Thursday

I got my very first scammer phone call today. It came from 613-216-2172 and was listed on my caller ID as ‘Ontario’. The recorded message said I could lower my interest rate on my credit card. If I wanted more information, push 6. I wanted to tell them I have Do Not Call and to remove my name. So I pushed 6. The guy on the other end said he was from Visa Data Services. He pretended to have never heard of any Do Not Call list. I asked to speak to his supervisor. He said he was looking at my credit card account and that since my balance was over $4000, he could lower my rate. I told him he had the wrong person, and that I wanted his supervisor. He said “Sure, just give him my pin number for my card”. I said NO!!. “OK”, he says, “then give me your mother’s maiden name.“ Again I said NO! He said he could not transfer me to a supervisor until I gave him either my pin or my mother’s maiden name. He would give me no information about myself, but insisted that he knew I had a $4000 balance. He wanted my name, my address, etc. He got nothing. I finally hung up and reported him to the FCC’s web site. It was scary, because he was so nice, and appeared to be so helpful. Checking the internet, there is no such company. In fact, there isn’t even the address he gave me on Google Earth. The closest address is in the middle of Trinity University’s Football Field. I really feel that my privacy has been violated. I hope they don’t call again.

Flagstaff Restaurant Review: There is a new, small, hole-in-the-wall Greek restaurant that just opened. It is ‘across the tracks’ in downtown Flagstaff. Our retirement group of three got there at 11:30. They had four outside tables and three or four tables inside. We took an outside table on the covered patio. We all had a great lunch. I ordered the Gyro and it had twice as much meat as the one I had a few weeks ago at another Greek place in Flag. “The Greek Islands” is not a place I would usually stop. It is hard to find, there is little parking, and it is in a kind of dumpy area. I am glad we went. The food and the service were great. The Greek who runs the place came to our table several times to be sure everything was going well. By noon the place was full, and people were waiting to be seated. He has only been open three weeks and seems to be doing well. They serve lunch six days a week and dinner three nights a week. And they had some nice Greek music playing in the background. Flagstaff is full of surprises.

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Random Facts…

One out of three U.S. women owns a gun!

Crazy Stuff in the News…

Washington state police said they were searching for a “witch doctor” who “cleansed” money of evil and allegedly ran off with nearly $140,000 from clients. But it was spiritually clean money.
Lakewood police said the woman, who uses the name Senora Monica, conned multiple people in the Puget Sound region into giving her large sums of money to cleanse.
Police Lt. Heidi Hoffman said Monica would often return the money to her clients, and then ask for a fee for her services.
Hoffman said the suspect and her husband ran a Lakewood store called “Centro de Consultas Espirituales” that specialized in spiritual guidance and sold items such as incense, candles and talents. She said Monica and her husband fled after stockpiling a large amount of money.
A woman who owns a hair salon next to Monica’s store said the woman would tell clients they would die if their money was not cleansed of evil spirits.


Month long events in August

Edinburgh Festival is an internationally famous arts festival that takes place during August National Immunization Awareness Month… National Psoriasis Awareness Month… Women's Small Business Month... National Back to School month…American Adventures Month…Golf Month…National Inventor’s Month…National Win with Civility Month…What will be your legacy Month

Week of Aug 17…

Weird Contest Week

21 Aug…

233 days so far this year…132 days remain in 2009
Men’s Grooming Day
Poet’s Day
Senior Citizen’s Day
World Daffodil Day


BIRTHS ON THIS DAY…

1660….. Hubert Gautier engineer, wrote 1st book on bridge building

1906….. William "Count" Basie jazz pianist
............. Friz Freleng animator (Bugs Bunny-Emmy 1982)
1921….. Nancy Kulp Harrisburg Pa, actress (Jane-Beverly Hillbillies)
1923….. Chris Schenkel sportscaster: CBS Sports; ABC Sports
1936….. Wilt Chamberlain NBA great center
1938….. Kenny Rogers singer, actor
1939….. Clarence Williams III NYC, actor (Mod Squad)
1951….. Harry Smith Indiana, TV news


Events on this day…

1680….. Pueblo Indians took possession of Santa F‚ from Spanish

1841….. John Hampson patents venetian blind
1858….. 1st Lincoln-Douglas debate (Illinois)
1888….. William Burroughs of St. Louis, MO patented his adding machine.

1911….. The Mona Lisa, the famous portrait by Leonardo da Vinci also called ( La Gioconda ) ( painted between 1503 - 1506 ) , was stolen from the Louvre in Paris.
1959….. Hawaii becomes 50th US state
1985….. Mary Decker Slaney runs mile in world record 4:16.71
1987….. Clayton Lonetree, 1st marine court-martialed for spying, convicted. Released in 1996 when determined that his prosecution had been overzealous.

2004….. Michael Phelps gets his 6th gold medal at the Athens 2004 1831: Virginia slave Nat Turner begins a slave rebellion in Southampton County in which over 50 whites are killed.


Missing Pairs from BrainFood.com

In each of these puzzles, there are two double blanks.
Fill in the blanks with the same pair of letters to complete an English word.
For example, use the letter-pair ac in b__ckp__k to make the word backpack.
1. _ _ od _ _ rk
2. p _ _ dl _ _
3. _ _ p _ _ zard
4. h _ _ g _ _ lin
5. c _ _ kb _ _ k
6. a _ _ mo _ _
7. _ _ at _ _
8. s _ _ ur _ _ e
9. lo _ _ i _ _
10. _ _ i _ _<>
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Answers:
1. Woodwork
2. Peddled
3. Haphazard
4. Hobgoblin
5. Cookbook
6. Anemone
7. Orator
8. Saturate
9. Longing
10. onion
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