6-9-13

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Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 24/ Day: 153   Today: H 89°…L 48°

Wind: ave:   7mph; Gusts:  31mph  Ave. humidity:  26%

*

Ave low	Ave high	Record low	Record high
39°	77°	24° (1950)	88° (1902)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

"Jelly-Roll Blues," is recorded by blues great, Jelly Roll Morton…1924

"Pay-as-you-go" (withholding) US income tax deductions authorized…1943

14" of rain in 6 hrs burst Rapid City SD dam, drowns 237…1972

1st US "dime novel" published: "Malaseka, The Indian Wife of the White Hunter," 

     by Mrs Ann Stevens…1860

Burma riots kill 20 people and burn down 300 houses…2012

Charles Elmer Hires sells his 1st root beer (Phila)…1869

Charles Graham patents false teeth…1822

China leases Hong Kong's new territories to Britain for 99 years…1898

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) strikes down 148 year

     policy of excluding black men from priesthood…1978

Equal Pay Act enacted…1963

Jacques Cartier 1st sails into mouth of St Lawrence River…1534

Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary to slit his 

     throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging…68

US Academy at West Point founded…1802

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Another hot one here in Flag. So glad there is always a breeze off the mountain to keep my place a lot cooler. Weatherman says this heat wave will stay until next week. Bummer since it is only drying out the forest and we have no moisture in sight.  

Mary had brought up some fresh peaches from her tree in Phoenix. Boy, are they juicy…and sweet. So nice on a hot summer day. Tonight I’m having grilled shrimp, pasta salad, corn on the cob, and peaches…what could be better? For those that don’t already know, put an ear of corn in the microwave for about 6 minutes, let it cool a bit, husk it and it is great.

 

Nelson Mandela has done amazing things throughout his life. My visit to his jail cell on Robben Island in South Africa will always remain one of the most moving experiences I have ever had. He is now 94 and has been in and out of the hospital a lot. It is sad to me that he can’t just let go. He has made his mark on this world and should be able to move on. It will be a sad day when he passes, but his pain and anguish will have ended.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

D
N
A
T
S , D

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Anything Goes by Cole Porter

• The Wise Little Hen

• ORIGINAL JELLY ROLL BLUES
 

Hmmmm

Two wrongs are only the beginning.

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

Value of the 220 diamonds swallowed by a South African jewel smuggler in November: $265,000

Picture of the Day: Getting Ready for Summer!

Unusual Fact of the Day

The 1983 film The Right Stuff featured an interesting stepping-stone of cast and character last names: Ed Harris played John Glenn, Scott Glenn played Alan Shepard, and Sam Shepard played Chuck Yeager.

Joke-of-the-day

How is a snail stronger than an elephant? Because an elephant carries his trunk, but a snail carries his house!  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

AVOIDING OVERFITTING IN NEURAL NETWORKS

You will get overfitting in your neural network if you have more weights than data points.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Police in Florida said a man accused of bilking women out of hundreds of thousands of dollars with a phony business used a dating website to find his victims. Osceola County investigators said Scott Campbell allegedly convinced women he met on dating websites to give him a total exceeding hundreds of thousands of dollars by convincing them to invest in his phony music business, "Bank Deposits Only Records," WESH, Orlando, reported Friday. Police said Campbell told the women the business included an "American Idol"-style talent search contest, and he showed them photos of himself with celebrities including Ludacris, Anthony Hamilton and Wendy Williams to make his business seem legitimate. Detectives said Campbell used the money to fuel his gambling habit. The suspect was arrested in Flagler County and will be returned to Osceola County to face charges, authorities said.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The first known lighthouse - the Pharaohs of Alexandria, Egypt - was completed about 280 B.C. It stood more than 350 feet tall until an earthquake destroyed it in the 1300s.

• The world's oldest working lighthouse, La Coruna, stands at the northwest tip of Spain. The Romans built it early in the second century A.D. It's also called the Tower of Hercules.

• The first lighthouse in what is now the United States was built on Little Brewster Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor in 1716. The British blew it up in 1776. The replacement tower, dating to 1783, still functions as a navigation aid. Known as Boston Harbor Light, it is the only U.S. lighthouse that is still manned.

• The first U.S. lighthouse to use electricity is also the world's most famous lighthouse: the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. From its opening in 1886 until its deactivation as a lighthouse in 1902, its torch carried an electric light that was visible for 24 miles.

• The tallest masonry U.S. lighthouse is the Cape Hatteras Light near Buxton on North Carolina's Outer Banks. It was recently measured at 207.49 feet from the bottom of the foundation (about 10 feet underground) to the top of the spire.

• The first lighthouse on the West Coast was the Alcatraz Island Light in San Francisco Bay, completed in 1854. The original tower has been replaced by a 1909-vintage structure.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

3-10

(World) Dystonia Awareness Week
6-9

Great American Brass Band Week

Superman Days
8-16

Jim Thorpe Native American Games
Men's Health Week

National Automotive Service Professionals Week
National Flag Week

Worldwide Knit (and crotchet) in Public Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Abused Women and Children's Awareness Day

·        Children's Sunday

·        Donald Duck Day—1931: 1^st cartoon with him

·        Multicultural American Child Day

·        Ride The Wind Day, Ride For Wind Day or World Wind Day Race

·        Unity Day

·        World APS Day: Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome “rare” autoimmune disease  

Today’s Events through History  

1st Protestant church west of Penn (in Ohio) holds communion…1772

Barbra Streisand appears on "Ed Sullivan Show"…1963

Book of Common Prayer is adopted by the Church of England…1549

Comedian Richard Pryor suffers burns from free basing cocaine…1980

Jack La Lanne, 76, arrested for suspicion of DWI…1991

New England synod clergy meet at Cambridge today. A large number of Indians 

     attend the meeting to hear Roxbury minister John Eliot deliver a sermon in their

     own language…1647

Secretariat becomes 1st Triple Crown winner in 25 years by winning horse 

     racing's Belmont Stakes…1973

William Jennings Bryan quits as Secretary of State…1915

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 80’s

Jackie Mason, comedian (World According to Me, Chicken Soup) is 82

In their 70’s

Dick Vitale, US, sportscaster (ESPN, ABC "Oh Baby!") is 74 

  

In their 50’s

Johnny Depp, actor (21 Jump Street, Ed Wood) is 50

Michael J. Fox, Canadian actor (Family Ties, Back to the Future, Teen Wolf) is 52

Aaron Sorkin, writer, screenplays is 52

In their 30’s

Natalie Portman, Israeli/American actress (Professional, Everyone Says I Love You) is 32

Remembered for being born today

Robert Cummings, actor (Love that Bob, Dial M For Murder) [1910-1990]

Robert S McNamara, US Sec of Defense (1961-68)/head (World Bank) [1916-2009]

Les Paul, guitarist/inventor (Les Paul guitar) [1915-2009]

Cole Porter, composer/lyricist (Anything Goes, Kiss Me Kate) [1891-1964]

Peter the Great [Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov], tsar of Russia [1672-1725]

George Stephenson, Newcastle England, inventor (RR locomotive) [1781-1848]

Fred Waring, musician/conductor/inventor (Waring Blender) [1900-1984]

Jackie Wilson, Detroit, singer (Lonely Teardrops, Night) [1934-1984]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Miguel Asturias, Guatemalan writer/Nobel Laureate…1974…at 74

William Carey, one of the founders of the Baptist Missionary Society…1834…at 64

Charles Dickens, English writer (David Copperfield)…stroke…1870…at 58

Carry Amelia Moore Nation, American temperance leader…1911…at 64

Answer: Brain Teasers

Stand up comedy (stand up comma D)

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  §