4-13-15

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Almanac: Week: 16 \ Day:  103 
April Averages: 58°\27°
86004 Today: H 64°\L 30° Average Sky Cover: 20% 
Wind ave:   8mph\Gusts:  22mph
Ave. High: 58° Record High:  75° (1962) Ave. Low: 27° Record Low:  0° (1965)
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Observances Today:
Blame Somebody Else Day
Scrabble Day
Thomas Jefferson Day
Undiagnosed Children's Awareness Day
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Observances This Week:
12-18
Animal Control Officer Appreciation Week
National Library Week
National Animal Control Appreciation Week
National Public Safety Telecommunicators (911 Operators) Week

National Student Employment Week
Pan American Week

National Volunteer Week
Week of The Young Child
American Indian Awareness Week  
International Dark Sky Week
Undergraduate Research Week
 Health Information Privacy and Security Week

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Quote of the Day 

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US Historical Highlights for Today
1796 - 1st elephant arrives in US from India
1860 - 1st Pony Express reaches Sacramento CA
1870 - Metropolitan Museum of Art forms in NYC
1883 - US prospector Alfred Packer convicted of manslaughter though
 accused of cannibalism
1896 - John Philip Sousa's "El Capitan" premieres at the Tremont Theatre in Boston
1902 - J C Penney opens his 1st store in Kemmerer, Wyo
1917 – Florence, AZ turned on its first electric street lights
1920 - 1st woman US Civil Service Commissioner, Helen Hamilton appointed
1943 - FDR dedicates Jefferson Memorial
1954 - Milwaukee Braves' Hank Aaron's 1st game
1957 - Due to lack of funds, Saturday mail delivery in US is temp halted
1970 - Apollo 13 announces "Houston, we've got a problem!" as Beech-built
 oxygen tank explodes en route to Moon
1992 - Crystal Pepsi begins test marketing in Providence, Denver & Dallas 
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Today’s World Events through History
  837 - Best view of Halley's Comet in 2000 years
1241 - Battle at Theiss: Mongols beat Hungarian King Béla IV
1250 - The Seventh Crusade is defeated in Egypt, Louis IX of France is captured
1742 - George Frideric Handel's oratorio "Messiah" performed for the 1st time
 at New Music Hall in Dublin
1829 - English Emancipation Act grants freedom of religion to Catholics
1868 - Abyssinian War ends as British and Indian troops capture Magdala
 and Ethiopian Emperor commits suicide
1933 - 1st flight over Mount Everest (Lord Clydesdale)
1987 - Portugal signs agreement to return Macau to China (in 1999)
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Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today 

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My Rambling Thoughts
Quiet Sunday…
Discussion group was very successful last night…my presentation was well received and we had some great discussion points. Brazil is certainly in metamorphosis…it is not the first time, and it certainly won’t be the last time. As I was doing last minute stuff for the presentation, CNN announced that Brazil’s President will be visiting Obama in DC in June. She was scheduled to come just after the Snowden spy thing hit the fan and she cancelled that visit because she didn’t like being spied on. As two in our group, who worked in State Dept. positions have told our group several times…everyone spies on everyone to varying degrees. What all governments get upset about is when that spying becomes general public knowledge.  
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
The cost of making only the maker knows, 
Valueless if bought, but sometimes traded. 
A poor man may give one as easily as a king. 
When one is broken pain and deceit are assured. 
What am I?

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Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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…Flagstaff, AZ History…
25 YEARS AGO-1990
~  The recyclathon was a success. About 3,000 people turned out pushing carts of trash, truck loads of trash, huge bags of trash. The politicians were impressed. Roger Hartstone, Coordinator. The city is negotiating is with the Forest Service for an additional 99 acres adjacent to the current trash dump.
~  There were two break-ins on Tuesday. A robber entered Security Pacific Bank, 2626 N. 4th St., at 9 a.m. showed his gun and demanded money from the cashier. She gave him 19, $5 bills. He then moved on over to the Evergreen Inn at 1008 Santa Fe where he got $175 from the room clerk and left town.
~  Affordable housing continues to outrun the demand. There are 700 on the waiting list. Construction of modestly priced homes continues to fall as land prices rise. New mobile homes are locked out by new city codes and the concern about creating ghettos. Margaret Keener, Community Block Grants Manager at Northern Arizona Council of Government.

…Harper’s Index…
7 in 10: chances that a Protestant in Brazil claims to have witnessed a divine healing

…Language Facts…
~ Thinking in a foreign language makes decisions more rational.
~ The Simpsons are responsible for popularizing the word 'meh'.

…Paleontology Facts…
~ The chocobo in Final Fantasy was based on a real creature called a “Gastornis” that existed 45 million years ago.
~ Dire wolves actually existed, living up to 10,000 years ago before going extinct.

… Survival Facts…
~ Clint Eastwood was in a plane which crashed into the sea. He and the pilot escaped the sinking aircraft and swam 3 miles to safety.
~ Sir Ranulph Fiennes, after having a heart attack and bypass operation, ran 7 marathons on 7 consecutive days in 7 continents. He has also hacked off his own frostbitten fingers with a power tool, discovered the lost city of Ubar, and, in his sixties, reached the peak of Mt. Everest.

…Unusual Fact of the Day…
~ Those few who have survived a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge report that it takes about four seconds to hit the water, which is plenty of time to re-think and regret the decision.

…Water Facts..,.
~ Scientists have confirmed that Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, has a watery ocean.
~ There is a mass reservoir of water floating in space that is 100,000 times bigger than our sun and holds 140 trillion times more water than all of our oceans.

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2 jokes for the day
Why did the author write his novel in the basement? 

He wanted to write a best cellar.

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One day, a cat dies of natural causes and goes to heaven, where he meets the Lord Himself. 
The Lord says to the cat, "You lived a good life, and if there is any way I can make your stay in heaven more comfortable, please let me know." 
The cat thinks for a moment and says, "Lord, all my life I have lived with a poor family and had to sleep on a hard wooden floor." 
The Lord stops the cat and says, "Say no more," and a wonderful, fluffy pillow appears. 
A few days later, six mice are killed in a tragic farming accident, and all of them go to heaven. 
Again, the Lord is there to greet them with the same offer. 
The mice answer, "All our lives we have been chased. We have had to run from cats, dogs, and even women with brooms. Running, running, running; we're tired of running. Do you think we could have roller skates so that we don't have to run anymore?" 
The Lord says, "Say no more" and fits each mouse with beautiful new roller skates. 
Week later, the Lord stops by to see the cat and finds him snoozing on the pillow. 
The Lord gently wakes the cat and asks him, "How are things since you got here?" 
The cat stretches and yawns, then replies, "It is wonderful here. Better than I could have ever expected. And those 'Meals On Wheels' you've been sending by are the best!"    

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Yep, It Really Happened
WAGAMAN, Australia (UPI) - Australian authorities said a man was hospitalized after he drunkenly ate a glass beer bottle during a family gathering. Northern Territory Police Superintendent Louise Jorgensen said police received an emergency call just after 9 p.m. Wednesday about a man at a family gathering in Wagaman who chewed and swallowed a glass beer bottle "and then went for a lie down." "His family then called police and St. John [Ambulance], and he was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital," Jorgensen said. Jorgensen said the call was one of 500 made to police between 3 p.m. and 11 p.m. Wednesday. She said drunken hijinks such as the bottle-eating man are a drain on police resources. "People are dismayed when we can't respond to their jobs immediately, but this is why -- because of all these other jobs that are coming in," she said. "We got 500 calls [Wednesday] evening, and about 450 on Tuesday," Jorgensen said. "Most of them are domestics, or anti-social and drunk behavior."          
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Somewhat Useless Information
~ Drug Tax Stamps – In at least 23 states there is a tax on illegal drugs. When you buy an illegal drug, like marijuana or even moonshine, in Tennessee, you have 48 hours to report it to the Department of Revenue to pay your tax and get a stamp for the substance. No identification is needed, though there are a dozen cop cars sitting outside the office. (Just kidding about the cop cars, I have no idea)
~ North Carolina has had a illegal drug tax stamp law in place for 15 years, only 79 people have purchased stamps since 1990 (most of those were stamp collectors, or complete and utter morons).
If the law sounds absurd, it’s only because of the way it was worded. The real end result is that people are taxed on drugs found in their possession when they’re busted. This creates a new revenue stream for the state or county and I can’t say I can argue with that.
~ “Jock tax” – Levied on athletes who earn an income competing in a particular city or state. California first levied this tax on athletes from Chicago in 1991 after the Chicago Bulls beat the LA Lakers in the 1991 NBA Finals. What a bunch of sore losers.
~ Alabama has a 10 cent tax on a deck of playing cards.
~ Blueberries from Maine are subject to specific tax too, anyone who grows, purchases, sells, handles, or processes blueberries in Maine has to pay a penny and a half tax per pound.
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Birthday’s Today
82 - Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Northern Cheyenne-(Sen-D Colorado)
80 - Lyle Waggoner, KC Kansas, actor (Carol Burnette Show, Wonder Woman)
70 - Tony Dow, Hollywood, California, actor\director (Wally-Leave it to Beaver)
65 - Ron Perlman, Bronx NY, actor (Quest for Fire)
45 - Rick Schroder, SI NY, actor (Ricky-Silver Spoons)
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Remembered for being born today
Eudora Welty, novelist (Optimist's Daughter-Pulitzer 1973) 1909-2001@92 
Samuel Beckett, Fr. playwright (Waiting for Godot, Nobel 1969) 1906-1989@83
Thomas Jefferson, Virginia, (D-R) 3rd President 1743-1826@83 
Don Adams, actor and comedian (Maxwell Smart-Get Smart1923-2005@82 
F.W. Woolworth, American businessman 1852-1919@66 
Jon Stone, co-creator of Sesame Street 1931-1997@65
John Hanson, 1st US Pres under Articles of Confederation1721-1783@62 
Butch Cassidy [Robert LeRoy Parker], desperado 1866-1908@42 
Guy Fawkes, English Catholic conspirator 1570-1606@36 
Jonathan Brandis, actor (Lucas Wolenczak-seaQuest DSV) 1976-2003@27
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Historical Obits Today
Muriel Spark, Scottish author-2006@88
Annie Jump Cannon, US astronomer (Henry Draper catalogues)-1941@77
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Brain Teasers Answers
A Promise
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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.