6-26-14

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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 177 / Week: 26 

June Averages: 78° \ 42°
Today: Average Sky Cover: 0%
    H 81°… L 50°… Ave. humidity: 24%
    Wind: ave:   11mph; Gusts:  17mph  
    Average High: 81° Record High:  96° (1970)
    Average Low: 45° Record Low:  26° (1975)
       
Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

1483 - Duke of Gloucester appoints himself King Richard III of England 1498 - Toothbrush invented

1721 - Dr Zabdiel Boylston gives 1st smallpox inoculations in America
1843 - Hong Kong proclaimed a British Crown Colony
1848 - 1st pure food law enacted in US
1870 - 1st section of Atlantic City (NJ) Boardwalk opens
1896 - 1st movie theater in US opens, charging 10 cents for admission
1924 - After 8 years of occupation, US troops leave Dominican Republic
1927 - The Cyclone roller coaster opens on Coney Island
1934 - FDR signs Federal Credit Union Act, establishing Credit Unions
1959 - Queen Elizabeth & President Eisenhower open St Lawrence Seaway
1963 - US President John Kennedy visits West Berlin "Ich bin ein Berliner" 
1974 - The Universal Product Code is scanned for 1st time
1975 - 2 FBI agents and a member of the AIM are killed at Wounded Knee
1992 - Supreme Court rules fund soliciting can be banned at airports

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫  

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

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Headed out this morning to get a haircut. Thought I would be the first one there, but must be a good day for haircuts. I was number 2 and within 10 minutes after they opened, there were four people waiting. Still got out in less than 45 minutes so I’m not complaining.

Flag is on fire watch with our low humidity and high temps. Thankfully it is not too windy, but hopefully everyone will be careful when in the forest. Speaking of the forest, yesterday two Black guys attempted to rob a local jewelry store. They got away and their vehicle was found near one of the many entrances to the forest. It’s been over 36 hours and they still haven’t been caught. Very odd for our small town.
 
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

I am a chemical symbol for an element.

This element was discovered in 1824.
I am a Spanish word without the accent.
Reverse me so I become a form of a common verb.
What symbol am I?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

  Chris Isaak - Ring Of Fire

  ELVIS PRESLEY and COLONEL TOM PARKER

 Greg LeMond - Cycling and Exercising

 

  Sean Hayes

  This is Peter Lorre speaking

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

Percentage change in the number of overweight people in the developing world since 1980: +261

Unusual Fact of the Day

Senator Strom Thurmond is in the record books for giving the longest recorded speech in history, clocking in at 24 hours and 18 minutes. The speech was a filibuster in opposition to the 1957 Civil Rights Act (which passed, despite his efforts).

Trivia about AZ…

The cactus wren is the official state bird. It grows seven to eight inches long and likes to build nests in the protection of thorny desert plants like the arms of the giant saguaro cactus.

Turquoise is the official state gemstone. The blue-green stone has a somewhat waxy surface and can be found throughout the state.

Interesting facts about Islam…

There are six articles of faith in Islam. These are the basic beliefs that one must have in order to be considered a true Muslim. They are belief in: A) the One God. B) all the prophets of God. C) the original scriptures revealed to Prophets Moses, David, Jesus, and Muhammad. D) the angels. E) the Day of Judgment and the Hereafter. F) the divine decree (or destiny).

Joke-of-the-day

A poet and a scientist were traveling together on a plane. The scientist was bored and said to the poet, "Hey, you, do you want to play a game? I'll ask you a question, and if you get it wrong, you give me $5. Then, you ask me a question, and if I can't answer it, I'll give you $5."

The poet thought about this for a moment, but he decided against it, seeing that the scientist was obviously a very bright man. He politely turned down the scientist's offer.
The scientist, who was really bored, tried again. "Look, I'll ask you a question, and if you can't answer it, you give me $5. Then you ask me a question, and if I can't answer it, I'll give you $50."
The poet agreed. "Okay," the scientist said, "what is the exact distance between the Earth and the Moon?"
The poet, obviously not knowing the answer, didn't stop to think about the scientist's question. He took a $5 bill out of his pocket and handed it to the scientist.
The scientist happily accepted the bill and promptly said, "Okay, now it's your turn."
The poet thought about this for a few minutes, then asked, "All right, what goes up a mountain on three legs, but comes down on four?"
The bright glow quickly vanished from the scientist's face. He thought about this for a long time, taking out his notepad and making numerous calculations. He finally gave up on his notepad and took out his laptop, using his Multimedia Encyclopedia. As the plane was landing the scientist gave up. He reluctantly handed the poet a $50 bill.
The poet accepted it graciously, getting ready to stand up. "Wait!" the scientist shouted, "you can't do this to me! What's the answer?"
The poet looked at the scientist and calmly put a $5 bill into his hand. 

Rules of Thumb:   

WATCHING YOUR BREATH

When you see your breath, it is below 45 F.

Yeah, It Really Happened

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. (UPI) - A Florida woman was caught on surveillance video attempting to eat a bag full of marijuana during an arrest for DUI. Tavish Smith was pulled over on suspicion of DUI after she allegedly crashed her truck two times and was seen driving the wrong way. During the stop, officers searched the vehicle and discovered a sandwich bag full of marijuana. After the suspect was placed in the back of a squad car, she asked the officer to go get her flip-flops from her truck. Smith was then able to wriggle out of her handcuffs and grab the bag from the front seat of the squad car. She then quickly chowed down on its contents. "My car's smelling like the stuff you had in your seat," the arresting trooper says in the video. "I hope that's not why this marijuana bag was open over here. Bags of weed just don't go missing inside a police car. And I've got it all on video." Smith denied eating the pot, but she allegedly left marijuana crumbs everywhere. The 45-year-old allegedly ate about 12 grams of grass. According to WTSP, "at the moment she eats the evidence, her misdemeanor charges for minor hit-and-run, DUI and marijuana possession bump up to a felony."

Somewhat Useless Information   

Dr. Tony Fallone noted in 1997 that hair color is the root of a person's personality. Blondes are typically more outgoing and lively and are perceived as more feminine than women with other hair colors. According to Fallone, being blonde is not a hair color, but a state of mind.

And the numbers seem to prove him right. While just 1 in 20 white American adults is naturally blonde, virtually 1 in 3 white adult females dye their hair a shade of blonde.

Nearly 2,000 years before Homer, during the time of the Proto-Indo-Europeans, blonde hair was connected to the worship of the sun and fire and to the adoration of a yellow dawn goddess.

During the Roman era German blondes were taken captive and had their hair cut off to be made into wigs for fashionable ladies.

But by the Middle Ages, blonde women were held with suspicion, and by the mid-14th century, depictions of Eve were consistently giving her free-flowing locks of golden blonde hair that marked her as an evil temptress.

In Ancient Rome, women tried to dye their hair blonde with pigeon dung. In Renaissance Venice, they used horse urine.

Hydrogen peroxide was discovered in 1818, but there was little application for it until 1867 when it was found that it could bleach hair. It quickly became popular throughout Europe and America, superseding everything else that had been used as bleach before then..

 

Calendar Information        

This Week’s Observances:

22-28
Carpenter Ant Awareness Week
Fish Are Friends, Not Food! Week
Lightning Safety Awareness Week
National Mosquito Control Awareness Week

Watermelon Seed Spitting Week
Today Is  

America's Kid's Day Descendants Day

International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
Log Cabin Day
National Canoe Day
National Hand Shake Day
National Chocolate Pudding Day
UN International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
~~
Independence Day (Madagascar-1960-France)
                                                        
Today’s Events through History  

1553 - Christ's Hospital in England granted a charter

1919 - NY Daily News begins publishing

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Charles "Chuck" Robb, (Sen-D-Va)/husband of Lynda Bird Johnson is 75

Chris Isaak, rock singer/songwriter (Wicked Game) is 58
Greg LeMond, US bicyclist (Tour de France winner-1986, 1989, 1990) is 53
Sean Hayes, actor is 44
Chris O'Donnell, actor (School Ties, Robin-Batman Forever) is 43
Derek Jeter, Pequanock NJ, shortstop (NY Yankees, Rookie of Year 1996) is 39
Michael Vick, American football player is 34

Remembered for being born today

1694-1768 - Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (d. 1768)

1824-1907-  Kelvin, [William Thomson], British physicist (Kelvin Scale)
1898-1978 - Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft designer
1904-1964 - Peter Lorre, Hungarian/US, actor (Casablanca)  
1909-1997 - "Col Tom" Parker, [Dries Van Kruijk], Neth, rock mgr (Elvis Presley)
1911-1956 - Babe Didrikson Zaharias [Mildred], athlete (U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame)
1922-2013 - Eleanor Parker, actress (Hans Brinker)
1922-2004 - Frances Rafferty, actress (December Bride)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Strom Thurmond, U.S. Senator, 2003, @100

Liz Claiborne, Belgian-born American fashion designer, cancer, 2007, @78
Roy Campanella, 3xMVP catcher (Dodgers), heart attack, 1993, @71
Nora Ephron, American author/screenwriter, pneumonia, 2012, @71
Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistador of the Inca Empire, killed, 1541, @60ish

Brain Teasers                                         

 Si. (silicon)

Silicon was discovered in 1824.
"Si" with an accent means "yes" in Spanish.
Reverse it to become "is", which is a form of the verb "be".

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  §