Jan 18

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Jan. 18, 2020 Week: 1  Day: 18

86004:   H 44° \ L 18° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Nearest lightning:  286mi.; Nearest active fire:  1194mi.  

Wind:   14mph\Gusts:  22mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 64°[1971]   Record Low: -8°[1995]

Jan. Averages: 43°\16° (22” days with snow)

Today’s Einstein Quote

The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.

Random Tidbits

Canadians say "sorry" so much that a law was passed so that an apology can't be used as an admission of guilt.

Canadians are well-known for being incredibly polite, perhaps even to a fault. That's why in 2009, the province of Ontario passed the "Apology Act," which states that saying "sorry" - which can be an expression of sympathy or regret - can't legally be considered an admission of guilt or fault.

Observations This Week

National Soccer Coaches of America Week: 15-19

National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week: 17-23

Week of Christian Unity: 18-25

Bald Eagle Appreciation Days: 18-19

Internat’l Snowmobile Safety-Awareness Week: 18-26

Observations for Today

Hot Heads Chili Days

National Gourmet Coffee Day

National Use Your Gift Card Day  Link
Peking Duck Day

Thesaurus Day

Winnie the Pooh Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Our retirement lunch lasted into the afternoon yesterday. Good food, good dessert, great conversation. Mary has set up an interesting adventure for her son and grandkids. They are going to Medieval Times, the restaurant/horse show/jousting experience. Made more interesting because her granddaughter only eats junk food and the parents usually pack ‘snacks’ for her when they go to a restaurant that doesn’t serve Chicken Nuggets. Because of the horses, MT doesn’t allow patrons to bring in any food.

Next week will be busy with 4 appointments: Dentist, to complete root canal; blood doc to take blood and then see me the next day; and a normal Primary Care appointment. I just want the root canal finished and the mold for a bridge made. My last top tooth on the left is feeling very lonely up there, and the empty space is always filling up with food.

I am embarrassed that one of our AZ senators has made all the news and late-night shows. FYI: she was not elected but appointed after the death of McCain. She had run and lost the previous election to our other Senator. When she was asked by a CNN reporter about the possibilities of witnesses at the impeachment, her response was not professional, not Senatorial, and only possibly acceptable by a pre-teen who was raised by wolves. She is in a close race with Mark Gifford, former astronaut and husband of the former AZ Rep who was shot at a grocery store while meeting with constituents.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

I have three apples; you take two from me. How many do you have?

Historical Events

1644 - "In this year one James Everell, a sober, discreet man, and two others, saw a great light in the night at Muddy River. When it stood still, it flamed up, and was about three yards square; when it ran, it was contracted into the figure of a swine: it ran as swift as an arrow towards Charlton, and so up and down about two or three hours. They were come down in their lighter about a mile, and, when it was over, they found themselves carried quite back against the tide to the place they came from. Divers[e] other credible persons saw the same light, after, about the same place."

1778 - James Cook 'discovered' Hawaii, naming it 'The Sandwich Islands'

1817 José de San Martín leads a revolutionary army over the Andes to attack Spanish royalists in Chile

 1896 - The X-Ray Machine was shown to the public. Not really. The Cabaret du Neant charged people to see an 'illusion' of the effect.

1911 - The first landing of an aircraft on a ship took place as pilot Lt. Eugene B. Ely landed on the USS Pennsylvania.

1944 - Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden performed at the Metropolitan Opera House, in NYC.

1960 - #1 Hit: Johnny Preston - Running Bear

1975 - #1 Hit: Barry Manilow - Mandy

1980 - Gold reached $1,000 an ounce for the first time.

1986 - #1 Hit: Dionne Warwick - That's What Friends Are For

1990 - Washington D.C. Mayor Marion Barry arrested in drug enforcement sting. He claimed that the "bitch set me up" when he was caught with crack cocaine.

1991 US acknowledges CIA and US Army paid Manuel Noriega $320,000 over his career

1993 - Martin Luther King Day became official in all 50 United States.

2013 Former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is indicted on corruption charges stemming from post-Hurricane Katrina business contracts and bribes

2014 - #1 Hit: Pitbull featuring Kesha - Timber

2013 Former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is indicted on corruption charges stemming from post-Hurricane Katrina business contracts and bribes

2017 NASA and NOAA announce that 2016 was the hottest year on record, surpassing the previous record set in 2015 which itself topped a record set in 2014

Birthdays Today

@82-Cary Grant, actor (d.1986)

79-Bobby Goldsboro, singer, songwriter

@76-Danny Kaye David Daniel Kaminsky, comedian (d.1987; Hep C)

@75-Bob "Bozo The Clown" Bell (d.1997)

@74-Alan Alexander Milne, author

@70-Daniel Webster, statesman

@65-Oliver Hardy, actor (d.1957, series of strokes)

65-Kevin Costner, actor

40- Jason Segel, actor

37-Samantha Mumba, Grammy winning singer

Puzzle Answer:

Two, the two apples that you took from me. Assuming you had no apples when this started. I am left with one.

Jan 16

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Jan. 16, 2020 Week: 1  Day: 16

86004:   H 51° \ L 26° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Nearest lightning:  944mi.; Nearest active fire:  280mi.  

Wind:   5mph\Gusts:  11mph  Visibility: 10 mi

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

Jan. Averages: 43°\16° (22” days with snow)

Today’s Einstein Quote

The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible.

Random Tidbits

The first use of "OMG" was in a letter to Winston Churchill in 1917.

If you text "OMG" to your friends, you might think that you're using a modern acronym. But it turns out that the first appearance of the three-letter expression was in a letter to Winston Churchill in 1917. Lord Fisher, an admiral and naval innovator, wrote to the British prime minister and was obviously excited about a possible honor for himself and those in his line of work. He wrote, "I hear a new order of Knights in on the tapis - O.M.G. (Oh! My God!) - Shower it on the Admiralty!"

Observations This Week

Cuckoo Dancing Week: 11-17

National Mocktail Week: 12-18

National Soccer Coaches of America Week: 15-19

Observations for Today

Appreciate a Dragon Day

Bean Day Link
Civil Service Day
Fig Newton Day Link  Link
Get to Know Your Customers Day
International Hot and Spicy Food Day

National Fig Newton Day

National Quinoa Day
Nothing Day
Religious Freedom Day Link 
Without A Scalpel Day Link  Link

My Rambling Thoughts

Warming up a little. Nice.

Had to do a blood draw for my PCP this morning. Took 3 pokes and 2 different drawers, but got it done. I know my veins are very persnickety, and I can’t blame the workers for it.

So, the vote is completed. After 5p it will be the Senate’s move. I can only hope that whatever the outcome, all legislators will unite to hold this country together by passing bills…their job…that will benefit all Americans.

Not that impressed with last night’s debate. It sure seemed very scripted to me. Each candidate seemed to have many ‘canned’ responses to the questions. Remember, we are selecting the possible next leader of the free world. Not very many things come up in the White House that can be scripted-at-the-moment. We need lots of statesman/woman in DC who can think on the run and keep their foot out of their mouth. Even the non-shaking of hands looked scripted.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

Your mother’s brother’s only brother-in-law is asleep on your couch. Who is asleep on your couch?

Historical Events

1362 - St. Marcellus Flood or Grote Mandrenke (Great Drowning of Men), Netherlands

1547 - Ivan the Terrible crowned himself 1st Tsar of Moscow.

1581 - The English Parliament outlawed Roman Catholicism.

1605 - The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid, Spain.

1776 - The U.S. Continental Congress approved the enlistment of free men for the rebellion.

1894 - Theodore Witte of Chilliwhack, British Columbia, was issued a U.S. patent (#512930) for a "Puttying-Tool" (the first caulking gun)

1920 - The 18th Amendment, Prohibition began, and alcoholic beverages were made illegal in the United States. (Effective one year later)

1920 - The League of Nations held its first council meeting in Paris, France.

1936 - The first photo finish camera was installed at a US racetrack, at Hialeah, Florida.

1939 - The Superman newspaper comic strip debuted.

1941 - War Department forms 1st Army Air Corps squadron, The Tuskegee Airmen, for black cadets.

1964 - Broadway Show - Hello, Dolly! (Musical) starring Carol Channing

1974 "Jaws" by Peter Benchley is published by Doubleday

1976 - The Donny and Marie musical variety show premiered on ABC.

1986 - The Apple Macintosh Plus was released.

1988 - #1 Hit: George Harrison - Got My Mind Set On You

1991 - All major television networks were pre-empted with Gulf War coverage right after evening news broadcasts.

1999 - #1 Hit: Brandy - Have You Ever

2002 UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and freezes assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the members of the Taliban

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

2019 Egyptian city Cairo is engulfed by a sandstorm turning it orange

Birthdays Today

86- Marilyn Horne, opera singer

85- A.J. Foyt, auto racer

@83- Jim Berry, cartoonist (Berry’s World) (d. 2015)

77- Ronnie Milsap, singer

@76- Ethel Merman

          Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, actor (d.1984; brain cancer)

76- Jim Stafford, comedian, singer

@71- Susan Sontag, writer, filmmaker  (d. 2004; cancer)

70- Debbie Allen, singer

60- Sade , Helen Folasade Adu, NiIgerian singer

@53- Diane Fossey, conservationist (d. 1985; murdered)

46- Kate Moss, model, businesswoman

40- Lin-Manuel Miranda, stage actor (Hamilton)

Puzzle Answer:

Your dad. Your mother’s brother is your uncle (assuming your mother and father are married).