NOv 22, 2012

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Flagstaff Almanac:  Week: 47/ Day: 327    

Today: H   62°…L 21° Averages: H  48° L 21°

Records: H   70°(1950)…L -5°(1979)

Wind: ave:   1mph; Gusts:  8mph Today’s ave. humidity:  52%

Quote of the Day:

Today’s Historical Highlights:

"Mick Mack" of Nova Scotia sign a treaty with the British—1752

"Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" 1st heard on Eddie Cantor's show—1934

Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany—2005

British pirate Edward Teach ("Blackbeard") is killed off the coast of North Carolina in battle—1718 

Elijah Muhammad forms Nation of Islam in Detroit—1930

Fred Rogers of PBS "Mr Rogers Neighborhood" presents a sweater to Smithsonian Institution—1984

John F. Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas—1963

Mount St Helens in Washington, erupts—1942

Pump patented that computes quantity & price delivered—1932

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

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

 Returns tomorrow

Free Rambling Thoughts:   

A busy day…some laundry…some cleaning…baking some pies. Ready for Thanksgiving. Preparing our traditional night before Thanksgiving dinner of Beef and Noodles….with horseradish for the meat. Easy to make, easy to clean up.  

I am really confused. I paid into SS until I went to work for the Feds. Soon after that I paid into Medicare. When my SS began a year ago—I took it early—the amount was decreased by almost 50% because I had a Federal Pension. OK, not fair, but I can live with it. Now I find out that private sector workers who make over $110,000 a year don’t pay SS tax on anything over that $110,000. I am sure many of those over people will still collect the maximum in SS at some point in their lives Then I read that if those over $110K paid, the SS system would not have any fiscal problems. Something is rotten in Denmark…ah, Washington DC.

 

A tenuous cease fire…is better than bombs. Hope it holds up.

 

Someday I will learn that everything happens for a reason.  I usually fly to Chicago on USAir. This year the best (?) deal was with Delta. Now that USAir has voted to strike, I guess I’ll quit complaining.

Game  Center: (answers at the end of post)

Duplicate Letter Puzzles

Find common words with certain letters duplicated in the given positions.  

L stands for any duplicated letter, and _ stands for any letter

  _ L _ L L (2 solutions)

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Unusual Uses for Everyday Things: Coffee Filters

Diffuse the flash on a camera. When you’re taking a close-up, soften the brightness by placing a coffee filter over the flash. 

Strain wine from a bottle with a broken cork. Place the filter over a pitcher or a carafe and slowly pour the wine into it. Serve popcorn or other snacks. The filters act as disposable bowls, so there’s no dishwashing.  Make yogurt dip. Use a rubber band to secure a paper coffee filter over the mouth of a deep cup or jar. Slowly pour 8 ounces of plain yogurt onto the filter. Let drain for one hour. In a bowl, mix the thickened yogurt with 1 small minced garlic clove, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with crackers. Heat up leftovers in the microwave. Use a filter as the protective covering over a bowl or a plate. Prevent soil from draining out of flowerpots. When repotting, place a filter at the bottom, over the drainage hole, then add the soil. Clean windows and glass when you’re out of paper towels. Coffee filters leave no lint or other residue.

Old Saying Explained:

FEET OF CLAY…If a person we admire has a fatal weakness we say they have feet of clay. This phrase comes from the Bible. King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a statue. It had a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, belly and thighs of bronze and it legs were of iron. However its feet were made of a mixture of iron and clay. A rock hit the statue's feet and the whole statue was broken. The prophet Daniel interpreted the dream to be about a series of empires, all of which would eventually be destroyed. (Daniel 2:27-44).

Ok, then?

TV Theme Songs you may remember:

The Beverly Hillbillies - "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" by Paul Henning

Read This Headline Carefully!!

Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with Ax

America’s Historical Buildings:

Prairie Home Companion:

Good Jokes [Knock Knock Song]

Harper’s Index:         

Amount that Pakistan fined each of Osama bin Laden’s widows for their illegal stay in the country: $118

Ruminations:

Why do I always turn the volume down when I’m searching for a parking space? To date, no open parking space has ever even called out to me.

Unusual Fact of the Day:

John Larroquette provided the voice-over narration for the original 1974 film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Found on You Tube: 

Ravel's Bolero

Joke-of-the-day:

A wise old gentleman retired and purchased a modest home near a junior high school.

He spent the first few weeks of his retirement in peace and contentment. Then a new school year began. The very next afternoon three young boys, full of youthful, after-school enthusiasm, came down his street, beating merrily on every trashcan they encountered. The crashing percussion continued day after day, until finally the wise old man decided it was time to take some action.

The next afternoon, he walked out to meet the young percussionists as they banged their way down the street. Stopping them, he said, "You kids are a lot of fun. I like to see you express your exuberance like that. In fact, I used to do the same thing when I was your age. Will you do me a favor? I'll give you each a dollar if you'll promise to come around every day and do your thing." The kids were elated and continued to do a bang-up job on the trash cans.

After a few days, the old-timer greeted the kids again, but this time he had a sad smile on his face.

"This recession's really putting a big dent in my income," he told them. "From now on, I'll only be able to pay you 50 cents to beat on the cans."

The noisemakers were obviously displeased, but they did accept his offer and continued their afternoon ruckus. A few days later, the wily retiree approached them again as they drummed their way down the street.

"Look," he said, "I haven't received my Social Security check yet, so I'm not going to be able to give you more than 25 cents. Will that be okay?"

"A lousy quarter?" the drum leader exclaimed. "If you think we're going to waste our time, beating these cans around for a quarter, you're nuts! No way, mister. We quit!" 

And the old man enjoyed peace.

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

DESIGNING A CLOSET…Women have three times as many clothes as men, but they need only twice as much hanging space. Men's clothes take up more space per hanger.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

PORTLAND, Maine - More than 38 million Americans have shopped online while sitting on the toilet, a CashStar survey showed. The poll also suggests almost 17 million people have shopped via a mobile device while standing in the retailer's physical store; 9 million have secretly shopped while in a business meeting; and 4 million have shopped online while driving a car. The survey was conducted online nationwide by Harris Interactive on behalf of CashStar from Nov. 6-8, among 2,104 U.S. online adults ages 18 and older. The calculation was based on the U.S. Census Bureau's 2011 Census, which estimates there are 237,744,632 million adults ages 18 and older residing in the United States. The CashStar-Harris survey examined the strange places U.S. adults have used computers or mobile devices to shop online. "Smartphones and tablets have enabled consumers to shop and gift on-the-go in more ways and places than ever before," David Stone, co-founder and chief executive officer of CashStar, a digital gifting and incentives partner for retailers, said in a statement Monday. "The retailers who have been paying attention and catering to where and how consumers want to shop by mobile-optimizing their e-commerce sites and offering mobile eGift Cards will reap the rewards this holiday season and have a jump on the competition going into 2013."  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• In the second half of the 1600s, thanksgivings after the harvest became more common and started to become annual events. However, it was celebrated on different days in different communities and in some places there were more than one thanksgiving each year. George Washington, the first president of the United States, proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1789.

• Not everyone sees Thanksgiving Day as a cause for celebration. Each year since 1970, a group of Native Americans and their supporters have staged a protest for a National Day of Mourning at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts on Thanksgiving Day.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

16-22

National Farm-City Week

18-24

National Bible Week►National Family Week►National Game & Puzzle Week ►Better Conversation Week

21-28

National Deal Week

22-26

Church/State Separation Week

Today Is                                                                      

Anniversary - Assassination of John F. Kennedy (1963)
Humane Society Anniversary Day
Start Your Own Country Day
Thanksgiving Day or National Day of Mourning
Turkey-free Thanksgiving
~Lebanon: Independence Day (1943 from France)

Today’s Events through History  

"Bolero" by Maurice Ravel, 1st performed publicly (Paris) —1928

1st interracial TV kiss (Star Trek-Kirk & Uhura) —1968

1st snowmobile patent granted to Carl Eliason (Sayner Wisc) —1927

BBC unofficially bans "I Am the Walrus" by Beatles—1967

Comic strip "Cathy," by Cathy Guisewhite, debuts—1976

Hitler orders Rommels African corps to fight to last man—1942

Humane Society forms 1956 - 16th modern Olympic games opens in Melbourne—1954

Juan Carlos proclaimed king of Spain—1975

Lyndon B Johnson sworn in as the 36th US president—1963

Muhammad Ali TKOs Floyd Patterson in 12 for heavyweight boxing title—1965

Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine, resulting from the presidential elections—2004

Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounds Cape of Good Hope—1497

Potawatomi Chief Winamac is killed in fighting with Captain Logan (Spemicalawba) —1812 

Simon & Garfunkel appear on "American Bandstand" as "Tom & Jerry"—1957

Toy Story released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery—1995

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Robert Vaughn, NYC, actor (Napolean Solo-Man from UNCLE, I Spy) is 80

In their 60’s

Billie Jean King, Long Beach California, American tennis pro is 69

Steve Van Zandt, musician, songwriter,actor (Sopranos) is 62

In their 50’s

Jamie Lee Curtis, actress (Anything But Love, Halloween) is 54

Mariel Hemingway, Ketchum Id, actress (Personal Best, Civil Wars) is 51

Richard Kind, sit-com actor is 56

In their 40’s

Mark Ruffalo, actor, director, producer and screenwriter is 45

Remembered for being born today

Hoagy Carmichael, Bloomington Ind, actor/songwriter (Stardust) (1899-1981)

Rodney Dangerfield, [John Cohen], Babylon NY, comedian (Caddyshack) (1921-2004)

Charles de Gaulle, Lille, France, President of France (1958-69), (1890-1970)

George Eliot, [Mary A Evans], England, author (Silas Marner) (1819-1880)

Wiley Post, Grand Plain Tx, aviator/parachutist (crashed in Alaska) (1898-1935)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman, founded Mary Kay Cosmetics—2001—at 83

Michael Conrad, actor (Hill Street Blues)—cancer—1983—at 58

Scatman Crothers, actor (Shining, Zapped)—lung cancer—1986—at 76

George Washington Gale Ferris, inventor (Ferris wheel)—typhoid fever—1896—at 37

Shemp Howard, actor (3 Stooges)—heart attack—1955—at 60

Aldous Leonard Huxley, author (Brave New World)—LSD—1963—at 69

John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States (1961-63), assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas—1963—at 46

C S Lewis [Clive Staples], Irish author (The Chronicles of Narnia)—lengthy illness—1963—at 64

Jack London [John Griffith Chaney], author,— uremia—1916—at 40

Mae West, actress (She Done Him Wrong)—1980—at 87

Henry Wilson, Vice President of the United States—stroke—1875—at 63

Answer: Duplicate Letter Puzzles

LEVEE, MELEE

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  §