May 14

 

 
Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 20 Day: 134 \ Ave. sky cover: 5% \ Visibility: 10 miles Flagstaff Today 72° \31° 
Wind: 8mph \ Gusts: 11mph
Extreme risk of fire \ Nearest active fire: 12mi \ nearest Lightning: 5681mi
May Averages for Flagstaff: 68° \ 34°  (3 days of moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

6-15 National Public Gardens Week  Link

8-14   Food Allergy Awareness Week  Link National Nursing Home Week National Return To Work Week   National Women's Health Week  Tick Awareness Week

8-15 Reading is Fundamental Week  Link   Salvation Army Week   Salvation Army Week   Work At Home Moms Week

9-15  National Hospital Week  Link National Stuttering Awareness Week

10-16 Universal Family Week

Daily Observations

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

A wonderful sunny day. Gotta love Flagstaff.

November and May honor the indigenous people of our Nation. November has been Native American and Native Alaskan Heritage Month since 1915. For much of that time it was called American Indian Heritage Month. Back in 1977, there was Asian-Pacific Heritage Week. In 1992 that became AAPI Heritage Month. Then in 2021 it became Asian American and Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I am happy to see both recognitions.

Wildfires are becoming a daily major news story. Each year, it seems, has longer and earlier fire seasons. In NM more than 250,000 acres has burned this year. In AZ there are several wildfires threatening communities. In a wealthy area in California, over 20 mansions have been destroyed by fire. I wish the media would give as much coverage of how to prevent and/or control these fires as it does in showing the devastation. Finger pointing does not prevent forest fires, only knowledge and you can prevent them.

Did not know this: A student loan of $79,000 can become a burden. Making payments every month, after you have paid back $175,000 but still have a balance of $200,000. This occurs because of compound interest. Things need to change.  

Favorite Memes

 

Paraprosdokians: figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected.

Winston Churchill loved Paraprosdokians. Here are some of his favorites:

v Where there's a will, I want to be in it.

v The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it's still on my list.

v Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

v If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

State Trivia

Ohio: technically it wasn't a state until recently

Ohio's boundaries and constitution might have been approved by Thomas Jefferson in 1803 and it was welcomed to the union as the 17th state. However, the official paperwork granting Ohio statehood wasn't completed until 1953, when President Dwight Eisenhower signed and backdated Ohio's admittance to the union. Now this is a good reminder to check your to-do list and finish all the paperwork...

Oklahoma: the state has the most man-made lakes

At around 200, Oklahoma has more man-made lakes than any other state in the US. You're probably wondering why, but the answer is rather simple. Following the Second World War, the water demand kept increasing so two influential Oklahoma politicians – Senator Robert S. Kerr and House speaker Carl Albert – lobbied for bringing control over the state's untamed natural water resources, which resulted in a boom of artificial lakes.

Oregon: it's home to the world's largest living organism

Sure, the redwood trees are pretty impressive and blue whales are unbeatable when it comes to sheer size, but are they? Turns out the world's largest living organism occupies an area measuring as much as 2.4 miles (3.8km) across and it can be found in the Blue Mountains in Oregon. The Armillaria genus, which is commonly known as honey fungus, colonize and kill a variety of trees and woody plants, spreading through the forest. The fungus is estimated to be 2,400 years old, but could be as ancient as 8,650 years, which would make it one of the oldest too.

Historical Events

Ø   1796 – Edward Jenner, “the father of immunology, administered the first smallpox inoculation.
Ø   1804 – Lewis and Clark’s expedition left St. Louis, Missouri, on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.
Ø   1842 – Alfred Lord Tennyson published Poems.
Ø   1850 – The first US. patent (#7,365) for a dishwashing machine was issued to Joel Houghton of Ogden, NY, for an “Improvement in Machines for Washing Table Furniture”.
Ø   1878 – The last witchcraft trial was held in the United States begins in Salem, Massachusetts, after Lucretia Brown accused Daniel Spofford of attempting to harm her through his mental powers. The case was dismissed.
Ø   1897 – The Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa was first performed in public near Willow Grove Park, Philadelphia.
Ø   1932 – The first electrical timing device was tested at a track meet between Columbia and Syracuse at Baker Field, NYC.
Ø   1948 – Israel was declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established.
Ø   1955 – The Warsaw Pact was signed between the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria in response to the west’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Ø   1998 – 76.3 million people tuned in for the series finale of Seinfeld.

Birthdays Today

78 – George Lucas, American director, producer, and screenwriter

70 – David Byrne, Scottish singer-songwriter [Talking Heads]

70 – Robert Zemeckis, American director, producer, and screenwriter

@61 – Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (d. 1788; cancer)

53 – Cate Blanchett, Australian actress

51 – Sofia Coppola, American director, producer, screenwriter

38 – Mark Zuckerberg, …

@37 – Bobby Darin [Walden Robert Cassotto], singer-songwriter, actor (d. 1973; sepsis)

29 – Miranda Cosgrove, American actress