1-27-15

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Almanac: Week: 05 \ Day: 027 
January Averages: 43°\16°
86004 Today: H 52°\L 27°
Ave. humidity: 60%     Average Sky Cover: 25%
Wind ave:   6mph\Gusts:  17mph
Ave. High: 44° Record High:  61° (2003)
Ave. Low: 17° Record Low:  -13° (1979)

Observances January 27:
Auschwitz Liberation Day
Holocaust Memorial Day
International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
National Geographic Day
Punch the Clock Day
Thomas Crapper Day
Viet Nam Peace Day

Observances This Week:
25-31
National Nurse Anesthetists Week
World Leprosy Week 

Catholic Schools Week
Clean Out Your Inbox Week
Meat Week
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Week
National Medical Group Practice Week

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Quote of the Day 


Historical Highlights for Today
1302 - Dante becomes a Florentine political exile
1662 - 1st American lime kiln begins operation (Providence RI)
1785 - 1st US state university chartered, Athens Georgia
1825 - U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the "Trail of Tears."
1880 - Thomas Edison patents electric incandescent lamp
1918 - "Tarzan of the Apes", 1st Tarzan film, premieres at Broadway Theater
1944 - Leningrad liberated from Germany in 880 days with 600,000 killed
1947 - Crown Prince Amir Saud of Saudi Arabia toured the Salt River Valley to obtain ideas for agricultural development
1948 - 1st tape recorder sold
1967 - Apollo 1 fire kills astronauts Grissom, White & Chaffee
1972 - The British Army and the Irish Republican Army engage in gun battles near County Armagh
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  Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today


My Rambling Thoughts
Stayed up late watching movies last night after a nice dinner with friends. So today was a lazy day. Netflix put up The Interview. Typical Crazy Bros movie. Glad I didn’t have to go to a theater…I would have never done that. A lot of satire, but I sorta get how N. Korea could have been upset. Glad I watched it but wouldn’t watch it again.
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
What is this rebus?
QUE___ON     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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Paraphernalia 4 the Brain:     
70’s Inventions…
1975
The laser printer invented
The push-through tab on a drink can invented

Bank Facts…
--A bank robber named "Pretty Boy" Charles Floyd was known for destroying mortgage papers on heists, freeing hundreds of people from property debt.
--Cash machines are as dirty as public toilets.

Easter Eggs…check it out…
Searching for “binary” in Google Search changes the number of found results to read out in binary

Flagstaff, AZ History…
75 YEARS AGO
A 1940 Hudson along with 10 other vehicles being towed from the manufacturer in Detroit, Michigan, to Los Angeles was demolished when it overturned near the Mount Elden CCC Camp. The wrecked car was left with Wilson Coffin, Inc. The rest went on their way to The Coast.

Harper’s Index…
3000
Estimated number of times SWAT teams were deployed in the US in 1980
60,000
In 2013

Rules of Thumb…
AMASSING A MUSIC COLLECTION
You will not tire of your music collection if you have 200 CDs or more.

Unusual Fact of the Day…
Japanese golfers take out insurance policies against scoring an ace while golfing, since a player "lucky" enough to get a hole-in-one is obligated to buy gifts for all his friends.
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Joke-of-the-day
A wise man once said ...... go ask a woman
           
Yep, It Really Happened
Sperm whales are one of the largest species of cetaceans, as such they have few natural enemies, other than man, but they do know how to protect themselves, and one unfortunate group of divers in the Caribbean found out just how effective this bizarre defense mechanism can be.
The divers, part of a government approved expedition, were photographing the whale off the small Island of Dominica, when the giant mammal surprised them with a giant underwater poo cloud.
Described as a 'poonado' by Canadian photographer, Keri Wilk, the peculiar behavior is thought to have been evidence of a rarely seen defense mechanism.
The whale managed to create a whirlwind of excrement by spinning on its side and flapping its tail.
"The water was crystal clear, initially, and was the most idyllic Caribbean blue water that you could imagine. Then after a few waves of feces were released and stirred vigorously by the whale, the water was like chocolate milk, I couldn't see my hand when I held it in front of my face."
To make matters worse, Mr. Wilk prefers to dive with just goggles and a snorkel as bubbles from scuba diving equipment tend disturb the whales.
"I had poop in my eyes, mouth, wetsuit, everywhere and I was soaked in it from head to toe."
On the plus side, Wilk said that this very well could be the first time that such an incident has been photographically documented.
           
Somewhat Useless Information
--In 1953, the Rocket Chemical Company began developing a rust-prevention solvent called WD-40 for the aerospace industry. The name WD-40 indicates what the product does (water displacement) and how many attempts it took to perfect it.
--Moby Dick was the favorite book of one of the three founders of the coffee empire Starbucks. He wanted to name the company after the story's fabled ship Pequod, but he and his partners reconsidered and settled instead on the name of the first mate, Starbuck.
--Don and Doris Fisher opened their first GAP store in 1969 to meet the unique clothing demands of customers between childhood and adulthood, identified and popularized then as "the generation gap."
--In 1971, the founders of Nike in Beaverton, Oregon, were searching for a catchy company name. Designer Jeff Johnson suggested Nike, the name of the Greek goddess of victory.
--Eugene the Jeep, a character in a 1936 Popeye comic strip, was actually a dog that could walk through walls, climb trees, and fly. When U.S. soldiers were given a new all-terrain vehicle in the early 1940s, they were so impressed that they may have named it after the superdog.
--The name Shell Oil was appropriated by Marcus Samuel, one of the company's founders. His father ran a London retail outlet called the Shell Shop, where he sold bags decorated with seashells. This grew into an import-export business, which diversified into a business that imported oil and kerosene.
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Today’s Events through History
1556 - Willem of Orange becomes a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece
1956 - Elvis Presley's releases the single "Heartbreak Hotel"
1957 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Lake Worth Golf Open
1961 - "Sing Along with Mitch" [Miller] premieres on NBC TV
1964 - "Introducing the Beatles" album released in US
1976 - "Laverne & Shirley" spinoff from "Happy Days" premieres on ABC TV
1984 - Michael Jackson is burned during filming for Pepsi commercial
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Birthday’s Today
Mikhail Baryshnikov, Riga Latvia, ballet dancer (That's Dancing) is 67
Bridget Fonda, actress (Scandal, Single White Female) is 51
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Remembered for being born today
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austria, musical prodigy (Figaro), 1756-1791@35
Lewis Carroll, [Charles Dodgson], author (Alice in Wonderland) 1832-1898@65
Samuel Gompers, American labor union leader (AFL) 1850-1924@74
Jerome Kern, Broadway composer (Showboat), 1885-1945@60
Hyman G Rickover, US Admiral (father of modern nuclear navy) 1900-1986@86
Troy Donahue, actor (Surfside Six, Hawaiian Eye) 1936-2001@65
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Historical Obits Today
Pete Seeger, folk singer (Weaver, Goodnight Irene) and activist, 2014, @ 94
J. D. Salinger, American novelist, 2010, @91
Jack Paar, American television show host, 2004, @85
Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer, 1901, @77
L Ron Hubbard, novelist/founder (Church of Scientology), stroke, 1986, @74
Thomas Crapper, English plumber and inventor (ballcock), 1910, @73
Paul "Bear" Bryant, US football coach (Alabama), heart attack, 1983, @69
Claude Akins, actor (Rio Bravo, Lobo), cancer, 1994, @67
Mahalia Jackson, gospel singer (He Got the Whole World), heart failure, 1972, @ 60
André the Giant, WWF wrestler, heart failure, 1993, @49
Virgil I (Gus) Grissom, astronaut, Apollo I fire, 1967, @40
Edward Higgins White II, Lt Col USAF/astronaut, Apollo I fire 1967, @ 36
Roger B Chaffee, astronaut, Apollo I fire, 1967, @31
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Brain Teasers Answers
It's out of the question.
(The letters I T and S are out of the word "question".)
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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.