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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 139
/ Week: 21
May Averages: 68° \ 34°Today: Average Sky Cover: 70%
H 72°… L 45°… Ave. humidity: 27%
Wind: ave: 13mph; Gusts: 31mph
Average High: 68° Record High: 81° (1920)
Average Low: 35° Record Low: 20° (1971)
Quote of the Day
Today’s
Historical Highlights
1568 - English
queen Elizabeth I arrests Scottish queen Mary
1780 - About
midday, near-total darkness descends on much of New England, only now known to
be caused by forest fires in Canada 1796 - Game protection law restricts encroachment on Indian hunting grounds
1848 - 1st department store opens
1848 - Mexico gives Texas to US, ending the war
1856 - Sen Charles Sumner, Mass, spoke out against slavery
1884 - Ringling Brothers circus premieres
1906 - Federated Boys' Club (Boys' Club of America) organizes
1913 - Webb Alien Land-Holding Bill passes, forbidding Japanese from owning land
1921 - Congress sharply curbs immigration, setting a national quota system
1928 - 51 frogs enter 1st annual "Frog Jumping Jubilee" (Angel's Camp, Cal)
1951 - UN begins counter offensive in Korea
1967 - US bombs Hanoi
1991 - Willy T Ribbs becomes 1st black driver to make Indianapolis 500
♫
Today’s Birthdays: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays below
My Free
Rambling Thoughts
Lazy, windy Sunday. Did a little light cleaning, read the Sunday
paper and got in all my Sunday news shows, a good day.
I get a few emails every so often asking me If I remember…with a
bunch of pictures from the 50’s and 60’s. I usually remember most or all of
them, smile, and move on. Today I was watching a story on political campaigns. It
reminded me how much this country has really changed. Today, with all the
partisan politics that is going on, more and more wealthy political people and
PACS and SuperPACs are donating money to specific campaigns in various states. Many
times the only interest they have in the campaign is to get someone who thinks
like them into office. The people that are represented by that Representative
or Senator have very little voice in who gets voted in. The donators put
millions into ad campaigns that tear down the opponent, mostly with
questionable ‘facts’. Neither party is exempt from this horrific practice. This
is not the democracy I grew up in. Every campaign has always had some dirty
politics, some mudslinging, and some outright lies about candidates. I just don’t
like the idea of someone from afar with no interest in my state and its needs
paying for ads for our national offices. The worst part of this political
shenanigans is that once one candidate does it, the others have little choice
but to join in. Local and state elections (even for US Rep and US Senator) should
be run with local and state donations only.
Phoenix metro area is having a big problem…wrong way freeway
drivers. Some lasting over 30 miles, all killing innocent people simply driving
the right way on the freeways. There have been 3 such crashes in as many days.
The first killed a police officer driving home after his shift. The news says
there were lots of 911 calls for each incident, but the police couldn’t get
there fast enough. This is sure a bad mark on all the metro police in the Phoenix
area.
Game Center (answers at the
end of post)
Brain
Teasers
Five words that contain WL as a letter pair have
had all of their other letters removed and placed into a pool. Put those
letters back in their proper places. What are the words? Five words that contain WL as a letter pair have had
all of their other letters removed and placed into a pool. Put those letters
back in their proper places. What are the words?
**WL, **WL**, ****WL, **WL***, ***WL****WL,
**WL**, ****WL, **WL***, ***WL****WL, **WL**, ****WL, **WL***, ***WL**
Pool: A, A, B, C, C, E, E, G, H, I, K, O, O, O, P, R, R, R, S, T
Lifestyle Substance:
Found on
You Tube with some relevance to today
OK Then…
Harper’s
Index
Portion
of white US students taking AP math exams last year who received passiong
scores: 2/3
Of
black US students: 1/3
Unusual
Fact of the Day
Chinese Checkers is not Chinese. It
was created in America to circumvent the patent for a popular boardgame called
Halma, invented by a Boston surgeon named George Howard Monks.
Top
Reasons Poverty is on the Rise…
Economic Inequity
The uneven division of wealth in America supports ongoing
poverty. Half the population of the United States resides near the poverty level,
with the richest 1% holding a disproportionate share of the country’s wealth.
The gap between the richest members of society and its poorest citizens widens
annually, in a self-perpetuating cycle that mires poor people in a constant
struggle to get ahead. Stagnant wages and underemployment complicate the equation for
those without sufficient capital to grow wealth and increase their economic
mobility
Oldest
Trees in the World…
Chestnut
Tree of One Hundred Horses
This tree, located on Mount Etna in Sicily, is the largest and
oldest known chestnut tree in the world. Believed to be between 2,000 and 4,000
years old, this tree's age is particularly impressive because Mount Etna is one
of the most active volcanoes in the world. The tree sits only 5 miles from
Etna's crater. The tree's name originated from a legend in which a company of
100 knights were caught in a severe thunderstorm. According to the legend, all
of them were able to take shelter under the massive tree. It is listed by
Guinness World Records as having the "greatest tree girth ever," at
190 feet in circumference
Travel
Destination Info…
Italy - $40.2 billion
With $40.2 billion in international tourist receipts Italy ranks
4th on the list. Visitors go to Italy for its great art, culture, cuisine,
beautiful coastlines and mountains but especially to see the ancient monuments
from the great Roman Empire like the Coliseum. Led by Rome and Vatican City
Italy is full of great cities to visit.
Top
Countries to get Dual Citizenship
Dominica
Not to be confused with the Dominican Republic, the Commonwealth
of Dominica in the Caribbean offers an Economic Citizenship program to
“investors.” To become a citizen, you simply have to pay the government a
$100,000 investment. The government also offers package deals, just like the
burger joint in town. Citizenship for you and your spouse is $175,000, but if
you’re married and have two minor children, you only have to pay $200,000.
Joke-of-the-day
At a divorce
court a family of bears is waiting for the judge to grant custody of little bear.
The judge asks
the baby bear; “do you want to live with papa bear?” The baby bear replied; "No he beats me."
The judge asked, so do you want to live with mommy bear!
The baby bear said, "No she beats me too."
The judge asked, "Then whom do you want to live with?"
The baby bear says, "The Chicago bears, they don't beat anyone!"
Rules of
Thumb:
RAISING
MONEY
University fund raisers plan on getting one-third of their money from 10 big contributors, one-third from 100 medium contributors and one-third from everyone else.
University fund raisers plan on getting one-third of their money from 10 big contributors, one-third from 100 medium contributors and one-third from everyone else.
Yeah, It
Really Happened
PORT ST. LUCIE,
Fla. (UPI) - Florida police officers who were attempting to catch a suspected
car thief got a little help when an alligator decided to cross the road. Port
St. Lucie police were on the lookout for a man they suspected had taken at
least five cars from parking lots at Walmart, Sam's Club and Publix. Officers
eventually spotted Calvin Rodriguez in a Honda Civic and tried to stop him.
Unfortunately, the car "began driving at a high rate of speed and was lost
sight of." That's when the alligator stepped in. Police were able to catch
up with Rodriguez when he hit the alligator and was stopped. "The Honda
was later discovered to have crashed into an alligator, causing it to crash
into a median," according to a police report. "This shows that Calvin
was in control of the Honda that struck the alligator and the median."
Rodriguez is charged with five counts of grand theft auto but is not facing
animal cruelty charges for hitting the alligator. "It's pretty
unimaginable that police officers would be at that point in time looking for
these suspects and that an alligator unfortunately just happens to cross the
road and assist us in catching these criminals," Det. Keith Boham told
WPTV.
Somewhat
Useless Information
Star
Wars' original title was "Adventures of Luke Starkiller as taken from the
Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars" It was eventually shortened
and Luke's name was changed to Luke Skywalker.
Frank
Oz, the actor who voiced Yoda, also voiced Miss Piggy on the Muppets.
The
sound of Darth Vader's strenuous breathing was reportedly created using a scuba
regulator.
Chewbacca,
the gentle, hairy, non-English-speaking co-pilot, was inspired by George Lucas
seeing his own dog sitting up on the passenger seat of his car. The dog, named
Indiana, also inspired the name of the lead character in Lucas' another film
franchises - Indiana Jones. (Chewbacca is derived from 'Sobaka', the Russian
Word for dog.)
It
took three actors to portray Darth Vader. James Earl Jones did the voice,
Sebastian Shaw was his face, and David Prowse was his body.
The
Millennium Falcon, the fictional spacecraft used in the Star Wars, is said to
be inspired by the shape of a hamburger with an olive in its side.
Calendar
Information
This
Week’s Observances:
Salvation Army Week
Neuropathy Awareness Week
National Stuttering Awareness Week
18-24
National Safe Boating Week
EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Week
National New Friends, Old Friends Week
World Trade Week
19-26
National Backyard Games Week
National Educational Bosses' Week
National Medical Transcription Week
International Coaching Week
Recreational Water Illness and Injury Prevention Week
Today
Is
Accountant's Day or Accounting Day
Boys Club DayFrog Jumping Jubilee Day
May Ray Day—to enjoy the sun’s rays
National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
][
Youth and Sports Day (Turkey)
Today’s Events through History
1571 - Miguel
Lopez de Lagazpi founded Manilla in the Phillipines
1898 - Post
Office authorizes use of postcards 1992 - US VP Dan Quayle attacks Murphy Brown for being a single mother and as a poor example of family values
Today’s Birthdays
James Charles Lehrer, news anchor (McNeil-Lehrer Report) is
80
David Hartman, TV personality (Good Morning America) is 79Nancy Kwan, Hong Kong, actress (Flower Drum Song) is 75
Peter Townshend, rock guitarist/vocalist/composer (The Who) is 69
Remembered
for being born today
1795-1873 - Johns Hopkins, philanthropist, founded Johns
Hopkins University
1861-1931 - Dame Nellie Melba. Australian opera singer 1890-1969 - Ho Chi Minh [Nguyễn Sinh Cung], President of North Vietnam
1919-2009 - Betty Jameson, LPGA golfer (1947 US Women's Open)
1925-1965 - Malcolm X, [Little], human rights activist; founder: Black Muslims
1928-1998 - Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator
Today’s
Historical Obits
Ogden Nash, poet, Crohn's disease,
1971, @68
Nathaniel Hawthorne, writer (Scarlet
Letter), stomach pain, 1864, @58 Anne Boleyn, Queen of England/wife of Henry VIII, beheaded, 1536, @32ish
Brain
Teasers
HOWL, BOWLEG,
SPRAWL, COWLICK, TRAWLERHOWL, BOWLEG, SPRAWL, COWLICK, TRAWLER
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 §
