11/22/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 47/ Day: 326   

Today: L 27°…H 41°… Ave. humidity: 88% rain on and off

Wind: ave:   8mph; Gusts:  22mph  

Average Low: 21° Record Low:  -2° (1931)

Average High: 48° Record High:  68° (1903)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

"Bolero" by Maurice Ravel, 1st performed publicly (Paris)…1928

"Man of La Mancha" opens at ANTA Wash Sq Theater NYC for 2329 perfs…1965

"Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" 1st heard on Eddie Cantor's show…1934

15,000 men are cremated at Domela Newenhouse, Amsterdam…1919

16th modern Olympic games open in Melbourne…1956

1st interracial TV kiss (Star Trek-Kirk & Uhura)…1968

1st Irish Sweepstake run…1930

1st snowmobile patent granted to Carl Eliason (Sayner Wisc)…1927

1st three nodes of the ARPAnet are connected, in what would eventually become 

     the Internet…1977

Humane Society forms…1954

Fred Rogers of PBS "Mr Rogers Neighborhood" presents a sweater to 

     Smithsonian Institution…1984

International Radio Telecommunications Com adopts "SOS" as new call for help…1906

Labor conference committee in US urges 8-hour work day & 48-hour week…1919

Mount St Helens in Washington erupts…1842

President John F. Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald; Lyndon Baines 

     Johnson sworn in as the 36th US president…1963

Simon & Garfunkel appear on "American Bandstand" as "Tom & Jerry"…1957

Toy Story is released as the first feature-length film created completely using 

     computer-generated imagery…1995

US ends 22 year travel ban to China…1972

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Winter storm advisory listed for tomorrow through Saturday. I’ll see. There has been a lot of rain in our little mountain community today. I had our weekly lunch today. Cheryl is ready to head to CA for the whole week on Monday. Mary gets back from Chicago tomorrow. We are all hunkering down for our first big storm of the season. It’s only snow and will melt away by May.

 

I grew up in a world where the ‘majority rules’. I have sat in many a meeting when discussion went on and on, and finally a vote was taken. Whichever vote was one more than half that is what we did. I guess that has not been the deal in the Senate for quite some time. Glad they have returned to something more sensible. I was also listening to an NPR story today about JFK and the press. It was pointed out that many in the press knew that the President was a philanderer, but no one back then would have considered reporting it. Hmmmm. Then they talked about the congress back in those days and it seems that there were numerous times Senators would be drunk on the Senate floor, to the point of falling down, and that was not reported either. How times have changed.

 

I have not watched any of the JFK documentaries around the 50^th anniversary of his assassination. I was in 9^th grade when he was killed, sitting in my woodshop class when the announcement that he had been shot was made. Then on to Algebra when we were told he had died and were sent home. That day, and the next three changed the world I lived in. I do not need to relive those days. I recall that in the late 1980’s on Nov 22 the daily bulletin asked all the teachers to tell the story to their students. One excellent teacher came to my office and said that she had never disobeyed anything in my announcements, but in this case she had to. I asked her why. She said, “well, I hadn’t been born yet so I have nothing to tell.“ We both laughed, and I never put that in another morning announcement again.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

One you will find in a state that borders Ohio, 

Another you will find in a state next to Georgia,  A third can be found in a state that touches Canada,  The last cannot be found in any state at all. What are these things?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• The best of Mae West

• CS Lewis on Free Will & The Problem of Evil

• Aldous Huxley

• Steven Van Zandt Performs 'Espresso Martini'

Very Strange Laws…Returns tomorrow, link is not working.

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

Cost of the US command center recently finished in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province: $34,000,000

Unusual Fact of the Day

Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue” was written by Shel Silverstein.

Joke-of-the-day

How do dogs communicate in the modern world? P-mail And how do they tweet? Wee-mail  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

WRITING SOMETHING IMPORTANT

If you feel that you need a thesaurus to write something, you are probably trying too hard.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - Police in Florida said they arrested a man accused of posing as a U.S. Marshal to get a discount at a Dunkin' Donuts. The Pasco County Sheriff's Office spokesman Douglas Tobin said a suspicious store clerk at the Dunkin' Donuts in New Port Richey alerted the office to a man who frequented the eatery and used a badge to support his claim of being a U.S. marshal to get discounts on doughnuts, ABC News reported Thursday. "Yesterday, we had an undercover deputy in the store," Tobin said. "He usually comes in at the same time. This time, he didn't show his badge, but we had enough reason to arrest him." The man, Charles Barry, 48, was found to have a .38-caliber revolver in his pocket Tuesday and ammunition in his vehicle, Tobin said. Barry, who investigators said used his late father's New Jersey police badge for his Dunkin' Donuts ruse, was arrested Tuesday on charges of impersonating a law enforcement officer and improper exhibition of a firearm or dangerous weapon. He was released after posting $5,150 bail.

• Somewhat Useless Information   

• If attacked, a lionfish delivers potent venom via its needle-like dorsal fins. Its sting is extremely painful to humans and can cause nausea and breathing difficulties, but is rarely fatal. 

• Pretty much everything about the venomous lionfish—its red-and-white zebra stripes, long, showy pectoral fins, and generally cantankerous demeanor—says, "Don't touch!" 

• The venom of the lionfish, delivered via an array of up to 18 needle-like dorsal fins, is purely defensive. It relies on camouflage and lightning-fast reflexes to capture prey, mainly fish and shrimp. A sting from a lionfish is extremely painful to humans and can cause nausea and breathing difficulties, but is rarely fatal. 

• Lionfish, also called turkey fish, dragon fish and scorpion fish, are native to the reefs and rocky crevices of the Indo-Pacific, although they've found their way to warm ocean habitats worldwide. The largest of lionfish can grow to about 15 inches (0.4 meters) in length, but the average is closer to 1 foot (0.3 meters). 

• Lionfish are popular in some parts of the world as food, but are far more prized in the aquarium trade. Their population numbers are healthy and their distribution is growing, causing some concerned in the United States, where some feel the success of this non-indigenous species presents human and environmental dangers.  

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

17-23: American Education Week / National Book Awareness Week

22-28: National Farm-City Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Humane Society Anniversary Day

~~~~

·        Lebanon: Independence Day (1943 from France)

Today’s Events through History  

Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany…2005

Brazilian city of Niterói is founded…1573

Comic strip "Cathy" by Cathy Guisewhite debuts…1976

Mick Mack of Nova Scotia sign a treaty with the British…1752

Neil Simon Theater (Alvin) opens at 250 W 52nd St NYC…1927

Strasbourg Alsace-Lorraine, prohibits circumcision & wearing of beards…1794

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Robert Vaughn, actor (Napolean Solo-Man from UNCLE, I Spy) is 81

Billie Jean King, tennis pro (Wimbledon 1968, 72, 73, 75) is 70

Steve Van Zandt, musician, actor (Sopranos) is 63

Richard Kind, actor (Spin City) is 57

Jamie Lee Curtis, actress (Anything But Love, Halloween) is 55

Mariel Hemingway, actress (Personal Best, Civil Wars) is 52

Mark Ruffalo, actor (The Avengers) is 46

Scarlett Johansson, actress (The Prestige) is 29

Remembered for being born today

Thomas Cook, founder (Cook travel bureau) [1808-1892]

Wiley Post, aviator/parachutist (crashed in Alaska) [1898-1935]

Charles de Gaulle, President of France (1958-69) [1890-1970]

Hoagy Carmichael, actor/songwriter (Stardust) [1899-1991]

Doris Duke, multi-millionaire (American Tobacco heiress) [1912-1993]

Rodney Dangerfield, [John Cohen], comedian (Caddyshack) [1921-2004]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Mae West, actress (She Done Him Wrong)…1980…@87

Mary Kay Ash, founded Mary Kay Cosmetics…2001…@83

Aldous Huxley, English author (Brave New World)…LSD overdose…1963…@69

C. S. Lewis [Clive Staples], Irish author (The Chronicles of Narnia)…renal failure…

     1963…@64

Henry Wilson, 18^th US Vice President…stroke…1875…@63

Bill Bixby, actor (My Favorite Martian)…cancer…1993…@59

Michael Conrad, actor (Hill Street Blues)…cancer…1983…@58

Lorenz Hart, lyricist… pneumonia…1943…@48

John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States…shot…1963…@46

Jack London, author…overdose…1916…@40

J. D. Tippit, Dallas Police Officer…chasing Oswald…1963…@39

George Washington Gale Ferris, inventor (Ferris wheel)…typhoid fever…1896…@37

Brain Teasers

The four major compass directions. WEST Virginia borders Ohio, SOUTH Carolina is next to Georgia, NORTH Dakota touches Canada, and EAST is not in any state's name.

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  §