Aug 12

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Aug 12, 2018 Week: 33\ Day: 224

86004 Today: H 78° \ L 53° \ Average Sky Cover: 15% 

Nearest Lightning:  191 miles away

Wind ave.:   6mph\Gusts:  15mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 92°[1944]   Record Low: 36°[1999]

Aug Averages: 80°\49°

Today’s Quote

Act as if what you do makes a difference.

It does.

  William James

Harper’s Index

-59

Percentage change last year in the number of federal inmates who earned a GED

Observances This Week

3-12

Gallop International Tribal Indian Powwow Link
Sturgis Rally Link

4-12

Gay Games

6-12

National Bargain Hunting Week
National Psychic Week Link   
Old Fiddlers' Week

9-16

Elvis Week Link
National Hobo Week Link
National Scrabble Week  Link  

12-18

National Motorcycle Week Link 
Feeding Pets of the Homeless Week  Link  Link 
National Resurrect Romance Week 
Weird Contest Week 

Observances for Today

Kool-Aid Day thru 12^th  Link 
IBM PC Day
International Youth Day
Middle Child's Day

Milkman Day Link 
Sewing Machine Day
Vinyl Record Day
World Elephant Day Link

Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1800’s                                         

1851 American inventor Isaac Singer patents the sewing machine

1865 Joseph Lister performs 1st antiseptic surgery

1879 1st National Archery Association tournament (Chicago)

1898 Hawaii is formally annexed to US

1900’s                                         

1908 Henry Ford's company builds the first Model T car

1915 "Of Human Bondage" by William Somerset Maugham, published

1928 9th Olympic Games close in Amsterdam

1930 Clarence Birdseye is granted a patent for method for quick freezing food (patent US 1773079 A)

1936 American diver Marjorie Gestring wins 3m springboard gold at the Berlin Olympics, youngest Olympic gold medalist (13 years 268 days)

1955 US President Eisenhower raises minimum wage from 75 cents to $1 an hour

1988 Nelson Mandela is treated for tuberculosis at hospital

1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

2000’s                                         

2012 30th Olympic Games closes at London, United Kingdom

2013 Whitey Bulger is found guilty on 31 of 32 counts, and is found to have been involved in 11 murders

2014 Ebola outbreak death toll exceeds 1000

2015 Former US President Jimmy Carter reveals that he has cancer

2016 American swimmer Katie Ledecky's medal tally of 4 golds, 1 silver make her the most decorated US female athlete at one Olympics, highest female of Rio games and 1st swimmer to win 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle at same Olympics since 1968

2017 US President Donald Trump at a press conference at Trump Tower says “there is blame on both sides” about Charlottesville violence, provoking widespread condemnation

My Rambling Thoughts

I got my haircut yesterday. Also, my stylist gave me some shampoo and conditioner to try that is supposed to get rid of the ‘yellow’ tinge my hair recently developed. I’ve never had this issue before, so I’m blaming it on the shampoo and conditioner I’ve been using about a month. Something about its chemicals might be causing it. Sure hope it is that easy.

It’s a nice Saturday and I got in an early morning walk. It was a nice cool walk in the forest before it heated up.

I’m a tad confused. When I fly, I must take off my shoes, have everything, including me scanned before I can get on a plane. At the Sea-Tac airport a low-level guy who cleans planes is able to hook up a plane to a trailer, back it out, unhook it, taxi to a runway at this fairly busy airport and take off and fly around about 90 minutes before crashing on a small island. My favorite quote was from some airport official…we are working with NTSB and the FBI to see if any of our procedures need to be tweaked…. Well duh. My favorite ‘expert’ on cable news, a retired NTSB guy said that it looks to him like the guy learned to fly on a video game. His reasoning for this conclusion was that the guy seemed really surprised at how fast the plane used fuel, something that doesn’t happen in video games. I am waiting for the final report to see if they suggest that flight simulator games be banned from crazy people.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@96- Jane Wyatt, American actress (Father Knows Best, Star Trek), born in Mahwah, New Jersey (d. 2006)

80’s

87- George Soros [György Schwartz], Hungarian-American investor and political activist (Open Society Foundation), born in Budapest, Hungary

@81- Cantinflas [Mario Moreno], Mexican actor (Around World in 80 Days, Pepe), born in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico (d. 1993)

@80- Porter Wagoner, country singer, discovered Dolly Parton (Y'All Come), (d. 2007)

70’s

@77- Cecil B. DeMille, American filmmaker (The Ten Commandments), born in Ashfield, Massachusetts (d. 1959) heart failure

@76- b, [Alvis Edgar], Sherman Texas, country singer (Hee Haw) (d. 2006) heart attack

@73- Robert Mills, American architect (Washington Monument) (d. 1855)

40’s

47- Pete Sampras, American tennis player (14 Grand Slam titles), born in Washington, D.C.

43- Casey Affleck, American actor (Manchester by the Sea, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), born in Falmouth, Massachusetts

Historical Obits Today

80’s

@89-2014 Lauren Bacall, American actress and singer named the 20th greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema (Dark Passage, Key Largo)

@87-2000 Loretta Young, American actress (Farmer's Daughter, Stranger)

@82-2007 Merv Griffin, American television host and game show creator

@80-1955 Ian L Fleming, German writer (Dr Faustus, Nobel 1929)

70’s

@79-1989 William Shockley, American physicist who helped invent the transistor (1956 Nobel), who was also known for his racist eugenics views, prostate cancer

@77-1982 Henry Fonda, actor (On Golden Pond), heart disease

60’s

@69-1827 William Blake, English poet and artist (Songs of Innocence & Experience)

@67-1848 George Stephenson, English engineer known as the "Father of Railways" (Locomotion No. 1, Standard Guage), pleurisy

50’s

@56-1964 Ian L Fleming, British journalist/writer (James Bond) heart attack

30’s

@39±-30 BC Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, commits suicide allegedly by inducing an asp (Egyptian cobra) to bite her

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…☼☼☼☼