2-23-14

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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 054   / Week: 08  

Today: L 54°…H 22°… Ave. humidity: 40%

Wind: ave:   1mph; Gusts:  15mph  

Average Low: 20° Record Low:  -6° (1960)

Average High: 47° Record High:  66° (1946)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

1455 - Johannes Gutenberg prints 1st book, Bible (estimated date)

1822 - Boston is incorporated as a city

1836 - Alamo besieged for 13 days until 6th March 

1861 - By popular referendum, Texas becomes 7th state to secede from US

1896 - Tootsie Roll introduced by Leo Hirshfield

1903 - Cuban state of Guantanamo leased to USA

1904 - US acquired control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million

1954 - 1st mass inoculation with Salk vaccine (Pittsburgh)

1980 - 13th Winter Olympic games close at Lake Placid, NY

1992 - 16th Winter Olympic games closes in Albertville, France

1997 - Scientists in Scotland succeeded in cloning lamb named "Dolly"

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Getting ready for our Great Decisions discussion group tonight. The topic is Food and Climate. The articles we read were not the best, but the leaders will have better information, I’m sure. The articles tried to put food and climate change together and were suggesting that GMO agriculture may be the only answer to a worldwide food shortage. I certainly understand that rising temps and a decrease in normal moisture patterns has a great effect on food.  They just didn’t seem to make a good case for some of their conclusions. We’ll see how it goes later on tonight.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Find the two six letter words that are combined in each row of letters. Their letters are in the correct order.

1. JSOYOMFUBELR 2. SCDUARWDRLYE 3. DASNAGEFERTY 4. CLULOOTSCEHN 5. USENEARSEYNE

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Author Profile: James Herriot

• EASY RIDER - Born To Be Wild

• Niecy Nash on The Queen Latifah Show

• Stan Laurel infectious laughing!

Remembering TV’s great shows:

"Taxi": Here comes the Sunshine Cab Company — Alex, Louie, Tony, Elaine, Bobby, Latka and Reverend Jim — to take us for a divinely loopy ride.

Bizarre Punishments

Telling An Autistic Kid Nobody Liked Him

While suffering from undiagnosed high-functioning autism, a little boy named Alex Barton was voted out of his classroom by his teacher and fellow students. Alex was first sent to the office after coming to class without his backpack and homework folder, then later sent back for disrupting the class. Once Alex left, his teacher, Wendy Portillo, proceeded to hold a class discussion about what they disliked about Alex. When Alex returned, the discussion was still ongoing and he was made to sit and listen while the class discussed his flaws. At one point, it was reported that Mrs. Portillo had told Alex that she hated him. Once his classmates had finished calling him names, Mrs. Portillo found it to be an excellent opportunity to teach the children about tallying—by having a vote as to whether or not they wanted Alex to stay in class. By a not-so-close vote of 14-2, Alex was forced out of the room. Despite this bizarre punishment, a court ruled that Mrs. Portillo was allowed to teach again and keep her tenure.

Strange Obsessions of famous people

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel--His Favorite Clothes

Except for the death of his mother when he was 13, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831), who would become one of the most renowned proponents of German Idealism, had an uneventful and literature-filled childhood. His early adult years were comprised of seminary school, writing, and tutoring for an aristocratic family in Bern. Before the age of 45, Hegel had a successful marriage, a family, and a good job as the editor of a well-respected literary journal, the Heidelberger Jahrbucher.

But even the most seemingly normal philosophers had interesting quirks. For Hegel, it was his nightgown and black beret. While working at home, Hegel would consistently wear his nightgown over his day clothes and don an oversized black beret on his head. In one incident, when Hegel’s friend Eduard Gans dropped by for a visit, he found Hegel in his study, shuffling through a mountain of unorganized papers, wearing his nightgown over his day clothes along with the beret. This odd-looking outfit gained Hegel some notoriety when a lithographer, Julius L. Sebbers, portrayed Hegel in his study, wearing the nightgown and black beret. Hegel very much disliked the picture, which caused his wife to remark that he didn’t like the picture because it resembled him a bit too much.

NEW!!!--Look back at History

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

In hindsight, this seems the only way America’s worst moment could end. After some 600,000 American men had died of wounds, or grossly unsanitary medical practice, Lincoln gave his second inaugural address, the famous “charity for all” speech, on March 4, 1865, one month before his death. There is a photograph of him giving this speech, which also shows John Wilkes Booth standing above and behind him, on a balcony. Lincoln ended his speech with these words: “With malice toward none; with charity for all;…let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.”

Regardless of this sentiment, Booth was from Maryland, considered himself a southerner, and considered Lincoln the root cause for the destruction of the South, the deaths of its brave men, and the dishonor done to its institution of slavery. He decided that Lincoln had to die for his crimes, and conspired with David Herold, John Surratt, George Atzerodt, and Lewis Powell not just to kill Lincoln, but for Powell to break into Secretary of State William Seward’s house and stab him to death, and for Atzerodt to shoot ice President Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood Hotel.

Atzerodt lost his nerve and fled without attacking Johnson. Powell successfully entered Seward’s home, knocked out his son, broke into Seward’s bedroom, shoving aside his wife, and stabbed him wildly in the dark. Seward was severely injured from a fall out of his carriage, and a splint he wore for his broken jaw is all that protected his throat from the knife. Powell then ran out into the night. Seward did not die.

Booth is the only man of the plot who succeeded. The details are well known to every American school kid. He shot Lincoln in the back of the head with a .44 caliber Derringer, percussion-cap pistol, during a performance of “Our American Cousin,” at Ford’s Theater in Washington D. C. He then leaped to the stage, breaking his left fibula, shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” and may have shouted, “The South is avenged!”

Most importantly, Lincoln’s assassination reminded humanity that when a war ends, the animosity between sides may not, and usually does not. To win a war, therefore, regardless of whether it should be fought, or which side is the good side does not put an end to the human capacity to hate. Thus, no victory will ever be the last.

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

• Median age of a US woman giving birth for the first time: 25.7

• Getting married for the first time: 26.5

Unusual Fact of the Day

Brian May, the lead guitarist for Queen, dropped out of a physics PhD at Imperial College London to follow the path to rock stardom. He finally completed his thesis in 2007.

Joke-of-the-day

Two men were out golfing. As one was ready to take his shot, a funeral procession drove by the golf course. The man stopped what he was doing, put down his club, and took off his hat and placed it over his heart. His partner was moved by this and said, "That's the nicest thing I've even seen you do!" The man looked back at him and said, "Well, that's the least I could do after 20 years of marriage..."  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

TEACHING SPELLING

When announcing spelling words for average senior-high-school students, pronounce them at the rate of 1 word every 12 seconds. Difficult words can be recalled and written in that period of time if the student knows them. And this interval is short enough that students won't get bored by the easy words.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

PORTLAND, Ore. - Police in Oregon said they arrested an alleged robber who accidentally shot himself in the testicles after wounding his victim. Portland Police said in a news release Joseph Johnson, 40, pulled a gun on neighbor Jordan Merrell in the parking lot behind the building they live in Tuesday and demanded Merrell hand over some unspecified property. Johnson allegedly shot Merrell in the leg before fleeing. Police said he shoved his gun into the waistband of his pants and accidentally shot himself in the testicles while running. A Transit Police officer spotted Johnson getting into a car later that night and he was arrested after falling to the ground while attempting to flee. Johnson, who was found to be carrying a handgun reported stolen in November, was treated for his injuries before being released for booking into the Multnomah County Jail on charges of first degree robbery, second degree assault and felon in possession of a firearm. Merrell was hospitalized with serious injures police said were not considered life threatening.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• What worked for the Egyptians still works today. Honey's natural antibacterial qualities can make it an option if you need a quick solution to a cut, scrape or burn. Wash the area well with cool water and soap, pat dry, and apply a little bit of honey.

• Honey is a mild natural exfoliant, which makes it perfect for your face. Try washing with honey and warm water to enjoy smoother skin and less acne -- it's also a great homemade acne remedy. If you develop a particularly zesty zit, dab some honey on it, leave it for half an hour, and gently rinse off. You may need to repeat a few times for full effect.  

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:
☼21-23 
Texas Cowboy Poetry Week
☼22-28☼

National FFA Week
Read Me Week
Bird Health Awareness Week 
National Eating Disorders Awareness Week
National Secondhand Wardrobe Week 
Peace Corps Week 

Today Is                                                                      

·        Curling is Cool Day

·        Diesel Engine Day

·        Inconvenience Yourself Day

·        Iwo Jima Day (flag raised)

·        Daytona 500

·        National Dog Biscuit Day

+++++

·        Army and Navy Day (Russia)

Today’s Events through History  

1870 - Mississippi is readmitted to US

1905 - Rotary Club International formed by 4 men in Chicago

1910 - 1st radio contest held (Philadelphia)

1967 - 25th amendment (presidential succession) declared ratified

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Sylvia Chase, newscaster (ABC Weekend News, 20/20) is 76

Peter Fonda, actor (Easy Rider, Lilith, Wild Angels, Trip) is 74

Ed "Too Tall" Jones, NFL linebacker (Dallas Cowboys) is 63

Patricia Richardson, actress (Home Improvement) is 63

Niecy Nash, comedienne, actress is 44

Dakota Fanning, American child actress is 20

Remembered for being born today

1685 - George Frideric Handel, baroque composer (Messiah, Water Music)

1868 - William E B Du Bois, civil rights activist and writer (Souls of Black Folk)

1889 - Victor Fleming, American director (Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind)

1915 - Paul Tibbets, Pilot of B-29 "Enola Gay" over Hiroshima

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

1995 - James Herriot [Alfred Wight], Scottish author (All Creatures Great & Small), 1995, @78

1965 - Stan Laurel, comedian (Laurel & Hardy), heart attack, 1965, @74

1821 - John Keats, Romantic poet, tuberculosis, 1821, @25

Brain Teasers

1. Joyful & Somber 2. Scurry & Dawdle 3. Danger & Safety 4. Clutch & Loosen 5. Uneasy & Serene

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  §