12/6/13

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

Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 49 / Day: 340   

Today: L 11°…H 26°… Ave. humidity: 82%

Wind: ave:   16mph; Gusts:  21mph  

Average Low: 18° Record Low:  -6° (1951)

Average High: 45° Record High:  62° (1977)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

11 soldiers & 6 civilians die by bomb planted by Irish National Liberation Army exploded 

     in a pub in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland…1982

13th Amendment of the United States Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery…1865

1st constitution of Irish Free State comes into operation…1922

1st edition of "Encyclopedia Brittanica" published (Scotland)…1768

1st US Presidential address broadcast on radio by President Calvin Coolidge…1923

243 million year old Nyasasaurus fossil is discovered in Tanzania…2012

52nd Heisman Trophy Award: Vinny Testaverde, Miami Fla (QB)…1986

7 people are killed and 770 injured during Egyptian protests…2012 

Ban on James Joyce' "Ulysses" in US lifted…1933

City of Anaheim incorporated for 2nd time…1876

Gerald Ford sworn-in as 1st unelected VP, succeeds Spiro T Agnew…1973

Nelson Mandela & 156 others arrested for political activities in S Africa…1956            

"Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" 1st airs on TV…1964

Pres Lincoln orders hanging of 39 Santee Sioux…1862

President Jackson supports CHEROKEE removal…1830

Quito, Ecuador, founded by Spanish…1534

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

RIP Nelson Mandela. The world has lost a great man with a great vision. CNN is doing some great tributes as I type this blog. I am so fortunate to have visited S. Africa, been to Robben Island, seen his house…from a short distance, seen the Apartheid museum and learned so very much about the struggles. Biggest thing for me was his message of ‘reconciliation’…no anger about the past horrors but always looking to the future.

 

We got together for our lunch today…Mary had lots of grandkid pictures, Cheryl had some good stories about Thanksgiving in CA. We had a good lunch at a local upscale diner. Amazing French Onion soup with huge salad and half sandwich…can’t beat it.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

A cracker company was very mad when they heard the results from their cracker survey. The result said that the customers would prefer crackers to nothing at all. The same customers think that donuts are better than everything else.

A new employee at the company had to tell their boss the bad news, but he saw a window of opportunity to get a promotion. When he got to his boss, he told him that the customers really preferred crackers to donuts.

How did he come up with that?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Nelson Mandela on Oprah Winfrey

• George and Ira Gershwin Speak

• Bewitched Season Five - Daddy Does His Thing

• Excerpt from "Mister Peepers"

Very Strange Laws…South Carolina

• Musical instruments may not be sold on Sunday.
• Performing a U-turn within 1,000 feet of an intersection is illegal.
• It is considered an offense to get a tattoo.
• It is illegal to display a confederate flag on a courthouse.
• Horses may not be kept in bathtubs.
• By law, if a man promises to marry an unmarried woman, the marriage must take place.
• It is illegal to sell any alcoholic beverages on Sunday, unless you own a private club.
• Railroad companies may be held liable in some instances for scaring horses.
• A permit must be obtained to fire a missle.
• A railroad my not remove itself from a town of more than five hundred people.
• It is illegal to give or receive oral sex in South Carolina.
• Fortune tellers are required to obtain a special permit from the state.
• When approaching a four way or blind intersection in a non-horse driven vehicle you must stop 100 ft from the intersection and discharge a firearm into the air to warn horse traffic.
• It is a capital offense to inadvertently kill someone while attempting suicide.
• No work may be done on Sunday.
• Every adult male must bring a rifle to church on Sunday in order to ward off Indian attacks.
• An exception to the above law is that light bulbs may be sold.
• It is perfectly legal to beat your wife on the court house steps on Sundays.
• Dance halls may not operate on Sundays.
• Charleston--The Fire Department may blow up your house. \ It is against the law to drive a motorized vehicle on King Street.
• Clemson--Lifeguards must be present at apartment complex pools, but only after 11:00 PM. \ Sexually oriented businesses may not open for business on Sundays. \ “Vicious Dogs” may not be kept within the city limits. \ Bitches in heat shall be confined.
• Greenville--The drinking age on Furman University campus is 60 years old.
• Hilton Head--One commits a nuisance if he or she leaves a large amount of trash in their own vehicle.
• Myrtle Beach--Dogs may not be on the beach during the summer months during the daytime or the owner may be arrested.  \ No one may sleep on the beach at night.
• Spartanburg--Eating watermelons in the Magnolia Street cemetery is forbidden.

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

• Number of states in which it is legal to hire someone over sexual orientation: 29

• Portion of US population who believe it is against federal law to do so: 9/10

Unusual Fact of the Day

Ayers Rock in Australia reaches 1,000 feet above the ground, but the part you can't see is even more impressive: the rock extends about a mile and a half into the ground.

Joke-of-the-day

TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water? DONALD: H I J K L M N O. TEACHER: What are you talking about? DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

FINDING A JOB

It takes 15 interviews to get one job offer.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Parents who took kids to see Disney's "Frozen" at a Florida movie theater said they were mistakenly shown a sexually explicit scene from another film. Lynn Greene of Largo said she took her grandchildren to see the PG-rated animated movie at Regal Cinemas Park Place Stadium 16 in Pinellas Park Friday when workers said they would be temporarily shown another cartoon as a result of technical difficulties, WTVT-TV, Tampa, Fla., reported Tuesday. "They put in the filler, it looked like 'Steamboat Willie,' the old Mickey Mouse cartoon, and then all of a sudden it goes into this other scene," Greene said. Greene said the scene appeared to be a sexually explicit clip from an R-rated movie. The theater said the clip played for less than two minutes, but Greene said it seemed longer. "It seemed like forever when you're trying to, you know, cover a little guy's eyes," she said. "I didn't have enough hands to cover his ears too and he got the sound down real good." Green said the free movie tickets offered to audience members were not enough of an apology. "You're talking, what, a PG-rated movie to all of a sudden have an R-rated scene up there for little children?" she said. "My concern is that there should be safeguards in place so that this doesn't happen again." A Regal Cinemas representative said the company is working to prevent similar incidents from taking place in the future.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

• The ancient Egyptians worshiped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from the illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death.

• Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs.

• Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. 

• Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.

• By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling.  

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

1-7: Clerc-Gallaudet Week~~Cookie Cutter Week~~International Coelenterate Biology Week~~National Handwashing Awareness Week~~Recipe Greetings For The Holidays Week~~Tolerance Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        Faux Fur Friday

·        Miners' Day

·        Mitten Tree Day

·        National Pawnbrokers Day

·        National Salesperson Day

·        Put on your own Shoes Day

·        St. Nicholas Day

~~~~~

·        Finland: Independence Day (1917 from Russian Republic)

·        Spain: Constitution Day (1978)

Today’s Events through History  

Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army retreats to Scotland….1745

London becomes the world's first city to host licensed taxicabs…1897

NY psychologist Joyce Brothers won "$64,000 Question" on boxing…1955

U.S. Congress moves from New York City to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania…1790

US president James Monroe re-elected…1820

Washington Post publishes 1st edition…1877

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Kenneth Copeland, American televangelist is 77

JoBeth Williams, actress (Kramer vs Kramer, Poltergeist) is 65

Remembered for being born today

Joyce Kilmer, poet (Trees) [1886-1918]

Wally Cox, actor (Mr Peepers, Hollywood Squares) [1924-1973]

Agnes Moorehead, actress (Endora-Bewitched) [1900-1974]

Ira Gershwin, lyricist ('S Wonderful, I Got Rhythm) [1896-1983]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Don Ameche, actor (Cocoon)…1993…@85

Jefferson Davis, Pres of Confederate States (1861-5)…1889…@81

Werner Klemperer, German-born actor (Col. Klink-Hogan’s Heroes)…2000…@80

Saint Nicholas…343…@73

Lead Belly, [Huddie William Ledbetter], blues singer…ALS…1949…@64

Roy Orbison, singer (Pretty Woman)…heart attack…1988…@52

Brain Teasers

The new employee told the boss that they know two facts; 1) Crackers are better than nothing, and 2) Nothing is better than donuts If you put two of them together, you get that crackers are better than donuts.

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  §

12/5/13

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

Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 49 / Day: 339   

Today: L 27°…H 38°… Ave. humidity: 62%

Wind: ave:   17mph; Gusts:  48mph  

Average Low: 18° Record Low:  -1° (1953)

Average High: 45° Record High:  67° (1989)

Quote of the Day

Today’s Historical Highlights

French Franc is created…1360

1st US fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa (William & Mary College), forms…1776

George Washington re-elected as US president…1792

Thomas Jefferson re-elected US pres/George Clinton vice-pres…1804

Former US President John Q Adams takes his seat as a member of House of Representatives…1831

Andrew Jackson re-elected President of US…1832

Jefferson Davis is elected to the US senate, his first political post…1847

1st electric car (built in Toronto) could go 15 miles between charges…1893

1st US football uniform numerals used (University of Pittsburgh)…1908

Historic bus boycott begins in Montgomery Alabama by Rosa Parks…1955

Herschel Walker of Georgia wins Heisman Trophy…1982

Astronauts begin repair of Hubble telescope in space…1993

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫  

How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

Thankfully, I guess, the 6” of snow didn’t arrive here…looks like the really cold temps and the huge amount of snow is North and East of us. I have to say that a few years ago we had a series of storms that dropped about 3 feet of snow and kept us all homebound for a couple of days. The a crew came in to clear our roofs. That was actually worse, as an avalanche came off the roof putting about 4’ of block ice/snow right at my front door. It took them about 2 hours and a chainsaw to get my neighbor and I dug out. Now every time there is a lot of snow coming down, I revert to that horrible storm. It’s crazy, but I can’t help remembering.

As I was sitting at home watching our snow…all two inches of it…fall from the sky I was listening to NPR. That too was scary. Diane was interviewing a guy who just wrote a book about congress today. First a poll of representatives says that they spend 70% of their time on fundraising for the next election. Second, the committees are actually ranked in the House by how much fundraising benefit the committee has. Sadly, the Veteran’s Committee is low on that list; therefore no one wants to be on it…even though they have to approve funding for all our continuous military action…because that committee is not seen as a committee that will help with fundraising. Most of the co-sponsored bills are based on how much money can be raised by supporting a bill. Finally, many bills that lead to good fundraising through support or nonsupport are usually time limited to a couple of years, so that when it is time to renew the bill, more fundraising can take place. It is certainly a time for a change in DC, and sadly, the media is not even talking about votes are being ‘bought’ or ‘swayed’ by the votes fundraising capacity instead of what is good for the county. Scary

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

Solve the 10 clues. Take each initial letter, to form a new 10 letter word.

1. Polite greeting 2. Opposite of begin 3. It comes from a bulb 4. Eskimo's home 5. Another name for an axe (or ax) 6. Black Sabbath front man 7. Where a child may play 8. Large vessel for liquids 9. To change something 10. Neither left, nor wrong

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Margaret Cho talks about race

  • Film of Impressionist Painter Claude Monet at Work

  • Dave Brubeck - Take Five

  • Loggins and Messina: Your Mama don't dance

Very Strange Laws…Washington

• The harassing of Bigfoot, Sasquatch or other undiscovered subspecies is a felony punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment.

• It is illegal to attach a vending machine to a utility pole without prior consent from the utility company.

• No person may walk about in public if he or she has the common cold.

• Destroying a beer cask or bottle of another is illegal.

• It is illegal to entice girls away from the Maple LaneSchool for girls.

• X-rays may not be used to fit shoes.

• You cannot buy meat of any kind on Sunday.

• All lollipops are banned.

• A law to reduce crime states: “It is mandatory for a motorist with criminal intentions to stop at the citylimits and telephone the chief of police as he is entering the town.

• It is illegal to paint polka dots on the American flag.

• People may not buy a mattress on Sunday.

• All motor vehicles must be preceded by a man carrying a red flag (daytime) or a red lantern (nighttime) fifty feet in front of said vehicle.

• It is illegal to pretend that one’s parents are rich.

• You are not allowed to breastfeed in public. (Repealed, 2001)

• One may not spit on a bus.

• When two trains come to a crossing, neither shall go until the other has passed.

• Bellingham--Single-use plastic carry out bags are prohibited

• Bremerton--You may not shuck peanuts on the street

• Everett--It is illegal to display a hypnotized or allegedly hypnotized person in a store window.

• Lynden--Dancing and drinking may not occur at the same establishment.

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

• Percentage of the current unemployment rate attributable to uncertainty about federal economic policy: 17

Unusual Fact of the Day

In car design circles, a hood ornament is properly called a "mascot." The first American automobile to sport a mascot was the 1912 Cadillac.

Joke-of-the-day

A guy is reading his paper when his wife walks up behind him and smacks him on the back of the head with a frying pan.
He asks, "What was that for?"
She says, "I found a piece of paper in your pocket with 'Betty Sue' written on it."
He says, "Jeez, honey, remember last week when I went to the track? 'Betty Sue' was the name of the horse I went there to bet on." She shrugs and walks away. Three days later he's reading his paper when she walks up behind him and smacks him on the back of the head again with the frying pan.
He asks, "What was that for?"

She answers, "Your horse called." 

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

IN RANGE [military term]

If the enemy is in range, so are you.   

Yeah, It Really Happened

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - U.S. researchers say a new computer model can explain why Jupiter's Great Red Spot, which should have quickly dissipated, has lasted hundreds of years. One of the solar system's most mysterious landmarks, the giant storm on the surface of the gas planet should have disappeared centuries ago -- at least given what scientists understand about fluid dynamics. "Based on current theories, the Great Red Spot should have disappeared after several decades," Pedram Hassanzadeh, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, said. "Instead, it has been there for hundreds of years." Many processes normally combine to dissipate vortices like the Red Spot, he explained; the turbulence and waves in and around the Red Spot sap the energy of its winds, it loses energy by radiating heat, and it sits between two strong jet streams that flow in opposite directions and should slow down its spinning. Hassanzadeh and Philip Marcus, a professor of fluid dynamics at the University of California, have built a new computer model that takes into account forces they say most previous models didn't take into account -- vertical flows within the vortices. "In the past, researchers either ignored the vertical flow because they thought it was not important, or they used simpler equations because it was so difficult to model," Hassanzadeh said. However, the two researchers said, the vertical motion turns out to hold the key to the Red Spot's persistence. As the vortex loses energy, they said, the vertical flow transports hot gases from above and cold gases from below the vortex toward its center, restoring part of its lost energy. The same vertical flow phenomenon could explain why oceanic vortices on Earth, such as those formed near the Straits of Gibraltar, can last for years in the Atlantic Ocean, Hassanzadeh said. Hassanzadeh will present the research at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics in Pittsburgh Nov. 25. 

Somewhat Useless Information   

The word "energy" comes from the Greek energeia, meaning operation, activity. It is an important word and an important concept to all of us. Researchers note that energy is the key to the advancement of civilization and that energy is the catalyst that allows human societies to evolve. According to the World Fact Book 2008, the world's oil reserves will last until 2052 and gas reserves will last until 2065. Meanwhile, the top seven oil consumers combined use more than half of the world's total. The United States alone uses more than a quarter.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

1-7: Clerc-Gallaudet Week~~Cookie Cutter Week~~International Coelenterate Biology Week~~National Handwashing Awareness Week~~Recipe Greetings For The Holidays Week~~Tolerance Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        AFL-CIO Day

·        Bathtub Party Day

·        Columbian International Day of The Reef

·        International Ninja Day

·        International Volunteer Day for Economic & Social Development

·        Repeal Day - The 21st Amendment ends Prohibition 1933

~~~~~~

·        Austria: Krampuslauf (Santa’s dark side, scaring children by drunken revelers)

·        Haiti: Discovery Day (1492 by Chris)

·        Thailand: King's Birthday [1927] and National Day ()

Today’s Events through History               

Earthquake strikes Naples; about 35,000 die…1456

Pres Polk triggers Gold Rush of 1849, confirms California gold discovery…1848
1st American bicycle college opens (NY)…1868

AFL & CIO merge, with George Meany as president…1955

47th Heisman Trophy Award: Marcus Allen, Southern Cal (RB)…1981

Salman Rushdie, author, ordered to death by Iran for blasphemy, appears in public for 1st time in 2 years…1990

Charles Keating Jr (Lincoln Savings & Loan fraud), found guilty…1991

Human remains previously found in 1991 are finally identified by Russian and American scientists as those of Tsar Nicholas II…2008

Georgia Guard will arrest CHEROKEE Principal Chief John Ross at his home andhistorian John Howard Payne. Payne, the author of the song "Home, Sweet Home", was writing a history of the CHEROKEE people. They are be arrested so they will not be able to attend the "New Echota Treaty" conference…1835

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Jim Messina, rocker (Loggins & Messina-Your Mamma Don't Dance) is 66

Jim Plunkett, NFL quarterback (New England, Oakland) is 66

Margaret Cho, actress/comedienne (Face/Off) is 45

Nick Stahl, actor is 33

Frankie Muniz, actor (Malcolm in the Middle) is 28

Remembered for being born today

Martin Van Buren, 8th pres [1782-1862]

George Armstrong Custer, Mjr General (Union volunteers) [1839-1876]

Walter Elias Disney, animator (Mickey Mouse) [1901-1966]

Otto Preminger, Austria, director/producer (Laura, Exodus) [1905-1986]

Abraham L Polonsky, US writer/director (Tell them Willie Boy is Here) [1910-1999]

[Steve James] Strom Thurmond, (Sen-D/R-SC) [1902-2003]

Today’s Historical Obits                                                            

Dave Brubeck, American jazz pianist…2012…@91

Claude Monet, French impressionist…1926...@86

Gerardus Mercator, Flemish philosopher/cartographer…1594…@82

Don Meredith, football player and broadcaster…stroke…2010…@72

Roone Arledge, American sports broadcasting pioneer…cancer…2002…@71

Alexandre Dumas, French writer…1870…@68

Richard Speck, mass murderer…heart attack in prison…1991…@49

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer…bedridden…1791…@35

Brain Teasers

HELICOPTER

1. Hello

2. End 3. Light 4. Igloo 5. Chopper 6. Ozzy (Osborne) 7. Park 8. Tank 9. Edit 10. Right

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  §