11/12/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 46/ Day: 316   

Today: L 23°…H 60°… Ave. humidity: 52%

Wind: ave:   5mph; Gusts:  23mph  

Average Low: 23° Record Low:  3° (1898)

Average High: 52° Record High:  70° (1967)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

 1st "autobank" (banking by car) forms (Chicago)…1946

1st known photo of Loch Ness monster (or whatever) is taken…1933

1st Movie stunt: man jumps into Hudson river from a burning balloon…1910 

1st underwater tunnel, Holland Tunnel connecting NY to NJ opens…1927

Adolf Hitler is arrested for attempt to seize power…1923 

Ellis Island, immigration station in NY Harbor, closed…1954

English Parliament re-establishes Catholicism….1555

Ferdinand Marcos elected president of Philippines…1965

General Washington forbids recruiting officers enlisting blacks…1775

High schooler Robert Smith kills 7 for fame…1966

Jules Leotard performs 1st Flying Trapeze circus act (Paris) designed garment that 

     bears his name…1859

Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Cordell Hull (establishing UN)…1945

Nobel for literature awarded to Eugene O'Neill…1936

Notre Dame's Fighting Irish changes blue jerseys for green...1927

NYC Mayor Ed Koch admits to trying marijuana…1980

Oakland Bay Bridge opens…1936

Pres Carter announces immediate halt to all imports of Iranian oil…1979

Robert Scott's diary & dead body found in Antarctica…1912

Sir James Simpson, British physician, is the first to use chloroform as an anesthetic…1847

Space shuttle astronauts snared a satellite 1st space salvage…1984

Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, capital of Chinese Tang Dynasty, for 15 days…764

Trotsky expelled from Soviet CP; Stalin becomes undisputed dictator…1927

US army announces investigating William Calley for alleged massacre of My Lai…1969

Walt Disney's "Song Of South" released…1946

World's Fair in Paris opens (50 million visitors)…1900

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Nice Veteran’s Day. Flag hung this morning. The same one my parents always hung on Federal Holidays. They always hung a flag, and while this one is probably only 25 years old, the tradition lives on. I’m reminded that the first flag I remember had 48 stars. Then we got one with 49 stars, then a year later one with 50 stars. I recall that it really bothered them that the 49 star flag was only used for a year.  Memories. 

I am getting old-er and I have to say I am saddened that so many people have to work on the 9 Federal Holidays. I must admit that when I worked, it was nice to have a day off and have everything open in town, which was 75 miles or more away. But now it seems that the Federal holidays are merely just work days across America, with some sales.  There is a reason for the holiday, and everyone should have a chance to learn about it and be with family. Time to get off my soapbox.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

I represent love.
I'm the daughter of Heaven and Sea.
You may find me in the sky above,
And many envy my beauty.

My love belongs to fire,
But if I said I was true to him
I would be a liar,
But I have no shame for my whims.

My son taught many to love.
To me the only earthly items of worth
Are myrtle, sparrow, swan, and dove.
And no one remembers my birth.

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Neil Young - Heart Of Gold

• Megan Mullally - Bloopers Karen Walker

• Exclusive: Cote de Pablo Talks About Her Decision to Leave

• Wilma Glodean Rudolph

Very Strange Laws…

• It is a crime to use a dead person’s handicapped parking sign or license plate
• It is a violation of the law to sell or distribute drugs or narcotics without having first obtained the appropriate Iowa drug tax stamp.
• A man with a moustache may never kiss a woman in public.
• One-armed piano players must perform for free.
• Kisses may last for no more than five minutes.
• Tanning bed facilities must warn of the risk of getting a sunburn.
• A board was created to regulate among other things, hearing aids.
• Ministers must obtain a permit to carry their liquor across state lines.
• Doctors who treat a person with gonorrhea must report this to the local board of health and include the disease’s “probable origin”.
• All boxes used to pick hops must be exactly 36 inches long.
• Bettendorf--Liquor stores may not place advertisements for beer outside the store.
• Cedar Rapids--It is illegal to read persons’ palms in the city limits.
• Dubuque--Any hotel in the city limits must have a water bucket and a hitching post in front of the building.
• Fort Madison--The fire department is required to practice fire fighting for fifteen minutes before attending a fire.
• Indianola--The “Ice Cream Man” and his truck are banned.
• Marshalltown--Horses are forbidden to eat fire hydrants.
• Mount Vernon--One must obtain written permission from the City Council before throwing bricks into a highway. /No person may pick a flower from a city park. /All softball diamond lights must be turned off by 10:30 PM.
• Ottumwa--Within the city limits, a man may not wink at any woman he does not know.

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

• Portion of US public school students who are Latino: 1/4

• Portion of US children’s books published annually that are by or about Latinos: 1/50

Unusual Fact of the Day

As late as the 1800s, some American women received thimbles as symbols of their engagements.

Joke-of-the-day

An old, stingy lawyer was dying and was determined to prove wrong the old saying; "You can't take it with you." He told his wife to go down to the bank and withdraw enough money to fill two pillowcases. His plan: Put the bags directly over his bed and when he died grab them on his way up to heaven. One day the old ambulance chaser died. When his wife was up cleaning in the attic one day, she came across the forgotten pillowcases.

She then said to herself, “That old fool. I knew he should have had me put them in the basement!"  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

MOWING A WET LAWN

The lawn is too wet to mow until all the puddles evaporate from the asphalt driveway.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A Saudi man divorced his wife after she allegedly videoed their wedding night and left the recording in their hotel room, news website Okaz al-Youm reported. The bride, whose name wasn't reported, allegedly placed a camera in the couple's hotel room without informing her new husband and recorded more than 50 minutes of their intimate interactions, Gulf News reported Thursday. When the couple left the hotel room, the bride left the camera behind and it was discovered by a hotel employee. The employee, whose name wasn't reported, viewed the recording and allegedly posted it online, Gulf News said. Police arrested the couple and the hotel employee, and though the groom was freed, both the bride and hotel employee remained in custody pending an investigation, Gulf News said. The groom divorced his bride, citing a violation of his privacy.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Veterans Day was first called Armistice Day, declared to mark the end of World War I hostilities at 11 a.m., Nov. 11, 1918. Congress gave it that name in 1926, though it didn't become a national holiday for a dozen more years.

• President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation in 1954 to change the name to Veterans Day as a way to honor those who served in all American wars.

• Veterans Day is often confused with Memorial Day because they are similar in intent, but not identical. Memorial Day honors America's war dead, while Veterans Day honors all American veterans, living and dead, and has a special emphasis on thanking living veterans for their service to the country.

• Irving Berlin wrote the song "God Bless America" in 1918, but it was another 20 years before he changed the lyrics and turned it into the version we know. It debuted as part of an Armistice Day radio special on November 10th, the day before Veteran's Day and was performed by a lady named Kate Smith. All the proceeds went to the Boy and Girl Scouts of America.

• In 1918, a woman in Georgia named Moina Belle Michael read a John McCrae poem called "In Flanders Fields" and it inspired her to wear red poppies as a way of remembering the veterans. The poem includes the line, "In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses row on row."

• In 1968, the Uniform Holidays Bill was passed by Congress, which moved the celebration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. The law went into effect in 1971, but in 1975 President Ford returned Veterans Day to November 11, due to the important historical significance of the date.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

7-13: Dear Santa Letter Week / Pursuit of Happiness Week
10-16:   Geography Awareness Week / National Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week
11-15:  National Young Reader's Week

11-17: National Global Entrepreneurship Week /  World Kindness Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        National Young Reader's Day

~~~~~

·        Baha'I faith:  Birth of Baha'u'llah

·        Mexico: Postman Day's

Today’s Events through History  

1st Sunday football game in Philadelphia (previously illegal)…1933

Brazil holds 1st free presidential election in 29 years…1989

Election to establish constitution for the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wok Indians of the 

     Tuolumne Rancheria is authorized by the Secretary of the Interior…1935

Japanese premier Hideki Tojo sentenced to death by war crimes tribunal…1948

Plymouth, England, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament…1439

Scientists perform 1st artificial synthesis of a live cell…1970

Supreme Court declares Arkansas law banning teaching evolution unconstitutional…1968

Theodore W Richards is 1st American to win Nobel Prize in chemistry…1915

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Charles Manson, criminal (Tate-Labianco) is 79

Al Michaels, Bkln, sportscaster (ABC Monday Night Baseball/Football) is 69

Neil Young, Toronto, singer/songwriter (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) is 68

Megan Mullally, actress (Will and Grace) is 55

Sammy Sosa, Dominican Republic, baseball outfielder (Chicago Cubs) is 45

Tonya Harding, figure skater (Oly-8th-1994/US Champ 1994) is 43

Cote de Pablo, Chilean actress (NCIS) is 34

Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor is 33

Anne Hathaway, actress is 31

Remembered for being born today

Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (Kiss, Thinker) [1842-1917]

John W Rayleigh, English physicist (discovery of argon - Nobel 1904) [1842-1919]

Sun Yat-sen, father of modern China (ROC & PRC) (traditional) [1866-1926]

Grace Kelly, Philadelphia Pa, actress (Rear Window)/Princess (Monaco) [1929-1982]

Kim Hunter, [Janet Cole], Det MI, actress (Planet of the Apes, Lilith) [1922-2002]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Penny Singleton, actress (Jane Jetson voice)…2003…@95

Percival Lowell, amateur astronomer, founder of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff…1916…@61

Wilma Glodean Rudolph, US sprinter (Olympics-3 gold-60)…brain tumor…1994…@54

Jonathan Brandis, actor (seaQuest DSV)…suicide…2003…@27

Brain Teasers

The goddess Venus.

Line 1: She represents love, fertility, and beauty.  2: She is known as the daughter of Heaven and Sea.  3: Venus is also a Planet. 4: Same as line 1. 6-8: She was married to Vulcan the God of fire, but had affairs with many others. 9: Her son was Cupid. 10-11: Those were known to be sacred to her. 12: There are 2 theories of her birth.

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  §