12/1/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 49 / Day: 335   

Today: L 31°…H 38°… Ave. humidity: 69%

Wind: ave:   3mph; Gusts:  8mph  

Average Low: 18° Record Low:  -7 (1905)

Average High: 46° Record High:  63° (1926)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

"The Great Train Robbery", the 1st Western film, released…1903

1st American school to offer manual training courses opens, Md…1750

1st Christmas Club payment made, to Carlisle Trust Co, Pa…1909

1st color photograph of Earth from outer space…1959

1st drive-up gasoline station opens (Pitts)…1913

1st US helium-filled dirigible makes 1st flight…1921

1st White House telephone installed…1878

50th Heisman Trophy Award: Doug Flutie…1984

AIDS virus is officially recognized…1981

Airlift of refugees from Cuba to US began…1965

Benazir Bhutto named 1st female Prime Minister of a Moslem country (Pakistan)…1988

Boys Town founded by Father Edward Flanagan west of Omaha Neb…1917

Empress Elisabeth orders expulsion of all Jews from Russia…1742

Game of Bingo invented by Edwin S Lowe…1929

Gasoline rationed in US…1942

Golden Gate Bridge closes due to high winds…1951

Hans Christian Andersen published his 1st book of fairy tales…1835

James Naismith creates the game of basketball…1891

Michael Jackson releases his album "Thriller"…1982

Pres Carter more than doubles national park system size…1978

Rosa Parks (black) arrested for refusing to move to the back of bus…1955

Sherlock Holmes 1st appears in print: "Study in Scarlet"…1887

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Ah, December is here. Strange weather day for us…last night was smoky and foggy. While the weatherman said the fog would burn off, it didn’t…it has been foggy and overcast most of the day. A nearby neighborhood is called Smokerise. Well, today that didn’t. We have lots of residences with fireplaces and they too have been blazing away today, adding to the messy day. The weather bureau just issued a ‘heavy freezing fog warning’ until 11am on Sunday.  WTF? This is a high desert.

 

Relaxing day around the house. No need to be outside in this dreary weather. Caught up on some DVR series, but not as many as usual as most shows are repeats during the holidays or won’t start up again until after the new year.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Find an anagram for each word in Group A. Each anagram will answer one of the clues in Group B.

Group A               Group B 1. Optic                1. Painter's stand 2. Civet                2. Singing voice 3. Toner               3. Golf clubs 4. Rosin                4. Subject 5. Lease               5. Throw out

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Little Ricky

• Bette Midler as Delores De Lago: "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"

• 12 Questions for Woody Allen

• Peter Pan Clip 1956 Mary Martin

• The Great Train Robbery 1903

Very Strange Laws…Alabama

• Bear wrestling matches are prohibited.

• Incestuous marriages are legal.

• It is illegal to impersonate a person of the clergy.

• It is illegal to maim oneself to escape duty.

• It is illegal to wear a fake moustache that causes laughter in church.

• Putting salt on a railroad track may be punishable by death.

• Boogers may not be flicked into the wind.

• It is legal to drive the wrong way down a one-way street if you have a lantern attached to the front of your automobile.

• You must have windshield wipers on your car.

• You may not have an ice cream cone in your back pocket at any time.

• Masks may not be worn in public.

• It is considered an offense to open an umbrella on a street, for fear of spooking horses.

• Women are able to retain all property they owned prior to marriage in the case of divorce. However, this provision does not apply to men.

• It is illegal to sell peanuts in Lee County after sundown on Wednesday.

• It is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while operating a vehicle.

• Dominoes may not be played on Sunday.

• Anniston--You may not wear blue jeans down Noble Street.

• Auburn--No person may spit on the floor of a church. Men who deflower virgins, regardless of age or marital status, may face up to five years in jail.

• Lee County--It is illegal to sell peanuts in Lee County after sundown on Wednesday.

• Mobile--Women may not wear a ‘lewd dress’ in public. \ Bathing in city fountains is prohibited.  \ No person within the city may possess confetti. \ ‘Spray String’ is banned. \ If one wishes to read palms in the city, they must first pay $10 for a permit. \ It is unlawful to wear women’s pumps with sharp, high heels.

• Montgomery--It is considered an offense to open an umbrella on a street, for fear of spooking horses.

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

• Chance that an American with a smart-phone has used it during sex: 1 in 10

Unusual Fact of the Day

• On Scooby Doo, Shaggy's real name is Norville Rogers.

Joke-of-the-day

The manager of a large office asked a new employee to come into his office. "What is your name?," was the first thing the manager asked.

"John," the new guy replied.

The manager scowled. "Look, I don't know what kind of a namby-pamby place you worked at before, but I don't call anyone by their first name! It breeds familiarity and that leads to a breakdown in authority," he said. "I refer to my employees by their last name only - Smith, Jones, Baker - that's all. Now that we got that straight, what is your last name?"

The new guy sighed and said, "Darling. My name is John Darling."

The manager said, "Okay, John, the next thing I want to tell you..." 

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

RULE OF SIX

A six-inch telescope looking at a sixth magnitude star will receive 10^6 (i.e. 1 million) photons per second.   

Yeah, It Really Happened

It seems a Tennessee man gave his entire estate to his two cats instead of his family.

And we're not talking some ratty old furniture in a retirement condo that smells like Metamucil and cat pee. Leon Sheppard Sr. left behind a 4,270-square-foot house and $250,000 for his two cats, Frisco and Jake. His will outlines that the money is to care for his cats and the maintenance of the home.

"If their owner sees fit, they can create a trust for the welfare and benefit of the cats and their care," attorney Randy Fishman said.

Fishman, who has practiced law for almost 35 years, explains that this is a rare case.

"I don't know if I've ever come across one," Fishman said.

The family could see some money from the estate eventually. When Frisco dies, whatever is left of the estate including the home can be passed to Sheppard's human heirs, but Jake must be cared for still.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Did you know that one of the biggest ranches in the world is in South Texas and comprises 825,000 acres (3,340 km²; 1,289 sq mi)?  This ranch is bigger than the state of Rhode Island. However, the largest ranch in the world is in Australia and comprises 6,000,000 acres!

• Did you know that Europe has 163, 000 suicide incidents annually? According to the World Health Organization (WHO) it is the highest rate in the world.The most popular suicide site in Europe in the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  least four to five suicide incidents happen annually. However, there’ s something funny about that. A woman jumped off the Eiffel Tower, landed on a car, survived and got married to the owner of the car!

• Arianna Huffington, the famous Greek-American entrepreneur and journalist and president and editor-in-chief of the ‘Huffington Post’ wrote the biography of a very famous singer. Who’s that singer? In 1981 Huffington wrote the biography of Maria Callas  ”Maria Callas – The Woman Behind the Legend”. In 1989, she also wrote a biography of Pablo Picasso, Picasso: Creator and Destroyer.

• The word “sphinx” refers to the mythical creature with the body of a lion and a human head. 
The word “sphinx” has a Greek origin (Greek: Σφίγξ) and the plural  is “sphinges”.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Month:

• Awareness Month of Awareness Months Month  
• Bingo's Birthday Month
• National Drunk & Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month
• National Write A Business Plan Month
• National Tie Month 
• Operation Santa Paws (1-24)
• Quince and Watermelon Month 
• Root Vegetables and Exotic Fruits Month 
• Safe Toys and Gifts Month \ Spiritual Literacy Month
• Tomato and Winter Squash Month 
• Universal Human Rights Month 
• World AIDS Month  \ Worldwide Food Service Safety Month

Happening This Week:

1-7: Clerc-Gallaudet Week~~Cookie Cutter Week~~International Coelenterate Biology Week~~National Handwashing Awareness Week~~Recipe Greetings For The Holidays Week~~Tolerance Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Advent begins for Christians

·        Bifocals at the Monitor Liberation Day-to acknowledge people who use computers and wear bifocals

·        Civil Air Patrol Day

·        Day With(out) Art Day

·        Eat a Red Apple Day

·        Rosa Parks Day

·        World Aids Day

·        World Aids Awareness Day

>>>>> 

·        Portugal–Independence Day (1640 dissolving of Iberian Union)

·        Romania–National Day (1918 unification with Transylvania)

Today’s Events through History  

Continuous moving assembly line introduced by Ford (car every 2:38)…1913

Exxon announces a $73.7 billion deal to create Exxon-Mobil, world's largest company…1998

Jacques Charles & Nicolas Roberts make first untethered ascension with gas hydrogen

     balloon in Paris…1783

Mass becomes 1st colony to give statutory recognition to slavery….1641

US Civil Air Patrol (CAP) organizes…1941

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Woody Allen, [Allen Konigsberg], Bkln, actor (Zelig, Annie Hall) is 78

Bette Midler, Honolulu, actress/singer (Beaches, Wind Beneath my Wings) is 68

Richard Keith, actor (Little Ricky-I Love Lucy) is 63

Charlene Tilton, actress (Lucy Ewing-Dallas) is 55

Remembered for being born today

Rex Stout, mystery writer (Nero Wolf novels) (1886-1975)

Charles Finney, US, author (Circus of Dr Lao) (1905-1984)

Dick Shawn, actor (Producers, Maid to Order, Angel) (1923-1987)

Mary Martin, actress (Peter Pan) Larry Hagman's mom (1913-1990)

David Doyle, actor (Charlie's Angels, Rugrats) (1929-1997)

Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (1975-1998)

Richard Pryor, comedian (1940-2005) 

Lou Rawls, vocalist (Dean Martin, Golddigers, Natural Man) (1933-2006)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Joseph B. Wirthlin, [LDS] Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, businessman…2008…@91

David Ben-Gurion, founding father of Israel…1973…@87

James Arthur Baldwin, writer (Another Country)…cancer…1987…@63

Brain Teasers

1. Easel (5)

2. Tenor (3) 3. Irons (4) 4. Topic (1) 5. Evict (2)

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  §