20 Feb

 

20 February 2023

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 8 Day 51 \ Ave. Sky Cover 20% \ Visibility 15 miles Flagstaff Today 55° \23°  Wind 8mph \ Gusts 11mph 
Air Quality: Moderate \Very Low Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 349mi \ Nearest Lightning 2297mi
Feb. Averages for Flagstaff: 47° \ 19° \5 Days of moisture
Sunshine

Today’s Quote

 

Weekly Observations

  11-20
  Date (Fruit) Week
  14-21
  National Condom Week
  National Nest box Week 
  NCCDP Alzheimer's & Dementia Staff Education Week
  17-22
  Carnival
  17-23 
  Great Backyard Bird Count Link
  18-25 
  National FFA Week Link 
  19-26  
  National Sauna Week Link   
  19-25 
  Bird Health Awareness Week Link  
  Build A Better Trade Show Image Week
  National Eating Disorders Awareness Week
  National Engineers Week
  National Justice for Animals Week
  Build A Better Trade Show Image Week
  National Eating Disorders Awareness Week
  National Engineers Week
  National Justice for Animals Week Link  Link
  Through With The Chew Link
  20-22 
  International Petroleum Week Link
  National Invasive Species Awareness Week Link 

Daily Observations

Clean Out Your Bookcase Day
Fasching
International PechaKucha Day  Link
Love Your Pet Day Link Link   (or Love Your Dog Day)  
National Cherry Pie Day
National Comfy Day  Link
Northern Hemisphere Hoodie Hoo Day
National Muffin Day
Presidents Day
Shrove Monday
Student Volunteer Day
World Day for Social JusticeWorld Pangolin Day

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Clouds came in, weatherman promised moisture. All good, the moisture didn’t arrive and the clouds blew out.

Happy President’s Day. When I was young, we had 2 days of celebration for Presidential birthdays in February…Lincoln on the 12^th and Washington on the 22^nd. It changed to President’s Day in 1971 with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. While it now honors all Presidents, there were actually four Presidents…George Washington (February 22, 1732), William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773), Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809), and Ronald Reagan (February 6, 1911)…born in February.

It is sad to hear that 98-year-old President Jimmy Carter has decided on hospice care for the remainder of his life.

The train derailment in East Palestine, OH has not been covered very well by the news establishment. I’m not sure why and am wondering why it is not headlines.

I still remember when ‘news’ was ‘news’. I also remember when Ted Turner introduced us to Headline News & CNN, 24-7 news stations. Being America, this led to many others wanting to cash in on the idea and numerous networks began toting 24-hours-a-day of ‘news’. As competition grew, they all realized that ‘straight news’ broadcasts couldn’t fill every hour of every day. To fill all those hours, they all introduced opinion shows. I believe that was the end of trusting the news. None of the 24-hour-a-day news networks labeled their new opinion shows as such. Now in 2023 it is impossible to find an ‘only news’ network. Further, it is very difficult to identify a particular program as ‘news’ or ‘opinion’. The best way to tell is under the banner ‘breaking news’ that all these networks use. The networks need to do a better job of notifying viewers, throughout the program, that the personalities are ‘journalists’ or ‘just giving opinions’. The line between ‘news’ and ‘opinion’ has become so blurred, no one should be saying ‘I heard it on the news’ as there is a lot more ‘opinion’ out there than ‘news’.

Enjoy…

Facts…

NBA legend and all time scoring leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar collects rugs

Athletes have different interests and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is no exception. On the court, Kareem was a legendary superstar who accumulated the largest single player point total of any player in league history. Over his 20 years in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers he won six championships, six Most Valuable Player awards (MVPs) and scored a record 38,387 points. Kareem scored more points than any past or present NBA player in history, including Michael Jordan (he is currently third in points all time behind Karl Malone). Off the court, Kareem has a passion for oriental rugs and has collected them throughout his life. In fact, he collected so many that he even started selling them saying "While I have kept some of my favorites for my home, there are just too many to properly care for. Rather than just keep them in storage indefinitely, I thought it would be better if the rest of the world could appreciate the magnificent works of art and enjoy them as I have”. 

Slang Origins

1998: Dude

Meaning: man, often used as a general term of address

Recent research suggests that “dude” is actually a shortening of “Yankee Doodle,” a man the famous song describes as "fastidious." African American slang began using the term to apply to any man in the mid-60s before it was adopted by surfing culture and spread with the rest of that lingo in the early ‘80s. Unlike gnarly and radical, dude has managed to remain extremely popular. One reason for this could be "The Big Lebowski," the cinematic and cultural phenomenon whose protagonist is simply named “The Dude.”

Trivia…

Introvert personalities are more likely to pick mountainous locations for a holiday, while extroverts prefer the beach

A new study found that introverts and extroverts pick vacations very differently. While extroverts most commonly aim for beaches and other sunny, crowded places, introverts tended to pick mountainous, lonely regions. This should come as no surprise, as the whole meaning of being extroverted is gaining energy and happiness from being around many people, while being introverted means you gain energy and happiness from being alone or with close acquaintances. Introverts also tended to pick colder vacation spots than extroverts.

Historical Events

1491 – An unnamed comet came within 860,000 miles of Earth, the closest we know of.
1920 – Carl Stoltz, American founder of Little League Baseball (d. 1992)
1962 – While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.
1986 – The Soviet Union launched the Mir spacecraft.

Birthdays Today

@95 – Gloria Vanderbilt, American actress, fashion designer, socialite (d. 2019)
“I’m always in love. If it’s not with a man, it’s something else. I love beauty. I love the sky I see outside the window. There’s so much beauty in the world.”– Gloria Vanderbilt
@94 – Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor
“I am the me I choose to be.”– Sidney Poitier
@82 – Ansel Adams, American photographer ,environmentalist (d. 1984)
“There is nothing worse than a brilliant image of a fuzzy concept.”– Ansel Adams
@89 – Gale Gordon, American actor (d. 1995)
@87 – Richard Burton Matheson, American author (d. 2013)
@87 – Bobby Unser, American race car driver (d. 2021)
86 – Roger Penske, American race car driver, businessman
82 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Canadian singer-songwriter
“What can the government do? They can listen to their own people. But I’ll tell you what citizens can do when we elect one of these people – whether we think it’s a good guy or a bozo – you got to stay on the case. You don’t vote and go home and give them the keys to the car, he’ll drive you right off a cliff. You have to help people to stay honest.”– Buffy Sainte-Marie
@81 – Robert Altman, American director and screenwriter (d. 2006)
@81 – Nancy Wilson, American singer, actress (d. 2018)
77 – Sandy Duncan, American actress, singer and dancer
@71 – J. Geils, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
@73 – Ivana Trump, Czech-American socialite and model
@69 – William Prescott, American soldier, coined the term “Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes.” (d. 1795; dropsy)
69 – Patty Hearst, American actress, author
60 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player and sportscaster
“The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not.”– Charles Barkley
59 – French Stewart, American actor
57 – Cindy Crawford, American mode
39 – Treavor Noah, Comedian
36 – Miles Teller, American actor
35 – Rihanna, Barbadian-American singer-songwriter
@27 – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1994)
“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”– Kurt Cobain