Jan 17

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

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Jan 17, 2018 Week: 03\ Day: 17

86004 Today: H 51° \ L 26° \ Average Sky Cover: 15% 

Wind ave.:   7mph\Gusts:  13mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 62°[1971]   Record Low: -13°[1987]

Jan Averages: 50°\23°

Jan Records: H: 66° (1971) L: -30° (1937)

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Today’s Quote

Harper’s Index

1/5- Estimated portion of US employees who are bound by a noncomplete clause.

3/10- Of those employees who don’t realize it

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Observances This Week

11-17

Cuckoo Dancing Week

14-20

Healthy Weight Week

15-19

No Name Calling Week Link

Sugar Awareness Week

17-23

National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week

National Soccer Coaches of America Week

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Observances for Today

Cable Car Day

Ditch New Years Resolutions Day

International Mentoring Day  Link  (Muhammad Ali's birthday)

Judgment Day

Kid Inventors' Day

National Bootleggers Day Link

Popeye Day

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Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1700’s                                          

1746 Battle of Falkirk Muir, the Jacobites under Charles Stuart defeat Hanoverian forces

1773 Captain James Cook becomes 1st to cross Antarctic Circle (66° 33' S)

1800’s                                          

1821 Mexico permits Moses Austin and 300 US families to settle in Texas, after his death leaves to son Stephen

1873 A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, a part of the Modoc War.

1893 Queen Liliuokalani is deposed by an American coup, Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic

1900’s                                          

1904 Anton Chekhov's play "Cherry Orchard" opens at Moscow Art Theater

1916 Rodman Wanamaker organizes a lunch to discuss forming a golfers association (later the PGA) at the Taplow Club, Martinique Hotel, New York City

1920 First day Prohibition comes into effect in the US as a result of the 18th amendment

1943 Tin Can Drive Day in the US, salvage collected for the war effort

1946 United Nations Security Council holds its 1st meeting

1954 Jacques Cousteau's 1st network telecast airs on "Omnibus" (CBS)

1957 9-county commission recommends creation of BART

1961 Eisenhower allegedly orders assassination of Congo's Patrice Lumumba

1961 President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military-industrial complex".

1984 Supreme Court rules (5-4) oks private use of home VCRs to tape TV programs for later viewing does not violate federal copyright laws

1987 US President Reagan signs secret order permitting covert sale of arms to Iran

1988 "The Fumble", trailing 38-31 with 1:12 left in the AFC Championship Game, the Browns' Earnest Byner fumbled at the Denver 3-yard line, sending the Broncos to their second consecutive Super Bowl appearance

1991 Operation Desert Storm begins, with US-led coalition forces bombing Iraq, during the Gulf War

1997 NBA suspends Dennis Rodman indefinitely for kicking cameraman

2000’s                                          

2001 President Bill Clinton posthumously raises Meriwether Lewis' rank from Lieutenant to Captain

2002 Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.

2007 Doomsday Clock set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea's 1st nuclear test

2017 US President Barack Obama commutes WikiLeaks discloser Chelsea Manning's prison sentence from 35 to 7 years

2017 Search for missing aircraft MH370 over the Indian Ocean is called off

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My Rambling Thoughts

I did a little shopping this morning. Got what I needed and back home in less than an hour. Nice.

Our country is taking a turn I never thought I would see. I am so disappointed as our so-called ‘leaders’ argue about the fate of all Americans depends on children who were brought here by parents from a foreign country. How can any American stand by quietly as they are sent back to a country they do not know? And now non-criminal adults who came as kids are being sent back. This is not the America I was taught about in school. This is not the America I grew up in. This is insane.

Speaking of insane…I got an email from iTunes that looked like a receipt for an exercise DVD. I knew I hadn’t ordered such a thing, so I clicked on the link. It wanted lots of information, including my SS#. I deleted the information I had typed in up to that point. They also stated that my iTunes account was locked. Thanks to Google, I found a phone number for iTunes and called. Fairly quickly I got a live assistant. He assured me that the email was a scam, that my account had no such purchase, and that my account was not locked. Felt relieved…but still pissed off that someone had the nerve to try to rip off my information. He told me to mark the mail as spam and not to worry. Yeah, right.

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Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

96- Betty White,

American actress (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Golden Girls),

born in Oak Park Illinois

80’s

86- James Earl Jones,

actor (Darth Vader, Exorcist II, Soul Man)

@84- Benjamin Franklin,

US Founding Father, inventor, ambassador and writer (Poor Richards Almanac),

born in Boston, Massachusetts

(d. 1790)

@84- Vidal Sassoon,

hair stylist/CEO (Vidal Sasson),

born in London, England

(d. 2012)

@81- Eartha Kitt,

singer/actress (Catwoman-Batman),

born in North, South Carolina (

d. 2008)

70’s

79- Maury Povich,

TV host (Current Affair, Maury)/Mr Connie Chung

@74- Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay],

American world heavyweight boxing champion (1964-7 74-8),

born in Louisville, KY

septic shock (d. 2016)

60’s

@65- Shari Lewis,

ventriloquist/puppeteer (Lamb Chop),

born in The Bronx,

cancer (d. 1998)

64- Robert F Kennedy Jr,

attorney (Natural Resources Defense Council)

63- Steve Earle,

country singer (Guitar Town),

born in San Antonio, Texas

61- Steve Harvey,

American actor, comedian and radio personality

50’s

56- Jim Carrey,

Canadian-American actor (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,

Dumb & Dumber, The Mask),

born in Ontario Canada

54- Michelle Obama,

1st African-American US First Lady (2009-16),

born in DeYoung, Illinois

40’s

@48- Al Capone,

American gangster (Chicago bootlegging),

born in Brooklyn

cardiac arrest (d. 1947)

47- Kid Rock [Robert James Ritchie],

American rapper, songwriter, musician and actor (Devil Without a Cause),

born in Romeo, Michigan

43- Freddy Rodriguez,

Puerto Rican-American actor (Six Feet Under)

30’s

38- Zooey Deschanel,

American actress (Almost Famous, New Girl),

born in Los Angeles, California

@34- Andy Kaufman,

American comedian and actor (Latka Gravas-Taxi),

born in NYC,

rare lung cancer (d. 1984)

20’s

@29- Anne Brontë,

English novelist/poet (Tenant of Wildfell Hall),

born in Thornton, West Yorkshire

TB (d. 1849)

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Historical Obits Today

90’s

@90-2012 Johnny Otis [Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes],

US R&B musician, producer, and talent scout ("godfather of rhythm and blues")

@90-1891 George Bancroft,

American historian and father of U.S. History

80’s

@81-2007 Art Buchwald, American humorist

70’s

@70-1893 Rutherford B. Hayes,

19th US President (Republican: 1877-81),

heart attack

60’s

@66-1927 Juliette Gordon Low,

American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA,

breast cancer

@64-2008 Bobby Fischer,

American world chess champion (1972-75),

renal failure

@62-1874 Chang & Eng Bunker,

Chinese/Thai Siamese twins,

bronchitis/?

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Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.

All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site contains mistakes and sadly once the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.

☼☼☼☼…And That Is All for Now…☼☼☼☼

Jan 16

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

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Jan 16, 2018 Week: 03\ Day: 16

86004 Today: H 58° \ L 26° \ Average Sky Cover: 35% 

Wind ave.:   1mph\Gusts:  6mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 60°[1974]   Record Low: -8°[1915]

Jan Averages: 50°\23°

Jan Records: H: 66° (1971) L: -30° (1937)

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Today’s Quote

Harper’s Index

4-Number of private debt-collection firms that the IRS plans to use to obtain overdue payments

1/18/2017-Date on which a US gov’t agency sued one of those firms for deceptive collection practices

$4,460,000-Amount of revenue the IRS lost the previous time it employed private debt collectors

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Observances This Week

11-17

Cuckoo Dancing Week

14-20

Healthy Weight Week

15-19

No Name Calling Week Link

Sugar Awareness Week

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Observances for Today

Appreciate a Dragon Day

Civil Service Day

Fig Newton Day Link  Link

National Nothing Day

Religious Freedom Day Link  

Rid The World of Fad Diets and Gimmicks Day 

Without A Scalpel Day Link  Link

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Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1400’s                                          

1492 The first grammar of a modern language, Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.

1700’s                                          

1777 Vermont declares independence from New York

1800’s                                          

1847 John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory

1868 Refrigerator car patented by William Davis, a fish dealer in Detroit

1870 Virginia becomes 8th state readmitted to US after Civil War

1883 Pendleton Act creates basis of US Civil Service system

1897 John Dewey's essay "My Pedagogic Creed" appears in School Journal

1900’s                                          

1917 "Zimmermann Telegram" is sent from Germany to Mexico, stating in the event of the US entering World War I on the allied side, Mexico would be given Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. Intercepted by British intelligence and partially deciphered by the next day. It's release in March shifts US public opinion in favor of war against Germany.

1925 Leon Trotsky resigns as chairman of the Russian Revolutionary Military Council as he and Stalin battle for power in the aftermath of Lenin's death.

1938 1st jazz concert held at Carnegie Hall (Benny Goodman)

1939 Daily newspaper comic strip "Superman" debuts

1951 World's largest gas pipeline opens (Brownsville Texas, to 134th St, New York City)

1963 Khrushchev claims to have a 100-megaton nuclear bomb

1964 "Hello, Dolly!" opens at St James Theater NYC for 2,844 performances

1965 "Outer Limits" last airs on ABC-TV

1970 Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects

1974 "Jaws" by Peter Benchley is published by Doubleday

1979 Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees Iran for Egypt during the Iranian Revolution

1985 "Playboy" announces end of stapling centerfolds

1988 Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder fired from CBS for racial remarks

2000’s                                          

2001 US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish-American War

2006 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.

2011 French politician Marine Le Pen becomes the leader of the National Front Party

2016 First ever flower grown in space - a zinnia aboard the International Space Station using NASA Veggie system

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My Rambling Thoughts

Beautiful MLK day. Sun comes out, high clouds disappear. Then clouds return and it’s overcast, then the sun comes out and clouds are gone. Crazy. Most of my neighbors seem to be at work…not everyone recognizes this holiday. Sad.

I have loved visiting Africa and seeing the wide variety of wild animals. Last night, CNN had a special about ‘Trophy hunting’ these amazing animals. It appeared to be fairly well balanced between trophy hunters and conservationists. I only watched the first hour, as I was too angry to watch more. African communities are doing what they can to stop poaching, allowing for legal hunts, setting up breeding farms for the most endangered species. Trophy hunting is really nothing but big bucks. Poaching is the same.

In my younger days, I did go deer and elk hunting and had success. I always hunted with Natives so there were different ‘rules’. Always showing respect which includes no celebrating right after a kill. Eating all of what is harvested. Giving some to those in need. Sharing with family members. Traditional prayers said before and after the kill.

Oh boy, headlines are talking about a possible government shutdown on Friday. Of course, if there is a shut-down, Congress will still get paid. And government employees who are sent home will, when the budget passes, get pay for the work days of the shutdown. All that happens is that the government employees stop processing all paperwork and the backlog simply becomes a little longer. Stupidity in action.

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Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@90- Carl Karcher,

founded the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain

(d. 2008)

80’s

@87- Frank Zamboni,

American inventor

(d. 1988)

70’s

@78- Andre Michelin,

French industrialist, tire manufacturer (Michelin)

publisher of the Michelin Guide,

born in Paris

(d. 1931)

@76- Ethel Merman,

American stage and screen actress (Anything Goes, Call Me Madam),

born in Queens,

brain cancer  (d. 1984)

74- Jim Stafford,  

singer (Spiders & Snakes, My Girl Bill)

born in Eloise, Fla

@72- Fulgencio Batista,

Dictator and President of Cuba (1933-44, 1952-59),

born in Banes, Cuba

heart attack (d. 1973)

@71- Susan Sontag,

American author/film director (Benefactor, 1966 Pol Award),

born in NYC

leukemia (d. 2004)

70- John Carpenter,

American film director (Halloween, The Thing),

born in Carthage, NY

60’s

68- Debbie Allen,

dancer/actress (3 Girls 3, Lydia-Fame),

born in Houston, Texas

50’s

59- Sade

R&B Nigerian born English singer

@53- Dian Fossey,

American zoologist (Gorillas in the Mist),

born in San Francisco,

murdered in her camp (d. 1985)

40’s

@44- Edith Frank,

mother of Holocaust diarist Anne Frank, born in Aachen, Germany

starved in concentration camp (d. 1945)

44- Kate Moss,

English model,

born in Croydon, England

 

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Historical Obits Today

90’s

@94-2013 Pauline Phillips,

American advice columnist

80’s

@89-2014 Russell Johnson,

American television and film actor,

"The Professor" on Gilligan's Island

@89-1957 Arturo Toscanini,

Italian US conductor (NBC)

@82-2017 Eugene Cernan,

American NASA astronaut (12th person on the moon)

70’s

@71-2007 Ron Carey,

American actor (Barney Miller),

stroke

@71-1906 Marshall Field,

American entrepreneur and the founder of Marshall Field and Company,

pneumonia

50’s

@56-1794 Edward Gibbon,

English historian (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire),

peritonitis

@52-1972 David Seville (Ross Bagdasarian Sr.),

singer (Alvin & Chipmunks),

heart attack

40’s

@47-1752 Francis Blomefield,

English topographer

smallpox

@46-1979 Ted Cassidy,

actor (Lurch-Addams Family),

complications after heart surgery

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Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.

All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site contains mistakes and sadly once the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.

☼☼☼☼…And That Is All for Now…☼☼☼☼

Jan 15

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

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Jan 15, 2018 Week: 03\ Day: 15

86004 Today: H 48° \ L 22° \ Average Sky Cover: 5% 

Wind ave.:   10mph\Gusts:  16mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 65°[1943]   Record Low: -12°[1937]

Jan Averages: 50°\23°

Jan Records: H: 66° (1971) L: -30° (1937)

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Today’s Quote

The earth has received the embrace of the sun and

we shall see the results of that love.

  Sitting Bull

Harper’s Index

21 Percentage of American vacationers who are taking on 

     debt to finance their trips this summer 

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Observances This Week

11-17

Cuckoo Dancing Week

14-20

Healthy Weight Week

15-19

No Name Calling Week Link

Sugar Awareness Week

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Observances for Today

Alpha Kappa Alpha Day

Blue Monday Link Link

Humanitarian Day 

Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday

National Crowd Feed Day 

National Day of Service Link

National Hat Day

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Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1500’s                                          

1535 Henry VIII declares himself head of the Church in England

1559 Elizabeth I crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey

1800’s                                          

1844 University of Notre Dame receives its charter in Indiana

1846 Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky's first novel "Poor Folk" is published in the St Petersburg Collection almanac

1847 1st Swedish magazine in US, Skandinavia, published in NYC

1861 Steam elevator patented by Elisha Otis

1863 1st US newspaper printed on wood-pulp paper, Boston Morning Journal

1870 Donkey first used as symbol of Democratic Party, in Harper's Weekly

1882 1st US ski club forms (Berlin NH)

1895 Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" premieres, St Petersburg

1900’s                                          

1902 Abdulaziz Ibn Saud leads 40 men over the walls of Riyadh and takes the city, marking the beginning of the Third Saudi State

1907 Gold dental inlays first described by William Taggart, who invented them

1919 Great Molasses Flood; 2 million gallons of molasses flood Boston Massachusetts, drowning 21, injuring 150

1927 The Tennessee Supreme Court overturns (on a technicality) John T Scopes' guilty verdict for teaching evolution — but the law itself remains in force

1943 World's largest office building, the Pentagon is completed

1944 European Advisory Commission decides to divide Germany

1947 The brutalized corpse of Elizabeth Short ("The Black Dahlia") found in Leimert Park, Los Angeles

1951 Supreme Court rule "clear & present danger" of incitement to riot is not protected speech & can be a cause for arrest

1962 Coco the Clown [Nicolai Poliakoff] is the subject of the BBC TV programme "This is Your Life"

1967 Super Bowl I: Green Bay Packers beat KC Chiefs, 35-10 in LA Super Bowl MVP: Bart Starr, Green Bay, QB

1971 Aswan Dam official opens in Egypt

1971 George Harrison releases "My Sweet Lord"

1973 US President Richard Nixon suspends all US offensive action in N Vietnam

1974 "Happy Days" begins an 11 year run on ABC

1975 Space Mountain opens at Disneyland

1977 Coneheads debut on "Saturday Night Live"

1988 Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder makes racist remarks about black athletes

1997 Diana, Princess of Wales, calls for an international ban on landmines, angering ministers in the UK

2000’s                                          

2011 Wikipedia the free internet encyclopedia turns 10 years old

2016 American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan unveils newest exhibit replica skeleton of a Titanosaur dinosaur (found 2010 Argentina), largest known dinosaur at 70 tons, 37m

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My Rambling Thoughts

Enjoying a quiet Sunday…TV and some football. I’ll be at home tomorrow as I make a real effort not to shop on Federal holidays. The merchants need a day off too to remember why it is a Federal holiday.

Sunday morning news shows spent a lot of time on 45’s racist comments. Seems that many African nations are asking or demanding an apology. Good for them. Thanks to the reporters who have pulled out the facts about immigration and showing that a bigot’s comment is not fact. Lots of immigrants from Africa are as educated as Americans, earn higher degrees here than the average American.

With all the technology available, it sure would be nice to have a ‘Truth’ app. Type in the statement and find out if it is true in real time. Google helps a lot but it can take hours or days for the statement to show up. Snopes also does OK, but again, weeks or months for it to show up. By the time Google or Snopes gives us the factual information, the lie has encircled the globe many times. I want an app that says ‘LIE’ and maybe even has a loud siren that goes off.

Speaking of sirens…sure glad I wasn’t in Hawaii when the alert went out that ballistic missile was headed their way. I grew up with various sirens that would test our readiness during the sixties. (one for look for cover; one for take cover immediately; and I guess one for It’s too late.) We did duck and cover at school. When living in Tuba City, we had a fire alarm that went off every night at 9pm as a curfew for those under a certain age. When I first moved there, it reminded me of the childhood sirens and would send a chill through my body. After a few weeks, I didn’t even hear it anymore as it didn’t apply to me. I only heard it when it went off more than once…as that was for the volunteer fire department that there was a real fire somewhere.  

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Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@95- Edward Teller,

Hungarian-American physicist,

father of the Hydrogen bomb (Manhattan Project),

born in Budapest, Hungary

(d. 2003)

80’s

@85- Lloyd Bridges,

American comedic actor (Sea Hunt, Roots, Airplane!),

born in San Leandro

(d. 1998)

70’s

@79- Lewis M Terman,

psychologist (developed Stanford-Binet IQ test)

(d. 1956)

@77- Abdulaziz Ibn Saud,

Founder and first King of Saudi Arabia (1932-53),

born in Riyadh, Emirate of Nejd

(d. 1953)

60’s

@69- Aristotle Onassis,

rich shipping magnate respiratory failure

born in Greece

(d. 1975)

@67- Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud,

King of Saudi Arabia (1953-64),

born in Kuwait City

(d. 1969)

67- Charo [Maria Baeza],

Spanish-American actress, comedienne

flamenco guitarist (Chico and the Man, Love Boat),

born in Murcia

50’s

@52- Gamal Abdel Nasser,

President of Egypt (1954-1970)

heart attack (d. 1970)

@51- Molière [Jean-Baptiste Poquelin],

French playwright (The Misanthrope), born in Paris, Kingdom of France

TB (d. 1673)

30’s

39- Martin Luther King Jr.,

American clergyman and leader of the Civil Rights Movement (Nobel 1964),

born in Atlanta,

killed (d. 1968)

39- Drew Brees,

American football player (New Orleans Saints),

born in Austin, Texas

37- Pitbull [Armando Christian Perez],

American rapper,

born in Miami, Florida

Teen’s

@19- Joan of Arc,

Roman Catholic Saint and national heroine of France 

(legendary date),

born in Domrémy, duchy of Bar, France

burned at stake (d. 1431)

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Historical Obits Today

80’s

@83-1988 Seán MacBride,

Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army

founder of Amnesty International (Nobel 1974)

70’s

@79-1804 Dru Drury,

English entomologist

@73-2016 Dan Haggerty,

American actor (Grizzly Adams),

cancer

@72-1896 Matthew B Brady,

US photographer (Civil War),

complications of streetcar accident

60’s

@66- Charles Ponzi,

Italian con man (Ponzi scheme in the US),

lengthy poor health

50’s

@57-1915 Fannie Farmer,

American culinary figure and author

@52-1994 Harry Nilsson,

rock vocalist (Everybody's Talkin'),

heart attack

20’s

@22-1947 Elizabeth Short,

American victim in the Black Dahlia case,

murdered

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Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.

All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site contains mistakes and sadly once the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.

☼☼☼☼…And That Is All for Now…☼☼☼☼