8/12/13

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Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 33/ Day: 224   

Today: H 74°…L 47°

Wind: ave:   6mph; Gusts:  21mph  Ave. humidity:  48%

Average Low      Average High

50°                        80°     

Record Low        Record High

36° (1900)           91° (1980)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

1st war between American colonists & Indians ends in New England…1676
23rd Olympic Games close at Los Angeles…1984

Chicago is founded...1833

9th Olympic Games close in Amsterdam…1928

30th Olympics close in London…2012

Gold discovered at Klondike River at Dawson…1896

Last American combat ground troops leave Vietnam…1972

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Quiet Sunday with a nice rainstorm followed by a cloudless sky. Yesterday there were two lightning caused small fires near Flagstaff. So strange…with all this moisture I was living under the unfounded conclusion that our forest was safer. There were reports of the fire, but nothing more, so I am assuming that they were small and contained quickly.

 

Glad to see the young girl kidnapped by the family friend was safely reunited with her dad. So sad that she saw the murder of her younger brother, mother, and her kidnapper. She has a long road ahead, especially if the kidnapper did anything else to her.

 

Tomorrow is the first day of school for our local kids…Rez kids have been back about a week. That means that our neighborhood will be more quiet during the day once again. I actually will miss all the kids running around, chasing, playing, and having such a good time. I also know that within a week the noise level will increase again about 3:30 every school day. It seems to take about a week for the ‘new’ school year to kick in and for things to get back to normal.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

The following are anagrams of countries. Can you decipher all of them?

1. Glib Emu 2. Neat Grain 3. Age Lens 4. Dark Men 5. Serial

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton - Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher

• Buck Owens Tiger By The Tail

• Pete Sampras: The king of swing!

Hmmmm…Tongue Twisters

L 
A laurel-crowned clown.
^^^
The Leith police dismisseth us.
^^^
A laurel-crowned clown. ^^^ The Leith police dismisseth us. ^^^Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better. ^^^ Lily ladles little Letty's lentil soup. ^^^ Listen to the local yokel yodel. ^^^ Lovely lemon liniment.

Ever wonder where the name came from?

JVC

The company that saw off Sony in the great video format war of the 1970s owes its roots to US firm the Victor Talking Machine Company, which established a subsidiary in Yokohama in 1927.

The Victor Company of Japan (aka JVC) started off making phonographs (vinyl turntables) before eventually making its name selling color TVs and, of course, VHS video recorders. JVC’s corporate website claims that one of its engineers, Kenjiro Takayanagi, was also the first person in the world to project an image on to a cathode ray tube.

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

Amount North Dakota’s Attorney General requested the state to budget for legal challenges to the new abortion law: $400,000

Songs with Double Meanings:

• Puff the Magic Dragon - Peter, Paul and Mary
 Since its release, some have claimed this song was about smoking marijuana. For example, there are several so called double meanings to the song: The word "paper" in the name of Puff's human friend (Jackie Paper) was said to be a reference to rolling papers, and the word "dragon" was interpreted as "draggin'" (inhaling smoke); similarly, the name "Puff" was alleged to be a reference to taking a "puff" on a joint. Of course, nobody takes a "puff" on a joint (you take a "hit", or "toke" on a joint), and the song's authors have flat out said the song is only about a little boy who grows up and no longer plays with his favorite toy anymore. Therefore, there are no true double meaning lyrics in this song.

• Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - Bob Dylan
 Key Triple Lyric of song: "Everybody must get stoned" (1) That everybody will get treated wrong sometime in their lives; (2) Main/real meaning, one: About getting stoned (high) on marijuana; (3) Main/real meaning, two: Comes from both Bible stories and about the mistreatment of women in Islamic countries who are subject to stoning for some of the most insane reasons.

Unusual Fact of the Day

The Netherlands’ national anthem is really only the first and sixth verses of a 15-verse extravaganza written in honor of the Dutch Prince William of Orange.

Joke-of-the-day

A butcher saw a Lawyer passing by his shop one day, and asked him: Atty., what would you do if a dog came in and stole your meat?

Lawyer replied: why? of course, I’ll make the owner pay for it!

The butcher said: If that is so, now you owe me $15 because it is your dog.

The Lawyer replied: very well, just deduct the $15 from the $25 you owe me for the advice, I’ll collect the remaining $10 the next time I pass by here.

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

GIVING ADVICE TO A FRIEND

Nine out of ten times when a friend is discussing a problem, he or she is not looking for a solution from you. Listen carefully. It is only ten percent who actually need help. The rest just need to be heard and have an assurance that you stand by them.   

Yeah, It Really Happened

DETROIT - A long distance swimmer has completed his 22-mile trip across a Michigan lake while towing a ton of bricks after more than 50 hours in the water. Jim Dreyer, 49, arrived at Detroit's Belle Island at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday after starting his Lake St. Clair swim at 8:36 a.m. Monday while towing two inflatable boats filled with a total 1 ton of bricks, Mlive.com reported Thursday. Dreyer, an experienced long-distance swimmer who has previously crossed Lake Superior, said his trip took about 21 hours longer than he expected because he drifted back some when he fell asleep and he spent some time lost. He made the swim without the help of a support boat. The swimmer said the bricks he towed across the lake will be auctioned off to benefit Habitat for Humanity.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only US president elected four times.

• George Washington is the only man whose birthday is a legal holiday in every state of the United States.

• Gerald Ford was the only US president not to have been elected to either the presidency or the vice presidency.

• Giraffes are the only animals born with horns. Both males and females are born with bony knobs on the forehead.

• Grover Cleveland is the only US president to have been married in the White House.

• Hawaii has the only royal palace in the United States - Iolani.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

10-16

Elvis Week
Feeding Pets of the Homeless Week

Weird Contest Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        IBM PC Day 1981

·        International Youth Day

·        Sewing Machine Day

·        Vinyl Record Day

Today’s Events through History  

1st National Archery Association tournament (Chicago)…1879

1st US police corps forms (New Amsterdam)…1658

Canada, Mexico, and the United States announce completion of negotiations for 

     the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)…1992

ICE is launched…1978

Juan Ponce de Leon arrives in Puerto Rico…1508

Kumeyaay Indians fight with the Spaniards who have established the Mission 

     San Diego de Alcala in what becomes San Diego…1769

Nelson Mandela is treated for tuberculosis at hospital…1988

Pres Eisenhower raises minimum wage from 75 cents to $1 an hour…1955

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

George Hamilton, tanned actor (Love at 1st Bite, Where the Boys Are) is 74

Peter Krause, film/television actor, director, and producer is 48

Pete Sampras, tennis champ (14 grand slam titles) is 42

Ralph Waite, actor (John-Waltons, Roots) is 86

Remembered for being born today

Katharine Lee Bates, US, author (America the Beautiful) [1859-1929]

"Diamond Jim" Brady, American financier [1856-1917]

Cecil B deMille, directed God (10 Commandments, Cleopatra) [1881-1959]

John Derek, actor/director (10, Annapolis Story) [1926-1998]

Robert Mills, US, architect (Washington Monument) [1781-1855]

Cantinflas, [Mario Moreno], Mexico, actor (Around World in 80 Days) [1911-1983]

Buck Owens, [Alvis Edgar], country singer (Hee Haw) [1929-2006]

Mary Roberts Rinehart, mystery writer (Miss Pinkerton) [1876-1958]

Porter Wagoner, country singer, discovered Dolly Parton (Y'All Come) [1927-2007]

Jane Wyatt, actress (Father Knows Best, Star Trek) [1910-2006]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

William Blake, English poet/painter…1827…at 69

Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty…suicide...

     30BC…at 38ish

Ian L Fleming, British journalist/writer (James Bond)…heart attacks…1964…at 56

Henry Fonda, actor (On Golden Pond)…heart disease…1982…at 77

Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., brother of JFK…WWII secret mission…1944…at 29

Thomas Mann, German writer (Dr Faustus, Nobel 1929)…1955…at 80

Les Paul (Lester William Polsfuss) American musician/inventor…2009…at 94

Brain Teasers

1. Belgium 2. Argentina 3. Senegal 4. Denmark 5. Israel

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  §