3-8-14


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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 067   / Week: 10  
Today: L 31°…H 56°… Ave. humidity: 52%
     Wind: ave:   3mph; Gusts:  17mph  
     Average Low: 22° Record Low:  -4° (1969)
    Average High: 48° Record High:  67° (1989)

Quote of the Day
 
Today’s Historical Highlights
1817 - The New York Stock Exchange is founded.
1896 - Volunteers of America forms (NYC)
1918 - The first case of Spanish flu occurs, the start of a devastating worldwide pandemic.
1917 - Russian revolution breaks out (in Petrograd)
1927 - Pan American Airlines incorporates
1946 - 1st helicopter licensed for coml use (NYC)
1958 - William Faulkner says US school degenerated to become babysitters
1973 - Eisenhower Tunnel, world's highest/US longest, opens in CO
1983 - President Reagan calls the USSR an "Evil Empire"
2012 - Toyota recalls 700,000 vehicles over safety concerns

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
 
My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Nice Friday…didn’t do a lot, but still a nice day.
 
The Ukraine, Crimea, Russia thing is certainly confusing for someone who doesn’t know a lot about the history of the area. As it continues, I am trying to learn more but am still very ignorant about the problem. It is times like this that I wish I had BBC International on my TV. Right now we are only getting the information from Americans or Pro-American sources and there has to be another side. I seriously doubt that most of the Congress that is spewing anti-Obama rhetoric about his handling of the situation know much more than I do. Their information is also only one sided. Such a sad state of affairs
 
A year ago a Public Policy Polling survey was taken and newly elected AZ Senator Jeff Flake was the least liked Senator of 100. Thankfully this year, he did not receive that honor; it went to AZ long-time Senator John McCain. Makes one so proud to have winners two years in a row.  The poll surveys citizens in each state about their senators. Then all the Senator’s approval ratings are ranked. This year Senator McCain received a 35% approval rating, the lowest in the US.
 
Still smiling about the CPAC photo that was posted on FB. The pic was taken 10 minutes into a forum on Minority Outreach at their annual convention. The room was huge and less than 5 people listening in the room. Guess it’s not a very important topic.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
Task (once again):
Can you figure out which well known oxymorons these words are?
Ex) Initial facsimile = original copy
1) Urbane defiance 2) Specific possibility 3) Bogus truth 4) Big tiny 5) Gravely comical

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

Remembering TV’s great shows
"American Idol"--The cunningly crafted singing competition hit all the right notes—and revolutionized primetime.
Lexiophiles Delights
. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine is now fully recovered.
. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
Ancient Sports
Naumachia--Culture: Roman
Less well-known than the gladiator battles which frequented the Roman sports world, a naumachia was a mock naval battle, played in front of a crowd of onlookers. Normally pitting condemned criminals against each other, they often took place in man-made basins designed specifically for this purpose. The earliest recorded example of a naumachia was in 46 BC, begun by none other than Julius Caesar, who used it to celebrate his military accomplishments in a Roman ritual known as a triumph.
Basically, two ships were placed on either side, filled with “willing” participants, and then the fighting began. It lasted until one side was completely killed. Some of them were so elaborate that sea creatures were brought in and placed in the waters. The largest recorded naumachia was set up by Emperor Claudius in 52 AD, with 100 ships and over 19,000 menparticipating in the game.
OK Then…
 
Harper’s Index 
Percentage of rentable property in San Diego County that registered-sex-offender parolees are prohibitied from living on : 97
Unusual Fact of the Day
Before scientists were able to genetically engineer bacteria to produce human insulin, those who were afflicted with insulin dependent diabetes often used insulin from pigs.
Joke-of-the-day
Two elderly couples were enjoying a friendly conversation when one of the men asked the other, "Fred, how was the memory clinic you went to last month?" 
"Outstanding," Fred replied. "They taught us all the latest psychological techniques: visualization, association, etc. It was great." 
"That's great! And what was the name of the clinic?" 
Fred went blank. He thought and thought, but couldn't remember. Then a smile broke across his face and he asked, "What do you call that flower with the long stem and thorns?" 
"You mean a rose?" 
"Yes, that's it!" 
He turned to his wife, "Rose, what was the name of that memory clinic?"   
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
DRIVING SAFELY
If you think your front tire is low, find out by taking your hands off the steering wheel. A low tire will cause the car to drift in the direction of the low tire.    
Yeah, It Really Happened
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - A Colorado woman said she has been taking portraits around the world with her mannequin family because she was tired of being asked why she wasn't married. Suzanne Heintz, an art director for Starz Entertainment Group in Englewood, said she started taking pictures with a mannequin husband and daughter 14 years ago as a response to being asked why she wasn't married yet, twentytwowords.com reported Monday. Heintz, who has traveled more than 10,000 miles to take pictures with her mannequins in locations including several famous Paris landmarks, said on her website the project is about "spinsterhood, and the American way." "You can't just go out and buy a family. Or can you? I did. They are mannequins. The candy coated shell with nothing inside. We do all those family things, all the while capturing those Kodak Moments. Because it's not really about the journey, or a genuine human connection, when you're kids are screaming, 'Are we there yet?' Is it? It's about the picture in front of the sign. 'Get back in the car. We got the picture. Now, let's go eat,'" she wrote.  
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • The name Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday, a day of feasting before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. This day is also known as Shrove Tuesday.
  • The official colors of Mardi Gras have meanings. Purple is for justice, gold is for power and green is for faith. These were chosen by the Grand Duke of Russia in 1857.
  • Krewes, which are parade groups, started as private social clubs. The oldest of these is Comus which was founded in 1857.
  • Beads didn't start to emerge in the Mardi Gras parades until the late 1800s, when some of the Krewes who organized the parades began handing out cheap glass bead necklaces. Tourists loved them, and the beads became part of the tradition. 
  • The tradition of handing out items to the audience dates back to Renaissance Europe. In New Orleans, the first person to do that was a Krewe member dressed as Santa Claus in the 1880s.
  • Another Mardi Gras tradition, the king cake, was described as far back as the 1600s. At one point a pea or a bean, and nowadays a trinket (or often a plastic baby Jesus) is buried in a rich cake for a lucky person to find. The king cake takes its name from the three Magi who are said to have visited Jesus after his birth.


Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
1-16
Iditarod Race
2-8
Celebrate Your Name Week
National Consumer Protection Week
National Invasive Species Awareness Week
National Pancake Week
National Pet Sitters Week
National Schools Social Work Week
National Severe Storm Preparedness Week
National Sleep Awareness Week
National Words Matter Week
Professional Pet Sitters Week
Read an E-Book Week
Return The Borrowed Books Week
Save Your Vision Week
Severe Weather Preparedness Week:
Telecommuter Appreciation Week
Women in Construction Week
3-9
Women of Aviation Worldwide Week
7-9
Festival of Owls Week
American Crossword Puzzle Weekend
National Rattlesnake Roundup
8-9
National Maple Syrup Days
8-11
American Council on Education
8-14
National Procrastination Week
Universal Women's Week
National Agriculture Week

Today Is                                                                      
·        Day for Women's Rights & International Peace Genealogy Day
·        Girls Write Now Day
·        International Fanny Pack Day
·        International Women's Day
·        International Working Women's Day
·        National Proofreading Day
·        National Peanut Cluster Day
·        Organize Your Home Office Day
·        Unique Names Day
<><> 
·        International Women's Day (Russia)

Today’s Events through History  
1838 - US mint in New Orleans begins operation (producing dimes)
1913 - Internal Revenue Service begins to levy & collect income taxes

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Micky Dolenz, actor (Circus Boy)/singer (Monkees) is 69
Little Peggy March, [Margaret Battavio], vocalist (I Will Follow Him) is 66
Camryn Manheim, TV actress (The Practice) is 53
Freddie Prinze Jr, actor (I Know What You Did Last Summer) is 38
James Van Der Beek, actor (Dawson's Creek) is 37

Remembered for being born today
1783 - Hannah Hoes Van Buren, wife of pres Martin (1837-41) (died 1819)
1841 - Oliver Wendell Holmes, 59th Supreme Court justice (1902-32)
1918 - Alan Hale [MacKahan] Jr, Los Angeles California, actor (Skipper-Gilligan's Island)
1921 - Cyd Charisse, [Tula Finklea], Amarillo Tx, dancer/actress (Singing in the Rain)
1943 - Lynn Redgrave, London, actress (Georgie Girl)/Weight-Watcher

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player, 1999, @84
Harold Lloyd, US comic/actor (Why Worry), cancer, 1971, @77
Peggy Cass, actress and comedian, heart failure, 1999, @74
Millard Fillmore, 13th president stroke, 1874, @74
William Howard Taft, 27th US Pres, Chief Justice, 1930, @72
Robert Pastorelli, actor (Murphy Brown), OD, 2004, @49

Brain Teasers
1) Civil Disobedience 2) Definite maybe 3) False fact 4) Jumbo shrimp 5) Seriously funny
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:

3-7-14


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 066   / Week: 10  
Today: L 26°…H 55°… Ave. humidity: 57%
     Wind: ave:   12mph; Gusts:  21mph  
     Average Low: 22° Record Low:  -1° (1945)
    Average High: 48° Record High:  66° (1972)

Quote of the Day
 
Today’s Historical Highlights
1644 - Massachusetts establishes 1st two-chamber legislature in colonies
1847 - US General Scott occupies Vera Cruz Mexico
1876 - Alexander Graham Bell patents telephone
 
1912 - Roald Amundsen announces discovery of the South Pole
1939 - Guy Lombardo & Royal Canadians 1st record "Auld Lang Syne"
1955 - Mary Martin as "Peter Pan" televised
1981 - 1st homicide at Disneyland, 18 year old is stabbed to death
1996 - 1st surface photos of Pluto (photographed by Hubble Space Telescope)
2007 - British House of Commons votes that the House of Lords be 100% elected

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
 
My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Lots of clouds, some kinda dark and ominous. Still a good day to spend some time outside. 
Great lunch with our retirement group at a local Mexican restaurant. Mary has decided to attend the Citizen’s Police Academy. That is a 3 month program were ordinary citizens learn about the inner workings of the local police department. Last night she spent 4 hours in jail…well actually…at the jail. They got a ‘private’ tour of the facilities, an explanation of how prisoners are housed, etc Interesting that our little town has 420 prisoners and 60% are Native. Yet the city’s Native population is about 25%. Something is wrong here. Can’t wait to find out what else she is going to learn during this adventure. Mary also finally got Satellite TV and is very happy with the great picture as compared to over the air channels she has been suffering with for about 6 months. Cheryl is considering some home improvement…new roof, new siding but can’t decide if the cost is really worth improving her house value. Tough choices for every home owner. Mary’s daughter will be coming to Phx next week, so Mary will be down there with both her kids and their families.
 
I’ve been in a funk for about a week dealing with the bank, the concern about jury duty, the phone company and other little stuff. When I got up this morning, I decided that funk has to end now. Something I heard long ago…don't sweat the little stuff and remember that everything is little stuff. I am now ready to face the new days ahead without complaining or getting upset about little stuff. Too many good things are happening to deal with the crap.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
Surrounded by hills, I rest on an isle Known for its castles And "baggy" music style<> I can hide a monster At least some think But for what it's worth I'm one of nature's sinks<> What am I?
Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Remembering TV’s great shows
"Dallas"--Shooting J.R. was just the tip of the gusher in this Texas-size melodrama, which sparked a frenzy of nighttime soaps.
Lexiophiles Delights
. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.<> . When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
Ancient Sports
Pelota Purépecha--Culture: Mexican
Pelota purépecha is a pre-Hispanic game similar to field hockey, but with a fiery twist: The sport is played with a ball which is lit on fire. Named for its inventors, the indigenous Purépecha people of what is now the Mexican state of Michoacán, the game involved a ball which had been smeared with pine resin and lit on fire, which was batted around by players armed with wooden sticks. Goals were set up on either side of a stretch of field and the goal was to knock the ball across the line.
The ball, known as a zapandukua, was normally made up of interwoven cloth and twine, and the game was normally played at night, as the ball made for more of a spectacle under the light of the moon. Like many of the games created by the indigenous people of Mexico, pelota purépecha has been largely forgotten, but concerted efforts by the Mexican government are helping to raise awareness for this piece of national history.
OK Then…
 
Harper’s Index 
Minimum number of retired CA public servants receiving pensions of more than $100,000 a year: 21,874
Unusual Fact of the Day
Bill Clinton reportedly only ever sent two emails as president, one of which was a test message to see if he was doing it correctly.
Joke-of-the-day
A man is driving down a country road, when he spots a farmer standing in the middle of a huge field of grass. He pulls the car over to the side of the road and notices that the farmer is just standing there, doing nothing, looking at nothing. The man gets out of the car, walks all the way out to the farmer and asks him, "Ah excuse me mister, but what are you doing? “
The farmer replies, "I'm trying to win a Nobel Prize.
“How?" asks the man, puzzled.
“Well, I heard they give the Nobel Prize . . . to people who are out standing in their field."  
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
SETTING UP AN OFFICE
Provide 250 square feet of floor space for each vice president, 200 for middle managers and 175 for clerks.    
Yeah, It Really Happened
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A boy, 10, was suspended from his Columbus, Ohio, elementary school last week for pointing his finger at a classmate as a gun, a school spokesman said. Fifth-grader Nathan Entingh received a three-day suspension from Devonshire Alternative Elementary School for his "level 2 lookalike firearm," the suspension letter mailed to his parents said. "I was just playing around. People play around a lot like this at my school" and are not suspended for it, Nathan said. School district spokesman Jeff Warner said Nathan put his finger to the side of another student's head and pretended to shoot "kind of execution style." He added Devonshire principal Patricia Price had warned students about pretend gun play and its consequences on numerous occasions during the school year. "He said he was playing," said Nathan's father, Paul Entingh. "It would even make more sense if he brought a plastic gun that looked like a real gun or something but it was his finger." Away from school for several days, Nathan reflected on his suspension Monday, saying, "I think it was dumb," the Columbus Dispatch reported Tuesday.  
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • The terms poison and venom are often used interchangeably, but they actually have very different meanings. It is the delivery method that distinguishes one from the other. 
  • Poison is absorbed or ingested; a poisonous animal can only deliver toxic chemicals if another animal touches or eats it. 
  • Venom, on the other hand, is always injected. Every venomous animal has a mechanism to inject toxins directly into another animal. Stab with tails. Slash with spines. Pierce with fangs or stings. Spike with spurs. Shoot with harpoons. Chew with teeth. For example, frogs are usually poisonous while snakes are usually venomous.
  • Some animals you might now know are venomous; the duck-billed platypus, the gila monster, centipedes, Millipedes, the komodo dragon and coral!

Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
1-16
Iditarod Race
1-7
National Cheerleading Week
National Ghostwriters Week
National Write A Letter of Appreciation Week
Universal Human Beings Week 
Will Eisner Week
2-8
Celebrate Your Name Week
National Consumer Protection Week
National Invasive Species Awareness Week
National Pancake Week
National Pet Sitters Week
National Schools Social Work Week
National Severe Storm Preparedness Week
National Sleep Awareness Week
National Words Matter Week
Professional Pet Sitters Week
Read an E-Book Week
Return The Borrowed Books Week
Save Your Vision Week
Severe Weather Preparedness Week:
Telecommuter Appreciation Week
Women in Construction Week
3-7
Newspaper in Education Week
National School Breakfast Week
Share A Story - Shape A Future Week
3-9
Women of Aviation Worldwide Week
7-9
Festival of Owls Week
American Crossword Puzzle Weekend
National Rattlesnake Roundup

Today Is                                                                      
·        Dress in Blue Day
·        Employee Appreciation Day
·        Middle Name Pride Day
·        National Be Heard Day
·        National Cereal Day
·        National Doodle Day
·        National Day of Unplugging
·        World Day of Prayer
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·        Bun Day (Iceland)
·        Eight Hour or Labor Day (Australia/Tasmania)

Today’s Events through History  
321 - Roman Emperor Constantine I decrees that the dies Solis Invicti (sun-day) is the 
     day of rest in the Empire.
1862:  Battle of Pea Ridge takes place Indians fighting on both sides of the Civil 
     War battle
1933 - Game of "Monopoly" invented
1983 - TNN (The Nashville Network) begins on Cable TV

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Lord Snowdon, [Anthony Armstrong-Jones], London, photographer is 84
Willard Scott, weather forecaster (Today Show) is 80
Janet Guthrie, race car driver (1st woman to race in Indie 500) is 76
Daniel J Travanti, actor (Frank Furillo-Hill St Blues) is 74
Lynn Swann, NFL receiver (Pittsburgh Steelers)/sportscaster is 62
Wanda Sykes, actress and comedienne is 50
Rachel Weisz, English actress (The Mummy, The Constant Gardener) fashion model is 44

Remembered for being born today
1671 - Robert Roy MacGregor, Scottish folk hero 

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Alice B. Toklas, American companion to Gertrude Stein, 1967, @89
Jacob K Javits, (Sen-R-NY), 1986, @81
Stanley Kubrick, American film director, natural causes, 1999, @70
Aristotle, Greek philosopher, 322BC, @62
Thomas Aquinas, Italian thelogian/saint, head injury, 1274, @48
Divine, [Harris Milstead], female impersonator (Pink Flamingos), enlarged heart, 1988, @42

Brain Teasers
Loch Ness in Scotland. Surrounded by hills - The Loch is in a fjord surrounded by wetland hills.. I rest on an isle Known for its castles And "baggy" music style - Scotland, part of the British Isles, is known for its numerous castles and bagpipe music.. I can hide a monster At least some think that there is a monster lives in Loch Ness, but it isn't verifiable.. But for what it's worth I'm one of nature's sinks - The Loch is drained by six major rivers.
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.