12/29/13

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 01 / Day: 363    

Today: L 18°…H 45°… Ave. humidity: 44%

Wind: ave:   9mph; Gusts:  8mph  

Average Low: 16° Record Low:  -13° (1988)

Average High: 42° Record High:  62° (1945)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

1170 - Assassination inside Canterbury Cathedral of Thomas Becket

1813 - British burn Buffalo, NY during War of 1812

1848 - Gas lights 1st installed at White House (Polk's administration)

1851 - 1st American Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) chapter opened in Boston

1890: Wounded Knee Battle or Massacre (depending on which version you read) massacre 200+ captive Sioux 

1937 - 2nd Irish constitution goes into effect; Irish Free State renamed Erie

1955 - Barbra Streisand's 1st recording "You'll Never Know" at age 13

1989 - Wayne Gretzky & Martina Navratilova, named athletes of decade by AP

1997 - Hong Kong begins slaughtering all its chickens to prevent bird flu

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

I’m baaaaaaack. I had a very good week in Chicago with my brother, his wife, and her family. So amazing to see how the kids grow during the year, even when you see them on FB through the year. We had good visits, good food, great presents, and a week of visiting along with eating. Did I mention that there is always good food in the Chicago restaurants and family gatherings we have. These annual trips remind me how grateful I am that I don’t live in a big city, or even suburbs of a big city. Sure, there is lots more to do, lots more to see, many places to go, but one can’t get from point A to point B without having to deal with massive amounts of traffic. We spent one very cold day downtown at the Museum where we saw a fine exhibit of bioluminescent plants and animals. Then another exhibit of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. The current museum was part of that exhibit. So amazing to see how much we have changed, as a country since those days. After Christmas we did our annual movie where we saw The Secret Life of Walter Middy. Quite good, pretty funny. Certainly worth an afternoon of entertainment. Christmas Eve is present opening and a great meal, the Christmas day is another present opening and another great meal. It was nice to see all the Kirar clan I already knew as well as meeting a few new ones. I even shoveled a sidewalk for Christmas Day. It was no big deal there was just enough snow to cover the sidewalk. Of course it really warmed up as I flew out. I had to head for the plane at 4am and we got about 2 blocks when the driver realized he had a very very low tire. We got another van, which was not warmed up, but made it to the airport in good time.

 

I learned more about TSA on this trip, and I was not happy. At Phx airport my boarding pass said ‘TSA bypass’ which I learned is now a random selection of passengers who do not have to take off everything or remove their toiletries from their bag. It was just like flying before 9/11. I was telling my brother about it and found out that he and his wife, who do way more domestic and international flights that they always have the bypass. They got it by paying $150, sitting at an airport security room to answer questions and getting a card. IT started out as a good thing, but now they found out that they also are now subject to ‘random checks’ at the security line…about 40-50% of the time. When they have a random check, they get to their special line, walk up and then are told they must be checked the old way, which means they have to go back and stand in the long security lines. While I certainly enjoyed my bypass, it shows how crazy the whole TSA thing really is…at least the taking off shoes and belts part. Then to think that I got it randomly after others have paid for a real background check, it is even crazier. Too add to this insanity, when I was on my return flight, I had to go through the whole thing at Midway. When I got to St. Paul airport I connected to Phoenix and as travelers know you don’t leave a secured area for connecting flights. Yet, the random thing gave me a bypass for security at St. Paul, something I didn’t need and couldn’t use unless I wanted to leave the secured area for some reason. Oh well, I made it home, safe and sound and had a very enjoyable trip.

 

On the shuttle I always meet interesting people on their way to Flagstaff. This time it was 3 people who met up in Phoenix to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim to rim in six days. The guy was from NYC but originally from Dominican Republic, while the two ladies were from NH and Conn. Not the best weather conditions to do such a hike. Four other passengers on our very full van were also headed to the Grand Canyon but they were doing a rafting trip…again not the best time of year for such an adventure. I guess everyone has their own definition of ‘vacation’ and ‘adventure’.  

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Begin with the word "SPARKLING" and take away one letter so as to leave a new word. Then take away another letter from the new word and leave a different word. Continue this, letter by letter, getting a new word every time until you finally leave one word containing only one letter. You must not disturb the order of the remaining letters after a removal.

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Pau Casals - Air de Diable (Concert at The White House)

• Paula Poundstone on Letterman

• Mary Tyler Moore Show- Bloopers

• 1955 - You'll Never Know - Barbra Streisand

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

• Number of science books published in the United States in 1972: 16,923

• In 1982: 7,900

Unusual Fact of the Day

The name “Emmy” was derived from the term “immy,” which described the image orthicon tubes common in early TV cameras.

Joke-of-the-day

A man takes his dog to the vet. “My dog is crossed eyed, is there anything you can do for him? “Well,” says the vet, “let’s take a look at him.” So he picks the dog up and examines his eyes, then checks his teeth. Finally, he says, “I’m going to have to put him down.”

“What? Because he is cross-eyed?”

“No, because he’s really heavy.”

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

THE SURVIVAL RULE OF THREE

You can live three seconds without blood, three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

REDDING, Calif. - Police in Redding, Calif., say a man accused of stealing a truck told officers he took the vehicle because he needed a ride to court for another car theft case. Police said John Westberg, 69, called police when he heard his 1989 Ford Ranger start up and saw it being driven away from his home by an apparent thief, the Courthouse News Service reported Wednesday. Officers pulled the truck over about 20 minutes later and arrested Michael Heller, 21, Redding Police Department Cpl. Chris Smyrnos said. "Heller admitted to officers that he stole Westberg's truck because he needed a ride to court for an unrelated stolen vehicle case. Heller was arrested for vehicle theft and possession of a stolen vehicle and was booked at the Shasta County Jail," the police department said in a statement.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The tradition of sending Christmas cards originated in England in 1843.

• Assuming Rudolph's in front, there are 40,320 ways to arrange the eight other reindeer. 

• The traditional three colors of Christmas are green, red, and gold. Green has long been a symbol of life and rebirth; red symbolizes the blood of Christ, and gold represents light as well as wealth and royalty.

• Evergreens (from the Old English word aefie meaning "always" and gowan meaning "to grow") have been symbols of eternal life and rebirth since ancient times. The pagan use and worship of evergreen boughs and trees has evolved into the Christianized Christmas tree.

• All the gifts in the Twelve Days of Christmas would equal 364 gifts.

• The Germans made the first artificial Christmas trees out of dyed goose feathers.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

25-31 It's About Time Week
26-1/1: Kwanzaa

Today Is                                                                      

·        National Chocolate Day

·        Pepper Pot Day

·        Tick Tock Day

*****

·        Texas: Admission Day (1845—28^th)

Today’s Events through History               

1782 - 1st nautical almanac in US published by Samuel Stearns, Boston

1835 - The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee 

     east of the Mississippi River to the United States.

1852 - Emma Snodgrass arrested in Boston for wearing pants

1862 - Bowling ball invented

1911 - SF Symphony formed

1930 - Fred P Newton completes longest swim ever (1826 miles), when 

     he swam in the Mississippi River from Ford Dam, MN, to New Orleans

1972 - Life magazine ceases publication

1975 - 11 killed, 75 hurt by terrorist bomb at LaGuardia Airport in NYC

1982 - Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant ends his career with Alabama (323 wins)

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Mary Tyler Moore, Bkln, actress (Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People) is 77

Jon Voight, actor (Deliverance, Midnight Cowboy) is 75

Marianne Faithfull, Hampstead England, vocalist (Money) is 67

Ted Danson, actor (Sam Malone-Cheers, 3 Men & a Baby) is 66

Paula Poundstone, comedienne is 53

Jude Law. English actor, film producer and director is 41

Diego Luna, Mexican actor is 34

Remembered for being born today

Madame De Pompadour, mistress of French King Louis the 15th in 1721

Charles Macintosh, Scotland, patented waterproof fabric in 1766

Charles Goodyear, inventor (vulcanization process for rubber) in 1800

Andrew Johnson, Raleigh NC, (Unionist), 17th pres in 1808

Pablo Casals, Vendrell Catalonia Spain, violinist/conductor/composer in 1876

Billy Mitchell, aviation hero Gen (WW I) in 1879

Tom Bradley, Calvert Texas, American politician (Mayor-D-LA) in 1917

Ed Flanders, actor (Dr Westphall-St Elsewhere) in 1934

Today’s Historical Obits

1170 - Thomas Becket, English Archbishop of Canterbury, assassinated@ 52

1890 - Big Foot, Lakota Indian chief, dies at Wounded Knee @ 65

1975 - Euell Gibbons, American outdoorsman and proponent of natural diets of aneurism @ 64  

1986 - [Maurice] Harold MacMillan, PM of Great-Britain @ 92

Brain Teasers

1) SPARKLING. 2) SPARKING. 3) SPARING. 4) SPRING. 5) SPRIG. 6) PRIG. 7) PIG. 8) PI. 9) I.

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  §