Monday

January 25, 2010--Week 4 of 2010: 25 days this year…340 remain

►Provocative Quote                        .

"While forbidden fruit may be sweeter, it spoils faster."

~ unknown

►Free Ramblings                            .

Flag is cleaning up after our third worst storm in history. I heard today that the Shonto Prep Gym roof collapsed. I spent many hours in that gym as a teacher--assemblies, movies, graduations, volleyball and basketball games, wrestling matches. The gym had two beautiful murals on the side walls. I was acting principal one time when the local artist had finally received a contract to repair the murals. They were painted in the late 60’s and when I returned there in the late 80’s they needed some repair.

There has been very little news from the Rez about this huge storm…nothing new, seldom does AZ or Flagstaff news cover much. The Gallup Independent does a much better job of Rez news, but they only update their website on weekdays.

Another interesting story in the local paper: The paper will now post ‘breaking news’ on their web site, as soon as it is verified. Since we have no local TV station, and mostly non-existent local radio news, this is amazing. This sure is a step in the right direction for a local print paper. This storm was the first time they started this, and I found it very good and very informative. I hope this helps their print circulation too. I’m hoping that the local news program will start up again on the NAU channel. Since it is run by students, they only broadcast when school is in session. It hasn’t been on since mid-December and usually takes a couple of weeks of classes before the program returns to the airways. The students in the classes need to get some basic training every semester before they are ready for broadcast.

I am very happy that my parking area is cleared and that I don’t need ice climbing gear to get to my vehicle. A friend is still snow bound in Doney Park, just outside Flagstaff. I’m trying to find someone with a blade that can open up her road. Her closest neighbor on the road had the road cleared up to their gate, but refused to give my friend information so the plow guy could do the road to her house. I guess there are crappy neighbors everywhere.

We got up to 35° today, so there was some melting. The kids around here are having a lot of fun in the ten foot snow banks. We now have our own sledding area. Schools here have been closed since early last week, so the kids have lots of energy and I’m sure parents are happy that schools will be open Monday, and that the kids can now play outside much of the day. All in all, this storm was the 3rd worst in the city’s history and was only ½” short of being second. It will take weeks before we see earth again.

►Quotes from Values.com—TEACHING BY EXAMPLE .

“Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.”

~Dr. Karl Augustus Menninger; Psychiatrist

►Side Show Stories—Darwin Awards 2010              .

The Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool... by removing themselves from it.

A cigarette lighter may have triggered a fatal explosion in Dunkirk, IN. A Jay County man, using a cigarette lighter to check the barrel of a muzzle loader, was killed Monday night when the weapon discharged in his face, sheriff’s investigators said. Gregory David Pryor, 19, died in his parents' rural Dunkirk home at about 11:30 PM. Investigators said Pryor was cleaning a 54-caliber muzzle-loader that had not been firing properly. He was using the lighter to look into the barrel when the gunpowder ignited.

►Random Fact                             .

Malcolm-Jamal Warner, of the Cosby Show, is named after Malcolm X and Jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal.

§ Interesting Statistics

*Note: I realize that statistics can be made to say just about anything.

~ The city of Flagstaff is 63.7 square miles.

~ in 2004 the largest employer in Flagstaff was NAU (4400), followed by the Flagstaff School District (1700).

§ January Month Long Observances

Birthstone: Garnet …Flower: Carnation

Book Blitz Month * Bath Safety Month * Birth Defects Month * California Dried Plum Digestive Month * Celebration of Life Month * Cervical Cancer Screening Month * Financial Wellness Month * High Tech Month * International Creativity Month * International Quality of Life Month * International Wayfinding Month * International Wealth Mentality Month * National Be On-Purpose Month * National Bird Feeding Month * National Clean Up Your Computer Month * National Get Organized Month * National Glaucoma Awareness Month * National Hot Tea Month * National Mail Order Gardening Month * National Mentoring Month * National Personal Self-Defense Awareness Month * National Poverty in America Awareness Month * National Radon Action Month * National Skating Month * National Soup Month * National Volunteer Blood Donor Month * Oatmeal Month * Rising Star Month * Self-help Group Awareness Month * Senior Women’s Travel Month * Shape Up US Month * Thyroid Awareness Month

§ Observance Weeks in January

Sundance Film Festival: 21-31

National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Week: 23-30

World Leprosy Week: 23-29

National Nurse Anesthetists Week: 24-30

National Medical Group Practice Week: 25-29

§ 25 January Observances—US/UN/World

Opposite Day

Better Business Communication Day

Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day

Macintosh Computer Day

A Room of One's Own Day

§25 January Observances—by country

International: Burns Night—Burns suppers are held in many parts of the world around this date. (Originated in Scotland) Flagstaff Burns Dinner Feb 6.

International: Criminon Day: commemorates the 1970 founding of Criminon, a program which seeks to rehabilitate prisoners by disseminating free copies of Scientology-related materials such as The Way to Happiness. Highly controversial in CA, FL, dropped in NM.

Russia: Tatiana Day, celebrated as the Day of Russian Students since 1755, when Moscow University is founded.

Uganda: 2nd Republic Day—since 1971 when Idi Amin took power

Wales: St. Dwynwen's Day – celebration of love Diwrnod Santes Dwynwen: Like Valentines Day

§ Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1877…Congress determines presidential election between Hayes- Tilden

§Born on this day

     ~ The Arts

Robert Burns in 1759 (Alloway Scotland) - poet

Dean Jones (79) - actor (Tea and Sympathy, The Love Bug, Beethoven)

Alicia Keys (29) - musician, singer

Dinah Manoff (52) - actress (“Soap,” “Empty Nest,” Tony Award for I Ought to Be in Pictures)

W. (William) Somerset Maugham in 1874 - author: Of Human Bondage

Edwin Newman (91) - journalist, author (“Comet,” A Civil Tongue)

Ana Ortiz (39) actress (“Ugly Betty” sister)

     ~Athletics

Vince Carter (33) - basketball player (Magic)

Steve Prefontaine in 1951 - 5K distance runner

Rodney Young in 1973 NFL safety (Giants)

     ~Business, Education, Politics

Benedict Arnold in 1741 - General /traitor

     ~Science/Religion

Robert Boyle in 1627 (Ireland) - physicist/chemist/author (experiments with color)

§Obits for this day

Al Capone in 1947 Chicago gangster, syphilis @ 48

Jeanne Dixon in 1997 psychic (Gift of Prophecy), heart attack @ 79
Tango Duke in 1978 @ 42; oldest known thoroughbred horse

Ava Gardner in 1990 actress, pneumonia @ 67

§What happened on this day?

     ~ The Arts

1858…Mendelssohn’s Wedding March was presented for the first time, as the daughter of Queen Victoria married the Crown Prince of Prussia.

1964…The Beatles get their first number one with "I Want To Hold Your Hand" on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

1985…"We are the World" is recorded

     ~Athletics

1924…1st Winter Olympic games open in Chamonix, France

1989…Michael Jordan scores his 10,000th NBA point in his 5th season

1998…Super Bowl XXXII Denver Broncos beat Green Bay Packers 31-24

     ~Business, Education, Politics

1533…England's King Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn

1721…Czar Peter the Great ends Russian-orthodox patriarchy

1851…Sojourner Truth addresses 1st Black Women's Rights Convention (Akron)

1877…Congress determines presidential election between Hayes- Tilden

1993…Puerto Rico adds English as its 2nd official language

     ~Science/Religion

1799…1st US patent for a seeding machine, Eliakim Spooner, Vermont

1910…Children initiate idea of planting trees in Jerusalem

1955…Columbia University scientists develop an atomic clock accurate to within one second in 300 years

1974…South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard transplanted the first human heart without removal of the old one

~ Number One Songs in…
1945…Don’t Fence Me In - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
1953…Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes - Perry Como
1961…Exodus - Ferrante & Teicher

1969…I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye

► Puzzle                                    .

A list of words is given. To solve the puzzle, think of a single word that goes with each to form a compound word or word pair that functions as a compound word. For example, if the given words are volley, field, and bearing, the the answer would be ball, because the word ball can be added to each of the other words to form volleyball, ball field, and ball bearing.

1. drop, off, stand

2. car, top, ice

3. key, wall, precious

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ANSWERS

1. KICK: drop kick, kick off, kickstand

2. BOX: box car, box top, ice box

3. STONE: keystone, stone wall, precious stone