8/1/13


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 31/ Day: 213   
Today: H 82°L 75°
Wind: ave:   3mph; Gusts:  9mph  Ave. humidity:  60%

Quote of the Day



Today’s Historical Highlights
1st article exposing Wategate scandal (Bernstein-Woodward)…1972
1st black Americans (20) land at Jamestown, Virginia…1619
1st commercial building heated by Sun (Albuquerque NM)…1957
1st Jeep is produced…1941
1st voyage down Colorado River…1869
21st Olympic games close at Montreal Canada…1976
Burial within SF City limits prohibited…1901
California introduces sales tax (for education)…1953
Chubby Checker releases "The Twist"…1960
Greg Louganis, 1st diver to score 700 (752.67) in 11 dives…1982
SF's 1st cable car begins service…1873
US Quarantine Station authorized for Angel Island, SF Bay…1881
Whiskey Rebellion begins…1794

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



My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Loooong day. I spent about 3 hours with my financial advisor trying to sort out my various accounts. All are safe, but moving them to another broker has turned out to be a lot harder than expected. It will all work out but as with everything in this ‘electronic’ age, it takes time. And I certainly have lots of that.
 
It tried to rain much of the afternoon, but none fell on my side of town, although the smell of rain filled the air. Too bad, because just a little more rain would make it the wettest July on record. Still have till midnight to break the record, so we’ll see if that happens.
 
Geez, I can’t wait for our discussion group to have a discussion about the changes in what information is available to the government from our computers, phones, and emails. Every day more information comes out about more data that is being collected. I think the most confusing part is that the Republican Congress has been talking about ‘smaller government’ since the Reagan years, yet all this data collection sure sounds like ‘bigger government’ to me. I don’t think I have anything to hide, but maybe I have visited a site that the government doesn’t like or talked to someone who the government doesn’t like. All these ‘leaks’ are disturbing. When the government wants something ‘leaked’ to bolster a political agenda, it just gets leaked. When the government doesn’t want something ‘leaked’ they go after the person with everything. I get that certain things shouldn’t be leaked; but am not real happy about how they determine what is ‘leaked’ and what happens to the ‘leaker’. The American people need so more clear delineation of ‘whistleblowers’ and who decides what it is OK to leak and what it is not OK to leak.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
In this teaser, I will give you a list of clues and the answer, with all the letters, but the word year, missing. Your job is to figure out what to add to the word year to get the answer to the clue.

Example: Reading Glasses = *Y**EAR
Answer: EYEWEAR
1. Word for word, without reading = *Y *EAR* 2. New York Birthplace of F.D.R. = *Y*E *AR* 3. Caveat Emptor = **YE* ***AR* 4. Person engaged in reverie = **Y**EA**R 5. Student at Harvard or Yale, e.g. = **Y *EA***R 6. Seafood restaurant = *Y**E* *AR 7. Old sage who doesn't shave = ***Y*EAR* 8. Extra-powerful, souped up = *Y*E***AR*** 9. Absolutely transparent = **Y**** **EAR 10. Place to drop off clothes = **Y **EA**R 11. Jellystone resident = Y*** *EAR 12. Headache remedy since 1899 = **YE* A***R**

Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Hmmmm…Dismissals - Occupational Puns
A politician could be devoted, denominated or disappointed. An electrician could be delighted or discharged or unearthed. A musician could be denoted, disbarred, disbanded, decomposed, or disconcerted.
Ok, then?



Harper’s Index    
Factor by which white girls are more likely than black girls to binge drink: 2
Picture of the Day: All Time Great Movies
     Can you name the movie?


Unusual Fact of the Day
The vibrator was invented by a physician to treat women who suffered from "hysteria."
Joke-of-the-day
A man calls home to his wife and says, "Honey I have been asked to go fishing at a big lake up in Canada with my boss and several of his friends. We'll be gone for a week. This is a good opportunity for me to get that promotion I've been wanting, so would you please pack me enough clothes for a week and set out my rod and tackle box. We're leaving from the office and I will swing by the house to pick my things up. Oh! And please pack my new blue silk pajamas."
The wife thinks this sounds a little fishy but being a good wife she does exactly what her husband asked. The following weekend he comes home a little tired but otherwise looking good.
The wife welcomes him home and asks if he caught many fish. He says, "Yes! Lots of Walleye, some Blue gill, and a few Pike. But why didn't you pack my new blue silk pajamas like I asked you to do?"
The wife replies; "I did, they were in your tackle box."  
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
 PLAYING GOLF
 All putts break toward the water because the slope of greens are contoured for drainage.  
Yeah, It Really Happened
LONDON - A hamburger worth $380,000 -- or about $75,000 per ounce -- made with meat grown in a laboratory will be cooked and eaten in London next month, scientists say. The 5-ounce burger will include a patty of made of synthetic meat, grown in a laboratory from the stem cells of a slaughtered cow, the scientist behind the faux burger said. The costly patty, set for a public "proof of principle" consumption, will be made of about 3,000 strips of artificial beef, each the size of a rice grain, grown from bovine stem cells cultured in the laboratory, the Belfast Telegraph reported Monday. It is the result of years of research by Mark Post, a medical physiologist at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Synthetic meat could help to save the world from the growing consumer demand for beef, lamb, pork and chicken, which could see the conversion of much of the world's remaining forests to barren, manicured pastures by the end of this century Post said. Stem cells taken from just one animal could, in theory, be used to make a million times more meat than could be butchered from a single beef carcass. Post's research into synthetic meat, which ran up the $380,000 tab, has been funded by a wealthy anonymous backer who may reveal his identity publicly by volunteering to be the first to taste the test-tube burger, a source told the Telegraph.
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • Urine was used to make gunpowder during the Civil War. The southern army even put ads in the newspapers asking Southern ladies to save their urine and that wagons with barrels would be sent "around to gather up the lotion."
  • One kidney could handle the task of filtering the blood and making urine perfectly well. In fact, if one kidney is removed, the remaining kidney can increase in size by 50 percent within two months to take over the whole job.


Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
-8/4
Single Working Women's Week
AFRMA Fancy Rat & Mouse Week

Today Is                                                                      
·        Girlfriend's Day
·        Respect for Parents Day
·        Rounds Resounding Day
^^^
·        Bahamas, Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago: Emancipation Day (1834)
·        Benin: Independence Day (1960 from France)
·        Jamaica: Independence Day (1962 from UK)
·        US: Colorado: Admission Day (1876—38th state)
·        Zambia: Youth Day

Today’s Events through History  
1st coast-to-coast automobile trip (SF-NY) completed…1903
1st US census (population of 3,939,214; 697,624 are slaves)…1790
Adam Clayton Powell elected 1st black congressman from East…1944
Agreement covering "amity and commerce" is reached by representatives of the British in 
     New York, and Western AbenakiHousatonicMohegan and Scaghticoke Indians…1735
Aretha Franklins 1st recording session…1960
Earliest date for a film to be considered for the Academy Awards…1927
Emperor Wilhelm II declares war on his nephew Tsar Nicholas II (WW I)…1914
Hawaii National Park forms…1916
Joseph Priestley, English theologian and chemist author discovers oxygen…1774
MTV premieres at 12:01 AM…1981
Omar N Bradley (18) begins education in West Point…1911
Pres Harry Truman establishes Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)…1946
Several Shawnee Chiefs sign a peace treaty with British Pennsylvania authorities
      not to become allies with any other country…1739
U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded…1948

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Tempestt Bledsoe, Chicago, actress (Vanessa Huxtable-Cosby Show) is 40
Coolio [Artis Leon Ivey Jr.], Monessen Pennsylvania, rapper (Gangsta Paradise) is 50
Bart Conner, parallel bars gymnist (Olympic-gold-1984) is 56
Nancy Lopez, professional golfer is 57

Remembered for being born today
Francis Scott Key, composer (Star-Spangled Banner) [1779-1843]
Mother Jones, American labor organizer [1837-1930]
Yves Saint-Laurent, Oran Algeria, fashion designer (Opium, Obsession) [1936-2008]
Herman Melville, author (Moby Dick, Billy Budd), [1819-1891]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Corazon Aquino, Former President of the Philippines…cancer…2009…at 76
Paddy Chayefsky, screenwriter (Network, Hospital)…cancer…1981…at 58
Francis Gary Powers, US U-2 pilot…fire fighting plane crash…1977…at 47
John Ross (aka. Kooweskoowe), Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation…1866…at 76
Anne Stuart, queen of England (1702-14)… gout…1714…about 49

Answer: Movies:
In The Heat of the Night [1967]
Brain Teasers
1. BY HEART 2. HYDE PARK  3. BUYER BEWARE 4. DAYDREAMER 5. IVY LEAGUER 6. OYSTER BAR 7. GREYBEARD or GRAYBEARD 8. HYPERCHARGED 9. CRYSTAL CLEAR 10. DRY CLEANER 11. YOGI BEAR 12. BAYER ASPIRIN
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  §

7/31/13


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 31/ Day:  212  
Today: H 78°L 48°
Wind: ave:   5mph; Gusts:  17mph  Ave. humidity:  69%
Average Low 51°  Average High  82°
Record Low   43° (1997) Record High 91° (1977)
Quote of the Day



Today’s Historical Highlights
Chet Huntley retires from NBC, ends "Huntley-Brinkley Report"…1970
Cornerstone laid for 1st US government building: US Mint in Philadelphia…1792
Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing
      a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers…1703
Dept of Health, Education & Welfare created…1953
Egyptian Mamelukken occupies Akko, crusaders driven out of Palestine…1291
Elijah Muhammad, leader of Nation of Islam, calls for a black state…1960
English fleet beats Spanish Armada…1588
Federation of Malaysia forms…1962
George Washington quarter goes into circulation…1932
Oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji…781 
Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and 
     longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end…2007

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



My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Another beautiful weather day…and with no rain in the forecast it looks like July 2013 will be the 2nd wettest on record missing the wettest July by a mere 0.01”. I can only hope that the wet conditions continue for quite a little while. I am really tired of this decade + of drought. Still way too early to call an end to that, but nice to have the moisture.
 
The Rez people are back in for another school year. I’ve talked to a few and as always they are ready for another great school year. Busy sitting in workshops, getting their rooms ready, and awaiting the students who will return very excited to be back with their friends. Even after 7 years of retirement, it is still strange to walk through the stores and see all those school supplies and not have to stop and load up for the first week’s activities. So glad I had so many great years, and so glad I found another life after retiring.
 
I have never been a big fan of TSA policy. I have met very few TSA workers who are little more than robots. I don’t like having to pack my toiletries in my checked luggage. I certainly don’t enjoy removing my belt, watch and shoes to get on a plane. I even had a pat down when the machine showed two shadows on my back. Neither the guy patting me down or me could figure out where the shadows came from. He kept looking at the machine, patting that area, lifting my shirt and looking, then checking the other side—in case the image was magically reversed. I’m sorry, but I don’t buy the story that we are safer with all this hassle. Anyway, not we find that a number of these people hired to protect us at just above minimum wage and not a lot of formal education have been, for years, stealing from the passengers. Sometimes in the security check area and sometimes when the checked luggage is going through security in some back area we never see. Some have been accused of stealing, others for letting friend and family members through without checking and some for sleeping on the job. While the numbers sound small—in comparison to the number of employees and the number of passengers who go through security, every airline passenger in America has to remove their shoes because one guy years ago tried to light his shoes on fire on a plane. In today’s tech world, someone should be able to design a system of checking where the customer can always see their carry-on luggage throughout the security process from the time they let go of it on the belt until they pick it up at the end of the belt. That would stop the security line theft. Then they can have cameras on all of the luggage that is checked with someone actually watching the luggage. When someone reports a theft, TSA should be able to review the tapes and find the thief. If the NSA can gather all the meta data of my compute use and my phone calls, it only seems fair that they have all the data regarding luggage and security lines.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
In a high school science class, Jimmy was given 50 milliliters of water and 50 milliliters of ethanol. His task was to mix them together and then run an experiment on the mixture. When the teacher came to check on him, however, Jimmy's mixture only contained 94 milliliters. The teacher accused him of drinking some of the mixture in an attempt to get intoxicated and immediately sent him to the principal. Jimmy swears that he did not drink the mixture and that he didn't lose any of the liquids by any means. What happened to the other six milliliters, and how could Jimmy prove his innocence?
Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Hmmmm…Dismissals - Occupational Puns
A statistician could be discounted or disfigured. A butcher could be disjointed or delivered. An actor could be displayed or departed. A horseman could be derided or unbridled.
Ok, then?


Yeah, I caught the misspelling...but was too lazy to fix it.

Harper’s Index    
  • Portion of US women with a bachelor’s degree who use sterilization as their primary form of birth control: 1/10: 10%
  • Of US women without a high school diploma who do: 2/9: 22%

Picture of the Day: All Time Great Movies
     Can you name the movie?



Unusual Fact of the Day
Before scientists were able to genetically engineer bacteria to produce human insulin, those who were afflicted with insulin dependent diabetes often used insulin from pigs.
Joke-of-the-day
A man sat down and was seriously staring at the marriage certificate, after a long time his wife asked, “What are you looking for?
He replied, “The expiration date.”
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
WORKING WITH GROUPS
 Twenty percent of any group will be critical of the rest.   
Yeah, It Really Happened
John Morillo wanted to prove he could swim across the Detroit River from Canada to the U.S. after a night of drinking.
"I was drinking, but I wasn't really drunk," Morillo, 47, of Windsor, said. "The thing is, I've been telling people I'm going to swim across the river for years and they're like 'yah, yah, blah, blah, you can't make it.' So, I don't know, last night I just decided it was the time to go."
Morillo said he regrets causing problems for authorities, including Windsor police and Coast Guard crews from the U.S. and Canada. Three boats and a helicopter responded.
"As soon I saw the helicopters going by and the boats looking for me, I was like 'oh, this is really stupid,'" Morillo said.
The incredible thing is, Morillo actually made it across to Detroit, getting out of the water near downtown's Renaissance Center. He was swimming back when he was found by the U.S. Coast Guard. During his stop on the Detroit side of the river he said people wanted to take his picture.
He will likely be fined for swimming in a shipping channel, which could be $5,000 to $25,000.
Somewhat Useless Information   
Eagles have been used by many nations as a national symbol.
The coat of arms of AlbaniaThe coat of arms of ArmeniaThe coat of arms of AustriaThe coat of arms of the Czech RepublicThe coat of arms of EgyptThe coat of arms of GermanyThe coat of arms of GhanaThe coat of arms of IcelandThe coat of arms of IndonesiaThe coat of arms of IraqThe coat of arms of MexicoThe coat of arms of MoldovaThe coat of arms of MontenegroThe coat of arms of NigeriaThe coat of arms of PalestineThe coat of arms of PanamaThe coat of arms of the PhilippinesThe coat of arms of PolandThe coat of arms of RomaniaThe coat of arms of RussiaThe coat of arms of SerbiaThe coat of arms of SyriaThe Great Seal of the United StatesThe coat of arms of YemenThe coat of arms of Zambia

Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
29-8/4
Single Working Women's Week
AFRMA Fancy Rat & Mouse Week

Today Is                                                                      
·        Parent's Day
·        Uncommon Instruments Awareness Day

Today’s Events through History  
1st US patent granted, to Samuel Hopkins for a potash process…1790
Fidel Castro hands over power temporarily to brother Raúl Castro…2006
General John Sullivan leads an expedition in retaliation against the Iroquois’ 
     actions in the Wyoming Valley Massacre…1779
Hungarian education is only taught in German…1911
Israel welcomes its 1,000,000th immigrant…1961
Pilgrim Fathers depart (through England) to America…1620
Pres Harry Truman dedicates Idlewild Field (Kennedy Airport), NY…1948
UN votes 12-0 (2 abstentions) to authorize use of force against Haiti…1994

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Michael Biehn, actor (Rampage, Hog Wild, Aliens, Abyss) is 56
Dean Cain, actor (Clark-Lois & Clark) is 47
Gary Lewis, Jerry's son, singer, (& The Playboys-This Diamond Ring) is 67
J. K. Rowling [Joanne "Jo"], Gloucestershire writer (Harry Potter) is 48
Wesley Snipes, actor (Passenger 57, Money Train, Blade trilogy) is 51
Barry Van Dyke, actor (Battlestar Galactica, Diag Murder) is 62

Remembered for being born today
Ted Cassidy, actor (Lurch-Addams Family) [1932-1979]
John Ericsson, US, inventor (screw propeller)/shipbuilder-USS Monitor [1803-1899]
Milton Friedman, economist (Nobel 1976) [1912-2006]
Curt Gowdy, Green River Wyo, sportscaster (ABC) [1919-2006]
Sebastian S. Kresge, American merchant and philanthropist [1867-1966]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish knight, hermit, priest, theologian, founder of the 
     Society of Jesus… malaria……1556…at 65ish
Franz Liszt [Ferencz], Hungarian pianist/composer… pneumonia…1886…at 74
Na'od, Emperor of Ethiopia…killed in battle…1508…at 14
Jim Reeves, country singer…air crash…1964…at 40
Robert Taft, (Sen-R-Oh) "Mr Republican"…cancer…1953…at 63
Eugene Luther ‘Gore’ Vidal, author…pneumonia…2012…at 86

Answer: Movies:
The Shining [1980]
Brain Teasers
When liquids are mixed, the molecules can arrange themselves so that they fit together more tightly than either of the original, pure liquids. A good way to visualize this is to picture a box completely filled with billiard balls (representing large molecules). If you pour a small amount of sand (representing small molecules) into the box, the sand will fill the voids between the billiard balls. The mass in the box will increase, but the total volume will not change. This is how Jimmy could prove his innocence - if he weighs the mixture, it will equal the original weight of the water plus the weight of the ethanol.
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  §

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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.