7/31/13


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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.