Where to go today? It's raining in New England so let's go where it's often not raining. Let's visit Naples, Florida. Sallie (STCC visitor) is familiar with Naples.

The photos are: 1) the historic town center of Naples at the intersection of 12th Avenue and 3rd Street, 2) the Naples city dock, 3) the Naples Pier, 4) a close up of the Naples Pier and the beach, and 5) the Sugden Community Theater, home of the Naples Players.

Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, USA. As of 1 July 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 21,804. Naples is a Principal City of the Naples-Marco Island, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated total population of 314,649 on 1 July 2006. Despite being the largest city in Collier County, the city of Naples is not its county seat; rather the county seat is located east of the city in unincorporated East Naples.

Naples was founded during the late 1880s by former Confederate general and Kentucky U.S. Senator John Stuart Williams and his partner, Louisville businessman Walter N. Haldeman, the publisher of the Louisville Courier-Journal. Throughout the 1870s and '80's, magazine and newspaper stories telling of the area's mild climate and abundant fish and game likened it to the sunny Italian peninsula. The name Naples caught on when promoters described the bay as "surpassing the bay in Naples, Italy".

Naples is home to several major land reserves, including the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and Picayune Strand State Forest. The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is known not only for its 11,000 acres (45 km²) of landscape and wildlife, but for a two and a half mile length boardwalk winding through the sanctuary . The Naples area is also home to the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens, which dates back to 1919.
The city is served by the Naples Municipal Airport. DayJet provides nonstop flights to many Florida and South Eastern cities and Yellow Air Taxi also provides service to Key West, Florida. Southwest Florida International Airport, in South Fort Myers, Florida, handles the vast majority of commercial air traffic in and out of the region, which over 8 million passengers in 2007.
Naples is home to an estimated 250 Fortune 500 CEOs.[citation needed]
Downtown Naples is home to The Naples Players, and the 5th Avenue South and 3rd Street South shopping districts, which feature a variety of antique shops. Gallery Row, also downtown, is a concentration among the numerous art galleries spread throughout the downtown area. The Village on Venetian Bay is an upscale open-air shopping district on the Gulf coast. Located directly off of Tamiami Trail are the Waterside Shops, an upscale open-air center home to such high-end retailers as Saks Fifth Avenue, Gucci, Tiffany & Co., and Lacoste. A two-story Barnes and Noble is located on site as well. Near downtown on Naples Bay and the Gordon River is the shopping district Tin City. This open-air shopping center specializes in antiques and handmade local novelties. Naples hosts The Oliver Group Champions Cup of the Outback Champions Tennis Series each year. Naples is also the home to swamp buggy races, held three times each year at the Florida Sports Park.
Tourism is a main industry for the City of Naples. Notable resorts and hotels within the city limits include the Ritz-Carlton, the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club, La Playa Beach and Golf Resort, the Naples Grande Beach Resort and Club (which will join The Waldorf=Astoria Collection in the fall of 2008.), the Inn on Fifth and the Edgewater Beach Hotel and Club.

Today's Jumble (9/29/08):

CEEPA = PEACE; CLATH = LATCH; FIMITS = MISFIT; LEPHER = HELPER

CIRCLED LETTERS = EATHSFTELE

In for dinner but frequently out all night.

"FALSE TEETH"

Today is Confucius Day. It is also Telly Monster's birthday (this Sesame Street character debuted on this day in 1979).

Other things on this day in history:

522 BC - Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper Gaumâta, securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire.
480 BC - Battle of Salamis: The Greek fleet under Themistocles defeats the Persian fleet under Xerxes I.
61 BC - Pompey the Great celebrates his third triumph for victories over the pirates and the end of the Mithridatic Wars on his 45th birthday.
1227 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, is excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for his failure to go on crusade.
1364 - Battle of Auray: English forces defeat French in Brittany; end of the Breton War of Succession.
1567 - The second War of Religion in France breaks out.
1567 - At a dinner, the Duke of Alba arrests the Count of Egmont and the Count of Hoorn for treason.
1650 - Henry Robinson opens his Office of Addresses and Encounters - the first historically documented dating service - in Threadneedle Street, London.
1789 - The U.S. War Department first establishes a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.
1789 - The first U.S. Congress adjourns.
1829 - The Metropolitan Police of London, also known as the Met, is founded.
1848 - Battle of Pákozd: Hungarian forces defeat Croats at Pákozd; the first battle of the War of Independence.
1850 - The Roman Catholic hierarchy is re-established in England and Wales by Pope Pius IX.
1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chaffin's Farm is fought.
1885 - The first practical public electric tramway in the world is opened in Blackpool, England.
1907 - The cornerstone is laid at Washington National Cathedral in the U.S. capital.
1911 - Italy declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1916 - John D. Rockefeller becomes the first billionaire.
1918 - The Hindenburg Line is broken by Allied forces during World War I. Bulgaria signs an armistice.
1924 - Plutarco Elías Calles is proclaimed President of Mexico.
1941 - Holocaust in Kiev, Ukraine: German Einsatzgruppe C starts Babi Yar massacre. According to the Einsatzgruppen Operational Situation Report No. 101, at least 33,771 Jews from Kiev and its suburbs were killed at Babi Yar on September 29 - 30, 1941.
1943 - U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio sign an armistice aboard the Royal Navy battleship HMS Nelson off Malta.
1954 - The convention establishing CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) is signed.
1954 - Major League Baseball: Willie Mays of the then New York Giants makes "The Catch" at The Polo Grounds in Game 1 of the World Series.
1957 - 20 MCi (740 petabecquerels) of radioactive material is released in an explosion at the Soviet Mayak nuclear plant at Chelyabinsk.
1960 - Nikita Khrushchev, leader of Soviet Union, disorders a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly with a number of angry outbursts.
1962 - Alouette 1, the first Canadian satellite, is launched.
1963 - The second period of the Second Vatican Council opens.
1964 - The Argentine comic strip Mafalda is published for the first time.
1966 - The Chevrolet Camaro, originally named Panther, is introduced.
1971 - Oman joins the Arab League.
1972 - Sino-Japanese relations: Japan establishes diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China after breaking official ties with the Republic of China.
1975 - WGPR in Detroit, Michigan, becomes the world's first black-owned-and-operated television station.
1979 - Pope John Paul II became the first pope to set foot on Irish soil with his pastoral visit to the Republic of Ireland.
1982 - Tylenol Crisis of 1982 began when the first of seven individuals died in metropolitan Chicago.
1988 - Space Shuttle: NASA launches STS-26, the return to flight mission, after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
1990 - Washington National Cathedral finished.
1990 - The YF-22, which would later become the F-22 Raptor, flies for the first time.
1991 - Military coup in Haiti.
1992 - Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello resigns.
1995 - The United States Navy disbands Fighter Squadron #84 (VF-84), the celebrated Jolly Rogers.
2001 - The Syracuse Herald-Journal, a U.S. newspaper dating back to 1839, ceases publication.
2003 - Hurricane Juan makes landfall in Nova Scotia.
2004 - The asteroid 4179 Toutatis passes within four lunar distances of Earth.
2004 - The Burt Rutan Ansari X Prize entry SpaceShipOne performed a successful spaceflight, the first of two needed to win the prize.
2005 - US Senate confirms John Roberts to be the next Chief Justice of the United States.
2006 - US Representative Mark Foley resigns after allegations of inappropriate emails to house pages were introduced.
2007 - Calder Hall, the world's first commercial nuclear power station, the magnox reactor and Calder hall was demolished in a controlled explosion.
2007 - Geelong thrash Port Adelaide by 119 points to win its' first VFL/AFL premiership since 1963.