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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 142 / Week: 21
May Averages: 68° \ 34°Today: Average Sky Cover: 60% due to smoke
H 63°… L 36°… Ave. humidity: 24%
Wind: ave: 17mph; Gusts: 30mph
Average High: 70° Record High: 85° (1984)
Average Low: 35° Record Low: 21° (1972)
Quote of the Day
Today’s
Historical Highlights
1455 - Opening
battle in England's 30-year War of the Roses.
1570 - 1st
atlas 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum' (Theatre of the World), published-70 maps 1761 - 1st life insurance policy in North America issued in Philadelphia
1803 - 1st public library opens (Connecticut)
1807 - Former VP Aaron Burr is tried for treason in Richmond, Va (acquitted)
1843 - 1st wagon train, 1000+ depart Independence Missouri for Oregon
1863 - War Dept establishes Bureau of Colored Troops
1892 - Dr Washington Sheffield invents toothpaste tube
1900 - Associated Press organizes in NYC as non-profit news cooperative
1906 - Wright Brothers patent an aeroplane
1933 - Loch Ness Monster is 1st reportedly sighted by John Mackay
1936 - Aer Lingus (Aer Loingeas) is founded by the Irish government as the national airline of the Republic of Ireland.
1957 - South Africa government approves race separation in universities
1961 - 1st revolving restaurant (Top Of The Needle in Seattle) opens
1964 - LBJ presents "Great Society"
1973 - President Nixon confesses his role in Watergate cover-up
♫
Today’s Birthdays: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays below
My Free
Rambling Thoughts
I headed to the dentist about 9a to be greeted by a smoke filled
town. The Oak Creek/Slide Rock fire is now over 4500 acres and growing—heading north
towards Flagstaff. By noon it looked like an eclipse of the sun here at my
place, with the smell of smoke everywhere. This is so unsettling. Air support
had to be cancelled due to high winds today. The 2 day old fire containment is
at 0%. We know that the forest is bone dry, yet idiots continue to have fire
producing things in the forest. I am for closing the beautiful forest until the
rain comes. My dentist, new to Flagstaff, believes that the forest should
remain open. He babbled about being a good camper who enjoys taking the Boy
Scouts out in the forest for camping. He is new to Flagstaff and has been here
less than a year. He really has no idea what he is talking about. He said they
should just catch the person who started it make them pay. Well, AZ has had
some major fires and some starters have been caught. They always have a good
trial story and usually get off. No amount of money will be able to return the
trees and animals that are lost in such a fire. Hundreds of businesses and
residents have been evacuated and more evacuations are expected. While money
may rebuild any lost buildings, the memorabilia can’t be replaced. My dentist
may be a good dentist, but certainly is not aware of the destruction of a forest
fire. The many hot shot crews and firefighters are doing what they can, but the
wind, dry conditions, and steep canyons are not helping in the fight.
I support my President; however, this VA scandal is becoming hard
to swallow. The speech today was great,
but that is all it was…a speech. Our Vets have been having problems since
before Obama came into office. The time for action is way overdue. Our previous
few presidents had no problem putting our men and women of the armed service in
harm’s way. Our congress has always approved money for killing citizens and
leaders of other countries. No one has been paying attention to what these
actions have on our troops. The soldiers seem to get a parade, lots of
handshakes, even a lot of medals…but no one is offering them the care they need
for medical issues or the training they need to get civilian jobs. The
homelessness among our Vets is embarrassing. My dad, after WWII, and my friend
Bob, after Korea had the GI bill to get an education and help in buying the
American dream. Those things are not available to our troops today. We train
them to fight, train them to kill, send them anywhere in the world to fight for
America, then when they return wounded we offer them very little help,
especially if the wound is not visible. Shame on the VA, shame on Congress, and
shame on our leader.
Game Center (answers at the
end of post)
Brain
Teasers
The U.S. Presidents made
some horrible political decisions. They decided to hide from the mob coming
after them by hiding in these five sentences. You are hired as a private sleuth
to find each of them. Can you find their last names in these five sentences?1. Ice pops taste the best on hot afternoons.
2. The weird dictator said that he would build magenta dams.
3. The man told his mother that he wouldn't be home for dinner.
4. I have to fill more of the holes our dog dug in the yard.
5. I was going to take the bus home, but I missed it.
Lifestyle Substance:
Found on
You Tube with some relevance to today
OK Then…
Harper’s
Index
Amount
Afghanistan spent on government programs last year: $5,300,000,000
Portion
of that spending funded by government revenue: 2/5
Unusual
Fact of the Day
Churchill Downs, Yankee Stadium, the
Rose Bowl, the Roman Coliseum, and Vatican City could all fit inside
Indianapolis Motor Speedway – at the same time!
Top
Reasons Poverty is on the Rise…
1. Low
Social Mobility
The fabled “American Dream” relies on upward mobility within
society, enabling advancements in stature beyond the birthright limitations
holding people back in other parts of the world. Opportunity is at the heart of
the notion, including access to education and funding for entrepreneurial
endeavors. In reality, however, American mobility is faltering, with class
stagnation increasingly undermining the Land of Opportunity.
*NEW* Top
5 Most Educated Movie Stars in Hollywood…
#5 Dolph
Lundgren
Action star Dolph Lundgren is famous for his work in films such as
"The Expendables." One wouldn't guess from the laconic characters he
plays that the Swedish-born actor has a master's degree in chemical engineering
from the University of Sydney, or that he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship
to MIT. While in the United States for academics, he met drama coach Warren
Robertson and became interested in acting. He has since starred in more than 50
action films.
Travel
Destination Info…
7) United
Kingdom - $30.7 billion
The UK takes in some $30,7 billion dollars per year from
international tourists. Popular tourist attractions in the United Kingdom
include Stonehenge, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, castles, Roman
Baths and ancient Roman ruins.
*NEW* Top 5 Poorest Countries…
5--Eritrea
Eritrea may have gold and copper to mine, but 80 percent of its
citizens farm and fewer than seven out of 10 can read and write. In this land
that borders Sudan and Ethiopia along the Red Sea, farmers struggle with
repeated droughts and a lack of labor caused by the government's strict
military draft. Eritrea's poverty is evidenced by its per capita GDP of $777
Joke-of-the-day
Fun Things To Do
In An Elevator:
1. Crack open
your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside ask: "Got enough air in
there?"
2. Grimace
painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering: "Shut up, all of you
just shut UP!"
3. Whistle the
first seven notes of "It's a Small World" incessantly.
4. Sell Girl
Scout cookies.
5. On a long
ride, sway side to side at the natural frequency of the elevator.
6. Greet everyone
getting on the elevator with a warm handshake and ask them to call you Admiral
7. When at least
8 people have boarded, moan from the back: "Oh, not now, motion
sickness!"
8. Meow
occasionally.
9. Wear a puppet
on your hand and talk to other passengers "through" it.
10. Draw a little
square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers that this
is your "personal space."
Rules of
Thumb:
BUYING A BICYCLE LOCK
The lighter the
bicycle, the heavier the lock should be.
Yeah, It
Really Happened
WASHINGTON (UPI) - An updraft of solar winds ripped a hole in the
sun's outer atmosphere with remarkable geometric precision, creating a nearly
perfect square. The dark spot, seen in the video and picture, is known as a
"coronal hole." It is the gap made when solar winds rip up, out and
away from the sun's surface at astonishing speeds -- the solar winds taking
advantage of a cooler, weakened spot in the sun's magnetic field. NASA's Solar
Dynamics Observatory -- a satellite that focuses its gaze on the sun while
orbiting Earth, capturing high resolution imagery of the mother star --
recorded a video of the square hole last week. Officials released the video
over the weekend. "Inside the coronal hole you can see bright loops where
the hot plasma outlines little pieces of the solar magnetic field sticking
above the surface," SDO officials wrote in a news release. "Because
it is positioned so far south on the sun, there is less chance that the solar
wind stream will impact us here on Earth."
Somewhat
Useless Information
In
the very first season of Sesame Street, Grover, the cuddly blue creature
everyone loves, was actually brown. In addition, Oscar made his debut as an
orange grouch, not the green grump we know him as today.
Cookie
Monster wasn't an amateur when he joined the Sesame Street cast. He had
appeared as "The Wheel Stealer" in an unaired General Foods
commercial almost three years prior. Cookie Monster is also the only Muppet
character who has five fingers. Everyone else has four.
Ernie's
song "Rubber Ducky" was released as a single in 1970, and made it to
#16 on the Billboard chart. Ernie is also the only Sesame Street Muppet to have
a built in smile.
The
word "sesame" was meant to invoke a sense of excitement and mystery,
as in the old Arabian Nights saying, "Open Sesame!" The word
"street" was used because of the show's urban setting.
Elmo
didn't debut until 1984, but he's worked as a background Anything Muppet since
the early 1970s. Twenty-five years after he appeared on the scene, Elmo is
still only 3 1/2 years old.
From
1971 to 1985, Snuffleupagus was Big Bird's imaginary friend. It wasn't until
1985 that he became a character on the show that everyone could see.
Calendar
Information
This
Week’s Observances:
13-19
Salvation Army Week Neropathy Awareness Week
National Stuttering Awareness Week
18-24
National Safe Boating Week
EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Week
National New Friends, Old Friends Week
World Trade Week
19-26
National Backyard Games Week
National Educational Bosses' Week
National Medical Transcription Week
International Coaching Week
Recreational Water Illness and Injury Prevention Week
20-23
National Stationery Week 22-25
Mudbug Madness Week
National Polka Weekend
Old-Time Player Piano Weekend
Today
Is
Buy-A-Musical-Instrument
Day
Canadian Immigrants DayHarvey Milk Day
International Day for Biological Diversity
National Maritime Day
National Museum Day
World Goth Day
][
Neighbor Day (Rhode Island)
Canadian Immigrants' Day (Canada)
National Day (Yemen-1990 unifying N & S Yemen)
National Heroes Day (Sri Lanka)
Today’s Events through History
1370 - Jews
are expelled/massacred from Brussels, Belgium
1915 - Local
train collides with troop train killing 226 (Gretna, Scotland) 1927 - 8.3 earthquake strikes Nan-Shan China, 200,000 killed
1943 - 1st jet fighter is tested
1947 - "Truman Doctrine" goes into effect, aiding Turkey & Greece
1990 - Microsoft releases Windows 3.0
1992 - Johnny Carson's final appearance as host of Tonight Show
Today’s
Birthdays
Bernard
Shaw, news correspondent (CBS, CNN) is 74
Barbara
Parkins, Vancouver, actress (Peyton Place) is 72Betty Williams, Northern Irish political activist, Nobel Peace Prize is 71
Naomi Campbell, London, model/actress is 44
Apolo Anton Ohno, American short track speed skater is 32
Remembered
for being born today
1813-1883 - Richard
Wagner, Leipsig Germany, composer (Ring)
1844-1926 - Mary
Cassatt, US, Impressionist painter (Woman Bathing) 1859-1930 - Arthur Conan Doyle, UK, author--Sherlock Holmes
1910-1985 - Johnny Olson, TV announcer (Price is Right)
1922-2012 - Judith Crist, NY, movie critic (TV Guide)
1922-1987 - Quinn Martin, American television producer
1930-1978 - Harvey Milk, Woodmere, NY, politicians and gay activist
Today’s
Historical Obits
Victor(-Marie) Hugo, French writer (Les Miserables), 1885, @83
Margaret Rutherford, English actress, 1972, @80 Rocky Graziano, boxer/writer/actor, heart failure, 1990, @71
Langston Hughes, American poet \ playwright, surgery complications, 1967, @65
Joan Davis, actress (I Married Joan), heart attack, 1961, @53
Brain
Teasers
1. Ice pops taste the best on hoT AFTernoons.
2. The weird dictator said that he would build magentA DAMS.
3. The man told his mother that he wouldn't be home FOR Dinner.
4. I have to FILL MORE of the holes our dog dug in the yard.
5. I was going to take the BUS Home, but I missed it.
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 §
