A0ug 28

 

2023

Flagstaff Almanac

Week 35 Day 240 Ave. Sky Cover 15%\ Visibility  16mi. Flagstaff Today  84° \ 53° 
Wind  2mph \ Gusts  6mph  Nearest active fire: 16miles Risk of fire: High Nearest Lightning: 192 mi
Air Quality: Moderate   Moisture Days this month: 11 days Sunny 
August Averages: Temps 79° \ 50° Moisture 9 Days   

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

16-9/4
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Link
21-27
National Composites Week Link
25-31
Be Kind To Humankind Week
26-27
International Bat Night

Daily Observations

Bow Tie Day Cherry Turnovers Day Crackers Over The Keyboard Day  Link National Power Rangers Day Link National Thoughtful Day Link National Weed Out Hate Day

Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day  Link Radio Commercials Day Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day (lost pets) Link Read Comics in Public Day Link Red Wine Day

Today’s Thoughts

Great summer day. Warm, sunny, NICE! Had a little light rain last night.

Yesterday the Broncos beat the Rams…41-0. Rams were not ready for the NFL.

Yesterday a new class of ship was christened. The USNS Navajo is a towing, salvage, and rescue ship and the first on the new class. Nice!

Enjoy

Unique National Treasures for the US …

Rodeo

 

A quarter of a million turn up in Wyoming annually to watch bull riding, steer wrestling, barrel racing and more during Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo (established in 1897), where 1,500 contestants vie for $1 million–plus in money and prizes. Rodeos go back almost 150 years in the U.S., when cowboys would compete to see who could rope or ride the best. Rodeo is about prowess but also about community. And for community spirit it’s hard to beat Tennessee’s Franklin Rodeo, says Siri Stevens of Rodeo News. The Franklin Rodeo (with 18,000 annual attendees) pours funds (more than $2.5 million since 1949) into community charities including college scholarships, food banks, medical care, literacy programs and school libraries.

Random Trivia…

In Ancient Asia, death by elephant was a popular form of execution. They could be taught to slowly break bones, crush skulls, twist off limbs, or even execute people using large blades fitted to their tusks. In some parts of Asia, this method of execution was still popular up to the late 19th century.

Historic Events

• 1922 – The first radio ad took place on WEAF in NYC. It was a real estate commercial paid for by the Queensbosr Realty Corporation.
• 1955 – 14-year-old Emmett Till was beaten and killed for a reputed flirtatious comment to a white girl, in Money, Mississippi.
• 1963 – The March on Washington was attended by 250,000 people and where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Birthdays with some quotes

@81 – Ben Gazzara, American actor (d. 2012)
80 – David Soul (David Richard Solberg), American actor
@80 – Peggy Ryan, American character actress (d. 2004)
@78 – Charles Boyer, French-American actor (d. 1978; suicide)
71 – Rita Dove, American poet
@69 – Nancy Kulp, American actress (d. 1991; cancer)
67 – Luis Guzmán, Puerto Rican-American actor
@66 – Roxie Roker, American actress (d. 1995; breast cancer)
65 – Scott Hamilton, American figure skater
“I had a ninth-grade teacher who told me I was much smarter and much better than I was allowing myself to be.”
62 – Jennifer Coolidge, American actress
57 – Shania Twain, Canadian singer-songwriter
54 – Jack Black, American comedic actor
“I played, like, a year of piano until I learned the Pink Panther theme. That was my goal. Once I was good enough, I quit. Now my music has to have some rock.”
54 – Jason Priestley, Canadian actor
50 – J. August Richards, American actor
@46 – Elizabeth Ann Seton, American nun, and saint, co-founded the Sisters of Charity Federation in the Vincentian-Setonian Tradition (d. 1821)
“Live simply, so that all may simply live.”
“If I had to advise parents, I should tell them to take great care about the people with whom their children associate… Much harm may result from bad company, and we are inclined by nature to follow what is worse than what is better.”
41 – LeAnn Rimes, American singer-songwriter
37 – Armie Hammer, American actor
37 – Florence Welch, English singer-songwriter
“I try to maintain a healthy dose of daydreaming, to remain sane.” 

…The End for today…

 

Aug 27

 

2023

Flagstaff Almanac

Week 35 Day 239  Ave. Sky Cover 25%\ Visibility  27mi. Flagstaff Today  82° \ 51° 
Wind  2mph \ Gusts  8mph  Nearest active fire: 16miles Risk of fire: High Nearest Lightning:  66mi
Air Quality: Moderate   Moisture Days this month: 10 days Sunshine 
August Averages: Temps 79° \ 50° Moisture 9 Days   

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

16-9/4
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Link
21-27
National Composites Week Link
25-31
Be Kind To Humankind Week
26-27
International Bat Nights

Daily Observations

Banana Lovers Day The Duchess Who Wasn’t Day Go Topless Day Link  International Bat Night Just Because Day

Petroleum Day Link Pony Express Day Pots du Creme Day  World Rock Scissors Paper Day Link

Today’s Thoughts

There was another monsoon last evening. More expected tonight.

Our discussion group had to cancel as the presenter is suffering from gout. Rescheduled and all is good.

Warm summer days and evenings give me a chance to keep my front door open. Things are changing. There are one or two families with pre-teen kids. Within the last week or so, kids have been coming to my screened security door and asking for things. A boy came up and asked if I want to buy the golf club he was holding. Another asked me if I wanted to buy an unwrapped sandwich. Yesterday a girl asked if I could give her some money. I have no idea which unit or units they live in. Next time it happens I’m going to snap their picture and watch to see where they go.

Today marks the 60^th Anniversary of King’s March on Washington. I remember it but can’t believe it has been that long ago.

Bob Barker passed at 99. I remember him from The Price Is Right. RIP

Cards win over Vikings. Decent preseason game. Last few ‘knee plays’ is boring.

Enjoy

Unique National Treasures for the US …

Chocolate Chip Cookie

It’s the ultimate comfort food—warm, soft, sweet, homey. And it turns 79 this year. In 1938 Ruth Wakefield, owner of the Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts, added cut-up bits of chocolate to the cookie she served with ice cream. A year later, she sold the rights to use her cookie recipe and the Toll House name to Nestle for $1. The cookie’s popularity was boosted by the hard times of the Great Depression and then WWII. Now it’s engrained in America, from care packages shipped to soldiers and college students to Pillsbury refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough to Chips Ahoy, Famous Amos, Mrs. Fields and Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream.

Random Trivia…

The WWII German Luftwaffe had a master interrogator, Hanns Scharff, whose tactic was being as nice as possible. Scharff’s best tactics for getting information out of prisoners included: nature walks without guards present, baking them homemade food, cracking jokes, drinking beers, and afternoon tea with German fighter aces. His techniques were so successful that the US military later incorporated his methods into their own interrogation schools.

Historic Events

• 1776 – In what is now Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeated Americans under General George Washington in The Revolutionary War’s Battle of Long Island..

• 1859 – Petroleum was discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world’s first commercially successful oil well.

• 2003 – The initial six-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, convene to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.

Birthdays with some quotes

@86 – Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky), American-French photographer, painter (d. 1976)
82 – Harrison Page, American character actor
80 – Tuesday Weld, American actress
@78 – Martha Raye, American actress, and comedian (d. 1994; pneumonia)
“Ask any girl what she’d rather be than beautiful, and she’ll say more beautiful.”
@78 – Ira Levin, American novelist, playwright, songwriter (d. 2007; heart attack)
” Being happy or unhappy – is that really the most important thing? Knowing the truth would be a different kind of happiness – a more satisfying kind, I think, even if it turned out to be a sad kind.”
76 – Barbara Bach (Goldbach), American actress
@70 – Paul Ruebens, actor (d. 2023; cancer)
@64 – Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President (d. 1973; heart attack)
62 – Yolanda Adams, American singer
“Anyone can love you when things are alright. It takes courage to love when things are not good and it does not feel right.”
62 – Tom Ford, Fashion Designer
54 – Chandra Wilson, American actress
47 – Sarah Chalke, Canadian actress
“Human beings are not meant to lose their anonymity and privacy.”
44 – Aaron Paul, American actor
“What’s so great about television. You’re able to tell a long story, where you couldn’t really do that in a film because you have to tell a story in an hour and a half or two hours.”
@32 – Charles Rolls, co-founded Rolls-Royce Limited (d. 1910; air show crash)
“Poor quality is remembered long after low prices are forgotten.”
31 – Blake Jenner, American actor, and singer

 

…The End for today…

 

Aug 26

 

2023

Flagstaff Almanac

Week 34 Day 238  Ave. Sky Cover 30%\ Visibility  21mi. Flagstaff Today  73° \ 53° 
Wind  8mph \ Gusts  13mph  Nearest active fire: 16miles Risk of fire: Moderate Nearest Lightning:  5mi
Air Quality: Fair           Moisture Days this month: 10days Sunshine 
August Averages: Temps 79° \ 50° Moisture 9 Days   

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

16-9/4
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Link
20-26
Brake Safety Week Link
World Water Week Link
World Princess Week Link 
21-27
21-27
National Composites Week Link
25-31
Be Kind To Humankind Week
26-27
International Bat Night

Daily Observations

Burnt Ends Day Link  Cherry Popsicle Day Dog Appreciation Day Got Checked Day Cherry Popsicle Day Dog Appreciation Day Got Checked Day Link International Bat Night

National Dog Day Link   Link National Toilet Paper Day Link  National Web Mistress Day  National Web Mistress Day   Link Women’s Equality Day

Today’s Thoughts

 A nice monsoon rain again last evening. More expected today. Nice to have moisture. For the first time in decades, this month’s rain days has surpassed the average. Hooray.

A former US President’s mug shot is in all the print media and all of social media. I’m not, or have been a Trump supporter, but I have to say…seeing his mug shot is very embarrassing for our country.

Enjoy

 Unique National Treasures for the US …

Dolly Parton

There’s the hair, the figure, the smile, the rags-to-riches story and, of course, the voice. There are the Grammy wins (eight), the songs (she’s written more than 5,000), the No. 1 hits (25), and the acting gigs (Steel Magnolias, 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas). But Dolly Parton’s standout achievement may be her philanthropic work. Her Imagination Library, established in 1995, has sent more than 85 million books to kids in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. The program began where Parton did, in Sevier County, Tennessee, offering one free book per month to every child in the county from birth to age 5. After wildfires ripped through the Great Smoky Mountains last year, Parton’s Dollywood Foundation gave $1,000 a month for six months to every family that lost their home—more than 900 of them. Her motto: “I think when you’re able to help that you should.”

Random Trivia…

From the 1940s to the 1970s, Yale, plus other Ivy League schools like Harvard, Vassar, and Brown, required their freshmen to pose nude for a photoshoot. The goal was to gather material for a massive study into how rickets developed, and that involved sticking pins to the backs of the subjects, male and female. Generations of the country’s elite who went to the Ivy Leagues posed, and the archives included the naked photos of well-known figures ranging from George W. Bush,  Hillary Clinton, and Meryl Streep. The photos were destroyed after news leaked and the study was denounced.

Historic Events

• 1789 – The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was approved by the National Constituent Assembly of France.
• 1883 – Krakatoa erupted in Indonesia. It created tidal waves that killed thousands of people and was heard 3,000 miles away. It affected the atmosphere for years afterward.
• 1939 – The first televised baseball game was played between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds on WXBS in New York.

Birthdays with some quotes

@101 – Katerine Johnson, mathematician (NASA) (d. 2020)
“Peace begins with a smile”
@87 – Mother Teresa, Macedonian-Indian nun, Catholic saint, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
81 – Vic Dana, American dancer
@75 – Geraldine Ferraro, American politician (d. 2011; multiple myeloma)
@71 – Jim Davis (Marlin Davis), American actor; Jock Ewing on Dallas (d. 1981; cancer)
71 – Will Shortz, American journalist and New York Times puzzle creator
“Try to pick a profession in which you enjoy even the most mundane, tedious parts. Then you will always be happy.”
53 – Melissa McCarthy, movie actor
52 – Thalía, Mexican American singer-songwriter
47 – Mike Colter, American actor
“Never say “never” about anything, because if you do, life has a way of humbling you.”
43 – Macaulay Culkin, American actor
“I hope I’m remembered as the king of the world, the nobleman who united all the nations of the earth. But that probably won’t happen.”
43 – Chris Pine, American actor
41 – John Mulaney, American comedian
“I paid $120,000 for someone to tell me to read Jane Austen, and then I didn’t.”
30 – Keke Palmer, movie actress 

…The End for today…

 

Aug 25

 

2023

Today’s QuoteFlagstaff Almanac

Week 34 Day 237  Ave. Sky Cover 90%\ Visibility  10mi. Flagstaff Today  71° \ 53° 
Wind  3mph \ Gusts  5mph  Nearest active fire: 16miles Risk of fire: Very Low Nearest Lightning:  175mi
Air Quality: Moderate Moisture Days this month: 9 days Rain
August Averages: Temps 79° \ 50° Moisture 9 Days    

Weekly Observations

16-9/4
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Link
20-26
Brake Safety Week Link
World Water Week Link
World Princess Week Link 
21-25
21-25
National Safe at Home Week
21-27
National Composites Week Link
25-31
Be Kind To Humankind Week

Daily Observations

Banana Split Day Kiss and Make Up Day National Park Service Day National Second-hand Wardrobe Day

National Whiskey Sour Day  Park Service Founders Day Secondhand Wardrobe Day

Today’s Quote

 Today’s Thoughts

Monsoon is doing well…rained most of the night…gentle rain. Another one around 11am for about an hour.

I had lunch with Mary and Mike. Good food, good conversations. Faith and Andy are in Phx to watch their grandson play his 1^st Jr. year Varsity football game.

Last night’s first debate looked to me more like a VP vetting than a Presidential debate. Debates have rules that are rarely followed. I don’t want a President who interrupts others and yelling your position is not Presidential.

Trump’s arrest will be in the evening, so as not to mess up traffic with a motorcade. Interesting? That also gives all the news channels have all day to show his movements, rather than give us other news. It is an historical event, but after 3 previous ones, not really that newsworthy.

Enjoy

Unique National Treasures for the US …

Little League Baseball

On June 6, 1939, the first Little League baseball game was played at Park Point in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (Lundy Lumber defeated Lycoming Dairy 23–8.) Since then, the pint-sized version of America’s favorite pastime has knocked it out of the park as the world’s largest organized youth sports program, boasting 200,000 teams in all 50 states and 80 countries. This year’s Little League Baseball World Series is August 17–27 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Random Trivia…

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, a Russian mystic and friend to Czar Nicolas II, reportedly survived being poisoned, shot, and stabbed numerous times before he was finally drowned in the Volga river.

Historic Events

• 1835 – The first Great Moon Hoax article was published in The New York Sun, announcing the discovery of life and civilization on the Moon.
• 1939 – The Wizard of Oz was released in theaters.
• 1944- Paris was liberated from Nazi forces.
• 2012 – Richard III’s remains were found under a parking lot in Leicester, England. The last king of England to die in battle.

Birthdays with some quotes

@92 – Van Johnson, American actor (d. 2008)
90 – Tom Skerritt, American actor
@90 – Sean Connery, Scottish actor (d. 2020)
“There is nothing like a challenge to bring out the best in man.”
@88 – Regis Philbin, TV host (d. 2020)
74 – Gene Simmons, Israeli-American singer-songwriter, KISS
“Wealth for its own sake is an empty shell. Wealth that includes making other people’s lives better will reward you even more than the beautiful mansion you live in.”
@72 – Leonard Bernstein, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1990; heart attack)
“Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time… The wait is simply too long.
72 – Bill Handel, Brazilian-American lawyer, and radio host
69 – Elvis Costello, English singer-songwriter
65 – Tim Burton, American director, producer, and screenwriter
@64 – Allan Pinkerton, Scottish-American detective, and spy (d. 1884; gangrene)
62 – Billy Ray Cyrus, American singer-songwriter,
@60 – Walt Kelly, American illustrator, and animator, Pogo (d. 1973; diabetes)
59 – Blair Underwood, American actor
“All you can do is do the best you can and I did that. I had a great time. I made a product and I was not embarrassed by it at all so you do it and you move on.”
55 – Rachael Ray, American chef, author, and television host
@53 – Ivan the Terrible, Russian ruler (d. 1584; stroke)
53 – Claudia Schiffer, German model
“I’m amazed when I see mothers wearing high heels. If your kids run off you can’t run after them.”
45 – Kel Mitchell, American comedic actor
42 – Rachel Bilson, American actress
36 – Blake Lively, American actress
25 – China Anne McClain, American actress

…The End for today…

 …The End for today…

 

Aug 24

 

2023

Flagstaff Almanac

Week 34 Day 236  Ave. Sky Cover 20%\ Visibility  24mi. Flagstaff Today  78° \ 51° 
Wind  4mph \ Gusts  7mph  Nearest active fire: 16miles Risk of fire: Low Nearest Lightning:  46mi
Air Quality: Fair           Moisture Days this month: 9 days Sunshine 
August Averages: Temps 79° \ 50° Moisture 9 Days   

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

16-9/4
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Link
18-24
Minority Enterprise Development Week
20-26
Brake Safety Week Link
World Water Week Link
World Princess Week Link 
21-25
21-25
National Safe at Home Week
21-27
National Composites Week Link

Daily Observations

International Strange Music Day Link Knife Day Link Maryland Day National Waffle Iron Day Link  Peach Pie Day

Pluto Demoted Day Vesuvius Day Waffle Day Wayzgoose Day Link William Wilberforce Day

Today’s Thoughts

 Looks like it will be a nice sunny day.

There were lots of lightning and warnings of heavy rain during yesterday’s afternoon. The only rain was to dampen the street and sidewalk for 15 minutes around 5pm.

News networks are filled with private plane crash in Russia. Wagner Group leader Prigozhin is on the passenger manifest. He and a couple more were probably killed in the crash that appears to have been shot from the sky. Some are saying it was Putin who shot it down, others are saying it was Prigozhin faking his own death. We may never know the truth.

Enjoy

Unique National Treasures for the US …

The full-scale anthropomorphic test device (ATD) was invented by the late Samuel W. Alderson in 1960 to gauge the impact of car wrecks on humans. It was widely put into use after the publication of consumer advocate Ralph Nader’s book, Unsafe at Any Speed.

In the 1980s and 90s, commercials starring crash test dummies Vince and Larry (“You can learn a lot from a dummy”) led to an increase in safety belt usage (from 14 percent to 79 percent), saving an estimated 85,000 lives, according to the Ad Council.

Random Trivia…

While in power, Pope Gregory IX declared that cats were to be associated with devil worship and had them exterminated. Some believed that the disappearance of those cats helped rats spread the bubonic plague, aka the Black Death, that killed millions of people in the 1300s.

Historic Events

• 1682 – William Penn received the area that is now the state of Delaware, and added it to his colony of Pennsylvania.
• 1932 – Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop, from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey.
• 1989 – Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose was banned from baseball ‘forever’ for gambling by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.
• 1995 – Microsoft Windows 95 was released to the public in North America. 

Birthdays with some quotes

85 – Mason Williams, American guitarist, and composer
@83 – Louis Teicher, American pianist (Ferrante & Teicher) (d. 2008)
@81 – Kenny Baker, English actor, R2-D2 (d. 2016)
78 – Vince McMahon, American wrestler, promoter, co-founded WWE
” I’m not afraid of failing. I don’t like to fail. I hate to fail. But I’m not afraid of it.”
@77 – Duke (Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola) Kahanamoku , American swimmer, actor, surfer (d. 1968; heart attack)
“Just take your time – wave comes. Let the other guys go, catch another one.”
@75 – Yasser Arafat, 1st President of the Palestinian National Authority (d. 2004; stroke)
@56 – (Charles Adams Claverie )Charles Rocket, American actor (d. 2005; suicide)
68 – Mike Huckabee, American minister, and politician
66 – Stephen Fry, English actor, journalist, and screenwriter
63 – Cal Ripken, Jr., American baseball player
“Get in the game. Do the best you can. Try to make a contribution. Learn from today. Apply it to tomorrow.”
58 – Marlee Matlin, American actress
” You can do anything if you set your mind to it. Look out for kids, help them dream, and be inspired. We teach calculus in schools, but I believe the most important formula is courage plus dreams equals success.”
50 – Dave Chappelle, American comedian, and actor
“I’m famous today. People like me today. Might not like me tomorrow. You can’t count on it.”
46 – John Green, American author, and vlogger
42 – Chad Michael Murray, American model, and actor

…The End for today…