18 Dec

 

18 December 2022

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 52 Day 352 \ Ave. Sky Cover 5% \ Visibility 10 miles Flagstaff Today 33° \2° 
Wind 3mph \ Gusts 8mph  Air Quality: Fair \Low Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 384mi \ Nearest Lightning 1615mi
Dec Averages for Flagstaff: 43° \ 17° `
Sunshine & Brisk

Today’s Quote

 

Weekly Observations

Andisop (Meteorological Fiddling): 5-24   Link
Christmas Bird Count Week: 14-1/5 Link 
Halcyon Days: 14-28 
Halcyon Days: 14-28 
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over: 15 - 1/1/23  Link 
Posadas: 16-24
Saturnalia: 17-23
Chanukah: 18-26
Gluten-free Baking Week: 18-24  Link 

Daily Observations

Answer The Telephone Like Buddy The Elf Day Link
Arabic Language Day Link
Bake Cookies Day
Chanukah-26
Give A Wine Club Day  Link
International Migrants Day
(snow) Flake Appreciation Day

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

I’m getting tired of these early morning lows.  I know it is December, but is double digit low temps too much to ask for? I’m really liking the remote start and heated seats on my vehicle.

I just read that the most recent winner of Survivor is donating his winnings…about $1million…to assist Veterans in need. Nice!

Some of AZ’s losers from the recent election want to stay in the news. Keri Lake the governor candidate has filed suit to review 150 random ballots to prove that ‘hundreds of thousands’ of ballots are illegal. The judge will let her see the ballots, but she can’t photograph or copy them. The loser of the Sec. of State election here had his lawsuit thrown out as ‘frivolous’.

I saw many hippos on my visits to various places in Africa. They may appear cute and cuddly, but they are very aggressive and kill many natives annually. I just read a story about how Drug Lord Pablo Escobar imported 1 male and 3 female hippos to Columbia and allowed them to wander his vast estate. After his 1993 death, the hippos were too difficult to relocate, so they just remained. Now there are more than 150 hippos in the area. They are causing problems for local farmers. The latest plan is to dart them with a contraceptive that will prevent them from breeding. None of the vets are sure what the right dose will be so they are tracking the hippos and giving them different doses.

Favorite Memes

Did you Know?

Not all coins were saved or spent — in centuries past, some became tiny testaments to love. Love tokens, an idea that likely originated in Great Britain around the 13th century, were crafted by sanding away the faces of coins and using the precious metals as a blank canvas, which was then often engraved with memorable dates, a loved one’s initials, or romantic sentiments. After spreading to North America, love tokens reached peak popularity in the late 1800s, in part because they were used to memorialize family members lost during the Civil War. While they were initially etched by hand, professional carvers were sought out for more intricate designs, and the trend became so popular that crafters even set up booths at the 1893 world’s fair in Chicago. Many surviving love tokens are difficult to appraise or date because of their lack of detail and highly personal meaning, yet their greatest value may be the reminder that love can withstand the test of time. 

Slang Origins

1939: Ameche

Meaning: telephone

Don Ameche was an American radio personality and actor, who worked in entertainment for nearly half a century. After starring as the title character in “The Amazing Discovery of Alexander Graham Bell,” his name become synonymous with Bell’s invention.

Corny jokes

What’s brown and sticky?
A stick.
…
What did the yoga instructor say when her landlord tried to evict her?
Namaste.
…
21. How do you tell if a vampire is sick?
See if he is coffin.

Historical Events

1958 – Project SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite, was launched.

1912 – Piltdown Man’s skull was found in a gravel pit in Sussex, England. At first, it was believed to be the ‘missing link’ between man and early primates but was later discovered to be a hoax

1936 – The first giant panda in the US, Su-Lin, arrived in San Francisco from China.

Birthdays Today

@96 – Cicely Tyson, America actress (d. 2021)
@87 – Ossie Davis, American actor (d. 2005)
@80 – Charles Wesley, English missionary, composer (d. 1788)
79 – Keith Richards, English singer-songwriter
“It’s great to be here. It’s great to be anywhere.”– Keith Richards
@78 – Willy Brandt, German politician (d. 1992; colon cancer)
76 – Steven Spielberg, American director, producer, and screenwriter,
@74 – Joseph Stalin, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1953; strtoke)
@74 – Ty Cobb, American baseball player (d. 1961; diabetic coma)
“I regret to this day that I never went to college. I feel I should have been a doctor.”– Ty Cobb
69 – Elliot Easton, American guitarist, and singer
@67 – Ray Liotta, American actor (d. 2022)
@59 – Joseph Grimaldi, known as “The Greatest Clown in History” (d. 1837; visitation by God)
59 – Brad Pitt, American actor
“Success is a beast. And it actually puts the emphasis on the wrong thing. You get away with more instead of looking within.”– Brad Pitt
@56 – Betty Grable, American actress (d. 1973; cancer)
54 – Casper Van Dien, American actor
@50 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (d. 1914; assassinated)
@50 – DMX (Earl Simmons), American rapper (d. 2021l cocaine induced heart attack)
44 – Katie Holmes, American actress
42 – Christina Aguilera, American singer-songwriter
@30 – Steve Biko, South African activist, founder of the Black Consciousness Movement (d. 1977; hemorrhage after torture)
“It is better to die for an idea that will live than to live for an idea that will die.”– Steve Biko 
21 – Billie Eilish, American pop singer