2-5-14

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 06 / Day: 036   

Today: L 22°…H 35° (WC: 24°)… Ave. humidity: 73%

Wind: ave:   20mph; Gusts:  36mph  

Average Low: 18° Record Low:  -21° (1985)

Average High: 44° Record High:  67° (1963)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

1644 - 1st US livestock branding law passed, by Connecticut

1870 - 1st motion picture shown to a theater audience, Philadelphia

1881 - Phoenix, Az incorporates

1900 - US and UK sign treaty for Panama Canal

1901 - Pierpont Morgan forms US Steel Corp

1921 - Yankees purchase 20 acres in Bronx for Yankee Stadium

1922 - Reader's Digest magazine 1st published

1924 - The Royal Greenwich Observatory begin broadcasting the hourly time signals

1988 - Arizona House of Reps vote to impeach Republican Gov Evan Mecham

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Windy…chilly…not a day to be outside. Even had some snow flurries early today.  Sure glad I don’t have an (outside) job.

 

Before the internet machine, I was an avid magazine reader.  Not so much anymore, but I still enjoy Readers Digest and a few others. I hate that they put their expiration date in some crazy code, and they send out renewal notifications for months before the subscription ends. So, this morning I realized I hadn’t gotten my Feb Digest, so called and found that it had expired. Renewed it for two years and will continue to throw away all the renewals they will start sending next year. I almost signed up for the digital version, but I only read it in one place, and my tablet and/or phone ain’t used in that room.

 

It’s been a month since the WVa chemical spill, still no one has been charged, still the water stinks, and many people are complaining about it. Residents say that the water is still not safe.  This is scary for those people, but also scary for all of us, since the water has been ‘cleared’ for drinking and only trace amounts of the poison are found in the water. I get the ‘trace amount’ thing, but if you can still smell the water, if the water is causing rashes, it sure doesn’t sound safe to me.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

What one three-letter word can be placed in the blanks below to make four different words?

___less   
___ure ___orse ___ing

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Curb Your Enthusiasm wrong cell phone

• DEAN JAGGER TRIBUTE

• Marianne Moore reads Bird-Witted

• RED BUTTONS SHOW opening credits

• WOMAN OF THE YEAR [1942 TRAILER]

Suggested New State Mottos:

• Texas: Si' Hablo Ing'les (Yes, I Speak English)

• West Virginia: One Big Happy Family ... Really!

Remembering TV’s great shows:

"The Carol Burnett Show" Harvey Korman wasn't the only one who couldn't stop cracking up at the wacky antics of Burnett, Tim Conway, Vicki Lawrence and Co.

Phrases Shakespeare invented:

Elbowroom:  King John Scene 7

Words Shakespeare invented

ZanyDefinition: Amusingly unconventional and idiosyncratic
Origin: Derived from the Italian "zani," which came from "Zanni," a version of the name "Giovanni."
Quote: "Some carry-tale, some please-man, some slight zany" - Love's Labour's Lost

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

Percentage of long-term unemployed Americans not receiving any federal unemployment benefits: 64

Unusual Fact of the Day

William Wrigley originally started in the baking powder business. With his powder, he gave a free pack of his gum. He later abandoned the baking powder business when he learned that people were buying it just to get the gum.

Joke-of-the-day

An Idiot was eating in a restaurant and suddenly, he started singing aloud to the pleasure of the other customers. After eating, he stood up to go without paying for his meal.

"You haven't paid for your meal" said a waitress to him to which he replied "what do you make of my entertainment then?"

Getting annoyed, the waitress replied, “no one asked you to entertain anyone," to which the Idiot replied "no one asked me to come and eat here either."  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

FLYING A KITE

A wind that rustles leaves and that you can barely feel on your face is blowing from 4 to 7 miles an hour. A wind moving about 12 miles an hour will keep tree leaves in constant motion. This is the upper limit for most kite flying. If the wind is lifting loose paper off the ground and raising dust, it is too strong for the average kite.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

 He's probably sorry he got caught, too.

An alleged robber, nicknamed the "Apologetic Bandit" because of his polite demeanor, is now in police custody, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Farhad Sharifi, 19, was arrested Jan. 31 on suspicion of robbery, according LagunaNiguel-DanaPoint Patch. Deputies say he held up at least 10 gas stations and convenience stores around California's Orange County over the past 12-14 months.

Sharifi got his nickname from surveillance footage in October that allegedly shows him telling a clerk, "Have a good night, man. Sorry," after committing armed robbery, according to KABC:

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Barbie (the doll) has a last name: Roberts. Ken's last name is Carson.

• If you lined up all the Slinkys ever made, they could wrap around the world 126 times.

• Play-doh was used as a wallpaper cleaner before it became a toy.

• Lego has manufactured more than 189 billion pieces in 2,000 different shapes since 1949, about 30 Lego pieces for every living person on earth.

• Chance of meeting someone with Barbie's human-scale measurements (36-18-33): one in 100,000. Chance of meeting someone with Ken's one in 50.

• Easy-Bake Ovens have been sold since 1964.

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                                                                      

·        Adlai Stevenson Day

·        Digital Learning Day

·        Weatherman's [Weatherperson's] Day

·        Western Monarch Day

·        World Nutella Day

++++++

·        Constitution Day (Mexico-1917)

Today’s Events through History  

1782 - Spanish take Minorca (western Mediterranean) from British

1861 - 1st moving picture peep show machine is patented by Samuel Goodale

1942 - "Woman of the Year," starring Hepburn & Tracy opens at Radio City

1956 - 7th Winter Olympic games close at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy

1967 - "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" premieres on CBS (later ABC, NBC)

1973 - Comic strip "Hagar The Horrible" debuted

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Henry 'Hank' Aaron, baseball player is 80

Roger Staubach, NFL quarterback (Dallas Cowboys) is 72

Craig Morton, NFL quarterback (Dallas, Denver) is 71

Tim Meadows, actor and comedian (SNL) is 53

Remembered for being born today

1840 - John Boyd Dunlop, Scotland, developer (pneumatic rubber tire)

1900 - Adlai E Stevenson II, (Gov-Ill), pres candidate (D) (1952, 1956)

1919 - Red Buttons, [Aaron Chwatt], Bronx, comedian/actor (Sayonara)

1941 - Stephen J Cannell, producer (Rockford Files)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Dean Jagger, US actor (Mr Novak, Rawhide, Oscar), 1991, @87

Thomas Carlyle, historian/essayist, 1881, @85

Marianne Moore, US poetess (Pulitzer 1951), 1972, @84

William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist, 1790, @79

Ella Grasso, Governor of Connecticut, cancer, 1981, @61

Paul Rubens, composer, TB, 1917, @41

Brain Teasers

End Endless Endure Endorse Ending

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  §