▼ 9-17-15

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Sept  17, 2015
Almanac: Week: 38 \ Day: 260
September Averages: 74°\42°
86004 Today: H 72° \ L 53° Average Sky Cover: 28% 
Wind ave:   8mph\Gusts:  24mph
Ave. High: 74° Record High: 88°[1956] Ave. Low: 42° Record Low: 27°[1903]
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Observances Today:                         
Citizenship Day
International Coastal Cleanup

International Country Music Day Link
International Eat an Apple Day

RAINN Day (Rape Abuse Incest National Network) Link 
Time's Up Day
VFW Ladies Auxiliary Day


Day of the National Hero (Angola)
Observances This Week:
13-19
Balance Awareness Week Link                
Child Passenger Safety Week Link           
Dating and Life Coach Recognition Week  
International Housekeepers Week Link
National Assisted Living Week
National Environmental Services Week Link
National Truck Driver Appreciation Week Link


14-18

Health Information and Technology Week Link  
Line Dance Week
National Love Your Files Week Link 
National Postdoc Appreciation Week Link                                          
National Staffing Employee Week Link

16-20

National Guitar Flat-Picking Days

17-23

Constitution Week
Hummingbird Celebration Link
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Quote of the Day 

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US Historical Highlights for Today
1776 - The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain.
1778 - 1st treaty between the US & Indian tribes signed (Fort Pitt)
1787 - US constitution adopted by Philadelphia convention
1819
 - First whaling ship arrives in Hawaii

1849 - Harriet Tubman 1st escapes slavery in Maryland with two of her brothers
1850 - Great fire in San Francisco
1873 - 19 students attend opening class at Ohio State University
1926 - Hurricane hits Miami & Palm Beach Florida; about 450 die
1927 - Contract awarded for construction of the U.S. Veterans' Hospital-Tucson
1947 - Jackie Robinson is named Rookie of Year by Sporting News
1947 - US Department of Defense forms
1952 - "I am an American Day" & "Constitution Day" renamed "Citizenship Day"
1960 - Cuba nationalizes US banks
1961 - Fran Tarkenton plays his first NFL Game against the Chicago Bears, coming off the bench to lead the Vikings to a 37-13 victory, also becoming the only QB to throw four touchdown passes in his first career game
1964 - "Bewitched" premieres on ABC TV
1967 - "Mission Impossible" premieres on CBS-TV
1983 - Vanessa Williams (NY), 20, crowned 56th Miss America 1984, 1st black
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World Historical Highlights for Today
335 - Church of Holy Sepulchre initiated in Jerusalem
1745 - Edinburgh occupied by Jacobites under Charles Edward Stuart (aka the Young Pretender or Bonny Prince Charlie)
1956 - Television is first broadcast in Australia.
1957 - Two male attorneys "stand in" as actress Sophia Loren & producer Carlo Ponti wed by proxy in Juarez, Mexico
1988 - 24th Olympic Games open at Seoul, Korea
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Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthdays Today 

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My Rambling Thoughts
Technology can be a real pain. Decided to upgrade to last year’s model I-phone. Discovered that I had never backed up my phone to the infamous cloud. I could either leave my phone at Verizon and it would take about 20 hours on wi-fi or I could go home and connect it to my computer and do it in a much shorter time. I opted to go home, only to wait about 10 minutes into the backup to get a message that it can’t do it. Called Verizon and they suggested unplugging the phone and plugging the phone back in and trying again. I’ll do that tomorrow when I have some time. Then the very young lady on the phone says, well it doesn’t really matter because you can download the apps that don’t transfer. Really, what about the calendar? What about my to do lists? I have to copy all that stuff and then re-enter it. I live off my calendar and to do lists…and they are all Apple apps gotten at the damn I-Tunes store. Also the guy selling me the new phone asked me if I knew my Apple password. I know I’m old-er but do I look like I have dementia? After leaving I figured he would watch me go to my car and take out the crank handle to start it.
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
I can be as blue as the sky or have a white top.
I roll through my world and crash into yours.
I can be as gentle as a newborn puppy or as vicious as an angered bull, ripping through anything I find.
I will topple anything you put in my way if I am strong enough.

What am I?

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Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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…Amazing Facts…
A teen in Michigan built a working nuclear reactor. He taught himself how to build it as a weekend hobby project in his basement from ages 15-17 for $3500.

Travis was a chimpanzee who socialized with humans since birth. He could log onto a computer to look at pictures, watch TV using a remote control, brush his teeth, feed hay to his owner's horses, water plants, and learned the schedule of passing ice cream trucks.
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…Flagstaff, AZ History…
100 YEARS AGO-1915
A drinking fountain donated by Councilman Finley has been placed at Post Office Corner. It is an enameled affair and ready to quench the thirst of thirsty.

E. F. Taylor was sleeping under a tree near the Greenlaw Logging Camp when a bunch of lightning bolts struck the tree, peeling off the bark. It also knocked him unconscious, although it did not leave a mark on him. After a while, he regained consciousness and moved away from the tree. His bedding was soaked. He thinks this is what saved his life.

Mr. E. T. Taylor is building a neat little bungalow on the South Side near the Normal School using bricks from his kiln. He is figuring on building more.

The west side of town is all torn up with cement materials scattered every direction. Before heavy frost comes there will be cement sidewalks all over this growing section.
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…Harper’s Index…
6 to 1 –exchange rate between Venezuelan bolivares and US dollars as set by the Venezuelan government
250 to 1 – as set by the Venezuelan black market
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…Instagram Photo of the Day… 

natgeoPhotograph by @paulnicklen. This is the most powerful moment I have ever experienced in nature. Just a feet away, dozens of #narwhals lifted their eight foot long ivory tusks towards the sky. Here, they rested and caught a breath before continuing their fish-feeding frenzy under the polar ice. It took me ten years of hard work to finally find this intimate moment with the unicorns of the sea. There were so many narwhals blowing all around me, that the sound was overwhelming. This, combined with the incomparable scene in front of me, made it almost impossible to contain my emotions and photograph through the tears of joy and gratitude.
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…Foreigners Find These American Customs Offensive…
24. Polishing off your meal
To Americans, finishing a meal shows the host how much they enjoyed the meal. In other countries, like China, the Philippines, Thailand and Russia, it signifies that you're still hungry and that they failed to provide you with enough food.
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…Unusual Fact of the Day…
At more than 3.3 million square miles, the Sahara Desert is as large as the world's next 20 largest hot deserts combined.
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2 jokes for the day
According to the scholar, an internist knows everything and does nothing.
A surgeon does everything and knows nothing, and a psychiatrist knows nothing and does nothing.
Only a pathologist knows everything and does everything…too late.
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A guy goes to a girl's house for the first time, and she shows him into the living room.
She excuses herself to go to the kitchen to make them a few drinks, and as he's standing there alone, he notices a cute little vase on the mantel.
He picks it up, and as he's looking at it, she walks back in. He says "What's this?"
She says, "Oh, my father's ashes are in there."
He goes, "Geez...oooh....I..."
She says, "Yeah, he's too lazy to go to the kitchen to get an ashtray."         

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Yep, It Really Happened
HYDERABAD, India - Bhanu Prakash, 24, recently quit his full time job as a research assistant at a hospital to become a record-breaking selfie taker. Prakash said he was inspired by the achievements of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who took 105 selfies in three minutes in May. The current world record holder is American football player Patrick Peterson, who managed to take 1,449 selfies in one hour. Prakash also negates claims that selfies are "just a girl thing." He further claims his personal record is currently 1,700 but seeks to raise the number to 1,800. Prakash also says he is keeping up with hand and wrist exercises, essential to being able to hold a phone for so long. Initiailly apprehensive, Prakash's family now supports his dream. Prakash will formally attempt to break the world record on Sept. 18.
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Somewhat Useless Information
Technically, peanuts are not nuts. Unlike tree nuts, they grow underground and are part of the legume family.

Although peanuts are native to South America, according to NPR, the nickname "goober" comes from nguba, a word used in the Congo region. The root stems from when Spanish traders brought the plant over to Africa, where it picked up a new name before coming to America on slave ships.

According to dictionary.com, arachibutyrophobia is a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of one's mouth.

Peanut shells have all manner of strange uses. According to Southern Peanut Growers, a nonprofit trade association, peanut shells are used in everything from kitty litter to fireplace logs to fuel for power plants.

Unlike most plants, the peanut plant fruits below ground and flowers above ground. According to the National Peanut Board, the aboveground portion of the plant is about 18 inches tall with yellow flowers.

Americans eat three pounds of peanut butter per person per year. According to Southern Peanut Growers, that's enough to coat the floor of the grand canyon.

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Birthdays Today
“()” indicates age at death
(87) - Warren E Burger, Minn, Supreme Court chief justice (1969-86) d.1995
(87) - Oswald Garrison Villard Jr., American Engineer (electronics) invented the over-the-horizon radar-detects objects thousands of miles away; peers around the Earth's curvature d.2004
(83) - Frederick Ashton, Ecuador, British choreographer (Cinderella), d. 1988
(73) - Anne Bancroft, actress (Graduate, Miracle Worker) d.2005
(70) - Roddy McDowall, actor (Planet of Apes, Lord Love a Duck) d.1998
70 - Phil Jackson, Deer Lodge MT, basketball player and coach (Knicks/Bulls/Lakers)
(66) - Ken Kesey, La Junta, CO author (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) d. 2001
64 - Cassandra Peterson, [Elvira], KS, actress (Echo Park, Elvira)
62 - Rita Rudner, comedienne (Funny People)
(54) - John Ritter, Burbank California, actor (Jack-3's Company) d.2003
53 - Dustin Nguyen, Saigon Vietnam, actor (Harry-21 Jump Street)
43 - Bobby Lee, American comedian-Mad TV
(29) - Hank Williams, country singer (Cold, Cold Heart, Hey Good Lookin') d.1953
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Historical Obits Today
Richard Bernard Red Skelton, comedian (Red Skelton Show)-1997@84
Spiro Theodore Agnew, US VP (1969-73), leukemia-1996@77
George Hamilton IV, country musician, heart attack-2014@77
William Henry Fox Talbot, photographic pioneer-1877@77
Richard Basehart, actor (Rage), several strokes-1984@70
Dred Scott, US ex-slave who sought to sue for his freedom, TB-1858@62ish
Laura Ashley, Welsh fashion designer, fall-1985@60
Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American industrialist-1899@58
Roman Nose (Wiquini), Cheyenne leader, in battle-1868@45
Mildred E "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias, (Olympic-gold-1932), cancer-1956@42
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Brain Teasers Answers
A wave.

A wave can have what is called a white cap.
A wave will roll through the ocean and crash into the beach.
It can be a small wake or a roaring tsunami.
It can topple almost any boat.

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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.