Aug 10

 

Aug , 2021 Week: 33 Day: 222
Ave. Sky Cover:  40%\Visibility: 10 miles
Local Temp:   85°\ 79° Wind: 1mph\ Gusts: 4mph
High risk of fire Active fire: 280mi. \ Lightning: 63mi.
Aug Averages: 79°\50° (9 days w/moisture) 

Today’s Quote

  

 

Weekly Observations

 

National Environmental Services Week: Li`nk	2-20
Sturgis Rally: Link	6-15
National Motorcycle Week Link  Feeding Pets of the Homeless Week Link  Link   National Resurrect Romance Week Weird Contest Week	8-14
Safe and Sound Week Link US Amateur Golf Week	9-15
Numismatic Week (World's Fair of Money)	10-14

 

Daily Oberservations

 

Lazy Day S’mores Day

 

 

Favorite Memes

 

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

Clouds sure look like monsoon has returned. Humidity is at 29% so I’m hopeful.

I learned a lot about car batteries this morning…more than I really wanted to know. I went out this morning and dead battery again. I called Andy and he came over to assist. Lesson 1: have a friend that has tools. We went to the auto parts store. Lesson 2: the cost of a car battery has tripled in price since the last one I bought about 8 years ago. The new one was $190 with only a 3-year warranty. Carefully reconnect all the stuff you unhooked. Lesson 3: There is a cable that connects to the battery and the starter. We missed it the first reconnect. After a good 2 hours, my ride is running again. Happy camper.

I broke down and taped the closing ceremony so I could watch it a little late without commercials. Overall, the closing ceremony by Tokyo was good and the video of Paris accepting was very nice. While medal count is a part of the Olympics, the athletes are more important. The US women dominated the medal count, with more medals than the US men. Biles opened up a worldwide discussion about mental health as we all learned about the ‘twisties’. NBC could have done a better job by having published schedules that showed which events would be on which channels at what time. This year was much better televised that the year NBC had 3 channels…at a cost…with the Gold, Silver, and Bronze packages. I enjoyed the finals in each event, even when no USA team was participating.

I could tell the closing ceremony was prepared with the hope of an audience. It was a good closing but would have been so much better with an in-person audience. This Olympics certainly showed how Covid has changed us forever. I’m sure in the decades ahead people will ask why everyone had on a mask, much like they ask how so many could have applauded Hitler in the ’36 Olympic stadium.

A friend just posted a video of ‘One of America’s most dangerous airports for landing…it is in Telluride, CO. Wow!

I’ve been thinking about the vaccine hesitancy we are currently experiencing. My main observation is the fact that the FDA still has not fully approved any of the current vaccines. The media, the medical community, and my own physicians told me that I was in a high-risk group and needed to get the vaccine. I did get the vaccine as soon as I got my appointments. Back in May, had I not been in a high-risk group; had my physicians not encouraged me I might not have done it. Taking a vaccine that is not fully approved does cause concern. There was a time long ago when doctors told patients to lose weight, they bought diet pills OTC to do it. Then it was discovered that some brands had ‘tapeworm’ and that’s why people lost weight…and a whole lot more. Other diet pills had ‘speed’, to which people became addicted. I am disappointed that the internet machine and some news organizations have allowed unproven and totally false stories that scare people about getting the vaccine to be so easy to find. My hope is that the FDA fully approve the drug, that media and the internet cut out the false stories about the vaccine, and that very soon, adults and children can get the vaccine easily and without fear.

 

Historical Events

 

1675 King Charles II and John Flamsteed lay the foundation stone of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London

1776 American Revolutionary War: word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.

1846 – The Smithsonian Institution was founded.

1945 – Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers, effectively ending World War II.

1948 – Candid Camera, considered by many to be the first reality tv show, debuted on ABC.

1993 Ruth Bader Ginsburg sworn in as a US Supreme Court Justice

2020 Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai is the most high-profile figure arrested in Hong Kong under its new security laws

 

Birthdays Today

 

@90 – Herbert Hoover, 31st President (d. 1964)

@82 – Eddie Fisher, American singer, and actor (died in 2010)

@82 – Tom Laughlin, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died in 2013)

@81 – Jack Haley, American actor, and singer (died in 1979)

@81 – Jimmy Dean, American singer, actor, and businessman, founder of Jimmy Dean Food Company (d. 2010)

@78 – Charles Darrow, created Monopoly (d. 1967)

74 – Ian Anderson, Scottish-English singer-songwriter (Jethro Tull)

61 – Antonio Banderas, Spanish actor

@58 – William Willett, English inventor, founded British Summer Time (d. 1915; flu pandemic)

59 – Suzanne Collins, American author

49 – Angie Harmon, American actress

31 – Lucas Till, actor

24 – Kylie Jenner, American television personality