June 23

 

 

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 26 Day: 174 \ Ave. Sky Cover: 60% \ Visibility: 10 miles Flagstaff Today 76° \49° 
Wind: 6mph \ Gusts: 10mph  Air Quality: MODERATE
Extreme Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire: 12mi \ Nearest Lightning: 144mi
June Averages for Flagstaff: 80° \ 43° (1 day of moisture)
 

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

Thru Sep.5 National Marina Days (From Memorial Day to Labor Day)  Link

16-23  National Nursing Assistants Week  Link

17-23   National Week of Making Link

17-30   National Little League Week: Link

19-25   Animal Rights Awareness Week: Link Link Greencare For Troops Awareness Week National Play Catch Week Carpenter Ant Awareness Week Fish Are Friends, Not Food! Week Link   Lightning Safety Awareness Week Link  Universal Father's Week National Mosquito Control Awareness Week

20-26   National Pollinator Week: Link  National Insect Week

20-25  Old Time Fiddlers Week

23-26  Watermelon Thump Seed Spitting Week

Daily Observations

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Cloudy…weather guy says monsoon will be here early…like tomorrow. I sure hope so.

I had lunch with Faith and Andy. I was getting instructions about watering their grass and trees while they sail off to Alaska. Good conversation, a few laughs, and good food.

The tourist who burned used TP that probably started the current Pipeline fire was in court. The dropped the marijuana charge but is still charged with two misdemeanors: camping in a restricted area and building a fire during restrictions. Misdemeanors… really?

Flag is already holding in-person and zoom meetings regarding flooding issues this summer. The worst inhabited area even now has a loud siren to warn residents of flooding and along with the siren is a message in English and Spanish for all to hear.

 

Favorite Memes

Earth’s Secrets

Clouds Help Regulate Earth's Temperature

"If you bring all water droplets in clouds to the surface, you would cover Earth with a liquid film no thicker than a human hair," Schneider of Caltech tells Popular Mechanics. "And yet, this tiny amount of water makes the difference between cool overcast summer days and warm clear days. And it is immensely important for climate. On average, clouds cool Earth by 13 degrees Fahrenheit relative to what global temperatures would be without clouds."

"How much global warming we get crucially depends on whether we get more or fewer clouds as the climate warms," Schneider says. "Climate models do not agree on the answer, because simulating clouds and the tiny amount of water in them is hard. At Caltech, we are working on using AI to make climate models and their cloud simulations better, to get more precise answers about how climate will change."

US Flag Myths

Myth #3: Americans have always flown the flag

Prior to the Civil War, flags were really only flown in an official capacity on ships, forts and government buildings. “In the antebellum period, if a citizen had flown his flag on his house or carriage, people would have thought that was strange. Why is he doing that? He's not the government,” Ansoff said.

The outbreak of war in 1861 quickly changed Americans’ attitudes about displaying the flag.

"At the beginning of the Civil War there was an outburst of patriotism,” Ansoff said, “and very soon, you saw people flying flags everywhere to show their support for the Union cause."

Historical Events

 Ë 1683 – William Penn signed a friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.
Ë 1860 – The United States Congress established the Government Printing Office.
Ë 1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes received the patents (#79265 & #79868) for an invention he called the “Type-Writer.” He also invented the ‘QWERTY keyboard’ in 1873.
Ë 1894 – The International Olympic Committee was founded at the Sorbonne in Paris.
Ë 1926 – The College Board administered the first SAT exam.
Ë 1938 – The first ‘Oceanarium’ opened at Marineland in St. Augustine, Florida.
Ë 1938 – The Civil Aeronautics Act was signed into law, forming the United States Civil Aeronautics Authority.
Ë 1953 – Frank J. Zamboni was issued a patent (#2,642,679) for his ice resurfacer.
Ë 1960 – The US Food and Drug Administration declared Enovid to be the first officially approved combined oral contraceptive pill in the world.
Ë 1969 – IBM announced that effective January 1970 it will price its software and services separately from hardware, allowing for the creation of the modern software industry.
Ë 1969 – Warren E. Burger was sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren.
Ë 1982 – A record low temperature of -117ºF. was recorded at the South Pole.
Ë 2013 – Nik Wallenda became the first man to successfully walk across the Grand Canyon on a tight rope.
Ë 2016 – The United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48%.

Birthdays Today

86 – Richard Bach, American novelist, essayist
74 – Clarence Thomas, American lawyer, judge, United States Supreme Court Justice
@73 – June Carter-Cash, American singer (d. 2003; surgery complicatioins)
66 – Randy Jackson, TV shost
65 – Frances McDormand, American actress
@60 – Bob Fosse, American actor, dancer, choreographer, director (d.1987; heart attack)
@54 – Wilma Rudolph, runner (d. 1994; multiple cancers)
50 – Selma Blair, American actress
@41 – Alan Turing, English mathematician, computer scientist (d 1954; suicide)

 

Jun 22

 

 

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 26 Day: 173 \ Ave. Sky Cover: 5% \ Visibility: 10 miles Flagstaff Today 82° \42° 
Wind: 5mph \ Gusts: 16mph  Air Quality:  FAIR
Extreme Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire: 12mi \ Nearest Lightning: 160mi
June Averages for Flagstaff: 80° \ 43° (1 day of moisture)
 

Today’s Quote

 

Weekly Observations

Thru Sep.5 National Marina Days (From Memorial Day to Labor Day)  Link

16-23  National Nursing Assistants Week  Link

17-23   National Week of Making Link

17-30   National Little League Week: Link

19-25   Animal Rights Awareness Week: Link Link Greencare For Troops Awareness Week National Play Catch Week Carpenter Ant Awareness Week Fish Are Friends, Not Food! Week Link   Lightning Safety Awareness Week Link  Universal Father's Week National Mosquito Control Awareness Week

20-26   National Pollinator Week: Link  National Insect Week

20-25  Old Time Fiddlers Week

Daily Observations

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Warm summer day with a slight breeze.

The Pipeline fire is now 60% contained; the Haywire Combined fire is now 45% contained.

I got a new credit card in the mail to replace the one that expired at the end of May. I pulled it out to register it. I only use this card to pay my cable bill. The card said simply use the card at any purchase location with the symbol pointed to the screen. Great, I don’t use it at stores. It was a federal holiday, so I called this morning and got it updated. Then I went to the cable TV site to update the card. After putting in the new expiration date, the screen says it will take up to 60 days to update your information. First the cable guy says he can update it for a $1 charge. I started laughing and said I had never heard of such a thing. He said I will charge your account then I will delete the charge. He then checked and said everything was up to date, was I interested in a promotion. I said sure. He then said they had a promotion that would reduce my bill by $35 with no change in service. I agreed. Then he said OK, I deducted the $35 and the $1. I’m waiting until tomorrow, when the cable bill is paid to see if all that is true.

There are two US citizens in prison in Ukraine. They are former US soldiers who went on their own dime to help teach the people how to use the US weapons. They were arrested and Russia announced that they will face the death penalty and that since they are American citizens and not US soldiers the Geneva Convention of POW’s does not apply. WOW!

Rusty Bowers, AZ chair, was deliberate in his testimony at the Jan 6^th hearing….clearly Mormon in faith and true to the constitution. Then even more compelling was the Georgia poll worker who were targeted by Trump in a tweet and the aftermath…stunning and unacceptable.

Finally, an amazing thing: Bears Ears National Monument will now be administered by Federal Government AND 5 tribes…Hopi, Navajo, Ute Mtn tribe, Ute tribe of Unitas & Ouray Reservation and Zuni Pueblo.   This is the first time Indigenous tribes have been able to have a say in a National Monument. WOW!

Favorite Memes

Earth’s Secrets

Seas Could Rise 2.5 Feet By 2100

"We are headed toward a two-foot sea level rise by the end of this century," climate scientist Tapio Schneider of Caltech tells Popular Mechanics. "Consequences from a one- to two-foot sea level rise could mean severe threats to low-lying island nations, loss of narrow, shallow beaches, and a demise of marine ecosystems."

US Flag Myths

Myth #4: Red, white and blue have official meanings

The colors of the flag were not assigned any official meaning when the first flag was adopted in 1777. The traditional meanings assigned to the colors may have arisen five years later, in 1782, when Charles Thompson, the secretary of the Continental Congress, waxed poetic about the colors in the Great Seal of the United States, which he helped design. Thompson described the red in the seal as representing hardiness and valor; the white, purity and innocence; and the blue, vigilance, perseverance and justice.

As for the origin of the red-white-and-blue color scheme, it's likely no coincidence that the British flag bore the same three colors. 

Historical Events

Ë 1633 – The Holy Office in Rome forced Galileo Galilei to recant his view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the Universe.
Ë 1870 – US Congress created the United States Department of Justice.
Ë 1937 – Joe Louis won the world heavyweight boxing title when he defeated Jim Braddock.
Ë 1942 – Pledge of Allegiance was formally adopted by Congress.
Ë 1950 – The publication Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television listed many suspected communists in American media, including Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Lena Horne, Pete Seeger, Artie Shaw, and Orson Welles.
Ë 1969 – Cleveland, Ohio’s Cuyahoga River caught fire.
Ë 1978 – Pluto’s Moon Charon was discovered by James W. Christy, at the Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Ë 1990 – Checkpoint Charlie is dismantled in Berlin, a sign of the ending of The Cold War.
Ë 2009 – Eastman Kodak Company announced that it would discontinue sales of the Kodachrome Color Film.

Birthdays Today

86 – Kris Kristofferson, American singer-songwriter and actor
74 – Todd Rundgren, American singer-songwriter,
73 – Meryl Streep, American actress
73 – Elizabeth Warren, politician
70 – Graham Greene, Canadian/ Oneida character actor
69 – Cyndi Lauper, American singer-songwriter
64 – Bruce Campbell, American actor
49 – Carson Daly, American radio, television host
@31 – John Dillinger, American criminal (d. 1934; shot)
@22 – Freddie Prinze, American actor (d. 1977; suicide)