This is Week 49 of 2010►Day 340 with 25 days remaining
19 Days until Christmas
Flagstaff Weather:
I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.
FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
I usually use Weatherbug.com to get my weather information. On occasion I check it against either AOL or MSN, especially when the numbers look strange. All three sites claim to get their packets of information from Pulliam Airport—our local airport that is about 6 miles from downtown. I do check my own digital weather thermometer during the day, like before I go outside or when I get back and am surprised by how warm, or cold it was. Well when I sat down tonight, Weatherbug said that our high was 76°. I checked to be sure I was still on Flag, and even hit refresh. I had been outside several times today and there ain’t no way that it ever got close to that. Both AOL and MSN had 56° so I took those—the highest my digital showed was 57°. Some computer somewhere sure posted the wrong temperature. AND some human was asleep at the wheel.
I was all set to decorate the tree this afternoon, but some friends stopped by and we watched the Broncos and the Cards lose. The Cards are such an embarrassment this year. They seem to have two good plays in a row, then five bad plays in a row. Most NFL teams can beat a team with that profile. I have to wonder who I will be following into the Super Bowl. Certainly not Denver or Phoenix—at least this year.
60 minutes did a great interview with Mark Z—the guru behind Facebook. He reminds me of my geek cousin who helped develop some of the first lasers while still in high school. He talks just like Bob did a few decades ago. I really believe that he is a good guy who really believes that social networking is here to stay and that he will be in the lead. We will see their next big change Monday morning when there will be a whole new profile page. Interesting. I think FB is a good way to keep up with people of similar interests, though I don’t add a bunch of strangers to increase my friend count. I certainly don’t expect to make face-to-face friends after they are found on FB. But then, I’m not 20-something anymore either. I also don’t give out much personal info on the site. My emails go to an account without using my name, The email I receive at that address is not important stuff and is not linked to any other email address. Anyway, the FB phenom is not going to go away anytime soon.
HOLY MACKEREL: 1956 A violent water polo match between Hungary and the USSR takes place during the 1956 Summer Olympics inMelbourne, against the backdrop of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
∞ JEOPARDY PUZZLE—(SuperJeopardy Answers) from 1990 BIOLOGY
↨Class of animals so named because they have an aquatic larval stage & terrestrial adult lives
↨The development of this part of the egg contributed to the evolution of life on land
↨In the lab, you put something in an autoclave to do this to it
↨In humans it separates the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity
↨The Savi's pygmy variety of this animal is said to be the world's smallest mammal
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION—Skee-ball Part 2
☼In 1935 the rights to Skee-Ball were purchased by the Wurlitzer Corporation, which in 1945 sold them to the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, an amusement park ride manufacturer. In 1977 the Philadelphia Toboggan Company set up Skee-Ball, Inc. to market the game, now located in Chalfont, Pennsylvania.
☼ 5 Skee-Ball went state-of-the-art in 1974 when electronic alleys were introduced to the market. Later additions such as sound effects and musical selections increase the game's popularity even further.
☼In 2005, Brewskeeball.com created the first Skee-Ball based league in New York City. On February 12-14, 2010, Brewskee-Ball hosted the first-ever Brewskee-Ball National Championship at Full Circle Bar.
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM
GAINESVILLE, FL-- A University of Florida student said he searched his name on Google and found authorities were using his picture to represent a similarly named convict. Zachary Garcia, a student at the Gainesville school, said an online search for his name brought up his picture associated with a Polk County Sheriff's Office report of a murder convict named Zachery Garcia, who spells his first name with an "e" rather than an "a," WTSP-TV, Tampa, Fla., reported Thursday. "I was just very shocked to find my picture and the article saying that I was convicted of a felony murder charge," the student said, "and I was just very shocked and angry that someone put my name up there and said I did something I didn't do." "Everybody makes mistakes," Garcia said. "I work at Publix and I might get somebody's sub (order) wrong. But for somebody to get (the photo of a suspect) wrong ... it's not a sandwich, it's somebody's life you're playing with."
A LITTLE LAUGH
The phone rang. It was a salesman from a mortgage refinance company. "Do you have a second mortgage on your home?"
"No," I replied.
"Would you like to consolidate all your debts?"
"I really don't have any," I said.
"How about freeing up cash for home improvements?" he tried.
"I don't need any. I just recently had some done and paid cash," I parried.
There was a brief silence, and then he asked, "Are you looking for a husband?"
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
CALENDAR INFORMATION
♦ Weekly Observances ♦
1-7: Cookie Cutter Week ¤ Tolerance Week ¤ Recipe Greetings For The Holidays Week
1-9: Chanukah (Hanukkah)
5-10: Clerc-Gallaudet Week
6-12: National Handwashing Awareness Week
♦ Today’s Observances ♦
National Gazpacho Day: to remind all of this Spanish summer vegetable soup, served cold
Microwave Oven Day
Mitten Tree Day
Muharram 1 (Begins at sundown - Islamic New Year)
Miner's Day: since 2009 to recognize the accomplishments of US miners
National Pawnbrokers Day
Saint Nicholas Day
Bahrain: Ruler's Ascension Day
Canada: National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
Finland: Independence Day (from Russia in 1917)
Spain: Constitution Day (since 1978)
♫ University Fight Songs ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
♦Today’s Births♦
ARTS
Dave Brubeck, 90, jazz musician
1896 Ira Gershwin, lyricist ('S Wonderful, I Got Rhythm)
1886 Joyce (Alfred) Kilmer, poet: Trees; killed in action in WWI
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1906 Agnes Moorehead, actress (Endora-Bewitched)
1924 Wally (Wallace Maynard) Cox, actor: Mr. Peepers
JoBeth Williams, 57, actress (The Ponder Heart, The Big Chill)
ATHLETICS
1913 Eleanor Holm, 100 meter backstroke swimmer (Olympics-gold-1932)
1903 ‘Poosh ’Em Up’ Tony (Anthony Michael) Lazzeri, Baseball Hall of Famer: Yankees [World Series: 1926-1928, 1932, 1936, 1937/all-star: 1933/A.L. single game record: 11 RBI’s: May 24, 1936], Cubs [World Series: 1938], Dodgers, Giants
BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1792 Abraham J van de Aa, lexicographer (Biographic Dictionary)
1822 John Eberhard, built 1st large-scale pencil factory in US
Craig Newmark, 58, founder of craigslist
POLITICS
1732 Warren Hastings, 1st Governor-General of India (1773-84)
1608 George Monck/Monk English general/Governor of Scotland
SCIENCE & RELIGION
1911 Alfred James Broomhall, Methodist missionary
1918 Harold Horace Hopkins, inventor (Endoscope)
♦Today’s Obituaries♦
Don Ameche actor (Cocoon), prostate cancer @ 85 in 1993
Frances Bavier actress (Aunt Bee-Andy Griffith Show) cancer @ 86 in 1989
Marie Jeanne Becu comtesse du Barry mistress of Louis XV, beheaded @ 50 in 1793
Joseph Black Scottish medical/chemist/physicist, @ 71 in 1799
Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin French still life painter, @ 80 in 1779
Eliot Daniel composer (I Love Lucy theme), @ 89 in 1997
Jefferson Davis President of Confederate States of America (1861-5), @ 81 in 1889
Leadbelly [Huddie William Ledbetter] blues singer, diabetes @ 64 in 1949
Claude [Oscar] Monet French painter (impressionist), @ 86 in 1926
Roy Orbison US Rock singer (Pretty Woman, Only the Lonely), heart attack @ 52 in 1988
Giovanni Pacini Italian composer, @ 71 in 1867
Burr Tillstrom puppeteer (Kukla Fran & Ollie), @ 68 in 1985
♦Today’s Events♦
ARTS
1732 1st play in American colonies acted by professional players, New York NY [George Farquhar's comedy The Recruiting Officer]
1994 Maltese Falcon auctioned for $398,590
ATHLETICS
1956 Aged 14, swimmer Sandra Morgan becomes the youngest Australian to win an Olympic gold medal.
BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1768 1st edition of "Encyclopedia Brittanica" published (Scotland)
1876 City of Anaheim incorporated for 2nd time
1933 Ban on James Joyce' "Ulysses" in US, lifted
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1830 President Jackson supports CHEROKEE removal.
1862 President Lincoln orders hanging of 39 Santee Sioux Indians
POLITICS (US)
1849 Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland
1865 13th Amendment is ratified, abolishing slavery
1904 Theodore Roosevelt confirms Monroe-doctrine (Roosevelt Corollary)
1923 1st presidential address broadcast on radio (President Calvin Coolidge)
1973 Gerald Ford sworn-in as 1st unelected Vice-President, succeeds Spiro T Agnew
POLITICS (International)
1534 Quito, Ecuador founded by Spanish
1648 Pride's Purge: Thomas Pride prevents 96 Presbyterians from sitting in English parliament
1912 China votes for universal human rights
1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty signed; Ireland receives dominion status; partition creates Northern Ireland
1922 1st constitution of Irish Free State comes into operation
1929 Turkey introduces female suffrage
1982 Bomb attack on Londonderry, North Ireland disco, 17 killed
1988 Nelson Mandela is transferred to Victor Vester Prison, Capetown
SCIENCE & RELIGION
1825 President John Adams suggests establishment of a US observatory
1947 The Everglades National Park in Florida is dedicated by President Truman.
1967 Adrian Kantrowitz performed the first human heart transplant in the United States.
1984 Martina Navratilova’s 74-game winning streak over 11+ months came to an end.
ANSWERS
∞ JEOPARDY
Class of animals so named because they have an aquatic larval stage & terrestrial adult lives
What are amphibians?
The development of this part of the egg contributed to the evolution of life on land
What is the shell?
In the lab, you put something in an autoclave to do this to it
What is sterilize it?
In humans it separates the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity
What is the diaphragm?
The Savi's pygmy variety of this animal is said to be the world's smallest mammal
What is a shrew?
