5/1/13 Last blog until late May

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 18/ Day: 121   Today: H 71°…L 40°

Wind: ave:   12mph; Gusts:  45mph  Ave. humidity:  34%

*Averages: H  63° L 32° Records: H 78°(1981, ‘45)…L 10°(1967)

RED FLAG WARNING

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

"Buffalo Bill" Cody put on his 1st Wild West Show…1883

"Citizen Kane," directed & starring Orson Welles, premieres in NY…1941

"Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln…2003

1940 Olympics are cancelled…1940

1st American (James Whittaker) conquers Mount Everest…1963

1st British airliner to serve cooked meals (Imperial Airways)…1927

1st US airplane hijacked to Cuba…1961

Amtrak Railroad begins operation…1971

Bayer introduces aspirin in powder form (Germany)…1889

Billie Jean King admits to a lesbian affair with Marilyn Barnett…1981

Batman comics hit street…1939

General Mills introduces Cheerios…1941

Mr Potato Head, introduced…1952

Pancho Gonzalez retires from tennis…1960

Pulitzer prize awarded to Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)…1961

Pulitzer Prize awarded to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (Yearling)…1939

Pulitzer prize awarded to Rodgers & Hammerstein (South Pacific)…1950

Russia shoots down Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane over Sverdlovsk…1960

Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden…2009

Tasmania becomes the last state in Australia to decriminalize homosexuality…1997

TWA introduces tourist class…1952

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

How many can you identify?…answers in Today’s Birthdays

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Packed and ready for trip. Last blog for a while.

 

Sure glad I had planned to stay home all day. The wind is blowing loud and hard. Spring in Flag but still not pleasant.

 

Guantanamo hunger strike is continuing with more prisoners every day. It is so disgusting. Many of these prisoners have been found to not be a threat to US, but they are not being released. No one seems to know why. Yes there are terrorists and those who have done something that injures, kills, or destroys property need to be tried and imprisoned. Those who may or not be law breakers need to be tried in a court of law. The idea that America is holding people in a prison with no benefit of American law is such fodder for terrorist groups, why won’t our government so something….anything. Put them on trial or let them go. While news of the hunger strike is limited by officials, we know it is happening and the enemies of America certainly know it is happening. These people will become heroes. ..especially if they are not terrorists. I’m sure some in high places in government are saying that letting them go free will hurt the US image more than keeping them with no charges. Reminds me of an old adage…when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing is to stop digging.

 

Seems that there are many ‘lists’ of potential terrorists…one ‘low-level’ lists has 700,000+ names. While this administration has made great strides in getting agencies to work together to fight terrorism they have failed on two levels…the Guantanamo situation and making terrorist lists useable. Sure, it sounds positive when we find that a real terrorist was on a list, until everyone realizes that the list is basically unmanageable.   

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

I am not a human, nor am I an animal. I have eyes, but cannot see, and I have hair that you cannot comb. My brown skin has several layers but this seems a paradox, because one is smooth and the other is hard. My skin protects my soft white flesh;  and within my flesh is my opaque blood. What am I?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Five Favorite Films with John Woo: Rotten Tomatoes Show

• George Inness

• Help Me Make It Through The Night

Origins of Phrases

Go haywire

Meaning

To go wrong, to become overly excited or deranged.

Origin

Hay-wire is the light wire that was used in baling machines to tie up bales of hay. At the turn of the 20th century the expression 'a haywire outfit' began to be used in the USA. This was used to describe companies that patched-up faulty machinery using such wire, rather than making proper long-term fixes. In 1905, The US Forestry Bureau Bulletin described a 'Hay wire outfit' as 'a contemptuous term for loggers with poor logging equipment'.

By 1920, the use of haywire to mean 'awry' or 'out of control' was recorded in Dialect Notes, Volume 82:

"Hay wire. Gone wrong or no good. Slang."

This may be a reference back to 'hay-wire outfits' but is more likely to be a literal allusion to scrambled hay-wire - anyone who has handled coils of wire will be familiar with its determination to gather into an irretrievable tangle. To go haywire was recorded in the late 1920s; for example, in this piece about a basketball game from The Helena Independent, January 1928:

"...their anxiety to score let their passing game go haywire with many wild heaves finding marks in the bleachers."

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

Percentage rate at which Arcata, CA plans to tax excessive electricity use in an effort to punish marijuana growers: 45

Picture of the Day: Myramar

Unusual Fact of the Day

The depressed area of skin under your nose and above your upper lip is called your philtrum.

Joke-of-the-day

Time magazine sent a survey to women in Arkansas, asking for their opinions on the Clinton Sex Scandal. One of the questions: Would you ever have an affair with Bill Clinton? The results were staggering! 5% — No 3% — Yes 92% — Never Again

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

IN RANGE

 If the enemy is in range, so are you.   

Yeah, It Really Happened

A cruise company in Scotland decided it was better to be safe than sorry when it insured its tourist boats against damage by the Loch Ness Monster.

Jacobite Cruises signed the $1.5 million policy with insurers to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first Nessie spotting, The Scottish Sun reported.

Owner Freda Newton told the paper she realizes the chances of an accident are slim, but it was a move that had to be made.

"How silly would we look if it did and we weren’t covered for it?” she said.

Who can argue with that logic?

The first photo of the legendary Loch Ness Monster appeared in The Daily Mail in 1934, according to LiveScience.com, but it was revealed to be a hoax.

In August 2012, a sailor who'd spend 26 years searching for Nessie snapped a picture that convinced him the sea creature lived on.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• There are not 24 hours in a day. There are 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds - the time it takes Earth to rotate on its axis, called a sidereal day.

• Despite the towering heights of the Himalayas and the depths of the deepest ocean, compared to its circumference Earth is smoother than a bowling ball. Mountains and ocean trenches make up only 1/500th of the Earth's circumference.  

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

-5/4

National Dance Week
National Dream Hotline
National & Global Youth Service Days
National Pie Championships
Air Quality Awareness Week
Screen-Free Week 

Today Is                                                                      

Amtrak Day
Batman Day
Beltaine 
Executive Coaching Day
Global Love Day 
Great American Grump Out  
Keep Kids Alive! Drive 25 Day
Law Day
Lei Day
Loyalty Day
May Day
Mother Goose Day
National Bubba Day
New Homeowner's Day
School Principals' Day
Silver Star Day 
Stepmother's Day

Today’s Events through History  

1st adhesive postage stamps ("Penny Blacks" from England) issued…1840

Dewey commands, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley" as US route 

     Spanish fleet at Manila…1898

Empire State Building opens in NYC…1931

England, Wales & Scotland form UK of Great Britain…1707

Howard University chartered…1867

Kamehameha, the king of Hawaiʻi defeats Kalanikupule and establishes 

     the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi…1785

Louis XIV & his court inaugurates Paris Observatory…1682

Pulitzer prize awarded to Martin Flavin (Journey in the dark)…1944

Wars of Scottish Independence end: Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton - 

     the Kingdom of England recognizes the Kingdom of Scotland as an 

     independent state…1328

World's most intense shower (2.47" in 3 minutes) at Portobelo Panama…1908

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Sonny James, [James Loden], rocker (Young Love) is 84

In their 70’s

Judy Collins, Seattle Wash, singer (Send in the Clowns, Clouds) is 74

In their 60’s

Rita Coolidge, Nashville Tn, singer (Higher & Higher, We're All Alone) is 68

John Woo, Hong Kong director [M.I. 2] is 67

In their 40’s

Tim McGraw, singer, songwriter is 46

Remembered for being born today

Calamity [Martha] Jane [Burke], frontier adventurer/Indian fighter [1852-1903]

Glenn Ford, Quebec Canada, actor (Cade's County, Big Heat, Midway) [1916-2006]

George Inness, US landscape painter (Delaware Water Gap) [1825-1894]

Louis Nye, American comedian and actor [1913-2005]

Jack Paar, television host of the Jack Paar Show [1918-2004]

Max Robinson, broadcast journalist (ABC Evening News) [1939-1988]

Kate Smith, American singer [1907-1986]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Eldridge Cleaver, writer, activist…prostate cancer[?]…1998…at 62

Antonín Dvorak, Czech composer (Slavic Dancing)…stroke…1904…at 62

 [Matilda] Edith of Scotland, first wife of Henry I of England…1118…at 38

Spike Jones, composer (Spike Jones Show)…emphysema…1965…at 53

Steve Reeves, actor/ body builder…lymphoma…2000…at 74

Answer: Brain Teasers

A coconut

The coconut is the seed and edible fruit of the coco palm tree (Cocos nucifera). Each coconut has several layers: a smooth, deep tan outer covering; a brown fiber of 1-2" thickness; a hard, dark brown hairy husk with three indented "eyes" at one end; a thin brown skin; the cream white coconut meat; and at the center, a thin opaque coconut juice.

Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.

All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site has mistakes and sadly once out the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.

§    And That Is All for Now  §

4/30/13

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Flagstaff Almanac:  Week: 18/ Day: 120   Today: H 75°…L 36°

Wind: ave:   6mph; Gusts:  25mph  Ave. humidity:  27%

*Averages: H  63° L 32° Records: H 76°(1992)…L 7°(1970)

~Fire Weather Warning~

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

"A Tale Of Two Cities" is first published in literary periodical, continues in weekly 

     installments until Nov 26…1859

"Arthur Godfrey Time" begins a 27 year run on CBS radio…1945

1900 - Casey Jones dies in a train wreck on the Cannonball Express…1900

1st practical typewriter finished by Italian Pellegrini Turri…1808

1st US national holiday, on centennial of Washington's inauguration…1889

42 million watch "Ellen" admit she is gay…1997

Boulder Dam renamed in honor of Herbert Hoover…1947

Dept of Navy forms…1798

Fort Defiance, in northwestern Arizona, was the first fort to be build in NAVAJO 

    country is attacked…1860

George Washington inaugurated as 1st president of US…1789

Ice cream cone makes its debut…1904

Last US helicopter leaves US embassy grounds, Saigon surrenders…1975

Mr Potato Head is 1st toy advertised on television…1952

US troops invade Cambodia…1970

World Wide Web is born at CERN…1993

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

How many can you identify?…answers in Today’s Birthdays

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Busy day picking up scripts, getting cash, getting mail hold, stopping local paper, and preparing for my cruise. Tomorrow will be packing day and then on Wednesday it’s off to the boat. Right now, I will be flying into a Denver snowstorm…not a big storm, but snow none the less. Getting pretty excited. Still a lot to do before I leave. Also found out that there is a cool tour of Montreal that I will be taking…if our tour operator calls back. I called today, but only got voice mail and she didn’t call back…maybe she had Monday off.

 

I am also looking forward to getting away from the hum-drum daily news cycles. Today the big thing is surveillance cameras and internet spying. Should the government operate more cameras around the country…or are police and private cameras enough? Should Google and other websites have to report people who visit terrorist sites or bomb making sites? Is it better to be proactive, or waiting until the event occurs then backtracking? While I do enjoy technology, I also know that technology in the wrong hands is very dangerous. While I am not a conspiracy crazy person, I don’t like the idea of lots of government intervention…it might be good now, but not sure about the future. Our current leader promised to close Guantanamo prison…he didn’t…and now after years of being held captive and in many cases tortured, many prisoners are on a hunger strike. Some are being force fed. They seem to see this as the only way to ‘escape’. Our free country doesn’t always follow through with our laws.   

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

When you behead a word, you remove the first letter and still have a valid word. You will be given clues for the two words, longer word first.
Example: Begin -> Sour, acidic; Answer: The words are Start and Tart.

1. Mark left after healing -> Vehicle 2. To have hit -> Vehicle 3. Intelligent -> Individual store 4. Tiny -> Large retail complex 5. Take illegally -> Bluish green 6. Clean the floor -> Cry 7. Expressed in words -> Give assistance 8. Talk -> Highest level; summit

*****

Hint

The shorter words start with these letters:
1. C
2. T
3. M
4. M
5. T
6. W
7. A
8. P

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Eve Arden on What's My Line?

• Johnny Horton The Battle Of New Orleans

• bobby vee - rubber ball

• Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard...Pancho and Lefty

Origins of Phrases

Fuddy-duddy

Meaning

A stuffy or foolishly old-fashioned person.

Origin

If any term sounds old and English, it must be this one. As so often, intuition is found to be inadequate as fuddy-duddy appears to be of American origin, possibly via Scotland, nor is it especially old. The first record that I can find of it is from the Texas newspaper The Galveston Daily News, 1889:

"Look here; I'm Smith - Hamilton Smith. I'm a minister and I try to do about right ... I object to being represented as an old fuddy-duddy."

That usage - without any accompanying explanation - seems to suggest that the readership would have been expected to have been familiar with it. That is quite possible, there are several citations in American newspapers from the end of the 19th century that relate to a pair of fictional wags called Fuddy and Duddy. A string of their rather weak gags was printed in the Boston Evening Transcript. Here's an example from a November 1895 edition:

Fuddy: So Miss Dandervecken is going to marry an Englishman. A lord, I suppose?

Duddy: Well, no, not exactly: but I understand that he's often as drunk as a lord.

Whether or not the expression 'fuddy-duddy' was already known and the names were taken from it, or whether it was the other way round, we can't now tell. The coincidence in the dates of the arrival of the two characters and the phrase does suggest that there was a connection of some kind.

Duddy was a Scottish term meaning ragged - duds having been used to refer to rough tattered clothes since the 15th century. That usage continued for some centuries and is still heard occasionally, notably in the popular 19th century traditional song The Blackleg Miner:

He grabs his duds and down he goes

To hew the coal that lies below,

There's not a woman in this town-row

Will look at the blackleg miner.

Fud, or fuddy, was a Scots dialect term for buttocks. In 1833, the Scots poet James Ballantyne wrote The Wee Raggit Laddie:

Wee stuffy, stumpy, dumpie laddie,

Thou urchin elfin, bare an' duddy,

Thy plumpit kite an' cheek sae ruddy

Are fairly baggit,

Although the breekums on thy fuddy

Are e'en right raggit.

The full-on Scots dialect in that sentimental, Burns influenced rhyme is difficult to translate precisely. The gist of the meaning is:

Poor scruffy little lad, bare and ragged, your wet belly and red cheeks are swollen and the trousers on your buttocks are torn.

There is a British term - 'duddy fuddiel', which is also recorded from around the same date. William Dickinson's A glossary of words and phrases pertaining to the dialect of Cumberland, 1899, has:

"Duddy fuddiel, a ragged fellow."

There may be a link between 'duddy fuddiel' and 'fuddy-duddy' but, as they don't mean exactly the same thing, we can't be certain.

One thing we can be sure about; that the cartoon character Elmer Fudd inherited the name from the phrase. 'Fuddy-duddy' was in general circulation in the US well before the character was created in around 1940 and the expression accords with his old-fashioned and obsessive temperament.

In a rather sad sequel to the Boston Transcript's role in the coining of 'fuddy-duddy', Time magazine reported in 1939 that a survey commissioned by the paper found that, "the most frequent word used by advertisers to describe the paper was fuddy-duddy". The Transcript ceased trading soon afterwards.

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

Minimum number of engineers and technicians it has kidnapped to run Radio Zeta [Mexican Drug Cartel] and other telecommunications outlets: 21

Ruminations:

So many have an irrational fear of wasting a good outfit on an insignificant day.

Picture of the Day: Myramar

Unusual Fact of the Day

A ten-gallon hat actually holds a little less than one gallon of water.

Joke-of-the-day

A brilliant magician was performing on an ocean liner. But every time he did a trick, a talking cat in the audience would scream, "It's a trick. It's not magic. You're a big phony!"

Then one night during a storm, the ship sank while the magician was performing. And who should end up in the same lifeboat together, all alone, but the talking cat and the magician! For three days, they glared at each other, neither one saying a word to the other. Finally the cat sighed and said, "All right, smart-aleck. You and your darn tricks. What did you do with the ship?"

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

SELLING SOFTWARE

 A new hardware product will start to sell two to three months sooner than a new software product. That's because hardware is built to solve obvious needs, like lack of memory. Software is designed to solve less obvious needs. No one believes software will work until they read a product review.   

Yeah, It Really Happened

80-year-old Miriam Tucker who was attending a charity event in Florida accidentally swallowed a $5,000 diamond she had just won.

Organizers of the event placed $10 cubic zirconia stones in the bottom of 399 of 400 champagne glasses. The prized diamond was placed in the last.

Tucker told local media that she didn't want to put her finger in the glass to get the jewel. Instead she took a few sips of champagne. As she was talking and laughing with other women at the table, she realized she swallowed the jewel.

"What a dumb thing," she said.

Meanwhile, organizers and jewelers Joy Pierson and Andy Meyer were puzzled that no one came forward with the diamond.

As they hovered near the table, Tucker eventually spoke up. "She said she swallowed what was in her glass," Pierson said.

Event chairwoman Gina Roth insisted that Tucker follow her to a hospital for an X-ray. The diamond didn't show up, but Tucker already had a colonoscopy scheduled.

She told Dr. Bruce Edgerton what happened and he retrieved the diamond, put it in a bio-hazard bag and gave it to Tucker's daughter. After the procedure, they went to a jewelry store and had the diamond cleaned, tested and verified.

How would you like to be that jeweler.

"It's an amazing story," said Tucker. She plans to bequeath it to her 13-year-old granddaughter, where the diamond will "stay in the family with a story to go with it."

Somewhat Useless Information   

• In the first century AD, the Roman Emperor Nero developed a taste for a frozen dessert. He ordered runners to pass buckets of snow from the mountains along the Appian Way down to Rome. The snow was flavored with red wine and honey to be served at banquets.

• The Chinese may have been the inventors of ice cream. In the first millennium AD, Marco Polo returned to Venice from his trip to the Far East, with ancient recipes for concoctions made of snow, fruit juice and fruit pulp.

• In 1984, President Ronald Reagan officially designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month would be celebrated as National Ice Cream Day. More ice cream is sold on Sunday than any other day of the week.

• Wall's was the first company to sell ice cream from tricycles. In 1924, this new marketing concept was launched with the slogan "Stop me and buy one." To "equalize the seasonality," the Wall's company would complement their summer ice-cream season with a winter sausage one.

• The top five most popular ice cream flavors in the U.S. are vanilla, chocolate, Neapolitan, strawberry, and cookies n' cream, in that order. Vanilla accounts for nearly 1/4 of all sales.

• In 1924, the average American ate eight pints a year. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, the figure had jumped to 48 pints a year by 1997.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

24-30
National Pro-Life T-shirt Week

National Scoop The Poop Week
Fiddler's Frolic
Gathering of the Nations Powwow

26-5/4

National Dance Week
National Dream Hotline
National & Global Youth Service Days
National Pie Championships
Air Quality Awareness Week
Screen-Free Week 

Today Is                                                                      

Beltane-Celtic halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice

Bugs Bunny Day

Díá De Los Niños / Díá De Los Libros Day to get kids to read books

Hairstylist Appreciation Day

International Jazz Day

National Go Birding Day

National Honesty Day

Walpurgis Night traditional spring festival in large parts of Central and Northern Europe, exactly six months from All Hallows' Eve.

World Healing Day

US: Louisiana Purchase Day

US: Louisiana: Admission Day (1812-30^th state)

US: Spank Out Day –since 1998 to find other ways to discipline children

Today’s Events through History  

1st French colonists in US: Jean Ribault & colonists arrive in Florida…1562

Camp Grant Massacre of Apaches in Arizona Territory, perpetrated by white & 

     Mexican adventurers; 144 die…1871

Emperor Galerius legal recognizes Christians in the Roman Empire…311

Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad land at Gibraltar 

     to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus)…711

La Salle stays with the TAENSA Indians for 4 days, on Lake Saint Joseph in Louisiana. 

     He will sign a peace treaty with them…1682

U.S. media release American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners 

     at Abu Ghraib prison…2004

US annexes Hawaii…1900

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Cloris Leachman, actress (Last Picture Show, Phyllis) is 87

Willie Nelson, country singer (On the Road Again) is 80

In their 70’s

Bobby Vee, singer (Devil or Angel, Night has a Thousand Eyes) is 70

In their 50’s

Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada is 54

Isiah Thomas, NBA forward (Detroit Piston; 1990 NBA playoff MVP) is 52

In their 40’s

Adrian Pasdar, actor (C Oliver Resor-Feds, Top Gun) is 48

In their 30’s

Kirsten Dunst, actress (Interview with the Vampire, Spider-Man) is 31

Remembered for being born today

Eve Arden, actress (Connie-Our Miss Brooks) [1908-1990]

Jill Clayburgh, actress (Unmarried Woman, Semi-Tough) [1944-2010]

Gary Collins, TV actor [1938-2012]

Mary Scott Lord Dimmick Harrison, 1st lady [1858-1948]

Johnny Horton, American musician [1925-1960]

Juliana, Queen of Netherlands [1909-2004]

Al Lewis, actor (Leo-Car 54, Grandpa-Munsters) [1923-2006]

Alice B. Toklas, American companion of Gertrude Stein [1877-1967]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Adolph Hitler, German dictator (1936-45)…suicide…1945…at 56

John Luther (Casey) Jones…in Cannonball Express train wreck…1900…at 37

Sergio Leone, Italian director (Good, Bad & Ugly)…heart attack…1989…at 60

Muddy Waters [McKinley Morganfield], blues singer/guitarist (Mad Love)…heart failure…1983…at 70

Tom Poston, actor (Bob Newhart Show)…2007…at 85

Elmo Roper, pollster (Roper Poll)…1971…at 70

Inger Stevens, actress (Katy-Farmer's Daughter)…suicide…1970…at 35

Beatrice Potter Webb, British writer (My Apprenticeship)…1943…at 85

Answer: Brain Teasers

1. Scar -> Car 2. Struck -> Truck 3. Smart -> Mart 4. Small -> Mall 5. Steal -> Teal 6. Sweep -> Weep 7. Said -> Aid 8. Speak -> Peak

Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.

All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site has mistakes and sadly once out the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.

§    And That Is All for Now  §