8/20/13

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Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 34/ Day: 232   

Today: H 77°…L 54°

Wind: ave:   5mph; Gusts:  16mph  Ave. humidity:  61%

Average Low      Average High     Record Low        Record High

49°                        79°                        35° (1979)           88° (1973)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

Alaska discovered by Danish explorer Vitus Bering…1741

Bonnie Prince Charlie reaches Blair Castle Scotland…1745

Dial telephone patented…1896

LBJ signs anti-poverty measure totaling nearly $1 billion…1964

Pres Andrew Johnson formally declares Civil War over…1866

Pres Gerald Ford, assumes office after Richard Nixon's resignation…1974

Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" opens in Moscow…1882

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Monday…more rain…no surprises…just a great day to enjoy our beautiful little mountain town.

 

Interesting on the 19 firefighters who lost their lives last month fighting a fire in AZ…they did not have insurance because they were the only hot shot crew in the US that was not part of the Federal government. Prescott was proud of its independence and its decision to hire its own hot shot crew. The guys were nationally known for their great work. Sadly, 19 of the 20 firefighters lost their jobs and Prescott had hired most of them as part time, giving them no life or health insurance. Had they worked for the Feds they would have been covered with benefits, even as part time thanks to our President who made hot shot crews covered back in 2008 or so. So tired of the many in AZ who say that we don’t need Federal interference in AZ stuff. Then when things go horribly wrong, no one is talking.

 

A friend from Tuba just sent me a video of his new grandson’s first laugh. So cute. The father made him laugh so he is now responsible for the feast. I’m sure the grandpa will provide the sheep. One of the many events that was so common on the rez…something that brings the whole family together to share in the joy of a new baby. Very cool.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Solve the two riddles. The answers should be anagrams of each other.
(Thing 1)

You use me when you want to cook For friends or family. But, whether written down or not, It's best you stick to me.

(Thing 2)

I like to think that I'm a skill, Not just some old technique. People do me to their ears, Or nose, or tongue, or cheek.

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love

• Isaac Hayes – Shaft

• Jim Reeves - Four Walls

• Phyllis Diller on The Ed Sullivan Show

Hmmmm…Tongue Twisters

U    
Unique New York.

Not a Fan of Faux News, but this is crazy.

Ok, then?

Harper’s Index    

Estimated number of chicks killed in a fire at a Perdue ‘research facility’: 8000

Unusual Fact of the Day

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a practicing ophthalmologist, but not a very good one. In his autobiography he wrote that he didn’t see a single patient.

Joke-of-the-day

General Amalgamated Industries, feeling it was time for a shakeup, hired a new CEO. The new boss was determined to rid the company of all slackers. On a tour of the facilities, the CEO noticed a guy leaning against a wall. The room was full of workers and he wanted to let them know that he meant business. He asked the guy, "How much money do you make a week?" A little surprised, the young man looked at him and said, "I make $400 a week. Why?" The CEO said, "Wait right here."

He walked back to his office, came back in two minutes, and handed the guy $1,600 in cash and said, "Here's four weeks' pay. Now GET OUT and don't come back." Feeling pretty good about himself the CEO looked around the room and asked, "Does anyone want to tell me what that goof-ball did here?"

From across the room a voice said, "Pizza delivery guy from Domino's."  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

SETTING UP A CHICKEN COOP

Provide at least three square feet of floor space for each chicken.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

A lot of peoples' fantasy would be to get paid to play games. So many people spend hours and hours online playing games for recreation, how awesome would it be to make money for doing it?

You could ask Kristina Finchman. This nurse from Australia had been working her full-time job by day and staying up all night to obtain and trade goods in World of Warcraft from what her lawyer described as a registered home business. She took payments in cash, finally converting much of that into real gold.

Well, how much cash can you make, really, by spending weeks playing World of Warcraft in order to acquire a "Blessed Blade of the Windseeker" which blasts your enemy with lightning, and then selling it to some other World of Warcraft geek online for a few bucks paid into your PayPal account?

How about 75,000 Australian dollars! In the gaming world this is known as gold farming. Finchman herself estimated that she was making anywhere from $200 to $700 every night she played World of Warcraft.

She invested all of that money in actual gold bullion, which she kept in a safe in her house. Apparently she doesn't have much faith in the economy.

The story so far would be bizarre enough, but it doesn't end there. When Finchman left town for a week on vacation, her house was burglarized, and the safe containing the bullion was among the items that went missing. She claims that her boyfriend at the time tipped off thieves about the gold, "in exchange for the measly sum of $500."

Her insurance company claimed Finchman arranged the theft in order to commit insurance fraud. So she is suing them. But the 75 gold bars she had in the safe are still gone.

So much for gold farming.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Istanbul, Turkey is the only city in the world located on two continents.

• The second best selling game of all time is Jenga. Jenga is a Swahili word, meaning "to build."

• The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."

• The Great Pyramids used to be as white as snow because they were encased in a bright limestone that has worn off over the   years.

• The word "moose" comes from the native Algonquian Indian word meaning "twig eater."

• The sloth moves so slowly that green algae grows in the grooves of their hair.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

15-21

National Aviation Week
18-24

Little League Baseball World Series
Minority Enterprise Development Week

Today Is                                                                      

                    ·        International Homeless Animals Day and Candlelight Vigils

             ^^^

                    ·        Estonia:  Restoration of Independence Day, re-declaration of the independence (1991 from USSR)

·        Nepal: Father's Day 

Today’s Events through History  

"Act Providing for the Expenses Which May Attend Negotiations or Treaties with the 

     Indian Tribes, and the Appointment of Commissioners for Managing the Same" is 

      approved by the United States…1789

Britain & Scotland sign Treaty of Pacification…1641

Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary…1000

Juan de Ugalde is Commanding General of all Spanish forces in Coahuila, Nuevo León,

     Nuevo Santander, and Texas. He starts a major expedition against the Apache…1789

Nelson Rockefeller becomes VP…1974

Rolling Stones release "Satisfaction" (their 1st #1 US hit)…1965

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Connie Chung, TV news anchor (NBC, CBS) is 67

Don King, boxing promoter, unusual hairstyles is 82

Demi Lovato, Disney actress is 21

Robert Plant, rock vocalist (Led Zeppelin-Whole Lotta Love) is 65

Al Roker, weatherman (NBC, Today) is 59

Remembered for being born today

Benjamin Harrison, 23rd Pres [1833-1901]

Isaac Hayes, composer (Shaft) (1942-2008)

H. P. Lovecraft, horror writer (At the Mountains of Madness, Weird Tales) [1890-1937]

Bernardo O'Higgins, Chilean independence leader [1778-1842]

Oliver Hazard Perry, US Naval hero ("We have met the enemy") [1785-1819]

Salvatore Quasimodo, Naples Italy, poet/critic/translator (Nobel 1959) [1901-1968]

Jacqueline Susann, author (Valley of the Dolls) [1918-1974]

Jim Reeves, US country singer/actor (Gun Fury, Kimberley Jim) [1923-1964]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Phyllis Diller, comedienne and actress…2012…at 95

Leona Helmsley, hotel operator and real estate investor…2007…at 87

Anne Hutchinson, English Puritan preacher…killed by Indians…1643…at 52

Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian Prime Minister…liver cancer…2012…at 57

Brain Teasers

Thing 1 is a RECIPE. Thing 2 is PIERCE.

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  §