Mar 10

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Flagstaff Almanac:  Week: 11/ Day: 69   Today: H 30°…L 23°

Averages: H  49° L 23° Records: H 70°(1990)…L 0°(1964)

Wind: ave:   9mph; Gusts:  24mph  Ave. humidity:  77%

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

130+ rockets are fired into Israel from Gaza►2012

1st census in Great Britain►1801

1st telephone call made (Alexander Graham Bell to Thomas Watson) ►1876

China ends slavery►1910

Dog spectacles patented in England►1975

Due to it's no black policy, Phillies leave Jack Tar Harrison Hotel & move 

   to Rocky Point Motel, 20 miles outside Clearwater, FL►1962

French Foreign Legion is established by King Louis-Philippe to support 

     his war in Algeria►1831

James Earl Ray pleads guilty in murder of Martin Luther King Jr►1969

KLZ-AM in Denver CO begins radio transmissions►1922

Purdue University (Indiana) admits it's 1st student►1874

US issues 1st paper money ($5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 & $1000) ►1862

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

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

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Another day of snow. It is ‘warm’ enough that some is melting, but overall we have gotten about 18”. And it is a very very wet snow. That is god for the forest, but makes the roads a mess after dark. Last night there were accidents everywhere in the area. FB runs a page that keeps us up to date on what’s happening so don’t have to go out and see for myself. It should all end tomorrow with an expected high in the 50’s. Can’t wait. I see that Denver is getting what we didn’t use up. They too need the moisture. 

Somebody needs to remind Congress that it is time to get down to business. They spend time talking about how bad the other side is. Both sides are full of it. Talk doesn’t work. Action is needed. Vote on every bill. Interview all appointments, then vote on the floor. No more empty threats of filibuster. No more committees that hold up things. Do the job you are being very well paid for and let the system work. No one in DC has been raised to the status of a God, even though many seem to be that they have been. The idea that ‘without my opposition to this or that America will fail’ is obsolete.

 

So many in the US will change their clocks…but not AZ, except for the Navajo Nation. We don’t think that our creator wanted us to change our clocks. If the creator wanted the clocks changed, it would happen automatically. Now is one of the times of year that I have to remember I live in a state that doesn’t carry a lot of clout outside its own borders. Our local AZ alphabet stations keep all our programs at their regular times. However, the oh so many other cable channels are usually west coast feeds and so for us isolated AZ people, all the shows on the other cable channels are now one hour earlier. It really doesn’t matter that much, but I have to remember to either set the DVR or tune in an hour earlier that I am used to. Of course my East coast friends are now 3 hours later than I am. Life would be so much easier if AZ just changed…why you asked don’t we. Well back in the 70’s when DST was made national, the state of AZ convinced the Feds that our farmers would not be able to change the animals habits to be milked an hour earlier. Stranger still, but true…the Navajo Nation did not want two time zones and someone decided that the entire Navajo Nation would go to DST since part of the Rez was in NM. The Hopi Nation, in the middle of the Navajo Nation, was part of the US BIA system out of Phoenix so they do not change time. Tuba City, right on the Navajo/Hopi border, is a in a time warp. BIA schools are on DST, Public schools on AZ Time, some businesses go with Hopi/AZ time, others with Navajo time. Many people in Tuba have two clocks in their house, one on Hopi time one on Navajo time. It has been like this for 40+ years and is now part of the Tuba Culture.  

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

When you curtail a word, you remove the last letter and still have a valid word. You will be given clues for the two words, longer word first.
Example: Begin -> Heavenly body
Answer: The words are Start and Star.

1. Attract or please through personality -> To burn; scorch
2. Giving out moderate heat -> Conflict between nations
3. Kingdom; domain -> True; genuine
4. Solid, hard; fixed in place -> Type of evergreen tree
5. Remove from the surface; glide on a surface -> Narrow runner for gliding on snow
6. Line formed by sewing two pieces together -> Large body of salt water
7. Sew the edge of a cloth -> Male person
8. Agriculture site -> At a great distance

HINT: The words start with these letters:
1. C
2. W
3. R
4. F
5. S
6. S
7. H
8. F

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Glenn Cunningham
[in Spanish]

• Carrie Underwood with Vince Gill How Great thou Art

from Cracked.com

In Germany's "The Tortoise and the Hare," the Hare Dies Horribly
The Version You've Heard

In "The Tortoise and the Hare," which some of you may only know from one of its many cartoon adaptations, a humble tortoise and a pompous hare have a race. The tortoise is so slow that the hare decides to taunt him by showing off and fucking around for the entire race, but he ultimately gets too distracted by his own dickitry and ends up losing.

The moral of the story: A steady, diligent, hard worker beats a naturally talented jerk every time.

But when the German authors Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm adapted the tale, they decided it should take a darker turn.

But in the German Version

First off, it's a hedgehog instead of a tortoise, and the pair agree that whoever wins the race gets a bottle of brandy and a gold coin. So right out of the gate, the writers decided that both of these woodland creatures needed to have reached the stage of alcoholism where they treat liquor as currency. SPOILER: All of this is going to culminate in the hare bleeding profusely from the neck. This is not a joke.

After the bet, the hedgehog runs home to his wife and dresses her up so that they look exactly alike, which says all sorts of things about their marriage, and then takes her with him down to the racetrack. Mrs. Hedgehog hides herself at the finish line, while her husband lines up on the starting point next to the hare. When the race starts, the hare easily dusts Mr. Hedgehog, but when Mrs. Hedgehog hears him approaching the finish line, she hops out and crosses it before him, presumably while asking what the hell took him so long.

Her love life had been good prep for lying about finishing.

Naturally, the hare's bullshit meter starts buzzing, so he insists that they run the race again. She heartily agrees (remember, Mr. Hedgehog is still back at the beginning of the course), and they restart the race from the finish line. The same trick works again, since when the hare rounds the track, there's his opponent apparently waiting for him. The hare demands that they race yet again, to the same result. And again. This process repeats itself more than 70 fucking times, until finally, on the 74th lap, a blood vessel bursts in the hare's throat and he collapses in the middle of the racetrack, gurgling out his last confused breaths as he drowns in his own blood:

"In the middle of the field, with blood flowing from his neck, he fell dead to the ground."The MoralSo instead of "Slow and steady wins the race," the moral becomes "You can overcome any disadvantage with the magical power of lies!" Or maybe it's just "The best way to deal with arrogant bullies is to lure them into a forest under false pretenses and murder them."

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

Percentage change in the past five years in the share of new US cars sold to people between ages 18-34: -42

Picture of the Day: Mammals of the Sea

Unusual Fact of the Day

The sailfish (the fastest swimming fish, clocked at 68 mph) is faster than the cheetah (the fastest land animal, clocked at 62 mph).! 

Joke-of-the-day

While Mark was shopping for pet supplies, one of the salespeople came running up to him. “Mark! Mark! I just saw someone driving off with your BMW!” “Dear God! Did you try to stop him?”
“No,” said the clerk, “but don’t worry. I got the license plate number!”

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

BUYING A HAT

Your wedding ring size is the same as your hat size.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

NEW YORK, There's book of the month, fruit of the month, beer of the month and now a U.S. entrepreneur has launched tampon of the month. Naama Bloom this week began HelloFlo, a subscription service for a monthly need, The Verge reported. "No one actually enjoys the experience of buying tampons," Bloom told the tech/science/art/culture website, adding HelloFlo's packaging is discreet. HelloFlo will ensure women have the proper supplies and they don't have to worry about running out late at night because they were caught unawares. "For some reason, it's just something that drives me crazy," Bloom said. "First of all, the product packaging is wrong -- if you need overnight pads, you have to buy a whole box that's going to last you all year. It seems so simple to just create a multi-pack that actually makes sense." And for those who don't think there's money in the idea, Bloom notes it's an $8 billion market in the United States.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The world's smallest winged insect, the Tanzanian parasitic wasp, is smaller than the eye of a housefly.

• There are more insects in one square mile of rural land than there are human beings on the entire earth.

• There are more than 2,500 varieties of mosquito.

• There are more than 900,000 known species of insects in the world.

• When a queen bee lays the fertilized eggs that will develop into new queens, only one of the newly laid queens actually survives. The first new queen that emerges from her cell destroys all other queens in their cells and, thereafter, reigns alone.

• When ants find food, they lay down a chemical trail, called a pheromone, so that other ants can find their way from the nest to the food source.

• Worker ants may live seven years and the queen may live as long as 15 years.

• You're more likely to be a target for mosquitoes if you consume bananas.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

8-10

American Crossword Puzzle Weekend
8-14 

Universal Women's Week
10-16 

Girl Scout Week
National Agriculture Week
Teen Tech Week
Turkey Vultures Return to the Living Sign
Flood Safety Awareness Week
International Brain Awareness Week

Today Is                                                                      

Check Your Batteries Day: change all batteries when time changes

Daylight Savings Time Begins: 10 at 2:00 am EDT

Harriet Tubman Day

International Day of Awesomeness

Land Line Telephone Day

Mario Day

Salvation Army Day

US Paper Money Day

Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

World Kidney Day

Today’s Events through History  

Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent; only US president to do so►1849

English Quaker William Penn receives charter from Charles II, making him sole 

     proprietor of colonial American territory Pennsylvania►1681

Jews are excluded from public office in the Roman Empire►418

Major earthquake in Long Beach, CA►1933

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars►2006

United States places an embargo on Libyan petroleum imports►1982

Vatican formal opposition to test-tube fertilization & embryo transfer►1987

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 70’s

Wayne Dyer, psychologist (Universe Within You) is 73

Chuck Norris, martial arts actor (Missing in Action) is 73

Gary Owens, announcer (Laugh-in) is 77

In their 50’s

Mark David Chapman, assassin (John Lennon) is 58

Sharon Stone, American actress (Basic Instinct, Sliver, Casino) will be 55

Shannon Tweed, actress will be 56

In their 40’s

Jon Hamm, actor, director is 42

In their 30’s

Shannon Miller, gymnast (Oly2 gold-2 silver/3 bronze-92, 96) is 36

Carrie Underwood, singer, songwriter is 30

Remembered for being born today

Carl Albert, US speaker of house [1908-2000]

Kenneth "Jethro" Burns, country singer (Homer & Jethro) [1920-1989]

Osama bin Laden, Islamic militant [1957-2011]

James Earl Ray, assassin (Martin Luther King Jr) [1928-1998]

Jakob Wassermann, Germany, novelist (My Life as German & Jew) [1873-1934]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Lloyd Bridges, American actor-1998-at 85

Glenn Cunningham, US world record miler-1988-at 78

Corey Haim, Canadian actor-overdose-2010-at 38

Ray Milland, actor (Lost Weekend-Acad Award 1945)-lung cancer-1986-at 79

Herman Tarnower, doctor (Scarsdale Diet)-killed by Jean Harris-1980-at 69

Harriet Tubman, abolitionist, conductor on Underground RR-1913-at 93

Answer: Brain Teasers

1. Charm -> Char
2. Warm -> War
3. Realm -> Real
4. Firm -> Fir
5. Skim -> Ski
6. Seam -> Sea
7. Hem -> He
8. Farm -> Far

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  §