8/31/13

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

Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 35/ Day: 243   

Today: H 73°…L 56°

Wind: ave:   12mph; Gusts:  8mph  

Ave. humidity:  78%

Record Low: 36° (1975)    

Record High: 90° (1948)

Average Low: 47°    

Average High: 78°    

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

 1st sun-powered automobile demonstrated, Chicago, Ill…1955

12,000 die in 7.8 quake destroys 60,000 buildings in NE Iran…1968

Apple loses its patent dispute with Samsung in Tokyo, Japan…2012

Bonnie Prince Charlie reaches Blair Castle Scotland…1745

Stolen famous painting The Scream recovered…2006

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

My day started out with a visit to the eye doctor to see why my new glasses aren’t making things easier to read…after lots of tests, dilation, more tests, I have an appointment in 3 weeks to see if I need cataract surgery. I feel like that lady on the commercial for some emergency alert system where she says ‘but that is for old people.’ Guess not. Still not sure I need it, but time will tell.

 

Then our group went to the County Fair and then to lunch. Fair was nice, though the clouds looked menacing, nothing happened while we were there. Lots of nice exhibits. I have to say that while I really like to travel but I have no idea how all those vendors do it for a living. Trucks of food where they spend their lives traveling from fair to fair selling turkey legs, funnel cakes, and everything imaginable fried. There were also the traveling vendors selling the ‘latest and greatest’ fix to everything from dry skin to healing oils to wooden puzzles. We did see one amazing thing for kids…it was a pool of water about 2 feet deep with huge plastic bubbles that kids climbed into then were sealed and floated as they tried to maneuver like bumper cars. Quite entertaining. A nice way to spend a few hours, but that’s about it for me. Lunch was at a nice place with great food, then off to the new Sprouts store. I’ll be spending more time there as they have great selection and good prices. Our little town now has three or four of these types of stores…all with different names, but this one is the best so far.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

The following is an advertisement for a common item. The ad agency, however, is trying to entice buyers by making the item sound more impressive than it really is. Can you tell what is being sold here?

DEFY GRAVITY!

As you command water - or any liquid - to flow upwards! Could you be tampering with the secrets of the Earth? Your friends will be amazed! Just $1.99.

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Maria Montessori: Her Life and Legacy

• East Bound and Down

• What's my Line? Buddy Hackett

• Arthur Godfrey - My Little Grass Shack

• Eldridge Cleaver - 1968 Comments

Hmmmm…Fearsome Phobias

If you have an irrational fear of... Bald, becoming
You're suffering from... Peladophobia, phalacrophobia

It is Illegal…

No One May Cross Minnesota State Lines with a Duck On Top Of Their Head

Privileges granted to people in the U.S. (and many western nations) for being Christian…

Holidays celebrating your faith are so widely supported you can often forget they are limited to your faith (e.g. wish someone a “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Easter” without considering their faith).

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

Portion of US factory workers who have a college degree:  1/4

Portion of university teaching positions that are led-by grad students or adjunct faculty: 3/4

Unusual Fact of the Day

Hackysack was invented in 1972 by John Stalberger as a game to help him rehabilitate his knee after a football injury.

Joke-of-the-day

A man and his son were walking down the street. The boy saw a dog walking and sniffing at the ground. What makes the dog sniff at the ground dad? That is INSTINCT son.

A bit later his dad saw a dog sniffing another dog. Do you know why he's doing that son? I do dad, like you said before that’s END-STINK.

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

MAKING GARBAGE

The average person generates one ton of garbage per year.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

NEW YORK - Samsung has confirmed its giant 6.3-inch-display Galaxy Mega smartphone will be available from U.S. carriers AT&T, Sprint and U.S. Cellular. AT&T has announced it will offer the Galaxy Mega as of Friday for $149.99 with a two-year contract or for $24 per month under its early upgrade plan called AT&T Next. Sprint said it plans to offer the smartphone "later this year" with unlimited data plans, while U.S. Cellular has yet to announce launch details, International Business Times reported Tuesday. The Mega's 720 x 1280 HD Super Clear LCD display, approaching tablet size, is aimed at optimal watching of movies and music videos, reading books and playing games. Available in 8GB and 16GB options in black or white, the Mega will run Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core processor, comes with 1.5GB of internal RAM and has a removable 3,200 mAh battery, Samsung said Monday. Storage can be expanded up to 64GB with an external micro SD card. Even at 6.3 inches, the Mega isn't the leader in the phablet race; Sony that honor with its 6.4-inch Xperia Z Ultra smartphone.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• A chameleon can move its eyes in two directions at the same time.

• A father sea catfish keeps the eggs of his young in his mouth until they are ready to hatch. He will not eat until his young are born, which may take several weeks.

• A single little brown bat can catch 1,200 mosquitoes-sized insects in just one hour.

• A woodpecker can peck twenty times a second.

• An electric eel can produce a shock of up to 650 volts.

• During World War II, the very first bomb dropped on Berlin by the Allies killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

25-31

Be Kind To Humankind Week
National Safe at Home Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Franchise Appreciation Day

·        Love Litigating Lawyers Day

^^^

·        Kazakhstan: Constitution Day ()

·        Kyrgyzstan: Independence Day (1991 for USSR)

·        Malaysia: Freedom Day (1957 from UK)

·        Moldova: National Language Day ()

·        Trinidad,Tobago: Independence Day (1962 from UK)

Today’s Events through History  

108 U boats sunk this month (544,000 ton)…1942

23 U-boats sunk this month (80,000 ton)…1941

British kill 17 Stockbridge indians in Bronx during Revolution…1778

East & West Germany sign a treaty to join legal & political systems…1990

Queen Wilhelmina celebrates 50th jubilee…1948

US Naval Observatory authorized by an act of Congress…1842

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Richard Gere, actor (Breathless, Cotton Club, Pretty Woman) is 64

Van Morrison, Northern Irish musician is 68

Dan Rather, news anchor (CBS-TV) is 82

Chris Tucker, actor (Rush Hour), comedian is 41

Remembered for being born today

Richard Basehart, actor (Voyage to Bottom of Sea) [1914-1984]

Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther turned Republican [1938-1995]

James Coburn, actor (Our Man Flint, Magnificent Seven) [1928-2002]

Arthur Godfrey, radio/TV host (Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scout) [1903-1983]

Buddy [Leonard] Hackett, comedian (God's Little Acre, Music Man) [1924-2003]

Alan Jay Lerner, lyricist composer (Lerner & Loewe-My Fair Lady) [1918-1986]

Frederic March [Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel], actor (Dr. Jekyll and 

     Mr. Hyde) [1897-1975]

Maria Montessori, Italy, educator (spontaneous response) [1870-1952]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

John Bunyan, preacher/novelist/author (Pilgrim's Progress)…fever…1688…at 59

John Ford, director (Mary of Scotland, Stagecoach)…1973…at 78

Rocky Marciano, former heavyweight champ…plane crash…1969…at 45

Dennis O'Keefe, actor (Suspicion)…lung cancer…1968…at 60

Ike Pappas, news correspondent (JFK/Dallas)…heart failure…2008…at 75

Jerry Reed, country music singer and actor…emphysema…2008…at 71

Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales…car crash…1997…at 36

Brain Teasers

The item being advertised is a straw.

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  §