Dec 8

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Dec 8, 2018 Week: 49 \ Day: 342

86004 Today: H 34° \ L 22° \ Average Sky Cover: 85% 

Foggy

Wind:   7mph\Gusts:  -mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 63°[2015]   Record Low: -23°[1978]

Nov Averages: 43°\17°

Today’s Quote

The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness

into the lives of others.

Robert Baden-Powell

Random Tidbits

Piranhas' bad reputation is at least partially Teddy Roosevelt's fault. When he journeyed to South America in 1913, he encountered several different species of piranha, and described them as "ferocious fish" in his bestseller, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

***

Today, piranhas inhabit the fresh waters of South America from the Orinoco River Basin in Venezuela up to the Parana River in Argentina. Though estimates vary, around 30 species inhabit the lakes and rivers of South America.

***

Piranhas attract a certain type of pet lover, and sometimes when the fish gets too large for its aquarium said pet lover decides it’s much better off in the local lake. In this manner, piranhas have shown up in waterways around the globe from Great Britain to China to Texas.

Observances This Week

           

3-24
Andisop (Meterological Fiddling)   Link

3-10
Clerc-Gallaudet Week

Observances for Today

Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day

National Day of Lard

National Brownie Day

Take it in the Ear Day_

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1600’s

1659 Mexican border town Ciudad Juárez is founded by Fray García de San Francisco.

1800’s

1886 American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed by 26 craft unions Samuel Gompers elected AFL president

1900’s

1909 Bird banding society found

1915 John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields" appears anonymously in "Punch" magazine

1936 NAACP files suit to equalize salaries of black & white teachers

1941 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers "Day of Infamy" speech to US Congress a day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor

1965 Abe Burrows' "Cactus Flower" premieres in NYC

1982 Norman Mayer holds Washington Monument hostage, demanding an end to nuclear weapons. Is killed by police after 10 hrs (he had no explosives)

1982 Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez receives the Nobel Prize for Literature

1987 US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty eliminating medium range nuclear missiles

1992 Galileo's nearest approach to Jupiter (303 km)

2000’s

2002 The Caribbean Community Heads of Government meet with the Government of Cuba and declare the date to be "CARICOM-Cuba Day" - To celebrate diplomatic ties between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba.

2010 With the second launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first privately held company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.

My Rambling Thoughts

Mucinex is working its wonders. Much better off today.

While it is chilly and foggy, I still headed out to Sam’s and Walgreens for some regular scripts.  Nice day.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Listened for days that the Mueller probe would be releasing information. And they did, but it was mostly redacted. Now the news channels are saying more coming. Sorry, not listening. When something of import actually comes out, I’m sure I’ll hear about it.

Focus is in NYC with Group II. No postings on this trip. Guess there are no FB poster people on this trip.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

80’s

@83- Maximilian Schell,

Swiss-Austrian actor and director (Odessa File, Julia), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2014)

70’s

@77- Richard Llewellyn,

Wales, novelist (How Green Was My Valley) (d. 1983)

@72- James MacArthur,

actor (Danny Williams-Hawaii 5-0), born in Los Angeles, (d. 2010) cancer

@70- Diego Rivera,

Mexican painter (En el Arsenal) and married to Frida Kahlo, born in Guanajuato, México (d. 1957)

70- Jimmy Lai [Lai Chee-Ying],

Chinese businessman (founder of Giordano), born in Guangzhou, China

60’s

65- Kim Basinger,

American actress

@64- Samuel "Sammy" Davis Jr.,

American singer/dancer/actor (Ocean's 11, Candy Man), born in NYC, New York (d. 1990) throat cancer

@64- Lee J Cobb [Leo Jacoby],

American actor (Virginian, 12 Angry Men, On the Waterfront), born in NYC, New York (d. 1976) heart attack

@64- Flip Wilson, [Clerow],

comedian (Flip Wilson Show), born in Jersey City, NJ (d. 1998) liver cancer

50’s

@59- Eli Whitney,

American inventor (Cotton Gin), born in Westborough, Massachusetts (d. 1825)  prostate cancer

59- Jim Yong Kim,

South Korean-American physician, anthropologist and President of the World Bank, born in Seoul, South Korea

57- Ann Coulter,

American author, political commentator, and attorney

53- Teri Hatcher,

actress

52- Sinéad O'Connor,

Irish singer-songwriter (Nothing Compares 2 U), born in Glenageary, Ireland

40’s

@43- E.C. Segar,

American cartoonist (Popeye) (d. 1938) leukemia

30’s

@38- Sam Kinison,

American screaming comedian and actor (Back to School, Charlie Hoover), born in Yakima, Washington (d. 1992) killed by drunk driver

36- Nicki Minaj,

Trinidadian-American rapper and singer (Super Bass, Starships), born in Saint James, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

20’s

@27- Jim Morrison,

American singer-songwriter (The Doors) and poet, born in Melbourne, Florida (d. 1971) OD

Historical Obits Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@95-2016 John Glenn,

American astronaut (1st American to orbit the earth) and politician (Senator D-Ohio)

80’s

@80-1978 Golda Meir [Mabovitch],

Israeli teacher, stateswoman and 4th Prime Minister of Israel (1969-74) "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics

60’s

@64-1983 Slim Pickens [Louis Burton Lindley Jr],

American rodeo performer and actor (Dr Strangelove, Blazing Saddles), following surgery

50’s

@57-1982 Marty Robbins,

American country singer (Devil Woman, I Walk Alone), complications following cardiac surgery

40’s

@40-1980 John Lennon,

British musician, pop star and member of The Beatles (Imagine), shot and killed

30’s

@32-1967 Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr.,

1st African-American astronaut and U.S. Air Force major, crash of an F-104 Starfighter while training