August 6

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Flagstaff Almanac

Week: 32 / Day:  218

Today: High   76°…Low 52°

Records: High   90°(1944)…Low 35°(1976)

 Averages: High   79°…Low 52°

Wind:   8mph;  Gusts: 30mph

All Day Rain  Today’s humidity:  78%

Quote of the Day

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1997 - Microsoft announces it will invest $150 million in Apple Computer Inc

1986 - Orioles (Dwyer & Sheets) & Rangers (Harrah) hit record 3 grand slams

1984 - Carl Lewis wins 2nd (long jump) of 4 gold medals in Summer Olympics

1966 - Salazarbrug over Tag opens (longest suspension bridge of Europe)

1964 - Prometheus, the world's oldest tree, is cut down

1948 - Bob Mathias, US, wins decathlon at London Olympics

1945 - Hiroshima Peace Day-atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima by "Enola Gay"

1914 - Denis Patrick Dowd Jr. enlists in the French Foreign Legion, becoming 

            the first American to fight in World War I

1861 - The British annex Lagos, Nigeria

1819 - Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first private military

            school in the United States

1661 - Holland sells Brazil to Portugal for 8 million guilders

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪  How many can you identify…answers in Today’s Birthdays

                   

Free Rambling Thoughts   

I guess many were surprised by our day long rain...including my paper boy who didn’t put the big Sunday paper in a plastic bag.  So unusual to be overcast all day with on and off rain. We sure need it but sure cuts down on being outside. I noticed the birds were a little frantic at my backyard feeders. They really munched out and I had to fill the feeders in the middle of the day. We also had a little lightning and thunder, but not cloudbursts…just a nice rain.

Living in Flagstaff is really nice. We are at 7000’, have nice summers and certainly have winters with snow. It turns out our altitude is great for Olympic trainers. A local sports group has provided local training for 150 of the Olympians from 15 different countries in London. That is quite a feather in our cap.

Our discussion group last night was very good. I went to a great Chinese Dinner with a couple in the group, then off to the discussion. We really delved into the changes in immigration policy since the 1960’s. The fall of our economy in 2008 really decreased the number of people coming to the US. I also learned about H-1-Rs that are tied to employment. An employer can find a qualified applicant outside the US, then the employer files paperwork that allows the non citizen to come into the US to work for them. This must be renewed annually, but the employer. We heard some stats that show that Microsoft and many others have been using these documents for years to bring in people for software design. Since the status in the US is tied to the employer, the person can’t change jobs and wages are determined by the employer with no negotiation with the employee. Not a bad deal for the employer. Getting a green card, which allows the individual to work anywhere, is available only after the first year with an H-1-R., is the individuals responsibility. Of course, learning about the full process of bureaucracy is not easy. Another interesting line of discussion was regarding the learning of English by non citizens. Up until the 1960’s the US was still seen as the ‘new world’, especially by Europeans. When they left the ‘old world’ to come to the ‘new world’ many, if not most were coming to start anew. Part of that meant learning and assimilating into the US. Beginning with Lau v Nichols it was the law that non-English speakers had to be given accommodations in Public Schools if they did not speak English. This landmark decision, with all its good intentions, certainly changed the immigrant’s life. Mostly that assimilation is not a requirement to live here.

Game   Center: (answers at the end of post)

What is the answer?

Rearrange the letters of the following phrase to give the title of a classic western movie:  MAIN EVENT: FIGHT SCENE

6X6 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 6 letters.

1.      harmonious universe
2.      rural transport vehicle
3.      single dimensional value
4.      ill-intent
5.      fortune teller
6.      Monopoly collectible
Hint: upper left to lower right letters: C-X-A-I-L-T

Lifestyle  Substance     

Do you remember this?

Read Carefully!!

In a Laundromat:

AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINES: PLEASE REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHES WHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUT

Do you know what this word means?

What is this not so common name of a common object?Desire Path

London 2012—

Female Artist Folk Songs: Emmylou Harris

• Pancho & Lefty (1977)

• Together Again (1977)

• You Never Can Tell (1978)

Harper’s Index         

Percentage increase in total US health-care spending in 2009 and 2010 respectively: 3.8; 3.9Respective rank of these annual increases among the lowest of the past 50 year: 1, 2

Found on You Tube 

Andy Warhol Documentary       

Joke-of-the-day

Early one morning, a mother went in to wake up her son. "Wake up, son. It's time to go to school!"
"But why, Mom? I don't want to go."
"Give me two reasons why you don't want to go."
 "Well, the kids hate me for one, and the teachers hate me, too!"
 "Oh, that's no reason not to go to school. Come on now and get ready."
 "Give me two reasons why I should go to school."
 "Well, for one, you're 52 years old. And for another, you're the Principal!"

Bonus:

An engineer dies and reports to the pearly gates. St. Peter checks his dossier and says, "Ah, you're an engineer — you're in the wrong place."
So the engineer reports to the gates of hell and is let in. Pretty soon, the engineer gets dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and starts designing and building improvements. After a while, they've got air conditioning, flush toilets and escalators, and the engineer is becoming a pretty popular guy.
One day God calls Satan up on the telephone and asks with a sneer, "So, how's it going down there in hell?"Satan replies, "Hey, things are going great. We've got air conditioning, flush toilets and escalators, and there's no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next."
God replies, "What??? You've got an engineer? That's a mistake — he should never have gotten down there; send him up here."
Satan says, "No way! I like having an engineer on the staff, and I'm keeping him."
God says, "Send him back up here or I'll sue."
Satan laughs uproariously and answers, "Yeah right. And just where are YOU going to get a lawyer?"

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.

Yeah, It Really Happened

SHOTTS, Scotland - A Scottish disciplinary panel heard how a high school music teacher made up a story about running over a small girl in his car to get out of work. Joyce Kilmartin, head teacher at Calderhead High School in Shotts, said Derek McGlone, 42, fabricated stories on a "number of occasions" to take time off from work, The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday. "He started off telling a few silly lies. He then lied about knocking a girl over and killing her -- he said he felt his car wheels running over her body," Kilmartin told the General Teaching Council Scotland hearing.
McGlone said he was "embarrassed and sorry" for his actions. "I can give no reasonable explanation for my actions," he said.
The panel handed down a 12-month reprimand against McGlone's name on the teaching register.               

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Fresh extracts from cucumbers have recently been show to have both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. While research in this area must still be considered preliminary--since it's only been conducted on animals in a lab setting--the findings are clear and consistent.

• Cumbers are scientifically known as Cucumis sativus and belong to the same botanical family as melons (including watermelon and cantaloupe) and squashes (including summer squash, winter squash, zucchini and pumpkin).

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

1-7 

International Clown Week
Simplify Your Life Week
Rock for Life Week

5-11

Assistance Dog Week
Knights of Columbus Family Week

National Farmers' Market Week
National Resurrect Romance Week

6-12

Exercise with Your Child Week
Exhibitor Appreciation Week

National Fraud Awareness Week
National Hobo Week

Psychic Week
Single Working Women's Week
Sturgis Rally

World Breastfeeding Week

Today Is                                                                      

Hiroshima Day

National Fresh Breath (Halitosis) Day

Wiggle Your Toes Day

Bolivia: Independence Day (1825 from Spain/Peru)
Jamaica: Independence Day (1962-from Britain)

Japan: Peace Festival (since 1947)  

Today’s Events Through History  

2000’s

2011 - A helicopter containing members of Navy SEAL 6 is shot down in Afghanistan 

           killing 38

 2008 - A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'etat in 

           Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi

1900’s

1990 - UN Security Council votes 13-0 (2 abstensions Cuba & Yemen) to place 

            economic sanctions against Iraq

1980 - University adm declares 5 Pac-10 schools ineligible for conference titles 

            & post-season play due to transcript & curriculum abuses

1965 - Indian troops invade Pakistan

1965 - Federal Voting Rights Act guarantees black voting rights

1961 - 1st case of motion sickness in space reported

1956 - After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television

            Network makes its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena

1944 - All 1,200 Jewish death marchers from Lipcani Moldavia have died

1940 - Estonia is annexed into Soviet empire

1930 - Supreme Court Justice John Force Crater disappears in NYC

1926 - Warner Bros premieres Vitaphone sound-on-disc movie system (NY)

1914 - French cavalry enter Belgium

1901 - Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving 

            the contiguous reservation

1800’s

1890 - Cy Young pitches & wins 1st game

1890 - At Auburn Prison in New York murderer William Kemmler becomes the 

            first person to be executed by electric chair

1870 - White conservatives suppressed black vote & captured Tenn legislature

1854 - Congress passes Confiscation Act

1845 - The Russian Geographical Society is founded in Saint Petersburg

1840 - Hundreds of Comanche, led by Buffalo Hump, surround, and attack Victoria,

            Texas. In the next two days, fifteen settlers are killed in the fighting. The 

            Comanche take several hundred head of livestock.

1815 - US flotilla ends piracy by Algiers, Tunis & Tripoli

1806 - Holy Roman Empire ends; it was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire

1700’s

1774 - Founder of the Shaker Movement, Mother Ann Lee, arrives in NY

1600’s

1676 - Weetamoo is the Sachem of the Wampanoag town of Pocasset, Rhode Island. 

            The sister-in-law of King Philip, she leads as many as 300 warriors in battle.

            While trying to escape from European soldiers from Taunton, Massachusetts, 

            she drowns in the Taunton River. Her head is cut off, and displayed on a pole in 

            the town.

1500’s

1538 - Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada

1100’s

1181 - Supernova observed by Chinese & Japanese astronomers

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 30’s

Soleil Moon Frye, actress (Punky Brewster) is 36

In their 40’s

Geri Estelle Halliwell, "Ginger Spice" singer (Spice Girls) is 40

In their 70’s

Peter Bonerz, Portsmouth NH, actor (Jerry-Bob Newhart Show, 9 to 5) is 74

Remembered for being born today

Lucille Ball (b. 1911), Jamestown NY, comedienne/actress (I Love Lucy, Mame) 

       (d. 1989)

Leo Carrillo, (b. 1811),  LA CA, actor (American Empire, Cisco Kid) (d. 1961)

Alexander Fleming, (b. 1881)London, bacteriologist (penicillin; Nobel 1954) (d. 1955)

Hoot Gibson, (b. 1892)Tekamah NE, western actor (Horse Soldier, Last Outlaw) 

       (d. 1962)

Robert Mitchum, (b. 1917)Bridgeport Ct, actor (Winds of War, North & South) 

       (d. 1997)

Daniel O'Connell, (b.1775 )Irish politician (d. 1847)

Jon Benet Ramsey, (b. 1990)little beauty queen (murdered in 1996)

Alfred Lord Tennyson, (b. 1809) poet laureate of England (d. 1892)

Andy Warhol, (b. 1928)McKeesport PA, pop artist; film producer (Frankenstein, 

        Bad) (d. 1987)

Norman Wexler, (b. 1926)American screenwriter (d. 1999)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Anne Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare, dies in 1623 at 67

John Hughes, American film director (National Lampoon's Vacation, Ferris Bueller's 

     Day Off, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club, Some Kind of Wonderful, Sixteen 

     Candles, Pretty in Pink, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Beethoven) dies of heart 

     attack in 2009 at 59

Rick James, American musician dies of heart attack in 2004 at 56

Ben Johnson, dramatist/playwright, dies in 1637 at 65

Harry Reasoner, newscaster (60 Minutes), dies of blood clot in 1991 at 68

James White, co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church dies after stoke 

      in 1881 at 60

Answers                                                                                                                                            

Do you know what this word means?

A path created by natural means, simply because it is the “shortest or most easily navigated” way.

What is the answer?

The Magnificent Seven

6X6 boxes

COSMOS

OXCART

SCALER

MALICE

ORACLE

STREET

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  ☺