Oct 16

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Oct  16, 2018 Week: 42 \ Day: 289

86004 Today: H 48° \ L 27° \ Average Sky Cover: 5% 

Wind:   20mph\Gusts: - mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 78°[1991]   Record Low: 13°[1984]

Oct Averages: 63°\31°

Today’s Quote

And when I breathed,

my breath was lightning.

Black Elk

Harper’s Index

$2,000,000,000

Amount of public money Mexico has spent since 2013

on ads promoting government accomplishments

Observances This Week

10-17

Take Your Medicine Americans Week

12-20

Bone and Joint Health National Awareness Week Link

14-20
Bullying Bystanders Unite Week 
Drink Local Wine Week
Earth Science Week Link 
Emergency Nurses Week
National Chestnut Week  
International Infection Prevention Week Link
Mediation Week Link 
National Food Bank Week
Veterinary Technicians Week Link

15-19

Choose To Be G.R.E.A.T. Week  Link
International Dyslexia Association Reading Week
Medical Assistants Recognition Week  Link
National Health Education Week  Link
National Nuclear Science Week
National School Bus Safety Week 
YWCA Week Without Violence Link

Observances for Today

Bosses Day (or National Boss's Day)  Link

National Feral Cat Day Link

Department Store Day

Dictionary Day (Noah Webster's Birthday.)

Global Cat Day

National Pharmacy Technician Day Link 

Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity Link  

National World Food Day

Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1700’s                                         

1775 Portland, Maine burned by British

1800’s                                         

1847 Charlotte Brontë's book "Jane Eyre" published

1848 1st US homeopathic medical college opens in Pennsylvania

1875 Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah.

1900’s                                         

1913 George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion" premieres in Hofburg Theatre in Vienna, Austria

1916 Margaret Sanger opens 1st birth control clinic in the US at 46 Amboy St, Brooklyn

1923 John Harwood patents self-winding watch (Switzerland)

1925 Texas School Board prohibits teaching of evolution

1936 Jean Batten reaches Auckland, New Zealand after flying solo from Kent, England in a record 11 days and 45 minutes

1941 "Gordo" comic strip (by Gus Arriola) 1st appears in newspapers

1943 Chicago Mayor Ed Kelly opens city's new subway system

1946 10 Nazi leaders hanged as war criminals after Nuremberg trials

1950 The first edition of C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" is released in London

1957 USAF sends 2 aluminium bullets into space

1962 Cuban missile crisis begins as JFK is shown photos confirming the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba

1967 Joan Baez and 123 other anti-draft protesters are arrested in Oakland, California

1978 Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla elected Pope John Paul II

1984 Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican Archbishop, wins Nobel Peace Prize

1986 US government shuts down due to disputes between President Reagan and the House

1995 Million Man March held in Washington, D.C. (over 830,000 African American men attend)

2000’s                                         

2013 The United States ends its 16-day government shut down and avoids default in a Bi-partisan deal in the Senate

2017 Findings published of neutron star collision (17 August), the first cosmic event seen in gravitational waves and light. Confirms heavy elements such as gold the result of such collisions

My Rambling Thoughts

A cool, clear, windy day here at 7000’.

Yesterday I was just lazy. Watched some TV, did some laundry, stayed away from my computer and the news. Enjoyed it.

A comedian I was watching on TV made an interesting observation: Just like the Dems or Reps, the Crips and Blood use red or blue as their colors. Hmmm

As always I did watch 60 minutes last night. 45’s interview was so frightening. He can say anything, get called out about it, and then simply say it again.

Native Americans have always been discriminated against. The only difference has been the kind of discrimination. While I worked on the Navajo Rez, about 95% of the students were full-blooded Navajo. As times changed, we had more and more mixed raced kids. When 45 started questioning his rival Elizabeth Warren’s heritage, he started calling her ‘Pocahontas’ and it was obvious he was not honoring her heritage. At one point he offered $1million if she had to DNA test to prove her Native heritage. The DNA test now shows she does have a Native ancestor. She had said that she was simply going by stories she heard from her mother and aunts. So, 45 dishonored her relatives too. The racism continues with 45. From his comment this morning, he ain’t paying no money now that the DNA test is out. Sad state of affairs we have here.

Speaking of ‘family stories’, my mother’s maiden name was Webster. She always said that she was related to Noah Webster (the dictionary guy) and my dad was a distant cousin of Robert Burns, the poet.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

93→Angela Lansbury,

British actress (Gaslight, Murder She Wrote), born in London, England

80’s

@87→Günter Grass,

German writer and playwright (The Tin Drum) and Nobel Prize laureate (1999), born in Danzig (d. 2015)

@87→David Ben-Gurion,

1st Prime Minister of Israel (1948-53, 1955), born in Płonsk, Poland (d. 1973)

@84→Noah Webster,

lexicographer (Webster's Dictionary), born in West Hartford, Connecticut (d. 1843)

70’s

72→Suzanne Somers,

actress (3's Company, Step by Step)

60’s

@65→Eugene O'Neill,

American dramatist (Desire Under the Elms-Nobel 1936), born in NYC, (d. 1953) alcoholism/Parkinsons

60→Tim Robbins,

actor (Bull Durham, Shawshank Redemption), born in West Covina, California

40’s

@46→Oscar Wilde, [Fingal O'Flahertie Wills],

(The Picture of Dorian Gray), born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1900) meningitis

41→John Mayer,

rock singer

30’s

@31→Michael Collins,

Irish revolutionary leader and leading figure in the struggle for Irish independence in the early 20th century, born in Clonakilty, Ireland (d. 1922) assassinated

Historical Obits Today

90’s

@94→2010 Barbara Billingsley,

American actress (Leave it to Beaver)

@94→1992 Shirley Booth,

actress (Hazel)

80’s

@86→2007 Deborah Kerr,

Scottish actress (From Here to Eternity, The King and I)

@80→1972 Leo G Carroll,

actor (Topper, Man From Uncle)

70’s

@79→2004 Pierre Salinger,

John F. Kennedy's White House Press Secretary, heart failure

@78→1959 George Marshall,

US army general

@77→1989 Cornel Wilde [Kornel Lajos Weisz],

Hungarian-American actor (Sword of Lancelot, High Sierra, 5th Musketeer)  leukemia

60’s

@66→1981 Moshe Dayan,

Israel's general/minister of Defense, heart attak

50’s

@56→1946 Alfred Jodl,

German general during World War II (head of the German High Command, signed unconditional Nazi surrender), hanged by Allied forces after the Nuremberg trials

30’s

@37→1793 Marie Antoinette,

Queen of France (1774-92) who allegedly uttered the phrase "let them eat cake", beheaded