Jul 14

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Jul. 14, 2019 Week: 29 \ Day: 195

86004:   H 82° \ L 52° \ Average Sky Cover: 25% 

Nearest wildfire:  136mi. Nearest lightning:  120mi

Wind:   7mph\Gusts:  7mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 92°[1902]   Record Low: 38°[1962]

Jul Averages: 82°\542° (8 day with rain)

Today’s Quote

We first make our habits,

and then our habits make us.

John Dryden

Random Tidbits

There have been a few states that never managed to make the cut and become incorporated into the United States we know today. Some of these state names were quite inventive and the dedicated residents who petitioned for them were very frustrated when the states never manifested.

Absaroka

It was named after the Absaroka Range of the Rocky Mountains, which claimed parts of South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. Residents of this area attempted to secede in 1939.

More Observances This Month

Air-Conditioning Appreciation Days (7/3 to 8/15)  Link
Alopecia Month for Women
Bereaved Parents Awareness Month
Bioterrorism/Disaster Education & Awareness Month
Cell Phone Courtesy Month  Link
Day of the Knife (July 25 to August 22)  Link
Dog Days (7/3 to 8/11)   Link
Eye Injury Prevention Month Link
Family Golf Month Link
Fragile X Awareness Month Link
Get Ready For Kindergarten Month
Hemochromatosis Screening Awareness Month Link
Herbal/Prescription Interaction Awareness Month

Observances This Week

6-28

Tour de France

7-14

Creative Maladjustment Week

National Farriers Week

Sports Cliché Week

8-14

Nude Recreation Weekend

14-20

Everybody Deserves A Massage Week

Observances for Today

 Bastille Day

International Nude Day Link
National Grand Marnier Day

National Macaroni and Cheese Day Link

National Nude Day

Pandemonium Day

Shark Awareness Day  Link
Taos Pueblo Pow Wow 

Victims of The Nice, France Attack Day Link
Wayne Chicken Day Link 

My Rambling Thoughts

It has been a while…I had a great time on the Trans-Siberian Railroad trip from Moscow to Beijing. I’ll be doing highlights of the trip for the next few days.

I started out in Flagstaff, took the shuttle to Phoenix airport, then to Denver to meet up with our group of 18. Focus Travel had great accommodations, thanks to Joe Green and his staff at Tumlare. From Denver it was off to Chicago, Frankfort, then to Moscow.

We stayed in Moscow for a day and a half, with two city tours before meeting the train crew. Moscow was amazing. Turns out Kremlin in Russian means fortress. I can assure you it was and still is amazing. Red Square was nice too. The city has lots of Soviet area grey, block buildings that are offices, apartments, and stores. There are also some great churches with spectacular architecture. Our guide gave us a good history of the city and the surrounding area. The food was delicious. Lots of perogies with many different fillings.

I was very impressed with the number of Cultural Venues throughout all of Russia…Opera Houses, Ballet Theaters, Symphony Halls, Children’s museums, nice playgrounds, and many beautiful parks. The people were very friendly and accommodating to our questions. Lots of stylish dressers throughout the city. Our time is Moscow let us see many highlights and leave with a good feeling about the Russian people.

We finally got to our train, met our guide, Vlad. He was with us until we got on the plane in Beijing. Our group of 18, the largest American group anyone remembers, picked up a couple from New Delhi for our daily tours. He is a radiologist, she is OBGYN. The have two daughters and are awaiting grandchildren. Our train car had two toilet rooms, a small shower room with a little warm water and lots of cold water. Our ‘room’ was small, two benches to sit on, storage underneath, and the bench-back folded down at night for a very hard bed. A table came out under the window for storage of small bags, phones, chargers, etc. While in Russia, we traveled day and night through five time zones. The train also had a French group, Portuguese group, a German couple, a Spanish group. Each car had a husband/wife team to be sure we were comfortable 24/7, a great kitchen staff, two dining cars, and a bar/lounge car. The train was not luxurious, but was comfortable, most of the time. Russia seems to run by RR, so there were frequent stops so long trains of fuel or lumber could switch to our track. Most large cities had five or more tracks running through the train yard.

Our group became very close during the trip, since we ate together, slept in the same train car, and all showered in the same small shower where you had to sign up for a time, with 15 minutes between shower times so the water could heat up. Note: it seldom heated up. All along the train ride we saw vast open, green spaces, mountains, farms, huge rivers, small villages, and so much more. This adventure was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for everyone experiencing the Trans-Siberian RailRoad.

More to come.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

Use exactly two threes (3) and two eights (8) to get the number 24. You can use multiplication (×), division (÷), addition (+), subtraction (-) signs, and brackets. You cannot use any advanced arithmetic operations, such as exponential, factorial, etc.

Today’s Highlighted Historical Events

1700’s

1714 Battle of Aland, Russian fleet overpowers larger Swedish fleet

1789 Bastille Day - the French Revolution begins with the fall of the Bastille Prison

1798 1st direct US federal tax on states-on dwellings, land and slaves

1800’s

1832 Opium exempted from federal tariff duty

1853 US President Franklin Pierce opens World Fair - Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York

1864 Gold is discovered in Helena, Montana

1900’s

1914 Robert Goddard is granted the first patent for liquid-fueled rocket design

1927 1st commercial airplane flight in Hawaii

1946 Dr Benjamin Spock's "Common Sense Book of Baby & Child Care" published

1969 The United States $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills are officially withdrawn from circulation.

1987 Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North concludes 6 days of Congressional testimony

1987 Taiwan ends 37 years of martial law

2000’s

2015 Harper Lee's 2nd novel "Go Set A Watchman", an early 1957 version of "To Kill A Mocking Bird" goes on sale in 70 countries

2015 Arms deal agreed between 6 world powers and Iran limiting Iranian nuclear arms but ending sanctions

2018 Russian covert agent Maria Butina arrested by the FBI in Washington, D.C.., charged with being unregistered foreign agent

Highlighted Birthdays Today

0’s

1857 Frederick Louis Maytag, American businessman, head of Maytag, born in Elgin, Illinois (d. 1937-@79, heart disease)

1862 Florence Bascom, American geologist and 1st woman hired by the US Geological Survey, born in Williamstown, Massachusetts (d. 1945-@82)

1906 Tom Carvel, ice cream mogul (Carvels) (d. 1990-@94)

1913 Gerald Ford [Leslie King], 38th US President (R: 1974-77) and 41st US Vice President (R: 1973-74), born in Omaha, Nebraska (d. 2006@93)

1921 Leon Garfield, English children's author (d. 1996-@74)

59-Jane Lynch, Actress, Game Show host

Highlighted Historical Obits Today

80’s

@87-2005 Cicely Saunders, English Nurse, physician and writer who founded the first modern hospice, dies of cancer

60’s

@65-1965 Adlai Stevenson II, US ambassador to UN (1961-65), Governor of Illinois (1949-53) and Democratic presidential candidate (1952, 56), dies of heart attack

20’s

@21-1881 Billy the Kid [William H Bonney], American frontier outlaw, shot by sheriff Pat Garrett and dies of gunshot wounds

Puzzle answer:

8 ÷ (3 – 8 ÷ 3) = 24