Apr 17

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Apr 17, 2018 Week: 16\ Day: 107

86004 Today: H 68° \ L 31° \ Average Sky Cover: 80% 

Nearest Lightning:  747 miles away

Wind ave.:   23mph\Gusts:  28mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 77°[1946]   Record Low: 16°[1924]

Apr Averages: 58°\27°

Today’s Quote

A people free to choose will always choose peace.

  Ronald Reagan

Harper’s Index

4

            Factor by which George W. Bush’s popularity

among Dems has increased since 2009

More Observances This Month

National Knuckles Down Month
National Landscape Architecture Month
National Lawn Care Month
National Licorice Month

Observances This Week

14-22

International Wildlife Film Week Link
Animal Cruelty/Human Violence Awareness Week Link 
National Coin Week 
National Karaoke Week
National Pet ID Week Link  Link
National Paperboard Packaging Week
National Volunteer Week
Spring Astronomy Week
Week of The Young Child Link

Observances for Today

Bat Appreciation Day (Emerge from Hibernation)
Blah, Blah, Blah Day
Ellis Island Family History Day
Ford Mustang Day
Herbalist Day
Income Tax Pay Day  Link  Link
International Haiku Poetry Day Link
Malbec World Day  Link
National Cheeseball Day

National Health Care Decisions Day: 16-22 Link

Pet Owners Independence Day

National Wear Your Pajamas To Work Day:17 Link 
Nothing Like A Dame Day
World Hemophilia Day  Link

Today’s Significant US Historical Events

✪ Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

00’s                                               

✪1387 Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" characters begin their pilgrimage to Canterbury (according to scholars)

✪1397 Geoffrey Chaucer tells the "Canterbury Tales" for the first time at the court of English King Richard II

✪1492 Christopher Columbus signs a contract with the Spanish monarchs to find the "Indies" with the stated goal of converting people to Catholicism. This promises him 10% of all riches found, and the governorship of any lands encountered

✪1534 Sir Thomas More confined in Tower of London

1704 1st successful US newspaper; published in Boston by John Campbell

1861 Virginia secedes from the Union (US Civil War)

1907 Ellis Island, New York records 11,745 immigrants

1920 American Professional Football Association forms (NFL)

1924 Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures & Louis B Mayer Co merged to form Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM)

✪1932 Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia ends slavery

1937 Debut of cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd & Petunia Pig

1941 US Office of Price Administration forms (handled rationing)

✪1946 Syria declares independence from French administration

✪1958 Brussells (Belgium) World Fair opens

✪1961 1,400 Cuban exiles land in Bay of Pigs in a doomed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro

1961 33rd Academy Awards: "Apartment" wins best film, Burt Lancaster & Elizabeth Taylor win best actor, actress

1964 Ford Mustang formally introduced ($2,368 base)

✪1964 Jerrie Mock becomes 1st woman to fly solo around the world

1970 Apollo 13 limps back safely, Beech-built oxygen tank no help

1986 Pulitzer prize awarded to Larry McMurtry for "Lonesome Dove"

1987 Julius Erving becomes 3rd NBA player to score 30,000 points

✪1988 Ethiopian Belayneh Densimo runs world record marathon (2:06:50)

2001 A letter between Gale Norton and Jeb Bush is released, stating that the Bush administration has decided to go ahead with plans to auction 6 million acres of potentially oil-and-gas-rich seabed in the Gulf of Mexico

✪2002 Four Canadian Forces soldiers are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two United States Air Force F-16s, the first deaths in a combat zone for Canada since the Korean War

✪2009 Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark becomes the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the first woman to lead the organization

2011 "Game of Thrones", based on the fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin premieres on HBO

✪2012 The 8th century St. Cuthbert Gospel, Europe's oldest intact book, is purchased by the British Library for 9 million pounds

✪2013 Same-sex marriage is legalized in New Zealand

2015 Jazz composer and musician John Coltrane is awarded a posthumous Special Citation by the Pulitzer Prize board

My Rambling Thoughts

Another windy spring day. Warm and windy.

Headed out to do some shopping for my trip. Ended up stopping to set up a haircut for tomorrow. Luckily for me, my stylist was working, so I waited around and got my haircut. Her 30-something son has been in the hospital in Phoenix. She has been posting on FB when she is there. Turns out he had a liver transplant. He is improving, but as she said, ‘has had some setbacks.’ She didn’t say anymore, and I wasn’t going to ask. Glad he is improving and glad I was able to get her to cut my hair.  Shopping will have to wait until tomorrow when I hope it isn’t so windy.

Boston Marathon was very wet. And an American woman won the Women’s race. First time since 1985! Yeah!

All the 24/7 news stations are spinning out of control this afternoon. Seems that Trump’s lawyer has also done work for Fox’s Sean Hannity. And? Have to wait a while to see if this ‘breaking news’ really means anything.

Sorry to hear that Barbara Bush is in failing health. Glad that she has the option to stop physical care and go for comfort care to the end. Many never had that choice, and I believe it is always the individual’s choice to make.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

70’s

@79- Marguerite Bourgeoys,

French founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame

(first Canadian saint),

born in Troyes, France

(d. 1700)

@75- J. P. Morgan, Sr. [John Pierpont],

American financier and philanthropist

(General Electric, Steel Corporation, AT&T),

born in Hartford, Conn

in his sleep (d. 1913)

@72- Alexander Cartwright,

American sportsman

(recognized as inventor of modern baseball),

born in New York City

(d. 1892)

@70- Samuel Chase,

judge (signed Declaration of Independence)

heart attack (d. 1811)

70- Jan Hammer,

composer (Escape from TV, Miami Vice)

60’s

@68- Harry Reasoner,

American newscaster (60 Minutes, ABC, CBS),

born in Dakota City, Iowa

blood clot (d. 1991)

67- Olivia Hussey,

movie actress

@63- William Holden [Beedle],

American actor 

(The Blue Knight, Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina, The Bridge on

the River Kwai),

born in O'Fallon, Ill.

Exsanguination following a fall (d. 1981)

50’s

59- Sean Bean,

actor (Games of Thrones)

40’s

46- Jennifer Garner [Affleck],

American actress(Sydney Bristow-Alias),

born in Houston

44- Victoria Beckham [Adams],

English singer (Posh Spice in the Spice Girls),

born in Harlow, Essex

Historical Obits Today

90’s

@90-2016 Doris Roberts,

American actress (Everybody Loves Raymond)

80’s

@87-2014 Gabriel García Márquez,

Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and

 journalist (1982 Nobel Prize in Literature)

@84-1790 Benjamin Franklin,

US Founding Father, inventor, ambassador and

writer (Poor Richards Almanac)

60’s

@64-1990 Ralph David Abernathy,

US civil rights leader,

blood clots

50’s

@57-1987 Dick Shawn,

comedian (Producers),

heart attack on stage

@56-1998 Linda McCartney,

American-born photographer and wife of Paul McCartney

breast cancer

20’s

@23±-1680 Kateri Tekakwitha [Lily of the Mohawks],

first Native American saint

failing health

@21-1960 Eddie Cochran,

rocker (Summertime Blues),

car crash

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…☼☼☼☼