Friday August 13

This is Week 32 of 2010►Day 225 with 140 days left.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS

I went to the mural signing this morning. It was a small group, but very cool. Our mayor must have been too busy, hmmm. Native American Mural, mayor doesn’t come, but she has time to tell us where she eats every time she goes out. I’m a little upset that she didn’t show. Still it was nice. The guy in charge of selecting Redwing’s design was there from some committee, and he did a great job of explaining all the parts of the mural and had the audience mesmerized. I had trouble understanding why it was part of a centennial thing in Flagstaff. Well, the centennial thing comes from the date that AZ became a state, in 1912. Flagstaff was founded July 4, 1876. We in Flagstaff like to start the state’s centennial celebration early.

After the signing our retirement group walked to a nearby new restaurant. It is the old Flagstaff sawmill, right next to the train station. Great food, fascinating building, and good service. Downtown Flag is full of nice small restaurants and is starting to look and feel like LoDo—the lower downtown historic district of Denver. The biggest difference—LoDo made cheap, easy parking a must. Parking is still a problem downtown and our city council doesn’t seem to be able to have a vision to improve it. Flag wants tourists to spend lots of money, but only makes it easy for those who travel by train. The airport is out of town, the bus station is not near downtown, and there is no parking for RV’s. We do have a good bus system, but it doesn’t go to the airport, and I doubt that tourists would expect that when they come to our town. Anyway, downtown Flag is a great place to visit, with lots to do, and now there is a beautiful mural for all to enjoy.

After I got home, my doorbell rang. A 20-something guy was trying to sell something. He was looking for parents with newborns to teenagers. He spoke with a heavy Scottish accent. He said he was from Edinburgh and was studying at Glasgow University. I never did figure out why he was in Flagstaff. He asked me if I could understand him, as a few people had told him he was hard to understand. I told him I could understand him fine, and that I had been in Scotland a few years ago. We talked for about ten minutes about his great country. I couldn’t help him with his sales thing, but did enjoy the conversation.

Flagstaff was really nice—a common thing recently. Still no rain. It’s looking like the monsoons are over. It was very warm today, 83° with no breeze, and only a few clouds. We did have a huge billowy cloud near the peaks that sure looked like it would bring rain, but it didn’t.

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

Andy Rooney: Nothing in fine print is ever good news.

HOLY MACKEREL:1948 Satchel Paige at 42 pitches his 1st major league complete game 

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION

More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.

Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1—Jeopardy Questions: Wild West

One of its newspapers was appropriately called "The Epitaph"

She once shot a cigarette from the mouth of the German crown prince

In 650,000 miles the mail was lost only once

Brothers Virgil & Morgan were shot here, but Wyatt Earp emerged unscathed

It ran 2,000 miles, from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM

BELLEVUE, WA — Paying bills usually stinks, but gas bills from a utility in Washington state will include something truly odorous this month: the stench of rotten eggs.

As part of a safety campaign, Puget Sound Energy is including a scratch-and-sniff pamphlet with its billing statements to remind customers of what leaking gas smells like.

Natural gas is odorless, but providers add a chemical to the gas that has a distinctive, sulfur-like aroma similar to rotten eggs so leaks can be detected.

Bellevue, WA-based PSE serves nearly 750,000 natural gas customers in 11 counties.

A LITTLE LAUGH

A woman, her husband, and their three rambunctious young sons were in their car waiting at a traffic. The woman glanced over at the car next them, noticing a blissfully happy mother with her baby daughter.

Looking at her husband she said, "As soon as I lose my weight from the last baby, I want to try for a daughter."

The husband reached up to the dash, grabbed an open box of snacks, and said, "Here, have a cookie."

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 2--Riddle

I have a ring but no finger what am I?

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

Some believe that Left Handers received brain damage going through the birth canal, others believe that left handers should be forced to become right handers, some cultures believe left handers are evil, others believe it is dirty to eat with your left hand. We are a minority, for sure, here are some famous left handers…if you are really into this, it has three parts, just click away: Click Here!

GREY MATTER PICTURE

This is a close up of what object?

SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION

♦ Weekly Observances ♦

8-14: Assistance Dog Week

…Feeding Pets of the Homeless Week

…National Resurrect Romance Week

10-16: Elvis Week

♦ Today’s Observances ♦

Blame Someone Else Day

Friday the 13th- (Only one in 2010!)

International Left Hander's Day

Kool-Aid Day

Tunisia: Women's Day commemorates the enacting of Tunisian Code of Personal Status in 1956

Laos: Lao Issara (Day of the Free Laos)

♦ Hit Songs on this date ♦

Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home Arthur Collins 1902

In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town Ted Lewis 1932

Jingle Jangle Jingle Kay Kyser 1942

Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart Vera Lynn 1952

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do Neil Sedaka 1962

Alone Again (Naturally) Gilbert O'Sullivan 1972

Eye of the Tiger Survivor 1982

♦ Today’s Births ♦

• The Arts

Johann Christoph Denner inventor (clarinet)…born in 1655… Leipzig, Germany

Dan Fogelberg, singer Run for the Roses…born in 1951…Peoria, IL

Alfred Hitchcock, director (Psycho, Birds, Rear Window) …born in 1899…London, England

Don Ho (Donald Tai Loy Ho; 何大來 ), singer: Tiny Bubbles; Waikiki entertainer …born in 1930…Honolulu, Hawaii

~~~

Danny Bonaduce, 51, radio personality, actor (“The Partridge Family”)…born Broomall, PA

Neville Brand, actor (Cahill, US Marshal) …born in 1921… Griswold, IA

Pat Harrington, Jr, 81, actor, comedian (“The Jack Paar Show,” “One Day at a Time”)…born Newark, NY

Bert Lahr (Irving Lahrheim), actor: The Wizard of Oz…born in 1895…Manhattan, NYC

Kevin Tighe, 66, actor (“Emergency,”)…born Los Angeles, CA

• Athletics

Bobby Clarke, 61, Hockey Hall of Famer: Philadelphia Flyers…born Flin Flon, Manitoba, CAN

Ben Hogan, golf champion: Masters [1951, 1953], U.S. Open [1948, 1950, 1951, 1953], British Open [1953], PGA [1946, 1948] …born in 1912… Stephenville, TX

• Business & Education

Annie Oakley(Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee), frontierswoman (Buffalo Bill's Wild West) …born in 1860… Woodland (now Willowdell), OH, or Drake OH

• Politics

Fidel Castro, 83, former president of Cuba (1959–2008)…born Mayari, Oriente Province, Cuba

Lucy Stone, pioneered women's rights…born in 1818… West Brookfield, MA

• Science/Religion

John Logie Baird, inventor (father of TV) …born in 1888… Dunbartonshire, Scotland

Rex Humbard, television evangelist …born in 1919…Little Rock, AR

♦ Today’s Obituaries ♦

Joe E Ross, comedian (Toody-Car 54, Phil Silvers Show), @ 77 in 1982

Jack Ryan, inventor (Barbie Doll, Hot Wheels) and designer of the Sparrow and Hawk missiles, ex of Zsa Zsa Gabor, stroke @ 65 in 1991

♦ Today’s Events ♦

• The Arts

1924 The first country music record to sell one million copies reached that point on this day. It was The Prisoner’s Song, recorded by Vernon Dalhart (Click Here to Hear the Original)

• Athletics

1934 Cartoonist Al Capp began his famous comic strip, Li’l Abner

1990 Soul singer/songwriter Curtis Mayfield (Superfly, Freddie’s Dead) was paralyzed from the neck down after a lighting tower fell on him at a concert in Brooklyn

2008 Michael Phelps sets the Olympic record for most the gold medals won by an individual in Olympic history with his win in the men's 200m butterfly.

• Business & Education

1889 William Gray of Hartford, CT patented the coin-operated telephone

1907 1st taxicab (NYC)

• Indigenous People

1521 Spanish conquerors captured Mexico City from Aztecs

1645 For several years, the Dutch, and the local Indian tribes near New Amsterdam and Pavonia, have been fighting. Hackensack Chief Oratamin negotiates a peace between the warring parties. It is another ten years before another major conflict erupted.

• Politics (US)

1784 The Continental Congress met for the final time in Annapolis, Maryland.

1961 Construction on Berlin Wall begins in East Germany (Dark day)

• Politics (International)

1536 Buddhist monks from Kyōto'sEnryaku Temple set fire to 21 Nichiren temples throughout Kyoto in the Tenbun Hokke Disturbance

1954 Radio Pakistan broadcasts the National Anthem of Pakistan for the first time.

1978 150 Palestinians in Beirut are killed in a terrorist attack during the Second Phase of the Lebanese Civil War.

2004 156 Congolese Tutsi refugees massacred at the Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi.

• Science / Religion

3114 BC According to the Lounsbury correlation, the start of the Maya calendar.

1642 Christiaan Huygens discovers Martian south polar cap

GREY MATTER ANSWERS

↔ 1

One of its newspapers was appropriately called "The Epitaph": What is Tombstone?

She once shot a cigarette from the mouth of the German crown prince: Who is Annie Oakley?

In 650,000 miles the mail was lost only once: What is the Pony Express?

Brothers Virgil & Morgan were shot here, but Wyatt Earp emerged unscathed: What is the OK Corral?

It ran 2,000 miles, from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon: What is the Oregon Trail?

↔ 2

A Bell—and I thought it was my bathtub.

↔ Picture

Head of a bug.

TODAY’S PHOTO SHOT

Signing of the Mural, Flagstaff, AZ 8-12-10

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