Mar 15

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Mar 15, 2019 Week: 11 \ Day: 74

86004 Today: H 33° \ L 11° \ Average Sky Cover: 50% 

              Feels like 18°

Wind:   11mph\Gusts:  18mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 72°[2007]   Record Low: -3°[1962]

Mar Averages: 51°\23° (6 days with rain)

Today’s Quote

You have not converted a man

because you have silenced him.

-- Morley

Random Tidbits

In Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar," a soothsayer offers Caesar a warning, "Beware the Ides of March."

Shakespeare's account of Caesar being warned by a soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March" came originally from the Greek historian Plutarch.

Originally, the Ides were the day of the first full moon each year. The Roman year began in March.

In Roman times, March 15 was a day of celebration and festivals dedicated to Mars, the god of war.

Observances This Week

Lent: 6-20

Campfire USA Birthday Week: 10-16

Girl Scout Week: 10-16 

Termite Awareness Week: 10-16

National Agriculture Week: 10-16

International Brain Awareness Week: 11-17 

Turkey Vultures Return to the Living Sign: 11-17

Special Olympics 2019: 14-21

Sherlock Holmes Weekend: 15-17   

Observances for Today

Data Innovation Day: Thru Link
Brutus Day
Buzzards Day Link

Dumbstruck Day

 Everything You Think is Wrong Day
Ides of March
International Day of Action Against Canadian Seal Slaughter  Link
National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence  Link
National Peanut Lovers’ Day

National Shoe The World Day
True Confessions Day
World Consumer Rights Day Link
World Sleep Day Link 

My Rambling Thoughts

It is very chilly. Snow is no longer melting. Wind is not helping.

Our discussion group meets on Saturday to discuss ‘Refugees’. Lots of reading ahead. Refugees and immigrants are different and require different laws. I only have 2 refugee stories from personal experience. In the late 1950’s my grandparents rented out their downstairs apartment to refugees from behind the iron curtain. They had several families at different times. The biggest adjustment was the different tastes in cooking food. No Big Deal. The second story was on an international flight from Taiwan. As we approached our landing we got the usual cards to fill out. The couple across from me with a small baby took the cards and when the stewardess checked on all of us, the couple had done nothing. She and several other crew tried to communicate with them to no avail. I pulled out my passport, showed it to the dad and said ‘papers’. He pulled out letter, signed by Sec. of State Hillary Clinton stating that they were refugees from Miramar (Burma). The stewardess brought them a bunch of snacks and baby formula, which they didn’t want. Finally they found someone who convinced them to take it, saying that they had a very long wait ahead in the airport. There was a separate locale for them, marked ‘refugee’ passengers. Hope everything turned out well for them.

Today’s Significant Historical Events

BC’s

44 BC Julius Caesar is stabbed to death by Brutus, Cassius and several

            other Roman senators on the Ides of March in Rome

1700’s

1783 In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George

            Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh

            Conspiracy. The plea is successful and the threatened coup

            d'etat never takes place.

1800’s

1820 Maine admitted as 23rd state of the Union

1827 University of Toronto is chartered

1867 Michigan becomes 1st state to tax property to support a university

1892 New York State unveils automatic ballot booth (voting machine)

1900’s

1913 1st US presidential press conference (Woodrow Wilson)

1919 American Legion forms (Paris)

1957 Great Britain becomes the third nation to explode a nuclear bomb

2000’s

2017 French fashion house Givenchy appoints it first female designer,

            Englishwoman Clare Waight Keller

2018 Toy chain Toys R Us announces it will close all its stores after filing

            for bankruptcy

Birthdays Today

270 Saint Nicholas

[Nikolaos of Myra],

Greek Bishop who became the model for Santa Claus,

born in Patara, Asia Minor

(d. 343:@73)

1767 Andrew Jackson,

General and 7th US President (1829-37),

born in Waxhaws in the border area between North and

South Carolina

(d. 1845:@78)

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86- Ruth Bader Ginsburg,

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,

born in Brooklyn, New York

84- Judd Hirsch,

actor (Alex-Taxi, Dear John, Ordinary People),

born in The Bronx, New York

78- Mike Love,

American vocalist (Beach Boys - "Fun, Fun, Fun"),

born in Los Angeles, California

76- Sly Stone,

funk musician (Sly & the Family Stone-Everyday People),

born in Denton, Texas

62- Park Overall,

American actress (Empty Nest, Mississippi Burning),

born in Nashville, Tennessee

60- Fabio Lanzoni,

romance novels model (Fabio After Dark),

born in Milan, Italy

56- Bret Michaels,

guitarist (Poison-Talk Dirty to Me),

born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

44- Eva Longoria,

American actress (Gabrielle Solis in Desperate Housewives),

born in Corpus Christi, Texas

44- Will.i.am,

[William James Adams]

American musician (Black Eyed Peas)

Historical Obits Today

@94-1998 Benjamin Spock,

American pediatrician and writer

@91-1998 Jheri [Robert] Redding,

American hairdresser and businessman (created the Jheri curl

and hair conditioner)

@80-2007 Bowie Kuhn,

American lawyer, sports administrator

(MLB Commissioner 1969-1984)

@78-2014 David Brenner,

American stand-up comedian and TV talk show host (Nightlife)

known as a pioneer of observational comedy,

dies from cancer

@78-1959 Duncan Hines,

American restaurant guide writer (Out of Kentucky Kitchens)

@70-1990 Tom Harmon,

American football player and announcer (LA Rams, CBS 1950-62),

dies of a heart attack

@66-1988 Dmitri Polyakov,

Soviet Major General and spy for the CIA,

executed

@55-44 BC Julius Caesar,

Roman military and political figure,

stabbed to death

@45-1889 Melville Reuben Bissell,

American inventor of the carpet sweeper,

dies of pneumonia