5/1/13 Last blog until late May

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Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 18/ Day: 121   Today: H 71°…L 40°

Wind: ave:   12mph; Gusts:  45mph  Ave. humidity:  34%

*Averages: H  63° L 32° Records: H 78°(1981, ‘45)…L 10°(1967)

RED FLAG WARNING

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

"Buffalo Bill" Cody put on his 1st Wild West Show…1883

"Citizen Kane," directed & starring Orson Welles, premieres in NY…1941

"Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln…2003

1940 Olympics are cancelled…1940

1st American (James Whittaker) conquers Mount Everest…1963

1st British airliner to serve cooked meals (Imperial Airways)…1927

1st US airplane hijacked to Cuba…1961

Amtrak Railroad begins operation…1971

Bayer introduces aspirin in powder form (Germany)…1889

Billie Jean King admits to a lesbian affair with Marilyn Barnett…1981

Batman comics hit street…1939

General Mills introduces Cheerios…1941

Mr Potato Head, introduced…1952

Pancho Gonzalez retires from tennis…1960

Pulitzer prize awarded to Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)…1961

Pulitzer Prize awarded to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (Yearling)…1939

Pulitzer prize awarded to Rodgers & Hammerstein (South Pacific)…1950

Russia shoots down Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane over Sverdlovsk…1960

Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden…2009

Tasmania becomes the last state in Australia to decriminalize homosexuality…1997

TWA introduces tourist class…1952

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Packed and ready for trip. Last blog for a while.

 

Sure glad I had planned to stay home all day. The wind is blowing loud and hard. Spring in Flag but still not pleasant.

 

Guantanamo hunger strike is continuing with more prisoners every day. It is so disgusting. Many of these prisoners have been found to not be a threat to US, but they are not being released. No one seems to know why. Yes there are terrorists and those who have done something that injures, kills, or destroys property need to be tried and imprisoned. Those who may or not be law breakers need to be tried in a court of law. The idea that America is holding people in a prison with no benefit of American law is such fodder for terrorist groups, why won’t our government so something….anything. Put them on trial or let them go. While news of the hunger strike is limited by officials, we know it is happening and the enemies of America certainly know it is happening. These people will become heroes. ..especially if they are not terrorists. I’m sure some in high places in government are saying that letting them go free will hurt the US image more than keeping them with no charges. Reminds me of an old adage…when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing is to stop digging.

 

Seems that there are many ‘lists’ of potential terrorists…one ‘low-level’ lists has 700,000+ names. While this administration has made great strides in getting agencies to work together to fight terrorism they have failed on two levels…the Guantanamo situation and making terrorist lists useable. Sure, it sounds positive when we find that a real terrorist was on a list, until everyone realizes that the list is basically unmanageable.   

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

I am not a human, nor am I an animal. I have eyes, but cannot see, and I have hair that you cannot comb. My brown skin has several layers but this seems a paradox, because one is smooth and the other is hard. My skin protects my soft white flesh;  and within my flesh is my opaque blood. What am I?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Five Favorite Films with John Woo: Rotten Tomatoes Show

• George Inness

• Help Me Make It Through The Night

Origins of Phrases

Go haywire

Meaning

To go wrong, to become overly excited or deranged.

Origin

Hay-wire is the light wire that was used in baling machines to tie up bales of hay. At the turn of the 20th century the expression 'a haywire outfit' began to be used in the USA. This was used to describe companies that patched-up faulty machinery using such wire, rather than making proper long-term fixes. In 1905, The US Forestry Bureau Bulletin described a 'Hay wire outfit' as 'a contemptuous term for loggers with poor logging equipment'.

By 1920, the use of haywire to mean 'awry' or 'out of control' was recorded in Dialect Notes, Volume 82:

"Hay wire. Gone wrong or no good. Slang."

This may be a reference back to 'hay-wire outfits' but is more likely to be a literal allusion to scrambled hay-wire - anyone who has handled coils of wire will be familiar with its determination to gather into an irretrievable tangle. To go haywire was recorded in the late 1920s; for example, in this piece about a basketball game from The Helena Independent, January 1928:

"...their anxiety to score let their passing game go haywire with many wild heaves finding marks in the bleachers."

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

Percentage rate at which Arcata, CA plans to tax excessive electricity use in an effort to punish marijuana growers: 45

Picture of the Day: Myramar

Unusual Fact of the Day

The depressed area of skin under your nose and above your upper lip is called your philtrum.

Joke-of-the-day

Time magazine sent a survey to women in Arkansas, asking for their opinions on the Clinton Sex Scandal. One of the questions: Would you ever have an affair with Bill Clinton? The results were staggering! 5% — No 3% — Yes 92% — Never Again

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

IN RANGE

 If the enemy is in range, so are you.   

Yeah, It Really Happened

A cruise company in Scotland decided it was better to be safe than sorry when it insured its tourist boats against damage by the Loch Ness Monster.

Jacobite Cruises signed the $1.5 million policy with insurers to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first Nessie spotting, The Scottish Sun reported.

Owner Freda Newton told the paper she realizes the chances of an accident are slim, but it was a move that had to be made.

"How silly would we look if it did and we weren’t covered for it?” she said.

Who can argue with that logic?

The first photo of the legendary Loch Ness Monster appeared in The Daily Mail in 1934, according to LiveScience.com, but it was revealed to be a hoax.

In August 2012, a sailor who'd spend 26 years searching for Nessie snapped a picture that convinced him the sea creature lived on.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• There are not 24 hours in a day. There are 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds - the time it takes Earth to rotate on its axis, called a sidereal day.

• Despite the towering heights of the Himalayas and the depths of the deepest ocean, compared to its circumference Earth is smoother than a bowling ball. Mountains and ocean trenches make up only 1/500th of the Earth's circumference.  

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

-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                                                                      

Amtrak Day
Batman Day
Beltaine 
Executive Coaching Day
Global Love Day 
Great American Grump Out  
Keep Kids Alive! Drive 25 Day
Law Day
Lei Day
Loyalty Day
May Day
Mother Goose Day
National Bubba Day
New Homeowner's Day
School Principals' Day
Silver Star Day 
Stepmother's Day

Today’s Events through History  

1st adhesive postage stamps ("Penny Blacks" from England) issued…1840

Dewey commands, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley" as US route 

     Spanish fleet at Manila…1898

Empire State Building opens in NYC…1931

England, Wales & Scotland form UK of Great Britain…1707

Howard University chartered…1867

Kamehameha, the king of Hawaiʻi defeats Kalanikupule and establishes 

     the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi…1785

Louis XIV & his court inaugurates Paris Observatory…1682

Pulitzer prize awarded to Martin Flavin (Journey in the dark)…1944

Wars of Scottish Independence end: Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton - 

     the Kingdom of England recognizes the Kingdom of Scotland as an 

     independent state…1328

World's most intense shower (2.47" in 3 minutes) at Portobelo Panama…1908

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Sonny James, [James Loden], rocker (Young Love) is 84

In their 70’s

Judy Collins, Seattle Wash, singer (Send in the Clowns, Clouds) is 74

In their 60’s

Rita Coolidge, Nashville Tn, singer (Higher & Higher, We're All Alone) is 68

John Woo, Hong Kong director [M.I. 2] is 67

In their 40’s

Tim McGraw, singer, songwriter is 46

Remembered for being born today

Calamity [Martha] Jane [Burke], frontier adventurer/Indian fighter [1852-1903]

Glenn Ford, Quebec Canada, actor (Cade's County, Big Heat, Midway) [1916-2006]

George Inness, US landscape painter (Delaware Water Gap) [1825-1894]

Louis Nye, American comedian and actor [1913-2005]

Jack Paar, television host of the Jack Paar Show [1918-2004]

Max Robinson, broadcast journalist (ABC Evening News) [1939-1988]

Kate Smith, American singer [1907-1986]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Eldridge Cleaver, writer, activist…prostate cancer[?]…1998…at 62

Antonín Dvorak, Czech composer (Slavic Dancing)…stroke…1904…at 62

 [Matilda] Edith of Scotland, first wife of Henry I of England…1118…at 38

Spike Jones, composer (Spike Jones Show)…emphysema…1965…at 53

Steve Reeves, actor/ body builder…lymphoma…2000…at 74

Answer: Brain Teasers

A coconut

The coconut is the seed and edible fruit of the coco palm tree (Cocos nucifera). Each coconut has several layers: a smooth, deep tan outer covering; a brown fiber of 1-2" thickness; a hard, dark brown hairy husk with three indented "eyes" at one end; a thin brown skin; the cream white coconut meat; and at the center, a thin opaque coconut juice.

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  §