2-2-14

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 06 / Day: 033   

Today: L 16°…H 36°… Ave. humidity: 69%

Wind: ave:   10mph; Gusts:  17mph  

Average Low: 18° Record Low:  -14° (1922)

Average High: 44° Record High:  62° (1976)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

1653 - New Amsterdam becomes a city (later renamed New York)

1802 - 1st leopard exhibited in US, Boston (admission 25 cents)

1848 - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends Mexican War

1887 - In Punxsutawney, PA the first Groundhog Day is observed

1887 - Law passed which will prohibit the use of Indian languages in schools.

1922 - James Joyce's "Ulysses" published in Paris

1935 - Lie detector 1st used in court (Portage WI)

1950 - 1st broadcast of "What's My Line," on CBS-TV

1955 - 1st presidential news conference on network TV-Eisenhower 

1971 - Idi Amin ousts Milton Obote to become dictator of Uganda

1986 - Dalai Lama meets Pope John Paul II in India

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Got another ½” of snow during the night, but had a fairly sunny day.  Melting is happening, and with only a little to melt, it won’t take long. I did need to sweep off my sidewalk but so easy, sadly a pretty dry snow.  Called for hair cut and found my stylist has left the place. I know she will call when she gets a new job, but sadly I can’t wait, so I’ll be getting a cut tomorrow, before the game.

 

Should be a good game tomorrow and think I will just watch it here at home…getting too old for all the crowds that will be around town. Still will enjoy it. Usually get a call before the game with someone wanting to stop by and watch…I’ll see this year.

 

With all the crazy news about NJ, it seems the Super Bowl people knew this was really a NY Super Bowl. The Giants play in NJ at the stadium where the game is happening, NYC seems to be having all the pre-game publicity and I would assume most of the dollars promoting the game. Since everything, except the game, is happening in NYC most of the fans are staying in NYC, most of the coverage is taking place in NY. Maybe this is one more reason that NJ has its reputation.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

A woman depended on a public telephone to make her calls, but it was usually out of order. Each day she reported this to the phone company, but nothing was done. Finally she came up with a fib that she told the phone company. The phone was fixed the next day. What did she tell them?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Ayn Rand - Liberty vs Socialism

• Ladies Who Lunch - Elaine Stritch

• Shakira - Can't Remember to Forget You

• Smothers Brothers

• Stan Getz-Autumn Leaves

Suggested New State Mottos:

• Ohio: At Least We're Not Michigan

• Vermont: Yep

Remembering TV’s great shows:

"Law & Order" In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate but equally important groups. And Dick Wolf's franchise has been represented by five series, including the flagship (which ran for 20 seasons!) and the still-going-strong-after-15-years "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

Phrases Shakespeare invented:

dog will have his day: Hamlet Act 5 Scene 1

Words Shakespeare invented

FrugalDefinition: Careful about spending money or using things when you do not need to
Origin: From the Latin "frugi," meaning "useful, proper, worthy, honest."
Quote: "Chid I for that at frugal Nature's frame?" - Much Ado About Nothing

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

• Annual budget of the office of NYC Public Advocate: $2,333,333

• Amount the city is spending on a runoff election to decide the Democratic nominee for the position: $13,000,000

Unusual Fact of the Day

The arcade game Space Invaders was so popular in Japan that it actually created a coin shortage.

Joke-of-the-day

Did you hear about the farmer who wanted to buy a thousand hens, but didn't have the money...so...He put them on a layaway plan!  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

CHOOSING A CANOE PADDLE

To check a canoe paddle for size, stand it on the ground in front of you. The handle should come to the height of your chin if you plan to paddle from the bow of the canoe; it should come to the height of your eye if you plan to paddle from the stern.

Yeah, It Really Happened

TUEBINGEN, Germany - Our brains slow as we age not because of cognitive decline but because the have so much more experience to wade through, European researchers say. While it has long been assumed age leads to a steady deterioration of brain function, researchers at the University of Tuebingen in Germany suggest older brains may take longer to process ever increasing amounts of knowledge, a process that may be misidentified as declining capacity. Because most standard cognitive measures may confuse increased knowledge for declining capacity, such measures are flawed, the researchers said. Led by Michael Ramscar, the research team used computers, programmed to act as though they were humans, to "read" a certain amount each day, learning new things along the way. When a computer was allowed to "read" just a limited amount, its performance on cognitive tests resembled that of a young adult. However, when the same computer was exposed to an amount of data which represented a lifetime of experiences, its performance looked like that of an older adult. It was slower -- not because its processing capacity had declined, but because increased "experience" gave it more data to process, and that processing takes time. "What does this finding mean for our understanding of our aging minds, for example older adults' increased difficulties with word recall? These are traditionally thought to reveal how our memory for words deteriorates with age, but Big Data adds a twist to this idea," Ramscar said. The study has been published in the journal Topics in Cognitive Science.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Lemon mint is the common name of the plant that is botanically known as Monarda citriodora. Representing the mint family it bears alternative names of Purple horse mint or Lemon beebalm.

• The plant is noted by its citrus scent when broken and showy purple blooms that attract bees and hummingbirds. Sometimes, particularly late in the summer season, the lemon mint's aroma resembles oregano more than lemon. It thrives in prairies, along road sides and other sunny locations from California to Florida, and from Nebraska to Texas. Namely in these places one can enjoy the plant’s outstanding blankets of summer blossoms.

• Lemon mint is sometimes used for making various kinds of the herbal teas.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

☼1-7☼

African Heritage & Health Week

Solo Diners Eat Out Weekend
Women's Heart Week

☼2-8☼
Boy Scout Anniversary Week
Children's Authors & Illustrators Week
Dump Your Significant Jerk Week
International Coaching Week
Just Say No to PowerPoint Week
Publicity for Profit Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Ayn Rand Day

·        Candelmas: Feast of the Purification of the Virgin

·        Crepe Day: French Candelmas

·        Dump Your Significant Jerk Day

·        Groundhog Day

·        Groundhog Job Shadow Day

·        Hedgehog Day

·        Imbolic: also called (Saint) Brighid's Day: halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox 

·        Marmot Day

·        National Girls & Women in Sports Day

·        Sled Dog Day

·        Super Bowl XLVIII

·        Popcorn Day

·        World Play Your Ukulele Day

·        World Wetlands Day

Today’s Events through History  

1829 - Madman Jonathan Martin sets York Cathedral on fire

1852 - 1st British public men's toilet opens (Fleet St London)

1932 - Al Capone sent to prison (Atlanta, Georgia)

1948 - President Harry Truman urges congress to adopt a civil rights program

1973 - "Midnight Special" rock music show debuts on NBC-TV

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Elaine Stritch, Broadway actress is 89

Tom Smothers, comedian (Smother Brother Show, Serial) is 77

Graham Nash, guitarist (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young-Southern Cross) is 72

Christie Brinkley, [Ex-Mrs Billy Joel], model/actress (SI, Vacation) is 60

Shakira [Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll], pop singer is 37

Remembered for being born today

1817 - John Glover, English chemist (sulfuric acid)

1882 - James Joyce, Ireland, novelist/poet (Dubliners, Ulysses, Finnigan's Wake)

1903 - Frank McGrath, actor (Wagon Train)

1905 - Ayn Rand, Russian-born American writer and philosopher (Atlas Shrugged, 

     The Fountainhead)

1927 - Stan Getz, jazz tenor saxophonist (Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey)

1947 - Farrah Fawcett, actress (Charley's Angels, Burning Bed)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Max Schmeling, German boxer (World Heavyweight Champion), 2005, @99

Bertrand Russell, philosopher, British MP, 1970, @ 97

Gene Kelly, actor/dancer (Singing in the Rain), 1996, @83

Boris Karloff, [Pratt], British actor (Frankenstein), 1969, @81

Bert Parks, [Jacobson], TV host (Miss America), cancer, 1992, @77

Owen Tudor, Welsh founder of the Tudor dynasty of England, 1461, @61

Sid Vicious, [John Simon Ritchie], bassist (Sex Pistols), OD, 1979, @21

Brain Teasers

She told them that people were making calls without having to pay.

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  §