August 2

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Flagstaff Almanac

Week: 31 / Day: 215

Today: High   75°…Low 53°

Records: High   92°(1977)…Low 42°(1912)

 Averages: High   80°…Low 52°

Wind:   10mph;  Gusts: 20mph

Sunny & NIce  Today’s humidity:  39%

Quote of the Day

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1987 - Michael Andretti runs fastest Indy car race in history (171.49 MPH)

1985 - 5 die in a train crash in Westminster CO

1961 - Beatles 1st gig as house band of Liverpool's Cavern Club

1937 - The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, essentially rendering

            marijuana and all its by-products illegal

1922 - China, hit by a typhoon; about 60,000 die

1911 - Haiti's dictator Simon flees on US warship near Jamaica

1870 - Tower Subway, the world's first underground tube railway, opens in London

1858 - 1st mailboxes installed in Boston & NYC streets

1819 - 1st parachute jump in US

1791 - Samuel Briggs & his son, patent nail-making machine

1776 - Formal signing of Declaration of Independence

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪  How many can you identify…answers in Today’s Birthdays

                   

 Free Rambling Thoughts   

A great day here in Flagstaff…not too hot, beautiful blue sky, great day for a nice walk. My birds are keeping me busy with the feeders. They are emptying them once a day and they seem to like my little bird bath too. It is so enjoyable to watch them from the patio door or my bedroom window upstairs. They get pretty noisy in the morning, right after sunrise.

Watched some Olympics today. So nice to see the South Africans get 2 gold and the Taiwanese get one silver. I realize the Olympics is a big deal for all the athletes participating and that they are dedicated to winning in their sport. I have to shake my head when the athletes were removed from badminton. This had to be a coach decision and not the athletes. Whoever is responsible, it was stupid. I remember playing badminton in our back yard as a kid. It was fun but none of us were any good at it. A sad commentary on competition at the Olympics.

OK Romney…it’s about time to announce your running mate…I’m tired of hearing all the guesses. This seems to be one political decision that has not been leaked. It will be quite an announcement, whenever it comes. It might show all of us how serious the Tea Party really will be in the election. I have reluctantly reached the decision that the country is moving toward the conservative side. I only hope that those who do not want a more conservative country get out and vote. Here in AZ, we are seen as a very conservative state, and I for one am tired to the political ads with Primary Senate and House candidates claiming that their opponent is not a true conservative. Almost all the ads are sponsored by Super PACs so we don’t really know who is paying for the ads…and the election.

Game   Center: (answers at the end of post)

What is the answer?

Rearrange each of these girls' names to give a boy's name.DOLLY  DIANA  IRENE  LYNNE

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.      clerical linen collar
2.      conform to
3.      big mammal
4.      love
5.      principle
HINT: upper left to lower right letters: R-B-S-R-T

Lifestyle  Substance     

Do you remember this?

Do you know what this word means?

What is this not so common name of a common object?muntin

My Latest Adventure—

Great Overlooked Folk-Rock Songs

• Tim Buckley,"No Man Can Find the War" The opening track of his 1967 album Goodbye and Hello, and one of the great anti-war songs of all time, right from the atomic explosion that opens the cut.

• The Beau Brummels,"Sad Little Girl" A bolero-like ballad with ringing guitar riffs and enchanting harmonies from that most haunting of folk-rock groups.

• Dion,"Baby, I'm in the Mood for You" A cover of an obscure early Bob Dylan song,recorded in September 1965, but sadly unreleased until the 1991 CD compilation Bronx Blues: The Columbia Recordings (1962-1965). A terrific blues-rock performance by Dion, produced by Dylan producer Tom Wilson, who from the sound of the track may well have employed some of the same musicians who played on Dylan's first electric sessions.

• Ian & Sylvia, "You Were on My Mind" Not quite but almost folk-rock, the original We Five  version of the song covered for a huge pop hit in 1965. Written by the duo's Sylvia Fricker,the original is a far earthier performance, with the pair's trademark moving harmonies, an autoharp, and an almost gospelly earnestness.

Harper’s Index         

Age in years of the average car on the road in the US: 10.8Rank of that number among the highest on record: 1

Found on You Tube 

Cannabis History - How marijuana got illegal      

Joke-of-the-day

A man who was just married was flying to the Florida Keys for a business trip. His new bride was to accompany him the next day. When he got there he E-mailed his wife to let her know he made it there safely. When he sent the E-mail he miss-typed the address. In Boston, a grieving widow, whose husband has recently passed away, receives the E-mail. She reads it, screams, and faints. Hearing her grandmother’s cry, the widow's 18-year-old granddaughter runs into the living room to see the computer on with a message. It reads: Dear love, Just got here. Preparing for your arrival tomorrow. Can't wait to see you. Love,  Me. P.S. Sure is hot down here.

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guessIn the United States, standard modular brick requires 6.8 bricks per square foot of wall area.

Yeah, It Really Happened

PAIGNTON, England - British police said they are trying to identify a bus passenger recorded by a CCTV camera biting a chunk out of a leather seat. Police said footage from the No. 12 bus in Paignton recorded the man biting a chunk out of the seat around 8:20 p.m. May 25, causing about $314 worth of damage, The Mirror reported Monday.
"While traveling between Paignton and Torquay on a No. 12 bus, a male passenger started chewing the leather seat he ... sat on and continued to pick at the hole with his hand to make further damage.
Around 200 pounds ($314) of damage was caused," a Devon and Cornwall police spokesman said. The suspect was described as in his late 20s with a stocky build and about 5-foot-9.            

Somewhat Useless Information   

• With the 2012 Summer Olympics, London will become the first city to ever host a modern Olympics three times. In addition to that record, London also has the honor of being the first city to host the Paralympics, which took place in 1948 for wounded war veterans.

• The 1936 Berlin Olympics (also known as the 'Nazi' Olympics) were the first Olympic Games to ever be televised. Before the advent of television, sports fans had to make due with radio commentary, and before radios were ubiquitous, you could only read about the results of the events in the newspaper.

• In the past, the modern games were only canceled three times, always on account of war. The 1916 Summer Olympics in Berlin were canceled because of WWI. The 1940 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, as well as the 1944 Summer Olympics in London were canceled because of WWII. When people are fighting for basic survival, global athletic events tend to hold a lot less meaning.

• Oscar Swahn, a Swedish shooting expert, won his first Olympic medal in 1908, when he was a spry 60-year-olds. Apparently he got a taste for winning, even if it came later in life than most people. (He would go on to compete in two more Olympic Games.) After WWII, Swahn attended the Antwerp Games (his last) and won a silver medal. He was 72 at the time.

• The American James Connolly won the first medal given out (of the modern era) at the inaugural Athens Games, staged in 1896. Connolly competed in the triple jump and emerged victorious; becoming the first Olympic champion since the last Olympics were held, about 1,500 years prior. Instead of a gold medal, the top prize at the time was a silver medal and an olive leaf.

• Even though the top athlete in his or her field wins the 'gold,' the medals aren't really made out of solid gold. In fact, they haven't been pure gold for around 100 years. The gold medals awarded now are actually silver, with gold plating.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

1-7 

International Clown Week
Simplify Your Life Week
Rock for Life Week

Today Is                                                                      

National Ice Cream Sandwich Day

National Night Out

Macedonia: Day of the Republic 

      (Ден на Републиката, Den na Republikata): 

    Republic established--1944, also Ilinden uprising-- 1903  

Today’s Events Through History  

2000’s

2005 – Air France Flight 358, lands at Toronto Pearson International Airport, and runs 

            off the runway causing the plane to burst into flames leaving 12 injuries and no 

            fatalities.

1900’s

1990 - Iraq invades & occupies Kuwait, Emir flees to Saudi Arabia

1986 - Jackie Joyner-Kersee (US) sets record for heptathlon (7161 pts)

1964 - North Vietnam fires on a US destroyer in Gulf of Tonkin

1943 - Lt John F Kennedy's PT-boat 109 sinks at Solomon islands

1934 - 1st airplane train, plane tows 3 mail gliders behind it

1932 - The positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson

1928 - Benito Mussolini signs peace treaty with Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

1918 - Japan announces that it is deploying troops to Siberia in the aftermath of World

            War I

1914 - German press falsely reports that French bombed Nuremberg

1909 - 1st Lincoln head pennies minted

1903 - Unsuccessful uprising of Macedonians against Turkey

1800’s

1877 - SF Public Library opens with 5,000 volumes

1875 - 1st roller skating rink opens (London)

1873 - 1st trial run of SF cable car, Clay Street between Kearny & Jones

1865 - Lewis Carroll publishes "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

1865 - Trans Atlantic Cable being laid by SS Great Eastern snaps & is lost

1832 - 1,300 Illinois militia defeat Sac & Fox, end Black Hawk War

1832 - Whites decimate Indians in Battle of Bad Axe River, WI

1700’s

1792 - Mohegan Samson Occom dies in New Stockbridge, New York. A protégé of 

            Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, Occom learns numerous foreign languages, become

            an ordained minister, be the first Indian to preach in England, minister to many 

            Indian tribes, and be instrumental in the establishment of Dartmouth College in 

            New Hampshire.

1600’s

1689 - A small force of thirty men, led by Lieutenant James Weems, are occupying the

            fort at Pemaquid, Maine. They are attacked by almost 100 Abenaki Indians. The

            soldiers eventually surrender, and those who aren't killed, are taken as 

            prisoners to Canada

1610 - Henry Hudson enters bay later named after him, the Hudson Bay

1500’s

1542 - French troops leave Flanders

1400’s

1492 - Jews are expelled from Spain by King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella

Before 1000CE

338 BC - A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens 

                and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in 

                Greece and the Aegean

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Under 30

Nick Diaz, American MMA fighter is 29

In their 30’s

Edward Furlong, actor (Terminator 2) is 35

Michael Weiss, Washington DC, figure skater (1997 World Champ-7th) is 36

In their 40’s

Mary-Louise Parker, Ft Jackson SC, actress (Fried Green Tomatoes) is 48

In their 50’s

Ed West, NFL tight end (Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons) is 51

In their 60’s

Lance Ito, judge (OJ Simpson trial) is 62

In their 70’s

Wes Craven, director (Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream) is 73

In their 80’s

Peter O'Toole, Ireland, actor (Lord Jim, Beckett, Lawrence of Arabia) is 80

In their 90’s

Betsy Bloomingdale, dept store mogul is 90

Remembered for being born today

James Baldwin, New York, author (Go Tell it on Mountain, Another Country) – b. 1924

Elisha Grey, inventor (Telephone) – b. 1835

Myrna Loy, Helena Mont, actress (Jazz Singer, Thin Man, Vanity Fair) – b. 1905

Carroll O'Connor, NYC, actor (All in the Family, Heat of the Night) – b. 1924

Jack Warner, US movie studio head (Warner Bros) – b. 1892

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Andrew Barton, Scottish naval leader beheaded in 1511 at 45

Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish/US physicist (telephone), dies of diabetes 

      in 1922 at 75

Brian Cole, vocalist/bassist (Association), dies of heroin overdose in 1972 at 29

Totie Fields, [Sophie Feldman], comedienne, dies of blood clot in 1978 at 48

Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (Blue Boy), dies in 1788 at 61

Warren Harding, 29th Pres (1921-23), dies of apoplexy in 1923 at 57

Wild Bill Hickok, shot dead (from behind) by Jack McCall while playing poker. 

      (He held a pair of Aces & a pair of 8's) in 1876 at 39

Shari Lewis, American puppeteer dies of uterine cancer in 1998 at 65

Harvey Spencer Lewis, American Rosicrucian mystic dies in 1939 at 56

Horace Mann, American educator and abolitionist dies in 1859 at 63

Thurmon Munson, NY Yankee, killed in a plane crash in 1979 at 32

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Do you know what this word means?

The (usually wooden) strip separating window panes in multi-pane windows.

What is the answer?

Lloyd, Aidan, Ernie, Lenny

5X5 boxes

RABAT

ABIDE

BISON

ADORE

TENET

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  ☺