4/21/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:  Week: 17/ Day: 111   Today: H 61°…L 21°

Wind: ave:   11mph; Gusts:  31mph  Ave. humidity:  36%

*Averages: H  60° L 29° Records: H 78°(1989)…L 8°(1966)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

Alexander Douglas patents the bustle…1857

Ashes of Timothy Leary & Gene Roddenberry launched into orbit…1997

Donehogawa (Ely Samuel Parker) a SENECA IROQUOIS, trained as a lawyer and 

     a civil engineer is appointed as the first Indian to be Commissioner of 

     Indian Affairs…1869

Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's vault on TV & finds nothing…1986

John Adams sworn in as 1st US VP (9 days before Washington)…1878

Noah Webster publishes 1st American dictionary…1828

NYC formally declares coast of Ellis Island publically owned, so they can build forts 

     to protect NYC from British…1794

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

How many can you identify?…answers in Today’s Birthdays

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Two spring days in a row…really…can this be true?

 

Sure glad the Boston Bomber has been captured. I am a little surprised that there is no information coming from the hospital regarding his condition. Considering the massive coverage of the capture, it just seems off that the hospital is not continuing with at least the occasional update. None of the law enforcement people are giving updates on his condition either. Another strange twist is that the FBI interviewed the older brother a couple of years ago and the mother of the brothers said that the FBI was very aware of his radical leanings. So much more to learn.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

The first is needed to make quotes you see, And it often sticks up when it's time for noon tea.
The second's biggest distinction is found Bearing the symbol of love that is bound.
The third should be biggest but that can depend, Never standing alone or it may offend.
The fourth is oft used when making a selection Or if you should need a gun for protection.
The fifth is the fattest and oddest by far, And can sometimes be found in a wrestling war.
What are they?

*****

Hint

A hint would just be handing it to you.

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• What's My Line? - Anthony Quinn

• Nina Simone "Feelings" (Montreux Jazz Festival)

Origins of Phrases

Cut to the chase

Meaning

Get to the point - leaving out unnecessary preamble.

Origin

This phrase originated in the US film industry. Many early silent films ended in chase sequences preceded by obligatory romantic storylines. The first reference to it dates back to that era, just after the first 'talkie' - The Jazz Singer, 1927. It is a script direction from Joseph Patrick McEvoy's novelHollywood Girl, 1929:

"Jannings escapes... Cut to chase."

There's quite a distance from a single citation in a script direction to a phrase that is part of the language. It doesn't appear again in print for some years and we can be fairly sure that McEvoy wasn't the source of the figurative use of the phrase as we now know it. That figurative use, i.e. the generalized 'get to the point' meaning emerged in the 1940s. The Winnipeg Free Press, March 1944 ran an article about screen writing that included this:

Miss [Helen] Deutsch has another motto, which had to do with the writing of cinematic drama. It also is on the wall where she cant miss seeing it, and it says: "When in doubt, cut to the chase."

That does imply getting to the point but isn't quite the current meaning as it relates specifically to film chases. The more general usage comes soon afterwards, for example, in this piece from the New England newspaper The Berkshire Evening Eagle, February 1947:

"Let's cut to the chase. There will be no tax relief this year."

The precept as it applies to films is as prevalent now as it was in the silent film days. Many, in fact it is not too strong to say most, films aimed at a young male audience involve plot devices that allow for car/boat/spacecraft chases. There is usually a token love interest storyline before everything in sight ends up in pieces.

There is a similar phrase 'cut to Hecuba', which is reported by Michael Warwick in 'Theatrical Jargon of the Old Days', a piece in an October 1968 edition of Stage. Warwick explains the phrase as a "relic from Shakespeare and was an artifice employed by many old producers to shorten matinees by cutting out long speeches". The allusion is to a speech in which Hamlet refers to Hecuba, which appears late on in Act 2 of Shakespeare's play. The need for such a phrase is evident, as Shakespeare apparently produced several versions of Hamlet, some of which would have taken more than five hours to perform and which were seemingly intended for private reading rather than performance. A need to 'cut to Hecuba', in order to get to the end in a timely fashion seems reasonable. Warwick doesn't include any evidence to prove the existence of the phrase prior to 1968 though and it is hardly a part of everyday language - I can find no citation of it in print other than in Warwick's article. There's also nothing to link 'cut to Hecuba' with 'cut to the chase'. It is quite possible, indeed likely, that the two phrases were coined independently.

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

• Percentage change since 1988 in US teen pregnancy rates: -36

• In abstinence rates among white teen: +21

• Among Black teens: +56

Ruminations:

Loving the power of the disapproving head shake

Picture of the Day: Signs of Spring

Unusual Fact of the Day

Brett Favre's first completed pass as a Green Bay Packer was to himself.

Joke-of-the-day

A young man tutored his sweetheart maths,
he thought of it as his mission,
he kissed her once then once again and said
"There, that's addition!"
She took it upon herself to return the pleasant action,
she kissed once and once again,
smiled and said "and that's subtraction!"
Now she'd learned the basics without too much complication,
they kissed each other once, then twice,
and said "that must be multiplication!"
Meanwhile the young lady's father
had this 'lesson' in his vision,
 he kicked that boy ten foot out the door and said
"Then that is long division!"

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

CHECKING A FIRE LADDER

 To check a fire ladder for proper lean, stand perfectly erect with the toes against the ladder beam and the arms straight out. If your hands fall on the rung in a comfortable grasping position, the ladder is set properly for climbing. If only the fingertips touch the rung, the base of the ladder is too far from the building. If the heel of the hand touches the rung, the base of the ladder is too close to the building.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

MARSEILLE, France - Bus drivers in a French city said they will go on strike because, among other grievances, the uniform pants they are required to wear are too tight. The drivers, who work for the public transport authority in Marseille, said Friday the company's 1,600 employees will strike for 24-hours June 3 because they don't approve of "the quality, the color or the fit" of their new uniform pants, The Local.fr reported Friday. "I won't be wearing them," a Marseille bus driver told the La Provence newspaper. "You'd think we work for [car repair company] Speedy! The shirts are alright, but these pants are far too tight." CGT union leader Bernard Gargiolo said union leaders are upset they weren't consulted in choosing the uniforms. "The employees don't want to wear a uniform that was chosen unilaterally by [RTM's] management, without taking into account the reflections of our clothing committee," Gargiolo said.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• An etiquette writer of the 1840’s advised, “Ladies may wipe their lips on the tablecloth, but not blow their noses on it.”

• Astronaut John Glenn ate the first meal in space when he ate pureed applesauce squeezed from a tube aboard Friendship 7 in 1962.

• Aunt Jemima pancake flour, invented in 1889, was the first ready-mix food to be sold commercially.

• Caffeine: there are 100 to 150 milligrams of caffeine in an eight-ounce cup of brewed coffee, 10 milligrams in a six-ounce cup of cocoa, 5 to 10 milligrams in one ounce of bittersweet chocolate, and 5 milligrams in one ounce of milk chocolate.

• California’s Frank Epperson invented the Popsicle in 1905 when he was 11-years-old.

• Capsaicin, which makes hot peppers “hot” to the human mouth, is best neutralized by casein, the main protein found in milk.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

17-24
International Whistlers Week
Cleaning For A Reason Week
Consumer Awareness Week
Police Officers Who Gave Their Lives In The Line of Duty Week

20-28
National Park Week

Money Smart Week
Administrative Professionals Week

Coin Week
Fibroid Awareness Week
National Karaoke Week
National Volunteer Week
National Pet ID Week
National Paperboard Packaging Week
National Playground Safety Week 
Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week

Preservation Week-Libraries
Sky Awareness Week
National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week
Safe Kids Week
Mariachi Week

Today Is                                                                      

Kindergarten Day

National Chocolate-covered Cashews Day

National High Five Day

National Teach Children to Save Day

Today’s Events through History  

BOAC begins 1st passenger service with jets (London-Rome route)…1952

Department of War establishes the office of Superintendent of Indian Trade. This 

     position will be appointed by the President. The job will entail the purchase of 

     goods for and from the Indians…1806

First Lady Lucy Hayes begins egg rolling contest on White House lawn…1878

German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron", is shot 

     down and killed over Vaux sur Somme in France…1918

He Shima Okinawa conquered in 5 days, 5,000 die…1945

Maryland Toleration Act passed, allowing all freedom of worship…1649

Svetlana Alliluyeva (Josef Stalin's daughter) defects in NYC…1967

White Sox pitcher, Philip Humber, pitches the 21st MLB perfect game…2012

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Elizabeth, Alexandra Mary Windsor II, Queen of England is 87

In their 60’s

Tony Danz , actor (Tony Banta-Taxi, Tony Micelli-Who's the Boss) is 62

Iggy Pop, [James Osterberg], rocker (Zombie Birdhouse) is 66

In their 30’s

Tony Romo, Cowboy’s QB is 33

Remembered for being born today

John Muir, US, naturalist/discoverer (glaciers in High Sierras) [1838-1914]

Edmund G "Pat" Brown, (Gov-D-California) [1905-1996]

Anthony Quinn, Mexico, actor, Zorba the Greek, Lawrence of Arabia) [1915-2001]

Daniel Melnick, producer, Get Smart [1932-2009]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Mark Twain, [Samuel Clemens], auther (Huckleberry Finn)…heart attack…1910…at 74

Charles Colson, Nixon adviser (Watergate)…brain hemorrhage…2012…at 80

Francois "Doc" Duvalier, dictator of Haiti…1971…at 64

John Maynard Keynes, English economist…heart attack…1946…at 62

Gummo [Milton] Marx, US comic (Marx Brothers)…1977…at 84

"Red Baron", [Manfred von Richtofen]…shot down in WW I…1918…at 25

Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, American actor and musician…1999…at 94

Nina Simone, American singer and pianist…breast cancer…2003…at 70

Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder, oddsmaker/sportscaster (CBS)…heart attack…1996…at 76

Answer: Brain Teasers

The digits of the hand! (The order on the poem is pinky, ring finger, middle finger, index or pointer finger, and thumb)

The pinky hits the quotation mark key on the keyboard when typing, and people often raise their pinky off the cup when drinking tea. The ring finger bears a wedding band when married. The middle finger is an obscene gesture when standing alone. You point with the index finger to make a selection, or use it to pull the trigger on a gun. The thumb can be used for thumb wrestling.
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  §