May 18

 

 
Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 21 Day: 138 \ Ave. sky cover: 5% \ Visibility: 10 miles Flagstaff Today 79° \41° 
Wind: 4mph \ Gusts: 10mph
Extreme risk of fire \ Nearest active fire: 12mi \ nearest Lightning: 301mi
May Averages for Flagstaff: 68° \ 34°  (3 days of moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

15-21   EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Week Link   International Heritage Breeds Week International New Friends, Old Friends Week National Eosinophil Awareness Week Link   National Medical Transcription Week Link National Transportation Week National Unicycle Week Police Week World Trade Week

16-22  American Craft Beer Week Link  International Coaching Week  Link National Bike to Work Week  Link  National Foul Ball Week PGA Championship   Link

17-28 Cannes Film Festival

18-22   Health Information Professionals Week Link

 

Daily Observations

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Can’t complain about this great weather. Doors and windows open, slight breeze, warm.

Today’s local paper reported that there were 18 illegal campfires in the forest around Flagstaff. I guess Smokey the Bear needs to be standing on every road that goes into the forest.

There was also a well-written article on ‘Replacement Theory’ in our local paper. That is the conspiracy Theory that liberal politicians are trying to replace white Americans with immigrants because they are more likely to vote liberal. The idea has been around for many decades. I guess they believe that one day you will go to the family doctor, only to find that immigrants have taken over the practice. I would really like to see the list of White Americans who were ‘replaced’ by immigrants. The list should include the White American’s current job and location. It is not happening. Yes, some immigrants fill job vacancies. The position did not simply ‘replace’ someone who was doing the job. Crazy. 

Favorite Memes

 

State Trivia

West Virginia: it has a peculiar October tradition

The 876-foot-high (267m) New River Gorge Bridge is one of the state's most important landmarks. Featured on the state's commemorative quarter, it's the longest single-arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere. But it's also notable for an interesting tradition. Every year, on the third Saturday of October the bridge is closed to traffic and hundreds of BASE jumpers parachute from the bridge. The Bridge Day, as it's called, was started in 1980 and today as many as 100,000 spectators come to watch the daredevils and enjoy a great day out.

Wisconsin: it hosts the world's largest cranberry festival

Held annually in the tiny town of Warrens with just 400 residents, the Warrens Cranberry Festival draws in as many as 100,000 visitors each September (the event was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19). Cranberries are the state's largest fruit industry in both value and size and more than 250 growers produce around 4.9 million barrels of cranberries every year – that represents 60% of the nation's crop.

Wyoming: there are only two escalators in the state

To be precise, there are two sets of escalators – two going up and two going down – in all of Wyoming. A rather surprising thing for the 10th largest state in the US, it seems that escalators are not needed here. Both escalators are located in Casper, one in Hilltop National Bank and the other in First Interstate Bank. Even the airport in Jackson Hole doesn't have one as it's a single-level building. One possible explanation could be that there's so much space in Wyoming, that most build out rather than up. It might also have something to do with the state's fire codes as unprotected openings between adjacent floors are not very welcome.

Paraprosdokians

Winston Churchill paraprosdokians

v To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

v Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

v Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Historical Events

Ø    1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
Ø    1860 – Abraham Lincoln won the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward.
Ø    1912 – The first major Indian film, Shree Pundalik, by Dadasaheb Torne, is released in Mumbai.
Ø    1926 – In one of the first Media Frenzy’s of Popular Culture, Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared while visiting a Venice, California beach.
Ø    1952 – Professor Willard F. Libby determined the age of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, England, at 1848 BC, give or take 275 years.
Ø    1953 – Jackie Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier.
Ø    1974 – India successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon, becoming the sixth nation to do so.
Ø    1994 – Israeli troops withdrew from the Gaza Strip, ceding the area to the Palestinian National Authority to govern.
Ø   2005 – A photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra.

Birthdays Today

@94 – Frank Capra, Italian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1991)

@90 – Robert Morse, actor (d. 2022)

@88 – Perry Como, American singer and television host (d. 2001)

@84 – Pope John Paul II  [Karol Józef Wojtyła](d. 2005)

@74 – Mathew Brady, American photographer, journalist (d. 1896)

70– George Strait, American singer-songwriter

52 – Tina Fey, American actress, producer, and screenwriter

30 – Adwoa Aboah, British fashion model