7/27/13

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Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 30/ Day: 206   Today: H 73°…L 57°

Wind: ave:   3mph; Gusts:  16mph  Ave. humidity:  77%

* Average Low    Average High    Record Low    Record High

        51°                         82°                 36° (1913)       93° (1947)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

1st expedited salvaging of Titanic wreckage begins by RMS Titanic, Inc…1987

8th Olympic games closes in Paris…1924

Armistice divides Vietnam into two countries…1954

Atlantic telegraph cable successfully laid (1,686 miles long)…1866

Battle of Killicrankie Jacobite Scottish Highlanders defeat royal force…1689

Bugs Bunny debuts in "Wild Hare"…1940

Confederate troops occupy Fort Fillmore, New Mexico…1861

Congress establishes Dept of Foreign Affairs (State dept)…1789

Greg Lemond is 1st American to win Tour de France…1986

News helicopters from Phoenix, collide while covering a police chase; no survivors…2007

Queen Elizabeth II announces the opening of the London 2012 Olympics…2012

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Getting ready for the weekend. The clouds came in, the several weather alerts for heavy thunderstorms and/or flash flooding, but alas no moisture here…at least yet. Still plenty of daylight left for some rain. UPDATE: just as I am posting this, a huge storm started dumping lots of rain...and 30 minutes later it is still coming down.

 

Got a call from my former financial advisor and she now has a plan to move my money to her husband’s business. Not sure what I’m going to do. She also said that due to this mess by her former office manager she is selling her house here in Flagstaff. This would mean that my accounts, currently located in Prescott would be moving to North Carolina…and without a house in AZ, not sure they would ever be coming back here again. Guess I’ll talk and find out what is happening. Also our discussion group meets on Saturday evening for our final chapter of the book. Should be interesting. We may come up with some new topics on our own to meet again before January.

 

Since I have an early dinner and our discussion group, no blog posting tomorrow.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Can you decipher this:

mce mce mce

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Bobbie Gentry - Ode To Billie Joe

• The Morning After by Maureen McGovern

• BILL ENGVALL - Here's Your Sign Live

• James Mason--What's My Line

Hmmmm…Dismissals - Occupational Puns

A Chinese waiter could be disoriented. A solicitor could be distorted. A rabble-rouser could be demobbed. A mathematician could be nonplussed.

Ok, then?

• Harper’s Index    

• Minimum number of exams a student must take between third and twelfth grade under NCLB: 17

• Percentage change since 1976 in the test score gap between children in America’s richest an poorest deciles: 40

• Amount Florida spent per student on testing in 1996: $4.44

• Last year: $30.59

Picture of the Day: Africa’s Big 5

     Lion, African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Leopard, and Rhinoceros

Unusual Fact of the Day

In the 16^th century, gin was referred to as “mother’s ruin” because people thought it could induce an abortion.

Joke-of-the-day

A man goes into a pet shop, wanting to buy a bird. He sees a beautiful bird, the loveliest he's ever seen, and asks how much it is. The shop owner replies 'that bird is $1000'.

'What?!?' cries the man, '$1000 for a bird? What does it do?’

'Well, I'm glad you asked.' says the shop owner, 'you see, that bird can sing every female role in the ring cycle from memory.'

The man thinks, ok but I can't afford the bird. He sees a shorter, but still beautiful, bird and asks how much that one is. 'That bird is $2000' replies the shop owner, and the man asks what this bird can do.

'Well, he can play any Paganini concerto you request on the violin from memory' the man thinks wow, but I really can't afford that bird.

He then sees an ancient, hunched, half-dead, ugly, bald bird croaking in the corner of the cage, and, thinking that this bird couldn't cost very much, enquires.

'Oh, that bird is $20000' he is told by the owner.

Flabbergasted, the man asks what this bird does. 'Oh, we haven't found out yet' the owner replies, 'but the other two call him 'Maestro''  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

CHOOSING A CROSS-COUNTRY SKI

You can size a cross-country ski by standing with one arm held straight in the air. A ski is the right length for you if it reaches from the floor to the palm of your hand.   

Yeah, It Really Happened

Cops in Nebraska thought they had scored a major bust. Last year, during a routine speeding stop, state troopers pulled over Rajesh and Marina Dheri of New Jersey. During the stop one of the troopers asked the Dheris if he could search their vehicle, which they allowed. That was their first mistake, because what they found was a large sum of cash in the trunk.

Their story was that they were transporting the money for a friend of theirs, 33-year-old Tara Mishra who is a stripper, I'm sorry, exotic dancer in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Mishra had supposedly saved the money over the last 15 years and was planning to open a nightclub in New Jersey with the Dheris as her partners.

Likely story. Every cop worth his salt knows that any cash larger than the amount needed to buy a burger and fries is almost certainly drug money. So they confiscated it.

The troopers took the Dheris into custody and later a K-9 unit alerted to trace elements of illegal drugs on the cash.

Well, it took over a year, but a federal judge finally ruled that the government failed to show a substantial connection between drugs and the money, and that the Nebraska state police must return the money to Mishra.

Now here is the bizarre part. How much money do you think a stripper could make in a night? A hundred dollars? Two? Maybe even three? How much money could she possibly have saved?

Apparently Ms. Mishra, who began putting aside her earnings when she started dancing at age 18, had saved up one million dollars, almost exclusively in small bills. The money was packaged in $10,000 bundles tied with hair bands.

The best part is the judge ordered the police to reimburse her with interest.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside. The average strawberry has 200 seeds.

• In medieval times, strawberries were served at important functions to bring peace & prosperity.

• Strawberries are a member of the rose family.

• Strawberries are the first fruit to ripen in the spring.

• Madame Tallien, a prominent figure at the court of the Emperor Napoleon, was famous for bathing in the juice of fresh strawberries. She used 22 pounds per basin. Needless to say, she did not bathe daily.

• To symbolize perfection and righteousness, medieval stone masons carved strawberry designs on altars and around the tops of pillars in churches and cathedrals.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

21-27
National Parenting Gifted Children Week
Captive Nations Week
National Independent Retailers Week
National Zoo Keeper Week
World Lumberjack Championships

26-28
Garlic Days

Today Is                                                                       

·        Barbie-in-a-blender Day

·        National Dance Day

·        National Day of the Cowboy

·        National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day

·        National Milk Chocolate Day

·        Take Your Houseplant For A Walk Day

·        Walk on Stilts Day

Today’s Events through History  

Billboard magazine starts publishing bestseller charts…1940

Chicago race riot (15 whites & 23 blacks killed, 500 injured)…1919

Grasshoppers in Iowa, Nebr & SD destroyed thousands of acres of crops…1931

Ottawa warriors, and a few French soldiers attack a group of twenty-two barges; only 

     two of the barges escape the fighting…1757

Sir Walter Raleigh brings 1st tobacco to England from Virginia…1586

US regains possession of Guam from Japanese…1944

US troops destroy Ft Apalachicola, a Seminole fort, to punish Indians for harboring 

      runaway slaves…1816

Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina…1865

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 90’s

Norman Lear, TV writer/producer (All in The Family) is 91

In their 80’s

Jerry Van Dyke, actor (My Mother the Car, Coach) is 82

In their 60’s

Peggy Fleming Jenkins, figure skater (Olym-gold-1968) is 65

Bobbie Gentry, singer/songwriter (Ode to Billy Joe) is 69

Maureen McGovern, singer (Got To Be a Morning After) is 64

Betty Thomas, actress (Lucy Baines-Hill Street Blues) is 65

In their 50’s

Bill Engvall, comedian (Here’s Your Sign) will be 56

In their 30’s

Alex Rodriguez, shortstop (Mariners, Rangers, Yankees) is 38

Remembered for being born today

Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge, orientalist/museum curator [1857-1934]

Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyor and astronomer [Mason-Dixon Line] [1733-1779]

Leo Durocher, baseball player and manager (Brooklyn Dodgers, NY Giants) [1906-1991]

Kennan Wynn, actor (Dr Strangelove, Absent Minded Professor) [1916-1986]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Bob Hope [Leslie Townes Hope], English-born entertainer…2003…at 100

James Mason, British actor (Lolita)…heart attack…1984…at 75

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (1941-79)… lymphoma…1980…at 60

Billy [William] Wyler, US director (Ben Hur, Funny Girl)…heart attack…1981…at 79

Answer: Brain Teasers

Three Blind Mice; [they have no I's].

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  §