May 29

 

 
Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 23 Day: 149 \ Ave. sky cover: 60% \ Visibility: 10 miles Flagstaff Today 68° \44° 
Wind: 12mph \ Gusts: 27mph
Extreme risk of fire \ Nearest active fire: 184mi \ nearest Lightning: 588mi
May Averages for Flagstaff: 68° \ 34°  (3 days of moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

23-6/5   National Seat Belt Reinforcement Week Link

24-29 Mule Days  Link

25-30 Fleet Week

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

26-31 Fleet Week (NY)

26-29   Old-Time Player Piano Weekend   Link

27-30   Mudbug Madness Days

27-29 National Polka Weekend  Link

28-6/3  Black Single Parents Week

29-6/5 National African Violet Week

Daily Observations

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Cloudy, windy, warm…

I started the day by cleaning up my bedroom and changing linens. Then I did my reading for tonight’s discussion group. The articles recapped America’s, Latin America’s, and the world’s stand on illicit drug use from the early 1900’s until today. The last article proposed some things to do in the future. One take-away is that anywhere mass incarceration of users was tried, it didn’t help cut the use of illicit drugs. This should be an interesting discussion.

I get that the NRA didn’t want to cancel its convention…it would certainly show that the NRA stance has some culpability in the nearby Texas school massacre. The protests happening outside the venue only bolster the attendee’s belief that guns are not the problem. I read this on Social Media: If a child is hitting people with a stick, I would blame the child, not the stick. However, I would still take the stick away.

Favorite Memes

 

Humor

What do you call a cow with a twitch?

Beef jerky

Trivia

v About two-thirds of shark attacks on humans have taken place in water less than six feet deep. Most shark attacks occur less than 100 feet from the shore. Shark attacks happen all over the world, but mainly around popular beaches in North America (especially Florida and Hawaii), Australia, and South Africa.

v Approximately 100 million sharks are killed every year. Shark teeth are used to make necklaces; cartilage is used to make fertilizers; skin is used to make leather; liver is used to make face cream, sap, and fuel; and fins are used to make soup. The mass killing of sharks creates a negative, cascading effect in the global environment.

v The 1975 movie Jaws fueled widespread fear and hatred of sharks, and the shark has been intensely hunted since. It is so endangered that many countries have taken steps to protect it. Ironically, the late Peter Benchley, the author of the book, supported shark conservation.

Historical Events

Ø    1453 – Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih captured Constantinople (now Istanbul) after a 53-day siege, commonly referred to as The Fall of Constantinople.
Ø    1790 – Rhode Island was the last of the original United States’ colonies to ratify the Constitution and was admitted as the 13th US state.
Ø    1848 – Wisconsin was admitted as the 30th US state.
Ø    1894 – Percival Lowell arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona, marking the official founding of his observatory!
Ø    1886 – John Pemberton placed his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, in The Atlanta Journal.
Ø    1913 – Igor Stravinsky’s ballet score The Rite of Spring premiered in Paris, France
Ø    1914 – Heavy fog caused a collision between cruise ship Empress of Ireland and coal freighter, the Storstad on the St. Lawrence River in Canada that killed 1,073 people, mostly tourist passengers on the Empress.
Ø    1919 – Albert Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity was tested (and later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin.
Ø    1953 – Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, became the first explorers to reach the summit of Mount Everest, which is at 29,035 feet above sea level.
Ø    1982 – Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit Canterbury Cathedral.
Ø    1999 – Space Shuttle Discovery completed the first docking with the International Space Station.
Ø    2004 – The National World War II Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.

Birthdays Today

@100 – Bob Hope, English-American actor, singer, and producer (d. 2003)

@71 –  Tenzing Norgay mountain climber (d. 1986; stroke)

69 – Danny Elfman, American singer-songwriter

67 – David Kirschner, American animator, producer, and author

66 – La Toya Jackson, singer

64 – Annette Bening, American actress

@63 – Patrick Henry, lawyer, politician, 1st Governor of Virginia (d. 1799; intestine block)

50 – Laverne Cox, actress

47 – Mel B, English singer-songwriter

@46 – John F. Kennedy, US President (d. 1961; assassinated)