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Almanac: Week: 50 \ Day: 346
December
Averages: 44°\17°
86004 Today: H 53°\L 26°
Ave. humidity: 70% Average Sky Cover: 60%
Wind ave: 8mph\Gusts: 17mph
Ave. High: 44° Record
High: 64° (1921)
Ave. Low: 17° Record
Low: -16° (1961)
Holiday Observances
Today:
Constitution Day (Russia-1993)
Guadalupe Day (Mexico-since 1531)
Independence Day (Kenya-1963- from UK)
Neutrality Day
(Turkmenistan-1995)
¤ ¤
Gingerbread
House Day
National
12-hour Fresh Breath Day
National Ding-a-Ling Day
National
Ugly Christmas Sweater Day
Official
Lost & Found Day
Poinsettia
Day
Observances This
Week:
7-13
National Hand Washing Awareness
Week
Recipe Greetings For The Holidays
Week
Computer Science Education Week
10-17
Human
Rights Week
• • • • • • •
Quote of
the Day
Historical
Highlights for Today
1098 - 1st Crusaders capture & plunder Mara
Syria
1800 - Washington DC established as capital of US
1899 - 1st case of plague on Oahu, Hawaii
1900 - National Negro Anthem, "Lift Every
Voice & Sing", composed
1911 - Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of
India
1925 - Arthur Heinman coins term "motel";
opens Motel Inn, San Luis Obispo
1946 - Tide detergent introduced
1953 - Chuck Yeager reaches Mach 2.43 in Bell X-1A
rocket plane
1956 - Commencement of the Irish Republican Army's
Border Campaign
1963 - Frank Sinatra Jr returned after being
kidnapped
1968 - Arthur Ashe becomes 1st black to be
ranked #1 in tennis
1975 - Sara Jane Moore pled guilty to trying to
kill US President Gerald Ford
1980 - US's copyright law amended to include
computer programs
1982 - $9,800,000 in cash stolen from money
transport car in NYC
1988 - NYC Subway system adds new stations (Z line)
1997 - Carlos the Jackal, "professional
revolutionary", goes on trial in Paris
• • • • • • •
♫
Birthdays Today: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today
My
Rambling Thoughts
Lunch with Cheryl, while Mary is in Phx after attending last night’s
Fleetwood Mac concert. All is good in Williams, all is good in Flag.
Getting set for my Christmas trip to Merida. Got my plane ticket,
got my passport, got my shuttle ride, notified PO and newspaper to stop while I’m
away. Now to just wait and pick up a couple more little presents. Lots going on
between now and leaving, but I’m getting anxious to see my brother and
sister-in-law.
No rant today on the torture, I’ve heard enough to just be
sickened by our CIA.
• • • • • • •
Brain
Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
What's this rebus?
Ptimetimetime
Etimetimetime
Etimetimetime
Ktimetimetime
Found on
You Tube with some relevance to today
OK Then…
• • • • • • •
Paraphernalia
4 the Brain:
December
Holiday Facts
*Christmas-Christian
¤ Evergreens (from the Old English word aefie meaning
“always” and gowan meaning “to grow”) have been symbols of
eternal life and rebirth since ancient times. The pagan use and worship of
evergreen boughs and trees has evolved into the Christianized Christmas tree.
¤ Because they viewed Christmas as a decadent Catholic holiday,
the Puritans in America banned all Christmas celebrations from 1659-1681 with a
penalty of five shillings for each offense. Some Puritan leaders condemned
those who favored Christmas as enemies of the Christian religion.
*Hanukkah-Jewish
Hanukkah
Foods
Many traditional Hanukkah foods are cooked in oil, in remembrance
of the oil that burned in the temple. In the United States, the most widespread
Hanukkah food is latkes, or potato pancakes, a custom that may have developed
in Eastern Europe. In Israel, the favorite Hanukkah food is sufganiya, a kind
of jelly donut cooked in oil. Israelis eat sufganiyot for more than a month
before the start of Hanukkah.
Eating dairy products, especially cheese, is another Hanukkah
tradition. This is done in memory of the Jewish heroine Judith, who according
to legend saved her village from Syrian attackers. Judith fed wine and cheese
to the Syrian general Holofernes until he became so drunk that he fell to the
ground. She then seized his sword and cut off his head, which she brought back
to her village in a basket. The next morning, Syrian troops found the headless
body of their leader and fled in terror.
*Kwanza-African-American
Principles
Nia (NEE-yah) or purpose. To rebuild the community ties and
maintain them.
*12 Days of Christmas
Ten Lords
A-leaping
The ten commandments: 1) You shall have no other gods before me;
2) Do not make an idol; 3) Do not take God's name in vain; 4) Remember the
Sabbath Day; 5) Honor your father and mother; 6) Do not murder; 7) Do not
commit adultery; 8) Do not steal; 9) Do not bear false witness; 10) Do not
covet. (Exodus 20:1-17)
Flagstaff,
AZ History…
50 YEARS
AGO
The 10,000 phone in the Flagstaff area was installed on Thursday
in the home of Mr. & Mrs. Henry J. Honachi. That's a gain of 6,386 phones
in the past 10 years. Mountains State Telephone and Telegraph Company employs
201 people here up from 37 in 1960.
Flagstaff’s
Iconic 50…
“Take It
Easy” plaque at Dog Haus
The Eagles may have sung about “standing on a corner in Winslow,
Arizona” in their hit 1972 rock song “Take It Easy,” but it was a corner in
Flagstaff that inspired songwriter Jackson Browne to pen those lyrics.
According to one interview, Browne started writing “Take It Easy”
in the back of a Dodge paneled van in 1971 after his car broke down in
Flagstaff and some new friends offered him a ride back to Los Angeles.
He was in east Flagstaff when he saw a woman in a Toyota truck
pulling out of what was then Der Wienerschnitzel at the corner of East Route 66
and North Switzer Canyon.
The image stuck with him.
Browne had a hard time finishing the lyrics, so Glenn Frey of the
Eagles convinced him to let them take over the tune. Frey added the line “It’s
a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowin’ down to take a look at me” after
Browne told him about the woman at the Flagstaff Wienerschnitzel.
“I gave him this image of the girl,” Browne told Matthew Ziegler
in an interview. “I said, ‘You know, girls out there drive trucks.’”
The Wienerschnitzel that inspired “Take It Easy” is now the Route
66 Dog Haus, located at 1302 E. Route 66. Owner Gary McElfresh has posted
laminated copies of the interview in the Dog Haus windows to remind patrons of
its significance in music history.
Harper’s
Index…
Minimum number of times since 2011 that members of Congress have
accidently cast the wrong vote: 120
Rules of
Thumb…
HEATING
YOUR HOME
If the cats aren't sleeping
on the radiators, turn down the heat.
Unusual
Fact of the Day…
Marie
Curie's notebooks are still radioactive.
• • • • • • •
Joke-of-the-day
PERONS 1
1) Pull up to machine
2) Wind window down
3) Insert ATM card, enter PIN
4) Retrieve cash
5) Drive away
PERSON 2
1) Pull up to machine
2) Open door (too far away from machine)
3) Search through all of the 112 compartments in handbag for ATM card
4) Do make up, apply lipstick, fix hair
5) Insert Card
6) Remove card
7) Insert card the correct way up
8) Search for piece of paper with PIN on it
9) Enter PIN
10) Enter correct PIN
11) Retrieve cash, put in bag
12) Drive off
13) Reverse back to machine
14) Retrieve card
15) Drive three miles away
16) Release hand-brake
Yep, It
Really Happened
NEW YORK
(UPI)
The ballyhooed "Mobile Mistletoe" drones launched by TGI
Fridays have claimed their first victim, a New York photographer who lost the
tip of her nose. Georgine Benvenuto, a photographer for the Brooklyn Daily,
told the newspaper one of the two mistletoe-toting drones at the Sheepshead
Bay, Brooklyn, location spun out of control Dec. 4 and struck her in the nose.
"It literally chipped off a tip of my nose," she said. "It took
off part of my nose and cut me here, right under my chin." "Thank god
it didn't go anywhere under my eye -- that is my livelihood," Benvenuto said.
David Quiones, drone operator at the restaurant, said the small aircraft spun
out of control during an attempt to land it on a Brooklyn Daily reporter's
hand. He said the reporter flinched during the landing, sending the drone out
of control toward the photographer's face. Quiones said the incident will not
bring an end to the Mobile Mistletoe program. "If people get hurt, they're
going to come regardless. People get hurt in airplanes, they still fly,"
Quiones said. "There is a risk involved -- anything flying, there is
risk." Frances Karkosak, a spokeswoman for the restaurant chain, said
there were no previous incidents during Mobile Mistletoe events in Long Island
and Texas. "We do not let consumers touch it," Karkosak said. TGI
Fridays said in promotional material for the event last week the aim was to
inspire "mobile mistletoe mischief" with the camera-outfitted drones.
"If guests show a little love under the mistletoe, Fridays might just show
them a little love with some nice holiday gifts," the chain said in
promoting the event.
Somewhat
Useless Information
Which
country’s Parliament has a glass dome?
Did
you know that there is a country in the world whose Parliament has a glass dome
above it and people can walk over?
This
country is Germany and people can walk over the glass dome in Reichstag
Building in Berlin, so as to remind the politicians that government should be
transparent, and the people are always above them.
The
Reichstag glass dome is a prominent landmark in Berlin.
+++
Johnny
Depp visits children in Jack Sparrow’s costume
Did
you know that Johnny Depp goes to ‘kiddie’ hospitals while being dressed as Jack
Sparrow?
The
actor always travels with his Jack Sparrow costume so he can randomly visit
children’s hospitals dressed in character.
“I’ll
just sneak in and go and surprise a bunch of kiddies through the different
wards…It basically turns into a two-, three-hour improvisation and it’s really
fun. So I travel with Captain Jack.”, said the actor.
+++
Are
Norwegian and Finnish mutually intelligible?
Did
you know that Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, the so called Scandinavian
languages, are considered mutually intelligible with one another? But how about
Finnish?
Finnish
is entirely unrelated to the Scandinavian languages, although it includes
several words that have been adopted by the neighboring languages, just as
Swedish, spoken in Finland today, has borrowed from Finnish.
For
the history, Danish is considered much closer to Norwegian.
• • • • • • •
Today’s
Events through History
1787 - Pennsylvania becomes 2nd state to ratify US
constitution
1822 - Mexico officially recognized as an
independent nation by US
1858 - 1st Canadian coins circulated (1 cent, 5
cent, 10 cent & 20 cent)
2013 - US
announces sanctions on the two dozen companies who assisted Iran with their
nuclear program
• • • • • • •
Birthday’s
Today
Bob
Barker, game show emcee (Price is Right) is 91
Connie
Francis, singer/actress (Where the Boys Are) is 76
Dionne
Warwick, singer (Solid Gold, Way to San Jose) is 74
Cathy
Rigby McCoy, gymnast (Olympic-4th-1968) is 62
Remembered
for being born today
John Jay, statesman,
1st US Chief Justice [1745-1829]
Henry
Wells, founder (American Express\Wells Fargo & Co) [1805-1878]
Gustave
Flaubert, France, novelist (Madame Bovary) [1821-1880]
Edward G
Robinson, [Goldenberg], actor (10 Commandments) [1893-1973]
Frank
Sinatra, singer/actor (old blue eyes), [1915-1998]
Edward I
Koch, NYC, (Mayor- NYC/judge (People's Court), [1924-2013]
• • • • • • •
Historical
Obits Today
Dee Brown, author
(Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee), 2002, @94
Charles
Goodnight, Texas cattle baron, 1929, @93
Van
Johnson, actor (war films), 2008, @92
John
Craig, Scottish church reformer/James VI's court vicar, 1600, @88
Robert
Browning, English poet (Ring & Book), 1889, @77
Mo Udall, US
Rep-AZ, 1998, @76
Ike
Turner, American singer, former husband of Tina Turner, OD, 2007, @76
Peter
Boyle, actor, myeloma, 2006, @71
Johnny
Lee, actor (Calhoun-Amos 'n' Andy), heart attack, 1965, @67
Tallulah
Bankhead, actress (All Star Revue), pneumonia, 1968, @65
Anne
Baxter, actress (All About Eve), stroke, 1985, @62
Jack
Cassidy, actor (Oscar/Ted Baxter-MTM), fire, 1976, @49
• • • • • • •
Brain Teasers Answers
Keep up with the times!
• • • • • • •
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…§
