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  §
Posted by No comments:

2-2-14


FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Flagstaff Almanac:
Week: 06 / Day: 033   
Today: L 16°…H 36°… Ave. humidity: 69%
Wind: ave:   10mph; Gusts:  17mph  
Average Low: 18° Record Low:  -14° (1922)
Average High: 44° Record High:  62° (1976)

Quote of the Day
 
Today’s Historical Highlights
1653 - New Amsterdam becomes a city (later renamed New York)
1802 - 1st leopard exhibited in US, Boston (admission 25 cents)
1848 - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends Mexican War
1887 - In Punxsutawney, PA the first Groundhog Day is observed
1887 - Law passed which will prohibit the use of Indian languages in schools.
1922 - James Joyce's "Ulysses" published in Paris
1935 - Lie detector 1st used in court (Portage WI)
1950 - 1st broadcast of "What's My Line," on CBS-TV
1955 - 1st presidential news conference on network TV-Eisenhower 
1971 - Idi Amin ousts Milton Obote to become dictator of Uganda
1986 - Dalai Lama meets Pope John Paul II in India

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   
How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays
 
My Free Rambling Thoughts   
Got another ½” of snow during the night, but had a fairly sunny day.  Melting is happening, and with only a little to melt, it won’t take long. I did need to sweep off my sidewalk but so easy, sadly a pretty dry snow.  Called for hair cut and found my stylist has left the place. I know she will call when she gets a new job, but sadly I can’t wait, so I’ll be getting a cut tomorrow, before the game.
 
Should be a good game tomorrow and think I will just watch it here at home…getting too old for all the crowds that will be around town. Still will enjoy it. Usually get a call before the game with someone wanting to stop by and watch…I’ll see this year.
 
With all the crazy news about NJ, it seems the Super Bowl people knew this was really a NY Super Bowl. The Giants play in NJ at the stadium where the game is happening, NYC seems to be having all the pre-game publicity and I would assume most of the dollars promoting the game. Since everything, except the game, is happening in NYC most of the fans are staying in NYC, most of the coverage is taking place in NY. Maybe this is one more reason that NJ has its reputation.
Game  Center (answers at the end of post)
Brain Teasers
A woman depended on a public telephone to make her calls, but it was usually out of order. Each day she reported this to the phone company, but nothing was done. Finally she came up with a fib that she told the phone company. The phone was fixed the next day. What did she tell them?
Lifestyle  Substance:     
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

Suggested New State Mottos:
  • Ohio: At Least We're Not Michigan
  • Vermont: Yep

Remembering TV’s great shows:
"Law & Order" In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate but equally important groups. And Dick Wolf's franchise has been represented by five series, including the flagship (which ran for 20 seasons!) and the still-going-strong-after-15-years "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
Phrases Shakespeare invented:
dog will have his day: Hamlet Act 5 Scene 1
Words Shakespeare invented
FrugalDefinition: Careful about spending money or using things when you do not need to
Origin: From the Latin "frugi," meaning "useful, proper, worthy, honest."
Quote: "Chid I for that at frugal Nature's frame?" - Much Ado About Nothing
OK Then…
 
Harper’s Index 
  • Annual budget of the office of NYC Public Advocate: $2,333,333
  • Amount the city is spending on a runoff election to decide the Democratic nominee for the position: $13,000,000

Unusual Fact of the Day
The arcade game Space Invaders was so popular in Japan that it actually created a coin shortage.
Joke-of-the-day
Did you hear about the farmer who wanted to buy a thousand hens, but didn't have the money...so...He put them on a layaway plan!  
Rules of Thumb:   
Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess
CHOOSING A CANOE PADDLE
To check a canoe paddle for size, stand it on the ground in front of you. The handle should come to the height of your chin if you plan to paddle from the bow of the canoe; it should come to the height of your eye if you plan to paddle from the stern.
Yeah, It Really Happened
TUEBINGEN, Germany - Our brains slow as we age not because of cognitive decline but because the have so much more experience to wade through, European researchers say. While it has long been assumed age leads to a steady deterioration of brain function, researchers at the University of Tuebingen in Germany suggest older brains may take longer to process ever increasing amounts of knowledge, a process that may be misidentified as declining capacity. Because most standard cognitive measures may confuse increased knowledge for declining capacity, such measures are flawed, the researchers said. Led by Michael Ramscar, the research team used computers, programmed to act as though they were humans, to "read" a certain amount each day, learning new things along the way. When a computer was allowed to "read" just a limited amount, its performance on cognitive tests resembled that of a young adult. However, when the same computer was exposed to an amount of data which represented a lifetime of experiences, its performance looked like that of an older adult. It was slower -- not because its processing capacity had declined, but because increased "experience" gave it more data to process, and that processing takes time. "What does this finding mean for our understanding of our aging minds, for example older adults' increased difficulties with word recall? These are traditionally thought to reveal how our memory for words deteriorates with age, but Big Data adds a twist to this idea," Ramscar said. The study has been published in the journal Topics in Cognitive Science.  
Somewhat Useless Information   
  • Lemon mint is the common name of the plant that is botanically known as Monarda citriodora. Representing the mint family it bears alternative names of Purple horse mint or Lemon beebalm.
  • The plant is noted by its citrus scent when broken and showy purple blooms that attract bees and hummingbirds. Sometimes, particularly late in the summer season, the lemon mint's aroma resembles oregano more than lemon. It thrives in prairies, along road sides and other sunny locations from California to Florida, and from Nebraska to Texas. Namely in these places one can enjoy the plant’s outstanding blankets of summer blossoms.
  • Lemon mint is sometimes used for making various kinds of the herbal teas.

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

Today Is                                                                      
·        Ayn Rand Day
·        Candelmas: Feast of the Purification of the Virgin
·        Crepe Day: French Candelmas
·        Dump Your Significant Jerk Day
·        Groundhog Day
·        Groundhog Job Shadow Day
·        Hedgehog Day
·        Imbolic: also called (Saint) Brighid's Day: halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox 
·        Marmot Day
·        National Girls & Women in Sports Day
·        Sled Dog Day
·        Super Bowl XLVIII
·        Popcorn Day
·        World Play Your Ukulele Day
·        World Wetlands Day

Today’s Events through History  
1829 - Madman Jonathan Martin sets York Cathedral on fire
1852 - 1st British public men's toilet opens (Fleet St London)
1932 - Al Capone sent to prison (Atlanta, Georgia)
1948 - President Harry Truman urges congress to adopt a civil rights program
1973 - "Midnight Special" rock music show debuts on NBC-TV

Today’s Birthdays                                                           
Elaine Stritch, Broadway actress is 89
Tom Smothers, comedian (Smother Brother Show, Serial) is 77
Graham Nash, guitarist (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young-Southern Cross) is 72
Christie Brinkley, [Ex-Mrs Billy Joel], model/actress (SI, Vacation) is 60
Shakira [Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll], pop singer is 37

Remembered for being born today
1817 - John Glover, English chemist (sulfuric acid)
1882 - James Joyce, Ireland, novelist/poet (Dubliners, Ulysses, Finnigan's Wake)
1903 - Frank McGrath, actor (Wagon Train)
1905 - Ayn Rand, Russian-born American writer and philosopher (Atlas Shrugged, 
     The Fountainhead)
1927 - Stan Getz, jazz tenor saxophonist (Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey)
1947 - Farrah Fawcett, actress (Charley's Angels, Burning Bed)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           
Max Schmeling, German boxer (World Heavyweight Champion), 2005, @99
Bertrand Russell, philosopher, British MP, 1970, @ 97
Gene Kelly, actor/dancer (Singing in the Rain), 1996, @83
Boris Karloff, [Pratt], British actor (Frankenstein), 1969, @81
Bert Parks, [Jacobson], TV host (Miss America), cancer, 1992, @77
Owen Tudor, Welsh founder of the Tudor dynasty of England, 1461, @61
Sid Vicious, [John Simon Ritchie], bassist (Sex Pistols), OD, 1979, @21

Brain Teasers
She told them that people were making calls without having to pay.
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:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Followers

Total Pageviews

Blog Archive

About Me

My photo
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.