7/29/13

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 31/ Day: 209   Today: H 75°…L 62°

Wind: ave:   12mph; Gusts:  34mph  Ave. humidity:  77%

* Average Low   Average High   Record Low   Record High

            51°                    82°              37° (1913)      92° (2002)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

1st iron lung installed (Bellevue hospital, NY)…1927

1st newspaper published west of Alleghanies, Pitts Gazette…1786

1st schoolhouse west of Allegheny Mtns completed, Schoenbrunn, OH…1773

Ben & Jerry's & Jerry Garcia agree on a new flavor Cherry Garcia…1987

Comic strip "Dennis the Menace," 1st appears…1938

FDIC bails out 1st Republic Bank, Dallas, with $4 billion…1988

Ford became 1st US pres to visit Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz…1975

Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris…1836

International Atomic Energy Agency forms by UN…1957

Mexican rebel Pancho Villa surrenders…1920

Pope Paul VI declares any artificial forms of birth control prohibited…1968

US President Eisenhower signs into law National Aeronautics and Space Act…1958

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

The weatherman started saying last week that this July was our 3^rd wettest on record. Today brought yet another afternoon flash flood warning, heavy rain and a quick cool off.

 

Last might was another huge storm for about 30 minutes. We were at dinner when last night’s storm hit, and had to wait at the restaurant for about 20 minutes after we finished, just make it to the cars without being drenched. We ate at Ruby Tuesdays at the mall. When we headed for our vehicle, a guy who works there provided umbrella coverage to the two ladies. Very nice and surprising.

 

Our discussion group was excellent last night as we had read about and discussed the many scenarios of intervention into regimes that are mass killing their own citizens. First it is difficult to understand why any regime would do mass killings…sadly we only have to look at our own history. The mass killings have been going on for centuries around the world. The problem today, as always, is intervention from the outside. Historically interventions have been when there is some other kind of benefit for the intervening country….like oil, trade, or other economic gain. Stopping the mass killings has been used as a reason, but there have been so many places that no country intervened because there was really no economic advantage to the intervening country. When a government starts killing its citizens, the world watches. If the group being killed fights back it is usually defined as a ‘civil war’ and other countries do not want to intervene. If they do not, or cannot fight back, many more have to be killed before world governments start diplomacy to prevent more killings. A disappointing review of mankind.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

I break, she falls. I break, she falls. Who am I, and who is she?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• David Niven interviewed by David Frost

• Martina McBride - Independence Day

• Rhonda Fleming & Robert Horton "CINDY" Wagon Train

• Smothers Brothers Professor Erwin Corey

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

• Percentage change since 1980 in California’s spending on public universities: -13

• On prisons: +436

Picture of the Day: All Time Great Movies

     Can you name the movie?

Unusual Fact of the Day

-40 degrees Fahrenheit and -40 degrees Celsius are identical. That's the point at which both temperature scales converge

Joke-of-the-day

Computers are like air conditioners. They work fine until you start opening windows.  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

CHECKING AN EGG

 When placed in a bowl of water, a fresh egg will sink and lie on its side. An egg that's not fresh but still edible will sink and stand partially erect on its tapered end. A rotten egg will float.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

GRAND ISLAND, N.Y. - Guinness World Records announced a 112-year-old New York state man, Salustiano Sanchez Blazquez, is the oldest man in the world. Guinness said Blazquez, of Grand Island, who was born June 8, 1901, in Spain, became the world's oldest man following the death of Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, who died June 12 at age 116. Misao Okawa, 115, of Japan, is currently the overall world's oldest living person. Guinness said Blazquez told officials he "does not feel he has accomplished anything special because he happens to be living longer than other men." Blazquez -- who enjoys gardening, crossword puzzles and nightly gin rummy games -- attributed his longevity to a daily routine that includes eating a banana and an Anacin.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

•  
The first American satellite in orbit, Explorer I, was launched February 1, 1958.

• The first man-made object to circle the earth was Sputnik I, launched in 1957.

• The International Space Station weighs about 500 tons and is the same size as a football field.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

29-8/4
Single Working Women's Week
AFRMA Fancy Rat & Mouse Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day March 1943 to November 1945 with rationing of cheese

·        Lasagna Day

·        National Chicken Wing Day

·        National Talk in an Elevator Day

·        Rain Day

Today’s Events through History  

1st motorcycle race, Manhattan Beach, NY…1899

1st sugar plantation in Hawaii begins…1835

Episcopal Church ordained female priests…1974

Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt unsuccessful nationalist revolt against 

     British put down by police…1848

Last US Playboy Club (Lansing Mich) closes…1988

New rules of language assumed (equal rights Flemings/Walen Belgium)…1921

Olympic National Park forms…1938

Union of Orthodox Rabbis of US & Canada forms…1902

Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie" is released…1928

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 90’s

"Professor" Irwin Corey, comedian (Car Wash) is 99

In their 80’s

Robert Horton, actor (Kings Row, Wagon Train, Arena) is 89

In their 60’s

Ken Burns [Kenneth Lauren], director/producer (The Civil War, Baseball) is 60

Tim Gunn, fashion consultant, television personality is 60

In their 40’s

Stephen Dorff, actor (Blade) is 40

Martina McBride, country singer/songwriter is 47

Wil Wheaton, actor (Star Trek Next Generation-Wesley) is 41

Remembered for being born today

Melvin Mouron Belli, lawyer (SF's "King of Torts") [1907-1996]

Clara Bow, silent screen actress (It, Saturday Night Kid), [1905-1965]

Dag Hammarskjoeld, Sweden, 2nd UN Sect-General (1953-61) (Nobel) [1905-1961]

Peter Jennings, news anchor (ABC Evening News) [1938-2005]

Benito Mussolini, [Il Duce], Fascist Italian dictator (1922-43), [1883-1945]

Elizabeth Short, victim in the Black Dahlia case [1924-1947]

Alexis de Tocqueville, France, statesman/writer (Democracy in America) [1805-1859]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Raymond Massey, actor (Dr Kildare)…1983…at 86

David Niven, actor (Rugues)…ALS…1983…at 73

Robert A Schumann, German pianist/composer (Humoresque)… mercury 

    poisoning…1856…at 46

Richard Simon, co-founder (Simon & Shuster)…heart attack…1960…at 61

Tom Snyder, television personality…leukemia…2007…at 71

Vincent Van Gogh, painter…suicide…1890…at 37

Answer:

Movies: The Godfather

Brain Teasers

I am day, and she is night.

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  §