Sep 27. 2012

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

Flagstaff Almanac…  

Week: 39/ Day  271:   Today: High   70°…Low 38°

Records: High   84°(1999)…Low 22°(1934)

Averages: High  70°…Low 38°

Wind: average:   9mph;  Gusts:  35mph   Today’s average humidity:  39%

Quote of the Day…

Today’s  Historical  Highlights…

1996 - In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city Kabul after driving out 

            President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad 

            Najibullah

1990 - Tour de France champion Greg LeMond visits White House

1988 - The National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi is founded.

1954 - Steve Allen's "Tonight Show" premieres

1950 - Dr Ralph Bunche receives Nobel Peace Prize

1540 - Society of Jesus (Jesuits) founded by Ignatius Loyola

♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪.. 

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

Free Rambling Thoughts…   

I had a good check up at the dentist…always nice. There is a new dentist and he seems on top of things. I learned why I have needed a couple of crowns in the past…seems that those old silver fillings that were used for years by dentists swell and shrink over time. This causes the tooth to begin to crack. Hmmm. At least it is nothing I had done wrong. I still may need a couple more crowns, but no rush.

I got a call from Cheryl and our retirement group will have lunch on our regular Thursday this week. She is back from California and Mary is available too. Another colleague posted that he was going start substituting at a local Charter School. Its much better pay than the in-home care he has been doing. As long as he is happy. 

I was in about 3^rd grade when my school started serving hot lunches. Prior to that we had all brought our own lunch box. Somehow it was a status symbol to ‘buy’ a hot lunch. The lunch lady era was born. Back then, all the food was made in the school cafeteria including the great hot rolls. When I was working in schools, the USDA food program was there big time…three meals a day. Slowly the idea of the school cooks actually preparing and cooking the food disappeared. They became little more than lettuce cutters and food warmer-uppers. The tastiness of the food also decreased over time. Then back in the Bush I administration salt on food became the enemy. No more salt packets, lots of less salt in all the food. The kids didn’t like it, but teachers worked hard to get kids to eat the less tasty food. I heard a story today about new guidelines with more fresh fruits and fresh veggies and whole grains has been introduced into USDA lunches. Kids are responding by tossing most of the veggies and fruits in plastic containers. It is a real quandary for the USDA, parents, and schools. With the obesity rate rising, the PE programs declining, and more and more kids who have their only ‘well balanced’ meal at school, someone needs to find an answer and find it fast. Our future depends on healthy children.

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)

converse while prone (4,4)

Rebus…

Can you figure out what this means?

Lifestyle  Substance…     

Do you remember this?

Read This Headline Carefully!!

Two Soviet Ships collide--One Dies

Do you know what this word means?

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

cryophilia

Gorilla:

Great Melodies…:

Toccata in d minor…Johann S. Bach

Toccata means “touch” in Italian, indicating how lightly the fingers should perform such a work on a keyboard instrument. Toccatas have been written by almost every composer you can name, but this one is the one everyone knows. You may not know it by name, but when you hear it, you snap your fingers after the first 3 notes. The legend of its composition is that Bach was bored one day at the organ and played around until he came up with this melody. This is completely unsubstantiated. We have no idea of the origin of the work, and many musicologists have argued that he didn’t write it. This lister argues, however, that he did, because the fugue that accompanies this toccata is absolutely top-notch, and could not have been composed by anyone else, not even Handel. Bach is the all time master of the fugue, and this one ranks among his best. The toccata is primarily famous through The Phantom of the Opera.

Harper’s Index…         

Amount a Barcelona non-profit is paying the Catalonian village of Raswuere to lease land for marijuana growning: $1.719.171

Unusal Fact of the Day…

Up until the early 1970s, funeral homes often offered their hearses for use as ambulances to transport patients to hospitals.

Found on You Tube… 

• (Meskel) The Finding of the True Cross

• Meskel the Finding of the True Cross

Joke-of-the-day…

A lawyer defending a man accused of burglary tried a creative defense to get his client off the hook. "My client merely inserted his arm into the window and removed a few paltry items. His arm is not himself, so I fail to see how you can punish the whole individual for an offense committed soley by his arm."

"Well put," the judge replied with a grin. "Using that same logic, I sentence the defendant's arm to one year's imprisonment. Your client can accompany the arm or not, as he chooses."

The defendant smiled. With his lawyer's help, he detatched his artificial limb, laid it on the bench and walked out.

Rules of Thumb…   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

CATCHING A LIAR…A good liar will look his victim in the eyes in an attempt to be convincing. Two tip-offs are an increase in his rate of blinking and overly complicated explanations.   

Yeah, It Really Happened…

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Organizers of a Swedish demonstration said people danced in Stockholm's streets to protest a law requiring bars to obtain licenses to host dancing.

Anders Varveus of the group Dance, Nonsense & Acceptance said more than 1,000 people gathered Saturday in Humlegarden park and listened to speeches from activists before dancing through the city toward the Tanto park, The Local.se reported Monday. The demonstrators, bearing signs with messages including "live, love, dance" and "dance or die," were protesting a law requiring owners of restaurants, bars and night clubs to obtain licenses before allowing patrons to dance.

The businesses could face fines if customers are seek moving to music. Varveus described the law as "absurd, obsolete and deeply offensive." He said the licensing policy "infringes on our right to move freely." Varveus said his group is prepared if legislators refuse to abolish the law. "Then we will organize another, bigger dance demonstration," he said.  

Somewhat Useless Information…   

• In September 1955, Dwight Eisenhower became the first sitting president to suffer a heart attack. He'd complained of indigestion while playing golf on the afternoon of September 23 and went to bed that evening still complaining of pain. He was rushed to the hospital after 2 a.m. on September 24.

• Ronald Reagan began wearing a hearing aid in 1983; he'd lost a significant amount of hearing on a film set in 1940 when a fellow actor fired a pistol near his head.

• Jimmy Carter's particularly personal ailment would've remained his own little secret had it not been for the good intentions of his friend Anwar Sadat. The Egyptian president announced to the world on December 24, 1978, that his good friend Jimmy had hemorrhoids and made a public appeal for all Egyptians to pray for his swift recovery.

• Cigar-smoker Grover Cleveland was diagnosed with oral cancer in 1893. At his insistence, his ailment was kept secret, and surgery to correct the condition was performed aboard his yacht. This way, he didn't have to check into a hospital, and the press was never alerted to his condition.

• Richard Nixon was first diagnosed with phlebitis in 1965. The condition later led to blood clots in his leg and on his lung.

• In 1919, Woodrow Wilson suffered a catastrophic stroke that was hidden from the press and public. In truth, this was Wilson's third stroke; he'd suffered from atherosclerosis and bad teeth, a potentially deadly combination.

Calendar Information…        

Happening This Week:

22-29: Banned Books Week / National Dog Week / National Keep Kids Creative Week / Remember to Register to Vote Week / International Women's E-Commerce Days

Today Is…                                                                      

Ancestor Appreciation Day
Crush A Can Day
Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Google's Birthday--1998
World Tourism Day
Ethiopia: True Cross Day (commemorates the finding of the true cross of the Crucifixion)

Today’s Events Through History…  

2000’s

2008 - CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform 

            a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7

1900’s

1989 - Sony purchases Columbia Pictures for $3.4 billion cash

1987 - NFL players' strike

1979 - Congress' final approval to create Dept of Education

1964 - Warren Commission released, finds Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone

1953 - Typhoon destroys 1/3 of Nagoya Japan

1938 - British ocean liner "Queen Elizabeth," launches at Clydebank Scotland 

1938 - Jewish lawyers forbidden to practice in Germany

1916 - 1st Native American Day celebrated, honoring American Indians

1905 - The physics journal Annalen der Physik published Albert Einstein's paper

            "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the

             equation E=mc²

1800’s

1864 - Jesse James' gang surprise attack train: 150 killed

1827 - End of the "Winnebago Expedition." After the "Red Bird War", which started 

            on June 29, 1827 - Winnebago Chief Red Bird surrenders, in response to the 

            army's threat to destroy the entire tribe. Red Bird is found guilty of murdering

            several settlers and rivermen; but, he dies in prison before he is sentenced.

1821 - Revolutionary forces occupy Mexico City as Spanish withdraw

1700’s

1719 - Charles Claude du Tisne (Du Tissenet) is in northern Oklahoma near the

           Arkansas River. He claims the territory for France. Eventually a trading post is 

            built here, near Newkirk.

1500’s

1509 - Storm ravages Flemish/Dutch/Friese coast, 1000s killed

Before 1000CE

70 - Walls of upper city of Jerusalem battered down by Romans

Today’s Birthdays…                                                           

In their 30’s

Lil Wayne, American rapper is 30

In their 40’s

Gwyneth Paltrow, actress (Pallbearer, Emma, Hard Eight) is 40

In their 50’s

 Shaun Cassidy, actor/singer (Hardy Boys, Breaking Away) is 58

In their 60’s

Meat Loaf [Marvin Lee Aday], Dallas, rocker (Bat Out of Hell) is 65

Steve Boone, NC, rock vocalist/bassist (Lovin' Spoonful) is 69

A Martinez, actor (Whiz Kids, LA Law, Santa Barbara) is 64

Liz Torres, actress (Mahalia Sanchez-John Larroquette Show) is 65

In their 90’s

Jayne Meadows, actress is 92

Remembered for being born today

Samuel Adams, revolutionary rabble rouser/(Lt Gov-Mass b. 1722

Louis Botha, Greytown South Africa, 1st PM of South Africa b. 1862

Don Cornelius, American television host (Soul Train) b. 1936

Grazia Deledda, Italy, novelist (Old Man of the Mtn-Nobel 1926) b. 1871

Cosimo de Medici, ruler of Florence and patron of the arts b. 1389

William T. Orr, television producer [77 Sunset Strip, Maverick, F Troop] b. 1917

Will Sampson, Muscogee (Creek) actor [One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest] b. 1933

Dick Schaap, sportscaster/author (Bo Knows Bo, Instant Replay) b. 1934

Today’s Historical Obits…                                                           

[Mildred] Babe Didrikson-Zaharias, javelin (Oly-gold-32) — cancer — 1956 — at 45 

St Vincent de Paul, served poor —1660 —at 79

Aimee Semple McPherson, Canada/US evangelist/faith healer — accidental 

     OD — 194 — at 53

Robert Montgomery, actor/dir (Robert Montgomery Presents) —1981 — at 77

Lloyd Nolan, actor (Dr Chegley-Julia)—lung cancer —1985 — at 83

Donald O'Connor, actor [Singing in the Rain]—heart failure —2003 —at 79 

William Safire, American Columnist—cancer—2009—at 79  

Answers…                                                                                                                                            

Do you know what this word means?

Preference for cold climates, as in the case of cryophilic bacteria, that thrive at very low temperatures (from the Greek kryos = chill, frost)

What is the rhyming answer?

Chat flat

Rebus

What’s black and white and red all over

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  §