2-4-14


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Flagstaff Almanac:
Week: 06 / Day: 035   
Today: L 16°…H 30°… Ave. humidity: 64%
Wind: ave:   9mph; Gusts:  20mph  
Average Low: 18° Record Low:  -16° (1955)
Average High: 44° Record High:  64° (1963)

Quote of the Day
 
Today’s Historical Highlights
1194 - 100,000 ransom is paid for Richard I, King of England
1784 - 1st unmanned balloon flight in Ireland
1789 - 1st US electoral college chooses Washington & Adams as President and Vice-President
1797 - Earthquake in Quito, Ecuador kills 41,000
1824 - J W Goodrich introduces rubber galoshes to public
1924 - 1st Winter Olympic games close at Chamonix France
1932 - 3rd Winter Olympic games open in Lake Placid, NY
1941 - United Service Organization (USO) founded
1945 - FDR, Churchill & Stalin meet at Yalta
1957 - 1st electric portable typewriter placed on sale (Syracuse NY)
1976 - 12th Winter Olympic games opens in Innsbruck, Austria

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
 
My Free Rambling Thoughts   
So winter has returned to our little mountain town…light snow most of the day, cool wind…feels kinda normal for a change. Still a very dry snow and none is sticking, just enough to wet the roads and sidewalks.
 
Went to the mall between snow flurries and got a haircut. Not a bad job, and quite fast. New lady did it, since my regular lady has disappeared. I just hate trying to explain to a new person what a trim means when she has no idea how fast my hair grows. We did connect enough to get a decent haircut. As I walked the mall I discovered a lot of empty stores…not a good sign. It is not a huge mall, and this just makes it even smaller. I do very little shopping there anyway but it is never good to see so many vacant stores.
 
Still a Bronco fan, but very disappointed that they did not really play football yesterday. Not sure what happened, but no matter which team was playing Seattle, one would have to say that they didn’t play football. Seattle did not play an outstanding game, the Broncos just didn’t play at all.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
Soldiers line up spaced with pride,  Two long rows lined side by side.  One sole unit can decide,  If the rows will unite or divide.  Tell me, tell me, scream it out.  What's the thing I talk about?
Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Suggested New State Mottos:
  • Washington, D.C.: Wanna Be Mayor?
  • Wisconsin: Come Cut The Cheese

Remembering TV’s great shows:
"Masterpiece Theatre" Since 1971, PBS has brought us the best of British TV, from "I, Claudius" to "Downton Abbey." We'll watch it upstairs, downstairs — anywhere.
Phrases Shakespeare invented:
fair play: The Tempest
Words Shakespeare invented
CourtshipDefinition: The activities that occur when people are developing a romantic relationship that could lead to marriage or the period of time when such activities occur
Origin: "Court" was first used to mean "woo" in the 1570s; prior, it was used to mean "king's court, princely residence," derived from the French "cort."
Quote: "To courtship and such fair ostents of love" - The Merchant of Venice
OK Then…
 
Harper’s Index 
  • Percentage of all workers earning minimujm wage who are adult women: 64
  • Chance that a working US woman makes at least $75K a year: 1 in 11
  • That a working US man does: 1 in 5

Unusual Fact of the Day
The ostrich doesn't stick its head underground to hide from predators. It bends its neck down low and flattens its head against the ground.
Joke-of-the-day
Q: What did the keyboard say to the typist? A: You’re really pushing my buttons!!!!
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
GROWING BONSAI
If it takes more than one minute for the water to drain from your bonsai pot, it's time to repot.
Yeah, It Really Happened
Alex Sverdlov of Queens, New York, spent two days trapped in a heavy snowstorm during an 18-mile hike on Hawaii island's Mauna Loa volcano.
The 36-year-old Brooklyn College professor began his trek up the 13,677-foot summit on Sunday. Before reaching the peak on Tuesday, Sverdlov left behind his pack to conserve energy for the last two miles. On his way back down that same afternoon, a snow storm moved in with strong winds, creating blinding white-out conditions.
"It went from like barely drizzling snow to like maybe two feet of snow within literally an hour," Sverdlov told KITV.
After a few unsuccessful attempts to locate his backpack, Sverdlov decided to call it a night. His only protection was the clothes on his back, a frozen water bottle, and a cellphone with no reception.
"I just slept in the snow," Sverdlov said. "I was shivering all night, but I didn't die."
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • When people see themselves, they see themselves reflecting backwards. Mirrors are reversing which means that when you look at yourself you see your left ear at the left side of the mirror and your right ear at the right side of the mirror. There is a company named ‘True Mirror Company Inc.’  based in New York, which has been making non-reversing mirrors since 1992. They are called ‘True Mirrors’ and they reflect you exactly as other people see you!
  • When you see an ambulance in the street you will definitely notice that the word ‘AMBULANCE ‘ is spelled backwards, like ‘ECNALUBMA’. Why? The main reason for this is to be readable by the drivers. ‘Ambulance’ is written backwards on he front of the vehicles so that drivers ahead can easily read the word from their rear view mirrors, especially in case of an emergency.
  • Chopsticks have been extensively used since the ancient years by people in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam or even Tibet and Nepal. They are considered to be the traditional eating utensils especially in China, where they were first originated and they are made out of bamboo, stainless steel, porcelain, sterling silver or plastic. Chinese people use approximately 45 billion chopsticks per year!

Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
☼1-7☼
African Heritage & Health Week
Solo Diners Eat Out Weekend
Women's Heart Week
☼2-8☼
Boy Scout Anniversary Week
Children's Authors & Illustrators Week
Dump Your Significant Jerk Week
International Coaching Week
Just Say No to PowerPoint Week
Publicity for Profit Week
☼3-7☼
International Networking Week
International Friendship Week 
National School Counseling Week 

Today Is                                                                      
·        Bubble Gum Day
·        African American Coaches Day
·        Facebook's Birthday (2004)
·        Liberace Day
·        National Wear Red Day
·        USO Day
·        World Cancer Day
++++++
·        Independence Day (Sri Lanka-1948-Dominion of UK)
·        Winterlude (French: Bal de Neige)  (Canada)-midwinter festivals

Today’s Events through History  
1846 - Mormons leave Nauvoo, Mo for settlement in west
1847 - General Price returns to the fortified TAOS Pueblo Many of the PUEBLO 
     Indians try to escape, but are cut down by volunteers stationed on the east of the pueblo.
1971 - British car maker Rolls Royce declared itself bankrupt
1977 - Elevated train jumps track, crashes onto Chicago st (11 die, 200 hurt)

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
David Brenner, comedian/TV talk show host (Nightlife) is 78
John Schuck, Boston, Massachusetts, American actor (McMillan & Wife) is 74
Alice Cooper, [Vincent Furnier], Detroit, rocker (School's Out) is 66
James Danforth "Dan" Quayle, 44th US VP is 67
Clint Black, country vocalist (A Better Man) is 52

Remembered for being born today
1725 - Dru Drury, English entomologist (d. 1804)
1895 - Nigel Bruce, Baja Mexico, British actor (Dr Watson-Sherlock Holmes)
1902 - Charles A Lindbergh, pilot (1st to fly solo across Atlantic)
1906 - Clyde William Tombaugh, US, astronomer (discovered Pluto)
1909 - Robert Coote, actor (Timmy-Rogues, Theodore-Nero Wolfe)
1913 - Rosa Lee Parks, civil rights activist (bus protestor)
1914 - Ida Lupino, actress (Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
1921 - Betty Friedan, feminist writer and feminist (Feminine Mystique)
1923 - Conrad Bain, actor (Maude, Diff'rent Strokes)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Carl Albert, 54th Speaker of the US House , 2000, @91
Betty Friedan, American writer and feminist, 2006, on 85th birthday
Kenneth "Jethro" Burns, country singer (Homer & Jethro), cancer, 1989, @69
Liberace, pianist (Liberace Show, Evil Chandell-Batman), AIDS, 1987, @67
Thelma Ritter, actress (All About Eve, Pillow Talk), heart attack, 1969, @66
Robert Blair, Scottish poet (Grave), 1746, @46
Karen Carpenter, rock drummer (Carpenters), anorexia, 1983, @32

Brain Teasers
A Zipper
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:

2-3-14


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Flagstaff Almanac:
Week: 06 / Day: 034   
Today: L 6°…H 34°… Ave. humidity: 65%
Wind: ave:   16mph; Gusts:  23mph  
Average Low: 18° Record Low:  -22° (1922)
Average High: 44° Record High:  64° (1953)

Quote of the Day
 
Today’s Historical Highlights
1690 - 1st paper money in America issued (colony of Mass)
1743 - Philadelphia establishes a "pesthouse" to quarantine immigrants
1815 - World's 1st commercial cheese factory established, in Switzerland
1870 - 15th Amendment (Black suffrage) passed
1876 - Albert Spalding with $800 starts sporting goods co
1913 - 16th Amendment, federal income tax, ratified
1943 - 4 chaplains drown after giving up their life jackets to others
1947 - -81°F (-63°C), Snag Yukon (North American record)
1962 - President Kennedy bans all trade with Cuba except for food & drugs
1966 - 1st soft landing on Moon (Soviet Luna 9)
1973 - President Nixon signs Endangered Species Act into law

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
 
My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Much colder than usual last night.  It was only 7° when I got up this morning…a little cold to get the paper in my slippers. Lots of clouds most of the day.
 
Getting ready for the Super Bowl….got my Sunday news shows watched…caught up on some DVR series…read the Sunday paper…great day.
 
With all the money that is spent of defense, during the past decade, it only seems fair that all the dollars earmarked for Afghanistan should now go to the VA to help the thousands of wounded vets that had their lives forever changed during that war. If we got the money to fight these wars, we need to use the money to take care of the men and women who survived those many battles.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
In this teaser, you are to start with the letter 'U', and then each time add a letter and shuffle it to make a new word. You need to continue this process until you reach the word 'PRODUCE'.
Not including 'U', you must do this in six (6) turns.
U _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ P R O D U C E

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

Suggested New State Mottos:
  • Maine: We're Really Cold, But We Have Cheap Lobster
  • Washington: Help! We're Overrun By Nerds And Slackers!

Remembering TV’s great shows:
"The Andy Griffith Show" From the opening shot of Sheriff Andy Taylor and son Opie gone fishin', the sitcom welcomed us to Mayberry, where Aunt Bee, Barney Fife and others became part of our extended TV family.
Phrases Shakespeare invented:
brevity is the soul of wit: Shakespeare's Hamlet
Words Shakespeare invented
CriticalDefinition: Expressing criticism or disapproval
Origin: From the Latin "criticus," which referred specifically to a literary critic.
Quote: "For I am nothing if not critical" – Othello
OK Then…
 
Harper’s Index 
  • Percentage of public school teachers who spent their own money on school supplies during the last academic year: 99.5
  • Average amount they spent: $485

Unusual Fact of the Day
Amerigo Vespucci, for whom many historians believe America was named, was an Italian pickle merchant.
Joke-of-the-day
A guy called a budget airline to book a flight. The operator asked: “How many people area traveling?
“How should I know?” said the man. “It’s your plane!”  
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
EVALUATING KID'S SPEECH
A child whose speech and intelligence are developing normally will say as many words per utterance (plus or minus one) as his or her age in years - e.g. a child of about 1 should be starting to make one-word utterances, a child nearing two should be starting to put two words together, etc.    
Yeah, It Really Happened
Give Courtney Allen Curtis a hand. The Democratic lawmaker has introduced a bill to the Missouri House of Representatives that would make the high five the state's official greeting.
The bill, HB 1624 reads: “The 'high five' is selected for and shall be known as the official state greeting in the state of Missouri,” according to TV station KTVI.
“The high five is friendly, fun, and can lift spirits; and with tensions running high in the Capitol building, the high five might be just what Missouri needs," he told the South County Mail. "An official state greeting could help to break up the monotony of the day-to-day work and promote a friendlier environment between both sides of the aisle."
The bill, which was introduced on Jan. 28, is getting a high five from some Missourians. Yvette Hannigan told Fox's Kansas City affiliate that "it sounds kind of fun."
Other residents like Michael Sherrill give it a thumbs down.
“Unless they’re going to be putting out hand things to wipe the hands off and things like that with all the viruses and things going around, I’m not sure that would be a good idea,” he told the station.
Curtis hopes to handily defeat the nay-sayers.
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • Bamboo plants can grow up to 36 inches in a day.
  • Experts agree that by leaving the rainforests intact and harvesting it's many nuts, fruits, oil-producing plants, and medicinal plants, the rainforest has more economic value than if they were cut down to make grazing land for cattle or for timber.
  • The latest statistics show that rainforest land converted to cattle operations yields the land owner $60 per acre and if timber is harvested, the land is worth $400 per acre. However, if these renewable and sustainable resources are harvested, the land will yield the land owner $2,400 per acre.
  • If managed properly, the rainforest can provide the world's need for these natural resources on a perpetual basis.
  • Promoting the use of these sustainable and renewable sources could stop the destruction of the  rainforests. By creating a new source of income harvesting the medicinal plants, fruits nuts, oil and other sustainable resources, the rainforests is be more valuable alive than cut and burned.
  • Sufficient demand of sustainable and ecologically harvested rainforest products is necessary for  preservation efforts to succeed. Purchasing sustainable rainforest products can effect positive change by creating a market for these products while supporting the native people's economy and provides the
  • economic solution and alternative to cutting the forest just for the value of its timber.

Calendar Information        
Happening This Week:
☼1-7☼
African Heritage & Health Week
Solo Diners Eat Out Weekend
Women's Heart Week
☼2-8☼
Boy Scout Anniversary Week
Children's Authors & Illustrators Week
Dump Your Significant Jerk Week
International Coaching Week
Just Say No to PowerPoint Week
Publicity for Profit Week
☼3-7☼
International Networking Week
International Friendship Week 
National School Counseling Week 

Today Is                                                                      
·        Four Chaplains Memorial Day
·        The Day The Music Died
++++++
·        Bean Throwing Festival (Setsubun - Japan)
·        Heroes' Day (Mozambique)

Today’s Events through History  
1809 - Territory of Illinois organizes (including present-day Wisconsin)
1908 - Supreme Court rules a union boycott violates Sherman Antitrust Act
1966 - 1st operational weather satellite, ESSA-1 launched US
1972 - 11th Winter Olympic games opens in Sapporo, Japan (1st in Asia)

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Fran Tarkenton, NFL QB (NY Giants, Minnesota Vikings) is 74
Blythe Danner, actress (Butterflies are Free) is 71
Morgan Fairchild, [Patsy McClenny], actress (Falcon Crest) is 64
Nathan Lane, actor (One of the Boys, Frankie & Johnnie) is 58

Remembered for being born today
Horace Greeley, editor ("Go west, young man")
Gertrude Stein, Penn, author (Autobiography of Alice B Toklas)
Norman Rockwell, artist/illustrator (Sat Evening Post covers)
Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, gangster and FBI Most Wanted criminal
Joey Bishop, [Gottlieb], Bronx, talk show host (Joey Bishop Show)
Victor Buono, SD California, actor (Man from Atlantis, Untouchables)
Emile Griffith, US Virgin Islands professional boxer, (d. 2013)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Ben Gazzara, American actor,  pancreatic cancer, 2012 @81
Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist, 1985, @72
Nancy Kulp, actress (Jane Hathaway-Beverly Hillbillies), cancer, 1991, @69
Woodrow Wilson, 28th US president, stroke, 1924 @67
John Cassavetes, actor/director (Husbands, Dirty Dozen), cirrhosis, 1989 @59
Belle Starr, US female gangster, murdered, 1889 @40
Big Bopper, rocker, dies in plane crash, 1959 @28
Buddy Holly, rock and roll musician dies in a plane crash, 1959, @ 22
Richie Valens, rock vocalist (Donna), killed in plane crash, 1959 @17

Brain Teasers
U UP CUP COUP COUPE RECOUP PRODUCE
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.