July 18

FYI: Click on any blue text for a link to more information!

Flagstaff Almanac

Today: High   79°…Low 48°

Records: High 81° (2009)…Low 52° (1904)

Averages: High   81°…Low 52°

Clear sky with spotty clouds around the horizon

Today’s humidity:  29%

Week: 29 Day: 199

Quote of the Day

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1994 - Crayola announces introduction of scented crayons

1980 - Federal court voids Selective Service Act as it doesn't include women

1977 - Vietnam becomes member of UN

1976 - Nadia Comăneci became the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics

1947 - President Harry Truman signs Presidential Succession Act

1947 - King George VI signs Indian Independence Bill

1932 - US & Canada sign a treaty to develop St Lawrence Seaway

1925 - Hitler publishes Mein Kampf

1921 - Black Sox trial begins in Chicago

1870 - Pontifical infallibility proclaimed

1743 - 1st half-page newspaper ad is published (NY Weekly Journal)

64 - Great Fire of Rome begins (Nero didn't fiddle)

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪ 

                    

Free Rambling Thoughts   

A nice day today. I did lots of laundry, folding, hanging, and getting my clothes cleaned of the Kenya/Tanzania dust…a red dust, must like the Rez. I also got all my photos downloaded, filed, and have a folder of over 900 resized pictures for posting.  Tomorrow will be video day, I hope. So cool to see the pictures I took.

I am also working with HLO Tours and Focus Travel for a photo contest. I developed a ‘Best of…” contest with over 20 categories for those on our trip. They will email me their one best lion, cheetah, …photo and I will make a ballot for each category. At the picture party, held in Denver in September, those from the trip will vote and pick the best. The winners will then be posted on the Focus site and the HLO site. That should be fun for our 23 travelers and will help advertise our adventure for others.

We didn’t get any rain here today, but a very nice day. I did take a short walk around the neighborhood.

Game   Center: (answers at the end of post)

What is the answer?

What number should come next in this series: 479126   62974   4796   697  ?

5X5 Word Boxes

The answer to 1 across is the same word as the answer to 1 down; 2 across is the same as 2 down; etc. Can you solve these Word Boxes? Each answer is 5 letters.

1.     Alexander

2.     musical form

3.     furnish

4.     clay hut

5.     dryer

HINT: from upper left to lower right the letters are G-O-D-B-L

Lifestyle  Substance     

My Latest Adventure—

One Hit Wonders of the 1950’s

• Liar, Liar…The Castaways…1965

• Goldfinger…Shirley Bassey…1965

• The Boy From New York City…The Ad Libs…1965

• Keep on Dancing…The Gentrys…1965

Harper’s Index         

Percentage of bypass-machine doctors who admitted to talking on cell phones during heart surgery in a 2010 survey: 35

Found on You Tube 

• Free Nelson Mandela

• Astronaut John Glenn First American to Orbit Earth
       

Joke-of-the-day

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, 5, Ryan 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. "If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'"
Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus!"

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

Between two barbers in a shop, choose the one with the worst haircut. They cut each other's hair.

Yeah, It Really Happened

PRICE, Utah - A Utah mother said she filed a formal complaint against a judge who had her slice off her 13-year-old's ponytail as punishment for cutting a 3-year-old's hair. Valerie Bruno said she has filed a formal complaint against 7th District Juvenile Judge Scott Johansen, who told her he would cut the 276-hour community service sentence imposed on her daughter, Kaytlen Lopan, by 150 hours if the mother cut off the teenager's ponytail in his courtroom, The Deseret News reported Monday. Lopan had been sentenced in Johansen's courtroom in May after she was convicted on an assault charge for cutting several inches of hair from the head of a 3-year-old girl they met at a McDonald's in Price.
"I guess I should have went into the courtroom knowing my rights, because I felt very intimidated," Bruno said. "An eye for an eye, that's not how you teach kids right from wrong." Colin Winchester, executive director of the Utah Judicial Conduct Commission, said a complaint against a judge can take several months to be resolved.               

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Seven of the eight Ivy League schools were founded before the American Revolution (Cornell being the exception), but the use of the term "Ivy League" to group the colleges only dates back to 1933. The seven schools are Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania.

• According to the most recent statistics, a student has a better chance of getting into Cornell than any other Ivy League school. One in five applicants is accepted there, versus one in ten for Columbia, Harvard and Princeton.

• Most Ivy League schools require that undergraduates either exhibit an ability to swim or take a beginner's course in swimming.

• Most historians believe that the Ivy League got its name from the spreading plants that cover many of the oldest college buildings in the American northeast. Harvard is the oldest Ivy League member and the oldest college in the United States, founded in 1636.

• No Ivy League school offers athletic scholarships, which is the key reason why those universities' sports teams typically cannot compete with those from colleges that do.

• The "Seven Sisters" was a septet of women's colleges considered the female equivalent to the Ivy League. Vassar became a co-ed school, and Radcliffe merged with Harvard in 1999, so the five remaining Sisters are Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and Wellesley.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

15-21

National Parenting Gifted Children Week
Rabbit Week
Captive Nations Week
National Independent Retailers Week
National Zoo Keeper Week
18-21

Baby Food Festival
National Ventriloquism Week
18-25

Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week

Today Is                                                                      

Global Hug For Your Kids Day

Mandela Day

National Get Out of the Doghouse Day

Uruguay: Constitution Day (1830)  

Today’s Events Through History                                                          

2000’s

2009 - Five members of one family are found murdered at Epping, New South Wales

1900’s

1991 - Florida Marlins' logo unveiled

1986 - 115th British Golf Open: Greg Norman shoots a 280 at Turnberry Scotland

1968 - The Intel Corporation is founded in Santa Clara, California

1966 - Carl Sagan turns 1 billion seconds old

1964 - Race riot in Harlem (NYC); riots spread to Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bkln)

1955 - 1st electric power generated from atomic energy sold commercially

1952 - KWGN TV channel 2 in Denver, CO (IND) begins broadcasting

1942 - World War II: the Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jet engines for the first time

1940 - 1st successful helicopter flight, Stratford, Ct

1931 - 1st air-conditioned ship (Mariposa) launched

1907 - French troops occupy Casablanca

1800’s

1872 - Britain introduces secret ballot voting

1853 - Completion of Grand Trunk Line, trains begin running over 1st North American railroad between Portland, Maine & Montreal

1700’s

1768 - Boston Gazette publishes "Liberty Song," America's 1st patriotic song

1764 - According to some reports, an agreement regarding peace and alliances is reached by representatives of Great Britain and the Huron.

1759 - British Superintendent for Indian Affairs in the Southern Department, Edmund Atkins, meets with Choctaws in the upper Creek villages. They sign a treaty which establishes trade, and a promise of mutual aid in case of war. This treaty angers the Choctaw’s former allies, the French

1716 - Decree orders all Jews expelled from Brussels

1500’s

1536 - Pope's authority declared void in England

1588 - Admiral Howard beats Spanish Armada

Before 1000CE

390 BC - Roman-Gaulish Wars: Battle of the Allia - a Roman army is defeated by raiding Gauls, leading to the subsequent sacking of Rome

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Under 30

Chace Crawford, TV actor is 27

In their 30’s

Kristen Bell, actress is 32

In their 40’s

Vin Diesel, film actor is 45

Dan[iel Dion] O'Brien, Portland Oregon, decathelete (Olympic-gold-96) is 46

Wendy Williams, radio/TV host is 48

In their 50’s

Ricky Skaggs, Cordell Ky, country singer (Heartbroke, Toy Hearts) is 58

In their 60’s

Richard Branson, London, British music enterperneur (Virgin Atlantic) is 62

In their 70’s

James Brolin, LA California, actor (Dr Kiley-Marcus Welby, Peter-Hotel) is 72

Martha Reeves, Detroit Mich, singer (& Vandellas-Dancing in St) is 71

In their 80’s

Dick Totten Button, Englewood NJ, figure skater (Olympic-gold-48, 52) is 83

In their 90’s

Nelson Mandela, Qunu South Africa, political prisoner (ANC)/President (1994-1999)/ Nobel (1993) is 94

John H Glenn Jr, Cambridge OH, astronaut (Mer 7, sk:STS 95)/(Sen-D-Oh) is 91

Remembered

Hume Cronyn, London Ontario, actor (World According to Garp, Cocoon) - 1911

Richard Dix, St Paul MN, actor (10 Commandments, Cimarron) - 1893

Andrei Gromyko, USSR, diplomat/USSR President (1985-89) - 1909

George Machine Gun Kelly [Georgio Barnes], Memphis Tennessee, American gangster - 1895

Harriet Hilliard Nelson (Peggy Lou Snyder), actress (Ozzie & Harriet) - 1909

Mildred Lisette Norman, American peace activist, earned the moniker Peace Pilgrim - 1908

Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas) - 1937

Rose Hartwick Thorpe, American poet - 1850

Red Skelton, [Richard], Vincennes Ind, comedian (Red Skelton Show) - 1913

Gilbert White, "father of British naturalists" - 1720

Chill Wills, Seagoville Texas, actor (Frontier Circus, Rounders) - 1903

Charles Wilson, Pres of General Motors (1940-53)/Sec of Def (1953-57) - 1890

Today’s Obits                                                           

Horatio Alger Jr, American clergyman/author (Disagreeeable Woman), asthma in 1899 at 67

Jane Austen, writer, Addison's disease in 1817 at 41

Bobby Fuller, rocker (I Fought the Law), found dead (suicide??) in 1966 at 22

Benito Juarez, Cuban justice/general (battle of Acapulco), heart attack in 1872 at 66

George Machine Gun Kelly, American gangster, heart attack in Leavenworth in 1954 on 59^th birthday

Eugene Shoemaker, astronomer (Shoemaker-Levy comet), in car accident in 1997 at 69

Carl Clinton Van Doren, US literary (The Nation), in 1950 at 64

William Westmoreland, American military officer (b. 1914) in 2005 at 91

Answers                                                                                                                                            

What is the answer?

79—the digits of the preceding number are reversed and the lowest digit is dropped.

5X5 boxes

GREAT

RONDO

ENDOW

ADOBE

TOWEL

Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.

All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site has mistakes and sadly once out the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.

☺    And That Is All for Now  ☺

July 17

FYI: Click on any blue text for a link to more information!

Flagstaff Almanac

Today: High   74°…Low 50°

Records: High   92° (1961)…Low 37°(2001)

Averages: High   82°…Low 52°

Partly Cloudy  Today’s humidity:  40%

Week: 29 Day:  198

Quote of the Day

Today’s  Historical  Highlights

1998 - Russia buries tsar Nicholas II & family, 80 years after they died

1980 - Ronald Reagan formally accepts Republican nomination for president

1974 - 1st quadraphonic studio in UK is open by Moody Blues

1959 - Tibet abolishes serfdom

1959 - Dr Leakey discovers oldest human skull (600,000 years old)

1955 - Arco Idaho becomes 1st US city lit by nuclear power

1862 - United army officially divides corps

1861 - Congress authorizes paper money

1775 - 1st military hospital approved

♪Happy Birthday To: ♪ 

                   

 

Free Rambling Thoughts   

What a great adventure we had in Africa. Still trying to get my body clock back in sync. I’ll have lots of pics, videos, and a travel blog in the next few weeks.

I wasn’t really impressed with Dubai. It is only a couple of decades old with new beautiful buildings…the tallest, the longest…the biggest…is more like one-upsmanship than anything else. I have never been into that. Kenya and Tanzania gave me the best close ups of lions, cheetahs, baboons, ostrich, gnu (wildebeests), giraffe, crocs, zebra, and more. The image of being in the middle of the migration with zebra and gnu from horizon to horizon walking in a group will be with me forever. Another image that will never leave are the travels on the dirt roads to get to our safaris. I thought I knew dirt roads after spending so many years on the Rez. Not. Rough, rutted, rocky do not come close to describing them. Many visitors fly from Nairobi in Kenya to our first destination. Not us. Our scheduled five hour drive was really seven plus hours. Both our drivers knew the roads and as locals, they drove like locals. We were in Safari vehicles with a roof that is raised for better views and lightly padded metal seats.  They drive on the opposite side of roads and after leaving Nairobi, we never saw any vehicle that was not a vehicle like ours or a truck hauling supplies to the various camps and resorts. I’m sure part of decision to keep the roads in that condition is to remind tourists that we were on safari or heading for safari. They succeeded. I got the idea. The hard part for me to understand was why the main road to the area was also very rustic. Then I remember that it is used basically by tourists, as those living in the area don’t have vehicles. A great adventure, not for everyone. We visited only one of the 120+ tribes in Tanzania…the Masai. The local who took two of us to his brother’s home commented to me…you are really tall, and really big. Hmmm. He then handing me a long stick for balance as I had to crouch to get through the door that required a sharp turn as one enters. He gave it back to me again as we had to go through a small opening in the stick fence to get to the school. While being a little embarrassed, the stick was really helpful.

My phone sent me three ‘Emergency Alerts’ today warning of tornados and telling me to take shelter now. I thought my phone was still set for Houston or something…then I went to Facebook and found that others in Flag got the same alerts. Very strange.

I have made some changes to the blog layout. I have taken a break from doing the NPR Sunday puzzle as it is not a simple cut and paste thing. I have stopped the opening Almanac graphic for Flagstaff but all the information is still there. The close up picture is also taking a break. I have switched the historical events and birthdays…now they start with the youngest or most recent instead of starting with the oldest or least recent. Change is good.

Game   Center: (answers at the end of post)

What is the answer?

A man died, leaving $10,000,000 for his widow, 5 sons and 4 daughters. Each daughter received an equal amount, each son received twice as much as a daughter, and the widow received three times as much as a son. How much did the widow receive?

5X5 Word Boxes

The answer to 1 across is the same word as the answer to 1 down; 2 across is the same as 2 down; etc. Can you solve these Word Boxes? Each answer is 5 letters.

1.    complete environment

2.    not this one

3.    poetic device

4.    an assumption

5.    foreboding

Lifestyle  Substance     

My Latest Adventure—

One Hit Wonders of the 1960’s

Tobacco Road …The Nashville Teens…1964
Last Kiss … J. Frank Wilson and The Cavaliers…1964
Have I The Right …The Honeycombs…1965
You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away …Silkie…1966

Harper’s Index         

Estimated number of meth labs busted in Missouri in 2011: 2000

Found on You Tube 

Richard Leakey: Does Prehistory Matter in the 21st Century?

Joke-of-the-day

The key to the success of all musicians of note is their ability to stay composed while performing at a level that can't be beat.

…BONUS

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a man below. He descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."The man below replied, "You are in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You are between 40 and 42 degrees north latitude and between 58 and 60 degrees west longitude.""You must be an engineer," said the balloonist."I am," replied the man, "but how did you know?""Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost."The man below responded, "You must be a manager.""I am," replied the balloonist, "how did you know?""Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are exactly in the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."

Rules of Thumb   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

When the lights are on after six in the personnel department of a Silicon Valley company, look for layoffs within two weeks.

Yeah, It Really Happened

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A Michigan bride whose entire wedding party plunged into a lake when a dock collapsed said the incident "makes for a good story." Eric and Maegan Walber said their wedding party gathered on the dock at the Bay Pointe Inn in Grand Rapids to take pictures after the ceremony Saturday and the dock began to wobble after about 30 seconds, Mlive.com reported Monday. "I saw the thing starting to tilt, and I'm like, 'Oh, yup, this is going to happen,'" Eric Walber told WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids. "We went right under." "Everyone was laughing," he said. "It was one of those things that it just happens and you roll with it." Maegan Walber said the plunge made her wedding day all the more memorable. "It makes for a good story," she said. "We'll be telling our grandkids."         

Somewhat Useless Information   

Scientists announced the discovery of a new moon around Pluto on July 11 this year, bringing the dwarf planet's number of known moons to five.

P5, the new moon discovered around Pluto, is nothing like our own moon, a giant orb massive enough to be rounded into a sphere by its own gravity. Researchers think P5 is irregularly shaped, with a diameter between 6 and 15 miles.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

15-21

National Parenting Gifted Children Week
Rabbit Week
Captive Nations Week
National Independent Retailers Week
National Zoo Keeper Week

Today Is                                                                      

National Woodie Wagon Day: made its debut in the 1940s and has been romanticized as the symbol of a carefree American lifestyle

Toss Away the "Could Haves" and "Should Haves" Day

Wrong Way Corrigan Day: 1938 heading from NY to LA ends up in Ireland

Yellow Pig Day: unique celebration dates back to the 1960s when two math students at Princeton were given an assignment to analyze the properties of the number 17. Thinking about the number 17 for so long drove them a bit nuts, so they came up with the idea of a mythical yellow pig. The yellow pig had seventeen toes, seventeen teeth, seventeen eyelashes, etc. Mathematicians in colleges and universities all across the country celebrate Yellow Pig Day by eating Yellow Pig Cake and singing Yellow Pig Carols  

Today’s Events Through History  

                                                          

2000’s

2009 - Jakarta double bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels killed 9 people including 4 foreigners

2007 - TAM Airlines (TAM Linhas Aéreas) Flight 3054 crashes upon landing during rain in São Paulo. This is Brazil's deadliest aviation accident to date with an estimated 199 deaths

2005 - Tiger Woods wins his 10th major winning The British Open Championship by 5 strokes. Woods becomes only the second golfer, after Jack Nicklaus, to win each major more than once

1900’s

1998 - Russia buries tsar Nicholas II & family, 80 years after they died

1988 - Highest temperature ever recorded in San Francisco, 103°F (39°C)

1980 - Ronald Reagan formally accepts Republican nomination for president

1979 - Sebastian Coe runs world record 3:49 mile in Oslo

1976 - 21st modern Olympic games open in Montreal marred by 25 African teams boycotting the New Zealand team.

1974 - 1st quadraphonic studio in UK is open by Moody Blues

1962 - Senate rejects Medicare for aged

1959 - Tibet abolishes serfdom

1959 - Dr Leakey discovers oldest human skull (600,000 years old)

1955 - Disneyland televises its grand opening in Anaheim, California

1955 - Arco Idaho becomes 1st US city lit by nuclear power

1954 - 1st major league game where majority of team is black (Dodgers)

1948 - Israeli army captures Nazareth

1945 - Potsdam Conference (FDR, Stalin, Churchill) holds 1st meeting

1936 - Military uprising under Gen Franco/begins Spanish civil war

1934 - Babe Ruth draws his 2,000th base on balls at Cleveland

1800’s

1897 - 1st ship arrives in Seattle carrying gold from Yukon

1863 - Battle of Honey Springs - largest battle in Indian Territory - an important victory for Union forces in their efforts to gain control of the Indian Territory. The battle was also unique in the fact that white soldiers were the minority in both forces. African and Native Americans made up significant portions of each of the opposing armies.

1862 - United army officially divides corps

1861 - Congress authorizes paper money

1700’s

1790: District of Columbia Established

1781: The Mission San Pedro Y San Pablo De Bicuner is established, in modern Imperial County, California, on January 7, 1781. It is where the Anza Trail crosses the Colorado River. This is land claimed by the Quechan (Yuma) Indians. After unsuccessful talks, the Quechans attack and take over the Mission and surrounding pueblo.

1775 - 1st military hospital approved 1841 - British humor magazine "Punch" 1st published

1762 - Catherine II becomes tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia

1600’s

1673: Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joilet began an expedition to explore the Mississippi River on May 17th. They reach the juncture of the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers. Fearing a confrontation with the Spanish who control the lands further south, Marquette and Joilet decide to end their trip, and return north

1603 - Sir Walter Ralegh arrested

1500’s

1585 - English secret service discovers Anthony Babingtons murder plot against queen Elizabeth I

1400’s

1453 - 1st battle at Castillon: French beat English troops

Before 1000CE

180 - Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

In their 50’s

Mark Burnett, English-born television producer (Survivor, Celebrity Apprentice, The Voice, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, Shark Tank) is 52

In their 60’s

Camilla Parker Bowles (Duchess of Cornwall), London England, wife of Prince Charles is 65

David Hasselhoff, actor (Night Rider, Mitch-Baywatch) will be 60

In their 70’s

Diahann Carroll, actress (Julia, Claudine, Dominique-Dynasty) will be 77

Gale Garnett, Auckland NZ, singer (We'll Sing in the Sunshine) is 70

Donald Sutherland, St John New Brunswick, Canadian actor (M*A*S*H, Body Snatchers) is 77

In their 90’s

Phyllis Diller, Lima Ohio, comedienne (Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number) is 95

Remembered

Hardy Amies, London England, royal dressmaker (Queen Elizabeth II) in 1909

James Cagney, New York City, NY, American actor (Yankee Doodle Dandy) in 1899

Erle Stanley Gardner, Malden Mass., US detective writer (Perry Mason) in 1899

Elbridge Gerry, (DR) 5th VP (Mass-Gov), invented gerrymandering in 1744

Art Linkletter, Saskatchewan Canada, TV host (People are Funny) in 1912

Luis Munoz Rivera, Puerto Rico, journalist (founded Federalist Party) in 1859

Today’s Obits                                                            

Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, Scottish politician dies at 58 - 1645

Ty Cobb, baseball great (Det Tigers), dies of cancer at 74 - 1961

Walter Cronkite, American broadcast journalist dies at 92 – 2009

Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean, pitcher (St Louis Cards), dies of heart attack - 1974

Billie Holiday (Eleanora Harris), jazz singer, dies of drug OD at 44 - 1959

Pierre-Charles Le Sueur, French fur trader and explorer dies at 44 - 1704

Mickey Spillane, American author dies at 88 - 2006

Answers                                                                                                                                            

What is the answer?

$3,000,000

5X5 boxes

WORLD

OTHER

RHYME

LEMMA

DREAD

Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.

All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site has mistakes and sadly once out the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.

☺    And That Is All for Now  ☺