4/25/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:  Week: 17/ Day: 115   Today: H 63°…L 27°

Wind: ave:   7mph; Gusts:  26mph  Ave. humidity:  28%

*Averages: H  61° L 30° Records: H 77°(1949)…L 10°(1900)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

Abortion legalized in Colorado…1967

Chuck Cooper becomes 1st black to play in NBA…1950

Geographer Martin Waldseemuller 1st used name America…1507

Ground broken for Suez Canal…1859

Guillotine 1st used, executes highwayman Nicolas J Pelletier…1792

Hubble space telescope is placed into orbit by shuttle Discovery…1990

Spanish-American War: US declares state of war on Spain effective from 21st April…1898

♪  ♪   Happy Birthday To: ♪. ♪   

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

Free Rambling Thoughts   

Lazy, crazy day. Didn’t get a lot done around the house. Started laying stuff out for the cruise…so I don’t accidently wear something I don’t want to have to wash again. Got signed up for the Quebec City tour of the outlying area. Should be a good tour. This trip is my first experience with United Airlines as part of the trip. Not really happy with them…as there are three flights and I may have a window flight on the two longest ones. Usually the tour company is able to get us the seats we request, but not this time. Oh well, none of the flights are that long…less than 5 hours…so I will survive…and may be able to change them at check in time. Gotta remember that on domestic flights, we are just a body taking up a seat, and not a valued customer.

 

So nice to see Boston open and crowded. Still lots of anger from government. Biden angry at funeral of MIT cop, Kerry angry in interview. Still lots of praise for citizens, 1^st responders, and all involved with the capture. FBI/CIA still has a lot of questions to answer.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

What is this?

Sticker Bum Sticker Sticker Bum Bum Sticker Sticker Sticker Bum Bum Bum

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Remembering Bea Arthur

• Ella Fitzgerald - Black Coffee

Origins of Phrases

Ethnic cleansing

Meaning

A euphemism for the ruthless removal or killing of an ethnic or religious group from areas that have been taken over by opposing forces.

Origin

Although the process has been engaged in since antiquity the term didn't enter the English language until the Balkan wars of the 1990s. The earliest citation of a phrase like it is from the New York Times, July 1982:

"The nationalists have a two-point platform, according to Becir Hoti, an executive secretary of the Communist Party of Kosovo, first to establish what they call an ethnically clean Albanian republic and then the merger with Albania to form a greater Albania."

The precise phrase appears first in the Washington Post, August 1991:

"The Croatian political and military leadership issued a statement Wednesday declaring that Serbia's 'aim is obviously the ethnic cleansing of the critical areas that are to be annexed to Serbia'."

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

Rank of ‘I don’t know’ among the most common answers Republicans give when asked why black voters support Democrats: 1Rand of ‘government dependents’ want ‘something for nothing’: 2

Ruminations:

How much better this world would be if liar’s pants really did catch on fire.

Picture of the Day: Signs of Spring

Unusual Fact of the Day

While its popularity in America is fairly recent, margarine dates back to 1860s France, when Emperor Louis Napoleon III offered a prize to anyone who could design a cheap butter substitute.

Joke-of-the-day

A Swiss man, looking for directions, pulls up at a bus stop where two Americans are waiting. “Entschuldigung, koennen Sie Deutsch sprechen?” he asks. The two Americans just stare at him. “Excusez-moi, parlez vous Fracais?” he tries. The two continue to stare.

“Parlare Italiano?” No response.

“Hablan ustedes Espanol?” Still nothing.

The Swiss guy drives off, extremely disgusted. The first American turns to the second and says, “Y’know, maybe we should learn a foreign language.”

“Why?” says the other. “That guy knew four languages, and it didn’t do him any good.”  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

SETTING UP AN AQUARIUM

 Provide at least one gallon of water for each inch of fish   

Yeah, It Really Happened

LOS ANGELES - Two men have been sentenced in California after admitting they extorted professional poker players with threats of publishing naked photographs, officials say. The photos were among private information stolen from the players' email accounts, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

Tyler Schrier, 23, of Menlo Park pleaded guilty to conspiracy, extortion and unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information. He was sentenced to 42 months in prison. As part of his plea, Schrier admitted guilt in a similar plot in which he extorted $26,000. An accomplice, Keith James Hudson, 39, of San Jose pleaded guilty to stealing naked photographs from a player's email by hacking the account. He then worked with Schrier to extort poker players, prosecutors said.

In 2010, the pair hacked the email account of Joe Sebok and stole intimate emails and photographs. They threatened to post them on the Internet unless Sebok and others paid them hundreds of thousands of dollars, prosecutors said.

No payments were ever made and Schrier sent an email containing a nude photo of Sebok to about 100 people. Addressing the court at the hearing, Sebok said the extortion plot had "instantly damaged my ability to sustain my livelihood doing what I had been since 2005" and caused him to lose endorsement contracts.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The term "Hula Hoop" came from British sailors who had seen hula dancing in the Hawaiian islands and thought the two looked rather similar. 

• The original price of the hoop in 1958 was $1.98.

• After the hoops was released in 1958, the company Wham-O sold 25 million in the first four months and over 100 million in its first year. 

• Billy Joel referenced the sale of the 100 millionth hula hoop by Wham-O as one of the most significant events of 1959 in his song "We didn't Start the Fire." 

• The 1980 World Hula Hoop Championship was held in more than 2,000 cities with an estimated two million participants.

• The hula hoop craze of the late 50's can be traced to Australia, where children twirled hoops made out of bamboo. When the production of bamboo hoops could not meet the demand, Toltoys was engaged to make hoops out of plastic and sold 400,000 hoops in 1957.

Calendar Information        

Happening This 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

24-30
National Pro-Life T-shirt Week

National Scoop The Poop Week
Fiddler's Frolic
Gathering of the Nations Powwow

Today Is                                                                      

DNA Day

Hairstylists Appreciation Day

Hug A Plumber Day or Plumbers Day

Malaria Awareness Day

National Zucchini Bread Day

Red Hat Society Day

Yom HaZikaron (Israel's Memorial Day) 

World Penguin Day

Egypt…Sinai Day (1979-liberation of Sinai)

Italy…Liberation Day (1945-fall of Mussolini)

Portugal…Liberty Day (1974-coup/Carnation Revolution)
South Africa…Family Day
Swaziland…National Flag Day

Today’s Events through History  

Coronado leaves Alcanfor en route to Quivira. While in Quivira, Coronado had killed many of the inhabitants of TIGUEX PUEBLO…1541

Michael Cresap is one of many "frontiersmen" in Kentucky who wishes to instigate a war with the local Indians. He hopes that the Indians would lose the war, and be forced off their highly coveted lands. Cresap, and a few friends, come across a SHAWNEE and a DELAWARE Indian traveling through the woods. Cresap's group kills them both…1774

Whites win right to vote in South Africa 1928 - Buddy, a German Shepherd, becomes 1st guide dog for the blind…1905

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Meadowlark Lemmon, basketball star (Harlem Globetrotter) is 81

In their 70’s

Al Pacino, actor (And Justice For All, Godfather, Scorpio) is 73

In their 60’s

Talia Shire, actress [Rocky, Godfather] is 67

In their 50’s

Hank Azaria, actor (The Birdcage) and voice of The Simpsons (Moe, Apu, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Carl Carlson) is 49

Renee Zellweger, actress and producer is 44

Remembered for being born today

Oliver Cromwell, Puritan lord protector of England [1599-1658]

Ella Fitzgerald, Newport News VA, jazz singer (Is it live or Memorex) [1917-1996]

Guglielmo Marconi, Bologna Italy, inventor (radio, Nobel 1909) [1874-1931]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Beatrice Arthur, comedian, actress [Golden Girls, Maude], and singer…2009…at 86

Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer (Centegrade Thermometer)…TB…1744…at 42

Art Fleming, game show host (Jeopardy)… pancreatic cancer…1995…at 74

Saint Mark, the first Pope of Alexandria and the founder of Christianity in Africa…68AD

David Merrick, American theatrical producer…2000…at 89

Bobby "Boris" Pickett, American singer and songwriter… leukemia…2007…at 69

Dorothy Provine, singer, dancer, actress, and comedienne… emphysema…2010…at 75

Ginger Rogers, actress/dancer (Top Hat, Stage Door)…1995…at 83

George Sanders, actor (Mr Freeze-Batman, Ivanhoe)… suicide…1972…at 65

Answer: Brain Teasers

A Bumper Sticker literal: A bum per sticker

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  §