8/4/13


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Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 32/ Day: 216   
Today: H 78°L 53°
Wind: ave:   5mph; Gusts:  16mph  Ave. humidity:  58%
Average Low      Average High
51°                            81°    
Record Low     Record High
35° (1956)          91° (1994)
Quote of the Day



Today’s Historical Highlights
1st edition of Saturday Evening Post (publishes until 1969)…1821
1st printing of Zohar (Jewish Kabbalah)…1558
Anne Frank arrested …1944
Carl Lewis wins gold medal in 100-meter dash at LA Summer Olympics…1984
Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon's invention of Champagne…1693
South African Oscar Pistorius becomes first amputee to compete at the Olympics…2012
US declares neutrality in WW I…1914

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



My Free Rambling Thoughts   
It doesn’t happen very often, but today we had a heavy rain while the sun was shining brightly. Then it clouded up for another big drop of moisture.
 
Saw a post by our US Rep today saying how glad she was to be back in our district for a 5 week in district work period. Yesterday it was reported that this congress has done less work than any congress in our history. Several Republicans said they should not be judged on the number of bills they passed, but the number of laws they got repealed. It should be mentioned those guys voted 40 times to repeal Obamacare funding and failed in each attempt. I sure hope that the people in the districts with do nothing representatives let them know they are fed up…and those in districts with reps who are working for compromise know that they have a good chance of being reelected. Sadly most of this work period will be used for little more than fundraising for the next election.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
A two hundred dollar purchase With a twenty-five dollar rent, Until you have all four of us, Then an even return you'll get.
One is next to Illinois, And one borders Virginia. One has no state name next to it, The fourth's near Pennsylvania
What are we?
Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Hmmmm…Tongue Twisters
C  
Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?
^^
Cedar shingles should be shaved and saved.
^^
A cheap ship trip.
^^
Chop shops stock chops.
^^
Comical economists.
^^
Cows graze in groves on grass which grows in grooves in groves.
^^
Crisp crusts crackle crunchily.
^^
The crow flew over the river with a lump of raw liver.
Ok, then?



Harper’s Index    
  • Percentage change in the past 25 years in the Consumer Price Index: +41
  • In the cost of beer: +40
  • Of books: -1

Songs with Double Meanings:
Along Comes Mary - The Association - Key Double Lyric of song: "And then along comes Mary, and does she want to give me kicks, and be my steady chick" (1) Mary is a nice girl the song's writer met (this was the line/lie fed to radio stations by the Association's record company back in the '60s, so the song wouldn't get banned); (2) Main/real meaning: "Mary" is slang for marijuana, and that is what the song is about, smoking weed.
American Pie - Don McLean - Key Double Lyrics of song: "Bye, bye Miss American Pie" and "The birds flew off with a fallout shelter, eight miles high and falling fast" (1) McLean purposely spelled "birds" "b-i-r-d-s" to confuse, even if he meant the band "The Byrds". The song is full of clues about different rockers and their songs; (2) "American Pie" in the song is use to describe the death of music in general (not apple pie), which according to McLean, started after the death of singer Buddy Holly.
Unusual Fact of the Day
The creators of Gilligan’s Island named the S.S. Minnow after the FCC chairman at the time, Newton Norman Minow. Gracious though it may seem, it was actually a backhanded compliment: Minow famously called television “a vast wasteland.”
Joke-of-the-day
Her minister told an eighty-year-old woman that, at her age, she should be giving some thought to what he called “the hereafter.” She said to him, “I think about it many times a day.”
“Oh, really?” said the minister. “That is very wise.”
“It’s not a matter of wisdom,” she replied. “It’s when I open a drawer or a closet, I ask myself, ‘What am I here after?’”
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
WINNING AT CHESS
 Bring out knights before bishops, preferably in front of the bishop's pawns.   
Yeah, It Really Happened
FORT MYERS, Fla. - A Florida woman said a raccoon tried to run off with her wallet while she was visiting the beach with her two daughters. Danielle Araica said she and her daughters were visiting Bunche Beach in Fort Myers to see a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle named Tampa Red make her expected return home Monday and they were all in the water when Araica spotted a raccoon rifling through her bag, WZVN-TV, Fort Myers, reported Thursday. "I saw the raccoon in my bag, so I start running like a crazy woman," Araica said. Arairca said the raccoon ran off with her pink wallet in its mouth, but dropped it in some nearby woods. A young boy was able to recover the wallet and return it to Araica, she said. "I have some scratches and holes on my wallet now, but it's back and its safe," Araica said. Araica said she thinks the wallet theft was suspicious, as there was no food in her bag. "She knew what she wanted. She went right in there and got it," Araica said. "It was a trained raccoon to go steal money or wallets out of women's bags that was the theory we came up with at the beach."
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • Britain's first escalator was installed in Harrods in 1878.
  • BVD stands for the organizers of the company: Bradley, Voorhies, and Day.
  • Carbonated soda water was invented in 1767 by Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen.
  • Cheerios cereal was originally called Cheerioats.
  • Chewing gum was patented in 1869 by William Semple.


Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
1-7
International Clown Week 
Simplify Your Life Week 
World Breastfeeding Week 
4-10
National Farmers' Market Week 
Old Fiddler's Week
Rock for Life Week
Assistance Dog Week  
 
Knights of Columbus Family Week
National Resurrect Romance Week 
Exercise With Your Child Week
National Fraud Awareness Week 

(This is sponsored by the FCC and has to do with phone & mail fraud.)
Single Working Women's Week 
 (Week always has the 4th in it)
Exhibitor Appreciation Week
Intimate Apparel Week

National Bargain Hunting Week
Psychic Week
Sturgis Rally

Today Is                                                                      
·        Coast Guard Day since 1790
·        Friendship Day
·        National Chocolate Chip Day
·        National Doll Day
·        National Kids' Day
·        National Underwear Day
·        Single Working Women's Day
·        Sister's Day
·        Social Security Day
^^^
·        Burkina Faso: Revolution Day (1984 name change from Upper Volta)

Today’s Events through History  
122°F (50°C), Seville, Spain (European record)…1881
185,000 Teamsters union United Parcel Service drivers walk off the job….1997
Child labor laws established in Belgium…1930
Jury acquits John Zenger (NY Weekly Journal) charged with seditious libel by 
     royal governor of NY (victory for Freedom of press)…1735

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Richard Belzer, stand-up comedian, author, and actor is 69
Daniel Dae Kim, TV actor is 45
Barack Obama, 44th US President is 52
Dylan Sprouse, Disney actor is 21
Cole Sprouse, Disney actor is 21
Billy Bob Thornton, actor (Sling Blade) is 58

Remembered for being born today
Louis Armstrong, jazz trumpeter (Hello Dolly) [1901-1971]
Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar [1701-1757]
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen Mother of England [1900-2002]
Glenn Cunningham, US middle distance runner (1930's) [1909-1988]
Percy Bysshe Shelley, England, romantic poet (Adonais) [1792-1822]
Helen Thomas, UPI journalist (starts press conferences) [1920-2013]
Louis Vuitton, Founder of the leather goods company [1821-1892] 

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Hans Christian Andersen, Danish fairy tale writer…fall…1875…at 70
Lee Hazlewood, country singer, songwriter and producer…cancer…2007…at 78
Victor Mature, American actor…1999…at 86
Frederick Chapman Robbins, American Nobel Prize Laureate Medicine…2003…at 86

Brain Teasers
The railroads in the U.S. version of the game of Monopoly!
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.