Thanksgiving 11/28/13


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Flagstaff Almanac:
Week: 48 / Day: 332   
Today: L 25°…H 39°… Ave. humidity: 69%
Wind: ave:   10mph; Gusts:  21mph  
Average Low: 19° Record Low:  -3° (1905)
Average High: 47° Record High:  68° (1980)

Quote of the Day
 
Today’s Historical Highlights
"Hopalong Cassidy" premieres on TV…1948
220 Indians, and 400 French attack the settlement attack Saratoga, NY…1745
America's 1st auto race starts; 6 cars, 55 miles, winner avg 7 MPH…1895
Arthur Griffith forms Sinn Fein in Dublin…1905
Confederate congress officially admits Missouri to Confederacy…1861 
Dutch army stops Chinese uprising in Borneo…1854
Grand Ole Opry premieres as WSM Barn Dance on WSM radio Nashville Tn…1925
Groucho Marx performed on radio for 1st time…1932
Margaret Thatcher resigns as Britain's PM, replaced by John Major…1990
Norway votes against joining European Union…1994
Olympia forms as capital of Washington Territory…1853
Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci flees to Hungary…1989
The 1st pulsating radio source (pulsar) detected…1967

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
 
My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Good report from the eye doc on my second eye. Things are going as planned. I go in on the 19th to get a new glasses script. I broke down and bought some ‘reading glasses’ for $10. They magnify nicely and make reading the paper a joy again. Of course I can’t watch TV with them, so it’s the old off and on thing, but I’ll survive for a few weeks.
 
I am very thankful on this Thanksgiving…for my family, my friends, my good fortune, my many exciting travel adventures, modern medicine which always seems to fix whatever is wrong.
 
While I am sure there will be nice sales on Thanksgiving Day, you won’t find me at a store. It is not fair that these low wage employees can’t spend their time with family on this day. Some stores are actually open all day Thanksgiving. Just crazy. From what I understand, working the holiday is not a choice, but a mandate from many corporations. I sure hope those multi-millionaire CEO’s who opened their stores on Thanksgiving are also working all day on that day….counting their money and not celebrating with their family. What’s good for the goose…
 Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
I am tied up at least once a day And forced to carry ten nails. I work diligently without any pay And follow your many trails.


 I do not smell very well But at least I have many eyes. I have two tongues but never yell And I'll bet you know my size.
 What am I?
Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Very Strange Laws…Arkansas
  • It’s strictly prohibited to pronounce “Arkansas” incorrectly
  • The Arkansas River can rise no higher than to the Main Street bridge in Little Rock.
  • A law provides that school teachers who bob their hair will not get a raise.
  • A man can legally beat his wife, but not more than once a month.
  • Oral sex is considered to be sodomy.
  • Alligators may not be kept in bathtubs.
  • Fayetteville--It is illegal to kill “any living creature”.
  • Little Rock--Honking one’s car horn at a sandwich shop after 9 PM is against the law. \  No one may “suddenly start or stop” their car at a McDonald’s. \ Dogs may not bark after 6 PM. \ Flirtation between men and women on the streets of Little Rock may result in a 30-day jail term. \ It is unlawful to walk one’s cow down Main Street after 1:00 PM on Sunday.

OK Then…


Harper’s Index 
  • Percentage change in NY’s state prison population since 1999: -25
  • Din the state’s violent crime rate over that time: -31

Unusual Fact of the Day
Tom Selleck was tapped to play Indiana Jones, but due to a contracted commitment to Magnum PI, he decided to do the honorable thing and keep the agreement. Ironically, an ensuing writers strike delayed production long enough that he could have acted in Indiana Jones.
Joke-of-the-day
Only in America...can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.
 ... are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.
 ... do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
 ... do people order double cheese burgers, large fries, and a diet Coke.
 ... do banks leave both doors to the vault open and then chain the pens to the counters.
 ... do they leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.
 ... do they use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so they won't miss a call from someone they didn't want to talk to in the first place.
 ... do they buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.
 ... do they use the word "politics" to describe the process so well; "Poli" in Latin meaning "many" and "tics" meaning "bloodsucking creatures".
 ... do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
SELLING AND TALKING
The sale is made while the customer is talking.    
Yeah, It Really Happened
  • PARIS - Global ocean acidity may increase by 170 percent by the end of the century, bringing significant economic losses, experts conclude in an international report. The group of experts has agreed on "levels of confidence" in relation to ocean acidification statements from the world's largest gathering of experts on ocean acidification ever convened, the International Council for Science reported from its Paris headquarters Thursday. "What we can now say with high levels of confidence about ocean acidification sends a clear message," Ulf Riebesell of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany, said. "Globally we have to be prepared for significant economic and ecosystem service losses." Marine ecosystems and biodiversity are likely to change as a result of ocean acidification, with far-reaching consequences for society, the experts agreed. If society's high emissions are not curbed, cold-water coral reefs located in the deep sea may be unsustainable and tropical coral reef erosion is likely to outpace reef building this century, the experts said. However, they said, significant emissions reductions could ensure that half of surface waters presently occupied by tropical coral reefs remain favorable for their growth. Threats to ocean health would still remain, said report author Wendy Broadgate, Deputy Director at the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program. "Emissions reductions may protect some reefs and marine organisms but we know that the ocean is subject to many other stresses such as warming, deoxygenation, pollution and overfishing," 
  • she said. 
  • "Reducing other stressors such as pollution and overfishing, and the introduction of large scale marine protected areas, may help build some resilience to ocean acidification."  
  • Somewhat Useless Information   
  • The first American Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621, to commemorate the harvest reaped by the Plymouth Colony after a harsh winter. In that year Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. The colonists celebrated it as a traditional English harvest feast, to which they invited the local Wampanoag Indians. 
  • Days of thanksgiving were celebrated throughout the colonies after fall harvests. All thirteen colonies did not, however, celebrate Thanksgiving at the same time until October 1777. George Washington was the first president to declare the holiday, in 1789.
  • By the mid-1800s, many states observed a Thanksgiving holiday. Meanwhile, the poet and editor Sarah J. Hale had begun lobbying for a national Thanksgiving holiday. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, looking for ways to unite the nation, discussed the subject with Hale. In 1863 he gave his Thanksgiving Proclamation, declaring the last Thursday in November a day of thanksgiving. 
  • In 1939, 1940, and 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt, seeking to lengthen the Christmas shopping season, proclaimed Thanksgiving the third Thursday in November. Controversy followed, and Congress passed a joint resolution in 1941 decreeing that Thanksgiving should fall on the fourth Thursday of November, where it remains.
  • At one time, the turkey and the bald eagle were each considered as the national symbol of America. Benjamin Franklin was one of those who argued passionately on behalf of the turkey.
  • The Native American name for turkey is 'firkee'; some say this is how turkeys got their name. Some people believe Christopher Columbus thought that the land he discovered was connected to India, and believed the bird he discovered (the turkey) was a type of peacock. He therefore called it 'tuka,' which is 'peacock' in Tamil, an Indian language.


Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
22-28: National Farm-City Week
24-30: Better Conversation Week / Church-State Separation Week / National Bible Week / National Family Week  /National Game & Puzzle Week

Today Is                                                                      
·        National Day of Mourning—day of protest by some Native Americans (especially in East)
·        Thanksgiving Day
·        Turkey-free Thanksgiving
~~~~~
·        Albania: Independence Day (1912 from Ottoman Empire)
·        Chad: Republic Day (1960)
·        Hawaii: Independence Day (1843-UK and France recognize as independent country)
·        Jewish Religion: Hanukah  begins at sunset
·        Mauritania: Independence Day (1960 from France)
·        Panama: Independence Day (1821 from Spain)

Today’s Events through History  
1st Polaroid camera sold…1948
Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing Pacific Ocean…1520
Natchez Indians massacre 138 Frenchmen near modern-day Natchez, Mississippi…1729
Royal Society forms in London…1660
US-born Lady Astor elected 1st female member of British Parliament…1919

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Berry Gordy, record company owner (Motown) is 84
Gary Hart, Sen-Co, 1975-86) is 77
Randy Newman, vocalist (Short People) is 70
Paul Shaffer, band leader (David Letterman) is 64
Ed Harris, actor (Right Stuff, Swing Shift, Walker, Coma) is 63
S Epatha Merkerson, actress (Jacob's Ladder, Terminator 2) is 61
Judd Nelson, actor (Breakfast Club, Jack-Suddenly Susan) is 54
Jon Stewart, comedian (Daily Show) is 51

Remembered for being born today
Margaret Tudor, wife of James IV of Scotland [1489-1541]
William Blake, poet/painter (Songs of Innocence & Experience) [1757-1827]
Friedrich Engels, Germany, social philosopher; Marx's collaborator [1820-1895]
John Wesley Hyatt, inventor (celluloid) [1837-1920]
Hope Lange, actress (Ghost & Mrs Muir) [1933-2003]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Leslie Nielsen, Canadian actor (Airplane)…2010…@84
James Naismith, creator of basketball…stroke…1939…@78
Garry Moore, TV host (I've Got A Secret)…emphysema…1993…@78
Washington Irving, author (Legend of Sleepy Hollow)…heart attack…1859…@76
Rosalind Russell, actress (Mame)…cancer…1976…@68
Enrico Fermi, Italian/US physicist (Nobel 1938)…cancer…1954…@53
Jeffrey Dahmer, [Butcher of Milwaukee], killer…killed in prison…1994…@34

Brain Teasers
Your shoes!
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  §
Posted by No comments:

11/27/13


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Flagstaff Almanac:
Week: 48 / Day: 331   
Today: L 30°…H 42°… Ave. humidity: 65%
Wind: ave:   18mph; Gusts:  27mph  
Average Low: 19° Record Low:  -5 (1984)
Average High: 47° Record High:  68° (1949)

Quote of the Day
 
Today’s Historical Highlights
"Also Sprach Zarathustra" (Thus Spake Zarathustra) debuts in Frankfurt…1896
25,000 demonstrate against war in Vietnam in Wash DC…1965
1st Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held…1924
1st partial human face transplant is completed in Amiens, France…2005
1st permit issued to drive a car through Central Park…1889 
Alfred Nobel establishes Nobel Prize…1895
Conference of Teheran (Churchill-Roosevelt-Stalin)…1943
Gordie Howe becomes 1st NHLer to score 1,000 points…1960
Gordie Howe becomes 1st to play in 1,000 NHL games…1961
John Walker invents friction match in England…1826
Pope Paul VI wounded in chest during a visit to Philippines…1970 
Private Albert Mountain Horse is buried; the only Blood Indian to go to the front 
     lines in WWI…1915 
Republic of Ireland gains consultative role in Northern Ireland…1985
U.S. Army War College is established…1901
US soldiers attack Florida Indian village, beginning Seminole War…1817

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
 
My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Mixed reviews for the Monday Night football game with the Navajo Code Talkers being honored at Washington half-time. I am glad that these very brave men are being honored yet again for their important work during WWII. So many Americans still don’t know what was going on with the code talkers. The mixed reviews are from Natives who believe that the Washington Redskin mascot needs to be changed and believe that the owners did the honor to show that their Redskin mascot is not derogatory against the Natives that believe that the two issues should be separate. One astute Native suggested that they change their name from “Redskins” to “Code Talkers”.
 
I was fortunate enough to hear a lecture by one of the men who trained the Code Talkers and was instrumental in setting up the code. He spoke to a class I was taking at NAU back in the 1970’s. He lived in Flagstaff and was a friend of the instructor. I learned so much and this was in the days when the Navajo Code Talker Society was just getting started. There were no state or National memorials at that time. Many years later I was talking to a school board member whose husband was a code talker and was injured and sent back the US. She and her husband had married the day before he shipped out after volunteering to be a Marine/Code Talker. Neither had ever gone farther than Flagstaff off the rez. She lived on a dirt road with no electricity and got the telegram that he was being returned to California and was alive and would be back in Cameron in about 6 months. She hitch hiked to Flagstaff, took a train to LA, and somehow figured out where he was. She found him after a couple of days of searching. He recovered and returned to Cameron with his young bride. They were both 17 when they got married, although he lied and said he was 18. They had a 50 year marriage before he passed. Quite a story.
 
Watch the Supreme Court…Hobby Lobby, an Nationwide arts and crafts store owned by a devout Christian, says that Obamacare forces him to offer after conception birth control. He is claiming that this is against his religion. This will show if the Supreme Court is going to recognize a corporation has the same rights as a living person. This court has already given many ‘rights’ to corporations that used to be just for people. This could be a real blow to Obamacare, as many corporations could claim ‘religious’ opposition to many laws.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
In this teaser you have been given two (2) clues in each line. Each word differs by only one (1) letter, which I have given you. Your task is to discover the answers to the clues provided. The order of the letters does not change.
Example: Remove _ _ _ I _ _ / _ _ _ U _ _ Justify
Answer: E X C (I) S E / E X C (U) S E
1. specialist _ _ _ E _ _ / _ _ _ O _ _ ship 2. hull _ _ L _ _ / _ _ N _ _ indulgence 3. scorch S _ _ _ _ / T _ _ _ _ slight colouration 4. soft spread _ U _ _ _ _ / _ I _ _ _ _ grievous

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

Very Strange Laws…Alaska
  • Moose may not be viewed from an airplane.
  • While it is legal to shoot bears, waking a sleeping bear for the purpose of taking a photograph is prohibited.
  • It is considered an offense to push a live moose out of amoving airplane.
  • Anchorage--No one may tie their pet dog to the roof of a car. \For all you would-be pranksters out there, it is illegal to string a wire across any road.\ Persons may not live in a trailer as it is being hauled across the city.
  • Fairbanks--It is considered an offense to feed alcoholic beverages to a moose.
  • Haines--A person may only carry a concealed slingshot if that person has received the appropriate license. \It is against the law to attempt to break any law in title 9 of the code (public peace, morals, and welfare). \Employers of bars may not let their bartenders serve while they are drunk themselves.
  • Juneau--Owners of flamingos may not let their pet into barber shops. \Buildings that preserve scenic vistas are awarded
    • ‘bonus points’ by the government.
  • Nome--One may not roam the city with a bow and arrows.
  • Soldotna--Persons may not allow “attractive nuisances” to exist.


OK Then…
 
Harper’s Index 
  • Average length of time, in years, a prisoner placed in colitary confinement in CA spends there: 7
  • Factor by which a CA prisoner in solitary is more likely than on in general population to commit suicide: 33

Unusual Fact of the Day
The first recorded use of flying the flag at half-mast as a symbol of mourning occurred in 1612 aboard the British ships Patience and Heart’s Ease after their captain was killed in the Northwest Passage.


Joke-of-the-day
Jay went to a psychiatrist. “Doc, he said, “I’ve got trouble. Every time I get into bed I think there is somebody under it. I get under the bed; I think there’s somebody on top of it. Top, under, under top. I’m going crazy!”
“Just put yourself in my hands for two years,” said the shrink.
“Come to me three times a week and I’ll cure you.”
“How much do you charge?”
“A hundred dollars per visit.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Jay never went back. Sometime later he met the doctor on the street. “Why didn’t you ever come to see me again? Asked the psychiatrist.
“For a hundred buck a visit? A bartender cured me for 10 dollars.”
“Is that so! How?”
“He told me to cut the legs off the bed.”
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
SPONSORING LARGE SPORTS EVENTS
There aren't any precise studies showing what sponsorship is worth, but the rule of thumb is that putting $1,000 behind a sports event will generate the same exposure as $10,000 in advertising.    
Yeah, It Really Happened
BALTIMORE - The Hubble telescope has provided the first visual evidence of how our galaxy, the Milky Way, became the majestic pinwheel of stars we see today, NASA says. Astronomers have analyzed Hubble's deep-sky surveys of 400 galaxies similar to the Milky Way to study their evolution and noted their appearance at various stages of development over a time span of 11 billion years, the space agency reported Thursday. The analysis suggests the Milky Way likely began as faint, blue, low-mass object containing lots of gas, fuel for subsequent star birth, astronomers said. A blue color is an indicator of rapid star formation, they said. From a flat disk with a bulge in the middle, the Milky Way would have slowly evolved into the majestic spiral form see today, they said. "For the first time, we have direct images of what the Milky Way looked like in the past," study co-leader Pieter G. van Dokkum of Yale University said. "Of course, we can't see the Milky Way itself in the past. We selected galaxies billions of light-years away that will evolve into galaxies like the Milky Way. "By tracing the Milky Way's siblings, we find that our galaxy built up 90 percent of its stars between 11 billion and 7 billion years ago, which is something that has not been measured directly before." At the peak of star formation, when the universe was about 4 billion years old, the Milky Way-like galaxies were pumping out about 15 stars a year. By comparison, the Milky Way today is creating only one star a year, the astronomers said.  
Somewhat Useless Information   
  •  Did you know that there is a type of rain called “phantom rain” and it is never visible to us? 
  • “Phantom rain” is a natural phenomenon in which rain evaporates before it reaches the ground and is very characteristic of deserts.
  • In this case, rain pours down from the sky but the ground never gets moist.
  • Athisthenes, pupil of Socrates, was the first to outline the main themes of the philosophical school of Cynicism.
  • Cynics considered specific values, such as greed, wealth, sex, power and fame, as causes of suffering and supported a virtuous way of living close to nature.
  • For Cynics virtue was a necessity for happiness.


Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
22-28: National Farm-City Week
24-30: Better Conversation Week / Church-State Separation Week / National Bible Week / National Family Week  /National Game & Puzzle Week

Today Is                                                                      
·        National Day of Listening
·        Tie One On Day
~~~~~
·        Massachusetts: John F. Kennedy Day

Today’s Events through History  
Audience throws vegetables at actors for 1st recorded time in US…1911
Eurozone announces that it will pay out 43.7 billion Euros in loans to Greece…2012
Portuguese Royal Family leaves Lisbon to escape from Napoleonic troops…1807

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Bill Nye, the Science Guy, TV Host is 58
Caroline Kennedy-Schlossberg, attorney, Ambassador to Japan is 56
Michael Rispoli, actor (Sopranos) is 53
Robin Givens, actress is 49
Erik Menendez, accused of killing his parents (Menendez Brothers) is 45
Jaleel White, actor (Steve Urkel-Family Matters) is 36

Remembered for being born today
Anders Celsius, Sweden, scientist/inventor (centigrade temp scale) [1701-1744]
Charles A Beard, historian (American Continentalism) [1874-1948]
Jimi Hendrix, rock guitarist (Purple Haze) [1942-1970]
Bruce Lee, [Lee Yuen Kam], karate star/actor (Green Hornet)[1940-1973]
Forrest Shaklee, founder (Shaklee Products) [1894-1995]
Eddie Rabbitt, American singer [1941-1998]
"Buffalo" Bob Smith, Buffalo NY, TV host (Howdy Doody) [1917-1998]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
David White, actor (Larry Tate-Bewitched)…heart attack…1990…@74
Clement Studebaker, American automobile manufacturer…1901…@70 
Eugene O'Neill, playwright (Nobel 1936)…long illness…1953…@65
Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Roman poet…8…@56
"Baby Face" Nelson, [Lester Gillis], gangster…shot by FBI…1934…@26

Brain Teasers
1. expert / export  2. bilge / binge  3. singe / tinge 4. butter / bitter
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  §
Posted by No comments:

11/26/13


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Flagstaff Almanac:
Week: 48 / Day: 330   
Today: L 15°…H 42°… Ave. humidity: 91%
Wind: ave:   18mph; Gusts:  31mph  
Average Low: 20° Record Low:  -8° (1906)
Average High: 48° Record High:  70° (1977)

Quote of the Day
 
Today’s Historical Highlights
"Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll published in USA…1865
"Casablanca" premieres at Hollywood Theatre, NYC…1942
"The Price Is Right" debuts on NBC…1956
1st lion exhibited in America (Boston)…1716
1st meteor photograph…1885
1st modern 3-D movie "Bwana Devil" premieres in Hollywood…1952
1st national Thanksgiving in USA…1789
1st recording session under name "Beatles"…1962
Cost of Hurricane Sandy to New York is announced to be $32 Billion…2012
French King Louis XIV declares war on Netherlands…1688
Lottery for Selective Service draftees bill signed by President Nixon…1969
Maya King Siyaj Chan K'awill II (Stormy Sky) ascends the Tikal throne in Guatemala…411
Random House buys Richard Nixon’s memoires for $3,000,000…1985

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
 
My Free Rambling Thoughts   
At last, a sunny day with a blue sky!!!! A tad too windy for my taste, but seeing the sun after a weekend of overcast sky is very pleasant.
 
Mary and I had lunch and I caught up on her many stories from visiting her Chicago grandkids…along with some pictures. Great time and a nice way to start this Thanksgiving Week.
 
Not a happy camper after the Bronco game on Sunday night. They had the first half, but seem to have forgotten that the game has 2 halves. Even after letting the Patriots tie the game, they couldn’t pull it off in overtime. They are still having a good season, but this was certainly a blow.
 
As we found out today, there have been secret talks for months with Iran, and now there is a deal. For sure not the best deal, but a deal none the less. If Iran doesn’t follow the deal, they are back to the sanctions that have crippled their economy and their people. Stop all the arguing, especially since none of them have been involved with any of the secret negotiations. Give it a try for 6 months and keep trying to derail it.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
Where should you go to find the meaning of life?
Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Very Strange Laws…Nebraska
  • Drivers on mountains should drive with caution near the right hand edge of the highway –there are no mountains in Nebraska!
  • It is illegal to fly a plane while drunk.
  • Persons with gonorrhea may not marry.
  • If a child burps during church, his parent may bearrested.
  • It is Illegal to go whale fishing.
  • It is illegal for bar owners to sell beer unless they are simultaneously brewing a kettle of soup.
  • It is illegal for a mother to give her daughter a perm without a state license.
  • Lehigh
    • --Doughnut holes may not be sold.
  • Omaha
    • --Sneezing or burping is illegal during a church service. /A man is not allowed to run around with a shaved chest.
  • Waterloo
    • --Barbers are forbidden from eating onions after 7 A.

OK Then…
 
Harper’s Index 
  • Percentage change in the number of immigrants entering the US illegally between 2006 and 2011: -72
  • Price for a simulated illegal border crossing at an amusement park in Hidalgo, Mexico: $20

Unusual Fact of the Day
In writing his own tombstone, Thomas Jefferson penned a lengthy memorial listing many of his great accomplishments, from “author of the Declaration of Independence” to “founder of the University of Virginia.” However, he did forget one small achievement: the tombstone fails to mention that Jefferson was once president of the United States.

Joke-of-the-day
A couple is arguing about who should make the coffee in the morning. The wife says, “I think your should do it because you get up first.”
He counters with, “The kitchen is your domain, and you do all the cooking so you know where everything is. I think you should make the coffee.”
“No way,” she says. “You should do it. The Bible even says so.”
“What the heck are you talking about?”
She grabs the family Bible, thumbs through, and point to the appropriate section: “Hebrews”
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
BUILDING A STONE WALL
You should plan on ordering (or collecting) two cubic yards of stone for every cubic yard of finished wall.    
Yeah, It Really Happened
MADAWASKA, Maine - A Maine teenager said a beaver stole his rifle and dragged it underwater when he took a break from hunting to use the restroom. Nathan Baron, a student at Madawaska High School, said he was hunting Monday near his home when he decided to pop into the house for a bathroom break, the Bangor (Maine) Daily News reported Thursday.
"I walked out of the woods and got on my four-wheeler and I went home," he said. Baron said he returned a short time later and noticed his Remington .30-06 rifle, which he had left leaning against a tree, was missing. He said he quickly searched the area. "There was a stream that was running about 100 feet away from me. I look, and there's a beaver hauling that gun into the water," he said. Baron said it was too late to rescue his rifle. "There was nothing I could do," he said. "The gun was in the water and the beaver went under. That was it." Baron admitted the story may seem unlikely. "My close friends don't believe me, but all the other kids in school believe me," he said. The teenager said he is hoping to obtain proof of the incident by getting the gun back. "I'm trying to get my gun back," he said. "If there are beaver marks on it, I'm going to hang it on the wall of my garage [so others can come and see it]." 
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • Cream cheese was invented in 1872; Philadelphia Cream Cheese hit the market in 1880. It wasn't until Joseph and Isaac Breakstone began selling their Breakstone Cream Cheese brand in 1920 that New York bagel eaters discovered it.
  • According to Guinness World Records, the world's largest bagel was made by Bruegger's in Syracuse, New York. It weighed 868 pounds, measured 6 feet in diameter and 20 inches thick, and was blueberry flavored.
  • During the 2002 American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and Anaheim Angels, Anaheim mayor Tom Daly bet New York mayor Michael Bloomberg a crate of oranges and chilies that the Angels would win. Bloomberg's bet: a crate of Nathan's hot dogs and 48 H&H bagels. Daly won.
  • Some historians credit a Viennese baker for creating the bagel to commemorate the victory of Polish King Jan III Sobieski over the Turks in 1683. The bread was formed into the shape of a buegel or stirrup, because the liberated Austrians had clung to the king's stirrups as he rode by. 
  • There are numerous etiologies of the word bagel. In Yiddish, it was beygel, from the Middle High German bouc and Old High German boug, both meaning a ring or bracelet. Another possible origin is from the German word bügel, for a round loaf of bread. 
  • In 1927, Polish baker Harry Lender came to New Haven, Connecticut, USA, and founded the first bagel factory outside New York City. His company is credited with being the nation's first frozen bagel manufacturer and the first to put bagels in supermarkets.


Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
22-28: National Farm-City Week
24-30: Better Conversation Week / Church-State Separation Week / National Bible Week / National Family Week  /National Game & Puzzle Week

Today Is                                                                      
·        International Aura Awareness Day
~~~~~
·        Lebanon: Independence Day (1941 from France)
·        Mongolia: Republic Day (1924)

Today’s Events through History  
Captain Cook discovers Maui in the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii)…1778
Condoms are handed out to thousands of NY High School students…1991
Refrigerated railroad car patented by JB Sutherland of Detroit…1867

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Rich Little, Ottawa Canada, impressionist/actor (Love on a Rooftop) is 75
Tina Turner, [Anna Mae Bullock], Brownsville Tx, singer (Proud Mary) is 74
Chris Hughes, businessman, co-founder of Facebook is 29

Remembered for being born today
Bruno Hauptmann, kidnapper of Charles Augustus Lindbergh III [1899-1936]
Katharine Drexel, Roman Catholic Saint [1858-1955]
William Wilson (Bill W.), co-founder (alcoholics anonymous) [1895-1971]
Karl Ziegler, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (polymers) [1898-1973]
Eric Sevareid, newscaster (CBS Weekend News) [1912-1992]
Charles M. Schulz, cartoonist (Peanuts) [1922-2000]
Robert Goulet, singer and actor [1933-2007]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Sojourner Truth, US abolitionist/women's rights advocate…1883…@86
Scatman Crothers, singer/actor (Shining, Chico & The Man)…cancer…1986…@76
Tommy Dorsey, big bandleader…choked…1956…@51

Brain Teasers
You should go to a dictionary! The meaning of "life" can be found in a dictionary.
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.