8-26-15

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Almanac: Week: 35 \ Day: 238
August Averages: 78°\50°
86004 Today: H 76° \ L 60° Average Sky Cover: 80% 
Wind ave:   5mph\Gusts:  14mph
Ave. High: 78° Record High: 88°[1965] Ave. Low: 47° Record Low: 36°[2002]
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Observances Today:              Observances This Week:
National Dog Day                       19-23
National Toilet Paper Day Link   National Massage Therapy Week
Tug-of-War Day Link                   23-29
Women's Equality Day                National Return To Work Week
                                                     National Safe at Home Week

Heroes' Day (Namibia)                25-31
Be Kind To Humankind Week
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Quote of the Day 

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US Historical Highlights for Today
1629 - Cambridge Agreement, Mass. Bay Company stockholders agree to emigrate
1748 - The first Lutheran denomination in North America, the Pennsylvania Ministerium, is founded in Philadelphia
1791 - John Fitch granted US patent for his working steamboat
1858 - First news dispatch by telegraph
1873 - First free kindergarten in the U.S. started by Susan Blow in Carondelet, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri
1893 - A Phoenix court reporter invented and applied for the patent on a center space bar for typewriters which would be operated by the thumb.
1907 - Harry Houdini escapes from chains underwater at Aquatic Park in 57 sec
1929 - First US roller coaster built
1945 - Japanese diplomats board USS Missouri to receive instructions on Japan's surrender at the end of WW II
1955 - 1st color telecast (NBC) of a tennis match (Davis Cup)
1973 – Univ. of Texas (Arlington) is first accredited school to offer belly dancing
1996 - President Bill Clinton signs welfare reform into law, representing major shift in US welfare policy
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World Historical Highlights for Today
1498 - Michelangelo is commissioned to carve the Pietà
1541 - Turkish sultan Suleiman occupies Buda and annexes Hungary
1641 - West India Company conquerors Sao Paulo de Loanda, Angola
1846 - Felix Mendelssohn's "Elijah" premieres
1933 - Jan van Houten bicycles world record time (44,588 km)
1940 - Chad is the 1st French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor
1951 - "An American in Paris" premieres in London (Best Picture 1952)
1961 - Official International Hockey Hall of Fame opens in Toronto
1972 - 20th Olympic games open at Munich German FR
1984 - Zdena Silvaha (Cz) throws discus 74.55 m (women's world record)
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Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthdays Today 

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My Rambling Thoughts
Received some sad news today on FB…a couple I started teaching with at Shonto and remained friends all these years…lost their 40 yr. old son last night after a short illness. Texted a mutual friend in Tuba. He went over to the mother’s house, as she still teaches in Tuba, and the dad was there. The dad called me and thanked me for letting people know. The funeral is Saturday on the rez. He was also trying to contact another former teacher as his son grew up with her kids. I didn’t have her number but was able to make some contacts on FB and got the two of them together. Social media is amazing.
It has been monsoon-ing on and off all day. Moisture sure is nice. Our local paper had a story about high levels of mercury in fish and plants below Lake Powell in the Colorado River. Where is the mercury coming from? The article says that scientists believe it is from the atmosphere from pollution as far away as China. OMG!
I have enjoyed hummus since my trip to Ethiopia. And I have eaten guac for decades. Today I found a great new recipe…Guacahummus…chickpeas, avocado, olive oil, jalapeno, a little garlic, lime juice and some tomatoes. I made some and it is amazing. The cooking lady on the TV box said that even people who don’t like hummus or don’t like guacamole or don’t like both of them seem to really like her recipe. There are several very easy recipes on the internet machine…just google it.
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
Translate each word group into a phonetic sound, and then string them all together to form the name of a body of water.

For example:
polar or grizzly, finger jewelry, not curved
Translation... Bear, Ring, Straight
Answer... Bering Strait

1. Vehicle, curved bone, to exist, not yang, to look at
2. Circle segment, bloodsucking arachnid, to be in debt, tibia
3. Cat sound, dreidel letter, 18-hole sport
4. Unaffiliated film, Japanese currency, interjection, to eschew
5. Helper, flightless South American bird, clock sound, programming language

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Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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…Amazing Facts…
(Former) Billionaire Chuck Feeney gave away over 99% of his multi-billion dollar fortune to philanthropic endeavors, such as helping underprivileged kids go to college. He is now worth a few million dollars.

Caucasian Mountain Dog (aka Russian Bear Dog) males reach over 200lb and have historically been used to hunt bears.
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…Flagstaff, AZ History…
100 YEARS AGO-1915
Mr. C. H. Brownell, having had his automobile repaired here, left Flagstaff for Vidal Saturday morning, promising Mrs. Brownell that he would wire her from there upon his arrival. Having not heard from him by Sunday morning she set out to look for him with E. L. Van Martin. Around 1 p.m. they found his car three miles this side of Hank’s Well with a note saying he had set out for D & W Mine. They set on out and finally overtook Charley, who was quite exhausted and out of water. Van Martin’s automobile then refused to restart, so the party walked on toward the mine. In the meantime, another set of seekers had set out and came upon them shortly. All parties finally arrived at Needles about 4 a.m. Monday.
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…Harper’s Index…
120 – minimum number of Syrian adults the Islamic state has recruited since January
400 – if Syrian children
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…Instagram Photo of the Day… 

Natgeo Photo taken by @stevemccurryofficial //Two fishermen at sunset on the Malecón, in Havana, Cuba. The Malecón is a broad esplanade, roadway and seawall which stretches for about 8 km along the coast in Havana, Cuba.
It is a popular gathering place, and seems to be its most beautiful as the sun sets.
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…Foreigners Find These American Customs Offensive…
9. Using your left hand for anything
Not all cultures have or use toilet paper, and tend to use their left hand in lieu of it. Accepting gifts, eating or doing pretty much anything with your left hand in much of Africa, India, Sri Lanka and the Middle East is like a (disgusting) slap in the face.
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…USA Facts…
In Breton, Alabama, there is a law on the town's books against riding down the street in a motorboat.

In Kentucky, US, every citizen is required by law to take a bath at least once a year.
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…Unusual Fact of the Day…
The capstone atop the Washington Monument is actually made of aluminum. The 100-ounce pyramid-shaped "stone" was placed on December 6, 1884, and was the largest aluminum object cast up to that time. It sounds like an odd choice today, but aluminum was very hard to produce at the time and was worth as much as silver ($24/oz in today's dollars).
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2 jokes for the day
Q: What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?
A: Frostbite.

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The world’s worst conductor was directing up his band during a practice for an upcoming concert.
Half way through the first act he was directing with wild abandon when, out of his hand, his baton flew and impaled itself in the eye of a flute player instantly killing her.
The police arrive shortly after and ruled the case as an accident.
The following week at practice, he again was caught up in the music of the second act and out of his hand flew the baton, which this time struck a flute player in the eye instantly killing her.
The police arrived and after consideration ruled the case an accident.
The following week at practice the conductor again got lost in the moment of the music of the third act and out of his hand flew the baton this time hitting a trumpet player in the eye and killing him instantly.
After the police arrived they could not believe that this was an accident after the third death, and the conductor was arrested.
The conductor was tried and sentenced to death in the electric chair.
After strapping him in the chair operator threw the switch, nothing happened.
Again he threw the switch and nothing happened.
The warden was frustrated by this time and demanded that the chair operator explain what the problem was, to which the chair operator explained, "Well, everyone knows he's a bad conductor".  

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Yep, It Really Happened
Johnstone, Iowa – the recent gun-and-baby-carrying workshop was so successful that instructor Melody Lauer and CrossRoads Shooting Sports owner Tom Hudson plan more. Lauer insisted that she does not necessarily encourage a baby-holding mother to arm herself, but if she chooses to, safety would of course require that she be familiar with the tricky procedure of drawing, aiming and firing even though she might be ‘wearing’ a baby in a sling in front of her body. Hudson, noting the fast-growing market of gun sales to women, said scheduling the workshop ‘was a no-brainer.’        
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Somewhat Useless Information
Pakistan means "Land of the Pure" in Urdu.
The most commonly used word for "detergent" in Urdu is Surf.

The word "infant" is from the Latin for "unable to speak."

The Himalayas were formed 25 million years after the last dinosaur died out.

All the mountains on Saturn's moon Titan are named after peaks in The Lord of the Rings.

During Hitler's years in power, Mein Kampf was given away free to every newlywed couple.

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Birthdays Today
“()” indicates age at death
(87) - Mother Teresa, [Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu], Founder: Missionaries of Charity (Nobel Peace Prize 1979) d.1997
 (86) - Albert B Sabin, Russia, US microbiologist (oral polio vaccine) d.1993
 (81) - Peggy Guggenheim, art patron & collector d.1979
(75) - Geraldine Ferraro, (Rep-D-NY) 1st female dem VP candidate  d.2011
  70 - Tom Ridge, 1st Secretary of Homeland Security (Rep-R-Pennsylvania)
(66) - Jan Clayton, Tularosa NM, actress (Ellen Miller-Lassie) d.1983
  66 - Robert (Bob) Cowsill, Newport RI, (Cowsills - Hair, We Can Fly)
(64) - Zona Gale, American novelist  d. 1938
  63 - Will Shortz, American crossword editor
  50 - Chris Burke, actor with Down syndrome (Corky-Life Goes On)
 (48) - Earl Biggers, author ("Charlie Chan" detective series) d.1933
  45- Melissa McCarthy, actress (Bridesmaids, Mike and Molly)
  35 - Macaulay Culkin, actor (Home Alone, Richie Rich)
  35 - Chris Pine, American actor, (Star Trek movies)
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Historical Obits Today
Evelyn Wood, speed reading guru, 1995@86
Andrew W. Mellon, banker, Secretary of the Treasury-1937@82
Charles Boyer, actor (Gaslight, Rogues), suicide-1978@78
Charles Lindbergh, US aviator, cancer-1974@72
William James, psychologist (Pragmatism), heart failure-1910@68
Ted Knight, [Tadeus Konopka], actor (Mary Tyler Moore), cancer-1986@62
Lon Chaney, actor (Thunder, Big City, Unholy 3), hemorrhage-1930@ 47
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Brain Teasers Answers
1. Car - Rib - Be - Yin - See == Caribbean Sea
2. Arc - Tick - Owe - Shin == Arctic Ocean
3. Purr - Shin - Golf == Persian Gulf
4. Indie - Yen - Oh! - Shun == Indian Ocean
5. Aid - Rhea - Tick - C == Adriatic Sea

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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.