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Almanac: Week: 51 \ Day: 348
December
Averages: 44°\17°
86004 Today: H 40°\L 29°
Ave. humidity: 85% Average Sky Cover: 80%
Wind ave: 4mph\Gusts: 28mph
Ave. High: 44° Record
High: 66° (1946)
Ave. Low: 16° Record
Low: -14° (1972)
Holiday Observances
Today:
Admission Day (Alabama-1819-22nd)
¤ ¤
International Children's
Day
Monkey
Day
World
Choral Day
Worldwide
Candle Lighting Day
Observances This
Week:
10-17
Human
Rights Week
14-20
Gluten-free
Baking Week
14-28
Halcyon
Days- the seven days in winter when storms
never occur
• • • • • • •
Quote of
the Day
Historical
Highlights for Today
1287 - During St.
Lucia's Flood in Northwest Netherlands the Zuiderzee seawall collapses with
loss of over 50,000 lives. Fifth largest recorded flood in history
1656 - Artificial
pearls 1st manufactured made of gypsum pellets covered with fish scales
1793 - 1st
state road authorized, Frankfort, Ky to Cincinnati
1896 - The
Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company
1915 - Jack
Johnson is 1st black world heavyweight boxing champion
1944 - Congress establishes rank of General of Army
(5-star General)
1947 - The National Association for Stock Car Auto
Racing (NASCAR) is founded
1950 - UN Gen Assembly establishes High Comm for
Refugees (Nobel 1954)
1962 - Mariner
2 makes 1st US fly-by of another planet (Venus)
1967 - DNA created
in a test tube
1969 - Jackson Five
made their 1st appearance on "Ed Sullivan Show"
1980 - At 2 PM EST there is
10 minutes of silence in memory of John Lennon
1980 - Nancy
Lopez/Curtis Strange wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
1984 - Sportscaster
Howard Cosell retires from Monday Night Football
1995 - AIDS patient Jeff Getty receives baboon bone
marrow transplant
2003 - President
George W. Bush announces the capture of Saddam Hussein.
• • • • • • •
♫
Birthdays Today: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today
My
Rambling Thoughts
Strange weather day for sure. At 6a it was raining, and had been
for many hours. At 7a the wind was really blowing. At 7:45 it was snowing. At
9a the sky was clear and blue. At 1:30 it was snowing again. By 3p it was
overcast with no snow. Just a dusting of snow stuck to the ground. Not sure if
the weatherman’s forecast of 8” is going to happen today.
It took the clear blue sky as a sign from somewhere that I better
finally put up the outside lights. They are even set on a timer to glow from
6p-11p every evening. So now I am finished with decorating and ready for the
season to continue. Maybe that will bring the snow.
• • • • • • •
Brain
Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
My
creator is a mystery,
One that's set in stone.
My origins, my history,
Still totally unknown.
Tests of time I've had to face,
My strength and my endurance
Cause of weakness; it's your race,
But I'm free of all life currents.
Was I a calendar, a tomb, a shrine?
We've all wondered it before.
We don't know... but I'm a wonder!
I can tell you that for sure.
What am I?
Found on
You Tube with some relevance to today
OK Then…
• • • • • • •
Paraphernalia
4 the Brain:
December
Holiday Facts
*Christmas-Christian
¤ The poinsettia is native to Mexico and was cultivated by the
Aztecs, who called the plant Cuetlaxochitl (“flower which
wilts”). For the Aztecs, the plant’s brilliant red color symbolized purity, and
they often used it medicinally to reduce fever. Contrary to popular belief, the
poinsettia is not poisonous, but holly berries are.
¤ Christmas has its roots in pagan festivals such as Saturnalia
(December 17-December 23), the Kalends (January 1 -5, the precursor to the
Twelve Days of Christmas), and Deus Sol Invictus or Birthday
of the Unconquerable Sun (December 25). The Christian church heartily
disapproved of such celebrations and co-opted the pagans by declaring December
25 as Christ’s day of birth, though there is no evidence Christ was born on
that day.
*Hanukkah-Jewish
¤ As per the Western calendar, the date for the commencement of
Chanukah varies every year.
¤ Lighting of Menorah is the main Hanukah tradition.
*Kwanza-African-American
Principles
Imani (ee-MAH-nee) or faith in the leaders and the community.
*12 Days of Christmas
Twelve
Drummers Drumming
The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed: 1) I believe
in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. 2) I believe in Jesus
Christ, his only Son, our Lord. 3) He was conceived by the power of the Holy
Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. 4) He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell [the grave]. 5) On the
third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right
hand of power. 6) He will come again to judge the living and the dead. 7) I
believe in the Holy Spirit, 8) the Church, 9) the communion of saints, 10) the
forgiveness of sins, 11) the resurrection of the body, 12) and life
everlasting.
Flagstaff,
AZ History…
FROM 1889
E. H. Witherall, the contractor for the United Verde Mines,
informs us that he is in need of more freight teams to haul between Verde
Junction on the P. & A. Railroad and Jerome. He pays $8 a ton each way
Flagstaff’s
Iconic 50…
Flagstaff’s
“Bottomless Pit”
A 1997 seismic reflection survey shows a maze of faults, fractures
and caves in the area reaching to depths of 2,000 feet under the surface.
The Bottomless Pit lies at the intersection of a long, linear
fault and a graben — a trench that has been created by two landforms moving
away from each other. Historical reports of the area show that it has long been
a floodplain, which regularly featured a lake during flood times.
One thing that is clear: The pit has drawn rumors and intrigue
since around 1888. That’s when the pit most likely opened up, according to FEMA
references, the Coconino Sun and oral history interviews with local ranchers.
Harper’s
Index…
Value of a cloud-computing contract awarded by the CIA to Amazon last
year: $600,000,000
Rules of
Thumb…
NOT
GETTING DOORED
Allow about 4 feet
between your bicycle and the parked car on your right to keep from running into
a door or person getting out of it.
Unusual
Fact of the Day…
Pandas
are notoriously reluctant to mate in captivity. This has led breeders to create
"panda porn"—videos of pandas copulating.
• • • • • • •
Joke-of-the-day
Four people are in an airplane, the pilot, the
smartest man in the world, the richest man in the world, and a punk teenager.
The airplane experiences some difficulties, and the pilot informs the three
passengers that the plane is going to crash, and there are only three
parachutes on the plane.
The richest man in the world takes one,
because he says that his lawyers will sue everyone else on the plane if he
doesn't survive.
The smartest man in the world takes a
parachute, because he thinks that the world would be a worse place without him.
The pilot says to the punk "There's only
one parachute left, I'll fight you for it."
"That won't be necessary," said the
punk, "The smartest man in the world took my backpack."
Yep, It
Really Happened
TOKYO (UPI) - A Tokyo restaurant announced couples will not be
welcome at the eatery on Christmas Eve because the sight of them would make
single customers feel lonely.
The PiaPia restaurant posted a note in its window featuring a
hand-drawn couple and a heart that have been crossed out with an explanation
stating, "We will be refusing entry to all couples on December 24, with no
exceptions!"
The note says couples would serve as a reminder of loneliness for
single patrons on Christmas Eve and romantic pairs "would cause severe
emotional trauma to members of our staff" who have to work on the holiday.
PiaPia worker Takashi Kyozuka said the sign was posted because
eatery staff don't want customers to "feel sad that they are by
themselves."
"To start with, someone said we should ban couples as a bit
of a joke, but then we realized that it's true," he told The Telegraph.
"If you are single on Christmas Eve, then it's easy to get down."
Somewhat
Useless Information
Something
you didn’t know about Detroit parking fines
If
someone spends an afternoon driving through Detroit, it is clear that there are
more parking garages, street meters and surface lots downtown than people who
actually want to park there.
But…
did you know that the city of Detroit spends more money issuing parking fines
than it collects from them?
In
the Detroit News there’s the following paragraph: “The city is paying $32 to
issue and process a $30 parking violation, and it hasn’t adjusted rates since
2001. On top of that, about half of Detroit’s 3,404 parking meters are not
operating properly at any given time, says [Emergency Manager Kevyn] Orr’s
spokesman, Bill Nowling”.
+++
Which
was the basis for all aboriginal religious beliefs?
Dreaming
or Dreamtime was the most important aspect of Aboriginal Mythology and the
basis for all Aboriginal religious beliefs.
According
to these beliefs, spirits, or Ancestral Beings, created the world during the
Dreamtime.
Sometimes,
the spirits were invisible supernatural forces. Other times, they took a
physical form with human and animal characteristics.
+++
Which
film does NASA use as training?
In
order for NASA to ensure the high knowledge of new recruits, it uses a film as
part of its management training program.
This
film is “Armageddon in which there are 168 inaccuracies, more than one per
minute and new recruits have to find as many as possible.
• • • • • • •
Today’s
Events through History
1782 - Charleston,
SC evacuated by British
1901 - 1st
table tennis tournament is held (London Royal Aquarium)
1946 - Togo made a trusteeship territory of UN
• • • • • • •
Birthday’s
Today
Patty
Duke, [Anna Marie], actress (Miracle Worker) is 68
Vanessa
Hudgens, singer and actress is 26
Remembered
for being born today
Nostradamus, [Michel
de Nostre-Dam], astrologist/prophet [1503-1566]@62
Morihei
Ueshiba "the founder" Japanese martial art of aikido
[1883-1969]@85
King
George VI of the United Kingdom [1895-1952]@56
James
Doolittle, USAF General (Raid on Tokyo 1942) [1896-1993]@96
Margaret
Chase Smith, (Rep/Sen-Maine) [1897-1995]@97
Frances
Beauvier, actress (Aunt Bea-Andy Griffith Show) [1902-1989]@86
Morey
Amsterdam, comedian (Buddy-Dick Van Dyke Show) [1908-1996]@86
Dan
Dailey, dancer\actor (Gov Drinkwater-Governor & JJ) [1915-1978]@62
June
Taylor, American choreographer [1917-2004]@86
Don
Hewitt, CBS news executive producer (60 Minutes) [1922-2009]@86
Charlie
"Silver Fox" Rich, vocalist
(Behind Closed Doors) [1932-1995]@62
• • • • • • •
Historical
Obits Today
Myrna Loy,
[Williams], US actress (Jazz Singer), 1993, @88
Walter
Lippmann, American journalist (Public Opinion), 1974, @85
Peter
O'Toole, Irish actor, 2013, @ 81
Arthur
Treacher, TV announcer (Merv Griffin Show), 1975, @81
Stubby
Kaye, actor (Guys & Dolls, Sweet Charity), cancer, 1997, @79
Norman
Fell, actor (3s Company), cancer, 1998, @74
Jock
Mahoney, actor (Dallas, Tarzan), stroke, 1989, @70
Andrei
Sakharov, Russian physicist/dissident (Nobel 1975), heart attack, 1989, @
68
George
Washington, 1st president USA (1789-97), bloodletting, 1799,,@67
J Louis R
Agassiz, Swiss geologist/paleo-biologist), 1873, @66
William
Bendix, actor (Life of Riley), pneumonia, 1964, @58
Roger
Maris, HR hitter (61 in 61, NY Yankees), cancer, 1985, @51
Albert, Prince
consort of England\husband of Queen Victoria, typhoid, 1861, @42
James V, King of
Scots, fever, 1542, @30
• • • • • • •
Brain Teasers Answers
Stonehenge.
The first verse describes the mystery that is Stonehenge. Although there are
theories, we're still not absolutely positive who built it, how it was built,
or why.
The second verse refers to the body of Stonehenge and the damage humans have
caused. Each of the vertically-set stones weigh roughly over 5 tons, but
tourists and passers-by have damaged and vandalized some smaller boulders also
part of Stonehenge. There may also have been even more stones that were part of
the broken circle that have now gone. Of course, rocks are lifeless, which
explains the "life currents" mention.
The final verse explains some of the different theories developed for the
purpose of Stonehenge. Some have said it was used to mark dates with the help
of the sun's alignment, it may have been a burial ground, or even a temple of
worship.
• • • • • • •
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…§
