5-23-14


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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 143  / Week: 21 
May Averages: 68° \ 34°
Today: Average Sky Cover: 85%
    H 61° L 36° Ave. humidity: 30%
    Wind: ave:   8mph; Gusts:  13mph  
    Average High: 71° Record High:  83° (1983)
    Average Low: 36° Record Low:  23° (1909)
       
Quote of the Day
Today’s Historical Highlights

1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
1487 - Imposter Lambert Simnel ceremony crowned as King Edward VI of Dublin
1595 - Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.
1738 - John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day.
1798 - Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins.
1830 - "Mary Had A Little Lamb" is published
1856 - Pottawatomie Massacre took place in Kansas
1862 - Westminster Bridge across Thames opens
1883 - Brooklyn Bridge opened by Pres Arthur & Gov Cleveland
1899 - 1st auto repair shop opens (Boston)
1921 - 1st parliament for Northern Ireland elected
1941 - Bismarck sinks British battle cruiser HMS Hood; 1,416 die, 3 survive
1944 - Icelandic voters sever all ties with Denmark
1951 - Racial segregation in Wash DC restaurants ruled illegal
1958 - Cuban President Batista opens offensive against Fidel Castro's rebellion
2004 - North Korea bans mobile phones.

  Today’s Birthdays:   

How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays below
My Free Rambling Thoughts   

The overcast day had all of us hoping for some moisture. Alas, now made it to the ground. But there was much less wind and the fire is not spreading as fast as it has been…about 7500 acres. The news keeps saying things are better; it is growing at a slower rate; it is now 5% contained; it has not crossed the highway—which protects many homes. Late this afternoon the smoke returned to our town. Another very smoky time that looks more like a yellow eclipse than an overcast day. It is a strange time as the Forest service, in the midst of the largest current fire in the US, it did not place open fire restrictions in the rest of the forest over this long weekend. Many are saying they don’t want to lose the $$$ from the campers coming to the forest. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t make much sense. 600 firefighters will be spending their weekend holiday fighting this human caused fire and working day and night to prevent the fire from destroying people’s homes and businesses. Many will also be working on leads to find the perp.

Way too many ‘close calls’ in the air this week. They are saying that it is a small number compared to the number of flights. Great, as long as one is not a passenger or crew on one of the ‘close calls’.

I really enjoy my iPad. I use it daily, in my living room, especially during commercials when I am watching live TV. The one problem is the internal speaker. It is less than pleasant to listen to very long. I bought a Bluetooth small speaker. It is not connected to the iPad, but sits on a table near the iPad. Great sound, easy to turn on and off as needed. Easy to recharge. Should have gotten one months ago. A good $30 investment. Nothing fancy, but good sound.

Shockwave: Seminole HS in OK has determined that Native students can’t wear an eagle feather on their mortarboard. When I was at Pine Ridge, we had a specific ceremony where the graduating Lakota students were presented with an Eagle feather for their accomplishment. It is certainly a part of Native history for many tribes. How any school in the US can prevent this is beyond my comprehension. Eagle feathers are sacred and only awarded to those who have made contributions to the tribe. When at a Pow Wow, if an eagle feather falls off any regalia, the Pow Wow stops, a medicine man comes out and blesses the feather before it is even picked up. This can take quite a long time. I get that the school doesn’t want some crazy stuff at their graduation, but to deny any Native American the ability to have an eagle feather on their mortarboard is a complete dismissal of cultural identity.  Racism is NOT dead in the US.

 

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers
Fill in the words that are empty by using words that will connect with the previous one.

EXAMPLE: Towel, Rack. (You have the words Towel and Rack, but when put together it becomes "Towel rack".)

Try to connect petting to guard.

Petting
Z_ _
A_ _ _ _ _
C_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Guard

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today






OK Then…Aerial View of our Fire
Harper’s Index 

Percentage increase in the number of reported anti-Muslim hate crimes in the UK over the past year: 100

Unusual Fact of the Day

When cranberries are ripe, they bounce like a rubber ball.

Top 5 Most Educated Movie Stars in Hollywood…

#3 - Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd has been nominated for two Golden Globes -- for her work in "De-Lovely" and "Norma Jean & Marilyn"—and is most well-known for playing tough women in crime thrillers such as "Heat" and "Kiss the Girls." Like Franco, however, Judd's not just a pretty face. She studied at the University of Kentucky, where she majored in French and pursued four minors: cultural anthropology, art history, theater and women's studies. She was also Phi Beta Kappa and a member of the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma. In 2010 she graduated from Harvard with a master's degree in public administration, which she hopes to use to help charities and nonprofits.

Travel Destination Info… 

9) Turkey - $21.3 billion
Some people might be surprised that Turkey is ranked 9th with $21.3 dollars being spent in the country in 2009 by international tourists but tourism is big in Turkey and the country is a popular tourist destination due to its beaches along the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas as well as the great historical sites located here. Istanbul is full of hotels and great sites like the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

Top 5 Poorest Countries…

3  - Zimbabwe

Landlocked Zimbabwe's $516 per capita PPP gross national product makes it the third least affluent nation. This African country, rich in natural resources, underwent a turbulent decade that included war and ineffective economic policies. Primarily an agrarian economy, Zimbabwe experiences frequent droughts, which play havoc with its ability to meet its own food needs and produce cash crops such as grain and tobacco. Mining copper, gold, coal and diamonds offers potential for job creation and economic expansion.

 

Joke-of-the-day

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, "There's Jennifer; she's a lawyer,' or “That’s Michael, he's a doctor.'"
A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher. She's dead."

Rules of Thumb:   

CHOOSING A MATE
When choosing a mate, consider not only what kind of spouse he or she will make, but also what kind of ex-spouse he or she will be.

Yeah, It Really Happened

WUHAN, China (UPI) - In the mammalian race to food snobbery, whales are at the back of the pack. They don't even know what umami is.

They're likely rather adept, however, at determining the salt content of a given food item. Salt, after all, is the only thing whales can taste.

According to a new study, evolutionary gene mutations among cetacean ancestors -- which include whales and dolphins -- have rendered four of five taste bud types useless, destroying their ability to taste sweet, bitter, umami (savory) and sour. Almost all other vertebrates have the full array of functioning taste sensors.

Researchers made their discovery while sequencing the genomes of 15 species, including baleen whales, like bowheads and minkes, as well toothed species, like bottlenose dolphins and sperm whales.

"The loss of bitter taste is a complete surprise, because natural toxins typically taste bitter," explained zoologist Huabin Zhao of Wuhan University in China, the study's lead researcher.

The study was published earlier this month in journal Genome Biology and Evolution.

The fact that most whale species swallow their food whole may at least partially explain the loss of taste buds, as flavors are mostly released when food is chewed. Mutations often infiltrate the genetic code after certain traits become useless.

But the retention of salty taste receptors, scientists say, may help whales maintain proper sodium levels and blood pressure.

Still, if the price of a strengthened sense of salt is the the inability to taste dangerous substances, it's a cost that sometimes proves perilous.

Packs of killer whales have unknowingly swum into the middle of oil spills, and dolphins have died after eating fish filled with algal toxins.

Somewhat Useless Information   

Did you know that before the sinking of Titanic in 1912 there was no system in place to track icebergs to guard ships against collisions? Observing and monitoring icebergs was developed around the 20′s and 30′s.

An iceberg has several shapes such as ‘dome’ (rounded top), ‘pinnacle’ (one or more spires), ‘wedge’ (a steep edge on one side and a slope on the opposite side), ‘dry-dock’ (eroded to form a slot or channel) and ‘blocky’ (steep, vertical sides and a flat top).

Icebergs range from 1 to 75 metres (3.3 to 246.1 ft) above sea level and 90% of it sits under water!

][

There are several claims on the originality of the fortune cookie. One is that of Los Angeles and the other one is that of San Francisco.

Regarding Los Angeles, it is said that David Jung, a Chinese immigrant living in Los Angeles invented the cookie in 1918, as he wanted to offer it  for free to the poor he saw wandering near his shop. Each cookie had a strip of paper with an inspirational Bible scripture on it, written for Jung by a Presbyterian minister.

Regarding San Francisco, it is said that the fortune cookie was created by a Japanese immigrant named Makoto Hagiwara, who was fired from his job by an anti-Japanese mayor, but later a new mayor reinstated him. He created the fortune cookie in 1914 including a thank you note, as he was grateful to those who had stood by him during his period of hardship.

][

Elephant, Texas, America, take, immediately, connect, internet, house, Europe, useless, president, summer, afternoon, letter. What’s the common letter in these words?

All of these words contain ‘E’, which is the most commonly used letter in the alphabet.

The second most common letter is T. A, I, N, O, and S tie for third.

The least used letter in the alphabet is Q.

Calendar Information        

This Week’s Observances:

18-24
National Safe Boating Week
EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Week
National New Friends, Old Friends Week

World Trade Week 

19-26
National Backyard Games Week
National Educational Bosses' Week
 
National Medical Transcription Week  
International Coaching Week
Recreational Water Illness and Injury Prevention Week


22-25
Mudbug Madness Week
National Polka Weekend

Old-Time Player Piano Weekend

Today Is  

Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day (ARMAD)
Brother's Day
Hug Your Cat Day
International Jazz Day
Julia Pierpont Day—pushed for Decoration Day
Morse Code Day
National Escargot Day

][

Culture Day (Bulgaria)
Independence Day (Eritrea-1991-from Ethiopia)

Today’s Events through History

1689 - English Parliament guarantees freedom of religion for Protestants
1930 - 1st woman to fly from England to Australia solo, lands (Amy Johnson)
1958 - UP & International News Service merge into United Press International
1959 - Empire Day renamed Commonwealth Day in Great Britain
1980 - Iran rejects a call to World Court to release US hostages
1983 - Supreme Court rules government can deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminated against students

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Tommy Chong, Edmonton, Alberta, comedian/actor is 76
Bob Dylan, [Robert Zimmerman], singer/songwriter is 73
Gary Burghoff, Bristol CT, actor (Radar-M*A*S*H) is 71
Patti LaBelle, [Holt], singer (LaBelle-Lady Marmalade) is 70
Priscilla Presley, Brooklyn, actress (Jenna-Dallas, Naked Gun) is 69
Rosanne Cash, country singer (Seven Year Ache, I Wonder) is 59
Will Sasso, Canadian actor and comedian [Mad TV] is 39

Remembered for being born today

1819-1901 - Victoria Alexandrine, Queen of Great Britain  
1918-1997 - Coleman A Young, civil rights leader (Mayor-D-Detroit)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Dick Martin comedian (Laugh In), 2008, @86
Harold Wilson, British PM, cancer, 1995, @79
Duke Ellington, musician, cancer, 1974, @75
John Foster Dulles, US Secretary of State, cancer, 1959, @71
Vivian Liberto, first wife of Johnny Cash, lung cancer, 2005, @71  

Brain Teasers                                         

Petting
Zoo
Animal
Crossing
Guard

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  §

 

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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.