July 17

FYI: Click on any blue text for a link to more information!

Flagstaff Almanac

Today: High   74°…Low 50°

Records: High   92° (1961)…Low 37°(2001)

Averages: High   82°…Low 52°

Partly Cloudy  Today’s humidity:  40%

Week: 29 Day:  198

Quote of the Day

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1998 - Russia buries tsar Nicholas II & family, 80 years after they died

1980 - Ronald Reagan formally accepts Republican nomination for president

1974 - 1st quadraphonic studio in UK is open by Moody Blues

1959 - Tibet abolishes serfdom

1959 - Dr Leakey discovers oldest human skull (600,000 years old)

1955 - Arco Idaho becomes 1st US city lit by nuclear power

1862 - United army officially divides corps

1861 - Congress authorizes paper money

1775 - 1st military hospital approved

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪ 

                   

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

What a great adventure we had in Africa. Still trying to get my body clock back in sync. I’ll have lots of pics, videos, and a travel blog in the next few weeks.

I wasn’t really impressed with Dubai. It is only a couple of decades old with new beautiful buildings…the tallest, the longest…the biggest…is more like one-upsmanship than anything else. I have never been into that. Kenya and Tanzania gave me the best close ups of lions, cheetahs, baboons, ostrich, gnu (wildebeests), giraffe, crocs, zebra, and more. The image of being in the middle of the migration with zebra and gnu from horizon to horizon walking in a group will be with me forever. Another image that will never leave are the travels on the dirt roads to get to our safaris. I thought I knew dirt roads after spending so many years on the Rez. Not. Rough, rutted, rocky do not come close to describing them. Many visitors fly from Nairobi in Kenya to our first destination. Not us. Our scheduled five hour drive was really seven plus hours. Both our drivers knew the roads and as locals, they drove like locals. We were in Safari vehicles with a roof that is raised for better views and lightly padded metal seats.  They drive on the opposite side of roads and after leaving Nairobi, we never saw any vehicle that was not a vehicle like ours or a truck hauling supplies to the various camps and resorts. I’m sure part of decision to keep the roads in that condition is to remind tourists that we were on safari or heading for safari. They succeeded. I got the idea. The hard part for me to understand was why the main road to the area was also very rustic. Then I remember that it is used basically by tourists, as those living in the area don’t have vehicles. A great adventure, not for everyone. We visited only one of the 120+ tribes in Tanzania…the Masai. The local who took two of us to his brother’s home commented to me…you are really tall, and really big. Hmmm. He then handing me a long stick for balance as I had to crouch to get through the door that required a sharp turn as one enters. He gave it back to me again as we had to go through a small opening in the stick fence to get to the school. While being a little embarrassed, the stick was really helpful.

My phone sent me three ‘Emergency Alerts’ today warning of tornados and telling me to take shelter now. I thought my phone was still set for Houston or something…then I went to Facebook and found that others in Flag got the same alerts. Very strange.

I have made some changes to the blog layout. I have taken a break from doing the NPR Sunday puzzle as it is not a simple cut and paste thing. I have stopped the opening Almanac graphic for Flagstaff but all the information is still there. The close up picture is also taking a break. I have switched the historical events and birthdays…now they start with the youngest or most recent instead of starting with the oldest or least recent. Change is good.

Game   Center: (answers at the end of post)

What is the answer?

A man died, leaving $10,000,000 for his widow, 5 sons and 4 daughters. Each daughter received an equal amount, each son received twice as much as a daughter, and the widow received three times as much as a son. How much did the widow receive?

5X5 Word Boxes

The answer to 1 across is the same word as the answer to 1 down; 2 across is the same as 2 down; etc. Can you solve these Word Boxes? Each answer is 5 letters.

1.    complete environment

2.    not this one

3.    poetic device

4.    an assumption

5.    foreboding

Lifestyle  Substance     

My Latest Adventure—

One Hit Wonders of the 1960’s

Tobacco Road …The Nashville Teens…1964
Last Kiss … J. Frank Wilson and The Cavaliers…1964
Have I The Right …The Honeycombs…1965
You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away …Silkie…1966

Harper’s Index         

Estimated number of meth labs busted in Missouri in 2011: 2000

Found on You Tube 

Richard Leakey: Does Prehistory Matter in the 21st Century?

Joke-of-the-day

The key to the success of all musicians of note is their ability to stay composed while performing at a level that can't be beat.

…BONUS

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a man below. He descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."The man below replied, "You are in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You are between 40 and 42 degrees north latitude and between 58 and 60 degrees west longitude.""You must be an engineer," said the balloonist."I am," replied the man, "but how did you know?""Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost."The man below responded, "You must be a manager.""I am," replied the balloonist, "how did you know?""Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are exactly in the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

When the lights are on after six in the personnel department of a Silicon Valley company, look for layoffs within two weeks.

Yeah, It Really Happened

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A Michigan bride whose entire wedding party plunged into a lake when a dock collapsed said the incident "makes for a good story." Eric and Maegan Walber said their wedding party gathered on the dock at the Bay Pointe Inn in Grand Rapids to take pictures after the ceremony Saturday and the dock began to wobble after about 30 seconds, Mlive.com reported Monday. "I saw the thing starting to tilt, and I'm like, 'Oh, yup, this is going to happen,'" Eric Walber told WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids. "We went right under." "Everyone was laughing," he said. "It was one of those things that it just happens and you roll with it." Maegan Walber said the plunge made her wedding day all the more memorable. "It makes for a good story," she said. "We'll be telling our grandkids."         

Somewhat Useless Information   

Scientists announced the discovery of a new moon around Pluto on July 11 this year, bringing the dwarf planet's number of known moons to five.

P5, the new moon discovered around Pluto, is nothing like our own moon, a giant orb massive enough to be rounded into a sphere by its own gravity. Researchers think P5 is irregularly shaped, with a diameter between 6 and 15 miles.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

15-21

National Parenting Gifted Children Week
Rabbit Week
Captive Nations Week
National Independent Retailers Week
National Zoo Keeper Week

Today Is                                                                      

National Woodie Wagon Day: made its debut in the 1940s and has been romanticized as the symbol of a carefree American lifestyle

Toss Away the "Could Haves" and "Should Haves" Day

Wrong Way Corrigan Day: 1938 heading from NY to LA ends up in Ireland

Yellow Pig Day: unique celebration dates back to the 1960s when two math students at Princeton were given an assignment to analyze the properties of the number 17. Thinking about the number 17 for so long drove them a bit nuts, so they came up with the idea of a mythical yellow pig. The yellow pig had seventeen toes, seventeen teeth, seventeen eyelashes, etc. Mathematicians in colleges and universities all across the country celebrate Yellow Pig Day by eating Yellow Pig Cake and singing Yellow Pig Carols  

Today’s Events Through History  

                                                          

2000’s

2009 - Jakarta double bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels killed 9 people including 4 foreigners

2007 - TAM Airlines (TAM Linhas Aéreas) Flight 3054 crashes upon landing during rain in São Paulo. This is Brazil's deadliest aviation accident to date with an estimated 199 deaths

2005 - Tiger Woods wins his 10th major winning The British Open Championship by 5 strokes. Woods becomes only the second golfer, after Jack Nicklaus, to win each major more than once

1900’s

1998 - Russia buries tsar Nicholas II & family, 80 years after they died

1988 - Highest temperature ever recorded in San Francisco, 103°F (39°C)

1980 - Ronald Reagan formally accepts Republican nomination for president

1979 - Sebastian Coe runs world record 3:49 mile in Oslo

1976 - 21st modern Olympic games open in Montreal marred by 25 African teams boycotting the New Zealand team.

1974 - 1st quadraphonic studio in UK is open by Moody Blues

1962 - Senate rejects Medicare for aged

1959 - Tibet abolishes serfdom

1959 - Dr Leakey discovers oldest human skull (600,000 years old)

1955 - Disneyland televises its grand opening in Anaheim, California

1955 - Arco Idaho becomes 1st US city lit by nuclear power

1954 - 1st major league game where majority of team is black (Dodgers)

1948 - Israeli army captures Nazareth

1945 - Potsdam Conference (FDR, Stalin, Churchill) holds 1st meeting

1936 - Military uprising under Gen Franco/begins Spanish civil war

1934 - Babe Ruth draws his 2,000th base on balls at Cleveland

1800’s

1897 - 1st ship arrives in Seattle carrying gold from Yukon

1863 - Battle of Honey Springs - largest battle in Indian Territory - an important victory for Union forces in their efforts to gain control of the Indian Territory. The battle was also unique in the fact that white soldiers were the minority in both forces. African and Native Americans made up significant portions of each of the opposing armies.

1862 - United army officially divides corps

1861 - Congress authorizes paper money

1700’s

1790: District of Columbia Established

1781: The Mission San Pedro Y San Pablo De Bicuner is established, in modern Imperial County, California, on January 7, 1781. It is where the Anza Trail crosses the Colorado River. This is land claimed by the Quechan (Yuma) Indians. After unsuccessful talks, the Quechans attack and take over the Mission and surrounding pueblo.

1775 - 1st military hospital approved 1841 - British humor magazine "Punch" 1st published

1762 - Catherine II becomes tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia

1600’s

1673: Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joilet began an expedition to explore the Mississippi River on May 17th. They reach the juncture of the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers. Fearing a confrontation with the Spanish who control the lands further south, Marquette and Joilet decide to end their trip, and return north

1603 - Sir Walter Ralegh arrested

1500’s

1585 - English secret service discovers Anthony Babingtons murder plot against queen Elizabeth I

1400’s

1453 - 1st battle at Castillon: French beat English troops

Before 1000CE

180 - Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 50’s

Mark Burnett, English-born television producer (Survivor, Celebrity Apprentice, The Voice, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, Shark Tank) is 52

In their 60’s

Camilla Parker Bowles (Duchess of Cornwall), London England, wife of Prince Charles is 65

David Hasselhoff, actor (Night Rider, Mitch-Baywatch) will be 60

In their 70’s

Diahann Carroll, actress (Julia, Claudine, Dominique-Dynasty) will be 77

Gale Garnett, Auckland NZ, singer (We'll Sing in the Sunshine) is 70

Donald Sutherland, St John New Brunswick, Canadian actor (M*A*S*H, Body Snatchers) is 77

In their 90’s

Phyllis Diller, Lima Ohio, comedienne (Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number) is 95

Remembered

Hardy Amies, London England, royal dressmaker (Queen Elizabeth II) in 1909

James Cagney, New York City, NY, American actor (Yankee Doodle Dandy) in 1899

Erle Stanley Gardner, Malden Mass., US detective writer (Perry Mason) in 1899

Elbridge Gerry, (DR) 5th VP (Mass-Gov), invented gerrymandering in 1744

Art Linkletter, Saskatchewan Canada, TV host (People are Funny) in 1912

Luis Munoz Rivera, Puerto Rico, journalist (founded Federalist Party) in 1859

Today’s Obits                                                            

Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, Scottish politician dies at 58 - 1645

Ty Cobb, baseball great (Det Tigers), dies of cancer at 74 - 1961

Walter Cronkite, American broadcast journalist dies at 92 – 2009

Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean, pitcher (St Louis Cards), dies of heart attack - 1974

Billie Holiday (Eleanora Harris), jazz singer, dies of drug OD at 44 - 1959

Pierre-Charles Le Sueur, French fur trader and explorer dies at 44 - 1704

Mickey Spillane, American author dies at 88 - 2006

Answers                                                                                                                                            

What is the answer?

$3,000,000

5X5 boxes

WORLD

OTHER

RHYME

LEMMA

DREAD

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  ☺