Dec 19

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

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Dec 19, 2017 Week: 51\ Day: 353

86004 Today: H 48° \ L 19°  

Average Sky Cover: 5% 

Wind ave.:   8mph\Gusts:  15mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 62°[1958]   Record Low: -14°[1924]

Dec Averages: 50°\23°

Dec Records: H: 68° (1950) L: -23° (1990)

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Quote of the Day

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

  George Washington

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Observances Today

Look for an Evergreen Day

Oatmeal Muffin Day

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Observances This Week

14-1-5:Christmas Bird Count  Link 

14-28: Halcyon Days  

16-24: Posadas

17-23: Saturnalia

Gluten-free Baking Week Link 

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Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1700’s                                 

1732 Benjamin Franklin under the name Richard Saunders begins publication of "Poor Richard's Almanack"

1776 Thomas Paine publishes his 1st "American Crisis" essay beginning"These are the times that try men's souls" (date disputed)

1777 Washington settles his troops at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania for the winter

1800’s                                 

1843 "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens is published, 6,000 copies sold

1900’s                                 

1900 General Horatio Kitchener offers protections to all Boers who will surrender and asks the Dutch community of Pretoria to convey this offer, leaders in the field refuse to surrender

1903 Williamsburg suspension bridge opens between Brooklyn and Manhattan

1919 American Meteorological Society found

1928 1st autogyro flight in US

1932 British Broadcasting Corp begins transmitting overseas

1941 US Office of Censorship created to control info pertaining to WW II

1942 Robert Stroud "Birdman of Alcatraz" is transferred to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary

1946 War breaks out in Indochina as Ho Chi Minh attacks French in Hanoi1950 Tibet's Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion

1957 "Music Man" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 1375 performances

1958 1st radio broadcast from space, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower Christmas message "to all mankind, America's wish for peace on Earth and goodwill to men everywhere"

1971 CBS airs "Homecoming A Christmas Story," (introducing the Waltons)

1971 Stanley Kubrick's X-rated film "A Clockwork Orange" based on the book by Anthony Burgessand starring Malcolm McDowell premieres

1972 Apollo 17 (last of Apollo Moon landing series) returns to Earth

1974 Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States

1975 John Paul Stevens becomes a US Supreme Court Justice

1975 The Red Hand Commandos, a very secretive Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, explode a no-warning car bomb in Dundalk, killing 2 civilians and wounding 20

1979 "Kramer vs Kramer" directed by Robert Benton and starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep is released (Best Picture 1980)

1983 The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro.

1984 Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration to transfer Hong Kong back to China in 1997

1984 Wayne Gretzky, 23, is 18th & youngest NHL-er to score 1,000 points

1986 "Platoon" directed by Oliver Stone and starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe is released (Academy Awards Best Picture 1987)

1987 Gari Kasparov becomes world chess champ

1998 Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives forwards articles I and III of impeachment against President Bill Clinton to the Senate.

2000’s                                 

2007 The Lakotah people, a Native American tribe, proclaim independence and withdraw all their treaties with the United States. Establish the Republic of Lakotah, as a separate country.

2010 "Miracle at the New Meadowlands", Philadelphia Eagles trail New York Giants by 21 points with eight minutes to play, before scoring 4 touchdowns in final 7 minutes, including dramatic walk-off punt returned for a touchdown by DeSean Jackson

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My Rambling Thoughts

Since I retired, I hardly every print anything, but I do scan many things. Today I needed to print a document and found that my printer had died. It was about 15 years old so I can’t be too upset.  Went to Best Buy and found one I liked, with the help of their sales assistant. Then he noticed there was not one on the shelf below the machine I wanted. After searching, he said I guess we don’t have any. Then he whispered, try Office Max, just down the street. I went there and it was the same price. I checked Sam’s, just in case. No luck at Sam’s. Bought the one at Office Max. Now I have a new laser printer…since the ink won’t dry out. And its wireless, meaning not as many cords and I can find a better place to put it. Set up was amazingly simple. Put in a CD, answer a few questions, and it works.  

What a mess in Washington…on the Amtrak derailment. And on the inaugural run of this route. So glad I’m retired and don’t have to be involved in anything that saves 10-14 minutes in a commute.

Listened to 45 talk about the security plan. Somehow, I don’t feel any safer.

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Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@94- [Little] Jimmy Dickens,

American country singer (Grand Ole Opry),

born in Bolt, West Virginia

(d. 2015)

80’s

@83- Maria L Sanford,

pioneer educator (PTA)

(d. 1920)

@80- Jeanne Kirkpatrick,

US ambassador to UN

(d. 2006)

70’s

@75- Leonid Brezhnev,

General Secretary of the Soviet Union (1964-82),

born in Kamenskoye, Ukraine

(d. 1982)

@71- Thomas Andrews,

Irish chemist and physicist (ozone),

born in Belfast

(d. 1885)

60’s

@66- David Susskind,

American TV host (Open End, David Susskind Show),

born in NYC

(d. 1987)

@61- Oliver [Hazard Perry] La Farge,

American anthropologist and novelist,

born in NYC

(d. 1963)

50’s

@55- Robert Urich,

actor (SWAT, Spenser for Hire, Vega$)

born in Toronto, Ohio

(d. 2002)

54- Jennifer Beals,

actress (Flashdance, Bride),

born in Chicago

50- Criss Angel [Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos],

American magician and illusionist (Criss Angel Mindfreak),

born in Hempstead, NY

40’s

@47- Édith Piaf, [E Giovanna Gassion],

chanteuse (Little Sparrow),

born in Paris, France

(d. 1963)

45- Alyssa Milano,

TV actress (Charmed)

43- Jake Plummer,

quarterback (Arizona Cardinals)

30’s

37- Jake Gyllenhaal,

American actor (Donnie Darko, Jarhead),

born in Los Angeles

@35- Phil Ochs,

anti-war folk singer (Joe Hill, War is Over),

born in El Paso,

(d. 1976)

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Historical Obits Today

80’s

@88-2015 Kurt Masur,

German conductor (New York Philharmonic)

@85-2012 Robert Bork,

American legal scholar/jurist

70’s

@72-2008 James Bevel,

American civil rights activist (Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Direct Action),

cancer

@70-2003 Hope Lange,

American actress,

Ischemic colitis

50’s

@51-1915 Alois Alzheimer,

German psychiatrist/neurologist (Alzheimer Disease),

heart failure

40’s

@49-1993 Michael Clarke,

drummer (Byrds),

liver failure

30’s

@30-1848 Emily Brontë,

English novelist (Wuthering Heights),

TB

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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…☼☼☼☼