7-31-14

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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.