January 24, 2010--Week 3 of 2010: 24 days this year…341 remain
►Provocative Quote .
"Nothing beats reading a good book when there is work to do."
~ unknown
►Free Ramblings .
Owning a home must have advantages…just not for me. Flagstaff has got almost 5 feet of snow. Officially Flagstaff received 54” of snow. On the East side, where I live, it is closer to five feet. Much of it is powder, but after almost a week of snow and not so cool temperatures, some of it is getting slushy and heavy. This afternoon my doorbell rang and the nice lady at the door asked me to move my vehicle so the parking area could be cleared of snow. Everyone in our section complied quite quickly. After about an hour, we returned. We now had clear parking. However, the guy used a pick-‘em-up truck with a blade. So he just piled the snow, out of the driveway and into a pile about 5 feet high. It was hard packed ice with no entry left for our townhouses. I saw the lady standing in another area, and reminded her that our side of the complex gets very little sun shine in the winter, and that the pile won’t melt until May. She said she was aware of that and that tomorrow a front end loader would be here to remove that snow. Then about 6:00 tonight, the bell rang again, and the front end loader was here to do as much as possible in the dark. Those of us on this side also are getting concerned about the snow on the pitched roof. The icicles are about 2” wide and hang down a good two to three feet. It is windy, so the icicles are not straight, but curve in toward the house. Really quite beautiful. The snow pile on the roof also extends out from the roof about three feet, so from my upstairs office window, I look out to what looks a lot like an ice cave. Again, very impressive, since I don’t own the house, and don’t have to worry about the damage that may or may not occur.
The nice lady told me that they are concerned about the roof snow and are scouring the town for some company that can remove it. It seems that yesterday the City of Flagstaff issued a mandatory closure of any flat roofed businesses that have not cleared the snow. So all the snow removal companies are busy doing commerce buildings. Our mayor’s order came a tad late. The city run ice rink’s flat roof collapsed sometime Thursday night. Since the city does not have any alarm systems, the damage was not discovered until would-be skaters showed up about noon to find knee deep water rushing out the main entrance.
We live in a quiet little mountain town and seldom make state or national news. Once I got used to that, I have found many other ways to get local news. They usually work. Even the PBS station is helping out. They have two feeds—one that is news and talk, one that is classical music with news and a few other programs. The other is news and informational talk shows. The second feed has been disrupted by the storm, so they are broadcasting the news feed on the classical station. The local newspaper also updated their website and is doing a lot of breaking news.
We only got to 28° today, so no snow melt. Tonight will be 16°, so we will have more ice and less slush tomorrow.
►Quotes from Values.com—TEACHING BY EXAMPLE .
It is not so much the example of others we imitate as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of ourselves in their words.”
~Eric Hoffer; Philosopher
►Side Show Stories—Darwin Awards 2010 .
The Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool... by removing themselves from it.
(The News of the Weird): Michael Anderson Godwin made News of the Weird posthumously. He had spent several years awaiting South Carolina 's electric chair on a murder conviction before having his sentence reduced to life in prison. While sitting on a metal toilet in his cell attempting to fix his small TV set, he bit into a wire and was electrocuted.
►Random Fact .
Pearls dissolve in vinegar.
§ Interesting Statistics
*Note: I realize that statistics can be made to say just about anything.
~ in 1997 almost 16% of electrical power in AZ was from renewable resources.
~ in 2007 about 7% of electrical power in AZ was from renewable resources.
§ January Month Long Observances
Birthstone: Garnet …Flower: Carnation
Book Blitz Month * Bath Safety Month * Birth Defects Month * California Dried Plum Digestive Month * Celebration of Life Month * Cervical Cancer Screening Month * Financial Wellness Month * High Tech Month * International Creativity Month * International Quality of Life Month * International Wayfinding Month * International Wealth Mentality Month * National Be On-Purpose Month * National Bird Feeding Month * National Clean Up Your Computer Month * National Get Organized Month * National Glaucoma Awareness Month * National Hot Tea Month * National Mail Order Gardening Month * National Mentoring Month * National Personal Self-Defense Awareness Month * National Poverty in America Awareness Month * National Radon Action Month * National Skating Month * National Soup Month * National Volunteer Blood Donor Month * Oatmeal Month * Rising Star Month * Self-help Group Awareness Month * Senior Women’s Travel Month * Shape Up US Month * Thyroid Awareness Month
§ Observance Weeks in January
No Name Calling Week: 20-24
Sundance Film Festival: 21-31
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Week: 23-30
World Leprosy Week: 23-29
National Nurse Anesthetists Week: 24-30
§ 24 January Observances—US/UN/World
Eskimo Pie Patent Day
Belly Laugh Day
National Compliment Day
§24 January Observances—by country
Aymara Indians, Bolivia : Alacitis Fair: Prayers to God of Prosperity
§ Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1902…Denmark sells Virgin Islands to USA
§Born on this day
~ The Arts
John Belushi in 1949 - comedian/actor
Ernest Borgnine (93) - actor (“McHale’s Navy,” Marty)
Neil Diamond (69) - singer, composer
Mark Goodson in 1913 - TV game-show producer (Goodson-Toddman)
Ed Helms (36) - writer, comedian (“The Daily Show”)
Doug Kershaw (74) -electric fiddle player
Aaron Neville (69) singer, songwriter
Yakov Smirnoff (59) (Ukraine), - comedian
Ray Stevens (Harold Ray Ragsdale) (71) - singer (Ahab the Arab, The Streak)
Maria Tallchief (85) - ballet dancer, Osage and Scots-Irish
Edith Wharton[-Jones] in 1862 - US, novelist (Ethan Frome, Age of Innocence, House of Mirth)
~Athletics
Mary Lou Retton (42) Olympic gold medal gymnast
~Business, Education, Politics
Shaun Donovan (44) - US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
~Science/Religion
Oral Roberts in 1918 – evangelist
§Obits for this day
Caligula [G C Germanicus] in 41, Roman emperor, assassinated @ 28
Winston Churchill in 1965 - PM of Britain @ 90
Larry Fine in 1975- actor (3 Stooges), @ 72
Gordon MacRae in 1986 -singer (Oklahoma, Carousel), cancer @ 64
L[aFayette] Ron[ald] Hubbard in 1986 author/founder of Scientology @ 74
George Gobel in 1991 comedian, heart attack @ 71
Thurgood Marshall in 1993 1st black supreme court justice @ 84
§What happened on this day?
~ The Arts
1986…43rd Golden Globes Whoopi Goldberg, Color Purple win
~Athletics
1999…The International Olympic Committee voted to expel six IOC members after charges that they had accepted money and other compensation from officials from cities bidding to host the Olympics. The cities included Sydney, Australia (2000 summer games) and Salt Lake City, Utah (2002 winter games).
~Business, Education, Politics
1639…Connecticut colony organizes under Fundamental Orders
1847…1,500 New Mexican Indians & Mexicans defeated by US Colonel Price
1848…James Marshall finds gold in Sutter's Mill in Coloma CA
1899…Rubber heel patented by Irishman Humphrey O'Sullivan
1902…Denmark sells Virgin Islands to USA
1923…Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico established
1935…Krueger Brewing Company placed the first canned beer on sale
1945…Scottish 52nd Lowland division occupies Heinsberg
1980..In reaction to the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, the United States had announced plans to sell military equipment to China.
2003…United States Department of Homeland Security officially began operating
~Science/Religion
1656…1st Jewish doctor in US, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland
1839…Charles Darwin elected member of Royal Society
~ Number One Songs in…
1952…Slowpoke - Pee Wee King
1960…Running Bear - Johnny Preston
1968…Judy in Disguise (With Glasses) - John Fred & His Playboy Band
1976…Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To) – Diana Ross
1984…Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes
► Puzzle .
A list of words is given. To solve the puzzle, think of a single word that goes with each to form a compound word or word pair that functions as a compound word. For example, if the given words are volley, field, and bearing, the the answer would be ball, because the word ball can be added to each of the other words to form volleyball, ball field, and ball bearing.
1. light, hot, check
2. light, hot, back
3. wood, liquor, luck
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ANSWERS
1. SPOT: spotlight, hot spot, spot check
2. FLASH: flashlight, hot flash, flash back
3. HARD: hardwood, hard liquor, hard luck
