Mar 23, 2013

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Flagstaff Almanac:  Week: 12/ Day: 82   Today: H   56°…L 23°

Averages: H  52° L 24° Records: H 68°(2004)…L -1°(1952)

Wind: ave:   16mph; Gusts:  33mph  Ave. humidity:  43%

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

1st dated edition of Maimonides "Mishneh Torah" published►1490

1st recorded use of "OK" [oll korrect] (Boston's Morning Post) ►1839

1st telephone installed in White House►1929

English pretender to the throne James III lands at Firth of Forth►1708

Pres Harrison opens Oklahoma for white colonization►1889

University of California founded (Oakland California) ►1868

US move native-born of Japanese ancestry into detention centers►1942

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

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

Free Rambling Thoughts   

A good time at the Home Show followed by a good lunch. Home Show always has interesting people who are selling stuff. This year seemed to have a lot more young [under 30] people at the ‘how have you lived without this’ booths. Also a lot of retirement age people selling at those booths. I couldn’t help but wonder if the seniors at these booths were doing it—for years and years and loved it, supplementing their retirement, or just needed to do it to make bill payments. Still a lot of cool stuff, and a few ideas for my place.

 

I have long wondered how we can fight in two wars at the same time without having some kind of ‘rationing’ or discomfort for all Americans…like during WWII. I think I am beginning to understand. When WWII ended, the GI’s were offered many benefits toward education for their and housing when they returned. Today, combatants must wait up to a year to get desperately needed services because the VA is prepared to help them. I get that the WWII vets were drafted, and today’s vets volunteered. But I also get that many who are returning would not have survived during WWII. The families who have a family member die in combat get a one-time payment for burial. Wounded vets are a ‘many times-many payments’ deal. That is where the $$$ for the war should be going. How can these crazy war mongers in Congress and the Administration not spend long nights making bills that will provide the necessary treatment for our military? I have some friends who were in VietNam. At first I had a hard time understanding the whole PTSD thing, but when I saw a friend curl up in a corner when some fireworks were set off on the 4^th of July in Tuba, I suddenly got it. I then had two PTSD maintenance workers in Pine Ridge with it. It is very serious and they needed lifelong help. Then there are physically mutilated who need help with mechanisms as well as mental help to deal with their injury. War is never cheap and today’s wars are even more expensive than the bombs. I find it a National disgrace that our last few presidents and the last few congresses have done very little to help these vets. Yes, they are given parades and salutes, and handshakes at airports upon returning…but then they are out in the cruel world to deal with their physical and mental injuries.  No wonder so many end up divorced, homeless, and suicidal. A congressional or presidential investigation into the VA is long overdue.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Each sentence below contains a word that can be anagrammed to answer or describe the sentence.
Example: Craft that might tip in the ocean. Answer: Canoe (Anagram of ocean)

1. Bit of brush 2. Opposite of unite 3. Writings of a steno 4. They affix without paste 5. Having less reason for fears 6. Animal that may need a shoer

Excerpted from an old Reader's Digest

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Roger Bannister breaks the four minute mile

• Dr. Wernher von Braun talks about ATSF satellite project

• Saint Rafqa

from Cracked.com

Def Leppard

The story: 

Singer Joe Elliott thought of the name Deaf Leopard while he was in school (presumably while failing something). The spelling was later changed so the band didn't become confused with punk bands (who are known for their flawless spelling).

Why it's ridiculous: 

Putting aside '80s metal bands' fascination with animals for a minute (White Tiger, Whitesnake, Great White, Jackyl, Ratt) unless you're a Mozart-level talent, there's simply no excuse for including a word in your band's name that means you can't hear sounds.

Goo Goo Dolls

The story: The band found the name in an issue of True Detective Magazine after a club owner balked at their original name, the Sex Maggots.

Why it's ridiculous: 

Say it out loud. There's your reason. But not only does the name sound like something an infant would gargle, it doesn't come anywhere near to complimenting the band's sound (neither does the Sex Maggots, for that matter). Sure it might have seemed like an ironic name back when you guys were young and confident, but now you're on adult contemporary radio, and your name reminds people of the gurgling mess in the back seat that brought their youth to an abrupt end. ROCK!

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

• Percentage of Canadians who believe in global warming: 98

• Of Americans who do: 70

• Of Republicans: 48

• Percentage of Republicans who believe in demonic possession: 68

Picture of the Day: Mammals of the Sea

Unusual Fact of the Day

The first Ford Mustangs, built in 1964, were nothing more than Ford Falcons with different exterior sheet metal.

Joke-of-the-day

Six guys were playing poker when Smith loses $500 on a single hand, clutches his chest and drops dead at the table. Showing respect for their fallen comrade, the other five complete their playing time standing up. Roberts looks around and asks, "Now, who is going to tell the wife?" They draw straws. Rippington, who is always a loser, picks the short one. They tell him to be discreet, be gentle, don't make a bad situation any worse than it is. "Gentlemen! Discreet? I'm the most discreet man you will ever meet. Discretion is my middle name, leave it to me." Rippington walks over to the Smith house, knocks on the door, the wife answers, and asks what he wants. Rippington says, "Your husband just lost $500 playing cards." She hollers, "TELL HIM TO DROP DEAD!" Rippington says, "I'll tell him.  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

SHINING UP YOUR HORSE

 A horse with a dull coat needs more corn in its diet.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

GREENSBURG, Pa. — Fifty-two bottles of well-aged whiskey disappeared between his lips, police said, and now it's time for a western Pennsylvania man to settle up.

John Saunders, the former live-in caretaker of a Pittsburgh-area mansion, faces criminal charges for allegedly drinking more than $100,000 worth of the owner's whiskey.

Owner Patricia Hill found nine cases of whiskey hidden in the walls and stairwell of the century-old Georgian mansion built by coal and coke industrialist J.P. Brennan after she bought it in 2012. The Old Farm Pure Rye Whiskey was produced in the early 1900s by the nearby West Overton Distilling Co.

"My guess is that Mr. Brennan ordered 10 cases . pre-Prohibition," said Hill, a New Yorker who bought the house to convert it into a bed-and-breakfast. "I was told by his family that family members used to greet him at the door each day with a shot of whiskey."

Scottdale police told The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ( ) that Saunders drank dozens of bottles whiskey valued at $102,400 by a New York auction house.

Saunders, 62, of Irwin, was charged with receiving stolen property and theft. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

Hill told police Chief Barry Pritts she stored the whiskey in the original cases, which contained 12 bottles each. After Saunders moved out, Hill said she discovered last March that the bottles in four cases were empty.

Saunders initially denied drinking the whiskey when questioned by police, but Pritts said a DNA linked him to three of the empty bottles.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The English word "handcuff" is a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon word handcops, an obsolete word meaning "to fetter".

• In February 2008, an eight-year-old boy in New Hampshire had to be freed by firefighters after getting stuck in a pair of handcuffs he found in his mother's bedroom.

• For over 15 years TUFF-TIES, plastic disposable handcuffs, have been used and approved internationally by the Military and over 3,000 federal, state, county, local police agencies, and security forces in all types of arrest and restraint situations.

• A standard pair of modern handcuffs weighs no more than 15 oz and the minimum opening of the bracelet is 2 inches. The maximum overall length of the handcuffs is 9.4 in (24 cm).

• Jean Merola, a 75-year-old grandmother of eight, was arrested for disorderly conduct after she refused an officer's orders to move her car while she waited for the coffee and fries she ordered at the drive-through window. Merola was handcuffed behind her back and put in the cruiser.

• In 1910, Houdini published the book Handcuff Secrets to discourage hack imitators. In the book, he wrote, "you can open the majority of the old-time cuffs with a shoestring. By simply making a loop in the string, you can lasso the end of the screw in the lock and yank the bolt back, and so open the cuff in as clean a manner as if opened with the original key."

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

17-23

Campfire USA Birthday Week
Consider Christianity Week
Health Information Professionals Week
National Animal Poison Prevention Week
National Inhalant and Poisons Awareness Week
Root Canal Awareness Week
18-24

Act Happy Week
American Chocolate Week
Flood Awareness Week
Wellderly Week
Wildlife Week
World Folktales & Fables Week
21-27

Week of Solidarity with People's Struggling Against Racism & Discrimination

Today Is                                                                       

Corn Dog Day

Liberty Day

National Puppy Day

Near Miss Day 1989 when asteroid came within 500,000 miles of earth

OK Day

UN World Meteorological Day

~Pakistan: Republic Day (1956; became Islamic)

Today’s Events through History  

Dame Nellie Melba, reveals secret of her now famous toast►1901

Dixie Cup invented 1922 - 1st airplane lands at the US Capitol in Washington, DC►1912

Evel Knievel breaks 93 bones after successfully clearing 35 cars►1972

Patrick Henry proclaims "Give me liberty or give me death"►1775

Sir Alexander Cuming will hold a conference with 300 CHEROKEE Chiefs. 

     Using threats and gifts, Cuming will get the CHEROKEEs to agree to 

     acknowledge King George II of England as their sovereign►1730

Streetcar patented (E A Gardner of Phila) ►1858

US army sells last homing pigeons►1957

Wayne Gretzky sets NHL record with 802 goals scored►1994

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Roger Bannister, England, 1st to run a 4 minute mile is 84

In their 60’s

Chaka Khan, [Stevens], Great Lakes Il, rocker (Rufus-I am Every Woman) is 60

In their 50’s

Moses Malone, NBA center (Atlanta Hawks, Milw Bucks, Phila '76ers) is 58

In their 40’s

Jason Kidd, NBA guard (Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks) is 40

In their 30’s

Perez Hilton, American television personality and blogger is 35

Remembered for being born today

Joan Crawford, [Lucille Le Sueur], Texas, actress (Mildred Pierce) [1905-1977]

Werner von Braun, Wirsitz Germany, rocket expert (I Aim at the Stars) [1912-1977]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès (Saint Rebecca) Lebanese saint►1914at 82

Barney Clark, 1st artifical heart recipient, dies after 112 days►1983►at 62

Peter Lorre, actor (Casino Royale) ►stroke►1964►at 59

Elizabeth Taylor, English-American actress►heart failure►2011►at 79 

Answer: Brain Teasers

1. Shrub 2. Untie 3. Notes 4. Tapes 5. Safer 6. Horse

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  §