9/22/13

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Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 39/ Day: 265   

Today: H 72°…L 43°…Ave. humidity:  60%

Wind: ave:   12mph; Gusts:  33mph  

Average High: 71° Record High: 84° (1943)

Average Low: 40°  Record Low: 23° (1955)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

"Man from U.N.C.L.E," premieres on NBC-TV…1964

"Maverick" premieres…1957

2nd assassination attempt on US President Gerald Ford by Sara Jane Moore…1975

Bob Dylan plays NYC Carnegie Hall…1962

Bonnie Prince Charlie's army returns to Edinburgh…1745

California University makes Dead Sea Scrolls public…1991

CERN scientists announce their discovery of neutrinos breaking the speed of light…2011

Elton John releases Diana tribute "Candle in the Wind"…1997

Fort Fauntleroy (Wingate), rapes Navaho Indians…1861

Henry Kissinger, sworn in as America's 1st Jewish Secretary of State…1973

KTVK TV channel 3 in Phoenix, AZ (ABC) begins broadcasting…1958

Last (8) person hanged for witchcraft in US (Salem Mass)…1692

Nobel peace prize awarded to Ralph J Bunche (1st black winner)…1950

Playwright and poet Ben Jonson is indicted for manslaughter as the result of a duel…1598

Pres Nixon requests 1,000 new FBI agents for college campuses…1970

President Lincoln, says he will free slaves in all states on Jan 1…1862

Queen Victoria surpasses grandfather King George III  longest reigning monarch in 

     British history…1896

Sandra Day O'Connor appointed to Supreme Court…1981

Southern Methodist University (Dallas Texas) holds its 1st class…1915

Xavier University, 1st Black Catholic College in US, opens in NO LA…1915

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

A productive Saturday for a change. Did some cleaning, got my haircut, bought a new case for my iPhone. When I got the iPhone I was excited about the sleek design…but by adding a cover/case it was not so sleek anymore. While I was at the mall I stopped by one of those kiosks and found an inexpensive cover that allowed me to keep the sleekness of the phone…now I’m a happy camper with the new cover and the new operating system…it really is like getting a new phone. As expected, I did run in to someone from Tuba while at the mall…it is Saturday. Haven’t seen Gina and her family for ages. She is one of the secretaries at the boarding school. She was with her daughter and grandkids. Nice visit. So tonight I’m off to our discussion group on Energy. Should be interesting.

 

It is becoming way too common to see our American Flags at half mast around town. This time for the mass killing at the Navy Yard. I remember when I was at Shonto, we had an American Flag in the center of campus that was raised and lowered every day. One day, walking to work, the flag was at half mast. None of us had TV back in those days, and radio was iffy. I asked my boss why the flag was at half mast and she didn’t know. Then she checked and returned to tell me that LBJ has passed away. When the 3^rd graders came in, the first thing they said was that the flag was falling down. Good lesson ensued.

I try to watch Huckabee when I can. He is on Fox and this is the only Fox show I watch. I like to hear his rather conservative views and the way he twists the news. Tonight he opened with a a new survey that his show, celebrating 5 years on the air, has the highest number of viewers of any cable news show in his timeslot to huge audience applause.  Wow, a quick check of the guide shows he is the ONLY news show on cable in his timeslot. The other channels are running Crimes of the Century, Mystery Detectives, Buried Treasure and Caught on Camera.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

For each of the following four words, come up with another English word that uses all THE SAME letters but in a different order. The four words you come up with will rhyme with one another. 

ONSET  NEWS  WRONG  HORNET

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Marcel Marceau - The Lion Tamer

• Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - I Love Rock N Roll

• Debby Boone - You Light Up My Life

• "Maverick" US TV series

• THE MAN FROM UNCLE Season One Long Opening

Hmmmm…Fearsome Phobias

If you have an irrational fear of... Death
You're suffering from... Thanatophobia Greek thanato- 'death' 

If you have an irrational fear of... Decaying matter
You're suffering from... Septophobia: Greek sep - decay 

Privileges granted to people in the U.S. (and many western nations) for being Christian…

Without special effort, your children will have a multitude of friends who share your faith.

Interesting Disney

Harper’s Index    

• Estimated number of Beijing residents who live underground: 2,000,000

• Number of early deaths in China in 2010 that have been attributed to air pollution: 1,200,000

Unusual Fact of the Day

Bob Hope, 50 year veteran of USO Service, was actually born in England. He moved to the U.S. just before the age of five and became a citizen in 1920 at age 17.

Joke-of-the-day

A wife got so mad at her husband she packed his bags and told him to get out. As he walked to the door she yelled, "I hope you die a long, slow, painful death."

He turned around and said, "So, you want me to stay?"  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

PICKING YOUR BEVERAGES

Get the orange juice for free on the airplane and buy the coffee in the terminal after you land. OJ is pricier in the airport than decent coffee, and you'll certainly never find decent coffee in the air.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Anal secretions from beavers can be used in baked goods to create a taste that resembles vanilla, The Swedish National Food Agency said. The agency confirmed the use of the anal passages after rumors about the beaver's secretions circulated on the Internet, The Local.se reported. "Natural aromas can be extracts from plants, fungi, and in some cases animals." Ulla Beckman Sundh, an agency representative reported. But she said the beaver will likely not become a common source of vanilla, as the supply is limited because the beaver is not bred. Beavers were wiped out in Sweden in the 19th century, but the population has grown to 100,000 after the animal was imported, The Local said.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

•  
Monks in the 16th century recorded seeing a giant explosion on the side of the Moon. It most likely was a large meteor that slammed into the Moon and left a large crater. It was a good thing the Moon was between us and the meteor!

• See the rings of Saturn while you can. They slowly wobble up and down over the years as Saturns poles point away from then towards the sun. The rings disappear when edge on to our line of sight. Currently they are almost at their widest point and can be seen even in binoculars and small telescopes.

• Stars viewed through even the largest telescopes look like tiny points of light. But astronomers, using the Hubble Space Telescope to photograph a star called Betelgeuse (pronounced “beetle jooze”), have now been able to see the surface of another star. Betelgeuse is a red, giant star located at the left shoulder of the constellation Orion and is the largest known star in our galaxy.

• Not all stars are found inside galaxies. Astronomers have found stars moving between the galaxies, which are millions of light years apart. These stars may even have planets, possibly with intelligent life on them. If they do, these beings would see a lonely sky with just one star (its own sun) and a few faint galaxies.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

17th-23^rd

Constitution Week

22nd-29^th

Banned Books Week
Deaf Awareness Week
International Women's E-Commerce Days

National Dog Week
National Keep Kids Creative Week

Remember to Register to Vote Week
Sea Otter Awareness Week
Tolkien Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Day

·        American Business Women's Day

·        Autumnal Equinox

·        Car Free Day

·        Dear Diary Day

·        Elephant  Appreciation Day

·        Hobbit Day

·        Long Count Day (1927 Dempsey v Tunney-boxing)

·        Ice Cream Cone Day

·        International Day of Radiant Peace

·        National Centenarian's Day

·        National White Chocolate Day

·        Wife Appreciation Day

~~~~

·        Bulgaria: Independence Day (1908 from Ottoman Empire)

·        Mali: Independence Day (1960 from France)

·        Switzerland: Independence Day (1499 from Germans)

Today’s Events through History  

Explosion takes place at Gresford Colliery, Wales explosion kills 266 miners and 

     rescuers…1934

Forest fire kills 14 & injures 50 in Cody Wyoming…1937

Marv Albert pleads not guilty to sexual charges…1997

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Tom Lasorda [Thomas], baseball manager (LA Dodgers) is 86

Debby Boone, singer (You Light Up My Life) is 57

Neil Cavuto, Fox commentator is 55

Joan Jett, singer (Blackhearts-I Love Rock 'n Roll)  is 55

Scott Baio, (Joanie Loves Chachi, Charles in Charge) is 53

Bonnie Hunt, actress, comedian, writer, director is 52

Remembered for being born today

Lord Chesterfield, letter writer; introduced Gregorian calendar [1694-1773]

Michael Faraday, discovered principle of electric motor [1791-1867]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Nathan Hale, US captain/patriot/spy…hanged…1776…@21

Dan Rowan, actor (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in)…lymphoma…1987…@65

Irving Berlin, composer (God Bless America)…1989…@101

Dorothy Lamour, actress (Road to Bali, Road to Rio)…1996…@81

George C. Scott, actor (Patton)…aneurysm…1999…@71

Gordon Jump, TV  actor (WKRP)…respiratory failure…2003…@71

Marcel Marceau, French mime artist…2007…@84

Eddie Fisher, American singer…2010…@82

Brain Teasers

STONE  SEWN  GROWN  THRONE

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  §