12-21-14

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Almanac: Week: 52 \ Day: 355 
December Averages: 44°\17°
86004 Today: H 48°\L 20°
Ave. humidity: 42%     Average Sky Cover: 10%
Wind ave:   6mph\Gusts:  15mph
Ave. High: 43° Record High:  61° (1969)
Ave. Low: 16° Record Low:  -6° (1967)

Holiday Observances Today:
Winter Solstice
Yalda (Iran- The longest and darkest night of the year is a time when friends and family gather together to eat, drink and read poetry (especially Hafez) until well after midnight. Fruits and nuts are eaten and pomegranates and watermelons are particularly significant. The red color in these fruits symbolizes the crimson hues of dawn and glow of life. The poems of Divan-e-Hafez, which can be found in the bookcases of most Iranians families, are intermingled with peoples' life and are read or recited during various occasions like this festival and at Nowruz.)
¤  ¤
Crossword Puzzle Day
Forefathers Day
Global Orgasm Day
Humbug Day
International Dalek Remembrance Day-from Dr. Who
Look on the Bright Side Day
National Flashlight Day
National Homeless Persons' Remembrance Day
Phileas Fogg-Win A Wager Day
World Peace Day
Yule
Observances This Week:
14-28
Halcyon Days
15-31
Christmas Bird Count Week 
16-24

Posadas
17-24
Chanukah
Saturnalia

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Quote of the Day



Historical Highlights for Today
1784 - John Jay becomes 1st US Secretary of State (foreign affairs)
1864 - General Sherman conquers Savannah, Georgia
1898 - Scientists Pierre & Marie Curie discovers radium
1913 - 1st crossword puzzle (with 32 clues) printed in NY World
1929 - 1st group hospital insurance plan offered (Dallas Tx)
1932 - Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, 1st joint movie (Flying Down to Rio)

1933- Fox Films signs Shirley Temple, 5, to a studio contract

1937 - 1st feature-length color & sound cartoon premieres (Snow White)
1941 - Last NFL drop kick for an extra point (Ray McLean, Chicago Bears)
1948 - State of Eire (formerly Irish Free State) declares its independence
1959 - Tom Landry accepts coaching job with Dallas Cowboys (stays until 1988)
1968 - Apollo 8 (Borman, Lovell & Anders) 1st manned Moon voyage
1988 - Pan Am Flight 103 destroyed midair by a terrorist bomb kills all 258
1995 - The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control
2012 - "Gangnam Style"-the 1st video to reach one billion views on YouTube
• • • • • • •
  Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today


My Rambling Thoughts
Nice day here in our little mountain town. Got to take a nice walk. Stayed up late with Netflix again…this time it was Marco Polo…good show.
Organized Christmas gifts/b-day presents to be sure I enough bags that were the right size. I’m in good shape.
Quiet night planned.
• • • • • • •
Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
Bob Lowry was going to compete in a marathon. He called the number he heard on the radio and signed up with his 2 friends. He started running and was doing a good job, but 1/3 of the way through, he stopped and did not continue running for the duration of the race. However, his name appeared as one of the top runners in the newspaper the next day. How did he do that?
He did not take a shortcut or cheat in any way.
Hundreds of people finished the race.    

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today



OK Then…


• • • • • • •
Paraphernalia 4 the Brain:     
December Holiday Facts


*Christmas-Christian
¤ The first printed reference to a Christmas tree was in 1531 in Germany.
¤ Approximately 30-35 million real (living) Christmas trees are sold each year in the U.S.

*Hanukkah-Jewish
Hanukkah, the "Festival of Lights," starts on the 25th day of the Jewish calendar month of Kislev and lasts for eight days and nights. In 2014, Hanukkah begins at sundown on December 16. With blessings, games, and festive foods, Hanukkah celebrates the triumphs--both religious and military--of ancient Jewish heroes.

Flagstaff, AZ History…
100 YEARS AGO
Clay Gilbert, Barn Boss at the A. L. & T Camp 1, was kicked in the chest by one of the big logging horses and severely injured last Friday. He was immediately brought to the Milton Hospital for treatment. His injury is not considered dangerous.
           
Flagstaff’s Iconic 50…
Humphreys Peak (Hopi: Aaloosaktukwi, Navajo: Dookʼoʼoosłííd)
is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of Arizona,[4] with an elevation of 12,637 feet (3,852 m)[1] and is located within the Kachina Peaks Wilderness in the Coconino National Forest, about 11 miles (17.7 km) north of Flagstaff, Arizona. Humphreys Peak is the highest of a group of extinct volcanic peaks known as the San Francisco Peaks. The summit can be most easily reached by hiking the 4.8 miles (7.7 km) long Humphreys Trail that begins at the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort in the Coconino National Forest. The last 1 mile (1.6 km) of the trail traverses the only region of tundra in Arizona, at an elevation of more than 11,500 feet (3,505 m). Humphreys Peak was named in about 1870 for General Andrew A. Humphreys, a U.S. Army officer who was a Union general during the American Civil War, and who later became Chief of Engineers of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. However, a General Land Office map from 1903 showed the name San Francisco Peak applied to this feature (apparently borrowed from San Francisco Mountain on which the peak stands). Thus the United States Board on Geographic Names approved the variant name in 1911. In 1933, the application of the names was rectified.
Harper’s Index…
That Texas collect from undocumented workers year:  $1,608,534,000
           
Rules of Thumb…
PLANTING A TREE
When you're planting a tree, make the hole twice as wide and twice as deep as the root ball. Then refill the hole one-fourth of the way with good soil before putting in the tree.
           
Unusual Fact of the Day…
Mary Ann really was prettier than Ginger, at least in beauty pageant terms. Gilligan's Island star Dawn Wells was beautiful and talented enough to represent Nevada in the 1960 Miss America pageant.
• • • • • • •
Joke-of-the-day
A city slicker moves to the country and decides he’s going to take up farming.
He heads to the local co-op and tells the man, “Give me a hundred baby chickens.”
The co-op man complies. A week later the man returns and says, “Give me two hundred baby chickens.” The co-op man complies.
Again, a week later the man returns. This time he says, “Give me five-hundred baby chickens.” “Wow! The co-op man replies “You must really be doing well!”
“Naw,” said the man with a sigh. “I’m either planting them too deep or too far apart!”   


Yep, It Really Happened
LOS ANGELES (UPI)
A Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary removed a pot-smoking Santa painting from its window following complaints from members of the public. The Harbor House of Dank in San Pedro hired an artist last week to create window paintings including Santa Claus smoking a blunt and a snowman holding a prescription bottle. Pictures of the paintings were posted on Facebook, where they drew hundreds of complaints. Posts on the closed "Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Watch" Facebook group criticized the paintings for being prominently displayed in an area frequented by children. The paintings were removed from the windows Tuesday. The store manager said he had the artist scrape them off the windows when he learned about the complaints from the public. The furor over the pot-smoking St. Nick may have caused further troubles for the Harbor House, as Los Angeles Councilman Joe Buscaino's office said the business is operating illegally. Los Angeles voters passed proposition D in May, which only allows for 135 dispensaries in business prior to a 2007 moratorium to remain in business, Buscaino's office said. The Harbor House of Dank has only been open for a few weeks. The dispensary is one of hundreds being investigated by the City Attorney's Office and the police department, officials said. 
           

Somewhat Useless Information
 0164 The Channel Tunnel, the longest undersea tunnel in the world, was constructed in 1994 and made life of many British and French people easier as they could move from Kent to Coquelles in about 35 minutes.
¤ The first person to propose this idea was Albert Mathieu. In 1802, Mathieu showed his plan to Napoleon Bonaparte. His plans consisted of two underwater tunnels with an artificial island halfway between the two countries.
¤ Although Napoleon liked the idea, nothing came of it. There were two other attempts to revive this plan, but the final decision was taken in 1987 – the starting point of the railway tunnel’s construction.
• • • • • • •
Today’s Events through History
1829 - 1st stone arch railroad bridge in US dedicated, Baltimore
1919 - J. Edgar Hoover deports anarchists/feminist Emma Goldman to Russia
1921 - Supreme Court rules labor injunctions & picketing unconstitutional
1976 - UN General Assembly passes a resolution declaring 1979-Year of Child
• • • • • • •
Birthday’s Today
Phil Donahue, talk show host (Phil Donahue Show) is 79
Jane Fonda, actress (Barbarella, Klute), physically fit is 77
Samuel L. Jackson, actor (Pulp Fiction) is 66
[Christine] Chris Evert, tennis champion (18 singles Gram Slams) is 60
Jane Kaczmarek, actress (Malcom in the Middle) is 59
Andy Dick, actor (Matthew-Newsradio) is 49

Remembered for being born today

Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury [1118-1170@50ish]
Roger Williams, English theologian and colonist [1603-1683@80ish]
Benjamin Disraeli, (Tory) British PM [1804-188@76]
Kurt Waldheim, Nazi/4th UN Sec-Gen/Austrian Pres [1918-2007@88]
Paul Winchell, ventriloquist (Jerry Mahoney, Knucklehead Smith) [1922-2005@82]
Joe Paterno, football coach (Penn State, SI Sportsman) [1926-2012@85]
Ed Nelson, actor (Peyton Place, A Long Came a Spider) [1928-2014@85]
Frank Zappa, rocker (Mothers of Invention) [1940-1993@52]
• • • • • • •
Historical Obits Today
Margaret E Rey, author of Curious George, 1996, @90
Rod Cameron, actor (Santa Fe Passage, Stampede), 1983, @73
George S Patton, US General. congestive heart failure, 1945, @60
F Scott Fitzgerald, author (Zelda), heart attack, 1940, @44
Richard Long, actor (Nanny & Professor), multiple heart attacks, 1974, @47
• • • • • • •

Brain Teasers Answers
He was running a marathon relay.
His friends continued for him after he ran the first 1/3. His team got first and his name was printed in the newspaper.

• • • • • • •
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.