2-11-14

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 07 / Day: 042   

Today: L 25°…H 52°… Ave. humidity: 64%

Wind: ave:   6mph; Gusts:  20mph  

Average Low: 18° Record Low:  -12° (1908)

Average High: 45° Record High:  62° (1971)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

1790 - Society of Friends petitions Congress for abolition of slavery

1794 - 1st session of US Senate open to the public

1809 - Robert Fulton patents steamboat

1812 - Massachusetts Governor Gerry signs a redistricting bill - 1st "gerrymander"

1858 - 1st apparition of Mary to 14-year-old Bernadette of Lourdes France

1897 - White Rose Mission opens on East 97th Street, NYC

1928 - 2nd Winter Olympic games opens in St Moritz, Switzerland

1937 - 44-day sit-down strike at General Motors in Flint Mich ends

1942 - "Archie" comic book debuts

1960 - Jack Paar walks off his TV show

1963 - Julia Child's show The French Chef premieres.

1970 - Japan becomes 4th nation to put a satellite (Osumi) in orbit

1978 - China lifts a ban on Aristotle, Shakespeare, & Dickens

1978: The "longest walk" takes place to protest Indian treatment.

1990 - Nelson Mandela (political prisoner-27 years) freed in South Africa

1992 - Michael Johnson runs indoor world record 400m (44.97 sec)

1993 - Janet Reno selected by President Clinton as US Attorney General

2013 - Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Foot pain is minor, but still there. Taking the anti-inflammatory, but saving the pain killer for a time when I really need to walk somewhere. Certainly is bearable, just not up to 100% yet. This getting old-er thing certainly has its surprises. Slept through the night quite well, but had some very vivid drug induced dreams…at least I assume they were drug induced.

 

Our winter weather has disappeared yet again…lots of clouds, but nice temperatures. Didn’t take my daily walk as I was advised against it till this foot thing stops being inflamed.

 

FB has a lot of Beatles supporters, claiming to be fans from the mid 60’s, but many of them post about their memories of the ‘Beetles’. hmmmm

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

The following clues each form a unique word by themselves, add them together to get the name of a country. Example: blue and yellow mixed + solid ground = ? Answer: green + land = Greenland 

1. something that will make you sick + an indefinite number = ? 

2. half of the width of an em + an organ for secreting = ? 

3. a swindle + to move or travel = ? 

4. an animal's shelter + a visible sign = ?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• FOOL ON THE HILL - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66

• Julia Child Remixed | Keep On Cooking

• Red Skelton And Eva Gabor

• Tribute to the great Leslie Nielsen 1926-2010

• Whitney Houston sings the National Anthem

Remembering TV’s great shows:

"Hill Street Blues" The police procedural found a genre-busting new voice in Steven Bochco's rowdy chronicle of a busy urban precinct.

Words Shakespeare inventedgreen eyed monster: Othello Act 3 Scene 3IAGO:
Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy!It is the green-eyed monster which doth mockThe meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in blissWho, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger,But, oh, what damnèd minutes tells he o'erWho dotes, yet doubts— suspects, yet soundly loves!

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

• Estimated portion of homes in Gary, Indiana, that are abandoned and unoccupied: 1/3

• Number of these homes the city has been able to sell to qualified buyers for one dollar: 12

Unusual Fact of the Day

The duffel bag is named for Duffel, Belgium, where the cloth used in the bags was originally sold.

Joke-of-the-day

This man in a Ford Granada pulls up next to a guy in a Rolls Royce at a stop sign. Their windows are open and he yells at the guy in the Rolls: "Hey, you got a telephone in there?"

The guy in the Rolls says, "Yes, of course I do."

"I got one too... see?"

"Uh, huh, yes, that's very nice."

Then the man in the Granada says, "You got a fax machine?"

"Why, actually, yes, I do."

"I do too! See? It's right here!" "Uh-huh."

The light is just about to turn green and the guy in the Granada says, "So, do YOU have a double bed in back there?"

And the guy in the Rolls says, "NO! Do you?"

"Yep, got my double bed right in back here — see?!"

The light turns and the man in the Granada takes off. Well, the guy in the Rolls is not about to be one-upped, so he goes immediately to a customizing shop and orders them to put a double bed in back of his car. About two weeks later, the job is finally done and he picks up his car and drives all over town looking for the Granada. He finally finds it parked alongside the road so he pulls his Rolls up next to it. The windows on the Granada are all fogged up and he feels a little awkward about it, but he gets out of his newly modified Rolls and taps on the foggy window of the Granada. The man in the Granada finally opens the window a crack and peeks out.

The guy in the Rolls says, "Hey. Remember me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember you. What's up?"

"Check this out — I got a double bed installed in my Rolls."

And the man in the Granada says, "YOU GOT ME OUT OF THE SHOWER TO TELL ME THAT?!"  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

TAKING A LIE DETECTOR TEST

If you are innocent, do not take a lie detector test. If you're guilty, take it, because it may exonerate you.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

EASTPOINTE, Mich. - A Syrian couple opening a Detroit area restaurant called "The Bomb" said they want to invoke the slang term for "awesome" rather than terrorism. George and Rana Kasar, who are from Syria, said they wanted to rebrand after purchasing the Eastpointe restaurant, which was called Ideli under previous management, WWJ Detroit reported Tuesday. "It's his idea, my husband's idea," Rana Kasar said. "I said, 'No! It's too much!' He's like, 'No, no, no. I think it's going to be perfect.'" "[It's] a little bit scary. They think we're terrorists now," Rana Kasar said of local residents. However, she said terrorism is not what the name is designed to invoke. "Something like, when they eat something they're like, 'Wow! It's the bomb,'" she said. The eatery will serve both Middle Eastern and other dishes, with their signature creation being "The Bomb Fajita."  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Ever wondered why the world's #1 social network is all dressed up in various shades of blue? It's because Mark Zuckerberg suffers from red-green color blindness, and is able to see the color blue best, according to a CNN article.

• Legendary actor Al Pacino's face was on the homepage of the original Facebook that Zuckerberg built out of his Harvard dorm. The photo was only replaced as recently as 2007 (three years since its inception) when Facebook redesigned its homepage for good.

• If you check Facebook's help center, it merely explains how a 'poke' works, but doesn’t define exactly what it is. According to the book The Facebook Effect, Zuckerberg allegedly said this to a query on Facebook pokes: "We thought it would be fun to make a feature that has no specific purpose... So mess around with it, because you're not getting an explanation from us."

• iStrategy Lab, a digital consultancy firm, released a report in January 2014 confirming the trend that Facebook is becoming less popular with "younger users." Facebook has over 4 million fewer high-school aged users and close to 7 million lesser college-aged users than it did back in 2011.

• According to a Pew Research Center report, among people who use the internet but aren’t on Facebook, 52 percent say that someone else in their family has a Facebook account. And 24 percent of such passive Facebook non-users who live with an account holder claim they look at photos or posts on that person's account. 

• According to research firm eMarketer, India is the second biggest market for Facebook with 84.9 million users (as of late 2013). Not surprisingly, the United States is the biggest market for the social network with 146.8 million users.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:
☼7-14☼

Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week 
Have A Heart for A Chained Dog Week  
Risk Awareness Week
Winter Olympics
Love Makes the World Go Round; But, Laughter Keeps Us From Getting Dizzy Week
☼9-15☼

Celebration of Love Week
Children of Alcoholics Week
Jell-O Week
Freelance Writers Appreciation Week
Random Acts of Kindness Week 
International Flirting Week
Love a Mench Week
National Green Week

Today Is                                                                       

·        Be Electrific Day

·        Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day

·        Extraterrestrial Culture Day

·        Extraterrestrial Visitor Day

·        Get Out Your Guitar Day

·        Make A Friend's Day

·        Pro Sports Wives Day

·        National Shut-in Visitation Day

·        Satisfied Staying Single Day

·        White Shirt Day or White T-shirt Day

·        World Day of The Sick

++++++

·        National Foundation Day (Japan-660BC)

·        Independence Anniversary (Vatican City-1929 from Kingdom of Italy)

·        Youth Day (Cameroon)

Today’s Events through History  

1766 - Stamp Act declared unconstitutional in Virginia

1878 - 1st US bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, forms

1896 - Oscar Wildes "Salome," premieres in Paris

1958 - 1st flight with black stewardess, RC Taylor, Ithaca NY

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Conrad Janis, NYC, actor (Mork & Mindy, Quark, Bonino) is 86

Burt Reynolds, actor is 78

Tina Louise, actress (Ginger-Gilligan's Island) is 80

Sergio Mendes, jazz/pop musician (Brazil '66/'77/'88) is 72

Sheryl Crow, musician (All I Want to Do-Grammy 1995) is 52

Sarah Palin, American politician is 50

Jennifer Aniston, actress (Rachel-Friends) is 45

Brandy [Norwood], singer (Les Miserables, Moisha) is 35

Taylor Lautner, actor (Twilight) is 22

Remembered for being born today

1800 - William Henry Fox Talbot, photographic pioneer

1802 - Lydia Maria Child, US, author/abolitionist (Juvenile Miscellany)

1812 - Alexander H. Stephens, US Confederate Vice President

1847 - Thomas Alva Edison, inventor-1200 patents

1874 - Elsa Beskow, [Maartman], Swedish children's book/fairy tales author

1909 - Max Baer, heavyweight boxing champ (1934-35)

1917 - Sidney Sheldon, novelist (Bloodline)/ TV producer (Patty Duke)

1919 - Eva Gabor, Hungarian-born actress (Lisa-Green Acres, Gigi)

1921 - Lloyd Bentsen, (Sen-D-TX, 1971- )/1989 Dem VP nominee)

1926 - Leslie Nielsen, Canadian actor (Forbidden Planet, Naked Gun)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Don Porter, actor (Gidget), 1997, @84

Charles Parsons, inventor of the steam turbine, neuritis, 1931, @77

William Conrad, actor (Cannon), heart attack, 1994, @73

Peter Benchley, author (Jaws), pulmonary fibrosis, 2006, @65

Lee J Cobb, actor (12 Angry Men, On the Waterfront), heart attack, 1976,@64

Rene Descartes, philosopher "I think therefore I am", pneumonia, 1650, @53

Whitney Houston, singer and actress, accidental drowning, 2012, @48

Patrice Lumumba, 1st premier Congo, murdered, 1961, @34

Brain Teasers

1. germ + any = Germany  2. en + gland = England  3. con + go = Congo  4. den + mark = Denmark 

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  §