4/24/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:  Week: 17/ Day: 114   Today: H 63°…L 36°

Wind: ave:   6mph; Gusts:  21mph  Ave. humidity:  30%

*Averages: H  61° L 30° Records: H 78°(2012)…L 14°(1963)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

1st reporter, William Price (Wash Star), assigned to White House…1897

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope taking the

     name Benedict XVI…2005

Greeks enter Troy using the Trojan Horse (traditional date)…1184BC

Halley's Comet sparks English monk to predict country'll be destroyed…1066

Iceland announces that Norway will shoulder the defense of Iceland during peacetime…2007

JFK accepts "sole responsibility" following Bay of Pigs…1961

Leftist students take over Columbia University, NYC…1968

Skyscraper Woolworth Building in New York City is opened…1913

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

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

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Another great spring day…waiting until I return from cruise to plant some color.  Not easy to wait, as it is so nice outside. Still having some very chilly nights.

 

I have to learn to read emails more carefully. There is a pre-registered tour in Quebec and since I hadn’t signed up or said no, I got a call from Ellie this afternoon. I will add the tour, and just hope that Ellie with her ways will be sure there are enough of us to do it. Trip is getting close. A little hard to figure out what to pack. My mind hears ‘cruise’ and thinks warm, sunny, swim trunks while I know that heading up the US coast and on to Canada along the St. Lawrence Seaway means cooler weather with possible rain. I’ll do the best I can…layering seems to be the answer.

 

An amazing story out of Canada and stopping a bombing attempt on their rails. Glad they did that before we got there. Honestly, I didn’t realize that Canada was an enemy of radicals anywhere. I believe that this was the radicals ‘practice’ run for doing something in the US. I live in a ‘train’ town. Those of us here have gotten used to do whatever is possible to avoid the train tracks since there are lots of trains rambling through our town daily. We only have two tracks through most of the town. I can imagine what large cities with multiple tracks deal with everyday. Fun to watch, not fun to neither live near nor have to cross on a regular basis. Realizing the tons of stuff that passes through Flagstaff every day, I can see why it would be a target to disrupt our commerce. Such a dangerous world we now live in.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

When you behead a word, you remove the first letter and still have a valid word. You will be given clues for the two words, longer word first.
Example: Begin -> Sour, acidic Answer: The words are Start and Tart.

1. Female parent -> Not one already mentioned; alternate 2. Several; large indefinite number -> One; some indefinite number 3. A story's lesson -> Relating to the mouth; using speech 4. Face disguise -> To request 5. Trough for animal food -> Wrath; strong displeasure 6. Sparse, poor quality -> Showing keen interest 7. Symbolic team figure -> Necktie or scarf with broad ends 8. Anything that belongs to a group -> Glowing wood fragment

*****

Hint: The shorter words start with these letters:
1. O
2. A
3. O
4. A
5. A
6. E
7. A
8. E

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Shirley MacLaine TODAY SHOW Interview

• Pat Paulsen - Freedom to Censor

Origins of Phrases

Double whammy

Meaning

A double blow or setback.

Origin

A whammy was originally an evil influence or hex. It originated in the USA in the 1940s and is associated with a variety of sports. The first reference to it in print that I can find is in the Syracuse Herald Journal, October 1939:

"Nobody would have suspected that the baseball gods had put the whammy on Myers and Ernie when the ninth opened."

'Double whammy' emerged not long afterwards, as seen here in the Oakland Tribune, August 1941, in an interview with the eccentric boxing manager Wirt Ross:

"Shore there's only one way to beat Joe Louis ... No man can lick 'im, it takes a syndicate and that's what I got. I've been taking a course in hypnotism from the famous Professor Hoffmeister of Pennsylvania. When I gave my big police dog the evil eye like this he liked to collapse, went out and nearly got himself killed by the neighbour's pet poodle pooch. Professor Hoffmeister says I don't get the double whammy to put on human beings until Lesson 9."

Ross was well-known for his tall tales and flowery language. It is quite possible that he coined the term in that interview.

'Double whammy' is often associated with Al Capp's Li'l Abner cartoon strip, which featured the phrase several times. In that it referred to as an intense stare which had a withering effect on its victims; for example, this piece from Li'l Abner July 1951:

"Evil-Eye Fleegle is th' name, an' th' 'whammy' is my game. Mudder Nature endowed me wit' eyes which can putrefy citizens t' th' spot!. There is th' 'single whammy'! That, friend, is th' full, pure power o' one o' my evil eyes! It's dynamite, friend, an' I do not t'row it around lightly! ... And, lastly - th' 'double whammy' - namely, th' full power o' both eyes - which I hopes I never hafta use."

The phrase came to be used widely, in the UK at least, during the Conservative Party's 1992 election campaign. The Tories used a poster to undermine the Labour Party. It contained the text "Labour's Double Whammy" and, on the boxing gloves, "1. More Taxes" and "2. Higher Prices". The poster proved to be a highly effective part of the campaign for the Conservatives - who won the subsequent election.

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

• Factor by which US Muslims are more likely that Muslims abroad to think there are multiple interpretations of Islam: 2

• Percentage of Democrats who have an ‘unfavorable’ opinion of Muslims: 29

• Percentage of Republicans who do: 57

Ruminations:

The best savings account known to man is the pockets to your winter jacket.

Picture of the Day: Signs of Spring

Unusual Fact of the Day

Geologists believe that about half the unmined gold in the world is in South Africa.

Joke-of-the-day

Two strands of DNA were walking down the street.

One says to the other, "Do these genes make me look fat?  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

CALLIGRAPHY

 The most pleasing height for lower-case italic letters is five times the width of the pen point, or nib.   

Yeah, It Really Happened

A couple in Palm Springs, Fla., allegedly had a great formula for getting money to pay for their pain pill addiction.

Police say Sonya Barbour, 32, and her fiance, 31-year-old Glenn Martin, managed to steal more than $90,000 worth of baby formula before being arrested Thursday. Authorities say the couple was caught with $2,388 worth of baby formula concealed under a blanket in their shopping cart, according to UPI.com.

The couple's 9-month-old child was with them.

Upon questioning, both Barbour and Martin allegedly admitted to stealing baby formula for months, in part to finance their pain pill addictions. Police say Martin told them he spends up to $125 a day on the addiction, while Barbour spends up to $90, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

The couple allegedly started filching the formula six months ago, and would sell the cans for about $9 to $15 apiece.

Martin and Barbour were booked into the Palm Beach County Jail. They face multiple charges including fraud, shoplifting, organized dealing in stolen property, and child neglect.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• In 1894 there were only 4 automobiles in the US.

• In 1900 the average age at death in the US was 47.

• In 1960, an estimated 4,000 people were over 100 years old in the U.S. By 1995 the number had jumped to : 55,000.

• In most American states, a wedding ring is exempt by law from inclusion among the assets in a bankruptcy estate. This means that a wedding ring cannot be seized by creditors, no matter how much the bankrupt person owes.

• Isaac Newton, Peter Tchaikovsky and Annie Lennox were all born on Christmas.

• James Madison, 5 feet, 4 inches tall, was the shortest president of the US. Abraham Lincoln was the tallest at six feet, 4 inches.

• Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte both suffered from epilepsy.

 Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

17-24
International Whistlers Week
Cleaning For A Reason Week
Consumer Awareness Week
Police Officers Who Gave Their Lives In The Line of Duty Week

20-28
National Park Week

Money Smart Week
Administrative Professionals Week

Coin Week
Fibroid Awareness Week
National Karaoke Week
National Volunteer Week
National Pet ID Week
National Paperboard Packaging Week
National Playground Safety Week 
Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week

Preservation Week-Libraries
Sky Awareness Week
National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week
Safe Kids Week
Mariachi Week

24-30
National Pro-Life T-shirt Week

National Scoop The Poop Week
Fiddler's Frolic
Gathering of the Nations Powwow

Today Is                                                                      

Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day
Administrative Professionals Day or Secretary's Day

Library of Congress Day
Mother, Father Deaf Day
National Pet Parent's Day
National Pigs In A Blanket Day

Today’s Events through History  

DELAWARE Chief Teedyuscung will lead a group of 70 Christian Indians out of the 

     village of Gnadenhuetten today. They will leave to live in the village of 

     Wyoming, Pennsylvania…1754

Eastman Kodak forms…1888

KMAU (now KGMV) TV channel 3 in Wailuku, HI (CBS) begins broadcasting…1955

Library of Congress establishes with $5,000 allocation…1800

Pulitzer prize awarded to Carolyn Lizer for "Yin"…1985

State of Georgia will cede its western lands to the United States, with the proviso 

     that the Federal Government obtain the title to Indian lands as soon as "can be 

     peaceably obtained on reasonable terms."…1802

United Negro College Fund incorporates…1944

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 70’s

Shirley MacLaine, actress/mystic (Irma la Douce) is 79

Barbra Streisand, singer/actress/award winner (People) is 71

In their 30’s

Kelly Clarkson, singer and winner of the inaugural season American Idol is 31

Remembered for being born today

William I of Orange [1533-1584]

Vincent de Paul, French saint [1581-1660]

John Graunt, statistician, founder of science of demography [1620-1674]

John Russell Pope, US, architect (Jefferson Memorial) [1874-1937]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

George Grey Barnard, American sculptor…heart attack…1938…at 74

Daniel Defoe, English novelist (Robinson Crusoe)…1731…at 71ish

Estée Lauder, American cosmetics entrepreneur…2004…at 97

Pat Paulsen, comedian (Smothers Brothers Show)…colon/brain cancer…1997…at 69

Answer: Brain Teasers

1. Mother -> Other
2. Many -> Any
3. Moral -> Oral
4. Mask -> Ask
5. Manger -> Anger
6. Meager -> Eager
7. Mascot -> Ascot
8. Member -> Ember

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  §