10/31 Halloween


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Flagstaff Almanac:
Week: 44/ Day: 304   
Today: L 28°…H 45°… Ave. humidity: 75%
Wind: ave:   8mph; Gusts:  22mph  
Average Low: 26° Record Low:  7° (1935)
Average High: 57° Record High:  70° (1999)



Quote of the Day
 
Today’s Historical Highlights
1st All Hallows Eve (Halloween) observed to honor the saints…834
4th Olympic games ends in London…1908
Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes….1892
Britain & France begin to bomb Egypt to reopen Suez Canal…1956
Cyclone hits Bengal, about 200,000 die…1876
Michelangelo finishes painting The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel…1541
Mount Rushmore Monument is completed…1941
New York stock exchange opens; closed for two days after Hurricane Sandy…2012
President Johnson orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam…1968
Roman Catholic church reinstates Galileo Galilei after 359 years…1992
Spanish flu-virus kills 21,000 in US in 1 week…1918

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
 
My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Happy Halloween. Due to expected trick or treat-ers, the blog will not be posted tomorrow.
 
Not a very warm day. Cloudy with a little snow this morning, then blue sky all afternoon. Gotta love Flag weather…if not, just wait a little while.
 
I watched the hearing today, and was happy to see the Sec of HHS take responsibility….both for the mess and for getting it fixed. I’ll wait to before more judgment.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
A farmer challenges an engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician to fence off the largest amount of area using the least amount of fence.
The engineer made his fence in a circle and said it was the most efficient.
The physicist made a long line and said that the length was infinite. Then he said that fencing half of the Earth was the best.
The mathematician laughed at the others and with his design, beat the others. What did he do?
Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Hmmmm…Fearsome Phobias
If you have an irrational fear of... Ideas
You're suffering from... Ideophobia Ancient Greek ἰδέα idea, “form, semblance”
If you have an irrational fear of... Imperfection
You're suffering from... Atelophobia Greek atelos 'imperfect'
OK Then…
 
Harper’s Index 
Percentage of Americans who support using drones to enforce speed limits: 23
Unusual Fact of the Day
Those few who have survived a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge report that it takes about four seconds to hit the water, which is plenty of time to re-think and regret the decision.


Joke-of-the-day
These bear hunters were sitting around the cabin the night before the hunt bragging about their passt hunts.
The cabin boy was listening and went over and said "you guys make it seem pretty hard on capturing a bear".
They all laughed and said "it is hard; do you think you could bag one"?
"I can go out and bag you 2 if you will skin them, and I will bet each of you $100.00.
They agreed and off he went out into the night.
Soon he spotted a big grizzly; he waved his arm and started hollering the big bear started after him and he started running for the shack. When he got close to the shack he started yelling. "Open the door he yelled".
They looked out and saw the bear chasing the boy. Just as he got to the door they opened it and he stepped aside and the bear went in. He slammed the door and locked it and shouted. "OK skin him I'll go and get the other one".
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
LISTENING TO DRIVERS
The person doing the talking after a fender-bender is usually the person who caused the accident.   
Yeah, It Really Happened
MOGADISHU, Somalia - An international organization of maritime security companies says the music of Britney Spears has proven effective in warding off Somali pirates. A representative from the Security Association for the Maritime Industry said ships traveling in the Indian Ocean have found the pirates are repelled by Spears' hit songs "Oops! I Did It Again" and "Baby One More Time" as a result of their distaste for western culture, the Nairobi (Kenya) Standard Digital News, reported Tuesday. The representative said ships blaring the music to ward off an impending attack found their security workers rarely had to use their guns. He said the pirates "go to any length to overcome the music." "I'd imagine using Justin Bieber would be a great crime against humanity," the representative quipped.
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • Believing that spirits and ghosts roamed the land on All Hallows' Eve, the ancients Celts wore costumes and masks to avoid detection by these ghosts.
  • On All Hallows' Eve, the Celts would leave food on their doorsteps to keep the hungry ghosts from entering their homes.
  • Black cats were once believed to be witch's assistants who protected their powers.
  • It's not uncommon for people to be afraid of Halloween. In fact, there's even a name for this fear: Samhainophobia.
  • Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange represents the fall harvest, and black is associated with darkness and death.
  • The world's record for biggest pumpkin is currently held by a gigantic gourd weighing a whopping 1,385 pounds!

Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
24-11/11
World Origami Days
25-31
International Magic Week
Give Wildlife a Brake! Week

Today Is                                                                      
·        Beggars' Night
·        Books For Treats Day
·        Day of the Seven Billion 2011
·        Girl Scout Founder's Day
·        Halloween or All Hallows Eve
·        National Caramel Apple Day
·        National Knock-Knock Jokes Day
·        National Magic Day National
·        Samhain
·        UNICEF Day
~~~~
·        US: Nevada Admission Day (1864; 36th state)

Today’s Events through History  
Boy Scouts of the Philippines formed…1936
Donner party, unable to cross the Donner Pass, construct a winter camp…1846
End of 1st Seminole War…1818
Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem…445BC
Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents miner's safety lamp…1815
Streisand's "People," album goes #1 for 5 weeks…1964
World population reaches 7 billion inhabitants according to the UN…2011

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Anita Kerr, singer composer and producer (The Anita Kerr Singers) is 86
Dan Rather, journalist and news anchor (CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes) is 82
Tom Paxton, folk singer/songwriter (Forest Lawn) is 76
Frank Shorter, Munich Germany, US marathoner (Oly-gold/silver-72, 76) is 66
Ken Wahl, actor is 53
Peter Jackson, film director (Lord of the Rings) is 52
Rob Schneider, actor (SNL, Jamie Coleman-Men Behaving Badly) is 50
Vanilla Ice [Robert Matthew Van Winkle ], rapper (Ice Ice Baby) / actor is 46
Willow Smith, actress is 12

Remembered for being born today
John Keats, London, romantic poet (Ode to a Grecian Urn) [1795-1821]
Chiang Kai-shek, Chekiang Province China, pres of Nationalist China [1887-1975]
Ethel Waters, actress (Beulah)/singer (Stormy Weather) [1896-1977]
Michael Landon, actor (Bonanza, Highway to Heaven) [1936-1991]
Dale Evans, [Frances Butts], Uvalde Tx, cowgirl (Roy Rogers Show) [1912-2001]
Barbara Bel Geddes, actress (Vertigo, Miss Ellie-Dallas, Caught) [1922-2005]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Pieter Willem Botha, President of South Africa…2006…@90
John Houseman, actor (Paper Chase, Fog)…1988…@86
Federico Fellini, director (La Dolce Vita)…stroke…1993…@73
Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India…assassinated by her bodyguards…1984…@66
Rosalind Cash, actress (Emma-Go Tell It on the Mountain)…cancer…19995…@56
Harry Houdini, [Erich Weisz], magician…gangrene…1926…@52
River Phoenix, actor (Stand By Me)…overdose…1993…@23

Brain Teasers
The mathematician made a small fence around himself and declared himself to be on the outside.
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  §
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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.