First session of the U.S. Supreme Court on February 01, 1790

First session of the U.S. Supreme Court: In the Royal Exchange Building on New York City’s Broad Street, the Supreme Court of the United States meets for the first time, with Chief Justice John Jay of New York presiding.

The U.S. Supreme Court was established by Article Three of the U.S. Constitution, which took effect in March 1789. The Constitution granted the Supreme Court ultimate jurisdiction over all laws, especially those in which constitutionality was at issue. The court was also designated to rule on cases concerning treaties of the United States, foreign diplomats, admiralty practice, and maritime jurisdiction.

In September 1789, the Judiciary Act was passed, implementing Article Three by providing for six justices who would serve on the court for life. The same day, President George Washington appointed John Jay to preside as chief justice, and John Rutledge of South Carolina, William Cushing of Massachusetts, John Blair of Virginia, Robert Harrison of Maryland, and James Wilson of Pennsylvania to serve as associate justices. Two days later, all six appointments were confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The Supreme Court later grew into arguably the most powerful judicial body in the world in terms of its central place in the U.S. political order. In times of constitutional crisis, for better or worse, it always played a definitive role in resolving the great issues of the time. History Channel / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Supreme Court.gov / Library of Congress / Mount Vernon.org

Understanding Military Terminology - Mass atrocity response operations

(DOD) Military activities conducted to prevent or halt mass atrocities. Also called MARO. Joint Publications JP 3-07.3 (Peace Operations)

The Old Salt’s Corner

“The Convergence of the Twain”

I

In a solitude of the sea

Deep from human vanity,

And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.

II

Steel chambers, late the pyres

Of her salamandrine fires,

Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.

III

Over the mirrors meant

To glass the opulent

The sea-worm crawls - grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.

continued ...

~ Thomas Hardy

(1915)

Full Poem

“I’m Just Sayin”

“An information retrieval system will tend not to be used whenever it is more painful and troublesome for a customer to have information than for him not to have it.”

An empirical observation made by American computer scientist Calvin Mooers in 1959.

~ Mooers' law

“Thought for the Day”

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest.

‘Til your good is better and your better is best.”

~ Saint Jerome

“What I Have Learned”

“Before befriending others,

you have to be your own best friend.

Before correcting others,

you have to correct yourself.

Before making others happy,

you have to make yourself happy.

It is not termed as selfish, but personal development.

Once you balance yourself,

only then can you balance the world.”

~ Anonymous

Bizarre News (we couldn’t make up stuff this good – real news story)

No, Fisher-Price Isn’t Selling A “Happy Hour Playset” “Another apple juice, barkeep.”

In addition to the scourge of fake news, now we also have to worry about fake toys.

Case in point: A “Happy Hour Playset”, featuring a bar, stools and fake beer bottles, that is supposedly being sold by Fisher-Price (surly barkeep not included).

Make no mistake: The product is fake and only exists in a photo posted Monday on Instagram by Adam Padilla, the owner of a New York branding agency.

This is actually the second Fisher-Price spoof in recent days. Over the weekend, “Saturday Night Live” presented a parody commercial for a fake line of Fisher-Price toys catering to sensitive boys, including a plastic well for staring.

Huffington Post (12/08/2016)

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: What is the Difference Between an Ale and a Lager?

It’s actually pretty simple. While lagers are known for their crisper, slightly more mellow flavor and ales tend to be fruitier, the separation has less to do with taste and more with how they are brewed. Ales utilize top-fermenting yeasts, usually S. cerevisiae, which interact with sugar near the top of the wort (the liquid product of boiling the barley and other grains) to produce alcohol at higher temperatures. Lagers ferment on the bottom of the wort and can take weeks or months to do their handiwork while chilling out at cooler temperatures.

The term “lager”, in fact, comes from the German word largern, or “to store”. Bavarian beermakers in the 15th and 16th centuries discovered lager when they left yeasts in cold storage for months at a time and noticed they were still fermenting—lager yeasts could withstand the near-freezing environments that made their ale counterparts go dormant.

The variation in temperature produces different chemical reactions, which is why lagers tend to behave differently on the palate. While lagers are a relative newcomer to the beer scene—ales have been around for many, many hundreds of years—they have found favor with enthusiasts who enjoy their unique aroma and clean taste. Take a sip and find out for yourself.

(Please remember to drink responsibly.)

Beer and Brewing Magazine • Dummies • Mental Floss • Popular Science • Quora • Ale - Lager, Wikipedia

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“Armed To The Teeth:”  Meaning: Fully prepared for a confrontation.

Origin: Medieval warriors were often so laden with weapons that sometimes they would have to carry one in their teeth.

The term originated in Port Royal Jamaica in the 1600s when pirates were constantly looking for ships to loot and their guns were very primitive. As a result, pirates could shoot only once before a long reloading process. Consequently, they needed to carry a gun in each hand, and also perhaps in each pocket. For extra power, they would also hold a knife between their teeth. So to be 'armed to the teeth' means to carry the maximum number of weapons possible.

English Stack Exchange - Phrases.org UK

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

NAVCIVLANT/NAVCIVPAC: Described as where a soon to be departing sailor from active duty's next station will be.

NAVCOMM: Navigator / Communicator. Usually the junior NFO on a patrol aircraft.

NFG: Non-Functioning Gear: Used typically on Tags placed on electronics indicating malfunction description. Also called No F'n Good.

NFO: Naval Flight Officer: flies alongside the pilot as weapons officer. Also referred to as a “talking kneeboard”. No Fuckin' Option is term used for NFOs who would rather be pilots, but don't qualify.

Just for you MARINE

O-dark thirty: Very early hours before dawn. See also military time, Zero-dark thirty. The custom of saying “oh” instead of zero has diminished, but remains in this expression.

Office Hours: Administrative ceremony where legal, disciplinary, and other matters (such as praise, special requests, etc.) are attended, designed to dramatize praise and admonition, in a dignified, disciplined manner, out of the ordinary routine. Known as Captain's Mast afloat. An award given during a positive office hours or Mast is known as a Meritorious Mast, a negative office hours with punishment awarded is an example of non-judicial punishment.

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

VT-9 - Fixed Wing Training Squadrons: “Tigers”
Formerly VT-19, Established August 2nd 1971, redesig to VT-9 on October 1st 1998 (2nd Training Squadron desig VT-9) / Intermediate Tailhook, Advanced Jet TRAWING 1, Naval Air Station Lauderdale / Kemper counties, near Meridian, Mississippi

Science & Technology

Tiger Tail Seahorse Genome Sequencing Helps Understand Evolution Of This Unique Fish • Pain Relievers May Increase Hearing Loss Risk, Study Finds • “Death Star Spaceship” Reportedly Spotted Over Japan, Experts Have Another Explanation • An acid rainstorm lasting 100,000 years melted snowball Earth to let life emerge • Why Palmyra was such a spectacular and unique archaeological site • Gravitational wave echoes might have just caused Einstein's general theory of relativity to break down • Winners of the 2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year International Business Times

The Strange, Mysterious or Downright Weird

Pot and Viagra don't mix: 25 Odd Facts About Marijuana

Marijuana compounds can inhibit certain liver enzymes called cytochrome P450 enzymes. What does that mean? Well, for one thing, that Viagra won't break down as readily in the blood of someone who's been toking up.

Viagra (sildenafil) is broken down by cytochrome P450 enzymes, and as a 2001 study put it, “[t]here is the possibility that elevated plasma concentrations of sildenafil could occur with coadministration of known inhibitors of” these enzymes. This could cause adverse side effects.

One 2002 case report in the journal Clinical Cardiology outlined the case of a 41-year-old man who experienced a heart attack after mixing marijuana and Viagra the night before. Though the doctors couldn't prove that a drug interaction caused the heart attack, they warned other physicians to consider the enzyme-inhibiting side effects of pot when they prescribe Viagra. Live Science (11/22/2016)