Jan 30

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Jan 30, 2019 Week: 04  \ Day: 30

86004 Today: H 44° \ L °22 \ Average Sky Cover: 90% 

Wind:   3mph\Gusts:  6mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 66°[1991]   Record Low: -19°[1979]

Jan Averages: 43°\11°

Today’s Quote

Every man dies.

Not every man really lives.

William Wallace

Random Tidbits

The term "opera" comes from the Latin opus, or "work."

Opera was the fruit of the Italian Renaissance. In the final decade of the sixteenth century, a group of artists, musicians, and poets who called themselves the Florentine Camerata met there to revive Greek drama and developed an opera in musica: a work in music. Galileo's father, Vincenzo Galilei was reportedly a member.

The earliest surviving opera (written by Jacopo Peri and Ottavio Rinuccini) is Euridice which was performed in Florence in 1600. Opera quickly spread from Florence to Rome, Venice, and all other major cities in Italy.

Richard Wagner revolutionized opera by disposing of existing operatic rules and structures. He also created the "Leitmotif" (or leading theme), which is a musical theme that is associated with a main character. For example, in Star Wars, there is a different musical theme associated with Princess Leia, with Luke Skywalker, with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and with Yoda.

The famous proverb "the opera ain't over 'til the fat lady sings" in reference to buxom Brunhilde's 10-minute aria at the end of Wagner's Ring cycle operas is usually attributed to pro basketball coach Dick Motta, who in turn attributes it to San Antonio sportswriter/broadcaster Dan Cook, who says he overheard a friend say it.

Amalie Materna, who played Brunnhilde during Wagner's lifetime (1876), may be the first proverbial "fat lady".

Observances This Week

24-2/3

Sundance Film Festival

Catholic Schools Week

Meat Week

National Medical Group Practice Week

Tax Identity Theft Week

US Nationals Snow Sculpting Days

Observances for Today

Croissant Day

Inane Answering Message Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Woke up to overcast sky but the weather guy sez not to worry, no moisture in them high clouds.

Started the process for my Visas to Russia and China. I will get a call on Thursday morning from a very nice lady to answer questions. The good news is they will hand carry my passport to the embassies to get the Visas pasted into my passport. All this is new to me, but…all is well.

Houston Texas… police officers shot…most amazing is that I saw the Mayor and Police Chief on live TV say that action is required to prevent more gun violence and that prayers are not enough…they want work to change the laws.  Good for them.

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1700’s

1790 Lifeboat 1st tested at sea, by Mr Greathead, the inventor

1798 Rep Matthew Lyon (Vt) spits in face of Rep Roger Griswold (Ct) in US House of Representatives, after an argument

1800’s

1815 Burned US Library of Congress re-established with Thomas Jefferson's 6,500 volumes

1818 John Keats composes his sonnet "When I Have Fears"

1826 The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world's first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales is opened.

1835 Richard Lawrence misfires at President Andrew Jackson in Washington, D.C. in 1st attempted assassination of a US President

1847 Yerba Buena renamed San Francisco

1873 "Around the World in 80 Days" by Jules Verne is published in France by Pierre-Jules Hetzel

1900’s

1922 World Law Day 1st celebrated

1946 1st issue of Franklin Roosevelt dime

1948 Mahatma Gandhi assassinated by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse

1961 JFK asks for an Alliance for Progress & Peace Corps

1963 Ivan Sutherland submits a thesis containing his Sketchpad program, a forerunner to modern-day graphic user interfaces and computer-aided design programs

1965 State funeral of Winston Churchill at St Paul's Cathedral in London. Then world's largest ever state funeral.

1972 Bloody Sunday: 27 unarmed civilians are shot (14 are killed) by the British Army during a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland; this is the highest death toll from a single shooting incident during 'the Troubles'

1975 Ernő Rubik applies for a patent for his "Magic Cube" invention, later to be known as a Rubik's cube

1989 Five Pharaoh sculptures from 1470 BC found at temple of Luxor

2000’s

2015 Shake Shack founded by Danny Meyer first lists on the New York stock exchange

2017 Scientists in central China reveal oldest known human ancestor - 540-million-year-old Saccorhytus in a fossil

Birthdays Today

1882 Franklin Roosevelt,

32nd US President (Democrat: 1933-1945),

born in Hyde Park, New York

(d. 1945)-@63-stroke

1913 Amrita Sher-Gil, Hungarian-Indian painter

described as the “Indian Frida Kahlo" and "one

of the greatest avant-garde women artists of

the early 20th century," born in Budapest,

Kingdom of Hungary

(d. 1941)-@28, fell into coma and died

1914 David Wayne,

American stage and screen actor (Andromeda

Strain, Adam's Rib), born in Traverse City,

Michigan

(d. 1995)-@81

1922 [Thomas Richard]Dick Martin,

American actor and comedian (Rowan &

Martin's Laugh-In, Carbon Copy), born in

Detroit, Michigan (d. 2008)-@86

1925 Douglas Engelbart,

American computer scientist (computer

mouse, Engelbart's Law), born in Portland, Ore

(d. 2013)-@88

1942 Marty Balin [Buchwald],

American singer (Jefferson Airplane/Starship),

 born in Cincinnati, Ohio

(d. 2018)-@76

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89- Gene Hackman,

American actor (Bonnie & Clyde, Under Fire,

The French Connection), born in San

Bernardino California

82- Vanessa Redgrave,

British actress (Blow-Up, Julia, Orient

Express), born in London, England

78- Dick Cheney,

American politician (Vice President: 2001-

2009), born in Lincoln, Nebraska

68- Phil Collins,

English drummer & singer (Genesis-Against All

Odds), born in Chiswick, England

61- Brett Butler,

American comedian (Grace-Grace Under Fire),

born in Montgomery, Alabama

45- Christian Bale,

British actor (Batman Begins, American

Psycho, The Machinist), born in Haverfordwest,

Pembrokeshire, Wales

39- Wilmer Valderrama,

TV actor (That 70’s Show)

Historical Obits Today

@91-2015 Carl Djerassi,

Austrian-born American chemist and father of

the contraceptive pill

@89-2007 Sidney Sheldon, American novelist and

playwright (Master of the Game, Bloodline, The

Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer)

@84-1836 Betsy Ross

[Elizabeth Griscom],

American seamstress widely credited with

 making the first American flag

@83-1991 John McIntire,

American actor (Naked City, Wagon Train,

Virginian)

@83±-1961 Maud Wagner,

first known American tattoo artist and circus

performer

@82-1991 John Bardeen,

American physicist, electrical engineer and

co-inventor of the transistor (Nobel 1956,

1972)

@78-2006 Coretta Scott King,

American activist and wife of Martin Luther

King Jr.,

dies of ovarian cancer

@78-1948 Mahatma Gandhi

[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi],

Indian independence activist and spiritual

leader, assassinated in New Delhi by Hindu

extremists

@76-2009 Ingemar Johansson,

Swedish heavyweight professional boxing

champion of the world,

dies of Alzheimer's

@76-1948 Orville Wright,

US aviation pioneer

@75-1951 Ferdinand Porsche,

German automotive engineer (Volkswagen

Beetle, Mercedes-Benz SS) and founder of the

Porsche car company

@72-1934 Frank Nelson Doubleday,

American publisher

@33±-1838 Osceola

(Asi-yahola in Creek),

chief of Seminole,

dies in jail of infection