Jan 12, 2012


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

Today’s  Historical  Highlights
1808 - The organizational meeting that led to the creation of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is held in Edinburgh
1863 - President Davis delivers his "State of Confederacy" address
1864 -The Navajo have been ordered to move to the Bosque Redondo Reservation in New Mexico. Many who decide not to go move to the Canyon de Chelly. Kit Carson has been directed to force the Navajo to move or to be killed as "hostiles". Carson and Captain Pfeiffer advance to the canyon. On this date, Carson enters the west end of the canyon. They encounter a band of Navajo, and kill 11 of them. While in the canyon, Carson will order the burning of the Navajo food and cherished peach trees.
1945 - German forces in Belgium retreat in Battle of Bulge
1952 - University of Tennessee admits its 1st black student
1970 - Biafran War ends, Biafra surrenders to Nigeria
1975 - Chrysler Corp offers 1st car rebates
2010 - Earthquake occurs in Haiti killing 230,000 and destroying the majority of the capital Port-au-Prince

Happy Birthday To:                      
 
Free Rambling Thoughts   
Sad news today—the 15+ yr old German Shepherd that came with the Hacienda and was a great party animal—had to be put down. Thankfully Cyndy and Laura were there with her until the very end. Hard to lose a pet, but better to be there than get a phone call to figure out what to do when she got sick at 2:30 this morning.

Geek skills failed today as I tried to hook up Martha’s new printer. After a 20 minute download the drivers wouldn’t work for her old computer. She and I went to Best Buy and she got a new MacBook. I’m headed to her home tomorrow afternoon to get it set up…knock on wood.

Ran some errands this afternoon. Safeway was not even busy…nice. Weather is nice. Good to be back in Flag for a little while.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)
Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle
You are given some words and names from a specific category and must name something else in the category that can be spelled from the letters in the clue. For example, given "Dodge," the answer would be "Geo." Both are cars, and "Geo" can be formed from the letters of "Dodge."
1.     Grape: 4 letters: pear
2.     Stockholm: 4 letters: Oslo
3.     Yum Kippur: 5 letters: Purim
4.     Grackle: 4 letters: lark
5.     Cherokee: 5 letters: Creek
6.     Boa constrictor: 5 letters: cobra
7.     Cather: 5 letters: Heart (Bret)
8.     Maple: 3 and 4 letter : elm, palm

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

Lifestyle  Substance      
AZ Centennial is in 33 days: Did you know?…
  • The state's most popular natural wonders include the Grand Canyon, Havasu Canyon, Grand Canyon Caves, Lake Powell/Rainbow Bridge, Petrified Forest/Painted Desert, Monument Valley, Sunset Crater, Meteor Crater, Sedona Oak Creek Canyon, Salt River Canyon, Superstition Mountains, Picacho Peak State Park, Saguaro National Park, Chiricahua National Monument, and the Colorado River.
  • No one is permitted to ride their horse up the stairs of the county court house in Prescott, Arizona.
  • Once a rowdy copper mining town, Jerome's population dwindled to as few as 50 people after the mines closed in 1953.
  • The capital of the Navajo Nation is Window Rock.


Found on You Tube         
 Returns tomorrow

Harper’s Index         
  • Percentage of profits American corporations paid in taxes in 1961: 40.6

Today: 10.5

Joke-of-the-day
A young bride tells her friend, “Paul keeps telling everyone he’s going to marry the most beautiful girl in the world.”
 “ What a shame! And after all the time you’ve been engaged!”

n               Bonus

Building Security has notified us that there have been 5 suspected terrorists working at our office. Four of the five have been apprehended. Bin Sleeping, Bin Loafing, Bin Gossiping, and Bin Surfing have been taken into custody. Security advised us that they could find no one fitting the description of the fifth cell member, Bin Working, in the office. Police are confident that anyone who looks like Bin Working will be very easy to spot. They thought they had apprehended Bin Working sitting at a desk, but it was actually Bin Surfing trying to impersonate Bin Working.

Rules of Thumb   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
  • If you haven't left the ground in the first half of the runway, abort the takeoff.

Somewhat Useless Information   
  • Play-Doh originally began as an all white wallpaper cleaning compound known as Kutol Wall Cleaner.
  • In 1955, the detergents were removed and the company was renamed Rainbow Crafts. Color was added and the compound became known as Play-Doh.
  • Once Play-Doh was reformulated into a children's modeling compound, it was originally sold in one gallon cans with its color indicated on the lid. It wasn't until a year after its debut that the smaller cans were made available to the public.
  • Play-Doh is available in 75 different countries. Hasbro sells approximately 95 million cans annually.
  • Unable to afford a national marketing campaign, Rainbow Crafts formed an informal deal with Bob Keeshan, know to children as Captain Kangaroo, to have Play-Doh featured on his show twice a week. In return, Bob's production company received a 2 percent cut of Play-Doh's sales.
  • In 1960, Play-Doh Pete, a boy garbed in a beret and artist's smock, was introduced as the modeling clay's mascot. Today, Pete graces cans of Play-Doh wearing a backwards baseball cap and a t-shirt.

Yeah, It Really Happened                 
Police have cited a man for disorderly conduct for allegedly chaining himself inside his car while parked outside a western Pennsylvania drug store and dressed as a woman.
Police were called to a Walgreen's store about 11:20 p.m. when someone reported seeing the 28-year-old man chained inside the car.
When police arrived, the man told them he had restrained himself because he had come to buy his wife a drink at the store, but found it difficult to work up the courage to enter the store dressed as a woman. A police report says the suspect chained himself "to build himself up to going into the store dressed like a woman."
The man his charged with disorderly conduct "for causing a public alarm."

Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
8-14
  • Universal Letter Writing Week
  • Home Office Safety and Security Week
  • National Vocation Awareness Week

10-13
  • International Consumers Electronics Show

11-17
  • Cuckoo Dancing Week:
  • National No-Tillage Week Conference
  • National Soccer Coaches of America Week
  • International Snowmobile Safety and Awareness Week


Today Is                                                                      
  • Feast of Fabulous Wild Men Day
  • Tanzania: Zanzibar Revolution Day (1964)

Today’s Other Events                                                             
1400’s
1493 - Last day for all Jews to leave Sicily

1500’s
1583 - Holland begins use of Gregorian calendar (yesterday was 1/1/1583)

1600’s
1684 - French king Louis XIV marries Madame Maintenon

1700’s
1723 - Handel's opera "Ottone" premieres, London
1773 - 1st US public museum established (Charlestown SC)

1800’s
1803 - The Seneca treaty of June 30, 1802 is ratified, and publicly proclaimed.
1812 - 1st cargo arrives in New Orleans by steam, from Natchez
1820 - Royal Astronomical Society founded in England
1879 - British Zulu War begins: Lt-General Chelmsford invades Zululand

1900’s
1903 - Harry Houdini performs at Rembrandt Theater, Amsterdam
1948 - 1st Supermarket in UK opens
1949 - "Arthur Godfrey & His Friends" premieres on CBS TV
1958 - NCAA adds 2 point conversion to football scoring
1960 - Syracuse National Dolph Schayes is 1st NBA'er to score 15,000 points
1965 - "Hullabaloo" premieres on NBC-TV
1966 - "Batman" with Adam West & Burt Ward premieres on ABC TV
1967 - Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation
1969 - Superbowl III: NY Jets beat Balt Colts, 16-7 in Miami Superbowl MVP: Joe Namath, NY Jets, QB
1971 - "All in the Family" premieres on CBS featuring 1st toilet flush on TV
1971 - Fed grand jury indicts Rev Philip Berrigan & 5 others, including a nun & 2 priests, on charges of plotting to kidnap Henry Kissinger
1975 - Superbowl IX: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Minnesota Vikings, 16-6 in New Orleans Superbowl MVP: Franco Harris, Pittsburgh, RB
1981 - "Dynasty", a prime time soap opera inspired by Dallas, premieres on ABC
1989 - Idi Amin expelled from Zaire

2000’s
2006 - A stampede during the Stoning the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 362 Muslim pilgrims

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
In their 40’s
Rob Zombie, musician is 46

In their 50’s
Kirstie Alley, actor is  57
Oliver Platt, actor is 52
Howard Stern, radio personality is 58
Dominique Wilkins, NBA forward (Atlanta Hawks) is 52

In their 60’s
Drew Pearson, former NFL all-pro receiver is 61
Rush Limbaugh, American right wing radio personality is 61
Ricky Van Shelton, country musician is 60

In their 80’s
Ray Price, country singer (Good Times) is 86
Glenn Yarborough, singer (Limeliters-Honey & Wine, Baby the Rain Must Fall ) is 82

Remembered for being born on this day
Long John Baldry, England, blues vocalist (Don't try to Lay No Boogie) in 1941
A P[ieter] W Botha, Orange Free State, president of South Africa in 1916
Joe Frazier, HW boxer (Olympic-gold-1964)/champ (1968-73) in 1944
John Hancock, patriot (1st to sign Declaration of Independence) in 1737
Ira Hayes, Pima Marine of Iwo Jima photo fame in 1923
Jack London, writer/socialist (Call of the Wild) in 1876
Tex Ritter, country singer (5 Star Jubilee, Wayward Wind) in 1906
Henny Youngman, comedian (Take my wife please...) in 1906

Today’s Obits                                                           
Agatha Christie, mystery writer (10 Little Indians), dies at 85 in 1976
Ernie Kovacs, comedian (Ernie Kovacs Show), killed in auto crash at 42 in 1962
Walt Morey, US children's book writer (Gentle Ben), dies at 84 in 1992
Laurence J Peter, author (Peter Principle), dies of a stroke at 70 in 1990
Isaac Pitman, British inventor (Pitman Shorthand) dies at 84 in 1897
Ruth Snyder, 1st woman to die in electric chair (killed husband) dies at 33 in 1928
Cyrus Vance, 57th U.S. Secretary of State dies at 85 in 2002
Hiram Walker, American distiller dies at 82

Answers                                                                                                                                            
Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle
1.     Grape: 4 letters: pear
2.     Stockholm: 4 letters: Oslo
3.     Yum Kippur: 5 letters: Purim
4.     Grackle: 4 letters: lark
5.     Cherokee: 5 letters: Creek
6.     Boa constrictor: 5 letters: cobra
7.     Cather: 5 letters: Heart (Bret)
8.     Maple: 3 and 4 letter : elm, palm

Wuzzle
  • Boxers
  • Double or nothing
  • Slightly mixed up

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 

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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.