15 Dec

 

December 2022

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 51 Day 349 \ Ave. Sky Cover 5% \ Visibility 10 miles Flagstaff Today 34° \2° 
Wind 3mph \ Gusts 6mph  Air Quality: Fair \Low Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 131mi \ Nearest Lightning 1152mi
Dec Averages for Flagstaff: 43° \ 17° `
Sunshine & Crisp

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

Andisop (Meteorological Fiddling): 5-24   Link
Human Rights Week: 10-17
Christmas Bird Count Week: 14-1/5 Link 
Halcyon Days: 14-28 
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over: 15 - 1/1/23  Link 

Daily Observations

Bill of Rights Day
Cat Herder’s Day Link
National Cupcake Day
National Lemon Cupcake Day
National Re-gifting Day Link
National Wear Your Pearls Day
Zamenhof Day (Esperato Literature Day) Link

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

I woke up to a very chilly morning. It is still crisp outside. The sun has been shining all day, but the snow is only melting on the dark pavement.

It has been a few months since I had my angioedema…swollen lips. It started as I was going to bed last night. When I got up this morning, the lip was still swollen. After about an hour I was back to normal. Weird.

Even the elk must have been cold…a small herd of 10-15 got into a fenced area at one of the local middle schools and were unable to escape. Forest Service is deciding what to do next.

Our country needs to revamp our campaigning laws NOW! I’m talking major changes…like no campaigning until 90 days before the election and every candidate must list ALL contributions to the campaign with names of human doners. There can be no ore hiding behind a ‘super-PAC’ or any anonymous donations. If one dollar or one million dollars arrives anonymously it must be returned to the sender or given to a listed charity, like Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, Wounded Warriors, etc. Politicians should be doing their job for the people they represent, not to donors who have an agenda.

Favorite Memes

Did you Know?

There's a "floating rainforest" in the sea.

When most people think of rainforests, they picture massive jungles filled with trees and critters. However, somewhere in the Sargasso Sea sits the so-called "floating rainforest" that consists not of dense vegetation on land, but of seaweed under water.

According to Smithsonian magazine, each strand of brown Sargassum marine algae can grow to be the length of a school bus. When they become matted together in the water, the masses - or "forests" - of algae can be as large as several football fields. The seaweed is not only impressively long and large, but also provides the perfect place for a diverse collection of animals to live - not unlike an actual rainforest!   

Slang Origins

1936: The big house

Meaning: prison

The age of the gangster in the 1920s and 1930s may explain why so much of the slang from the ‘30s refers to prison, and some of these words are still used today. The big house is one of those that endured. It was also the title of a 1930 movie about a prison escape, considered by many to have defined the genre of prison dramas.

Corny jokes

What do you call an alligator detective?

An investi-gator.

….

What kind of ghost has the best hearing?

The eeriest.

Historical Events

1791 – The Bill of Rights was added to the United States Constitution.
1933 – The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, which prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol.
1973 – The American Psychiatric Association voted 13 to 0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders.

Birthdays Today

@91 – Alexandre Eiffel, French engineer, Eiffel Tower (d. 1923)
@85 – Tim Conway, American comedian and actor (d. 2019)
“It’s hard to be sad when you’re laughing, so I enjoy making people happy.”– Tim Conway
@83 – J. Paul Getty, American-English businessman, founder of Getty Oil (d. 1976)
83 – Dave Clark, English drummer
@78 – Uziel Gal, German/Israeli inventor of the Uzi submachine gun (d. 2002; cancer)
76 – Carmine Appice, American drummer, songwriter
73 – Don Johnson, American actor
69 – J. M. DeMatteis, American author
“I’ve realized over the years that, with rare exceptions, most writer’s block isn’t writer’s block at all: It’s necessary time that allows the unconscious mind to do its deep work.”
– J.M. DeMatteis
59 – Helen Slater, American actress
50 – Stuart Townsend, Irish actor
@43 – Alan Freed, American radio host (d. 1965; complications of alcoholism)
43 – Adam Brody, American actor
“Comic books aren’t nerdy. You’d have to be an idiot to think computers are nerdy.”
-Adam Brody
@30 – Nero, Roman emperor (d. 68; ordered his soldiers to kill him)