8-28-14

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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 240 / Week: 35 

August Averages: 78° \ 50°
Today:
    Average Sky Cover: 35%
    H 72°… L 49°… Ave. humidity: 78%
    Wind: ave:   3mph; Gusts:  20mph 
    Average High: 78° Record High:  89° (1948)
    Average Low: 47° Record Low:  33° (1920)
        
Quote of the Day

Historical Highlights for Today

  476 - Western Roman Empire formally disbands, emperor Romulus August ousted

1565 - Oldest city in the US, St Augustine Fla, established
1609 - Henry Hudson, discovers & explores Delaware Bay
1789 - Sir William Herschel discovers Saturn's moon Enceladus
1837 - Pharmacists John Lea & William Perrins manufacture Worcestershire Sauce
1845 - Scientific American magazine publishes its first issue.
1864 – 1st Geneva Convention, governing rules of warfare, signed by 26 nations.
1884 – 1st known photograph of a tornado is made near Howard, SD
1898 - Caleb Bradham renames his carbonated soft drink "Pepsi-Cola"
1907 - United Parcel Service is founded by James E. Casey in Seattle, Washington
1937 - Toyota Motors becomes an independent company.
1949 - Riot prevents Paul Robeson from singing near Peekskill NY
1963 - 200,000 march\demonstrate in Washington, DC
1963 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I have a dream speech"
1982 - The first Gay Games are held in San Francisco

♫  Birthdays Today: ♫  

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

My Rambling Thoughts   

A light afternoon rain blew through here. Sun was shining while the rain was falling. Just a nice day all the way around. Tomorrow I get to see the Dr about my foot issue. Can’t wait. It is all good today and I actually took a nice walk this morning.  

Yesterday was the AZ primary elections. This is a very Republican and conservative state, but we have had lots of Dems over the years in office. I did vote yesterday, but only on a couple of offices…City Council and Local judge. Most of the rest of the ballot was only one candidate, or no candidate at all. Now it will be time to learn about the actual candidates who are on the Nov ballot. There were some real wacko conservatives on the Republican ballot for governor, now it is just one conservative. The good side of being registered in the minority party, not a lot of robocalls. Those will start while I’m in Ireland and after I return. My polling place for this decade is at the Lutheran church about a block from my house…nice.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Susan needed to go to the store to buy some ingredients to cook with. She started writing them down:
Butter
Milk
Eggs
Baking Soda
Cashews
Oranges
Vinegar
Lemon Juice

What was Susan making?

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

 LeAnn Rimes - Blue (Official Music Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zod1Vv8ZDNg

Ruth Gordon Tribute http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfIxsszLXu8

Shania Twain - You're Still The One http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNZH-emehxA

The Comic Genius of Nancy Kulp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZIjJwoz7j0

OK Then…

 Returns tomorrow

Paraphernalia 4 the Brain :     

Brain Facts…

Scientists say that a 'zombie apocalypse' is actually possible based on the recent discovery of certain brain parasites. But as of now, these parasites only affect bugs.

Computer Facts…

It would take 76 work days (8 hours a day) for the average person to read the Terms and Conditions they agree to in a year.

Flagstaff, AZ History…

25 YEARS AGO

The Doney government survey done 20 years ago is 170 inches off. As many as 1,400 parcels are affected. Some fence lines are being moved by opportunists, causing additional confusion.

**NEW**Fun Facts…

After octopuses breed, they develop dementia. They then live the rest of their lives in this confused, seemingly lost state, with apparently no knowledge of previous events.

Harper’s Index

Portion of North American zoo elephants who are overweight: 3/4   

Language Facts…

Floccinaucinihilipilification, the declaration of an item being useless, is the longest non-medical term in the English language.

Rules of Thumb…   

LOADING A MUZZLE LOADER

Back in the days when every firearm was made by hand and every firearm was a muzzle-loader, the starting powder charge for a new firearm was determined thusly: Place the proper sized bullet in your palm and pour just enough powder over it to cover it completely. That amount of powder will be a safe starting charge that can be adjusted for accuracy. Works today with modern muzzle-loaders too!

Superstitions…

Breaking a mirror is said to bring bad luck for 7 years. To "undo" this, take the shards of glass and bury them underneath the moonlight. In ancient times, the mirror was said to be a window to the viewer's soul.

Unusual Fact of the Day…

Why did the FBI call Ted Kaczynski "The Unabomber"? His early mail bombs were sent to universities (UN) & airlines (A).

Joke-of-the-day

The science graduate asks, "Why does it work?" The engineering graduate asks, "How does it work?" The accounting graduate asks, "How much does it cost?" The liberal arts graduate asks, "Would you like fries with that?" 

Yeah, It Really Happened

BOLTON, England - A man in England was fined for wasting police time after telling his girlfriend he was kidnapped so he could stay at a party with his friends. The unnamed man told his girlfriend he was being held in a house in Bolton, England until he repaid £50 to the fabricated captor. The man's understandably panicked girlfriend called the police to report the fictional crime, launching a very costly manhunt that even led to an unnecessary arrest. "Considerable resources and time then went into finding this man, who it transpires made the entire thing up so he could stay out and party," Detective Inspector Jo Clawson said in a statement. "This is without doubt one of the most foolish and irresponsible incidents I have been involved in ... Significant resources were taken off the front line on a Friday night, which is without exception one of the busiest times of the week." Over a dozen officers executed a neighborhood search, knocking on doors and combing through CCTV footage. The "missing" man was eventually discovered at a party around 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Rather an arrest him, the man was fined on the spot and will forever have a criminal record for trying to have night without his girlfriend. "We feel we have wasted enough time and resources on him already and not only has he been fined, this matter will be recorded as a criminal conviction on his record."

 

Somewhat Useless Information   

Dr. Rene Theophile Laenne invented the first stethoscope in 1816. He felt embarrassed if he had to listen to the heart beat of a young female patient by placing his ear directly on her chest, so he rolled up 24 sheets of paper to make a tube and placed one end on her chest and the other end in his ear. By 1855 a stethoscope similar to the one used during most of the 20th century became available.
The blood pressure cuff was invented by an Austrian physician named Samuel Siegfried Karl Ritter von Basch and first saw use in doctor's surgeries in the 1880's. An improved version of the cuff was unveiled by Italian physician Scipione Riva-Rocci in 1896.
Computed Tomography (CT) imaging is also known as "CAT scanning" (Computed Axial Tomography). CT was invented in 1972 by British engineer Godfrey Hounsfield of EMI Laboratories, England and by South Africa-born physicist Allan Cormack of Tufts University, Massachusetts. Hounsfield and Cormack were later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their contributions to medicine and science.
While studying the effects of passing an electrical current through gases at low pressure, German physicist Wilhelm Rontgen accidentally discovered X-rays. When Rontgen held a piece of lead in front of the electron-discharge tube, it blocked the rays, but he was shocked to see his own flesh glowing around his bones on the fluorescent screen behind his hand.
In 1948 George de Mestral, a Swiss mountaineer, and his dog went for a hike in the woods. When they returned both were covered with burrs. Using a microscope he examined the burrs stuck to his pants and discovered that the burrs had small hooks that clung to small loops of fabric in his clothing. This lead him to the idea of making one material with small hooks and the other material with tiny loops. He called his invention Velcro, a combination of the words velour and crochet.
English physician, Sir Thomas Allbutt (1836-1925) invented the first practical medical thermometer used for taking the temperature of a person in 1867. It was portable, 6 inches in length and able to record a patient's temperature in 5 min.

 

Check Your Calendar

Observances This Week:

24-30

National Chuck Wagon Races
National Safe at Home Week
Be Kind To Humankind Week

 

Today Is  

Crackers Over The Keyboard Day

Dream Day Quest and Jubilee
Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day
Radio Commercials Day
++
Family Day (US-Tennessee)
                                                     
 Today’s Events through History  

1830 - 1st locomotive in US, "Tom Thumb", runs from Baltimore to Ellicotts Mill

1924 - Georgian opposition stages the August Uprising against the Soviet Union
1981 - John Hinckley Jr pleads innocent in attempt to kill President Reagan
2003 - An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt
2012 - Mitt Romney is officially nominated

Birthday’s Today                                                        

David Soul, [Solberg], actor (Starsky & Hutch) is 71

Emma Samms, [Samuels], actress (Colby's) is 54
Shania Twain, Windsor Ontario, singer (You're Still the One) is 49
Jason Priestley, Vancouver, actor (Brandon-Beverly Hills 90210) is 45
Jack Black, Comedic actor is 45
LeAnn Rimes, country singer (Blue) is 32

 

Remembered for being born today

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Frankfurt, social philosopher (Faust), (1749-1832)
Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, 1st American Catholic saint (1975), (1774-1821)

Charles Boyer, France, actor (Algiers, Fanny, Barefoot in the Park) (1899-1978)

Jack Kirby, cartoonist (X-Men, Spiderman, Hulk, Capt America) (1917-1994)

Nancy Kulp, actress (Miss Hathaway-Beverly Hillbillies) (1921-1991)

Rokie Roker, actress (Helen-Jeffersons) (1929-1995)

Ben Gazzara, actor (Run for Your Life, QB VII), (1930-2012)

 

Historical Obits Today                                                           

Ruth Gordon, actress (Big Bus), 1985, @88

Alexander Carlyle, Scottish church leader, 1805, @83

Frederick Law Olmsted, writer\landscape architect (Central Park), 1903, @81

Charles Darrow, US inventor of Monopoly, 1967, @78

 

Brain Teasers                                         

A shopping list.

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  §