Daily
Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 39 Day 262 \ Ave. Sky Cover 5% \ Visibility 10 miles Flagstaff Today 73° \42°
Wind 12mph \ Gusts 19mph Air Quality Fair
High Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 22mi \ Nearest
Lightning 359mi
Sep Averages for Flagstaff: 74° \ 42° (5days of moisture)
Today’s Quote
Weekly Observations
15-21
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15-18
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16-25
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17-23
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18-24
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19-25
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19-30
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Daily Observations
Butterscotch Pudding
Day
Cleanup Day
Gymnastics Day
International Talk
Like a Pirate Day
Iota Phi Theta Day
Respect for The Aged Day
Link
Talk Like A Pirate Day Link Link
My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts
Another nice
fall day.
We had a
very good discussion last night. We all agreed we would rather hear about outer
space than the history of space travel. Our presenter has taught many astronomy
classes at the local community college, has volunteered at Lowell Observatory
here, and has written a couple of books. He is getting ready for a presentation
Flagstaff’s Dark Sky outdoor festival. He kindly shared some of his meteorite
collection from around the world, with a short story about each piece. Fascinating.
Chinle, on
the Navajo Rez, just purchased, through a grant, 3 all-electric school buses.
Each bus holds 72-84 students. They can travel on dirt roads. They can do 120 miles
between charges. The company that makes the buses hopes to use the ‘Chinle Experience’
in its advertising. This sounds very cool. For the students it is very quiet
and there are no diesel fumes coming into the bus or at the bus stop. I’ll wait
and see if it meets its hype.
I will be watching
the Cards v Raiders game and internet watching the Broncos v Texans. Both are
at the same time.
Favorite Memes
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Random trivia…
In China,
the Milky Way is called "The Silver River." The Romans called our
galaxy the Milky Road because it reminded them of milk. The Greeks called it
the Milky Circle. In fact, the word "galaxy" is from the Greek word
for milk.
The Milky
Way is a galaxy--a huge group of stars, gas, dust, and other matter held
together in space by their mutual gravitational pull. The Milky Way is just one
of billions of galaxies in the universe.
When a
person sees the Milky Way at night, they are seeing only about 0.0000025 percent
of the galaxy's hundreds of billions of stars.
The Milky
Way galaxy is 100,000 light-years from edge to edge. If a rocket could travel
at the speed of light, it would take 100,000 years to cross the galaxy. By
comparison, light can go from Earth to the moon in just one second.
If our solar
system were the size of a U.S. quarter, the sun would be a microscopic piece of
dust and the Milky Way would be about the size of the United States.
Myth Buster
George Washington’s teeth were made of
wood
Oral hygiene in the 18th century was
certainly poor, and even the first US president wasn’t spared. This may explain
why he never smiled. Indeed, by the time George Washington came to power, he
had only one tooth left. While some argue that this former farmer had consumed
too much sugar cane, others maintain that abuse of a mercury-laced drug used to
treat malaria caused his tooth loss. To alleviate the problem, the president
owned several dentures, one of which was carved from hippopotamus ivory and
held together with gold wire and brass screws. Another included cow, donkey,
horse, and human teeth (from slaves). None of them were made of wood.
Historical Events
1778 – The Continental Congress passed
the first United States federal budget.
1881 – President James A. Garfield died
of wounds suffered in a July 2 shooting.
1921 – The greatest rainfall recorded in
United States history during 18 consecutive hours (measured at an unofficial
weather-monitoring site) fell at Thrall, Williamson County, Texas, 36.40 inches
fell from a Hurricane.
1928 – Mickey Mouse’s first screen
appearance – Steamboat Willie at the Colony Theater NYC.
1970 – The first Glastonbury Festival
took place.
1975 – The alligator was removed from the
endangered species list in parts of Louisiana.
1976 – A UFO was reportedly seen over
Tehran, Iran. Two F-4 Phantom II jets lost power during a chase.
1991 – Ötzi the Iceman was discovered in
the Alps on the border between Italy and Austria.
Birthdays Today
@93 – James Lipton, American actor, producer, tv host (d. 2020)
“I think that anybody’s craft is fascinating. A taxi driver
talking about taxi driving is going to be very, very interesting.”– James
Lipton
@88 – Adam West, American actor,
Batman (d. 2017)
“If you hang around long enough, they think you’re good. It’s
either my tenacity or my stupidity, I’m not sure which.”– Adam West
82 – Paul Williams, American singer-songwriter
and actor
74
– Jeremy Irons, English actor
“We all have our time machines,
don’t we. Those that take us back are memories… and those that carry us
forward, are our dreams.”– Jeremy Irons
73
– Twiggy [Dame Lesley Hornby Lawson],
English model and actress
60 – Cheri Oteri, American comedic actress
58
– Trisha Yearwood, American singer-songwriter
48
– Jimmy Fallon, American comedian, and talk show host
@32 – Brian Epstein, English talent manager, The Beatles (d.
1967; OD)
@31 – Thomas Cavendish, English naval explorer, led the third
expedition to circumnavigate the globe (d. 1592; on expedition)
