5 Feb

 

5 February 2023

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 6 Day 36 \ Ave. Sky Cover 5% \ Visibility 21 miles Flagstaff Today 54° \22°  Wind 5mph \ Gusts 10mph 
Air Quality: Moderate \ Low Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 515mi \ Nearest Lightning 2157mi
Feb. Averages for Flagstaff: 47° \ 19° \5 Days of moisture
Sunshine

Today’s Quote

 

Monthly Observations

Pet Dental Health Month
Plant the Seeds of Greatness Month
Pull Your Sofa Off The Wall Month
Relationship Wellness Month
Responsible Pet Owner's Month  Link
Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month
Spay/Neuter Awareness Month
Spunky Old Broads Month
Sweet Potato Month (see also November)
Wise Health Care Consumer Month
Worldwide Renaissance of the Heart Month
Youth Leadership Month

 

Weekly Observations

1-5

US Nationals Snow Sculpting Days
1-7

Women's Heart Week
World Interfaith Harmony Week
2-8

Publicity for Profit Week
4-11  

Freelance Writer Appreciation Week
5-11

African Heritage & Health Week
Burn Awareness Week Link  
Children's Authors & Illustrators Week
5-12  

Dump Your Significant Jerk Week

Daily Observations

Adlai Stevenson Day Link
Grammy Awards Day
California Western Monarch Day
Disaster Day
Move Hollywood & Broadway to Lebanon, PA Day
National Chocolate Fondue Day
Nutella Day
Shower With A Friend Day Link
Tu B'Shavat-6
Weatherman's [Weatherperson's] Day
Western Monarch Day Link
World Animal Reiki Day  Link
World Nutella Day Link
World Read Aloud Day

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Warming up and snow and icicles are melting. I took my vehicle over to the free car wash at the dealership. Nice to get all the winter road grime off.  

Some flights cancelled due to the Chinese ‘weather’ balloon passing over east coast. I wonder if the US will shoot it down when it hits the open water of the Atlantic. Probably wouldn’t be able to retrieve much, but it would be out of commission.

Pope Francis is visiting The Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. Over 1 million attended a mass in Congo where 62% of citizens are Roman Catholic.

Large African Cities…

Arizona is a great state…

·        The westernmost battle of the Civil War was fought at Picacho Pass on April 15, 1862, near Picacho Peak in Pinal County

·        There are 11.2 million acres of National Forest in Arizona, and one-fourth of the state forested.

·        Wyatt Earp was neither the town marshal nor the sheriff in Tombstone at the time of the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral. His brother Virgil was the town marshal.

·        On June 6, 1936, the first barrel of tequila produced in the United States rolled off the production line in Nogales, Arizona.

Facts…

Cleopatra Isn’t Egyptian

Although she ruled Egypt as pharaoh from 51 BCE to 30 BCE, Cleopatra wasn’t of Egyptian descent. She was instead Greek, specifically Macedonian. Cleopatra was the last of a line of rulers of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, a dynasty founded by her distant ancestor Ptolemy I Soter. While the kings of this dynasty often fashioned their names after its originator, Ptolemaic queens preferred names such as Arsinoë, Berenice, and of course, Cleopatra (hence the “VII”).

Although Cleopatra wasn’t ethnically Egyptian, she does hold the honorable distinction of being the only Ptolemaic ruler who could actually speak the Egyptian language — along with half a dozen or so other languages. 

Slang Origins

1984: Wastoid

Meaning: someone who uses drugs

John Hughes’ seminal classic “The Breakfast Club” is much-loved for its depiction of the angst and social isolation of one's teenage years. It also deftly uses teen slang from the ‘80s, and seems to have coined some of its own, like wastoid. The word combines “wasted” (being intoxicated) and “-oid” (a suffix meaning "like that").

Mysterious sites…

Stonehenge (England)

No list of mysterious sites would be complete without the Neolithic monument at Stonehenge, which is known worldwide and continues to mystify visitors. The enormous stones are estimated to have been placed between 2500 BCE and 2200 BCE. Hundreds of even older burial mounds have also been uncovered in the surrounding area. Some of the stones come from several hundred miles away in Wales, leading archaeologists to speculate how they were transported. Others are from nearer parts of Wiltshire. What was Stonehenge’s purpose? Many believe it was a spiritual site, and people still flock to it as the sun rises on the summer solstice, when sunlight rises above the Heel stone at Stonehenge and falls directly onto the middle of the circle.

Historical Events

1852 – The New Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, opened to the public.
1919 – Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith founded United Artists.
1924 – The Royal Greenwich Observatory began broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal.
1985 – The Punic War, which began in 149 BC, ended when the mayors of Rome and Carthage signed a treaty in Tunis, Tunisia.
1993 – President Bill Clinton signed The Family Leave Act (effective Aug 5, 1993).

Birthdays Today

@87 – Red Buttons (Aaron Chwatt), American comedic actor (d. 2006)
@86 – Hank Aaron, American baseball player (d. 2021)
“My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling bad or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.”– Hank Aaron
@83 – William S. Burroughs, American novelist, short story writer, essayist (d. 1997)
@82 – John Carradine, American actor (d. 1988)
@81 – Barrett Strong, American soul singer-songwriter (d. 2023)
80 – Roger Staubach, American football player and sportscaster
Spectacular achievements come from unspectacular preparation.– Roger Staubach
“Only temporary success is achieved by taking short cuts.”– Roger Staubach
80 – Nolan Bushnell, American engineer, founded Atari, Inc.
@76 – Hiram Maxim, American engineer, invented the Maxim gun (d. 1916)
75 – Christopher Guest, American actor, director
“I am interested in the notion that people can become so obsessed by their world that they lose sense and awareness of how they appear to other people. They’re so earnest about it. But that’s true of so many things.”– Christopher Guest
@71 – John Witherspoon, American patriot, invented the word ‘Americanism’ (d. 1794)
@69 – Stephen J. Cannell, American actor, producer, screenwriter (d. 2010; melanoma)
“Since I was the stupidest kid in my class, it never occurred to me to try and be perfect, so I’ve always been happy as a writer just to entertain myself. That’s an easier place to start.”– Stephen J. Cannell
@65 – Adlai Stevenson II, American soldier, politician, diplomat (d. 1965; heart attack)
“My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.”– Adlai Stevenson
62 – Tim Meadows, American actor
61 – Jennifer Jason Leigh, American actress
“You know, you really do choose your existence in a way.”– Jennifer Jason Leigh
59 – Laura Linney, American actress
56 – Chris Parnell, American actor, comedian
54 – Bobby Brown, American singer
52 – Sara Evans, American country singer
@17 – Trayvon Martin, (d. 2012; killed by police)

  

4 Feb

 

4 February 2023

Daily Almanac for Flagstaff
Week 5 Day 35 \ Ave. Sky Cover 40% \ Visibility 21 miles Flagstaff Today 49° \15°  Wind 3mph \ Gusts 5mph 
Air Quality: Good  \Very Low Risk of fire \ Nearest active fire 1107mi \ Nearest Lightning 1783mi
Feb. Averages for Flagstaff: 47° \ 19° \5 Days of moisture
Sunshine & high clouds

Today’s Quote

 

Monthly Observations

National African American History Month Link
National African American Read-In  Link
National Bird Feeding Month
National Black History Month
National Care About Your Indoor Air Month
National Cherry Month
National Condom Month  
National Children's Dental Health Month
National Embroidery Month Link
National Enrolled Agents Month Link
National Goat Yoga Month
National Green Week Link
National Haiku Writing Month Link
National Hot Breakfast Month Link  Link
National Mend A Broken Heart Month
National Parent Leadership Month
National Pet Dental Health Month
National Prevent A Litter Month Link
National Self Check Month Link
National Snack Food Month 
National Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month Link
National Therapeutic Recreation Month Link
National Time Management Month
National Weddings Month
National Women Inventors Month
North American Inclusion Month (NAIM) Link

 

Weekly Observations

28—2/4
Cordova Ice Worm Days  Link
Catholic Schools Week
Meat Week
National Anesthesiologists Week Link
1-5
US Nationals Snow Sculpting Days
1-7
Women's Heart Week
World Interfaith Harmony Week
2-8
Publicity for Profit Week
4-11  

Freelance Writer Appreciation Week

Daily Observations

ARFMA Fancy Rat and Mouse Day
Barber Day  
Create A Vacuum Day Facebook's Birthday
Homemade Soup Day

I Heart Horror Day
International Day of Human Fraternity
Liberace Day
Medjoola Date Day
National Hemp Day Link
National Ice Cream For Breakfast Day   Link
National Play Outside Day Link 
National Quacker Day

Stuffed Mushroom Day

Take Your Child To The Library Day
Thank A Mailman Day

USO Day
World Cancer Day Link
World Play Your Ukulele Day Link

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Sun shining through high clouds. It’s warm and snow is melting.

I had my teeth cleaned this morning. Quick and easy with their laser technology.

A “weather” balloon from China is flying over the Northern US. It was announced yesterday that it was over Montana. Now it is much farther east. It is the size of 2 school busses and flying at 60,000 feet and therefore not endangering air travel. We are saying it is a spy balloon while China is saying it is an off-course weather balloon. The US is saying it is not shooting it down for fear of damage from the debris. The US is saying it is not the only similar balloon in the past few years. The idea that the US is saying that the balloon cannot get any new information that the Chinese spy satellites can’t already see. That sounds a little fishy to me. Time will tell what happens with the balloon. Sec. Blinken has postponed his trip to China that should have been next week.

The Dallas Zoo has had problems with their animals. After several tamarin monkeys were stolen, the Dallas police have arrested a suspect. The monkeys were recovered and doing fine. Strange.

Large African Cities…

Arizona is a great state…

v The hottest temperature recorded in Arizona was 128 degrees at Lake Havasu City on June 29, 1994

v The coldest temperature recorded in Arizona was 40 degrees below zero at Hawley Lake on January 7, 1971.

v A saguaro cactus can store up to nine tons of water.

v The state of Massachusetts could fit inside Maricopa County (9,922 sq. miles).

Facts…

It is suspected that the largest counterfeiter of U.S. currency is the nation of North Korea.

Martha Washington is the only woman whose portrait has appeared on a U.S. currency note. It appeared on the face of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1886 and 1891, and the back of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1896.

The highest denomination bill ever printed was a $100,000 note that was printed from December 18, 1934 to January 9, 1935. It was used for transactions between Federal Reserve Banks. President Woodrow Wilson was pictured on the front.

The following bills have not been in print since 1946: $500 (William McKinley); $1,000 (Grover Cleveland); $5,000 (James Madison); and $10,000 (Salmon P. Chase, former Treasury Secretary).

The highest current denomination is the $100 bill.   

Slang Origins

1983: Like

Meaning: a filler word to fill gaps in a speech or thought

Frank Zappa’s song "Valley Girl," sung by his daughter Moon Zappa, parodied the speech of young women in Southern California's San Fernando Valley. This “valley girl” dialect was characterized by an upward inflection at the end of a sentence, leading to it being dubbed "uptalk" by scholars. It was thought to be spoken only by young women and was initially used to deride them, but studies have since shown that all genders use it at least on occasion.

Mysterious sites…

Palenque (Mexico)

The Maya people of what is now Mexico were incredibly advanced when it came to writing, building, and knowledge of astronomy. Yet scientists still know little about other parts of their culture. By the time Spanish conquistadors arrived from Europe, the Maya civilization had already fallen, and historians still debate the cause. Some of the finest Maya ruins are at Palenque, in the Mexican state of Chiapas, an elaborate complex that includes a palace and several temples. Thought to have been constructed between 500 and 700 CE, it features plaster carvings and decorations that are still remarkably well-preserved. The city at Palenque is a marvel of design but remains shrouded in mystery since we may never know why it was abandoned around 900 CE.

Historical Events

1789 – George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the US Electoral College.
1941 – The USO (United Service Organization) was founded.
1992 – A coup d’état was led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
February 4, 2000, The Sims was released, Computer Game
2000 – The World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium, Charter of Paris is signed by the President of France, Jacques Chirac, and the Director-General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, initiating World Cancer Day which is held on February 4 every year.

Birthdays Today

@92 – Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (d. 2005)
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”– Rosa Parks
@85 – Betty Friedan, American author, feminist (d. 2006)
“Men are not the enemy, but the fellow victims. The real enemy is women’s denigration of themselves.”– Betty Frieden
@78 – David Brenner, American comedian, actor (d. 2014; cancer)
“It isn’t how much time you spend somewhere that makes it memorable: it’s how you spend the time.”– David Brenner
@77 – Ida Lupino, English-American actress (d. 1995; stroke)
“I didn’t see myself as any advance guard, or feminist.”– Ida Lupino
@77 – George A. Romero, American director, producer (d. 2017; lung cnacer)
76 – Dan Quayle, American politician, 44th Vice President of the United States
75 – Alice Cooper [Vincent Damon Furnier], American singer-songwriter
“Mistakes are part of the game. It’s how well you recover from them, that’s the mark of a great player.”– Alice Cooper
@72 – Charles Lindbergh, American pilot and explorer (d. 1974; lymphoma)
“Our ideals, laws, and customs should be based on the proposition that each generation, in turn, becomes the custodian rather than the absolute owner of our resources and each generation has the obligation to pass this inheritance on to the future.”– Charles Lindbergh
@58 – Nigel Bruce, English actor (d. 1953; heart attack)
52 – Rob Corddry, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
50 – Oscar De La Hoya, American boxer
“When people say I can’t or I mustn’t, I always say I can and I will.”– Oscar De La Hoya
46 – Gavin DeGraw, American singer-songwriter