July 27

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

Flagstaff Almanac

Week: 30 Day:  209

Today: High   81°…Low 55° Averages: High   81°…Low 52°

Records: High   92 (1935)°…Low 40° (1913)

Wind:  7 mph;  Gusts: 19mph

Afternoon Rain  Today’s humidity: 28%

Quote of the Day

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

 2007 - Phoenix News Helicopter Collision: News helicopters from Phoenix, Arizona television stations KNXV and KTVK collide over Steele Indian School Park in central Phoenix 

1991 - TV Guide publishes its 2000th edition

1986 - Greg Lemond is 1st American to win Tour de France

1967 - LBJ sets up commission to study cause of urban violence

1954 - Armistice divides Vietnam into two countries

1931 - Grasshoppers in Iowa, Nebr & SD destroyed thousands of acres of crops

1865 - Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina

1789 - Congress establishes Dept of Foreign Affairs (State dept)

1689 - Jacobite Scottish Highlanders defeat royal force at Killiecrankie

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪ 

                   

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Our retirement group met today with a teacher still at TCBS and her daughter who lives in Mexico. They are starting back next week. I heard some of the gossip of TC and the boarding school…so nice to be removed from all that. We also caught up on some former students. Dawn was visiting from Mexico and always nice to hear her stories. Turns out, if I do the Mexico trip with Bob, our train will rumble through and stop in the town where she lives. She was really excited to think that she might be getting American visitors. Maybe it will work out.

I spent more time with my photos today, and got a whole bunch of pictures for the contest. We all took lots of pictures and I’m really glad the contest only has each person sending ONE picture for each of the categories. I’m still looking for my best pictures.

The Indian Child Welfare Act is back in the news. This time a couple from S. Carolina adopted a mixed race child from a white mother and part Cherokee father. The father had not been in the picture, but the adoption needed his consent, which he gave, the rescinded. Because the child is a member of the Cherokee Tribe, the father was given custody. The non-Indian adoptive parents had raised the girl for two years, taking her home from the hospital with the birth mother’s blessing. I’m sure the biological father was prodded by tribal politics to rescind his decision to give up his parental rights. As an adoptee, I feel for the adoptive parents, as my parents spent my first couple of years fearing that my adoption might go through. Paperwork always takes time. After working on the Rez in AZ I also understand a little bit about off reservation adoptions. The CNN story was told from the adoptive parent’s side…but that is their audience. Maybe some Native press will also pick up the other side of the story.

Romney is on his first International visit. He picked London, at the opening of the Olympics. He was after all the head of the SLC Olympic Games. Sadly, he put his foot in his mouth at least three times on his first day there. He wasn’t sure the London team was prepared for the games…ouch! He used the wrong title for the head of the opposition party…ouch! Then he commented on meeting with the head of MI-6 (the UK’s CIA). The problem is, the UK doesn’t talk publically about that group, and certainly not about its head. Ouch! Everyone makes mistakes in foreign countries, but as the potential leader of the free world, it would seem that Romney would have better people telling him what to talk about…like Mr. Romney, no sour grapes on the Olympics.  The US needs to be friendly to our long time friends and not make them upset…wonder what he would say if he was visiting a country that doesn’t speak English?

Game   Center: (answers at the end of post)

What is the answer?

Replace the asterisks by the correct mathematical signs to make the expression equal to 99.

16 * 12 * 2 * 3 = 99

5X5 Word Boxes

The answer to 1 across is the same word as the answer to 1 down; 2 across is the same as 2 down; etc. Can you solve these Word Boxes? Each answer is 5 letters.

1.      happiness
2.      solar emission
3.      dome home
4.      assemble
5.      take possession illegally
HINT: upper left to lower right letters are: B-I-L-A-E

Lifestyle  Substance     

Do you remember this?

My Latest Adventure—

One Hit Wonders of the 1960’s

• Keem-O-Sabe
…The Electric Indian…1969

• My Pledge Of Love
…Joe Jeffery Group…1969

• Baby, It’s You
…Smith…1969

• You, I
…The Rugbys…1969

Harper’s Index         

Minimum number of luxury hotels slated to open in Rwanda in the next year: 2

Found on You Tube 

Deep Inside the TITANIC       

Joke-of-the-day

A police officer in a small town stopped a motorist who was speeding down Main Street.
 "But officer." the man began, "I can explain,".
 "Just be quiet," snapped the officer. "I'm going to let you cool your heels in jail until the chief gets back..."
 "But officer, I just wanted to say...."
 "And I said to keep quiet! You're going to jail!"
 A few hours later the officer looked in on his prisoner and said, "Lucky for you that the chief is at his daughter's wedding. He'll be in a good mood when he gets back."
 "Don't count on it," answered the fellow in the cell. "I'm the groom." 

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

Science fiction books with green covers don't sell as well as those with blue covers.

Yeah, It Really Happened

SALT LAKE CITY - A Utah wildlife official said the mysterious "goat man" photographed crawling near some goats was a California hunter testing out a goat stalking disguise. Phil Douglass, conservation outreach manager for the Division of Wildlife Resources, said he was contacted recently by a 57-year-old California man who revealed he had donned a goat suit July 15 and appeared in Coty Creighton's photograph near Ben Lomond Peak just north of Ogden, the Ogden Standard-Examiner reported Tuesday. Douglass said the man, who did not give his name, gave information substantiating his claims and said he was testing out the goat suit for an upcoming hunting trip. "He gave me details that convinced me it was him," Douglass said. "I'm satisfied that this was a person preparing for a hunt and did it with knowledge and experience." Creighton said he had enjoyed the mystery about the goat man's identity. "I thought I wanted answers, but I was naive. I should have left well enough alone. Now I just want the mystery back," he said.                 

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Before McDonald's made him a multimillionaire, Ray Kroc failed selling real estate in Florida in his 20s. Fifty years later, his wealth allowed him to purchase a huge mansion in the state. He topped it off by having electricians install a special doorbell chime that played the jingle "You Deserve a Break Today."

• The Filet-o-Fish was created in 1962 by McDonald's franchiser Lou Groen, who was frustrated with losing Catholic customers to rival Big Boy, whose fish sandwiches sold very well on those days when no meat was eaten.

• McDonald's Corporation founder Ray Kroc didn't think the Filet-o-Fish would be a success, so he came up with his own meatless sandwich called the Hula Burger, which was just a slice of pineapple on a bun. The two sandwiches went head-to-head at a Chicago McDonald's on Good Friday, and the Filet became a regular menu item after winning in a landslide.

• In the 2004 motion picture Super Size Me, a succession of women interviewed for the documentary failed to properly recite the Pledge of Allegiance, but all could remember the Big Mac ingredient jingle, which was "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame-seed bun."

• Time magazine revealed that McDonald's restaurants stopped updating their "more than XX billions served" signs after they topped the 100 billion mark on April 14, 1994. Many of those signs have since been replaced with static ones reading "billions and billions served."

• Dan Coudreaut became head chef at McDonald's in 2004. He's the man responsible for whittling down several hundred suggestions and ideas into a handful of potential new menu items that are introduced in the chain's restaurants around the world.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

27-29 

Garlic Days
World Lumberjack Championships

Single Working Women's Week

Today Is                                                                      

Barbie-in-a-blender Day

National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day

National Talk in An Elevator Day

System Administrator Appreciation Day

Take Your Houseplant For A Walk Day

Walk on Stilts Day  

Today’s Events Through History  

2000’s

2002 - Ukraine airshow disaster: A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine killing 85 and injuring more than 100 others, the largest air show disaster in history.

1900’s

1993 - NBC TV awarded 1996 Olympic coverage for $456 million

1988 - Radio Shack announces Tandy 1000 SL computer

1987 - First expedited salvaging of Titanic wreckage begins by RMS Titanic, Inc.

1977 - John Lennon is granted a green card for permanent residence in US

1962 - Martin Luther King Jr jailed in Albany Georgia

1960 - VP Nixon nominated for presidential candidate at Republican convention in Chicago

1955 - Austria regains full independence after 4-power occupation

1949 - 1st jet-propelled airline (De Havilland Comet) flies

1940 - Billboard magazine starts publishing bestseller charts

1940 - Bugs Bunny debuts in "Wild Hare"

1935 - Floods at Yangtzee Jiang & Hoangh, kills 200,000

1924 - 8th Olympic games closes in Paris

1919 - Chicago race riot (15 whites & 23 blacks killed, 500 injured)

1918 - Socony 200, 1st concrete barge in US, launched to carry oil, NY

1800’s

1880 - A P Abourne patents a process for refining coconut oil

1844 - Fire destroys US mint at Charlotte, NC

1837 - US Mint opens in Charlotte, NC

1816 - US troops destroy Ft Apalachicola, a Seminole fort, to punish Indians for harboring runaway slaves

1700’s

1757 - Ottawa warriors and a few French soldiers attack a group of twenty-two barges commanded by British Lieutenant Colonel John Parker on Lake George in New York. The British forces have 160 men killed, and almost 150 men captured. Only two of the barges escape the fighting.

1755 - Indians attack the settlers at Fort Sartwell in Vernon, Connecticut.

1600’s

1643 - Cromwell defeats Royalist at Battle of Gainsborough

1500’s

1586 - Sir Walter Raleigh brings 1st tobacco to England from Virginia

1501 - Copernicus formally installed as canon of Frauenberg Cathedral

1200’s

1280 - Sogen Mugaku, founder of Engakuji temple arrives in Japan from China

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 40’s

Sasha Mitchell, actor is 45

Maya Rudolph,  American actress and comedian (SNL) is 40

In their 50’s

Daniel C Burbank, Manchester Ct, Lt cmdr USCG/astronaut is 51

Bill Engvall, stand-up comic is 55

In their 60’s

Peggy Fleming Jenkins, San Jose California, figure skater (Olym-gold-1968) is 64

Maureen McGovern, Youngstown Oh, singer (Got To Be a Morning After) is 63

Betty Thomas, St Louis Mo, actress (Lucy Baines-Hill Street Blues) is 64

In their 80’s

Jerry Van Dyke, Danville Ill, actor (My Mother the Car, Coach) is 81

In their 90’s

Norman Lear, TV writer/producer (All in The Family) is 90

Remembered for being born today

Thomas George Bonney, English geologist - 1833

Giosuè Carducci, Italian writer, Nobel laureate - 1835

Donald Crisp, Scotland, actor (How Green Was My Valley, Pollyana) - 1882

Leo Durocher, Mass, baseball manager (Brooklyn Dodgers, NY Giants) - 1905

Nick Reynolds, rocker (Kingston Trio-Scarlet Ribbons) - 1933

Amha Selassie, Crown prince of Ethiopia/son of emperor Haile Selassi - 1916

Ludovico Sforza [il Moro], Lombardy, Italian duke of Milan (1494-1508), (commissioned The Last Supper) - 1452

Kennan Wynn, NYC, actor (Dr Strangelove, Absent Minded Professor) - 1916

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Bobby Day, rocker (Rockin' Robin), dies of cancer in 1990 at 58

King James I of Aragon dies in 1276 at 68

Bob Hope, English-born entertainer dies in 2003 at 100

James H. "Dutch" Kindelberger, American aerospace pioneer dies in 1962 at 67

James Mason, British actor (Lolita), dies of a heart attack in 1984 at 75

Gertrude Stein, US/Fren author/poet (Ida, Tender Buttons), dies of cancer in 1946 at 72

Gilbert Charles Stuart, painter (portraitists), dies in 1828 at 72

Answers                                                                                                                                            

What is the answer?

16 x 12 ÷ 2 + 3 = 99

5X5 boxes

BLISS

LIGHT

IGLOO

SHOAL

STOLE

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  ☺