THE WEEK IN REVIEW: JANUARY 5-11, 2014

Amongst events happening around the world this past week...

*Spain announced that Sephardic Jews are now welcomed back into the country after 500 years of exile.
*Archaeologists have found the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Sobekhotep the First.
*The nominees for the 67th annual British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) have been announced. Winners will be revealed during the February 16 ceremony.
*Porsche, Audi, and Bentley all report "record sales" for 2013.
*Civil unrest continues in Syria (which has possibly spilled over into Lebanon), Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

WITHIN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA...
*The Target store chain now faces a possible investigation of their own for allegedly downplaying the seriousness of the Christmas season hacking of credit and debit card customers. Target originally claimed that up to 40 million customers might be affected, when that number is actually OVER 70 million!
*Meanwhile, retailer Neiman-Marcus is now reporting a Christmas season hacking too, but the exact number of how many customers of the high-end retail chain might be affected remains to be seen.
*Although claiming a senior aide intentionally engineered a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge for political retribution in September 2013 without his participation, instructions, or prior knowledge of the event; New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been sued for his (alleged) part in what is being called "Bridge Gate".
*Janet Yellen has become the first female supervisor of the Federal Reserve System.
*American born Colleen LaRose, aka "Jihad Jane", has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for her part in a failed al-Qaeda assassination attempt.
*Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas will be the 2014 inductees into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
*The 2014 Golden Globe winners will be announced in a live ceremony Sunday (January 12) night.
*The hip-hop duo known as OutKast has reunited.

THE FREE CHOICE E-ZINE WOULD LIKE TO THANK ITS READERSHIP FOR ALREADY GRANTING US OVER 1000+ PAGE VIEWS THIS EARLY IN THE MONTH!
THIS RECORD HAS BEEN IN EFFECT SINCE SEPTEMBER OF 2011, MAKING JANUARY 2014 THE 29TH STRAIGHT MONTH OF 1000+ PAGE VIEWS!

For more news at any time, either scroll down to our IN OTHER NEWS feature at the bottom of your screen or visit any other reputable news source.

THE PUZZLE CORNER: JANUARY 11, 2014

Depending upon where you are right now, it's a pretty dreary weekend weather-wise, so let's try to cheer things up with some enigmas.

COMMON BONDS
The items in each subset have something in common.
Do you know what it is?
01. {B. J. Thomas, Gene Kelly}
02. {The Beatles, Katrina and the Waves}

TRIVIA TIME
On the classic western series The Virginian, what was the full name of James Drury's title character?

We'll reveal all next weekend, but for now, let's open up THE ANSWERS BOX and discover the results from our Famous Firsts quiz that celebrated the first Puzzle Corner of 2014.

The first names of all our contestants are:
01. Mr. Magoo (voiced by Jim Backus): QUINCY
02. MacGyver (played by Richard Dean Anderson): ANGUS
03. Robert B. Parker's Spenser: NEVER REVEALED!
04. Doctor Mallard from NCIS (David McCallum): DONALD
05. The Fonz (Henry Winkler on Happy Days): ARTHUR Fonzerelli
06. Quincy, M.E. (Jack Klugman): NEVER REVEALED, but it was confirmed on the show that his first name did start with an R!
07. Columbo (Peter Falk): Officially, NEVER REVEALED, but whenever his LAPD ID was shown, a freeze frame shows his first name was Frank.
08. McCloud (Dennis Weaver): Sam
09. McMillian... (Rock Hudson): STEWART. Most people on the show referred to him as either "Mac" or his formal position as a Police Commissioner.
10. ...and Wife (Susan Saint James): Sally

01)Mister Magoo

02

04)Dr. "Ducky" Mallard

05)The Fonz

06)Quincy, Medical Examiner

07)Columbo

08)McCloud

09 and 10

THE SUNDAY FUNNIES: A WORD BY ANY OTHER TERM...

Hello Everybody, Autumn the Puppy here welcoming
you to the first Sunday Funnies post of the New Year.

Funny, so far this year looks just like last year to me.

Anyway, I've been thinking about how to kick off 2014, so let us start by dusting off and hopefully getting rid of one of my pet peeves, misused words.

William Shakespeare observed that a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, but using a word incorrectly throws everything off. To wit, this poem that has been making the rounds on the Internet:

Other examples include the fact that it is still sheep, no matter how many there are. The same with deer, although someone can be quite dear to you while it is possible to have multiple dears in your lifetime. Of course everyone is hoping the buck stops here, because their respective wallets are pretty empty.

Most books have an index, but two of them are not indices.
You can make amends, but you cannot make just one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one, what do you call that?

There's plenty more where that came from, but I think I'll save them for another time. I have to go lie down for a while, unless you want me to say something untrue, because that is a lie too.

In any event, have a great week everybody and please be back here next weekend for more Sunday Funnies!--AtP.

THE WEEK IN REVIEW: DECEMBER 29, 2013 - JANUARY 4, 2014

As another year arrives, let us look at some of the events that have happened around the world in this unique week...

*Latvia is now officially using the Euro.

*The United Nations Security Council has sent troops to South Sudan in hopes of avoiding a civil war in that country.

*The Philippines is dealing with a measles outbreak in metro Manila.

*Phil Everly of The Everly Brothers has passed away.

*Actor James Avery has passed away following complications from an operation.

*The 125th Tournament of Roses Parade was held New Year's Day.

*Civil unrest continues in Syria, Iran, Iraq, Anbar, Somali, and Afghanistan.

And The Free Choice E-zine would like to thank its global readership for closing out the year by giving us over 3000+ (monthly) page views for the first time ever!

For more news at any time, either scroll down to our IN OTHER NEWS feature at the bottom of your screen or visit any other reputable news source.

THE PUZZLE CORNER: JANUARY 4, 2014

Welcome one and all to the first Puzzle Corner of 2014!

To kick off the New Year right, we are going to do a special edition of FAMOUS FIRSTS!

All you have to do is give us the first names of the people listed below.

Ready?

02. MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson)

01. Mr. Magoo (voiced by Jim Backus)

03. Robert B. Parker's Spenser

04. "Ducky" (David Mcallum on NCIS)

05. "The Fonz" (Henry Winkler on Happy Days)

06. Quincy, M. E. (Jack Klugman)

07. Columbo (Peter Falk)

08. McCloud (Dennis Weaver)

09. and 10

09. Mc Millan (Rock Hudson)
10. And his wife (Susan Saint James)

We'll reveal all next weekend, but for now let's open THE ANSWERS BOX and see how well you did on our 2013 Year's End Quiz.

01. We lost this actor, who was nominated EIGHT times for an Oscar, but never once won! He was given an honorary Oscar before his passing. Who was this person? Peter O'Toole
02. The next time Hanukkah and Thanksgiving will occur within the same 24 hour period is not until what year? 2070, since Hanukkah begins at sundown the night before. The 79811 is for an EXACT overlapping of the holidays, unless the Jewish calendar is revised.
03. Author Tom Clancy passed away this year. Can you name his last book, published posthumously? Command Authority
04. What accomplishment can trumpeter Derek Watkins claim that no one else can? He played on EVERY James Bond movie soundtrack from "Doctor No" to "Skyfall", although we're not sure if that includes the 1960's version of "Casino Royale" and the canon questionable "Never Say Never Again".
05. Who won the 2013 World Series? The Boston Red Sox
06. Who won the 2013 Super Bowl? The Baltimore Ravens
07. What makes the annual Tournament of Roses Parade so unique? Every float is 100% decorated in organic materials.
08. What famous science fiction series celebrated its 50th anniversary this year? Doctor Who
09. 2013 is allegedly the year the X-men have to worry about mutant hunting Sentinels taking over the world in the acclaimed "Days of Future Past" story line that is being made into a movie. But when was this comic book tale first published? 1980
10. Who did Time magazine name their 2013 Person of the Year? Pope Francis

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!

Hello and welcome to the first day of the New Year!
Lativa officially adopted the Euro as its currency today, while the Affordable Health Care Act (aka Obama Care) is now available to any American in need of medical insurance.
Let's look ahead to what else 2014 holds in store for us.

Leno, Fallon, image via google

Jay Leno's last day as host of The Tonight Show will be the Thursday before NBC begins their coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics February 7-23. Jimmy Fallon will take over as the show's host the day after the closing ceremonies as the program begins broadcasting from New York City, something that hasn't been done since the beginning of Johnny Carson's 30 year tenure as host.

Looking even farther away, amongst events occurring in outer space this year will include the annular solar eclipse April 29th. NASA's New Horizon's spacecraft will be passing Neptune on its way to examine Pluto, and the space agency is scheduled to perform an unmanned test of the new Orion spaceship before planning missions to the moon, asteroids, and hopefully Mars someday.

Politics is always in the news, and 2014 will be no exception. Scotland will be holding a referendum on the issue of independence September 18, with Catalonia asking its citizens the same question November 9. But of course the biggest news in American politics is the November 4th mid-term elections. With one-third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives on the ballots, pundits wonder how the Republican party will fare this fall, considering their attitude and (in)actions of the past few years.

2014 will end December 31st with the United States and the United Kingdom scheduled to withdraw their remaining troops from Afghanistan; and The Free Choice E-zine will have made both its 1200th AND 1300th posts just on the strength of our weekly features: The Puzzle Corner and The Week In Review on Saturdays, with the Sunday Funnies the next day.

And amongst the anniversaries that will be held this year...

225th anniversary

A growing country

21 November: North Carolina became the 12th member of the United States of America

195th anniversary
14 December: Alabama became 22nd member of the United States

150th anniversary
31 October: Nevada became the 36th member of the United States

125th anniversary
01 January: The first Tournament of Roses Parade was held
31 March: Alexandre Gustave Eiffel dedicated his Paris tower open
02 November: North and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th (respectively) members of the United States of America
08 November: Montana became the 41st member of the United States
11 November: Washington became the 42nd member of the United States

Oswald

85th anniversary
05 January: The debut of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
17 January: Popeye the Sailor debuted in the Thimble Theater comic strip

75th anniversary
14 April: John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was first published
24 August: Andy Panda debuted in "Life Begins For Andy Panda"

65th anniversary
28 February: Beany and Cecil, the sea-sick Sea Serpent debuted on Time for Beany!

55th anniversary
02 January: Although aimed for the moon, the USSR's Luna 1 became the first satellite to orbit the sun
03 January: Alaska became the 49th member of the United States of America
21 August: Hawaii became the 50th member of the United States
12 September: Bonanza debuted on TV

50th anniversary
06 December: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first debuted on TV

Neil Armstrong

45th anniversary
20 July: Apollo 11 landed on the moon and astronaut Neil Armstrong took that historic first step
20 November: University of Southern California (USA) scientists created the first/experimental Internet set up

40th anniversary
13 April: Dungeons and Dragons game debuted
07 September: Debut of original Land of the Lost TV series

15th anniversary
20 March: Bertrand Piccard of Switzerland and Brian Jones of Great Britain completed the first successful around the world hot air balloon trip

BOOK REVIEW: SILENT NIGHT, A SPENSER HOLIDAY NOVEL

There is no question as to the quality of Robert B. Parker's writing. Jesse Stone, Sunny Randall, the Cole/Hitch westerns, a plethora of other novels, and of course: Spenser.

The famed Boston private detective first appeared in 1973's The Godwulf Manuscript, the first of 40 novels, although the last two were published posthumously, before the Parker estate allowed author Ace Atkins to continue the series.

However there was one last novel, a work in progress at the time Parker passed away in January 2010.

Silent Night is actually a holiday story. Spenser, planning Christmas dinner for longtime paramour Susan Silverman and their friends, is hired to help protect a children's shelter that someone is trying to run out of business. Spenser starts investigating with his usual charm and aplomb, which leads to the inevitable showdown/climax starting at Chapter 23.

Although the novel was finished by his longtime friend and literary agent Helen Brann, and published in time for the 2013 Holiday season; in all fairness to both Robert B. Parker and his fans (me amongst them), it is hard to judge or say anything negative about someone's last work. One must assume the author would have caught and corrected any glitches before declaring the manuscript complete. However I cannot explain the apparent gaffe in Chapter 30, when Spenser says he and Susan will go to New York in January to visit Paul Giacomin "after the debris was cleared from Times Square," which makes me wonder when this project was started. Was Parker and/or Brann referring to the aftermath of New Year's Eve (odd because of using the word debris instead of trash) or an old reference to a post 9-11 world. Either way, I do not know where this novel was to occur within the established Spenser timeline. However, for the Spenser and/or Robert B. Parker fans in the audience, this book is worth obtaining/reading.