30 November 2022
Daily Almanac for
Flagstaff
Week 49 Day 334 \ Ave. Sky Cover 5% \ Visibility 10 miles Flagstaff Today
42° \22°
Today’s
Quote
Daily Observations
Blue Beanie Day
Cities for Life Day
Computer Security Day
Day of Remembrance of All Victims of Chemical Warfare
National Mason Jar Day
National Meth Awareness Day
National Mousse Day
National Personal Space Day
National Stay At Home Because You’re Well Day
My
Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts
I
had a great Thanksgiving with my brother and his wife and her father and stepmom.
We had a Thanksgiving dinner for 45 friends and family. My brother and his wife
have lots of Ex-Pats as friends living in the area. A local Mayan family came
in and cooked Turkey and ‘meat pies’ wrapped in banana leaves underground. The ‘meat
pies’ were like 12” round tamales. Everybody
brought side dishes, so we had plenty of food. While there, we went to my first
cenote…underground river with cave and warm water. The Mayans knew about these
underground rivers and considered them sacred. ‘Spectacular’ doesn’t even come
close to describing the experience. We all swam in the cenote about 2 hours. It
was a great 10 days with warm (90°) days and nice nights (75°).
I
flew home from Merida to Mexico City to LA to Phx. All went well until leaving
LAX. The minor 10-minute mechanical issue turned into almost 2 hours. That
meant I missed my shuttle and had to wait until 10:30 for the next one. I got
up at the hacienda at 3:45am and walked into my house at 1:45am. I went to bed
and slept in until 7:30 this morning.
Been
running around getting my mail, some scripts, and stopping at the bank to make
my brother my beneficiary. It is amazing how complicated it is to set up a
beneficiary. My mom was on the list…even though I had taken her off when she
passed in 2008. Somehow it never happened. It’s all good now. I’ve had the
accounts since 1980 and the lady helping me had never seen ‘typewriter’ forms
before.
Favorite
Memes
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Little
known Native American History
If you
managed to get through school without hearing about Maria Tallchief, you missed
out on hearing about a pioneering woman who changed the world. Tallchief, whose
father was a member of the Osage Nation, dreamed of being a ballet dancer from
the time she was a little girl. At 17, she moved to New York City to pursue a
career as a ballerina but racism stood in her way. She was advised many times
to change her last name so her Native American heritage wouldn't be readily
apparent, but Tallchief refused. Her hard work, talent, and unwavering
persistence paid off. Maria Tallchief eventually broke barriers as the first
American to dance with the Paris Opera Ballet and the Bolshoi Theater in
Moscow. She became the prima ballerina at the New York City Ballet and was
regarded as one of the greatest dancers in the world.
Slang
Origins
1921: Bee’s knees
Meaning: a highly admired, excellent person or
thing
Calling someone “the bee’s knees” might seem
like nonsense, but that’s the point. “Bee’s knees” is just one of many 1920s
nonsense catchphrases. Others included “elephant’s adenoids,” “caterpillar's
kimono,” “tiger’s spots,” and “the cat’s pajamas.” The only thing these strange
sayings had in common was the comparison between a good thing and a part of an
animal that didn’t exist.
Historical
Events
1803 – In New Orleans, Spanish
representatives officially transferred the Louisiana Territory to France. Just
a few weeks later, France transferred the same land to the United States in the
Louisiana Purchase
1872 – The first-ever international
football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, between Scotland and
England. Four thousand people watched the scoreless game.
1982 – Michael Jackson’s sixth solo
studio album, Thriller, was released worldwide.
1998 – Exxon and Mobil signed a $73.7
billion agreement to merge, thus creating ExxonMobil, the world’s largest
company at that time.
Birthdays
Today
@95 – Efrem
Zimbalist, Jr., American actor (d. 2014)
@90 – Winston
Churchill, English colonel, journalist, and politician, UK PM (Nobel Prize
laureate, d. 1965)
“It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of
quotations. Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations is an admirable work, and I studied
it intently. The quotations when engraved upon the memory give you good
thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.”–
Winston Churchill
@90 – G. Gordon Liddy,
American lawyer, radio host (d. 2021)
@89 – Robert
Guillaume, American actor, singer (d. 2017)
86
– Woody Allen, actor, director
85
– Ridley Scott, English director, and producer (Alien, Blade Runner)
@84 – Virginia Mayo,
American actress (d. 2005)
@82 – Dick Clark,
American TV host, and producer (founded Dick Clark Productions, d. 2012)
“I don’t set trends. I just find out what they are and exploit
them.” “Music is the soundtrack of your life.”– Dick Clark
@77 – Jonathan
Swift, Irish satirist, and essayist (d. 1745)
“When a great genius appears in the world the dunces are all in
confederacy against him.”
– Jonathan Swift
@76 – Richard
Crenna, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2003; cancer)
@74 – Mark Twain,
American novelist, humorist, and critic (d. 1910)
“A sound heart is a safer guide than an ill-trained conscience.”–
Mark Twain
70
– Mandy Patinkin, American actor, and singer
67
– Billy Idol, English Singer/Songwriter (White Wedding, Mony Mony)
70
– Mandy Patinkin, American actor
60
– Bo Jackson, American football, baseball player
57
– Ben Stiller, actor
@52 – Abbie Hoffman,
activist, author (founded the Youth International Party, d. 1989; OD)
“You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents,
not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.”– Abbie Hoffman
@48 – Allan Sherman,
actor, comedian, singer, producer, screenwriter (d. 1973; lung disease)
@45 – John McCrae,
Canadian physician, soldier, poet In Flanders Fields, (d. 1918;
pneumonia)
45
– Steve Aoki, American DJ, producer (founded Dim Mak Records)
44
– Clay Aiken, American singer (American Idol)
40
– Elisha Cuthbert, Canadian actress
37
– Kaley Cuoco, American actress (Big Bang Theory)
37
– Chrissy Teigen, American model
