3-7-14

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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 066   / Week: 10  

Today: L 26°…H 55°… Ave. humidity: 57%

     Wind: ave:   12mph; Gusts:  21mph  

     Average Low: 22° Record Low:  -1° (1945)

    Average High: 48° Record High:  66° (1972)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

1644 - Massachusetts establishes 1st two-chamber legislature in colonies

1847 - US General Scott occupies Vera Cruz Mexico

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell patents telephone
 

1912 - Roald Amundsen announces discovery of the South Pole

1939 - Guy Lombardo & Royal Canadians 1st record "Auld Lang Syne"

1955 - Mary Martin as "Peter Pan" televised

1981 - 1st homicide at Disneyland, 18 year old is stabbed to death

1996 - 1st surface photos of Pluto (photographed by Hubble Space Telescope)

2007 - British House of Commons votes that the House of Lords be 100% elected

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Lots of clouds, some kinda dark and ominous. Still a good day to spend some time outside. 

Great lunch with our retirement group at a local Mexican restaurant. Mary has decided to attend the Citizen’s Police Academy. That is a 3 month program were ordinary citizens learn about the inner workings of the local police department. Last night she spent 4 hours in jail…well actually…at the jail. They got a ‘private’ tour of the facilities, an explanation of how prisoners are housed, etc Interesting that our little town has 420 prisoners and 60% are Native. Yet the city’s Native population is about 25%. Something is wrong here. Can’t wait to find out what else she is going to learn during this adventure. Mary also finally got Satellite TV and is very happy with the great picture as compared to over the air channels she has been suffering with for about 6 months. Cheryl is considering some home improvement…new roof, new siding but can’t decide if the cost is really worth improving her house value. Tough choices for every home owner. Mary’s daughter will be coming to Phx next week, so Mary will be down there with both her kids and their families.

 

I’ve been in a funk for about a week dealing with the bank, the concern about jury duty, the phone company and other little stuff. When I got up this morning, I decided that funk has to end now. Something I heard long ago…don't sweat the little stuff and remember that everything is little stuff. I am now ready to face the new days ahead without complaining or getting upset about little stuff. Too many good things are happening to deal with the crap.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Surrounded by hills, I rest on an isle Known for its castles And "baggy" music style<> I can hide a monster At least some think But for what it's worth I'm one of nature's sinks<> What am I?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Divine I'm so beautiful

• Wanda Sykes on Speaking French--Graphic Language

• JANET GUTHRIE - CBA SPEAKERS BUREAU

• NBC Today Show Willard Scott 30th Anniversary

Remembering TV’s great shows

"Dallas"--Shooting J.R. was just the tip of the gusher in this Texas-size melodrama, which sparked a frenzy of nighttime soaps.

Lexiophiles Delights

. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.<> . When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.

Ancient Sports

Pelota Purépecha--Culture: Mexican

Pelota purépecha is a pre-Hispanic game similar to field hockey, but with a fiery twist: The sport is played with a ball which is lit on fire. Named for its inventors, the indigenous Purépecha people of what is now the Mexican state of Michoacán, the game involved a ball which had been smeared with pine resin and lit on fire, which was batted around by players armed with wooden sticks. Goals were set up on either side of a stretch of field and the goal was to knock the ball across the line.

The ball, known as a zapandukua, was normally made up of interwoven cloth and twine, and the game was normally played at night, as the ball made for more of a spectacle under the light of the moon. Like many of the games created by the indigenous people of Mexico, pelota purépecha has been largely forgotten, but concerted efforts by the Mexican government are helping to raise awareness for this piece of national history.

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

Minimum number of retired CA public servants receiving pensions of more than $100,000 a year: 21,874

Unusual Fact of the Day

Bill Clinton reportedly only ever sent two emails as president, one of which was a test message to see if he was doing it correctly.

Joke-of-the-day

A man is driving down a country road, when he spots a farmer standing in the middle of a huge field of grass. He pulls the car over to the side of the road and notices that the farmer is just standing there, doing nothing, looking at nothing. The man gets out of the car, walks all the way out to the farmer and asks him, "Ah excuse me mister, but what are you doing? “

The farmer replies, "I'm trying to win a Nobel Prize.

“How?" asks the man, puzzled.

“Well, I heard they give the Nobel Prize . . . to people who are out standing in their field."  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

SETTING UP AN OFFICE

Provide 250 square feet of floor space for each vice president, 200 for middle managers and 175 for clerks.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A boy, 10, was suspended from his Columbus, Ohio, elementary school last week for pointing his finger at a classmate as a gun, a school spokesman said. Fifth-grader Nathan Entingh received a three-day suspension from Devonshire Alternative Elementary School for his "level 2 lookalike firearm," the suspension letter mailed to his parents said. "I was just playing around. People play around a lot like this at my school" and are not suspended for it, Nathan said. School district spokesman Jeff Warner said Nathan put his finger to the side of another student's head and pretended to shoot "kind of execution style." He added Devonshire principal Patricia Price had warned students about pretend gun play and its consequences on numerous occasions during the school year. "He said he was playing," said Nathan's father, Paul Entingh. "It would even make more sense if he brought a plastic gun that looked like a real gun or something but it was his finger." Away from school for several days, Nathan reflected on his suspension Monday, saying, "I think it was dumb," the Columbus Dispatch reported Tuesday.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The terms poison and venom are often used interchangeably, but they actually have very different meanings. It is the delivery method that distinguishes one from the other. 

• Poison is absorbed or ingested; a poisonous animal can only deliver toxic chemicals if another animal touches or eats it. 

• Venom, on the other hand, is always injected. Every venomous animal has a mechanism to inject toxins directly into another animal. Stab with tails. Slash with spines. Pierce with fangs or stings. Spike with spurs. Shoot with harpoons. Chew with teeth. For example, frogs are usually poisonous while snakes are usually venomous.

• Some animals you might now know are venomous; the duck-billed platypus, the gila monster, centipedes, Millipedes, the komodo dragon and coral!

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:
1-16

Iditarod Race
1-7

National Cheerleading Week
National Ghostwriters Week
National Write A Letter of Appreciation Week
Universal Human Beings Week 
Will Eisner Week
2-8

Celebrate Your Name Week
National Consumer Protection Week
National Invasive Species Awareness Week
National Pancake Week
National Pet Sitters Week
National Schools Social Work Week
National Severe Storm Preparedness Week
National Sleep Awareness Week
National Words Matter Week
Professional Pet Sitters Week
Read an E-Book Week
Return The Borrowed Books Week
Save Your Vision Week
Severe Weather Preparedness Week:
Telecommuter Appreciation Week

Women in Construction Week

3-7
Newspaper in Education Week
National School Breakfast Week
Share A Story - Shape A Future Week

3-9
Women of Aviation Worldwide Week

7-9
Festival of Owls Week
American Crossword Puzzle Weekend
National Rattlesnake Roundup

Today Is                                                                      

·        Dress in Blue Day

·        Employee Appreciation Day

·        Middle Name Pride Day

·        National Be Heard Day

·        National Cereal Day

·        National Doodle Day

·        National Day of Unplugging

·        World Day of Prayer

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·        Bun Day (Iceland)

·        Eight Hour or Labor Day (Australia/Tasmania)

Today’s Events through History  

321 - Roman Emperor Constantine I decrees that the dies Solis Invicti (sun-day) is the 

     day of rest in the Empire.

1862:  Battle of Pea Ridge takes place Indians fighting on both sides of the Civil 

     War battle

1933 - Game of "Monopoly" invented

1983 - TNN (The Nashville Network) begins on Cable TV

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Lord Snowdon, [Anthony Armstrong-Jones], London, photographer is 84

Willard Scott, weather forecaster (Today Show) is 80

Janet Guthrie, race car driver (1st woman to race in Indie 500) is 76

Daniel J Travanti, actor (Frank Furillo-Hill St Blues) is 74

Lynn Swann, NFL receiver (Pittsburgh Steelers)/sportscaster is 62

Wanda Sykes, actress and comedienne is 50

Rachel Weisz, English actress (The Mummy, The Constant Gardener) fashion model is 44

Remembered for being born today

1671 - Robert Roy MacGregor, Scottish folk hero 

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Alice B. Toklas, American companion to Gertrude Stein, 1967, @89

Jacob K Javits, (Sen-R-NY), 1986, @81

Stanley Kubrick, American film director, natural causes, 1999, @70

Aristotle, Greek philosopher, 322BC, @62

Thomas Aquinas, Italian thelogian/saint, head injury, 1274, @48

Divine, [Harris Milstead], female impersonator (Pink Flamingos), enlarged heart, 1988, @42

Brain Teasers

Loch Ness in Scotland. Surrounded by hills - The Loch is in a fjord surrounded by wetland hills.. I rest on an isle Known for its castles And "baggy" music style - Scotland, part of the British Isles, is known for its numerous castles and bagpipe music.. I can hide a monster At least some think that there is a monster lives in Loch Ness, but it isn't verifiable.. But for what it's worth I'm one of nature's sinks - The Loch is drained by six major rivers.

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  §