2-4-14

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 06 / Day: 035   

Today: L 16°…H 30°… Ave. humidity: 64%

Wind: ave:   9mph; Gusts:  20mph  

Average Low: 18° Record Low:  -16° (1955)

Average High: 44° Record High:  64° (1963)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

1194 - 100,000 ransom is paid for Richard I, King of England

1784 - 1st unmanned balloon flight in Ireland

1789 - 1st US electoral college chooses Washington & Adams as President and Vice-President

1797 - Earthquake in Quito, Ecuador kills 41,000

1824 - J W Goodrich introduces rubber galoshes to public

1924 - 1st Winter Olympic games close at Chamonix France

1932 - 3rd Winter Olympic games open in Lake Placid, NY

1941 - United Service Organization (USO) founded

1945 - FDR, Churchill & Stalin meet at Yalta

1957 - 1st electric portable typewriter placed on sale (Syracuse NY)

1976 - 12th Winter Olympic games opens in Innsbruck, Austria

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

So winter has returned to our little mountain town…light snow most of the day, cool wind…feels kinda normal for a change. Still a very dry snow and none is sticking, just enough to wet the roads and sidewalks.

 

Went to the mall between snow flurries and got a haircut. Not a bad job, and quite fast. New lady did it, since my regular lady has disappeared. I just hate trying to explain to a new person what a trim means when she has no idea how fast my hair grows. We did connect enough to get a decent haircut. As I walked the mall I discovered a lot of empty stores…not a good sign. It is not a huge mall, and this just makes it even smaller. I do very little shopping there anyway but it is never good to see so many vacant stores.

 

Still a Bronco fan, but very disappointed that they did not really play football yesterday. Not sure what happened, but no matter which team was playing Seattle, one would have to say that they didn’t play football. Seattle did not play an outstanding game, the Broncos just didn’t play at all.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Soldiers line up spaced with pride,  Two long rows lined side by side.  One sole unit can decide,  If the rows will unite or divide.  Tell me, tell me, scream it out.  What's the thing I talk about?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• 1969 Liberace Show playing Tchaikovsky

• Carpenters -We've Only Just Begun

• Clint Black - Better Man (Live)

• David Brenner Comedy Performance

• Homer & Jethro - The Battle of Kookamonga

Suggested New State Mottos:

• Washington, D.C.: Wanna Be Mayor?

• Wisconsin: Come Cut The Cheese

Remembering TV’s great shows:

"Masterpiece Theatre" Since 1971, PBS has brought us the best of British TV, from "I, Claudius" to "Downton Abbey." We'll watch it upstairs, downstairs — anywhere.

Phrases Shakespeare invented:

fair play: The Tempest

Words Shakespeare invented

CourtshipDefinition: The activities that occur when people are developing a romantic relationship that could lead to marriage or the period of time when such activities occur
Origin: "Court" was first used to mean "woo" in the 1570s; prior, it was used to mean "king's court, princely residence," derived from the French "cort."
Quote: "To courtship and such fair ostents of love" - The Merchant of Venice

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

• Percentage of all workers earning minimujm wage who are adult women: 64

• Chance that a working US woman makes at least $75K a year: 1 in 11

• That a working US man does: 1 in 5

Unusual Fact of the Day

The ostrich doesn't stick its head underground to hide from predators. It bends its neck down low and flattens its head against the ground.

Joke-of-the-day

Q: What did the keyboard say to the typist? A: You’re really pushing my buttons!!!!

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

GROWING BONSAI

If it takes more than one minute for the water to drain from your bonsai pot, it's time to repot.

Yeah, It Really Happened

Alex Sverdlov of Queens, New York, spent two days trapped in a heavy snowstorm during an 18-mile hike on Hawaii island's Mauna Loa volcano.

The 36-year-old Brooklyn College professor began his trek up the 13,677-foot summit on Sunday. Before reaching the peak on Tuesday, Sverdlov left behind his pack to conserve energy for the last two miles. On his way back down that same afternoon, a snow storm moved in with strong winds, creating blinding white-out conditions.

"It went from like barely drizzling snow to like maybe two feet of snow within literally an hour," Sverdlov told KITV.

After a few unsuccessful attempts to locate his backpack, Sverdlov decided to call it a night. His only protection was the clothes on his back, a frozen water bottle, and a cellphone with no reception.

"I just slept in the snow," Sverdlov said. "I was shivering all night, but I didn't die."

Somewhat Useless Information   

• When people see themselves, they see themselves reflecting backwards. Mirrors are reversing which means that when you look at yourself you see your left ear at the left side of the mirror and your right ear at the right side of the mirror. There is a company named ‘True Mirror Company Inc.’  based in New York, which has been making non-reversing mirrors since 1992. They are called ‘True Mirrors’ and they reflect you exactly as other people see you!

• When you see an ambulance in the street you will definitely notice that the word ‘AMBULANCE ‘ is spelled backwards, like ‘ECNALUBMA’. Why? The main reason for this is to be readable by the drivers. ‘Ambulance’ is written backwards on he front of the vehicles so that drivers ahead can easily read the word from their rear view mirrors, especially in case of an emergency.

• Chopsticks have been extensively used since the ancient years by people in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam or even Tibet and Nepal. They are considered to be the traditional eating utensils especially in China, where they were first originated and they are made out of bamboo, stainless steel, porcelain, sterling silver or plastic. Chinese people use approximately 45 billion chopsticks per year!

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

☼1-7☼

African Heritage & Health Week

Solo Diners Eat Out Weekend
Women's Heart Week

☼2-8☼
Boy Scout Anniversary Week
Children's Authors & Illustrators Week
Dump Your Significant Jerk Week
International Coaching Week
Just Say No to PowerPoint Week
Publicity for Profit Week

☼3-7☼
International Networking Week
International Friendship Week 
National School Counseling Week 

Today Is                                                                      

·        Bubble Gum Day

·        African American Coaches Day

·        Facebook's Birthday (2004)

·        Liberace Day

·        National Wear Red Day

·        USO Day

·        World Cancer Day

++++++

·        Independence Day (Sri Lanka-1948-Dominion of UK)

·        Winterlude (French: Bal de Neige)  (Canada)-midwinter festivals

Today’s Events through History  

1846 - Mormons leave Nauvoo, Mo for settlement in west

1847 - General Price returns to the fortified TAOS Pueblo Many of the PUEBLO 

     Indians try to escape, but are cut down by volunteers stationed on the east of the pueblo.

1971 - British car maker Rolls Royce declared itself bankrupt

1977 - Elevated train jumps track, crashes onto Chicago st (11 die, 200 hurt)

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

David Brenner, comedian/TV talk show host (Nightlife) is 78

John Schuck, Boston, Massachusetts, American actor (McMillan & Wife) is 74
Alice Cooper, [Vincent Furnier], Detroit, rocker (School's Out) is 66

James Danforth "Dan" Quayle, 44th US VP is 67
Clint Black, country vocalist (A Better Man) is 52

Remembered for being born today

1725 - Dru Drury, English entomologist (d. 1804)

1895 - Nigel Bruce, Baja Mexico, British actor (Dr Watson-Sherlock Holmes)

1902 - Charles A Lindbergh, pilot (1st to fly solo across Atlantic)

1906 - Clyde William Tombaugh, US, astronomer (discovered Pluto)

1909 - Robert Coote, actor (Timmy-Rogues, Theodore-Nero Wolfe)

1913 - Rosa Lee Parks, civil rights activist (bus protestor)

1914 - Ida Lupino, actress (Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)

1921 - Betty Friedan, feminist writer and feminist (Feminine Mystique)

1923 - Conrad Bain, actor (Maude, Diff'rent Strokes)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Carl Albert, 54th Speaker of the US House , 2000, @91

Betty Friedan, American writer and feminist, 2006, on 85^th birthday

Kenneth "Jethro" Burns, country singer (Homer & Jethro), cancer, 1989, @69

Liberace, pianist (Liberace Show, Evil Chandell-Batman), AIDS, 1987, @67

Thelma Ritter, actress (All About Eve, Pillow Talk), heart attack, 1969, @66

Robert Blair, Scottish poet (Grave), 1746, @46

Karen Carpenter, rock drummer (Carpenters), anorexia, 1983, @32

Brain Teasers

A Zipper

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  §