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Flagstaff Almanac: Day: 160
/ Week: 24
June Averages: 78° \ 42°Today: Average Sky Cover: 5%
H 82°… L 45°… Ave. humidity: 17%
Wind: ave: 11mph; Gusts: 26mph
Average High: 76° Record High: 89° (1985)
Average Low: 40° Record Low: 24° (1950)
Quote of the Day
Today’s
Historical Highlights
68 - Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, to evade a
Senate-imposed death by flogging.
1534 - Jacques Cartier 1st sails into mouth of St
Lawrence River 1549 - Book of Common Prayer is adopted by the Church of England
1790 - 1st book copyrighted under constitution, "Philadelphia Spelling Book"
1802 - US Academy at West Point founded
1860 - 1st US "dime novel" published: "Malaseka, The Indian Wife of the White Hunter," by Mrs Ann Stevens
1869 - Charles Elmer Hires sells his 1st root beer (Phila)
1969 - Warren Burger confirmed as US Chief Justice
1970 - Harry A Blackmun, sworn in as Supreme Court Justice
1978 - Mormons strike down 148 year policy of excluding black men from priesthood
♫
Today’s Birthdays: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays below
My Free
Rambling Thoughts
Another warm beautiful day in our little mountain town.
Yeah, I know…by email yesterday was for my ‘bloog’. Speed typing
and speed sending didn’t pay off.
Watched my Sunday morning news shows and learned a little. Then
caught up on the latest Cosmo and Vice. Cosmo was about global warming and gave
a pretty clear scientific argument to the problems of greenhouse gasses. Then
Vice had a segment on the North Pole issues. As the ice melts up there new,
shorter, and less expensive shipping lanes are opening. This is causing
territorial disputes over the North Pole. Russia, Canada, Norway, and Russia
all claim ‘ownership’ of the Pole. As the ice sheet melts more ways are being
discovered to drill for the vast oil reserves under the polar region. Lots of
war games are going on by NATO and by Russia. The newest big concern is Russia’s
recent territorial fighting in Crimea and Ukraine. As if all this wasn’t
bothersome enough, the second half of Vice was talking about the drug trade in
Afghanistan. When the country was run by the Taliban government, Heroin use and
poppy growing was illegal. With the dismissal of the Taliban by the US
invasion, the drug trade has done two things: one—production of heroin has
increased 10fold; two—the Taliban has joined drug production business to get
more money to fight the US invaders. This has greatly increased the general
population’s dependence as on heroin…for money and as addicts. The fact that
this all happened after the US arrived has many in Afghanistan blaming the US
on the drug problem.
Game Center (answers at the
end of post)
Brain
Teasers
What
is bigger when it is put upside down?
Lifestyle Substance:
Found on
You Tube with some relevance to today
OK Then…
Sadly the Gallup newspaper printed a very racist letter to the editor regarding pan handling Natives in the city. This is one of several FB responses.
Harper’s Index
Factor
by which the amount raised last year on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter
exceed grant-giving by the NEA: 4
Portion
of taxpayer funded research whose findings are not available to the public for
free: 1/2
Unusual
Fact of the Day
While many think Hydrox cookies were an
Oreo knock-off, Hydrox actually came first. They were first made in 1908, four
years before the Oreo.
Heard by
Flight Attendants…
On the customs and immigration form it says: Sex M-F. Passengers
will ask if it means how many times they have sex Monday to
Friday
Presidential
Fun Facts…
John Quincy Adams: Graduated Harvard College (1787) Secretary of
State under Monroe. Adams swam nude (weather permitting) in the Potomac River
every day. First elected president not to receive either the most electoral
college votes or popular votes. The first son of a president to become a
president. (later followed by the only other father/son presidents, George H.W.
Bush and George W. Bush.) Only president
elected to the House after his presidency. He named one of his sons George
Washington.
Ben
Franklin on Character…
Silence. Speak
not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
Common
misused words...
Insure
and ensure
This one's easy. Insure refers to insurance. Ensure means to make
sure. So if you promise an order will ship on time, ensure it actually happens.
Unless, of course, you plan to arrange for compensation if the package is
damaged or lost--then feel free to insure away.
Pen Names
of famous authors…
Charles
Lutwidge Dodgson--Pen name: Lewis Carroll
Author Lewis Carroll made his name as a master of fanciful
wordplay and often nonsensical-sounding poetry and prose in books such as
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Fittingly, his
pen name is a play on his real name as well. Lewis is the anglicized version of
Ludovicus, which is the Latin form of Lutwidge. Carroll is an Irish surname
that comes from Carolus, the Latin word for Charles.
The World
as 100 people…
INTERNET:
30 have internet access; 70 do not
Joke-of-the-day
A pilot landed a
plane with a rather bumpy landing. As part of his job he was required to stand
by the terminal door and say goodbye to the passengers as they exited the
airplane. He was afraid that someone might say something about his rather less
than perfect landing, but everyone left without saying a word except for one
passenger, an elderly lady, she slowly approached the pilot after most
passengers had exited the plane and asked, "Did we land? Or were we shot
down?"
Rules of
Thumb:
WHO STARTS FISTFIGHTS
Any cop will tell
you, in a bar fight, the shorter of the two probably started the fight.
Yeah, It
Really Happened
PHOENIX (UPI) - Legal gymnastics are being used to try and prevent
an Arizona woman from performing cartwheels at public meetings in Phoenix.
Dianne "DD" Barker received a cease-and-desist letter from an
attorney for the Maricopa Association of Governments telling her to immediately
stop performing cartwheels at MAG meetings. "You have from time to time
suggested that MAG cannot prevent you from performing cartwheels during your
comments," according to the letter. "That position is
incorrect." The 65-year-old sent back an email in protest, saying that not
being able to perform cartwheels would limit her ability to "freely
speak/express in such positive conviction, my continuing commitment, and
unwavering support for MAG's transportation/air quality duty and
directives," The Republic reported. Barker first discovered she was good
at cartwheels while she was a cheerleader at Ohio State University. "I
think that the cartwheel is something I found out that I could do that is
enjoyable, and it definitely expresses my passion," Barker told Fox 10.
She plans to follow the letter of the law at meetings, but that's about it.
"The cartwheel isn't the end of it, I'm walking down the wall backwards
and getting myself in shape for doing the back over," Barker said.
Somewhat
Useless Information
When
fabric gets wet, light coming towards it refracts within the water, dispersing
the light. In addition, the surface of the water causes incoherent light
scattering. The combination of these two effects causes less light to reflect
to your eyes and makes the wet fabric appear darker.
***
Drinking
water after eating hot spicy food will not calm your tongue. The spices in most
of the hot foods that we eat are oily, and oil and water don't mix. In this
case, the water just rolls over the oily spices. What can you do to calm your
aching tongue? Eat bread. The bread will absorb the oily spices. A second
solution is to drink milk. Milk contains a substance called "casein"
which will bind to the spices and carry them away.
***
In
ancient times, it was believed that certain colors could combat the evil
spirits that lingered over nurseries. Because blue was associated with the
heavenly spirits, boys were clothed in that color, boys then being considered
the most valuable resource to parents. Although baby girls did not have a color
associated with them, they were mostly clothed in black. It was only in the
Middle Ages when pink became associated with baby girls.
***
Blood
is bright red in its oxygenated form and a dark red in deoxygenated form. In
simpler terms, it is bright red when it leaves the lungs full of oxygen and
dark red when it returns to the lungs for a refill. Veins appear blue because
light penetrating the skin is absorbed and reflected in high energy wavelengths
back to the eye. Higher energy wavelengths are blue.
***
Onions,
like other plants, are made of cells. The cells are divided into two sections
separated by a membrane. One side of the membrane contains an enzyme which
helps chemical processes occur in your body. The other side of the membrane
contains molecules that contain sulfur. When you cut an onion, the contents on each
side of the membrane mix and cause a chemical reaction. This reaction produces
molecules such as ethylsufine which make your eyes water.
***
Camels
are called "ships of the desert" because of the way they move, not
because of their transport capabilities. Camels sway from side to side because
they move both legs on one side at the same time, elevating that side. This is
called pacing, a ship-like motion which can make the rider feel sick.
Calendar
Information
This
Week’s Observances:
6-8
Great American Brass Band Week
8-14
International Clothesline Week
National Body Piercing Week
National Flag Week
Jim Thorpe Native American Games
Men's Health Week
National Automotive Service Professionals Week
Today
Is
Abused Women and Children's Awareness Day
Donald Duck Day - 1931
Donald Duck Day - 1931
Today’s Events through History
1902 - 1st Automat restaurant opens (818 Chestnut St,
Phila)
1924 - "Jelly-Roll Blues" is recorded by blues
great, Jelly Roll Morton 1958 - "Purple People Eater" by Sheb Wooley hits #1
2012 - Burma (Myanmar) riots kill 20 people and burn down 300 houses
Today’s
Birthdays
Jackie
Mason, comedian (World According to Me) is 83
Joe
Santos, Brooklyn, actor (Rockford Files) is 83Dick Vitale, US, sportscaster (ESPN, ABC "Oh Baby!") is 75
Michael J. Fox, Canadian actor (Family Ties, Back to the Future) is 53
Johnny Depp, actor (21 Jump Street) is 51
Natalie Portman [Natalie Hershlag], Israeli/American actress is 33
Remembered
for being born today
1672-1725 - Peter
the Great [Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov], tsar of Russia
1891-1964 - Cole Porter, composer/lyricist
(Anything Goes) 1900-1984 - Fred Waring, musician/conductor/inventor (Waring Blender)
1908-1990 - Robert Cummings, actor (Love that Bob, Dial M For Murder)
1915-2009 - Les Paul, guitarist/inventor (Les Paul guitar)
1916-2009 - Robert S McNamara, US Sec of Defense \head (World Bank)
1934-1984 - Jackie Wilson, Detroit, singer (Lonely Teardrops)
Today’s
Historical Obits
Miguel Asturias, Guatemalan
writer, 1974, @74
Reid Shelton, actor (Daddy Warbucks-Annie), stroke, 1997, @71 Iain Banks, Scottish author, gallbladder cancer, 2013, @59
Charles Dickens, English writer (David Copperfield), stroke, 1870, @58
Brain Teasers
The number 6. When it is put upside down, it is 9. Nine is bigger
than six.
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 §
