16 Jan

 

Flagstaff Today 37°: 9°  Week 3 Day 16 Air Quality: Fair Sunshine Wind 11 mph Gusts 23 mph Cold Wind Active Fire: 132 miles away Risk of Fire: Moderate Nearest lightning: 1082 miles away Jan Averages: Temps: 44°\18° Moisture: 4 Days

Weekly Observations

Cuckoo Dancing Week: 11-17 International Snowmobile Safety and Awareness Week: 11-19 Link  Healthy Weight Week: 12-18 Home Office Safety & Security Week: 12-18

Idiom Week: 12-18 National Mocktail Week: 12-18 No Name Calling Week:  13-17 Link Sundance Film Festival: 16-26 National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week: 17-23

Daily Observations

Appreciate A Dragon Day Civil Service Day Customer Service Day Ditch Your New Year’s Resolutions Day Fig Newton Day Link  Link Get to Know Your Customers Day Hot Buttered Rum Day Hot Heads Chili Day

Kid Inventors’ Day National Bootlegger’s Day National Nothing Day National Quinoa Day Religious Freedom Day Link  Without A Scalpel Day Link  Link Zeta Phi Beta Day

Today’s Quote                                                               

 

Today’s Memes

Thoughts for the day

Another cold morning. By noon it warmed up to a sweltering 37°.

I bundled up and headed out around 10 to get a pedicure. There was an 84-year-old man in the nearest chair. He looked at me and said “You always gotta take care of your feet. I know, I’m 84”. I told him I agreed. My feet and I do feel much better.

I knew it was a dry winter.

            Moisture from Dec 2 to Jan 15                        3 driest on record

            0.1” in 2024-25        0.02” in 2005-06                  0.11” in 1917-18

There is now a ceasefire in Gaza. Thanks to Qatar's leadership there is a long-term (42 day) ceasefire. Everyone involved hopes each of the phases hold.

Mayan Culture of Mexico and beyond…

They had an extensive library of written books.

Revisiting the Maya hieroglyphs, the Maya used their written language to fill books. Using strips of paper made from fig tree bark, the Maya created a vast library of books, including three codices that exist today. 

But hundreds of books were lost over time, either due to the humid climate of the region or the arrival of Europeans who burned the written texts. 

Random Thoughts…

The Soviet Union national ice hockey team participated nine times in the Winter Olympics and won seven gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal.

Biggest film of 1984: Ghostbusters (Comedy) earned ~ $242,000,000

Ray Charles – Real Name: Ray Charles Robinson

We invented the wheel, built the pyramids, discovered electricity and landed on the moon, but still haven’t found a way to stop accidentally biting the inside of your mouth when you least expect it.

I don’t think I’m a robot, but maybe that’s just part of my programming.

Woody Allen – Real Name: Allen Konigsberg

Because 1800 was not a leap year, John Adams served one fewer day as president than all other one-termers.

Lord Acton’s famous quote ‘Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ is immediately followed by ‘Great men are almost always bad men’.

A group of Asteroids is called a Belt.

Origin of city nicknames…

Chicago, Illinois: ‘Windy City’

‘Windy City’ could easily refer to the chill weather blowing in from Lake Michigan, but it most likely has a less obvious origin. In the late 19th century, Chicago regularly played host to major political conventions, and quickly gained a reputation for both its loquacious politicians and boastful citizens, who loved to proclaim their hometown’s status as the undisputed “Metropolis of the West”. In other words, it became known as, quite literally, a city of windbags, a derisive term which, over time, has been adopted with pride. 

Historic Events

Click here for 16 Jan History

Birthdays

Lin-Manuel Miranda, 45 Stage Actor Kate Moss, 51 Model Sade, 66 R&B Singer Debbie Allen, 75 TV Actress John Carpenter, 77 Director Joe Flacco, 40 Football Player

@78 – Andre Michelin, French industrialist, founder of Michelin Tire Company (d. 1931) @76 – Ethel Merman (Ethel Agnes Zimmermann), American actress and singer (d. 1984;  glioblastoma) @71 – Susan Sontag, American novelist, essayist, and critic (d. 2004; lung cancer) @64 – Dizzy Dean (Jay Hanna Dean), American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1974; heart attack) @53 – Dian Fossey, Gorilla advocate (d. 1985; murdered) @22 – Aaliyah, American singer and actress (d. 2001; overloaded private plane crash)

…The End for today…

               

15 Jan

 

Flagstaff Today 33°: 6°  Week 3 Day 15 Air Quality: Fair Sunshine Wind 11 mph Gusts 15mph cold breeze Active Fire: 370 miles away Risk of Fire: Moderate Nearest lightning: 1378 miles away Jan Averages: Temps: 44°\18° Moisture: 4 Days

Weekly Observations

Cuckoo Dancing Week: 11-17 International Snowmobile Safety and Awareness Week: 11-19 Link  Healthy Weight Week: 12-18 Home Office Safety and Security Week: 12-18

Idiom Week: 12-18 National Mocktail Week: 12-18 No Name Calling Week:  13-17 Link

Daily Observations

Strawberry Ice Cream Day  Alpha Kappa Alpha Day Humanitarian Day (Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday. Started in 2009) National Booch (Kombucha) Day Link

National Bagel Day  Link  National Fresh Squeezed Juice Day National Hat Day Thank Your Mentor Day Link

Today’s Quote                                                               

 

Today’s Memes

Thoughts for the day

The ‘feels like’ temp is 19. Very chilly.

I headed out in the cold to get a much-needed haircut. All better now.

Trump is the first in many ways. He is the first President-elect who continues to sell watches, sneakers, new inaugural bible, boots, crypto, commutative coins  and commutative guitars.

Rachael Maddow will be on the air 5 nights a week for the first 100 days of the 2^nd Trump administration. She says she will return to once a week after that.

Pete Hegseth had his hearing to become Defense Secretary. It was a whole lot of same old, same old. It lasted 4-1/2 hours.

Mayan Culture of Mexico and beyond…

Most cities were abandoned by 900 A.D.

The Mayan empire centered around roughly 40 massive stone cities scattered throughout southern Mexico and Central America. The height of the empire was around the year 250 A.D. 

This is the period when we saw the reign of cities like Tikal, Bonampak, Calakmul and Palenque. Each city had anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000 people. But by the year 900 most of these cities had been abandoned.

Random Thoughts…

Considering how there’s no traces of humans in the film, the Lion King could be set in any era. It could be the bronze age, 21st century or a cyborg future where humanity has gone extinct.

Buddy Holly – Real Name: Charles Hardin

A group of Larks is called a Exaltation or Ascension.

You know that your game of monopoly starts to escalate when someone asks for the game instructions.

Joe Francis, founder and CEO of Girls Gone Wild, filed bankruptcy and fled the US to Mexico in order to avoid paying an outstanding gambling debt to Steve Wynn and the subsequent arrest warrant for failure to pay.

Origin of city nicknames…

Akron, Ohio: ‘The Rubber City’

Akron’s status as ‘Rubber City’ is directly tied to another entry on this list; Detroit. By the early 20th century, Akron was already a major rubber producer, with companies such as B.F. Goodrich, Goodyear and Firestone all well established. But as the automobile industry exploded in ‘Motor City’, so did the tire industry. By the 1910s Akron was the fastest-growing city in the US, and by the 1960s almost a third of its population worked in rubber factories. Only Goodyear remains today, but the smell of rubber will always linger.

Historic Events

Click here for 15 Jan History

Birthdays

Dove Cameron, 29 TV Actress Pitbull, 44 Rapper Ben Shapiro, 41 Journalist Drew Brees, 46 Football Player

@96 – Phyllis Coates, American actress (1st Lois Lane))(d.2023) @95 – Edward Teller, Hangarian-American physicist (d. 2003) @80 – John O’Connor, American cardinal (d. 2000) @64 – Gene Krupa, American drummer, composer, actor (d. 1973; heart failure)   @51 (baptized) – Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), French actor, playwright (d. 1673; TB) @48 – Vince Foster, American lawyer and political figure (d. 1993; suicide) @39 – Martin Luther King, Jr., American minister and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968; shot)

…The End for today…

               

14 Jan

 

Flagstaff Today 35°: 7°  Week 3 Day 14 Air Quality: Fair Sunshine Wind 5 mph Gusts 10 mph Active Fire: 350 miles away Risk of Fire: Low Nearest lightning: 1637 miles away Jan Averages: Temps: 44°\18° Moisture: 4 Days

Weekly Observations

Cuckoo Dancing Week: 11-17 International Snowmobile Safety and Awareness Week: 11-19 Link  Healthy Weight Week: 12-18 Home Office Safety and Security Week: 12-18

Idiom Week: 12-18 National Mocktail Week: 12-18 No Name Calling Week:  13-17 Link

Daily Observations

Caesarean Section Day Dress Up Your Pet Day Link International Kite Day National Gluten-Free Day National Poetry at Work Day

National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day Organize Your Home Day Link Ratification Day National Shop For Travel Day  Link World Logic Day

Today’s Quote                                                               

 

Today’s Memes

Thoughts for the day

Dang…it was cold last night. It is slowly warming up.

The Broncos lost big to the Bills in the Sunday Wild Card game. I got to watch it on live TV.

I am so thankful for remote start on days like this. While it was still cold outside my vehicle was warm and toasty when I headed out to buy some groceries.

 I got a nice text message from Cheryl’s son, Joey. He and his family have been on vacation and was happy to report that their area in Lanchester was just smoky with no fire damage. I had texted him last week, but he never answered. I checked the maps and saw that Lanchester had no recent fires.

Mayan Culture of Mexico and beyond…

Chichen Itza is a Wonder of the World.

Deep in the heart of the state of Yucatan in Mexico sits the Mayan site of Chichen Itza. It's perhaps one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world and just happens to be one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. 

It's an architectural marvel, as its position was determined by the sun and the moon. Each building has its own symbolic meaning. This is one of the best-preserved Mayan cities and one of Mexico's top-visited attractions.

Random Thoughts…

The original drawings of Snoopy were based on Charles Schulz’s childhood dogs, Snooky and Spike.

The stars of “Rebel Without a Cause” all met an untimely death. James Dean died in a car crash, Natalie Wood drowned, and Sal Mineo was stabbed.

The only state that doesn’t contain any of the letters in the word “mackerel” is Ohio.

Sundance Kid – Real Name: Henry Longbaugh

Butch Cassidy – Real Name: Robert Leroy Parker

Origin of city nicknames…

New Orleans, Louisiana: ‘The Big Easy’

There’s no definitive answer as to where New Orleans came by its famous nickname. Suggestions range from the legendary 'Big Easy Dance Hall', where jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden played in 1911, to the city’s relaxed approach to prohibition in the 1920s and 30s. But the name didn’t really stick until the late 1960s, when local gossip columnist Betty Guillaud used it to contrast the city’s laid-back vibe with the high-stress atmosphere of the ‘Big Apple’. James Conway’s famous crime novel The Big Easy followed in 1970, and the rest is history.

Historic Events

Click Here to see 14 Jan History

Birthdays

Faye Dunaway, 84 Actress Dan Schneider, 59 TV Producer Dave Grohl, 56 Rock Singer LL Cool J, 57 Rapper Jason Bateman, 56 TV Actor Holland Taylor, 82 TV Actress

@100 – Hal Roach, American director, and producer (d. 1992) @92 – Andy Rooney, American journalist, critic, and television personality (d. 2011) @90 – Albert Schweitzer, French-Gabonese physician, philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965) @86 – Jack Jones, American singer, actor (d. 2024) @77 – Mark Goodson, American game show producer, created Family Feud and The Price Is Right (d. 1992; cancer) @75 – Julian Bond, American academic and politician (d. 2015; vascular disease) @65 – Richard Felton Outcault, First American comic strip creator (The Yellow Kid, Hogan’s Alley) (d. 1928) *word balloons weren’t invented yet. @60 – Benedict Arnold, American-British general (d. 1801; dropsy) @53 – Mark Antony, Roman general politician (d. 30 BCE)

…The End for today…