I've been to Niagara Falls twice. For those who haven't here's a bit of information on the place. I've included a lot of photos because, after all, when one goes to Niagara, one must go to the Falls. They are a spectacular sight. A trip on the "Maid of the Mist" is a definited "must do."

The photos are: 1) the Niagara River just before the Falls, 2) the Horseshoe Falls seen from the Maid of the Mist, 3) the Maid of the Mist in front of the American Falls, 4) the Hurricane Deck from the Cave of the Winds that leads right to the base of Bridal Veil Falls, 5) the wooden walkway that leads to the Hurricane Deck, 6) a view of the American and Bridal Veil Falls, 7) the American Falls (left) and Horeshoe Falls (right), 8) the Canadian Side of the Falls, and 9) a view of the city of Niagara Falls, NY.

Niagara Falls is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 55,593. It is across the Niagara River from Niagara Falls, Ontario, both named after the famed Niagara Falls which they share. It is part of both the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Western New York region.

The City of Niagara Falls was incorporated on March 17, 1892. New York State Governor Roswell P. Flower signed a bill into law forming the city. Thomas Vincent Welch who was a member of the charter committee and then a New York Assemblyman, but more importantly a second-generation Irishman, was there when the bill was signed, and responsible for asking Governor Flower to sign the bill on St. Patrick's Day. Historically, the city was built up around factories that utilized the power of the falling water for energy. Now the downtown area borders a park (Niagara Falls State Park) affording a close-up view of the American, Horseshoe and Bridal Veil Falls. The European migration into the area began in the 17th century with missionaries and explorers. This influx of newcomers may have been a catalyst for already hostile native tribes to turn to open warfare in competition for the fur trade.
By the end of the 19th century, the city was a heavy industrial area, due in no small part to the huge power potential offered by the swiftly-flowing Niagara River. There were many chemical industries in Niagara Falls that used the power of the mighty Niagara River. Most of those have since closed and or moved away.

The neighborhood of Love Canal gained national media attention in 1978 when United States President Jimmy Carter declared a federal emergency there, and hundreds of residents were relocated. Starting in 1920, the area had been used as a landfill for chemical waste disposal (and later, industrial toxic waste) before its development as a residential area. The Superfund law, which protects people, families, communities and others from heavily contaminated toxic waste sites, was enacted in 1980 in response to the Love Canal situation.

While its Canadian twin, Niagara Falls, Ontario, began massively building up its tourism industry in the 1990s, allowing for casinos and tall tower hotels, essentially becoming the "Las Vegas of Canada", Niagara Falls, NY did not grow in the same way. However, in 2004, the Seneca Nation of Indians opened the Seneca Niagara Casino in the former Niagara Falls Convention and Civic Center, thereby establishing sovereign Native American territory in the midst of the city.

Today's Jumble (10/06/08):

MUNAH = HUMAN; GEDEW = WEDGE; NETEOD = DENOTE; REYHEB = HEREBY

CIRCLED LETTERS = HAWDNOTER

The farmer's simple philosophy was---

"DOWN (TO) EARTH"

It's Child Health Day. It is also German-American Day and National Come and Take It Day.

The Jazz Singer, the first talking movie opened on October 6, 1927; LSD is declared illegal in the US on October 6, 1966. Does anyone remember MK-Ultra?

Other things on this day in history:

105 BC - Battle of Arausio: The Cimbri inflict the heaviest defeat on the Roman army of Gnaeus Mallius Maximus.
68 BC - Battle of Artaxata: Lucullus averts the bad omen of this day by defeating Tigranes the Great of Armenia.
1582 - Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day is skipped in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
1600 - Jacopo Peri's Euridice, the earliest surviving opera, premieres in Florence, signifying the beginning of the Baroque Period
1683 - William Penn brings 13 German immigrant families to the colony of Pennsylvania, marking the first German people to immigrate to America.
1762 - Seven Years' War: conclusion of the Battle of Manila between Britain and Spain, which resulted in the British occupation of Manila for the rest of the war.
1789 - French Revolution: Louis XVI returns to Paris from Versailles after being confronted by the Parisian women on 5 October
1849 - The execution of the 13 Martyrs of Arad after the Hungarian war of independence.
1854 - The Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead started shortly after midnight, leading to 53 deaths and hundreds injured.
1884 - The Naval War College of the United States Navy was founded in Newport, Rhode Island.
1889 - Thomas Edison shows his first motion picture.
1898 - Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity founded at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
1903 - The High Court of Australia sits for the first time.
1906 - The Majlis of Iran convened for the first time.
1908 - Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1921 - International PEN is founded in London.
1922 - The great powers of the first world war withdraw from Istanbul
1927 - Opening of The Jazz Singer, the first prominent talking movie.
1928 - Chiang Kai-Shek becomes Chairman of the Republic of China.
1939 - Last Polish army is defeated in World War II.
1945 - Baseball: Billy Sianis and his pet billy goat are ejected from Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the 1945 World Series (see Curse of the Billy Goat).
1955 - A United Airlines DC-4 crashes in Medicine Bow Peak, Wyoming, killing 66 people
1966 - LSD is declared illegal in the United States.
1973 - The Crossing: 80,000 Egyptian troops cross the Suez Canal, destroying the fortified Israeli Bar-Lev Line and starting the Yom Kippur War.
1976 - Cubana Flight 455 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean after two bombs, placed by terrorists with connections to the CIA, exploded onboard shortly after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados. All 73 people on-board were killed.
1976 - New Premier Hua Guofeng orders the arrest of the Gang of Four and associates and ends the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China.
1976 - Massacre of students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand to protest the return of ex-dictator Thanom by a coalition of right-wing paramilitary and government forces, triggering the return of the military to government.
1977 - In Alicante, Spain, fascists attack a group of MCPV militants and sympathizers, and one MCPV sympathizer is killed.
1977 - The first prototype of the MiG-29, designated 9-01, makes its maiden flight.
1979 - Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit the White House.
1981 - President of Egypt, Anwar al-Sadat is assassinated.
1985 - PC Keith Blakelock is murdered as riots erupt in the Broadwater Farm suburb of London.
1987 - Fiji becomes a republic.
1995 - 51 Pegasi was discovered to be the first major star apart from the Sun to have a planet (and extrasolar planet) orbiting around it.
2000 - Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević resigns.
2000 - Argentinean vice president Carlos Álvarez resigns.
2002 - The French oil tanker Limburg is bombed off Yemen.
2002 - Opus Dei founder Josemaría Escrivá is canonized.
2007 - Jason Lewis completes the first human-powered circumnavigation of the globe.