Mar 25, 2013

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Flagstaff Almanac:  Week: 13/ Day: 84   Today: H 52°…L 16°

Averages: H  52° L 25° Records: H 70°(1956)…L 0°(1904)

Wind: ave:   9mph; Gusts:  25mph  Ave. humidity:  27%

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

1st demonstration of pancake making (Dept store in NYC) ►1882

1st Easter, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus►31

1st horse race in America takes place►1668

Home of vaudeville, Palace Theatre, opens (NYC) starring Ed Wynn►1913

Martin Luther King Jr led 25,000 to state capitol in Montgomery►1965

Mount Etna in Sicily erupts, destroying Nicolosi, killing 20,000►1669

Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for his publication 

     of the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism►1811

Supreme Court rules Air Force could ban wearing of yarmulkes►1986

US Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" as obscene►1955

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

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

Free Rambling Thoughts   

A very chilly night last night…wasn’t really expecting that cold a temp. The day turned out OK after it finally warmed up.

 

A really great discussion group last night. Norm, a new member, has had extensive contact with Persians and Iranians during his college teaching. He provided us with some great insights in the issues facing the US and Iran. It is still so hard for me to understand the political mess over there…mostly based on religion. If God loves all his/her children, why does he allow this to continue? The Christians certainly have their share of violence in the name of God. Those of Islam also have a history of violence against non-believers. I still don’t understand most of what is going on over there. Current politics seems to have both sides drawing a line in the sand, letting the other side walk up to that line, then making a finer line in the sand. So much of this goes partially back to the days of colonization. Conquering countries drew boundaries that divided historical groups, put historical enemies in the same country, tried to turn time into believing in their religion, their government form, and their culture. It reminds me of a lesson I thought we learned when the ‘boat people’ came to America after the Viet Nam War. In California schools the newly arrived were put into ESL classes. No one could understand why there was so much violence from the teenagers and the growth of gangs, until they found out that many of the ‘boat people’ had been historical enemies and were being put into the same ESL classes. The schools saw a bunch of Asians who didn’t speak English, but the students saw that they were being put into classes with their historical enemies. When the groups were put in separate ESL classes the violence dropped substantially. The same is true with the political boundaries in the Middle East.

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. To be required to pay -> Married 2. Allowing access -> Enclosure; writing implement 3. Organ that produces eggs -> Change with time 4. Fruit; colour -> Scope; the extent of something 5. Fruit; colour -> Exist; reside; seeing in real time 6. Colourless gas; a form of oxygen -> Area or region 7. Leaving something out -> Special assignment 8. Public speaking -> Daily food allowance

***Hint, if needed

The shorter words start with these letters:
1. W
2. P
3. V
4. R
5. L
6. Z
7. M
8. R

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• The Turtles - Happy Together

• Hoyt Axton - Greenback Dollar

• Béla Bartók at the piano

from Cracked.com

Things Hollywood Thinks Computers Can Do

You Can Blow Up Anything At Will With Hacking Hacking Will Let You Steal Any Damned Thing You WantYour Personal and Social Life Can Be Permanently Dismantled By People Who Know Stuff About ComputersA Computer Might Become Self-Aware At Any MomentComputers Can Talk to Any UFOs

Harper’s Index    

Percentage increase in Chicago homicides lat year: 18Amount n health-care spending on shooting victims that local officials hope to recoup through a new firearms tax: $600,000+

Picture of the Day: Dine’ Land [Navajo]

Unusual Fact of the Day

Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue” was written by Shel Silverstein

Joke-of-the-day

A man lying on his deathbed called to him, his lawyer, his doctor, and his pastor. "I am going to die tonight," and I want to prove that when you go to heaven you can take it all with you. So to my three most trusted friends, you three of course, I am leaving 50,000 dollars in these envelopes. When I die you must come to my funeral and put the envelopes in my coffin with me." The man handed the three men identical envelopes.

A day later they each received news that, that night the old man had died . So each knew they must go to his funeral and fulfill his death wish.

Standing over the coffin one week later the pastor confessed, " I can't hide what I've done. I took 10,000 dollars from the envelope because the church needed to be painted."

Then as he did so the doctor also started to fidget then finally confessed “I took 30,000 dollars from my envelope because the hospital needed a new wing."

Ten the lawyer said plainly “You bunch of crooks! I wrote him a check for the full amount!"

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

ADJUSTING BICYCLE HANDLEBARS

 The distance from the front of your seat to the handlebar cross member should equal the length of your forearm from elbow to fingertip.   

Yeah, It Really Happened

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Officials at a California aquarium said a couple of young penguins have taken a liking to a mouse-chasing iPad app designed to amuse cats. The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach said penguins Jeremy and Newsom, who are still too young to get caught up in the excitement of the upcoming mating season, have found "enrichment" with the free "Game for Cats" iPad app, ABC News reported Friday. The game features a mouse running around the screen that lets out a squeak when tapped by a paw -- or in this case, a beak. "Newsom set the penguin high score of 1,600 for the game," the aquarium said on its website. A YouTube video of Newsom playing the game has been viewed more than 167,000 times.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• James Buchanan was the only US president never to be married.

• Libra, the Scales, is the only inanimate symbol in the zodiac.

• Maine is the only state in the United States whose name is just one syllable.

• Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.

• Notables who were the only child in their families include Ansel Adams, Hans Christian Andersen, Carol Burnett, Raymond Chandler, Eric Clapton, Linda Ellerbee, Louis Gossett, Jr., Robert Englund, Charlton Heston, James Earl Jones, Ted Koppel, Ivan Lendl, Barry Manilow, Maria Montessori, Jack Nicholson, Flannery O'Connor, Al Pacino, Charlie "Bird" Parker, Robert Edwin Peary, Lisa Marie Presley, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jean-Paul Sartre, Frank Sinatra, Robin Williams, and Tiger Woods.

• Ohio is the only US state without a rectangular flag. Ohio's flag is a pennant.

• Only one foreign country--Liberia in Africa--has a capital city named after an American president. The capital is Monrovia, named after James Monroe.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

21-27

Week of Solidarity with People's Struggling Against Racism & Discrimination
24-30 

Tsunami Awareness Week
Pediatric Nurse Practioner Week
National Protocol Officer's Week
National Cleaning Week
Termite Awareness Week

Today Is                                                                      

International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and The Transatlantic Slave Trade

 National Day of Celebration of Greek & American Democracy

National Medal of Honor Day

Old New Year's Day

Pecan Day

Tolkien Reading Day

Vaffeldagen (Waffle Day) Swedish holiday celebrated world wide

><
~Greece: Independence Day (1821 as beginning of long war of Independence-Ottoman Empire)

~US: Maryland: Maryland Day (1634 for landing of 1^st settlers)

Today’s Events through History  

1st railway passenger service began in England►1807

Elvis Presley performs live on the USS Arizona►1961

European Union's Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its 

     by-products as a result of mad cow disease (BSE) ►1996

Jimmy Durante & Garry Moore premiere on radio►1943

Modern Olympics began in Athens, Greece►1896

Peter Cruddas, treasurer of Britain's Conservative Party, resigns after being caught 

     on film selling access to British Prime Minister David Cameron►2012

Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France which leads to his 

     death on April 6►1199

Robert the Bruce crowned King of Scots►1306

Scottsboro Boys (accused of raping a white woman) arrested in Alabama►1931

Turtle's "Happy Together" goes #1►1967

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

James A Lovell Jr, astronaut (Gemini 7, 12, Apollo 8, 13) is 85

In their 70’s

Anita Bryant, homophobe/singer is 72

Aretha Franklin, Soul Sister #1/singer (Respect) is 71

Paul Michael Glaser, actor (Starsky-Starsky & Hutch) is 70

Gloria Steinem, US feminist/publisher (Ms Magazine) is 79

In their 60’s

Mary Gross, actress/comedian (SNL, Club Paradise, Feds) is 60

Elton John, [Reginald Kenneth Dwight], England, singer is 66

In their 50’s

Brenda Strong, actress and yoga instructor is 53

In their 30’s

Danica Patrick, race car dirver is 31

Remembered for being born today

Hoyt Axton, actor (Black Stallion, Junkman, Rousters) [1938-1999]

Béla Bartok, Hungary, composer/pianist (Concerto for Orchestra) [1881-1945]

Andy Clyde, Scotland, actor (George-Real McCoys, Cully-Lassie [1892-1967]

Howard Cosell, Winston-Salem NC, sportscaster (Monday Night Football) [1918-1995]

Louis Moréri, French encylopedist [1643-1680]

Jack Ruby, killer of Lee Harvey Oswald [1911-1967]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

John Drinkwater, English poet/playwright (Bird in Hand)►1937►at 54

Paul Henning, TV/film producer and writer [Beverly Hillbillies] ►2005►at 93 

Ishi ("the last of his Yahi tribe")►TB►1916►at 54ish

Elizabeth Storrs Mead, American educator►1917►at 83 

Nancy Walker, actress (Ida Morgenstern-Rhoda) ►cancer►1992►at 69

Answer: Brain Teasers

1. Owed -> Wed 2. Open -> Pen 3. Ovary -> Vary 4. Orange -> Range 5. Olive -> Live 6. Ozone -> Zone 7. Omission -> Mission 8. Oration -> Ration

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  §