Jun 1

 
Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 152 Day: 152 \ Ave. Sky Cover: 5% \ Visibility: 10 miles Flagstaff Today 74° \30° 
Wind: 3mph \ Gusts: 13mph
Extreme Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire: 10mi \ Nearest Lightning: 411mi
June Averages for Flagstaff: 80° \ 43° (1 day of moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

Monthly Observations

Adopt-A-Cat Month Link  Link
Adopt A Shelter Cat Month
African-American Music Appreciation Month Link
Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month Link
Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome Awareness Month (APS) Link
Audiobook Appreciation Month
Beautiful in Your Skin Month Link

Weekly Observations

Thru 6/5   National Seat Belt Reinforcement Week Link National African Violet Week

Thru 6/3  Black Single Parents Week

Thru 9/5 National Marina Days (From Memorial Day to Labor Day)  Link

Daily Observations

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

It is a calm, warm, nice day.

The yard crew was here at 7am this morning. They were busy cleaning up all the pine needles around the front of the buildings and on the street.  They left about 10am without cleaning out the gutters. Oh well, they still have a few weeks until Monsoon season. It still looks a lot better. The blowers also stirred up a lot of dust. They did blow off the vehicles, but my vehicle still needed a washing. I made a quick trip to the car wash. All is good now.

Canada’s PM Trudeau has proposed a bill banning all sales of handguns in Canada. I’m waiting to see how the people of Canada react.

Favorite Memes

Everyday Phrases with a Dark Meaning

Mad as a hatter

This one is fairly easy to associate with the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll’s book 'Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.'

But the character himself is quite dark. Back in Victorian times, men were actually suffering from mental health problems caused by exposure to mercury, which was used to make felt hats more flexible.

Riddle of the Day

  You measure my life in hours and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin and slow when I’m fat. The wind is my enemy. 

Hard riddles want to trip you up, and this one works by hitting you with details from every angle. The big hint comes at the end with the wind. What does wind threaten most? You must stretch your brain to come up with something tiny and unexpected. 

                                     v Answer: A candle.

Historical Events

  Ë 1495 – John Cor made a note referring to the first known batch of Scotch whisky.
Ë 1792 – Kentucky became the 15th US state.
Ë 1796 – Tennessee became the 16th US state.
Ë 1812 – US President James Madison asked Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom, starting the War of 1812.
Ë 1813 – James Lawrence, the mortally-wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, gave the now-famous line: “Don’t give up the ship!”
Ë 1886 – Thomas Edison received his first patent (#90646). It was for an “electrographic vote recorder.”
Ë 1938 – Superman debuted in Action Comics #1
Ë 1947 – The Doomsday Cock first appeared, on the cover of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. It was initially set at 7 minutes until midnight.
Ë 1961 – Regular FM stereo radio broadcasting with a multiplexed signal began in Schenectady, NY, on WGFM.
Ë 1974 – The Heimlich maneuver, named after Dr. Henry Heimlich, was published in the journal Emergency Medicine.
Ë 1980 – The Cable News Network (CNN) began broadcasting
Ë 1990 – George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev signed a treaty to end chemical weapon production.
Ë 1994 – FX Network made its debut. It was the first cable TV network owned by FOX.
Ë 2008 – A fire on the backlot of Universal Studios broke out, destroying a large archive of master tapes for music and film, the full extent of which was not revealed until 2019.
Ë 2009 – General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Birthdays Today

88 – Pat Boone, American singer-songwriter
@86 – Andy Griffith, American actor (d. 2012)
85 – Morgan Freeman, American actor, narrator
@64 – Nelson Riddle, American composer and bandleader (d. 1985; cirrhosis)
41 – Amy Schumer, American comedic actress
41 – Brandi Carlile, American singer-songwriter
@36 – Marilyn Monroe, American actress (d. 1962; OD)
26 – Tom Holland, English actor  

May 31

 
Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 23 Day: 151 \ Ave. sky cover: a% \ Visibility: 10 miles Flagstaff Today 72° \35° 
Wind: 12mph \ Gusts: 25mph
Extreme risk of fire \ Nearest active fire: 10mi \ nearest Lightning: 617mi
May Averages for Flagstaff: 68° \ 34°  (3 days of moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

23-6/5   National Seat Belt Reinforcement Week

25-31 Week of Solidarity With The People of Non-Self-Governing Territories

26-31 Fleet Week (NY)

28-6/3  Black Single Parents Week

29-6/5 National African Violet Week

30-9/5 National Marina Days (From Memorial Day to Labor Day)

Daily Observations

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

A little cooler with a strong breeze.

I did some light housework, then sat on the deck to enjoy the nice weather.

I enjoyed the piece about the Green River Drift on 60 minutes last night. It brought back some nice memories of my three summers on the ranch in Montana. The older I get, the more I appreciate my grandfather convincing my parents that I needed to learn more than city life.

 

Favorite Memes

 

Humor

“The problem with kleptomaniacs is that they always take things literally.” Unknown

Trivia

v In 1923, jockey Frank Hayes won a race at Belmont Park in New York despite being dead - he suffered a heart attack mid-race, but his body stayed in the saddle until his horse crossed the line for a 20-1 outsider victory.

Historical Events

Ø 1790 – The United States enacted the Copyright Act of 1790.

Ø 1859 – Big Ben, located at the top of London’s 320-foot-high St. Stephen’s Tower, began operating.
Ø 1909 – The National Negro Committee, the forerunner to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), convened for the first time.
Ø 1911 – The RMS Titanic was launched in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Ø 1971 – Observation of Memorial Day occurred on the last Monday in May for the first time. Previously, it was held on May 30.
Ø 1977 – Broadway Show – Beatlemania (Musical) May 31, 1977 opened
Ø 1977 – The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System was completed.
Ø 2005 – Vanity Fair revealed that Mark Felt was Watergate’s “Deep Throat”.
Ø 2005 – W. Mark Felt’s family announced that assistant FBI director Felt, was in fact, ‘Deep Throat’ – the insider who told reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein the details about President Nixon’s Watergate scandal.
Ø 2017 – President Donald Trump tweeted the word “covfefe”.

Birthdays Today

@95 – Norman Vincent Peale, American minister, author (d. 1993)

92 – Clint Eastwood, American actor, director

@85 – Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)

79 – Joe Namath, American football player

@72 – Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist, and journalist (d. 1892; pleurisy)

@70 – John Ringling, co-founder of Ringling Brothers Circus (d. 1936)

57 – Brooke Shields, American model, actress

46 – Colin Farrell, Irish actor

@32 – John Bonham, Drummer: Led Zepplin (d. 1980)

  

May 30

 

 
Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 23 Day: 150 \ Ave. sky cover: 10% \ Visibility: 10 miles Flagstaff Today 70° \35° 
Wind: 7mph \ Gusts: 16mph
Extreme risk of fire \ Nearest active fire: 10mi \ nearest Lightning: 209mi
May Averages for Flagstaff: 68° \ 34° (3 days of moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

 

Weekly Observations

23-6/5   National Seat Belt Reinforcement Week Link

25-30 Fleet Week

25-31 Week of Solidarity With The People of Non-Self-Governing Territories

26-31 Fleet Week (NY)

27-30   Mudbug Madness Days

28-6/3  Black Single Parents Week

29-6/5 National African Violet Week

30-9/5 National Marina Days (From Memorial Day to Labor Day)  Link

Daily Observations

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

A nice day…but also a Red Flag Day

It is also Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day), a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It was formerly observed on May 30 from 1868 to 1970. Thank you to all who lost their lives protecting the USA.

Last night’s discussion group went very well. Incarceration doesn’t work. Fear has been used for decades. It doesn’t work either. After Portugal legalized drugs, they also set up a huge system of rehabilitation that included highly needed counselors to work with the users. Latin America learned that the US did not and still does not have good plans. Drug use has been a world-wide issue for most of history. The one solution that has not been properly funded in most of the world is to work with those who use drugs and provide them with the necessary techniques to avoid using.

I cannot believe this is still an issue: At the Cannes Film Festival an indigenous tribal filmmaker from Canada was denied a walk on the red carpet because he was wearing tribal moccasins and the person monitoring the red carpet determined they were inappropriate footwear. The higher ups heard about it and apologized to the filmmaker and allowed him on the red carpet the next day.

Favorite Memes

 

Humor

“Do Transformers get car, or life insurance?”

Trivia

v Even if you don't know exactly how fast light travels, you know it moves pretty darn fast. But how fast exactly? Well, that depends on what it's moving through. If it's moving through a vacuum, it's speed is 186,280 miles/second. Through clear glass it travels at about 124,000 miles/second.

v Light doesn't necessarily travel at the speed of light. The slowest light has ever been recorded moving at is 38 mph. Although that was through an ultracold gas of sodium atoms. The gas was cooled to nanokelvin temperatures by laser and evaporative cooling, causing the light pulses propagate at twenty million times slower than the speed of light in a vacuum.

Historical Events

Ø    1431 – At Rouen, Normandy, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake for heresy.

Ø    1806 – Future US President Andrew Jackson participated in a duel, killing Charles Dickinson. Dickinson shot first, wounding Jackson, but Jackson’s shot at Dickinson was fatal. Most of Andrew Jackson’s duels were for the questioned honor of his wife, Rachel.

Ø    1842 – John Francis attempted to murder Queen Victoria as she drives down Constitution Hill in London.

Ø    1854 – The US territories of Kansas and Nebraska were established.

Ø    1883 – A stampede on the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge in NYC killed twelve people.

Ø    1911 – At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ended with Ray Harroun in his Marmon Wasp.

Ø    1922 – The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington DC.

Ø    1958 – The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, were buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

Ø    1974 – The Airbus A300 passenger aircraft first entered service.

Ø   1975 – European Space Agency was established.

Ø   2005 – American student Natalee Holloway disappeared while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba. Most people believe that Joran van der Sloot had something to do with it.

Birthdays Today

@81 – Mel Blanc, American voice actor (d. 1989)

64 – Ted McGinley, American actor

60 – Kevin Eastman, American author, illustrator

58 – Wynonna Judd, American singer-songwriter

47 – CeeLo Green, American singer-songwriter