10/19/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 42/ Day: 292    

Today: L 25°…H 58°… Ave. humidity: 48%

Wind: ave:   8mph; Gusts:  24mph  

Average Low: 30° Record Low:  6° (1971)

Average High: 62° Record High:  77° (2003)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

"Chorus Line" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 6137 performances…1975

1st Distinguished Service Medal awarded to a woman…1919

2nd Battle at Castillon: French beat English, end of hundred year war…1453

Berlin Olympic Committee vote to introduce basketball in 1936…1933

Italian army takes Somalia…1925

Last issue of "Look" magazine is published…1971

Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated Rutgers University…1943

Tripoli (Libya) passes from Turkish to Italian control…1912

US post office 1st used an automobile to collect & deliver mail…1914

William Gibson's "Miracle Worker," premieres in NYC…1959

World's largest gold nugget (215 kg) found in New South Wales…1872

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Clear blue sky, not as cold last night…nice to be able to spend time outside in our beautiful weather. Nice weekend ahead here in Flag.

 

Interesting discussion on Crossfire today…is the term ‘redskin’ appropriate for a football team? So odd to see Blacks and Whites giving their perspective…with no Natives in the discussion. Listening to some say that even though the dictionary states it is a derogatory term, some on the panel said it was not. Showing all the viewers that CNN missed the whole point of the name. From my point of view, this is like having a debate about the ‘N-word’ with only Southern Conservatives on the panel. Not impressed that one of the moderators said several times ‘I have Native American blood’, yet in his bio it is not listed, nor did he name a tribe. Cynical I know, but still disappointed.

 

So glad I don’t have to deal with the Healthcare website. It is amazing to me that so much money was spent to make the website, and so many say it doesn’t let them in. It sure seems that somebody has some ‘splainin’ to do’. We have been told that there are many well educated Americans who have been denied health insurance for decades. Now they can’t get on the site. Crazy. If any commercial site had these problems, for this long, they would soon be out of business. It will eventually get worked out, and these glitches will be fixed, and many will finally have heath care at an affordable price. Too bad it is taking so long for those in need.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

In Mrs. Farstaff's Science class, they are holding a contest. She has a glass bottle, and a little bronze ball, the size of which is the exact same as the hole in the bottle. Mrs. Farstaff is giving the student who can put the ball in the bottle, without breaking the glass or destroying the ball somehow, an iPOD.

In her room there is a microwave, petroleum jelly, a stove, and a freezer.

Six of her seven students attempted this feat, but with no luck.

After the sixth student, the seventh, Geoff, comes up to the bottle and the ball. He thinks of using one of the tools in Mrs. Farstaff's room at his disposal, and uses one (not the jelly as it was already proven to not work) and five hours later, gets the ball in the bottle and his free iPOD.

How did he do it?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Peter Tosh - Mama Africa

• Tom Bosley on the legacy of "Happy Days"

• A tribute to Robert Reed

• Divine - Walk Like a Man

• Martha Raye Show Outtakes

Hmmmm…Fearsome Phobias

If you have an irrational fear of... Germs
You're suffering from... Bacillophobia Latin bacillum ‘bacterial cells’

If you have an irrational fear of... Ghosts
You're suffering from... Phasmophobia Greek phasma 'ghost'

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

• Estimated number of homeowners whose foreclosure abuse settlements were affected by a recent ‘clerical error’: 96,000

• Amount these homeowners were underpaid: $44,600,000

Amazing Facts About The Human Body

Human Skin: The largest organ in the body is the skin. In an adult man it covers about 1.9m2 (20sq ft). The skin constantly flakes away – in a lifetime each person sheds around 18kg (40 lb) of skin.

Unusual Fact of the Day

Slumber Party Barbie of 1965 came with her own "How to Lose Weight" book. One of the tips: "Don’t eat."

Joke-of-the-day

A cocky State Highways employee stopped at a farm and talked with an old farmer. He told the farmer, "I need to inspect your farm for a possible new road."

The old farmer said, "OK, but don't go in that field."

The Highways employee said, "I have the authority of the State Government to go where I want. See this card? I am allowed to go wherever I wish on farm land."

So the old farmer went about his farm chores.

Later, he heard loud screams and saw the State Highways employee running for the fence and close behind was the farmer's prize bull. The bull was madder than a nest full of hornets and the bull was gaining on the employee at every step!!

The old farmer called out, "Show him your card!!"

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

BUYING A BICYCLE LOCK

The lighter the bicycle, the heavier the lock should be.   

Yeah, It Really Happened

BLADENBORO, N.C. - Organizers of BeastFest in a North Carolina town said the annual event celebrates a local legendary monster blamed for dog deaths in the 1950s. Berry Lewis, organizer of the Nov. 2 BeastFest in Bladenboro, said the celebration usually brings about 6,000 people to the town, which has a population of less than 2,000, The Charlotte Observer reported Monday. "The biggest thing we had going for us, what put us on the map, was the beast," Lewis said. The legend of the Beast of Bladenboro began in 1953 when about a half dozen dogs were discovered with their heads crushed and their bodies drained of blood. The mystery brought an estimated 1,000 visitors to the town to hunt the unknown creature. Jefferson Weaver, a reporter for the Bladen Journal, said legends spread about escaped circus animals in the area, but no such incidents were officially reported. However, many considered the mystery solved when an ocelot, a wild cat native to Mexico, was discovered in the area. The beast's popularity was revived as a means to draw in tourists after the town's mill closed down in 2000. The seventh annual BeastFest is scheduled to include food, live music and an appearance from the festival's mascot. 

Somewhat Useless Information   

• In 1952, little Anne Odell's school restricted students to toys no bigger than a matchbox. So her dad, an engineer, made her a tiny die-cast steamroller-the first in a fleet of famous Matchbox cars. 

• Gumby wasn't originally meant as a toy. Illustrator Art Clokey conceived Gumby as a character for an animated jazz video, but studio heads knew his greatest fans would be kids.

• The Frisbee got its name from a game popular with Yale University students, who threw pie tins from the Frisbie Pie Bakery.

• Twister began as a promotion for shoe polish.

• The inventor of the Slinky, Richard James, left his wife, six children and the Slinky fortune to join a cult in South America.

• The game Operation began as a class project at the University of Illinois by inventor John Spinello.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

13-19

Bullying Bystanders Unite Week
Earth Science Week
Freedom From Bullies Week
Getting The World To Beat A Path To Your Door Week
National Chestnut Week 
National Food Bank Week
Teen Read Week
YWCA Week Without Violence
14-18

National School Lunch Week
YWCA Week Without Violence 
17-24

Food & Drug Interactions and Awareness Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Bridge Day: largest extreme sports event in the world—(WV. Hundreds of BASE jumpers and nearly 80,000 spectators are expected to attend the event.

·        Evaluate Your Life Day

·        Sweetest Day

~~~~

·        USA: Mo: Missouri Day ("foster love for state’s history and to teach rising generations of boys and girls the glories of Missouri.")

Today’s Events through History  

1st woman jockey in North America, Anna Lee Wiley in Mexico…1941

Edward Elgar's "Pomp & Circumstance March," premieres in Liverpool…1901

James Kelly & Jack Smith fight bare knuckle for 6h15m in Melbourne…1856

Stamp Act Congress met in NY, wrote declaration of rights & liberties…1765

Thomas Edison demonstrates electric light…1879

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Tony Lo Bianco, actor (French Connection) is 77

Peter Max, Berlin, American psychadelic artist (Dynamite Chicken) is 76

John Lithgow, actor (Harry & Hendersons, Pelican Brief) is 68

Evander Holyfield, Atmore Ala, boxer (Oly-bronze-1988)/champ is 51

Ty Pennington [Gary Tygert Burton], television host (Extreme Makeover) is 49

John Edward, American TV Psychic is 44

Remembered for being born today

John Woolman, American Quaker preacher and abolitionist [1720-1772]

Robert Reed, actor (Mike-Brady Bunch, Nurse) [1932-1982]

Peter Tosh [Winston Hubert McIntosh], reggae musician (Mystic Man, 

     Mama Africa) [1944-1987]

Lloyd Haynes, actor (Pete Dixon-Room 222) [1934-1987]

Divine, [Harris Glenn Milstead], Balt MD, actress (Pink Flamingo) [1945-1988]

Jack Anderson, journalist (Wash Post) [1922-2005]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Tom Bosley, actor (Happy Days, Murder She Wrote)…2010…@83

Martha Raye, actress (Pin Up Girl)… Alzheimer's…1994…@78

Jonathan Swift, English writer (Gulliver's Travels)…1745…@77

Gig Young, actor…suicide after killing wife…1978…@64

Edna St Vincent Millay, poet/dramatist/feminist (Harp Weaver-Pulitzer Prize)…fall…1950…@58

King John of England (1199-1216), agreed to the Magna Carta… dysentery…1216…@49

Brain Teasers

He put the little ball in the freezer for five hours, and left the bottle outside. The bronze ball will contract in the cold of the freezer, but the opening of the bottle will be the same size as it was. This makes it easy for the ball to go into the bottle.

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  §