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Almanac: Week: 50 \ Day: 347
December
Averages: 44°\17°
86004 Today: H 51°\L 35°
Ave. humidity: 88% Average Sky Cover: 70%
Wind ave: 7mph\Gusts: 26mph
Ave. High: 44° Record
High: 66° (1921)
Ave. Low: 17° Record
Low: -19° (1931)
Holiday Observances
Today:
Republic
Day (Malta-1974)
Santa Lucia Day (Sweden)
ָ¤
Day
Of The Horse
Gingerbread
Decorating Day
Ice
Cream Day Pick A Pathologist Pal Day
International
Shareware Day
Noughts
and Crosses Day (aka Tic Tac Toe Day)
Violin 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
1294 - Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after
only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic
hermit
1636 - The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three
militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization
is recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard
1759 - First music store in America opens (Phila)
1769 - Dartmouth College in New Hampshire received
its charter
1774 – 1st
incident of American Revolution - 400 attack Ft William and Mary, NH
1903 - Italo Marcioni patents ice cream cone mound
(NJ)
1903 - Wright Bros make 1st flight at Kittyhawk
1916 - Avalanche kills 10,000 Austrian &
Italian troops in 24 hrs in Tyrol
1924 - KOA-AM in Denver CO begins radio transmissions
1928 - Clip-on tie designed
1928 - George Gershwin's "An American In
Paris" premieres (NYC)
1938 - Los Angeles freezes at 28°F
1950 - James Dean begins his career with an
appearance in a Pepsi commercial
1966 - 1st US bombing of Hanoi
1967 - San Diego, CA records snow at a zero
elevation after temperatures plunge 19 degrees (F) in eight hours.
1969 - Arlo Guthrie releases "Alice's
Restaurant"
1988 - Arafat addresses UN in Geneva
1990 - South African President De Klerk meets
with Nelson Mandela to talk of end of apartheid
1995 - US Federal Court votes that Cable companies
must carry local stations
2003 - Former Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit (Operation Red Dawn).
• • • • • • •
♫
Birthdays Today: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today
My
Rambling Thoughts
Weatherman says a winter storm is brewing. Yesterday he predicted
2-3”, now is saying 4-8”…guess I’ll have to anxiously await tomorrow to see
what happens.
I have a coin jar where I toss change when I get home. About once
a year I take it to a Coin-star machine and get some money. Today, after
waiting a little over a year, I got $225. Not bad. Then I cashed in my Freedom
Card bonus and got $250 for this year. Not bad for a day. I bought groceries
and some other stuff and tried really hard to buy some new reusable bags. I
have Albertson’s and Walmart bags among others. Both cashiers said they usually
have bags but neither knew where they were in the store. I’ll try again with a
manager next time. Flag City Council is ‘studying’ a possible ban on plastic
bags. Can’t happen too soon for me, but I guess the stores I shop at are not
big on advertising the alternatives. Too bad. It saves them money and is better
for the environment…and they get some free advertising too. I like the reusable
bags so much better than those plastic bags.
• • • • • • •
Brain
Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
A
man escapes from jail with help from his girlfriend. Four girls are accused of
being the man's girlfriend. His girlfriend is lying. Two girls are innocent and
telling the truth. The other girl is the man's sister who is helping the
girlfriend lie. Who is the man's sister?
Amanda: "Melinda is his girlfriend."
Vanessa: "Eva is lying."
Eva: "Amanda is lying."
Melinda: "Vanessa is not his sister."
Found on
You Tube with some relevance to today
OK Then…
• • • • • • •
Paraphernalia
4 the Brain:
December
Holiday Facts
*Christmas-Christian
¤ A Yule log is an enormous log that is typically burned during
the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25-January 6). Some scholars suggest
that the word yule means “revolution” or “wheel,” which symbolizes
the cyclical return of the sun. A burning log or its charred remains is said to
offer health, fertility, and luck as well as the ability to ward off evil
spirits.
¤ Because of their pagan associations, both the holly (associated
with the masculine principle) and the ivy (the feminine) and other green boughs
in home decoration were banned by the sixth-century Christian Council of Braga.
*Hanukkah-Jewish
¤ Hanukkah for Jews is as important as Christmas for Christians.
¤ Hanukkah is spelt differently by different people. Some name it
as Chanukkah while the majority of people name it as Hanukkah.
*Kwanza-African-American
Principles
Kuumba (koo-OOM-bah) or creativity. To improve the community and
make it a better and more beautiful place.
*12 Days of Christmas
Eleven
Pipers Piping
The eleven Faithful Apostles: 1) Simon Peter, 2) Andrew, 3) James,
4) John, 5) Philip, 6) Bartholomew, 7) Matthew, 8) Thomas, 9) James bar
Alphaeus, 10) Simon the Zealot, 11) Judas bar James. (Luke 6:14-16). The list
does not include the twelfth disciple, Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus to the
religious leaders and the Romans.
Flagstaff,
AZ History…
25 YEARS
AGO
The city and W. L. Gore have agreed that the city will annex 50
acres on Woody Mountain Rd where Gore will build an additional 30,000 sq. ft.
facility. They will also install water and sewer lines attached to city
services thus avoiding need for more septic tanks and additional wells.
Flagstaff’s
Iconic 50…
Riordan
Mansion
Riordan Mansion State Historic Park includes two almost identical
homes built in 1904 by Michael and Timothy Riordan. The homes are connected by
a rendezvous room and altogether contain 13,000 square feet of floor space and
sit atop Kinlichi Knoll in Flagstaff. The Riordan brothers were members of a
prominent Arizona family who played a significant role in the development of
Flagstaff and northern Arizona and were involved in lumber, railroads, cattle,
banking, and politics.
The architect for the Riordan homes was Charles Whittlesey, who
was also the architect for the El Tovar Hotel at the Grand Canyon. Some of the
similarities between the structures include massive stone arches at porch
corners and rustic exterior consisting of log planks, wood shingles, and native
stone.
The contents consist of an incredible array of original artifacts
associated with the families of Timothy A. Riordan (east side) and Michael J.
Riordan (west side). The artifacts consisted of furnishings, household
accessories, clothing, personal items, photographs, documents, maps, letters,
books, and magazines. A number of the pieces of furniture are fine period items
designed and constructed by Gustav Stickly, recognized as the Father of the
American Arts and Crafts movement. Some of the other furniture is turn of the
century, custom made Flagstaff products from Douglas fir and Arizona walnut.
Harper’s
Index…
Amount the federal government has budgeted this year for IT
maintenance: $83,400,000,000
Percentage of federal agencies whose servers have failed in the past
12 months: 94
Rules of
Thumb…
DEALING
WITH A DRUNK
The Bouncer's Rule
of Six: If you're explaining something to an intoxicated person that a sober
person would understand after being told once, expect to repeat yourself five
times.
Unusual
Fact of the Day…
In
1865, six-year-old Teddy Roosevelt watched Abraham Lincoln’s funeral procession
in NYC.
• • • • • • •
Joke-of-the-day
Little Billy wanted $100 badly and prayed for
two weeks but nothing happened.
Then he decided to write God a letter requesting the $100. When the postal
authorities received the letter addressed to God, USA, they decided to send it
to President Bush.
The President was so impressed, touched, and amused that he instructed his
secretary to send Billy a $5.00 bill.
President Bush thought this would appear to be a lot of money to a little boy.
Billy was delighted with the $5.00 and sat down to write a thank you note to
God, which read:
Dear God,
Thank you very much for sending the money, however, I noticed that for some
reason you had to send it through Washington D.C. and, as usual, those crooks
deducted $95.00.
Thanks,
Billy
Yep, It
Really Happened
Air traffic control must be a little different in Korea than it is
in the United States. In the U.S. passengers can't order planes to delay their
flights because of bad cabin service, no matter who the passenger is, but in
Korea...
A Korean Air executive has resigned from some of her duties after she ordered a
flight to be turned around to the gate and a flight attendant off the plane
because she was served nuts in a bag instead of on a plate.
Heather Cho, whose Korean name is Cho Hyun-ah, resigned from the airline's
catering and in-flight sales business, and its cabin service and hotel business
divisions, an airline spokesman said.
But she is keeping her title as a vice president of the national carrier.
The incident occurred at New York's JFK airport on a flight due to take off for
South Korea's Incheon International Airport, outside Seoul.
Cho reportedly demanded that the plane go back to the gate so the crew member
who served her macadamia nuts out of a bag rather than on a plate in First
Class could be kicked off the flight.
Although her role put her in charge of in-flight service, she was only a
passenger on this flight and was not flying in an official capacity.
According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, Cho is the eldest daughter of
Korean Air's chairman, Cho Yang-ho.
He apologized Tuesday for any inconvenience caused to passengers and said the
incident would be investigated.
Somewhat
Useless Information
¤
Abigail Adams was the 1st first lady to live in the White House.
¤ Lucy Hayes was once the only female student at Ohio Wesleyan University.
¤ Dolly Madison initiated the inaugural ball.
¤ Sarah Polk hosted the first annual Thanksgiving dinner at the White House.
¤ Lou Hoover spoke fluent Chinese.
¤ Eleanor Roosevelt was known to serve scrambled eggs on unmatched dishes at
White House lunches.
• • • • • • •
Today’s
Events through History
1577 - Sir Francis Drake sets sail from
England to go around world
1920 - League of nations establishes Intl Court of
Justice in The Hague
1944 - Japanese kamikaze crashes into US cruiser
Nashville, kills 138
1961 - Jimmy Dean's Big Bad John album is country
music 1st million $ seller
• • • • • • •
Birthday’s
Today
George
Shultz, US Secretary of State is 94
Dick Van
Dyke, actor (Rob Petrie-Dick Van Dyke Show) is 89
Christopher
Plummer, Toronto, actor (Sound of Music) is 85
John
Davidson, TV host (Hollywood Squares, That's Incredible) is 73
Ted
Nugent, guitarist (Cat Scratch Fever) is 66
Wendie
Malick, actress (Just Shoot Me) is 64
Steve
Buscemi, actor (Fargo) is 57
Billy Van
Zandt, playwright\actor is 57
John
Whitaker, actor (Family Affair) is 55
Jamie
Foxx, comedian (In Living Color) is 46
Taylor
Swift, singer/songwriter (Our Song) is 25
Remembered
for being born today
Clark
Mills, US, sculptor (Freedom, Armed Liberty) [1810-1893]
Mary Todd
Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln and First Lady [1818-1832]
Phillips
Brooks, bishop/composer (Little Town of Bethlehem) [1835-1893]
Carlos
Montoya, Madrid, guitarist [1903-1993]
Van
Heflin, actor (Madame Bovary) [1910-1971]
Archie
Moore, light-heavyweight boxing champ, [1916-1998]
Yitzhak
Zuckerman, Jewish resistance hero WWII [1915-1989]
Richard Darryl Zanuck, film producer/executive,
[1934-2012]
• • • • • • •
Historical
Obits Today
Samuel
Gompers, organizer (American Federation of Labor), diabetes, 1924, @74
Thomas A.
Watson, American assistant to Alexander Graham Bell, 1934, @83
Tim Moore, actor
(Kingfish-Amos 'n' Andy), TB, 1958, @70
Grandma
Moses [Anna Moses], US painter, 1961, @101
Leora
Dana, actress (Amityville II), cancer, 1983, @60
Allen
Breed, US inventor (automotive airbag sensor), heart attack, 1999, @ 72
Floyd Red Crow
Westerman, Sioux actor/singer,
leukemia, 2007, @71
Park
Tae-joon, South Korean founder of steel giant Posco, 2011, @84
• • • • • • •
Brain Teasers Answers
If Amanda is telling the truth, then Melinda is lying. If Melinda
is lying, then Vanessa is his sister. If Vanessa is his sister, then she's
lying about Eva lying. If Eva isn't lying, then Amanda is lying, which would
contradict the fact that Amanda's telling the truth. That means Amanda is lying
and could be his girlfriend or sister.
Eva must be telling the truth since Amanda has to be lying. So Vanessa must
also be lying, and Melinda is telling the truth. Since Melinda's telling the
truth, Vanessa isn't his sister and must be his girlfriend. Amanda is the other
liar, so she must be his sister.
• • • • • • •
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…§
