8/25/13

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Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 36/ Day: 235   

Today: H 57°…L 52°

Wind: ave:   2mph; Gusts:  4mph  Ave. humidity:  64%

Record Low: 30° (1968)    

Record High: 91° (1985)

Average Low: 48°     

Average High: 79°    

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

17th summer Olympics opens in Rome…1960

85,000 people are displaced by severe floods in Myanmar…2012

Carl Lewis runs 100m in 9.86 seconds…1991

Galileo demonstrates his 1st telescope to Venetian lawmakers…1609

Gen De Gaulle returns to Paris/walks Champs Elysees Paris…1944

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

The NWS keeps telling us through alerts that we should expect flash flooding in our area. So far, nothing has happened in that line. A few weeks ago some hikers reported seeing a bear on our mountain. Today, there were several sightings of a bear in a neighborhood on the other side of our mountain. I guess all this rain has given the bear some attitude to venture around more.

 

Our discussion group meets tonight to discuss the NSA megadata surveillance. After reading the articles from a variety of sources I’m sure this will be a lively discussion. Before we meet, I have some ideas…first, the NSA surveillance sounds to me a lot like the McCarthy era, which I am a little too young to remember hearing about it. However, I do remember that my parents had some friends that were very progressive. My parents were visited by someone who was ‘checking into their friends background’ for ‘a job application’. My parents were unaware of any job application and from the questions realized that that was bogus. I do remembering them discussing the visit and trying to decide if they should tell the friends. I don’t know the outcome but we all remained friends for decades. The idea today is that the NSA will identify a ‘target’ to watch, and then will check on the backgrounds of all of the target’s communications.  McCarthy went too far with his ‘witch hunt’ of communists, but many lives were damaged or destroyed by his accusations before he was stopped. I fear that the history is simply repeating itself. Second, I was watching a special on MSNBC for the 50^th anniversary of March on Washington. Lots of speakers, lots of old footage of the speeches. Lots of memories of Civil Rights leaders. Fifty years ago these people were looking for, calling for, and demonstrating for change in the way some Americans were being denied certain rights. Many of they were followed, harassed, wiretapped by the FBI as ‘subversives’. Turns out, as we look back on the days, they are no longer seen as subversives by most in America. I am sure that history will show that all this NSA domestic spying will be seen the same way as the FBI  

 

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

I with borrowed silver shine, What you see is none of mine. First I show you but a quarter, like the bow that guards the Tartar; Then the half, and then the whole, ever dancing around the pole; And true it is, I chiefly owe my beauty to the shades below.  Who am I?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• What's my Line? Van Johnson

• NASA Remembers Neil Armstrong

• Westside Story Overture

Hmmmm…Fearsome Phobias

If you have an irrational fear of... Air (and drafts)
You're suffering from... Aerophobia, airphobia, pneumatophobia

If you have an irrational fear of... Accidents
You're suffering from... Dystychophobia

Not a Fan of Faux News, but this is crazy.

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

Chance that a white American thinks anti-white bias is more prevalent that anti-black bias: 1 in 2

Unusual Fact of the Day

Before Briton Hadden and Henry Luce decided to call their new magazine Time, they were debating calling it either Chance or Destiny.

Joke-of-the-day

Job Interview Question
You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night. You pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for the bus:
1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
2. An old friend who once saved your life.
3. The perfect man (or) woman you have been dreaming about.
Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing that there could only be one passenger in your car? Think before you continue reading. This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was once actually used as part of a job application.
You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first; or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back. However, you may never be able to find your perfect dream lover again.
The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble coming up with his answer.
He simply answered: "I would give the car keys to my old friend, and let him take the lady to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the woman of my dreams."
Never forget to "Think Outside of the Box."

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

THE JAPANESE RULE OF FLOWER ARRANGING

Put into the vase one-third as many flowers as you think you need, then take half of them out.   

Yeah, It Really Happened

MADISON, Wis. - Police in Wisconsin said an unusually named man, Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop, was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to manufacture. The 32-year-old man, who was born Jeffrey Drew Wilschke and had his name legally changed in October 2011, allegedly had drugs and paraphernalia during a July 20 traffic stop, court records said. Washington County records said Zopittybop-Bop-Bop, of Madison, was driving a minivan with an expired registration when a Washington County sheriff's deputy pulled him over for weaving between lanes. Deputies found .60 ounces of marijuana in a Mason jar, more than 100 small, plastic bags, two scales, marijuana grinders and marijuana pipes in the vehicle, The (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Gazette reported Friday. Zopittybop-Bop-Bop and his passenger, Zachary R. Marinan, of Davenport, had a combined $1,800 in cash. Zopittybop-Bop-Bop is scheduled for trial Sept. 17 and if convicted could face a possible five years in prison and a $7,500 fine.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• You may have heard someone say, “It’s raining cats and dogs.” There have been actual documented cases from all over the world of fish, frogs, dead birds, snakes, snails, beetles, worms and jellyfish raining down from the sky in great numbers, but no reports of showers of cats or dogs.

• The blue whale, the largest animal to have ever existed, is 96 feet long and weighs 125 tons. This is as much as 4 large dinosaurs (Brontosauri), 23 elephants, 230 cows or 1800 men.

• Some animals produce their own lights, called bioluminescence. The Brazilian railroad worm has a red light on its head and green lights down its side. All it needs to drive on the street is a turn signal.

• The fastest bird is the peregrine falcon. It can fly at a speed of 168-217 miles per hour.

• The largest egg laid by a living bird is that of the North African Ostrich. It is 6 to 8 inches in length and 4 to 6 inches in diameter. The smallest is that of the hummingbird. It is less than 0.39 inches in diameter.

• Whether an alligator is a male or female can be determined by the temperature of the nest where the egg is hatched 90 to 93 degrees will make it a male; 82 to 86 degrees will turn it into a female.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

25-31

Be Kind To Humankind Week
National Safe at Home Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Go Topless Day

·        Kiss and Make Up Day

·        National Park Service Founders Day 1916

·        National Second-hand Wardrobe Day

·        National Whiskey Sour Day

^^^

·        Uruguay: Independence Day (1825 from Portugal/Brazil)

Today’s Events through History  

1st scheduled passenger service by airplane (Paris-London)…1919

1st US woman to win in Olympics (Ethelda Bleibtrey)…1920

Acting Governor Hall of Colorado territory telegraphs military that 200 Indians are "devastating southern Colorado."…1868

Council of Nicaea ends with adoption of the Nicene Creed establishing the doctrine of the Holy Trinity…325

Montreal taken by Iroquois…1689

 Yellow Cab is founded…1910

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Anne Archer, actress (Fatal Attraction, Patriot Games) is 67

Tim Burton, film director (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands) is 55

Sean Connery, Edinburgh Scotland, actor (James Bond) is 83

Elvis Costello, [Declan Patrick McManus], Lon, rock vocalist (Allison) is 59

Billy Ray Cyrus, country singer (Achy Breaky Heart) is 52

Rollie Fingers, relief pitcher (Oakland Athletics, MVP/Cy Young-1981) is 67

Monty Hall, TV game show host (Lets Make a Deal) is 91

Regis Philbin, Bronx, talk & game show host (Joey Bishop Show, Live with Regis & Kathie Lee) is 82

Tom Skerritt, actor (Ryan's Four, Alien, Big Bad Mama) is 80

Gene Simmons, [Chaim Witz], Haifa Israel, rock guitarist (KISS-Beth) is 64

Blair Underwood, actor (Jonathan-LA Law, High Incident) is 49

Remembered for being born today

Leonard Bernstein, conductor/composer (West Side Story) [1918-1990]

Don Defore, actor (George-Hazel, Ozzie & Harriet) [1913-1993]

Mel Ferrer, actor (Longest Day, Eaten Alive, 5th Floor) [1917-2008]

Althea Gibson, 1st black tennis champion in a major event [1927-2003]

Richard Greene, Plymouth England, composer/actor (Adv of Robin Hood)

Ivan IV [Ivan the Terrible], 1st tsar of Russia [1530-1584]

Van Johnson, actor (Brigadoon) always wore red socks [1916-2008]

Walt Kelly, cartoonist, creator (Pogo) [1913-1973]

Allan Pinkerton, founded Chicago detective agency [1819-1884]

Michael Rennie, England, actor (Robe, Klatuu-Day the Earth Stood Still) [1909-1971]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Neil Armstrong, astronaut, surgery complications…2012…at 82

John Birch, American intelligence officer and missionary…assassinated…1945…at 27 

Truman Capote, author (In Cold Blood)…liver cancer…1984…at 59

Michael Faraday, English scientist…1867…at 75

F William Herschel, German astronomer (discovered Uranus)…1822…at 85

David Hume, Scottish philosopher and historian…1776…at 65

Edward M. Kennedy, US Senator from Massachusetts…brain cancere…2009…at 77

Alfred C Kinsey, biologist, zoologist and sexologist (Kinsey Report)…heart 

     ailment…1956…at 62

Friedrich Nietschze, philosopher (Also sprach Zarathustra)…stroke…1900…at 55

George Lincoln Rockwell, head of American Nazi Party…assassinated…1967…at 49

Brain Teasers

The moon

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  §