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Jul 4, 2018 Week: 27\ Day: 185
86004 Today: H
82° \ L 54° \ Average Sky Cover: 10%
Nearest Lightning: 291miles away
Wind ave.: 8mph\Gusts:
23mph Visibility: 10 mi
Record High: 96°[2007] Record Low: 32°[1912]
Jul Averages: 82°\50°
Today’s Quote
Give me liberty or give me death.
Patrick Henry
Harper’s Index
60
Estimated number of accidental gun deaths attributable to a
surge in firearm purchases after Sandy Hook.
More Observances This
Month
Observances This Week
1st-7th
Freedom Week
Observances for Today
Boom Box Parade Day
Fourth of July or Independence Day (U.S.)
Independence From Meat Day
Indivisible Day Link
Fourth of July or Independence Day (U.S.)
Independence From Meat Day
Indivisible Day Link
Smart Irrigation Month
Social Wellness Month
Social Wellness Month
Today’s Significant US Historical Events
Today’s Significant International
Historical Events
1600’s
1636 City of
Providence, Rhode Island form
1700’s
1754 George
Washington gives Fort Necessity to France
1776 According
to popular legend the Liberty Bell rings for the Second Continental Congress
1776 US
Congress proclaims the Declaration of Independence and independence from
Britain1789 1st US tariff act signed by President Washington
1796 1st
Independence Day celebration is held
1800’s
1802 The 1st
US Military Academy at West Point opens
1803 The
Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people
1817 Chief
Engineer James Geddes begins construction on the Erie Canal, (Rome, New York),
one of the first great engineering works in North America
1836 Wisconsin
Territory forms
1838 Iowa
Territory is organised from Wisconsin Territory, lasting until 1846
1838 Huskar
Colliery Mining Disaster in Silkstone England: mining pit floods drown 26
children, leads to 1842 'Mines and Collieries Act' bans women and children
working underground
1845 Henry
David Thoreau moves into his shack on Walden Pond
1845 Texas
Congress votes for annexation to US
1862 Charles
Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) creates Alice in Wonderland for Alice Liddell on a
family boat trip on the river Isis (Thames) in Oxford
1863 Boise,
Idaho founded (now capital of Idaho)
1863 General
Lee's army withdraws from Gettysburg
1865 First
edition of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll is
published
1866 Firecracker
thrown in wood starts fire destroying half of Portland, Maine, US
1876 1st
public exhibition of electric light in San Francisco
1881 Booker
T. Washington establishes Tuskegee Institute (Alabama)
1883 Buffalo
Bill Cody presents 1st wild west show, North Platte, Nebraska
1884 1st US
bullfight held (Dodge City Ks)
1884 Statue
of Liberty presented to US in Paris
1888 1st
organized rodeo competition held, Prescott, Arizona
1892 Western
Samoa changes the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in
this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4
1900’s
1901 William
Howard Taft, former Federal judge, is installed as first governor-general of
the Philippines and declares amnesty for all insurgents who take an oath of
allegiance
1910 The US
Congress pass the Mann-Elkins Act, an important piece of railroad reform
legislation
1914 1st US
motorcycle race (300 miles, Dodge City Ks)
1917 Troops
of the Russian Provisional Government open fire on protesters in Petrograd
during the 'July Days' of unrest 1933 Work begins on Oakland Bay
Bridge
1939 Lou
Gehrig is first MLB player to have his number (4) retired on his
"Appreciation Day" at Yankee Stadium, makes iconic "luckiest
man" speech
1950 Harry
Truman signs public law 600 (Puerto Ricans write own constitution)
1950 The
first broadcast by Radio Free Europe.
1960 America's
new 50-star flag honoring Hawaiian statehood unfurled
1966 LBJ signs
Freedom of Information Act
1970 Casey
Kasem's "American Top 40" debuts on LA radio
1993 Pizza
Hut blimp deflates and lands safely on W 56th street in NYC
2000’s
2006 North
Korea tests four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile, and a
long-range Taepodong-2. The long-range Taepodong-2 reportedly fails in mid-air
over the Sea of Japan/East Sea.
2017 North
Korea tests first successful intercontinental ballistic missile into Sea of
Japan
My
Rambling Thoughts
Still patiently
awaiting the arrival of the Monsoon. Lots of clouds yesterday…no rain. Lots of
wind today…no rain. Hurry up Monsoon. Hopefully, rain will come on the 4th
as a birthday present for the country.
Good things still
happen. About 2 months ago the lady who has been cutting my hair for decades
called. Her son had just had a liver transplant and was coming to back from
Phoenix to stay with her. She needed to borrow $100 to get to and from Phoenix.
I lent her the money. She promised to pay it back in 2 weeks. Then he needed to
stay in Phoenix a few more weeks because Flag had no facility to monitor his
progress. She has kept me updated. He finally got home last week. He is doing
well and his now at his own place with his wife and kid. She just dropped off
the $100 with an extra $10 for making me wait so long. Nice!
On this nation’s
242nd birthday I was saddened to learn that when ICE separates
parents and children things get complicated. Usually the parent is held
locally, but the child is sent out of the area. Then when the mother is
released, she must pay upward of $2000 to have her child and an adult flown
from whatever city they are in back to where the child was taken and have the
adult who was traveling with the child returned to their home city. And flying
is the only transportation allowed, no bus, no train.
Back in the early
90’s I bought an inexpensive electric leaf blower that I used several times a
year to remove leaves in Tuba and loaned out quite a few times to neighbors.
Since moving to Flagstaff (12 years ago), I use it at least twice a week, year-round
to remove pine needles from my deck. This morning I decided it was time…as I
haven’t used it since I returned from the Amazon in early May. Plugged it in,
nada, zilch, nothing. Checked all the plugs, still nothing. So, after almost 30
years the cheap thing died.
I headed out to
Home Depot to find another one. The shelf tag said $49.95 so I bought it. I
wasn’t into those that were electric and cost over $100. So, I pick up some
flowers for the pots on the deck and head to the check-out. My blower rings up
at $55.99. I told the young clerk that it was $49.95 on the shelf. He said, “All
I can do is take off $10, is that OK?” Hmmm. I now have a new blower that was
only $45.99. Interesting business tactic to say the least. The old one was
about $30 back in the 1990’s.
Birthdays
Today
@-
indicates age at death
100’s
@100- Gloria
Stuart, American actress (Titanic) and founder of the Screen Actors
Guild, born in Santa Monica, California (d. 2010)
90’s
@99- Mitch
Miller, sing along with Mitch (Yellow Rose of Tx), born in Rochester, New York
(d. 2010)
@94- Abigail
Van Buren [Pauline Phillips], American columnist and radio show host known for
"Dear Abby" advice column, twin sister of fellow advice columnist Ann
Landers (Eppie Lederer), born in Sioux City, Iowa (d. 2013)
94- Eva Marie
Saint, American actress and producer (On the Waterfront, North by Northwest,
People Like Us), born in Newark, New Jersey
91- Neil
Simon, playwright (Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, Biloxi Blues), born in
The Bronx, New York
91- Ruth
Westheimer, German psychosexual therapist (Dr Ruth), born in Frankfurt, Germany
80’s
@87- Rube
Goldberg, cartoonist (who made the easy outrageously difficult)
Pulitzer Prize 1948, born in San Francisco, (d. 1970)
@86- Virginia
Graham, TV personality (Girl Talk, Where Was I), born in Chicago, (d. 1998)
@83- Ann
Landers [Eppie Lederer], American advice columnist "Ask Ann Landers,"
twin sister of fellow advice columnist "Dear Abby" (Abigail Van
Buren), born in Sioux City, Iowa (d. 2002)
@82- Hiram
Walker, American grocer and distiller (d. 1899)
@80- George
Steinbrenner, American businessman and owner of the NY Yankees, born in Rocky
River, Ohio (d. 2010)
80- Bill Withers,
soul singer
70’s
@74- Giuseppe
Garibaldi, Italian general and nationalist (Risorgimento) who helped unify
Italy, born in Nice, First French Empire (d. 1882) arthritis that confined him
to bed
60’s
@62- Stephen
Mather, organized US National Park Service (d.1929) stroke
@60- Calvin
Coolidge [Silent Cal], 30th US President(R) (1923-29), born in
Plymouth Notch, Vermont (d. 1933) heart attack
50’s
@59- Nathaniel
Hawthorne, American author (House of 7 Gables, The Scarlet Letter),
born in Salem, Massachusetts (d. 1864), Stomach disorder
40’s
@46- Koko,
sign-language gorilla (d. 2018)
30’s
@37- Stephen
Foster, American composer (Oh! Susanna, Swanee River), born in Lawrenceville,
Pennsylvania (d. 1864) accidental fall and fever
Historical
Obits Today
90’s
@90-1826 John Adams, 2nd US President
(1797-1801)
80’s
@83-1826 Thomas
Jefferson, 3rd US President (1801-09)
70’s
@73-1831 James
Monroe, 5th US President (1817-25), heart failure / tuberculosis
60’s
@67-1995 Richard
"Pancho" Gonzalez, tennis great, stomach cancer
@66-1934 Marie
Skłodowska-Curie, French-Polish Physicist/Chemist, 1st woman to win Nobel Prize
(1903, 1911) radiation poisoning
50’s
@58-2003 Barry
White, American singer, stroke
@53- Karl
Ferdinand von Graefe, German surgeon who helped create modern plastic surgery
30’s
@39-1902 Swami
Vivekananda, Indian Hindu spiritual leader and a key figure in the introduction
of Yoga to the Western world, stroke while meditating
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…☼☼☼☼
