3-21-14


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 080   / Week: 12  
Today: L 18°…H 57°… Ave. humidity: 35%
     Wind: ave:   13mph; Gusts:  30mph  
     Average Low: 23° Record Low:  5° (1948)
    Average High: 51° Record High:  70° (2004)

Quote of the Day
 
Today’s Historical Highlights
1st foreign language course broadcast on US radio
1824 - Fire at Cairo ammunitions dump kills 4,000 horses
1857 - Earthquake hits Tokyo; about 107,000 die
1859 - Scottish National Gallery opens in Edinburgh
1907 - US invades Honduras
1924 - 1st foreign language course broadcast on US radio (WJZ, NYC)
1925 - Edinburgh's Murreyfield Stadium officially opens
1935 - Persia officially renamed Iran
1947 - Truman signs Executive Order 9835 requiring all federal employees 
      to have allegiance to the US
1963 - Alcatraz federal penitentiary in SF Bay closed
1975 - Ethiopia ends monarchy after 3000 years
1984 - Part of Central Park is named Strawberry Fields honoring John Lennon
1998 - Good Friday Agreement signed in Northern Ireland.

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
 
My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Clock is ticking for our trip to Cuba. Still have lots to do, but all is doable within the given timeframe. That’s good.
 
I had a great lunch with our retirement group today. Mary had some great stories about all her grandkids being in Phoenix last week. Two live there, two in Chicago. Cousins don’t always get along that well, but this trip seemed to have been very successful. Cheryl is leaving Monday to spend a week with her son and his family in CA. She should have a great time too. One of her nieces is adopting 2 little ones from Haiti. Everything was set and last week they headed to Haiti to pick up the kids from the orphanage. Upon arrival they found that not all the paperwork had been approved and are stuck there for who knows how long…with only two days of clothes. They are still positive that this is a small bump, but are starting to wonder. We won’t get together again till I get back. Cheryl and I will both miss the annual Home Show here in Flag. It is always enjoyable to spend a couple of hours seeing indoor and outdoor stuff, getting some freebies, and lots of ideas. Guess that will make next year even better.
 
The drama of the missing plane just keeps many of glued to the TV. Now they think they have found some wreckage, near Australia, that is floating. All resources are headed that way. With today’s modern travel, one forgets just how big the Indian Ocean is and how small that plane is in comparison. As tragic as these new developments are, at least it may give the families some answers.
 
My maternal grandmother was born on the first day of spring in 1897. She was a pre-insulin diabetic and lived until 1958. I still have fond memories of her. She would have been 117.
 
Amazing internet machine fact: Right after 9/11, the Maasai tribe (Kenya) donated 14 cattle to America to help us during the tragedy. A book was even written: 14 Cows for America.  How cool is that! I visited the Maasai in Ethiopia and didn’t know about this until today.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
Even though the Tasmanian Tiger is classified as a carnivore, why doesn't it eat meat?
Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Books that Changed the World
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
This iconic political work divided the world for half a century. Written in 1848 by a German philosopher, Marx’s controversial political tome had a far greater effect in other countries than his native Germany.
While the communism espoused in Marx and Engels’ book promised a society free of “capitalist dictatorship,” the reality wasn’t as promised. The Communist Manifesto’s influence on the Soviet Union, Maoist China, and other countries makes it one of the world’s most influential books.
Breakthroughs that Changed the World
Penicillin, 1928
Accidentally discovered in 1928, though antibiotics were not widely distributed until after World War II, when they became the silver bullet for any number of formerly deadly diseases
OK Then…
 
Harper’s Index 
Estimated number of domestic workers employed in NYC homes: 200,000
Unusual Fact of the Day
A yellow baseball (thought to be more visible to batters, fielders and spectators) was tested in a 1938 college game in New York City, between Fordham and Columbia.
Joke-of-the-day
Two men were walking through the woods and came upon a big black, deep hole. One man picked up a rock and tossed it into the hole and stood listening for the rock to hit bottom. There was no sound.
He turned to the other guy and said "that must be a deep hole...let's throw a bigger rock in there and listen for it to hit bottom." The men found a bigger rock and both picked it up and lugged it to the hole and dropped it in.
They listened for some time and never heard a sound. Again, they agreed that this must be one deep hole and maybe they should throw something even bigger into it.
One man spotted a rail-road tie nearby. They picked up the tie, grunting and groaning, and lugged it to the hole. They tossed it in. No sound. All of a sudden, a goat came flying out of the woods, running like the wind, and flew past the men and jumped straight into the hole. The men were amazed.
About that time, an old hayseed farmer came out of the woods and asked the men if they had seen a goat. One man told the farmer of the incredible incident they had just witnessed...they had just seen this goat fly out of the woods and run and leap into the big hole. The man asked the farmer if this could have been his goat.
The old farmer said "naw, that can't be my goat...he was chained to a railroad tie."  
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
STACKING MAGAZINES
To prevent a stack of magazines from falling over, change the direction of the binding every sixth issue.    
Yeah, It Really Happened
BIRMINGHAM, England - A robot created by a pair of British engineers broke a world record by solving a Rubik's cube in 3.253 seconds. David Gilday, a principal engineer at ARM, and Mike Dobson, a security systems engineer for Securi-Plex, said they spent 18 months building the CubeStormer 3 robot and the device made its debut at the Big Bang Fair at the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham, England, the Birmingham Mail reported Monday. The robot was able to beat the record of 5.27 seconds set by the duo's previous robot, CubeStormer II, two years ago. "The record-breaking attempt is a bit of fun for us," Gilday said. "Our real focus is to demonstrate what can be achieved with readily available technology to inspire young minds into taking a greater interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. There is now potential for robots to cope with disruption." "Our big challenge now is working out if it's possible to make it go even faster," he said.  
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • Leonardo da Vinci was a vegetarian and animal rights activist; he would buy caged birds and set them free.
  • Salvador Dali believed he was his dead brother's reincarnation. There is also a portrait or a silhouette of Dali in every one of his paintings.
  • Auguste Rodin's "The Age of Bronze" was so realistic people though he sacrificed a real person inside the cast.
  • Georges Braque was the first living person to have art displayed in Louvre.
  • Claude Monet's father disapproved of his painting; he wanted him to be a grocer.
  • Henri Matisse's Le Bateau was put the right way up after hanging upside-down for 46 days without anyone noticing at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
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
17-23
Act Happy Week
Flood Awareness Week
Wellderly Week
Wildlife Week
World Folktales & Fables Week
21-27
Week of Solidarity with People's Struggling Against Racism & Discrimination

Today Is                                                                      
·        Afghanistan Day
·        Brain Injury Awareness Day
·        International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
·        International Day of Forests and The Tree
·        International Day of Nowruz [Iranian/Persian New Year]
·        Memory Day
·        National Common Courtesy Day
·        National Day of Action On Syringe Exchange
·        National Puppy Day
·        National Single Parent Day
·        Poetry Day
·        Spring Fairy Fun Day
·        World Downs Syndrome Day
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·        Canberra Day (Australia-1913 naming of area)
·        Independence Day (Namibia-1990 from South Africa)
·        Human Rights Day (South Africa)

Today’s Events through History  
1697 - Czar Peter the Great begins tour through West-Europe
1984 - NFL owners passed the infamous anti-celebrating rule

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Timothy Dalton, North Wales, actor (James Bond-Living Daylights) is 70
Eddie Money, [Mahoney], Bkln, singer/guitarist (Take Me Home Tonight) is 65
Gary Oldman, actor (Criminal Law, State of Grace) is 56
Matthew Broderick, actor (WarGames, Biloxi Blues) is 52
Rosie O'Donnell, comedienne (League of Their Own, Flintstones, Rosie) is 52
Kevin Federline, American dancer/hip hop artist is 36

Remembered for being born today
1768-1830 - Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier, mathematician/Egyptologist
1806-1872 - Benito Pablo Juarez, Oaxaca Mexico, president of Mexico
1869-1932 - Florenz Ziegfeld, producer (Ziegfield Follies)
1906-1978 - John D Rockefeller III, billionaire philanthropist (oil)
1929-1987 - James Coco, Bronx, actor (Man of La Mancha, Murder by Death)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Chinua Achebe, Nigerian poet and novelist, 2013, @82
Macdonald Carey, actor (Days of Our Lives), 1994, @81
Michael Redgrave, actor (Goodbye Mr Chips), Parkinson's, 1985, @77
Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, burned at stake, 1556, @66
Dack Rambo, actor (Jack Ewing-Dallas), AIDs, 1994, @52
Dean Paul Martin, actor (Billy-Misfits of Science), Nat’l Guard crash, 1987, @35
Pocahontas, Tsenacommacah Alliance, smallpox? TB?, 1617, @25

Brain Teasers
Because it's extinct!
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  §
Posted by No comments:

3-20-14


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 079   / Week: 12  
Today: L 12°…H 55°… Ave. humidity: 29%
     Wind: ave:   5mph; Gusts:  22mph  
     Average Low: 23° Record Low:  -1° (1935)
    Average High: 51° Record High:  72° (2004)

Quote of the Day
 
Today’s Historical Highlights
1616 - Walter Raleigh released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana
1760 - Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings
1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" published (Boston)
1933 - Dachau, 1st Nazi concentration camp, completed
1935 - "Your Hit Parade" made its debut on radio
 
1942 - Gen MacArthur vows, "I shall return"
1954 - 1st newspaper vending machine used (Columbia Pennsylvania)
1963 - 1st "Pop Art" exhibition (NYC)
1976 - Patricia Hearst convicted of armed robbery
1987 - FDA approves sale of AZT (AIDS treatment)

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
 
My Free Rambling Thoughts   
A decent day…got my haircut. Then got a bill from Concentra for my recent foot problem. For some unknown reason BC/BS didn’t pay anything on the visit. Every office is closed, due to time differences so will find out tomorrow. Just a pain in the butt.
 
I sure hope my trip gets me out of my funk that I am having with bureaucracy. I really am having a hard time dealing with ‘let me put you on hold’, lots of music, then no answers, then transferred to another person. I also called my bank yesterday after a letter from the bank about my recent check hold issue and the lady I was to call had gone home. I called this morning and was on hold for about 8 minutes and was told she was having problems with phone and that she would call me if I gave them my number. I did. Two hours later she hadn’t called and I called back. I was informed that she was not in the office today. I asked to speak to her supervisor and was told that all they could do was email the supervisor and that person would call me back. I asked if the call would come today, tomorrow, next week, or next month. The idiot said “I don’t know, the supervisors are very busy and I cannot give you any time line.” Really, customer service seems to be a thing of the past.
 
Good news: My days on the Rez showed me a culture where military service was seen as a family tradition and for many as a way to get a better education. I have my problems with the military but certainly honor those who fought at the direction of various Presidents. Twenty-four vets were just given the Medal of Honor for their service during a couple of wars. These service people had been denied the Medal because of their race…and included African Americans, Mexican Americans and others because they were not White. Thank you to our current President for learning of this injustice and correcting it. How the military could believe ‘you are good enough to fight and even die, but not good enough to be honored by our government’ is distressing to say the least.
More Good News: for the first time in history, AZ now has more registered ‘independents’ than Republicans or Democrats. Dems still lag behind, but many Republicans must be fed up with the party here in AZ.
 
Family Trivia: Today marks the death of Chet Huntley, the news guy. As a teenager I spent 3 summers with my great uncle, great aunt, and grandfather at a ranch near a small town—Norris Montana. I remember Norris for two things…1st is the nice hot springs that was next to the town’s bar. After a long day we would go to the hot springs. It was locked and my great uncle would get the key from the barkeep. Inside the bar was a picture of ol’ Chet Huntley who lived for a few years there as a child. My great uncle claimed to have known him, as did everyone in the bar.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
When you behead a word, you remove the first letter and still have a valid word. You will be given clues for the two words, longer word first.
Example: Begin -> Sour, acidic Answer: The words are Start and Tart.
1. Delayed -> Delighted 2. Dresses -> Possesses 3. Duplicate -> Solitary 4. Contemplated -> Employed  5. Useless -> Useful 6. Falling behind -> Feature to prevent falling 7. Holds waste water -> Holds drinking water 8. Poke with a stick -> A pole or stick

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

Books that Changed the World
On the Origin of Species by Charles DarwinCharles Darwin’s 1859 work created one of most important modern scientific fields: evolutionary biology. Darwin’s book was a groundbreaking work that turned many of the mid-19th century’s theories on human development upside down.
Criticized by some, adored by others, it’s undeniable that Darwin’s book kick-started a lot of modern science. How many other 150-year-old science books continue to be the subject of debate today?
Breakthroughs that Changed the World
Electricity, late 19th centuryAnd then there was light
OK Then…
 
Harper’s Index 
  • Percentage change since 2007 in the number of cells in the NYC prison system devoted to solitary confinement: +63
  • Portion of the adolescent prisoners in solitary on Riker’s Islands who have been diagnosed with a mental illness: 7/10

Unusual Fact of the Day
Roger Ebert and Oprah Winfrey went on a couple dates in the mid-1980s. It was Roger who convinced her to syndicate her talk show.
Joke-of-the-day
Having arrived at the edge of the river, the fisherman soon realized he had forgotten to bring any bait. Just then he happened to see a little snake passing by who had caught a worm. The fisherman snatched up the snake and robbed him of his worm. Feeling sorry for the little snake with no lunch, he snatched him up again and poured a little beer down his throat. Then he went about his fishing.
An hour or so later the fisherman felt a tug at his pant leg. Looking down, he saw the same snake with three more worms in his mouth...
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
LET GRAVITY BE YOUR FRIEND
Always park the truck above the project so that you can shovel downhill into the project. If you are loading a truck, park it on the downside of the project to ease the shoveling effort.    
Yeah, It Really Happened
DREFACH FELINDRE, Wales - A Welsh woman said her concerned dog saved her life when she "bashed" on her back as she was choked on some candy. Rachel Hayes, 40, of Drefach Felindre, said she was eating candy at home when a strawberry pastille became lodged in her throat, the Mirror reported Monday. "It got stuck in the back of my throat and I couldn't get it back up. I couldn't phone anyone because I couldn't talk," Hayes said. She said her springer spaniel, Mollypops, was obviously worried about her. "I was having difficulty breathing but Mollypops' sixth sense kicked in and she knew I was in trouble," Hayes said. "She was insistently trying to help me and I kept pushing her away." "But she kept coming around me because she could see I was trying to get something from my throat. But I kept pushing her away because I couldn't really breathe," she said. "Then Mollypops came up behind me put her paws on me and bashed on my back with such force the sweet came out." Hayes said she is grateful to the canine for the rescue. "I just burst out crying and said, 'I love you.' She came over for a cuddle and I cuddled her. I told her she was a hero," she said. "I gave Mollypops lots of cuddles and, as a thank you, I bought her a squeaky chicken and some doggy sweets."
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • A mother is called ‘tiger’ when she is very tough and a bit scary. Most Westerners were not familiar with this term, until a book was published. The term ‘tiger mother’  (or tiger mum) comes from the book ‘Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. It can be used as a verb too – ‘to tiger mother’.  Chinese mums are usually called ‘tiger mothers’ and some strict fathers are called tiger dads!
  • The series of the French comics ’Asterix and Obelix’ first appeared in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Pilote on 29 October 1959 and follows the exploits of a village of indomitable Gauls as they resist Roman occupation. The “ix” suffix of both names is due to the names of real Gaulish chieftains such as Vercingetorix, Orgetorix, and Dumnorix. Asterix and Obelix series is one of the most popular Franco-Belgian comics in the world and has been translated into over 100 languages.

Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
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
17-23
Act Happy Week
Flood Awareness Week
Wellderly Week
Wildlife Week
World Folktales & Fables Week

Today Is                                                                      
·        Absolutely Incredible Kid Day
·        Alien Abduction Day
·        Atheist Pride Day
·        Bed-in For Peace Day
·        Companies That Care Day
·        Great American Meat Out Day
·        International Astrology Day
·        International Day of Happiness
·        French Language Day
·        Kiss Your Fiancée Day
·        National Agriculture Day
·        National Jump Out! Day
·        National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
·        Proposal Day
·        Snowman Burning Day
·        Vernal Equinox (Spring): 20 12:57 pm EDT
·        World Storytelling Day
·        Won't You Be My Neighbor Day
·        World Day of Theatre for Children and Young People
·        Won't You Be MY Neighbor Day
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·        Independence Day (Tunisia-1956-from France)

Today’s Events through History  
1944 - Mount Vesuvius, Italy, explodes
1993 - Dan Jansen skates world record 500m (36.02 sec)

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Carl Reiner, Bronx, comedian (2000 Year Old Man, Dick Van Dyke Show) is 92
Hal Linden, [Harold Lipshitz], actor (Barney Miller, Blacke's Magic) is 83
Bobby Orr, NHL defenseman (Boston Bruins) is 66
William Hurt, actor (Big Chill, Children of a Lesser God) is 64
Spike Lee [Shelton Jackson Lee], film director (Malcolm X) is 57
Holly Hunter, actress (Broadcast News, The Piano) is 56

Remembered for being born today
1873-1943 - Sergei V Rachmaninov, Russian/US pianist/composer (Aleko)
1904-1990 - B[urrhus] F[rederic], Behaviorism pioneer (Skinner box)
1906-1975 - Ozzie Nelson, actor (Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet)
1908-1985 - Michael Redgrave, actor (Browning Version, Lady Vanishes)
1918-1984 - Jack Barry, game show emcee (Joker's Wild)
1925-1999 - John D Erlichman, Politician (Nixon aide, Watergate)
1928-2003 - Fred Rogers, children's TV host (Mr Rogers' Neighborhood)
1936-2004 - Vaughn Meader, American comedian
1937-2008 - Jerry Reed, singer/actor (Bat 21, Smokey & the Bandit)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
2004 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands , 2004, @94
2010 - Stewart Udall, politician, environmentalist, 2010, @90
2010 - Liz Carpenter, American feminist writer, 2010, @89  
1974 - Chet Huntley, newscaster (NBC Huntley-Brinkley Report), cancer, 1974, @62

Brain Teasers Answer
1. Belated -> Elated 2. Gowns -> Owns 3. Clone -> Lone 4. Mused -> Used 5. Futile -> Utile 6. Trailing -> Railing 7. Sewer -> Ewer 8. Prod -> Rod
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.