Mar 28, 2013

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Flagstaff Almanac:  Week: 13/ Day: 87   Today: H 58°…L 26°

Averages: H  53° L 25° Records: H 70°(1986)…L -1°(1975)

Wind: ave:   15mph; Gusts:  26mph  Ave. humidity:  41%

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

1st ambulance goes into service►1866

1st microfilm device introduced►1922

1st National Curling Championship held►1957

Astrid Lindgren sprains ankle & begins writing Pippi Longstocking►1944

Greatest Show On Earth was formed by PT Barnum & James A Bailey►1881

Louvre opens to the public (although officially opened since August) ►1794

Major nuclear accident at 3 Mile Island, Middletown, Pa (no deaths) ►1979

Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok►845

US Salvation Army officially organized►1885

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

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

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Busy day today. Got my tax stuff together and dropped it off at the tax preparer. So nice to have a ‘tax guy’. I drop off my stuff and in a week or so he will call to give me the news. When I pick them up we go over everything and make any necessary changes. So much easier than sitting there for an couple of hours and still be told that he has to review it. A couple of weeks ago one of my planters got broken. Not sure how it happened…it was plastic and I figure some young kid jumped on the edge. Anyway, it had some bulbs in it. So today I replanted the bulbs in a new container. I hope it works, since they had already started growing. They hadn’t broken through yet, but had small green sprouts on them. If not, I will buy some more this fall. I also did some shopping and got a few things. Time to get ready for spring.

 

After several months of correspondence with an insurance company, I got a check today from my mother’s estate. I didn’t even know it existed until a couple of months ago. My brother and I are splitting the policy, but neither of us balks at a $6K check each. Thanks mom and dad.

 

This whole N. Korea thing is worrisome. We have heard it before, but the new leader may not have the control of the military that his father had. The important thing to remember in this whole situation is that the people of N. Korea do not hate the world. They have only heard that all their problems are because of others outside the country. A couple of recent documentaries by people who have visited N. Korea make it clear that the people do not have the same feelings about other countries that the government has. The people are not going to revolt as their lives are so destitute and believe their government is doing their best to make matters better. A sad commentary for all involved.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

I constantly collide into all the others,  The only one of 16 without colors. Associated with English and banking and breaking, The answer is right there for the taking.

******

Hint

Chalk this one up to nightlife....

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Emmett Kelly - What's My Line?
• Jim Thorpe All-American

from Cracked.com

Ridiculous Natural Disaster Myths You Probably Believe

Opening a Window During a Storm Relieves Pressure

The Myth: If you live in tornado country or have ever been through a hurricane, you've heard this one. When the storm comes, don't batten down the hatches -- open things up. Yes, some rain will blow into the house, but it will also keep the place from exploding like a wood-and-plaster balloon.

The Reality: The problem is that they're exaggerating the pressure difference. After all, you don't need a space shuttle decompression chamber each time you leave your house in a storm -- and your fleshy body is a lot less structurally sound than a house. So if a storm isn't sucking the eyeballs out of your head, Total Recall-style, there's really no chance it's going to tear the roof off your house. It's the 150-mph winds that do that.

A Giant Earthquake Will Cause California to Fall into the Pacific

The Myth:

If you read any of the news stories about how California is due for a massive earthquake, they sound suspiciously like excerpts from the book of Revelation. They promise massive fires, gaping chasms, swallowed cities, and tens of thousands of deaths. While those prophecies are grim, they aren't completely unreasonable -- California exists squarely on a fault line, which is basically like a perforated line showing Mother Nature exactly where to tear.

The Reality:

It can never happen. Yes, tectonic plates are a thing, and yes, land masses do move. But continents don't drift around the ocean like icebergs -- not only would it be impossible for an entire state to just snap off of North America, but the movement of the plates on the fault line is actually pushing them across each other, not tearing them apart. The Pacific Plate and the North American Plate are grinding against each other like young, unlubricated lovers rolling around in the sand. All the drag from the friction means that the movement is choppy, which is why earthquakes are just as common in California as silicone.

Even if the plates were pulling away from one another, there would still be a better chance of California getting obliterated by an asteroid before it sinks into the ocean because of plate tectonics. Tectonic plates have a blistering top speed of about 100 millimeters a year. That's just not fast enough to make a 163,696-square-mile state rip itself from the mainland and swim away, at least not until millions of years from now.

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

Minimum number of Red Bull-sponsored athletes who have died in parachuting, paragliding, and sky diving stunts: 5

Picture of the Day: Dine’ Land [Navajo]

Unusual Fact of the Day

Frederick Arthur Stanley is one of the best-known names in professional hockey. He's the Lord Stanley behind the Stanley Cup.

Joke-of-the-day

 Investigators at a major research institute have discovered the heaviest element known to science. This startling new discovery has been tentatively named Administratium (Ad).

 The new element has no protons or electrons, thus having an atomic number of 0. It does, however, have 1 neutron, 125 assistant neutrons, 75 vice neutrons, and 111 assistant vice neutrons, for an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by a force called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since it has no electrons, Administratium is inert.

 However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it came into contact.

 According to the discoverers, a minute amount of Administratium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would normally take less than a second. Administratium has a normal half-life of approximately three years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons, viceneutrons, and assistant vice neutrons exchange places. In fact, an Administratium sample's mass will actually increase over time, since with each reorganization some of the morons inevitably become neutrons, forming new isotopes. This characteristic of moron promotion

 leads some scientists to speculate that Administratium is formed whenever morons reach a certain concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as the "Critical Morass".  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

HOW MUCH SHELF SPACE 6 GIGS WOULD TAKE

 600 gigabytes of data will fill about six floors of an academic library.   

Yeah, It Really Happened

EAST LANSING, Mich. - U.S. scientists have announced the first-ever discovery of a two-headed bull shark, confirming it was a single shark with two heads, not conjoined twins. Michigan State University researchers studying the specimen found in the uterus of an adult bull shark taken in the Gulf of Mexico April 7, 2011, said it was the first record of the phenomenon known as dicephalia ever seen in bull sharks although it has been seen before in other species of shark. "This is certainly one of those interesting and rarely detected phenomena," MSU fisheries and wildlife Professor Michael Wagner said. "It's good that we have this documented as part of the world's natural history, but we'd certainly have to find many more before we could draw any conclusions about what caused this." A fisherman found the two-headed specimen when he cut open the adult shark, Wagner said, and it died shortly thereafter. It would have had little, if any, chance to survive in the wild, he said. "You'll see many more cases of two-headed lizards and snakes," Wagner said in a university release Monday. "That's because those organisms are often bred in captivity, and the breeders are more likely to observe the anomalies." An MRI scan revealed two distinct heads, hearts and stomachs with the remainder of the body joining together in the back half of the animal to form a single tail, the researchers said.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Persians first began using colored eggs to celebrate spring in 3,000 B.C. 13th century Macedonians were the first Christians on record to use colored eggs in Easter celebrations. Crusaders returning from the Middle East spread the custom of coloring eggs, and Europeans began to use them to celebrate Easter and other warm weather holidays.

• The origin of the Easter Bunny can be traced back to 13th-century, pre-Christian Germany. The Teutonic deity Eostra was the goddess of spring and fertility, and feasts were held in her honor on the Vernal Equinox. Her symbol was the rabbit because of the animal's high reproduction rate.

• These legends were brought to America in the 1700s, when German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania Dutch country.  

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

24-30 

Tsunami Awareness Week
Pediatric Nurse Practioner Week
National Protocol Officer's Week
National Cleaning Week
Termite Awareness Week

Today Is                                                                      

Barnum & Bailey Day

Weed Appreciation Day

~Czech Republic…Teachers' Day

Today’s Events through History  

Court rules today that Montana State Courts "are without jurisdiction to try an Indian for the crime of larceny committed somewhere within the external boundaries of the BLACKFEET Indian Reservation, although conceivably the offense could have been committed within the town of Browning, Montana located on the reservation."►1957

Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid known to man►1802

Mexico drops diplomatic relations with US►1845

Ohio passed law restricting movement of Blacks►1804

Pope John raises the 1st Japanese, 1st African & 1st Filipino cardinal►1960

President Bush awards Jesse Owen the Congressional Gold Medal►1990

Wilt Chamberlain plays his last pro basketball game►1972

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 70’s

Conchata Ferrell , actress (Deadly Hero, Susan-LA Law) is 70

Charlie McCoy,  harmonica player (Hee Haw) is 72

In their 60’s

Ken Howard, American actor (Ken-White Shadow, Dynasty, 1776) is 69

In their 50’s

Bart Wayne Conner, gymnast (Olympic-2 gold-1984) is 55

Reba McEntire, country singer (Can't Even Get the Blues) is 58

In their 40’s

Salt [Cheryl James], rocker (Salt 'n' Pepa-Shake Ya Thang) is 47

Vince Vaughn, actor (Swingers, Wedding Crashers) is 43

In their 30’s

Kate Gosselin, reality TV is 38

Julia Stiles, actress (Bourne series, Save the Last Dance) is 32

Under 30

Lady Gaga [Stefani Germanotta], New York, singer/songwriter (Bad Romance) is 27

Remembered for being born today

August Anheuser Busch, Jr., brewing magnate and American baseball executive [1899-1999]

Frederick Pabst, American brewer [1836-1904]

Frank Lovejoy, actor (Man Against Crime, Meet McGraw) [1912-1962]

Marlin Perkins, TV host (Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom) [1905-1986]

Henry Schoolcraft, American geographer and geologist [1793-1864]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Dwight D Eisenhower, 34th pres/gen (WW 2) ►heart failure►1969►at 78

Art James, American game show host►natural causes►2004►at 74  

Emmett Kelly, circus clown (Weary Willy) ►1979►at 80

Jesse Owens, (Oly-gold-36) ►lung cancer►1980►at 66

James Francis Thorpe [Tho-Huk-Bright Path], Sac & Fox decathelete (Olympic-gold-12) ►heart failure►1953►at 64

Sergei Vasilievitch Rachmaninov, Russian composer/pianist►melanoma►1943►at 69

Earl Scruggs, American bluegrass musician►natural causes►2012►at 88

Caspar Weinberger, United States Secretary of Defense►2006►at 88

Virginia Woolf-Stephen [Adeline] , author (To Lighthouse) ►suicide►1941►at 59

Answer: Brain Teasers

The cue ball on a pool table.

English is when spin is put on the cue ball to make it curve or bounce differently off the rail. Banking is when a shot is played off the rail. Breaking is the first shot played in a game of pool. The hint refers to the fact that chalk is placed on a cue before it strikes the cue ball.

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  §