4/26/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:  Week: 17/ Day: 116   Today: H 61°…L 33°

Wind: ave:   NAmph; Gusts:  NAmph  Ave. humidity:  32%

*Averages: H  61° L 31° Records: H 78°(1996)…L 13°(1961)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

1st motion pictures shown in Hawaii…1906

Alex Haley, (Roots), wins 1992 Ellis Island Award, posthumously…1992

Coors Field, opens in Denver, Rockies beat Mets 11-9 in 14 innings…1995

Copernicus makes his 1st observations of Saturn…1514

Heaviest rains ever in Bahia district of Brazil, 15" in 24 hrs…1971

NY's famed disco Studio 54 opens…1977

Pres Reagan visits China…1984

Rod Stewart is mugged, gunman steals his $50,000 Porsche…1982

Smallpox vaccination 1st administrated…1721

Tradition begins, 1st organ at a baseball stadium (Chicago Cubs)…1941

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

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

Free Rambling Thoughts   

A little too cloudy for a spring day. Still nice.

 

Our retirement group met for a great lunch. Not a lot of news except that we are all enjoying our spring weather. We are all so glad to be retired and enjoying our lives. We all worked hard and had to give up quite a lot to be in such a good place today. Well worth it.

 

The Boston Bomber case is a criminal case and no place for politicians to be adding their two cents worth. It seems to be anything to get on the news. Let professional law enforcement and our legal system do its job. It really doesn’t matter to me if it’s the Dems or the Republicans…let the case go through the system and keep out. No Monday morning Quarterbacking allowed.

 

Last night I heard a great interview by Chris Hayes on MSNBC. He was interviewing a 20 something man who grew up in Yemen in a poor village with no electricity, no running water, and basically farmers living off the land. Through a series of events he was given a scholarship to attend US high school and college. He is proud of his American education and has traveled back to Yemen many times to spread the word that America is a great place to learn and live. His rather isolated village was proud of him. Then a US drone, looking for a terrorist, destroyed several homes and killed several villagers a couple of weeks ago. He has talked to his family and been told not to ever return to his village. While there may or may not have been a terrorist in their village, this is the first attack by anyone on their small village. The village is living in terror that the drones will return. This young man’s years of teaching his family and village about the beauty of America was destroyed by this attack on a peaceful people.  This administration, led by a man who was given the Nobel Peace Prize early in his administration has allowed more drone attacks than his predecessor. These drone attacks are destroying any good image of our country every time they go off and kill innocents. This drone stuff is going to take decades of work to change people’s minds about our country.

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. Measuring stick -> Law 2. Prophet; visionary -> To perceive 3. Rip; pull apart -> Beverage 4. Topic; anything with mass and volume -> Not glossy; flat 5. Moon depression -> Large box 6. One who digs for ore -> Belonging to me 7. Police person -> Place of work 8. Vocalist -> Scorch; burn superficially

****

Hint: The words start with these letters:
1. R
2. S
3. T
4. M
5. C
6. M
7. O
8. S

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• I. M. Pei - pt 1

• Duane Eddy - Ghost Riders In The Sky

• Bobby Rydell - Forget Him

Origins of Phrases

Face the music

Meaning

Accept the unpleasant consequences of one's actions.

Origin

The phrase 'face the music' has an agreeable imagery. We feel that we can picture who was facing what and what music was playing at the time. Regrettably, the documentary records don't point to any clear source for the phrase and we are, as so often, at the mercy of plausible speculation. There was, of course, a definitive and unique origin for the expression 'face the music' and whoever coined it was quite certain of the circumstances and the music being referred to. Let's hope at least that one of the following suggestions is the correct one, even though there is no clear evidence to prove it.

A commonly repeated assertion is that 'face the music' originated from the tradition of disgraced officers being 'drummed out' of their regiment. A second popular theory is that it was actors who 'faced the music', i.e. faced the orchestra pit, when they went on stage. A third theory, less likely but quite interesting none the less, was recounted with some confidence by a member of the choir at a choral concert I attended recently in Sheffield. It relates to the old UK practice of West Gallery singing. This was singing, literally from the west galleries of English churches, by the common peasantry who weren't allowed to sit in the higher status parts of the church. The theory was that the nobility were obliged to listen to the vernacular songs of the parishioners, often with lyrics that were critical of the ways of the gentry.

It may help to pinpoint the origin to know that the phrase appears to be mid 19th American in origin. The earliest citation I can find for the phrase is from The New Hampshire Statesman & State Journal, August 1834:

"Will the editor of the Courier explain this black affair. We want no equivocation - 'face the music' this time."

ALmost all other early citations are American. Sadly, none of them give the slightest clue as to the source, or reason for, the music being faced.

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

• Percentage of Ohio Republicans who say Obama is more responsible thatn Ronmey for the death of Osama bin Laden: 38

• Who say Romney is more responsible than Obama: 15

• Who say they aren’t sure which man is more responsible: 47

Ruminations:

Those signs that say ‘employees must wash their hands’ should read ‘EVERYONE, WSAH YOUR DAMN HANDS’

Picture of the Day: Signs of Spring

Unusual Fact of the Day

Although estimates vary, humans blink their eyes around five million times each year.

Joke-of-the-day

*-- Real Signs In Shop Windows --*

• Signs In a clothing store: "Wonderful bargains for men with 16 and 17 necks."

• In the window of an Oregon general store: "Why go elsewhere to be cheated, when you can come here?" 

• In a Pennsylvania cemetery: "Persons are prohibited from picking flowers from any but their own graves."

• On a Tennessee highway: "Take notice: when this sign is under water, this road is impassable."

• From the safety information card in America WestAirline seat pocket: "If you are sitting in an exit row and cannot read this card, please tell a crew member." 

• On a Maine shop: "Our motto is to give our customers the lowest possible prices and workmanship."

• On a delicatessen wall: "Our best is none too good."  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

ESTIMATING AN ACRE

 An acre is about the size of a football field without the endzones   

Yeah, It Really Happened

GREAT FALLS, Mont. - A Montana man was reunited with his scarlet macaw after five years thanks in part to the bird's distaste for women. Mike Taylor of Great Falls said his bird, Spike, goes by the nickname Love Love and he discovered after adopting the avian with his then-fiancee several years ago that Love Love disliked women due to being abused by a previous owner, the Great Falls (Mont) Tribune reported Tuesday.

Taylor said his wife sold the bird when the couple split up about five years ago and he "always wondered" what became of the bird. Taylor said he had his answer when a friend, Steve Caldwell, recognized the bird at Montana's Parrot & Exotic Bird Sanctuary in Butte. "He says, 'Oh, by the way, I seen your bird,'" Taylor said. Taylor said he soon got in touch with Lori McAlexander, executive director of the sanctuary, and was able to convince her of his story by describing the bird's blind eye, toenail deformities, penchant for saying "love love" and his hatred of women. McAlexander said the bird was donated by a woman named Sonia who was bitten mere days after purchasing him. She said only male handlers had been dealing with Spike due to the animal's violent distaste for women. Taylor was reunited with Love Love Sunday at the sanctuary and was able to bring him home with his original cage and the toys that went along with him when his wife sold the bird. "He's just a really neat bird," Taylor said.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Of the 2200 persons quoted in the current edition of "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations," only 164 are women.

• Professor Moriarity was Sherlock Holmes' archenemy.

• Sherlock Holmes never said 'Elementary, my dear Watson.'

• Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's brilliant detective, arrived on the mystery scene in the late nineteenth century in "A Study in Scarlet" (1887).

• The occupations of the three men in a tub were butcher, baker, and candlestick maker.

• The original story from Tales of 1001 Arabian Nights begins, 'Aladdin was a little Chinese boy.'

• The Three Musketeers names are Porthos, Athos, and Aramis (D'Artagnan joins them later.)

Calendar Information        

Happening This 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

26-5/4

National Dance Week
National Dream Hotline
National & Global Youth Service Days
National Pie Championships
Air Quality Awareness Week
Screen-Free Week 

Today Is                                                                      

Audubon Day

Hug An Australian Day

National Hairball Awareness Day

National Kids and Pets Day

National Pretzel Day

Richter Scale Day

~Tanzania: Union Day (1964, Tanganyika and Zanzibar form the United Republic of Tanzania.)

Today’s Events through History  

"Who's The Boss," final episode after 8 years on ABC TV…1992

Jews are expelled from Brazil…1654

Odd Fellows Lodge forms…1819

Paolo Orsini replaces his brother Pope Stephen II, as Paul I…757

Pulitzer prize awarded to Edna Ferber for "So big"…1925

Students seize administration building at Ohio State…1968

Sun Yet San calls for revolt against pres Yuan Shikai in China…1913

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 90’s

I[eoh] M[ing] Pei, Canton, China, architect (1961 Brunner Prize) is 96

In their 80’s

Carol Burnett, comedian/actress (Annie, 4 Seasons) is 80

In their 70’s

Duane Eddy, Phoenix, Az, country singer (Peter Gunn, Cannonball) is 75

Bobby Rydell, Phila Pa, rock singer (Wild One, Bye Bye Birdie) is 70

In their 50’s

Jet Li, Chinese actor and martial artist (Romeo Must Die, Unleashed) is 50

In their 30’s

Channing Tatum, actor and film producer is 33

Tom Welling, actor [Smallville] is 36

Remembered for being born today

John James Audubon, Haiti, bird watcher/artist [1785-1851]

Rudolf Hess, Nazi official [1894-1987]

David Hume, English empiricist/philosopher (Treatise of Human Nature) [1711-1776]

Muhammed, founder of Islam, according to the Shi'a sect [570-632] 

Ma Rainey, [Gertrude Pridgett], "Mother of the Blues" American singer [1886-1939]

Charles Richter, Ohio, Earthquakes seismologist (Richter scale) [1900-1985]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Mason Adams, actor [Lou Grant]/ voice over actor…2005…at 86

Lucille Ball, comedienne (I Love Lucy)…heart attack…1989…at 77

William "Count" Basie, jazz piano great …1984…on 80th birthday

John Wilkes Booth, assassin…shot dead…1865…at 26

 [William] Broderick Crawford, actor (Highway Patrol)…stroke…1986…at 74

Gypsy Rose Lee, stripper/actress (Pruitts of S Hampton)…lung cancer…1970…at 59

Jack Valenti, American political advisor and film executive…2007…at 85

Simonetta Vespucci, inspiration of Botticelli…TB…1476…at 22

Answer: Brain Teasers

1. Ruler -> Rule 2. Seer -> See 3. Tear -> Tea 4. Matter -> Matte 5. Crater -> Crate 6. Miner -> Mine 7. Officer -> Office 8. Singer -> Singe

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  §