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Almanac: Week: 02 \ Day: 008
January
Averages: 43°\116°
86004 Today: H 51°\L 25°
Ave. humidity: 55% Average Sky Cover: 0%
Wind ave: 6mph\Gusts: 28mph
Ave. High: 42° Record
High: 62° (2002)
Ave. Low: 16° Record Low:
-12 ° (1989)
Observances
Today:
Argyle
Day
Bubble
Bath Day
Earth's
Rotation Day
Man Watcher's Day
Midwife's
Day or Women's Day
National
English Toffee Day
National JoyGerm Day—to spread
joy to the world
Show
and Tell Day at Work
War
on Poverty Day
Observances This
Week:
2-8
Someday
We'll Laugh About This Week
4-11
4-11
Home
Office Safety and Security Week
National Folic Acid Awareness Week
National Lose Weight/Feel Great Week
National Folic Acid Awareness Week
National Lose Weight/Feel Great Week
6-9
International
Consumer Electronics Show
7-10
7-10
Elvis'
Birthday Celebration Week
8-14
Universal
Letter Writing Week
« »
Quote of
the Day
Historical
Highlights for Today
1656 - Oldest
surviving commercial newspaper begins (Haarlem, Netherlands)
1746 - Bonnie
Prince Charlie's troops occupy Stirling
1790 - 1st US
President George Washington delivers 1st state of the union address
1798 - 11th
Amendment ratified, judicial powers construed
1806 - Lewis & Clark find skeleton of 105' blue
whale in Oregon
1815 - Battle
of New Orleans (War of 1812); the war had ended on 24th December 1814 but none of the combatants knew
1835 - The
United States national debt is 0 for the first and only time
1877 - Crazy
Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States
Cavalry at Wolf Mountain (Montana Territory)
1894 - Columbus
World's fair in Chicago destroyed by fire
1958 - Cuban
revolutionary forces capture Havana
1964 - President Lyndon
B. Johnson declares "War on Poverty"
1971 - 29 pilot
whales beach themselves & die at San Clemente Island, CA
1978 - Harvey
Milk becomes 1st openly gay person elected to public office in CA
1982 - AT&T
agrees to divest itself of 22 Bell System companies
1992 - George
Bush gets ill & vomits on Japanese prime minister's lap
1996 - Last native
speaker of the CATAWBA language, dies @76 years old
1998 - Unabomber
suspect Ted Kaczynski asks to act as his own lawyer
2002 - President George
W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
« »
♫
Birthdays Today: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today
My
Rambling Thoughts
Wow, many days with no clouds, blue sky, and warm winter temps.
Nice! A few, but very few, big wind gusts added to the day.
Good news on the squirrel issue, the moth balls seem to be
working. Bad news on the bird feeder issue, the birds seem to be staying away
too. Guess life is about compromise. Guess the moth balls have to go and I’ll
find another way to get rid of the squirrels.
I grew up during the cold war, and living in the Denver area, the
concern that the Russians would launch an attack on our various installations.
Duck and Cover was practiced. Today’s children are growing up in a world of
terror. Today it was Paris. I look back on the Duck and Cover exercises with a
smile—as now I realize the process would have done nothing in a real nuclear
attack. . I never was really scared during that time, but did pay attention to
the local fire station sirens. Guess it was always in my mind. I really hope
today’s children will look back on all this terrorism talk and realize that
most fear was unjustified.
« »
Brain
Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
Three
Paley brothers and three Thomson brothers operate a company that manufactures lie
detectors. Three of these six men always tell the truth, and three always tell
lies; neither set of brothers consists exclusively of liars. Some recent
statements from the six men are recorded below. Can you find the six men's full
names, and tell which men tell the truth and which tell lies?
1. Alan: "Both my brothers tell lies."
2. Boris: "Both my brothers tell the truth."
3: Chuck: "Alan and Boris are both liars."
4. Dalman: "Chuck and I are brothers."
5. Edwin: "Boris and I are brothers."
6. Finney: "Edwin tells the truth."
7. Finney: "Boris is one of the Paleys."
Found on
You Tube with some relevance to today
« »
Paraphernalia
4 the Brain:
50’s
Inventions…
1956
The
first computer hard disk used.
The
hovercraft invented by Christopher Cockerell.
Bette Nesmith Graham invented
"Mistake Out," later renamed Liquid Paper, to paint over mistakes
made with a typewriter
Education
Facts…
¨ Sudbury
Valley School allows students to do whatever they want; no curriculum, tests,
homework, or even classes unless requested. 82% of students get accepted to
college, as opposed to the 63% national public school average.
¨ According
to a 2011 poll, 32% of Russians believe that the Sun orbits Earth.
Flagstaff,
AZ History…
100 YEARS
AGO
Happy New Year. Swear off all extravagance and next New Year’s Day
will find you happier. Start a bank account with The Citizens Bank of
Flagstaff, Arizona. Capital $50,000.
Flagstaff’s
Iconic 50…
Grand
Canyon Café
Warmth surrounds the family owned cafe as the smells of frying
meat, browning onions and freshly cut vegetables waft into the dining room,
where people have begun to take seats for the lunch hour Thursday.
They work efficiently -- him frying up the chicken fried steaks
and working the grill top, her tossing vegetables around in a wok.
For 30 years, Fred "Freddy" Wong and his wife Tina have
done this work, and the business has been continuously open in Flagstaff a
total of 70 years this month. It's birthday time.
"It opened Dec. 18, 1942, but it wasn't with our family until
1945," Wong says, holding a copy of the newspaper announcing the cafe's
opening. His father Albert, brothers Edward and Alfred, and a nephew, Bill Yee,
pitched in to buy the space, which was about half the size it is now. Fred's
father, who worked cooking Chinese food in Durango, Colo., wanted to go into
business for himself.
The restaurant has been in the same spot ever since. The wall that
separated the old Harkey's Cash Market was knocked down sometime after World
War II to expand the place.
THE SECRET?
What's the secret to their success? Ask the locals.
"There's just so much history here," says John Harkey
(whose grandfather ran the market). "But the main draw is Freddy and Tina
and the friendly atmosphere."
Harper’s
Index…
30
Number of countries that require their rulers to belong to a particular
religion
Eight of
the 30 countries regulate the role the leaders play in the church. In Bolivia,
Burma, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela,
clergy members are prohibited from becoming the heads of state.
Sixteen of these, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New
Zealand, are members of the Commonwealth of Nations with Queen Elizabeth II —
also known as the Defender of the Faith — as their head of state
The United States is not an exception. The Washington Post reported
in early July that in eight states atheism makes a candidate ineligible for
public office. Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Maryland,
Arkansas and Texas all have language in their state constitution that notes the
necessity of belief in God.
Rules of
Thumb…
WINNING
MONOPOLY
The person who makes the most deals
wins.
Unusual
Fact of the Day…
Billiards was once a lawn game played outdoors, which is why
today’s pool tables have a green felt cover.
« »
Joke-of-the-day
A little boy was about to eat a plate full of
delicious meal for Dinner when his mom notice his urge to eat the food, she
quickly ask him "have you said your prayer before eating that meal",
The Boy replied "No I won't because I don't
want to give 10% of my Dinner".
Yep, It
Really Happened
DEEPHAVEN,
Minn. (UPI)
A Minnesota man who collected more than $167,000 in welfare
benefits while he had more than $3 million in the bank was sentenced to 21
months in prison. The court heard Colin Chisholm, 63, and his wife, Andrea, 54,
collected more than $167,000 in medical and food assistance claims in the seven
years leading up to March 2012 and investigators later discovered the couple
had more than $3 million in the bank and lived in a $1.6 million mansion in Deephaven.
The couple, who once claimed to be Scottish nobility and went by the titles
"Lord and Lady Chisholm," were also found to own a luxury yacht worth
millions on Lake Minnetonka. Judge Lois Conroy handed down a 21-month prison
sentence despite state sentencing guidelines calling for probation. Conroy
agreed with prosecutors that prison time was called for due to the severity of
the welfare fraud. Chisholm was also ordered to pay $167,420 in restitution
following the completion of his prison sentence. "This is a fitting end to
a crime that never should have occurred," Hennepin County Attorney Mike
Freeman said after the sentencing. "We are pleased with the sentence and
believe it is one of the longest ever given in the state of Minnesota for welfare
fraud." Andrea Chisholm pleaded guilty in August to aiding and abetting
wrongfully obtaining public assistance. She was sentenced to one year and one
day in prison. Freeman said she was less culpable for the fraud because Colin
Chisholm was the one fraudulently signing documents.
Somewhat
Useless Information
The
Simpsons creator Matt Groening named the characters after his own family
members but substituted "Bart" for his own name.
Its town of Springfield was named for its generic Anywhereness (there are Springfields
in 30 U.S. states). Over various episodes, the town's geography has contained
rivers, deserts, farmland, mountains or whatever the story requires.
The characters' distinctive yellow hue was chosen in part to make the show
stand out when someone was flipping through TV channels for something to watch.
Bart is voiced by a woman, Nancy Cartwright. In an opening sequence during the
show's second season, Bart wrote on the chalkboard, "I am not a
32-year-old woman" (Cartwright's age at the time).
In an episode that aired in 2003, Homer gave his email address as
ChunkyLover53@aol.com. The episode's writer, Matt Selman, signed up for the
ChunkyLover53 email address beforehand and within minutes of the show's airing
found his inbox packed to its 999-message limit.
Homer's signature "D'oh!" has been added to the Oxford English
Dictionary, and an expression he frequently uses has inspired a much-quoted
toast: "To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's
problems."
Gizmos
PASADENA, Calif.
(UPI)
NASA's
Soil Moisture Active Passive, SMAP, will measure moisture in the Earth's soil,
which will help farmers combat the effects of drought.
Set to launch on Jan. 29 in California, SMAP will orbit the Earth every three
days or less to measure moisture in the top two inches of soil with the highest
accuracy and resolution, NASA said in a press release.
The spacecraft is equipped with radar to transmit and receive microwaves it
sends toward Earth, a radiometer to measure microwaves caused by water in soil
and a 19.7 foot rotating mesh antenna, the largest ever deployed in space.
The almost 20 foot antenna will spin at about 14 revolutions per minute, one
per four seconds, and was designed to fit into a one-by-four-foot space by
engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California.
"We call it the spinning lasso," NASA instrument manager Wendy
Edelstein said.
SMAP will help scientists and farmers by giving them earlier warnings of
droughts and providing more detailed moisture maps.
"SMAP can assist in predicting how dramatic drought will be, and then its
data can help farmers plan their recovery from drought," Narendra Das, a
water and carbon cycle scientist for NASA, said.
« »
Today’s
Events through History
1675 - 1st
American commercial corporation chartered (NY Fishing Co)
1959 - Charles
de Gaulle inaugurated as president of France's 5th Republic
2013 - Steve Nash records
his 10,000th career assist against Houston
« »
Birthday’s
Today
Charles Osgood, news anchor (CBS
Weekend News) is 82
Bob Eubanks, TV host (Newlywed
Game) is 77
Little Anthony [Gourdine], rocker
(& Imperials) is 74
Stephen Hawking, English physicist
(Black Holes & Baby Universes) is 73
David Bowie, [Jones],
singer/actor is 68
R. Kelly [Robert
Sylvester Kelly], R&B singer (I Wish I Could Fly) is 48
Kim Jong-un, Supreme Leader of
North Korea is 32
« »
Remembered
for being born today
Frank Nelson Doubleday, publisher/founder
(Doubleday & Co) 1862-1934@72
José Ferrer, actor/director
(Blood Tide) 1912-1992@80
Soupy Sales, [Milton Hines], NC,
comedian (Soupy Sales Show) 1926-2009@83
Elvis Presley, King of Rock and
Roll 1935-1977@42
« »
Historical
Obits Today
Yvonne De Carlo,
Canadian-born actress (Munsters), 2007, @84
Zhou Enlai, Premier
of the People's Republic of China, cancer, 1976, @78
Terry Thomas, English comic (Heroes), Parkinson's
disease, 1990, @78
Galileo Galilei, Italian
physicist/astronomer, 1642, @77
Marco Polo,
Venetian explorer, 1324, @69
Eli Whitney,
American inventor (Cotton Gin), prostate cancer, 1925, @59
Dion Fortune, British occultist and author 1946, @55
« »
Brain Teasers Answers
Alan Thompson, Liar
Boris Paley, liar
Chuck Thomson, truthteller
Dalman Paley, liar
Edwin Paley, truthteller
Finney Thomson, truthteller
Neither set of brothers consists entirely of liars (introduction), so neither
consists entirely of truthtellers, either. Boris, then, can't be telling the
truth (clue 2); Boris is a liar. If Alan lies, then Chuck tells the truth (clue
3), and vice versa, so between Alan and Chuck, one is a liar and one a
truthteller. By elimination, Dalman, Edwin, and Finney are, in some order, one
liar and two truthtellers. If Finney is a liar, so is Edwin (clue 6), which is
impossible; so Finney tells the truth and so does Edwin (Clue 6); Dalman, then,
is a liar. Boris is a Paley (clue 7). Edwin is a Paley (clue 5). Chuck and
Dalman are not brothers (clue 4), so one is a Paley and the other a Thomson; by
elimination, Alan and Finney are both Thomsons. Finney Thomson tells the truth,
so Alan Thomson is a liar (clue 1) and Chuck is a truthteller (clue 3). Boris
Paley lied when he said both of his brothers tell the truth (clue 2); one of
his brothers is Edwin Paley, a truthteller, so the other must be a liar - and
therefore the third Paley can't be Chuck, a truthteller, so must be Dalman, a
liar. By elimination, Chuck is a Thompson.
« »
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…§
