12/20/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 51 / Day: 354   

Today: L 33°…H 39°… Ave. humidity: 50%

Wind: ave:   18mph; Gusts:  38mph  

Average Low: 16° Record Low:  -12° (1924)

Average High: 43° Record High:  61° (1917)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

"Harvey" starring James Stewart premieres in NY…1950

"The Graduate" starring Dustin Hoffman & Anne Bancroft premieres…1967

14 republics form Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics (USSR)…1922

1st same sex civil partnerships in Scotland are celebrated…2005

1st successful US cotton mill to spin yarn (Pawtucket, RI)…1790

474,300 US soldiers in Vietnam…1967

Animal rights terrorists fire-bomb Harrod's dept store, London…1988

Bob Hope becomes an American citizen…1920

Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales…1955

Ethiopia becomes socialist one-party state…1974

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the UK…2007

Louisiana Purchase formally transferred from France to US for $27M…1803

Missouri imposes a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men between 21 & 50…1820

NY's Broadway lit by electricity, becomes known as "Great White Way"…1880

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Taking a break from my daily blog to spend time with my family during the holidays. I will start up in a little over a week. While Chicago is not a great place to visit in the winter, that’s where my brother and his wife and her family will be, so I too will be there. We have been together every Christmas and I ain’t gonna be the one to stop that. While I hate traveling at this time of year, it is always worth the hassle once I get there. Getting from AZ to Chicago is always a treat…this year through Minneapolis. The other hassle is to get to the airport at a decent hour. This year I’m leaving my house at 4:30am. Good news is I get back at a reasonable hour. I could have left later, but then would get into Chicago about midnight.

 

Happy holidays to all who read this.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

In this teaser, you will be given rows, each with three clues. The answer to the second clue of any row will consist of the letters -- usually rearranged -- of the answer to the first clue in that row, minus one letter. The answer to the third clue, likewise, will consist of the letters from the second answer, minus one. If you put each dropped letter into the box following the word from which it was dropped, reading down the two columns of boxes will give a phrase, or two terms that are somehow related.

1. Large blood vessels [_] 2. Swelter [_] 3. Crafts' partners 4. Hanging lamp [_] 5. Temporary purchase [_] 6. Modify 7. Wandered [_] 8. Fantasy [_] 9. English weight unit 10. Inactive [_] 11. Patternless [_] 12. Embellish 13. Pay- or cell- [_] 14. Receptive [_] 15. Write 16. Free of germs [_] 17. Larger than quarts [_] 18. Mosaic components 19. Blessing [_] 20. Desire to harm [_] 21. Statement

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Arthur Rubinstein - Polonesa Heroica Op.53

• ABC News brief 1978

• Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot
 

Very Strange Laws…Illinois

• Sex offenders in Illinois are prohibited from participating in holiday events like handing out candy at Halloween and Easter or dressing like Santa at Christmas, except under specific circumstances

• Those under 21 can drink legally, but they must be enrolled in a culinary program to do so

• It is illegal to hang “obstructions” form the rear view mirror, including fuzzy dice, air fresheners, GPS units, etc.

• You may be arrested for vagrancy if you do not have at least one dollar bill on your person.

• You must contact the police before entering the city in an automobile.

• The English language is not to be spoken.

• Chicago: All businesses entering into contracts with the city must sift through their records and report any business they had dealing with slaves during the era of slavery.\
  Law forbids eating in a place that is on fire.\ It is illegal to give a dog whiskey.\ It is forbidden to fish while sitting on a giraffe’s neck.\ Kites may not be flown within the city limits.\ It is legal to protest naked in front of city hall as long as you are under seventeen years of age and have legal permits.

• Cicero: Humming on public streets is prohibited on Sundays.

• Collinsvill: It is illegal to wear sagging pants in Collinsville, IL.

• Crystal Lake: If one wishes to plant new sod in his or her yard in the summer months, that person may not use the city’s water to water it.

• Des Plaines:
Wheelbarrows with For-Sale signs may not be chained to trees.

• Evanston: Bowling is forbidden.\
It is unlawful to change clothes in an automobile with the curtains drawn, except in case of fire.

• Galesburg: No person may keep a smelly dog.\
No bicyclist may practice “fancy riding” on any citystreet.

• Kenilworth: A rooster must step back three hundred feet from any residence if he wishes to crow.

• Morton Grove: You may not own a handgun.

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

• Total man-hours spent mowing lawns in the United States each year: 2,254,000,000

• Number of Sunday newspapers in the United States in 1946: 497

• In 1983: 772

Unusual Fact of the Day

Stephen Perry patented his idea for the rubber band in 1845. The London businessman came up with the invention after Charles Goodyear introduced rubber to the world in 1839.

Joke-of-the-day

His pediatrician asked six-year-old Johnny, who watched a good many TV, adds, just to make conversation. Johnny, if you found a couple of dollars and had to spend them, what would you buy?”

“A box of Tampax,” he replied without hesitation.

“Tampax?” said the doctor. “What would you do with that?”

“Well,” said Johnny, “I do not know exactly, but it’s sure worth two dollars.

With tampax, it says on TV, you can go swimming, go horseback riding, and also go skating, any time you want to.”  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

SHOPLIFTING

You can figure that 1 out of every 40 to 60 people in a store is a shoplifter. Only 1 in every 200 shoplifters gets caught.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

HAMIOTA, Manitoba - A Manitoba woman said her son was born into her pant leg while she and her fiance were attempting to make the hour and a half drive to the hospital. Aimee Renard, 24, said she and her fiance, Jay Goleski, were visiting her father in Hamiota, Manitoba, and staff at the nearby Hamiota health center told her to make the drive to a hospital in Brandon when her water broke, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Tuesday. However, Renard said it was only about 40 minutes before baby Jaxyn insisted on entering the world. "I just started taking deep breaths and as time went on, it was like, OK, the baby's head is there. So like I have to push," Renard said. "And [Jay's] like, 'no don't.' I told him to stop the truck. And as he was stopping the truck, I pushed out the baby." Renard said she felt the infant slip into the leg of her sweatpants and the parents then heard a cry. "It was kind of terrifying," Renard said. "But it was pretty exciting, I guess. I just pulled down my pants a little bit. And took him out. And the cord was wrapped around his neck. So Jay unwrapped the cord from his neck." An ambulance soon arrived to take the mother and newborn the rest of the way to the hospital, where they were said to be doing well.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The famous swimwear ‘bikini’ took its name from the Bikini island, an atoll of the Marshall Islands.

• Bikini was one of the atolls used for nuclear weapon testing between 1946 and 1958 and the islanders left it and moved to another island. Bikini initially gained fame due to the weapon testing and later on due to the female swimsuit, which took its name.

• What would you do if you owned a Hawaiian island and the U.S. government offered you $1 billion to sell it? Two brothers, who have inherited Niihau, one of the Hawaiian islands,  faced this dilemma and turned  the offer down! Niihau has an area of 69.5 square miles (180 km²) and the people of this island are known for their gemlike craftsmanship, and speak Hawaiian as a primary language.

• The American Hip-Hop singer Teren Delvon Jones, known as ‘Del the Funky Homosapien’, wrote the verse of  the “Clint Eastwood” song after following the instructions from a book. This book was  ”How to Write a Hit Record” and the great success of the song rewarded him!

• The Greek epic poem ‘Iliad’ by Homer is one of the oldest extant works of  Western literature and tells of battles and incidents that happened during the Trojan War.

• What is remarkable in ‘Iliad’,  is the extent to which the description of the Shield of Achilles is spread, which is over four pages!

• The Greek epic poem ‘Iliad’ by Homer is one of the oldest extant works of  Western literature and tells of battles and incidents that happened during the Trojan War. What is remarkable in ‘Iliad’,  is the extent to which the description of the Shield of Achilles is spread, which is over four pages!

Calendar Information        

Happening This 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                                                                      

·        Cathode-Ray Tube Day

·        Go Caroling Day

·        International Human Solidarity Day

·        Mudd Day [Lincoln Assassination]

·        National Sangria Day

·        Underdog Day

Today’s Events through History  

Bonnie Prince Charlie's army reaches the river Esk…1745

Hawaiian post office established…1850

Neil Simons "Sunshine Boys" premieres in NYC…1972

Peter the Great ordered Russian New Year changed-Sept 1 to Jan 1…1699

Richard the Lionhearted captured in Vienna…1192

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Uri Geller, Tel Aviv, Israel, psychic (bends forks) is 67

Dick Wolf, television series creator (Miami Vice, Law & Order) is 67

Jonah Hill (Jonah Hill Feldstein), actor. producer, screenwriter, comedian, voice actor is 30

Remembered for being born today

Samuel A Mudd, doctor, convicted of giving medical aid to JW Booth [1833-1883]

Harvey Firestone, Industrialist [1868-1938]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Arthur Rubinstein, pianist (My Young Years)…1982…@95

Dean Rusk, US Sect of State…1994…@85

Roy O Disney, Brother of Walt…cerebral hemorrhage…1971…@78

Steve Landesberg, actor and comedian (Barney Miller)…cancer…2010…@74

John Steinbeck, author (Grapes of Wrath, Nobel 1940)…heart failure…1968…@66

Carl Sagan, scientist (Contact)… myelodysplasia…1996…@62

James Hilton, English author (Lost Horizon)…cancer…1954…@54

Max Robinson, 1st black network (ABC) TV anchor…AIDS…1988…@49

Brain Teasers

1. aortas [A] 2. roast [O] 3. arts 4. lantern [N] 5. rental [N] 6. alter 7. roamed [O] 8. dream [E] 9. dram 10. dormant [T] 11. random [M] 12. adorn 13. phone [H] 14. open [O] 15. pen 16. sterile [E] 17. liters [R] 18. tiles 19. miracle [R] 20. malice [E] 21. claim

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  §