7-17-15

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Almanac: Week: 29 \ Day: 198
July Averages: 82°\50°
86004 Today: H 86° \ L 51° Average Sky Cover: 30% 
Wind ave:   7mph\Gusts:  24mph
Ave. High: 81° Record High:  93° (2009) Ave. Low: 52° Record Low:  40° (1904)
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Observances Today:
Celebration of The Horse Day
Peach Ice Cream Day
Wrong Way Corrigan Day
Yellow Pig Day-a geek/math thing

Constitution Day (South Korea)
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Observances This Week:
Sports Cliché Week: 12-16 
Rabbit Week: 15-21
National Baby Food Week: 15-18 
National Ventriloquism Week: 15-18  

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Quote of the Day 

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US Historical Highlights for Today
1821 - Spain cedes Florida to US
1862 - US army authorized to accept blacks as laborers
1867 - 1st US dental school, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, established
1879 - 1st railroad opens in Hawaii
1897 - 1st ship arrives in Seattle carrying gold from Yukon
1935-The City of Phoenix purchased Sky Harbor Airport
1945 - Potsdam Conference (Truman, Stalin, Churchill) holds 1st meeting
1954 - 1st major league game where majority of team is black (Dodgers)
1954 - Construction begins on Disneyland.
1955 - Disneyland televises its grand opening in Anaheim, California.
1988 - Florence Griffith Joyner of USA sets 100m woman's record (10.49)
2004 - Martha Stewart is sentenced to five months in prison plus five months in home confinement for lying to federal investigators
2005 - Tiger Woods wins his 10th major winning The British Open Championship by 5 strokes. Woods becomes only the second golfer, after Jack Nicklaus, to win each major more than once
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Today’s World Events through History
1717 - Handel's "Water Music" premieres on the river Thames in London
1841 - British humorous and satirical magazine "Punch" first published; it finally closed in 2002
1936 - Spanish generals Francisco Franco and Emilio Mola lead a right-wing uprising, starting the Spanish Civil War
1959 - Paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey discovers the partial skull of a new species of early human ancestor, Zinjanthropus boisei or 'Zinj' (now called Paranthropus boisei) that lived in Africa almost 2 million years ago
1964 - ANC leader Nelson Mandela, recently sentenced to life imprisonment, is awarded the Joliot Curie Gold Medal for Peace
1975 - Four British soldiers are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army remote-controlled bomb near Forkill, County Armagh; the attack was the first major breach of a February truce
1976 - 21st modern Olympic games opens in Montreal The opening of the Summer Olympics is marred by 25 African teams boycotting the New Zealand team.
2004 - Former South African President Nelson Mandela calls for commitment by the world to take action against Aids
2014 - Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashes (presumed shot down by either pro-Russian separatists or the Ukrainian militia), killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board
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Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthdays Today 

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My Rambling Thoughts
Nice day, just awaiting the daily monsoon. It’s clouding up so guess it will be here soon.
Had a good lunch with Cheryl…Chinese…real Chinese…very good. Great conversation too. Mary is enjoying the beach in Portland.
Came upstairs to my office and the cable box wasn’t working…again. Turns out, after calling tech support, that there is an on/off button on the remote that powers down the box…didn’t know that. Everything is fine now. Feeling a little tech challenged right now. Guess I shouldn’t feel too bad as Cheryl spent over an hour with tech regarding her iPod.  She said the guy had to keep referring to manuals because all she wanted to do was make a CD of the songs on her iPod. He said ‘no one has ever asked me that before…why do you want to do that?’ ‘because I can’t listen to my iPod through my car speakers’. He figured out how to make the CD and told her what to buy so the iPod would connect to the car speakers through an FM channel.
Wheels of justice are slow, but sure worked in CO. The guy who shot all those people at the movie theater is found guilty. On to the sentencing phase.  I believe that life in prison without parole is a much harsher sentence than the death penalty. Let him stew in his actions.  
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
It doesn't hurt to take a hard look at yourself from time to time. This little test should help you get started.

During a visit to a mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what the criteria is that defines if a patient should be institutionalized.

"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub. Then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup, and a bucket to the patient and ask the patient to empty the bathtub."

Okay, here's your test: 
1. Would you use the spoon?
2. Would you use the teacup?
3. Would you use the bucket?

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would choose the bucket, as it is larger than the spoon."
What was the director's response?

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Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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…Cool Facts…
A koi fish, named "Hanako", was owned by several individuals over many years and lived to be 226 years old, dying in 1977.

In 1943, a Pan Am Airline chef snuck whiskey into passengers' coffee to warm them up on a winter flight. When asked what kind of coffee they were being served, he improvised "Irish Coffee," creating the now-famous cocktail.
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…Flagstaff, AZ History…
50 YEARS AGO-1965
The forest fire danger is extreme. There have been 88 fires in the Coconino Forest this week, of which 31 close to town were man-caused. Fire Chief Jack Peavey.

The new 18-mile Wupatki Loop Road is now paved. This five-year project was a joint endeavor by Coconino County, the National Park Service and the Coconino National Forest. The Wupatki ancient ballcourt is the only completely excavated one in northern Arizona and one of few extant anywhere in the Southwest or in Mexico. It dates back to 1150 - 1325 AD during the peak of the area’s occupation. There is also a blowhole where visitors can sit and “feel” the Earth breathe.
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…Harper’s Index…
+8 – percentage change since 210 in the average white US households
-11 – of all other US households
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… USA Facts…
There is a town called Okay, OK. It has a population of 600 people.

There's a restaurant in Albuquerque called Tim's Place that serves breakfast, lunch, and hugs - and it's owned by a man with Down's Syndrome.
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…Unusual Fact of the Day…
Amazingly, blue whales can slow their heart rate to four or five beats per minute in order to conserve oxygen during deep dives.
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2 jokes for the day
"I hope this plane doesn't travel faster than sound," said the old lady to the stewardess.
"Why?"
"Because my friend and I want to talk, that's why."

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Over breakfast one morning, a woman said to her husband, "I bet you don't know what day this is."
"Of course I do," he indignantly answered, going out the door on his way to the office.
At 10 a.m., the doorbell rang, and when the woman opened the door, she was handed a box containing a dozen long-stemmed red roses.
At 1 p.m., a foil-wrapped, two pound box of her favorite chocolates arrived.
Later, a boutique delivered a designer dress.
The woman couldn't wait for her husband to come home. "First the flowers, then the candy, and then the dress!" she exclaimed.
"I've never had a more wonderful Groundhog Day in my whole life!"        

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Yep, It Really Happened
DELAND, Fla. (UPI) - A DeLand, Fla., woman said she thought she had been hit by an errant firecracker while dining with her friends on July 4th, but days later she visited a doctor who found a bullet embedded in her leg. Heather Charlebois was just sitting down at a cafe late Saturday night when she felt a sting on her leg. She and her boyfriend cleaned up her wound in the restaurant's bathroom, but not seeing any blood, they figured she must have been burnt by a firecracker. "My first thought was somebody hit me, slapped me open handed really hard on my leg and pinched me, but it did not make any sense because I didn't see anyone," Charlebois told The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Four days later, when the pain still hadn't gone away, she visited a doctor, who ordered an X-ray and found a .38-caliber bullet embedded about 4 centimeters into her thigh, she told WESH-TV in Orlando, Fla. DeLand police are now trying to figure out who shot the bullet. "Well, it's safe to say that at the moment we don't know where it came from," said DeLand police Sgt. Chris Estes. "There is no indication a gun was fired in close proximity to where she was sitting at this point so, another theory is that it was fired into the air from a distance." In the meantime, doctors say the bullet is too close to a major artery in Charlebois' leg, so they're leaving it where it is. "I feel very fortunate," Charlebois said. "I have four kids and we have been through a lot."       
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Somewhat Useless Information
At the time, Annie was the most expensive musical ever made. Different sources record the actual cost of Annie differently, but most agree it was around $40 million to make; a large part of that ($9.5 million) went into buying the rights to the popular 1977 Broadway play the film was based on.

Albert Finney wasn't the first choice to play Warbucks. There were many actors ahead of him in the line-up. Finney had Hollywood experience, but the stage was more his realm. Reportedly, Sean Connery was approached, but didn't want to appear bald. 

The first incarnation of the show-stopping "Easy Street" was literally performed in a street, with the three enthralling villains of the film, Hannigan, Rooster, and St. Clair, displaying their joyous greed against a backdrop of dozens of dancing street vendors.

Annie attracted Tim Curry because musicals were some of the only movies he was allowed to watch growing up. He was the son of a Royal Navy Chaplain and a school secretary. He described his childhood as "strict," and that fact might have had an effect on his career choices.

Ten-year-old Aileen Quinn was awarded the Razzie for Worst Actress in a lead role, but took home a Best Young Artist Award, too. She also received a Golden Globe nomination.

Annie's climactic scene was partly shot on the Passaic River's NX railroad drawbridge, which took place in the dead of night. New Jersey's child labor laws prohibited children employed in making films from working after 11:30 p.m. and before 7 a.m. More night hours would be needed to complete the shoot, and the state government was accommodating, with Governor Brendan Byrne helicoptering to the set to sign a bill amending the law.

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Birthdays Today
80 - Donald Sutherland, St John New Brunswick, Canadian actor (M*A*S*H)
80 - Diahann Carroll, Bronx, actress (Julia, Claudine, Dominique-Dynasty)
76 - Spencer Davis, Wales, vocalist (Spencer Davis Group-Gimme Some Lovin)
73 - Gale Garnett, Auckland NZ, singer (We'll Sing in the Sunshine)
68 - Camilla Parker Bowles (Duchess of Cornwall), wife of Prince Charles
63 - David Hasselhoff, Balt Md, actor (Night Rider, Mitch-Baywatch)
54 - Mark Burnett, English-born television producer
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Born this day…Died in __@__
Art Linkletter, Saskatchewan Canada, TV host (People are Funny)-2010@97
Phyllis Diller, Lima Ohio, comedienne and actress-2012@95
James Cagney, actor (Yankee Doodle Dandy)-1986@86
John Jacob Astor, Germany, richest man in US, banker/fur trader-1848@84
Erle Stanley Gardner, detective writer (Perry Mason)-1970@80
Toni Stone [Marcenia Lyle Alberga], American baseball player (first woman to play in a men's league)-1996@75
Elbridge Gerry, 5th VP, Mass-Gov, invented gerrymandering-18141@70
Phoebe Snow, singer (Theme from "It's a Different World")-2011@60
Ismail I, Shah of Persia, converted Iran from Sunni to Shi'ah-1524@36
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Historical Obits Today
Walter Cronkite, American broadcast journalist-2009@92
Elaine Stritch, American actress-2014@89
Mickey Spillane, American author-2006@88
Dorothea Dix, French social activist-1887@85
Jim Bridger, American mountain man, Indian fighter, and explorer-1881@77
Ty Cobb, baseball great (Det Tigers), cancer-1961@74
Adam Smith, Scottish economist and philosopher-1790@67
Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean, pitcher (St Louis Cards), heart attack-1974@64
Billie Holiday, jazz singer, cirrhosis-1959@44
John Coltrane, US jazz sax/composer (Round Midnight), cancer-1967@40
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Brain Teasers Answers
"No," answered the Director. "A normal person would pull the plug."

So, how did *YOU* do?

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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.