10/21/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 43/ Day: 294   

Today: L 23°…H 66°… Ave. humidity: 44%

Wind: ave:   mph; Gusts:  mph  

Average Low: 29° Record Low:  5° (1949)

Average High: 61° Record High:  75° (2003)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

"United We Stand" benefit concert for 9/11 attacks, held by Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, Mariah Carey, The Backstreet Boys, and others…2001

10th NYC Marathon won by Bill Rodgers in 2:11:42…1979

144 die as a coal waste landslide engulfed a school in Aberfan, South Wales…1966

1st black owners to own a major sports team, purchase Denver Nuggets for $65m…1989

1st planetarium opens at Deutsche Museum in Munich…1923

1st women in British House of Lords…1958

Elton John's tribute to Diana, Princess of wales, breaks world record, 318 million…1997

Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Tierra Del Fuego (Pacific Ocean) …1520

Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses were sent to the Crimean War…1854

Gary Kasparov defeats Nigel Short for chess championship…1993

Greta Weitz wins woman participation in NYC marathon (02:27:33)…1979

Mexico City's 1st major subway accident takes 26 lives…1975

Nobel prize for literature awarded to Saul Bellow…1976

Penang Free School founded Malaysia, oldest English-language school in SE Asia…1816

Pontiac ends the siege of Detroit…1763

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Nice Sunday…nice to be outside.

 

Had a long conversation with my little brother, on his birthday. All is well in NYC. His sister-in-law took him to brunch, since his wife is off on another marathon design trip. Glad he is enjoying life in the big city.

 

Until lately I have let the TEA party spew its strange formula for live in the US. Today I was shocked to see Sen. Cruz, back in Texas, and the many many followers he has in his home state. Many believing that the shut down, loss of billions, was a worthwhile endeavor. Scary.

 

I did get a good historical lesson. It turns out that by accident, the US did default on its debt back in 1979 for a couple of hours. That is when the Gephardt Rule was adopted. It tied the debt limit ceiling to the budget, basically saying that as the budget spent more money, the debt ceiling was automatically raised…making default almost impossible. Then in the mid 90’s the wonderful congress dropped the Rule, meaning there would be two votes to stop default. One would pass a budget, the second to raise the debt ceiling to meet the budget. This must have been seen as a good thing somehow. What it allowed was for politicians take little into account when passing a budget…keeping their local voters happy with local projects and then quietly passing the debt ceiling bill to pay for them. Obviously didn’t work very well. Time for some real review  and a correction course of our budget process.  

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

In Handland the currency is fingers. What does the cost of the following sale item represent?

1 T-shirt

Normal price: 19 fingers

Sale price: 14 fingers

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Jailhouse Rock

• Rerun Hustle

• Fury – Intro

• Celia Cruz – Guantanamera

• Dizzy Gillespie - "Salt Peanuts" – 1947

Hmmmm…Fearsome Phobias

If you have an irrational fear of... God
You're suffering from... Theophobia Greek Theos, ‘god’

If you have an irrational fear of... Gold
You're suffering from... Aurophobia Latin aurum 'gold'

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

Average cost after financial aid to attend NYU for a freshman from a family making $30,000 a year: $25,662

Amazing Facts About The Human Body

Eating And Drinking: The average person in the West eats 50 tons of food and drinks 50,000 liters (11,000 gallons) of liquid during his life.

Unusual Fact of the Day

Oddly enough, the word "mafia" is never mentioned in the film version of The Godfather.

Joke-of-the-day

A prisoner in jail receives a letter from his wife: "Dear Husband, I have decided to plant some lettuce in the back garden. When is the best time to plant them?"

The prisoner, knowing that the prison guards read all mail, replied in a letter: "Dear Wife, whatever you do, do not touch the back garden. That is where I hid all the money."

A week or so later, he received another letter from his wife: "Dear Husband, You wouldn't believe what happened, some men came with shovels to the house, and dug up all the back garden."

The prisoner wrote another letter back: "Dear wife, now is the best time to plant the lettuce."  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

MAKING ELECTRICITY FROM COAL

How much coal do you use each year? An electric water heater uses 2 tons of coal for an average-size family. Electric ranges and clothes dryers use another half ton of coal each. A color television uses about 500 pounds of coal each year, and an electric frying pan uses 200.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

You wouldn't think this kind of thing would work, but a Canadian man, who apparently watched a lot of Three Stooges, managed to survive being attacked by a black bear by grabbing its tongue. 

Gilles Cyr said he was walking in his woodlot when the bear ran out of the woods, knocked him to the ground and stood over him.

"His mouth was wide open right in front of my face so the last thing I remember I had his tongue in my hand and I didn't want to let go because he was trying to fight me off," he said. 

"So he was hitting me with his claws, so I says, 'If you're going to hurt me, I'm going to hurt you too.'"

Cyr, suffering claw marks to his belly and knee, managed to escape behind a tree. The bear eventually lost interest. Cyr did not have a chance to try poking the bear in the eyes, slapping it or hitting it on the head with a hammer. 

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The country of Bhutan issued a group of postage stamps in 1973 that were actually phonograph records. These stamps had native folk songs recorded on one side that could be played on a record player.

• Around 1883, the U.S. witnessed early forms of product placement in the form of a stamp. Advertising for various products was printed on the back of the three-cent stamps.

• During the Apollo 11 moon flight in 1969, the astronauts had a die of a postage stamp, which they pulled an impression of when they touched down on the moon. Once the die was returned to earth, it was used to produce the 10-cent airmail stamp issued in September of 1969. 

• As the first country to issue stamps, Britain is the only country to have stamps without its name printed on it.

• The most popular U.S. postage stamp sold over 120 million copies. It was a 1993 stamp of rock singer Elvis Presley.

• "Black on Magenta," the 1856 1 cent British Guiana stamp, is the most rare and expensive stamp in the world. It is valued at $3 million today, but it hasn't been sold since 1980 when it went for $1 million.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

17-24

Food & Drug Interactions and Awareness Week
20-26

Freedom of Speech Week
Medical Assistants Recognition Week  
National Character Counts Week
National Chemistry Week
National Forest Products Week
National Friends of Libraries Week 
National Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy Week  
National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week 
National Massage Therapy Week
National Respiratory Care Week
National Save For Retirement Week
Pastoral Care Week
Red Ribbon Week 
Ally Week
Kids Care Week
21-25

National School Bus Safety Week 
National Nuclear Science Week
Disarmament Week
Peace, Friendship and Good Will Week
Prescription Errors Education & Awareness Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Celebration of The Mind Day

·        Global Iodine Deficiency Disorder (IDD) Prevention Day

·        Information Overload Day

·        Mammography Day

·        National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day

·        Reptile Awareness Day National

~~~~

·        Taiwan: Overseas Chinese Day

Today’s Events through History  

5 month strike by United Mine Workers ends…1902

Jailhouse Rock starring Elvis Presley opens…1957

Leonard Gersh' "Butterflies are Free," premieres in NYC…1969

Nobel prize for literature awarded to Pablo Neruda…1971

Spanish arrive in San Francisco Bay…1769

Thomas Edison perfects carbonized cotton filament light bulb…1879

Thousands opposing Vietnam War try to storm Pentagon…1967

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Manfred Mann, [Michael Lubowitz], South Africa, rocker (Mighty Quinn) is 73

Judith Sheindlin, Brooklyn, Jurist and Television personality (Judge Judy) is 71

Carrie Fisher, actress (Princess Lelia-Star Wars) is 57

Jeremy Miller, actor (Ben-Growing Pains) is 37

Kim Kardashian, socialite is 33

Remembered for being born today

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet (Rime of Ancient Mariner) [1772-1834]

Alfred Bernhard Nobel, Stockholm, created dynamite & Peace Prizes [1833-1896]

Dizzy Gillespie, [John B], jazz trumpeter, a creator of modern jazz [1917-1993]

Celia Cruz, Cuban singer, Queen of Salsa [1925-2003]

Peter Graves, actor (Mission Impossible, Stalag 17, Fury) [1911-2010]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

George McGovern, Senator (SD), ’72 Pres. Candidate…2012…@90

John T Scopes, US teacher (Scopes "monkey trial" 1925)…1970…@70

Jim Garrison, Louisiana DA (investigate JFK assassination)…cancer…1992…@70

Fred Berry, actor (‘Rerun’ on What’s Happening)…stroke…2003…@52  

Brain Teasers

5 finger discount.

If you steal something it is often called a 5 finger discount.

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  §