6-17-15

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Almanac: Week: 25 \ Day: 168
June Averages: 79°\41°
86004 Today: H 85°\L 50° Average Sky Cover: 1% 
Wind ave:   12mph\Gusts:  25mph
Ave. High: 79° Record High:  92° (1940) Ave. Low: 42° Record Low:  23° (1923)
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Observances Today: 
Eat Your Vegetables Day
Stewarts Root Beer Day
Watergate Day-1972
World Day To Combat Desertification and Drought

Independence Day (Iceland-1944 from Denmark)
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Observances This Week:
Nursing Assistants Week:11-18
National Hermit Week:13-20
Worldwide Knit (and crotchet) in Public Week:13-21 
National Flag Week:14-20
Universal Father's Week:14-20   
US Open Golf Championship:15-21
Men's Health Week:15-21  
Animal Rights Awareness Week:17-23 

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Quote of the Day 

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US Historical Highlights for Today
1579 - Sir Francis Drake lands on coast of California at Drakes Bay, names it "New Albion". He will report the Indians to be "people of a tractable, free and loving nature, without guile or treachery."
1775 - Battle of Bunker Hill (actually it was Breed's Hill)
1824 - Bureau of Indian Affairs established
1837
 - Charles Goodyear obtains his 1st rubber patent

1839 - In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the Edict of toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace is later established as a result
1856 - Republican Party opens its 1st national convention in Philadelphia
1863 - Travelers Insurance Co of Hartford chartered (1st accident insurer)
1877 - Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon - the Nez Perce defeat the US Cavalry at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory.
1885 - Statue of Liberty arrived in NYC aboard French ship `Isere'
1898 - US Senate agrees to annex Hawaii
1901 - College Board introduces its 1st standardized test, the forerunner to SAT
1902 - US Congress pass the New Lands Reclamation Act, which establishes a fund from sale of public lands to build irrigation dams for arid Western lands
1919 - "Barney Google" cartoon strip, by Billy De Beck, premieres
1928 - Amelia Earhart leaves Nfld to become 1st woman (passenger) to fly Atlantic (as a passenger in a plane piloted by Wilmer Stultz)
1932 - Bonus Army: around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits. 1933 - Hot weather drove legislative committees out of the State Capitol to the comfort of Phoenix air-cooled hotel parlors.
1950 - 1st kidney transplant (Chicago)
1957 - Tuskegee boycott begins (Blacks boycotted city stores)
1970 - Edwin Land patents Polaroid camera
1972 - Five White House plumbers apprehended after second burglary of Democratic Natl HQ, Watergate
1976 - ABA (Nets, Pacers, Nuggets & Spurs) merges into NBA
1986 - Chief Justice Warren Earl Burger resigns Antonin Scalia nominated
1987 - Dusky Seaside Sparrow becomes extinct.
1994 - OJ Simpson doesn't turn himself in on murder charges, LA cops chase his Ford Bronco for 1½ hours, eventually gives up (seen live on TV)
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Today’s World Events through History
1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II (The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat from Wallachia.
1497 - Battle of Deptford Bridge - forces under King Henry VII soundly defeat Cornish rebels led by Michael An Gof.
1579 - Anti-English uprising in Ireland
1631 - Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spends more than 20 years building her tomb, the Taj Mahal.
1945 - Day of Unity in West Germany (National Day)
1958 - The Wooden Roller Coaster at Playland, which is in the Pacific National Exhibition, Vancouver, Canada opened, and is still open to this day
1967 - 1st Chinese hydrogen bomb explodes
1974 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb the Houses of Parliament in London, injuring 11 people and causing extensive damage
1991 - South Africa abolishes last of its apartheid laws
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Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today 

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My Rambling Thoughts
Hot day here. Thankfully I live at the base of a mountain and so have a nice breeze that keeps things fairly cool when windows are open. I did have to reset my various door wedges that keep the doors open when it is windy.
My travel buddy, Bob, called last night to tell me he will be joining me for my Cuba adventure. So much for my private room, but will certainly enjoy his company.
Cleaned off the deck…lots of pine needles and a few pine cones. Nice to enjoy until the wind became a little too strong.
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
I live above a star, and yet I never burn,
I have eleven neighbors, and yet none of them turn,
I am visited in sequence, first, last or in between, 
PRS (& sometimes Q) are my initials, 
Now, tell me what I mean.

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Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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… Celebrity Facts…
Until he turned 12, Robert Pattinson's elder sisters dressed him up as a girl and introduced him as "Claudia" to strangers.

Snoop Dogg sold weed to Cameron Diaz in high school.

As a child, Jim Carrey wore tap shoes to bed just in case his parents needed cheering up in the middle of the night.

…Cool Facts…
The Savannah is the largest domestic cat breed. It resembles a small leopard and behaves like a dog. They can grow up to 40 lbs, have an eight foot vertical jump, and can be trained to walk on a leash and play fetch.

Kid Rock took a pay cut that cost him around $50,000 to $100,000 per night during his tour, just to keep ticket prices at $20 and a 12 oz beer at $4.

…Flagstaff, AZ History…
25 YEARS AGO-1990
The rebirth of the landmark Babbitt Building at Aspen and San Francisco will include retail space as well as a restaurant, apartments and offices.

While working on the demolition of the western part of the old Babbitt buildings for the creation of a 90-space pay parking lot, Steve Van Landingham discovered the remains of the old short-lived Empress Theatre. It had been buried and reburied over the years as newer construction was built on the site.

…Harper’s Index…
18 –minimum number of people hospitalized in Tokyo, after choking on mocha rice cakes during the New Year’s celebration

…Unusual Fact of the Day…
When Canada's Northwest Territories considered renaming itself in the 1990s, one possibility was "Bob."
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2 jokes for the day
What did the tired chess player do?

He took the knight off

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Smith goes to see his supervisor in the front office.
"Boss," he says, "we're doing some heavy house-cleaning at home tomorrow, and my wife needs me to help with the attic and the garage, moving and hauling stuff."
"We're short-handed, Smith," the boss replies. "I can't give you the day off."
"Thanks, boss," says Smith, "I knew I could count on you!" 

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Yep, It Really Happened
BERKELEY, Calif. (UPI) - Airplanes release a significant amount of CO2 with each takeoff and touchdown, and the EPA recently announced plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions by the airline industry.
But researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have a solution: a sugarcane-derived jet fuel they say reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent.
Over the last quarter century, scientists have developed a variety of alternative fuels, sourced from all sorts of natural gases and biomasses. These fuels now power cars, trucks, buses and more. But scientists have yet to offer a viable alternative to the jet fuel that powers planes.
The demands of an airplane engine are many. Planes require fuel that is oxygen-free and stable at very low temperatures. Proper jet fuel must also possess the right boiling point and an ideal degree of lubricity so as not to erode the turbines over time.
A team of scientists led by Alexis Bell claim their new fuel meets all those qualifications -- and it's better for the environment.
"All of the carbon and any hydrogen required for the fuel are derived from biomass, rather than fossil fuels," Bell told Quartz.
Instead of using enzymes to break down and turn sugarcane biomass into fuel, Bell and his colleagues employ a substitute catalyst -- substances that elicit a desired chemical reaction but which don't actually participate.
After fermentation has broken the sugarcane down into carbon atoms like acetone, butanol and ethanol, the catalysts work to string together longer carbon atom chains called methyl ketones that can be used as the building blocks for effective fuel.
The work of Bell and his research partners, which has been funded by BP, was recently detailed in the journal PNAS.   

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Somewhat Useless Information
Scientists suggest that stress is part of the evolutionary drive because it has enabled humans to survive. Specifically, stress temporarily increases awareness and improves physical performance.
Stress also causes capillaries to close, which restricts bleeding if a flesh wound should occur, and makes the blood "stickier," in preparation for an injury. Such a reaction, however, also increases the probability of developing a blood clot.

***
While it is a myth that stress can turn hair gray, stress can cause hair loss. Stress can also alter blood sugar levels, which can cause mood swings, fatigue, hyperglycemia, and metabolic syndrome, a major risk factor for heart attack and diabetes.
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Birthday’s Today
72 - Newt[on] L Gingrich, (Rep-R-G, /Speaker of House 1995-97)
72 - Barry Manilow, New York City, singer/pianist (Mandy, I Write the Songs)
68 - George S. Clinton, American composer and musician
64 - Joe Piscopo, Passaic NJ, comedian (SNL, Miller Lite commercials)
52 - Greg Kinnear, actor/talk show host (Talk Soup, Sabrina, Later)
50 - Dan Jansen, West Allis Wisc, speed skater (Oly-gold-1984, 88, 92)
45 - Will Forte, American writer, actor and comedian
35 - Venus Williams, Lynwood California, tennis star
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Remembered for being born today
1882-1971@88 - Igor Stravinsky, Oranienbaum, Russia, composer (Rite of Spring)
1904-1991@87 - Ralph Bellamy, actor (Air Mail, Dive Bomber, Trading Places
1867-1948@80 - John Robert Gregg, Ireland, inventor (shorthand)
1903-1977@73 - Ruth Wakefield, inventor of the Toll House Cookie, 1st chocolate chip cookie
1870-? - George Cormack, cereal inventor (Wheaties)
1871-1938@67 - James Weldon Johnson, civil rights activist, diplomat, poet (leader of NAACP)
1915-1973@57 - Stringbean, [David Akeman], Ky, banjoist/comedian (Hee Haw)
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Historical Obits Today
Cyd Charisse, American dancer and actress-2008@86
Maxwell Perkins, American editor and publisher for Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe-1947@62
Rodney King, African American motorist beaten by LA cop, drowns-2012@47
Jeff Chandler, [Ira Grossel], actor (Away all boats), malpractice-1961@42
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Brain Teasers Answers
The ''7'' on the telephone keypad
(new ones have the letter Q with the PRS)

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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.