Dec 5

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Dec 5, 2018 Week: 49 \ Day: 339

86004 Today: H 33° \ L 8° \ Average Sky Cover: 85% 

Wind:   9mph\Gusts:  -mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 67°[1989]   Record Low: -1°[1953]

Nov Averages: 43°\17°

Today’s Quote

We shall never know all the good

that a simple smile can do.

Mother Teresa

Random Tidbits

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), America's most famous female poet, published only seven poems in her lifetime; all were published anonymously and against her will. It wasn't until after her death, at 56, that her nearly 2000 poems were discovered

Sharks and rays share the same kind of skin: instead of scales, they have small tooth-like spikes called denticles. The spikes are so sharp that shark skin has long been used as sandpaper.

More than 50 percent of the people who are bitten by venomous snakes in the United States and who go untreated still survive.

Observances This Week

           

1-7

Cookie Cutter Week Link
National Hand Washing Awareness Week Link  
Recipe Greetings For The Holidays Week
Computer Science Education Week  Link

2-6
International Coelenterate Biology Week Link
Older Driver Safety Awareness Week Link  

3-24
Andisop (Meterological Fiddling)   Link

3-10
Clerc-Gallaudet Week

Observances for Today

           

AFL-CIO Day
Bathtub Party Day
Columbian International Day of The Reef  Link
Day of the Ninja

International Ninja Day Link    Photo Photo
International Volunteer Day for Economic & Social Development
National Christmas Tree Lighting (DC)
National Comfort Food Day

National Package Protection Day  Link 
Repeal of Prohibition Day

Sachertorte Day Link
World Soil Day Link

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1600’s

1623 First copies purchased of William Shakespeare's First Folio, collecting his plays posthumously into one volume, bought by Edward Dering

1700’s

1766 World's largest auction house - Christie's hold their first sale in their permanent saleroom in Pall Mall, London

1800’s

1831 Former US President John Q Adams takes his seat as a member of House of Representatives

1848 US President Polk triggers Gold Rush of 1849 by confirming gold discovery in California

1893 Electric car built at the Dixon Carriage works in Toronto, could go 15 miles between charges

1900’s

1929 1st US nudist organization, the American League for Physical Culture in New York City

1932 German physicist Albert Einstein granted a visa to enter America

1933 21st Amendment to the US Constitution ratified, 18th Amendment (Prohibition of alcohol) repealed (5:32 PM EST)

1955 Historic bus boycott begins in Montgomery Alabama by Rosa Parks

1957 NYC is first US city to legislate against racial or religious discrimination in housing market (Fair Housing Practices Law)

1958 Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the UK by Queen Elizabeth II when she speaks to the Lord Provost in a call from Bristol to Edinburgh.

1967 Pediatrician Benjamin Spock and poet Allen Ginsberg arrested in New York while protesting against the Vietnam War

1991 Charles Keating Jr (Lincoln Savings & Loan fraud), found guilty

2000’s

2016 Malta becomes the 1st country in Europe to outlaw conversion therapy

2017 Online store Amazon begins operations in Australia

My Rambling Thoughts

A chilly day with lots of clouds but no precipitation. Hmmm.

Decided early to hang out around home today. I would have headed out, but it was 15°. I don’t need anything so badly that I would head out in those temps.

Just saw a post that all Federal offices will be closed on Wed. Dec. 5, in honor of President George HW Bush. Nice. Sure glad I’m not working as they are all figuring out how to get all the dorm kids home today and back on Thursday. Not an easy task. Cloudy and 12° in Pine Ridge.

Spam calls are a pain. I got a call from “Coldwell Bankers” last week. The guy says I have a refund coming from Microsoft. I hung up. The next call came a few hours later. I told the guy I don’t do business with anyone who has an incorrect caller ID and hung up. Fast forward to today. I get 3-5 calls a day. Today I decided to listen to his whole story. He told me that the company that sold me my MS Office had lost its license to sell Microsoft and I would get a refund. But first….he had to verify I was who I said I was. Really?!? So, he has me write down some 15-digit number. Then he has me go into my computer and after typing some instructions, that number showed up. Hmmm. Then he has me go to a website. This would allow him to remotely look at my computer. I told him I NEVER let anyone calling my number do that. He really tries to change my mind but after two tries I simply say, ‘Good bye!’. No more calls so far today. Hopefully no more from him ever.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

80’s

@88- Bhumibol Adulyadej [Rama IX],

King of Thailand (1946-2016), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (d. 2016)

86- Little Richard [Wayne Penniman],

Macon, Georgia, American singer-songwriter (Tutti Frutti)

@84- Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz,

American educator and the co-founder and first president of Radcliffe College, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1907)

@80- Otto Preminger,

Austrian director and producer (Laura, Exodus) (d. 1986)

70’s

@79- Martin Van Buren,

 8^th US President

71- Jim Messina,

rocker (Loggins & Messina-Your Mamma Don't Dance)

60’s

@65- Walt [Walter Elias] Disney,

animator, (Mickey Mouse), producer and co-founder of Walt Disney Co., born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1966) lung cancer

50’s

54- Doctor Dre (Andre Romelle Young),

American radio personality

50- Margaret Cho,

actress/comedienne (Face/Off)

Historical Obits Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@95-2013 Nelson Mandela,

anti-apartheid activist, political prisoner (1962-90) and South African President (1994-99)

@91-1965 Joseph Erlanger,

American physiologist (shock therapy-Nobel 1944)

80’s

@86-1926 Claude Monet [Oscar-Claude],

French impressionist (Water Lilies, Haystacks, Poplars)

@82-2008 Beverly Garland [Fessenden],

American actress (My Three Sons, Scarecrow and Mrs. King)

70’s

@72-2010 Don Meredith,

American football player and broadcaster, stroke

@71-2002 Roone Arledge,

American sports broadcasting pioneer, prostate cancer

60’s

@68-1870 Alexandre Dumas,

French writer (The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo)

@64-1951 "Shoeless" Joe Jackson,

American professional baseball player (Black Sox Scandal), heart attack

50’s

@54±-1895 Chief Gall,

Sioux chief

30’s

@35-1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,

composer, fever

@31-1784 Phillis Wheatley,

American poet and first published African-American woman