Dec 16

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Dec 16, 2018 Week: 51  \ Day: 350

86004 Today: H 51° \ L 25° \ Average Sky Cover: 5% 

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

Record High: 63°[1958]   Record Low: -18°[1971]

Nov Averages: 43°\17°

Today’s Quote

Nature can do more than physicians.

Oliver Cromwell

Random Tidbits

Rudolph's red nose was originally created using a 12v light bulb painted red.

***

Yukon Cornelius discovers the peppermint mine on his third prospecting attempt.

***

There are 43 animals featured throughout Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

***

One car battery could power Rudolph's nose for 33 hours! That's much more efficient than regular headlights, which would drain a battery in only a few hours.

Observances This Week

           

3-24
Andisop (Meterological Fiddling)   Link

10-17
Human Rights Week

14-1/5/19
Christmas Bird Count Week Link 

14-28
Halcyon Days

15-21 
Gluten-free Baking Week Link 

16-20
Cookie Exchange Week

16-24
Posadas

Observances for Today

           

Barbie and Barney Backlash Day
Chocolate Covered Anything Day
Zionism Day

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1400’s

1497 Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama is 1st European to sail along Africa's East Coast, names it Natal

1600’s

1653 Parliamentarian General Oliver Cromwell appointed as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland

1700’s

1773 Boston tea party incident - Sons of Liberty protesters throw tea shipments into Boston harbour in protest against British imposed Tea Act

1900’s

1907 As a gesture of the US's new presence as a world power, President Theodore Roosevelt sends the 'Great White Fleet' on a round-the-world cruise, visiting ports internationally

1946 French fashion designer Christian Dior and his backer Marcel Boussac found fashion house Christian Dior

1953 1st White House Press Conference (President Eisenhower & 161 reporters)

1978 Ronald Reagan denounces President Jimmy Carter's recognition of People's Republic of China

2000’s

2009 Ben Bernanke, Chair of the US Federal Reserve is named Time's Person of the Year for rescuing the global economy from the Great Recession

My Rambling Thoughts

It’s been a busy few days and things are only going get busier this holiday season. Leaving for Chicago on the 19^th so these posts will be a tad sporadic until I return on the 27^th.

Finally went to my PCP for some meds as my cough just wouldn’t go away completely. Five days of antibiotics prescribed. Already on day 3 and cough is almost gone. Still have a couple of coughing spells when I first lay down at night. She said it was probably a light case of pneumonia. Turns out, all those pneumonia shots only ‘decrease’ the severity if some old-er person gets it. Guess I qualify. It’s been more years than I can remember since I last had pneumonia, so I ain’t complaining.

Zinke, Sec. of Interior, is resigning. Yeah! If I was still working, he would have been one of my many bosses. So many investigations and none looking good. Nat’l monuments have been shrunk, Indian policy is in shambles, there are possible Hatch Act violations, travel with family @ government expense issues. And the list goes on and on and on. Bye, and don’t let the door hit you one the way out.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@90- Arthur C. Clarke,

English sci-fi author (2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End), born in Minehead, England (d. 2008)

70’s

@76- Margaret Mead,

American anthropologist (Coming of Age in Samoa), born in Philadelphia, (d. 1978) cancer

@74- Steven Bochco,

American television showrunner, producer, and writer (Murder in the First, Hill St Blues, LA Law, St Elsewhere, NYPD Blue), born in NYC  (d. 2018) leukemia

50’s

@56- Ludwig van Beethoven,

German composer (5th Symphony, Ode to Joy), born in Bonn, Electorate of Cologne (d. 1827) liver disease

@50- Catherine of Aragon,

Spanish princess, 1st wife of Henry VIII, Queen of England (1509-33), born in Madrid, Spain (d. 1536)

4 0’s

@41- Jane Austen,

English novelist (Pride and Prejudice), born in Steventon, England (d. 1817) Addison’s Disease

Historical Obits Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@90-1980 Colonel Harland Sanders,

American founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken

80’s

@87-2013 Ray Price,

American singer

@86-1921 Camille Saint-Saens,

French composer (Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso)

70’s

@73-1859 Wilhelm Grimm,

German writer (Grimm's Fairy Tales) infection

60’s

@64-1989 Lee Van Cleef,

US actor (Good, Bad & Ugly), heart attack

50’s

@56-2007 Dan Fogelberg,

American singer/songwriter, prostate cancer