Nov 21

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Nov 21, 2018 Week: 47 \ Day: 325

86004 Today: H 42° \ L 20° \ Average Sky Cover: 85% 

Wind:   8mph\Gusts:  -mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 70°[1950]   Record Low: -5°[1979]

Nov Averages: 51°\23°

Today’s Quote

We choose our joys and sorrows

long before we experience them.

Khalil Gibran

Random Tidbits

In July 1934, Babe Ruth paid a fan $20 dollars

for the return of the baseball he hit

for his 700th career home run.

Observances This Week

           

16-23

International Games Week

17-24

American Sand Sculpting Competition Link

18-22

American Education Week Link 

Observances for Today

           

Alascattalo Day (About Alaska & humor)
Beaujolais Nouveau Day  Link
False Confession Day

Great American Smokeout Link 
National Red Mitten Day (Canada) Link
National Rural Health Day  Link
National Tie One On Day

Use Less Stuff Day Link
World Hello Day
World Pancreatic Cancer Day Link  
World Philosophy Day
World Television Day

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1600’s                                         

1620 Mayflower Compact signed by Pilgrims at Cape Cod

1800’s                                         

1818 Russia's Tsar Alexander I petitions for a Jewish state in Palestine

1852 Duke Uiversity, founded in 1838 as Union Institute, chartered as Normal College

1900’s                                         

1906 China prohibits the opium trade

1922 Rebecca L Felton (Ga) sworn in as first female US Senator

1940 Nazi occupiers forbid building schools in Netherlands

1946 Harry Truman becomes 1st US President to travel in a submerged sub

1964 Verrazano-Narrows suspension bridge opens in New York City, then the world's longest

1974 Freedom of Information Act passed by Congress over President Ford's veto

1989 TV cameras permitted in British House of Commons

1999 Elian Gonzalez, Cuban boy at the center of a heated 2000 controversy involving the governments of Cuba and the United States, departs from Cuba with his mother

2000’s                                         

2016 India celebrates 50th anniversary of IR8, rice variety specially bred that saved much of Asia from famine

2017 Robert Mugabe's resignation after 37 years in power is read out in Zimbabwe's parliaments during impeachment proceedings

2017 Oumuamua comet, 400 meters and reddish, first known comet from another star system revealed by scientists

2017 Mt Agung on the Indonesian island of Bali begins erupting

My Rambling Thoughts

Out and about early this morning to get ‘stuff’. Found some nice stuff that was on sale. Christmas shopping continues.

I guess all I can do is shake my head. While I am not a foreign affairs expert, I am up on the news and have read many articles over the past few years on the Middle East. Most of the issues can be boiled down to the formation of Israel in 1948. Whenever a government takes away land from one group and gives it to another there will be anger…usually the argument is ‘too much’ or ‘too little’ land.

Side note: While living on the Navajo Reservation I was right in the middle of the ‘Joint-Use Area’ when the Feds stepped in and gave land that Navajos had lived on for generations to the Hopi people. It has been 40 years and there are still issues.

Back to 45’s decision to move on past the murder of the journalist, because we have important financial interests in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi’s have no diplomatic relations with Israel. They are very concerned about Iraq and Iran. To me, the US has lost its moral compass in world affairs.  The horrendous murder of a journalist living legally in the US is not as important as selling weapons to the Saudis. Sad.

And, while my head is still shaking, Ivanka didn’t know she couldn’t use a private e-mail account for government business. Amazing, she doesn’t listen to her dad either.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

80’s

@83- Voltaire [Francois-Marie Arouet],

French writer, philosopher and playwright (Candide), born in Paris (d. 1778)

@81- Henrietta "Hetty" Green,

American businesswoman and financier whose wealth and miserliness saw her known as the "Witch of Wall Street", born in New Bedford, Massachusetts (d. 1916)

81- Marlo Thomas, [Mrs Phil Donahue],

Detroit Mich (That Girl!, Jenny)

70’s

76- Tweety [Pie],

Warner Bros. cartoon character created by Bob Clampett and Friz Freleng (Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series), first debuts in "A Tale of Two Kitties"

73- Goldie Hawn,

American actress (The First Wives Club, Private Benjamin), born in Washington, District of Columbia

60’s

@67- William Beaumont,

American surgeon and father of gastric physiology, born in Lebanon, Connecticut (d. 1853) fall on ice

65- Tina Brown,

journalist publisher (New Yorker, Tattler)

60’s

@67- William Beaumont,

American surgeon and father of gastric physiology, born in Lebanon, Connecticut (d. 1853) fall on ice

65- Tina Brown,

journalist publisher (New Yorker, Tattler)

50’s

55- Nicollette Sheridan,

British actress (Paige-Knots Landing), born in Worthing, England

53- Bjork Guðmundsdóttir,

Icelandic singer (Like Someone in Love), born in Reykjavik

40’s

47-Michael Strahan,

Football player, TV host

30’s

33- Carly Rae Jepsen,

Canadian singer ("Call Me Maybe"), born in Mission, British Columbia

Historical Obits Today

80’s

@86-2015 Germán Robles,

Spanish-Mexican film, theater, television, and voice actor (El Vampiro)

@85-2011 Anne McCaffrey,

sci-fi author

70’s

@73-1963 Robert Stroud,

American convict "Birdman of Alcatraz"

60’s

@67-2017 David Cassidy,

American singer and actor (Keith-Partridge Family), liver failure (alcoholism)