Feb 28

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Feb 28, 2019 Week: 09 \ Day: 59

86004 Today: H 49° \ L 26° \ Average Sky Cover: 30% 

Wind:   11mph\Gusts:  19mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 65°[1999]   Record Low: -16°[1962]

FebAverages: 45°\19°

Today’s Quote

I believe that every human mind feels pleasure

in doing good to another.

Thomas Jefferson

Random Tidbits

Beer (in part because it contains antimicrobial ethanol) was a healthier drink than polluted Nile river water.

You might have known that fact if you were a beer expert, or cerevisaphile - a word derived from the Latin name of the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres, and vis, meaning strength.

Observances This Week

National Justice for Animals Week: 24-3/2 Link  Link
National Pasty Week: 24-3/2  Link
Telecommuter Appreciation Week: 24-3/2 
National Eating Disorders Awareness Week: 25-3/3
National Invasive Species Awareness Week: 25-3/1 Link
International Petroleum Week: 26-28  Link

Observances for Today

Digital Learning Day Link 
Floral Design Day  Link
National Chili Day   Link
National Chocolate Souffle Day

National Tooth Fairy Day  Link   Link 
Public Sleeping Day

Rare Disease Day Link

My Rambling Thoughts

So nice to be retired. I have been and continue to be glued to the Cohen hearing. What a circus, and just like the circus, fearing and still watching the high wire acts. If 45 is watching all this, I wonder how the meeting later today in Vietnam will go with the leader of N. Korea? I did enjoy the New Yorker cartoon that had 45 asking Kim if had any missiles that could take out Cohen.

It has really warmed up and the snow is melting. Nice to see the ground again at various places around town.

I’m taking a break tomorrow to celebrate by 70^th birthday with lunch with our retirement group and dinner with a couple of other friends. Looking forward to both.

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1600’s

1646 Roger Scott tried in Massachusetts for sleeping in church

1700’s

1704 Indians attack Deerfield, Mass, kill 40, kidnap 100

1749 1st edition of Henry Fieldings' novel "Tom Jones" published

1787 The charter establishing the institution now known as the

            University of Pittsburgh is granted

1800’s

1827 1st commercial railroad in US, Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) chartered

1838 Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the

            independence of Lower Canada (today Québec)

1850 The University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah

1882 1st US college cooperative store opens, at Harvard University

1900’s

1909 1st National Woman's Day is observed in the United States.

            Organized by the Socialist Party of America in honor of the 1908

             garment workers' strike in New York, where women protested

            against working conditions.

1933 1st female in US Cabinet: Frances Perkins appointed Secretary

            of Labor

1939 The erroneous word "Dord" is discovered in the Webster's New

            International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an

            investigation.

1940 Richard Wright's "Native Son" published

1947 February 28 Incident: Anti-government uprising in Taiwan is

            violently put down by Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang-led

            Republic of China government with the loss of 18,000-28,000

            lives. Marks the beginning of the White Terror.

1953 Francis Crick and James Watson discover the chemical structure

            of DNA-molecule (double-helix polymer)

1961 JFK names Henry Kissinger special advisor

1972 US President Richard Nixon ends historic week-long visit to China

1993 Gun battle erupts near Waco, Texas at Branch Davidian compound

            after FBI attempts a raid

1995 Denver International Airport opens

2000’s

2014 Russia moves troops into the Crimea to protect its interests

            against Ukraine

2018 700 illegal churches closed in Rwanda for being too noisy and

            lacking building permits

Birthdays Today

1901 Linus Pauling,

American chemist and peace activist (Nobel 1954, 1962),

born in Portland, Oregon

(d. 1994-@93)

1906 Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel,

American gangster who created casinos in Las Vegas,

born in Brooklyn, New York

(d. 1947@41-murdered)

1915 Samuel Joel "Zero" Mostel,

American comedian and actor (Fiddler on the Roof,

The Producers), born in Brooklyn, New York

(d. 1977-@62-aneuryism)

1923 Charles Durning,

American actor (Fury, Sting, Tootsie),

born in Highland Falls, New York

(d. 2012-@89)

1942 Brian Jones

[Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones],

English musician (Rolling Stones), born in Gloucestershire, England

 (d. 1969-@27-‘death by misadventure’)

1944 Storm Thorgerson,

British graphic designer and music video director (Pink Floyd, Led

 Zeppelin, Genesis, The Cranberries), born in Potters Bar,

 Middlesex

(d. 2013-@67-stroke/cancer)

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87- Gavin MacLeod,

American actor (Murray-Mary Tyler Moore, Love Boat),

born in Mt Kisco, New York

79- Mario Andretti,

Italian American race-car driver (1969 Indianapolis 500,

1978 Formula One World Champion),

born in Montona, Italy

77- Frank Bonner,

actor (WKRP, Hoax, You Can't Hurry Love),

born in Little Rock, Arkansas

71- Bernadette Peters, [Lazzara],

actress (Jerk), born in Queens, New York

66- Paul Krugman,

American economist and New York Times columnist

(Nobel Prize in Economics 2008),

 born in Albany, New York

62- John Turturro,

actor (Brain Donor, Color of Money, Jungle Fever),

born in Brooklyn, New York

50-Daniel Monahan,

Grammy award singer, songwriter

59-Megan McDonald,

children’s author (Judy Moody series)

58- Rae Dawn Chong,

actress (Quest for Fire), born in Edmonton, Alberta

Historical Obits Today

@90-2009 Paul Harvey,

American news commentator and radio broadcaster

(Rest of the story)

@89-2011 Jane Russell,

American actress and leading sex symbol in 1940s-50s

(The Outlaw)

@82-2018 Jayendra Saraswathi,

Hindu religious leader (69th Shankaracharya Guru)

@71-1977 Eddie "Rochester" Anderson,

American comedian and actor (The Jack Benny Program),

dies from heart disease

@27±-1525 Cuauhtémoc,

the last Aztec Emperor (1520 - 1521),

tortured and killed by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés

Feb 27

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Feb 27, 2019 Week: 09 \ Day: 58

86004 Today: H 50° \ L 15° \ Average Sky Cover: 5% 

Wind:   6mph\Gusts:  9mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 54°[1921]   Record Low: -12°[1962]

FebAverages: 45°\19°

Today’s Quote

Consider what each soil will bear, and what each refuses.

Virgil

Random Tidbits

The oldest known recipe is for a 4,000-year-old beer made by the Sumerians.

Sumerian’s neighbors, the Egyptians, built the pyramids under the influence. Workers at Giza received about four liters of beer a day, according to Patrick McGovern, a biomolecular archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania.

Observances This Week

National Justice for Animals Week: 24-3/2 Link  Link
National Pasty Week: 24-3/2  Link
Telecommuter Appreciation Week: 24-3/2 
National Eating Disorders Awareness Week: 25-3/3
National Invasive Species Awareness Week: 25-3/1 Link
International Petroleum Week: 26-28  Link

Observances for Today

Anosomia Awareness Day Link
International Polar Bear Day Link
World NGO Day  Link
Pink Shirt Day Link 
Inconvenience Yourself Day 
National Strawberry Day

National Kahlua Day

National Retro Day Link

No Brainer Day 

World Retrospective Day Link

My Rambling Thoughts

Beautiful Tuesday. Blue sky, snow continues to melt, slowly. Headed out for some shopping with only a sweater…and of course pants, shoes, and socks. Nice!

Child abuse has always been a very big deal. What has happened in the Roman Catholic church is inexcusable. If someone abuses a child, CALL THE POLICE. How hard is that to follow? Now the news is reporting the vulnerable children who were placed in jails because they were ‘illegal’ were/are abused by some DHS employees. When I was working on the Rez as a teacher, back in the mid-1970’s, the Title I coordinator, who had been a teacher, suddenly ‘disappeared’. Rumors flew that he had been sexually abusing boys for years. The principal claimed he had left town the night before with all his belongings and he didn’t know where he went. Odd that the police showed up that morning looking for him. Like the Catholic Church, having the perp leave was enough. It is NOT enough.

CNN has been running an amazing set of reports regarding the Taliban in Afghanistan. Clarissa Ward, the reporter, got special permission to visit Taliban camps. Most have the soldiers she saw and leaders she interviewed have know nothing but war their entire lives. Each segment is very enlightening.

Focus Update: I have added a new page to Facebook: Focus Travel Club. My hope is that Focus travelers will have an easy way to post pictures while on their adventure. Just type in Focus Travel Club in the search engine at the top of the FB page. The next trip will be the Holland trip, so until then feel free to add pics from other trips. Enjoy!

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1800’s

1801 Washington, D.C. placed under Congressional jurisdiction

1827 1st Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans

1860 Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of

            New York that is largely responsible for his election to the

            Presidency

1877 US Electoral College declares Rutherford B. Hayes winner of the

            presidential election

1883 Oscar Hammerstein patents 1st cigar-rolling machine

1900’s

1907 Psychiatrists Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud meet for the first

            time in Vienna

1922 US Supreme Court unanimously upholds 19th amendment to the

            US Constitution - women's right to vote

1950 General Chiang Kai-shek elected president of Nationalist China

1951 22nd amendment ratified, limiting US Presidents to 2 terms

1957 Mao's famous speech to the Supreme State Conference "On

            Correct Handling of Contradictions Among People" expounding

            Maoist ideals

1970 NY Times (falsely) reports US army has ended domestic

            surveillance

1973 American Indian Movement occupy Wounded Knee in South

            Dakota

1974 "People" magazine begins sales

1984 Carl Lewis jumps world record indoor (8,675 m)

1990 Exxon Corp and Exxon Shipping are indicted on 5 criminal counts

            (Valdez)

1998 Britain's House of Lords agrees to end 1,000 years of male

            precedence by giving a monarch's first-born daughter the same

            claim to the throne as any first-born son

2000’s

2012 Wikileaks begins disclosing 5 million emails from private

            intelligence company Stratfor

2013 Pope Benedict XVI presents his farewell address to Vatican City

2014 US Republican Governor Jan Brewer vetoes a "religious freedom"

            bill that would have allowed businesses to turn away gay

            customers

2018 Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Trump, has his top-secret

            security clearance at the White House downgraded

Birthdays Today

1807 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,

American poet (Song of Hiawatha), born in Portland, Maine

(d. 1882-@75-peritonitis)

1886 Hugo L Black,

(Sen-D-Ala)/78th Supreme Court justice (1937-71)

(d. 1972-@85)

1897 Marian Anderson,

American contralto and celebrated singer

(He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands),

born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

(d. 1993-@96)

1902 John Steinbeck,

American author (Grapes of Wrath-Nobel 1962),

born in Salinas, California

(d. 1968-@66-heart disease)

1917 John Connally Jr,

American politician, 39th Governor of Texas, and federal treasurer

who was critically wounded during the assassination of Kennedy,

 born in Floresville, Texas

(d. 1993-@76-pulmonary fibrosis)

1932 Elizabeth Taylor,

English-American actress (Father of the Bride, Butterfield 8,

Cleopatra), born in London, England

(d. 2011-@79-congestive heart failure)

1934 Van Williams,

American actor (Green Hornet, Surf Side Six),

born in Fort Worth, Texas

(d. 2016-@82)

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89- Joanne Woodward,

American actress, producer, activist, and philanthropist (3 Faces

of Eve, Rachel), born in Thomasville, Georgia

85- N. Scott Momaday,

American author (House Made of Dawn, Pulitzer 1969),

born in Lawton, Oklahoma

85- Ralph Nader,

American consumer advocate (Unsafe at Any Speed),

born in Winsted, Connecticut

82- Barbara Babcock,

American actress (Dr Quinn, Dallas, Hill St Blues),

born in Fort Riley, Kansas

79- Howard Hesseman,

American actor (Dr Johnny Fever-WKRP, Head of Class),

born in Salem, Oregon

39- Chelsea Clinton,

daughter of President Clinton and Hillary Clinton

38- Josh Groban,

American singer (You Raise Me Up),

born in Los Angeles, California

Historical Obits Today

@99-1993 Lillian Gish,

American silent film/stage actress (Birth of a Nation)

@91-2016 George Kennedy,

American actor (Cool Hand Luke, Naked Gun films)

@89-2013 Dale Robertson,

American actor (Death Valley Days, Tales of Wells Fargo,

The Iron Horse)

@86-1936 Ivan Pavlov,

Russian physiologist and pioneer in psychology

(Nobel Prize 1904)

@85-1992 S. I. Hayakawa,

U.S. senator from California (1977–83) and

educator (Language in Action)

@83-2015 Leonard Nimoy,

American actor (Spock-Star Trek, Mission Impossible)

@82-2008 William F. Buckley, Jr.,

American conservative author and commentator

@78-2013 Van Cliburn,

American pianist (Tchaikovsky Competition winner, 1958),

dies from bone cancer

@74-2003 Fred Rogers,

host of TV's "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood"

dies of stomach cancer

@70-1892 Louis Vuitton,

French founder of the Louis Vuitton brand of leather goods

now owned by LVMH

@57-1974 Pat Brady

[Robert Ellsworth O'Brady],

American actor (The Roy Rodgers Show, Man from Music

Mountain),

dies at alcohol rehab center

@25-1968 Frankie Lymon,

American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer (The Teenagers),

dies of a heroin overdose