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Dec. Averages: Temps: 43°\20° Moisture:4 Days moisture 0.7” Flagstaff Today 61°: 32° Week 51 Day 353 Wind: 6 mph Gusts 11 mph Nearest lightning: 1353 miles away Active Fire: 132 miles away Risk of
Fire: High Air Quality: Moderate Sunshine |
Weekly Observations
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Andisop (Meterological
Fiddling Link 11-1/1/26 Drive Sober or Get Pulled
Over Link 14-22 Chanukah 14-1/5/26 Christmas Bird Count Week Link |
14-20 Gluten-free Baking Week Halcyon Days 15-19 Cookie Exchange Week 16-24 Posadas 17-23 Saturnalia |
Daily Observations
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National Ugly Christmas
Sweater Day Link |
Today’s Quotes
Today’s Memes
My Thoughts for the day
Another nice blue-sky day.
Flagstaff had ‘Flock Cameras’ installed throughout the city. It is a
system that identifies license plate numbers to assist police. As they came online
lots of questions about privacy concerns were raised in many Flock Camera
cities. After several citizen meetings, lots of input from citizens, the City Council
voted to turn off the cameras immediately and have the company remove them. I
did not get involved in the debate as I saw it as a help to catch criminals,
but I was a little concerned about their use by others than the police.
I was not surprised by Trump’s speech last night. It was only 19 minutes,
and from what I could tell, he stuck to the script. It was full of his exaggerations
as expected. I wish someone would tell his speech writer that if he lowered
drug prices by 300-600% that would mean that the pharmaceutical companies would
be paying American buyers huge sums to use their product. A decrease of 100%
would make the drugs free and anything over that would mean the company would
pay the consumer real American dollars. The math is not that hard.
Classic songs that unlock deep nostalgia…
“The
Sound of Silence” stirs memories of change and reflection
A layered
hush runs through “The Sound of Silence,” wrapped in stark melodies and
unresolved chords. Its mood feels both intimate and distant, like a closed-door
conversation held after midnight.
For many
listeners who came of age amid political unrest and cultural upheaval, the song
pins a time when silence didn’t always mean peace. It lingers as a reminder of
collective confusion and youthful watchfulness, especially under streetlamps or
inside record stores with cracked tile floors.
Cities that changed their names…
Pressburg
→ Bratislava (Slovakia)
When
World War I ended and the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved, a new
Czechoslovakia emerged, and with it, a new name for its western capital.
Pressburg became Bratislava in 1919, tying the city’s future to Slavic roots
instead of Germanic ones. The transformation was linguistic, political, and
cultural all at once. Centuries of overlapping identities (Hungarian, Austrian,
Slovak) fused into one word.
For Slovakia, the new name didn’t erase the past; it simply wrote the next
chapter.
Random Thoughts…
We don’t
have a skeleton in our midst. The brain is us. As a result, we’re in a
skeleton.
Each of
us has a different picture of ourselves and tailors a version of ourselves that
we are unfamiliar with.
Children
who have imaginary friends are creative, however, adults who have one are
schizophrenics.
You’ve
never seen the entire movie before since you’re blinking.
Historic Events
1732 - Benjamin Franklin
began publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac."
1777 - General George Washington led his army of about
11,000 men to Valley Forge, PA,
to camp for the winter.
1842 - Hawaii's independence was recognized by the U.S.
1843 - Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" was
first published in England.
1871 - Corrugated paper was patented by Albert L. Jones.
1903 - The Williamsburg Bridge opened in New York City. It
opened as the largest suspension bridge on Earth and remained the largest until
1924. It was also the first major suspension bridge to use steel towers to
support the main cable.
1917 - The first games of the new National Hockey League
(NHL) were played. Five teams made up the league: Toronto Arenas,
Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, the Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal
Wanderers.
1957 - Air service between London and Moscow was
inaugurated.
1972 - Apollo 17 splashed down in the
Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.
1996 - The school board of Oakland, CA, voted to recognize
Black English, also known as "ebonics." The board later reversed its
stance.
1998 - U.S. President
Bill Clinton was impeached on two charges of perjury and obstruction
of justice by the U.S. House
of Representatives.
2008 - U.S.
President George W. Bush signed a $17.4 billion rescue package of
loans for ailing auto makers General Motors and Chrysler.
Birthdays
|
1944 Tim Reid (81
years old), American actor and comedian (WKRP in Cincinnati - "Venus
Flytrap"; Frank's Place), born in Norfolk, Virgina ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Jennifer Beals (62
years old), American actress (Flashdance; The Bride; The L-Word), born in
Chicago, Illinois ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 1969 English
motoring journalist and TV presenter (Top
Gear; The Grand Tour, Brainiac; Science Abuse), born in Solihull, West
Midlands, England ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 1972 American actress (Who's the
Boss?; Charmed) and activist, born in Brooklyn, New York ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Brandon Sanderson(51
years old) 1975 American
award winning author (Mistborn
series, The Stormlight Archive), born in Lincoln, Nebraska ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 1980 American actor (Donnie Darko,
Jarhead), born in Los Angeles, California |
Henry
Clay Frick, American industrialist (built world's largest coke & steel
operation) and art collector (Frick Collection), born in West Overton,
Pennsylvania (d. 1919; @69,
heart attack) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Ralph Richardson(d. 1983;
@80; strokes) English actor (Anna
Karenina, Doctor
Zhivago), born in Cheltenham, England ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Leonid Brezhnev(d.1982;
@ 75; heart attack) General
Secretary of the Soviet Union (1964-82), born in Kamenskoye, Ukraine ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Edith Piaf(d.1963; @47,
liver cancer) French
chanteuse ("Little Sparrow", "Le Vie En Rose"), born in
Paris ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "Little"
Jimmy Dickens, American country singer (Grand Ole Opry), born in Bolt, West
Virginia (d. 2015; @94) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ David
Susskind, American TV host (Open End, David Susskind Show), born in New York
City (d. 1987; @66. Heart attack) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ American
stage and screen actress (Roots;
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman), born in Harlem, New York ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Phil
Ochs, American anti-war folk singer ("Joe Hill", "The War is
Over", "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore"), born in El Paso, Texas (d.
1976; @35, suicide) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Reggie White(d.2004;
@43, arrhythmia) American
College-Pro Football HOF defensive end (Super Bowl XXXI Green Bay Packers; 8
× First-team All-Pro; 13 x Pro Bowl; NFL Defensive Player of the Year 1987,
98), born in Chattanooga, Tennessee |
…The End for today…
