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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 120  / Week: 18 

Today: L 30°…H 52°… Ave. humidity: 45%
    Wind: ave:   7mph; Gusts:  42mph  
    Average High: 63° Record High:  78° (1981)
    Average Low: 32° Record Low:  10° (1967)
    
Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

0311 - Emperor Galerius legally recognizes Christians in the Roman Empire

0711 - Islamic conquest of Iberia: begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula
1492 - Spain announces it will expels all Jews
1563 - Jews are expelled from France by order of Charles VI
1789 - George Washington inaugurated as 1st president of US
1798 - US Dept of Navy forms
1803 - US doubles in size through Louisiana Purchase ($15 million)
1859 - Charles Dickens' "A Tale Of Two Cities" is first published in literary periodical
1889 - 1st US national holiday, on centennial of Washington's inauguration
1904 - Ice cream cone makes its debut
1939 - New York World's Fair opens
1939 - Tropicana ballet of Havana, Cuba, forms
1947 - Boulder Dam renamed in honor of Herbert Hoover
1952 - Mr Potato Head is 1st toy advertised on television
1961 - Premier Fidel Castro of Cuba receives Lenin-Peace Prize
1973 - Nixon announces resignation of Haldeman, Ehrlichman, et al
1975- Last US helicopter leaves US embassy grounds, Saigon surrenders
1993 - The World Wide Web is born at CERN.
1997 - 42 million watch "Ellen" announce she is gay
2004 - U.S. media release graphic photos of Abu Ghraib prison.

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫  

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Sixth month teeth cleaning this morning. Good news—my dental hygiene is exceptional. Bad news, need another crown. This one caused by an old silver filling that somehow cracked the tooth. I went to the family dentist for about 45 years, then had to find a new one when he finally retired. This guy is dentist #3 at the same dental office. He is good. I always keep the hygienist up on my latest travel. While she is usually really interested in my adventures, she was less than excited about the Cuba trip. The dentist also asked and was again, less than excited. He even said, wouldn’t you rather travel in the US…there is so much to see. Guess both of them still see Cuba as ‘the enemy’. Actually they are the first people here in Flag who knew me and were not full of questions. Oh well, they are not my travel agents and it is their loss to not learn more about the Cuban people.

It has been a chilly, windy day. Not a great spring day for sure. Needed a jacket to go to the dentist. Couldn’t really open any windows. I did pay my first payment and sent the necessary documents so I can go to Ireland in September. Sixteen days in Ireland…flying directly from Denver to Dublin and then around the country. Going to Belfast, Donegal, Connemara, Killarney, Kilkenny and Dublin.  Getting excited already.

Lots of news on the Clippers. NBA sure stood strong in banning the owner and beginning action to force him to sell the team.  Can’t really blame them.

Our little mountain town city council has a busy agenda tonight. Our county just banned the use of any hand held devices while driving. While my cell has certainly changed my life, mostly good, anyone who texts or calls should not do it while driving. If the city opts out, this will cause more confusion for drivers. Sure hope they follow the county. Then they have do decide about owners and renters who are displaced when the property is going to be used for another purpose. Some say the developer should put up $$$ for relocation of both owners and renters. The current hassle is over a low income trailer park where the developer wants to build a huge students housing complex/business complex just off the campus. Some families have lived there for many years and their trailer homes don’t meet standards needed to move them. Flag is known for its high cost of housing and finding those residents a place to live within their limited budgets is certainly almost impossible. Section 8 low income housing is very limited here. There is very little ‘affordable housing’ as defined by the Feds. The out-of-state developers have less than forthright on their plans about what will happen to the current residents of the area. Claiming that they want to handle each residence on an individual basis. I doubt that I will watch the on-line meeting, but will read about it on FB and tomorrow’s morning paper. Our Mayor and a couple of new council members are very pro-business and haven’t shown a lot of compassion in any of their recent decisions.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Rearrange the letters to form new words, phrases, places, or names.
The words in parentheses are hints.

ONE ON ALP (conqueror)

SEEK A PHRASE (playful fellow)

KNEE CRUTCH ART (great ballet)

NONE MISTER (soup)

TOXIC NAME (April agony)

HE BUGS GORE

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Bobby Vee - The Night Has A Thousand Eyes

Johnny Horton......Battle Of New Orleans

Muddy Waters - Champagne & Reefer

PHYLLIS: "MOTHER DEXTER GETS A JOB"

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

Percentage of all law-review articles that have never been cited in another article or in a judicial opinion: 43

Unusual Fact of the Day

In 1972, Nick Nolte was the cover model on the packaging of Clairol's Summer Blonde hair lightener.

Number One Country in the world…  

Australia: Uranium

It’s a running joke that Australia is full of things that could kill you. Spiders, scorpions, snakes — hell, probably even the sand can straight up kill you. So it’s not so much surprising as it is really, really disheartening that even the ground in Australia is absolutely crammed with deadly uranium.

How much? Try 31 percent of the entire world’s supply. That’s how much of the stuff is sitting comfortably underneath oodles of spiders. But here’s the weird thing: Australia doesn’t even use nuclear power. They’re sitting on thousands of years worth of energy and, even though half their country looks like a screenshot from Fallout 3, they don’t even use the energy they have access to.

Joke-of-the-day

Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources Officer asked a young Engineer fresh out of MIT, "And what starting salary were you looking for?"

The Engineer replies, "In the region of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package."

The interviewer enquires, "Well, what would you say to a package of 5-weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company car leased every 2 years say, a red Corvette?"

The Engineer sits up straight and says, "Wow! Are you kidding?"

And the interviewer replies, "Yeah, but you started it." 

Rules of Thumb:   

SHOPPING FOR THINGS

It will take 20 to 30 minutes to shop for 1 item if you know exactly what you want and where to go. Thus, if you go out at lunch to buy 3 different things, plan on being gone for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Yeah, It Really Happened

HAPPISBURGH, England (UPI) - A new study published in PLOS ONE details the oldest human footprints found outside of Africa. Found and studied by archaeologists from the British Museum, the footprints are estimated to be anywhere from 780,000 to one million years old. The footprints were discovered pressed into estuary mudflats along the coast of Happisburgh, England, a small village in low-lying Norfolk County. Happisburgh had previously been identified as one of the earliest sites of human activity outside of Africa, when ancient flint tools were discovered there in 2010. The newly-discovered footprints became visible as a result of coastal erosion, the mudflats revealed, as the beach's sand became washed away by waves and current. First spotted in May 2013, scientists had to act quickly to document the prints before time and stormy seas washed away human history. Based on detailed analysis of the footprints, scientists believe impressions were left by a party of five -- men, women and children -- as they strolled the riverbanks. Although archaeologists have no human remains on which to conduct DNA testing, they estimate the prints were left by Homo antecessor, or "Pioneer Man," a species with a slightly smaller brain than modern humans, but one that walked upright on two feet. "We actually know very little else about the people who left these prints," explained researcher Nicholas Ashton, "but from the plant and animal remains at Happisburgh we know that they were able to survive winters colder than today." "We're still asking questions of whether they had clothing and shelter or controlled the use of fire," Ashton added.

Somewhat Useless Information   

Up to now there has been no evidence for “leftie genes”, however, people who use their left hands seem to have more left-handed family members. But how many are they?

Well, 11% of people are left handed and many famous ones among them, such as Albert Einstein, Harry S. Truman, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama,  Alexander the Great, Fidel Castro, Kurt Cobain, Phil Collins, Jimi Hendrix, Paul Simon, Leonardo da Vinci, Charlie Chaplin, Robert DeNiro, Diane Keaton, Marilyn Monroe, Keanu Reeves, Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey.

A patent for Corn Flakes, the popular breakfast cereal,  was filed on May 31, 1895, and issued on April 14, 1896.

Corn flakes, which were originally manufactured by Kellogg’s through the treatment of maize, are produced in the largest cereal factory in the world, the Trafford Park factory in Manchester, England.
However, there aren’t even two corn flakes that look the same!

After female octopuses have laid their eggs, they sit guard for weeks, months and sometimes as long as a year. At the end of the brooding period, nearly all of the octopus young hatch at once.
When they leave their egg casings, the hatchlings will swim toward the surface and join other small animals in a planktonic stage.
However, baby octopuses are so small, that they can perfectly fit to our fingertip!

Calendar Information        

Today Is

Adopt A Shelter Pet Day Link
Bugs Bunny Day
Díá De Los Niños / Díá De Los Libros Day
International Guide Dogs Day
International Jazz Day
Hairstylist Appreciation Day
Louisiana Purchase Day
National Animal Advocacy Day
National Go Birding Day
National Honesty Day
National Rebuilding Day
World Healing Day
World Tai Chi and Qigong Day
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Admission Day (Louisiana-1812-18^th state)                                                                     
Spank Out Day – USA-since 1998—stop spanking

Today’s Events through History  

1860 - Navajo attack Fort Defiance--in northwestern Arizona, was the first fort to be built in Navajo country. Built near land used by Manuelito's Navajo to graze their horses, an inevitable conflict begins when the army claims the grazing land for their own mounts. A series of raids on both sides leads to a full scale attack. On this date, Manuelito, and nearly 1,000 warriors attack Fort Defiance. The Navajo capture a few outbuildings, but the soldiers soon regroup and volleys are exchanged throughout the rest of the day. The Navajo will leave that night considering the message delivered. The Army will eventually retaliate. 

1980 - Terrorists seize Iranian Embassy in London

1988 - World Exposition, Expo 88 opens in Brisbane Australia
1989 - Critics Siskel & Ebert film their 500th TV movie-review show
2013 - Apple offers the largest bond offering from a private company of 17 Billion

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Cloris Leachman, actress (Last Picture Show, Phyllis) is 88

Bobby Vee, singer (Devil or Angel, Night has a Thousand Eyes) is 71
Perry King, actor (“Riptide") is 66
Isiah Thomas, NBA forward (Pistons; 1990 NBA playoff MVP) is 53
Adrian Pasdar, actor (Top Gun) is 49
Akon, American R&B Singer is 42
Kirsten Dunst, actress (Interview with the Vampire, Spider-Man) is 32

Remembered for being born today

1823-1900 - George JD Campbell, Scottish/Brit Minister to Indies

1858-1958 - Mary Scott Lord Dimmick Harrison, 1st lady
1877-1967 - Alice B. Toklas, American companion of Gertrude Stein  
1905-1995 - John Peters Humphrey, human rights advocate (Universal Declaration on Human Rights)
1908-1990 - Eve Arden, American actress (d. 1990)
1910-2006 - Al Lewis, actor (Leo-Car 54, Grandpa-Munsters)
1925-1960 - Johnny Horton, American musician  
1944-2010 - Jill Clayburgh, actress (Unmarried Woman, Semi-Tough)
1938-2012 - Gary Collins, actor \ talk show host

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Tom Poston, actor (Bob Newhart Show), 2007, @85

Muddy Waters, blues singer/guitarist, heart failure, 1983, @70
Agnes Moorehead, actress (Endora-Bewitched), cancer, 1974, @73
Johann Albert Fabricius, German classical scholar, 1736, @68
Sergio Leone, Italian director (Good, Bad & Ugly), heart attack, 1989, @60
Adolf Hitler, German Dictator (1936-45), suicide, 1945, @56
Shaka, the great Zulu King, killed, 1828, @41
Inger Stevens, actress (Katy-Farmer's Daughter), suicide, 1970, @35
John Luther (Casey) Jones, dies on Cannonball Express, 1900, @37
Eva Braun, mistress/wife of Hitler, suicide, 1945, @33

Brain Teasers                                         

ONE ON ALP - Napoleon
SEEK A PHRASE - Shakespeare
KNEE CRUTCH ART - The Nutcracker
NONE MISTER - minestrone
TOXIC NAME - income tax
HE BUGS GORE - George Bush

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  §