sep 03, 2012

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Flagstaff Almanac…  

Week: 36 / Day: 247   Today: High   74°…Low 54°

Records: High   91°(1948)…Low 35°(1953)

Averages: High  77°…Low 47°

Wind: average:   2.5mph;  Gusts: 20mph

Today’s average humidity:  77%

Quote of the Day…

Today’s  Historical  Highlights…

1995 - eBay founded

1964 - Wilderness Act signed into law by President Lyndon B Johnson

1935 - 1st automobile to exceed 300 mph, Sir Malcolm Campbell (301.337 mph)

1912 - World's 1st cannery opens in England to supply food to the navy

1838 - Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery disguised as a sailor

1709 - 1st major group of Swiss/German colonists reaches NC/SC

1650 - Battle at Dunbar: England vs Scotland 

♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪.. 

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

Free Rambling Thoughts…   

A great Sunday. It was cloudy most of the day; rain fell at various times…sometimes just a sprinkle, and sometimes a real downpour. A good day to read the Sunday paper, watch my Sunday news shows, catch up on some recorded TV shows, water the indoor plants and just relax.

The National Weather service just released Flags percip numbers for August: The good news is that we had almost one inch more precipitation than a year ago. The bad news is that we are still almost four inches below our average.

Labor Day has always been a great holiday. It used to mean it was time for school. It still means a day to remember that our country was built by workers. I read a good post on FB today that talked about the difference between business and labor. In the small mom and pop business world labor is usually also the entrepreneur.  But for most of America, we work, or worked for someone else at their collective whim. I do understand that these entrepreneurs are a necessary part of the economy, as are the laborers. One of the biggest changes in the business world is the huge rise in top management salary throughout our economy. Top management salaries have increased to more the 531 times that of their average worker. In 1990 those salaries were about 65 times that of their average worker. I agree that top management has great responsibilities and needs to be fairly compensated, but without the average worker, where would they be? On this Labor Day I remember that top management did not come up with the idea of the 8 hour work day, overtime pay, holiday pay, paid vacations, minimum wage, safer workplaces, or child labor restrictions. I hope that this Labor Day is a reminder that labor and business need a symbiotic relationship, not an adversarial one.

Game   Center: (answers at the end of post)

What is the rhyming 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)

a three-sided ankle ornament (8,6)

Rebus…

Can you figure out what this means?

Lifestyle  Substance…     

Do you remember this?

Read This Headline Carefully!!

Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures

Do you know what this word means?

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

Gari

Mosques—…

Movie music…:

• Quigley Down Under…(1990) – Basil Poledouris
 One of the very finest Western scores ever composed. It’s light, almost humorous, and rustic, with the main theme announced by an easy, solo clarinet. The bass line is a bouncy, horse-clopping tuba, almost like a slow march, and then the banjo plucks in. It’s such a perfect Western score that it could be used for any Western there is. Star Tom Selleck is 6’4″, just like John Wayne, so that tuba in the bass suits them both. The banjo would work great in any Jimmy Stewart picture, who sounds a little like a banjo.

• The Ten Commandments…(1956) – Elmer Bernstein
 Bernstein stuck to the classic ideals everyone seems to have about God and Moses and biblical scenes. God’s theme is powerful, bass, a little frightening or at least respectable. Heston, as Moses, gets the hero’s theme, and then, of course, there is the driving, frantic music for the Israelites’ flight before Pharaoh Yul Brynner’s army. Not only should this film have flat out won the Best Picture Oscar, the only Oscar it won was for special effects, and that was just for the Red Sea Crossing. All the music has a decidedly Jewish flair about it. Bernstein pulled out all the stops, using the whole brass section as the Red Sea closes on the Egyptian army.

Harper’s Index…         

Maximum suggested donation for a week's course in civil disobedience at Canada's clandestine Co-Motion Action Camp: $125Price of a two-week stay at California's Entrepreneurship Camp, for ages 9 through 16: $1,950

Unusal Fact of the Day…

The Plague of Justinian killed as many as 10,000 people a day at its peak in 541 before eventually migrating from the Byzantine Empire to Western Europe, where it became known as The Black Plague.

Found on You Tube… 

TOP TEN COUNTDOWN *SUPERSTITIONS

Joke-of-the-day…

An obnoxious drunk stumbles into the front door of a bar and orders a drink, the bartender says, "No way, buddy, you're too drunk." A few minutes later, the drunk comes in though the bathroom. Again he slurs, "Give me a drink," and the bartender says, "No, man, I told you last time -- you're too drunk" Five minutes later the guy comes in though the back door and orders a drink, again the bartender says, "You're too drunk" The drunk scratches his head and says "Dang, I must be. The last two places said the same thing."  

Rules of Thumb…   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

AVOID CAR OR BUS SICKNESS-- If you are prone to car or bus travel sickness, look out preferably forward, and do not read. Car sickness happens because your brain gets confused by the discrepancy in information coming in from your eyes and your motion sensing. When both information stream match there is no travel sickness.  

Yeah, It Really Happened…

TORONTO - Ryerson University in Toronto said a group of 1,003 students, faculty and staff broke the world record for the largest cowbell ensemble. The event, organized by the school's orientation team, university staff and Ryerson Students' Union, involved participants playing the cowbell part to Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" while local rock band SEAM handled the rest of the song, the school said. Organizers said the 1,003 participants beat the record of a 640-strong cowbell ensemble set by a Boswil, Switzerland, group in September 2009. The record has been submitted to Guinness World Records for certification, organizers said.                 

Somewhat Useless Information…   

Superstitions:

• An acorn should be carried to bring luck and ensure a long life.

• Amber beads, worn as a necklace, can protect against illness or cure colds. 

• Seeing an ambulance is very unlucky unless you pinch your nose or hold your breath until you see a black or a brown dog.

• Think of five or six names of boys or girls you might marry, As you twist the stem of an apple, recite the names until the stem comes off. You will marry the person whose name you were saying when the stem fell off.

• To predict the sex of a baby: Suspend a wedding band held by a piece of thread over the palm of the pregnant girl. If the ring swings in an oval or circular motion the baby will be a girl. If the ring swings in a straight line the baby will be a boy.

• Spit on a new bat before using it for the first time to make it lucky

Calendar Information…        

Happening This Week:

1-7 National Nutrition Week / Self-University Week / International Enthusiasm Week

2-8 National Waffle Week

3- 7National Payroll Week

Today Is…                                                                      

Skyscraper Day

~ Qatar: Independence Day (1971 from UK)
~San Marino: National Day (301 from Roman Empire—world’s oldest republic still in existence)

~US: Labor Day

Today’s Events Through History…  

2000’s

2004 - The Beslan school massacre ends in the deaths of approximately 344 

            people, mostly teachers and children

1900’s

1978 - Pope John Paul I officially installed as 264th supreme pontiff

1971 - Watergate team breaks into Daniel Ellsberg's doctor's office

1964 - Wilderness Act signed into law by President Lyndon B Johnson

1944 - Canadian troops liberate Abbeville, France

1939 - Britain declares war on Germany. France follows 6 hours later quickly 

            joined by Australia, NZ, South Africa & Canada  after invasion of Poland

1938 - 1940 Olympic site changed from Tokyo Japan to Helsinki Finland

1917 - 1st night bombing of London by German fighter planes

1904 - St Louis Olympics closes

1900 - British annex Natal (South Africa)

1800’s

1891 - Cotton pickers organize union & staged strike in Texas

1855 - Indian Wars: In Nebraska, 700 soldiers under American General William S. 

            Harney avenge the Grattan Massacre by attacking a Sioux village, killing 100 

            men, women, and children

1838 - Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery disguised as a sailor

1833 - NY Sun begins publishing (1st daily newspaper)

1700’s

1783 - Treaty of Paris signed (ending US Revolutionary War)

1777 - Cooch's Bridge - Skirmish of American Revolutionary war in New Castle County, Delaware where the Flag of the United States was flown in battle for the first time

1600’s

1680 - Don Antonio de Otermin is the Governor of the province which contains 

            modern Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Pueblo Indians staged a revolt in August.

            Otermin enters Isleta Pueblo and discovers it is abandoned.

1100’s

1189 - 30 Jews are massacred at King Richard I (lion hearted) coronation

Today’s Birthdays…                                                           

Under 30

Shaun White, San Diego, snowboarder (Olympic gold - 2006, 2010) is 26

In their 40’s

Costas Mandylor, Australian actor is 47

Charlie Sheen[Carlos Estavez], NYC, TV and movie actor is 47

In their 60’s

Valerie Perrine, actress and model is 69

In their 70’s

Al Jardine, Lima Oh, guitarist/singer (Beach Boys-Surfin, In My Room) is 70

In their 80’s

Eileen Brennan, LA California, actress (Laugh-In, Pvt Benjamin) is 80

Mitzi Gaynor, Chicago IL, actress/vocalist (Les Girls, South Pacific) is 81

Dick Motta, NBA coach (856 wins, Its not over 'til the fat lady sings) is 81

Remembered for being born today

Prudence Crandall, founder (School for "young ladies of color") b. 1809

Kitty Carlisle, American actress and television personality b. 1910

Bill Flemming, sportscaster (ABC's Wide World of Sports) b. 1926

Alan Ladd, Hot Springs AR, actor (Shane, Carpetbaggers) b. 1913

Dorothy Maynor, Norfolk Va, soprano/founder (Harlem School of Arts) b. 1910

Maya King Ahkal Mo' Naab' II is born. Eventually, he rules over Palenque, 

      Mexico b. 523

John Humphrey Noyes, Vt, found Oneida Community (Perfectionists) b. 1811

Mort Walker, cartoonist (Beetle Bailey, Hi & Lois) b. 1923

Terry Wilson, California, actor (Bill-Wagon Train) b. 1923

Today’s Historical Obits…                                                           

Frank Capra, director (It's a Wonderful Life)—1991—at  94

e[dward] e cummings, US poet (Tulips & Chimneys), stroke—1962-- at 67

Oliver Cromwell, British general (1653-58)/Lord Protector, malaria—1658—at  59

James Harrison, Scottish-born inventor (mechanical refrigeration)—1893—at 77

Vince Lombardi, football coach (Packers), cancer—1970-- at 57

Ho Chi Minh, [Nguyen Ta't-Tanh], N Vietnamese president, heart failure—1969-- at 79

Duncan Renaldo, actor (Cisco Kid), lung cancer—1984--76

Answers…                                                                                                                                            

Do you know what this word means?

The pink pickled ginger that is served on the corner of a sushi tray to accompany sushi. It is served to cleanse the palate between mouthfuls and aid digestion. Though it should really be eaten a slice at a time, many sushi lovers like to mash it up with the pungent, bright green wasabi paste, which is made from green Japanese horseradish.

What is the answer?

Triangle bangle

Rebus

Crossbreed  

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  ☺