6-5-15

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Almanac: Week: 23 \ Day: 156
June Averages: 79°\41°
86004 Today: H 78°\L 35° Average Sky Cover: 40% 
Wind ave:   29mph\Gusts:  11mph
Ave. High: 76° Record High:  87° (2006) Ave. Low: 38° Record Low:  25° (1943)
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Observances Today:
America's Cup
Apple II Day
Children's Awareness Memorial Day
Doughnut Day or Donut Day
Festival of Popular Delusions Day
Horseradish Days
Hot Air Balloon Day
National Cancer Survivors Day
National Moonshine Day
Positive Power of Humor and Creativity Days
UN World Environment Day
World Environment Day

Constitution Day (Denmark)
Day of the Rice God (Japan)
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Observances This Week:
National Sun Safety Week:  1-8 
Great American Brass Band Week: 4-7

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Quote of the Day 

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US Historical Highlights for Today
1846 - Telegraph line opens between Phila & Balt
1855 - Anti-foreign anti-Roman Catholic Know-Nothing Party's 1st convention
1917 - 10 million US men begin registering for draft in WW I
1921- Ku Klux Klan burned a fiery cross at Telegraph Pass near Yuma. The Yuma Klan was established in 1921; they held their meetings at Somerton, Arizona, about ten miles southwest of Yuma.
1937 - Henry Ford initiates 32 hour work week
1940 - A synthetic rubber tire exhibited Akron, Ohio by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.
1944 - General Eisenhower decides invasion set for June 6
1945 - USA, UK, USSR, France declare supreme authority over Germany
1953 - US Senate rejects China People's Republic membership to UN
1957 - NY narcotics investigator, Dr Herbert Berger, urges AMA to investigate use of stimulating drugs by athletes
1965 - "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham & Pharaohs hits #2
1968 - 12:16AM PST-Sirhan Sirhan shoots Bobby Kennedy, who dies next day
1976 - Teton Dam in Idaho burst causing $1 billion damage (14 die)
1981 - AIDS Epidemic officially begins when US Centers of Disease Control reports on pneumonia affecting 5 homosexual men in Los Angeles
2013 – 1st article based on NSA leaked documents by Edward Snowden are published by the Guardian Newspaper in the UK
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Today’s World Events through History
1661 - Isaac Newton admitted as a student to Trinity College, Cambridge
1798 - The Battle of New Ross: The attempt to spread United Irish Rebellion into Munster is defeated
1882 - Storm & floods hits Bombay; about 100,000 die
1915 - Denmark amends its constitution to allow women's suffrage
1970 - The Falls Road curfew in North Ireland, imposed by the British Army while searching for IRA weapons, is lifted after a march by women breaches the British Army cordon
1976 - After a suspected republican bombing kills 2 Protestant civilians in a pub, the Ulster Volunteer Force kill 5 civilians in a gun and bomb attack at the Chlorane Bar, North Ireland
1988 - Russian orthodox church celebrates 1,000th anniversary
2003 - A severe heat wave across Pakistan and India reaches its peak, as temperatures exceed 50°C (122°F) in the region
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Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today 

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My Rambling Thoughts
Another windy day that is blowing in a rain storm that should be here tomorrow. Not complaining…we need the moisture.
Took a nice long walk before the wind hit. Nice! Forest is beautiful at this time of year.
Chinese government steals personal data of 4 million Federal employees. Hmmm After working with OPM for over 3 decades, this is surprising. They always kept their stuff close to the chest. I guess everything is open to just about anyone.
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
A sundial is a timepiece that has the fewest number of moving parts. Which timepiece has the most moving parts?
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Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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… Celebrity Facts…
The Chinese government "encouraged" the country's tallest female basketball player to marry the country's tallest man. Their child was Yao Ming.

Robin Williams was reportedly an avid gamer who played games such as Call of Duty, Zelda, Portal, and Battlestations Pacific. His daughter Zelda was named after the video game.

Lindsay Lohan was approached to star in The Hangover, but she declined because the screenplay "had no potential".

…Cool Facts…
In Ice Age, the drawings of characters during the end credit roll - and Sid's drawing of himself on a wall - were all done by the children of the animators.

Before making Finding Nemo, the animation gurus at Pixar Studios had to take a graduate class in fish biology and oceanography.

…Flagstaff, AZ History…
100 YEARS AGO-1915
Ornamental light fixtures for the downtown area are under discussion with the light company. The current contract that is about to expire calls for 10 candle power at the corners. For the past two years the new Mazda lamps have made better lighting possible. The Flagstaff Light Company made this improvement at its own expense. Now new lights with 200 candlepower have become possible without an increase in cost!

…Harper’s Index…
1922 –year in which the first female US senator took office

2008 – year in which female senator first used the Senate swimming pool

…Unusual Fact of the Day…
Jack London's Call of the Wild reportedly earned the author a single, flat-fee payment of only $2,000.
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2 jokes for the day
I never knew what real happiness was until I got married..
..then it was too late

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A policeman brought four boys before a judge.
"They were causing an awful lot of commotion at the zoo, your Honor," he said.
"Boys," said the judge sternly, "I never like to hear reports of juvenile delinquency.
Now I want each of you to tell me your name and what you were doing wrong."
"My name is George," said the first boy, "and I threw peanuts into the elephant pen."
"My name is Pete," said the second boy, "and I threw peanuts into the elephant pen."
"My name is Mike," said the third boy, "and I threw peanuts into the elephant pen."
"My name is Peanuts," said the fourth boy.      

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Yep, It Really Happened
This sounds perfectly safe. A newly-released headset hopes to wake people up or calm them down by manipulating the electricity in their brain. The 'Thync' costs $299 and has just been released to the public. It provides "calm or energy on demand", the company says, by using "neurosignalling" to activate nerves and change people's state of mind. It is a small, white plastic triangle that you tape to your forehead. Then you control it with your phone to send special zaps that either wake you up or calm you down. If you thought texting while driving was bad...wait until you accidentally send a 'zap' to your brain while you're on the expressway. In addition to "calm" and "energy on demand" there is also a setting for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".           
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Somewhat Useless Information
The word "Checkmate" in Chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the King is dead."
The rook is named from an Arabic word rukh, meaning chariot. This reflects its ability to move quickly in straight lines, but not leap over obstacles. During the Middle Ages, when chariots were no longer in use, the rook was gradually modified to look more like the turret of a castle.
The knight's role has been stable over time. Even in the earliest versions of the game, it represented the cavalry and had the unique ability to leap over its opponents.

Blindfold chess is real and documented in world records. It is as it sounds: a player makes all of his or her moves without looking at a board. Usually there is a "middle man" of sorts to give and receive moves for the game.
Blindfold chess is an impressive skill that many stronger chess players possess. It certainly requires a keen ability to see the board clearly, which can get difficult after many moves. The record was set in 1960 in Budapest by Hungarian Janos Flesch, who played 52 opponents simultaneously while blindfolded - he won 31 of those games.

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Birthday’s Today
86 - Katherine Helmond, actress (Soap, Coach)
66 - Ken Follett, Cardiff, Wales, spy author (Eye of the Needle)
64 - Suze Orman, American financial advisor, writer, and television personality
59 - Kenny G (Kenneth Bruce Gorelick), saxophonist (Duotones)
46 - Brian McKnight, American musician
44 - Mark Wahlberg, rap singer (Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch) and actor (Boogie Nights, The Departed), born in Boston, Massachusetts
36 - Pete Wentz, American musician (Fall Out Boy)
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Remembered for being born today
1895-1972@77 - William Boyd, Ohio, cowboy (Hopalong Cassidy)
1723-1790@67 - Adam Smith, Kirkcaldy Scotland, economist (Wealth of Nations) (baptized)
1887-1948@61 - Ruth Benedict, American anthropologist (Patterns of Culture)
1718-1779@61 - Thomas Chippendale, England, furniture maker (baptized)
1850-1908@57 - Pat Garrett, American Western lawman
1932-1981@49 - Christy Brown, Dublin novelist (My Left Foot, Down All the Days)
1878-1923@45 - [Francisco] Pancho Villa, Mexico, revolutionary/guerrilla leader
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Historical Obits Today
Ronald Reagan, 40th US President, Gov CA, actor-2004@93
Ray Bradbury, American author-2012@91
Mel Tormé, American singer, composer, actor, stroke-1999@73
Conway Twitty, country star (Linda on My Mind), in surgery-1993@59
O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), American author-cirrohis-1910@47
Stephen Crane, author (Red Badge of Courage), long illness-1900@28
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Brain Teasers Answers
An Hourglass
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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.