6-9-14


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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 160 / Week: 24 
June Averages: 78° \ 42°
Today: Average Sky Cover: 5%
    H 82° L 45° Ave. humidity: 17%
    Wind: ave:   11mph; Gusts:  26mph  
    Average High: 76° Record High:  89° (1985)
    Average Low: 40° Record Low:  24° (1950)
       
Quote of the Day
Today’s Historical Highlights

    68 - Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging.
1534 - Jacques Cartier 1st sails into mouth of St Lawrence River
1549 - Book of Common Prayer is adopted by the Church of England
1790 - 1st book copyrighted under constitution, "Philadelphia Spelling Book"
1802 - US Academy at West Point founded
1860 - 1st US "dime novel" published: "Malaseka, The Indian Wife of the White Hunter," by Mrs Ann Stevens
1869 - Charles Elmer Hires sells his 1st root beer (Phila)
1969 - Warren Burger confirmed as US Chief Justice
1970 - Harry A Blackmun, sworn in as Supreme Court Justice
1978 - Mormons strike down 148 year policy of excluding black men from priesthood

  Today’s Birthdays:   

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

Another warm beautiful day in our little mountain town.

Yeah, I know…by email yesterday was for my ‘bloog’. Speed typing and speed sending didn’t pay off.

Watched my Sunday morning news shows and learned a little. Then caught up on the latest Cosmo and Vice. Cosmo was about global warming and gave a pretty clear scientific argument to the problems of greenhouse gasses. Then Vice had a segment on the North Pole issues. As the ice melts up there new, shorter, and less expensive shipping lanes are opening. This is causing territorial disputes over the North Pole. Russia, Canada, Norway, and Russia all claim ‘ownership’ of the Pole. As the ice sheet melts more ways are being discovered to drill for the vast oil reserves under the polar region. Lots of war games are going on by NATO and by Russia. The newest big concern is Russia’s recent territorial fighting in Crimea and Ukraine. As if all this wasn’t bothersome enough, the second half of Vice was talking about the drug trade in Afghanistan. When the country was run by the Taliban government, Heroin use and poppy growing was illegal. With the dismissal of the Taliban by the US invasion, the drug trade has done two things: one—production of heroin has increased 10fold; two—the Taliban has joined drug production business to get more money to fight the US invaders. This has greatly increased the general population’s dependence as on heroin…for money and as addicts. The fact that this all happened after the US arrived has many in Afghanistan blaming the US on the drug problem.

 

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

What is bigger when it is put upside down?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today





OK Then…
Sadly the Gallup newspaper printed a very racist letter to the editor regarding pan handling Natives in the city. This is one of several FB responses.
Harper’s Index 

Factor by which the amount raised last year on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter exceed grant-giving by the NEA: 4

Portion of taxpayer funded research whose findings are not available to the public for free: 1/2

Unusual Fact of the Day

While many think Hydrox cookies were an Oreo knock-off, Hydrox actually came first. They were first made in 1908, four years before the Oreo.

Heard by Flight Attendants…

On the customs and immigration form it says: Sex M-F. Passengers will ask if it means how many times they have sex  Monday to  Friday

Presidential Fun Facts…

John Quincy Adams: Graduated Harvard College (1787) Secretary of State under Monroe. Adams swam nude (weather permitting) in the Potomac River every day. First elected president not to receive either the most electoral college votes or popular votes. The first son of a president to become a president. (later followed by the only other father/son presidents, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.)  Only president elected to the House after his presidency. He named one of his sons George Washington.

Ben Franklin on Character…

Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

Common misused words...

Insure and ensure
This one's easy. Insure refers to insurance. Ensure means to make sure. So if you promise an order will ship on time, ensure it actually happens. Unless, of course, you plan to arrange for compensation if the package is damaged or lost--then feel free to insure away.

Pen Names of famous authors…

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson--Pen name: Lewis Carroll
Author Lewis Carroll made his name as a master of fanciful wordplay and often nonsensical-sounding poetry and prose in books such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Fittingly, his pen name is a play on his real name as well. Lewis is the anglicized version of Ludovicus, which is the Latin form of Lutwidge. Carroll is an Irish surname that comes from Carolus, the Latin word for Charles.

The World as 100 people…

INTERNET: 30 have internet access; 70 do not

Joke-of-the-day

A pilot landed a plane with a rather bumpy landing. As part of his job he was required to stand by the terminal door and say goodbye to the passengers as they exited the airplane. He was afraid that someone might say something about his rather less than perfect landing, but everyone left without saying a word except for one passenger, an elderly lady, she slowly approached the pilot after most passengers had exited the plane and asked, "Did we land? Or were we shot down?" 

Rules of Thumb:   

WHO STARTS FISTFIGHTS
Any cop will tell you, in a bar fight, the shorter of the two probably started the fight.

Yeah, It Really Happened

PHOENIX (UPI) - Legal gymnastics are being used to try and prevent an Arizona woman from performing cartwheels at public meetings in Phoenix. Dianne "DD" Barker received a cease-and-desist letter from an attorney for the Maricopa Association of Governments telling her to immediately stop performing cartwheels at MAG meetings. "You have from time to time suggested that MAG cannot prevent you from performing cartwheels during your comments," according to the letter. "That position is incorrect." The 65-year-old sent back an email in protest, saying that not being able to perform cartwheels would limit her ability to "freely speak/express in such positive conviction, my continuing commitment, and unwavering support for MAG's transportation/air quality duty and directives," The Republic reported. Barker first discovered she was good at cartwheels while she was a cheerleader at Ohio State University. "I think that the cartwheel is something I found out that I could do that is enjoyable, and it definitely expresses my passion," Barker told Fox 10. She plans to follow the letter of the law at meetings, but that's about it. "The cartwheel isn't the end of it, I'm walking down the wall backwards and getting myself in shape for doing the back over," Barker said.

Somewhat Useless Information   

When fabric gets wet, light coming towards it refracts within the water, dispersing the light. In addition, the surface of the water causes incoherent light scattering. The combination of these two effects causes less light to reflect to your eyes and makes the wet fabric appear darker.
***
Drinking water after eating hot spicy food will not calm your tongue. The spices in most of the hot foods that we eat are oily, and oil and water don't mix. In this case, the water just rolls over the oily spices. What can you do to calm your aching tongue? Eat bread. The bread will absorb the oily spices. A second solution is to drink milk. Milk contains a substance called "casein" which will bind to the spices and carry them away.
***
In ancient times, it was believed that certain colors could combat the evil spirits that lingered over nurseries. Because blue was associated with the heavenly spirits, boys were clothed in that color, boys then being considered the most valuable resource to parents. Although baby girls did not have a color associated with them, they were mostly clothed in black. It was only in the Middle Ages when pink became associated with baby girls.
***
Blood is bright red in its oxygenated form and a dark red in deoxygenated form. In simpler terms, it is bright red when it leaves the lungs full of oxygen and dark red when it returns to the lungs for a refill. Veins appear blue because light penetrating the skin is absorbed and reflected in high energy wavelengths back to the eye. Higher energy wavelengths are blue.
***
Onions, like other plants, are made of cells. The cells are divided into two sections separated by a membrane. One side of the membrane contains an enzyme which helps chemical processes occur in your body. The other side of the membrane contains molecules that contain sulfur. When you cut an onion, the contents on each side of the membrane mix and cause a chemical reaction. This reaction produces molecules such as ethylsufine which make your eyes water.
***
Camels are called "ships of the desert" because of the way they move, not because of their transport capabilities. Camels sway from side to side because they move both legs on one side at the same time, elevating that side. This is called pacing, a ship-like motion which can make the rider feel sick.

Calendar Information        

This Week’s Observances:

6-8
Great American Brass Band Week

8-14
International Clothesline Week
National Body Piercing Week
National Flag Week
Jim Thorpe Native American Games

Men's Health Week
National Automotive Service Professionals Week


Today Is  

Abused Women and Children's Awareness Day
Donald Duck Day - 1931
                                                      
Today’s Events through History  

1902 - 1st Automat restaurant opens (818 Chestnut St, Phila)
1924 - "Jelly-Roll Blues" is recorded by blues great, Jelly Roll Morton
1958 - "Purple People Eater" by Sheb Wooley hits #1
2012 - Burma (Myanmar) riots kill 20 people and burn down 300 houses

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Jackie Mason, comedian (World According to Me) is 83
Joe Santos, Brooklyn, actor (Rockford Files) is 83
Dick Vitale, US, sportscaster (ESPN, ABC "Oh Baby!") is 75
Michael J. Fox, Canadian actor (Family Ties, Back to the Future) is 53
Johnny Depp, actor (21 Jump Street) is 51
Natalie Portman [Natalie Hershlag], Israeli/American actress is 33

Remembered for being born today

1672-1725 - Peter the Great [Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov], tsar of Russia
1891-1964 - Cole Porter, composer/lyricist (Anything Goes)
1900-1984 - Fred Waring, musician/conductor/inventor (Waring Blender)
1908-1990 - Robert Cummings, actor (Love that Bob, Dial M For Murder)
1915-2009 - Les Paul, guitarist/inventor (Les Paul guitar)
1916-2009 - Robert S McNamara, US Sec of Defense \head (World Bank)
1934-1984 - Jackie Wilson, Detroit, singer (Lonely Teardrops)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Miguel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, 1974, @74
Reid Shelton, actor (Daddy Warbucks-Annie), stroke, 1997, @71
Iain Banks, Scottish author, gallbladder cancer, 2013, @59
Charles Dickens, English writer (David Copperfield), stroke, 1870, @58

Brain Teasers                                         

The number 6. When it is put upside down, it is 9. Nine is bigger than six.

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.