5-25-13

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Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 21/ Day: 145   Today: H 70°…L 36°

Wind: ave:   14mph; Gusts:  34mph  Ave. humidity:  23%

*Averages: H  71° L 36° Records: H 83°(1983, 1949)…L 23°(1909)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

"Midnight Cowboy" released with an X rating…1969

1st attack on Jewish community of Frankfort-on-the-Main Germany…1241

32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind 

     person to reach the summit of Mount Everest…2001

American Unitarian Association founded…1825

Constitutional convention opens at Phila, G Washington presiding…1787

Gilbert/Sullivan’s opera "HMS Pinafore," premieres in London…1878

Goofy, aka Dippy Dawg, 1st appears in 'Mickey's Revue' by Walt Disney…1932

Hands Across America - 6 million people hold hands from California to NY…1986

Jesse Owens equals or breaks 6 world records in one hour…1935

John Lennon takes delivery of his psychedelic painted Rolls Royce…1967

Oprah Winfrey airs her last show, ending her twenty five year run of 

     The Oprah Winfrey Show…2011

Original "Star Wars" movie released…1977

Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as the president…1895

Supreme Court rules La prohibiting black-white boxing unconstitutional…1959

United States Congress resolves that it would be "highly expedient" if they 

     can engage Indians to fight on their side of the Revolutionary War…1776

United States House of Representatives releases the Cox Report which details 

     the People's Republic of China's nuclear espionage against the U.S. over 

     the prior two decades…1999

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

A way too windy day in Flag. Had lunch with our retirement group and found out that the wind has been blowing like this for most of the time I was gone. Cheryl took a quick trip to CA to see the grandkids and has several more planned this summer, Mary is headed to Chicago to see her grandkids there. Both are doing well and are ready for summer. I had some pics from Canada on my phone, and they were happy to see them. Technology is so cool when it works right. Yesterday, as I sat down to write the blog, my keyboard died for no apparent reason…maybe because it was because I hadn’t used it for a three weeks. I ran over to Best Buy and go a cool wireless, solar powered keyboard that doesn’t need batteries…hope it lasts…we do have a lot of sun here in Flag.

 

I’m ready for Memorial Day weekend…I think. I saw the traffic in Flag and won’t be too much moving around this weekend. It’s good for the economy so we all deal with it. Fire season is in full swing and everyday there are small fires around the area. How people can be so careless and uncaring is beyond me. It is very dry and that is very obvious. Everyone in town seems to be on guard and hopefully we won’t have any big fires.

 

Cell phone bill arrives with a $30 charge I wasn’t expecting. Called and found that Verizon is charging a one time $30 charge when you ‘upgrade’ your phone, even as a returning customer. Turns out all cell companies are charging this new ‘fee’. Verizon says it is so I will continue to get great service…and I can go to a Verizon store to sign up for free classes on how to use my intuitive iPhone. Don’t want the classes, and don’t think I should have to pay an extra charge for great service. The cell phone industry, like the airlines, is finding all kinds of ways to get money for everything that used to be free.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Based on the clue in parentheses, find a four-letter word that can be inserted backwards into the blank to complete a longer word.sc
Example: di____ve (a defeat)
Answer: dissolve ("A defeat" gives you LOSS, which is placed backwards in the blank: di_SSOL_ve.)

1. dis____s (horse movement) 2. mi____ce (high mountains) 3. l____ion (a Mexican food) 4. s____ing (food skin)

*****

Hint

Here are clues for the eight-letter words:

1. deforms 2. lose 3. venue 4. abed

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Tom Jones & Leslie Uggams - Somewhere-There s A Place For Us

• Bojangles step dance

• The Unicorn - The Irish Rovers

Origins of Phrases

Goody, goody gumdrops

Meaning

A childish exclamation of delight.

Origin

'Goody, goody gumdrops' has the sound of a typical, if archaic, British children's expression of delight. There is, however, a strong case to be made for the phrase being an American coinage. 'Goody, goody' has been used in the US since at least the late 18th century to express pleasure; for example, in the early American ballad opera,The Disappointment, circa 1760:

"Oh! goodee, goodee, oh! we shall see presently."

'Gumdrops' themselves are certainly an American invention. They are a confection of sweetened and flavoured gum and have been on sale in the US under that name since the mid 19th century. The Illinois State Chronicle ran an advertisement in August 1859 for the confectioner George Julier, which offered:

"Fresh GumDrops, assorted flavor wholesale or retail"

A 'drop' is, incidentally, a common name of various sweets and cakes, for example, acid-drops, lemon-drops,dropped scones. The name derives from the method of making the sweets by dropping balls of the ingredients onto a surface to set.

The first citation of 'Goody, goody gumdrops' that I can find comes in a cartoon by the American humorist Carl Ed (pronounced 'Eed'). Ed's 'Harold Teen' cartoon strip ran for many years in the USA and was syndicated in several newspapers, notably The Oakland Tribune

It isn't clear whether Ed coined the phrase or whether he had heard it elsewhere. The phrase is still used, usually with awareness of its archaic tone. The British press began to use it from 2002 onward, in various punning headlines relating to the Big Brother contestant, Jade Goody. She had become an unpopular figure in the UK, following accusations of her racist bullying of an Indian contestant on the show in 2007 - to newspaper headlines along the lines of "Baddy Goody drops herself in it".

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

Portion of the US House of Representatives’ Democratic caucus that represents California or New York: 1/3

Picture of the Day: Canada..my recent cruise

 

Unusual Fact of the Dayc

In 1973, Mao Zedong told Henry Kissinger that China had an excess of females and offered the United States 10 million Chinese women.

Joke-of-the-day

A young and foolish pilot wanted to sound cool on the aviation frequencies. So, this was his first time approaching a field during the nighttime. Instead of making any official requests to the tower, he said: "Guess who?"

The controller switched the field lights off and replied: "Guess where?"  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

TAKING CARE OF YOUR CAT

 When your cat cries and he has food, check the water.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

ORLANDO, Fla. - Police in Florida said a man whose bank robbery attempt failed allegedly went across the street and robbed a drugstore instead. Orlando police said the man, who was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, entered a Bank of America location around 12:45 p.m. Monday and handed a note to a teller claiming he had a gun and demanding money, the Orlando Sentinel reported Tuesday. However, the teller refused to give him any money and called police. The man then went across the street to a CVS store, displayed a gun and left with an undisclosed amount of cash. Police said they are attempting to identify the man from surveillance footage.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Fitzgerald considered titling his novel Among Ash-heaps and Millionaires and On the Road to West Egg before settling on The Great Gatsby.
• Gatz is a nearly seven hour play about one man's obsession with The Great Gatsby.
• The Modern Library named The Great Gatsby the second best English-language novel of the 20th century (the first was Ulysses by James Joyce).
• Fitzgerald wrote his first novel, The Romantic Egoist, during World War I, convinced that he would not survive the fighting.
• Fitzgerald's full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. The Francis Scott Key who wrote The Star-Spangled Banner was his second cousin three times removed.
• American author Truman Capote wrote a screenplay of The Great Gatsby in which Nick was a homosexual and Jordan a vindictive lesbian-Capote's screenplay was never filmed.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

National Bike to Work Week: 19-25 
EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Week: 19-25 
National Medical Transcription Week: 19-26 (3rd Week) 

Recreational Water Illness and Injury Prevention Week: 19-26 
World Trade Week: 19-25 
National Backyard Games Week: 20-26
International Coaching Week: 20-26
Mudbug Madness Week: 23-26
 Old-Time Player Piano Weekend: 24-27
Week of Solidarity With The People of Non-Self-Governing Territories: 25-31

Today Is                                                                      

Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day (ARMAD)

Cookie Monster's Birthday

International Jazz Day
Julia Pierpont Day

National Missing Children's Day
National Senior Health and Fitness Day
National Tap Dance Day
Nerd Pride Day or Geek Pride Day

Towel Day

***
African Freedom Day (Parts of Africa)
Independence Day (Jordan: 1946: British Empire)

Poetry Day (Fla)

Today’s Events through History  

1st airmail letter to circle globe returns to NY…1937

Babe Ruth suspended 1 day & fined $200 for throwing dirt on an ump…1922

Casey Stengel releases a sparrow from under his baseball cap…1919

Edict of Worms outlaws Martin Luther & his followers…1521

Father Stephen Theodore Badin is 1st US Roman Catholic priest ordained…1793

Henry Ford stops producing Model T car (begins Model A)…1927

India & Pakistan border fights…1965

Jay Leno becomes permanent host of "Tonight Show"…1992

Jews are expelled from Warsaw by Marshall Mniszek…1784

JFK sets goal of putting a man on Moon before the end of decade…1961

Liberation Day of Lebanon. Israel withdraws its army from most of the Lebanese 

     territory after 22 years of its first invasion in 1978…2000

Muhammad Ali KOs Sonny Liston in 1 for heavyweight boxing title…1965

Oscar Wilde sentenced to 2 years hard labor for being a sodomite…1895

Remington Rand strike, led by the American Federation of Labor, begins…1936

Richard Cromwell resigns as English Lord Protector…1659

SpaceX Dragon becomes the first commercial spacecraft to dock at the 

     International Space Station…2012

Unicorn by The Irish Rovers hits #7…1968

Up to 116 people are massacred, including women and children, by the Syrian 

     army in Houla, in the Homs province…2012

US launch 1st Skylab crew Kerwin, Conrad, Weitz…1973

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 70’s

Jessi Colter, [Miriam Johnson], Phoenix, country singer (I'm Not Lisa) is 70

Ian McKellen, England, actor (Keep, Plenty, Scarlet Pimpernel) is 74

Leslie Uggams, NYC, singer/actress (Leslie Uggams Show, Roots) is 70

In their 60’s

Karen Valentine, Santa Rosa CA, actress (Love American Style, Room 222) is 66

Frank Oz, Hereford England, muppetteer (Grover-Sesame Street, Muppet Show) is 69

In their 50’s

Mike Myers, Canada, comedian (SNL, Wayne's World) is 50

Connie Selleca, Bronx, actress (Hotel, Capt America II) is 58

In their 40’s

Anne Heche, actress (Donnie Brasco, Juror, Volcano) is 44

Jamie Kennedy actor, comedian, television producer and screenwriter is 43

In their 30’s

Lauryn Hill, singer-songwriter (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill) is 38

Cillian Murphy, Irish actor is 37

Remembered for being born today

Bennett Cerf, publisher (Random House) panelist (What's My Line) (1891-1971)

Beverly Sills, [Belle "Bubbles" Miriam Silverman], Bkln NY, soprano [1929-2007]

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, actor (Stormy Weather, Little Colonel) (1878-1949)

Dixie Carter, TN, actress (Designing Women, Edge of Night) [1939-2010]

Gene Tunney, world heavyweight boxing champion (1898-1978)

Hal David, New York, lyricist (Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head), (1921-2012)

Rachel Carson, conservationist/writer (Silent Spring) (1907-1964)

Ralph Waldo Emerson, US, essayist/philosopher (Concord Hymn) (1803-1882)

U Nu, premier Burma (1948-58, 1960-62) (1907-1995)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Buck, dog (Married with Children)…1996…at 13

William Paley, English philosopher…1805…at 62

Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor and host… pneumonia…2007…at 76

Vic Tayback, actor (Mel-Alice)…heart attack…1990…at 60

Madame C J Walker, made cosmetics for blacks…1919…at 51

Nancy Walker, actress (Ida Morgenstein-Rhoda)…cancer…1992…at 69

Answer: Brain Teasers

1. distorts (TROT - dis_TORT_s) 2. misplace (ALPS - mi_SPLA_ce) 3. location (TACO - l_OCAT_ion) 4. sleeping (PEEL - s_LEEP_ing)

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  §