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Almanac: Week: 49 \ Day: 335
December
Averages: 44°\17°
December
Records: High: 68° (1950) Low: -23 (1990)
86004
Today: H 52°\L 36°
Ave. humidity: 37% Average Sky Cover: 10%
Wind
ave: 11mph\Gusts: 27mph
Ave. High: 46° Record High: 63°
(1926)
Ave. Low: 18° Record Low: -7° (1905)
Holiday Observances
Today:
Independence Day (Dominican Republic-1821- from
Spain)
Independence Day (Iceland-1918-from Denmark)
Independence Day (Portugal-1640-from Iberian Union
with Spain)
National Day (Romania)
¤ ¤
Bifocals at the Monitor Liberation Day-for all Bifocals at the
computer monitor
Civil Air
Patrol Day
Cyber
Monday
Day With(out) Art-since 1989-mourning all
lost to AIDS
Eat a Red Apple Day
Rosa Parks Day
UN World Aids Day
World Aids Day
Observances This
Week:
1-7
Cookie
Cutter Week
International Coelenterate Biology
Week
Observations This
Month:
World
Aids Month
Bingo's Birthday Month-invented in
1929
National Drunk & Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month
National Write A Business Plan Month
National Tie Month
Operation Santa Paws (1-19)
Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Spiritual Literacy Month
Take a New Year's Resolution to Stop Smoking (TANYRSS)
Tomato and Winter Squash Month
Universal Human Rights Month
Worldwide Food Service Safety Month
Write a Friend Month
• • • • • • •
Quote of
the Day
Historical
Highlights for Today
1641 - Mass becomes 1st colony to give statutory
recognition to slavery
1750 - First school in America to offer manual
training courses opens in Maryland
1831 - Erie Canal closes for entire month due to
cold weather
1835 - Hans Christian Andersen publishes his
1st book of fairy tales
1878 - 1st White House telephone installed
1896 - 1st certified public accountants receive
certificates (NY)
1903 - "The Great Train Robbery", the 1st
Western film, released
1909 - 1st Christmas Club payment made, to Carlisle
Trust Co, Pa
1913 - 1st drive-up gasoline station opens (Pitts)
1917 - Boys Town founded by Father Edward Flanagan
west of Omaha Neb
1941 - US Civil Air Patrol (CAP) organizes
1942 - Gasoline rationed in US
1943 - FDR, Churchill & Stalin agree
to Operation Overlord (D-Day)
1955 - Rosa
Parks arrested for refusing to move to the back of bus and give her seat
to a white passenger
1957 - Sam Cooke and Buddy Holly and
Crickets debut on Ed Sullivan Show
1958 - Our Lady of Angels School burns, killing 92
students & 3 nuns (Chic)
1959 - 12 nations sign treaty for scientific
peaceful use of Antarctica
1959 - The 1st color photograph of Earth received
from outer space
1969 - US government holds its 1st draft lottery
since WW II
1978 - Pres Carter more than doubles national park
system size
1988 - Benazir Bhutto named 1st female PM of a
Muslim country (Pakistan)
• • • • • • •
♫
Birthdays Today: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today
My
Rambling Thoughts
Finally, the house interior is ready for Christmas. My new tree is
just the right size. My dad’s father passed away on Christmas Eve while out
shopping when my dad was 5. So his family didn’t really celebrate much. My mom’s
family didn’t have a lot of money, so Christmas was usually sparse. When they
got kids they wanted more for their kids. So Christmas was always nice. Mom
decorated the inside, Dad the outside. New decorations were purchased the day
after Christmas and saved for the next year. I have inherited most of the family
decorations, some early plastic ones dating back to the early 1950’s. I also
have many handmade decorations made by friends and neighbors that have been in
the family for decades. Then I have decorations I have received over the years.
Amazing, when I bring them out to put on the tree, the memories that come
flooding back. My mom bought a Nativity set up when I was about 8 years old…it
has a ‘real manger’ made of wood and numerous paper Mache painted figures. They
are still kept, wrapped in paper towels, in the same shoe box from the first
year to be put out every Christmas. I also have Santa’s Bells, tied onto a
piece of thick leather that was always on the front door…and it’s on my front
door. I also found a red feather angel with a porcelain head that I got my mom
when I was about 10 years old…I saved up the $1.29 it cost by doing chores.
I feels like Christmas and as soon as the wind dies down, I’ll to
the outside.
Cards are playing, sort of and later tonight it’s the Broncos. Good
Sunday.
• • • • • • •
Brain
Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
For
each of the following word pairs, you are looking for a two word answer. The
first is a rhyme of the first word and gives the category. The second word is a
rhyme and is a specific word in that category. For example, "Kitty,
Tennis" translates to "City, Venice".
1. Fainter, Jolly
2. Slumber, Heaven
3. Reason, Printer
4. Quiver, Bongo
5. Power, Crazy
6. Handy, Muffle
7. Sticker, Frisky
Found on
You Tube with some relevance to today
OK Then…
• • • • • • •
Paraphernalia
4 the Brain:
Actor
Facts…
¤ Leonardo DiCaprio was named Leonardo because his pregnant mother
was looking at a Leonardo da Vinci painting in a museum in Italy when DiCaprio
first kicked.
¤ Jason Earles played as a teenager in Hannah Montana, but he was
actually born in 1977.
December
Holiday Facts
*Christmas-Christian
¤ Each year more than 3 billion Christmas cards are sent in the
U.S. alone.
¤ All the gifts in the Twelve Days of Christmas would equal 364
gifts.
*Hanukkah-Jewish
Spelling
of Hanukkah
The guttural sound of the Hebrew letters cannot be duplicated by
the English alphabet. For this reason, there are many spellings of this holiday
in English and all are correct.
*Kwanza-African-American
¤ Kwanza will celebrate its 50th Birthday
in 2016!
¤ The holiday was created by Dr. Maulana
Karenga in 1966 to celebrate family, culture and heritage, and is modeled after
the first harvest celebrations in Africa.
Flagstaff,
AZ History…
From 1889
On Friday, a four-horse wagon load of fine quail and fish caught
on the Verde was brought into town.
Flagstaff’s
Iconic 50…
The
Skydome--
N 35°
10.831 W 111° 39.109
The J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome was named for the former NAU
President. It is the 2nd largest clear-span timber dome in the world. The
framework was designed by computer in 1977 and built entirely of glue laminated
all wood beams. Note: The largest is the Tacoma
Dome in WA.
Harper’s
Index…
Average per capita income within 3 miles of a major US coal plant:
$18,400
Rules of
Thumb…
AVOIDING
OTHER AIRPLANES
If you spot another
airplane and it is above the horizon, it is above you. If it is below the
horizon, it is below you. If the other airplane is at the same level as the
horizon, it is at your altitude. If an approaching airplane appears motionless,
it is on a collision course with you.
Unusual
Fact of the Day…
Before
finishing his education, earning a doctorate, and inventing the sport
basketball, Dr. James Naismith was a high school dropout.
• • • • • • •
Joke-of-the-day
Cal was out driving in the country, seeing how
his new car handled the curvy roads at high speeds. As he rounded a corner, one
of his tires blew.
When he got out of the car to change the tire, he noticed that he had stopped
in front of the state mental asylum. There was also a man sitting on the brick
wall in front of the facility.
The driver went about his business, not paying any attention to the guy on the
fence. He first took his tire iron and jack out of the car, and got the car
jacked up. Then, he removed the hubcap. Next, he removed the six lug nuts, and
placed them in the hubcap for safekeeping.
About this time, the guy on the fence decided to start a conversation. This
startled the driver, and he reeled around quickly, knocking over the hubcap,
and the lug nuts fell into the sewer drain.
The driver gets angry with the guy on the fence, shouting, "Now look what
you made me do. Now I'm going to have to walk to town to buy some new lug nuts.
Just go back inside and leave me be."
The guy on the fence says, "Why don't you just take one lug nut from each
of your other three wheels, and use them on this one. That should hold it
steady enough for you to drive the car to the auto parts store."
The driver asks, "That's a brilliant idea...then why are you here?"
The guy on the fence replies, "I'm just crazy, not stupid."
Yep, It
Really Happened
CINCINNATI
Officials at the Cincinnati
Zoo said a pack of Grinchy squirrels are countering their holiday cheer by
taking down their festive lights. Chad Yelton of the Cincinnati Zoo said
squirrels gnaw on the LED light strands workers put up for the holiday season
and the animals seem intent on keeping the facility's Bear Hill from being
bathed in festive illumination.
"This is by far the number one spot for squirrels,"
Yelton said of Bear Hill. "We've had many a night where it's completely
dark." Yelton said the zoo lost 300 strands of lights in one recent year,
"and most of that was on Bear Hill."
Officials said the squirrel problem has been going on for several
years. Before the switch to LED lights, the squirrels would unscrew the
incandescent bulbs, apparently mistaking them for nuts. Yelton said the zoo
tried using hot sauce to deter the squirrels, but "they kind of laughed at
it."
"You know, it didn't really do much. I think we felt good
about it, but it didn't do much," he said. Steve Foltz, director of
horticulture at the zoo, said the yearly attempt to safeguard the holiday
lights is "a challenge who’s smarter, the squirrel or the
horticulturists."
Foltz admitted that for the moment, "the squirrels win."
Somewhat
Useless Information
Johannesburg
is the largest city in South Africa, by population and the provincial capital
of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa.
Johannesburg
is also the world’s largest city not situated on a river, lake, or coastline.
However,
its streams contribute to two of southern Africa’s mightiest rivers, the
Limpopo and the Orange.
¤
¤
Comparing
to amateurs, top soccer players such as Neymar, Ronaldo or Messi demonstrate
10% less brain activity during competitive matches.
Scientists
have called this situation as ‘autopilot’.
After
motor skill tests conducted on Neymar and several other athletes in Barcelona,
results showed that Neymar displayed limited cerebral function when he rotated
his ankle, which explains why the striker’s brilliance is uncannily natural.
• • • • • • •
Today’s Events
through History
800 - Charlemagne judges the accusations
against Pope Leo III in the Vatican
1843 - 1st chartered mutual life insurance company
opens
1913 - Continuous moving assembly line introduced
by Ford (car every 2:38)
1921 - US Post Office establishes philatelic agency
1922 - 1st skywriting over US-"Hello
USA"-by Capt Turner, RAF
1973 - Jack Nicklaus becomes 1st golfer to
earn $2M in a year
1982 - Michael Jackson releases his album
"Thriller"
• • • • • • •
Birthday’s
Today
Woody
Allen, [Allen Konigsberg], Bkln, actor (Annie Hall) is 79
Lee Buck
Trevino, PGA golfer is 75
Bette
Midler, Honolulu, actress and singer is 69
Treat
Williams, actor (Hair) is 63
Bob Goen, TV host
(Entertainment Tonight) is 60
Charlene
Tilton, actress (Lucy Ewing-Dallas) is 56
Sarah
Silverman, stand-up comedian, is 44
Remembered
for being born today
Anna
Comnena, Byzantine historian [1083-1153]
Rex Stout, mystery
writer (Nero Wolf novels) [1886-1975]
W A "Tony"
Boyle, United Mine Workers president [1904-1985]
Louis
Slotin, Canadian Physicist\Chemist (Manhattan Project) [1910-1946]
Mary
Martin, actress (Peter Pan) Larry Hagman's mom [1913-1990]
David
Doyle, actor (Charlie's Angels) [1929-1997]
Dick
Shawn, actor (Producers) [1923-1987]
Lou Rawls, Chicago
vocalist (Golddigers), [1933-2006]
Pablo
Escobar Gaviria, Colombian drug baron [1949-1993]
Matthew
Shepard, American Hate Crime victim [1976-1998]
• • • • • • •
Historical
Obits Today
David
Ben-Gurion, founding father of Israel, 1973, @87
Sam
Levene, actor (Purple Heart), heart attack, 1980, @75
Fred Rose,
songwriter (Blue Eyes Cryin in the Rain), heart attack, 1954, @57
José
Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer, seizures, 1928, @40
• • • • • • •
Brain Teasers Answers
1. Painter, Dali
2. Number, Seven
3. Season, Winter
4. River, Congo
5. Flower, Daisy
6. Candy, Truffle
7. Liquor, Whiskey
• • • • • • •
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…§
