Halloween 2012

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Flagstaff Almanac:  

Week: 44/ Day: 304   

Today: High   67°…Low 24°

Records: High   72°(1934)…Low -2°(1971)

Averages: High  57° Low 28°

Wind: average:   4mph; Gusts:  20mph

Today’s average humidity:  32%

Quote of the Day:

Today’s Historical Highlights:

1st All Hallows Eve (Halloween) observed to honor the saints—834
1st Monday Night NFL game in Indianapolis, Colts beat Denver 55-23—1988
4th Olympic games ends in London—1908
63 U boats sunk this month (325,000 ton) —1940Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes—1892
Boy Scouts of the Philippines was formed—1936
Donner party, unable to cross the Donner Pass, build winter camp—1846
Lee Harvey Oswald announces in Moscow he will never return to US—1959
Michelangelo Buonarroti's paints "last judgement" in Sistine Chapel—1541
Mount Rushmore is completed—1941
President Johnson orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam—1968
Standard uniform approved for postal carriers—1868

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

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

Free Rambling Thoughts:   

Oh, those damn prescribed burns.  Woke up this morning to a very thick smoke around most of Flagstaff. My eyes were burning on the way to the dentist. I got my temporary crown, and my mouth is really sore. Being the back tooth, on the top, my mouth had to be really wide open, and he put in one of those rubber wedges. When he took it out, about ½ way through, my jaw was hard to close. Then he put it back in and finished. The good thing was that because it was a back tooth, I didn’t suffer from the numbing, as my tongue and lips didn’t go numb. The whole process only took a little over an hour.

I talked to my brother, in Brooklyn. They are all OK, but worried about the clean up. Both their offices in Manhattan are closed and have no electricity. They rely on public transportation, so they are basically stuck within walking distance of their apartment. Just listening to him describe the business problems was distressing. One tree near a parking lot for their building broke and destroyed a car. At times like this I keep thinking about what it would be like to be without electricity for several days. Scary. The cell phone service is spotty at best. He was outside, where it is usually really good, and we lost contact 3 times during our conversation. Watching the news shows how everyone relies on First Responders. The interviews with the people responsible for bringing the city back to life are also awesome…nothing but determination. And now Chicago is having problems with waves off the lake. My brother has several friends who live right on the lake, and I’m sure they are freaking. Everyone will remember Sandy for quite a few years.

Game  Center: (answers at the end of post)

Anagram Sentences: 5 letter anagrams

What are the missing words?

_____ overweight, I want to _____ dieting rather than going on my usual food _____ .

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Unusual Uses for Everyday Things: Aspirin

• If you're feeling a bit of a heart attack coming on, pop some aspirin and dial 911.
• Crush up enough pills and mix with water to create enough paste to cover the sweat stain of your choice. Let it sit for several minutes then rinse. Launder as usual. 
• When hair turns green from Chlorine: dissolve 6-8 aspirin pills in water then rub the solution into your hair. Let it sit for 10 minutes and rinse it out. The greenish effect should start to disappear after a couple of aspirin washes.
• Crush up the pill and add some water to make a paste. Apply the aspirin paste to your pimple and wait for several minutes. Rinse off without rubbing too much, and the pimple should diminish in redness and size. 
• Aspirin paste will do you when it comes to mosquitoes, flies, and the other stinging and biting bugs out there.
• A crushed aspirin in water (one pill to one gallon) helps plants to fight infection and stay alive during traumatic plant experiences like transplanting, cutting, cloning, or zombie attacks. 
• For Dandruff: crush up two aspirins into the normal amount of shampoo you use, then leave it in for several minutes, then rinse.

Old Saying Explained:

BEYOND THE PALE…Originally a pale was an area under the authority of a certain official. In the 14th and 15th centuries the English king ruled Dublin and the surrounding area known as the pale. Anyone 'beyond the pale' was seen as savage and dangerous.

Ok, then?

TV Theme Songs you may remember:

The Love Boat - Paul Williams and Charles Fox

Read This Headline Carefully!!

House Passes Gas Tax Onto Senate

Bumper Stickers:

Bagpiping:

"DUELING PIPERS" College of Piping

Harper’s Index:         

• Percentage increase in average annual federal spending during the Obama Administration: 2.4

• Rank of that rate of increase among the lowest under any president since Truman: 1

NEW!!! Ruminations: a short, funny, observation or anecdote

I am glad these Pizza Rolls are gluten-free because the main thing I think about when I have Pizza Rolls is my health.

Unusual Fact of the Day:

While you can buy mistletoe-scented air fresheners, candles and soap, real mistletoe has no discernible smell.

Found on You Tube: 

• Tom Paxton "Buy A Gun For Your Son"

• Harry Houdini

Joke-of-the-day:

To impress his date, the young man took her to a very chick Italian restaurant. After sipping some fine wine, he picked up the menu and ordered. "We'll have the Giuseppe Spomdalucci," he said. "Sorry, sir," said the waiter. "That"s the owner."  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

FINDING DIRECTIONS…Tall, pointed trees such as spruce usually have their tips leaning slightly to the north of east.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

A man in Russia's Kemerovo region was issued a traffic ticket this past summer after he had a minor car accident, according to En.ria.ru. He is hoping the Mayan calendar gives him a reason to skip out on the bill, which amounts to $32.

Rather than writing a check, the unidentified man wrote a 10-page explanation of his decision not to pay the ticket. "According to his calculations, the doomsday will come at the end of the year, and the payment would be pointless," regional court marshals said in a statement to the Moscow Times.

He reportedly visited a court official every day with "schemes, drawings and graphs," the marshals told the paper.

"The debtor believes that if people are kinder to each other and forgive each other's debts, the world will not end," a Kemerovo-based debt collector said, according to UPI.

No word on if the man's efforts at getting the ticket dropped are working.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• In 1584, after French explorer Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence region of North America, he reported finding "gros melons." The name was translated into English as "pompions," which has since evolved into the modern "pumpkin.

• Pumpkins are low in calories, fat, and sodium and high in fiber. They are good sources of Vitamin A, Vitamin B, potassium, protein, and iron.

• The heaviest pumpkin weighed organizers at the Topsfield Fair in Massachusetts said Ron Wallace of Greene, R.I., had taken the top honors at the fair and broken the world record with a pumpkin weighing in at 2,009 pounds in October 2012.

• Pumpkin seeds should be planted between the last week of May and the middle of June. They take between 90 and 120 days to grow and are picked in October when they are bright orange in color. Their seeds can be saved to grow new pumpkins the next year.

• Pumpkins are a member of the gourd family, which includes cucumbers, honeydew melons, cantaloupe, watermelons and zucchini. These plants are native to Central America and Mexico, but now grow on six continents. 

• Pumpkins have been grown in North America for five thousand years. They are indigenous to the western hemisphere.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

29-11/4

Give Wildlife a Break Week

Today Is                                                                      

Beggars' Night
Books For Treats Day
Day of the Seven Billion--2011
Girl Scout Founder's Day
Halloween or All Hallows Eve
Increase Your Psychic Powers Day

National Caramel Apple Day
National Knock-Knock Jokes Day
National Magic Day
National UNICEF Day

Trick or Treat Night

~US: Nevada: Admission Day (1864- 36^th state)

Today’s Events through History  

160 consecutive days of 100 degrees at Marble Bar, Australia begins—1923
1st US paved coast-to-coast highway, the Lincoln Highway is dedicated—1913
27 U boats sunk this month (135,000 ton) —1939
Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) becomes premier of Italy—1922
Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem  (see Nehemiah 9:1, NLTse)—445BC
Federal grand jury formally indicted former Enron Corp CFO Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering,     conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to the collapse—2002
Great Depression: In an effort to try restore investor confidence, the     New York Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point program aimed to     upgrade protection for the investing public—1938
Iranian oil workers go on strike—1978
Luther posts 95 theses on Wittenberg church-Protestant  Reformation—1517
Mahathir bin Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia and  is replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, marking     an end to Mahathir's 22 years in power—2003

Monster cyclone ravages India, resulting in over 200,000 human deaths—1876
Brooklyn, NY ends streetcar service—1941
Pope John Paul II becomes 1st pontiff to visit Spain—1982
Roman Catholic church reinstates Galileo Galilei after 359 years—1992

Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents miner's safety lamp—1815

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Under 30

 Willow Smith, child actress is 12

In their 40’s

Dermot Mulroney, actor (Young Guns) is 49

Rob Schneider, actor (SNL, Jamie Coleman-Men Behaving Badly) is 49

Vanilla Ice [Robert Matthew Van Winkle] , rapper (Ice Ice Baby) and actor (Cool as Ice) is 45

In their 50’s

Peter Jackson, New Zealand, film director (Lord of the Rings) is 51

Glenn "Doc" Rivers, NBA guard (San Antonio Spurs) is 51

In their 60’s

Jane Pauley, Indianapolis Indiana, newscaster (Today, NBC Weekend) is 62

Frank Shorter, Munich Germany, US marathoner (Oly-gold/silver-72, 76) is 65

In their 70’s

Tom Paxton, Chicago, folk singer/songwriter (Forest Lawn) is 75

David Ogden Stiers, Peoria Ill, actor (Winchester-M*A*S*H, Doc) is 70

In their 80’s

Michael Collins, Rome, Mjr Gen USAF/astronaut (Gemini 10, Apollo 11) is 82

Lee Grant, [Lyova Haskell Rosenthal], NYC, actress (Shampoo, Landlord) is 87

Dan Rather, Wharton Tx, news anchor (CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes) is 81

Remembered for being born today

Barbara Bel Geddes, NYC, actress (Vertigo, Miss Ellie-Dallas, Caught) (1922-2005)

Chiang Kai-shek, Chekiang Province China, pres of Nationalist China (1887-1975)

John Keats, London, England, romantic poet (Ode to a Grecian Urn), (1795-1821)

Dale Evans, [Lucille Wood Smith], Uvalde Tx, cowgirl (Roy Rogers Show) (1912-2001)

Michael Landon, Forest Hills NY, actor (Bonanza, Highway to Heaven) (1936-1991)

Ollie Johnston, Disney early animator (1912-2008)

J F W Adolf Ritter von Baeyer, German chemist (Nobel 1905) (1835-1917)

Ethel Waters, Chester Pa, actress (Beulah)/singer (Stormy Weather) (1896-1977)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Pieter Willem Botha, President of South Africa—2006—at 60

H L Davis, US writer (Honey in the Horn, Pulitzer prize)— heart attack

    —1960—at 64

Federico Fellini, director (La Dolce Vita)—stroke—1993—at 73

Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India—assassinated—1984—at 66

Harry Houdini, [Erich Weisz], magician—appendix ruptured—1926—at 52

John Houseman, actor (Paper Chase, Fog)—spinal cancer—1988—at 86

River Phoenix, actor (Stand By Me)—drug overdose—1993—at 23

Charles Taze Russell, American founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses—

    cystitis—1916—at 64

Swami Dayananda Saraswati, founder of Arya Samaj—poisoned—1883—at 59

Answer: Anagram sentence

Being overweight, I want to begin dieting rather than going on my usual food binge .

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  §