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Almanac: Week: 46 \ Day: 316
November
Averages: 51° \ 22°
Holiday Observances
Today:
Chicken Soup for the Soul Day
Fancy Rat
& Mouse Day
World
Architecture Day
**
Postman Day's (Mexico)
Quote of
the Day
Historical
Highlights for Today
1439 - Plymouth, England, becomes the 1st town
incorp. by English Parliament
1555 - The English Parliament re-establishes
Catholicism
1900 - World's Fair (Exposition Universelle) in
Paris closes (50 million visitors) - Art Nouveau style dominates
1915 - Theodore W Richards is 1st American to win
Nobel Prize in chemistry
1927 - Trotsky expelled from Soviet CP; Stalin
becomes undisputed dictator
1933 - First known photo of so-called Loch Ness
monster is taken
1936 - 1st TV Gardening show
1936 - Nobel for literature awarded to Eugene
O'Neill
1940 - Blizzard strikes Midwest, 154 die
1945 - Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Cordell Hull
(establishing UN)
1946 - Walt Disney's "Song Of South"
released
1954 - Ellis Island, immigration station in NY Harbor,
closed
1969 - Author Alexander Solzhenitsyn expelled from
Soviet Writers Union
1969 - US army announces investigating William
Calley for alleged massacre of civilians at Vietnamese village of My Lai
1974 - South Africa suspended from UN General
Assembly over racial policies
1989 - Brazil holds 1st free presidential election
in 29 years
1991 - Indonesian army shoots on funeral
possession: 270-520 die
·
• •
♫
Birthdays Today: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today
My
Rambling Thoughts
It was a Federal Holiday, so the family flag was flown at my
place. I stayed home today because I believe that businesses should be closed
on Federal Holidays. Workers for the Feds get to spend time with their family
and do family things. Seems to me all Americans should be able to do the same
thing. I sometimes have a medical appointment on a Federal Holiday…back when I
was working, it meant I didn’t have to take sick leave, and since the school
would be closed, I didn’t have to worry about getting a call. I always make a
point of letting the workers at the medical office that I think they too should
be observing whatever Federal holiday it is.
It was too chilly to do much outside, so I did some laundry, some
light cleaning, and watched some TV. Good day all around.
·
• •
Game Center (answers
at the end of post)
Brain
Teasers
Today
Mooey has a challenging test from his mentor. He must spell all the words correctly.
If he does, he will become a mentor, and teach other cows! Mooey studied as
hard as he could the night before his challenge. He is on the last word of the
list, and is scared! He is sure that the first 19 words are correct, but the
last word is always a secret bonus word. Can you help Mooey?
Mentor: The last word is actually two words. It is your name. (Mooey's last
name was Mooer)
Mooey was shocked! The bonus word was always extra-hard! He was just about to
scrape "Mooey Mooer" in the mud, when he thought of something. It
ended up making him a mentor. What did Mooey scrape in the mud?
Found on
You Tube with some relevance to today
OK Then…
·
• •
Paraphernalia
4 the Brain:
Dog Facts…
—Service dogs are trained to know when they are on duty. When
their harness is on, they know they are at work. When you take it off they
instantly become playful and energetic.
—Sergeant Stubby was the only war dog to be promoted to sergeant
through combat in WWI. He saved his regiment from surprise mustard gas attacks,
found and comforted the wounded, and even once caught a German spy by the seat
of his pants, holding him there until American Soldiers found him.
England
Facts…
—In England, there's a phenomenon called the "half-time
kettle effect" where power use surges at half-time during England's
matches in the World Cup as everyone turns on their tea kettles at the same
time.
—In 2015, Britain will ban smoking in cars carrying children.
Flagstaff,
AZ History…
25 YEARS
AGO
The deadline for completing the repairs on Santa Fe Avenue has
been extended due to the difficulties encountered by the construction company
with inaccurate mapping of underground utilities, storm drains, sewer lines and
asbestos-wrapped piping between Agassiz and San Francisco Street, some of which
have been in place since the 1890s. Wood pipes, old cobble stoning and now unused
steam lines were uncovered.
Hair
Facts…
—Ancient Greeks believed that redheads turned into vampires after
they died.
—Only 2% of the world’s population is blonde.
Harper’s
Index…
Age of the youngest reported Taliban fighter: 11
Of the youngest British combatant in WWI: 12
Internet
Facts…
—In 2013, AOL declared that they still made over $500 million a
year through dial-up internet subscriptions.
—The ‘@’ sign is centuries old, and was used in Europe to denote a
unit of weight (the “arroba”) equivalent to 25 lbs.
That’s
Outrageous from Reader’s Digest…
At a party in China, an employer plopped down money and told his
employees that it was their bonus. But to get their share, they would have to
drink him under the table. Said one teetotaler, ‘Men were given 500 yuan for
each shot’ and women were given twice that. In the end, some cashed in—and some
passed out.
Rules of
Thumb…
CODE
BLUE
In war, you don't
hear the bullet that gets you. In the hospital, if you hear a code blue, it's
not for you.
Unusual
Fact of the Day…
In
February of 2012, a 28-year-old man in Winder, Georgia, called 911 to report
that he was invisible. According to police, he was not.
·
• •
Joke-of-the-day
A guy was standing at the bottom of the stairs
listening to the bells. He decided to go up and meet the ringer. So he raced up
the many stairs until finally he was standing not three meters away from Quasimodo.
In a soft voice he said "can I ring the bells" as the hunchback
pushed his head against the bell
"No training is needed or you will be in danger"
The guy replied to this "C'mon please I'll be careful"
"Be very careful"
Minutes went by and he pushed the bell with the might of his hands
"Can I ring the bell with my head? “The guy asked
"NO, TRAINING"
"I can do it"
"Ok don't say you haven't been warned"
Alas on his first heave he lost balance and when the bell swung back it hit him
out the window he fell down the tower to his death. Quasimodo raced down the
stairs with all possible speed, when he was at the bottom a small crowd had
gathered with a policeman examining the body
He yelled to the crowd
"Does anybody know this man?”
Quasimodo then answered
"No, but his face rings a bell"
Yep, It
Really Happened
Huffington
Post UK
In September, at the annual 10-day Phuket Vegetarian Festival in
Thailand (ostensibly promoting abstinence from eating meat), dozens of men
pierced and sliced their mouths, cheeks and arms in religious devotion in a
spectacle which, though blood-drenched, was supposedly free of pain (and
subsequent scars) because the fanatics were in God-imposed trances. The display
supposedly brings "good health, peace of mind and spiritual
cleansing," and includes walking on hot coals and climbing blade-embedded
ladders (both barefoot, of course), all to the accompaniment of fireworks and
the ear-shattering pounding of drums
Bonus
Daily Mail (London)
Amanda Collins, 28, took "beauty pageant mom" to the
next level (down) earlier this year when she entered her daughter Luna in
Britain's UK Princess and Prince International -- based entirely on Luna's
ultrasound scan at age 20 weeks. Said Collins, "As soon as I saw her image
on the screen ... I knew she was a stunner." Contest officials had accepted
the scan application, and six weeks after birth, Luna was named runner-up in
the Princess and Prince, and on top of that, four weeks later, runner-up in
Miss Dreams UK. "All she has to do," said Collins, "is lie in my
arms and smile as I stroll down the catwalk."
Somewhat
Useless Information
Are
there muscles in human fingers?
Have
you ever wondered if there are any muscles in human fingers? Well, fingers are
constructed of ligaments, tendons and three phalanges.
Ligaments
are strong supportive tissue connecting bone to bone, tendons are an attachment
tissue from muscle to bone and the three phalanges are actually bones.
So,
there are no muscles in the human fingers! Fingers move by the pull of forearm
muscles on the tendons.
**
British
and Germans spent some peaceful times together during WWI
Did
you know that during WWI there were occasions in which the opponents, such as
British and Germans, used to spend peaceful times together demonstrating a
symbolic moment during the conflict? On Christmas of 1914 the British and the
Germans lay down their weapons, crossed no man’s land, and joined each other to
celebrate by exchanging seasonal greetings, food and souvenirs, playing games,
singing songs or attending burials for each side. Several meetings ended in
carol-singing and troops from both sides were also friendly enough to play
games of football with one another!
·
• •
Check
Your Calendar
Observances
This Week:
Dear Santa Letter Week: 7-13
·
• •
Today’s
Events through History
1847 - Sir
James Simpson, British physician, is the 1st use chloroform as anesthetic
1910 - 1st Movie stunt: man jumps into Hudson river
from a burning balloon
1936 - Oakland Bay Bridge opens
1956 - Largest observed iceberg, 208 by 60 miles,
1st sighted
1970 - The Northern Ireland Housing Executive
(NIHE) is formed
1978 - Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Colgate Far East
Golf Open
·
• •
Birthday’s
Today
Charles
Manson, criminal (Tate-Labianco) is 80
Brian Hyland, Queens, rocker (Sealed with a kiss) is 71
Al
Michaels, Brooklyn, sportscaster is
70
Neil
Young, Canadian singer/songwriter (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
is 69
Megan
Mullally, actress/comedienne is 56
Sammy
Sosa, Dominican Republic, baseball outfielder (Chicago Cubs) is
46
Tonya
Harding, figure skater (Oly-8th-1994) is 44
Cote de
Pablo, Santiago Chile, actress (NCIS) is 35
Ryan
Gosling, Canadian actor (The Notebook) is 34
Anne
Hathaway, actress (The Princess Diaries) is 32
Remembered
for being born today
Jeanne
Mance, French Canadian settler (founded 1st hospital in N. Am) (1606-1673)
Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, women's rights activist (1815-1902)
Auguste
Rodin, France, sculptor (Kiss, Thinker), (1840-1917)
Sun
Yat-sen, father of modern China (1866-1925)
Joseph
Coors, CEO (Adolph Coors Co Brewery) (1917-2003)
Jo
Stafford, singer (You Belong to me, Never Smile Again) (1917-2008)
Grace
Kelly, actress (Rear Window)/Princess (Monaco), (1929-1982)
Tim
Samaras, Lakewood, CO., tornado chaser (Storm Chasers), (1957-2013)
·
• •
Historical
Obits Today
Penny
Singleton, actress (Blondie movies), 2003, @95
Roger
Lewis, aviation exec (Lockheed, C Wright, Pan Am), 1987, @75
Percival
Lowell, American amateur astronomer, founder of Lowell Observatory in
Flagstaff, Arizona, stroke, 1916, @61
Jonathan
Brandis, American actor, suicide, 2003, @27
·
• •
Brain Teasers Answers
The answer was "your name". When Mooey thought of this,
he realized his mentor was trying to trick him! Because of his thinking, Mooey
was made a mentor!
·
• •
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…§
