Sep 23

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Sep. 23, 2019 Week: 39  Day: 266

86004:   H 73° \ L 43° \ Average Sky Cover: 5% 

Nearest wildfire:  19mi.  Nearest lightning:  850mi

Wind:   4mph\Gusts:  4mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 86°[1944]   Record Low: 25°[1970]

Sep Averages: 74°\42° (5 days with rain)

Today’s Quote

No man can taste the fruits of autumn

while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring.

Samuel Johnson

Random Tidbits

A diamond is the hardest natural substance on earth, but if it is placed in an oven and the temperature is raised to about 1405 degrees Fahrenheit, it will simply vanish, without even ash remaining. Only a little carbon dioxide will have been released.

A diamond is 58 times harder than the next hardest mineral on earth, corundum, from which rubies and sapphires are formed. It was only during the 15th century that it was discovered that the only way to cut diamonds was with other diamonds. Yet, diamonds are brittle. If you hit one hard with a hammer, it will shatter.

Observances This Week

17-23

Constitution Week

20-29

National Ballroom Dance Week  Link
Farm Animal Awareness Week  

22-28

Banned Books Week
Deaf Dog Awareness Week Link 
International Interpreters and Translators Week
National Dog Week  Link and  Link
National Employ Older Workers Week Link 
National Keep Kids Creative Week
Remember to Register to Vote Week
Sea Otter Awareness Week Link   
Tolkien Week 
World Hearing Aid Awareness Week   Link 
World Reflexology Week 

23-27

Ally Week Link

23-28

International Week of the Deaf Link 
International Women's E-Commerce Days

Observances for Today

Autumn (Autumn Equinox - Fall begins!)  3:50AM EDT
Celebrate Bi-sexuality Day
Checkers Day or Dogs in Politics Day Link
Family Day  
International Day of Sign Languages
Mabon-pagan festival
National Great American Pot Pie Day  Link
National Snack Stick Day  Link
Restless Legs Awareness Day  
Teal Talk Day  Link

My Rambling Thoughts

Great Sunday…cloudless sky, light wind, a nice temp., great day for a walk after watching the Sunday News programs.

I never knew what ‘cork’ was, except that it came from a tree. A friend of FB shared a video of harvesting cork in Portugal. The trees are hundreds of years old. Cork is the bark. It is hand striped off the tree by two men at a time using small axes. The tree is then left for 9 years to regrow its bark. Fascinating.

I bought a new iPhone 10 yesterday from Verizon. Customer service @ a Verizon store is not the best. They no longer transfer data from your old phone…you have to do it yourself. Then they have added a $40 charge to sell you a phone. And they still try and sell you expensive gadgets that can be bought at other stores for much, much less. To turn your old phone in for credit, you have to erase the phone in their presence. I did all that, got home and even though I had signed in to the iCloud at the store, when I tried at home, no luck. I went back to the store, they walked me through part of it and said ‘due to security policy’ they can’t help me when it didn’t work. She said to call Apple. After a 10 minute wait, a customer service rep spent 90 minutes walking me through the process, which still didn’t work. I had to reset my brand new phone. Still didn’t work, so I now have to wait for Apple to text or call me new instructions to set up my phone…at 7:59PM MDT today. This means I have no apps on my phone, like my contacts, pictures, calendar, etc. Hopefully, it will be fixed with the text or call. Also, Apple doesn’t seem to know I’m on MST in AZ. Oh well, the new phone is great. I get calls and make calls, I can receive text messages and send them…the making and sending is difficult because I don’t know very many of my contacts phone numbers.

Broncos game isn’t on my TV, so only getting internet updates and the internet machine must have been hacked since it sez the Bronco’s lost.  Watching the Cards/Panthers game on TV. Cards just might pull out a win.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

Every night I’m told what to do.

Each morning I do what I’m told.

But I still don’t escape your scold.

What am I?

Historical Events

1551 (Tornado) Grand Harbour at Valletta, Malta

1642 - Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had its first graduating class.

1846 - German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the planet Neptune.

1913 - Mark Sennet presented the first Keystone Cops film, although some say it was Hoffmeyer's Legacy, in 1912.

1938 - A time capsule, to be opened in 6939, was buried at World's Fair in NYC.

1955 - When James Dean first met Alec Guinness (Ben Kenobi) he asked him to take a look at his brand new Porsche Spyder. Guinness told Dean: "If you get in that car, you will be found dead in it by this time next week." This encounter took place seven days before Dean's death.

1957 - The first movie (1953) to become a TV series was How to Marry a Millionaire. It was syndicated and not on a regular network.

1962- The Jetsons cartoon debuted on ABC - ABC's first full-color program.

1967 - #1 Hit: Box Tops - The Letter

1972 - #1 Hit: Mac Davis - Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me

1979 - Archie Bunker's Place debuted on CBS

1986 - The U.S. Congress voted the rose the official flower of the US..

1988 - Jose Canseco became baseball's first player to steal 40 bases & hit 40 Home Runs in a season. He later admitted to using steroids.

1989 - #1 Hit: Milli Vanilli - Girl I'm Gonna Miss You

1992- Mad About You premiered on NBC.

2003 - NCIS premiered on CBS

2007 - During the 2007 baseball season, the Los Angeles Dodgers added an infielder named Chin-Lung Hu. After Hu singled in his third at-bat in a game on September 23, Dodgers announcer Vin Scully said, "Shades of Abbott and Costello, I can finally say, 'Hu is on first base.'"

2009 - Modern Family premiered on ABC

2012 Iran blocks the use of Google as a search engine

2012 20 Iranian US Visas are denied, including diplomats and two ministers, ahead of the UN general assembly meeting in New York

2017 Women are allowed in King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh for the first time during Saudi Arabia's 87th anniversary celebrations

2018 Japan's space agency is the first to place two robotic explorers on an asteroid - Ryugu, from its Hayabusa-2 spacecraft

2018 Mud volcano, the Otman-Bozdag, erupts 300m (980ft) high, near Baku, Azerbaijan

2018 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches "Modicare", free heathcare for 500 million, world's biggest healthcare program

Birthdays Today

Mickey Rooney, movie actor

(d. 2014 @93)

Walter Pidgeon, Canadian-American actor

(d. 1984 @87)

Julio Iglesias, singer (76)

[born: Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva]

Ray Charles, soul singer

[born: Ray Charles Robinson]

(d. 2004 @73, liver failure)

Bruce Springsteen, Rock Singer (70)

Jason Alexander, actor (60)

[born: Jay Scott Greenspan]

John Coltrane, jazz saxophone

 (d. 1967 @40; liver cancer)

Puzzle answer:

ALARM CLOCK

Sep 22

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Sep. 22, 2019 Week: 39  Day: 265

86004:   H 69° \ L 38° \ Average Sky Cover: 5% 

Nearest wildfire:  19mi.  Nearest lightning:  480mi

Wind:   12mph\Gusts:  22mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 83°[1949]   Record Low: 20°[1912]

Sep Averages: 74°\42° (5 days with rain)

Today’s Quote

Economics is extremely useful

as a form of employment for economists.

John Kenneth Galbraith

Random Tidbits

Did you know that it rains diamonds on Uranus and Neptune? Recently scientists have been able to recreate the extreme pressures that exist at the bottom of the hydrocarbon-rich oceans of slush on these gas giants.

Researchers were able to produce this "diamond rain" using carbon polystyrene and high-powered lasers. The diamonds are only nanometers in length, but the experiment proves what the environmental extremes on these planets can produce

Observances This Week

16-22

National Love Your Files Week Link 
National Postdoc Appreciation Week Link

17-23

Constitution Week

18-22

National Guitar Flat-Picking Days Link
Hummingbird Celebration: Link

20-29

National Ballroom Dance Week  Link
Farm Animal Awareness Week  

22-28

Banned Books Week
Deaf Dog Awareness Week Link 
International Interpreters and Translators Week
National Dog Week  Link and  Link
National Employ Older Workers Week Link 
National Keep Kids Creative Week
Remember to Register to Vote Week
Sea Otter Awareness Week Link   
Tolkien Week 
World Hearing Aid Awareness Week   Link 
World Reflexology Week 

Observances for Today

Clean Up The World Weekend-thru 22 Link 

American Business Women's Day
Car Free Day Link
Chainmail Day
 Dear Diary Day
Elephant Appreciation Day
Great Gorilla Run Day Link
Hobbit Day
Ice Cream Cone Day
International Day of Radiant Peace
National Centenarian's Day
National Girls' Night In Link
National Leg Wear Day Link
National Rock n' Roll Dog Day
National White Chocolate Day  Link
Remote Employee Appreciation Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Mary got back from Phx, so we did our weekly lunch yesterday at a nice little neighborhood sandwich shop. Great menu, great sandwiches, great conversation. Somehow our conversation lasted a good 2-1/2 hours. All good.

Our mountain town joined in the Climate Change Protest yesterday with several hundred protesters at City Hall. Many young for sure, but some old-er people too. After visiting numerous rain forest around the world I have heard stories from locals how the currently brown rivers used to run blue, how the lumber industry has decimated thousands of acres of primeval forest, it is not a big leap to believe that man’s belief that ‘man can control nature’ is harming this planet. Traditional Native belief is that ‘man should live in harmony with mother earth’. Makes more sense to me.

I couldn’t wait for the equinox, so this morning I cleaned out my cooler and stored it until next summer. This was a warm summer. Normally I use it for a couple of days in July. This year I was using it almost daily, early July until about a 2 weeks ago. I’m far from ready for snow, but the cooler temps are nice. The weather map says that it will be in the 60’s next week with some rain showers Monday thru Wednesday. Always welcome rain showers.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

When young, I am sweet in the sun.

When middle-aged, I make you smile.

When old, I am valued more than ever.

What am I?

Historical Events

1776 - Nathan Hale was hanged by the British as a spy for the colonies during the Revolutionary War. In fairness to the British, this war hero was spying on them.

1789 - The U.S. Post Office was established by congress.

1862- The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by the president of the United States

1911 - Pitcher Cy Young beat Pittsburgh 1-0 for his final career victory - number 511.

1920 - A Chicago Grand Jury convened to investigate charges that 8 White Sox players conspired to fix the 1919 World Series. They did.

1938 - Broadway Show - Hellzapoppin (Review) opened

1964 - Broadway Show - Fiddler on the Roof (Musical) opened

1964 - The Man from U.N.C.L.E. premiered on NBC.

1973 - #1 Hit: Helen Reddy - Delta Dawn

1984 - #1 Hit: John Waite - Missing You

1985 - Farm Aid was first broadcast, on TNN and in syndication

1986 - ALF debuted on NBC

1987 - Full House premiered on ABC

1989 - ABC debuted TGIF (Thank Goodness It's Friday) from 8:00pm to 10:00pm, a new programming block for Friday Nights with four shows (Full House, Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, and Just the Ten of Us)

1994 - Friends premiered on NBC

2004 - Lost premiered on ABC

2009 - The Good Wife premiered on CBS

2011 - CERN scientists announced their discovery of neutrinos breaking the speed of light. There were reasonably sure that the experiment would not cause a black hole that would suck up the entire planet. So far, so good.

2013 Angela Merkel and the Christian Democrats win a third term with their best result since 1990 in German Federal elections

2014 NASA's MAVEN space probe successfully arrives in orbit over Mars

2015 Pope Francis is greeted by President Obama and Vice President Biden as he arrives for his 6 day tour of the US

2015 Volkswagen admits that 11 million cars have been wrongly programmed to appear to emit lesser emissions than they are

2015 Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Seattle to start his first state visit to the US

2015 Palangkaraya in Indonesian Borneo records the highest air pollutant index (API) value ever recorded of 1,986 due to haze caused by forest fires deliberately lit to clear land for palm oil plantations

Birthdays Today

John Houseman, actor, producer

(d. 1988 @86)

Toni Basil

[Antonia Christina Basilotta],

singer, dancer, choreographer (76)

Paul Muni

[Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund],

stage and movie actor

(d. 1967 @71; heart attack)

Debby Boone, singer (63)

Andrea Bocelli, opera singer (61)

Joan Jett, rock singer (61)

Scott Baio, TV actor (59)

Bonnie Hunt, comedic actor (58)

Mystikal [Michael Lawrence Tyler], rapper  (48)

Tom Felton, actor [Harry Potter movies] (32)

Puzzle answer:

WINE