12 Jan

 

January 2023

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 2 Day 12 \ Ave. Sky Cover 5% \ Visibility 22 miles Flagstaff Today 45° \20°  Wind 6mph \ Gusts 10mph 
Air Quality: Fair\Very Low Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 319mi \ Nearest Lightning 1149mi
Jan Averages for Flagstaff: 44° \ 16° \5 Days of moisture
Sunshine

Today’s Quote

 

Weekly Observations

6-Feb 21
Carnival Season
7-14
National Personal Trainer Awareness Week
8-14
Home Office Safety and Security Week  
National Mocktail Week
11-17
Cuckoo Dancing Week
11-20
Take A Friend Snowmobiling Week Link

Daily Observations

Curried Chicken Day
Kiss A Ginger Day Link (Red Heads)
National Hot Tea Day
National Kiss a Ginger Day
National Marzipan Day
Pharmacist Day
National Hot Tea Day
National Kiss a Ginger Day
National Marzipan Day
Pharmacist Day

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Last night’s storm brought about 1” of wet snow. Now it is sunshine from the rest of the week. Roads are wet.

I can’t believe the price of a dozen eggs. If this continues, people will be using potatoes to hide at Easter.

An FAA computer glitch grounded all flights in the US for several hours this morning. This is just after the Holiday travel delays are returning to normal. The issue is being blamed on outdated infrastructure.  Hmmm, where have I heard that before….roads, bridges, dams, and now flights. Ugh.

Local NY politicians are calling for Santos to resign after his ‘unique’ biography. I wonder if this will actually happen.

Prince Harry says that he is a ‘spare.’ This is not a term I had heard in that context before, but it makes sense. He means a ‘spare’ King is something happens to his older brother. Now that I think about it, Prince Andrew was also a ‘spare’ for King Charles. Maybe that explains his rather bizarre behavior over the years.

Waterfalls around the world

Facts…

The earliest known full-sized electric car was designed by Robert Anderson, a Scottish inventor who built his version in the 1830s, though that car (and many of its successors) didn’t go very far; at the time, batteries were rudimentary and couldn’t be recharged. It would take about three decades for electric car batteries to improve, and starting in 1881, battery-operated buses began ferrying passengers in Paris, Berlin, London, and New York. A few years later, Iowa chemist William Morrison applied for a patent for his electric carriage, which could travel around 50 miles on one charge at a top speed of 20 miles per hour. By 1897, the top-selling car in the U.S. was powered by battery, though electric vehicles would hold the market for a relatively short time. By 1913, manufacturer Henry Ford had fine-tuned the mass production of gas-powered cars, dropping their price and helping to usher in a new era of private transportation. 

Slang Origins

1963: Bummer

Meaning: a huge disappointment

Another word popularized by hippies, “bummer” had a much different meaning in the previous century. Coming from the German slang word “bummler,” it once meant a loafer or idle person before taking on the meaning we know today.

Historical Events
1991 – Congress authorized the use of military force against Iraq.
1932 – Hattie W. Caraway (D Arkansas) was the first female United States Senator.
2004 – The world’s largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, made its maiden voyage.

Birthdays Today

@87 – Kreskin (George Joseph Kresge), American mentalist
@67 – Joe Frazier, American boxer (d. 2011; liver cancer)
@87 – Ray Price, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
@75 – Charles Perrault, French author, academic (d. 1703)
73 – Sheila Jackson Lee, American politician
@71 – Kirstie Alley, American actress (d. 2022; cancer)
Through history, people look for something spiritual. The greatest scientists in the world were men of religion and faith, too.– Kirstie Alley
71 – Ricky Van Shelton, American country singer-songwriter
@70 – Rush Limbaugh, American talk show host (d. 2021; lung cancer)
69 – Howard Stern, Radio personality
@68 – Edmund Burke, Irish philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 1797)
Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe. ~
– Edmund Burke
@68 – Tex Ritter, American actor and singer (d. 1974)
They say that Virginia is the mother of Texas. We never knew who the father was, but we kinda suspected Tennessee.– Tex Ritter
@64 – Jan Baptist van Helmont, Flemish chemist physician (d. 1644)
@61 – John Winthrop, English lawyer, 2nd Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (d. 1649)
59 – Jeff Bezos, American businessman, founded Amazon.com
58 – Rob Zombie (Robert Bartleh Cummings), American singer-songwriter
49 – Melanie C (Melanie Jayne Chisholm), English singer-songwriter, Spice Girls
43 – Amerie, American singer-songwriter
@44 – Tim Horton, Canadian ice hockey player, founded Tim Hortons (d. 1974; car crash)
@40 – Swami Vivekananda, Indian philosopher (d. 1902; reached Mahāsamādhi)
To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. “I will drink the ocean”, says the persevering soul; “at my will mountains will crumble up”. Have that sort of energy, that sort of will; work hard, and you will reach the goal.– Swami Vivekananda
@40 – Jack London, American novelist, journalist (d. 1916; dysentery?)
I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
– Jack London
38 – Issa Rae, American actress
30 – Zayn Malik, English singer-songwriter, One Direction
@32 – Ira Hayes, American soldier (d. 1955; exposure/alchohol)
How could I feel like a hero when only five men in my platoon of 45 survived, when only 27 men in my company of 250 managed to escape death or injury?– Ira Hayes