Apr 26
2021 Week: 18 Day: 116
|
Visibility: 10 miles |
Ave. Sky Cover: 5% |
|
Local:
H 67°\ L36 ° |
Nearest Lightning: 1585mi. |
|
Wind:
8mph/ Gusts: 20mph |
EXTREME Risk of Fire: Active fire: 233mi |
|
Record: 90°[1990] Record: 24°[1972] |
Apr. Averages: 60°/27° (3 days w/moisture) |
Today’s Quote
We must not allow other
people's limited perceptions to define us.
~Virginia Satir
Random Tidbits
The six Apollo crews came
back to Earth with a total of 850 pounds (385 kg) of the moon.
Moon dust is said to
smell like spent gunpowder.
Humor
Dad always bragged about the gunners on his ship. Once during target
practice, an unmanned drone flew past an antiaircraft cruiser. The cruiser opened
up, shells furiously flying all around the drone but not hitting it. Then came
Dad’s ship’s turn. The gunners’ very first shot sent the drone into the water!
Forty years later, Dad met the man responsible, and he told him how impressed
he had been. “Yeah, I got in a lot of trouble for that,” the gunner said.
“Turns out we were supposed to shoot around it, not hit it.”
Real Cities
Sopchoppy, Florida: a city in Wakulla County,
Florida, United States. It is part of the Tallahassee, Florida Metropolitan
Statistical Area. The population was 457 at the 2010 census. As of 2018, the
population was estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau to be 482.
True Things
The Passing Parade
Authorities in Sri Lanka
arrested Caroline Jurie, the reigning Mrs. World, after she snatched the crown
from the head of Pushpika De Silva as she was crowned Mrs. Sri Lanka on
national television on April 4, allegedly injuring her. Jurie, the 2019 Mrs.
Sri Lanka, claimed De Silva was a divorced woman, which made her ineligible to
win the pageant, but organizers confirmed De Silva is only separated, and she
has been re-crowned. The new queen reported on Facebook that she went to the hospital
to be treated for head injuries after the incident, and police spokesman Ajith
Rohana told the BBC Jurie was charged with "simple hurt and criminal
cause." Pageant director Chandimal Jayasinghe said, "It was a
disgrace how Caroline Jurie behaved on the stage." [BBC, 4/8/2021]
Weekly Observations
|
Ramadan |
Thru 5/11 |
|
International
Wildlife Film Week Link |
17-
5/15 |
|
Festival
of Ridvan |
20-5/1 |
|
National
Stationery Week Link |
20-26 |
|
National Scoop The Poop Week |
24-30 |
|
Fibroid Awareness Week Preservation Week Link (re: Libraries) |
25-5/1 |
|
National Infant Immunization
Week (NIIW) Link Stewardship Week |
25-5/2 |
|
National Playground Safety Week
Link |
26-30 |
Today’s Observations
Alien
Day Link
Audubon Day Link
Hug an Australian Day
International
Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day
Lesbian Visibility Day Link
National Dissertation Day Link
National Help A Horse Day
National Kids and Pets Day Link Link
National Pretzel Day Link
Pretzel Day Link
Richter Scale
Day
World
Intellectual Property Day Link
World
Pinhole Photography Day
My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts
Lots of wind today, meaning a pile of pine needles everywhere. Too
windy to take even a short walk. It is a Red Flag Warning day.
Back in the late ‘80’s the BIA decided that every school must have accreditation.
Tuba had been accredited since 1979. I was selected to be on the accreditation committee
Chair for Hunters Point Boarding School, a K-8 boarding school about 10 miles
from Window Rock, the Navajo Nation capital. It was a small, nice school that
had worked very hard to get accredited. They passed and a year later I went to
the National Meeting of NCA to nominate the school. Flash forward to 2021. Hunters
Point is the school Dr. Jill Biden visited on her visit to the Navajo Nation.
Very cool.
As an English/Language Arts teacher, I was responsible for the Tuba
City Spelling Bee. We had a local bee, then a city bee…against the public
school, and then the winner went to the Coconino County Bee. Years later the
Navajo Nation was able to get a seat at the National Spelling Bee. Many do not
realize that Bee, along with the state and county bees, is a commercial
enterprise run by Scripts/Howard Newspapers. In order to keep the ‘National’ in
their title they had to admit the Navajo Nation, even though no Scripts/Howard
Newspaper were available on the Navajo Nation. Now they have changed their rules
to avoid having multiple champions. Participants will now have to answer vocabulary
questions during the final rounds. Before this change, they only did this on
the preliminary written test. They have also added a lightning round if there
is a tie. Interesting for sure.
On the pandemic front: 39% of adult AZ residents have received at
least one vaccine and 27% are fully vaccinated. All my AZ friends and I are in
the 27%. Gotta get that number to
increase a lot.
Daily Puzzle
Answer: bottom of the page
How far can a squirrel run into the woods?
Historical Events
1278 – Imprisoned for
murder, John le F*cker sent a letter asking for bail, the earliest recorded
instance of the English swear word “f*ck”.
1564 – Playwright William
Shakespeare was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. People
were traditionally baptized three days after birth, this is how we know his
birthday was April 23.
1882 – A perpetual motion
machine was Patented (#257,103) by John Sutliff. It didn’t really work.
1921 – The first US
broadcast of the weather was made from St. Louis, Missouri, over station WEW.
Or so legend has it. There were few rules in the earliest days of radio, so
another station may have made a weather announcement. It was about 55 degrees.
1933 – The Gestapo, the
official secret police force of Nazi Germany, was established.
1978 – Ringo Starr’s
Ringo a musical version of The Prince and the Pauper, aired on NBC, with George
Harrison narrating.
1986 – Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster, Ukraine, sending a
radioactive cloud over much of Europe. It was announced two days later.
2010 – Boobquake was
envisioned by Jennifer McCreight. An estimated 200,000 people participated
worldwide, and the epicenter was considered the Purdue Bell Tower in West
Lafayette, Indiana.
2012 Indonesia suspends
imports of American beef after a confirmed case of mad cow disease in
California
2019 "No
religion" tops survey of American religious identity for the first time at
23.1% edging out Catholics 23.0% and evangelicals 22.5%, in long-running
General Social Survey
2019 Waorani people of
Pastaza win landmark environmental case against the Ecuadorian government to
protect half a million acres of their territory in the Amazon rainforest
Birthdays Today
@93 – Rudolf Hess, Egyptian-German politician, Nazi (d. 1987;
suicide by hanging)
88 – Carol Burnett,
American actress, singer, producer
@85 – Charles Richter, American inventor, seismologist (died in
1985)
83 – Duane Eddy, American
singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor
79 – Bobby Rydell,
American singer and actor
58 – Jet Li,
Chinese-Singaporean martial artist and actor
56 – Kevin James, American
comedic actor
51 – Melania Trump,
Slovene-American model; 45th First Lady
46 – Joey Jordison,
Drummer [Slipknot]
44 – Tom Welling,
American actor
41 – Channing Tatum,
American actor
Puzzle Answer
Halfway. After that, he is running back out of the woods.
