Aug 17

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Aug 17, 2018 Week: 33\ Day: 229

86004 Today: H 78° \ L 55° \ Average Sky Cover: 60% 

Nearest Lightning:  55 miles away

Wind ave.:   1mph\Gusts:  12mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 88°[2002]   Record Low: 38°[1979]

Aug Averages: 80°\49°

Today’s Quote

 We all require and want respect,

 man or woman, black or white.

 It's our basic human right.

   Aretha Franklin

Harper’s Index

 5

  Estimated percentage of US children who exhibit

  symptoms of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

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  

16-26

Little League World Series

Observances for Today

Black Cat Appreciation Day Link   Link
Chinese Valentine's Day/Daughter's Day

I Love My Feet Day Link
Meaning of "Is" Day|
Men's Grooming Day Link 
National Nonprofit Day  Link
National Thriftshop Day Link

Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1800’s                                         

1807 Robert Fulton's steamboat Clermont begins first trip up Hudson River

1846 Commodore Robert F Stockton, US Navy, annexes California

1858 1st bank in Hawaii opens

1870 1st ascent of Mt Rainier, Washington

1891 1st public bathhouse with showers opens in NYC (People's Bath)

1891 Electric self-starter for automobile patented

1900’s                                         

1903 Joe Pulitzer donates $1 million to Columbia University & begins the Pulitzer Prizes in America

1908 Bank of Italy (now Bank of America) opens new HQ at Clay & Montgomery, San Francisco

1933 Lou Gehrig plays record 1,308th consecutive game

1938 1st aircraft owned by US Forest Service in service (Oakland)

1945 Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declare Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) independent from the Netherlands

1945 Korea is divided into North and South Korea along the 38th parallel

1946 George Orwell publishes "Animal Farm" in the United Kingdom

1950 Indonesia gains independence from Netherlands

1959 7.1 quake strikes Yellowstone National Park

1961 Kennedy administration establishes Alliance for Progress

1976 An earthquake & tsunami in the Philippines kills up to 8,000

1979 Monty Python's "Life of Brian" directed by Terry Jones, starring Graham Chapman & John Cleese premieres

1982 First Compact Discs (CDs) released to the public in Germany

1994 NY Central park reservoir officially named after Jackie Kennedy Onasis

1998 Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony he had an "improper physical relationship" with the intern and on the same day admits before the nation he "misled people" about the relationship

2000’s                                         

2012 Gay pride events are banned for a century in Moscow

2016 American sweep in 100m women's hurdles at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics with Brianna Rollins taking gold ahead of Nia Ali & Kristi Castlin; 1st time US has swept medals in an Olympic women's track & field event

2017 Anti-immigrant One Nation party leader Pauline Hansen is widely criticized for wearing a burqa into the Australian parliament

2017 On This Day helps launch Borneo Dictionary, an online not for profit dictionary of indigenous Borneo languages with translations in English and Bahasa Malaysia

My Rambling Thoughts

Did some necessary shopping at Sam’s today. While there I saw an inexpensive ‘air fryer’ on one of those end displays. I had dinner at a friend’s place the other day and she used an air fryer. Food was good, so I’ll try one out. Growing up we had a deep fryer and it was used a lot. I miss some of that good old fried food. Maybe this will help with healthier food.

Rainfall here is up for the monsoon season, but still way way down for the year. Drought is awful.

Today remembers Floyd Westerman’s birthday. I have put several of his songs in the birthday section. If you haven’t heard of him, or haven’t listened to him for a few years, check it out.

I’ve never been a big fan of organized churches. I grew up going to a small Episcopal church. They had their share of ‘issues’. Sometimes groups would leave because they didn’t like the Priest. Other times the Priest would leave because powerful members didn’t like something he did. While working on the Rez, I saw lots of Church people going to very drastic measures to convince traditional people that their way was wrong. I also saw ‘churches’ pop up at people’s homes. Members of a known church would get upset, leave, and start their own ‘church’. Some of my staff would change these home ‘churches’ like others change their clothes. All to political for me. The latest information on the Catholic church only adds to my dissatisfaction…child rape is never OK; hiding child rape is NEVER OK. I believe those who harm children have a special place in Hell. Those who allow children to be harmed are headed to the same place.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

0’s

@95►Samuel Goldwyn [Shmuel Gelbfisz], Jewish Polish American movie producer (MGM), born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1974)

@95►Maureen O'Hara [FitzSimons], Irish actress and singer (Miracle on 34th St, The Quiet Man), Ranelagh, County Dublin (d. 2015)

@90►Frederick Russell, developed 1st successful typhoid fever vaccine (d. 1960)

@87►Mae West, American actress and singer (She Done him Wrong), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1980)

75►Robert De Niro, American actor (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull), born in NYC, New York

@71►Floyd Red Crow Westerman (Kanghi Duta), Sioux musician-actor “Custer Died For Your Sins” “Where Were You When?” “Drums” “They Didn’t Listen” “Here Come The Antros” (d. 2007) leukemia

58►Sean Penn, actor (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), born in Santa Monica, California

@52►Marcus Garvey, began back-to-Africa movement among US African Americans (d. 1940) strokes

@49► Davy Crockett, American frontiersman, adventurer and politician, born in Greene County, Tennessee (d. 1836) at the Alamo

49►Donald E Wahlberg Jr, rocker (New Kids-Hangin' Tough), born in Boston, Massachusetts

@47-Francis Gary Powers, US spy (USSR captures him in 1959 U-2 incident) (d. 1977) helicopter crash

Historical Obits Today

90’s

@93-1987 Rudolf Hess, German Nazi official (Deputy Fuhrer who dramatically escaped to Britain in 1941, sentenced to life in Spandau Prison), commits suicide

70’s

@72-1990 Pearl Bailey, American actress and singer (Hello Dolly), heart attack

@72-1850 Jose de San Martin, South American revolutionary hero and general

@70-1979 Vivian Vance, American actress (Ethel Mertz-I Love Lucy), cancer

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…☼☼☼☼