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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 125 / Week: 19
Today: L 41°…H 73°… Ave. humidity: 34%Wind: ave: 10mph; Gusts: 30mph Red Flag Warning
Average High: 64° Record High: 86° (1947)
Average Low: 33° Record Low: 18° (1950)
Quote of the Day
Today’s
Historical Highlights
1260 - Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.
1816 - American Bible Society organized (NY) 1847 - American Medical Association organized (Philadelphia)
1865 - 1st US train robbery (North Bend Ohio)
1891 - Music Hall (Carnegie Hall) opens in NY, Tchaikovsky conductor
1912 - 5th Olympic Games open at Stockholm, Sweden
1912 - Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda begins publishing
1925 - John T Scopes arrested for teaching evolution in Tennessee
1925 - Afrikaans is established as an official language in South Africa.
1926 - Sinclair Lewis refuses his Pulitzer Prize for "Arrowsmith"
1930 - Amy Johnson takes off - first woman to fly solo from England to Australia
1941 - Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa
1941 - Chanel No. 5 was released.
1942 - US begins rationing sugar during WW II
1944 - Gandhi freed from prison
1947 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Robert Penn Warren (All the King's Men)
1952 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Herman Wouk (Caine Mutiny)
1961 - Alan Shepard becomes 1st American in space (aboard Freedom 7)
2012 - Japan shuts down its nuclear reactors leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970
♫
Today’s Birthdays: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays below
My Free
Rambling Thoughts
Yet another great spring day here in our little mountain town.
Our discussion group on China’s economy was very good last night.
One interesting thing that came up was China’s economic strategy in Africa.
They are sending many workers and many dollars to various countries to build
infrastructure like buildings, roads and dams. They also hire many local
workers to actually build the infrastructure. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of
concern about the longevity of the infrastructure. One of our members travels
to Liberia twice a year to teach nursing classes. She told of a new medical
facility built there about 5 years ago. While it looked really nice, it was
several stories high and had no elevators…that were needed in a medical
facility for disabled patients. The Chinese returned and built a second
building next to the facility for elevators. The about 3 years ago the building
opened for business. She just returned and the building is in horrible shape because
of the poor construction. In Ethiopia I saw many wide roads designed and
overseen by the Chinese. About every 100 yards there were boulders across the
road so that the road couldn’t be used until it was finished. Every year for
about 5 years the Chinese would come in, prepare the road, then the rainy
season would come and wash out the road. The next year they were back working
on the road. This provided lots of locals with much needed jobs but it was
apparent that the road would never be finished, just re-done every year in a
vicious cycle. So the Chinese bring dollars and local employment, but no real
development. Another part of the discussion was on the idea that a couple of
decades ago, WalMart advertised that all its merchandise was American Made. Now
almost everything is China made…and in most cases of very inferior quality. The
Chinese are selling tons of merchandise to Americans every day and have no
incentive to make a better product because sales are so high and profits are
good. Following WWII the Made in Japan label meant ‘cheap’ and of ‘poor
quality’. The sales around the world dropped. Japan saw the problems, started
making very good autos at a price much cheaper than Detroit and made a killing
on their cars. China will someday learn the same lesson. Finally was the
Chinese youth. 65% of Chinese are under 30 years old. NAU has lots of foreign
students, and the greatest foreign population in Chinese men. There is a very
wealthy middle class in China now and they are sending their children around
the world for an education. These kids have grown up in affluence and have no
memory of the Cultural Revolution or the struggles of their grandparents. .
This Chinese bubble can’t last forever, and one has to wonder what these youth
will do when the bubble bursts.
Game Center (answers at the
end of post)
Brain
Teasers
Which
weighs more: a gallon of liquid water or a gallon of ice?(With "weight" meaning, weight on the same planet, at the same location -- so literally, "which has more mass?")
Lifestyle Substance:
Found on
You Tube with some relevance to today
Adele - Set Fire To The Rain
OK Then…
Chances
a participant in a ‘prisoner’s dilemma’ game will opt to cooperate if it’s
called a ‘community game’: 7 in 10
If
it is called a ‘Wall Street game’: 3 in 10
Unusual
Fact of the Day
Author F. Scott Fitzgerald's full name
was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, named after a distant cousin who happened to
write "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Number
One Country in the world…
Russia: Billionaires and Diamonds that
Nobody Can Reach
When you
think of Russia, you probably think of a bunch of people wearing furry hats and
drinking bottles of vodka by the crate to stave off the cold. Sure, we’ve all
heard the rumors about Russia being full of billionaires, but did you know
that’s no mere rumor? Turns out, the city of Moscow alone had 64 billionaires
living there.
But it’s
not just billionaires — Russia is full of diamonds too, they’re all there as a
result of a meteor smashing into the Earth. The Popigai Crater supposedly
contains trillions of carats worth of diamonds that will never be mined. Why?
Because the environment is just too harsh and unforgiving for mining to be
economical. Yes, Russia is sitting on billions of dollars’ worth of diamonds,
and no one can touch them because Mother Russia is too badass to let them go.
Largest
Animals in the world…
The
Heaviest Land Animal in the World: The African Bush Elephant
The African Bush Elephant is the largest living terrestrial (land)
animal, with males reaching 6 to 7.5 metres (19.7 to 24.6 ft) in length, 3.3
metres (10.8 ft) in height at the shoulder, and weighing 6 t (13,000 lb).
Females are much smaller, reaching 5.4 to 6.9 metres (17.7 to 22.6 ft) in
length, 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) in height at the shoulder, and weighing 3 t (6,600
lb). The adult African bush elephant generally has no natural predators due to
its great size, but the calves (especially the newborn) are vulnerable to lion
and crocodile attacks, and (rarely) to leopard and hyena attacks.
Joke-of-the-day
Q. Why can’t a
blonde dial 911?
A. She can't find the eleven
Rules of
Thumb:
INSTALLING HARDWARE
IS A SNAP!
If you are
installing a new computer part, remember that you should never have to force
equipment into the desired slot. If you find a part hard to insert into a slot
on the motherboard, chances are you need to rotate the card or chip to face the
opposite direction. Computers motherboards are designed to be put together with
Zero Insertion Force (ZIF). A proper installation will quickly *snap* into the
socket and feel solid.
Yeah, It
Really Happened
OMAHA (UPI) - A Nebraska man made his way through a Walgreens
store in Omaha dispersing pecks and pinching rumps before capping things off by
licking an employee's head on his way out. Needless to say, he got arrested.
The unnamed 35-year-old man was an equal opportunity creeper, as he reportedly
"kissed and groped women and a man" inside the store. After a stop at
the photo processing area, the man moved on to aisle nine and "grabbed a
customer's buttocks," the Omaha World-Herald reported. He then said,
"Hey baby," to a woman and kissed her while grabbing her behind. The
man, who was also tossing items off shelves as he made his way through the
store, briefly left before coming back and sitting on a counter. As police were
taking him out, the man licked an employee's head to say goodbye. He was
charged with misdemeanor sexual assault and three counts of disturbing the
peace.
Somewhat
Useless Information
Manhattan
is not only one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, but also one
of the most densely populated areas in the world and the most densely populated
of the five boroughs of New York City. It has been calculated that 1,585,873
people live in a land area of 22.96 square miles (59.5 km2), or about 69,071
residents per square mile (26,668/km²).
From
the numbers above we conclude that if everyone lived as densely as they do in
Manhattan, the human race would fit in the 268,680 km² area of New Zealand!
A
phobia is a type of psychological disorder, fear of an object or situation. The
word “phobia” is derived from the Greek word ‘φόβος’, which means “fear”.
There
are many different types of phobia, but here we present you the ones starting
with a ‘d’, which are 26 in total!
Decidophobia- Fear of making decisions.Defecaloesiophobia- Fear of painful bowels movements.
Deipnophobia- Fear of dining or dinner conversations.
Dementophobia- Fear of insanity.
Demonophobia or Daemonophobia- Fear of demons.
Demophobia- Fear of crowds. (Agoraphobia)
Dendrophobia- Fear of trees.
Dentophobia- Fear of dentists.
Dermatophobia- Fear of skin lesions.
Dermatosiophobia or Dermatophobia or Dermatopathophobia- Fear of skin disease.
Dextrophobia- Fear of objects at the right side of the body.
Diabetophobia- Fear of diabetes.
Didaskaleinophobia- Fear of going to school.
Dikephobia- Fear of justice.
Dinophobia- Fear of dizziness or whirlpools.
Diplophobia- Fear of double vision.
Dipsophobia- Fear of drinking.
Dishabiliophobia- Fear of undressing in front of someone.
Disposophobia- Fear of throwing stuff out. Hoarding.
Domatophobia- Fear of houses or being in a house.(Eicophobia, Oikophobia)
Doraphobia- Fear of fur or skins of animals.
Doxophobia- Fear of expressing opinions or of receiving praise.
Dromophobia- Fear of crossing streets.
Dutchphobia- Fear of the Dutch.
Dysmorphophobia- Fear of deformity.
Dystychiphobia- Fear of accidents.
Calendar
Information
This
Week’s Observances:
1-7
Choose Privacy Week 3-11
Dystonia Awareness Week
National Tourism Week
4-10
Be Kind To Animals Week
Children's Mental Health Week
Dating and Life Coach Recognition Week
Drinking Water Week
Flexible Work Arrangement Week
Goodwill Industries Week
Kids Win Week
NAOSH Week
National Alcohol & Drug Related Birth Defects Awareness Week
National Anxiety & Depression Awareness Week
National Correctional Officer's Week
National Family Week
National Hug Holiday Week
National Occupational Safety & Health Day
National Pet Week
National Post Card Week
National Raisin Week
North American Occupational Safety & Health Week
PTA Teacher Appreciation Week
Public Service Recognition Week
5-11
Screen-Free Week
Spring Astronomy Week
Teacher Appreciation Week
Update Your References Week
National Wildflower Week
Spring Astronomy Week
Today Is
National
Hoagie Day Cartoonists Day
Childhood Depression Awareness Day
Childhood Stroke Awareness Day
International Midwives' Day
Melanoma Monday
National Ferret Day
National Library Legislative Day
Totally Chipotle Day
>
Cinco de Mayo (US\Mexico- El Día de la Batalla de Puebla: commemorate the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces)
Children's Day (Japan)
Children's Day (South Korea)
Liberation Day (Netherlands-1945 from Nazi)
Patriots Victory Day (Ethiopia: 1941 liberation of Addis Ababa by British & Ethiopian forces)
Today’s
Events through History
1646 - King Charles I surrenders at Scotland
1900 - "The Billboard" began weekly
publication 1964 - Separatists riot in Quebec
1991 - Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Sara Lee Golf Classic
1997 - "Married with Children" final episode on Fox TV
Today’s
Birthdays
Ann
B Davis, actress (Alice-Brady Bunch) is 89
Pat
Carroll, comedienne/actress (Make Room for Daddy) is 87Michael Palin, England, comedian (Monty Python) is 71
Adele [Adele Laurie Blue Adkins], English singer is 26
Chris Brown, American singer is 25
Remembered
for being born today
1813-1855 - Søren
Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher
1830-1906 - John
Batterson Stetson, American hat manufacturer 1818-1883- Karl Marx, philosopher (Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital)
1865-1922 - Nellie Bly, [Elizabeth Cochran Seaman], journalist and writer
1883-1954 - Charles Bender, only American Indian in baseball's Hall of Fame
1899-1982 - Freeman Gosden, radio actor (Amos-Amos 'n' Andy)
1903-1985 - James Beard, culinary expert/author (Delights & Prejudices)
1913-1958 - Tyrone Power, actor (Mark of Zorro)
1942-1998 - Tammy Wynette [Virginia Pugh], country singer
Today’s
Historical Obits
John Williams, actor (Family Affair, Dial M for Murder), 1983, @80
Robert Mylne, Scottish architect (Blackfriars
Bridge), 1811, @78Bobby Sands, IRA activist/terrorist, hunger strike, 1981, @27
Brain
Teasers
A gallon of
liquid water weighs more than a gallon of ice.Many people might be thinking of an actual gallon jug of water, weighed at liquid, and weighed frozen (in which case they would be equal, if you remove any condensation or frost). But the question does not refer to a jug; it refers to a gallon. A gallon is a precise measurement of liquid capacity. Ice is less dense than liquid water, so a precise gallon of ice weighs slightly less than a precise gallon of water.
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 §
