24 Feb

24 February 2023

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 8 Day 55 \ Ave. Sky Cover 90% \ Visibility 2 miles Flagstaff Today 39° \20°  Wind 13mph \ Gusts -mph 
Air Quality: Fair \Very Low Moderate High Extreme Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 249mi \ Nearest Lightning 2758mi
Feb. Averages for Flagstaff: 47° \ 19° \5 Days of moisture
Snowing

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

  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
  22-25
  American Birkenbreiner Race
  22-4/8
  Lent 

Daily Observations

Forget Me Not Day  Link 
Inconvenience Yourself Day
National Trading Card Day
Skip The Straw Day  Link 
Tartar Sauce Day  Link 
Twin Peaks Day
World Bartender Day Link 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

And the winter storm continues. About 6” yesterday and today it is still snowing.  I am getting very tired of my mantra ‘The forest needs moisture’. I went out this morning and cleared off my vehicle, drove around the parking area, drove back to my parking space and played ‘in and out’ a few times to compress the snow where I park.

I sent an email to our presenter yesterday about Saturday’s discussion group. I suggested that we play ‘wait and see’ then notify our group in an email on Saturday at noon regarding the storm and our meeting. The presenter emailed back and said that parking would be an issue at her place due to the snow berms left after every snowfall. So today I notified the group that the meeting was postponed until April.  Hopefully we will be able to meet in March.

The morning paper had a big article about road closures in our neck of the woods. Over 300 miles of Northern AZ highways have been closed during this storm…some from snowfall, some from wind, and many by blowing snow. This is not a time to be traveling in our area. The main local roads are fine, when the snow stops. Side streets remain slick.

Enjoy…

Facts…

The names of four countries include the word “Guinea.”

It’s not unusual for cities to share names, but it happens less frequently with countries. Yet four nations — three of which are in Africa — use the word “Guinea” in their titles: Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, and Papua New Guinea. How is it possible to have so many countries using the same word? It has to do with the colonization of Western Africa. The exact origin of the word “Guinea” is unknown, though some linguists believe the term comes from the Portuguese word “Guiné,” which appeared around the mid-1400s to describe a region south of the Senegal River along Africa’s western coast. A competing theory suggests that the name comes from Djenné, an ancient city in modern Mali that was an important stop along the trans-Saharan gold trading route; it’s possible “Djenné” transformed into “Genawah,” which was then used to describe all people in Western Africa.

By the late 1880s, many European countries had laid claim to African land in a race historians call the “Scramble for Africa.” Spain, France, and Portugal (among other powers) all shared control of the Guinea region in Western Africa; the area was divided, and land generally identified by its controlling country. However, the names we know today wouldn’t emerge until well into the 20th century, when each nation broke away from European control. French Guinea retained the name Guinea after gaining independence in 1958, Spanish Guinea became Equatorial Guinea in 1963, and Portuguese Guinea took on the name Guinea-Bissau (referencing its capital city Bissau) in 1974.

As for Papua New Guinea, located thousands of miles to the east across the Indian Ocean, two explorers gave it its name. In 1526, Portuguese sailor Jorge de Meneses dubbed part of the island “ilhas dos Papuas,” from the Malay word papuwah (referencing the islanders’ curly hair), while Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez declared another portion New Guinea, believing its citizens resembled the people of Africa’s Guinea coast. 

Slang Origins

Beat feet

When you must get away fast, usually because you've done something wrong, it's time to beat feet the heck out of there. Just think of your feet like they're the hands of a jazz drummer.

Trivia…

A stretch of Route 66 in New Mexico will play the song "America The Beautiful" if driven properly

Just east of Albuquerque, New Mexico, there is a stretch of Route 66, one of the most famous highways in the world, that will play you a song if you drive it just right. First of all, you need to drive along the rumble strips on the side of the road. They are spaced out at just the right distance to play the song “America the Beautiful” if you drive along them at exactly 45 miles per hour.

Historical Events

1582 – Gregorian Calendar: Pope Gregory XIII issued a new, more accurate calendar that the Julian, which had been used for 1500 years.
1868 – Andrew Johnson became the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He was later acquitted in the Senate.
1942 – In what may or may not have been a UFO attack, The Battle of Los Angeles lasted into the early hours of February 25. (probably not)
1980 – The United States Olympic Hockey team completed its Miracle on Ice by defeating Finland 4 – 2 to win the gold medal.

Birthdays Today

@95 – Richard Thorpe, American director, screenwriter (d. 1991)
@94 – Abe Vigoda, American character actor (d. 2016)
“I got the role because the producer thought I looked tired, but I looked tired because I had been jogging earlier that day.”– Abe Vigoda
@81 – Honus Wagner, American baseball player, coach, manager (d. 1955)
“I don’t want my picture in any cigarettes, but I also don’t want you to lose the ten dollars, so I’m enclosing my check for that sum.”– Honus Wagner, his baseball cards were later recalled, which makes his cards so rare.
@80 – Chester Nimitz, American admiral (d. 1966)
“God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless.”– Chester W. Nimitz
78 – Barry Bostwick, American actor
76 – Rupert Holmes, English-American singer-songwriter
76 – George Thorogood [David Goldstein], American singer-songwriter
“I said if you want to be Keith Richards, you’ve got to listen to Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. Then I thought, ‘What did Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry listen to?’  I said, ‘They listened to Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters.’ Well, who’d they listen to? They listened to Robert Johnson. I said, ‘Ok, we’ll start with that.'”– George Thorogood
@73 – Wilhelm Grimm, German anthropologist, author and Brother (d. 1859)
@74 – Homer Winslow, American illustrator (d. 1910)
@73 – James Farentino, American actor (d. 2012; long illness)
72 – Debra Jo Rupp, American actress
67 – Paula Zahn, American journalist
65 – Sammy Kershaw, American singer-songwriter
62 – Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway
57 – Billy Zane, American actor
@56 – Steve Jobs, businessman, co-founded Apple Inc. & Pixar (d. 2011; tumor)
“We think basically you watch television to turn your brain off, and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on.”– Steve Jobs
46 – Floyd Mayweather, Jr., American boxer
“You hear certain things, negative things, all the time that aren’t true, but you never hear about the positive.”– Floyd Mayweather, Jr
34 – Trace Cyrus, American singer-songwriter