8/22/13


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 34/ Day: 234   
Today: H 72°L 58°
Wind: ave:   8mph; Gusts:  20mph  Ave. humidity:  59%
Average Low      Average High     Record Low        Record High
48°                        79°                        33° (1979)           90° (1991)
Quote of the Day



Today’s Historical Highlights
1st complete ring around Neptune discovered…1989
1st female (Ann Franklin) US newspaper editor, Newport RI…1762
Assassination attempt on president Gerald Ford…1975
Cadillac Motor Company is founded…1901
International Red Cross forms…1864
J. Edgar Hoover becomes asst director of FBI…1921
Madras (now Chennai), India, is founded by the British East India Company…1639
Vietnam conflict begins as Ho Chi Minh leads a successful coup…1945
Nez Perce flee into to Yellowstone National Park…1877
Pres Teddy Roosevelt became 1st US chief executive to ride in a car…1902
Rhodesia is expelled by the IOC for its racist policies…1972
St Columba reported seeing monster in Loch Ness…565
United States annexes New Mexico…1848

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



My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Our now daily rain came late last night and then again about 9a this morning. So nice to have it on a daily basis. Have to admit, I’m wondering what kind of winter it’s going to be. While the daily rain is nice, daily snow will not be nearly as pleasant.
 
Another oops from the NSA. Now they admit they have been collecting many American’s emails that had nothing to do with ‘terrorism’. Guess the idea of ‘free email’ has a big downside. These free sites allow commercial business to check emails so they can advertize on our computers. So email is not like a letter, it is like a postcard where anyone can read it contents legally. So I guess all those email jokes I get are not really just for me.
 
Tomorrow our retirement group is off the new Navajo Nation casino. There is a free bus from the mall and you get lots of freebies good at the casino when you get there. Should be a fun day. I’m not a gambler but want to see what is going on out there. It’s only about 25 miles from Flagstaff and for a free ride, how can one go wrong.
 
Two and half years ago we had the tsunami and the Fukushima Nuclear plant disaster. Now we find out that it is and has been leaking radioactive water into the Pacific. While I am not ready for another series of radioactive monster movies like we had after Hiroshima, I’m sure they will be on the horizon. Soon we will be having warnings about sea products from Japan. What a mess.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
I've been drawn by the artists these days, and of old; Yet I'm seen only when all around me is cold. ^^^ For most of the time you just live and ignore me; Then you gasp for me, stop for me, mutter below me. ^^^ You might say, in surprise, I've been taken away, But it's true I've been with you, at least 'til today. ^^^ When I leave you, you leave too!  Who am I?
Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Hmmmm…Tongue Twisters
W     
We surely shall see the sun shine soon. ^^^ What noise annoys a noisy oyster? A noisy noise annoys a noisy oyster. ^^^ What time does the wristwatch strap shop shut? ^^^ When a twister a-twisting will twist him a twist, For the twisting a twist, he three twines will entwist; But if one of the twines of the twist do untwist, The twine that untwisteth untwisteth the twist. ^^^ Which switch, Miss, is the right switch for Ipswich, Miss? ^^^ Which witch wished which wicked wish? ^^^ Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches? ^^^ While we were walking, we were watching window washers wash Washington's windows with warm washing water. ^^^ Whistle for the thistle sifter. ^^^ White eraser? Right away, sir!
Not a Fan of Faux News, but this is crazy.



Ok, then?



Harper’s Index    
  • Percentage of US sheriffs who have bowed to reuse to enforce any new federal gun-controlled legislation: 14
  • Amount a Tucson mayoral candidate raised to give out free guns in the city’s highest crime neighborhoods: $13,000

Unusual Fact of the Day
Theological philosopher Saint Augustine of Hippo is so important to the Catholic faith that even his mom was canonized; today, she’s known as Saint Monica. Augustine’s dad, on the other hand, is not a saint. He’s primarily remembered for cheating on St. Monica.
Joke-of-the-day
Things to do @ Wal-Mart while the significant other is taking his/her sweet time:
1. Look right into the security camera, and use it as a mirror while you pick your nose.
2. Take up an entire aisle in Toys by setting up a full scale battlefield with G. I. Joe's vs. the X-Men.
3. Ask other customers if they have any Grey Poupon.
4. Switch the men's and women's signs on the doors of the restroom.
5. Dart around suspiciously while humming the theme from "Mission Impossible."
6. Set up a "Valet Parking" sign in front of the store.
7. Hide in the clothing racks and when people browse through, say things like "pick me! pick me!!"
8. If the store has a food court, buy a soft drink; explain that you don't get out much, and ask if they can put a little umbrella in it.  
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
GETTING WORK DONE
 People do best when they're working at 80 percent of their capacity. At 50 percent, they get bored. At 100 percent, stress gets them.    
Yeah, It Really Happened
GREENBELT, Md. - Using a telescope in Hawaii, astronomers say they've observed the lowest-mass planet ever detected around a star like the sun using direct imaging techniques. Using infrared data from the Subaru Telescope, they've determined the distant planet weighs in at about four times Jupiter's mass, NASA reported Monday. "If we could travel to this giant planet, we would see a world still glowing from the heat of its formation with a color reminiscent of a dark cherry blossom, a dull magenta," said Michael McElwain, a member of the discovery team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Our near-infrared camera reveals that its color is much more blue than other imaged planets, which may indicate that its atmosphere has fewer clouds." The planet, GJ 504b, orbits its star at nearly nine times the distance Jupiter orbits our sun, which poses a challenge to theoretical ideas of how giant planets form, astronomers said. Under the most widely accepted model of planet formation, known as the core-accretion model, Jupiter-like planets get their start in the gas-rich debris disk that surrounds a young star at a fairly close distance. GJ 504b lies at a distance from its parent star more than 43 times the average distance of our Earth to the sun, far beyond the point where the core-accretion model should account for it. "This is among the hardest planets to explain in a traditional planet-formation framework," team member Markus Janson, a Hubble postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University, said. "Its discovery implies that we need to seriously consider alternative formation theories, or perhaps to reassess some of the basic assumptions in the core-accretion theory."  
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • The biggest school in the world (in terms of pupils, not area) is the City Montessori school in Lucknow, India. The school was set up by the Ghandi's in 1959 and has more than 32,000 students! 
  • Didaskaleinophobia is the fear of going to school. Yes, it actually exists, and 2.4% of school-aged children are considered to have it, on an international level.
  • Pencils are not only good in the classroom, but they can be used in zero gravity, upside down and even under water. The average classroom pencil can write approximately 45,000 words.
  • Before the school calendar became national, geography determined when students attended classes. In small, rural areas, school went from December to March and May to August so that kids could help plant in the spring and harvest in the fall. In urban areas, schools feared spread of disease in hot, crowded schoolrooms and gave their children summers off.
  • The tradition of giving apples to teachers dates back to the 16th century in Denmark, where parents would pay their educators with food (namely, apples since they were expensive and hard to harvest), since teachers couldn't live off their small salaries. 
  • Approximately 480,000 yellow school buses carry 25 million US children to and from school every weekday.


Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
18-24
Little League Baseball World Series
Minority Enterprise Development Week

Today Is                                                                      
·        Be An Angel Day
·        Southern Hemisphere Hoodie Hoo Day: people go out at noon, wave their hands over their heads and chant "Hoodie-Hoo", it’s a day to chase away winter and bring in spring

Today’s Events through History  
English defeated Scots at Cowton Moor Banners…1138 
Geneva Convention signed by 12 nations…1864
Gold discovered in Johannesburg, South Africa…1926
Hiacoomes preaches his first sermon to his Wampanoag people on Martha's Vineyard…1670
Nazi troops reach Lenningrad…1941
Penal colony on Devil's Island is permanently closed…1952
Santee Sioux indian attack Fort Ridgely…1862
Storm botnet, created by the Storm Worm, sends out a record 57 million e-mails 
     in 1 day…2007

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Honor Blackman, actress (Goldfinger, The Avengers) is 88
Morton Dean, TV newscaster (CBS, ABC) is 78
Valerie Harper, actress (Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda) is 74
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, White House Chief of Staff is 63
Cindy Williams, actress (Shirley- Laverne & Shirley) is 66
Carl Yastrzemski, Boston Red Sox great (1967 AL MVP, Hall of Fame) is 74

Remembered for being born today
Ray[mond Douglas] Bradbury, sci-fi author (Fahrenheit 451) [1920-2012]
Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer [1908-2004]
Claude Debussy, composer (La Mer, Clair de lune) [1862-1918]
James Hillier, Co-inventor of the electron microscope [1915-2007]
John Lee Hooker, blues guitarist (Boogie Chillen) [1917-2001]
John Lupton, actor (Tom-Broken Arrow) [1928-1993]
Henry Maudslay, English inventor [1771-1831]
Dorothy Parker, short story writer (1958 Marjorie Peabody Award) [1893-1967]
H Norman Schwarzkopf, Trenton NJ, 4-star Army general (Gulf War) [1934-2012]
Deng Xiaoping, Chinese party leader [1904-1997]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Sebastian Cabot, actor (Mr French-Family Affair)…stroke…1977…at 59
Michael Collins, Irish nationalist leader…killed in ambush…1922…aat 31
Al Dvorin, Elvis Presley concert announcer ‘Elvis has left the building’…2004…at 82
Richard III, king of England (1483-85)…killed in battle…1485…at 32

Brain Teasers
Breath
Everyone draws breath, and it is seen on icy days.
We breathe subconsciously, but might gasp or stop for breath. We mutter "under our breath" at times.
We might say our breath is "taken away" but we have it as long as we live - until we "leave" this world!
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  §

8/21/13


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Almanac: Flagstaff:  Week: 34/ Day: 233   
Today: H 83°L 48°
Wind: ave:   6mph; Gusts:  23mph  Ave. humidity:  61%
Average Low      Average High     Record Low        Record High
49°                        79°                        35° (1979)           88° (1949)

Quote of the Day



Today’s Historical Highlights
1st Lincoln-Douglas debate (Illinois)…1858
Clayton Lonetree, 1st marine court-martialed for spying, convicted…1987
Nat Turner slave revolt kills 55 (Southampton County, Virginia)…1831
Pueblo Indians takes possession of Santa Fé from Spanish…1680
US lightens trade embargo against Cuba…1975
William Seward Burroughs patents adding machine…1888

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



My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Lots of rain clouds, but still awaiting the arrival of the rain. This is our 5th wettest monsoon in history and the season isn’t over. This has moved Flag from ‘extreme drought’ to ‘very dry’. Good news for us.
 
Another school with a shooter…thankfully no injuries reported…in Georgia. There have been 8 incidents involving guns and educational facilities since Newtown, only 8 months ago. While I was shopping today, there was a guy a little younger than I am dressed in all black with gold ‘concealed weapons training’ with a phone number on his shirt. He was chatting up some guy in the parking lot how AZ law has changed and new ‘training’ is needed. I heard him say to the guy that the ‘stand your ground’ rule in AZ has changed its name to something else, but is still in force. Strange conversation in our little mountain town. While I glanced at this conversation, I couldn’t tell if the guy in black was carrying a weapon, but pretty sure he must have been. Hard to believe so many people are so paranoid that they have to carry a weapon to shop for groceries.
 
I like convenience, and I know that I have to sometimes pay a little more for it. But Norton Internet Security went too far. I know that I need to have some kind of protection on my computer and this program has done me well for many years. Today I got an email that I had signed up for automatic renewal and it was soon time to pay up. The cost was $69.99 for one year’s protection. That seemed a little high, so I went on line to check the price. New customers get a year for $39.99. I called their support line and after about 15 minutes I got a year for $49.99. I figured that the $20 savings was worth the time. Then when all was completed, there was $5.00 in tax. A 10% tax for buying something that is put on my computer with no physical software seems a little high. I don’t mind paying tax on my few internet purchases, as I get that everyone has overhead in their state and the state should get something, but I still say 10% is a tad high.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
Take the given words, and by moving a single letter from one word to the other, make a pair of synonyms, or near synonyms. For example, given: Boast - Hip, move the 's' from 'Boast' to 'Hip' creating two synonyms: Boat - Ship.
1. Our - Start 2. Strip - Tumble 3. Clause - Idea 4. Cash - Broom 5. Plight - Lam

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

Hmmmm…Tongue Twisters
V    
Vincent vowed vengeance very vehemently.

Not a Fan of Faux News, but this is crazy.



Ok, then?



Harper’s Index    
EPA: Portion of US river miles capable of supporting ‘healthy biological communities’: 1/5
Unusual Fact of the Day
Three months after Charlie Chaplin died his corpse was stolen by two Swiss mechanics in order to extort money from the family. The robbers were captured and Chaplin's body was found eleven weeks later. To prevent further attempts, he was reburied under concrete.
Joke-of-the-day
A boy was having a lot of difficulty in French class. To encourage him, his teacher said, "You'll know you're really beginning to get it when you start dreaming in French."
The boy ran into class all excited one day, saying, "Teacher, teacher! I had a dream last night and everyone was talking in French!"
"Great!" said the teacher; "what were they saying?"
"I don't know," the boy replied; "I couldn't understand them."
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
LOOKING GOOD ON TV
You always look 15 percent more serious on TV than you do in real life, so try to look 15 percent less serious when you are on camera.    
Yeah, It Really Happened
HANOVER, N.H. - U.S. researchers say new software can detect faked or altered photos using a geometric algorithm to locate inconsistent shadows not obvious to the naked eye. Computer scientists at Dartmouth College and the University of California, Berkeley, said the development could be significant step in the field of digital forensics, allowing investigators to differentiate between authentic images and computerized forgeries. The new method analyzes a variety of shadows in an image to determine if they are physically consistent with a single illuminating light source, allowing a forensic analyst to determine if a photo is physically plausible or the result of image fakery, a Dartmouth release said Monday. "Our method shifts the dialogue from 'does the lighting/shadow look correct?,' which is well known to be highly unreliable, to a discussion of whether an analyst has correctly selected the location of cast and attached shadows in an image, a far more objective task," Dartmouth computer scientist Hany Farid said. In one example, the method has been used to debunk claims the lighting and shadows in the famous 1969 moon landing photo are fake, the researchers said. "In this regard, our method lets humans do what computers are poor at -- understanding scene content -- and lets the computer do what humans are poor at -- assessing the validity of geometric constraints," Farid said.  
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • Dinosaurs probably lived to be between 75 to 300 years of age. Scientists figured this out from looking at the structure of their bones.
  • One way to tell the age of a fish is by looking at its scales. They have growth rings just like trees. These are called circuli. Clusters of them are called annuli. Each annuli show one year.
  • The northern fur seal, rather than using a layer of fat to keep it warm, depends on its thick fur with some 300,000 hairs per square inch.
  • The chameleon has a tongue that is 1.5 times the length of its body!
  • Did you know porpoises could surf? They are frequently seen riding the bow wave of a ship. They make no swimming motions and can ride the wake for more than an hour. They can also turn on their side or flip completely around.
  • Fish swimming at depths of 15,000 feet (almost 3 miles down!) can withstand a pressure of 7,000 pounds per square inch. They are able to live in these crushing depths by pumping gas into their swim bladder.

Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
15-21
National Aviation Week
18-24
Little League Baseball World Series
Minority Enterprise Development Week

Today Is                                                                      
·        Earth Over Shoot Day or Ecological Debt Day: humanity’s resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources that year
·        National Medical Dosimetrist Day (play an important role in the care of patients who are fighting cancer)
·        Poet's Day
·        Senior Citizen's Day
^^^
·        US: Hawaii: Admission Day (1959; 50th)

Today’s Events through History  
"Our Lady of Candlemas of Mayagüez (Puerto Rico)" church founded, the basis for 
     founding the city…1760
American Bar Association organizes at Sarasota, NY…1878
Curly Lambeau & Green Bay Football Club granted NFL franchise…1922
French convince local trives to attack British Fort Charles in Maine several settlers
      killed…1689
Germans storm up Hill 262 (Mont Ormel) Normandy…1944
Jarvis Island is discovered by the crew of the ship, Eliza Frances…1821
Pres Harry Truman ends Lend-Lease program…1945
Tiger Woods wins PGA Championship; first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to 
     win 3 majors in a calendar year…2000
Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory…1852
Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. John the Evangelist, reportedly appear in Knock, 
     County Mayo, Ireland…1879

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Usain Bolt, Jamaica, sprinter (3x Olympic Gold 2008) is 27
Jackie DeShannon, Hazel Kentucky, singer (What the World Needs Now) is 69
Brody Jenner, actor, son of Bruce is 30
Jim McMahon, NFL QB (Bears, Chargers, Eagles) is 54
Kenny Rogers, singer (Through the Years) is 75
Harry Smith, TV co-anchor (CBS Morning Show) is 62
Clarence Williams III, actor (Mod Squad, 52 Pick Up, Purple Rain) is 74

Remembered for being born today
Philip II Augustus, 1st great Capetian king of France [1165-1223]
[William] Count Basie, Red Bank NJ, jazz musician (Blazing Saddles) [1904-1984]
Wilt Chamberlain, NBA great center (LA Laker, 5 time MVP) [1936-1999]
William Murdoch, Scottish inventor (gas lighting)[1754- 1839]
Blossom Rock, actress, (Grandmamma-Addams Family) [1895-1978]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Benigno S Aquino Jr, Philippines opposition leader…killed…1983…at 50
Siobhan Dowd, British/Irish writer…breast cancer…2007…at 47
Isaac Sweers, Dutch fleet admiral/Civil rights activist…1673…at 51
Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary…icepicked…1940…at 60

Brain Teasers
1. Sour - Tart 2. Trip - Stumble 3. Cause - Ideal 4. Crash - Boom 5. Light - Lamp
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.