like it.   I put my old Sony GPS on the front window so it is helpful guide to me to stay on path to FTL.   How many hours and miles from TPA to FTL?? 4 hours / 14 minutes and 266 miles. 

All rite,  I finally arrived at my old deaf friend's hearing brother's house in Pembroke Pines, FL where I visited to see Lee of Venezuela.  We finally met and reunited than 30 years!  I never forget his last action following Departure time from the Kansas State School for the Deaf, Olathe, Kansas around 1977.   Lee and I were beautiful kids.  I took him with me out of his brother's house while we came to Starbucks Coffee.  We enjoyed chatting together.  Happy Reunion! 

Next Day, Saturday, Feb. 5th,  I came and picked up Lee again before went to Miami where we went to Deaf Nation Expo.  I know Lee to see it on first time.  I honor him to stay and learn new things in there and meeting new and old deaf faces in there.   You may click this link: www.deafnation.com anytime.   We spent our time to stay for all day until 5 p.m.   We had a wonderful time together in there.   


On Sunday, Feb. 6th,  I checked out of the Relax Inn before 11 a.m.  I drove back to TPA until 4 p.m. while I made my few photos inside the car.  Before I just made my little errands before checked out and returned a rental car back to Payless around 7:30 p.m.   

 

 Drive on West I-75 from Naples via Tampa

 

 

What's Speed On?

 Rest Area less than 66 Miles to Tampa

Happy End!

Blizzard of Oz.... Ouch!!

 Hello Friends,  I was very surprised to see this awful heavy blizzard photos from www.msnbc.com and my hometown, Wichita, Kansas with 2 videos of Wichita Eagle: www.kansas.com I can't believe it last Wednesday night, Feb. 2nd.   This Thursday morning, Feb 3rd, I am relax and reading on St. Peterburg Times: "U.S. in deep freeze" and links.tampabay.com while I am living in Tampa, FL during my nice weather. 

Amtrak Southwest Chief to Union Station

Amtrak Southwest Chief

to

Kansas City Union Station

On February 2010,  I took my first video to Kansas City Downtown, Missouri from Newton, Kansas during my Amtrak Train traveled in the dark overnight time. 

I enjoyed watching my favorite sunrise time, I took a video to beautiful cold outside near Kansas City.

I love Union Station since I was 7 years old and rode on my first Amtrak

between Kansas City and La Plata, Missouri after my 3rd Grade Class

and I rode in our School Bus from Kansas State School for the Deaf,

Olathe, Kansas to Kansas City, Missouri. 

I never forget it.  :)