FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Dec. 8, 2019 Week: 50 Day: 342
86004: H 54° \ L 36° \ Average Sky Cover: 50%
Nearest lightning:
1935mi
Nearest active fire:
468mi.
Wind: 3mph\Gusts: 7mph Visibility:
10 mi
Record High: 63°[2015] Record Low: -23°[1978]
Dec. Averages: 44°\17° (5 days with moisture)
Today’s Quote
“We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors,
we borrow it from our Children.”
Chief Seattle
~ Native American Proverb
Random Tidbits
The US Mint began
putting notches, called reeding, on the edges of coins containing gold and
silver to discourage holders from shaving off small quantities of the precious
metals.
Dimes, quarters and
half dollars are notched because they used to contain silver.
Pennies and nickels
aren't notched because the metals they contain are not valuable enough to
shave.
Observances This Week
1-7
Cookie Cutter Week Link
National Hand Washing Awareness Week Link
Recipe Greetings For The Holidays Week
Older Driver Safety Awareness Week Link
National Hand Washing Awareness Week Link
Recipe Greetings For The Holidays Week
Older Driver Safety Awareness Week Link
3-10
3-24
Observances for Today
National
Brownie Day
Worldwide Candle Lighting Day (The Compassionate
Friends) Link
World Choral Day Link
World Pear Day Link
World Choral Day Link
World Pear Day Link
My Rambling Thoughts
Happy camper, I got a
call from the local company where I brought my mattress & foundation letting
me know they would be delivering around 10am. Sure enough, at 10:02 they pulled
up. They moved my old stuff downstairs and brought the new stuff upstairs. No
hassle, no problems. I checked and they had already put Scotchguard on the new mattress.
They called in my card, since I had only made a down payment when I bought it.
I asked why they didn’t use the magic phone square where they can simply swipe
my card. Turns out, the people who sell you that magic little square charge the
company 3% of all sales, on top of the 1.5% the credit card company charges. Interesting
and I’ll keep that in mind when I buy something that uses the cute little
gadget. After they left, I set up both beds with clean and/or new stuff. Nice.
Can’t wait till tonight when I can sleep on it.
The piles of snow continue
to melt slowly. All the icicles are gone, but snow on the roof continues to
send droplets of water off the roof, making a nice little shower out my office
window.
I have never been to
Saudi Arabia; I don’t personally know any Saudi citizens. May knowledge is
limited to what I read and seeing Saudi on two different trips to Abu Dubai on
different Focus trips. Wondering now what happened in Pensacola when a Saudi
was being trained by the US, on a naval base, and the Saudi goes on a shooting
rampage, killing at least 3 Americans and injuring at least 8. I have to wonder
if this will change America’s relationship with the Saudi leadership?
No pain today from my
dental appointment yesterday, even though he warned me there might be some. His
assistant had made a Christmas play list from Spotify to be played over the
office speakers. She is young and all the songs were recent Christmas songs,
except for Feliz Navidad which was scattered throughout the play list by different
artists. I’m old and a bit traditional, so I didn’t recognize most of the
songs. The music wasn’t bad, but it didn’t put me in the Christmas mood as I
want to hear ‘traditional’ Christmas music to get me in the spirit. I am going
to check out Spotify to find some ‘real’ Christmas music.
Today’s Puzzle
Answer at the bottom of this page
Before Francisco de
Orellana attempted to discover the source of the river Amazon, which was the
world's longest river?
Historical Events
1854 - Pope Pius IX
proclaimed that the Immaculate Conception, was Roman Catholic dogma, stating
that Mary was conceived without 'original sin.'
1881 - A fire at the
Ring Theater in Vienna, Austria, killed over 600 people.
1886
American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed by 26 craft unions Samuel Gompers
elected AFL president
1896
- Lemon Squeezer patent (# 572,849) was issued to the Black-American inventor
J.T. White.
1931 - AT&T gained
the patent for coaxial cable (#1,835,031)
1941 - 1941 US
President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers "Day of Infamy" speech to US
Congress a day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Almost everyone in the US
congress voted to go to war with Japan. Montana's Jeanette Rankin was the only
person to vote against it.
1941 - The Chinese
government announced that they would back the allies, the Unites States and
Great Britain against Germany, Italy and Japan.
1952 - On the CBS show
I Love Lucy, a pregnancy was acknowledged in a TV show for the first time, with
the announcement that 'Me and my husband are about to have a blessed event.'
1956 - #1 Hit: Guy Mitchell - Singing The
Blues
1965 - Broadway Show -
Cactus Flower (Play) opened
1979 - #1 Hit: Styx - Babe
1980 - John Lennon was
shot by Mark David Chapman outside of his home in New York City.
1982 - Sophie's
Choice, starring Meryl Streep, opened in theaters.
1983 - England's House
of Lords voted in favor of allowing cameras to broadcast live television
proceedings from its chamber.
1984 - #1 Hit: Daryl Hall and John Oates -
Out of Touch
1990 - #1 Hit: Stevie B - Because I Love
You (The Postman Song)
1993 - The North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico and the United
states, was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
1987 - Frank Vitkovic
entered the Melbourne Queen Street Post Office and opened fire on customers and
staff with a sawed-off shotgun, killing eight before killing himself. One of
the earliest instances of 'going postal' also happened in Australia in 1926.
1989 - The War of the
Roses debuted in theaters.
1994 - A new element
(#111) was created, named unununium, symbol 'Uuu'
1995 - The Grateful
Dead announced they were breaking up after 30 years, a few months after the
death of bandmate Jerry Garcia.
2010
With the second launch of the SpaceX Dragon,
SpaceX becomes the first privately held company to successfully launch,
orbit and recover a spacecraft.
2013 – Metallica
performed a show in Antarctica, making them the first band to perform on all
seven continents.
Birthdays Today
@85 - William C.
Durant, American businessman, founder
of General Motors and
Chevrolet
(died in 1947)
@83 - Maximilian
Schell, Austrian-Swiss actor
(died in 2014)
@72 - David Carradine,
American actor
(died in 2009;
autoerotic asphyxiation)
@70 - Diego Rivera,
Mexican painter and educator
(died in 1957)
@69 - Gregg Allman,
American singer-songwriter and guitarist
(died in 2017; liver
cancer)
@66 - James Thurber,
American humorist and cartoonist (died in 1961; blood clot/pneumonia)
66 - Kim Basinger,
American actress
@64 - Sammy Davis,
Jr., American actor, singer, and dancer
(died in 1990; throat
cancer)
@64 - Lee J. Cobb,
American actor
(died in 1976; heart
attack)
@59 - Eli Whitney,
American engineer, and inventor- Cotton Gin
(died in 1825;
prostate cancer)
58 - Ann Coulter,
American conservative
55 - Teri Hatcher,
American actress
53 - Sinéad O'Connor,
Irish singer-songwriter
@43 - Elzie
Crisler ‘E.C. Segar’, American cartoonist, creator of Popeye
(died in 1938;
leukemia)
37 - Nicki Minaj,
Trinidadian-American rapper and actress
35 - Sam Hunt,
American country singer-songwriter
@27 - Jim Morrison,
American singer-songwriter, 27 Club (died in 1971; heart failure)
Puzzle answer:
The Amazon has always
been the world's longest river - even before it was 'discovered'.
