29 Jan

 

29 January 2023

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 5 Day 29 \ Ave. Sky Cover 5% \ Visibility 19 miles Flagstaff Today 46° \11°  Wind 9mph \ Gusts 16mph 
Air Quality: Moderate \Very Low Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 359mi \ Nearest Lightning 2161mi
Jan Averages for Flagstaff: 44° \ 16° \5 Days of moisture
Sunshine

Today’s Quote

 

Weekly Observations

19-29
Sundance Film Festival
26-29
Angouleme International Comics Festival  Link
28—2/4
Cordova Ice Worm Days  Link
Catholic Schools Week
Meat Week
National Anesthesiologists Week Link

Daily Observations

AFRMA Fancy Rat Day
Curmudgeons Day
Freethinkers Day
Grammy Awards
National Carnation Day
National Corn Chip Day
National Puzzle Day
Puzzle Day
Seeing Eye Dog Day
Thomas Paine (Free Thinkers) Day
World Leprosy Day

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Getting used to the blue sky and cold temps. That will end early next week with yet another storm…predicting 3-8”.

Happy to report that after the video was released and the parents asked for calm…that is what happened.  The killing was abhorrent for sure. I believe the quick action by the Memphis Police and DA in charging the cops was the right decision. That showed everyone that the justice system works. The demonstrations in Memphis and around the country were peaceful. Only minor skirmishes around the country. Right wing media spent most of the day Friday warning ANITFA would be starting riots.  Not expecting any apologies from them about getting it totally wrong.

I was reading an article this morning about the oldest High School is each state. In Colorado the East High school was built in 1876, making it the oldest in Colorado. My mother and my father graduated from there in the late 1930’s. Nice!

African Animals Abound…

Arizona is a great state…

·        Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch in Picacho, Arizona is the largest privately-owned ostrich ranch in the world outside South Africa.

·        If you cut down a protected species of cactus in Arizona, you could spend more than a year in prison.

·        The world's largest to-scale collection of miniature airplane models is housed at the library at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.

·        The only place in the country where mail is delivered by mule is the village of Supai, located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Facts…

Judy Garland, sometimes billed as “the world’s greatest entertainer,” accomplished a lot during her short and storied life, from her childhood vocal performances and breakout role in The Wizard of Oz to her dramatic comeback in A Star Is Born. Known for her giant voice, even at an early age, and magnetic stage presence, Garland won the hearts of showbiz executives, other entertainers, and adoring fans alike.

Today, Garland is well known not just for her performances but for a volatile behind-the-scenes life that made her career both successful and inconsistent — leading to tabloid scandals, breaks from public life, and, eventually, epic resurgences. Despite those slower periods, Garland managed to create an outsized legacy in just 47 years alive on this planet. Where did her stage name come from? Why is her only Academy Award pint-sized? What happened later in her career? These six facts about Judy Garland will have you strolling down a yellow brick memory lane. 

Slang Origins

1977: Brick house
Meaning: a large, curvy woman
The Commodores, the funk band that launched Lionel Richie to stardom, released the song “Brick House” on their 1977 self-titled album. The band created the song in 24 hours. Its title was modified from a more vulgar American idiom.

Mysterious sites…

Stone Spheres (Costa Rica)

In Costa Rica’s Diquis Delta is a group of around 300 polished stone spheres, some just a few inches in diameter and others measuring up to seven feet and weighing 16 tons. Employees of the United Fruit Company stumbled across the spheres in the 1930s while clearing a jungle to build a banana plantation. Scientists have so far been unable to pinpoint an exact date of their origin, instead suggesting that they appeared sometime between 200 BCE and the 16th century CE. They are commonly attributed to the Diquis people, yet their purpose is a mystery. They might have been property markers of ancient chiefs, and some even think they may be remnants of the lost city of Atlantis. Some of the spheres were even detonated in the hope of finding gold inside.

Historical Events

1980 – The Rubik’s Cube made its international debut at the Ideal Toy Corp. in Earl’s Court, London.
2002 – In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush described “regimes that sponsor terror” as an Axis of evil- he included Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.
2015 – Malaysia officially declared the disappearance of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 (disappeared on March 8, 2014) an accident, and its passengers and crew were presumed dead.

Birthdays Today

@92 – John Forsythe, American actor (d. 2010)
@86 – John D. Rockefeller, Jr., American businessman, philanthropist (d. 1960)
@86 – Victor Mature, American actor (d. 1999)
83 – Katharine Ross, American actress
78 – Tom Selleck, American actor
73 – Ann Jillian, American actress
@72 – Thomas Paine, One of the Founding Fathers of the United States (d. 1809)
Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.– Thomas Paine
69 – Oprah Winfrey, American talk show host, actress, and producer
@66 – W.C. Fields (William Claude Dukenfield), American comedic actor (d. 1946; hemorrhage)
I personally stay away from natural foods. At my age I need all the preservatives I can get.
– W.C. Fields
@65 – Tommy Ramone (Thomas Erdelyi), drummer, The Ramones(d. 2014; cancer)
@62 – Edward Abbey, American writer (d. 1989; following surgery)
Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others.– Edward Abbey
61 – Nicholas Turturro, American actor
@58 – William McKinley, American politician, 25th President of the United States (d. 1901)
55 – Edward Burns, American actor
Newlyweds shooting budget: 5k for actors, 2k insurance, 2k food, and drink. 9k in the can. We only shot 12 days. That’s how to make an independent film.– Edward Burns
53 – Heather Graham, American actress
48 – Sara Gilbert, American actress
@44 – Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright and short story writer (d. 1904; TB)
Each of us is full of too many wheels, screws, and valves to permit us to judge one another on a first impression or by two or three external signs.– Anton Chekhov
30 – Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Japanese singer
@26 – Gia Carangi, American supermodel (d. 1986; AIDS)