3-8-14

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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 067   / Week: 10  

Today: L 31°…H 56°… Ave. humidity: 52%

     Wind: ave:   3mph; Gusts:  17mph  

     Average Low: 22° Record Low:  -4° (1969)

    Average High: 48° Record High:  67° (1989)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

1817 - The New York Stock Exchange is founded.

1896 - Volunteers of America forms (NYC)

1918 - The first case of Spanish flu occurs, the start of a devastating worldwide pandemic.

1917 - Russian revolution breaks out (in Petrograd)

1927 - Pan American Airlines incorporates

1946 - 1st helicopter licensed for coml use (NYC)

1958 - William Faulkner says US school degenerated to become babysitters

1973 - Eisenhower Tunnel, world's highest/US longest, opens in CO

1983 - President Reagan calls the USSR an "Evil Empire"

2012 - Toyota recalls 700,000 vehicles over safety concerns

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

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

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Nice Friday…didn’t do a lot, but still a nice day.

 

The Ukraine, Crimea, Russia thing is certainly confusing for someone who doesn’t know a lot about the history of the area. As it continues, I am trying to learn more but am still very ignorant about the problem. It is times like this that I wish I had BBC International on my TV. Right now we are only getting the information from Americans or Pro-American sources and there has to be another side. I seriously doubt that most of the Congress that is spewing anti-Obama rhetoric about his handling of the situation know much more than I do. Their information is also only one sided. Such a sad state of affairs

 

A year ago a Public Policy Polling survey was taken and newly elected AZ Senator Jeff Flake was the least liked Senator of 100. Thankfully this year, he did not receive that honor; it went to AZ long-time Senator John McCain. Makes one so proud to have winners two years in a row.  The poll surveys citizens in each state about their senators. Then all the Senator’s approval ratings are ranked. This year Senator McCain received a 35% approval rating, the lowest in the US.

 

Still smiling about the CPAC photo that was posted on FB. The pic was taken 10 minutes into a forum on Minority Outreach at their annual convention. The room was huge and less than 5 people listening in the room. Guess it’s not a very important topic.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Task (once again):
Can you figure out which well known oxymorons these words are?
Ex) Initial facsimile = original copy

1) Urbane defiance 2) Specific possibility 3) Bogus truth 4) Big tiny 5) Gravely comical

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Georgy Girl - Tribute to Lynn Redgrave

• The Band Wagon - Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse

• The Harlem Globetrotters On Gilligan's Island

• Little Peggy March (1963 original Live) - I Will Follow Him

Remembering TV’s great shows

"American Idol"--The cunningly crafted singing competition hit all the right notes—and revolutionized primetime.

Lexiophiles Delights

. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine is now fully recovered.

. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.

Ancient Sports

Naumachia--Culture: Roman

Less well-known than the gladiator battles which frequented the Roman sports world, a naumachia was a mock naval battle, played in front of a crowd of onlookers. Normally pitting condemned criminals against each other, they often took place in man-made basins designed specifically for this purpose. The earliest recorded example of a naumachia was in 46 BC, begun by none other than Julius Caesar, who used it to celebrate his military accomplishments in a Roman ritual known as a triumph.

Basically, two ships were placed on either side, filled with “willing” participants, and then the fighting began. It lasted until one side was completely killed. Some of them were so elaborate that sea creatures were brought in and placed in the waters. The largest recorded naumachia was set up by Emperor Claudius in 52 AD, with 100 ships and over 19,000 menparticipating in the game.

OK Then…

 

Harper’s Index 

Percentage of rentable property in San Diego County that registered-sex-offender parolees are prohibitied from living on : 97

Unusual Fact of the Day

Before scientists were able to genetically engineer bacteria to produce human insulin, those who were afflicted with insulin dependent diabetes often used insulin from pigs.

Joke-of-the-day

Two elderly couples were enjoying a friendly conversation when one of the men asked the other, "Fred, how was the memory clinic you went to last month?" 

"Outstanding," Fred replied. "They taught us all the latest psychological techniques: visualization, association, etc. It was great." 

"That's great! And what was the name of the clinic?" 

Fred went blank. He thought and thought, but couldn't remember. Then a smile broke across his face and he asked, "What do you call that flower with the long stem and thorns?" 

"You mean a rose?" 

"Yes, that's it!" 

He turned to his wife, "Rose, what was the name of that memory clinic?"   

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

DRIVING SAFELY

If you think your front tire is low, find out by taking your hands off the steering wheel. A low tire will cause the car to drift in the direction of the low tire.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - A Colorado woman said she has been taking portraits around the world with her mannequin family because she was tired of being asked why she wasn't married. Suzanne Heintz, an art director for Starz Entertainment Group in Englewood, said she started taking pictures with a mannequin husband and daughter 14 years ago as a response to being asked why she wasn't married yet, twentytwowords.com reported Monday. Heintz, who has traveled more than 10,000 miles to take pictures with her mannequins in locations including several famous Paris landmarks, said on her website the project is about "spinsterhood, and the American way." "You can't just go out and buy a family. Or can you? I did. They are mannequins. The candy coated shell with nothing inside. We do all those family things, all the while capturing those Kodak Moments. Because it's not really about the journey, or a genuine human connection, when you're kids are screaming, 'Are we there yet?' Is it? It's about the picture in front of the sign. 'Get back in the car. We got the picture. Now, let's go eat,'" she wrote.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• The name Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday, a day of feasting before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. This day is also known as Shrove Tuesday.

• The official colors of Mardi Gras have meanings. Purple is for justice, gold is for power and green is for faith. These were chosen by the Grand Duke of Russia in 1857.

• Krewes, which are parade groups, started as private social clubs. The oldest of these is Comus which was founded in 1857.

• Beads didn't start to emerge in the Mardi Gras parades until the late 1800s, when some of the Krewes who organized the parades began handing out cheap glass bead necklaces. Tourists loved them, and the beads became part of the tradition. 

• The tradition of handing out items to the audience dates back to Renaissance Europe. In New Orleans, the first person to do that was a Krewe member dressed as Santa Claus in the 1880s.

• Another Mardi Gras tradition, the king cake, was described as far back as the 1600s. At one point a pea or a bean, and nowadays a trinket (or often a plastic baby Jesus) is buried in a rich cake for a lucky person to find. The king cake takes its name from the three Magi who are said to have visited Jesus after his birth.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:
1-16

Iditarod Race
2-8

Celebrate Your Name Week
National Consumer Protection Week
National Invasive Species Awareness Week
National Pancake Week
National Pet Sitters Week
National Schools Social Work Week
National Severe Storm Preparedness Week
National Sleep Awareness Week
National Words Matter Week
Professional Pet Sitters Week
Read an E-Book Week
Return The Borrowed Books Week
Save Your Vision Week
Severe Weather Preparedness Week:
Telecommuter Appreciation Week

Women in Construction Week

3-9
Women of Aviation Worldwide Week

7-9
Festival of Owls Week
American Crossword Puzzle Weekend
National Rattlesnake Roundup
8-9

National Maple Syrup Days

8-11

American Council on Education

8-14
National Procrastination Week
Universal Women's Week
National Agriculture Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Day for Women's Rights & International Peace Genealogy Day

·        Girls Write Now Day

·        International Fanny Pack Day

·        International Women's Day

·        International Working Women's Day

·        National Proofreading Day

·        National Peanut Cluster Day

·        Organize Your Home Office Day

·        Unique Names Day

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·        International Women's Day (Russia)

Today’s Events through History  

1838 - US mint in New Orleans begins operation (producing dimes)

1913 - Internal Revenue Service begins to levy & collect income taxes

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Micky Dolenz, actor (Circus Boy)/singer (Monkees) is 69

Little Peggy March, [Margaret Battavio], vocalist (I Will Follow Him) is 66

Camryn Manheim, TV actress (The Practice) is 53

Freddie Prinze Jr, actor (I Know What You Did Last Summer) is 38

James Van Der Beek, actor (Dawson's Creek) is 37

Remembered for being born today

1783 - Hannah Hoes Van Buren, wife of pres Martin (1837-41) (died 1819)

1841 - Oliver Wendell Holmes, 59th Supreme Court justice (1902-32)

1918 - Alan Hale [MacKahan] Jr, Los Angeles California, actor (Skipper-Gilligan's Island)

1921 - Cyd Charisse, [Tula Finklea], Amarillo Tx, dancer/actress (Singing in the Rain)

1943 - Lynn Redgrave, London, actress (Georgie Girl)/Weight-Watcher

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player, 1999, @84

Harold Lloyd, US comic/actor (Why Worry), cancer, 1971, @77

Peggy Cass, actress and comedian, heart failure, 1999, @74

Millard Fillmore, 13th president stroke, 1874, @74

William Howard Taft, 27th US Pres, Chief Justice, 1930, @72

Robert Pastorelli, actor (Murphy Brown), OD, 2004, @49

Brain Teasers

1) Civil Disobedience 2) Definite maybe 3) False fact 4) Jumbo shrimp 5) Seriously funny

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  §