Jan 15

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Jan 15, 2019 Week: 02  \ Day: 15

86004 Today: H 31° \ L 21° \ Average Sky Cover: 95% 

Wind:   4mph\Gusts:  8mph Visibility: 6 mi

Record High: 65°[1943]   Record Low: -12°[1937]

Jan Averages: 43°\11°

Today’s Quote

Facts are stubborn,

but statistics are more pliable.

Mark Twain

Random Tidbits

Stilts were invented by French shepherds who herded sheep in marshes near the Bay of Biscay.

***

In about 250 B.C., Ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes invented the screw.

Observances This Week

11-17

Cuckoo Dancing Week

13-19

National Mocktail Week

Observances for Today

Alpha Kappa Alpha Day

Humanitarian Day

National Bagel Day

National Fresh Squeezed Juice Day

Strawberry Ice Cream Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Overcast with occasional snowflakes. Guess the ‘next’ storm arrived early. Weather guy sez to expect 1”-3” in this new storm. This one should be around until Wednesday. Roads are good with not many people out and about.

While I was out I ran into a couple I had worked with in Tuba. Elmer is a Purple Heart recipient from Vietnam and Leona was our Budget Tech. Both are retired and living in Tuba. Leona looks good even though she is undergoing radiation after surgery and chemo. Both have a real positive attitude and things are looking good.

Way back in 1973 I was teaching 3^rd grade in Shonto, on the Navajo Reservation. We got word that all US troops were coming home from Vietnam. I remember writing on the board: The Vietnam war has ended. I was overjoyed as I was not a supporter of the war. Then my 3^rd graders reminded me what war was all about. I heard the kids when they said, “When is my brother is coming?” “When is my dad coming home?” “When is my Uncle coming home?” I didn’t have the answers so we wrote letters to the relatives.

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1700’s

1759 British Museum opens in Montague House,

        London

1800’s

1844 University of Notre Dame receives its charter

        in Indiana

1846 Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky's first

        novel "Poor Folk" is published in the St

        Petersburg Collection almanac

1861 Steam elevator patented by Elisha Otis

1863 1st US newspaper printed on wood-pulp

        paper, Boston Morning Journal

1870 Donkey first used as symbol of Democratic

        Party, in Harper's Weekly

1900’s

1902 Abdulaziz Ibn Saud leads 40 men over the

        walls of Riyadh and takes the city, marking the

        beginning of the Third Saudi State

1919 Two million gallons of molasses flood Boston

        Massachusetts in the "Great Molasses Flood"

        when a storage tank burst, drowning 21 and

        injuring 150

1943 World's largest office building, the Pentagon

        is completed

1971 Aswan Dam official opens in Egypt

1973 US President Richard Nixon suspends all

        US offensive action in N Vietnam

1991 Elizabeth II signs letters patent that allows

        Australia to institute its own Victoria Cross,

        the first Commonwealth realm to do so

1994 Queen Elizabeth falls off her horse & breaks

        her left wrist

1997 Diana, Princess of Wales, calls for an

        international ban on landmines, angering

        ministers in the UK

2000’s

2001 Wikipedia a free Wiki or content encyclopedia

        is launched by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger

2009 Chesley Sullenberger lands US Airways Flight

        1549 on the Hudson River shortly after takeoff

        from LaGuardia Airport in NYC. All passengers

        and crew members survive in what becomes

        known as the "Miracle on the Hudson"

2016 American Museum of Natural History in

        Manhattan unveils newest exhibit replica

        skeleton of a Titanosaur dinosaur (found 2010

        Argentina), largest known dinosaur at 70 tons,

        37m

2018 US Gynmnast Simone Biles says she is one of

        more than 130 women sexually abused by

        former team doctor Larry Nassar

Birthdays Today

1412 Joan of Arc,

Roman Catholic Saint and national heroine of

 France (legendary date), born in Domrémy,

 duchy of Bar, France (d. 1431)@19-burned at

the stake

1622 Molière [Jean-Baptiste Poquelin],

French playwright (The Misanthrope),

born in Paris, Kingdom of France (d. 1673)@51-

TB

1875 Abdulaziz Ibn Saud,

Founder and first King of Saudi Arabia (1932-

53), born in Riyadh, Emirate of Nejd

(d. 1953)@78-heart disease

1902 Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud,

King of Saudi Arabia (1953-64), born in Kuwait

City (d. 1969)@67

1906 Aristotle Onassis,

Greek shipping magnate, born in Konak, Turkey

(d. 1975)@69- respiratory failure

1908 Edward Teller,

Hungarian-American physicist, father of the

Hydrogen bomb (Manhattan Project), born in

Budapest, Hungary (d. 2003)@95

1929 Martin Luther King Jr.,

American clergyman and leader of the Civil

Rights Movement (Nobel 1964), born in Atlanta,

Georgia (d. 1968)@39-  assassinated

1913 Lloyd Bridges,

American comedic actor (Sea Hunt, Roots,

Airplane!), born in San Leandro, California

(d. 1998)@85

1948 Ronnie Van Zant,

American rock musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd),

born in Jacksonville, Florida(d. 1977) plane

crash

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68- Charo [Maria Baeza],

Spanish-American actress, comedienne and

flamenco guitarist (Chico and the Man, Love

Boat), born in Murcia, Spain

40- Drew Brees,

QB-Saints

38- Pitbull [Armando Christian Perez],

American rapper, born in Miami, Florida

Historical Obits Today

@83-1988 Seán MacBride,

Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army and

founder of Amnesty International (Nobel 1974)

@83-1987 Ray Bolger,

American actor and dancer (The Wizard of Oz)

@73-2016 Dan Haggerty,

American actor (Grizzly Adams), dies of

cancer

@72±-1896 Matthew B Brady,

US photographer (Civil War), he died penniless

 in the charity ward of Presbyterian Hospital in

New York City, from complications following a

streetcar accident.

@57-1915 Fannie Farmer,

American culinary pioneer who revolutionized

modern cooking through the introduction of

precise measurements (Boston Cooking-

School Cook Book), dies of complications of a

stroke

@22-1947 Elizabeth Short,

American victim in the Black Dahlia case,

murdered