Feb 18, 2013

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Flagstaff Almanac:  Week: 08/ Day: 49   

Today: H   48°…L 17° Averages: H  45° L 20° Records: H   66°(1996, ‘77)…L -8°(1956)

Wind: ave:   17mph; Gusts:  38mph  Ave. humidity:  22%

Quote of the Day:

Today’s Historical Highlights:

 10,000 demonstrators against US in Vietnam War in West-Berlin—1968

10th Winter Olympic games close at Grenoble, France—1968

1st Academy Awards are announced—1929

1st Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles—1954

1st continuous filibuster in US Senate began, lasting until March 11—1841

1st US postage stamps in rolls issued—1908

8th Winter Olympic games open in Squaw Valley—1960

Bonnie Prince Charlies troops occupy Inverness Scotland—1745

Confederate President Jefferson Davis inaugurated at Montgomery Ala—1861

Insurrection of Chinese in Sarawak, Borneo—1857

Kateri Tekakwitha canonized as the first native American saint—2012

Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," published—1885

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

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

Free Rambling Thoughts:   

A little windy today. Rumor has it that we need to get ready for two back to back storms this week. Neither will bring much snow but lots of colder temps. Not what I was hoping for, but guess I will have to deal with it.  

I got my list of Focus travelers for our May cruise and am getting excited. Lots of friends will be on the trip. We should have a great time. Starting to get excited….a little early.

 

I’ve been working on my Uganda pics and slowing posting them on FB. They get lots of likes. I haven’t made a movie, since I didn’t find a good CD of Uganda music while over there. I will eventually figure out something and get that posted. The pictures need to have some kind of noise to go with them, so the viewers are not just looking at pictures.  Something will come up.

Game  Center: (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Answer the clues with a pair of rhyming words.
(plump feline = fat cat)

1. Moby Dick fan letter
2. Stream cove
3. Medieval soldier competition
4. Extra couple
5. Metal drain plug

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today:

• George Kennedy winning Best Supporting Actor

• Barbara Hale Plays Stump the Stars

Ok, then?

Read This Carefully!!

Parents Keep Children Home to Protest School Closure

Picture of the Day: Native American Art

Harper’s Index:         

Minimum funds smuggles out of China in the past two decades by officials fleeing the country: $120,000,000

Unusual Fact of the Day:

The glue used on Israeli postage stamps is kosher.

Joke-of-the-day:

A college's student body is composed of the sons and daughters of the very rich who could not meet the academic requirements of any other college. Lo and behold, the college basketball team wins every game and dominates their league. All this success is due to one amazing player - a cross between Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.

This kid is terrific. The player and the team become the center of nationwide media attention. The student body is thrilled. Now, the NCAA goes to the college and asks for proof of this player's academic eligibility. The college administration promises such documentation in a few days. The faculty works night and day coaching the student for the crucial test.

The day of the public examination arrives, and the entire student body is there to support their star player. A professor stands, and announces the first question, "How much is five and two?" The student frowns in deep concentration - he thinks, he sweats, he shakes with effort. At last he shouts the answer, "SEVEN".

The entire student body rises, and as a single voice, they cry. "Give him another chance. Give him another chance".

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

ERECTING A TELEPHONE POLE

One-fifth of the length of a telephone pole should be planted in the ground.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

NEW YORK - A New York performance artist and activist for women's topless rights shed her shirt outside of the courthouse after having charges against her dismissed. Holly Van Voast, 46, who was arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct and pot possession after she went topless inside St. Patrick's Cathedral Jan. 30 of last year, had the charges dismissed Wednesday and took off her shirt upon exiting the courthouse, the New York Daily News reported Thursday. Ron Kuby, Van Voast's lawyer, said the conditional dismissal also included two other shirtless arrests, one on the D train May 7 for occupying multiple seats and one June 7 on the L train for interfering with passenger movement, disorderly conduct and occupying multiple seats. The dismissal "covers all of Ms. Van Voast's outstanding busts," Kuby was quoted as saying. Van Vost, who had a drawn-on black mustache during Wednesday's court appearance, said she kept her breasts covered inside the courtroom because she's "not an exhibitionist." It is legal for women to go topless in New York City.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• "Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and as sweet as love" - Turkish Proverb

• 52% of Americans drink coffee.

• A acre of coffee trees can produce up to 10,000 pounds of coffee cherries. That amounts to approximately 2000 pounds of beans after hulling or milling.

• A scientific report from the University of California found that the steam rising from a cup of coffee contains the same amounts of antioxidants as three oranges. The antioxidants are heterocyclic compounds which prevents cancer and heart disease. It's good for you!

• Adding sugar to coffee is believed to have started in 1715, in the court of King Louis XIV, the French monarch.

• Advertisements for coffee in London in 1657 claimed that the beverage was a cure for scurvy, gout and other ills.

• After the decaffeinating process, processing companies no longer throw the caffeine away; they sell it to pharmaceutical companies.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

13-19
World Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Week

14-21
National Condom Week
National Nestbox Week
NCCDP Alzheimer's & Dementia Staff Education Week

15-24
National Date (fruit) Week
National Entrepreneurship Week
National FFA Week
Brotherhood / Sisterhood Week
Build A Better Trade Show Image Week
National Engineers Week
National Justice for Animals Week

Today Is                                                                      

Battery Day: (Volta's birthday)

Cow Milked While Flying In An Airplane Day 1930

Pluto  Day (Discovered by Clyde Tombaugh-1930) 

Presidents Day

Great Backyard Bird Count begins

Gambia: Independence Day (1964 from Britain)

Today’s Events through History  

1st 3-D feature film-"Bwana Devil" (Premieres- NYC) —1953

1st Iron Man Triathlon (swim, bike ride, marathon) held, Kona, Hawaii—1978

Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern 

     Muslim provinces—1332

Chicago 7 defendants found innocent of inciting to riot—1970

Henry Tudor created Prince of Wales (later Henry VIII) —1503

John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" is published—1678

Quakers conduct 1st formal protest of slavery in Germantown, Pa—1688

Snow falls in Sahara Desert—1979

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 90’s

Barbara Hale, actress (Della Street-Perry Mason) is 91

 In their 80’s

George Kennedy, NYC, actor (Cool Hand Luke, Airport, Blue Knight) is 88

In their 70’s

Yoko Ono Lennon, [Mrs John Lennon], Tokyo Japan, singer is 79

In their 60’s

Juice Newton, [Judy Cohen], vocalist (Angel of the Morning) is 60

Cybill Shepherd, actress (Moonlighting, Last Picture Show) will be 63

In their 50’s

John Travolta, actor (Welcome Back Kotter, Pulp Fiction) is 59

Vanna White, [Rosich], TV host (Wheel of Fortune) is 56

In their 40’s

Matt Dillon, actor (Flamingo Kid, Tex, Kansas) is 49

Dr. Dre, [Andre Romelle Young], American rapper and record producer is 48

Molly Ringwald, actress (16 Candles, Pretty in Pink) is 45

Under 30

 Rihanna, recording artist and actress is 25

Remembered for being born today

Helen Gurley Brown, Portland Maine, US author/publisher and editor-in-chief 

     of Cosmopolitan, (1922 2012)

Jacques Cassini, French astronomer (rings of Saturn) (1677-1756)

Bill Cullen, Pitts, TV game show host (over 20 different games) (1920-1990)

George "The Gipper" Gipp, football star (Notre Dame) (1895-1920)

Jack Palance, [Walter Palanuik], Lattimer Pa, actor (City Slickers) (1919-2006)

Mary I Tudor, [Bloody Mary], Greenwich, queen of England (1516-1558)

Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Gerolamo Umberto Volta, 

     physicist and inventor (battery) (1745-1827)

Wendell Wilkie, American Presidential candidate (R-1940)/author (One World). (1892-1944)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver—racing accident—2001—at 49

Harry Caray, sportscaster (Chicago Cubs)—cardiac arrest—1998—at 83

Kublai Khan, Mongol Emperor—1294—at 78

Martin Luther, biblical scholar/religious reformer—stroke—1546—at 62

Robert Merrill, songwriter (Funny Girl)—commits suicide—1998—at 76

Robert J Oppenheimer, creator of atomic bomb— throat cancer—1967—at 62

Answer: Brain Teasers

1. Whale mail 2. Brook nook 3. Knight fight 4. Spare pair 5. Copper stopper

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  §