FYI: Any blue
text is a link. Click to check it out!
Flagstaff
Almanac: Day: 068 / Week: 11
Today: L 33°…H 49°… Ave. humidity: 47%
Wind: ave: 19mph;
Gusts: 38mph
Average Low: 22° Record Low: 0° (1964)
Average High: 49° Record High: 70°
(1989)
Quote of
the Day
Today’s
Historical Highlights
1497 - Nicolaus Copernicus' 1st recorded astronomical
observation
1776 - Publication of the economics book The Wealth of Nations
by Adam Smith.
1820 - Philippines chases out foreigners; about 125 die
1893 - Congo cannibals killed 1000s of Arabs
1916 - Mexican General Francisco "Pancho" Villa
invades US (18 killed)
1926 - Bertha Landes elected 1st woman mayor of Seattle
1935 - Officers of tribes are now considered
U.S. Officers
1942 - Construction of the Alaska Highway began
1954 - Edward
R Murrow criticizes Sen Joseph McCarthy (See it Now)
1959 - Barbie,
the popular girls' doll, debuted, over 800 million sold
1961 - 1st animal returned from space, dog named Blackie
aboard Sputnik 9
1964 - 1st Ford Mustang produced
1976 - 1st female cadets accepted to West Point Military
Academy
1986 - NASA
announces searchers found remains of Challenger astronauts
2007 - DOJ releases finds the FBI had acted illegally in its
use of the USA Patriot Act
2011 - Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after
39 flights.
♫ Today’s
Birthdays: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
My Free
Rambling Thoughts
Clear blue sky and lots of wind. Not a great day to spend much time outside.In this techno world, it is so odd that a huge aircraft can just ‘disappear’. I have flown on Malaysia Airlines. My memories of those flights were very good. We had great service, treated very well. The flight attendants would go into the restroom after every passenger used it and wipe everything down, and spray a pleasant scent. While they had very strict standards for the ‘look’ of their attendants that was the only down side of the flight. Each female attendant had the same body type, and the same hair style. At both airports one could spot the Malaysia crew walking together to or from a flight, always together in the same uniform, the same walk, the same smile. Such a tragedy that a flight just ‘disappeared’. Of course the report that several passengers seemed to have used stolen passports to board made my brother’s theft of passport more disturbing. My experience with Malaysia Airlines is that they checked passports just like every other airline. Of course, our flights were to and from the US and as any international traveler knows, every airline is very cautious with US destinations, because they can easily lose their privilege of flying in US flight patterns. Hope the families of the passengers and crew get some answers very soon.
For those of here in AZ, except on the Navajo Reservation, we don’t change our clocks. We know that God gave us a certain amount of daytime and changing the clocks doesn’t really make there more daylight. All our cable channels, except the Alphabet ones, are West Coast feeds or in some cases National feeds for the whole country. This means that they all will be coming on an hour earlier. Not a big deal, but confusing for the next few weeks as we try and remember that we here in AZ are special. For the people of Tuba City, this means that most families are pulling out a second clock for the wall…one with Navajo Time, one with AZ Time. Depending on where one works, some places change time, others don’t. After a decade or so of the Public school not changing time, while the boarding school did…the public school finally relented and now changes time, even though they don’t have to, and it causes problems for their administration that have to deal with Phoenix AZ Dept. of Education. As the Lakota say: ‘Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket.’
Game Center (answers
at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
A man picked up a plastic water bottle and filled it to the rim with water. He put a ketchup sachet in it and closed it up.The man approached a woman and said, "If you can solve how this works, I'll give you a dollar."The man said "down" and the sachet of ketchup suddenly went down. Then he said "up" and it went up. Then he said "down", and when it was halfway down, he said "stay" and it stayed.How did he do this?
Lifestyle Substance:
Found on
You Tube with some relevance to today
Remembering
TV’s great shows
"The Bob Newhart Show"--One of the greats took his mastery of minimalism to classy new heights, with a sophisticated wife and a caseload of wonderfully weird patients.
Ancient
Sports
Hurling--Culture: IrishOne of the oldest games still played today, hurling is sort of like hockey mixed with lacrosse. Basically, there are two teams and the object is for the players to use a wooden stick, known as a hurley, to hit a small ball called a sliotar into a goal. The fastest field sport in the world, ball speeds reaching up to 145 kilometers per hour (90 mph) are extremely common, and participants are often left bruised and bloodied after a match.However, that’s nothing compared to the 3,000-year-old history of the sport, where it was more like warfare, with relatively few rules and matches that could last for days. In addition, there could be teams numbering in the hundreds squaring off against one another, only adding to the violence. Believed to have been brought to Ireland by the Celts, the sport has tales of mythological heroes playing which date as far back as the 12th century BC.
NEW***Bizarre
Facts about World’s Dictators
The notorious kingpins who inflict their dubious “leadership” on nations are often ineffective and arbitrary at best or genocidal at worst. However, the personal lives, beliefs, and happenings behind the scenes as far as dictators are concerned are often simply weird, or defy popular imagination. In this list, we discover a new and lesser-known set of weird facts about well-known “great leaders” we rightly fail to admire. We also take a moment to look back at a determined wannabe dictator who tried to sell Nazism to Canada—with some success.
Mussolini’s Anti-Semitism Was Purely PoliticalItaly has often been lumped with Nazi Germany when World War II is considered. While their cooperation is undeniable, the disturbing truth behind Italian anti-Semitism is marked by opportunism rather than sincere belief. In the early years of Italy’s Fascist Party, Benito Mussolini declared “Anti-Semitism does not exist in Italy . . . Italians of Jewish birth have shown themselves good citizens, and they fought bravely in the war. Many of them occupy leading positions in the universities, in the army, in the banks.” In fact, a notable percentage of citizens belonging to the Italian Jewish minority became involved in the Fascist party, seeing its goals as a means to realize their own. Spurred by opportunity in 1938, Italy began the move towards anti-Semitism as part of its Fascist platform in order to appease and impress Adolf Hitler as an Italian/German alliance was built. Nevertheless, popular support for persecution of Jews was significantly opposed by much of the Italian population despite the actions of the government.
NEW***Misconceptions
of Medieval Figures
Renaissance thinkers didn’t heap much praise on the Middle Ages, but the period is full of inspiring figures who performed epic deeds. They’ve stuck with us for hundreds of years, but in many ways, they’ve changed as much as our technology. Here’s a handful of renowned medieval heroes and what we’ve gotten wrong about them.
Machiavelli Loved Republics And Hated PrincipalitiesNiccolo Machiavelli was born in 1469 as the Middle Ages were coming to an end. With feudalism on the way out, many Europeans began to question the legitimacy of monarchical power. A native of Florence, Machiavelli was consumed with political thought, and it was at these political crossroads that he penned his legacy. Machiavelli’s best-known work is The Prince. Completed in 1513, The Prince has been criticized as a guidebook for tyrants. It contains advice on monarchical rule of a polity and suggests tactics that seem amoral, despicable, and dishonest, all apparently in the name of the greater good. The book is often cited as giving rise to the phrase “the ends justify the means.”The year before the book’s completion, the Medici family returned to power in Florence after a brief period of expulsion. They were not a group to be trifled with. Concerned with consummating as much power as possible, they had little tolerance for dissension. Consequently, they felt the need to torture Machiavelli and the rest of his republican buddies. That’s right: Machiavelli was a great supporter of republicanism, not the monarchy. His republican ideals were largely expressed in The Discourses on Livy. When the Medici came to power, he was charged with conspiracy against the rulers, dismissed from his political office, and imprisoned and tortured for a year. After his release, Machiavelli wrote The Prince. He dedicated it to Lorenzo de Medici, a man partly responsible for his torture. It’s possible that Machiavelli was simply writing The Prince to appease the new rulers of Florence and thereby avoid further torture. It’s also possible that Machiavelli simply changed his mind, but since The Discourses were written around 1517, it’s likely that Machiavelli still held his republican beliefs. Therefore, though widely considered practical and good advice for a ruler, it’s entirely possible to read The Prince as satire or sabotage, with the intention of bringing the Medici to their knees to make way for a Florentine republic.
OK Then…
Harper’s
Index
- Portion of men in China who say they have raped a woman: 1/5
- Percentage of those men who said they did it because they were bored or wanted to have fun: 57
Unusual
Fact of the Day
In 1858, Hyman Lipman received the patent for the first integrated pencil/eraser writing utensil— simply by combining two pre-existing products. Fortunately for Lipman, the Feds were late in figuring this out, and by the time they decided to revoke his patent, the crafty inventor had, according to most sources, already sold the rights for $100,000.
Joke-of-the-day
A man takes his hamster to the vet, and after a short look at the creature the vet pronounces it dead. Not happy with the vet's diagnosis the man asks for a second opinion. The vet gives a whistle and in strolls a Labrador dog. The dog nudges the hamster around with its nose and sniffs it a couple of times before shaking his head. "There" says the vet,” Your hamster is dead". Still not happy the man asks for a third opinion. The vet opens the back door and in bounds a cat. The cat jumps onto the table and looks the hamster up and down for a few minutes before looking up and shaking it's head. "It's definitely dead sir", says the vet. Convinced, the man enquires how much he owes. "That will be £1000, please". "A £1000 just to tell me my hamster is dead" fumes the man. "Well", says the vet, "There's my diagnosis, the lab report and the cat scan".
Rules of
Thumb:
Easy
shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
PLANNING A CHEESE PLATEWhen planning a cheese plate for a party, figure one-half ounce of cheese per guest.
Yeah, It
Really Happened
Have you ever heard the phrase, "Never bring a knife to a gun fight?" If you believe in the validity of this sage advice you might also think it would be poor judgment to bring a toy to a gun fight.The perpetrator in today's story would agree with you.34-year-old Michael Oliva was charged in federal court in connection to an attempted bank robbery in Trimble, MO. According to an affidavit Oliva entered the bank, allegedly pulled on a black mask and pointed what appeared to be a handgun at a bank employee and ordered her to give him the money in her teller drawer.Instead of complying the employee dropped to the floor behind the teller station and began shouting for help. As she was crawling away, the affidavit says, she saw Oliva lean over the teller station and point his "weapon" at her.A second bank employee, who was in an office, heard the shouts for help. He saw Oliva pointing a handgun at the first bank employee and retrieved a Smith & Wesson .357 revolver.But instead of a shootout what occurred was a near execution, because Oliva didn't have a handgun, he had a plastic toy. Not knowing this, the second employee fired two rounds, the first shot striking Oliva in the face.Apparently being shot in the face with a .357 was enough for him because he turned and fled. He was arrested a short time later with no money but in possession of an extra bullet.
Somewhat
Useless Information
- It takes 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3 seconds for the moon to go through all of its phases (from one full moon to the next). This is close to the length of a month - which is why the word month means "moon."
- The side of the moon we always see is called "the near side." The side we never see from Earth is "the far side." That's probably where Gary Larson got the name of his comic strip.
- If you weigh 120 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 20 pounds on the moon, one-sixth of your weight on earth.
- The light that comes from the moon is sunlight reflected off the moon's surface. It takes 1.25 seconds for the light to travel to Earth.
- The moon is 2,160 miles in diameter - about a quarter of Earth's diameter.
- A three-foot jump on earth would carry you 18 feet, 9 inches, on the moon.
Calendar Information
National Maple Syrup Days
8-11
American Council on Education
9-15
Teen Tech Week
Girl Scout Week
Girl Scout Week
International Brain Awareness Week
Stand Up! LGBT Awareness Week
Stand Up! LGBT Awareness Week
Today Is
·
Barbie Day
·
Begins Get Over It Day
·
Check Your Batteries Day
·
Daylight Savings Time
·
Girl Scout Sunday
·
Joe Franklin Day
·
Panic Day
·
Registered
Dietitian Day
Today’s Events
through History
1697 - Czar Peter the Great begins tour of West-Europe
1882 - False teeth patented
1959 - 1st
known radar contact is made with Venus
Today’s
Birthdays
Marty Ingels, Brooklyn, American comedian (I'm
Dickens He's Fenster) is 78
Mickey Gilley, country singer (Urban Cowboy)
is 78
)Mark Lindsay, rock vocalist/sax (Paul Revers & Raidersis 72
)Mark Lindsay, rock vocalist/sax (Paul Revers & Raidersis 72
Kato [Brian] Kaelin, actor/OJ roommate/witness
is 55
Brian Bosworth, NFL linebacker (Seattle)
is 49
Bow Wow (Shad Gregory Mos), American rapper
and actor is 27
Remembered
for being born today
1758 - Franz Joseph Gall, German/French physician (frenology)
1833 - Frederick A. Schroeder, tobacco industrialist and mayor
of Brooklyn
1902 - Will
Geer, actor (Grandpa Walton-The Waltons)
1918 - Mickey
Spillane, [Frank], Brooklyn, mystery writer (I the Jury)
1920 - Carl Betz, actor (Alex Stone-Donna Reed Show)
Today’s Historical
Obits
George Burns, American actor and singer, 1996,
@100
Selma Rubin, environmental activist (Earth
Day), 2012, @96
Lawrence E Spivak, journalist (Meet the
Press), 1994, @93
John Profumo, British cabinet minister, 2006,
@91
Menachem Begin, PM Israel (1977-80, 81-83,
Nobel 1979), 1992, @85
Fernando Rey, Spanish actor (French
Connection), cancer, 1994, @76
Howard Engstrom, designer of Univac computer,
1962, @59
Chris LeDoux, American country singer, liver
disease, 2005, @56
Richard Crane, character actor, heart attack,
1969, @50
Robert Mapplethorpe, US photographer, AIDS,
1989, @42
The Notorious B.I.G. [Christopher Wallace],
American rapper, shot, 1997, @24
Brain
Teasers
He did it by adding pressure to the bottom. When there is less pressure, it rises. When there is more pressure, it lowers. If you add just the right pressure, it will stay.You can perform this with lots of practice in front of a mirror. It will shock your friends, most likely.You can find a ketchup sachet at your local fast food restaurant (ex: Burger King, McDonald's, etc.)
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 has mistakes and
sadly once out 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 §
