31 Jan

 

31 January 2023

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 5 Day 31 \ Ave. Sky Cover 60% \ Visibility 7 miles Flagstaff Today 45° \23°  Wind 4mph \ Gusts 8mph 
Air Quality: Fair \Very Low Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 546mi \ Nearest Lightning 777mi
Jan Averages for Flagstaff: 44° \ 16° \5 Days of moisture
Partly Sunny; occasional rain/snow

Today’s Quote

 

Weekly Observations

28—2/4
Cordova Ice Worm Days  Link
Catholic Schools Week
Meat Week
National Anesthesiologists Week Link

Daily Observations

Backwards Day
Brandy Alexander Day
Eat Brussels Sprouts Day
Inspire your Heart with Art Day
National Hot Chocolate Day
A.F.R.M.A. Fancy Rat & Mouse Day
Appreciate Your Social Security Check Day
Inspire Your Heart with Art Day
National Plan For A Vacation Day  Link  
Street Children Day Link  Link

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

So far the storm has brought us some rain, but no snow.

Florida has set up a new committee to review every book that is in every school library and classroom library and determine if the books are appropriate the children. If a book doesn’t meet their criteria, there could be felony charges. Teachers, Librarians, and school administrators are fighting against the law, but encouraging teachers and library personnel to remove any potentially banned books from their shelves. This is insanity.

This morning my phone had an alert: A local middle school had a student stabbed with a knife by another student. The student is in custody and parents involved have been notified.  

The super bowl will be in Phoenix with the Eagles playing the Chiefs. I’ll be watching it from the comfort of my living room.

Here is some more on the Memphis Scorpion Unit: It stands for Street Crimes Operation To Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods. It had 40 officers split into 4 teams who patrolled ‘high crime hotspots’ throughout the city.  After the killing of a nonviolent young man, the unit has been disbanded.

African Animals Abound…

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Arizona is a great state…

·        Built by Del Webb in 1960, Sun City, Arizona was the first 55-plus active adult retirement community in the country.

·        Petrified wood is the official state fossil. The Petrified Forest in northeastern Arizona contains America's largest deposits of petrified wood.

·        Many of the founders of San Francisco in 1776 were Spanish colonists from Tubac, Arizona.

·        Phoenix originated in 1866 as a hay camp to supply military post Camp McDowell.

Facts…

Judy Garland rose to superstardom with her doe-eyed look, but in her days at MGM, she was considered, however unfairly, a kind of ugly duckling compared to the more willowy starlets in the MGM stable. In her earlier years, when the priority was preserving her childlike look, she carried rubber discs in a small carrying case, along with caps for her teeth. She’d insert the discs in her nose to give it a more upturned look. Because the studio wanted to keep her looking as young as possible, her breasts were also often bound.

Once she was a little older and starring in less-childlike roles, such as Esther Smith in Meet Me in St. Louis, she started wearing a canvas and metal corset that required two people on either side to pull the strings tight. (It’s a wonder she was still able to sing.)

While she was nominated a few times, Garland’s only Academy Award came in 1940, and it was actually a miniature version of the iconic statuette. Garland was one of just a handful of people to win the special award known as the “Juvenile Oscar,” first awarded to six-year-old Shirley Temple in 1935. 

Slang Origins

1979: Catch you on the flip side

Meaning: see you later, see you tomorrow

In the age of smartphones and music streaming, the origins of this idiom may soon become entirely obsolete. The “flip side” refers to the B sides of records, which played the songs record companies didn’t think would sell as well. It was popularized by truckers’ radio lingo in the ‘70s before filtering to a wider audience.

Mysterious sites…

Hagar Qim (Malta)

 Credit: Creative Credit/ iStock

Located on the Mediterranean island of Malta, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hagar Qim is one of seven prehistoric temples in Malta and is believed to date to between 3800 BCE and 2200 BCE. The site’s name translates to “standing stones,” and one of the largest weighs in at more than 20 tons, measuring nearly 23 feet in height. The site was first excavated in 1839 and consists of a series of rooms lined by these megaliths. Parts of the chamber align with the sunrise and sunset of the summer solstice. This and the other temples on the island all appear to have been built in the same period, which has left archaeologists puzzled — there is little evidence of any civilization capable of such building feats on the islands at that time.

Historical Events

1940 – Ida May Fuller received the first Social Security retirement check, in the amount of $22.54. She lived to 100 years old and collected a total of $22,888.

Birthdays Today

@97 – Carol Channing, American entertainer (d. 2019)
@85 – Norman Mailer, American journalist, author (d. 2007)
We live in a time which has created the art of the absurd. It is our art. It contains happenings, Pop art, camp, a theater of the absurd … Do we have the art because the absurd is the patina of waste…? Or are we face to face with a desperate or most rational effort from the deepest resources of the unconscious of us all to rescue civilization from the pit and plague of its bedding?– Norman Mailer
@78 – Garry Moore [Thomas Garrison Morfit], comedian, game host (d. 1993; throat cancer)
76 – Nolan Ryan, American baseball player
Enjoying success requires the ability to adapt. Only by being open to change will you have a true opportunity to get the most from your talent.– Nolan Ryan
@72 – Eddie Cantor, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1964; heart attack)
@70 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008; lung cancer)
@67 – Zane Grey, American author (d. 1939)
To bear up under loss- to fight the bitterness of defeat and the weakness of grief- to be victor over anger- to smile when tears are close- to resist evil men and base instincts- to hate hate and to love love- to go on when it would seem good to die- to seek ever after the glory and the dream- to look up with unquenchable faith in something evermore about to be- that is what any man can do, and so be great.– Zane Grey
67 – Johnny Rotten (John Joseph Lydon), English singer-songwriter
There’s nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.– Johnny Rotten (John Lydon)
@66 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (d. 1968; pneumonia)
59 – Martha MacCallum, American journalist
@53 – Jackie Robinson, Baseball (d. 1972; heart attack)
53 – Minnie Driver, English actress
50 – Portia de Rossi, Australian-American actress
46 – Kerry Washington, American actress
42 – Justin Timberlake, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
You’re not meant to do what’s easy, you’re meant to challenge yourself.– Justin Timberlake
@38 – Mario Lanza, American tenor, and actor (d. 1959; embolism)
36 – Marcus Mumford, American-English singer-songwriter
@31 – Franz Schubert, Austrian pianist, and composer (d. 1828; typhoid)