Jan 30

I am going crazy. My Word program suddenly stopped working. My repair company isn't answering the phone. I can't access any of my word documents, including the blog format and the addresses I send this blog to. 
I'll try another way. Typing directly into the blog. Boring but will work.

NOTE: THIS TOOK WAY TOO LONG, SO UNTIL MY COMPUTER IS WORKING AGAIN I'M TAKING A BREAK. SORRY.

My thoughts:

The questions and answer part of the this impeachment thing are a great teaching tool for all Americans. Precise language is needed. Good orators are present. There are many views in this trial. I am also getting very tired of the 'in an election year, one can't...' We lived through the idiocy of that idea with Obama's attempt to appoint an Supreme Court Justice. Now the President's side is using it in the trial. Elections are very important. When anyone is elected to an office, they do not take an oath to work hard until one year before an election, then I will simply get paid, fill space, spend my time trying to get re-elected to this office. Nor do elected representatives take an oath that says: Now that I'm in office, I will begin fund raising today and promise to spend at least 50% of my work day raising funds. Sadly, that is where we are.

Puzzle:

I'm were yesterday follows today, and tomorrow is in the middle?

Historical Stuff for today

Janury 29, 1979 Texas Shooting: Teenager Brenda Spencer is considered the first modern day school shooter. In the midst of her shooting spree she actually answered a call from a journalist and said her reasoning was "[I] don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." She then resumed, killing 2 and injuring 9.

1790 - The first boat designed as a lifeboat was tested on the River Tyne.

1815 Burned US Library of Congress re-established with Thomas Jefferson's 6,500 volumes

1868 - Charles Darwin's book, Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, was published.

1873 "Around the World in 80 Days" by Jules Verne is published in France by Pierre-Jules Hetzel

1948 - Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse.

1958 - The first two-way, moving sidewalk (1,425 feet long) was put in service at Love Field Air Terminal in Dallas, TX.

1961 JFK asks for an Alliance for Progress & Peace Corps

1961 - #1 Hit : The Shirelles - Will You Love Me Tomorrow

1968 - The North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong began the Tet Offensive

1972 - British Paratroopers open fire on and kill fourteen unarmed civil rights/anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland. It was commemorated by US with 1983's Sunday Bloody Sunday.

1973 - KISS played their 1st show at the Coventry Club in Queens New York.

1982 - #1 Hit: Daryl Hall and John Oates - I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)

2007 - Microsoft released Windows Vista.

2017 Scientists in central China reveal oldest known human ancestor - 540-million-year-old Saccorhytus in a fossil

2019 Peter Paul Rubens’s 1608 drawing "Nude Study of Young Man with Raised Arms" sells for $8.2 million at auction in New York

2019 Scientists reveal discovery of cavity six miles long, 1,000 feet deep under Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, leading to fears it might collapse and raise sea levels by two feet

Puzzle Answer: The Dictionary

Jan 29

My computer has an issue with Microsoft Word. It won't open any of my files. Called my computer guy and he said Microsoft was having problems. It should be fixed by tomorrow. Crazy news for sure.
Have a good day.

Jan 28

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

Jan. 28, 2020 Week: 1  Day: 28

86004:   H 45° \ L 20° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Nearest lightning:  3539mi.; Nearest active fire:  345mi.  

Wind:   8mph\Gusts:  12mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: °[]   Record Low: °[]

Jan. Averages: 43°\16° (22” days with snow)

Today’s Einstein Quote

One thing I have learned in my long-life; that all our science, measured against reality is primitive and childlike—at yet it the most precious thing we have.

Random Tidbits

A sushi chef traditionally could work in a restaurant only after training for 10 years. However, modern sushi chiefs can start working after just 2 years of training.

Sushi is commonly thought of as an aphrodisiac because two common sushi fish, salmon and mackerel, are high in omega-3s, which are fatty acids that aid in sex-hormone production. Additionally, tuna is a source of selenium, which helps increase a male's sperm count.

Observations This Week

Sundance Film Festival: 23-2/2

US Nationals Snow Sculpting Days: 25-2/2

Catholic Schools Week: 26-2/1

Clean Out Your Inbox Week: 26-31

Meat Week: 26-2/1

National School Choice Week:  26-2/1 

Tax Identity Theft Week: 26-30

National Medical Group Practice Week: 27-2/1

Observations for Today

Data Privacy Day Link  Link
Fun at Work Day

National Blueberry Pancake Day

National Kazoo Day Link
National Pediatrician Day
National Plan For A Vacation Day  Link 
Rubber Ducky Day  Link  Link 
Thank A Plugin Developer Day Link

My Rambling Thoughts

Another day of lawyers on all the major news stations, talking about how this mess is a waste of everyone’s time. It’s all part of the process, so I’m watching.

I’m thankful that I took the Trans-Siberian Rail trip before the virus was known. Focus Travel Club went to the Winter Palace and the Great Wall. Tourists there today can’t do that. I sure hope that the World’s scientists find a way to stop this virus very soon.

President Trump did another first. He stood and spoke at the ‘March for Life” in DC recently. Other Presidents have spoken by satellite or telephone to the crowds. This is a hot-button issue as the reason for the March is to stop all abortions in the US. Over the years, crowds as large as 400K have been at the March. As a happily adopted male who was born before Roe v Wade, I have some feelings about abortion.  I am ecstatic that my birth-mother did not attempt an illegal abortion when she discovered her pregnancy. Some outdated laws did not allow me to talk to my birth-mother about her decision to have me and then give me up for adoption.  When the laws changed, I did not do any searching. During my teaching career I met many students who were raised by great parents. I also met parents who did not want their child(ren) and made that clear to the child(ren). I met single mothers who refused to talk about the father of the child to the child. I met more than enough grandparents who were raising their daughter’s children because she couldn’t. Sometimes that was because of drugs, sometimes it was about finding a job, sometimes it was just to continue partying until she got pregnant again. Children were very damaged by the above behaviors. Many were able to overcome these distractions and have happy lives and families of their own. Others were not able to overcome these distractions and became alcoholics or committed suicide before 25. A very few followed in their mother’s behavior. Every woman today should have a choice when a pregnancy occurs. If she cannot care for a child, she can always ‘pawn it off’ to a relative or put it in the adoption system…now that system allows for legal open and closed adoptions. She should also have the choice of abortion. It should not be a scarlet letter on the woman for life. I hope that the anti-abortion advocates will work to change the laws of adoption to make it easier. I hope the anti-abortion advocates will walk their talk and adopt children already in the system. I do want a vocal minority, with a mission they are not part of, to set US law. If a woman has an unexpected pregnancy, no one and no law should tell her she has to abort the fetus. Nor should anyone or any law prevent her from getting a legal abortion.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

How many times can you subtract the number 5 from 25?

Historical Events

1807 - London's Pall Mall became the first street of any city to be illuminated by gaslight.

1813 - Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was first published.

1915 - An act of the US Congress created the United States Coast Guard as a branch of the United States Armed Forces.

1934 - The first ski tow rope in the US, built by Robert Royce, was used for the first time in Woodstock, Vermont

1953 - J. Fred Muggs (a chimp) joined NBC's Today Show

1958 - The Lego Company patented the design of its Lego bricks.

1979 - CBS News Sunday Morning debuts with original host Charles Kuralt.

1986 - Space Shuttle Challenger 10 exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing astronauts Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik and schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

1988 Canada's Supreme court declares anti-abortion law unconstitutional

1998 Michelangelo's "Christ & the Woman of Samaria" sold for $7.4 million

2011 Hundreds of thousands of protesters fill the Egyptian's streets against the Hosni Mubarak's regime in demonstrations referred to as the "Friday of Anger"

2017 US President Donald Trump and Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull have a contentious phone call over deal for US to take 1,250 refugees

2019 US Justice Department charges Chinese firm Huawei with bank and wire fraud

Birthdays Today

84- Alan Alda, actor

80- Carlos Slim, Mexican entrepreneur, philanthropist

@66- Robert McClure, Irish explorer (NW Passage) (d. 1873)

@44- Jackson Pollock, artist (d. 1956; auto accident)

39- Elijah Wood, actor

Puzzle Answer:

Once. After you subtract 5 from 25 you are left with 20.

Jan 27

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

Jan. 27, 2020 Week: 1  Day: 27

86004:   H 55° \ L 26° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Nearest lightning:  824mi.; Nearest active fire:  244mi.  

Wind:   6mph\Gusts:  13mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 61°[2003]   Record Low: -13°[1979]

Jan. Averages: 43°\16° (22” days with snow)

Today’s Einstein Quote

It is easier to denature plutonium

than it is to denature the evil spirit of man

Random Tidbits

Today, sushi restaurants in the United States generate $2 billion in annual revenue

Sushi chefs have one of the most difficult training of all professional chefs. They must know how to prepare raw seafood, know which fish contain harmful parasites, and know how to eliminate parasites. They must also know about biochemical changes that happen after seafood is slaughtered.

Observations This Week

Sundance Film Festival: 23-2/2

US Nationals Snow Sculpting Days: 25-2/2

Catholic Schools Week: 26-2/1

Clean Out Your Inbox Week: 26-31

Meat Week: 26-2/1

National School Choice Week:  26-2/1 

Tax Identity Theft Week: 26-30

National Medical Group Practice Week: 27-2/1

Observations for Today

Auschwitz Liberation Day
Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day

Holocaust Memorial Day
e-Day

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust Link
Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day   Link and Link
National Chocolate Cake Day

National Geographic Day
Punch the Clock Day

Thomas Crapper Day
Viet Nam Peace Day

My Rambling Thoughts

We had a very interesting discussion last night about Trafficking. It is very depressing that the various countries, and states, cannot agree on important definitions of Human Trafficking, Slavery, Child Labor, Sexual Exploitation among others. Humans are on the top of the evolution scale, yet we carry a marker of some kind that comes from the others in the animal kingdom: kill or be killed. Until we can or will find a way to identify that marker and then alter it, there will always be conflict between humans. It is a bitter pill to swallow.

Mrs. Sofia Yazzie passed at 105 this last week. She was a Navajo who served in WWII in the US Army Air Corp. Until her passing she was the oldest living WWII Vet in Arizona. After her military service she worked at Ft. Wingate Elem School, a BIA school on the Navajo Nation. Tributes are pouring in. What an amazing life.

Shocked and saddened by the untimely passing of Kobe Bryant, NBA super-star and his 13 year old daughter, Gigi. RIP and condolences to his wife and other children.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

A merchant can place 8 large boxes or 10 small boxes into a carton for shipping.

In one shipment, he sent a total of 96 boxes. If there are more large boxes than small boxes, how many cartons did he ship?

Historical Events

1591 Scottish schoolmaster Dr. John Fian burned for witchcraft at Castle Hill, Edinburgh by order King James VI. Part of the Berwick Witch trials.

1606 - The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators began for the Gunpowder Plot, ending with their execution on January 31.

1825 US Congress approves Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for the forced relocation of the Eastern Indian tribes via the "Trail of Tears"

1880 - Thomas Edison received a patent (#223,898) for his incandescent lamp.

1888 - The National Geographic Society was established.

1924 Lenin placed in Mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow

1926 Physicist Erwin Schrödinger publishes his theory of wave mechanics and presents what becomes known as the Schrödinger equation in quantum mechanics

1944 Siege of Leningrad lifted by the Soviets after 880 days and more than 2 million Russians killed 1945 - 60th Army First Ukrainian Front soldiers opened the gates of Auschwitz Concentration Camp, liberating the remaining 7,000 prisoners, mostly ill and dying. In 2005 the United Nations declared 27 January as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

1951 - Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site began with Operation Ranger.

1962 - #1 Hit: Joey Dee and the Starliters - Peppermint Twist - Part 1

1967 - Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee were killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

1970 - James M. Schlatter received a patent (#3492131) for 'Peptide Sweetening Agents' later marketed as NutraSweet.

1973 - #1 Hit: Stevie Wonder - Superstition

1976 - Lavern and Shirley debuted on ABC.

1977 - Roots mini-series began on ABC.

1984 - Michael Jackson's hair caught fire during filming for Pepsi commercial.

2010 - Steve Jobs unveiled Apple's latest product, a tablet PC called the iPad, at a press conference in San Francisco.

2017 Donald Trump issues executive order banning travel to the US for 7 mostly Muslim countries and suspending admission for refugees

2019 Tornado strikes Havana, Cuba, killing three and injuring 172

Birthdays Today

72 - Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian-American dancer, choreographer, and actor

@65 - Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), English novelist, poet, and mathematician (died in 1898; pneumonia)

@65 - Troy Donahue, American actor (died in 2001; heart attack)

@60 - Jerome Kern, American composer and songwriter (died in 1945; stroke)

64 - John Roberts, American jurist, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court

@64 - Donna Reed, American actress (died in 1986; pancreatic cancer)

@52 - Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor, created Alvin and the Chipmunks (died in 1972; heart attack)

@39 - Sabu, Indian-American actor (died in 1963; heart attack)

@35 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian pianist and composer (died in 1791; fever)

Puzzle Answer:

11 cartons total

7 large boxes (7 * 8 = 56 boxes) 4 small boxes (4*10 = 40 boxes 11 total cartons and 96 boxes