12/15/13

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 51 / Day: 349    

Today: L15°…H 36°… Ave. humidity: 60%

Wind: ave:   12mph; Gusts:  38mph  

Average Low: 16° Record Low:  -14° (1931)

Average High: 44° Record High:  63° (1929)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

"Gone With the Wind" premieres in Atlanta…1939

1st commercial manufacture of nylon yarn, Seaford, Delaware…1939

1st Irish magazine in US, Shamrock, is published…1810

1st street-cleaning machine in US 1st used in Philadelphia…1854

1st US law school established at University of Pennsylvania…1791

Adolf Eichmann convicted of crimes against humanity in Israel…1961

American Federation of Labor adopts a no-strike policy in war industries…1941

American Psychiatric Association declares homosexuality is not mental illness…1973

Arthur Ashe is named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of Year…1992

Bandleader, Major Glenn Miller, lost over English Channel…1944

Canada adopts maple leaf flag…1964

Christine Jorgenson is 1st person to undergo a sex-change operation…1952

Equal access rule, political parties get TV broadcasting time…1961

Groundbreaking begins for Jefferson Memorial in Wash DC…1938

Hizbu'allah (Arm forces for Allah) forms…1944

John Bruton becomes Ireland's premier…1994

Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 to fortify it…2001

NYC's Port Authority opens…1950

Patent Office burns in Wash, DC…1836

Pirates of Caribbean ride opens at Disneyland…1973

State of Holland grants patent on windmill with crankshaft…1593

US Congress gives General Eisenhower his 5th star…1944

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Still a little chilly to spend much time as the wind chill brings the temp to 27°. Oh well, it’s December.

 

Had a nice chat with my sister-in-law and brother this morning. They have big plans for tonight as she celebrates her birthday. Dinner and ‘sleep-no-more’ theater…which is an interactive play. Sounds interesting. We are all excited to reunite in Chicago on Friday. Getting’ excited.

 

I anxiously await the day that this country wakes up and does whatever is necessary to end the needless gun violence that takes place in our country every day. This time it was an 18 year old who legally purchased a shot gun two days before his act. The day of his act he purchased more ammunition for his act. There was an armed security guard on the campus…listen carefully NRA and gun people. Your answer to end school violence isn’t working. While lockdown procedures probably saved lives, they did not stop the violence. I am a gun owner and have no problem with safety mechanisms being implemented that will prevent crazies from injuring or killing other human beings. I will let others come up with ideas, but I am open to just about anything. I spent my career in education and cannot believe what today’s educators must deal with at the schools. We were doing lock downs when I was still working. We had an unarmed security guard at the schools before I retired. I am still haunted by the images of yesterday’s high school students leaving THEIR high school, arms raised and being patted down as they moved to safety. Now the world has radically changed and it is time for this country to make some radical changes. We don’t hear in mass media the daily shootings that take place around the country, killing children. We only hear about it if it is local or if it is a mass shooting. Wake up legislators, stop listening to the outdated NRA who is actually monetarily sponsored by gun manufacturers and do something to save our next generation.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

The following are alternate definitions for words, based on how the words sound. For example, "To drive by the docks: P _ _ _ _ _ _ _." would result in "PASSPORT (Pass Port)". Can you guess the words described below?

1. What white bears see with: P _ _ _ _ _ _ _.  2. A car's memoirs: A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.  3. How judges get to a small island: C _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.  4. To live long: D _ _ _ _ _.  5. How good a fibber one is: L _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.  6. In favor of young men and women: P _ _ _ _ _ _. 

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Tim Conway's Elephant Story

• The Dave Clark Five - Over And Over

• Don Johnson: People's Choice Award 1986 for Miami Vice!

• Alexandre Gustave Eiffel

• Chill Wills – Mama

Very Strange Laws…Florida

• A special law prohibits unmarried women from parachuting on Sunday or she shall risk arrest, fine, and/or jailing.

• Corrupting the public morals is defined as a nuisance, and is declared a misdemeanor offense.

• Doors of all public buildings must open outwards.

• Florida (accidentally) banned all computers and smartphones in internet cafes

• Having sexual relations with a porcupine is illegal.

• If an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle.

• It is considered an offense to shower naked.

• It is illegal for a doctor to ask a patient whether they own a gun. Repealed 

• It is illegal to sell your children.

• It is illegal to sing in a public place while attired in a swimsuit.

• Men may not be seen publicly in any kind of strapless gown.

• One may not commit any “unnatural acts” with another person.

• Penalty for horse theft is death by hanging.

• The state constitution allows for freedom of speech, a trial by jury, and pregnant pigs to not be confined in cages.

• The term “motor vehicle” was revised to exclude swamp buggies, deregulating the primary mode of transportation in the state.

• Unmarried couples may not commit “lewd acts” and live together in the same residence.

• Women may be fined for falling asleep under a hair dryer, as can the salon owner.

• You are not allowed to break more than three dishes per day, or chip the edges of more than four cups and/or saucers.

• You may not kiss your wife’s breasts.

• Big Pine Key--
  It is illegal to molest a Key deer.

• Broward County--
  Persons may not be “inappropriately attired” who work at hot dog stands.

• Cape Coral--
  It is against the city ordinance to hang your clothes outside on a clothesline. \ It it illegal to park a pick-up truck in your driveway or in front of your house on the street.

• Cape Coral City--
  A $50 fine will be levied on anyone who allows a couch to sit in their carport.

• Daytona Beach--
  The molestation of trash cans is banned. \ Maintaining a car on your property which is no longer in use is prohibited. \ Owning a flower pot with water in it that isn’t capable of draining is considered a public nuisance.

• Destin--
  If you wish to go swimming in the ocean, get dressed in your hotel room. \ Torpedoes may not be set off in the city.

• Hialeah--
  Ambling and strolling is a misdemeanor.

• Key West--
  Chickens are considered a ‘protected species’.

• Miami Beach--
  Persons face up to thirty days in jail for selling oranges on the sidewalk. \ No one may bring a pig with them to the beach.

• Naples--
  Neon signs are prohibited.

• Pensacola--
  Citizens may not be caught downtown without at least 10 dollars on their person.

• Seaside--
  All houses much have white picket fences and full-width, two-story porches.

• Tampa--
  Women may not expose their breasts while performing “topless dancing”.

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

Projected year by which the sale of adult diapers will outpace the sale of baby diapers in Japan: 2020

Unusual Fact of the Day

Jesse "The Body" Ventura (Gov of MN, wrestler) was born James George Janos.

Joke-of-the-day

One man said to the other, "You know, there are really only three kinds of people in the world: those who can count, and those who can't.  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

RUNNING A PAWN SHOP

When accepting a pawn, never loan over fifty percent of what you can sell it for.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

ATLANTA - A Georgia woman said it would have been a better idea to have the toilet seat she was glued to removed by a doctor rather than the paramedics who used WD-40. Illyanna De La Keur said she was recovering from several skin tears after a rescue crew spent several minutes trying to free her from the restroom at a Home Depot where unknown pranksters spread glue on the toilet seat. "I couldn't understand why they weren't just taking me to an emergency room and having a doctor remove it," De La Keur told WSB-TV, Atlanta. De La Keur said she was stuck for about an hour during the incident late last month at the Home Depot in Banks County. She was left not only embarrassed but also still in pain. The woman's sister, Aleera Canino, agreed the ambulance crew should have opted for the safe route and taken Illyanna to the emergency room, seat and all. "She wasn't in her right state of mind to OK an experiment on her," Canino told WSB. "It worked, but I don't think she should have been there."  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• If you tried to count off a billion seconds, it would take you 31.7 years.

• One speck of dust contains a quadrillion atoms.

• Number of toothpicks you can make from one cord of wood: 75 million.

• The word million was invented sometime around the year A.D. 1300.

• The Chinese were the first to use a decimal system, in the 6th century B.C.

• The odds of someone winning the lottery twice in four months is about one in 17 trillion. But Evelyn Marie Adams won the New Jersey lottery in both 1985 and 1986.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

10-17: Human Rights Week
14-28:  Halcyon Days

14-1/5 Christmas Bird Count Week 
15-21: Gluten-free Baking Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Bill of Rights Day

·        Cat Herders Day

·        National Lemon Cupcake Day

~~~~

·        Halcyon Day (Calm, peaceful days) thru 12/29

·        Puerto Rico: Navidades (weeks long Christmas celebration begins)

Today’s Events through History  

Albert Camus' "Les Justes" premieres in Paris…1949

American Jewish Congress holds 1st meeting…1918

Deposed Shah of Iran leaves US for Panama…1979

Governor Stevens gets NEZ PERCE honor guard…1855

Massachusetts issues 1st US vehicular license plate tabs…1942

Thomas Edison patents phonograph…1877

Vaughn Meader's "1st Family," album goes #1 & stays #1 for 12 wks…1962

Westmoreland flees to Scotland…1569

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Tim Conway, comic (McHale's Navy, Carol Burnett Show) is 80

Dave Clark, London England, rock drummer (Dave Clark 5-Glad All Over) is 71

Don Johnson, actor (Miami Vice, Nash Bridges) is 64

Adam Brody, film/television actor part-time musician is 34

Remembered for being born today

Nero Claudius Augustus Germanicus, 5th emperor of Rome [37-68]

Gustave Eiffel [Alexandre], French engineer (Eiffel tower) [1832-1923]

Jeff Chandler, [Ira Grossel], Bkln, actor (Broken Arrow) [1918-1961]

Betty Smith, novelist (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) [1896-1972]

J. Paul Getty, oil magnate (Getty Oil) [1892-1976]

Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect (Brasilia) [1907-2012]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Oral Roberts, television evangelist and author…2009…@91

Blake Edwards, film director (Pink Panther, Breakfast at Tiffany’s)…2010…@88

Chill Wills, actor (Frontier Circus, Rounders)…cancer…1978…@75

George Hickes, English linguist (Old German Philology)…1715…@73

Walt Disney, animator…cancer…1966…@65

Sitting Bull (Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake), Hunkpapa-Sioux chief…killed by US…1890…@58ish

Glenn Miller, US band leader/jazz composer…plane crash…1944…@40

Thomas W "Fats" Waller, jazz pianist (Hot Chocolate)…pneunmia…1943…@39

Brain Teasers

1. Polarize (polar eyes)

2. Autobiography (auto biography)

3. Courtship (court ship)

4. Dilate (die late)

5. Liability (lie ability)

6. Protein (pro-teen)

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  §