Aug 15

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Aug 15, 2018 Week: 33\ Day: 227

86004 Today: H 82° \ L 55° \ Average Sky Cover: 60% 

Nearest Lightning:  7.2 miles away

Wind ave.:   4mph\Gusts:  10mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 88°[1962]   Record Low: 33°[1968]

Aug Averages: 80°\49°

Today’s Quote

  Nature is indifferent to the survival of the human species,

  including Americans.

  Adlai E. Stevenson

Harper’s Index

  71

  Percentage of South Koreans over the age of 60 who

  support reunification

  39

  If South Koreans in their rwenties

Observances This 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 

15-21

National Aviation Week  

Observances for Today

Best Friends Day
Chauvin Day
Check The Chip Day (Those Implanted in Pets)  Link
National Medical Dosimetrist Day
National No SpongeBob Day Link  

Relaxation Day

Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1000’s                                         

1040 King Duncan I of Scotland killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth (not murdered in his sleep as in Shakespeare's play). The latter does succeed him as King.

1500’s                                         

1519 Panama City founded by Spanish conquistador Pedro Arias Dávila

1600’s                                         

1635 1st recorded north American hurricane hit the Plymouth Colony

1800’s                                         

1824 Freed American slaves establish Liberia on the West African coast through the American Colonization Society (ACS)

1900’s                                         

1901 Arch Rock, a danger to San Francisco Bay shipping, blasted with 30 tons of nitro

1911 Procter & Gamble unveils its Crisco shortening

1914 Panama Canal opens (under cost)

1914 A male servant of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright sets fire to the living quarters of the architect's Wisconsin home, Taliesin, murders seven people and burns the living quarters to the ground.

1939 "The Wizard of Oz", American musical fantasy film directed by Victor Fleming and King Vidor, premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, starring Judy Garland (Dorothy), Ray Bolger (Scarecrow), Jack Haley (Tin Man), Bert Lahr (Cowardly Lion), Frank Morgan (Wizard), Billie Burke (Glinda), and Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch)

1948 Republic of Korea (South Korea) proclaimed (National Day)

1950 Sukarno proclaims the unitary Republic of Indonesia and becomes its 1st President

1965 Japanese community of San Francisco holds Masanori Murakami Day at Candlestick Park to honor 1st Japanese player to play in major leagues

1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair opens in New York State on Max Yasgur's Dairy Farm

1974 Longest team (6) trampoline bouncing marathon (1,248 hours or 52 days)

1979 "Apocalypse Now", directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and Martin Sheen, is released (Palme d'Or 1979)

1985 P. W. Botha gives the "Rubicon" Speech in Durban, South Africa, dissapointing many by refusing to consider immediate and major reforms in the country's apartheid system

1994 Terrorist Carlos the Jackal, captured in Khartoum Sudan

2000’s                                         

2015 North Korea creates its own time zone -moving its clocks back half an hour to GMT+8.5

2016 Anita Włodarczyk of Poland sets a world record 82.29m to win the women's hammer throw gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; Zhang Wenxiu (China) silver, and Sophie Hitchon (Great Britain) bronze.

2017 Barack Obama's tweet "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion..." in response to Charlottesville violence becomes most-liked tweet ever

My Rambling Thoughts

Holy crap! I got hit with a huge lightning storm with hard male rain yesterday afternoon. It hit about 4p and lasted about an hour. Closest lightning was ¼ mile from my place. And with all the lightning this was a very loud storm. There was minor flooding on major roads. Our area always needs moisture, just not all at once. More storms appear to be building.

As a former Federal employee, we understood that we were not to go to the press or the public about the internal workings of our offices. On occasion an employee or former employee would go public about something our standard reply was ‘You should contact the Solicitor’s office’ and give them the phone number to the correct person. The concept that a federal employee who receives taxpayer dollars as salary would have to sign a non-disclosure agreement in perpetuity is not part of the country I grew up in. I get that it is common in business, but the running of the government is not a business, it is to protect the people of the United States.

In my Federal service, a few employees or outsiders would make outrageous claims about me or my co-workers. As hard as it was, we were told to ignore the comments and let the system investigate and clear up whatever happened. In my case, it always worked, proven false,  and was soon forgotten. 45 keeps items in the news with his crazy tweets. Too bad he doesn’t just let the system do what it does so well.  

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@94- Rose Marie [Mazzetta], American actress, comedienne and singer (The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Doris Day Show), born in NYC, New York (d. 2017)

@92- Phyllis Schlafly, right-wing crusader, Eagle Forum president, born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 2016)

@91- Julia Child, cook, TV show, WWII OSS (d. 2004)

@91- Mike Connors, [Krekor Ohanian], American actor (Mannix), born in Fresno, California (d. 2017)

80’s

@82- Bill Baird, American puppeteer (Kukla Fran & Ollie, Muppet Show), born in Grand Island, Nebraska (d. 1987)

70’s

72- Jimmy Webb, American singer-songwriter (MacArthur Park, Up Up & Away), born in Elk City, Oklahoma

60’s

@61- Walter Scott, Scottish historical novelist and poet (The Lady of the Lake), born in College Wynd, Edinburgh Scotland (d. 1832)

50’s

54- Melinda Gates, American philanthropist and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, born in Dallas, Texas

@51- Napoleon Bonaparte, French military leader and Emperor of the French (1804-14, 1815), born in Ajaccio, Corsica, France (d. 1821) stomach ‘cancer’/arsenic poisoning?

50- Debra Messing, American actress (Will & Grace), born in Brooklyn, New York

@50- Stieg Larsson [Karl Stig-Erland Larsson], Swedish author (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), born in Skelleftehamn, Sweden (d. 2004) heart attack

40’s

46- Ben Affleck, American actor (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor), born in Berkeley, California

30’s

@37- Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, African-British composer (Hiawatha's Wedding Feast), born in London, England (d. 1912) pneumonia

20’s

29- Belinda [Belinda Peregrín Schüll], Mexican singer, songwriter and actress, born in Madrid, Spain

28- Jennifer Lawrence, American actress (Winter's Bone, Silver Linings Playbook), born in Louisville, Kentucky

Historical Obits Today

90’s

@91-2008 Jerry Wexler, American music producer who coined the term "rhythm and blues" (Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan)

70’s

@75-2015 Julian Bond, American civil rights leader and politician (D-Ga), vascular disease

50’s

@55-1935 Will Rogers, American humorist and actor (Judge Priest), plane crash in Alaska

@53-1975 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Founding father of Bangladesh and 1st and 4th President of Bangladesh (1971-72 and 1975-76), assassinated in a military coup by a group of junior army officers

30’s

@36-1935 Wiley Post, aviation pioneer, plane crash in Alaska

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…☼☼☼☼