7/21/13


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 30/ Day: 202   Today: H 77°…L 57°
Wind: ave:   3mph; Gusts:  11mph  Ave. humidity:  67%
* Average Low Average High Record Low Record High
          51°                    82°              38° (1924)      92° (1937)
Quote of the Day



Today’s Historical Highlights
1st black to win a major US tennis tournament (Althea Gibson)…1957
1st documented case of a robot killing a human in US…1984
1st major battle of Civil War ends (Bull Run), Va - South wins…1861
Alexandria hit by Earthquake; about 50,000 die…365
Crow Indians steal twenty-four of Lewis and Clark’s horses…1806
Dalai Lama returns to Tibet…1951
Greg LeMond (US) wins Tour de France in fastest time…1989
Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven 
     Wonders of the World…356BC
Monkey Trial ends-John Scopes found guilty of teaching Darwinism…1925
NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis…20117
Neil Armstrong steps on Moon at 2:56:15 AM (GMT)…1969
Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) Sirima Bandaranaike is world's 1st woman PM…1960

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify?…answers in Today’s Birthdays



My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Still waiting for the rain over here, but the rest of Flag seems to have gotten its daily shower. Things are getting pretty wet around here…finally.
 
I had a great lunch with some friends. They stopped by and we went to lunch. Andy used to be my boss and his wife Faith was an outstanding teacher at Tuba. Both have moved on with Andy heading up the Navajo Nation Dine Education and Faith working at a small BIE school in NM. We had great conversation about my trip to Canada and then on Navajo language teaching and the education department of the tribe. I learned that NCC [Navajo Community College] is now Navajo Technical University and is offering Bachelor and Master’s degrees. Also found out that Dine College has been dropping lots of its traditional teachings and is trying to get students to come to their school for a more traditional Anglo education. This has caused a decrease in enrollment since there are much less expensive colleges offering the same courses and a closing of many of their campuses. Faith had some great ideas, as always, for increasing student learning at her school and she is a mover and shaker so I’m sure it will happen. Certainly an enlightening lunch from my point of view and certainly got me excited about educational possibilites.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
What is this famous saying?
zain yain xain wain vain uain tain sain rain qain oain nain main lain kain jain iain hain fain eain dain cain bain aain

Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

NEW Hmmmm…Dismissals - Occupational Puns
When people lose their jobs they may be dismissed, sacked, fired or kicked out; they may be out on their ear or on their neck; they may be shown the door; or they may be given their cards, their marching orders, the push, the elbow, the old heave-ho or the order of the boot.
Some professions, however, have their own individual terminology for this situation: a clergyman may be defrocked, a lawyer disbarred, an army officer cashiered.
Why should not people in other walks of life also have their own terms for dismissal?  
  • An office-worker could be defiled.
  • A salesman could be disordered.

Ok, then?



Harper’s Index    
Percentage of movies that led the US box office for at least one weekend in 2011 that featured Apple products: 42
Picture of the Day: Africa’s Big 5
     Lion, African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Leopard, and Rhinoceros
 
Unusual Fact of the Day
R2D2 stands for "Reel Two, Dialogue Two" in film cutter's lingo.
Joke-of-the-day
A lady walks into the drugstore and asks the pharmacist for some arsenic.
"Ma'am, what do you want with arsenic?" "To kill my husband."
"I can't sell you arsenic to kill a person!"
The lady lays down a photo of a man and a woman in a compromising position.
The man is her husband and the woman is the pharmacist's wife.
He takes the photo, and nods. "I didn't realize you had a prescription!"  
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
HOW TO BEAT THE CROWDS
 Ninety percent of visitors see only 10 percent of a national park.    
Yeah, It Really Happened
 JIZHOU, China - Authorities in a Chinese city said they have shut down a museum following allegations that most of the facility's exhibits were fraudulent. Jizhou city authorities said the Jibaozhai Museum was shut down and is being investigated after Beijing writer Ma Boyong posted a blog entry alleging many of the museum's exhibits were fake, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported Thursday. An official from Hebei Provincial Cultural Heritage Bureau, identified by the surname Li, told the Global Times the province is also investigating the museum. "Jibaozhai has no qualification to be a museum as its collections are fake and it hasn't reported to my department for approval," Li said. The Jibaozhai Museum was opened in 2007 at a cost of $88 million. It was declared a Grade 3A scenic spot and a patriotic education center by local authorities. Wang Zongquan, the museum's curator, has been accused by villagers of filling Jibaozhai with fake exhibits and misusing the public funds he was given for the facility.
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation. - - -Saki [H. H. Munro]
  • Any idiot can get laid when they're famous. That's easy. It's getting laid when you're not famous that takes some talent. - - -Kevin Bacon, 1996
  • Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let’s not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources. - - -Ronald Reagan (10 Sept. 1980)
  • Being a sex symbol has to do with an attitude, not looks. Most men think it’s looks, most women know otherwise. - - -Kathleen Turner (1986)
  • Be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet them on your way down. - - -Wilson Mizner


Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
18-21
Comic Con International:
Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week
19-24
National Scrabble Week
21-27
National Parenting Gifted Children Week
Captive Nations Week
National Independent Retailers Week
National Zoo Keeper Week
World Lumberjack Championships

Today Is                                                                      
·        Legal Drinking Age Day
·        National Ice Cream Day
·        National Tug-Of-War Tournament Day
^^^
·        Belgium: Independence Day (1931 from Netherlands)
·        Guam: Liberation Day (1944 from Japan)

Today’s Events through History  
200-year-old USS Constitution sails under its own power…1997
Launch of Mercury 4 (Liberty Bell) with Grissom…1961
Mormons found 1st English settlement in California (San Joaquin Valley)…1846
Napoleon Bonaparte wins Battle of Pyramids in Egypt…1798
Senate ratifies North Atlantic Treaty by a vote of 82-13 (NATO)…1949
States of Holland put death penalty on "sodomy"…1730
US Veterans Administration forms…1930
World's strongest dog, 80-kg St Bernard, pulls 2909-kg load 27 m…1978

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
In their 90’s
Kay Starr, singer (Rock & Roll Waltz, Club Oasis) is 90

In their 70’s
Janet Reno, US attorney general is 75

In their 60’s
Cat Stevens [Steven Demetre Georgiou; Yusaf Islam], rock vocalist (Peace Train) is 65
Garry Trudeau, political cartoonist (Doonesbury) is 65
Robin Williams, actor and comedian (Mork & Mindy, Good Will Hunting) is 62

In their 50’s
Jon Lovitz, actor (SNL, League of their Own, Critic) is 56

In their 30’s
Josh Hartnett, actor and produce is 35

Remembered for being born today
Frances Folsom Cleveland, 1st lady [1864-1947]
Ernest Hemingway, author (For whom the bell tolled...Nobel 1954) [1899-1961]
Don Knotts, actor (Andy Griffith Show, 3's Company) [1924-2006]
Isaac Stern, Russian violinist [1920-2001]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Robert Burns, Scottish poet (Auld Lang Syne)… rheumatic heart…1796…at 37
Alexander Cockburn, Scottish-born American journalist…cancer…2012…at 71
Dorothy Collins, singer (Your Hit Parade)…heart disease…1994…at 67
Dave Garroway, TV host (Today Show)…suicide…1982…at 69
Mako [Iwamatsu], Japanese-born American actor…cancer…2006…at 72
Basil Rathbone, actor (Sherlock Holmes)…heart attack…1967…at 75
Robert Young, actor (Father Knows Best)…1998…at 91

Answer: Brain Teasers
No pain, no gain In a backwards sequence, every alphabetical letter comes with the suffix "ain" except "p" and "g" and hence "no p-ain", "no g-ain".
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  §
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7/20/13


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 29/ Day: 201   Today: H 79°…L 55°
Wind: ave:   3mph; Gusts:  16mph  Ave. humidity:  69%
* Average Low Average High Record Low Record High
     51°                   82°                   42° (1940)      91° (1939)
Quote of the Day



Today’s Historical Highlights
1st men on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr. from Apollo 11…1969
1st surfin' record to go #1-Jan & Dean's "Surf City"…1964
British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada…1871
Canada becomes the 4th country to legalize same-sex marriage…2005
Charles Lindbergh begins NY flight (Spirit of St Louis)…1927
CIA releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had 
       engaged in mind control experiments…1977
Fee 1st charged to see a baseball game (50 cents) (NY beats Bkln 22-18)…1858
Scottish settlers arrive at Pictou, Nova Scotia (Canada)…1773
Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull, surrenders to federal troops…1881
Terrorist Carlos the Jackal sues France in the European Court of Human Rights 
       for allegedly torturing him…2000
USSR recovered 2 dogs; 1st living organisms to return from space…1960
Vatican state secretary Pacelli (Pius XII) signs accord with Hitler…1933
Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle - King Edward I of England 
       takes the last rebel stronghold of the war…1304

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify?…answers in Today’s Birthdays



My Free Rambling Thoughts   
I got a very sad email today. One of the travelers from our Focus Group passed away last night while they were with Focus at Macho Picchu waiting for a train. I first met Nancy and her husband Ed on a trip years ago. Turned out she had been a teacher at my Elementary school. She had started there the year I was in 6th grade and taught 4th grade. Our last trip was in Uganda last year. She and her loving husband were great traveling partners. They were always friendly and on several trips we shared a vehicle on our trips around Africa, meaning that we were in a small vehicle for up to 8 hours a day. She was a great spotter of wild animals but could never actually identify what the animal was. Her best line ‘over there at 2:00 is a brown animal’ or ‘in that tree at 11:00 is a bird’. Even after the others spotted the elephant or eagle, the next time she would see another animal, it was never ‘an elephant at 9:00’…it was always…’a brown animal at 9:00’. She will be missed by many and as sad as this day is for her family and her many friends…she was doing what she loved and didn’t suffer.  
 
So Detroit is bankrupt. Their local government says they will be coming back. Such an amazing history. It has been around since 1701 and as listed as Michigan’s most populous metro city. The Motor City—Motown—brought our country cars, trucks, and great music. Things have been on the decline for some time. As the population declined, so did city services to those who remained, and the crime rate skyrocketed. From what I have heard, the saddest part of this bankruptcy is that the civil servants who worked for the city and are now retired are losing their pensions…or having their pensions dropped to ten cents on the dollar. How devastating for the elderly.
 
Today is Carlos Santana’s birthday. I remember going to a concert in Denver where Crosby, Stills, and Nash were the headliners and Santana was the warm up group. The crowd really enjoyed Santana, who at the time had no hits on the radio and gave them several standing ovations. Crosby Stills and Nash came out and while we enjoyed their music, they were a studio band and their live performance was not that great. After a couple of their songs, the crowd started yelling for Santana to come back out. It didn’t happen, and after a brief stop in the music, Crosby, Stills and Nash continued. A night to remember!

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
Your task here is to change one letter in each of the following words, in order to find three (3) words with a common theme.
STEER CRASS PESTER

Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Hmmmm…Oxymorons
Taped live Terribly pleased Tight slacks
Ok, then?



Harper’s Index    
  • Profits earned by Facebook last year: $1,100,000,000
  • Tax refund the company received from the Federal Government: $429,000,000

Picture of the Day: Hybrid Animals



Unusual Fact of the Day
Botanically, apples, peaches, grapes, and tomatoes are all fruits. But don’t try telling that to the U.S. Supreme Court. Per the 1893 case Nix v. Hedden, the court decided that tomatoes were veggies and therefore subject to the vegetable tariff. The Supreme Court’s reasoning? Tomatoes have to be vegetables because they’re usually served with dinner, not dessert.
Joke-of-the-day
Things to do @ Wal-Mart while the significant other is taking his/her sweet time:
1. Get cans of cat food and randomly put them in people's carts when they don't realize it.
2. Set all the alarm clocks to go off at ten minute intervals throughout the day.
3. Make a trail of orange juice on the floor leading to the rest rooms.
4. Walk up to an employee and tell him in an official tone, "I think we've got a Code 3 in housewares," and see what happens.
5. Tune all the radios to a polka station; then turn them all off and turn the volumes to "10."
6. Challenge other customers to duels with tubes of gift wrap.
7. Put M&M's on layaway.
8. Move "Caution: Wet Floor" signs to carpeted areas.
9. Set up a tent in the camping department; tell others you'll only invite them in if they bring pillows from Bed and Bath.
10. When someone asks if you need help, begin to cry and ask, "Why won't you people just leave me alone?"  
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
SNOWMOBILING ALONE
 When snowmobiling alone do not travel further into the woods than you can walk out.    
Yeah, It Really Happened
In the movie "The Burning Bed" Farrah Fawcett's husband repeatedly beats and psychologically abuses her, so she waits until he passes out drunk and then sets fire to their bed.
In this story the part of Farrah Fawcett is played by 43-year-old Connecticut woman Jill Defusco, and the catalyst is an argument over a pizza...but the rest of the story is very similar.
Police arrested Defusco for setting a fire in the bedroom while her husband was sleeping.
The husband told police that he went to bed after getting into an argument with his wife over pizza and woke up to find his side of the bed on fire. He jumped up, put the fire out and called police.
Police said Jill lit a greeting card on fire, which then ignited a pair of shorts. Mrs. Defusco told police she set an anniversary card on fire and said it was "symbolic" of their marriage after her husband threw jelly beans at her.
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • A Roman numeral added to a name to indicate its order in succession, as in England's kings George I, George II, and George III, is known as an ordinal.
  • The famous Mark VII Limited productions logo was made by a man's hands hammering a metal stamp with the number "VII." The hands holding the hammer and stamp are those of the production company's founder, Dragnet star Jack Webb.
  • Some retailers ran into problems stocking clothing to promote the 2006 Super Bowl. The Roman numerals attached to the proper name of the event - Super Bowl XL - created confusion for those who mistook the letters as an abbreviation for "extra large." 
  • Many clocks depicting Roman numerals show the number four as "IIII" instead of "IV." Historians are divided on how this tradition developed, blaming it on everything from the desires of King Louis XIV to better symmetry on the clock's face.
  • A bar placed on top of a letter or string of letters increases the numeral's value by 1,000 times.
  • The symbol "I" for 1 was derived from one finger. Five fingers held up indicated five of whatever was being counted. The "V" then was the hand outstretched vertically with the space between the thumb and first finger forming the "V".


Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
14-20
Everybody Deserves A Massage Week
Sports Cliché Week
Rabbit Week
National Baby Food Week
National Ventriloquism Week
18-21
Comic Con International:
Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week
19-24
National Scrabble Week

Today Is                                                                      
·        Celebration of The Horse Day
·        Moon Day
·        National Lollipop Day
·        National Hot Dog Day
·        Toss Away the "Could Haves" and "Should Haves" Day
·        Ugly Truck Contest Day
·        Woodie Wagon Day
^^
·        Colombia: Independence Day (1810 from Spain)

Today’s Events through History  
Captain Benjamin Church has been joined by the Sakonett Indians, in the war with 
     King Philip. They attack Philip's main camp, and almost capture Philip. His wife 
     and child are captured. They are sold as slaves. As many as 170 Indians are killed 
     in the fighting…1676
Congresswoman Alice Mary Robertson became the first woman to preside over 
     the US House of Representatives…1921
Convention of the Methodist Church votes to allow women to become priests…1926
FDR nominated for an unprecedented 4th term at Dem convention…1944
French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye reaches the western 
     shore of Lake Michigan…1738
Iron Butterfly's "In-a-gadda-da-vida" becomes 1st heavy metal song to hit charts, 
     at #117…1968
Riot Act takes effect in Great Britain…1712

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
In their 70’s
Diana Rigg, Doncaster England, actress (Emma Peel-Avengers) is 75

In their 60’s
Carlos Santana, Mexico, rock guitarist (Santana-Black Magic Woman) is 65

In their 50’s
Donna Dixon, actress and wife of actor Dan Aykroyd (Couch Trip, Bossom Buddies) is 56

In their 40’s
Beth Coats, Albuquerque NM, biathelete (Olympics-1994) is 47
Sandra Oh, Korean Canadian actress [Grey’s Anatomy] is 42

Under 30
Julianne Hough, American ballroom dancer [DWTS] is 25

Remembered for being born today
Alexander the Great, Pella Macedon, Macedonian king and military leader, [366BC-323BC)
Verna Felton, actress (Hilda-December Bride) [1890-1966]
Edmund Hillary, NZ, Explorer and Mountaineer (1st Mt Everest with Tenzing 
     Norgay), [1919-2008]
Natalie Wood, [Natasha Gurdin], SF, (Gypsy, Rebel Without a Cause) [1938-1981]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Joan M Kemper, lawyer (laid-out Civil Code)…1824…at 48
Andrew Lang, Scottish author (Blue Book of Fairy Tales)…heart failure…1912…at 68
Bruce Lee, [Lee Yuen Kam], actor (Enter the Dragon)…swollen brain…1973…at 32
Guglielmo Marconi, Ital engineer/marquis (radio, Nobel 1909)…heart attack…1937…at 65
Tammy Faye Messner (Bakker), American televangelist…cancer…2007…at 65
Pancho Villa, [Doroteo Arango], Mexican rebel…murdered…1923…at 45

Answer: Brain Teasers
STEER --> STEEL CRASS --> BRASS PESTER --> PEWTER Each new word is an alloy.
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  §
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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.