12/6/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 49 / Day: 340   

Today: L 11°…H 26°… Ave. humidity: 82%

Wind: ave:   16mph; Gusts:  21mph  

Average Low: 18° Record Low:  -6° (1951)

Average High: 45° Record High:  62° (1977)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

11 soldiers & 6 civilians die by bomb planted by Irish National Liberation Army exploded 

     in a pub in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland…1982

13th Amendment of the United States Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery…1865

1st constitution of Irish Free State comes into operation…1922

1st edition of "Encyclopedia Brittanica" published (Scotland)…1768

1st US Presidential address broadcast on radio by President Calvin Coolidge…1923

243 million year old Nyasasaurus fossil is discovered in Tanzania…2012

52nd Heisman Trophy Award: Vinny Testaverde, Miami Fla (QB)…1986

7 people are killed and 770 injured during Egyptian protests…2012 

Ban on James Joyce' "Ulysses" in US lifted…1933

City of Anaheim incorporated for 2nd time…1876

Gerald Ford sworn-in as 1st unelected VP, succeeds Spiro T Agnew…1973

Nelson Mandela & 156 others arrested for political activities in S Africa…1956            

"Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" 1st airs on TV…1964

Pres Lincoln orders hanging of 39 Santee Sioux…1862

President Jackson supports CHEROKEE removal…1830

Quito, Ecuador, founded by Spanish…1534

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

RIP Nelson Mandela. The world has lost a great man with a great vision. CNN is doing some great tributes as I type this blog. I am so fortunate to have visited S. Africa, been to Robben Island, seen his house…from a short distance, seen the Apartheid museum and learned so very much about the struggles. Biggest thing for me was his message of ‘reconciliation’…no anger about the past horrors but always looking to the future.

 

We got together for our lunch today…Mary had lots of grandkid pictures, Cheryl had some good stories about Thanksgiving in CA. We had a good lunch at a local upscale diner. Amazing French Onion soup with huge salad and half sandwich…can’t beat it.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

A cracker company was very mad when they heard the results from their cracker survey. The result said that the customers would prefer crackers to nothing at all. The same customers think that donuts are better than everything else.

A new employee at the company had to tell their boss the bad news, but he saw a window of opportunity to get a promotion. When he got to his boss, he told him that the customers really preferred crackers to donuts.

How did he come up with that?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Nelson Mandela on Oprah Winfrey

• George and Ira Gershwin Speak

• Bewitched Season Five - Daddy Does His Thing

• Excerpt from "Mister Peepers"

Very Strange Laws…South Carolina

• Musical instruments may not be sold on Sunday.
• Performing a U-turn within 1,000 feet of an intersection is illegal.
• It is considered an offense to get a tattoo.
• It is illegal to display a confederate flag on a courthouse.
• Horses may not be kept in bathtubs.
• By law, if a man promises to marry an unmarried woman, the marriage must take place.
• It is illegal to sell any alcoholic beverages on Sunday, unless you own a private club.
• Railroad companies may be held liable in some instances for scaring horses.
• A permit must be obtained to fire a missle.
• A railroad my not remove itself from a town of more than five hundred people.
• It is illegal to give or receive oral sex in South Carolina.
• Fortune tellers are required to obtain a special permit from the state.
• When approaching a four way or blind intersection in a non-horse driven vehicle you must stop 100 ft from the intersection and discharge a firearm into the air to warn horse traffic.
• It is a capital offense to inadvertently kill someone while attempting suicide.
• No work may be done on Sunday.
• Every adult male must bring a rifle to church on Sunday in order to ward off Indian attacks.
• An exception to the above law is that light bulbs may be sold.
• It is perfectly legal to beat your wife on the court house steps on Sundays.
• Dance halls may not operate on Sundays.
• Charleston--The Fire Department may blow up your house. \ It is against the law to drive a motorized vehicle on King Street.
• Clemson--Lifeguards must be present at apartment complex pools, but only after 11:00 PM. \ Sexually oriented businesses may not open for business on Sundays. \ “Vicious Dogs” may not be kept within the city limits. \ Bitches in heat shall be confined.
• Greenville--The drinking age on Furman University campus is 60 years old.
• Hilton Head--One commits a nuisance if he or she leaves a large amount of trash in their own vehicle.
• Myrtle Beach--Dogs may not be on the beach during the summer months during the daytime or the owner may be arrested.  \ No one may sleep on the beach at night.
• Spartanburg--Eating watermelons in the Magnolia Street cemetery is forbidden.

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

• Number of states in which it is legal to hire someone over sexual orientation: 29

• Portion of US population who believe it is against federal law to do so: 9/10

Unusual Fact of the Day

Ayers Rock in Australia reaches 1,000 feet above the ground, but the part you can't see is even more impressive: the rock extends about a mile and a half into the ground.

Joke-of-the-day

TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water? DONALD: H I J K L M N O. TEACHER: What are you talking about? DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

FINDING A JOB

It takes 15 interviews to get one job offer.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Parents who took kids to see Disney's "Frozen" at a Florida movie theater said they were mistakenly shown a sexually explicit scene from another film. Lynn Greene of Largo said she took her grandchildren to see the PG-rated animated movie at Regal Cinemas Park Place Stadium 16 in Pinellas Park Friday when workers said they would be temporarily shown another cartoon as a result of technical difficulties, WTVT-TV, Tampa, Fla., reported Tuesday. "They put in the filler, it looked like 'Steamboat Willie,' the old Mickey Mouse cartoon, and then all of a sudden it goes into this other scene," Greene said. Greene said the scene appeared to be a sexually explicit clip from an R-rated movie. The theater said the clip played for less than two minutes, but Greene said it seemed longer. "It seemed like forever when you're trying to, you know, cover a little guy's eyes," she said. "I didn't have enough hands to cover his ears too and he got the sound down real good." Green said the free movie tickets offered to audience members were not enough of an apology. "You're talking, what, a PG-rated movie to all of a sudden have an R-rated scene up there for little children?" she said. "My concern is that there should be safeguards in place so that this doesn't happen again." A Regal Cinemas representative said the company is working to prevent similar incidents from taking place in the future.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

• The ancient Egyptians worshiped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from the illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death.

• Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs.

• Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. 

• Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.

• By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling.  

Calendar Information        

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                                                                      

·        Faux Fur Friday

·        Miners' Day

·        Mitten Tree Day

·        National Pawnbrokers Day

·        National Salesperson Day

·        Put on your own Shoes Day

·        St. Nicholas Day

~~~~~

·        Finland: Independence Day (1917 from Russian Republic)

·        Spain: Constitution Day (1978)

Today’s Events through History  

Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army retreats to Scotland….1745

London becomes the world's first city to host licensed taxicabs…1897

NY psychologist Joyce Brothers won "$64,000 Question" on boxing…1955

U.S. Congress moves from New York City to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania…1790

US president James Monroe re-elected…1820

Washington Post publishes 1st edition…1877

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Kenneth Copeland, American televangelist is 77

JoBeth Williams, actress (Kramer vs Kramer, Poltergeist) is 65

Remembered for being born today

Joyce Kilmer, poet (Trees) [1886-1918]

Wally Cox, actor (Mr Peepers, Hollywood Squares) [1924-1973]

Agnes Moorehead, actress (Endora-Bewitched) [1900-1974]

Ira Gershwin, lyricist ('S Wonderful, I Got Rhythm) [1896-1983]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Don Ameche, actor (Cocoon)…1993…@85

Jefferson Davis, Pres of Confederate States (1861-5)…1889…@81

Werner Klemperer, German-born actor (Col. Klink-Hogan’s Heroes)…2000…@80

Saint Nicholas…343…@73

Lead Belly, [Huddie William Ledbetter], blues singer…ALS…1949…@64

Roy Orbison, singer (Pretty Woman)…heart attack…1988…@52

Brain Teasers

The new employee told the boss that they know two facts; 1) Crackers are better than nothing, and 2) Nothing is better than donuts If you put two of them together, you get that crackers are better than donuts.

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  §