3-16-14


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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 075   / Week: 12  
Today: L 32°…H 54°… Ave. humidity: 64%
     Wind: ave:   13mph; Gusts:  33mph  
     Average Low: 23° Record Low:  -1° (1969)
    Average High: 50° Record High:  72° (2007)

Quote of the Day
 
Today’s Historical Highlights
1621 - Samoset, an Abenaki is 1st Native to meet the Pilgrims
1802 - Law signed to establish US Milt Academy (West Point, NY)
1830 - London's re-organized police force (Scotland Yard)
1861 - Arizona Territory votes to leave the Union; returned 1 year later
1867 - 1st publication by Joseph Lister outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery
1881 - Barnum & Bailey Circus debuts
1941 - National Gallery of Art opens in Wash DC
1950 - 1st annual National Book Awards
1968 - General Motors produces its 100 millionth automobile, the Oldsmobile Toronado.

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
 
My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Windy, windy…thank goodness I’m not on the Rez at this time of year. The wind is bad enough, but I sure don’t miss that fine grained sand.
 
I didn’t know very much about Turkey…my knowledge was limited to the fact that it was a dividing point between Asia and Europe, Istanbul was once Constantinople, and my college roommate, an Air Force brat went to high school in Izmir. After reading the articles, I am much more informed. It tries to walk a thin line as a Muslim country with a desire to be more European. Lots of regime changes over the past few decades. They were not hit as severely as most of the world during the recent recession. Some want closer ties to the Middle East, others don’t. Tonight should be a great discussion.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
When you curtail a word, you remove the last letter and still have a valid word. You will be given clues for the two words, longer word first.
Example: Begin -> Heavenly body Answer: The words are Start and Star.
1. Royal ruler -> Relatives; family 2. Musical composition with words -> Offspring 3. Musically produce words with the voice -> Transgression 4. Having ambitious goals -> Fever and pain medicine 5. Bird limb -> To be victorious 6. Long, sharp tooth -> Enthusiastic follower 7. Depending or building on something -> Container for water 8. Moving up and down (in water) -> A threaded spool for sewing

Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Remembering TV’s great shows
"The Larry Sanders Show"--The '90s references may be dated, but the office politics involving Larry, Artie, Hank and the staff are hysterically timeless.
Bizarre Facts about World’s Dictators
Idi Amin’s White Humiliation Stunt
Idi Amin, the “Butcher of Uganda,” is well-known for brutality and killing. However, his selective wrath against rivals took more surprising turns. In his self-declared position as “president for life,” Idi Amin decided to make a point to the Foreign Ministers of the OAU Countries. He chose four white males who were politically significant residents of Kampala and forced them to bend over and carry him around in a large, throne-like chair during the 1975 meetings.The amusement spread through the primarily black audience like wildfire and the somewhat disturbing incident became one of the more notorious examples of “reverse discrimination.” Amin’s white humiliation stunt may have been one of his less brutal actions, but it certainly carried weight. He explained “Because I wanted to show that we Africans used to carry Europeans but now Europeans are carrying us. We are now the masters. These in front are pure Englishmen.”
Misconceptions of Medieval Figures
Macbeth Was A Just And Protective Ruler
You’re probably most familiar with Macbeth because of William Shakespeare’s play of the same name. The play follows Macbeth, a proficient Scottish general and thane, who assassinates King Duncan. Macbeth, with guidance from three evil witches and pressure from his wife, takes the throne for himself, robbing Duncan’s son Malcolm of his right to rule. Macbeth proves to be a rather poor leader. A combined popular army of Scottish dissenters and English allies overthrow him and Malcolm is placed on the Scottish throne. Shakespeare’s play was politically relevant in the early 1600s when it was first performed, especially in its commentary on the relationship between England and Scotland. But Shakespeare knew better than to let historical accuracy get in the way of a good story. In reality, King Duncan was an incompetent warmonger who led Scotland into disastrous military campaigns. Did Macbeth kill him? Possibly. Macbeth may have even joined up with Duncan’s Norse opponents against him. In 1040, Macbeth was proclaimed king of Scotland. His Norse allies, led by Thorfinn, were given land in Scotland as well. During his reign, Macbeth tried to repair the damage caused by Duncan. He rebuilt the Scottish countryside and salvaged relationships with other nations. Meanwhile, Malcolm was able to find support in England. Under English law, he had a legitimate claim to the throne as a descendant of Duncan. Macbeth did not. The same rule did not apply in Scotland. Supported by England, Malcolm invaded Scotland and killed Macbeth in 1057, but Scotland resisted Malcom’s kingship. Macbeth’s stepson Lulac and old ally Thornfinn campaigned against him, but their efforts were for naught. Malcolm became King of Scotland in 1058.
OK Then…
 
Harper’s Index 
  • Percentage of US Jews who believe God gave Israel to the Jewish people: 40
  • Percentage of white US evangelicals who do: 82

Unusual Fact of the Day
Big Ben doesn’t refer to a clock; it's actually the name for the bell inside that famous clock tower.
Joke-of-the-day
Two young idiots were camping out in the forest one night. But the mosquitoes were so fierce that the boys had to hide under their blankets to keep from getting bitten.
The one of the boys saw some lightning bugs. “We may as well give up,” he told his friend. “Now they are coming at us with flashlights.”
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
GETTING A CONSULTING JOB
Personal contacts are best for getting consulting jobs. Twenty leads should produce one assignment.    
Yeah, It Really Happened
RYESGADE, Denmark - Nicklas Bendtner of London's Arsenal soccer team is accused of rubbing himself against a taxi in Denmark and calling the driver a "little whore." Bendtner has not played in a game for the Arsenal since Feb. 2, but played for the national team of his native Denmark in last week's game against England. He allegedly was drunk when he and two friends got into a Ryesgade cab, kicked the vehicle's radio loose and took some of the driver's personal belongings, the Guardian in London reported Thursday. When the driver asked the men to return his belongings, Bendtner allegedly became angry and had to be restrained by his friends outside of the vehicle. He allegedly unbuttoned his pants, rubbed himself up against the taxi, whipped the vehicle with his belt and called the driver a "little whore," The driver called police, but it was unclear whether officers spoke to the player. "I've had drunks and alcoholics in my cab in Copenhagen over the last 25 years, but I've never experienced anything like this," the driver told the Danish newspaper BT. A spokeswoman for Bendtner declined to comment on the incident and Arsenal officials said they are looking into the allegations.  
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • The perfect pour of Guinness should take 119.5 seconds and is referred to as a "double pour."
  • Africa accounts for 40% of Guinness sales worldwide.
  • It would take 14.3 million pints of Guinness to fill the giant glass atrium in the center of the Guinness Storehouse building at the brewery's headquarters in Dublin.
  • The ancient Irish Harp symbol was first used as a symbol for Guinness and only later adopted by the Irish government as the official government symbol.
  • Sept. 24 is known in Ireland as Arthur's Day. First celebrated in 2009 to celebrate the 250-year anniversary of Guinness, Arthur's Day provides a second "holiday" to enjoy Ireland's favorite beverage.
  • Guinness World Records was created by the Guinness Brewery. Sir Hugh Beaver, then the managing director of business for the brewery, became involved in an argument regarding the fastest game bird in Europe. No book was available to provide the answer, and Sir Hugh realized that a book that supplied answers to these types of questions would be popular. The answer to the argument is the grouse!  

Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
1-16
Iditarod Race
11-17
Turkey Vultures Return to the Living Sign
16-22 
American Chocolate Week
Campfire USA Birthday Week
Health Information Professionals Week
National Animal Poison Prevention Week
National Inhalant and Poisons Awareness Week
Termite Awareness Week
Flood Safety Awareness Week

Today Is                                                                       
·        Curlew Day
·        Freedom of Information Day
·        Goddard Day
·        Lips Appreciation Day

Today’s Events through History  
1802 - US Army Corps of Engineers established (2nd time)
1920 - 1 Acre Park also known as Baby Park in the Bronx renamed Melrose Park
1970 - New English Bible published

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Jerry Lewis, [Joseph Levitch], comedian/fund raiser (MDA) is 88 
Ruth Bader Ginsberg, justice (US Supreme Court) is 82
Bernardo Bertolucci, director (Last Tango in Paris, The Last Emperor) is 74
Chuck Woolery,  TV game show host (Love Connection) is 73
Jerry Jeff Walker, country singer (Mr Bojangles) is 72
Erik Estrada, actor (CHiPs, Cross & Switchblade, Lightblast) is 65
Flavor Flav (William Jonathan Drayton, Jr), rapper, and reality tv star is 55

Remembered for being born today
1751-1836 - James Madison, 4th US president
1903-2001 - Mike Mansfield, (Sen-D-Mont) majority whip
1906-1998 - Henny Youngman, comedian (Take my wife please)
1912-1193 - Patricia Nixon, [Thelma Catherine], 1st lady
1927-2003 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, US ambassador to UN/(Sen-NY)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Clan Fraser of Lovat, soldier/Landowner, 1995, @83
Roy Bean, American jurist, 1903, @78ish
T-Bone Walker, blues guitarist (Funky Town, Well Done), pneumonia, 1975,@64
Tammi Terrell, soul singer (You're All I Need), brain tumor. 1970, @24

Brain Teasers
1. King -> Kin 2. Song -> Son 3. Sing -> Sin 4. Aspiring -> Aspirin 5. Wing -> Win 6. Fang -> Fan 7. Basing -> Basin 8. Bobbing -> Bobbin
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  §
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3-15-14


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 074   / Week: 11  
Today: L 35°…H 49°… Ave. humidity: 51%
     Wind: ave:   11mph; Gusts:  16mph  
     Average Low: 23° Record Low:  -3° (1962)
    Average High: 50° Record High:  72° (2007)

Quote of the Day
 
Today’s Historical Highlights
44BC - Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus 
     Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus and several other 
     Roman senators on the Ides of March.
1545 - First meeting of the Council of Trent.
1867 - Michigan becomes 1st state to tax property to support a university
1887 - 1st salaried fish & game warden (William Alden Smith in Michigan)
1892 - 1st escalator patented by inventor Jesse W Reno (NYC)
1913 - 1st US presidential press conference (Woodrow Wilson)
1937 - 1st blood bank forms (Chicago IL)
1937 - 1st state contraceptive clinic opens (Raleigh NC)
1960 - Key Largo Coral Reef Preserve established (1st underwater park)
1960 - National Observatory at Kitt Peak, Arizona dedicated
1964 - LBJ asks for a War on Poverty
1968 - LIFE mag calls Jimi Hendrix "most spectacular guitarist in the world"
1989 - Dept of Veterans Affairs officially established as a Cabinet position

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
 
My Free Rambling Thoughts   
A cloudy day for much of the day. Woke up to wet sidewalks with light rain until about 7am. Decided that was my clue that this would be laundry day.
 
Our discussion group meets tomorrow night to discuss Turkey…the country, not the bird. Should be a good group as a couple of people have visited there in years past.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
What common saying is represented by the following?
Thought: $19.95 Idea: $29.95 Speech: $1.95

Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Remembering TV’s great shows
"Homicide: Life on the Street"--A proto-"Wire," this Baltimore cop drama explored Charm City's less enchanting side with an invigorating creativity.
Bizarre Facts about World’s Dictators
Colonel Gadhafi: Bullet Proof Tents, Deer’s Blood, And Male Beauty
Moammar Gadhafi was known as one bad dictator. Gadhafi also carried out actions that cross traditional Arab culture with oddity on par with a B-movie. In love with tradition but afraid of drive-by shootings, the Colonel had a large, bulletproof tent that would be flown ahead and dropped off for him during his desert forays and political travels. In this bizarre merger of high tech and centuries-old tradition, Gadhafi would often keep two camels tethered outside his tent.Ever superstitious yet shrewd, Gadhafi washed his hands in deer’s blood, but retained his image of “sex appeal” and focused heavily on his image in the eyes of the west. Moammar Gadfhafi was very into male beauty and had plastic surgery in 1994. A South American doctor once called him vain. Gadhafi wasn’t the
Misconceptions of Medieval Figures
Dracula Wasn’t Associated With Vampirism Until Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Dracula is the supernatural villain in Bram Stoker’s novel of the same name, a menacing threat to a group of hapless Brits and their elderly Dutch advisor, Van Helsing. The novel and its derivatives popularized the vampire with modern Western audiences. Stoker took inspiration for his novel from the folktales of southeastern Europe, but he also drew heavily from the historical character of Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, also known as Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Dracula. Despite being the central villain of Stoker’s vampiric tale, the Hungarian noble was not associated with vampirism until the novel was published. Vlad was born in Transylvania—now part of Romania—in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1431. His father, Vlad II, was the ruler of Wallachia and fought with the Christian Order of the Dragon (“Dracul”) against the Ottoman Turks. Wallachia was a deadly stomping ground, a bloody barrier between the antagonistic forces of Christianity and Islam. A diplomatic meeting between Vlad II, his sons Radu and Vlad III, and Sultan Murad II resulted in Vlad II’s imprisonment. He was released under the condition that he leave his sons behind, but he was later killed by local warlords. Vlad III was eventually released and became the ruler of Wallachia. He may not have been a vampire, but he was out for blood. He had all of the disloyal warlords killed by inviting them to a banquet and stabbing them. He also repelled several major Turkish invasions. He earned his nickname by impaling his enemies upon a sharpened pole through their rectum and out their neck, shoulder, or mouth. The pole would then be placed in the ground and the victim put on display. Vlad reportedly killed around 80,000 people, around 20,000 of whom were impaled and displayed. Vlad was heralded as a Christian hero for his efforts against the Turks, even receiving commendations from Pope Pius II, but it was not to last. Vlad was ambushed and killed in 1476, much to the delight of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, who had conquered Constantinople in 1453. He was not the only member of his family who was a bit eccentric—his sons went on a cruise with on-board shark pools.
OK Then…
 
Harper’s Index 
Percentage change from 2002 to 2012 in the amount the US spent on ‘security assistance’ to other countries: +227
Unusual Fact of the Day
Jerry Lynn Ross (7 Space Shuttle missions) and Franklin Chang-Diaz, Costa Rican-American mechanical engineer, physicist, hold the record for most spaceflights by an astronaut.
Joke-of-the-day
This man comes through a door to the bar and slipped on a pile of crap, he mumbles and brushes himself off. He orders a drink and sits down. A few minutes later a younger man walks through the door yelling and screaming, and he slips on the pile of crap. He gets up and looks around, and then he sits down next to the older guy. The older man says, "I did that!" The younger man punches the old man and leaves.
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
GROWING CHRISTMAS TREES
You can plan on eventually harvesting 400 to 500 Christmas trees for every 1,000 seedlings you plant.   
Yeah, It Really Happened
The Drug Users Resource Center in Vancouver, British Columbia (heralded previously in News of the Weird for a vending machine dispensing 25-cent crack-cocaine pipes to discourage addicts from committing crimes to fund their habit), launched a program in August to supply alcoholics with beer-brewing and wine-making ingredients to discourage them from drinking rubbing alcohol, hand-sanitizer and mouthwash. The DURC "co-op" sells, for $10 monthly, brewing mix in a pre-hopped beer kit, but eventually, an official said, co-op members will brew from scratch, including boiling, mashing and milling. A civic leader told Canada's National Post that the program has already begun to reduce crime in areas frequented by alcoholics. [National Post, 2-19-2014]
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, was the first President of the French Republic and, as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. Napoleon III suffered from ailurophobia, which is the persistent, irrational fear of cats. His fear of cats was widely known and once he ever entered a room, he would jump up on the footstool until the cat was removed from his sight.
  • Have you ever wondered why when eating a pineapple it leaves your tongue feeling like you just took to it with sandpaper? “Bromelain” is an enzyme found only in pineapples and it actually digest proteins. This is why when we eat pineapples, it’s essentially eating us back! The good news is that once you swallow the pineapple the acids in our stomach destroy the enzymes.

Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
1-16
Iditarod Race
9-15
Teen Tech Week
Girl Scout Week
International Brain Awareness Week
Stand Up! LGBT Awareness Week
11-17
Turkey Vultures Return to the Living Sign

Today Is                                                                      
·        Brutus Day
·        Buzzards Day
·        Ides of March
·        International Sports Car Racing Day
·        International Day of Action Against Canadian Seal Slaughter
·        National Quilting Day
·        True Confessions Day
·        World Consumer Rights Day
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·        Admission Day (Maine-1820-23rd)
·        Constitution Day (Belarus-1994)

Today’s Events through History  
1493 - Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his 1st New World voyage
1875 - 1st US cardinal (John McCloskey) invested
1917 - Nicholas II, the last Russian Tsar abdicates
1945 - Billboard publishes its 1st album chart (King Cole Trio is #1)
1965 - T.G.I. Friday's 1st restaurant opens in NYC
2004 - Announcement of the discovery of 90377 Sedna, the farthest natural object in the Solar system so far observed.

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Alan Lavern Bean, Capt USN/astronaut (Ap 12, Skylab 3) is 81
Jimmy Lee Swaggart, evangelist is 79
Judd Hirsch, Bronx, actor (Alex-Taxi, Dear John, Ordinary People) is 79
Sly Stone, rocker (Sly & the Family Stone-Everyday People) is 71
Park Overall, actress (Empty Nest, Mississippi Burning) is 57
Bret Michaels, guitarist (Poison-Talk Dirty to Me) is 51
Eva Longoria, actress (Desperate Housewives) is 39
Will.i.am (William Adams), musician (Black Eyed Peas) is 39

Remembered for being born today
1767 - Andrew Jackson, Carolinas, General/(D) 7th US President  
1904 - George Brent, Dublin Ireland, actor (42nd St, Jezebel)
1905 - Joe E Ross, comedian (Gunther Toody-Car 54)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Benjamin Spock, pediatrician and writer, 1998, @94
Ann Sothern, actress, 2001, @92 
Bowie Kuhn, commissioner of baseball, 2007, @80
Gail Davis, ( Annie Oakley), cancer, 1997, @72
Tom Harmon, NFL tail back (Heisman Trophy), heart attack, 1990, @70
Ron Silver, actor, cancer, 2009, @62
Julius Caesar, Roman military and political figure, stabbed, 44BC, @55

Brain Teasers
Talk is cheap.
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  §
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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.