Jun 10

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Jun. 10, 2019 Week: 23 \ Day: 161

86004:   H 71° \ L 42° \ Average Sky Cover: 5% 

Nearest wildfire:  11mi. Nearest lightning:  766mi

Wind:   8mph\Gusts:  13mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 87°[1910]   Record Low: 28°[1998]

Jun Averages: 78°\42° (1 day with rain)

Today’s Quote

Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man. Stewart Udall

Random Tidbits

Arms akimbo (a standing person whose extended arms are out in a V pattern with the hands placed on the hips, thumbs backward) is a powerful territorial display that is used to establish dominance or indicate that there are "issues." Women tend to use arms akimbo less often than men.

The "hooding affect" is a powerful territorial display among humans. Interlaced hands behind the head are indicative of comfort and dominance. Usually the senior person at a meeting will pose or "hood" this way.

Observances This Week

Greencare For Troops Week: 9-15
National Automotive Service Professionals Week: 9-15 
National Right of Way Professionals Week: 9-15 Link 
National Flag Week: 9-15

Men's Health Week: 10-16 Link

Observances for Today

Alcoholics Anonymous (Founders) Day
Ball Point Pen Day

National Iced-Tea Day

Herb and Spices Day

Iced Tea Day Link
Race Unity Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Today, in 1939, my parents were married. They had 55+ years together, raised two boys, and had a great life together. Still miss them.

Another nice day that started off a little breezy and cool. Warmed up nicely by 10a.

I watched a nice BBC documentary on Mongolia, one of my destinations on our Trans-Siberian trip. Climate change is devastating rural Mongolia and as the population moves to cities, they are living in very poor conditions. Air Pollution is hard on the youngest of the population. Very eye-opening and very depressing.

Remember when the two political parties held a convention where delegates sat is smoke-filled rooms to pick the party’s candidate. Occasionally they couldn’t pick just one and it would go to the convention floor. We would stay up into the wee hours to see who would be selected. Then the campaigning would begin. Then a few months later voting picked the President. Then 24-hour news channels helped change all that. Now we are in perpetual campaign mode with almost daily polls of who is ahead. It is almost total insanity. Poll questions: Do you support a candidate who wears blue? Do you support a candidate who predicts the end of America if he/she does not win? Do you support a candidate who wants to be President? Do you support a candidate who promises to listen to you?

PUZZLE OF THE DAY

Answer at the bottom of this page

A sundial has the fewest moving parts of any timepiece. Which has the most?

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1600’s

1610 1st Dutch settlers arrive (from NJ), to colonize Manhattan Island

1639 1st American log cabin at Fort Christina (Wilmington Delaware)

1652 In Boston, John Hull opens the 1st mint in America

1692 The first victim of the Salem witch trials, Bridget Bishop, is hanged for witchcraft in the colony of Massachusetts

1700’s

1719 Jacobite Rising: Battle of Glen Shiel.

1793 1st public zoo opens in Paris

1800’s

1845 Andrew Jackson's African Grey parrot "Poll" is removed from his funeral for swearing at The Hermitage, Tennessee. Funeral attendee William Menefee Norment recorded: "Before the sermon and while the crowd was gathering, a wicked parrot that was a household pet got excited and commenced swearing so loud and long as to disturb the people and had to be carried from the house”

1848 1st telegraph link between NYC & Chicago

1854 The first class of the United States Naval Academy students graduate

1900’s

1908 The Australian Parliament passes the Invalid and Old Age Pensions Act providing for pensions for British subjects (excluding aborigines) at age 65

1935 In Akron, Ohio, Dr. Robert H. Smith (Dr. Bob) from Akron & Bill Wilson from New York City form Alcoholics Anonymous (date of Smith's last drink)

1943 FDR becomes 1st US President to visit a foreign country during wartime

1947 Saab produces its first automobile

1963 US Equal Pay Act signed into law by President John F. Kennedy

1966 Mamas & Papas win gold record for "Monday, Monday"

1971 44th National Spelling Bee: Jonathan Knisely wins spelling shalloon

1976 49th National Spelling Bee: Tim Kneale wins spelling narcolepsy

1977 Apple Computer ships its first Apple II computers

1997 Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief Son Sen and 11 of Sen's family members before Pol Pot flees his northern stronghold

Birthdays Today

1895 Hattie McDaniel,

(d. 1952: @59: breast cancer)

1st African American actress to win an Oscar

(Mammy-Gone with The Wind),

born in Wichita, Kansas

1913 Wilbur J. Cohen,

(d. 1987: @73)

American pioneer of social security, worked on the New Deal,

born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1915 Saul Bellow,

(d. 2005: @89)

Canadian-born American author (Mr Sammler's Planet, Nobel 1976),

born in Lachine, Quebec

1922 Judy Garland

[Frances Gumm],

(d. 1969: @47: OD)

American actress and singer (The Wizard of Oz), born in Minnesota

1922 Rose Mofford,

(d. 2016: @94)

American politician, 1st female Governor of Arizona (1988-1991),

born in Globe, Arizona

1928 Maurice Sendak,

(d. 2012: @83)

American author and illustrator (Where The Wild Things Are),

born in NYC, New York

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90’s

98- Philip Mountbatten,

Duke of Edinburgh and consort of Great Britain's Elizabeth II, born in Mon Repos, Corfu, Greece

80’s

86- F Lee Bailey, Waltham Mass, attorney (Sam Shepard case, OJ case)

1943 Jeff Greenfield, American media commentator (Firing Line, Nightline), born in NYC, New York

60’s

65- Richard "Rich" Hall, American comedian, writer, and musician (Saturday Night Live, Fridays, Not Necessarily the News), born in Alexandria, Virginia

60- Eliot Spitzer, American politician (Governor of New York 2007-8), born in the Bronx, New York

50’s

54- Elizabeth Hurley, English actress (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Christabel) and model, born in Basingstoke, England

20’s

27- Kate Upton, model, actress

Teen’s

18- Sasha [Natasha] Obama, American daughter of Barack and Michelle Obama, born in Chicago, Illinois

Historical Obits Today

90’s

@98-2016 Margaret Heldt,

American hairdresser who created the Beehive

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80’s

@88-2016 Gordie Howe,

Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame right wing (23-time NHL All Star)

@80-1988 Louis L'Amour,

western writer (Bowdrie)

70’s

@77-1993 Richard Webb,

American actor (Captain Midnight, Out of the Past),

shoots himself

@73-2004 Ray Charles [Robinson],

American singer and pianist who pioneered soul music

(Georgia on My Mind, Mess Around),

dies of acute liver disease

60’s

@69-2000 Hafez al-Assad,

General and President of Syria (1971-2000),

dies of a heart attack

@67-1967 Spencer Tracy,

American actor (Woman of the Year, Father of the Bride),

dies after heart attack

@61-2002 John Gotti,

American mafia gangster and head of the Gambino family,

dies of throat cancer

@61-1971 Michael Rennie,

English actor (Day the Earth Stood Still),

dies from aortic aneurysm

50’s

@52-1941 Marcus Garvey,

Jamaican-born black nationalist who began the back-to-Africa movement among US African Americans,

dies after stroke

30’s

@32-323 BC Alexander the Great,

Macedonian king,

dies from either fever or excessive wine at 32

Puzzle answer:

The hourglass, it has thousands of grains of sand.