Nov 11, 2012 Veterans Day

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Flagstaff Almanac:  Week: 46/ Day: 316   Rainy snow/snowy rain

Today: High   34°…Low 24° Wind Chill: 12°

Records: High   71°(1973)…Low 5°(1946)

Averages: High  53° Low 25°

Wind: average:   14mph; Gusts:  37mph

Today’s average humidity:  86%

Quote of the Day:

Today’s Historical Highlights:

1st AIDS theme TV movie - "An Early Frost"—19851st episode of "Rocky & His Friends" airs—1959Alvan Clark patents telescope—1851Armistice Day-WW I ends (at 11 AM on Western Front) —1918
Chrysanthemums are introduced into England from China—1790Kate Smith 1st sings Irving Berlin's "God Bless America"—1939Massachusetts passes 1st US compulsory school attendance law—1647Route 66 (US) is established—1926Van Gogh's "Irises" sells for record $53.6 M at auction—1987

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

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

Free Rambling Thoughts:   

A chilly and windy day…a good day to stay inside. None of the snow is sticking but I have had heavy snow, light rain, light snow, more rain, and more snow all day. The wind chill factor has made it miserable outside.

 

It’s Veterans Day. A day set aside to honor all our vets. Thanks to my dad for his service before, during and after WWII. Thanks to the country for making it easier for him with the GI bill. My granddad was the youngest of his family and didn’t serve as he had to work on the farm. I didn’t serve as I was in college, and then got a high lottery number. I met so many who had served on the Rez and those people certainly changed my ideas about the military. For so many, the military is a way to find discipline, honor their family, and prepare for a life. Of course, many of these people joined during peace time. Peace seems like such a long time ago.

 

This whole Petraeus thing is so convoluted. The reason the military was against gays in the service was that they would be open to blackmail. Then as soon as the head of the CIA resigns, the talk is that he might have been threatened with blackmail for his affair. Talk about a double standard. Whatever happens now, I feel compassion for his wife and his family…they are the ones he really let down. It takes two to tango, and it appears his biographer had lots of access…even so I hope this doesn’t turn into another Clinton episode in the press.

 

This week’s pictures are of mountains sacred to various people. As Flagstaff continues its issues with various tribes over a sacred mountain, I realized that mountains are such important geographical outcroppings; other indigenous cultures around the world must also recognize certain mountains as sacred. I was right. I hope the readers enjoy the pictures and maybe Google some of the mountains to see why they are sacred.

Game  Center: (answers at the end of post)

Anagram Sentences: 5 letter anagrams

What are the missing words?

 The thieves managed to _____ the ceramic floor tiles, but at _____ they left the _____ countertop.

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Unusual Uses for Everyday Things: Petroleum Jelly

• Have a stuck drawer? Use petroleum jelly to prevent it from sticking and make the drawer move smoother.

• A common problem with outdoor light bulbs is having them stick to the fixture. If this happens trying get out the bulb might end up in it breaking. Put some petroleum jelly around the threads before putting the bulb in to allow for easy removal later.

• Having a hard time rushing out of the shower? Put some petroleum jelly on your curtain rod for your shower to open it lightening fast!

• A bit of petroleum jelly on a door hinge can take away that annoying squeak. Then you can sneak around your home effectively.

• You can use petroleum jelly to help you start a fire. It works pretty well with stuff that is having a hard time starting.

Old Saying Explained:

COCK AND BULL STORY…This phrase was first recorded in the 17th century. It probably comes from an actual story about a cock and a bull that is now lost.

Ok, then?

TV Theme Songs you may remember:

Barney Miller - Jack Elliott

Read This Headline Carefully!!

Is there a ring of debris around Uranus?

Sacred Mountains Around the World:

Celtic Music:

A Celtic Tale

Harper’s Index:         

Tons of Greek-style yogurt spilled on a NY state highway after a truck      crash in May: 18

Ruminations:

Nostalgia is amnesia of the bad and memory of the good.

Unusual Fact of the Day:

One accepted story: It took three people to compose the popular music for “The Hokey Pokey." Roland Lawrence “Larry” LaPrise, Charles Macack, and Taft Baker wrote the tune in 1949 to entertain tired skiers at nightclubs in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Found on You Tube: 

• Veterans Day 2012 - Freedom Isn't Free

• Jonathan Winters As An Airline Pilot

Joke-of-the-day:

Teacher to a student: "Can you think of a solution to end unemployment?" "Yes, sir! I'd put all the men on one island and the women on another." "And what would they be doing then?" "Building boats!"  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

FUELING A HOT AIR BALLOON…You get about half an hour of flight in a hot air balloon per 20-pound tank of propane gas.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

PITTSBURGH - The owner of a Pittsburgh tattoo parlor said she found covering her shop's floor with pennies was cheaper than buying tile. Mel Angst, owner of the Artisan tattoo shop, said she and a team of helpers spent about 300 hours gluing 250,000 pennies to the floor of her store, the New York Daily News reported Thursday. "Amazingly enough, we found it's a lot cheaper to just glue money to your floor than to actually buy tile. It's about $3 a square foot," Angst said. Angst said anyone who spent at least 30 hours helping with the floor will receive a complimentary Abraham Lincoln penny tattoo. "Some days it was just me. I think the most [people helping] we ever had was seven," Angst said. "But on average, three or four people a day for about 10 to 16 hours a day, for about three weeks straight, gluing these down."  

Somewhat Useless Information   

Unusual suicides

• Johnny Ace (John Marshall Alexander, Jr.) – singer 1954 --- suicide playing Russian roulette.

• Clara Blandick - actress (Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz) 1962 --- sleeping pills, with a plastic bag tied over her head. She was 81-years-old and suffering from crippling arthritis.

• Ray Combs - talk show host (Family Feud) 1996 --- hanged himself on the night of June 2, 1996, with bed sheets in his hospital room at Glendale Adventist Hospital while on a 72-hour "suicide watch."

• Joseph Goebbels - Nazi politician 1945 --- with his wife, poisoned their five children, then committed suicide at Hitler's Berlin bunker.

• Jim Jones - leader of a religious cult known as the Peoples Temple 1978 --- killed himself after watching more than 900 of his followers die from the ingestion of Kool-Ade laced with cyanide.

• Jesse William Lazear - US physician 1900 --- voluntarily infected with & died of yellow fever as part of Walter Reed's research.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

7-13

Dear Santa Letter Week ►Pursuit of Happiness Week

11-17 

American Education Week ►Geography Awareness Week ►National Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week

Today Is                                                                      

Death/Duty Day

International Tongue Twister Day

Afrikaans—Wat was was voor was was was?

Catalan—Com a ploure, prou que plou, Pau, però plou poc.

Danish—Bispens gipsgebis

English—I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.

Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.

How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?

Sheena leads, Sheila needs.

French—Un chasseur sachant chasser sait chasser sans son chien de chasse.

Irish—Tá ceann tuí ar trí thigh atá thíos le taobh na toinne.

Persian or Farsi—Shish sikh jigar sikhi shi shezar

Scots or Scottisch—It's a braw bricht moonlicht nicht the nicht.

Scottish Gaelic—Cha robh laogh ruadh riamh luath, is cha robh laogh luath riamh reamhar.

Welsh—Llongyfarchiadau llanciau Llanelli.

Veterans Day

World Kindness Day 

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~Angola: Independence Day (1975 from Portugal)
~Canada: Remembrance Day/Poppy Day (since 1918)

~Japan: Origami Day

~Poland: Independence Day (1918 from Russia)
~Sweden: St. Martin Day

~US:Washington: Admission Day (1889-30^th)

Today’s Events through History  

Cassius Clay KOs Floyd Patterson in Las Vegas—1965

Germany completes their occupation of France—1942

Highway in Bronx is laid out, later renamed East 233rd Street—1714

Iroquois Indians in NY kill 40 in Cherry Valley Massacre—1718

Medicine Bottle and Little Shakopee, two of the leaders of the Santee Sioux 

     uprising are executed at Pine Knob—1865 

Patent awarded to Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd for their invention, 

     the Einstein refrigerator—1930

RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) set sail on her final voyage to Dubai—2008

Stalingrad renamed Volgograd—1961

Treaty (7 stat. 44) is concluded at Canandaigua (Konondaigua), New York, 

     with the "Six Nations." The United States acknowledges the treaties signed 

     by the Six Nations and New York. Boundaries are established—1794

Yasser Arafat is confirmed dead by the Palestine Liberation Organization, of 

     unidentified causes. Mahmoud Abbas is elected chairman of the PLO minutes 

     later—2004

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Jonathan Winters, comedian (J Winters Show, Mork & Mindy) will be 87

In their 70’s

Barbara Boxer, CA politician is 72

In their 60’s

Vladimir Alekseyevich Soloviyov, cosmonaut (Soyuz T-10, T-15, TM-10) is 66

In their 50’s

Demi Moore, actress is 50

Stanley Tucci, American actor and director is 52

Remembered for being born today

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, Russia, novelist (Crime & Punishment), (1821-1881)

Alger Hiss, State Department spy, hid papers in a pumpkin (1904-1996)

Stubby Kaye, NYC, actor (Guys & Dolls, Lil' Abner, Cat Ballou) (1918-1997)

Pat O'Brien, Milwaukee, actor (Knute Rockne, Angels with Dirty Faces) (1899-1983)

William Proxmire, (Sen-D-WI, 1957-88) (Golden Fleece Awards) (1950-2005)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Ind, author (Slaughterhouse Five, Sirens of Titan) (1922-2007)

Yen Jo-chu, Chinese scholar of Ch'ing dynasty (1636-1704)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Yasser Arafat, co-founder and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization,

     revolutionary and Nobel prize winner—2004—at 75

Harry R "Rob" Haldeman, White House chief of staff (Nixon)—1993—at 67

Jerome Kern, US composer (Sally, Leave it to Jane)— cerebral hemorrhage—1945—at 60

Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher— complications from a fall—1855—at 42

Martin Luther King Sr, US vicar/father of MLK Jr—1984—at 84

Typhoid Mary[Mary Mallon], carrier of the typhoid disease— pneumonia—1938—at 69

Philippe de Mornay, French writer—1623—at 74

Nat Turner, former slave, led a violent insurrection, hanged with 19 associates 

     in VA—1831—at 31

Answer: Anagram sentence

The thieves managed to steal the ceramic floor tiles, but at least they left the slate countertop.

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  §