3-18-14

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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 077   / Week: 12  

Today: L 28°…H 58°… Ave. humidity: 24%

Red Flag Warning

     Wind: ave:   32mph; Gusts:  49mph  

     Average Low: 23° Record Low:  -1° (1954)

    Average High: 51° Record High:  68° (2004)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

1314 - Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, 

     is burned at the stake.

1325 - According to legend, Tenochtitlan is founded; depicted on the Mexican coat of arms.

1541 - Hernan de Soto observes 1st recorded flood in America (Mississippi R)

1818 - Congress approves 1st pensions for government service

1870 - 1st US National Wildlife Preserve (Lake Meritt in Oakland California)

1902 - Enrico Caruso becomes 1st well-known performer to make a record

1919 - Order of DeMolay forms in Kansas City

1931 - 1st electric shavers go on sale in US (Schick)

1944 - 2,500 women trample guards & floorwalkers to purchase 1,500 alarm 

     clocks announced for sale in a Chicago Illinois dept store

1949 - NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Org) ratified

1952 - 1st plastic lens for cataract patients fitted (Phila)

1970 - -25) US Postal begins strike

1977 - US restricts citizens from visiting Cuba, Vietnam, N Korea & Cambodia

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Clear blue sky with lots and lots of wind…not a day to be outside.

 

Flag had its first Red Flag Warning of the season…dry spring is here. Boo! I did set out some planters today which had been covered on my patio all winter. Both were full of little green leaves working their way out of the soil. Nice…maybe they will bloom before I head for Cuba. Also set up my birdbath as it is very dry and I’m sure the birds will appreciate it. I finished my plans for Cuba today with a hotel in Denver and my shuttles to the Phoenix airport.  All done and ready for next Monday’s flight to Denver, then a Tuesday flight to Miami, then finally a Wed flight to Havana. Starting to get excited.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Can you figure out the veggies described in the clues below?

1. A journey across snow with a dogsled + space  2. Basement + to pore over a book - 4th letter of the alphabet 3. A liquid + foamy top of waves - 20th letter of the alphabet 4. Plant container gobbled zero! 5. An extra mat + we 6. Paintings I strangle!

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Edgar Cayce's A.R.E.: Finding Your Soul's Purpose/Mission

Fess Parker - The Ballad of Daniel Boone

John Updike: Advice to Young Writers

Scaredy Cat Blues - Smiley Burnette

Charley Pride - Heartaches By The Number

Tenochtitlan (The Impossible City)

Remembering TV’s great shows

"Monty Python's Flying Circus"--The parrot may have been dead, but the anarchic vibe of the U.K.'s sketchiest comics has lived on via "Fawlty Towers," "The Kids in the Hall" and "Portlandia."

Bizarre Facts about World’s Dictators

Nicolai Ceausescu, The OCD Dictator

Romanian Dictator Nicolai Ceausescu was beaten in prison during the Nazi era so badly that he suffered a permanent speech impediment, but that did not stop him from getting his message across in brutally direct ways. Rescued in 1944 by Russian soldiers disguised as Nazis, Ceausescu rose to power in 1965. Despite his reckless disregard for the safety and lives of others, this particularly brutal European dictator had an obsessive concern for his safety. His paranoia reached lengths almost unheard of in other dictators. While paranoia about food was common, Ceausescu had sealed coolers of food transported with him, protected by armed guards. His clothing safety practices truly bordered on the insane and took things to the next level. He feared that his enemies were trying to kill him by poisoning his clothing, which led him to wear a different suit each day. Daily suit burnings and the selection of a new suit from his locked annual stockpile of suits ensured his protection. His staff was assigned to protect his clothing from radiation and bacteria and places he might touch were disinfected prior to each visit. This is strange behavior indeed for a tyrant who denied the existence of HIV/AIDS as a public health problem and banned contraceptives.

Misconceptions of Medieval Figures

King Arthur Was Possibly A Roman Soldier

Speaking of questionable historicity, the search for the real King Arthur rivals his quest for the Holy Grail. Some Arthurian scholars are absolutely convinced the fictional English king must have some historical basis—they just can’t nail down a “who.” Three popular candidates for King Arthur include Owain Ddantgwyn, Lucius Artorius Castus, and Ambrosius Aurelianus. Ddantgwyn was a sixth-century Welsh king. His title was “bear,” which is “Arth” in Byrthonic. His father was named Enniaun Yrth, which is strangely similar to Uther-Pen-Dragon, the father of King Arthur. Ddantgwyn was succeeded by his nephew, much like the legendary Arthur was overthrown by his. Castus, on the other hand, was a Roman cavalry officer who led horsemen around the world in the second century. Perhaps an inspiration for the Knights of the Round Table? His family name, you may have noticed, was Artorius. Last, but certainly not least, is Ambrosius Aurelianus, a fifth-century British king of Roman origin. He defended the Britons against the Anglo-Saxons and was viewed favorably by historians. Arthur may have simply been invented by Welsh historian Nennius, who could have retroactively inserted him into the Saxon conflicts of the 500s. Nennius’s histories contain the first known mention of Arthur in print, around the year 800. Nennius mentions Aurelianus, but treats him and Arthur as two separate figures.

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

Estimated profit an Illinois zoon has earned since 2008 by selling tree ornaments made from reindeer droppings: $50,000

Unusual Fact of the Day

Beanie babies were such a craze in the 1990s that even struggling MLB teams used them to sell out home games.

Joke-of-the-day

One day a man found an odd-looking lamp and rubbed it. From inside came a genie that told him he would get three wishes, but whatever he wishes for, his mother-in-law gets double of what he gets. 

"What would you like for your first wish?" asked the genie. 

"I want one billion dollars," replies the man. 

"Remember," says the genie, "your mother-in-law gets double of what you get." 

"I know," replied the man.

The man then chooses his second wish, "I wish I had a brand new sports car." So he gets his second wish and he's very content. 

"Your mother-in-law gets double what you get, now what would you like for your third wish?" asks the genie. 

The man ponders for a moment, then answers, "I wish to be beaten half to death."  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

TRANSLATING GREEK

If you can't identify a word in a Greek sentence, it is a verb with a prefix. To figure it out, go through the lexicon chopping off one letter from the front at a time.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

Babies can be frustrating. There is no doubt about that. They are fussy, they can't tell you what is wrong with them or what they want, they poop in their pants, they contribute nothing to conversations, and sometimes it seems like they never stop crying.

But never, under any circumstances, is it a good idea to bite them, especially in the face! This is a lesson that was never learned by one California man who bit his infant son's nose clean off! The reason? Apparently the baby would not stop crying.

Fairfield Police said they received a phone call from a hysterical female saying her infant child was bleeding from its nose. Doctors at North Bay Medical Center determined the infant's nose had been severed and the child had possible head trauma.

Investigators determined the father, Joshua Cooper, had bitten his son's nose off out of frustration over the infant crying.

Maybe it is the ignorance of youth, since Mr. Cooper is a tender 18-years-old. Whatever the reason, Cooper was arrested and booked for child cruelty and aggravated mayhem, police said.

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Albert Einstein was the first to solve the mystery around why do tea leaves migrate to the center of the cup when  stirring it with a spoon. Why don’t they migrate to the edges? The answer is in the centripetal force of any liquid. Einstein explained the so called ‘tea paradox’ by saying that stirring the liquid makes it spin around the cup, so in order to maintain this curved path, a centripetal force in towards the center is needed. Near the bottom and outer edges the liquid is slowed by the friction against the cup and the centripetal force is weaker and cannot overcome the pressure gradient.

•  
Walter Elias ”Walt” Disney, who died in 1966, was the main figure in the American animation industry and is regarded to be an international icon. He was an animator, cartoonist, producer, director, screenwriter, entrepreneur, a voice actor, as well as a philanthropist, well known for his influence and contributions to the field of entertainment during the 20th century. However, although Walt Disney was the inventor of the famous cartoon hero Mickey Mouse, he was afraid of mice. So, how did he get his idea for Mickey Mouse? He came up with it while watching mice play in his garage one night!

• Venus, whose name was taken after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days and has no natural satellite. 

• Venus rotates backwards from the other planets, as it rotates clockwise, what is called “retrograde rotation”. All the planets of the Solar System orbit the Sun in an anti-clockwise direction as viewed from above the Sun’s north pole. Most planets also rotate on their axis in an anti-clockwise direction.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:
16-22 

American Chocolate Week

Campfire USA Birthday Week
Health Information Professionals Week
National Animal Poison Prevention Week
National Inhalant and Poisons Awareness Week
Termite Awareness Week
Flood Safety Awareness Week
17-23

Act Happy Week
Flood Awareness Week
Wellderly Week
Wildlife Week
World Folktales & Fables Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Awkward Moments Day

·        Forgive Mom and Dad Day

·        National Biodiesel Day

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·        Flag Day (Aruba)

Today’s Events through History  

1241 - Kraków is ravaged by Mongols.

1890 - 1st US state naval militia organized (Massachusetts)

1965 - USSR launches Voshkod 2; Alexei Leonov makes 1st spacewalk (20 mins)

1989 - In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy is found in the Pyramid of Cheops.

2005 - Terri Schiavo's feeding tube is removed at the request of her husband.

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

F[rederik] W[illem] de Klerk, president South Africa (1989-94) is 78

Charley Pride, country singer (Sweet Country) is 76

Kevin Dobson, actor (Kojak, Knots Landing, Shannon) is 71

Vanessa L Williams, 1st black Miss America (1983) is 51

Queen Latifah (Dana Elaine Owens), actress/talk show host is 44

Adam Levine, American singer (Maroon 5) is 35

Remembered for being born today

1496-1533 - Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VII /queen consort of Louis XII of France

1837-1908 - Grover Cleveland, [Stephen], 22nd/24th Pres

1877-1945 - Edgar Cayce, American psychic 

1886-1970 - Edward Everett Horton, Brooklyn, actor/narrator (Bulwinkle Show)

1911-1967 - Smiley Burnette, cowboy (Charlie-Petticoat Junction)

1925-2010 - Peter Graves [Aurness], actor (James Phelps-Mission Impossible)

1927-2003 - George Plimpton, sports writer (Paper Lion)

1932-2009 - John Updike, poet/novelist (Rabbit Run)

1941-2006 - Wilson Pickett, R&B singer (Funky Broadway)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                            

Fess Parker, American actor, 2010, @85

Jacques de Molay, last grand master of The Knights Templar. burned at  stake, 1314, @70ish

John Phillips, musician (The Mamas and the Papas), heart failure, 2001, @65

Farouk I, last King of Egypt (1936-52), in exile after heavy meal, 1965, @45

Natasha Richardson, English actress, ski accident, 2009, @45

Edward, the Martyr, King of Anglo-Saxons, murdered, 978, @15

Brain Teasers

1. Mushroom (mush + room)
2. Celery (cellar + read - d)
3. Watercress (water + crest - t)
4. Potato (pot ate O)
5. Asparagus (A spare rug + us)
6. Artichoke (Art I choke)

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  §