News for Week Ending Friday, Apr 6, 2018

1.   This week a huge fire broke out on Scotland’s Isle of Rum.  ***  Firefighters, led by a Captain Morgan, have been fighting the blaze with a lot of ice and several truckloads of Coke.

2.   Effective today, Starbucks is bringing back Happy Hour, starting with 50% off espresso from 3:00 PM to closing time.   ***   In a related move, the company also announced that it has entered into a business partnership with Ambien.  

3.   A woman in Phoenix was arrested after using a stun gun to wake up her son for Easter church services.  ***  She later apologized to authorities and said the only reason she even has the device is in case he falls asleep during the sermon.

4.   In Rome, authorities had to seal off part of the St. Peters Cathedral after chunks of plaster fell down, endangering visitors.  ***   However, there were brisk sales of the new Vatican T-shirt, “I got plastered at St. Peters.” 

5.   Forty life-size wax figures of Amish people are for sale in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  ***  They were rented out to Amish who wanted to drive their buggies in the carpool lane. (It actually worked great, until the weather turned warm…)

6.   On this date in history:  Apr 6, 1925 – A British Air flight features the first film shown on an airplane.  ***  Actually, passengers in first class got the movie; the ones in coach just got the popcorn.

7.   On this date in history:  Apr 5, 1806 – Isaac Quintard patents apple cider.   ***  He then followed up with the invention of cinnamon donuts.

8.   On this date in history:  Apr 4, 1818 – Congress changes the U.S. flag to 13 red and 13 white stripes, with 20 stars.  ***   The meaningful design reflected the fact that there were 13 original states and Congress got 20 paid holidays.

9.   On this date in history:  Apr 3, 1985 – In London, Vic Elliot pockets 15,780 pool balls in 24 hours.  ***   Must have been big pockets.

10.  On this date in history:  Apr 2, 1978 – "Dallas" premieres on CBS as a 5 week mini-series.  ***  They soon extended it, as it took four seasons just to introduce all the characters who wanted to shoot JR.