12/17/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 51 / Day: 351   

Today: L 51°…H 23°… Ave. humidity: 43%

Wind: ave:   6mph; Gusts:  14mph  

Average Low: 16° Record Low: -14 ° 1928

Average High: 43° Record High:  65° (1980)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

Astrodome opens, 1st event is Judy Garland & Supremes concert…1965

At 10:35 AM, 1st sustained motorized aircraft flight (Orville Wright)…1903

Aztec calendar stone discovered in Mexico City…1790

Bonnie Prince Charlie's army retreats to Scotland…1745

Gen US Grant issues order #11, expelling Jews from Tennessee…1862

George Washington's army returns to Valley Forge, Pa…1777

IRA bombs Harrods Department Store in London, killing six people…1983

Kentucky abolishes debtors' prisons…1821

Largest newspaper-Sunday NY Times at 946 pages (50 cents)…1965

Lynette Fromme sentenced to life for attempt on Pres Ford's life (paroled in 2009)…1975

New Ellis Island Immigration station completed costing $1.5 million…1900

NYC traffic regulation creates 1st 1-way street…1791

Sitting Bull and the police killed during his arrest are buried with honor…1890

US Army announces end of excluding Japanese-Americans from West Coast, 

     detainees released…1944

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Finally a nice day where time could be spent outside at least for a little while.

 

Got a little shopping done and now am almost finished. Good feeling. Lots of lunches this week, and should be a good time.  Even took some time for a pedicure. It is so much easier to have someone else cut my talons. The guy who did it was one of the ‘boat people’ from Vietnam. His father was in the Navy and the night before Saigon fell, the whole family got on a naval vessel. When word came from the President of the time that troops were to stop fighting, the vessel pulled out of port and headed to the US. He came here at 17 and has lived in CA since then. He came to Flag when he got laid off a job he had in LA and really likes Flagstaff, where he has been for about a year. He said that his escape was so much easier than most people, he kinda felt guilty.  Good conversation…which led to a much longer time than I had planned, but so enjoyable I didn’t mind.

 

I have been a big fan of 60 Minutes and almost never miss it on Sunday. This week they did a piece on the NSA. I must say that as I watched it, I had a lot of questions about why they were doing this commercial for the NSA. Only the NSA people were talking, and while some questions were probative, none of the NSA detractors were in the piece. At first I thought it was because of the Laura Logan debacle a few weeks ago, I was simply being cynical.  Then today a circuit judge ruled that the data-mining of the NSA was unconstitutional. Now I feel that 60 Minutes has lost much of its journalistic excellence it has been known for over the decades. They allowed a few NSA employees to tell us that they were not listening to private Americans, nor were they collecting data on Americans living in the US. Others have been claiming since Snowden leaked some information that this is not true. Yet 60 Minutes never let them be heard or seen. Disappointing day…no disappointing month for a great TV news show.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

In this teaser, I have given you 4 words. Beside each word is a series of letter groupings. Your task is to find the answer to the word on the left by choosing one letter from each of the letter groups to the right of each clue. Example: Statuette: fro evi gse rpu lor nai ngd rep Answer: Fgo evI Gse rpU loR naI Ngd rEp = FIGURINE

1. Building: ant uhp yte alk ttr wrq ase 2. Kettledrum: qwt gig hjm klp all rnq tti 3. Image: ppo ghi kcl axt dug nrm eue 4. Music: sds fof uhk jnl dlk

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Maria Hinojosa interviews Wes Studi

• Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops: A Christmas Festival

• George Lindsey on Crook and Chase

• Song of the Saddle - Rex Allen

• Captain Beefheart Upon The My O My Old Grey Whistle Test

Very Strange Laws…Wisconsin

• As people used to smuggle it in from Illinois, all yellow butter substitute is banned.

• At one time, margarine was illegal.

• Butter substitutes are not allowed to be served in state prisons.

• Condoms were considered an obsene article and had to hidden behind the pharmacist’s counter.

• It is a class A misdemeanor to wave a burning torch around in the air.

• It is illegal to cut a woman’s hair.

• It is illegal to kiss on a train.

• It is illegal to throw rocks at a railroad car.

• Livestock have the right-of-way on public roads.

• Margarine may not be substituted for butter in restaurants unless it is requested by the customer.

• One may not camp in a wagon on any public highway or risk a fine of up to ten dollars.

• State Law made it illegal to serve apple pie in public restaurants without cheese.

• The government may not prohibit manual flushed urinals.

• The state definition of rape stated that it was a man having sex with a woman he knows not to be his wife.

• Whenever two trains meet at an intersection of said tracks, neither shall proceed until the other has.

• While all cheese making requires a license, Limburger cheese making requires a master cheese maker’s license.

• Brookfield--Tattooing is illegal unless it is done for medical purposes.

• Hudson--
  Screens are required on all windows from May 1 to October 1. \ You are not allowed to put litter into someone else’s trash receptacle without express permission.

• Kenosha--
  No male is allowed to be in a state of arousal in public.

• La Crosse--
  It is illegal to display an unclothed mannequin in a storewindow. \ It is illegal to play checkers in public.

• Milwaukee--
  It is against the law to play a flute and drums on the streets to attract attention. \ It is illegal to purchase or use Sparklers in the city, yet you can buy fully disassembled automatic machine guns.

• Racine--
  Missiles may not be shot at parade participants. \ It is illegal to wake a fireman when he is asleep.\ Women may not walk down a public street at night without being accompanied by a man.

• Sheboygan--
  Only police officers may shoot birds in the city.\ No person may water his lawn in such a way as to annoy his or her neighbor.

• St. Croix--
Women are not allowed to wear anything red in public.

• Sun Prairie--
  Nuclear weapons may not be manufactured in the city limits\ Cats are forbidden from entering cemeteries.

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

• False warnings of a nuclear attack on the United States in past five years: 
  2

• Acts of terrorism in the United States in 1983: 30

Unusual Fact of the Day

Researchers believe that herring communicate with one another in a way humans would find repulsive: passing gas.

Joke-of-the-day

A philanthropist is a man who gives away what he should be giving back.

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

BUYING SKI BOOTS

Properly fitted cross-country ski boots should feel like bedroom slippers.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

EBERSBERG, Germany - Scientists in Germany say they've made a breakthrough in genetic and forensic research by discovering genetic differences between identical twins. Researchers at the genomics firm Eurofins Scientific say their work has confirmed that identical twins, also known as monozygotic twins, are not genetically identical and it is possible to genetically discriminate between them. It had previously been believed DNA "fingerprinting" testing could not be used in crime or paternity cases involving identical twins, but the new research offers a way to solve forensic and paternity cases involving monozygotic twins as originators of DNA traces, a Eurofins Scientific release said Tuesday. The researchers sequenced DNA from sperm samples of two twins and from a blood sample of the child of one of them. Analysis revealed five mutations, so-called Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, present in the twin father and the child, but not in the twin uncle. The results suggest rare mutations will occur shortly after or before the human blastocyst has split into two -- the origin of twins -- and that such mutations will be carried on into succeeding generations. The study has been published in the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• In the 1600s the Dutch used to cover their mirrors with curtains when not in use, lest the reflectiveness be used up.

• Ben Franklin mounted mirrors outside his second-story window so he could secretly see who was knocking at his front door.

• The word mirror comes from the Latin mirari, meaning "to wonder at." It's also the root word for miracle and admire.

• In ancient China reflective pieces of polished brass were placed over doorknobs so that evil spirits would scare themselves away.

• In olden days some thought that the reflection of the body in a shiny surface or mirror was an expression of the spiritual self, and therefore if anything happened to disturb that reflection, injury would follow. This was the origin of the superstition that breaking a mirror would bring seven years of bad luck.

• In 1994 Russian astronauts orbiting in the Mir spacecraft tried using mirrors to reflect sunlight into northern areas of their country, in an attempt to lengthen the short growing season. It didn't work.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

10-17: Human Rights Week
14-28:  Halcyon Days

14-1/5 Christmas Bird Count Week 
15-21: Gluten-free Baking Week
16-24: Posadas
17-23: Saturnalia

Today Is                                                                      

·        Free Shipping Day

·        National Maple Syrup Day

·        Wright Brothers Day

Today’s Events through History  

1st Hawaiian cavalry organized…1852

1st impeachment trial against a US senator (Wm Blount, TN) begins…1798

John Paul Stevens appointed to Supreme Court…1975

Longest-running American sitcom The Simpsons had its debut…1989

NASA completes a successful mission to map the Moon’s gravity field…2012

Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen & dummy Charlie McCarthy, appear on TV…1936

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Bernard Hill, actor (Bellman & True, New World, Bounty) is 69

Wes Studi, full blood Cherokee actor (Last of the Mohicans) is 66

Bill Pullman, actor (Sommersby, League of their Own, Independence Day) is 60

Chuck Liddell, American mixed martial artist is 44

Milla Jovovich, Kiev Ukraine, actress (Return to Blue Lagoon, Chaplin) is 38

Jaimee Foxworth, actress (Judy Winslow-Family Matters) and porn star is 34

Remembered for being born today

John Greenleaf Whittier, US, poet (Snow-bound) [1807-1892]

Arthur Fiedler, Boston Mass, conductor (Boston Pops) [1894-1979]

William Safire, political columnist (NY Times)/speech writer (Nixon) [1929-2009]

Bob Guccione, [Robert C J Edwa], US publisher (Penthouse, Omni) [1930-2010]

George Lindsey, actor (The Andy Griffith Show) [1928-2012]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Daniel K. Inouye, US Senator (Hawaii)…2012…@88

Dana Andrews, US actor (Laura)…1992…@83

Jack Anderson, American journalist…2005…@81

Rex Allen, American actor, singer and songwriter…heart attack…1999…@79

Kim Jong-il, supreme leader of North Korea (DPRK)…heart attack…2011…@70

Captain Beefheart (Don Glen Vliet), American musician…MS…2010…@69

Lewis H Morgan, US ethnologist (Iroquois-indians)…1881…@63

Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, second wife of Napoleon…pleurisy…1847…@56

Simón Bolívar, South American revolutionary and president (Colombia)…TB…1830…@47

Brain Teasers

1. Building: THEATRE 2. Kettledrum: TIMPANI 3. Image: PICTURE 4. Music: SOUND

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  §