August 26

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

Flagstaff Almanac…  

Week: 35 / Day: 239 Today: High   76°…Low 52°

Records: High  88 °(1985)…Low 36° (2002)

Averages: High  78°…Low 49°

High clouds/ light rain--Wind:   9mph;  Gusts: 24mph

Today’s humidity:  81%

Quote of the Day…

Today’s  Historical  Highlights…

 2003 - The Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases its final reports 

              on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

1983 - Flooding destroys most of the old town of Bilbao, Spain

1972 - 20th Olympic games open at Munich German FR

1964 - LBJ nominated at Democratic convention in Atlantic City, NJ

1946 - George Orwell published "Animal Farm"

1929 - 1st US roller coaster built

1873 - 1st free kindergarten in the U.S. started by Susan Blow in Carondelet, 

             a suburb of St. Louis

1498 - Michaelangelo is commissioned to carve the Pieta

♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪.. 

How many can you identify…answers in Today’s Birthdays

 

Free Rambling Thoughts…   

I had a nice quiet Saturday. A little morning rain shortened my morning walk.

Saddened to hear of Neil Armstrong’s passing. He was in Flag just a few weeks ago talking at the local observatory. Some friends were there and said his humor was great, his humbleness was extraordinary, and his view of life’s goals challenging. My friends had mentioned their surprise when it was in the news that he was having heart surgery…since he never mentioned any ailment during his visit. RIP

Game   Center: (answers at the end of post)

What is the answer?

Answer the following clue in two rhyming words (e.g. an obese feline is a fat cat) If only one number is given, the answer is a word featuring internal rhyme (e.g. voodoo)

raze a New York suburb (7,9)

Rebus…

Can you figure out what this means?

Lifestyle  Substance…     

Do you remember this?

Read Carefully!!

 Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide

Do you know what this word means?

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

Contrail

Scottish Castles—…

60’s music…:

• Percy Faith Theme from A Summer Place (1960)
 The “Theme from A Summer Place” was written by Mack Discant, with the music by Max Steiner, an Austrian composer of music for film and theater. The name of the song comes from the 1959 motion picture for which it was created (obviously), but the most popular version of this song was recorded by Percy Faith, a Canadian conductor. Faith’s version spent an (at the time) record nine consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1960, as well as snagged a Grammy Award for Record of the Year the following year. Of all the covers of this song, Faith’s version stands alone in both critical acclaim and overwhelming popularity.

• Cliff Nobles & Co. The Horse (1968)
  The Horse is a song by Cliff Nobles and Company, released in 1968. Like the previous song, The Horse is the instrumental version of the A-side single “Love is All Right”. The Horse reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and sold a million copies within three months of its release. A unique distinction of The Horse is that the title singer, Cliff Nobles, doesn’t actually perform on the track since his vocals are actually featured on the track Love is All Right. Cliff Nobles had previously recorded three singles with Atlantic Records before moving on to Soul Records and breaking through with The Horse, his most successful song and one of my personal favorites.

Harper’s Index…

Estimated number of Americans carrying student-loan debt is in excess of $200,000: 167,000

Unusal Fact of the Day…

The average album length has increased from 40 minutes in the LP era to well over an hour in the CD era. Most double-album LPs can fit onto a single CD.

Found on You Tube…

First Moon Landing 1969

Joke-of-the-day…

 Chris had just turned 16 had long hair, and look like Joe Dirt. He went to his dad and asked: "Dad it is my 16th birthday! I would like you to by me a car for my birthday.”
So his dad replied, "Son, I will buy you any car that you want as long as you raise your grades AND cut your hair."
Chris said ok. The next week, Chris brought home a report card he had raised all his grades from c's and d's to all a's. His father was very happy! Now Chris was so excited he told his dad what car he wanted a, convertible mustang (red).
His dad said, "Chris you haven't cut your hair."
Chris replied, "Well Jesus had long hair."
His dad said, "yeah, and Jesus walked everywhere he went!"

Rules of Thumb…

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

 RAISING SWINE: It takes the profit from four pigs to pay the cost of keeping a sow. The fifth pig is the first one that makes you money.

Yeah, It Really Happened…

 OKLAHOMA CITY - An Oklahoma mother wants her 5-year-old son's school to revise its dress code after he was forced to turn his University of Michigan shirt inside out. Shannon Barton said she was shocked to find out her son, Cooper, had been made to turn his T-shirt inside out at Wilson Elementary in Oklahoma City because the district's dress code only allows college apparel from Oklahoma schools, KWTV, Oklahoma City, reported Thursday.
"They should really worry about academics. It wasn't offensive. He's 5," Barton said. District officials said the policy, which also bans professional sports team apparel, was created in 2005 with the help of an Anti-Gang Task Force. Superintendant Karl Springer said the policy will be reviewed by officials.

Somewhat Useless Information…

• Nathanial Currier and James Ives are best known for their Victorian Christmas scenes, but they also produced significant political cartoons and banners in their lithograph shop.

• Christmas still reigns supreme as the biggest card-sending holiday, but Valentine's Day runs a close second. The top recipients of Valentine cards are teachers, followed by children, mothers, and then wives.

• It takes a three-volt lithium ion battery, an analog recording chip, an amplifier, and tiny speakers to create a musical greeting card. When the card is closed, a tab slides between the two contacts and keeps the greeting silent. Such devices draw very little juice, so a musical greeting will long outlast your birthday party.

• The very first Hallmark card, published in 1916, featured a verse from poet Edgar A. Guest: "I'd like to be the sort of friend that you have been to me."

• According to the Greeting Card Association, four of every five greeting cards sold are purchased by women.

• In 1848, a new Valentine's Day card tradition emerged: the "penny dreadful" or "vinegar valentine." These cards were printed on cheap stock and featured rhyming insults intended for spinsters and other lovelorn folks.

Calendar Information…        

Happening This Week:

17-26

Little League Baseball World Series

25-31

Be Kind To Humankind Week
National Safe at Home Week

Today Is…                                                                      

International Homeless Animals Day: activities often include candlelight vigils, adopt-a-thons, microchip clinics, blessings of the animals, and heartfelt speeches

National Cherry Popsicle Day

National Dog Day

Women's Equality Day

Today’s Events Through History…  

2000’s

2008 - Russia unilaterally recognizes the independence of the former Georgian 

            breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia

1900’s

1996 - Bill Clinton signs welfare reform into law, representing major shift in US 

            welfare policy

1978 - Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice becomes Pope John Paul I

1967 - Beatles, Mick Jagger & Marienne Faithful meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

1955 - 1st color telecast (NBC) of a tennis match (Davis Cup)

1940 - Chad is the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration

            of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor

1907 - Houdini escapes from chains underwater at Aquatic Park in 57 sec

1800’s

1874 - 16 blacks lynched in Tennessee

1858 - First news dispatch by telegraph

1858 - In what is called "The Battle of Four Lakes," force under Colonel George 

            Wright fight for about three hours with Coeur d’Alene, Columbia River, Colville, 

            Kalispel, and Spokane Indians. The army defeats the Indians.

1846 - Felix Mendelssohn's "Elijah," premieres

1842 - The Caddoes sign a treaty in Texas. They agree to visit other tribes and 

             try to convince them to also sign treaties with Texas

1700’s

1748 - The first Lutheran denomination in North America, the Pennsylvania 

            Ministerium, is founded in Philadelphia

1500’s

1541 - Turkish sultan Suleiman occupies Buda/annexes Hungary

Before 1000CE

580 - Chinese invents toilet paper 

Today’s Birthdays…                                                           

In their 30’s

Macaulay Culkin, actor (Home Alone, My Girl, Richie Rich) is 32

In their 40’s

 Chris Burke, actor with down syndrome (Corky-Life Goes On) is 47

In their 60’s

Richard Cowsill, Newport RI, rocker (Cowsills-Hair, We Can Fly) is 62

Michael Jeter, actor (Fisher King) will be 60

Tom Ridge, first United States Secretary of Homeland Security is 67

Will Shortz, American crossword editor is 60

In their 70’s

 Vic Dana, Buffalo, singer/dancer (Talent Scouts) is 70

In their 80’s

Sangharakshita [Dennis Philip Edward Lingwood], Buddhist Philosopher, 

      Founder of the Western Buddhist Order is 87

Remembered for being born today

Mary Ann Nichols, 1st victim of Jack the Ripper b. 1845

Albert B Sabin, Bialystock, Poland, US microbiologist (oral polio vaccine) b. 1906

Albert "Bertie" von Saksen-Coburg-Gotha, husband of queen Victoria b. 1819

Elisha Williams, American rector of Yale College b. 1694

Today’s Historical Obits…                                                           

Tex Avery, animation cartoonist [Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Droopy, Screwy Squirrel,

          and developing Porky Pig, Chilly Willy] dies of cancer in 1982 at 72

Charles Boyer, actor (Gaslight, Rogues), dies in 1978 at 78

Lon Chaney, actor (Thunder, Big City, Unholy 3), dies of throat hemorrhage in 

         1930 at 47

Dominick Dunne, American writer, Vanity Fair correspondent dies in 2009 at 83

Ted Knight, [Tadeus Konopka], actor (Mary Tyler Moore), dies of cancer in 1986 at 62

Charles Lindbergh, aviator, dies of lymphoma in 1974 at 72

Thonis van Leeuwenhoek, biologist/inventor (microscope), dies in 1723 at 90

Evelyn Wood, speed reading guru, dies in 1995 at 86

Answers…                                                                                                                                            

Do you know what this word means?

Is the long, thin trail left behind by an aircraft when it's flying high enough for the cold to turn the exhaust vapor into ice crystals. Indeed, a condensation trail (to give it its full name) is, in effect, a very long, thin, man-made cloud. Condensation trail: A contrail is created when an aircraft is flying high enough for the cold to turn the exhaust vapor into ice crystals

Contrails may look like big swathes of pollution in the sky, but although they contain, as well as water vapor, hydrocarbons, sulphates, and nitrogen and carbon dioxides, they create, comparatively, far less ' greenhouse gas' than motor vehicles or power plants.

What is the answer?

 Flatten Manhattan

Rebus

Painless operation

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  ☺