Feb 16

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Feb 16, 2019 Week: 07 \ Day: 47

86004 Today: H 43° \ L 27° \ Average Sky Cover: 30% 

Wind:   11mph\Gusts:  17mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 70°[1977]   Record Low: -3°[1990]

FebAverages: 45°\19°

Today’s Quote

Home is any four walls that enclose the right person.

Helen Rowland

Random Tidbits

US Money

The Latin motto Annuit Ceptis appears over the pyramid; it translates into "He [God] has favored our undertaking." The scroll underneath the pyramid reads Novus Ordo Seclorum, or "A new order of the ages," which was meant to signify the dawn of the new American era.

Observances This Week

Children of Alcoholics Week: 10-16 Link 
International Friendship Week: 10-16 Link
Jell-O Week: 10-16
National Secondhand Wardrobe Week: 10-16
International Flirting Week: 10-16
Love a Mensch Week: 11-17
American Assoc. For The Advancement of Science Week: 14-17  Link
National Condom Week: 14-21 Link
National Nestbox Week: 14-21
NCCDP Alzheimer's & Dementia Staff Education Week: 14-21
Date (Fruit) Week: 15-24
Great Backyard Bird Count: 15-18 Link
National Entrepreneurship Week: 16-23 Link

Observances for Today

Do a Grouch a Favor Day
Kyoto Protocol Day Link
National Almond Day  Link
Women in Blue Jeans Days Link

World Pangolin Day  Link 
World Whale Day Link  

My Rambling Thoughts

Nice day and just awaiting our next storm…due tonight.

Headed out for groceries. Really like the prices at Fry’s (Kroger) but am getting pretty tired of self-checkout with machines that have a mind of their own. I bring my own bags, so must wait for the attendant to verify I brought empty bags. Then one item didn’t have the ring up the right price, wait for attendant to check. Then I pushed all the right buttons, inserted my card and waited. It said remove, so I did. But there was no receipt and had to call the attendant again. They had about 20 self-checkouts open and ONE real human with 5 people in line. Hmmm. When I was a checker, back in the day, if I was helping one customer and one waiting, when the next person got in my line, I was expected to call another checker. Those days are so long gone.

Lots of rain, in the desert, always leads to flooding. Much of the area between Flagstaff and Phoenix are in ‘flash flood’ conditions. Scary for many residents. Glad I’m not in that mess.

Now that 45 has declared a National Emergency, I have a quick memory: in 1976 the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced that our school was going to be rebuilt. We were using building that were built by WPA…during the depression. Then another BIA school was destroyed by fire in Minnesota. All the money for our school went to Minnesota. Because of gov’t rules, we had to re-apply for the new buildings and were again at the bottom of the list. After many administrations Nationally and at the school, the new school opened in 2008, about 2 years after I retired.  I mention this because 45 is taking money from many pots for his wall. That money has been appropriated by Congress and all those projects must start back at square one. In the case of our school, Congress had to pass a bill to appropriate the money from one school to another. The friggin’ wall is no different.

Today’s Significant Historical Events

600’s

600 Pope Gregory the Great decrees saying "God bless You" is the correct response to a sneeze

1700’s

1760 Native American hostages killed in Fort Prince George, South Carolina

1800’s

1838 Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulu warriors

1852 Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.

1857 Gallaudet College (National Deaf Mute college) forms in Washington, D.C.

1878 Silver dollar became US legal tender

1880 American Society of Mechanical Engineers forms (NYC)

1883 "Ladies Home Journal" begins publishing

1900’s

1900 1st Chinese daily newspaper in US publishes (Chung Sai Yat Po, San Francisco)

1917 1st synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid

1923 Howard Carter opens the inner burial chamber of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb and finds the sarcophagus

1959 Fidel Castro becomes the 16th Prime Minister of Cuba after overthrowing Fulgencio Batista

1978 1st Computer Bulletin Board System (Ward & Randy's CBBS, Chicago)

1980 Continuous traffic jam extends 176 km north of Lyons, France

1985 The founding of Hezbollah.

1992 Ethiopia finds the remains of former Emperor Haile Selassie on the grounds of the Imperial Palace, under the private lavatory of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, who overthrew the Emperor

2000’s

2006 The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army

2018 More than 100,00 orangutans killed in Borneo since 1999 according to study published in "Current Biology"

2018 National state of emergency declared in Ethiopia in wake of anti-government protests

Birthdays Today

1884 Robert Flaherty,

Father of documentary film (Nanook of North),

born in Iron Mountain, Michegan

(d. 1957-@67)

1912 Machito

[Francisco "Frank" Grillo],

Latin jazz musician and creator of Cubop and salsa music (Afro-

Cubans), born in Havana, Cuba - NB: birth date and location

 disputed

(d. 1984-@76-stroke)

1920 Anna Mae Hays [McCabe],

American military officer and US military's 1st female General,

born in Buffalo, New York

(d. 2018-@97)

1936 Carl Icahn,

American businessman (Icahn Enterprises),

born in NYC,

(d. 1936-@82)

1942 Kim Jong-il,

Supreme Leader of North Korea (1994-2011),

born in Vyatskoye, Soviet Union [disputed birth place and birth

 date, 1941]

(d. 2011-@70-heart attack on train)

1909 Hugh Beaumont,

American actor (The Mole People, Leave it to Beaver),

born in Lawrence, Kansas

(d. 1982-@73-heart attack)

1935 Salvatore "Sonny" Bono,

American actor, musician, vocalist, (Sonny & Cher) and politician

(Rep-R-Ca, 1995-98), born in Detroit, Michigan

(d. 1998-@62-ski accident)

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68- William Katt,

American actor (Greatest American Hero, Carrie),

born in Los Angeles, California

62- LeVar Burton,

born in Landstuhl Germany,

(Roots, Star Trek Next Generation)

61- Ice-T

[Tracy Marrow],

American rapper and actor (New Jack City, Tank Girl, Crazy Six),

born in Newark, New Jersey

Historical Obits Today

@93-2016 Boutros Boutros-Ghali,

Egyptian politician and 6th Secretary-General of the United

Nations (1992- 96)

           

@68-2015 Lesley Gore,

American singer (It's My Party, You Don't Own Me),

dies of lung cancer

@55-1967 Smiley Burnette,

cowboy (Charlie-Petticoat Junction),

dies of leukemia

@31-1990 Keith Haring,

American graffiti artist (brilliant baby),

dies of AIDS

@90-1996 Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown,

American politician and Governor of California (D: 1959-67)