3-20-14

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 079   / Week: 12  

Today: L 12°…H 55°… Ave. humidity: 29%

     Wind: ave:   5mph; Gusts:  22mph  

     Average Low: 23° Record Low:  -1° (1935)

    Average High: 51° Record High:  72° (2004)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

1616 - Walter Raleigh released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana

1760 - Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings

1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" published (Boston)

1933 - Dachau, 1st Nazi concentration camp, completed

1935 - "Your Hit Parade" made its debut on radio
 

1942 - Gen MacArthur vows, "I shall return"

1954 - 1st newspaper vending machine used (Columbia Pennsylvania)

1963 - 1st "Pop Art" exhibition (NYC)

1976 - Patricia Hearst convicted of armed robbery

1987 - FDA approves sale of AZT (AIDS treatment)

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

A decent day…got my haircut. Then got a bill from Concentra for my recent foot problem. For some unknown reason BC/BS didn’t pay anything on the visit. Every office is closed, due to time differences so will find out tomorrow. Just a pain in the butt.

 

I sure hope my trip gets me out of my funk that I am having with bureaucracy. I really am having a hard time dealing with ‘let me put you on hold’, lots of music, then no answers, then transferred to another person. I also called my bank yesterday after a letter from the bank about my recent check hold issue and the lady I was to call had gone home. I called this morning and was on hold for about 8 minutes and was told she was having problems with phone and that she would call me if I gave them my number. I did. Two hours later she hadn’t called and I called back. I was informed that she was not in the office today. I asked to speak to her supervisor and was told that all they could do was email the supervisor and that person would call me back. I asked if the call would come today, tomorrow, next week, or next month. The idiot said “I don’t know, the supervisors are very busy and I cannot give you any time line.” Really, customer service seems to be a thing of the past.

 

Good news: My days on the Rez showed me a culture where military service was seen as a family tradition and for many as a way to get a better education. I have my problems with the military but certainly honor those who fought at the direction of various Presidents. Twenty-four vets were just given the Medal of Honor for their service during a couple of wars. These service people had been denied the Medal because of their race…and included African Americans, Mexican Americans and others because they were not White. Thank you to our current President for learning of this injustice and correcting it. How the military could believe ‘you are good enough to fight and even die, but not good enough to be honored by our government’ is distressing to say the least.

More Good News: for the first time in history, AZ now has more registered ‘independents’ than Republicans or Democrats. Dems still lag behind, but many Republicans must be fed up with the party here in AZ.

 

Family Trivia: Today marks the death of Chet Huntley, the news guy. As a teenager I spent 3 summers with my great uncle, great aunt, and grandfather at a ranch near a small town—Norris Montana. I remember Norris for two things…1^st is the nice hot springs that was next to the town’s bar. After a long day we would go to the hot springs. It was locked and my great uncle would get the key from the barkeep. Inside the bar was a picture of ol’ Chet Huntley who lived for a few years there as a child. My great uncle claimed to have known him, as did everyone in the bar.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

When you behead a word, you remove the first letter and still have a valid word. You will be given clues for the two words, longer word first.

Example: Begin -> Sour, acidic Answer: The words are Start and Tart.

1. Delayed -> Delighted 2. Dresses -> Possesses 3. Duplicate -> Solitary 4. Contemplated -> Employed  5. Useless -> Useful 6. Falling behind -> Feature to prevent falling 7. Holds waste water -> Holds drinking water 8. Poke with a stick -> A pole or stick

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Fred Rogers Acceptance Speech – 1997

• General Mcarthur: "People of the Philippines, I have returned"

• Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein

• Sergei Rachmaninoff 's Masterpiece : Ave Maria

• Stewart Udall: Advocate for the Earth

Books that Changed the World

On the Origin of Species by Charles DarwinCharles Darwin’s 1859 work created one of most important modern scientific fields: evolutionary biology. Darwin’s book was a groundbreaking work that turned many of the mid-19th century’s theories on human development upside down.

Criticized by some, adored by others, it’s undeniable that Darwin’s book kick-started a lot of modern science. How many other 150-year-old science books continue to be the subject of debate today?

Breakthroughs that Changed the World

Electricity, late 19th centuryAnd then there was light

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

• Percentage change since 2007 in the number of cells in the NYC prison system devoted to solitary confinement: +63

• Portion of the adolescent prisoners in solitary on Riker’s Islands who have been diagnosed with a mental illness: 7/10

Unusual Fact of the Day

Roger Ebert and Oprah Winfrey went on a couple dates in the mid-1980s. It was Roger who convinced her to syndicate her talk show.

Joke-of-the-day

Having arrived at the edge of the river, the fisherman soon realized he had forgotten to bring any bait. Just then he happened to see a little snake passing by who had caught a worm. The fisherman snatched up the snake and robbed him of his worm. Feeling sorry for the little snake with no lunch, he snatched him up again and poured a little beer down his throat. Then he went about his fishing.

An hour or so later the fisherman felt a tug at his pant leg. Looking down, he saw the same snake with three more worms in his mouth...

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

LET GRAVITY BE YOUR FRIEND

Always park the truck above the project so that you can shovel downhill into the project. If you are loading a truck, park it on the downside of the project to ease the shoveling effort.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

DREFACH FELINDRE, Wales - A Welsh woman said her concerned dog saved her life when she "bashed" on her back as she was choked on some candy. Rachel Hayes, 40, of Drefach Felindre, said she was eating candy at home when a strawberry pastille became lodged in her throat, the Mirror reported Monday. "It got stuck in the back of my throat and I couldn't get it back up. I couldn't phone anyone because I couldn't talk," Hayes said. She said her springer spaniel, Mollypops, was obviously worried about her. "I was having difficulty breathing but Mollypops' sixth sense kicked in and she knew I was in trouble," Hayes said. "She was insistently trying to help me and I kept pushing her away." "But she kept coming around me because she could see I was trying to get something from my throat. But I kept pushing her away because I couldn't really breathe," she said. "Then Mollypops came up behind me put her paws on me and bashed on my back with such force the sweet came out." Hayes said she is grateful to the canine for the rescue. "I just burst out crying and said, 'I love you.' She came over for a cuddle and I cuddled her. I told her she was a hero," she said. "I gave Mollypops lots of cuddles and, as a thank you, I bought her a squeaky chicken and some doggy sweets."

Somewhat Useless Information   

• A mother is called ‘tiger’ when she is very tough and a bit scary. Most Westerners were not familiar with this term, until a book was published. The term ‘tiger mother’  (or tiger mum) comes from the book ‘Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. It can be used as a verb too – ‘to tiger mother’.  Chinese mums are usually called ‘tiger mothers’ and some strict fathers are called tiger dads!

• The series of the French comics ’Asterix and Obelix’ first appeared in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Pilote on 29 October 1959 and follows the exploits of a village of indomitable Gauls as they resist Roman occupation. The “ix” suffix of both names is due to the names of real Gaulish chieftains such as Vercingetorix, Orgetorix, and Dumnorix. Asterix and Obelix series is one of the most popular Franco-Belgian comics in the world and has been translated into over 100 languages.

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                                                                      

·        Absolutely Incredible Kid Day

·        Alien Abduction Day

·        Atheist Pride Day

·        Bed-in For Peace Day

·        Companies That Care Day

·        Great American Meat Out Day

·        International Astrology Day

·        International Day of Happiness

·        French Language Day

·        Kiss Your Fiancée Day

·        National Agriculture Day

·        National Jump Out! Day

·        National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

·        Proposal Day

·        Snowman Burning Day

·        Vernal Equinox (Spring): 20 12:57 pm EDT

·        World Storytelling Day

·        Won't You Be My Neighbor Day

·        World Day of Theatre for Children and Young People

·        Won't You Be MY Neighbor Day

<><> 

·        Independence Day (Tunisia-1956-from France)

Today’s Events through History  

1944 - Mount Vesuvius, Italy, explodes

1993 - Dan Jansen skates world record 500m (36.02 sec)

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Carl Reiner, Bronx, comedian (2000 Year Old Man, Dick Van Dyke Show) is 92

Hal Linden, [Harold Lipshitz], actor (Barney Miller, Blacke's Magic) is 83

Bobby Orr, NHL defenseman (Boston Bruins) is 66

William Hurt, actor (Big Chill, Children of a Lesser God) is 64

Spike Lee [Shelton Jackson Lee], film director (Malcolm X) is 57

Holly Hunter, actress (Broadcast News, The Piano) is 56

Remembered for being born today

1873-1943 - Sergei V Rachmaninov, Russian/US pianist/composer (Aleko)

1904-1990 - B[urrhus] F[rederic], Behaviorism pioneer (Skinner box)

1906-1975 - Ozzie Nelson, actor (Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet)

1908-1985 - Michael Redgrave, actor (Browning Version, Lady Vanishes)

1918-1984 - Jack Barry, game show emcee (Joker's Wild)

1925-1999 - John D Erlichman, Politician (Nixon aide, Watergate)

1928-2003 - Fred Rogers, children's TV host (Mr Rogers' Neighborhood)

1936-2004 - Vaughn Meader, American comedian

1937-2008 - Jerry Reed, singer/actor (Bat 21, Smokey & the Bandit)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

2004 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands , 2004, @94

2010 - Stewart Udall, politician, environmentalist, 2010, @90

2010 - Liz Carpenter, American feminist writer, 2010, @89  

1974 - Chet Huntley, newscaster (NBC Huntley-Brinkley Report), cancer, 1974, @62

Brain Teasers Answer

1. Belated -> Elated 2. Gowns -> Owns 3. Clone -> Lone 4. Mused -> Used 5. Futile -> Utile 6. Trailing -> Railing 7. Sewer -> Ewer 8. Prod -> Rod

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  §