3-18-15

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Almanac: Week: 12 \ Day: 076 
March Averages: 50°\23°
86004 Today: H 63°\L 32° Average Sky Cover: 80% 
Wind ave:   8mph\Gusts:  17mph
Ave. High: 51° Record High:  68° (2004) Ave. Low: 23° Record Low:  -1° (1954)
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Observances Today:
Awkward Moments Day
Brain Injury Awareness Day
Forgive Mom and Dad Day
Goddess of Fertility Day- Aphrodite 
Kick Butts Day
National Agriculture Day
National Biodiesel Day
Supreme Sacrifice Day-recognizes the ultimate sacrifice made by some for the good of others

Observances This Week:
       14-22
…National YoYo and Skills Toys Days
…American Chocolate Week
  
Campfire USA Birthday Week
…Health Information Professionals Week
…National Animal Poison Prevention Week
…National Button Week
…National Inhalant and Poisons Awareness Week
Termite Awareness Week
…International Brain Awareness Week
…Shakespeare Week
…Flood Safety Awareness Week
…Act Happy Week
…Wellderly Week
…Wildlife Week
…World Folktales & Fables Week

Quote of the Day 
 
US Historical Highlights for Today
1818 - Congress approves 1st pensions for government service
1850 - Henry Wells & William Fargo forms American Express in Buffalo
1870 - 1st US National Wildlife Preserve (Lake Meritt in Oakland California)
1881 - Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth opens (Madison Square Garden)
1901 - Arizona Territorial Legislature adopted the saguaro cactus blossom as the official state flower
1902 - Enrico Caruso becomes 1st well-known performer to make a record
1910 - 1st opera by an US composer (Converse) performed at the Met, NYC
1911 - North Dakota enacts a hail insurance law
1919 - Order of DeMolay forms in Kansas City
1922 – 1st public celebration of Bat mitzvah, held in New York City
1931 - 1st electric shavers go on sale in US (Schick)
1944 - 2,500 women trample guards & floorwalkers to purchase 1,500 alarm clocks announced for sale in a Chicago Illinois dept store
1948 - Philips begin experimental TV broadcasting
1952 - 1st plastic lens for cataract patients fitted (Phila)
1961 - Poppin' Fresh Pillsbury Dough Boy introduced
1977 - US restricts citizens from visiting Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea & Cambodia
1982 - Singer Teddy Pendergrass' spinal cord severed in a car accident
1990 - Largest ever art robbery at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. 13 works valued over $500 million are stolen
2014- US closes the Syrian embassy in Washington & expels all Syrian diplomats
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Today’s World Events through History
1190 - Crusaders kill 57 Jews in Bury St Edmonds, England
1314 - Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake
1325 – Legend: Tenochtitlan is founded; depicted on the Mexican coat of arms.
1541 - de Soto observes 1st recorded flood in America (Mississippi River)
1834 - 6 farm laborers from Dorset, England sentenced to be transported to Australia for forming a trade union.
1847 - 1st Dutch public telegram
1913 - King George I of Greece is assassinated
1922 - British magistrates in India sentence Mahatma Gandhi to 6 years imprisonment for disobedience
1965 - USSR launches Voshkod 2; Alexei Leonov makes 1st spacewalk (20 mins)
1989 - In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy is found in the Pyramid of Cheops
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  Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today


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My Rambling Thoughts
Cloudy day but alas, no moisture. Decided it was a good day to do laundry. All washed, dried, and put away. NICE!
RANT: From my seat in AZ, Congress seems to remain very dysfunctional. It has been since Obama was elected and now that the Republicans have both majorities on the hill, it remains dysfunctional. So how does it get fixed? Get big secret money out of the elections of all politicians, limit the time one can campaign, draw congressional lines based on nothing but population and stop all this gerrymandering, term limits for Congress, get all eligible voters to vote in Federal elections to start and then to all elections. I live in a fairly liberal community in AZ, but have very few elected officials who are center or liberal. Why? Gerrymandering and lack of voters. We have ended up with a state rep who believes that the 2nd amendment is God-Given, another rep who believes that we have to cut education funds because it would be a bad idea to raise corporate taxes. We have a senior Senator who is one of the 47, then backslid and said he didn’t know what he had signed. Our governor ran on a platform to improve education then cut millions for Community Colleges and millions more for the University system, again saying he was against raising corporate taxes. One of AZ’s big business things was to get Intel to come to AZ with lots of good jobs. The head of Intel said the recent cuts to Universities was a very bad idea and that he wants well educated workers and is not sure AZ was the right choice. END OF RANT
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
Can you unscramble the movies in Part 1 and match them with who the star was in Part 2? And your answer is?

Part 1                                                 Part 2

1. IILLONM LLOARD BBYA           1. Dustin Hoffman

2. A AUITEBUFL NMDI                   2. Jon Voight

3. AAIRCNEM YBTUEA                  3. Kevin Spacey

4. RRFTSOE MGPU                          4. Clint Eastwood

5. NRIA NMA                                    5. Paul Newman

6. ETH NSITG                                   6. Tom Hanks

7. IIMDGNTH OOCYBW                  7. Russell Crowe
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Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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America Facts…
-- Saint Augustine, Florida, is the oldest European settlement in North America.
--16 percent of Americans will receive one speeding ticket this year and it will cost them on average $150 per ticket.

Average Facts…
-- An average person’s yearly fast food intake will contain 12 pubic hairs.
--In 30 minutes, the average body gives off enough heat (combined) to bring a half gallon of water to boil.

Charity Facts…
-- As of April 2010, Bill Gates had donated $36,854,000,000 in his lifetime! That's more than half of his total net worth!
--J.K. Rowling lost her billionaire status because she donated so much of her money to charity.

Flagstaff, AZ History…
50 YEARS AGO-1965
--Last Saturday, only passenger trains were moving as the Locomotive, Firemen and Engineers Union strike struck the Santa Fe line to the Coast. The wildcat strike is alleged to be due to a failure to hire enough men to cover the jobs.
--An out-of-fuel plane landed on U.S. 66 near Peach Springs, barely missing a house. The plane coming from Las Vegas had missed the Kingman Airport in heavy overcast and lacked the height needed to land at Peach Springs. Highway Patrolman Roger Bowmen having shut down the traffic about a mile apart, no autos were involved.
--An Immune Clinic for diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, and smallpox was held on Thursday, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Phyllis E. Plant, Public Health Nurse.
--Curb Service at 504 E. Santa Fe. A&W Root Beer. Fish and Chips 75 Cents. Paw Burgers 59 Cents, Maw Burgers 39 Cents Junior Burgers 24 Cents.
--On Tuesday a spectacular, sudden snow storm dropped 5 inches of wet heavy snow on the town, 10 inches at Mormon Lake and an even foot at the Snow Bowl.

Harper’s Index…
1/3
Portion of the hundred best paid US CEOs who earn more annually than their companies pay in federal taxes

Unusual Fact of the Day…
Scientists believe heavy UV radiation has turned all the American flags on the moon white.
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2 jokes for the day
Q: What’s the best part about living in Switzerland?
A: Not sure, but the flag is a big plus.
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A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.
"House" for instance, is feminine: "la casa."
"Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz."
A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?"
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.
The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computadora") because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic.
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ("el computador") because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on.
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves.
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time, they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.
The women won.    
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Yep, It Really Happened
Edmonton Journal
"This will be upsetting," cautioned Justice Robert Graesser, addressing jurors in February in the Edmonton, Alberta, murder trial of Brad Barton. At issue was the cause of the victim's having bled to death from her genitals, and the judge, ruling that jurors would benefit by inspecting the actual wound, admitted the vagina itself (not a photograph) into evidence. The organ had been removed for autopsy and preserved, and the chief medical examiner donned rubber gloves and pointed out to jurors how "clean" the wound was (suggesting a sharp object), rather than the rougher, "scraping" wound that would have been created in other ways, such as by impalement. (At press time, the trial was still in progress.)
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Somewhat Useless Information
10 Hilarious Sayings To Celebrate St. Patrick's Day --*
1. "There are only two kinds of people in the world. The Irish and those who wish they were." - Irish Saying
2. "Here's to a long life and many more. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girls and an honest one. A cold beer - and another one!" - St. Patrick's Day Toast
3. "Irish diplomacy is the ability to tell a man to go to hell so that he looks forward to making the trip." - Irish saying
4. "If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough!" - Irish Saying
5. "In Heaven there is no beer that's why we drink it here." - Irish Saying
6. "Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the Bible says love thy enemy."
7. "I come from an Irish family. St. Patrick's Day was our big holiday. The night before we'd hang up our stockings and in the morning they'd be full of beer." - Sean Morey
8. "There are many good reasons for drinking, one has just entered my head. If a man doesn't drink when he's living, how in the hell can he drink when he's dead?" - Irish Saying
9. "If it was raining soup, the Irish would go out with forks." - Brendan Behan
10. "As an American of Irish descent, I am sick of these Irish stereotypes. As soon as I finish my drink, I'm going to punch someone." - Irish American
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Birthday’s Today
78 - F[rederik] W[illem] de Klerk, president South Africa (1989-94)
77 - Charley Pride, country singer
72 - Kevin Dobson, actor (Kojak, Knots Landing, Shannon)
70 - Michael Reagan, talk show host, and son of Ronald and Nancy Reagan
64 - Ben Cohen, American co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream
51 - Vanessa L Williams, Actress, singer-1st African American Miss America
51 - Bonnie Blair, speed skater (Oly-5 gold/brz-88, 92, 94)
45 - Queen Latifah (Dana Elaine Owens), rap singer/actress/talk show host
35 - Adam Levine, American singer (Maroon 5)
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Remembered for being born today
1782-1850@68 - John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson's VP
1837-1908@71 - Grover Cleveland, [Stephen], NJ, 22nd/24th Pres
1869-1940@71 - [Arthur] Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister
1879-1966@86 - Cluny MacPherson, Canadian doctor (inventor of the gas mask)
1886-1970@84 - Edward Everett Horton, Brooklyn, narrator (Bulwinkle Show)
1911-1967@55 - Smiley Burnette, cowboy (Charlie-Petticoat Junction)
1925-2010@83 - Peter Graves [Aurness], actor (James Phelps-Mission Impossible)
1927-2003@76 - George Plimpton, sports writer (Paper Lion)
1932-2009@76 - John Updike, poet/novelist (Rabbit Run)
1941-2006@64 - Wilson Pickett, R&B singer (Funky Broadway)
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Historical Obits Today
William C. Durant, American automobile pioneer, 1947@85 
Fess Parker, American actor-2010@85
Jacques de Molay, burned at the stake-1314@71
John Chapman, [Johnny Appleseed], pioneer agronomist-1845@70ish
George I, king of Greece (1861-1913), assassinated-1913@67
John Phillips, musician (The Mamas and the Papas), heart failure-2001@65
Natasha Richardson, English actress-2009@45
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Brain Teasers Answers
1. Million Dollar Baby: Clint Eastwood.
2. A Beautiful Mind: Russell Crowe.
3. American Beauty: Kevin Spacey.
4. Forrest Gump: Tom Hanks.
5. Rain Man: Dustin Hoffman.
6. The Sting: Paul Newman.
7. Midnight Cowboy: Jon Voight.
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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…§



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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.