July 23

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

Flagstaff Almanac

Week: 30 Day: 205

Today: High   80°…Low 51° Averages: High   81°…Low 52°

Records: High   92° (1996)…Low 38° (1995)

Wind:   9mph;  Gusts: 21mph

Afternoon Rain  Today’s humidity:  29%

Quote of the Day

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

2005 - Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing

            88 people

1992 - Emperor Haile Selassie, [Ras Tafari Makonnen] of Ethiopia's,funeral

1982 - Intl Whaling Comn votes for total ban on coml whaling (starting 1985)

1973 - Pres Nixon refuses to release Watergate tapes of conversations in the White 

            House relevant to the Watergate investigation

1964 - Egyptian munition ship "Star of Alexandria" explodes at dockside in Bone,

            Algeria. 100 die, 160 injured, $20 million damage

1937 - Isolation of pituitary hormone announced (Yale University)

1935 - Airplane crashes into the Empire State Building

1929 - The Fascist government in Italy bans the use of foreign words

1913 - Arabs attack Jewish community of Rechovot Palestine

1903 - Ford Motor Co sells 1st Model A car

1866 - Cincinnati Baseball club (Red Stockings) forms

1829 - William Austin Burt patents "typographer" (typewriter)

1745 - Charles Stuart, the Younger, lands at Eriskay Island, Hebrides

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪ 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

So happy to see the afternoon rain…not so happy to hear the thunder that accompanied it. It looks pretty ominous in the ‘flood area’ from our big fire two years ago…hopefully everyone’s massive preparation for flooding will pay off.

It looks like our HOA is changing our look…again. The homes across the commons have new larger rocks placed in their front areas. This may actually be a good thing, as the small pebbles are always being washed away or moved away or something. All our front areas are sloped toward the sidewalk and I’m sure gravity has something to do with the smaller pebbles moving down toward the sidewalk. I’m sure parents of small kids won’t be happy as the larger rocks will really mess up any front area play area for the kids. I was happy to see that the HOA has placed “Children at Play” signs on our ‘street’/parking area. Now they just have to do something about the so-called ‘commons’ which is nice trees and dirt…it could be really nice with a little landscaping.

I can’t believe the pro-gun people regarding the Aurora tragedy. Their cry is ‘if only one of their own had been carrying’. Yeah, right. Just what was needed, a second or third gunman shooting in a darkened tear gas filled theater full of innocent people. Somehow they believe that only the good guys would be carrying and they would be able to identify a bad guy from a good guy in the chaos. I don’t buy that. Everyone should be working to stop letting anyone buy 6000 rounds of ammunition or obtain clips that hold so many bullets.

As I was reviewing my latest pictures, I remembered something that really surprised me at the Houston Airport upon our return. As I have traveled, when one enters a new country there are several stations to go through. You go through a customs station to declare what you are bringing into the country and through the immigration station to determine why you are entering the country and how long you are staying. Both have forms that have to be filled out. A Visa is required at whatever the country fee is. Well at Houston, the immigration station is now called ‘Border Protection’.  Somehow, this new term does not carry the message on the Statue of Liberty. I’m not sure then this new terminology started being used as I only noticed it when I was in the long line, standing right beside the sign. I checked the old internet machine but couldn’t quickly find the date when it changed.

Game   Center: (answers at the end of post)

What is the answer?

A certain number consists of two digits. The number is equal to five times the sum of its digits. If you add 9 to the number, the order of its digits is reversed. What is the number?

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.      meeting of opposed forces
2.      weapon
3.      electro-negative element
4.      search
5.      the fifth was a Shakespeare subject
Hint: from upper left to lower right the letters are: C-A-I-U-Y

Lifestyle  Substance     

Do you remember this?

My Latest Adventure—

One Hit Wonders of the 1960’s

• In-a-gadda-da-vida
…Iron Butterfly…1968

• Angel in the Morning
…Merrilee Rush & The Turnabouts…1968

• You Keep Me Hanging On
…Vanilla Fudge…1968

• Fire
…The Crazy World of Arthur Brown…1968

Harper’s Index         

Percentage of Americans who believe that the population of the US exceeds one billion: 28

Found on You Tube 

• Mahalia Jackson - We shall overcome

• Joan Baez - We shall overcome

• My Name Is Khan - We Shall Overcome

Joke-of-the-day

A cannibal entered the meat market to buy something nice for dinner. The owner greeted him and told him to look around. The cannibal began to inspect the meat case and noticed the market specialized in brain.
Upon further inspection he noticed a marked disparity between the costs of brain meats. A carpenter's brain sells for $1.50 per pound. A plumber's brain sells for $2.25 per pound. He noticed with alarm that a politician's brain sells for $375.00 a pound. With not a little curiosity he asked the owner why the huge difference in price between the similar meats.
The owner responded with a deadpan look on his face, "Do you realize how many politicians it takes to get a pound of brains?"

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

Internet machine won’t find this page…returns as soon as possible

Yeah, It Really Happened

SAN DIEGO - California beach-goers were surprised to see two goats riding the waves on a tandem surfboard in San Diego. Goat owner Dana McGregor, from Pismo Beach, met up with tandem surfing duo Mark and Debbie Gale Wednesday to see if his goats, Goatee and Pismo, would get on a surfboard together, The Orange County (Calif.) Register reported.
"They look pretty happy. Thinking this is going to be a little bit easier than surfing with the wife," Mark Gale said of the challenge. McGregor has been bringing the goats surfing for a while now, but has never put them on the same board. On Wednesday the pair of goats had a few rides together before Goatee, the older one, swam to shore.
"Oh my gosh. That was hilarious. I never thought I'd see the day," said surfer Po Carbal, 22. "Goats on a surfboard -- I've seen it all. I think it's probably one of the oddest and coolest things I've ever seen at the beach."            

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The first labor strike in the United States occurred in 1791, when Philadelphia carpenters campaigned for 10-hour workdays and overtime pay. Despite their attempts, they were unsuccessful, and the shorter workday did not become a reality for many American workers until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 enforced eight-hour workdays.

• Freight haulers began organizing back in 1901 when teams of horses still transported goods in wagons. The drivers were referred to as "teamsters," which is how that union got its name.

• Ronald Reagan was the only U.S. president who had previously been president of a labor union. He served as head of the Screen Actors' Guild for eight years.

• "We Shall Overcome" was adapted from a gospel song written in 1900 by Charles Tindley. Union members first sang it during a 1945 strike in Charleston, South Carolina, and it quickly became the unofficial anthem of the labor movement.

• Even though patrons at the now-defunct Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, would regularly request "to sit in the booth that Jimmy Hoffa last sat in," he never made it inside for lunch that fateful day he visited. The labor leader disappeared from the parking lot on July 30, 1975, while awaiting his lunch companion.

• American labor unions are almost as old as the nation itself. As early as 1648, the seeds of unionization were planted when coopers (barrel makers) and shoemakers in Boston banded together and formed guilds.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

18-25

Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week:

Today Is                                                                      

Gorgeous Grandma Day
Hot Enough For Ya Day
Leo Begins
National Day of the Cowboy
National Vanilla Ice Cream Day  

Saint Apollinaris Feast Day: Italian: suffered exile for his preaching to converts

*Revolution Day (Egypt): 1952

Today’s Events Through History  

2000’s

2009 - Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox becomes the 18th pitcher to throw a
            perfect game in Major League Baseball history, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays
           5-0

2008 - Cape Verde joins the World Trade Organization, becoming its 153rd member

1900’s

1995 - Comet Hale-Bopp is discovered and becomes visible to the naked eye 
             nearly a year later

1994 - Goodwill Games open in St Petersburg

1989 - FOX-TV tops ABC, NBC & CBS for 1st time (America's Most Wanted)

1984 - Vanessa Williams, 1st black Miss America, resigns due to posing nude

1980 - Billy Carter admits to being paid by Libya

1968 - Race riot in Cleveland, 11 including 3 cops killed

1968 - PLO's 1st hijacking of an El Al plane

1958 - 1st 4 women named to peerage in House of Lords

1956 - Bell X-2 rocket plane sets world aircraft speed record of 3,050 kph

1931 - France announces they can't afford to send a team to 1932 LA olympics

1920 - British East Africa renamed Kenya & becomes a British crown colony

1904 - Ice cream cone created by Charles E Menches during La Purchase Expo

1800’s

1888 - John Boyd Dunlop, applies to patent pneumatic tire

1832 - The Eastern Cherokees hold a council, in Red Clay, Tennessee, to discuss President Jackson's special envoy Elisha Chester's proposals for their removal to Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma). They reject the proposal out-of-hand. They says they will not hold negotiations as long as the federal government is not living up to its previous treaty promises.

1700’s

1798 - Napoleon captures Alexandria, Egypt

1766: Peace conference between representatives of Great Britain and the Huron,
          Ojibwa, Ottawa, Potawatomi and "Six Nations" tribes is held for the next nine
          days.

1500’s

1599 - Caravaggio's 1st public commission for paintings

1200’s

1298 - Jews are massacred at Wurzburg Germany

1253 - Jews are expelled from Vienne France by order of Pope Innocent III

1100’s

1148 - Crusaders attack Damascus

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Under 30

Daniel Radcliffe, actor (Harry Potter in the Harry Potter series of movies) is 23

In their 30’s

Omar Epps, American actor, rapper, songwriter, and record producer is 39

Monica Lewinsky, San Francisco California, American White House intern (improper
        relationship with Bill Clinton) is 39

In their 40’s

Slash, [Saul Hudson], London England, rock guitarist & songwriter (Guns N'
         Roses-Sweet Child o' Mine) is 47

Marlon Wayans, comedian (Wayans Bros, In Living Color) is 40

In their 50’s

Woody Harrelson, actor (Woody Boyd-Cheers) is 51

Eriq La Salle, actor (Dr Peter Benton-ER) is 50

In their 70’s

Anthony M Kennedy, California, 106th Supreme Court justice is 76

In their 80’s

Gloria De Haven, LA, actress (Bog, Yellow Cab Man, Irene-Nakia) is 87

Remembered for being born today

Bert Convy, St Louis Mo, actor (Snoop Sisters, Win Lose or Draw) - 1933

Don Drysdale, Van Nuys California, pitcher (LA Dodgers-Cy Young 1962) - 1936

Charles Sumner Frazier, Portland ME, my father - 1914

Dr. Randall Forsberg, American nuclear freeze advocate - 1943

Max Heindel, Danish Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic - 1865

Pee Wee Reese, American baseball player Hall of Fame shortstop (Dodgers) - 1918

Haile Selassie, [Ras Tafari Makonnen], emperor of Ethiopia (1930-74) - 1892

Bal Gangadhar Tilak, British-Indian Hindi leader - 1856

Arthur Treacher, Brighton England, announcer (Merv Griffin Show) - 1894

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

[Edward] Montgomery Clift, actor (From Here to Eternity), dies of heart attack
         in 1966 at 45

Ulysses S. Grant, 18th US pres, dies of throat cancer in 1885 at 63

D[avid] W[ark] Griffith, US director/producer, dies of cerebral hemorrhage
         in 1948 at 73

Van Heflin, actor (Great Adventure), dies of heart attack in 1971 at 60

Kay Kyser, bandleader (Kay Kyser's Kollege), dies in 1985 at 79

Isaac Merritt Singer, inventor (sewing machine), dies in 1875 at 63

Vic Morrow, actor (Cimmaron), killed during "Twilight Zone" in 1982 at 53

Daniel Schorr, American journalist in 2010 at 93

Amy Winehouse, British singer songwriter, dies from a drug overdose in 2011 at 27

Answers                                                                                                                                            

What is the answer?

45

5X5 boxes

CLASHLANCEANION

                   SCOUR

HENRY

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  ☺