2 Feb

2 February 2023

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 5 Day 33 \ Ave. Sky Cover 5% \ Visibility 19 miles Flagstaff Today 40° \8°  Wind 6mph \ Gusts 10mph 
Air Quality: Good \Very Low Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 179mi \ Nearest Lightning 1476mi
Feb. Averages for Flagstaff: 47° \ 19° \5 Days of moisture
Sunshine

Today’s Quote

 

Monthly Observations

Cricket World Cup (2/6-3/7)
Declutter For A Cause Month
Dog Training Education Month Link  Link
Fasting February  Link
February is Fabulous Florida Strawberry Month
Feline Fix By Five Month
Free and Open Source Software Month  Link
From Africa to Virginia Month
Great American Pies Month  Link 

Weekly Observations

28—2/4
Cordova Ice Worm Days  Link
Catholic Schools Week
Meat Week
National Anesthesiologists Week Link

1-5
US Nationals Snow Sculpting Days
1-7
Women's Heart Week
World Interfaith Harmony Week
2-8
Publicity for Profit Week Publicity for Profit Week

Daily Observations

Ayn Rand Day  Link
California Kiwifruit Day
Candelmas
Crepe Day or La Chandeleur  Link
Dump Your Significant Jerk Day
Groundhog Day
Groundhog Job Shadow Day
Heavenly Hash Day
Hedgehog Day
Imbolc
Lung Leavin' Day: Link
Marmot Day Link
National Sweater Day Link
Optimist Day  Link
Rheumatoid Arthritis Awareness Day Link
Self Renewal Day
Sled Dog Day
Tator Tot Day
"The Record of a Sneeze" Day
World Wetlands Day Link 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

It’s a nice winter day. Hoping for some big snow melt.

This Super Bowl will be the first in its history to have 2 black quarterbacks. Took long enough. Also Tom Brady, 45, retired…again.

Rep. Santos has stepped down from all his committees while is being investigated. Again…took long enough.

Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) introduced a bill to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. This is a bill worth watching…just to see how far it actually gets.

African Animals Abound…

Arizona is a great state…

Ø Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, grew up on a large family ranch near Duncan, Arizona.

Ø The best-preserved meteor crater in the world is located near Winslow, Arizona.

Ø The average state elevation is 4,000 feet.

Ø The Navajo Nation spans 27,000 square miles across the states of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, but its capital is seated in Window Rock, Arizona.

Facts…

Another thing that set her apart from other singer-actresses at the time was her height. Garland stood just 4 feet, 11 inches. When she was a child actress, she was still around the same height as her frequent costar Mickey Rooney, but was already noticeably shorter than other MGM stars such as Deanna Durbin. Ever notice how the famous ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz have enough of a heel to add a couple of inches?

And Garland didn’t get any taller with age. Because she had a particularly short upper body, the height difference was a little more noticeable when she was seated next to someone — high heels can’t do much for you if you’re not standing up. 

Slang Origins

1981: Gnarly

Meaning: excellent; disgusting

Surfers created their own slang in the 1970s, which filtered into the larger community over time. “Gnarly” hit the wider teen population in the early ‘80s, and joined “dude” and “stoked” as words we still recognize today.

Mysterious sites…

Yonaguni Monument (Japan)

Experts are divided as to whether the underwater rocks near Japan’s Yonaguni Island are a human-made structure or naturally occurring. In the 1980s, divers discovered what appears to be a rectangular monument, measuring 165 feet long and 65 feet wide. Some scholars believe that it is the remains of a pyramid, perhaps from a long-lost submerged city belonging to an ancient civilization. Meanwhile, others insist the rocks have been shaped by millennia of the ocean’s currents. Similarly, while some argue that markings on the rock’s surface are proof of ancient human involvement, others say they are simply scratches. For the time being, the Japanese government seems to agree with the latter and does not recognize the Yonaguni Monument as culturally significant.

Historical Events

1653 – New Amsterdam (now the City of New York) was incorporated.
1913 – Grand Central Terminal is opened in New York City.
1925 – Balto and Togo led a team via Dog Sleg to the town of Nome, Alaska, with antitoxin serum for an outbreak of Diptheria. An estimated 10,000 people may have been saved.
1990 – President De Klerk of South Africa lifted the 30-year ban on leading anti-apartheid group the African National Congress (ANC).

Birthdays Today

@89 – Elaine Stritch, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
“People will always be around to tell you you’re no good or you’re wrong or unwise to keep doing what you want to do. They’re wrong. They’re always wrong. Keep going.”– Elaine Stritch
@88 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, American businessman and philanthropist, Guggenheim Museum (d. 1949)
“To get such beauty from something that has been produced from the artist’s own imagination appealed to me enormously.”– Solomon R. Guggenheim
86 – Tom Smothers, American comedian and actor
“The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen.”– Tommy Smothers 81 – Graham Nash, English-American singer-songwriter
@77 – Ayn Rand, Russian/American novelist, philosopher (d. 1982; heart failure)
“The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”– Ayn Rand
70 – Duane Chapman, Reality star
69 – Christie Brinkley, American actress and model
@64 – Stan Getz, American saxophonist (d. 1991; liver cancer)
“I cannot play a lie. I have to believe in what I play or it won’t come out.”– Stan Getz
@62 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress (d. 2009; cancer)
“I deeply believe in one’s own positive will to overcome even the most daunting challenges.”– Farrah Fawcett
@58 – James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, poet (d. 1941; ulcers)
“History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.”– James Joyce in Ulysses
46 – Shakira, Colombian singer-songwriter
“I pefer an ugly truth to a pretty lie.”– Shakira
@11 – Hamnet Shakespeare, William Shakespeare’s only son (baptized on this date, d. 1596)