10-30-14

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Almanac: Day: 303 / Week: 44 
October Averages: 63° \ 31°
 


Holiday Observances Today:
Checklist Day
Create A Great Funeral Day
Devil's Night
Haunted Refrigerator Night      
Increase Mischief Night
National Candy Corn Day
National Magic Day
Quote of the Day
 


Historical Highlights for Today
1503 - Queen Isabella of Spain bans violence against Indians
1534 - Parliament passes Act of Supremacy, King Henry VIII head of the English church - a role formerly held by the Pope
1739 - Great Britain declares war on Spain: War of Jenkin's Ear 
1768 – 1st Methodist church in colonies initiated (Wesley Chapel, NYC)
1772 - Captain Cook arrives with ship Resolution in Capetown
1804 - Mandans like Lewis & Clark's men's dancing
1864 - Helena, Montana's capital, founded
1868 - John Menard of Louisiana is 1st African American elected to US Congress
1873 - P T Barnum's circus, "Greatest Show on Earth", debuts (New York City)
1896 - Martha Hughes Cannon of Utah becomes 1st female senator
1900 - First-ever US auto show opens in Madison Square Garden in NYC
1938 - Orson Welles panics the USA with broadcast of "War of the Worlds"
1948 - 20 die & 6,000 made ill by smog in Donora, Pennsylvania
1952 - Clarence Birdseye sells first frozen peas
1953 - Dr Albert Schweitzer & Gen George Marshall win Nobel Peace Prize
1974 - Muhammad Ali KOs George Foreman Zaire-'The Rumble in the Jungle'
1978 - Uganda troops attack Tanzania
1995 - Quebec Referendum votes to remain part of Canada
2012 - Walt Disney purchases Lucas film Ltd\rights for Star Wars and Indiana Jones
·        •  •
  Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today
 


My Rambling Thoughts
WOW! Hard to believe it is the end of October with this great weather.
Not a busy day with only a quick trip to Sam’s and Home Depot.
Political phone calls continue. I no longer listen to the robo-calls and just hang up. If there is a real human, I simply say “It’s no one’s business who I’m supporting” and then hang up. Not answering any of the poll questions either, I just hang up.  Hurry up Nov. 4 so this insanity will stop.
·        •  •
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
Recorded by three hands,
I have no bounds.
People use me constantly,
My vastness astounds.

I'm used around the world,
Organized by ancient cultures.
Through me all things happen,
Children become geezers.

           
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today





           
OK Then…

·        •  •
Paraphernalia 4 the Brain:     
Brief History…
Seldom do you see pictures of Vikings without their stereotypical horned helmets, including the cartoon Hagar the Horrible.  In fact, Vikings did not wear horned helmets.  That is strictly a product of German opera productions.

Educator’s Answers…
“If you managed your time at school, I bet you wouldn’t need to plan lessons and grade on the weekends.”
OK, I’m a little busy at school. I teach and work with students almost every moment of the day. Spending 20 hours a week outside of school on prep and grading is normal for me.

Flagstaff, AZ History…
75 YEARS AGO
-A new nail picker-upper that reduces flat tires is the State Highway Department’s latest gadget. It has three huge magnets on a large truck that prowls the highways. Operator Bill Williams estimates he gets about 300 pounds of nails every day.
-Local property owners can avoid paying interest on the paving bonds for the next 10 years by making a full cash payment at the bank. The assessments are paid to the bank that holds the bonds, not to the city. C. T. Pulliam, City Clerk.
           
Harper’s Index…
Chance that a US woman under age 35 has a tattoo:  1 in 2
That a US man under 35 does: 1 in 4      

Halloween Facts…
-Teng Chieh or the Lantern Festival is one Halloween festival in China. Lanterns shaped like dragons and other animals are hung around houses and streets to help guide the spirits back to their earthly homes. To honor their deceased loved ones, family members leave food and water by the portraits of their ancestors.
-Halloween celebrations in Hong Kong are known as Yue Lan or the “Festival of the Hungry Ghosts” during which fires are lit and food and gifts are offered to placate potentially angry ghosts who might be looking for revenge.
-Both Salem, Massachusetts, and Anoka, Minnesota, are the self-proclaimed Halloween capitals of the world.

Law Facts…
-In Kentucky, US, every citizen is required by law to take a bath at least once a year.
-You can't plow a cotton field with an elephant in North Carolina.
           
That’s Outrageous from Reader’s Digest…
700-the number of church-bell tolls a Rhode Island man had to endure in one week, which put him in a bad mood and contributed to the demise of his marriage, according to his lawsuit against said church.

Religious Facts…
-The world's first Buddhist ruler, Emperor Ashoka, who ruled India from 274-232 BCE, was the first ruler in human history to ban slavery, the death penalty, animal cruelty, and deforestation. He even advocated gender equality in education and religious institutions.
-Some monks can increase their body temperature so much they can dry soaking sheets in a freezing room!

Rules of Thumb…
PLANNING A COOPERATIVE HOUSEHOLD
Unless you are forming some sort of intentional or spiritual community, four people is the best number for an adult cooperative household. It provides good levels of intimacy and manageability.
           
Unusual Fact of the Day…
Aardvark is Afrikaans for earth pig
·        •  •
Joke-of-the-day
The CIA had an opening for an assassin. After all of the background checks, interviews, and testing were done there were three finalists...
Two men and a woman.
For the final test, the CIA agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun.
"We must know that you will follow your instructions, no matter what the circumstances.
In side of this room, you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Kill Her!!!"
The man said, "You can't be serious. I could never shoot my wife."
The agent said, "Then you're not the right man for this job."
The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about five minutes. Then the man came out with tears in his eyes." I tried, but I can't kill my wife."
The agent said, "You don't have what it takes. Take your wife and go home."
Finally, it was the woman's turn. She was given the same instructions to kill her husband.
She took the gun and went into the room. Shots were heard, one shot after another. They heard screaming, crashing, banging on the walls.
After a few minutes, all was quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the woman.
She wiped the sweat from her brow, and said, "This gun is loaded with blanks. I had to beat him to death with the chair."        


Yep, It Really Happened
EXETER, England (UPI)
A British man accused of recording a woman showing in a swimming pool cubicle claimed he was testing if his phone was waterproof. Exeter Magistrates' Court heard Zak Hardy, 18, of Plymouth, England, used his cellphone to take video of a naked woman showing in an adjacent cubicle at the Riverside swimming pool in Exeter. The woman noticed the phone over the cubicle wall was pointed at her with the blue recording light on and alerted staff, who told police the man moved to a different cubicle before he was confronted. Hardy told police he had been holding his phone under the shower to test if it was waterproof and he had accidentally activated the camera. However, his defense lawyer, Nick Bradley, said Hardy now admits he gave a false account to police, and he admitted filming the woman on purpose.
"He accepts what he did," Bradley said. "It is not the most serious offence although it was of course upsetting for the complainant."
Hardy, whose phone was destroyed, was sentenced to 18 months’ probation and ordered to pay $242 in compensation. He will also be registered as a sex offender for five years, the court ruled.
           
Somewhat Useless Information
When was the first Game of Thrones book published?
Did you know that the book “Game of Thrones” was first published more than 15 years ago?
It was back in the 6th of August 1996 when the American novelist George Martin published the first novel in ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’, a series of high fantasy novels.
The novel won the 1997 Locus Award and was nominated for both the 1997 Nebula Award and the 1997 World Fantasy Award.
+++
A Greek philosopher died of laughter
Did you know that people can actually die from laughter? It is a rare instance of death, usually caused by cardiac arrest or asphyxiation, caused by a fit of laughter.
There have been recorded several instances of death by laughter from Ancient Greece to the modern day.
According to Diogenes Laertius, Chrysippus, an ancient Greek Stoic philosopher, died of laughter, after having seen a donkey eating his figs; he told a slave to give the donkey neat wine to drink to wash them down with, and then, ‘…having laughed too much, he died’ .
·        •  •
Check Your Calendar
Observances This Week:
--- 24-30
Disarmament Week
Prescription Errors Education & Awareness Week

World Origami Days
International Magic Week
Asexuality Week
Give Wildlife a Brake! Week 
Kids Care Week
National Infertility Awareness Week 

·        •  •
Today’s Events through History
1270 - The Eighth Crusade and siege of Tunis ended by agreement between Charles I of Sicily (brother to King Louis IX of France, who had died months earlier) and the sultan of Tunis.
1920 - The Communist Party of Australia is founded in Sydney
1944 - Sweden announces intention to stay neutral & refuse sanctuary in WW II
1954 - Defense Department announces elimination of all racially segregated regiments
1961 - UN unanimously elects U Thant acting secretary general after the death of Dag Hammarskjöld in a plane crash
1967 - Ferdinand Bracke bicycles world record time (48,093 km)
1968 - Jack Lynch, Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach), meets with Harold Wilson, then British Prime Minister, in London, calling for the ending of partition as a means to resolve the unrest in Northern Ireland
1970 - Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark meets with British Home Secretary Reginald Maulling to discuss matters related to reforms and security
1975 - King Juan Carlos assumes power in Spain
1976 - Jane Pauley becomes news co-anchor of Today Show
·        •  •
Birthday’s Today
Dick Gautier, actor (Hymie-Get Smart) is 83
Ken Berry, actor (Vinton-Mama's Family) is 81
Grace Slick, Chicago, rock vocalist (Jefferson Airplane) is 75
Henry Winkler, actor (Fonz-Happy Days) is 69
Harry Hamlin, actor (Michael Kuzak-LA Law) is 63
Diego Maradona, Buenos Aires, soccer player (World Cup-hand of god) is 54
Gavin Rossdale, English heavy metal vocalist and actor (Bush) is 49
Nia Long, Brooklyn, actress (Soul Food) is 44

Remembered for being born today
Christopher Columbus, Genoa Italy, Explorer for Spain (1451-1506)
John Adams, 2nd US President (1735-1826)
Elizabeth Madox Roberts, American poet and author (1881-1941)

Ezra Loomis Pound, poet (Cantos), (1885-1972)
Charles Atlas, [Angelo Siciliano], US, bodybuilder (1893-1972)
Ruth Gordon, actress (Rosemary's Baby) (1896-1985)
Fred Friendly, American journalist (1915-1998)
Ruth Hussey, Providence RI, actress (Phila Story) (1911-2005)
·        •  •
Historical Obits Today

Claude Lévi-Strauss, French anthropologist and ethnologist, 2009, @100
John Houseman, actor (Paper Chase), 1988, @ 86
Steve Allen, comedian, author, and composer, heart attack, 2000, @78
Conrad Richter, US writer (Light in the Forest), 1968, @78
Kirby Grant, actor/singer (Sky King), auto accident, 1985, @74
Robert Goulet, American entertainer, lung disease, 2007, @73
Allan Cunningham, Scottish poet and author, 1842, @58  
Blonde Dolly, [Sybille A J Niemans], Dutch society prostitute, murdered, 1959, @33
·        •  •
Brain Teasers Answers
Time  
·        •  •
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 contains mistakes and sadly once 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.