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Almanac: Week: 21 \ Day: 140
May
Averages: 68°\35°
86004
Today: H 63°\L 30° Average Sky Cover: 25%
Wind
ave: 5mph\Gusts: 20mph
Ave. High: 69° Record High: 81°
(1920) Ave. Low: 35° Record
Low: 18° (1899)
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Observances Today:
Be
a Millionaire Day
Eliza
Doolittle Day
Emergency
Medical Services for Children Day
Everybody
Draw Mohammed Day
International
Virtual Assistants Day
National
Bike to Work Day
National
Defense Transportation Day
National
Employee Health & Fitness Day
Pick
Strawberries Day
Turn
Beauty Inside Out Day
Weights
& Measures Day
World
Autoimmune Arthritis Day
Teacher's
Day (Fla)
Independence
Day (East Timor-restored-2002-from Portugal/Indonesia)
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Observances This Week:
16-22 National Safe Boating Week National Heritage Breeds Week
EMS (Emergency Medical Services)
Week National Stationery Week
National Dog Bite Prevention Week National
New Friends, Old Friends Week
National Medical Transcription Week
17-25 International
Coaching Week National
Backyard Games Week
Healthy and Safe Swimming Week National
Educational Bosses' Week
World
Trade Week
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Quote of the Day
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US Historical Highlights for Today
1639 - Dorchester Mass, forms 1st school funded by
local taxes
1830 - 1st railroad timetable published in
newspaper (Baltimore American)
1830 - D Hyde patents fountain pen
1861 - North Carolina becomes 11th & last state
to secede from Union
1862 - The advance guard
of the California Column reached Tucson under
the command of Lt. Col. Joseph West and
established a military camp
in Tucson which later became Camp Lowell.
1873 - Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patent
first blue jeans with copper rivets
1875 - International Bureau of Weights &
Measures forms by treaty
1902 - US military occupation of Cuba (since Jan 1,
1899) ends
1916 - Saturday Evening Post cover features Norman
Rockwell painting
1926 - Thomas Edison says Americans prefer
silent movies over talkies
1927 - At 7:40 AM, pilot Charles
Lindbergh takes off from NY to cross Atlantic
for Paris
1932 - Amelia Earhart leaves Newfoundland 1st
woman fly solo across Atlantic
1961 - White mob attacks "Freedom Riders"
in Montgomery, Alabama
1967 - 10,000 demonstrate against war in Vietnam
1990 - Hubble Space Telescope sends 1st
photograph's from space
1997 - US President Clinton signs an
executive order barring new US
investment in Burma (also known as Myanmar),
effective May 21 and
renewable annually
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Today’s World Events through History
1310 - Shoes were made for both right & left
feet
1609 - Shakespeare's Sonnets are first published in
London, perhaps illicitly,
by the publisher Thomas Thorpe
1867 - British parliament rejects John Stuart
Mills' proposals on women's suffrage
1900 - 2nd modern Olympic games opens in Paris
(lasted 5 months)
1902 - Cuba gains independence from Spain
1927 - Saudi Arabia becomes independent of Great
Britain (Treaty of Jedda)
1954 - Chiang
Kai-shek becomes president of Nationalist China
1968 - Terence O'Neill, then Northern Ireland Prime
Minister, is showered
with eggs, flour and stones after a meeting of
the Woodvale Unionist
Association, a loyalist vigilante group
1979 - 1st western pop star to tour USSR-Elton
John
1980 - In a referendum, 59.5% of Quebec voters
reject separatism
2009 - Mexico is the first Latin American country
to officially enter recession
2013 - The Church of Scotland votes to allow openly
gay men and women
to be ministers
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♫ Birthdays Today: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today
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My Rambling Thoughts
PCP visit was good. I’m alive, doing well, getting older. I knew
that before I went in but he confirmed it. One of the things I like about him
is that I am in the room with him for at least an hour as he reviews tests,
asks questions, and explains what is going on. He also wanders off a little
about medical issues in the US, computer problems with the system, but overall,
I feel well taken care of.
As I listen to politicians, their need to raise funds, the
problems with lobby groups, I am getting ready for a constitutional amendment,
started by the populous, to limit the terms of Reps and Senators to two terms…period.
I used to believe that it was good to have some very seasoned politicians in
DC, but the last decade has really changed my opinion. They seem to be much
more seasoned to keep their campaign money coming in than to be helping the
common American. As much as I hate to say it, the gas tax needs to be raised
very soon to help fix our infrastructure on bridges and roads in this country.
No elected congress person will even let that get to the floor for a vote because
of the various powerful lobbies.
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
I'm
the base of a spirit,
my eyes they can't see.
I dwell in the earth,
in the dark happily.
My flesh sometimes glazed,
I tell you some more,
I've skin that is praised,
by science and lore.
Some say you are like me,
when watching TV.
Can you guess what I am
or what I might be?
« » « »
Found on You Tube with some
relevance to today
« » « »
…Body
Facts…
Mosquitoes don't just bite you, they also pee on you.
It would take about 1,200,000 mosquitoes to fully drain the
average human body of blood.
…Cool
Facts…
In 1999, Harvard physicist Lene Hau was able to slow down light to
17 meters per second and in 2001, was able to stop light completely.
An artist in Iowa named Patrick Acton built a complete model of
Hogwarts out of matchsticks.
Saturn's moon, Mimas, not only looks like the Death Star, it also
has a Pac Man heat signature.
…Flagstaff,
AZ History…
100 YEARS AGO-1915
A project is now afoot to divert part of the water from the River
de Flag into Switzer Canyon. This would relieve the lower channel during
periods of flooding.
The Light Company has developed a fine spring in the bottom of
their sawdust storage pit. The pump is going steadily, delivering about 120,000
gallons of water into the river every 24 hours in order to keep their fuel dry.
…Harper’s
Index…
60:
estimated number of people executed by the Iraqi gov’t last year
41: by US
states
…Revisited
History…
Calculus was derived in the late 17th century, several decades
after Harvard was founded in 1636.
…Unusual
Fact of the Day…
The infinity sign is properly known as a "lemniscate."
…Water
Facts…
Water intoxication is most likely to occur during periods of
intense athletic performance.
While the daily recommended amount of water is eight cups per day,
not all of this water must be consumed in the liquid form. Nearly every food or
drink item provides some water to the body.
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2 jokes
for the day
A set of jumper cables goes into a bar. The
bartender sees them and asks, "Hey, what are you doing in here?"
"Just want to have a drink and relax awhile," was the reply.
"Well, all right. Just don't start anything!"
« »
A couple is dressed and ready to go out for
the evening. They phone for a cab, turn on a night light, cover their pet
parakeet and put the cat out in the back yard.
The taxi arrives, and they open the front door to leave. Suddenly the cat they
put out scoots back into the house. They don't want the cat shut in there
because she always tries to eat the bird. The wife goes out to the taxi while
the husband goes back in. The cat runs upstairs, with the man in hot pursuit.
The wife doesn't want the driver to know the house will be empty. She explains
to the taxi driver that her husband will be out soon. "He's just going
upstairs to say goodbye to my mother."
A few minutes later the husband gets into the cab.
"Sorry I took so long," he says, as they drive away. "Stupid hag
was hiding under the bed. Had to poke her with a coat hanger to get her to come
out! Then I had to wrap her in a blanket to keep her from scratching me. But it
worked. I hauled her fat butt downstairs and threw her out into the back yard!
The cab driver hit a parked car.
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Yep, It
Really Happened
CBS News-- There's
hardly a more "generic" song in America than "Happy Birthday to
You," but to this day (until a judge renders a decision in a pending
case), Warner/Chappel Music is still trying to make big dollars off of the
16-word ditty (15 original words plus a user-supplied 16th). Its original copyright
should have expired, at the latest, in 1921, but amendments to the law and
technicalities in interpretation (e.g., did the copyright cover all public uses
or just piano arrangements?) bring Warner at least $2 million a year in fees. A
federal judge in California is expected to rule soon on whether the song is in
fact uncopyrightably "generic" -- 125 years after the Hill sisters
(Mildred and Patty) composed it.
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Somewhat
Useless Information
Although
there have probably been dinosaur discoveries dating back thousands of years --
there are, for instance, references to "dragon bones" found in
ancient China -- the first documented dinosaur discovery took place in 1676
when a jawbone and teeth were unearthed in Oxford, England. In 1824, famed
paleontologist William Buckland (1784-1856) finally named this first dinosaur
Megalosaurus. Megalosaurus was a large meat-eater that stood up to 30 feet tall
and weighed about 1 ton.
In 1877, a paleontologist named Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-1899) discovered a
new species of dinosaur with he named Apatosaurus, meaning "deceptive
lizard." Two years later, he discovered what he believed to be another
species of dinosaur. He named this one Brontosaurus, meaning "thunder
lizard." When later paleontologists examined the two fossils, however,
they determined that both skeletons belonged to the same animal class, one
being an adult and one being a juvenile.
Stegosaurus means "covered lizard" in Greek. This dinosaur had a
double row of protective plates covering its back and tail. In addition to
acting as a protective covering, these plates may have operated as a sort of
cooling device -- wind flowing between the plates would have helped lower the
body temperature of a Stegosaurus on hot days.
The Argentinosaurus, an herbivorous sauropod and quite possibly the largest
animal ever to walk the earth, is believed to have reached lengths of up to 150
feet and weighed as much as 110 tons. Only fragmentary remains have been
discovered, but using their knowledge of related dinosaurs, scientists have
been able to estimate the size of these specimens of Argentinosaurus.
The Brachiosaurus, a herbivore, used its giraffe-like neck to graze in the tops
of trees. It is believed to have reached heights of up to 42 feet, lengths of
82 feet, and weights in excess of 90 tons. Once considered the largest known
dinosaur, it has since been surpassed by the likes of Argintinosaurus and
Sauroposeidon.
Dinosaurs are believed to have become extinct about 65 million years ago, at
the end of the Cretaceous period. We know of their existence today because of
fossilized remains. It is impossible to know for sure what caused this sudden
mass extinction, but the prevailing theory is that a massive meteor struck the
earth about that time causing drastic climate changes and thus the extinction.
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Birthday’s Today
73 - Paula, [Jill Jackson], Tx, singer (Hey
Paula)
69 - Cher [Cherilyn Sarkisian], singer
and actress (I Got You Babe, Mask)
56 - Bronson Pinchot, actor (Perfect
Strangers)
47 - Timothy Olyphant,
Actor (Deadwood, Justified)
44 - Tony Stewart, American race car driver
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Remembered for being born today
- Lydia
Cabrera, Havana, Cuban Anthropologist 1899-1991@92
- Jimmy
Stewart, actor (It's a Wonderful Life) 1908-1997@89
- Edward
B. Lewis, American geneticist, Nobel laureate 1918-2004@86
- Dolley
Dandridge Payne Madison, 1st lady 1768-1849@81
- John
M Harlan, 91st Supreme Court justice 1899-1971@72
- George
Gobel, comedian/TV personality 1919-1971@71
- Joe
Cocker, English rock vocalist (With a Little Help) 1944-2014@70
- John
Stuart Mill, UK, philosopher/political economist/Utilitarian 1806-1873@66
- Moshe
Dayan, Israeli general/minister of Defense 1915-1981@66
« » « »
Historical Obits Today
Max Klein,
inventor (paint by numbers)-1993@77
Walter
Winchell, columnist/narrator (Untouchables), cancer-1972@74
Waldo
Williams, Welsh poet-1971@66
Robin
Gibb, British singer song-writer, cancer-2012@62
Christopher
Columbus, explorer, Reiter's syndrome-1506@55
Gilda
Radner, comedienne (SNL, Haunted Honeymoon), cancer-1989@42
« » « »
Brain Teasers Answers
Potato
Vodka is an alcoholic drink, regularly fermented from potatoes and referred to
as a "spirit." Potatoes have eyes and normally grow in the soil of
the earth. Potatoes are often eaten glazed and the skin is said to be rich in
vitamins and minerals. People that sit around all day watching TV are sometimes
referred to as "couch potatoes."
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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…§
