5-10-14

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

Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 130  / Week: 19 

Today: L 93°…H 63°… Ave. humidity: 61%
    Wind: ave:   10mph; Gusts:  26mph  
    Average High: 65° Record High:  82° (1934)
    Average Low: 33° Record Low:  19° (1953)
         
Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

1267 - Vienna's church orders all Jews to wear a distinctive garb

1291 - Scottish nobles recognize authority of English king Edward I
1534 - French navigator Jacques Cartier reaches Newfoundland
1676 - Bacon's Rebellion, frontiersmen vs Virginia government begins
1752 - Benjamin Franklin’s 1st tests the lightning rod
1775 - Green Mountain Boys capture Fort Ticonderoga NY-American Revolution
1797 - 1st US Navy ship, the "United States," is launched
1801 - Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States 
1865 - Jefferson Davis captured at Irwinsville Georgia
1869 - Golden Spike driven, completes Promontory Pt Ut-Transcontinental RR
1872 - Victoria Woodhull becomes 1st woman nominated for US president
1908 - 1st Mother's Day observed (Phila)
1924 - J. Edgar Hoover appointed head of FBI
1930 - 1st US planetarium opens (Adler-Chicago)
1941 - Adolf Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland
1953 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Sacramento Golf Open
1960 - US atomic sub USS Triton-1st submerged circumnavigation of globe 
1969 - US troop begin attack on Hill 937/Hamburger Hill
1994 - Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa's 1st black president

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫  

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

A really nice day here in our little mountain town. Clear blue sky, slight wind, fresh air. Then I got a letter from the guy who owns this townhouse. Turns out I still don’t have my security door because the great maintenance man has been ill. The guy apologized for the delay…how nice. He even sent me a picture of the door and asked it was OK with me. Then he asked about another HOA letter he got. When I moved in…7 years ago, I discovered that a very high tall window in the stairwell wouldn’t close tightly. I learned this when a very cold draft came in from that window during some cold fall days. Cory, the maintenance guy came over and we both tried to crank the window shut, me on the inside, him outside freezing. We couldn’t do it and couldn’t figure out why. He taped it shut with come clear very strong tape. He said he would come back on a warmer day to fix it. As time went by we both forgot about it. Now 7 years later the HOA wrote up the owner with one of the dumbest letters yet. They took a picture and told him the screen needed repair. It is a crank window and the screen in inside the house. The screen does not now or has ever needed repair. Anyway, when Cory is better, he will be over to fix that and install the security door.

As the National return of jobs seems to be doing really well, AZ is not enjoying that rebound. Only about 50% of the jobs lost during the recession have returned to AZ. We are wondering why. Turns out that a new study shows that many job creators have not moved to AZ because of our poor educational system. Our legislature has taken millions from Education for other ‘needs’. We in AZ have been bitching about this for years but nothing gets done and the amount of tax dollars going to public education keeps dropping. There is a current lawsuit to get back $2 billion put back into Education that was ‘reallocated’ to other places. Another issue in the study was that the Maricopa (PHX) county sheriff has been in the news for his racial strategies against many ‘browns’. Of course our legislature’s SB1070, the ‘show your papers’ law didn’t help either. The conservative right and our governor have dug their own grave, now they can lay/lie in it. Hopefully, our electorate will wake up to the mess we have here in AZ politics.

It is NAU graduation weekend…good time to stay away from the University and all its traffic delays.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

In this teaser you are required to find a word relating to mathematics hiding in consecutive letters within each sentence. Have fun!
Example: "They knew that they had done the wrong thing."
Answer: ADD located in: "...hAD Done..."

1. He gave his pet serpent a gondola ride.

2. How did the koala cub end up with the kangaroo?
3. Did the kind entomologist pamper centipedes?
4. The scholarship includes tuition but does not cover textbooks.

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Bono solo of Hallelujah

Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers

Maybelle Carter - It Takes A Worried Man

Donovan--Sunshine Superman  

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

Percentage in the global AISA mortality rate since 2005: -30

In the global cancer mortality rate: +8

Unusual Fact of the Day

On the 2001 New Zealand census, 53,715 people listed their religion as “Jedi.”

Largest Animals in the world…

The Largest Amphibian in the World: The Chinese Giant Salamander 

The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) is the largest salamander in the world, reaching a length of 180 cm (6 ft), although it rarely – if ever – reaches that size today. Endemic to rocky mountain streams and lakes in China, it is considered critically endangered due to habitat loss, pollution, and over-collecting, as it is considered a delicacy and used in traditional Chinese medicine.   

Joke-of-the-day

It is truly said that children brighten a home - they never turn the lights off. 

Rules of Thumb:   

GETTING PAID

When dealing with notorious non-payers, always charge twice as much as the job will actually cost, then get half the money up front.

Yeah, It Really Happened

LONDON (UPI) - Stephen Hawking, in an article inspired by the new Johnny Depp flick Transcendence, said it would be the "worst mistake in history" to dismiss the threat of artificial intelligence. In a paper he co-wrote with University at California, Berkeley computer-science professor Stuart Russell, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics professors Max Tegmark and Frank Wilczek, Hawking said cited several achievements in the field of artificial intelligence, including self-driving cars, Siri and the computer that won Jeopardy! "Such achievements will probably pale against what the coming decades will bring," the article in Britain's Independent said. "Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history," the article continued. "Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks." The professors wrote that in the future there may be nothing to prevent machines with superhuman intelligence from self-improving, triggering a so-called "singularity." "One can imagine such technology outsmarting financial markets, out-inventing human researchers, out-manipulating human leaders, and developing weapons we cannot even understand. Whereas the short-term impact of AI depends on who controls it, the long-term impact depends on whether it can be controlled at all," the article said. "Although we are facing potentially the best or worst thing to happen to humanity in history, little serious research is devoted to these issues outside non-profit institutes such as the Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, the Future of Humanity Institute, the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, and the Future of Life Institute. All of us should ask ourselves what we can do now to improve the chances of reaping the benefits and avoiding the risks."

Somewhat Useless Information   

Nintendo was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi on Sept. 23, 1889 as a company that made Japanese playing cards.

At one time, Nintendo built a brick system called "N&B Blocks." LEGO was not happy, but Nintendo avoided legal troubles because some of its blocks were rounded.

Redmond, Washington was home to Nintendo before it ever became the headquarters of Microsoft. Nintendo bought land in Redmond in 1982 with profits from Donkey Kong.

Nintendo's famous cross-shaped D-pad was invented by GameBoy creator and long-time Nintendo employee Gunpei Yokoi. It was originally designed for the handheld version of Donkey Kong, but Nintendo realized it could be used with console controllers, too.

In 1992 Nintendo became the majority owner of major league baseball team the Seattle Mariners. Although the team's mascot remained the Mariner Moose, a Mario mascot did appear when the company was promoting Mario Super Sluggers.

Nintendo faced legal action with Universal Studios, who thought Donkey Kong infringed on the King Kong trademark. Nintendo's attorney John Kirby successfully argued that the King Kong plot and characters were in the public domain. To thank Kirby, Nintendo bought him a sailboat and granted him "exclusive worldwide rights to use the name for sailboats."

Calendar Information        

This Week’s Observances:

3-11

Dystonia Awareness Week
National Tourism Week

4-10
Be Kind To Animals Week
Children's Mental Health Week
Dating and Life Coach Recognition Week
Drinking Water Week 
Flexible Work Arrangement Week 
Goodwill Industries Week 
Kids Win Week
NAOSH Week 
National Alcohol & Drug Related Birth Defects Awareness Week
National Anxiety & Depression Awareness Week
National Correctional Officer's Week
National Family Week 
National Hug Holiday Week 
National Occupational Safety & Health Day  
National Pet Week
National Post Card Week
National Raisin Week 
North American Occupational Safety & Health Week  
PTA Teacher Appreciation Week 
Public Service Recognition Week  

5-11
Screen-Free Week
Spring Astronomy Week
Teacher Appreciation Week
Update Your References Week
National Wildflower Week
Spring Astronomy Week

6-12
National Nurses Day and Week      

Today Is 

Clean Up Your Room Day

Armed Forces Day Military-Amateur Crossband Communications Day   
Birthmother's Day 
Cornelia de Lange Syndrome Awareness Day
International Migratory Bird Day
Letter Carrier's  Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive Day 
Library Legislative Days and Virtual Library Legislative Days
Mother Ocean Day
National Babysitters Day
National Miniature Golf Day
National Train Day
National Windmill Day
Spring Astronomy Day 
Stay Up All Night
Windmill Day
World Belly Dance Day
World Fair Trade Day
World Lupus Day
World Lupus Day
<>
Confederate Day (NC, SC)
Birthday of Lord Buddah (China)
Vesak Day (Singapore-Buddah birthday)                                                                    
  

Today’s Events through History  

1775 - 2nd Continental Congress convenes in Pa issues paper currency for 1st time

1959 - Joyce Ziske wins LPGA Howard Johnson Golf Invitational
1983 - "Laverne & Shirley" last airs on ABC-TV
2012 - The Red Cross suspends all humanitarian work in Pakistan after a worker was kidnapped and killed 

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Gary Owens, disc jockey/TV host (Laugh In, Gong Show) is 78

Wayne Dyer, psychologist and author (Universe Within You) is 74
Donovan, Scottish musician is 68
Rick Santorum, (Rep-R-Penn) is 56
Bono [Paul Hewson], Dublin, rocker (U2) is 54

Remembered for being born today

1888-1971 - Max[imilian Raoul Walter] Steiner, composer (Gone With Wind)
1899-1987 - Fred Astaire, tap dancer/actor (Easter Parade, Swingtime)
1902-1965 - David O Selznick, producer (Gone With the Wind)
1909-1978 - Maybelle Carter, country singer (Johnny Cash Show)
1921-1992 - Nancy Walker, Bounty ads/actress (Rhoda, McMillan & Wife)
1930-2013 - Pat Summerall, NFL (NY Giants)/sportscaster (CBS)
1957-1979 - Sid Vicious, [John Simon Ritchie], bassist (Sex Pistols)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

William Huggins, discoverer of stellar nature of Andromeda, 1910, @86

Shel Silverstein, American poet and composer, heart attack, 1999, @68
Thomas Young, physicist/decipherer of Egyptian hierogolyphics, 1829, @55
John Wayne Gacy, mass murderer, executed, 1994, @52
Thomas Jackson, ["Stonewall"], Confederate general, pneumonia, 1863, @39

Brain Teasers                                         

1. He gave his pet serpent a gondola ride. PENTAGON

2. How did the koala cub end up with the kangaroo? CUBE

3. Did the kind entomologist pamper centipedes? PERCENT

4. The scholarship includes tuition but does not co ver textbooks. VERTEX

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  §