Jun 19

 

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 26 Day: 170 \ Ave. Sky Cover: 35% \ Visibility: 10 miles Flagstaff Today 72° \50° 
Wind: 12mph \ Gusts: 22mph  Air Quality: FAIR
Extreme Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire: 12mi \ Nearest Lightning: 42mi
June Averages for Flagstaff: 80° \ 43° (1 day of moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

Thru Sep.5 National Marina Days (From Memorial Day to Labor Day)  Link

11-19   US Police and Fire Championships Link

13-20 National Hermit Week

13-19 Meet A Mate Week US Open Golf Championship

14-20 Learning Disabilities Week

16-23  National Nursing Assistants Week  Link

17-23   National Week of Making Link

17-30   National Little League Week: Link

19-25   Animal Rights Awareness Week: Link Link Greencare For Troops Awareness Week National Play Catch Week Carpenter Ant Awareness Week Fish Are Friends, Not Food! Week Link   Lightning Safety Awareness Week Link  Universal Father's Week National Mosquito Control Awareness Week

Daily Observations

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Much cooler today as the fire continues. Moisture is in our future. So far today there have been 2 very light showers…just enough to dirty the windshields of the vehicles. Still appreciated.

Here is the latest on Flag’s two fires: 1100+ firefighters on the line, 14 hotshot crews, 9 water tankers, 18 hand crews, 68 engines, 11 dozers, 9 helicopters.  The combined area of the fires is 32,000 acres.

There is another big fire near Tucson threatening the world-famous Kit Peak Observatory as well as the Tohono O’odham Nation. This fire is 12,000 acres and growing.

This is a very tough time for the drought-stricken Southwest.

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers and those single moms filling in for an absentee father. My dad passed at 80 years old and is still missed.

Favorite Memes

Earth’s Secrets

Life Below the Seafloor

"The sediments underlying Earth's oceans are home to approximately 2.9 x 10^29 microorganisms, existing at depths as great as 2.5 km below the seafloor. The majority of this deep subseafloor biosphere grows extremely slowly relative to life in the surface world, with estimates of cell division once every 10-1000+ years," Caltech's geobiologist Victoria Orphan tells Popular Mechanics.

Scientists are finding new sources of microbial life deeper and deeper below the seafloor than ever before. In March, a team of scientists revealed that they had found traces of bacteria (try 10 billion bacterial cells) in rocks 400 feet below the seafloor—deeper than ever before.

US Flag Myths

Myth #7: A flag that touches the ground must be destroyed

According to the Flag Code, the American flag should never touch anything beneath it, including the ground, the floor, or the water. “People have taken that to mean that if it ever does that, then it should be destroyed,” said Jeff Hendricks, deputy director of Americanism at the American Legion.

However, that's not necessarily the case. Flags should be destroyed only when they are no longer in good enough condition to be displayed. If touching the ground didn't render the flag unfit for display, then it shouldn't be destroyed. Once a flag is unfit for display, burning it is the preferred method of destruction. 

Historical Events

  Ë 1586(?) – English colonists leave Roanoke Island and disappeared. The only clue found was the word “CROATOAN” carved into a tree.
Ë 1846 – The first officially recorded, organized baseball game was played under Alexander Cartwright’s rules on Hoboken, New Jersey’s Elysian Fields with the New York Base Ball Club defeating the Knickerbockers 23-1.
Ë 1862 – The U.S. Congress prohibited slavery in United States territories, nullifying Dred Scott v. Sandford.
Ë 1867 – The first running of the Belmont Stakes horserace in the US, the oldest of the three American horse races that constitute the Triple Crown.
Ë 1910 – The first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington.
Ë 1941 – Cheerie Oats, later renamed Cheerios, was invented.
Ë 1953 – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for spying for the Soviet Union, at Sing Sing, in New York.
Ë 1960 – The first NASCAR race was held at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Ë 1964 – The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the United States Senate.
Ë 2012 – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange requested asylum in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy for fear of extradition to the US after the publication of previously classified documents.

Birthdays Today

@89 – Wallis Simpson, American wife of Edward VIII (d. 1986)
74 – Phylicia Rashad, American actress
@72 – Moe Howard, American comedic actor, Stooge (d. 1975; stroke)
68 – Kathleen Turner, American actress
59– Paula Abdul, singer
57 – Boris Johnson, world leader
39 – Macklemore, American rapper
38 – Paul Dano, American actor
@37 – Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (d. 1941; ALS)