22 Apr

 

April 2023

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 16 Day 112 \ Ave. Sky Cover 5% \ Visibility 25 miles Flagstaff Today 69° \26°  Wind 4mph \ Gusts 11mph 
Air Quality: Fair \Very Low Moderate High Extreme Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 30mi \ Nearest Lightning 879mi
Apr. Averages for Flagstaff: 60° \ 27° \3 Days of moisture
Sunshine

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

15-22      International Dark Sky Week

16-22     Animal Cruelty/Human Violence Awareness Week

              Chemists Celebrate Earth Week

              National Paperboard Packaging Week

              National Pet ID Week  

              Numismatic Week (National Coin Week)

16-23      Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week

18-24      Cleaning For A Reason Week

      Consumer Awareness Week

      Police Officers Gave Their Lives In The Line of Duty

19-23      International Mariachi Week

20-23    Fiddler's Frolic

21-5/2    Festival of Ridvan (Baha'i)

22-27    International Wildlife Film Week

22-29    National Dance Week

 22-30    National Park Week

              Administrative Professionals Week

Daily Observations

Beagle Day  Link  Link
Celebrate Trails Day Link 
Chemists Celebrate The Earth Day
Earth Day
Girl Scout Leaders Day
Global Selfie Earth Day (NASA) 
Chemists Celebrate The Earth Day
Earth Day
Girl Scout Leaders Day
Global Selfie Earth Day (NASA) Link
"In God We Trust Day" Day (coins)
International Marconi Day Link 
International Mother Earth Day
International Mother Earth Day
Jelly Bean Day
National Baseball Day Link
National Dance Day
National Jelly Bean Day Link
National Drug Take Back Day Link
National Teach Children To Save Day
Pet Tech Pet CPR Day

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

I am so enjoying this great spring weather. I took a nice walk in the forest today.

Russia accidently dropped a bomb on of Belgorod, a city of 400,000 people. Oops.

I’m looking forward to a great weekend.  

Enjoy…

Toys Remembered…

Magic 8 Ball

Since the 1950s, the Magic 8 Ball has been a consistent source of advice for all of life’s problems. The toy’s inventor, Albert C. Carter, was the son of a Cincinnati clairvoyant, and completely fascinated by her work. Carter’s mother, Mary, would often use the fortune-telling invention the Psycho-Slate — a small chalkboard sealed inside a container — with her clients. When someone asked a question of the “other world,” Mary would reveal the answer on the Psycho-Slate, as if the spirits scribbled it down themselves.

Thus inspired, in 1944, a grown-up Carter completed his version of a fortune-telling tool called the Syco-Seer, a liquid-filled tube with a window allowing a view of two floating worded dice. The Syco-Seer attracted the attention of Cincinnati store owner Max Levinson, who turned to his brother-in-law Abe Bookman to help with production. Under the company name Alabe Crafts, the Syco-Seer’s design was further tweaked to a smaller tube with only one floating die inside a crystal ball.

In 1950, Chicago company Brunswick Billiards was looking for a promotional item to give to their customers and came across the Syco-Seer. Brunswick Billiards tweaked the design once more and replaced the crystal ball with a black eight billiards ball.

After ending its contract with Brunswick, Alabe Crafts went on to market the now-named Magic 8 Ball as a paperweight before repositioning it as a children’s toy, which launched its international popularity. Today, the Magic 8 Ball continues to respond with its 20-sided die that includes 10 positive, five negative, and five vague responses. Now owned by Mattel, over a million Magic 8 Balls are sold every year. 

Moon Facts…

The Moon has other names

While the other 170 natural satellites in our solar system are named after mythical figures, like Phobos, Callisto and Ganymede, our simply named Moon seems boring by comparison. But our Moon actually has many known names, including Selene, as it was called by the ancient Greeks, the Roman name Luna, and Man or Mani in ancient German. In Arabic, the Moon is named Merenda, and in Malay it’s called Bulan.

State Names Origins…California

Given its marvelous oceanside location, it’s fitting that California would owe its name to a mythical island from a work of fiction, specifically a romance novel. Spanish author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo’s 1950 book Las Sergas de Esplandián (“The Adventures of Esplandián”) described an island named California that was filled with gold and ruled by Queen Calafia and other powerful women. Upon arriving on what is now Baja California in 1539, Spanish explorers believed they had stumbled upon this opulent, albeit fictitious land. Though there’s some dispute over this theory, it remains widely accepted. It’s also quite an appropriate hypothesis considering that California’s gorgeous and varied scenery is storybook in nature.

Historical Events

  v 1864 – The US Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1864 that mandates that the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.
v 1906 – The 1906 Intercalated Games, now recognized as part of the official Olympic Games, opened in Athens.
v 1970 – The first Earth Day was celebrated.

Birthdays Today

@93 – Estelle Harris, actor (d. 2022)
@92 – Charlotte Rae[Lubotsky], American character actress (d. 2018)
“You can take wonderfully talented actors, wonderfully talented writers, and producers, and, uh, do a wonderful show!… but if it doesn’t hit with the public in two minutes, it’s bye-bye.”– Charlotte Rae
86 – Jack Nicholson, American actor
@85 – Bettie Page, American model, actress (d. 2008)
@81 – Glen Campbell, American singer-songwriter (d. 2017)
64 – Steve Fossett, American businessman, pilot, and sailor (d. 2007)
“I pick projects according to how fascinating they are to me, and it has resulted in a broad reach. My records are actually in five different sports: balloons, airplanes, airships, gliders, and sailboats.”– Steve Fossett
77 – John Waters, American director, producer, screenwriter
“Technique is nothing more than failed style.”– John Waters
73 – Peter Frampton, English singer-songwriter
64 – Ryan Stiles, American-Canadian comedic actor
@62 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist, academic (d. 1967; throat cancer)
57 – Jeffrey Dean Morgan, American actor
“The only reason I went to college was to play basketball. I injured my knee and couldn’t play.”– Jeffrey Dean Morgan
56 – Sherri Shepherd, American actress and talk show panelist
“Run towards that very thing that you fear, because there’s amazing blessings on the other side.”– Sherri Shepherd
@56 – Charles Mingus, American bassist, composer, bandleader (d. 1979; ALS)
“Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”– Charles Mingus
@53 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary, founder of Soviet Russia (d. 1924; stroke)
@47 – Henry Fielding, English novelist, playwright (d. 1754; asthma, cirrhosis)
37 – Amber Heard, American actress