10/30/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 44/ Day: 303   

Today: L 34°…H 45°… Ave. humidity: 50%

Wind: ave:   8mph; Gusts:  46mph  

Average Low: 27° Record Low:  -2° (1971)

Average High: 57° Record High:  72° (1934)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

1st-ever US auto show opens in Madison Square Garden in NYC…1900

1st Methodist church in US initiated (Wesley Chapel, NYC)…1768

Clarence Birdseye sells 1st frozen peas…1952

Daniel Cooper patents time clock…1894

Defense Department announces elimination of all segregated regiments…1954

Dr Albert Schweitzer & Gen George C Marshall win Nobel Peace Prize…1953

Helena, Montana's capital, founded…1864

Orson Welles panics a nation with broadcast of "War of the Worlds"…1938

P T Barnum's circus, "Greatest Show on Earth," debuts (NYC)…1873

Queen Isabella of Spain bans violence against Indians…1503

US government announces end of shoe rationing…1945

Walt Disney purchases Lucasfilm Ltd and its rights for Star Wars and Indiana 

     Jones for $4.05b...2012

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

A cloudy day, most of the day, very unusual for this mountain town. It looked like snow was coming most of the day, but too warm, so just had showers on and off from midmorning on with a little grauple just for good measure.

 

Sure sounds to me like the health care marketplace isn’t really a marketplace. Sounds like everyone gets 4 choices and different costs. Good for some, better for others. Not so good for a few.  Truth in advertising needs to be examined.

 

Our small town hall was packed last night and it looks like they were listened to. The City Council is not going pursue selling an open space area near our Buffalo Park. Good deal.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Based on the clue in parentheses, find a four-letter word that can be inserted backwards into the blank to complete a longer word.
Example: di____ve (a defeat)
Answer: dissolve ("A defeat" gives you LOSS, which is placed backwards in the blank: di_SSOL_ve.)

1. s____ing (earth) 2. si____lk (felt reverent) 3. cam____e (chauffeur driven car) 4. s____way (bass; extreme)

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Steve Allen "Man on the Street"

• ROBERT GOULET - "Medley

• RUTH GORDON TRIBUTE

• Gavin Rossdale - Love Remains The Same

• Henry Winkler talks about being The Fonz

• Jefferson Airplane -White Rabbit- Official Music Video

Hmmmm…Fearsome Phobias
If you have an irrational fear of... Hurricanes
You're suffering from... Lilapsophobia

If you have an irrational fear of... Ice
You're suffering from... Cryophobia Greek kruos ‘frost’

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

Cost of 50 pork-coated 9mm rounds designed by an Idaho company as a ‘natural deterrent’ in radical Islam: $24.75

Unusual Fact of the Day

M&M’s stands for “Mars & Murrie’s,” the last names of the candy’s founders.

Joke-of-the-day

What tool does Count Dracula use when he repairs his car? A Vamplier

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

WHO STARTS FISTFIGHTS

Any cop will tell you, in a bar fight, the shorter of the two probably started the fight.   

Yeah, It Really Happened

Dogs are overdosing on drug addicts' poop left in Berlin's parks, the German Local wrote from a report in Der Tagesspiegel newspaper.

The city's veterinarians reportedly have noticed an increase in dogs being treated after eating human excrement in the public spaces, which are frequented by junkies who often defecate in the bushes. Tests indicated the pooches -- which were dehydrated, struggled to walk and had a rapid heartbeat -- were under the influence of heroin and other drugs found in the stools.

While fatal cases have been rare, vet Reinhold Sassnau said in the report that canines can be given a vomit-inducing drug to clear the feces, or they can be held at the clinic to recover.

One stateside expert expressed surprise at the report. "Most illicit drugs are going to the urine and not the feces," Karyn Bischoff, a veterinarian specializing in analytical toxicology at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine, explained to The Huffington Post. "I wouldn't expect there to be enough [in the feces] to cause a crisis."

Bischoff theorized that perhaps the dogs "found somebody's stash" and ingested it.

There's actually a name for dogs consuming animal waste. It's called coprophagia. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, coprophagia "isn't considered abnormal, just undesirable. Many dogs will also ingest human feces if given the opportunity."

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The Vatican's railway Station was opened in 1930 and is mostly used for freight.

• Piazza di San Pietro (St Peter's Square) and the colonnade were designed and built by Bernini (completed in 1667). At 314 meters long and 240 meters wide it is the largest square in Rome. Bernini (with the help of his pupils) designed the 140 statues of saints which decorate the colonnade.

• The Vatican City issues its own passports; the Pope, cardinals, members of the Swiss guard and clergy being the recipients.

• The Vatican City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the only site to encompass a whole country.

• Italians are allowed to donate 8% of their yearly taxes to the Vatican (this is instead of paying it to the Italian Government).

• In 2007 the Vatican opted to become the first Carbon neutral state by offsetting their carbon footprint with the creation of a forest in Hungary.

• The Vatican stamps its own coins. The €1 coin which has a portrait of the present Pope is in high demand with collectors.

• The Vatican museums are over 9 miles (14,5 kilometers) long, and it is said that if you spent only 1 minute admiring each painting it would take you 4 years to complete the circuit!

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

24-11/11

World Origami Days
25-31

International Magic Week
Give Wildlife a Brake! Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Checklist Day

·        Create A Great Funeral Day

·        Devil's Night or Mischief Night

·        Haunted Refrigerator Night

·        National Candy Corn Day

Today’s Events through History  

UN unanimously elects U Thant acting secretary general of the UN…1961

California Angel Nolan Ryan throws fastest recorded pitch (100.9 MPH)...1974

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Dick Gautier, actor (Hymie-Get Smart, Mr Terrific) is 81

Grace Slick, Chicago, rock vocalist (Jefferson Airplane-White Rabbit) is 73

Henry Winkler, Manhattan, actor (Fonz-Happy Days, Night Shift)  is 68

Gavin Rossdale, English heavy metal vocalist and actor (Bush) is 48

Ivanka Trump, model, Trump family is 32

Remembered for being born today

John Adams, 2nd president USA [1735-1826]

Elizabeth Madox Roberts, American poet and author [1881-1941]

Ezra Loomis Pound, Hailey Idaho, poet (Cantos) [1885-1972]

Ruth Gordon, actress (Rosemary's Baby, Harold & Maude) [1896-1985]

Fred Friendly, American journalist [1915-1998]  

Ruth Hussey, actress (Another Thin Man, Phila Story) [1917-2005]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Steve Allen, comedian, author, and composer…auto accident…2000…@78  

Conrad Richter, US writer (Light in the Forest)…1968…@78

Kirby Grant, actor/singer (Sky King)…auto accident…1985…@74

Robert Goulet, entertainer…awaiting lung transplant…2007…@73

Allan Cunningham, Scottish poet and author…1842…@58

Brain Teasers

1. striding (DIRT - s_TRID_ing) 2. sidewalk (AWED - si_DEWA_lk) 3. camomile (LIMO - cam_OMIL_e) 4. speedway (DEEP - s_PEED_way)

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  §