8/29/13

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 35/ Day: 241   

Today: H 76°…L 48°

Wind: ave:   8mph; Gusts:  20mph  

Ave. humidity:  83%

Record Low: 33° (1920)    

Record High: 89° (1948)

Average Low: 47°    

Average High: 78°    

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

15,000 American troops liberating Paris march down Champs Elysees…1944

1st Olympics in US are held (St Louis); 3rd modern Olympic Games…1904

Air Force Academy opens in Colorado Springs, CO…1958

Chop suey invented in NYC by chef of visiting Chinese Ambassador…1896

Edmond Hoyle published his "Short Treatise" on the card game whist…1742

Ishi, considered last Native American to make contact with European Americans, 

     emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California…1911

Last 36 remaining inhabitants of St Kilda are voluntarily evacuated to other parts 

     of Scotland…1930

NATO launches Operation Deliberate Force against Bosnian Serb forces…1995

US Bureau of Engraving & Printing begins operation…1862

Walt Disney's "Mary Poppins" released…1964

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Another sunny day in Flagstaff. A few clouds, but sun most of the day. No rain today, for a change and that was nice. Everything is so green and wet around here…just like the olden days when I went to grad school during the summer here in the 70’s. Haven’t seen it like this is a long, long time.

 

I listened to and/or watched the 50^th anniversary of the March on Washington. I must say, it was really quite moving. It took me back to the days when, in my youth, I thought we could end discrimination based on race, or looks. It was nice to feel that there is hope. I wasn’t around any Blacks until I got to college and only a few non-whites (Japanese and Mexican). I heard the horror stories of what was going on in other parts of the county and didn’t really understand how people could feel/act that way to another human being. Sadly, when I started working on the Rez I saw it first hand and still didn’t understand it. I still don’t. In my life I have met racists of every color. Luckily for me, there have only been a few. I never understood their feelings, but then again, didn’t spend a lot of time with them. There are too many good people in this world to waste my time and energy on people who are racist.

 

I have read and heard some very provocative articles about what the US should do about Syria It is disturbing to see so many people being killed over there, but many in that country blame outside intervention of their problems and there certainly is a history of US intervention that has not turned out positive. Until we have a plan that attacks the right people, we should just hold off.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

1: flawed 2: not flawed 1: flawed 3: not flawed 1: flawed 4: not flawed 1: flawed 5: not flawed

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• St Kilda - A Tribute!

• Notorious kiss (the most erotic kiss in movie history)

• Lee Marvin - Wandering Star (1968)

• Michael Jackson – Thriller

• Dinah Washington: What Difference A Day Makes

Hmmmm…Fearsome Phobias

If you have an irrational fear of... Automobiles
You're suffering from... Motorphobia, ochophobia

If you have an irrational fear of... Automobiles (riding in)
You're suffering from... Amaxophobia

It is Illegal…

Donut Holes May Not Be Sold In Nebraska

Privileges granted to people in the U.S. (and many western nations) for being Christian…

It is easy to find stores that carry items that enable you to practice your faith and celebrate religious holidays.

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

• Number of ploughshare tortices found in a suitcase at a Thai airport in March: 54

• Estimated world population of ploughshare tortoises: 400

Unusual Fact of the Day

The Statue of Liberty was named "Liberty Enlightening the World" by its sculptor Frederic Bartholdi, who fashioned the statue's likeness after his mother.

Joke-of-the-day

A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.” The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?” The boy takes the quarters and leaves. “What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!” Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store. “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?” The boy licked his cone and replied, “Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!”  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

RUNNING A RESTAURANT

When they're unhappy at a restaurant, the French call the headwaiter and abuse him in front of everyone. The English call the manager and abuse him quietly and with dignity. The Americans don't say a thing. They just never come back, nor do their friends.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

TOKYO - Amid a solar power boom in Japan, there are concerns the country's electrical grids cannot support proposed projects.

Last July, the Japanese government introduced a feed-in tariff scheme for renewable energy to help offset the loss of nuclear power in the aftermath of the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, which led to the idling of nearly all of the nation's 50 reactors amid safety concerns.

While the feed-in tariff applies to wind and geothermal power, solar power can be developed more cheaply and does not require time-consuming environmental assessments as do wind farms.

Figures from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry indicate 11,012 megawatts of non-residential photovoltaic projects were approved since the start of the FIT policy and the beginning of this year.

A recent report by IHS Inc. said Japan's solar power market is forecast to reach $19.8 billion this year, surpassing Germany, which was the biggest market from 2009 to 2012.

The FIT scheme authorizes the Trade Ministry to give "special consideration to the profits of renewable energy suppliers" for the first three years of the new tariff to promote the scheme, a report Wednesday in National Geographic's news portal said.

But the FIT scheme also includes provisions that allow utilities to restrict or deny access to the grids to ensure the stability of the electricity supply.

In a survey by the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation of companies involved in solar projects, 20 percent of the respondents said they were denied access by local utilities because of overcapacity and 37 percent said they would experience limits on the amount of electricity the utilities could accept.

In April, regional utility Hokkaido Electric Power said its transmission system, onto which large solar systems are interconnected, had received four times as many applications as it could manage.

While this situation has yet to occur in other parts of Japan, experts say the country's electricity system will need to be revamped soon if the solar boom continues.

Softbank's 180,000-plus megawatt project to build three large solar power plants in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido is currently on hold because Hokkaido Electric Power has not decided which applicants it will allow to connect to the grid. 

"The government needs to show what direction it wants to take the nation's energy policy," Hiroaki Fujii, executive deputy president of SB Energy, Softbank's group company that operates its renewable energy business, was quoted as saying by National Geographic.

"Only then can the utilities make plans about future investment and the operators think about profitability and draw up business plans."  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The first Starbucks sold 8oz. cups of coffee. Over the years, they have dropped the 8oz. size and have added 12oz., 16oz., 24oz. and 30oz.

• One Grande coffee (320 milligrams of caffeine) has four times the amount of caffeine than Red Bull.

• Starbucks uses over 93 million gallons of milk per year, which is enough to fill 155 Olympic sized swimming pools.

• Santa Fe Springs California wins the prize for the most stores within a 25-mile radius with a total of 560!

• There are more calories in the Starbucks cinnamon chip scone than in a McDonald's Quarter Pounder.

• There are 87,000 different drink combinations available at Starbucks.

Spoonerisms:

• "The Lord is a shoving leopard", or "Come into the arms of the shoving leopard" (Loving shepherd)

• "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride" (...customary to kiss the bride)

• "Mardon me padam, this pie is occupewed. Can I sew you to another sheet?" (Pardon me, madam, this pew is occupied. Can I show you to another seat?)

• "You have hissed all my mystery lectures, and were caught fighting a liar in the quad. Having tasted two worms, you will leave by the next town drain" (You have missed all my history lectures, and were caught lighting a fire in the quad. Having wasted two terms, you will leave by the next down train)

• He supposedly remarked to one lady, during a college reception, "You'll soon be had as a matter of course" (You'll soon be mad as a Hatter of course)

• "Let us glaze our rasses to the queer old Dean" (...raise our glasses to the dear old queen. Note: Alternatively, "Let us glaze our arses"; presumably to be a spoonerism the letter r is placed at the beginning of "arses" but when spoken the r's in "our" and "rasses" are nearly indistinguishable, thus producing the alternative, more humorous "glaze our arses.")

• "We'll have the hags flung out" (...flags hung out)

• "a half-warmed fish" (A half-formed wish)

• "Is the bean dizzy?" (Is the Dean busy?)

• "Go and shake a tower" (Go and take a shower)

• "a well-boiled icicle" (A well-oiled bicycle)

• "I've lost my signifying glass". (Later): "Oh, well, it doesn't magnify."

• "This vast display of cattleships and bruisers". (This vast display of battleships and cruisers)

• "Such Bulgarians should be vanished...". (Such vulgarians should be banished)

• "He was killed by a blushing crow". (He was killed by a crushing blow)

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

25-31

Be Kind To Humankind Week
National Safe at Home Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        According to Hoyle Day

·        Individual Rights Day

·        International Day Against Nuclear Tests

·        More Herbs, Less Salt Day

·        National Sarcoidosis Awareness Day

·        National Whiskey Sour Day

Today’s Events through History  

1st white-indian lacrosse game in Montreal, Indians win…1844

Arizonian is 1st vessel to arrive in SF via Panama Canal…1914

Black Panthers confront cops in Phila (1 cop killed)…1970

Congress creates US Naval reserve…1916

Final TV episode of "Fugitive"…1967

Goodyear tire company is founded…1898

Intl Olympic Committee votes admission to West Germany & Japan in '52…1950

Joe Pepitone quits Yanks after being fined $500 for leaving the bench…1969

Michael Faraday demonstrates 1st electric transformer…1831

New Jersey Legislature forms 1st Indian reservation It is primarily for the Lenni Lenape…1758

Seismic sea waves created by Krakatoa create rise in English Channel 32 hrs after

      explosion…1883

Strom Thurmond (Sen-D-SC) ends 24 hr filibuster against civil rights…1957

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Richard Attenborough, England, actor/director (Gandhi, Young Winston) is 90

James Brady, press secretary (wounded during Reagan assassin attempt) is 73

Elliott Gould, actor (M*A*S*H, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice) is 75

Robin Leach, London England, TV host (Life Styles of Rich & Famous) is 72

John McCain, Senator; Arizona is 77

Remembered for being born today

Mr. Blackwell, American fashion critic [1922-2008]

Ingrid Bergman, Stockholm, actress (Casablanca, Cactus Flower) [1915-1982]

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Cambridge MA, physician/author (Old Ironsides) [1809-1894]

Michael Jackson, recording artist and King of Pop (Thriller, Bad) [1958-2009]

Charles F Kettering, inventor (auto self-starter) [1878-1958]

John Locke, English empiricist philosopher; disproved substance [1632-1704]

Charlie "Bird" Parker, US jazz saxophonist [1920-1955]

Barry Sullivan, actor (Duffy's Tavern, Man Called X, Tall Man) [1912-1994]

Dinah Washington, Chicago, singer (What a Difference a Day Makes) [1924-1963]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

David Abercrombie, Abercrombie & Fitch founder…1931…at 64

Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress (Anastasia, Gaslight)…breast cancer

     …1982…on 67th birthday

John the Baptist, beheaded…29

Edmond Hoyle, games expert…1769…at 96ish

Richard Jewell, 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing…heart disease…2007…at 44

Lee Marvin, actor (Cat Ballou, Gorky Park)…heart attack…1987…at 63

William Archibald Spooner, English writer (Spoonerisms)…1930…at 89

Lowell Thomas, newscaster (High Adventure)…1981…at 89

Brigham Young, 2nd president of Mormon Church…peritonitis…1877…at 76

Brain Teasers

No one is perfect.

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  §