13 Dec

 

December 2022

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 51 Day 347 \ Ave. Sky Cover 5% \ Visibility 10 miles Flagstaff Today 32° \16° 
Wind 6mph \ Gusts 10smph  Air Quality: Fair \Very Low Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 384mi \ Nearest Lightning 1546mi
Dec Averages for Flagstaff: 43° \ 17° `
Sunshine is bright on the snow-covered ground

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

Andisop (Meteorological Fiddling): 5-24   Link
Computer Science Education Week: 5-11 Link
Human Rights Week: 10-17

Daily Observations

Day Of The Horse
National Cocoa Day
National Day of the Horse
National Guard Birthday Link
National Violin Day
Pick a Pathologist Pal Day

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

I woke up to about 5” of snow covering just about everything outside.

Schools are on a two-hour delay today.  Only one guy came to clear our sidewalk, he did a great job and was finished by 9:30am. When it’s a team, they usually finish by 8am.

The Chiefs played ball and beat the Broncos. My Broncos are not having a good year.

The Libyan bomb maker that killed 270 over Lockerbie Scotland 34 years ago is now in US custody. Some closure for the many who lost loved ones.

60 Minutes did a segment on the College of Magic in Cape Town South Africa. It serves students 11-18 years old from all backgrounds. It was nice to see that in action. They believe the creativity they learn through magic will assist them in many areas of future employment. What a great idea.

Favorite Memes

Did you Know?

Lincoln Borglum spent his young adulthood assisting his father on Mount Rushmore, ultimately overseeing the monument’s completion. To increase worker morale, on game days Lincoln parked his car close to the hoist operator and left the radio tuned to baseball; the hoist operator then phoned game updates to those stationed on the mountain. In 1938, Lincoln started recruiting amateur baseball players to work on the monument, and soon founded the Rushmore Drillers. Six days a week, practices followed the 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. work shifts, and games were played on Sundays. The team was good enough to make it to the semifinals of the State Amateur Baseball Tournament in 1939, but the Drillers disbanded when the government declared Mount Rushmore finished in 1941.

Slang Origins

1934: Belch water

Meaning: seltzer water

Soda fountains may be a thing of the past, but during the Depression, they created a unique culture and language. “Belch water” is one example of this “soda jerk” slang, studied and recorded by Harold W. Bentley between 1934 and 1935.

Corny jokes

What did the bartender say to the turkey sandwich when it tried to order a beer?

“Sorry, we don’t serve food here.”

….

Why do seagulls fly over the sea?

If they flew over the bay, they would be bagels.

Historical Events

1294 – Saint Celestine V resigned from the papacy after only five months to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.
1962 – NASA launched Relay 1, the 1^st active repeater communications satellite in Earth orbit.
1972 – Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt began the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or “Moonwalk” of Apollo 17.
1991 – North and South Korea officially ended their war. (Fighting stopped in 1953)

Birthdays Today

97 – Dick Van Dyke, American actor, singer, and dancer
@91 – Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor (d. 2021)
81 – John Davidson, American actor, and game show host
@77 – Richard D. Zanuck, American film producer (d. 2012; heart attack)
74 – Ted Nugent, American singer-songwriter
72 – Wendy Malick, American actress
65 – Steve Buscemi, American actor
@63 – Mary Todd Lincoln, 16th First Lady (d. 1882; stroke)
@62 – Van Heflin, American actor (d. 1971; heart attack)
55 – Jamie Foxx, American actor, and comedian
41 – Amy Lee (Amy Lynn Hartzler), American singer-songwriter
“Honestly I just wear what I like. You know why? ‘Cause I can, I’m a rock star.”– Amy Lee
33 – Taylor Swift, American singer-songwriter

 

12 December

12 December 2022

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 51 Day 346 \ Ave. Sky Cover 5% \ Visibility 10 miles Flagstaff Today 41° \23° 
Wind 8mph \ Gusts 17mph  Air Quality: Fair \ Very Low Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 384mi \ Nearest Lightning 429mi
Dec Averages for Flagstaff: 43° \ 17° `
Sunshine

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

Andisop (Meteorological Fiddling): 5-24   Link
Computer Science Education Week: 5-11 Link
Human Rights Week: 10-17

Daily Observations

Gingerbread House Day
Green Monday Link 
International Day of Neutrality
International Universal Health Coverage Day
National Ambrosia Day
National Cocoa Day  
International Day of Neutrality
International Universal Health Coverage Day
National Ambrosia Day
National Cocoa Day  Link
National Ding-A-Ling Day Link
National Lost Day Link
National Poinsettia Day
National 12-hour Fresh Breath Day
Our Lady of Guadalupe Link

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Sunny Day and a bit breezy.

Some weather guys are saying 5-10” of snow starting around midnight and continuing until Tuesday morning. Others are saying ‘light snow’ early Monday morning. As usual, the citizens of our little mountain town have learned to just wait and see.

Broncos play the Chiefs later today; Cards play Monday night.

It is time to have a scientific study: Does DNA have a role in Republican politicians who lose elections and then claim ‘voter fraud’? Keri Lake, the AZ Republican for Governor, who lost last month, has now filed a lawsuit that the election should be overturned. What a waste of taxpayer money.  

Favorite Memes

Did you Know?

Lincoln Borglum spent his young adulthood assisting his father on Mount Rushmore, ultimately overseeing the monument’s completion. To increase worker morale, on game days Lincoln parked his car close to the hoist operator and left the radio tuned to baseball; the hoist operator then phoned game updates to those stationed on the mountain. In 1938, Lincoln started recruiting amateur baseball players to work on the monument, and soon founded the Rushmore Drillers. Six days a week, practices followed the 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. work shifts, and games were played on Sundays. The team was good enough to make it to the semifinals of the State Amateur Baseball Tournament in 1939, but the Drillers disbanded when the government declared Mount Rushmore finished in 1941. 

Slang Origins

1933: Apple

Meaning: city

Have you ever wondered why New York City is sometimes called “The Big Apple?” In the 1930s, “apple” referred to any big city. The construction of the Empire State Building at the beginning of the decade, the tallest building in the world at the time, helped New York stand out as the biggest of all.

Corny jokes

5. What did the policeman say to his belly button?

You’re under a vest.

….

6. Why did the man get hit by a bike every day?

He was stuck in a vicious cycle.

Historical Events

1787 – Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1901 – Guglielmo Marconi sent the first Atlantic wireless (radio) transmission (three beeps) from Cornwall, England, to Newfoundland, Canada.
1913 – Originally stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris on August 11, 1911: Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece The Mona Lisa was recovered from Vincenzo Peruggia.
2015 – Paris Agreement relating to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted.

Birthdays Today

99 – Bob Barker, American game show host
@88 – Ed Koch, American politician, 105th Mayor of New York City (d. 2013)
“You punch me, I punch back. I do not believe it’s good for one’s self-respect to be a punching bag.”– Ed Koch
@82 – Frank Sinatra, American singer, and actor (d. 1998)
“The best revenge is massive success.”– Frank Sinatra
85 – Connie Francis [Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero ], American singer, actress
@80 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter, illustrator (d. 1944)
“I have no fear of photography as long as it cannot be used in heaven and in hell.”
– Edvard Munch
@79 – Edward G. Robinson, American actor (d. 1973; cancr)
82 – Dionne Warwick, singer
73 – Bill Nighy, English actor
@72 – Henry Wells, co-founder of Wells Fargo and American Express (d. 1878)
70 – Cathy Rigby, American gymnast
65 – Sheila E. (Sheila Cecelia Escovedo), American singer-songwriter, drummer
47 – Mayim Bialik, American actress
“I don’t want to say everything happens for a reason, but every day is lined up right next to the other one for a reason. The best you can do is do each day well with kindness and as a good person.”– Mayim Bialik
@22 – Otto Warmbier, American student imprisoned in North Korea (d. 2017)

  

11 Dec

 

11 December 2022

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 51 Day 345 \ Ave. Sky Cover 5% \ Visibility 10 miles Flagstaff Today 47° \16° 
Wind 5mph \ Gusts s9mph  Air Quality: Fair \ Moderate Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 331mi \ Nearest Lightning 640qmi
Dec Averages for Flagstaff: 43° \ 17° `
Sunshine

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

Andisop (Meteorological Fiddling): 5-24   Link
Computer Science Education Week: 5-11 Link
Human Rights Week: 10-17

Daily Observations

Holiday Food Drive for Needy Animals Day
International Mountain Day
Kaleidoscope Day
Magnum P.I. Day
National App Day  Link
National Have a Bagel Day
National Sobriety Day Link
UNICEF Birthday
Worldwide Candle Lighting Day (The Compassionate Friends) Link 
World Choral Day  Link

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

I don’t like shopping on weekends. Today they are forecasting a big snowstorm…5-10” on Sunday/Monday. I decided it was about time the weather guy gets is right. I needed gas before the storm hit. I went to Sam’s for gas, then inside for some cashews. I found other stuff I didn’t know I needed but wanted. Good outcome.

I became a real fan of The Daily Show when Trevor Noah took over about 7 years ago. He is creative, intelligent, and funny. He announced he was leaving about a month ago, and last night was his final show. I wish him well and will miss his brand of comedy.

Favorite Memes

Did you Know?

While the sculptor Gutzon Borglum was working on Mount Rushmore, he had the idea of adding a special room where future generations could learn about the significance of the United States as well as his own creation. The Hall of Records was intended as its own architectural wonder, accented with double doors, a long staircase, and a gold-plated eagle with a 38-foot wingspan. The inside would serve as a museum, housing bronze and glass cabinets full of the country’s key historical documents, busts of important Americans, a list of notable U.S. contributions to the world, and more. Armed with dynamite, miners laid the groundwork for the Hall of Records in 1938 — to the displeasure of Congress, who saw only a 70-foot-deep cave beyond President Lincoln’s hairline. Borglum was instructed to devote his time and federal funding to finishing the quartet of faces. Soon after he died in March 1941, the monument was deemed complete. The Hall of Records remained an empty granite pit for more than half a century.

At the behest of Borglum’s family — who worried that the sculpture’s significance “would become a riddle” to historians — the artist’s vision for the room was partly realized on August 9, 1998. A teak box was filled with 16 porcelain enamel tablets containing documents including the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address, plus details about Borglum and the forging of Mount Rushmore. The box was placed in a non-corrosive titanium container, which was lowered deep into a hole at the Hall of Records’ entrance. To seal the opening, a 1,200-pound granite capstone was added, etched with a quote from Borglum. Alas, tourists are not able to explore the hall that might have been.    

Slang Origins

1932: Layabout

Meaning: a lazy, shiftless person; idler

As the Depression pressed on, unemployment reached unprecedented levels, eventually peaking with nearly a quarter of the population out of work. With more people at home, words like this came into use as Americans waited for the economy to recover.

Corny jokes

3. Why did the golfer bring two pairs of pants?

In case he got a hole in one.

….

4. Why did the Clydesdale give the pony a glass of water?

Because he was a little horse.

Historical Events

1789 – The University of North Carolina was chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly.

1941 – Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

1946 – UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) was founded.

2001 – The People’s Republic of China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Birthdays Today

91 – Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican-American actress, singer, dancer
“It is through art that we will prevail, and we will endure. It lives on after us and defines us as people.”– Rita Moreno
@89 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (d. 2008)
“Let us not forget that violence does not live alone and is not capable of living alone: it is necessarily interwoven with falsehood. Between them lies the most intimate, the deepest of natural bonds. Violence finds its only refuge in falsehood, falsehood its only support in violence. Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his METHOD must inexorably choose falsehood as his PRINCIPLE.”– Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
@86 – David Brewster, Scottish physicist, inventor of the Kaleidoscope
82 – David Gates, American singer-songwriter
82 – Donna Mills, American actress
79 – John Kerry, American politician
78 – Lynda Day George, American actress
78 – Brenda Lee, American singer-songwriter
@76 – John Labatt, Canadian brewer (d. 1915)
@64 – Fiorello La Guardia, New York politician (d. 1947; cancer)
@74 – John Buscema, American comic book artist (d. 2002; cancer)
@76 – Tom Hayden, American politician (d. 2016; heart failure)
73 – Teri Garr, American actress
68 – Jermaine Jackson, American singer-songwriter, Jackson 5
64 – Nikki Sixx (Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna Jr.), American bass player
“I forgive my mom for being a psycho and my dad for being a loser.”– Nikki Sixx
55 – Mo’Nique (Monique Angela Hicks), American comedian
49 – Mos Def, American rapper
26 – Hailee Steinfeld, American actress, singer