21 Aug

 

 
Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 35 Day 233 \ Ave. Sky Cover 25% \ Visibility 10 miles Flagstaff Today 75° \52° 
Wind 9mph \ Gusts 14mph  Air Quality Moderate
Moderate Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 28mi \ Nearest Lightning 84mi
Aug Averages for Flagstaff: 79° \ 50° (9days of moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

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

15-21 US Amateur Golf Week

18-24 Minority Enterprise Development Week

18-9/6   Ride Sober or Get Pulled Over Link

21-27  Brake Safety Week Link

Daily Observations

Brazilian Blow-out Day Link
Internat’l Day of Remembrance & Tribute To The Victims of Terrorism
Internet Self-care Day  Link
National Spumoni Day Link
Poet's Day
Senior Citizen's Day
Spumoni Day

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

First day in a week that there is no rain expected. Nice day to enjoy.

I got a call from Ellie last night. It seems that the Focus Travel Club is no longer working. I did some checking, and it seems that Weebly, the internet provider, without notifying its users that the site fees have changed dramatically. Since Ellie is retiring Focus Travel Club after the Portugal trip, she decided not to pay any more for the site. She is sending out an email to explain the whole thing and how to contact her. I have been the Focus Travel Club webmaster for about 3 years and have enjoyed doing it. I will miss putting up all the information. It is hard to say goodbye to such a great travel group. In my opinion, there are way too many tech people out there who have decided that part of their job is to make more money by finding new ways to charge customers.

I order two scripts from Caremark, which has much cheaper prices than local pharmacies. At the pharmacy each one is about $120/90 days…at Caremark each one is $40/90 days. Part of that is because I have Federal BC as my insurer. Both scripts need to be refrigerated. I ordered refills on Wed. This morning I got an email that the script was delivered by UPS last night at 6:45. I was home; it was not delivered. I checked outside again. No box. I called Caremark and they said they would send a new box on Monday…at no charge. Then I called the local UPS to see if they might have it. I was calling an 888 number, so I knew it was not here in Flag. The guy took my information and said I’d be on hold about 2 minutes while he checked. About 35 minutes later he came back on the line and said that the ‘office’ was very busy and he would call me back in an hour. That was at 9a. At 11:30 the UPS truck pulled up. I met the guy at the door and asked him why I got the delivered text. He said he didn’t know and was just a relief driver. My guess is that last night the driver just scanned the box and left it in the truck until this morning where another driver had to deliver it. Since I never got a call back, that’s the story I’m going with.

There is a TV show called The Con. It is narrated by Whoopie Goldberg and tells the story of recent big cons.  I recorded it on Monday evening and watched it this morning. I recommend the series…it is always interesting. The latest one was about a Malaysian guy named Jho Low, who embezzled several billion dollars with the help of others high in the Malaysian government. He is still on-the-run. Much of the billions was raised through Goldman Sachs and was to build infrastructure in Kuala Lumpur, but the project never moved beyond a few fences and signs. I remember when our guide in Kuala Lumpur told us they were a developing nation and wanted to soon be a developed nation. It won’t happen when politicians are so corrupt.

Favorite Memes

One Hit Wonders

  Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs: 'Stay'

First released by Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs in 1960, bands The Hollies and The Four Seasons and musician Jackson Browne would go on to release their own versions. The song saw new life when the popular 1987 film “Dirty Dancing” added the Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs version to the soundtrack.

Historical Events

1911 – The Mona Lisa was stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee. It was returned to the Louvre on January 4, 1914. Peruggia served six months in prison for the crime.

1939 – 5 young African-Americans were denied library cards at the Alexandria, VA Library and arrested after sitting down and reading books. The civil disobedience was one of the earliest in the American Civil Rights Movement.

1961 – Motown released what would be its first #1 hit, Please Mr. Postman by The Marvelettes.

1986 – The Lake Nyos, Cameroon disaster resulted in the deaths of 1800 people when a volcano suddenly burst with a wave of carbon dioxide. 

Birthdays Today

@85 – William Murdoch, Scottish engineer, inventor, created gas-powered lighting (d. 1839)
@82 – Blossom Rock, American actress (d. 1978)
@81 – Kenny Rogers, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2020)
” I’ve always said music should make you laugh, make you cry or make you think.”– Kenny Rogers
81 – Jackie DeShannon, American singer-songwriter
@79 – Count Basie, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1984)
“Learn to deal with the valleys and the hills will take care of themselves.”– Count Basie
66 – Kim Cattrall, English-Canadian actress
@63 – Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player and coach (d. 1999; heart disease)
“It is said that good things come to those who wait. I believe that good things come to those who work.”– Wilt Chamberlain
@57 – Stephen Hillenburg, American marine biologist, animator [SpongeBob]
“You don’t want to work on a job where you’re looking at your watch.”– Stephen                            Hillenburg
43 – Kelis Rogers, American singer-songwriter
” As a child, I’d help my mum cook, and it was ridiculous – she had the correct gadget or utensil for everything. ‘Stop! Don’t use that, I have exactly the right utensil.’ After I left home, I survived on cup-a-meals and never saw myself as being like her. Now I’ve become her.” – Kelis
36 – Usain Bolt, Jamaican runner
34 – Kacey Musgraves, American singer-songwriter
32 – Hayden Panettiere, American actress

 

20 Aug

 

 
Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 34 Day 232 \ Ave. Sky Cover 40% \ Visibility 10 miles Flagstaff Today 70° \52° 
Wind 3mph \ Gusts 12mph  Air Quality Fair
Very Low Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 28mi \ Nearest Lightning 6mi
Aug Averages for Flagstaff: 79° \ 50° (9days of moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

 

Weekly Observations

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

14-20 National Motorcycle Week Link (2nd Week) Feeding Pets of the Homeless Week Link  Link   National Resurrect Romance Week National Resurrect Romance Week Weird Contest Week National Aviation Week

15-21 US Amateur Golf Week

16-20 Numismatic Week (World's Fair of Money)

18-24 Minority Enterprise Development Week

18-9/6   Ride Sober or Get Pulled Over Link

Daily Observations

Bacon Lovers Day
Chocolate Pecan Pie Day
Chef Appreciation Day
Clear the Shelters Day Link  
International Geocaching Day 
International Homeless Animals Day 
Lemonade Day
National Honey Bee Day Link  
National Radio Day  Link
World Mosquito Day  Link

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Rain is headed this way…again today.

The HOA finally cleaned up the pine needles in the back area and the gutters early this morning. My landlord had called on Tuesday to tell me that the HOA was sending out roof inspectors sometime this week or next. I mentioned the pine needle problem and that if I call the HOA they don’t care because I am not an owner. Fine, he called; it is fixed.

In the past five years I have leaned more about how our government operates and does not operate than I ever wanted to know. The Mar-A-Lago incident has taught me much. The judge may release some parts of the search warrant, after the DOJ gets to do redactions. If he disagrees with the redactions, he can un-redact and release. This will take time, but will, in the end will be within the law.

All the political talk has taken the Ukraine situation on the back burner on most news networks. Now that the largest nuclear power plant in Europe is in danger, it is back in the headlines. Now there is a fear of radiation leakage, and the UN is hoping the Russian troops will withdraw from the nuclear site and let the world rest a little easier. Time will tell.

Favorite Memes

One Hit Wonders

  The Tornados: 'Telstar'

Fresh-faced, clean-cut British band, the Tornados, had a hit with this instrumental song produced by legendary producer Joe Meek. “Telstar” was named after an experimental communications satellite launched into space in 1962, which seemed fitting given the space-like quality to the song that would be lumped with other songs of the same ilk known as “space rock.”

Historical Events

1000 – The foundation of the Hungarian state by Saint Stephen.
1858 – Charles Darwin first published his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London
1882 – Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture debuted in Moscow, Russia.
1910 – The Great Fire of 1910 burned 3 Million acres in Washinton, Idaho, and Montana.
1920 – The first(?) commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), began operating in Detroit.
1920 – The National Football League was organized as the American Professional Football Conference in Canton, Ohio.
1938 – Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam, a record that stood until
2013 years when it was broken by Alex Rodriguez.
1986 – In Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill shot and killed14 of his co-workers, injured 6 more, and then committed suicide. It was the initial example of “going postal”.
1998 – The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government’s approval.
2014 – 72 people were killed in Japan’s Hiroshima prefecture by a series of landslides that were caused by a (typical) months’ worth of rain that fell in a single day.

Birthdays Today

91 – Don King, American boxing promoter
” If you want to sell a steak, you can’t just have the sizzle, you gotta have sauce.”– Don King
87 – Ron Paul, American politician, and physician
76 – Connie Chung, American journalist
74 – Robert Plant, English singer-songwriter
“No, I’ve never thought that I was gay. And that’s not something you think. It’s something you know.”– Robert Plant
68 – Al Roker, American news anchor, and television personality
@67 – Benjamin Harrison, American politician, 23rd President (d. 1901; pneumonia)
@65 – Isaac Hayes, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2008)
” I don’t sit back and count up what I’ve done. There’s just always something else to do. There’s always a challenge ahead.” – Isaac Hayes
60 – James Marsters, American actor
57 – KRS-One [Lawrence "Kris" Parker], American rapper, producer
” Educate yourself make your world view bigger, visualize wealth, and put yourself in the picture.”– KRS-One
52 – Fred Durst, American singer-songwriter
@46 – H.P. Lovecraft, American short story writer, editor, novelist (d. 1937; cancer)
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” – H.P. Lovecraft
@40 – Jim Reeves, American singer-songwriter (d. 1964; private plane crash)
39 – Andrew Garfield, American-English actor
29 – Demi Lovato, American singer-songwriter and actress
“Never be ashamed of what you feel. You have the right to feel any emotion that you want, and to do what makes you happy. That’s my life motto.”– Demi Lovato