▼ 9-18-15

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Sept  18, 2015
Almanac: Week: 38 \ Day: 261
September Averages: 74°\42°
86004 Today: H 73° \ L 43° Average Sky Cover: 5% 
Wind ave:   6mph\Gusts:  22mph
Ave. High: 72° Record High: 86°[1956] Ave. Low: 41° Record Low: 27°[1903]
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Observances Today:                         
Chiropractic Founders Day Link
Clean Up The World Weekend: 18-20 Link 

Constitution Day/Pledge Across America
Hug A Greeting Card Writer Day
National Ceiling Fan Day Link
National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day Link
National Respect Day Link
National Tradesmen Day

World Water Monitoring Day Link
/\
 Independence Day (Chile-1810-from Spain)


Observances This Week:
13-19
Balance Awareness Week Link          
Child Passenger Safety Week Link                  
Dating and Life Coach Recognition Week  
International Housekeepers Week Link
National Assisted Living Week
National Environmental Services Week Link
National Truck Driver Appreciation Week Link


14-18

Health Information and Technology Week Link  
Line Dance Week
National Love Your Files Week Link 
National Postdoc Appreciation Week Link                                       
National Staffing Employee Week Link

16-20

National Guitar Flat-Picking Days

17-23

Constitution Week
Hummingbird Celebration Link
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Quote of the Day 

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US Historical Highlights for Today
1679 - New Hampshire becomes a county in Massachusetts Bay Colony
1755 - Fort Ticonderoga, New York opens
1769 - John Harris of Boston, Massachusetts, builds 1st spinet piano
1789 - 1st loan is made to pay salaries of the presidents & Congress
1793 - US President George Washington lays cornerstone of Capitol building
1842 - 1st edition of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, published
1851 - New York Times starts publishing (2 cents a copy)
1927 - Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air with 18 stations
1929 -The first case of bubonic plague ever found in Arizona was found in Yuma
1932 - Actress Peg Entwistle commits suicide by jumping from the letter "H" in the Hollywood sign.
1947 - National Security Act passes
1947 - US Air Force forms
1948 - Ralph J Bunche confirmed as acting UN mediator in Palestine
1957 - "Wagon Train" premieres
1964 - "The Addams Family" premieres on ABC
1965 - "Get Smart" premieres
1965 - "I Dream of Jeannie" premieres on NBC
1972 - 1st black NL umpire (Art Williams-Los Angeles vs San Diego)
1977 - US Voyager I takes 1st space photograph of Earth & Moon together1990 - 500 lb 6' Hershey Kiss is displayed at 1 Times Square, NYC
1994 - Ken Burn's "Baseball" premieres on PBS
1997 - Ted Turner gives $1 billion to UN
2001 – 1st mailing of anthrax letters in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
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World Historical Highlights for Today
1759 - Battle of Quebec ends, French surrender to British who capture Quebec City
1812 - Fire in Moscow destroys 90% of houses & 1,000 churches
1846 - Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning exchange last letters before eloping
1911 - Britain's 1st twin-engine airplane (Short S.39) test flown
1914 - Irish Home Rule bill receives Royal assent
1967 - Yellowknife replaces Ottawa as capital of NW Territories, Canada
1971 - Momofuku Ando markets the first Cup Noodle, packaging it a waterproof polystyrene container
1988 - Burma suspends its constitution
1997 - Voters in Wales vote yes (50.3%) in a referendum on Welsh autonomy.
2007 - Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some called the Saffron Revolution.
2014 - Scotland votes 'NO' in a referendum deciding whether or not to stay with the United Kingdom
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Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthdays Today 

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My Rambling Thoughts
Great lunch with our retirement group. Cheryl had a very good long weekend with her son and his family. Grandkids are growing really fast. Mary is not anxiously awaiting her hubby’s half marathon this weekend.
OK, so I watched the debates last night. I am either crazy or something. All I learned was that none of the many, many GOP candidates are exciting me to vote for them. They sure said a lot…about the other candidates. I must admit that I didn’t know much, except for names, of most of the candidates. Some I had never heard of. After last night, I wished I hadn’t ever heard of any of them. ‘Fear of the Enemy’ was to scare all of us about most people not white. Many were talking about this great country heading for ‘end of days’ or at the very least failure. Sad.
Glad I’m not a teacher or administrator in Texas. Some back woods school had a middle schooler arrested and detained at a police station for bringing a homemade clock to school as a science project and then not elaborating on what the clock was really for. The acting principal decided that since he was an A-rab it must be dangerous. President Obama later has invited the student to the White House and the boy says he will doesn’t fit into that school’s culture and will be attending another school.  
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
There are three houses built exactly the same. One is filled with cotton, the other with wood, and the third with iron. One day an arsonist sets them all on fire. The sound of sirens was growing louder at the scene. People were screaming. Which house did the ambulance try to put the fire out at first?
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Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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…Amazing Facts…
Clint Eastwood was in a plane which crashed into the sea. He and the pilot escaped the sinking aircraft and swam 3 miles to safety.

Baks the blind boxer has a seeing eye goose named Buttons; a four-year-old goose who leads the pup around everywhere either by hanging onto him with her neck, or by honking to tell him which way to go.
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…Flagstaff, AZ History…
75 YEARS AGO-1940
H. L. Hoffer, agent for the Shell Oil Co., is signing new contracts for the 1940-41 winter season. Stove Oil 9.5 cents per gallon. Furnace Oil 8.25 cents per gallon. PH. 149.

The Arizona Highway Patrol reports there were 79 accidents in August. Excess speed 17. Driving on the wrong side 12, including one horse. Driving while drunk 9. Blowouts 4. Obscured vision due to dust 3.
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…Harper’s Index…
$18,000,000 – minimum amount NYC has spent to remove wet wipes from the sewer system since 2010
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…Instagram Photo of the Day… 

natgeo@RobertClarkphoto
#MarinaEliott gazes up to the top of #RisingStarCave in the remote site in the #CradleOfHumanKind hear #Johannesburg #SouthAfrica.
The cave has yielded hundreds of fossil bones that represent a new species of #human ancestor, called #HomoNaledi. #LeeBerger, a #Paleoanthropologist from #WitsUniversity in South Africa who lead the team says, "We found a most remarkable creature." For more pictures from the cave and what was found please look at my feed, @RobertClarkphoto
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…Foreigners Find These American Customs Offensive…
25. Blowing Your Nose
In countries like China, France, Japan, Saudi Arabia and even Turkey, blowing your nose in public is not only rude, but considered repulsive.
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…Unusual Fact of the Day…
Napoleon wasn't short. At 5 feet, 7 inches, he was taller than the average French man of the era. The popular myth about his height is the result of his nickname, Le Petit Caporal (The Little Corporal). Early in Napoleon’s military career, French soldiers used the moniker to mock his low position on the Army’s Officer totem pole. Unfortunately for Napoleon, the nickname stuck.
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2 jokes for the day
The choir had just come out of rehearsal.
“Am I to assume that you do a lot of singing at home?” Mr. Harris asked a fellow choir member, David Grey.
“Yes, I sing a lot. I use my voice just to kill time,” said David.
Mr. Harris nodded, “You certainly have a fine weapon.”

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Chicago: One hand on wheel, one hand on horn.
New York: One hand on wheel, one finger out window.
New Jersey: One hand on wheel, one finger out window, cutting across all lanes of traffic.
Boston: One hand on wheel, one hand on newspaper, foot solidly on accelerator.
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Yep, It Really Happened
MAGNITOGORSK, Russia - Russian police said a pair of 5-year-old boys used garden spades to tunnel under a fence and escape their kindergarten in an attempt to purchase a Jaguar. Police in Magnitogorsk said the boys slipped away from their teacher on multiple occasions in the school yard and dug under the fence over the course of several days. The boys were eventually able to squeeze through the tunnel and made their way to a Jaguar showroom a few miles away from the school. Police said the boys told a woman who approached them outside the showroom that they were in the market for a "grown up car." The children were taken to the Ordzhonikidze Police station, where they were released into the custody of their parents. The parents did not pursue a formal complaint against the school or the boys' teachers. Olga Denisenko, acting head of preschool education at the school, was quoted by the Siberian Times as saying disciplinary actions had been taken against employees. "This is a very serious breach of rules. The head of the group that allowed this to happen was fired," she said. "The acting head of the kindergarten has been given administrative notice."
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Somewhat Useless Information
The first Oktoberfest was held in Munich in 1810. It was for the commemoration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The first celebration included a horse race. 

Unbelievable, but in the beginning, beer was not available at the Oktoberfest. Alcohol could only be purchased and enjoyed outside of the actual venue. Authorities soon realized that it would make sense to open the Oktoberfest venue to vendors and it was only then that the traditional beerhalls became popular.

***
Beer consumption surpasses 5 million 1-liter mugs. The mugs themselves are a hot item. Security guards annually recover approximately 150,000 from would-be souvenir hunters. Many are not recovered; the Hofbrau tent alone averages 35,000 missing each year. The fine for stealing a souvenir mug: $60! 

There are many problems every year with young people who overestimate their ability to handle large amounts of alcohol. Many forget that German beer has 7.5 to 8 percent alcohol, and they pass out due to drunkenness. These drunk patrons are often called "Bierleichen" (German for "beer corpses").

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Birthdays Today
“()” indicates age at death
(85) - Jack Warden, Newark NJ, actor (NYPD, Crazy Like a Fox, Norby) d.2006
(84) - Greta Garbo, Stockholm, actress (Grand Hotel, Camille) d. 1990
82 - Robert Blake, Nutley NJ, (Baretta, Little Rascals, Coast to Coast)
(75) - Samuel Johnson, English lexicographer/writer (Boswell's Tour Guide) d.1784
(71) - Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, actor (Jack Benny Show) d.1977
64 - Benjamin Carson, American neurosurgeon, politician GOP
(51) - James Gandolfini, Westwood New Jersey, actor (Tony Soprano) d.2013
45 - Aisha Tyler, American actress and comedian
44 - Lance Armstrong, road cyclist (7 Tour de France wins) barred from sport for using banned drugs
44 - Jada Pinkett Smith, actress (Nutty Professor, Menace II Society)
42 - James Marsden, American TV actor
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Historical Obits Today
Ken Norton, American heavyweight boxer, strokes-2013@70
Dag Hammarskjoeld, UN Sect Gen, air crash over Congo-1961@56
Jimi Hendrix, rock guitarist (Purple Haze), OD-1970@27
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Brain Teasers Answers
Ambulances do not put out fires.
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Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.
All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site contains mistakes and sadly once the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.

And That Is All for Now

▼ 9-17-15

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Sept  17, 2015
Almanac: Week: 38 \ Day: 260
September Averages: 74°\42°
86004 Today: H 72° \ L 53° Average Sky Cover: 28% 
Wind ave:   8mph\Gusts:  24mph
Ave. High: 74° Record High: 88°[1956] Ave. Low: 42° Record Low: 27°[1903]
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Observances Today:                         
Citizenship Day
International Coastal Cleanup

International Country Music Day Link
International Eat an Apple Day

RAINN Day (Rape Abuse Incest National Network) Link 
Time's Up Day
VFW Ladies Auxiliary Day


Day of the National Hero (Angola)
Observances This Week:
13-19
Balance Awareness Week Link                
Child Passenger Safety Week Link           
Dating and Life Coach Recognition Week  
International Housekeepers Week Link
National Assisted Living Week
National Environmental Services Week Link
National Truck Driver Appreciation Week Link


14-18

Health Information and Technology Week Link  
Line Dance Week
National Love Your Files Week Link 
National Postdoc Appreciation Week Link                                          
National Staffing Employee Week Link

16-20

National Guitar Flat-Picking Days

17-23

Constitution Week
Hummingbird Celebration Link
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Quote of the Day 

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US Historical Highlights for Today
1776 - The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain.
1778 - 1st treaty between the US & Indian tribes signed (Fort Pitt)
1787 - US constitution adopted by Philadelphia convention
1819
 - First whaling ship arrives in Hawaii

1849 - Harriet Tubman 1st escapes slavery in Maryland with two of her brothers
1850 - Great fire in San Francisco
1873 - 19 students attend opening class at Ohio State University
1926 - Hurricane hits Miami & Palm Beach Florida; about 450 die
1927 - Contract awarded for construction of the U.S. Veterans' Hospital-Tucson
1947 - Jackie Robinson is named Rookie of Year by Sporting News
1947 - US Department of Defense forms
1952 - "I am an American Day" & "Constitution Day" renamed "Citizenship Day"
1960 - Cuba nationalizes US banks
1961 - Fran Tarkenton plays his first NFL Game against the Chicago Bears, coming off the bench to lead the Vikings to a 37-13 victory, also becoming the only QB to throw four touchdown passes in his first career game
1964 - "Bewitched" premieres on ABC TV
1967 - "Mission Impossible" premieres on CBS-TV
1983 - Vanessa Williams (NY), 20, crowned 56th Miss America 1984, 1st black
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World Historical Highlights for Today
335 - Church of Holy Sepulchre initiated in Jerusalem
1745 - Edinburgh occupied by Jacobites under Charles Edward Stuart (aka the Young Pretender or Bonny Prince Charlie)
1956 - Television is first broadcast in Australia.
1957 - Two male attorneys "stand in" as actress Sophia Loren & producer Carlo Ponti wed by proxy in Juarez, Mexico
1988 - 24th Olympic Games open at Seoul, Korea
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Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthdays Today 

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My Rambling Thoughts
Technology can be a real pain. Decided to upgrade to last year’s model I-phone. Discovered that I had never backed up my phone to the infamous cloud. I could either leave my phone at Verizon and it would take about 20 hours on wi-fi or I could go home and connect it to my computer and do it in a much shorter time. I opted to go home, only to wait about 10 minutes into the backup to get a message that it can’t do it. Called Verizon and they suggested unplugging the phone and plugging the phone back in and trying again. I’ll do that tomorrow when I have some time. Then the very young lady on the phone says, well it doesn’t really matter because you can download the apps that don’t transfer. Really, what about the calendar? What about my to do lists? I have to copy all that stuff and then re-enter it. I live off my calendar and to do lists…and they are all Apple apps gotten at the damn I-Tunes store. Also the guy selling me the new phone asked me if I knew my Apple password. I know I’m old-er but do I look like I have dementia? After leaving I figured he would watch me go to my car and take out the crank handle to start it.
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
I can be as blue as the sky or have a white top.
I roll through my world and crash into yours.
I can be as gentle as a newborn puppy or as vicious as an angered bull, ripping through anything I find.
I will topple anything you put in my way if I am strong enough.

What am I?

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Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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…Amazing Facts…
A teen in Michigan built a working nuclear reactor. He taught himself how to build it as a weekend hobby project in his basement from ages 15-17 for $3500.

Travis was a chimpanzee who socialized with humans since birth. He could log onto a computer to look at pictures, watch TV using a remote control, brush his teeth, feed hay to his owner's horses, water plants, and learned the schedule of passing ice cream trucks.
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…Flagstaff, AZ History…
100 YEARS AGO-1915
A drinking fountain donated by Councilman Finley has been placed at Post Office Corner. It is an enameled affair and ready to quench the thirst of thirsty.

E. F. Taylor was sleeping under a tree near the Greenlaw Logging Camp when a bunch of lightning bolts struck the tree, peeling off the bark. It also knocked him unconscious, although it did not leave a mark on him. After a while, he regained consciousness and moved away from the tree. His bedding was soaked. He thinks this is what saved his life.

Mr. E. T. Taylor is building a neat little bungalow on the South Side near the Normal School using bricks from his kiln. He is figuring on building more.

The west side of town is all torn up with cement materials scattered every direction. Before heavy frost comes there will be cement sidewalks all over this growing section.
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…Harper’s Index…
6 to 1 –exchange rate between Venezuelan bolivares and US dollars as set by the Venezuelan government
250 to 1 – as set by the Venezuelan black market
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…Instagram Photo of the Day… 

natgeoPhotograph by @paulnicklen. This is the most powerful moment I have ever experienced in nature. Just a feet away, dozens of #narwhals lifted their eight foot long ivory tusks towards the sky. Here, they rested and caught a breath before continuing their fish-feeding frenzy under the polar ice. It took me ten years of hard work to finally find this intimate moment with the unicorns of the sea. There were so many narwhals blowing all around me, that the sound was overwhelming. This, combined with the incomparable scene in front of me, made it almost impossible to contain my emotions and photograph through the tears of joy and gratitude.
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…Foreigners Find These American Customs Offensive…
24. Polishing off your meal
To Americans, finishing a meal shows the host how much they enjoyed the meal. In other countries, like China, the Philippines, Thailand and Russia, it signifies that you're still hungry and that they failed to provide you with enough food.
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…Unusual Fact of the Day…
At more than 3.3 million square miles, the Sahara Desert is as large as the world's next 20 largest hot deserts combined.
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2 jokes for the day
According to the scholar, an internist knows everything and does nothing.
A surgeon does everything and knows nothing, and a psychiatrist knows nothing and does nothing.
Only a pathologist knows everything and does everything…too late.
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A guy goes to a girl's house for the first time, and she shows him into the living room.
She excuses herself to go to the kitchen to make them a few drinks, and as he's standing there alone, he notices a cute little vase on the mantel.
He picks it up, and as he's looking at it, she walks back in. He says "What's this?"
She says, "Oh, my father's ashes are in there."
He goes, "Geez...oooh....I..."
She says, "Yeah, he's too lazy to go to the kitchen to get an ashtray."         

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Yep, It Really Happened
HYDERABAD, India - Bhanu Prakash, 24, recently quit his full time job as a research assistant at a hospital to become a record-breaking selfie taker. Prakash said he was inspired by the achievements of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who took 105 selfies in three minutes in May. The current world record holder is American football player Patrick Peterson, who managed to take 1,449 selfies in one hour. Prakash also negates claims that selfies are "just a girl thing." He further claims his personal record is currently 1,700 but seeks to raise the number to 1,800. Prakash also says he is keeping up with hand and wrist exercises, essential to being able to hold a phone for so long. Initiailly apprehensive, Prakash's family now supports his dream. Prakash will formally attempt to break the world record on Sept. 18.
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Somewhat Useless Information
Technically, peanuts are not nuts. Unlike tree nuts, they grow underground and are part of the legume family.

Although peanuts are native to South America, according to NPR, the nickname "goober" comes from nguba, a word used in the Congo region. The root stems from when Spanish traders brought the plant over to Africa, where it picked up a new name before coming to America on slave ships.

According to dictionary.com, arachibutyrophobia is a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of one's mouth.

Peanut shells have all manner of strange uses. According to Southern Peanut Growers, a nonprofit trade association, peanut shells are used in everything from kitty litter to fireplace logs to fuel for power plants.

Unlike most plants, the peanut plant fruits below ground and flowers above ground. According to the National Peanut Board, the aboveground portion of the plant is about 18 inches tall with yellow flowers.

Americans eat three pounds of peanut butter per person per year. According to Southern Peanut Growers, that's enough to coat the floor of the grand canyon.

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Birthdays Today
“()” indicates age at death
(87) - Warren E Burger, Minn, Supreme Court chief justice (1969-86) d.1995
(87) - Oswald Garrison Villard Jr., American Engineer (electronics) invented the over-the-horizon radar-detects objects thousands of miles away; peers around the Earth's curvature d.2004
(83) - Frederick Ashton, Ecuador, British choreographer (Cinderella), d. 1988
(73) - Anne Bancroft, actress (Graduate, Miracle Worker) d.2005
(70) - Roddy McDowall, actor (Planet of Apes, Lord Love a Duck) d.1998
70 - Phil Jackson, Deer Lodge MT, basketball player and coach (Knicks/Bulls/Lakers)
(66) - Ken Kesey, La Junta, CO author (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) d. 2001
64 - Cassandra Peterson, [Elvira], KS, actress (Echo Park, Elvira)
62 - Rita Rudner, comedienne (Funny People)
(54) - John Ritter, Burbank California, actor (Jack-3's Company) d.2003
53 - Dustin Nguyen, Saigon Vietnam, actor (Harry-21 Jump Street)
43 - Bobby Lee, American comedian-Mad TV
(29) - Hank Williams, country singer (Cold, Cold Heart, Hey Good Lookin') d.1953
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Historical Obits Today
Richard Bernard Red Skelton, comedian (Red Skelton Show)-1997@84
Spiro Theodore Agnew, US VP (1969-73), leukemia-1996@77
George Hamilton IV, country musician, heart attack-2014@77
William Henry Fox Talbot, photographic pioneer-1877@77
Richard Basehart, actor (Rage), several strokes-1984@70
Dred Scott, US ex-slave who sought to sue for his freedom, TB-1858@62ish
Laura Ashley, Welsh fashion designer, fall-1985@60
Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American industrialist-1899@58
Roman Nose (Wiquini), Cheyenne leader, in battle-1868@45
Mildred E "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias, (Olympic-gold-1932), cancer-1956@42
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Brain Teasers Answers
A wave.

A wave can have what is called a white cap.
A wave will roll through the ocean and crash into the beach.
It can be a small wake or a roaring tsunami.
It can topple almost any boat.

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Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.
All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site contains mistakes and sadly once the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.

And That Is All for Now

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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.