1-29-14

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 05 / Day: 029   

Today: L 27°…H 50°… Ave. humidity: 33%

Wind: ave:   2mph; Gusts:  14mph  

Average Low: 17° Record Low:  -12° (1932)

Average High: 44° Record High:  60° (1986)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

1595 - William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet is probably first performed

1728 - John Gays' "Beggar's Opera," premieres in London 

1845 - Edgar Allen Poe's "Raven" 1st published (NYC)

1896 - Emile Grubbe is 1st dr to use radiation treatment for breast cancer

1904 - 1st athletic letters given (Univ of Chicago football team)

1921 - Hurricane hits Washington & Oregon

1953 - 1st movie in Cinemascope (The Robe) premieres

1959 - Walt Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" released

1964 - 9th Winter Olympic games open in Innsbruck, Austria

1964 - Stanley Kubrick's "Dr Strangelove," premieres

1966 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Peggy Fleming

1969 - Jimi Hendrix & Peter Townshend wage a battle of guitars

1983 - 40th Golden Globes: Gandhi, ET & Tootsie win

1990 - Exxon Valdez capt Joseph Hazelwood goes on trial due to oil spill

2002 - State of the Union Address, GW. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as an Axis of Evil

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Our dry spell is approaching, rapidly, an all time no moisture record number of days. Not a record we need or want.

 

I am hardly sitting the edge of my chair for the State of the Union speech. Last year he proposed 42 ideas, and our benevolent congress passed 2. Doesn’t seem to matter who has the ideas, because someone group is there to stop any changes. I’m sure there will be lots of clapping, lots of solemn faces, and many plans to get the ideas going, and just as many plans to prevent the ideas. Politics is in a very bad place right now.

 

RIP Pete Seeger: Pete Seeger on "The Johnny Cash Show"

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

A dagger thrust at my own heart  Dictates the way I'm swayed  Left I stand, and right I yield  To the twisting of the blade.  What am I?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Dr. Strangelove and the Bomb

• Freddie Prinze (stand up)

• Jimmy Durante Inka Dinka Doo

• Once Upon A Dream

• Professor Irwin Corey

• Stopping by woods on a snowy evening

Suggested New State Mottos:

• Rhode Island: We're Not REALLY An Island

• South Dakota: Closer Than North Dakota

Remembering TV’s great shows:

"The Simpsons" After more than two decades and 500 episodes of whip-smart parody that made sacred cows an endangered species, we're still drawn to Springfield and its colorfully warped denizens.                                                         

Phrases Shakespeare invented:

catch a cold -- Henry IV, Part 1, Act 2 Scene 3

Words Shakespeare invented

Lonely

Definition: Sad from being apart from other people

Origin: "Alone" was first shortened to "lone" in the 1400s.

Quote: "Believe't not lightly – though I go alone / Like to a lonely dragon that his fen –Coriolanus

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

• Amount raised by Endgame, a company developing surveillance tech for private use: $23million

• Date on which former NSA director Minihan joined Endgame’s board: 3/12313

Unusual Fact of the Day

Homosexuality was still classified as an illness in Sweden in 1979. Swedes protested by calling in sick to work, claiming they felt gay.

Joke-of-the-day

A mechanic was removing a cylinder head from the motor of a Harley motorcycle when he spotted a well-known heart surgeon in his shop.

The surgeon was there, waiting for the service manager to come and take a look at his bike.

The mechanic shouted across the garage, "Hey, Doc, can I ask you a question?"

The surgeon a bit surprised, walked over to the mechanic working on the motorcycle. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked, "So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take valves out, fix 'em, put 'em back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I get such a small salary and you get the really big bucks, when you and I are doing basically the same work?"

The surgeon paused, smiled and leaned over, and whispered to the mechanic... 

"Try doing it with the engine running."

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

SEVERITY OF EMERGENCY ROOM VISITS

People seen in rural hospital emergency departments are much sicker than those seen in inner city hospital emergency facilities. The rural folk are too busy with work and life to seek a physician for minor problems.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

BERLIN (AP) — A herd of dairy cows nearly lifted the roof off their barn in central Germany when methane released by the animals caused an explosion.

Police in Hesse state said in a statement that a static electric charge apparently triggered the detonation, and a spurt of flame, on Monday at a farm in Rasdorf. The roof was slightly damaged and one cow suffered light burns. No people were hurt.

Police say 90 cows are kept in the shed and it wasn't clear why quantities of methane had built up. Bovine belching and flatulence releases large quantities of the gas.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Until modern times, brides walked down the aisle clutching a bundle of garlic and dill. The practice probably originated from the time of the Plague, when people clutched the herbs over their noses and mouths in a desperate effort to survive. Over time, brides added better-smelling flora to the arrangement.

• The earliest tradition in bridesmaid fashion involved dressing the bridesmaids exactly the same as the bride. As with many older traditions, the idea was that by setting up lookalikes, any troublesome spirits in the area could not fixate on the bride.

• The veiling of the bride has origins in the idea that she's vulnerable to enchantment, so she must be hidden from evil spirits. The Romans veiled brides in flame-colored veils to actually scare off those spirits. Also, in many religions, the veil is a sign of humility and respect before God during a religious ceremony.

• The wedding ring has been worn on the third finger of the left hand since Roman times. The Romans believed that the vein in that finger runs directly to the heart. The wedding ring is a never-ending circle, which symbolizes everlasting love.

• Tossing the bouquet is a tradition that stems from England. Women used to try to rip pieces of the bride's dress and flowers in order to obtain some of her good luck. To escape from the crowd the bride would toss her bouquet and run away.

• Because grooms in Anglo-Saxon England often had to defend their brides, the bride would stand to the left of her groom so that his sword arm was free.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

24-29

World Leprosy Week
Kid Film Festival
26-31

Catholic Schools Week
Meat Week
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Week
National Medical Group Practice Week

International Hoof Care Week
US National Snow Sculpting Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Curmudgeons Day

·        Freethinkers Day

·        National Puzzle Day

·        National Seed Swap Day

·        Seeing Eye Dog Day

·        Thomas Paine Day

^^^^^^

·        Admission Day (Kansas-1861-34th)

Today’s Events through History  

1834 - President Jackson orders first use of US troops to suppress a labor dispute

1886 - 1st successful gasoline-driven car patented, Karl Benz 

1924 - Ice cream cone rolling machine patented by Carl Taylor, Cleveland

1989 - Episcopal church appoints 1st female bishop

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

"Professor" Irwin Corey, Brooklyn, comedian (Car Wash, Doc) is 100

Katharine Ross, actress (Graduate) is 74

Tom Selleck, actor (Lance-Rockford Files, Magnum PI) is 69

Marc Singer, Vancouver, actor (V, Dallas) is 66

Ann Jillian, actress (Mr Mom, Jennifer Slept Here) is 64

Oprah Winfrey, Talk show host and actress is 60

Edward Burns, actor, director, writer is 46

Sara Gilbert, actress –talk show host is 39

Remembered for being born today

1754 - Moses Cleaveland, founder of Cleveland (d. 1806)

1843 - William McKinley, 25th US President

1860 - Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Tagarov Russia, playwright (Cherry Orchard)

1874 - John David Rockefeller Jr, Cleveland Ohio, philanthropist

1880 - W C Fields, [William Claude Dukenfield], Phila, actor (Bank Dick)

1923 - Paddy Chayevsky, [Sydney], US, dramatist (Marty, Hospital)

1927 - Edward Abbey, US author (Desert Solitaire)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Robert Frost, American poet (New Hampshire, 4 Pulitzers), 1963, @88

Jimmy Durante, comedian (Palooka, Jimmy Durante Show), 1980, @86

Edward Lear, poet/author, heart disease, 1888, @75

Leif Erickson, actor (John-High Chaparral), cancer, 1986, @74

Eric Griffiths, Welsh guitarist (The Quarrymen) 2005 @65

Alan Ladd, actor (Shane), OD, 1964, @50

Sara Teasdale, American poet, OD, 1933, @48  

Freddie Prinze(Frederick Karl Pruetzel), comedian/actor (Chico & the Man), suicide, 1977,@22

Brain Teasers

A padlock

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  §