8-8-15

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Almanac: Week: 32 \ Day: 220
August Averages: 78°\50°
86004 Today: H 80° \ L 57° Average Sky Cover: 50% 
Wind ave:   5mph\Gusts:  26mph
Ave. High: 81° Record High: 92°[1978] Ave. Low: 50° Record Low: 39°[1950]
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Observances Today:
Dalek Day Link
International Cat Day Link
International Hangover Day Link
Kool-Aid Days
Middle Child Day
National Garage Sale Day
Odie Day National Bowling Day Link 
The Date to Create Happiness Happens Day
Twins Days

Farmers Day (Tanzania)
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Observances This Week:
2-8 Assistance Dog Week Link 
Exercise With Your Child Week
Knights of Columbus Family Week
National Farmers' Market Week Link
National Fraud Awareness Week Link
National Psychic Week: 2-8  Link  (First full week) 
Single Working Women's Week
Stop on Red Week Link


3-8 National Bargain Hunting Week
Old Fiddler's Week
Psychic Week Link 


3-9 Sturgis Rally


4-7 Rock for Life Week Link


5-8 Gallop International Tribal Indian Powwow Link


6-9 National Hobo Week Link

8-15 Gay Games Link
National Motorcycle Week
Feeding Pets of the Homeless Week Link  
National Resurrect Romance Week

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Quote of the Day 

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US Historical Highlights for Today
1786 - US Congress adopts silver dollar & decimal system of money
1860 - Queen of Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) arrives in NYC
1876 - Thomas Edison patents mimeograph
Dungans Hill - English Parliamentary forces defeat Irish forces
1900 - 1st Davis Cup tennis competition, named after Dwight Filley Davis, began at Longwood Cricket Club in Mass, & won by US 2 days later
1911 - The millionth patent is filed in the United States Patent Office by Francis Holton for a tubeless vehicle tire
1925 - 1st national march of Ku Klux Klan (200,000) in Washington, DC
1933-In a landslide vote, Arizona became the 21st state to sanction the repeal of national prohibition
1945 - President Harry Truman signs the United Nations Charter
1950 - Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA All-American Golf Open
1960 - "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" hits #1
1984 - Carl Lewis wins 3rd (200m) of 4 gold medals in Summer Olympics
1988 - Temperature hits high of 88 deg F on 8/8/88 in NYC
2004 - John Elway is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
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World Historical Highlights for Today
1508 - Spaniard Juan Ponce de Leon founds Caparra the 1st European settlement in Puerto Rico
1647 - The Irish Confederate Wars and Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of
1955 - Fidel Castro forms "July 26th Movement"
1963 - Great Train Robbery in England, £2.6 million ($7.3 million)
1988 - The "8888 Uprising" occurs in Burma
2014 - West African Ebola outbreak categorized as international concern-the WHO
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Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthdays Today 

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My Rambling Thoughts
The monsoon has returned and cooled things off very nicely. And they continued, on and off most of the afternoon…sometimes a drizzle, lots of hard rain and thunder.
Got a call that they received my down payment for the Rhone River cruise. She is holding the check and will call me after she meets with Joe about the trip. Right now there aren’t enough people from our group. Some seem to fear it will be too hot at the time of year we go. Whatever!
So I watched both ‘debates’ last night. A couple of thoughts-neither was a debate by the usual standards. Fox News seems to have a problem in recognizing the difference between ‘news’ and ‘entertainment’. I think their plan was to make Trump look really good. It started with asking about a 3rd party run by any of the candidates. While Trump was the only one to raise his hand, I believe this was a warning to the Republican Party…either nominate him or deal with him in a 3rd party run. The other thing that I got out of the evening was that Republicans want war to solve all of our problems. That is frightening. And I am going to start screaming uncontrollably if one more hopeful says that s/he is for marriage the way God defines it…a man and a woman. Lest they remember that back then, women were property, were bought by the groom from her family, and the woman could be stoned for being unfaithful or not providing a male heir, while the man wasn’t if he was unfaithful and back then they didn’t know it is the male sperm that determines the sex of the child.  
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
If you like pretty gems that sparkle and shine,
I invite you to dig in my virtual mine.
My first is purple, fit for a king,
My second is green where Dorothy did her thing.
My third is red, July's birthstone as well,
My fourth is seen in strings and is found inside a shell.
My fifth is hard, pure Carbon and expensive to buy,
My sixth is Crocidolite, striped like the big cat's eye.
Seventh is two words, a man-made fake of April's stone,
Eighth is very dark and found at Lightning Ridge alone.
Now take from each gem, one letter in its turn,
And you will find the stuff for which even the gods yearn.

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Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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…Flagstaff, AZ History…
50 YEARS AGO-1965
Southwest Forest Industries has purchased the Kaibab Lumber Company and plans to phase out its operation during the next few weeks. This does not include Kaibab Molding, which will continue to operate.

The city is seeking your cooperation in the business of garbage collection. Many people are not paying their fee for this service. Please call Mrs. Imogene at City Hall to make your arrangements to cover your share of the cost of this service. Henry L. Field City Manager.
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…Harper’s Index…
1/3 – portion of Americans with combined finances who have lied to their partners about money
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…Instagram Photo of the Day… 

natgeoPhoto by @stephenwilkes: A mother elephant watches over her young calf as they make their way to a nearby watering hole in the Serengeti.
Elephants are very protective of their young--while traveling, calves often grab hold of the tails of their mothers, and the entire herd will keep watch to make sure the little ones stay out of harm’s way.
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…Foreign Laws Tourists Need to Know…
Next time you’re out in Western Australia, remember that crushing a can of beer between your breasts, should you wish to do so, can land you in jail. No, this isn’t a joke. A bartender (or barmaid, as they say in Australia) was arrested, tried, and fined for flaunting her crushing talent.
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…Nelson Mandela Inspiring Quote …
·         “A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”
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…USA Facts…
In the US, people can be rejected from joining the police force if they are too intelligent.

Seven U.S. states are named after sovereigns - four kings and three queens.
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…Unusual Fact of the Day…
The first car ad in a national magazine appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, advertising the latest from Philadelphia, the "1900 Roach."
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2 jokes for the day
Peter called his doctor’s office for an appointment. “I’m sorry,” said the receptionist, “we can’t fit you in for at least two weeks.”
“But I could be dead by then!”
“No problem. If your wife lets us know, we’ll cancel the appointment.”

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A man got really drunk one night in his local pub.
The barman refused to serve him any more alcohol and told him he should be heading home.
The man thought this was a good idea so he stood up to leave but fell over straight away.
He tried to stand up again but only fell over again.
He thought if only he could get outside and get some fresh air he'd be grand.
So he crawled outside then tried to stand up and fell over again.
In the end after falling over lots more he decided to crawl home.
When he got back to his house he pulled himself up using the door handle but as soon as he let go he fell over again.
He had to crawl up the stairs and managed to fall over onto the bed and fell asleep.
When he finally woke up the next morning his wife asked him what he was doing at the pub last night.
He denied it but she said, "I know you were there..." You maintained your innocence until... the barman rang to say you forgot your wheelchair again...."
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Yep, It Really Happened
ENGLEWOOD, N.J. - A New Jersey woman marking her 110th birthday said a doctor's orders led her to drink three Miller High Life beers and a shot of scotch every day for 70 years. Agnes Fenton of Englewood, who officially became a supercentenarian Saturday, credited God with helping her to reach her advanced age. "When I was 100 years old, I went to the mirror to thank God that I was still here. And I thank him every morning," Fenton told The Record newspaper. "He gave me a long life and a good life, and I have nothing to complain about. ... You've got to have God in your life. Without God, you've got nothing." Fenton was interviewed by ABC News around her 105th birthday, and she said some advice she received from her doctor about 70 years earlier had been invaluable. "He said, 'Agnes, you must drink three Miller High Lifes a day,'" she said. Fenton said she dutifully downed three of the beers with a shot of scotch each day until recently, when nurses said her limited diet wouldn't allow her to keep drinking. She said her scotch of choice was top-shelf: Johnny Walker Blue Label. "Each of our centenarians has their different secrets," said Stacy Andersen, a project manager with the New England Centenarian Study. "If Agnes feels hers is alcohol, maybe it is, but certainly we don't find that to be consistent across all our centenarians."       
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Somewhat Useless Information
On average, Americans purchase 12.3 million cases of tequila a year.

Tequila is Mexico's national drink. While Mexico is where tequila originated (more on that later), the United States consumes twice as much tequila.

Good tequila, supposedly, does not result in hangovers. That said, it does have a mild hallucinogenic effect.

Tequila is made of blue agave Jalisco which is produced in select states in Mexico, including: Guanajuato, Michoacan, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas.

Tequila was first created in Tequila, Mexico in the 1500s by the Spanish. The native Aztecs are said to have made a beverage from the blue agave before the Spanish but there's no information regarding whether or not that drink was similar to Tequila.

Wondering what the most expensive bottle of Tequila is? A bottle of Platinum & White gold tequila sold for $225,000 in 2006.

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Birthdays Today
83 - Mel Tillis, Pahokee Fl, country singer (Who's Julie, M-M-Mel)
78 - Dustin Hoffman, LA, actor (Graduate, Tootsie, Kramer vs Kramer)
77 - Connie Stevens, Bkln, singer/actress (Hawaiian Eye, Back to Beach)
68 - Larry Wilcox, SD California, actor (Lassie, Officer Jon Baker-CHiPs)
66 - Keith Carradine, San Mateo California, actor (Young Guns, Pretty Baby)
62 - Don Most, Brooklyn, actor and director (Ralph Malph-Happy Days)
34 - Roger Federer, Basel Switzerland, tennis player (17 grand slams)
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 Born this day…Died in __@__
Dino De Laurentiis, Torre Annunziata Italy, producer (King Kong)-2010@91
Esther Williams, actress/swimmer (Dangerous when Wet),-2013@91
Rosetta LeNoire, actor (Grandma Winslow-Family Matters)-2002@90
Paul Dirac, Bristol, physicist (quantum mechanics, Nobel 1933)-1984@82
Charles Bulfinch, 1st US pro architect (Mass State House)-1844@80
Henry Osborn, Conn, paleontologist/author (52 Years of Research)-1935@78
Rory Calhoun, actor (Capitol, Motel Hell, Bill-Texan)-1999@76
Bob Smith, American founder of Alcoholics Anonymous-1950@71
John Ker, Scottish spy during Jacobite Rebellion-1726@62
Sara Teasdale, US, poet (1st Pulitzer Prize-1918-"Love Songs")-1933@48
Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary, peasant leader-1919@39
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Historical Obits Today
Fay Wray, American actress (King Kong)-2004@96
Alan Napier, actor (Alfred-Batman)-1988@85
Patricia Neal, American actress (The Day the Earth Stood Still)-2010@84
Barbara Bel Geddes, American actress (Dallas)-2005@82
Karen Black, actress (Five Easy Pieces), cancer-2013@74
Julian "Cannonball" Alderly, saxophonist/bandleader, stroke-1975@46
Shirley Jackson, US author (Road Through the Wall), heart failure-1965@45
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Brain Teasers Answers
The gems are
Amethyst
Emerald (Emerald city - Wizard of OZ)
Ruby
Pearl (From inside oyster shell)
Diamond
Tiger's eye
Cubic Zirconium (Fake diamond)
Black Opal
Taking the first letter of Amethyst, second of Emerald etcetera gives
Ambrosia - The food of the gods.

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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.