4/29/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:  Week: 18/ Day: 119   Today: H 73°…L 33°

Wind: ave:   2mph; Gusts:  27mph  Ave. humidity:  31%

*Averages: H  62° L 31° Records: H 80°(1992)…L 13°(1970)

FIRE WEATHER WATCH

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

"Hair" opens at Biltmore Theater NYC for 1750 performances…1968

1st edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus published…1852

1st food drop by RAF above Nazi-occupied Holland (operation Manna)…1945

1st military nuclear power plant dedicated, Fort Belvoir Va…1957

800,000 books destroyed by fire in LA Central Library…1986

ABC's "Wide World of Sports, debuts…1961

Ethiopia nationalizes all ground/earth…1975

Joan of Arc leads Orleans, France, to victory over English…1429

Oldsmobile builds its final car ending 107 years of production…2004

Rubber is patented…1813

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

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

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Great spring day, but also a fire weather watch…’tis the season, sadly. Low humidity, dry forest conditions, and possible wind gusts. It’s all part of living in the mountainous forest in a high desert. I sure hope everyone in the forest takes the necessary precautions. Our homeless shelters have shut down for the summer…so there will be quite a few homeless staying in the forest, along with campers from the Valley [Phoenix]. In general, neither group really understands the devastation a fire brings to our forest. Fingers crossed.

 

Next couple of days will be very busy getting ready for my trip. List is already started. Time to get serious about packing, charging batteries, and refilling a couple of scripts.  Can’t go without my thyroid meds…LOL.

 

Great Sunday morning news/talk shows. Learned a lot about what is going on in Syria…sure hope Obama continues to think and doesn’t put us in another military action.

 

Our Myanmar discussion was really great. The presenter brought some great pictures from her recent visit. Also she was part of an officially invited group of colleges to tell students and the newly opened US embassy what was available not only at NAU but also other American colleges and universities. NAU already has 6 students from there attending this semester. One of the parents of a student here presented our speaker with a beautiful, elaborate wooded rice container. While there are still some issues with passports and visas for visitors, and not all the areas are open to tourists, it is changing very rapidly. Looks like my trip there won’t be until 2015 and by then, everything should be much better. Even though the country is far from a democracy, they have been opening up to many countries who want to have business interests in their country. Up until recently their only ‘friend’ was North Korea. Now China, the US, India, Pakistan, and others are offering assistance and it is finally being accepted. It took a horrendous typhoon a few years ago to get the government open up. Hopefully their openness will continue.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Mavis the 'mathemagician' held ten cards (face down) in her hand - Ace (1) to 10 of Hearts.

She moved the top card to the bottom of the pack, counting '1', and turned up the next card, placing it on the table. It was the Ace.

She counted two more cards to the bottom of the pack, showed the next card - the '2' - and placed it on the table.

Counting, 'One, two, three' more to the bottom, she then showed the next card - '3' of Hearts.

This continued for four to nine, and the final card was - ta-daah! - the '10' of Hearts.

Question: What was the original order of cards, from the top to bottom?

*****
Hint

Try it with pieces of paper, real cards, or a diagram on paper ...

*****

Making it really easy:

The cards, from the top of the pack, must have been:
* A * * 2 * * * 3 *

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• MARVIN GAYE & TAMMI TERRELL "Ain't no Mountain High Enough"

• ROD MCKUEN ~ The World I Use To Know ~

Origins of Phrases

Five o'clock shadow

Meaning

Beard regrowth that darkens a man's features late in the day, following a morning shave.

Origin

In the 1980s, designer stubble became fashionable, based largely on the popularity and 'coolness' of stars like George Michael, Don Johnson and, before them, Clint Eastwood's 'Man with no name' character. This was quite an achievement as, prior to then, a swarthy and unshaven appearance was considered to be reserved for ruffians and ne'er do wells. Respectable men were expected to be either clean-shaven or to have a full moustache or beard. If a man planned to grow a beard, he usually waited until he was away on a holiday and not seen in public for a few days, until the 'five o'clock shadow', as it was then universally called, phase was passed.

Why 'five of the clock'? Why not four or six? The 'five o'clock shadow' coinage was based on the 19th century upper-crust English habit of taking tea at five o'clock. Not that the notably upper-crust 7th Earl of Shaftesbury had much time for it. He is reported in Edwin Hodder's biography, 1886, as saying:

Five o'clock tea, that pernicious, unprincipled and stomach-ruining habit.

Nevertheless, the teas became popular with the middle-classes and became known as 'five o'clocks' and, when the habit travelled the Atlantic to the USA, light late-afternoon meals were renamed 'five o'clock dinners'.

Step forward to the 1930s and into the marketing department of the Gem Safety Razor Company. While dreaming up a new advertising campaign, they decided to try and convince previously unsuspecting men that they suffered from 'ugly, afternoon beard growth' and that this could only be countered by the purchase and use of 'Gem Micromatic Blades'. Needing a snappy name for this late-afternoon ailment, which would of course bar sufferers from any genteel 'five o'clock dinner', they chose to call it 'five o'clock shadow'.

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

• Projected annual revenue Mexican drug cartels stand to lose from legalization of pot in Colorado and Washington: $1,4000,000,000

• Estimated minimum amount the Zeta cartel makes each year from the sale of coal: $22,000,000

Ruminations:

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.

Picture of the Day: Myanmar

Unusual Fact of the Day

The so-called “Spanish Flu” of 1918 started at a military camp in Kansas before spreading around the world and killing 50 million people.

Joke-of-the-day

In the backwoods of Arkansas, Mr. Stewart's wife went into labor in the middle of the night. The doctor was called in to assist in the delivery.

To keep the nervous father-to-be busy, the doctor handed him a lantern and said, "Here, you hold this high so I can see what I'm doing." Soon, a baby boy was brought into the world.

"Don't be in a rush to put the lantern down. I think there's yet another wee one to come." Sure enough, within minutes he had delivered another baby.

"Now don't be in a great hurry to be putting down that lantern, young man. It seems there's yet another!" cried the doctor.

The new father scratched his head in bewilderment and asked the doctor. "Do ya think it's the light that's attractin' them?"

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

WRITING SOMETHING IMPORTANT

 If you feel that you need a thesaurus to write something, you are probably trying too hard.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - A letter in a bottle found by two people fishing in Nova Scotia has led to a reunion of the friends who wrote it in 2002, "never [expecting] anyone to find it." Stephen Hennigar and Alexa Wray were fishing in the Shubenacadie River Wednesday when they found the discarded wine bottle, containing the letter and a few artifacts, CBC News reported. The letter, signed by two teens named Jill and Kelly, read: "The year is 2002. It would be cool if someone found this in the year 3002 or something. We hope it'll go very far." The letter referred to the Sept. 11, 2001, destruction of the World Trade Center and noted Osama bin Laden was "a wanted man." "So we can't let things like this go on any more." It was accompanied by photos of Jill and Kelly and some friends, and after CBC News first carried the story, Jillian Boyce and Kelly Johnston, both 25, said they were the ones who released the bottle. "I never really expected anyone to find it," Boyce said. Johnston said she hasn't seen Boyce "in many, many years." "It's crazy to think that after all this time a silly letter in a bottle could put us back in touch," she said. "Oh my god," said Boyce. "How did it not get ruined?"  

Somewhat Useless Information   

•  
The Bible devotes some 500 verses on prayer, less than 500verses on faith, but over 2000 verses on money and posessions.

• The Bible was written by about 40 men over a period of about 1600 years dating from 1500 BC to about 100 years after Christ.

• The Church of Scientology was founded in 1953, at Washington DC, by US science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

• The first translation of the English Bible was initiated by John Wycliffe and completed by John Purvey in 1388.

• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, named in the Bible's Book of Revelation, are Conquest, Slaughter, Famine, and Death.

• The Hindu holy day begins at sunrise, the Jewish holy day begins at sunset, and the Christian holy day begins at midnight.

Calendar Information        

Happening This 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                                                                      

National Dance Day

National Hairball Awareness Day

National Shrimp Scampi Day

"Peace" Rose Day

Pinhole Photography Day

Zipper Day

Today’s Events through History  

Aretha Franklin releases "Respect"…1967

Construction of Spirit of St Louis is completed…1927

Flemish woman introduces practice of starching linen into England…1553

French fleet occupies Tobago during American War of Independence…1781

French fleet stopped Britain from seizing the Cape of Good Hope…1781

Irish nationalists set post office on fire in Dublin…1916

Lt.George Morgan, and 6 men ordered to arrest "Ute Jack", a Chief of the White River Utes.

     Jack has a knife and he resists, is shot in the arm escapes to a nearby teepee, 

     finds a rifle, and shoots the detachment sergeant. "Measures are taken resulting 

     in the capture and death of the Indian."…1882

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Rod Marvin McKuen, singer/composer (Alone, Beatsville) is 80

In their 60’s

Jim Ryun, US, 1500m runner/broke 4 minute mile (Olympic-silver-1968) is 66

In their 50’s

Eve Plumb, actress (Jan-Brady Bunch, I'm Gonna Get You Sucka) is 55

Daniel Day-Lewis, actor (Last of the Mohicans, Lincoln) is 56

Kate Mulgrew, actress (Capt Janeway-Star Trek Voyager) is 58

Michelle Pfeiffer, actress (Married to the Mob) is 55

Jerry Seinfeld. comedian is 59

In their 40’s

Andre Agassi, tennis star (Oly-gold-96, US Open 1994) is 43

Uma Thurman, actress (Baron Munchausen, Pulp Fiction) is 43

Carnie Wilson, rock vocalist (Wilson Phillips-Hold On) is 45

Remembered for being born today

Oliver Ellsworth, 3rd Chief Justice Supreme Court [1745-1807]

Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver [1951-2001]

Duke Ellington, [Edward Kennedy], bandleader (Take "A" Train) [1899-1974]

William Randolph Hearst, publisher (SF Examiner, Seattle P-I) [1863-1951]

Hirohito, Emperor of Japan [1901-1989]

Celeste Holm, NYC, actress (Gentleman's Agreement, All About Eve), [1919-2012]

Tommy Noonan, WA, actor (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Promises Promises) [1921-1968]

Tammi Terrell, soul singer (Ain't No Mountain High Enough) [1945-1970]

Richard Warwick, actor (Johnny Dangerously, Sebastine, If) [1945-1997]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Thomas Cooper, English bishop, lexicographer, and writer…1594…at 77

John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian economist…2006…at 97  

Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist, known as the first to synthesize LSD…2008…at 102

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, British director (Psycho, Birds)…1980…at 80

Answer: Brain Teasers

9 A 8 5 2 4 7 6 3 10

You might like to try this as a challenging 'trick' for people to work out

A further challenge is to 'spell' the number as you move the cards, one by one, to the bottom:

"O, N, E, '1', T, W, O, '2', etc.

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  §