8-1-14

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 213 / Week: 31 
August Averages: 78° \ 50°
Today:
    Average Sky Cover: 90%
    H 75° L 57° Ave. humidity: 75%
    Wind: ave:   2mph; Gusts:  17mph 
    Average High: 82° Record High:  93° (1902)
    Average Low: 51° Record Low:  24° (1968)
        
Quote of the Day
Historical Highlights for Today
1619 - 1st African Americans (20) land at Jamestown, Virginia
1793 - France becomes 1st country to use the metric system
1831 - London Bridge opens to traffic
1869 - 1st voyage down Colorado River
1873 - SF's 1st cable car begins service
1893 - Henry Perky & William Ford patent shredded wheat
1936 - Adolf Hitler opens 11th Olympic Games in Berlin
1941 - The first Jeep is produced
1944 - Anne Frank's last diary entry; 3 days later she is arrested
1946 - US President Harry Truman establishes Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
1957 - 1st commercial building heated by Sun (Albuquerque NM)
1957 - US & Canada create North American Air Defense Command (NORAD)
1960 - Chubby Checker releases "The Twist"
1976 - 21st Olympic games close at Montreal Canada
1981 - MTV premieres at 12:01 AM
1982 - Greg Louganis, US becomes 1st diver to score 700 (752.67) in 11 dives
1998 - Gay & Lesbian Games #5 open in Amsterdam
  Birthdays Today:   
How many can you identify? Answers in Birthday’s Today below
My Rambling Thoughts   
What a day…last night the weather guy said maybe some light showers today. HaHaHa. Went to lunch with Cheryl at a local Mexican Place. She had a hassle getting into town and changed our meeting time 3 different times. She got stuck in traffic on I-40, turned off to take old 66 and had to deal with a road grader. We had a good lunch and all was good when we left, except there was a sudden downpour about 2 minutes before we walked out. I got home and found no electricity. Turns out most of East Flag was out. It went off sometime before 12:30 and didn’t come back on until 4:15p. No place to go on this side of town because it looked like nobody anywhere nearby had any power. My cell worked so I could play on it, take a nap, play some more on the phone. Not a whole lot to do, when the power is off. I am so spoiled.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
There are five doors, one leads to the exit, the others lead to traps. They are in a line. The clues tell you which position the doors are in the line and where the door to freedom is. All the clues are true. Each door has a clue written on it. The clues read:
The blue door: This door is two spots away from the door to freedom.
The red door: This door is at the far right, and is two spots away from the blue door.
The purple door: This door is not next to the door to freedom.
The green door: This door is left of the blue door.
The orange door: This door is not next to the red or blue doors.
Which door leads to freedom?
Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
OK Then…
<> 
Common Sayings from the Bible…
A man after his own heart
But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart 1 Samuel 13:14
Common Phrase Origins…
Saved by the Bell
Meaning: Rescued from an unwanted situation
History: As scary as it sounds, being buried alive was once a common occurrence. People who feared succumbing to such a fate were buried in special coffins that connected to a bell above ground. At night, guards listened for any bells in case they had to dig up a living person and save them “by the bell.”
Earth Facts…
The Diameter of the Earth is 12,756 km (7,926 miles)
Flagstaff, AZ History…
From 1889: Wash Henry is the proud owner of a fine trotting horse 15 1/2 hands high and 1,000 pounds who trots one mile in 3 minutes.
Harper’s Index
Ounces of marijuana left so far this year in ‘amnesty boxes’ at the Colorado Springs airport: 1.4 
Historical Facts…
During the Cold War, the US had planned to detonate a nuclear weapon on the moon.
Language Facts…
The Chief Translator for the European Parliament can speak 32 different languages fluently.
People Facts…
You will experience the billionth second of your life when you are 31 years old.
Rules of Thumb…
SHOOTING AT HELICOPTERS
North Vietnamese ground troops used their thumbs to determine whether they could reach enemy aircraft with hand-held weapons. If an airplane or helicopter was bigger than a thumb held at arm's length, they could bring it down with ground fire. Unusual
Fact of the Day…
Gerald Ford's son Steven had a recurring role on The Young and the Restless. He also appeared on Baywatch.
World Heritage Sites…
From the 18th century to 1918, Schönbrunn was the residence of the Habsburg emperors. It was designed by the architects Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Nicolaus Pacassi and is full of outstanding examples of decorative art. Together with its gardens, the site of the world’s first zoo in 1752, it is a remarkable Baroque ensemble and a perfect example of Gesamtkunstwerk
Joke-of-the-day
Job Application:
Two young engineers applied for a single position at a computer company. They both had the same qualifications. In order to determine which individual to hire, the applicants were asked to take a test by the department manager.
Upon completion of the test, both men had each missed only one of the questions. The manager went to the first applicant and said, ‘‘thank you for your interest, but we've decided to give the job to the other applicant.''
"And why would you be doing that? We both got nine questions correct," asked the rejected applicant.
"We have based our decision not on the correct answers, but on the question you missed," said the department manager.
"And just how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?" the rejected applicants inquired.
''Simple,'' said the department manager, ''Your fellow applicant put down on question 5, 'I don't know.' You put down, 'Neither do I.'''
Yeah, It Really Happened
Wales: It is not the kind of thing you would normally phone the emergency services for, but for one man 999 was where he turned when he got a fly in his ear.
Another caller wanted to know if green potatoes were poisonous to eat.
They were among more than 31,000 non-urgent calls made to the Welsh Ambulance service in 2013/14, and only three resulted in hospital treatment.
Ambulance chiefs urged people to think twice as genuine 999 callers were being put at risk.
It came as the service revealed the thousands of non-urgent calls to 999 handled by the Welsh Ambulance Service between July 2013 and June 2014.
Calls included:
A man who dialed 999 because he had a fly in his ear (Milford Haven)
A woman who asked whether the green part of a potato was poisonous (Bangor)
A man with a ring stuck on his finger (Burry Port)
A woman whose boiler had broken and had no credit to call the gas board (Swansea)
A woman who dropped a television remote and needed someone to pick it up (Llandudno)
A woman who didn't have enough money to buy a train ticket (Newport)
A mother whose daughter had drunk water from a dog bowl (Swansea)
A woman who was drunk and needed a lift home (St Asaph)
A woman who needed advice because she had fallen out with her brother (Hereford)
A man who had discovered a bruise on his foot (Tywyn)
Richard Lee, head of clinical services at the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: "When people misuse the service it means our precious time is being taken away from someone who really does need our help."
The 31,219 calls to 999 classed as non-urgent accounted for 7.4% of the total received by the Welsh Ambulance Service in 2013/14 of 423,729.
Somewhat Useless Information   
John Green from Mental Floss deceived the story behind ten famous acronyms:
YKK stands for Yoshida, Kogyo and Kabushikikaisha
TASER stands for Thomas A. Swift, Electric, Rifle
M&M’s stands for Mars and Murries
Q-tips stands for Quality tips
BMW stands for Bavarian Motor Works
Smart Car stands for Swatch Mercedes Art car
ASICS stands for Anima, Sana, In , Corpore, Sano
ATM stands for Automated, Teller, Machine
PIN stands for Personal Identification Number
ZIP stands for Zone, Improvement Plan
Check Your Calendar
Observances This MONTH:
American Adventures Month
American Artists Appreciation Month 

American Indian Heritage Month 
 
American History Essay Contest 
 
Black Business Month
Bystander Awareness Month
Children's Eye Health & Safety Month
Child Support Awareness Month 

Children's Vision & Learning Month
Get Ready for Kindergarten Month
Happiness Happens Month 

Motor Sports Awareness Month
National Breastfeeding Month 

National Catfish Month 

National Goat Cheese Month 
National Immunization Awareness Month 

National Panini Month  

National Minority Donor Awareness Month
National Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month
National Traffic Awareness Month
National Truancy Prevention Month 

National Water Quality Month 

National Win With Civility Month
Neurosurgery Outreach Month
Psoriasis Awareness Month 

Tomboy Tools Month 
What Will Be Your Legacy Month
World Mutt-i-grees Rescue Month
Observances this Week:
1-7
International Tree Climbing Days  
International Clown Week 
Simplify Your Life Week 
World Breastfeeding Week 
Today Is  
Braham Pie Day
Girlfriend's Day
India Pale Ale Beer Day
International Beer Day     
Lughnasa-Gaelic Festival  
National Minority Donor Awareness Day
National Raspberry Cream Pie Day
Respect For Parents
Rounds Resounding Day
Spider-Man Day
US Air Force Day 
Tomboy Tools Day 
Twins Day   
World Lung Cancer Day
World Wide Web Day
World Scout Scarf Day
^^^
dmission Day (Colorado-1876-38th)
Emancipation Day (Bahamas, Trinidad, Tobago)-1834
Abolition of Slavery Day (Jamaica)
Independence Day (Benin-1960-from France)
Youth Day (Zambia)
                                                        
Today’s Events through History  
30 BC - Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic.
1711 - Surrounded Czar Peter the Great flees Azov
1732 - Foundations laid for Bank of England
1838 - Apprenticeship system abolished in most of the British Empire. Former slaves no longer indentured to former owners.
1911 - Omar N Bradley (18) begins education in West Point
1927 - Earliest date for a film to be considered for the Academy Awards
1944 - Adam Clayton Powell elected 1st black congressman from East
1966 - Charles Whitman wounds 31 & kills 16 at University of Texas
1971 - CBS presents Masterpiece Theatre's 6 Wives of Henry VIII
Birthday’s Today                                                        
Yves Saint-Laurent, Oran Algeria, fashion designer is 72
Nancy Lopez, professional golfer is 58
Bart Conner, US, parallel bars gymnist (Olympic-gold-1984) is 57
Coolio [Artis Leon Ivey Jr.], rapper (Gangsta Paradise) is 52
Tempestt Bledsoe, Chicago, actress (Vanessa -Cosby Show) is 42
Remembered for being born today
Andrew Melville, Scottish theologian and religious reformer (1545-1622)
Francis Scott Key, composer (Star-Spangled Banner) (1779-1843)
Herman Melville, author (Moby Dick, Billy Budd), (1819-1891)
Mother Jones, American labor organizer (1837-1930)
Meir Kahane, American founder of the Jewish Defense League (1932- 1990)
Dom DeLuise, Brooklyn, comedian (Cannonball Run) (1933-2009)
Jerry Garcia, SF, rocker (Grateful Dead) (1942-1995)
Historical Obits Today                                                           
Corazon Aquino, Former President of the Philippines, cancer, 2009, @76
John Ross (aka. Kooweskoowe), Principal Chief of the Cherokee, 1866, @75            
Paddy Chayefsky, screenwriter (Network, Hospital), cancer, 1981, @58
Francis Gary Powers, US U-2 pilot, plane crash, 1977, @47
Mark Antony, Roman Politician, suicide, 30BC, @53
Brain Teasers                                         
The orange door leads to freedom.
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  §
 

7-31-14

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 212 / Week: 31 
July Averages: 81° \ 51°
Today: Average Sky Cover: 40%
    H 82° L 57° Ave. humidity: 63%
    Wind: ave:   12mph; Gusts:  23mph 
    Average High: 82° Record High:  91° (1977)
    Average Low: 51° Record Low:  43° (1997)
        
Quote of the Day
Historical Highlights for Today
    781 - The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji 
1792 - Cornerstone laid for 1st US government building: US Mint in Philadelphia
1865 – 1st narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens in Australia.
1912 - US government prohibits movies & photos of prize fights (censorship)
1953 - Dept of Health, Education & Welfare created
1960 - Elijah Muhammad, leader of Nation of Islam, calls for a black state
1961 - Israel welcomes its 1,000,000th immigrant
1972 - Thomas Eagleton withdraws as Democratic VP candidate
1991 - Senate votes to allow women to fly combat aircraft
2006 - Fidel Castro hands over power temporarily to brother Raúl Castro.
  Birthdays Today:   
How many can you identify? Answers in Birthday’s Today below
My Rambling Thoughts   
So happy that I live at 7000+’ in the cool mountains of Flagstaff. While it is warm here today, it ain’t nuttin like Phx at 112°. We just enjoy our summer days and cool summer evenings up here.
I got a bill today for the local newspaper. My subscription expires tomorrow. Not a lot of time to pay. So I call toll free number, which it turns out is in Billings, MT. I was hoping for a good deal…NOT. The one year subscription is $219.02 and they offer no deals for long time subscribers, new subscribers, or old people. The paper is now 70cents a day…not bad I guess. I tell the lady I want to renew my subscription. She says ‘good, what is your address?’ I give it to her, and she verifies my name and then says, ‘how can I help you today?’ I tell her I want to renew my subscription. She says she will mail me a bill. I tell her I’m holding the bill in my hand, that arrived today and my subscription expires tomorrow. She says ‘I can help you with that’. Silence for two full minutes, finally I say ‘hello?’ and she says her computer is really slow. I give her my card number and she says it’s done. I usually give a tip to the delivery guy but she never asked if I wanted to do that, and I forgot, since it took so long. Not a good business practice. So the next time the delivery guy gives me one of his many ‘notes’ asking me to save my plastic bags the paper comes in, I’ll send him a tip.
The local paper announced that Walgreens was closing its Flagstaff distribution center and laying off 375 employees, many who have been here for the 15+ years the company has been here. This is quite a hit for our small town. An editorial a couple of days ago, said that by population comparison, the 375 workers losing their jobs would be like 10,000 people losing jobs in Phoenix. It will take time for the employees to relocate or find other jobs and hopefully our town won’t suffer too much. They have a huge distribution warehouse just a few blocks from my place, right near I-40 and the RR tracks. Nobody seems to know what that building will be used for in the future. Time will tell.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
Insert one word in each pair to link the two words together. The end of the first word is the beginning of the second.
1. Rain___Tie
2. Tooth__Tale
3. Sea____Hole
4. Circuit__Yard
5. Third___Board
6. Stone__Flower
7. High___Star
Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
OK Then…
Harper’s Index 
Estimated additional hours Americans would spend stoned annually if marijuana were legal in most states: 30,000,000,000
Unusual Fact of the Day
Cotton candy only costs about six cents per serving to make, including the cardboard cone.
Earth Facts…
Earth is the fifth largest planet in the Solar System.
Common Sayings from the Bible…
Twinkling of an eye
We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. 1 Corinthians 15
World Heritage Sites…
Great Barrier Reef-Austraila
The Great Barrier Reef is a site of remarkable variety and beauty on the north-east coast of Australia. It contains the world’s largest collection of coral reefs, with 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusk. It also holds great scientific interest as the habitat of species such as the dugong (‘sea cow’) and the large green turtle, which are threatened with extinction. Click Here for more
People Facts…
Only 2% of the worlds population is blonde.
Historical Facts…
Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.
Common Phrase Origins…
Run Amok
Meaning: Go crazy
History: Comes from the Malaysian word amoq, which describes the behavior of tribesmen who, under the influence of opium, became wild, rampaging mobs that attacked anybody in their path.
Flagstaff, AZ History…
From 1889: The ranches in the area adjoining Flagstaff are all beautiful and green, especially the grain and the potatoes. The prospect of large crops for this year is excellent.
**
Upon completion, our new Atlantic & Pacific depot will be the only fireproof building on the whole line, which shows that Flagstaff does as much or more business than any other town on the line. The one-story building will be 110 feet long.
**
Sheriff O’Neil accompanied by Deputy George Brown took six prisoners to the territorial prison in Yuma this week.
Joke-of-the-day
An idiot decided to start a chicken farm, so he bought a hundred chickens to start. A month later, he returned to the dealer for another hundred chickens because all of the first lot had died. A month later he was back at the dealers for another hundred chickens for the second lot had also died. "But I think I know where I'm going wrong," said the idiot. "I think I am planting them too deep."
Rules of Thumb:   
THROWING A KNIFE
If your knife balances more than one inch from the tang on the handle side, it is handle heavy and should be thrown from the blade. Likewise, if it balances more than one inch from the tang on the blade side, it is blade heavy and should be thrown from the handle.
Yeah, It Really Happened
DENVER (UPI) - A Colorado man made it very easy for law enforcement officials to earn their paychecks after allegedly robbing a bank while wearing a shirt with his name on it. According to police, John David Martinez went to a Wells Fargo branch in Denver wearing a personalized polo shirt bearing his name. The suspect approached a teller and said, "This is a robbery, give me the money." To make it even easier for police, the suspect also allegedly drove his own Honda to the bank so investigators were able to use the license plate to track down Martinez. Officers showed his DMV photo to a bank employee. "That's him. He's the one who robbed the bank this morning," the employee said, the Denver Channel reported. After an investigation that took all of five hours, Martinez was arrested. While he was in custody, Martinez reportedly said he had "told his wife that he had borrowed the money and did not tell her that he had robbed the bank." The 68-year-old was booked into jail in Denver on investigation of felony robbery involving $20,000 or more. 
Somewhat Useless Information   
Two years before he made his first flight, Wilbur Wright told friends, "man won't fly for 50 years." The Wright brothers made four flights on December 17, 1903. The first was the shortest.
Charles Lindbergh carried a Felix the Cat doll with him on his famous flight. His first words after his historic flight: "Are there any mechanics here?"
Henry Ford was Charles Lindbergh's first passenger in the Spirit of St. Louis.
The first animal to be ejected from a supersonic jet: a bear, in 1962. It parachuted safely back to earth.
Air Canada was the first North American airline to ban smoking.
The first pilot ever to fly a loop-the-loop: Lincoln Beachy, November 18, 1913, in San Diego.
Check Your Calendar
Observances This Week:
30-8/3
AFRMA Fancy Rat & Mouse Week
Today Is  
Bratwurst Day  
National Chili Dog Day
National Mutt Day
Uncommon Instruments Awareness Day 
World Ranger Day
                                                      
Today’s Events through History  
1703 - Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.
1928 - 1st woman to win a track and field Olympic gold medal, Halina Konopacka of Poland
1970 - Chet Huntley retires from NBC, ends "Huntley-Brinkley Report"
1988 - Last Playboy club closes (Lansing Michigan)
Birthday’s Today                                                        
William Bennett, US Secretary of Education /drug tsar is 71
Gary Lewis, Jerry's son, singer, (& The Playboys-This Diamond Ring) is 68
Barry Van Dyke, actor (Battlestar Galactica, Diag Murder) is 63
Michael Biehn, actor (Rampage, Hog Wild, Aliens, Abyss) is 57
Wesley Snipes, actor (Money Train, Blade trilogy) is 52
J. K. Rowling, Gloucestershire England, writer (Harry Potter) is 49
Dean Cain, actor (Clark-Lois & Clark) is 48
Remembered for being born today
Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician (paradox of Cramer) (1704-1752)
Sebastian S. Kresge, American merchant and philanthropist (1867-1966)
Milton Friedman, Brooklyn, economist (Nobel 1976), (1912-2006)
Curt Gowdy, Green River Wyo, sportscaster (ABC) (1919-2006)
Ted Cassidy, actor (Lurch-Addams Family) (1932-1979)
Historical Obits Today                                                           
Michael Ansara, American actor, 2013, @91
Gore Vidal, American author, 2012, @86
Franz Liszt [Ferencz], Hungarian pianist/composer, 1886, @74
Andrew Johnson, 17th president, stroke, 1875, @66
Jim Reeves, US country singer, air crash, 1964, @39
Brain Teasers                                         
1. Bow
2. Fairy
3. Port
4. Court
5. Base
6. Wall
7. Five
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  §
 

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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.