7/14/13

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Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 29/ Day: 195   Today: H 78°…L 52°

Wind: ave:   8mph; Gusts:  17mph  Ave. humidity:  72%

* Average Low   Average High     Record Low        Record High

50°                        83°         38° (1962)           92° (1902)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

1st direct federal tax on states-on dwellings, land & slaves…1798

1st Nat’l monument dedicated to a Negro-George Washington Carver…1953

1st patent for liquid-fueled rocket design granted (Robert Goddard)…1914

1st public demonstration of ice made by refrigeration…1850

1st US World's fair opens (Crystal Palace NY)…1853

Dr Ben Spock's "Common Sense Book of Baby & Child Care" published…1946

Opium exempted from federal tariff duty…1832

Sedition Act prohibits "false, scandalous & malicious" writing against US government…1798

Taiwan ends 37 years of martial law…1987

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Quiet Saturday after staying up way to late watching movies last night. The usual clouds came in and am still awaiting the associated rain. Not too hot, but certainly humid. I decided to move my five flower pots and my fountain to my deck. Not giving up on the fight, but decided I would give in for now, until those who own property here do something. I talked to two ladies who live here, and while they are against the rule and are not moving their flower pots or pavers they haven’t requested a hearing and are going to wait until they get charged before doing anything. Through our two brief conversations, neither of the nice ladies seems to fully understand their letters or what they should do. Time will tell. I did try to explain their letters, but not sure it fully computed with either of them. I did learn an interesting thing…another neighbor, the one with the Adirondack chairs in her front area had been told months ago by the HOA that she needed to better watch her preschool kids when they are outside. So she got the chairs. Now the chairs are ‘unsightly’ so if she removes them, her choice will be to sit on the cement sidewalk and steps to watch her kids. This lady is always putting up seasonal decorations in her windows and outside for her kids. It is really cute, but I guess has been deemed ‘unsightly’ by our HOA. Sadness continues.

So I caught up on some DVR shows I had recorded this week and several times I checked out CNN. Really, they seem to be doing little but recapping the Zimmerman trial all day. I read an article on Huffington Post that CNN has a new leader and he believes that ‘human interest’ stories like the Zimmerman trial are what the CNN audience wants. Years ago, HLN the sister network stopped being a place to find HeadLine News as most of their programming has little or nothing to do with News. It reminds me when MTV changed. At first it was music videos 24/7…thus the name Music TV. Now it is reality shows 23/7 with music videos about a total of an hour a day. I certainly understand that cable TV formats change to gain new audiences. Many change their name when they do that. CNN, HLN, and MTV decided not to change their names.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

There is a reason why men's clothes have buttons on the right while women have buttons on the left. What is it?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Dale Robertson; Johnny Cash - The Wayward Wind

• Ingmar Bergman – Interview

• Adlai Stevenson Addresses the United Nations on The "Cuban Missile Crisis"

Hmmmm…Oxymorons

Fresh-frozen Friendly fire Front end

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

• Number of people killed in mass shootings in the US last year: 66

• Number killed my Muslim-American terrorists since 9/11/2001: 33

Picture of the Day: Hybrid Animals

Unusual Fact of the Day

In 1873 the Comstock Act became law, making it illegal to mail obscene materials— including any materials related to birth control.

Joke-of-the-day

How to give a cat a pill.

1. Pick up the cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.

2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left Arm and repeat process.

3. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.

4. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws, ignore growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold cat's head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat's throat vigorously.

5. Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.

6. Wrap cat in a large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with cat's head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of a drinking straw, force cat's mouth open with pencil and blow down straw.

7. Check label to make sure pill is not harmful to humans, drink a beer to take away the taste. Apply Band-Aid to spouse's forearm and remove blood from the carpet with soap and water.

8. Tie the little angel’s front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of the dining table. Find heavy pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of fillet steak. Be rough about it. Hold head vertical and pour 2 pints of water down cat's throat to wash down pill.

9. Consume remainder of scotch. Get spouse to drive you to the A&E, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill from your eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order a new table.

10. Arrange for RSPCA to collect the mutant cat from hell and ring local pet shop to see whether they have any hamsters.  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

REACHING THE HORIZON

 The distance to the horizon, in miles, is the square root of half again your height, in feet. If you're 6 feet tall, you can see 3 miles. From 600 feet, you can see 30 miles (sq. rt. of 900). Conversely, you can see a 150-foot building from 15 miles away (sq. rt. of 225).

Yeah, It Really Happened

NEW YORK - The owner of a New York restaurant said he had to tell a woman to leave for taking her top off at a table, but he doesn't see the incident as very strange. Labinot Baraliu, owner of Verso in Manhattan's East Village neighborhood, said the woman came in with a male customer just after 9:30 p.m. Sunday and she was nude from the waist up by the time an employee brought them their water, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday. Baraliu said he quickly told the pair to leave. "I said to her, 'I'm sorry, Ma'am, you have to put your shirt back on.' She says it's legal to take her shirt off in New York -- but not in my business," the owner said. Baraliu said the man started taking pictures, but the two finally left when he threatened to smash the camera. Baraliu said he wasn't surprised by the incident. "This is the East Village. What do you expect? People are weird," he said.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Carbonated soda water was invented in 1767 by Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen.

• Cheerios cereal was originally called Cheerioats.

• Chewing gum was patented in 1869 by William Semple.

• Coca-Cola was so named back in 1885 for its two 'medicinal' ingredients: extract of coca leaves and kola nuts. As for how much cocaine was originally in the formulation, it's hard to know.

• Cocaine was sold to cure sore throat, neuralgia, nervousness, headache, colds and sleeplessness in the 1880s.

• Colgate claims "Tooth Fairy" as a registered trademark.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

14-20
Everybody Deserves A Massage Week
Sports Cliché Week
Rabbit Week
National Baby Food Week
National Ventriloquism Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        National Nude Day

^^

·        France: Bastille Day (1790)

Today’s Events through History  

1st color telecast of a sporting event (CBS-horse race)…1951

Floods on the Japanese island of Kyushu kill 20 and displace 250,000…2012

Fort Clark, Francis Chardon records first death of a Mandan attributed to smallpox, 

     spreads rapidly and be extremely deadly to the people in this area…1837

French President Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt unscathed 

     during Bastille Day celebrations…2002

Jimmy Carter wins Democratic pres nomination in NYC…1976

Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti convicted of killing their shoe company's

     paymaster…1921

North Korea shoots down US helicopter, killing 3…1977

Representative of Pennsylvania purchase several tracts of land near Schuylkill 

     from Delaware Indians…1683

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Polly Bergen, actress (Rhoda-Winds of War, Baby Talk) is 83

In their 40’s

 Patrick J. Kennedy, politician is 46

Remembered for being born today

Ingmar Bergman, director (Cries & Whispers) [1918-2007]

Tom Carvel, ice cream mogul (Carvels) [1906-1990]

Jacques D'Allonville, French astronomer and mathematician [1671-1732]

Gerald R Ford, [Leslie King], 41st VP)/38th pres [1913-2006]

William Hanna, animator (Hanna-Barbera- Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo) [1910-2001] 

Frederick Loius Maytag, inventor (washing machine) [1857-1937]

Dale Robertson, actor (Death Valley Days, Walter-Dynasty) [1923-2013]

George Tobias, actor (Abner Kravitz-Bewitched) [1901-1980]

Terry-Thomas, England, actor (It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World) [1911-1990]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Billy the Kid [William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr.], outlaw…shot…1881…at 21

George De Witt, TV host (Name that Tune)…heart attack…1979…at 56

Meredith MacRae, American actress…brain cancer…2000…at 56

Adlai Stevenson, US ambassador to UN/pres candidate…heart attack…1965…at 65

Answer: Brain Teasers

Most people are right handed and find it easier to fasten a button which is on the right through a hole which is on the left. This is why men's buttons are on the right. When buttons were first used it was rich people who could afford clothes with buttons. Among this class the ladies were often dressed by maid servants. The servant would face the lady and so it was easier for right handed servants to fasten buttons which were on the lady's left.

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  §