7-8-15

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Almanac: Week: 28 \ Day: 189
July Averages: 82°\50°
86004 Today: H 84° \ L 48° Average Sky Cover: 60% 
Wind ave:   11mph\Gusts:  21mph
Ave. High: 82° Record High:  92° (2002) Ave. Low: 49° Record Low:  32° (1955)
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Observances Today:
Math 2.0 Day (Founding Day) 
SCUD Day (Savor the Comic, Unplug the Drama)
Video Games Day

Ramadan (Islam)
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Observances This Week:
Freedom Week: 4-10 
Be Nice To New Jersey Week: 5-11 
National Farriers Week: 5-11 
Nude Recreation Weekend: 6-12 

Creative Maladjustment Week: 7-14  
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Quote of the Day 

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US Historical Highlights for Today
1663 - King Charles II of England grants a charter to Rhode Island
1680 - The first confirmed tornado in America kills a servant at Cambridge, MA
1693 - NYC authorizes 1st police uniforms in American colonies
1776 - Col John Nixon gave 1st public reading of Declaration of Independence (Philadelphia)
1796 - US State Dept issues 1st American passport
1800 - Dr Benjamin Waterhouse gives 1st cowpox vaccination in the US to his son to prevent smallpox
1835 - Liberty Bell cracks (again)
1849 - St Paul's Place in the Bronx named
1870 - US Congress authorizes registration of trademarks
1876 - White terrorists attack Black Republicans in Hamburg SC, killing 5
1892 - American Psychological Association organized, Worcester, MA
1896 - William Jennings Bryan's "cross of gold" speech at Democrat convention
1905 - Part of Angel Island allocated for Immigration Detention Center
1907 - Florenz Ziegfeld staged 1st `Follies' on NY Theater roof
1923 - Harding becomes 1st sitting president to visit Alaska (Metlakahtla)
1930 - Arizona Supreme court upheld the right of Cochise County to move the county seat from Tombstone to Bisbee.
1933 - Public Works Administration becomes effective
1947 - Demolition begins for UN HQ in NYC
1950 - Gen Douglas MacArthur named commander-in-chief, UN forces in Korea
1963 - US bans all monetary transactions with Cuba
1966 - US airline strike (until Aug 19th)
1969 - US troop withdrawal begins in Vietnam
1981 - Senate confirms Sandra Day O'Conner to Supreme Court (99-0)
1990 - 12:34:56 on 7/8/90 (1234567890)
1990 - Greg LeMond wins his 3rd Tour de France (90:43:20 avg 23.3 mph)
2000 - "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", the 4th book in the series by J. K. Rowling is published in the UK (Bloomsbury) and the US (Scholastic)
2011 - Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.
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Today’s World Events through History
   951 - Paris is founded
1099 - First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on.
1497 - Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama departs for on his first voyage - becomes first European to reach India by sea
1520 - Hernán Cortés and his army have managed to escape from Tenochtitlán (modern Mexico City).
1822 - Chippewas turn over huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.
1949 - The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No 55 prohibiting marriage or a sexual relationship between White people and people of other race groups is passed in South Africa
1971 - During street disturbances, British soldiers shoot dead two Catholic civilians in Free Derry; as a result, riots erupted in the city and the Social Democratic and Labour Party withdraws from Stormont in protest
1999 - "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" the 3rd book of the series byJ. K. Rowling is published by Bloomsbury in the UK
2013 - 42 people have been killed and hundreds injured after the Egyptian army raids a sit in protest in Cairo
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Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthdays Today 

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My Rambling Thoughts
Technology…got my first CodeRED alert this afternoon…to tell me to expect heavy rain, damaging wind, and large hail. It was already raining pretty hard with tiny hail. Hope that is all we get.
NPR had an interesting discussion about the so-called Confederate Flag and why the US has so many army installations, roads, and highways named after Confederate Generals. Turns out after the Civil War-or War of Northern Aggression-ended, the President called for ‘reconciliation’. Part of that reconciliation was to recognize the Confederate Generals who had fought so hard to win. Many were brilliant strategists. Ok, not a bad way to re-unite the US. The controversial flag was never the Confederate Flag…it was the VA Battle flag. It wasn’t around much after the Civil War, but reappeared during the Civil Rights movement. Many know that part of the Civil War was fought over State’s Rights…the right of the state to decide the issue of slavery. So it made sense that a Civil War flag would reappear when the many in the South saw the issue of who votes in elections and who rides where on the bus and who is served at restaurants and who can marry is a State Right, not a Federal power. So it appears that, to me at least, that the reconciliation sought after the Civil War is still a work in progress.
A totally different story of reconciliation is seen in South Africa after apartheid. When Nelson Mandela was release from prison and told the South African people that he carried no ill will for the horrors of apartheid and that he wanted the people to look forward, they listened. From what I saw in South Africa, that is exactly what happened. Growing up in the US I had a really hard time understanding how those oppressed during the apartheid years to not hold anger, but they did. I now understand my confusion was because in the US, many have not looked forward after the Civil War and they had their fears reappear when the Civil Rights movement hit the US. So many on the conservative side are so concerned that the Federal Government is going to take away their guns, the Confederate Battle flag, and of course their state’s rights. I am much better educated over recent events, but to be honest, I still don’t understand the fear.
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
Without changing the order of the letters, place the four letter words on the dashes to form eight letter words. All the words will not be used.

Veto, Lent, Rake, Hilt, Clam, Abut, Tile

1. __ um__ __ i __ y
2. Pro __ __ __ i __
3. __ err __ b __ __
4. __ __ xa __ i __ n
5. Ove __ t __ __ __


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Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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…Cool Facts…
Jaguars frequently get high by eating hallucinogenic roots, which also increases their senses for hunting.

The inventor of the Super Soaker squirt gun was a NASA Scientist who also helped develop the Stealth Bomber and the Galileo mission to Jupiter.
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…Flagstaff, AZ History…
75 YEARS AGO-1940
City firemen were called out at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday to a fire in the garage of Mrs. Betty Irish’s home at 210 N. Agassiz St. The building is an almost complete loss. For a time the fire also threatened the home of Fred W. Moore. It was saved by the effective work of our firemen.

Professor A. M. McCreary, head of the Physical Education Department at Flagstaff State College, says the college swimming pool is now open for public use. 10 cents for children. 20 cents for adults.
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…Harper’s Index…
70 – percentage of countries worldwide in which girls outperform boys in academic achievement
65 – percentage of think-tank events about the Middle East held in Washington, DC, last year that included no female speakers
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… Relationship Facts…
Anuptaphobia is the fear of staying single.
Women rate men more attractive if other women are looking and smiling at him.
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…Unusual Fact of the Day…
Nearly 30% of Dalmatian dogs are born with complete or partial hearing loss.
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2 jokes for the day
Q. How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?
A. Just one, but that light bulb really has to want to change!
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Things learned from TV:
All crimes are solved in 1 hour.
The Good guy always wins.
When you’re trapped, you always find a way out.
A trip from Los Angeles to China takes 5 seconds.
All women still have makeup on when they wake up in the morning.
When you’re a hero, you will never get burnt in a fire.          

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Yep, It Really Happened
Sure, fireworks are dangerous as we saw in last week's issue of Bizarre News where a man killed himself in a pre-Independence Day stunt with an explosive, but firearms are even more dangerous, especially if your job is training mentally disturbed people to handle them. 
31-year-old Veronica Lewis of Vermont, is accused of shooting her firearms instructor in the face during their second lesson, police said.
Lewis allegedly fired three shots at 48-year-old Darryl Montague earlier this week, hitting him twice in the jaw and once in the abdomen.
The attack occurred at the Montague's place of business. Montague runs a licensed firearms company called Vermont Target Sports.
Lewis is said to have mental issues and she lives at a mental health facility. She previously lived in New York City, where she had a lengthy criminal record.
How a woman with such extensive mental health issues made it as far as 2 classes in firearms training was not made clear. 
After the shooting, police said they found a .22 caliber pistol and a hammer in her backpack. The attack is considered premeditated because of the presence of the hammer. Lewis was charged with first degree attempted murder. 
Of course, the victim of the shooting lived, while the guy who performed the stunt with the explosive died, so maybe fireworks are more dangerous than firearms after all. Maybe in the future Mr. Montague will do a more detailed background check before he lets just anybody into his classes. 
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Somewhat Useless Information
Returns tomorrow
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Birthdays Today
66 - Wolfgang Puck, Austrian-born celebrity chef
64 - Anjelica Huston, actress (Prizzi's Honor, Alien)
57 - Kevin Bacon, Phila Pa, actor (Footloose)
54 - Toby Keith, American singer
47 - Michael Weatherly, actor (NCIS)
45 – Beck (Bek David Campbell), American singer
17 - Jaden Smith, American actor
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Born this day…Died in __@__
John D. Rockefeller, US capitalist/founder (Standard Oil)-1937@97
George W Romney, (Gov-R-Mich)/US Secretary of HUD (1969-73)-1995@88
Jerry Vale, [Genaro Louis Vitaliano], singer (Arriverderci Roma)-2014@83
Craig Stevens, Liberty Mo, actor (Peter Gunn)-2000@81
Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German inventor (rigid dirigibles)-1917@78
Roone Arledge, President of ABC Sports (Monday Night Football)-2002@71
Nelson A Rockefeller, (Gov-R-NY) 41st VP (1974-77)-1979@70
Marty Feldman, comedian (Young Frankenstein)-1982@48
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Historical Obits Today
Ernest Borgnine, American actor (Marty)-2012@95
Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States-2011@93
June Allyson, American actress-2006@88
Grace Goodhue Coolidge, 1st lady (1923-29)-1957@78
Phil Foster, comedian (Frank De Fazio-Laverne & Shirley), heart attack-1985@72
Howard Duff, actor (Heist, Knots Landing), heart attack-1990@72
Pete Conrad, American astronaut, auto accident-1999@69
Dick Sargent, actor (Darren #2-Bewitched), cancer-1994@64
James Franciscus, actor (Mr Novak), emphysema-1991@57
Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (Prometheus unbound), drowns-1822@29
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Brain Teasers Answers
1. Humility - hilt
2. Proclaim - clam
3. Terrible - tile
4. Vexation - veto
5. Overtake - rake

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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.