23 Dec

 

23 December 2022

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 52 Day 357 \ Ave. Sky Cover a% \ Visibility 25 miles Flagstaff Today 51° \23° 
Wind 5mph \ Gusts 9mph  Air Quality: \ Moderate Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 332mi \ Nearest Lightning 1561mi
Dec Averages for Flagstaff: 43° \ 17° `
Sunshine

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 
Cookie Exchange Week: 19-23  

Daily Observations

Festivus
Family Roots Day Link
Human Light Celebration
Metric Conversion Day
National Roots Day
National Pfeffernüsse Day (This spice delicacy is believed to have originated in Germany, but it is also very popular in Denmark and the Netherlands.)

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

A nice day. I stopped at the car wash after shopping. Line was too long. I’ll try later.

Zelensky met with Biden, then gave a speech to Congress. His speech certainly was playing to the crowd. It is now not a surprise as to how he got elected. Quite the orator. I don’t know much about him, so I’ll hold off on my opinion until I know more.

The Cpap was supposed to arrive around 2pm yesterday. He called and said it would be about 5pm. He showed up and checked my oxygen maker machine. All good. A new filter replaced the dirty one.

The cold wave we had here has moved out…now 2/3 of the states are getting it. I’m sure glad I don’t have to travel by plane. Airports are already a mess. Flights around the states are either delayed or out-right cancelled.

If you are traveling over the holiday, stay safe. Show your Christmas spirit while traveling.

Favorite Memes

If…

•          I went to the paint store to get thinner. It didn’t work. 

Slang Origins

1945: Cool cat

Meaning: an interesting or fashionable person

Another product of jazz slang, the concept of a “cool cat” combined two concepts from African American slang. “Cool,” a term with a complicated history, had been recorded in the community as early as the 19th century. The term “cat” had also been used to refer to a man, but by 1930, referred specifically to jazz devotees before combining in the ‘40s to create the slang term we know today.

Mysteries…

WHERE IS CLEOPATRA'S TOMB?

Ancient writers claim that Cleopatra VII and her lover, Mark Antony, were buried together in a tomb after their deaths in 30 B.C. The writer Plutarch (A.D. 45-120) wrote that the tomb was located near a temple of Isis, an Egyptian goddess, and was a "lofty and beautiful" monument containing treasures made of gold, silver, emeralds, pearls, ebony and ivory.

The location of the tomb remains a mystery. In 2010, Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former antiquities minister, conducted excavations at a site near Alexandria now called Taposiris Magna, which contains a number of tombs dating to the era when Cleopatra VII ruled Egypt. While many interesting archaeological discoveries were made, Cleopatra VII's tomb was not among them Hawass reported in a series of news releases. Archaeologists have noted that even if Cleopatra's tomb does survive to this day, it may be heavily plundered and unidentifiable.

Historical Events

1913 – The Federal Reserve Act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System.
1947 – The transistor was demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.
1970 – The North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York, New York topped out at 1,368 feet, making it the tallest building in the world.
1975 – The US Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act. It was authorized in 1866.

Birthdays Today

89 – Akihito, Emperor of Japan
@83 – John Jay, American politician, 1st Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (d. 1829)
“Too many in your state [Pennsylvania], as in this [New York], love pure democracy dearly. They seem not to consider that pure democracy, like pure rum, easily produces intoxication, and with it a thousand mad pranks and fooleries.”– John Jay
78 – Wesley Clark, American general
“The final frontier is perhaps the most difficult, but it’s also the most important – and that’s the frontier of the human spirit. For too long, people have allowed differences on the surface; differences of color, ethnicity, and gender – to tear apart the common bonds they share. And the human spirit suffers as a result. Imagine a world in which we saw beyond the lines that divide us, and celebrated our differences, instead of hiding from them. Imagine a world in which we finally recognized that, fundamentally, we are all the same. And imagine if we allowed that new understanding to build relations between people and between nations.”– Wesley Clark
76 – Susan Lucci, American actress
“You know what my greatest personal stumbling block is? My shyness.”– Susan Lucci
70 – William Kristol, American journalist, publisher, political pundit
58 – Eddie Vedder, American singer-songwriter
@51 – C.J. Walker, first female American millionaire (d. 1919; hyper-tension)
@38 – Corey Haim, Canadian actor (d. 2010)
@38 – Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saints (d. 1844; shot escaping jail)
34 – Mallory Hagan, Miss America 2013