11-21-14

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Almanac: Week: 47 \ Day: 325 
November Averages: 51° \ 22°



Holiday Observances Today:
Alascattalo Day (About Alaska & humor)
Beaujolais Nouveau Day-yearly vintage release of the French Red Wine
False Confession Day
World Hello Day
World Television Day
Observances This Week:
National Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week; International Fraud Awareness Week: 15-23 
American Education Week; National Book Awards Week; National Global Entrepreneurship Week: 17-23   
National Farm-City Week: 21-27 

• • • •
Quote of the Day



Historical Highlights for Today
1620 - Mayflower Compact signed by Pilgrims in Cape Cod
1787 - Andrew Jackson admitted to bar
1789 - North Carolina ratifies constitution, becomes 12th US state
1794 - Honolulu Harbor discovered
1847 - Steamer "Phoenix" is lost on Lake Michigan, kills 200
1871 - The first human cannonball, Emilio Onra, is shot
1906 - China prohibits opium trade
1922 - Rebecca L Felton (Ga) sworn in as first female US Senator
1940 - Nazi occupiers forbid building schools in Netherlands
1942 - Tweety Bird, aka Tweety Pie, debuts in "Tale of Two Kitties"
1946 - Harry Truman becomes 1st US president to travel in a submerged sub
1964 - World's longest suspension bridge "Verrazano Narrows" opens (NYC)
1973 - Pres Nixon's attorney, J Fred Buzhardt, reveals presence of 18½ minute gap
1977 – 1st flight of Concorde (London to New York)
1980 - Dallas' "Who Shot JR?" episode (Kristen) gets a 53.3 rating (83 mill) in the US
1981 - 400,000 demonstrate in Amsterdam against cruise missiles
1989 - Law banning smoking on most domestic flights signed by President Bush  
• • • •
  Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today



My Rambling Thoughts
Nice late fall day here in Flag, with no controlled burns so we had a nice blue sky.
Lunch was nice with our retiree group. Mary is headed to Phx for Thanksgiving with her in-laws and her kids—2 meals on Thursday. Hmmm. Cheryl is headed to CA to be with her son and his family. She leaves Tuesday and gets back sometime Saturday. Cheryl is really happy with her new hearing aids but admits it does take some getting used to. Mary’s brother visited Phoenix last weekend so we saw lots of pics from his visit with his wife. They had a good time.
Tomorrow I have a follow up with my PCP to see if everything is still on track with cutting down on a medication I don’t need. Should be a quick visit.
I will be listening to Obama’s speech on immigration tonight. Anxious to see what he says. The Far Right is predicting chaos throughout the country…doubt if that will happen.
• • • •
Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
I had a mistress, with beauty and grace,
With a curious hand and fair of face.
She was the first on earth, and made of clay.
I was a gift to Epimethius on their wedding day.
The Gods, they warned her to let me be.
But none of their warnings did she heed.
You see, my mistress was alone one day,
When to me her inquisitive hand did stray.
She gave you sickness, destruction, and greed,
And all of the things from which evil does feed.
But do not be angry, do not mope.
The last she gave you? It was hope.

What am I and who was my mistress?

           
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today



           
OK Then…


• • • •
Paraphernalia 4 the Brain:     
England Facts…
—Prince William's nickname in college was "P-Willy".
—Englishmen drink more tea than any person of any other nation (over twenty times more than Americans)

Flagstaff, AZ History…
25 YEARS AGO
The cops are getting tough on the student parties drawing large crowds with their high volume music, underage alcohol consumption and general disturbing of the peace as well as the increase in the number of traffic accidents ensuing from these activities.
           
Hair Facts…
—Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
—Human hair and fingernails appear to grow after death; it is the shrinking of the skin as it dehydrates.

Harper’s Index…
Chance that a US Google employee is black: 1 in 50    

Internet Facts…
—In October 1997, when Internet Explorer 4.0 was released, some Microsoft employees left a giant "From the IE team... We Love You" on Netscape's lawn.
—The United Nations declared the Internet a basic human right in 2011.

That’s Outrageous from Reader’s Digest…
Consider the case of the young man caught relieving himself in a reservoir in Portland, Oregon. Disgusting? Yes. As the guy himself admitted, he should have known better. But the same goes for the city. In reaction to a pint of fluid, it drained the entire reservoir – eight million gallons. What do the bureaucrats think the fish are doing in there?

Pilgrim Fact…
The First Thanksgiving
That initial Thanksgiving, in 1621, was a three-day celebration of the first successful harvest, bringing together Pilgrims, Native Americans, and a bounty of food. The meal included venison, a large number of turkeys and waterfowl, cod, and bass — plus the harvest, which consisted of wheat, corn, barley, and perhaps peas. On top of that, there were foods native to the area, like clams, mussels, lobster, eel, ground nuts, acorns, black walnuts, chestnuts, squashes, and beans, along with fruits and berries such as strawberries, raspberries, grapes, and gooseberries that were growing wild. Now that’s a feast!

Rules of Thumb…
PRODUCING CHAMPAGNE
The amount of champagne a winery sells in three years is the amount it should have in its cellars to be properly stocked.
           
Unusual Fact of the Day…
Morse Code was made for letters, not numbers. In fact, signaling the number "one" requires five dots and dashes.
• • • •
Joke-of-the-day
Maurice an 82 year-old man went to the doctor for his physical.
A few days later the doctor saw Maurice walking down the street with a gorgeous young lady on his arm.
A couple of days later do doctor spoke to Maurice and said, “You’re really doing great, aren’t you?”
Maurice replied, “Just doing what you said, Doc: “Get a hot mamma and be cheerful.”
The doctor said, “I did not say that. I said, “You got a heart murmur. Be careful.”

           
Yep, It Really Happened
GREENACRES, Fla. (UPI)
A man in South Florida was arrested Thursday for multiple crimes, including resisting arrest when he latched onto a nearby tree, according to authorities. Police say Homer Stacey, 50, acted feisty and confrontational when officers arrived at his home in response to a disturbance, The Palm Beach Post reports. An arrest report suggests that Stacey claimed he would cause problems and that he would get his friends to help. At least one family member told police that the suspect was drunk, to which Stacey admitted. After Stacey yelled at one officer, police attempted to arrest him, but he held onto a nearby palm tree and reportedly yelled, "You're not going to [expletive] take me!" Police used a Taser on the suspect's ribs. He let go of the tree and was apprehended, but not before trying unsuccessfully to tackle one officer. "If you take these cuffs off me, I'm going to kill you!" Stacey said as he was put into a patrol car, police said. The Greenacres resident was booked into jail and charged with resisting arrest, disorderly intoxication and threatening an officer.          

Somewhat Useless Information
—The "thumbs-up" sign means "good" to Westerners, "one" to Italians, "five" to Japanese, and "up yours" in Greece. In Iran, it represents a penis.
—The "hang loose" sign (thumb and little finger extended) means, "stay cool, relax" in Hawaii, "six" in Japan, and "would you like a drink?" in Mexico.

—Nodding the head means "yes" in most societies, but means "no" in some parts of Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Turkey.
An ear grasp means "I'm sorry" in parts of India. Cupping the ear means "I can't hear you" in all societies. Pulling the ear means "you are in my heart" for Navajo Indians.           


Somewhat Useful Information from fivethrityeight.com
FBI Crime Info
—The FBI’s report recorded 1.16 million violent crimes in the U.S. in 2013, a 4.4 percent decline from 2012 and 37.4 percent decline from 1994. These figures look even better adjusted for population; per capita violent crime was down 5.1 percent from 2012 and 48.4 percent from 1994.
—According to the FBI’s newest Uniform Crime Report (UCR), released this week, 461 people were killed by police in “justifiable homicides” in 2013. This number has gotten some media attention, both because it’s considered by some to be the “best authoritative data available” and because it represents an 8 percent jump in these homicides from 2012.
• • • •
           Today’s Events through History
1807 - Spanish trader Manuel Lisa builds Fort Raymond at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Bighorn Rivers
1877 - Tom Edison announces his "talking machine" invention (phonograph) - first machine to play and record sound
1935 - First commercial crossing of Pacific by plane (China Clipper)
1959 - Jack Benny (violin) & Richard Nixon (piano) play their famed duet

Birthday’s Today
Joseph Campanella, actor (Dr Steffen-The Nurses, Lou-Mannix) is 90
Marlo Thomas, [Mrs Phil Donahue], actress-That Girl! is 77
Earl "the Pearl" Monroe, NBA Guard (Knicks, Bullets) is 70
Goldie Hawn, actress (Laugh-in, Private Benjamin) is 69
Nicollette Sheridan, actress (Paige-Knots Landing) is 51
Bjork, Iceland, singer (Like Someone in Love) is 49
Troy Aikman, NFL quarterback (Dallas Cowboys - Super Bowl 1992) is 48

Remembered for being born today
Voltaire, [Francois-Marie Arouet], France, essayist, philosopher (1694-1778)
Stan Musial, MLB outfielder (St Louis Cardinal, 7 times NL bat champ) (1920-2013)
• • • •
Historical Obits Today
Anne McCaffrey, sci-fi author, 2011, @85
Harry Von Zell, TV announcer (Burns & Allen), cancer, 1981, @75
Robert Stroud, "bird man of Alcatraz", in prison, 1963, @73
Florence Harding, American First Lady, renal failure, 1924, @64
Max Baer, US, heavyweight boxing champ (1934), heart attack, 1959, @49
• • • •
Brain Teasers Answers
The poem is written from the point of view of Pandora's Box; "my mistress" refers to Pandora.

According to Greek mythology, Pandora was created out of clay. Before Pandora, there were only men on earth. Pandora was fashioned by Zeus as part of his punishment for Prometheus' theft of the secret of fire. She was gifted with beauty, grace, musical talent and a gift for healing. Finally, Zeus gave her curiosity. He gave her as a gift to Epimethius and presented the box as her dowry, telling them both not to open it. Pandora's curiosity got the better of her and she opened the box releasing all the evil that is in the world today. However, some good came from it; at the bottom of the box was hope.

• • • •
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 contains mistakes and sadly once 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.