THURSDAY JANUARY 24TH 2013

Good Thursday to you. It's the double-dozenth day of January and another very cold one checking in at -24 C as of 6:30 am. Not nearly as cold as yesterdays -32...There was a very wide swing on yesterday's temps, which is known as the Diurnal range, with the difference of 20 degrees between the High and the Low.(-12 and minus 32). Over the last 20 to 30 years, it was fairly mild at times with plus temperatures in 1981, 83,84,91 and 93. A few of the occurrences on the 24th...Winston Churchill died in 1965 at age 90 Larry Fine of the 3 Stooges died on this date in 1975 at age 83 and the California Gold Rush in 1848 at Sutters Mill, all in all "Panned" out pretty well. Food rationing started in Canada in 1942 because of the war and way back in 1885 the CPR telegraph line was completed from the Atlantic to the Pacific...maybe that's where the expression "I'll DASH off a quick note" came from. In the famous folks born on this date Major-General (Ret'd) Richard Rohmer was born 89 years ago and lives with his wife Mary-O in Collingwood, and practices aviation litigation with the Toronto law firm of Rohmer & Fenn. He has two daughters, Ann Rohmer the TV personality and Catherine, a lawyer. He is a licensed pilot and of course has written many books. Also born on this date the late John Belushi and Ernest Borgnine. Today marks the 72nd birthday of the great Neil Diamond who has had more hits than Georges St-Pierre ,(often referred to as GSP, the Canadian mixed martial artist). Neil recently married his manager who is about 20 years his junior. He of course continues to tour and record. I have seen him a couple of times and puts on a good show although he tends to sound like a parody of himself. He's been in a film or two, perhaps you've forgotten about "The Jazz Singer" with Lawrence Olivier. The Jazz Singer from 1927 was not the first movie with sound, but it was the first talking AND SINGING full-length feature ...and starred AL JOLSON. While the film was still mostly silent, it did contain sections of prerecorded and synchronized dialogue and music, which movie audiences had not heard before. Though sound in film was dismissed as a fad at the time, The Jazz Singer's memorable line "you ain't heard nothin' yet" clearly pointed to the future of film-making. FINALLY just a final word on what a revelation Chris Hadfield has been in space. From his Tweets on Twitter to his dropping of the puck at the Leaf game, to his appearances on "22 Minutes" he has been very entertaining and educational..I fully expect him to clean the space CRAFT sinks with Halleys "COMET" AS A FINALE. HURRAH FOR CHRIS!!!! HAVE A GREAT DAY