Feb 7

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Feb 7, 2019 Week: 06 \ Day: 38

86004 Today: H 29° \ L 0° \ Average Sky Cover: 20% 

Wind:   11mph\Gusts:  16mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 66°[1963]   Record Low: -18°[1903]

FebAverages: 45°\19°

Today’s Quote

There are years that ask questions and years that answer.

Zora Neale Hurston

Random Tidbits

Fred Bauer, the Procter & Gamble employee who devised the idea of stacking Pringles into cans, eschewed an urn upon his death and instead asked that his family bury him in one his signature cans.

Edward “Steady Ed” Headrick, who invented the game of Frisbee golf, made as one of his dying wishes that his family would cremate him and mold his remains into a Frisbee. “When we die, we don’t go to purgatory,” Headrick reportedly said shortly before his passing. “We just land up on the roof and lay there.”

Observances This Week

Women's Heart Week: 1-7

Publicity for Profit Week: 2-8
African Heritage & Health Week: 3-9
Dump Your Significant Jerk Week: 3-9
Burn Awareness Week: 3-9 Link  
Children's Authors & Illustrators Week: 3-9
Children's Mental Health Week: 4-10 Link
National School Counseling Week: 4-8 Link
International Networking Week: 4-8
Solo Diners Eat Out Weekend: 7-12
Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week: 7-14 Link
Have A Heart for A Chained Dog Week: 7-14  Link
Risk Awareness Week: 7-14
National Marriage Week: 7-14  Link  Link

Observances for Today

Ballet Day
Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Dry Bean Day Link
 e-Day (math) Link
Laura Ingalls Wilder Day
National Fettuccine Alfredo Day

National Periodic Table Day  Link 
Send a Card to a Friend Day

Wave All you Fingers at Your Neighbor Day

My Rambling Thoughts

I got about 7” of the white stuff, not the foot that was forecast. Not complaining…it is a very wet snow. Took about 20 minutes to get the vehicle ready for driving. The bottom layer on the windshield had frozen then melted but the other layers remained frozen and crusty so ‘brushing’ off the snow meant using a scraper and having the upper layers break off in chunks. Don’t remember seeing this before.

So, I watched the whole speech and the Dems short answer. It was so obvious to me that 45 did not write the speech, there were interesting grammatical combinations (so say-eth the English teacher), and I don’t think that speech will bring the two sides of Congress together. The Dems answer was one of the best we’ve seen in a long time. It was clear, concise, mentioned lots of ideas, and was just enjoyable to hear.

How will his speech change our divided country? Not even a tiny bit.

Facebook reminded me of two things: 2 years ago, I was enjoying Singapore/Thailand/… and that today is Joe Green’s birthday. He is the guy from Tumlare who puts together many of our Focus trips.

Glad I don’t have to deal with Virginia politics. What a mess.

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1700’s

1795 11th Amendment to US Constitution ratified, affirms

            power of states

1800’s

1812 Poet Lord Byron (6th Baron Byron) makes his maiden

            speech in House of Lords

1818 1st successful US educational magazine "Academician"

            begins (NYC)

1839 Henry Clay declares in Senate "I had rather be right

            than president"

1872 Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College

            opens…oldest Black College…Mississippi

1894 The Cripple Creek miners' strike, led by the Western

            Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado

1900’s

1950 United States formally recognizes the State of Vietnam

            as the legitimate government of Vietnam, with Bảo Đại

            as leader

1962 US President JFK begins blockade of Cuba by banning

            all Cuban imports and exports.

1969 Al-Fatah-leader Yasser Arafat becomes president of PLO

1974 The Symbionese Liberation Army claim responsibility

            for the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, daughter of

            Randolph Hearst

1976 World's largest telescope (600 cm) begins operation

            (USSR)

1983 1st female secretary of transportation sworn-in

            (Elizabeth Dole)

1984 American astronaut Bruce McCandless makes 1st

            untethered space walk

1986 Corazon Aquino defeats incumbent Filipino dictator

            Ferdinand Marcos but fraudulent returns gave the

            election to Marcos

00’s

2013 Azerbaijan launches its first satellite, Azerspace-1

2018 "The Los Angeles Times" is bought by LA doctor Patrick

            Soon-Shiong from Tribune Publishing for $500 million

2018 DNA analysis of Chedder Man, UK's oldest complete

            skeleton shows he had dark skin and blue eyes

2018 All citrus fruit can be traced to the southeast foothills of

            the Himalayas, according to DNA study published in

            "Nature"

Birthdays Today

1478 Sir Thomas More,

English statesman, humanist, and author

(d. 1535-@57)

1804 John Deere,

American blacksmith and manufacturer

(founded Deere & Company), born in Rutland, Vermont

(d. 1886-@82)

1812 Charles Dickens,

English novelist (Oliver Twist, Tale of 2 Cities),

born in Portsmouth, Hampshire

(d. 1870-@58)

1867 Laura Ingalls Wilder,

American author (Little House on Prairie),

born in Pepin, Wisconsin

(d. 1957-@90)

1885 [Harry] Sinclair Lewis,

American writer and social critic (Nobel Prize in Literature 1930),

born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota

(d. 1951-@65-alcholism)

1887 Eubie Blake,

US ragtime composer/pianist (Memories of You)

born in Baltimore, Maryland

(d. 1983-@96)

1908 Clarence "Buster" Crabbe,

American swimmer (Olympic gold 1932) and actor (Tarzan the

Fearless, Flash Gordon), born in Oakland, California

(d. 1983-@75-heart attack)

1919 Jock Mahoney

[Jacques Joseph O'Mahoney],

American actor and stuntman (Dallas, Yancy Derringer,

Day of Fury), born in Chicago, Illinois

(d. 1989-@70-stroke)

59- James Spader,

American actor (Endless Love, Wall St, Mannequin),

born in NYC, New York

57- Garth Brooks,

American country singer (No Fences, Double Live),

born in Tulsa, Oklahoma

54- Chris Rock,

American comedian (SNL, CB4, Everybody Hates Chris),

born in Andrews, South Carolina

45-Steve Nash,

NBA player (Suns), born in Johannesburg, South Africa

41- Ashton Kutcher,

American actor (That 70s Show), born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Historical Obits Today

@94-2001 Anne Morrow Lindbergh,

American author and aviator

@88-2001 Dale Evans,

American actress and singer (Roy Rogers Show)

@69-1938 Harvey Firestone,

American manufacturer and founder of the Firestone Tire and

Rubber Company,

dies after stroke

@52-2000 Doug Henning,

Canadian magician,

dies of liver cancer

@36-1968 Nick Adams

[Nicholas Aloysius Adamshock],

American actor (Interns, Pillow Talk, FBI Story),

dies of a drug overdose