4-8-15

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Almanac: Week: 15 \ Day: 098 
April Averages: 58°\27°
86004 Today: H 61°\L 33° Average Sky Cover: 50% 
Wind ave:   12mph\Gusts:  37mph
Ave. High: 56° Record High:  78° (1989) Ave. Low: 26° Record Low:  14° (1999)
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Observances Today:
All is Ours Day
Buddah Day (Historical Birth Date)
Draw A Bird Day
International Roma Day
National Dog Fighting Awareness Day
Trading Cards For Grown-ups Day
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Observances This Week:
4-12
Hate Week
National Robotics Week
5-11

Bat Appreciation Week          
Explore Your Career Options
Mule Days

National Blue Ribbon Week (Child Abuse)
National Public Health Week
National Window Safety Week

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Quote of the Day 

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US Historical Highlights for Today
1730 - 1st Jewish congregation in US forms synagogue, "Shearith Israel, NYC"
1756 - Governor Robert Morris will declare war on the DELAWARE and SHAWNEE.
As a part of his declaration, he will offer the following bounties: prisoners: men over 12=150 Spanish pieces of eight, women or boys=130; scalps: men=130, women and boys=50. The bounty on scalps will lead to the killing of many innocent Indians who were members of neither tribe. The legislation for this would be called "The Scalp Act"
1869 - American Museum of Natural History opens (NYC)
1879 - Milk was sold in glass bottles for 1st time
1913 - 17th amendment, requiring direct election of senators, ratified
1913 - Tucson posted warnings stating that state speed laws limiting vehicles
 to 10 miles an hour in the business district had to be observed.
1914 - US & Colombia sign a treaty concerning Panama Canal Zone
1942 - Arnold Schoenberg & Tudor's ballet "Pillar of Fire" premieres in NYC
1943 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation,
freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases to common carriers and public utilities
1960 - US Senate passes Civil Rights Bill with measures against discriminatory
voting practices
1971 - 1st legal off-track betting system begins (OTB-New York)
1974 - Hammerin' Hank Aaron hits 715th HR, breaking Babe Ruth's
record in Atlanta
1979 - 204th & final episode of "All in the Family"
1986 - Clint Eastwood elected mayor of Carmel California
1991 - Michael Landon announces he has inoperable cancer of pancreas
2000 - Nineteen US Marines are killed when a V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft
crashes near Marana, Arizona  
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Today’s World Events through History
1093 - The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated by Walkelin
1766 - 1st fire escape patented, wicker basket on a pulley & chain
1783
 - Catharina II of Russia annexes the Crimea

1820 - The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Melos
1886 - William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill
into the British House of Commons.
1924 - South African State pass the Industrial Conciliation Act No 11:
the act provided for job reservation, excluded blacks from membership of registered trade unions, and prohibited registration of black trade unions
1946 - League of Nations assembles for last time
1985 - India files suit against Union Carbide over Bhopal disaster
1992 - After 151 years Britain's "Punch Magazine" final issue
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Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today 

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My Rambling Thoughts
Windy day…getting very tired of our annual spring winds. The only good part is that I’m in Flagstaff and there is no sand with the wind, unlike the Rez where the sky turns brown at this time of year.
PCP visit was good, but it is time for annual or semi-annual blood draws with fasting. Also it’s been 4 years since I had a heart check so that is also on the list of things to do. I’ll do it on a non-windy day.
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
What do these words have in common?

Full
Green
Halfway
Light
Tree
Ware

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Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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…Flagstaff, AZ History…
50 YEARS AGO-1965
~ For use by the Flagstaff City Police, the City Council has approved the purchase of a TWX network warning system using teletype for continuous contact with region-wide law enforcement to aid in the apprehension of fleeing suspects and stolen cars. It is expected to be in place by July 1.
~ The new city sales tax has already added $15,703 to the city coffers and not all of January’s reports are in.
~ On Monday the Flagstaff City Police, the Coconino County Sherriff and the Arizona Highway Patrol will begin a statewide crackdown on unregistered vehicles per order by the State Division of Motor Vehicles.
~ At the Two Gun City Zoo display, Lee Gardner was bitten by a cottonmouth moccasin. The reptile was killed. Lee is being treated and expected to be all right.

…Harper’s Index…
410,000: estimated number of US preschoolers who spend pasrt of every night at a day-car facility

…Illegal Facts
~ In Australia, Taxi cabs are required to carry a bale of hay in the trunk.
~ In Australia, it is illegal to walk on the right-hand side of a footpath.

…Language Facts…
~ More people in Africa speak French than in France itself.
~ There is a 600 year old 240 paged book called the Voynich Manuscript, that’s written language is still completely unknown today.

…North Korea Fact…
~ North Korea holds elections every 5 years - and there's only 1 name on the ballot.

…Unusual Fact of the Day…
~ In Mobile, Alabama, they ring in the New Year by dropping a giant MoonPie.
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2 jokes for the day
"I have bad news, and very bad news." 
"What's the bad news?" Asked the patient. 
"You only have 24-hours to live." 
"And the really bad news?" 
"I should have told you yesterday."

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While walking down the street one day a US senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance. 
"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you." 
"No problem, just let me in," says the man. 
"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity." 
"Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the senator. 
"I'm sorry, but we have our rules." And with that, St.Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. 
The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him. Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. 
They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne. 
Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly & nice guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go. Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator raises. 
The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him. "Now it's time to visit heaven." 
So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. 
They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns. "Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity." 
The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell." 
So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in bags as more trash falls from above. 
The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. "I don't understand," stammers the senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?" 
The devil looks at him, smiles and says, "Yesterday we were campaigning....Today you voted."           

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Yep, It Really Happened
Seattle Times- An unarmed man, suspected of no crime, who three years ago was shot 16 times by police while lying in his bed, told a Seattle Times reporter in March that he bears no ill will for the cops who shot him. Said Dustin Theoharis, now 32, "Sometimes (police) make mistakes." Theoharis was napping in a friend's house in Puyallup, Washington, when police arrived to arrest the friend's son, and when Theoharis reached for his ID, one officer imagined a gun, and the two officers opened fire, hitting Theoharis in the jaw, both upper arms, both lower arms, wrist, hand, shoulder, abdomen and both legs. He spent months in a hospital and skilled nursing facility and today is largely immobile and unable to work. (He "won" legal settlements totaling $5.5 million, but one-third went to lawyers, and much of the rest has paid medical bills.)       
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Somewhat Useless Information
Before he introduced hypnotism in 1775, Franz Mesmer tried to heal patients by having them swallow a drink with tiny grains of iron and then moving magnets over their bodies to sway the magnetic currents. When he realized people were reacting to his performance, he stopped using magnets and relied on the effect of his own voice.
The first recorded use of hypnosis as anaesthesia took place in the 19th century. Dr. James Esdaile, a Scottish surgeon working in India, used hypnosis successfully in hundreds of limb amputations.
People with the best imaginations are the easiest to hypnotize. Hypnosis researcher Theodore Sarbin calls hypnosis "believed-in imaginings." 
Between 70 and 80 percent of people respond to certain hypnotic suggestions but not others. For example, they may scratch their head when a buzzer goes off if the hypnotist has told them to, but they won't go so far as to pour a bucket of water over their heads.
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette believed so strongly in Franz Mesmer's technique that they created the Magnetic Institute in France. At first, Mesmer had patients put their feet in buckets of magnetized water, with cables attached to magnetized trees. The French medical community - and visiting diplomat Benjamin Franklin - denounced him as a fraud.
Falling under the power of a hypnotist was a legal defense in France in the 19th century. It was believed that a hypnotist could make someone "a toy in his hands" and that the person "could not reject the ideas of the beguiler." People who committed crimes under such influence could not be held legally or morally responsible for their acts.

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Birthday’s Today
74 - Peggy Lennon, singer (Lennon Sisters), born in Los Angeles, California
67 - Gerald McRaney, Collins Miss, actor (Rick-Simon & Simon, Major Dad)
66 - Jim Lampley, Hendersonville NC, newscaster (Monday Night Baseball)
47 - Patricia Arquette, actress (Ed Wood, Nightmare on Elm Street 3)
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Remembered for being born today
Betty Ford, US 1st lady\founder of the Betty Ford Center 1918-2011@93 
Mary Pickford, [Gladys Smith], actress (Poor Little Rich Girl) 1892-1979@87 
Melvin Calvin, US chemist (photosynthesis, Nobel 1961) 1911-1997@85
Charles W. Woodworth, American entomologist 1865-1940@75 
- Jim "Catfish" Hunter, major-league pitcher (A's, Yankees) 1946-1999@53 
- Juan Ponce de Leon, conquistador, fountain of youth, found Florida1460-1521@47 
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Historical Obits Today
Pablo (Ruiz y) Picasso, Spanish/French painter (Guernica)-1973@91
Omar Bradley, last US 5-star general, (Normandy)-1981@88
Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister-2013@87
Richard Sears, 1st to win US amateur national tennis match-1943@81
Laura Nyro, singer, ovarian cancer-1997@49
Phil Ochs, rock producer (Joe Hill), suicide-1976@35
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Brain Teasers Answers
They are all types of houses.
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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.