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Flagstaff Almanac: Week: 01/ Day: 2
Today: H 29°…L 0°
Averages: H 42° L 17° Records: H 61°(1981)…L -21°(1919)
Wind: ave: 9mph; Gusts: 16mph ave. humidity: 80%
Quote of the Day:
Today’s Historical Highlights:
1st Jewish child born in Spain since 1492
expulsion—1966
1st junior high schools in US opens (Berkeley
California) — 1910
1st revolutionary flag displayed—1776
3538 CHICKASAWs have arrived in eastern
Indian Territory at Fort Coffee—1838
Book publisher Simon and Schuster founded—1938
Gary Trudeau takes a 20-month break from
writing "Doonesbury"—1983
Most distant galaxy yet discovered found by
scientists using Keck
telescope
in Hawaii (est 15 billion light years away) — 1995
Record 19'2" alligator shot in Louisiana—1890
Senator John F Kennedy, announces his
candidacy for the US Presidency—1960
US Dept of Interior designates grizzly bear a
threatened species—1975
♪
♪ Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪
How many can you identify?…answers in Today’s Birthdays
Free Rambling Thoughts:
Quiet night last night. A few friends dropped by this afternoon to watch some football. Good day. Year is starting off nice.OK, now we really know who the idiots are in DC…too bad there isn’t a law that if you act like an idiot, and don’t care about your own leadership, you should go home and stay home and put someone in that is going to do something. What a joke.Our very cold days and even colder nights are playing havoc with my sinus. Nose been running all day. Feel fine as long as the Kleenex are close by.
Game
Center: (answers at the end of post)
Hidden Countries
Find two countries in the sentence
In the United Nations we denounce the wholesale ban on atomic weapons
Lifestyle
Substance:
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today:
Ok, then?
Read This Carefully!!
A
Laundry in Rome:
LADIES, LEAVE YOUR CLOTHES HERE AND THEN SPEND THE AFTERNOON HAVING A GOOD TIME
Picture of the Day: Various things that drop on New Year's Eve
Bet You Didn’t Know…from History Channel
During World War II, Americans planted "victory gardens" in which they grew their own food. By 1945, some 20 million such gardens were in use and accounted for about 40 percent of all vegetables consumed in the country.
Harper’s Index:
- Percentage change since 2002 in the portion of Saniards who believe people are better off in a free market economy: -30
- In the portion of Americans who do: -4
Unusual Fact of the Day:
Bluetooth, the wireless communication standard, was named after Harald Bluetooth, a tenth century king who encouraged communication and unity among warring Norse and Danish tribes.
Joke-of-the-day:Julius took his girl friend to her first football game. They had really good seats, right above their team's bench. At the end of the game, Julius asked her if she liked it."Yeah, it was great," she said. "I mean, with all the tight pants and stuff. I just don't get why all the fuss about a quarter!"Julius is confused."At the beginning of the game," she explained, "I saw the two guys flip a quarter. Then the rest of the game, all they said was: Get the quarter back! Get the quarter back! Hello! It's only 25 cents!"
Rules of Thumb:
Easy
shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
SPEED OF A TANDEM BIKE
A tandem is about 20 percent faster than a single bike - just like a twin engine airplane.
Yeah, It Really Happened
Holiday oddities seem quaint and homey compared to some of the bizarre things they do to celebrate Christmas around the world.In Catalonia, families gather around the "caga tio," a log that's decorated with a cartoon face and plied with treats in the weeks before Christmas. On Christmas day, the children sing a song and beat the log with sticks until it 'poops' out presents (caga is the Catalonian equivalent of 'caca,' and means 'pooping').
In Austria, the Christmas season kicks off on Dec. 5 with Krampusnacht Krampus, St. Nick's demonic polar opposite, is a goat-horned devil that shakes fistfuls of rusty chains at passing children. According to legend, naughty kids are snatched by Krampus and dragged to his mountain lair. In more recent years, the custom has morphed into a sort of Halloween in December, giving people a chance to dress up and parade around in their ghoulish costumes.
In the Netherlands, the Dutch add a little fear to their holiday celebrations with Zwarte Piet. In a rather racist custom that has persisted to this day, Zwarte Piet, or Black Peter, is Santa's slave who abducts Dutch children that misbehave, taking them back to Spain, where it is said that Santa and Peter spend their off-season. In a scene many Americans would find shocking, the Dutch dress up as Black Peter, donning black face and Afro wigs, in order to accompany Santa.
Somewhat Useless Information
It is often thought that the first visitors you see after ringing in the New Year would bring you good or bad luck, depending on who you keep as friends and enemies. That's why most people celebrating on New Year's Eve often do so with friends and family.Items or food that is ring-shaped is also good luck. This symbolizes "coming full circle", which is what one year does. Some cultures eat ring-like food through the evening and through the night to ensure that good luck will be bestowed upon everyone who eats. The Dutch often eat doughnuts.Foods that are eaten on New Year's Eve are cabbage because the leaves represent prosperity. Ham (or a hog) also symbolizes prosperity. In Asian cultures, rice is a hearty and lucky staple that is eaten around midnight to signify the coming year of fortune.Auld Lang Syne is sung at midnight to toast in the New Year. The song was composed by Robert Burns sometimes in the 1700's. The term means "old long ago" or "the good old days."Stats of the first New York ball: 700 pounds; 5 feet in diameter. The ball was made from wood and iron.The modern ball that is dropped is made from Waterford Crystal and weights over 1,000 pounds. There are over 9,000 LED lights, but uses hardly any energy. The ball begins to drop at 11:59 and completes the journey exactly at midnight to ring in the New Year.
Bonus:
Around
the US, towns like to try and out do Times Square ball drop. Here are a few:
Atlanta, Georgia: The capital city of the peach state has a Peach Drop
Ball Bangor, Maine: A beach ball
covered in Christmas lights
Beavertown, Pennsylvania: A beaver is dropped
Brasstown, North Carolina: A plexiglas pyramid containing a living opossum
Carlisle, Pennsylvania: An Indy
car is dropped
Cornelia, Georgia: Cornelia hosts a "Little Red Apple" Drop
Detroit, Michigan: A metal cursive D is dropped in front of the Hard Rock
cafe
Duluth, Georgia: A disco
ball called the Soaring Spirit Ball
Easton, Maryland: A red crab is dropped
Easton, Pennsylvania: A ten-foot Crayola crayon is dropped
Eastover, North Carolina: A three-foot tall, thirty-pound wooden flea
Eastport, Maine: A sardine is dropped in a nod to the area’s history
in the herring fishing and canning industry
Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania: A giant M&M is dropped at midnight
Elmore, Ohio: A sausage is dropped
Flagstaff, Arizona: A pine
cone is dropped
Frogtown, Pennsylvania: A frog is dropped
Gainesville, Georgia: The "Chuck the Chicken" Drop
Hershey, Pennsylvania: A Hershey
Kiss replica is raised
Hilton Head Island, South
Carolina: A giant, lighted golf ball is lowered
Ickesburg, Pennsylvania: A french
fry is dropped
Key West, Florida (801 Saloon): drops a ruby
slipper with drag
queen Gary "Sushi" Marion
Marion, Ohio: A ball of popcorn
McClure, Pennsylvania: A kettle is dropped in honor of McClure Bean Soup
Festival
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: A wrench is dropped
Memphis, Tennessee: A guitar is dropped
Mobile, Alabama: A 600-pound electric Moon
Pie is dropped
Mount Olive, North Carolina: The New Year's Eve Pickle is lowered
Niagara Falls, New York: A ten-foot Gibson Guitar is dropped
Passamaquoddy Bay: A red maple
leaf is dropped in Eastport, Maine
Pensacola, Florida: A pelican is dropped
Plymouth, Wisconsin: Plymouth drops an 80-pound decorated cheese wedge
Port Clinton, Ohio: A walleye fish named "Captain Wylie Walleye"
Princess Anne, Maryland: A stuffed muskrat in a top hat and bow tie
named Marshall
P. Muskrat
Raleigh, North Carolina: A 900-pound copper-and-steel acorn
Richland, Pennsylvania: A cigar is dropped
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: An anchor is dropped
Show Low, Arizona: A deuce of clubs (2♣)
St. George's, Bermuda: A paper-Mache Bermuda onion
Tallapoosa, Georgia: An opossum drops on odd years.
Traverse City, Michigan: A cherry is dropped at midnight
Vincennes, Indiana (near Terre
Haute): The giant 18-foot, 500-pound
steel-and-foam
Watermelon
Calendar Information
Happening This Week:
1-7
New Year's Resolutions Week
Celebration of Life Week
Diet Resolution Week
Silent Record Week
2-8
Someday We'll Laugh About This Week
Today Is
55-MPH Speed Limit Day
Earth at Perihelion
Happy Mew Year for Cats Day
National Buffet Day
National Motivation and Inspiration Day
National Personal Trainer Awareness Day
Run Up the Flagpole and See if Anybody Salutes It Day
Today’s Events through History
1st "Bob Cummings Show" premieres on
NBC—1955
1st photo of the Moon (French photographer
Louis Daguerre) — 1839
1st state liquor stores open, in Pennsylvania—1934
55 MPH speed limit imposed by Richard Nixon—1974
Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country,
marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War—1791
Brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern 14
inches (359 mm) of snow in Milwaukee, 19 inches (487 mm) in Chicago, where
temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C); 68 deaths are reported—1999
Egyptian Pres Mubarak reappoints Coptic pope
Shenuda III— 1985
Georgia is 4th state to ratify US constitution—1788
Nighttime version of "Password" with
Allen Ludden premieres—1962
Pres T Roosevelt shuts down post office in
Indianola Miss, for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she
was black—1903
Re-establishment of British rule on the
Falklands—1833
Spain recaptures Granada from the Moors— 1492
Spanish force in Ireland surrender to the
English army at Kinsdale—1602
Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2,
collecting samples that it will return to Earth two years later— 2004
Undefeated BYU becomes college football
champions—1985
US Sen Thomas Pickering is 1st senator
censured—1811
Today’s Birthdays
In their 80’s
Dabney Coleman, (That Girl, Mary Hartman,
Buffalo Bill) is 81
In their 60’s
Jack Hanna, American zoologist is 66
Ricky Van Shelton, Grit Va, country singer
(Wild-Eyed Dream) is 61
In their 40’s
Taye Diggs, heatre, film and television
actor is 41
Cuba Gooding Jr, actor (Boyz N the Hood,
Glaadiator, Few Good Men) is 45
In their 30’s
Kate Bosworth, actress, model and singer is 30
Remembered for being born today
Isaac Asimov, Russia, scientist/writer (I
Robot, Foundation Trilogy) (1920- heart and
kidney failure-1992)
Nathaniel Bacon, leader of Bacon's Rebellion (1647-
dysentery-1676)
Barry Goldwater, American politician (1909-1998)
Roger Miller, country singer (King of the
Road, Dang Me)
(1936- lung and
throat cancer-1992 )
Helen Herron Taft, 1st lady (1861-1943)
Today’s Historical Obits
Anne Francis, American actress —2011—at 80
Alan Hale Jr, Skipper on Gilligan's Island—cancer—1990—at
71
Ovid (in Latin: Publius Ovidius Naso),Roman
poet— 17—at 58-60?
Dick Powell, actor/director (Dick Powell
Theater)— lymphoma—1963—at 58
Tex Ritter, country singer (5 Star Jubilee)—
heart attack—1974—at 67
Answer: Hidden Countries
In the United NationS WE DENounce the wholesaLE BAN ON atomic weapons
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 §
