11/19/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 47/ Day: 323   

Today: L 23°…H 54°… Ave. humidity: 76%

Wind: ave:   3mph; Gusts:  11mph  

Average Low: 21° Record Low:  -6° (1985)

Average High: 49° Record High:  69° (1949)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

"Boss" Tweed, convicted of defrauding NYC of $6M, 12 years' imprisonment…1873

1st issue of Time magazine, Japanese Emperor Hirohito on cover…1928

Apollo 12's Conrad & Bean become 3rd & 4th humans on Moon…1969

Carrie Nation attempts to address Senate…1903

CBS TV bans Calvin Klein's jean ad featuring Brooke Shields…1980

Egyptian Pres Anwar Sadat arrives in Israel…1977

Fidel Castro accepts removal of Soviet weapons…1962

Ford cancels Edsel…1959

Jay Treaty and Northwest Territory Treaty states Indians can cross borders…1794

Jay Treaty, 1st US extradition treaty, signed with Great Britain…1794

Kellogg's Pop Tarts pastries created…1965

Lewis & Clark reach Pacific Ocean, 1st European Americans to cross continent…1805

Lincoln delivers his address in Gettysburg; "4 score & 7 years..."…1863

Mayflower reaches Cape Cod & explores the coast…1620

US Supreme Court rules (7-2) baseball is a sport not a business…1953

Warsaw University is established…1816

Women allowed to vote in Spain (helps right wing)…1933

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Nice Monday, for a Monday. Clear sky, not much a breeze. Typical fall weather for ole Flagstaff.

 

What a strange world we live in. The Mayor of Toronto goes on tirade in a council meeting that is stripping him of all his power, and knocks down an older female councilperson. Zimmerman is arrested for threatening his girl friend with a shotgun and refusing to let police into her house. He ends up in jail. Cops in NM do a routine traffic stop and end up shooting at the van full of kids. We have our fair share of  crazies here in Flagstaff, but nothing compared to these three recent incidents that make international news.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

I have a common English phrase. I feed this phrase into a computer translation program. This translates it into a foreign language then back into English again. Unfortunately, because computers do not understand idiom and sarcasm, the phrase has been changed. It now reads:

BLIND, INSANITY.

What was the original phrase?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Statue of Liberty Poem

• Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal Feud on the Dick Cavett Show

• Jeanne Kirkpatrick KAL 007

• Indira Gandhi Interview 1971

Very Strange Laws…Missouri

• It is illegal to speed

• It is illegal to have oral sex.

• Single men between the ages of twenty-one and fifty must pay an annual tax of one dollar (enacted 1820).

• Buckner
--In this small town of only 4,000, yard waste may be burned any day except Sunday.

• Columbia--You can not have a antenna exposed outside of your house yet you can have a 25′ satellite dish. Though clotheslines are banned, clothes may be draped over a fence. /One may not drink in a bar between 2:00 and 6:00 AM.

• Kansas City--Minors are not allowed to purchase cap pistols, however they may buy shotguns freely. /Installation of bathtubs with four legs resembling animal paws is prohibited.

• Marceline--Minors can buy rolling paper and tobacco but not lighters.

• Marquette--It is illegal for more than four unrelated persons to occupy the same dwelling (The Brothel Law).

• Mole--Frightening a baby is in violation of the law.

• Natchez--It shall be unlawful to provide beer or other intoxicants to elephants.

• Purdy--Dancing is strictly prohibited.

• St. Louis--It’s illegal to sit on the curb of any city street and drink beer from a bucket. /A milk man may not run while on duty.

• University City--Four women may not rent an apartment together. /No person may own a PVC pipe. /No person may have a “yard sale” in their front yard.

• University City--Houses may not have lights on them that shine into the window of a neighbor’s house. /It is illegal to request for someone to “watch over” your parked car. /One may not honk another’s horn.

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

• Rank of ‘Jesus’ and ‘Mohammad’ respectfully, among the Wikipedia articles with the most editorial changes: 8,3

• Rank of ‘George W. Bush’: 1

Unusual Fact of the Day

The "G" in "G-Spot" stands for Gräfenberg, a German-born doctor who studied female sexual physiology.

Joke-of-the-day

The Antartian reported for her university final examination which consisted of "yes/no" type questions. She took her seat in the examination hall and stared at the question paper for five minutes. 

In a fit of inspiration, she took her purse out, removed a coin and started tossing the coin and marking the answer sheet - Yes for Heads and No for Tails. Within half an hour she was all done, whereas the rest of the class was still sweating it out.

During the last few minutes, she was seen desperately throwing the coin, muttering and sweating. The moderator, alarmed, approached her and asked what was going on.

Her reply was, "I finished the exam in half an hour, but I'm rechecking my answers."  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

DESIGNING A ROOF

When you are planning a house, make the angle of the roof noticeably more or noticeably less than a right angle; otherwise, the appearance is depressing.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

WALSRODE, Germany - A German retiree whose wallet was stolen six years ago said the thief returned the wallet with extra money added as an apology. Peter Jurgensen, 73, said his wallet was stolen at a supermarket in Walsrode in March 2007 and it contained his credit card, ID, photos of his grandchildren and $471 cash, The Local.de reported Thursday. Jurgensen said he did not realize his wallet was gone until a few hours later and he forgot about the incident after replacing it and its contents. The pensioner told the Bild newspaper he was surprised to be reminded of the stolen wallet recently when it was mailed to his home along with all of its contents and an apology letter. "Greed drove me to taking the wallet," the thief wrote. "I have become a confessed Christian. The holy spirit has called upon me to repair the damage." The thief included an extra $67 with the wallet as a means of apology. "Everything was in the wallet as I left it. I thank the man for his belated honesty," Jurgensen said.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• In the Middle Ages, having ants in the house was a sign of good luck.

• Only pharaohs were allowed to eat mushrooms in ancient Egypt.

• The Chinese used to scatter firecrackers around the house - as fire alarms.

• In medieval England jurors weren't fed until they reached a decision.

• In England in 1558, beards were taxed according to their length.

• When a cat died in ancient Egypt, its owners shaved off their eyebrows as a sign of mourning.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

17-23: American Education Week / National Book Awareness Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        American Made Matters Day

·        Equal Opportunity Day (aka Gettysburg Address Day)

·        Family Volunteer Day

·        Have A Bad Day Day

·        International Men's Day

·        National Day of Play

·        Rocky and Bullwinkle Day debuts 1959

·        World Toilet Day

~~~~

·        Puerto Rico: Discovery Day (1493 by Christopher Columbus)

·        Monaco: National Holiday (the levée of Prince Albert II; 2005)

Today’s Events through History  

200" mirror arrives at Mt Palomar…1947

Chuck Berry released from prison on income tax evasion…1979

Julia Ward Howe committed "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to paper…1961

Patty Hearst is freed on $15 million bail…1976

Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures…1916

US General Eisenhower becomes supreme commander of NATO-Europe…1950

US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment 

     hearings against Clinton…1998

US Senate rejects (55-39) Treaty of Versailles & League of Nations…1919

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Larry King, radio/TV host (Larry King Show, CNN) is 80

Dick Cavett, talk show host (Dick Cavett Show) is 77

Ted Turner, broadcasting mogul/owns (Atlanta Braves)/won America's Cup is 75

Dan Haggerty, actor (Grizzly Adams) is 72

Calvin Klein, Bronx, fashion designer (Calvin Klein Jeans, CK) is 71

Allison Janney, actress (West Wing, Mom) will be 54

Meg Ryan, actress (When Harry Met Sally, As the World Turns) is 52

Jodie Foster, Bronx, actress (Taxi Driver, Accused) is 51

Remembered for being born today

James A Garfield, gen/20th Pres [1831-1881]

Tommy Dorsey, orchestra leader (Stage Show, Mahogany) [1905-1956]

Indira Gandhi, Allahabad India, Indian PM [1917-1984]

Jeane J Kirkpatrick, US ambassador to UN (R) [1926-2006]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

William Seymour Tyler, American educator and historian…1897…@87

Emma Lazarus, US poet ("Give us your tired & poor")…lymphoma…1887…@38

Joe Hill (Joel Emmanuel Hägglund), Labor leader/songwriter…executed/murder…1915…@36

Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (Die schöne Müllerin)…typhoid fever…1828…@31

Brain Teasers

Out of sight, out of mind.

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  §