♥ Feb 14 ♥

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

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1776 - The first Spanish arrive at what eventually becomes Needles, California

1848 - James K Polk became 1st pres photographed in office (Matthew Brady)

1889 - 1st train load of fruit (oranges) leaves LA for east

1941 - 1,000,000th vehicle traverses the NY Midtown Tunnel

1949 - 1st session of Knesset (Jerusalem Israel)

1962 - 1st lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducts White House tour on TV [50 yrs ago]

1989 - Khomeini orders Moslems to murder "Satanic Verses" novelist Rushdie

1989 - Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 mill damages for Bhopol disaster

2011 - The 2011 Bahraini uprising commenced

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪                     

 

Free Rambling Thoughts 

I woke up to snow, not a lot, just a sprinkling…but snow none the less. I had blood drawn to check and see if my thyroid meds are doing their thing. I’ll find out in a couple of weeks when I go in to see my PCP. I’m sure they are, but then, I thought they were before too.

 My brother called and he is busy getting ready for the grand opening of the Frazier Collection showroom this week. So cool and so proud. His website is still under construction. Can’t wait to see the collection. As with all high end furniture sites, no prices will be there I’m sure, but just seeing what was in his brain transformed into real things will be enough for me. I know I won’t be able to afford any of it, even at his discount. Should be exciting. 

Today is AZ’s centennial. The local paper has been doing a lot of historical stuff about Flagstaff. It’s been interesting for sure. I’ve been learning about a lot of our local building, school and street names that I didn’t know. Back when I was teaching Elementary School, I had to do a unit on AZ. Much of the information was state driven, even back in those days. And I had to take a class on AZ History to get my teaching certificate. I must say that even then, local flavor of Flagstaff was never part of the curriculum and only a little on Phoenix and Tucson. I sure hope that local flavor has been added. It is fascinating.

 The T-shirt is coming right along. Gregg likes the latest incarnation…which took me way too long to figure out. Once I figured it out, I felt a little ‘slow’ because when I got it, it was so simple. Looks like it is headed for the graphics people soon. Very cool.

Game   Center   (answers at the end of post)

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

This game involves two words. The challenge is to add an EE sound at the end of the first word to get the second word. Example: For "A person with a bank account" and "tasty" — the answer would be "saver" and "savory."

1.     Desire for food; where Budapest is:

2.     The hot season; a recap:

3.     More icky; a supermarket:

4.     Stockbroker partner of Lynch; in a carefree way:

5.     Fellow; genre for Agatha Christie:

6.     Talking bird: equivalence in value:

7.     City in Montana; Miss America for example:

8.     A place to sit; topper on an ice cream sundae:

9.     Loose as shoelaces; messy:

10.  Used a swizzle stick; rugged:

11.  A stand with three legs; hardy any effort:

Wuzzles  What concept or phrase do these suggest?

Lifestyle  Substance     

AZ Centennial – Feb 14:  Did you know?…

How did Ash Fork, AZ get its name?

In January 1892 the Prescott-Phoenix branch began building south from Ash Fork. Named by F.W. Smith, General Supt. of old Atlantic and Pacific Railroad in 1882, becaue of ash trees on the town site.

How did Alpine, AZ get its name?

"The town of Alpine is located in a piny area. Alpine developed from a log house (known as Fort Bush) owned by Anderson Bush, who in 1876 came into what is today called Bush Valley, in which Alpine is located. Bush sold c. 1879 to William Maxwell and Fred Hamblin, Mormons (From Alpine, Utah, the reason for the name of this place.

Daffynitions: :-)

ANARCHY - Exception to the ruleHERILOOM — A dead giveaway

Found on You Tube         

Dolly the Cloned Sheep

Harper’s Index         

Percentage by which a woman who lost her virginity before the age of 16 is more likely to get a divorced later in life: 80

Joke-of-the-day

Reaching the end of a job interview, the human resources person asked a young engineer fresh out of MIT, "And what starting salary were you looking for?"
The engineer said, "In the neighborhood of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package."
The interviewer said, "Well, what would you say to a package of 5-weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company car leased every 2 years - say, a red Corvette?"The engineer sat up straight and said, "Wow! Are you kidding?"
And the interviewer replied, "Yeah, but you started it."

Planet Earth

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

If a person will not hold eye contact when you try to explain something to them, they don't believe what you're saying.

Somewhat Useless Information    

The ancient Romans celebrated the Feast of Lupercalia on February 14th in honor of Juno, the queen of the Roman gods and goddesses. Juno was also the goddess of women and marriage.Many believe the 'X' symbol became synonymous with the kiss in medieval times. People who couldn't write their names signed in front of a witness with an 'X.' The 'X' was then kissed to show their sincerity.In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who would be their Valentine. They would wear this name pinned onto their sleeves for one week for everyone to see. This was the origin of the expression "to wear your heart on your sleeve."Every Valentine's Day, the Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet.The red rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.
The oldest surviving love poem till date is written in a clay tablet from the times of the Sumerians, inventors of writing, around 3500 B.C

Yeah, It Really Happened                 

South Bend, IN: When a mother returned home Monday night with her son, she discovered Keith Davis, 46, had neatly folded her clothes, swept the floor and cooked dinner. The problem? Davis was a burglar.
"I seen my living room light on and the bedroom light on, so once we came up the stairs I figured my brother was home," Ashley Murray told WNDU. "I turned the knob and it was locked, so I seen my screen open and I pushed my window open and it was some random guy in my kitchen."Murray told the station she walked away from the window with her son and called the police before yelling at Davis to leave her home."I'm like, 'The police are on their way!' And he told me, 'The police already been here,' closed my window, locked it back up and closed my door and sat in a chair in front of the window until the police came," Murray said.Murray told WNDU she noticed Davis had cooked some chicken and onions in a pan, folded her clothes and swept the floor. She told WSBT Davis even put a sheet and pillow on her couch."The police said it looked like he was a good chef. It looked like he had broth and everything in it," she said.Davis was arrested despite adamantly stating he was in his own home. He was charged with breaking and entering.
According to WNDU, the man told police he had woken up in the apartment,  and a woman told him to get a set of keys from a closet. Murray said Davis had a set of her keys in his pocket when he was arrested and suspects Davis had been watching her and saw when she placed a set of keys in a storage unit for her brother to use when he arrived later that night from Indianapolis.'He really seemed to think this was his home'When officers asked Davis where he lived he gave officers an address that didn't exist. According to the affidavit, officers had a difficult time understanding his speech."Me and the police think he was on some type of drug. He really seemed to think this was his home," Murray told WNDU.
Murray said her son later recognized Davis as a neighbor from across the complex. The son said he had seen Davis watching him and his friends when they played outside.Davis didn't steal anything beyond the food."He drunk up my orange juice, but it's cool because he swept up my floor and folded my clothes," Murray told WNDU.Prosecutors requested a $5,000 bond because Murray was concerned Davis might return, but the judge lowered it to $1,000. The prosecutor is requesting Davis undergo a psychological evaluation.

Calendar Information        

…Happening This Week:

7-14

Have A Heart for A Chained Dog Week

Risk Awareness Week

Love Makes the World Go Round; But, Laughter Keeps Us From Getting Dizzy Week

Getting Dizzy Week

12-18 

Celebration of Love Week

Children of Alcoholics Week

Jell-O Week

Love a Mench Week

Random Acts of Kindness Week

International Flirting Week

14-16

World AG Expo

14-21

 National Condom Week

National Nestbox Week

NCCDP Alzheimer's & Dementia Staff Education Week

Today Is    

Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day

Extraterrestrial Culture Day

Frederick Douglass Day

Ferris Wheel Day

Have A Heart Day

League of Women Voters Day

Library Lovers Day National

National Call In Single Day

National Condom Day

National Donor Day

National Heart to Heart Day

National Women's Heart Day

Pet Theft Awareness Day

Race Relations Day

Quirky Alone Day

Valentine’s Day

World Marriage Day

***

Islamic World: Mawlid Al Nabi (Begins at Sunset; celebration of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, founder of Islam)

Arizona: Admission Day (48th state; 1912: Centennial)
Oregon: Admission Day (33rd state; 1859)

Today’s Other Events                                                             

1700’s

1778 - "Stars & Stripes" arrives in foreign port for 1st time (France)

1794 - 1st US textile machinery patent granted, to James Davenport, Philadelphia

1800’s

1803 - Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of U.S. Congress that conflicts with the Constitution is void

1804 - Karadjordje leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire

1873 - Congress creates the office of Indian Inspector. The initial three inspectors are appointed by the President for four year terms. They inspect the operations of Indian Officers in the field.

1876 - A G Bell & Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents Supreme Court eventually rules Bell rightful inventor

1900’s

1903 - US Dept of Commerce & Labor forms

1907 - 1st US fox hound association forms in NYC

1919 - United Parcel Service forms

1920 - League of Women Voters forms in Chicago

1951 - Sugar Ray Robinson defeats Jake LaMotta & takes middleweight title

1954 - Sen John Kennedy appears on "Meet the Press"

1957 - Georgia Senate unanimously approves Sen Leon Butts' bill barring blacks from playing baseball with whites

1959 - $3.6 million heroin seizure in NYC

1967 - Aretha Franklin records "Respect"

1969 - The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe of the Flathead Reservation enact a resolution prohibiting the hunting or killing of Mountain Sheep.

1971 - Movie "Ben Hur" 1st shown on television

1971 - Richard Nixon installs secret taping system in White House

1978 - 1st "micro on a chip" patented by Texas Instruments

1979 - In Kabul, Muslims kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police

1980 - 13th Winter Olympic games open in Lake Placid, NY

1988 - Bobby Allison at 50 becomes oldest driver to win Daytona 500

1989 - The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System are placed into orbit

2000’s

2000 - The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.

2005 - Seven people are killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected Al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit the Philippines' Makati financial district in Metro Manila, Davao City, and General Santos City

2008 - Northern Illinois University shooting: a gunman opened fire in a lecture hall of the DeKalb County, Illinois university resulting in 24 casualties; 6 fatalities (including gunman) and 18 injured

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 90’s

Hugh Downs, TV journalist (20/20, Concentration) is 91

In their 70’s

Florence Henderson, actress/singer (Carol-Brady Bunch) is 78

In their 60’s

Carl Bernstein, Washington Post investigative reporter (Watergate) is 68

Pat O'Brien, reporter (Entertainment Tonight) is 64

JoJo Starbuck, American ice skater is 61

... Teller, Phila, magician (Penn & Teller) is 64

In their 50’s

Meg Tilly, actor is 52

Remembered for being born on this day

Jack Benny, [Benjamin Kubelski],  "Oh! Rochester!" in 1894

Nigel Bruce, Baja Mexico, actor (Son of Lassie, Spider Woman) in 1895

Frederick Douglass, African-American abolitionist/lecturer/editor in 1818

George Washington Gale Ferris, engineer/inventor (Ferris Wheel) in 1859

Woody Hayes, [Wayne], college football coach (Ohio, 1968 coach of the year) in 1913

Jimmy Hoffa, Teamsters leader who disappeared in 1975 in 1913

Murray the K, American impresario and disk jockey in 1922

Edward Platt, actor (Chief-Get Smart) in 1916

Thelma Ritter, American actress in 1902

Vic Morrow, American actor in 1929

Today’s Obits                                                           

James Bond, American ornithologist dies at 89 in 1989

James Cook, Scottish explorer killed by Native Hawaiians at 50 in 1779

Cyrillus, Greek apostle of Slaves, dies at 42 in 869

Dolly the sheep, first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell dies young form a progressive lung disease aged 6 in 2003

Julian S Huxley, English scholar/dir-gen (UNESCO), dies at 87 in 1975

William Tecumseh Sherman, Union Civil War General, dies at 71 in 1891

St. Valentine marking Valentine’s Day in 270 (some sources say 269, others 273)

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Brain Game

NPR Sunday Puzzle

1.     Desire for food; where Budapest is: hunger hungry

2.     The hot season; a recap: summer, summary

3.     More icky; a supermarket: grosser; grocery

4.     Stockbroker partner of Lynch; in a carefree way: Merrill and merrily

5.     Fellow; genre for Agatha Christie: mister; mystery

6.     Talking bird: equivalence in value: parrot; parity

7.     City in Montana; Miss America for example: Butte; beauty

8.     A place to sit; topper on an ice cream sundae: chair; cherry

9.     Loose as shoelaces; messy: untied; untidy

10.  Used a swizzle stick; rugged: stirred; sturdy

11.  A stand with three legs; hardy any effort: easel; easily

Wuzzle

• Age before beauty
• It’s about time
• Decorates

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  ☺