May 1

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May 1, 2019 Week: 18 \ Day: 121

86004:   H 58° \ L 35° \ Average Sky Cover: 5% 

Nearest wildfire:  682mi. Nearest lightning:  440mi

Wind:   7mph\Gusts:  13mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 80°[1947]   Record Low: 17°[1972]

Mar Averages: 68°\34° (3 days with rain)

Today’s Quote

People seldom refuse help,

if one offers it in the right way.

A. C. Benson

Random Tidbits

Hansen Gregory, an American ship captain, is the man credited with inventing the classic hole-in-the-middle shape of the modern doughnut in 1847 by simply punching out the middle. Other versions of the story describe Gregory piercing the middle of the doughnut on the ship's steering wheel so he could use both hands to steer.

In 1963 when President John F. Kennedy announced in Berlin, "Ich bin ein Berliner," he did not say, as is commonly believed, that he was a jelly doughnut. While there was a popular jelly donut called a 'Berliner', the phrase Kennedy used would not only have been understood by the German audience, but it is probably the best way to express what the president had intended to say. To state, "Ich bin Berliner" would imply that he was born in Berlin, whereas the word 'ein' implied he was a Berliner in spirit.

More Observances This Month

ALS Awareness Month  Link
(Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's Disease) 
American Wetlands Month Link
APS Awareness Month Link
Arthritis Awareness Month
Aramanth Month Link
Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Asthma Awareness Month
Awareness of Medical Orphans Month

Better Hearing & Speech Month Link
Bladder Cancer Awareness Month  Link
Borderline Personality Disorder Month Link
Brain Tumor Awareness Month Link
Building Safety Month Link Link

Observances This Week

Choose Privacy Week: 1-7  Link

National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW): thru 5/4  Link
Air Quality Awareness Week: thru 5/3  Link 
International Coaching Week: thru 5/5 Link
Screen-Free Week (Digital Detox Week) : thru 5/5 Link

Observances for Today

Batman Day
Beltane Link
Childhood Depression Awareness Day 
Executive Coaching Day
Global Love Day Link
Hug Your Cat Day
International Workers Day  Link
Keep Kids Alive! Drive 25 Day
Law Day
Lei Day
Loyalty Day
May Day
May One Day
Mother Goose Day Link 
National Bubba Day
National Chocolate Parfait Day

National Golf Day Link
National Purebred Dog Day Link
National Skilled Trades Day  Link 
New Homeowner's Day
Save the Rhino Day

School Principals' Day
Silver Star Banner Day Link
Skyscraper Day
Stepmother's Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Spring must have really arrived, the HOA grounds keepers are out in force, mowing weeds, blowing away pine needles. There’s lots of pollen in the air and now dust…but I ain’t complaining…it makes the area look so much more welcoming.

Remember when May Day was a big deal with May Day baskets, running around May poles, and happy kids? That all ended very abruptly during the Cold War, when the USSR used May Day as the day to have parades of their military might. I guess kids having fun and dancing and giving away candy or flower baskets was not the image the US wanted.

I guess I haven’t been paying attention to the crisis in Venezuela. I knew they were having a leadership problem. Today I leaned that both Russia and Cuba are backing the one leader and the US is backing another. Guess I better catch up. Their runaway inflation means that 50 Bolivar dollars is worth about 50cents in USD. By the end of May they won’t even be printing anything smaller than 100 Bolivars. The current demonstrations are becoming quite violent.

I saw in interesting story on the news. There is a drug that helps people, especially kids, with epilepsy. In 1992 a vial of the medicine cost $39. Another pharmaceutical company bought it and it now costs $39,000 for a vial. What a shameful thing.

PUZZLE OF THE DAY

Answer at the bottom of this page

An evil warden holds you as a prisoner but offers you a chance to escape. There are 3 doors A, B, and C. Two of the doors lead to freedom and the third door leads to lifetime imprisonment, but you do not which door is what type. You are allowed to point to a door and ask the warden a single yes-no question. If you point to a door that leads to freedom, the warden does answer your question truthfully. But if you point to the door that leads to imprisonment, the warden answers your question randomly, saying either “YES” or “NO” by chance. Can you figure out a way to escape the prison?

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1700’s

1704 Boston Newsletter publishes 1st newspaper advertisement

1753 Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature

1795 Kamehameha, King of Hawaiʻi defeats Kalanikupule and conquors island of Oʻahu at Battle of Nuʻuanu (approx. date)

1800’s

1867 Howard University chartered

1883 Amsterdam World's Fair opens

1884 Construction begins on Chicago's 1st skyscraper (10 stories)

1900’s

1908 World's most intense shower (2.47" in 3 minutes) at Portobelo, Panama

1927 1st British airliner to serve cooked meals (Imperial Airways)

1928 Lei Day begun (a Hawaiian celebration)

1931 Empire State Building opens in New York City

1937 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Neutrality Act, banning travel on belligerent ships and imposes an arms embargo on warring nations

1939 Pulitzer Prize awarded to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (Yearling)

1941 General Mills introduces CheeriOats (renamed Cheerios in 1945) an oat-based, ready-to-eat cold cereal

1943 Food rationing begins in the United States during World War II

1952 Mr Potato Head introduced

1959 West Germany introduces 5 day work week

1961 Pulitzer prize awarded to Harper Lee for her novel "To Kill a Mockingbird"

1963 1st American (James Whittaker) conquers Mount Everest

1980 Amer Book Award: William Styron (Sophie Choice)/T Wolfe (Right Stuff)

1986 Russian news agency Tass reports Chernobyl nuclear power plant mishap

1989 Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins: US Supreme Court rules employers have legal burden to prove non- discriminatory reasons for not hiring or promoting

1997 Tony Blair elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

2000’s

2003 In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" on board the USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of California

2007 Christopher Hitchens publishes his bestseller "God is not Great" making a case against organized religion

2010 Car bomb fails to go off in Times Square, New York City

2014 Hundreds march through Nigerian capital calling for the release of schoolgirls abducted by Islamic militants, Boko Haram, who oppose Western education

2018 Scotland is the first country in the world to introduce a minimum price on alcohol

Birthdays Today

0’s

1738 Kamehameha I,

 (d. 1819: @82±)

King of Hawaii (1782-1819),

born in Kohala, Hawaii

1831 Emily Stowe,

 (d. 1903: @71)

Canadian physician and suffragist

1837 Mother (Mary Harris) Jones,

(d. 1930: @93)

 US reformer and labor organizer

1852 Calamity Jane

[Martha Jane Canary],

 (d. 1903: @51: pneumonia)

American frontierswoman,

born in Princeton, Missouri

1913 Louis Nye,

(d. 2005: @92)

American comedian and actor

(Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Steve Allen Plymouth Show),

born in Hartford, Connecticut

1918 Jack Paar,

(d. 2004: @85),

American television host of the Jack Paar Show

born in Canton, Ohio

1929 Sonny James,

[James Loden],

(d. 2016: @87)

country music singer-songwriter (Young Love), born in Hackelburg, Alabama

1939 Max Robinson,

(d. 1988: @49: AIDS)

1st African American network TV anchor (ABC),

born in Richmond, Virginia

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80- Judy Collins,

singer (Send in the Clowns, Clouds),

born in Seattle, Washington

74- Rita Coolidge,

American Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter

(Higher & Higher, We're All Alone),

born in Nashville, Tennessee

65- Ray Parker Jr,

rock guitarist/vocalist (Ghostbusters),

born in Detroit, Michigan

52- Tim McGraw, American musician and actor, born in Delhi, Louisiana

50- Wes Anderson, American director and writer

Historical Obits Today

80’s

@84-2017 Stan Weston,

American toy licensing agent, had concept for G.I. Joe

@83-1963 Lope K. Santos,

Filipino writer and Father of the Philippine National Language and Grammar

@80-2015 Pete Brown,

American golfer (first African-American to win on PGA Tour, Waco 1964)

70’s

@74-2000 Stephen "Steve" Reeves,

American professional bodybuilder, actor, and philanthropist (Hercules, Goliath, Sandokan),

dies from a blood clot

60’s

@62-1998 Eldridge Cleaver,

American activist

@62-1904 Antonín Dvořák,

Czech composer (Slavic Dancing, New World Symphony),

dies from influenza

@60-1873 David Livingstone,

British physician/explorer (Africa),

dies of malaria

50’s

@53-1965 Spike Jones

 [Lindley Armstrong Jones],

American bandleader (Der Fueher's Face, Cocktails For Two),

dies from emphysema

40’s

@47-1945 Joseph Goebbels,

German Nazi Minister of Propaganda,

commits suicide with his wife (43) and arranges the death of their 6 children, Heidrun (4), Hedwig (6), Holdine (8), Helmut (9), Hildegard (11), and Helga (12)

Puzzle answer:

You can point towards door A and ask whether door B leads to freedom. If the warden says “YES”, then you open door B. It cannot lead to imprisonment because this would mean that door A leads to freedom and the warden must have told you the truth. If the warden says “NO”, then you open door C. This is because either the warden lied, and then the imprisonment door is A, or he told you the truth, and then the imprisonment door is B.

Apr 30

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Apr 30, 2019 Week: 18 \ Day: 120

86004:   H 66° \ L 45° \ Average Sky Cover: 80% 

Wind:   10mph\Gusts:  21mph Visibility: 10 mi

Nearest wildfire:  192mi. Nearest lightning:  55mi

Record High: °[]   Record Low: °[]

Mar Averages: 59°\28° (3 days with rain)

Today’s Quote

You can't wait for inspiration.

You have to go after it with a club.

Jack London

Random Tidbits

The origin of the doughnut is unknown, though different nationalities have had their own version of the treat throughout history. A type of doughnut is even mentioned in the Bible. Specifically, Chapter 7 and verse 12 of Leviticus says that a thanksgiving to God should be made of "cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried."

Observances This Week

National Scoop The Poop Week: 24-30
World Immunization Week: 24-30
National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW): 27-5/4  Link
Air Quality Awareness Week: 29-5/3  Link 
International Coaching Week: 29-5/5 Link
Screen-Free Week (Digital Detox Week) : 29-5/5 Link

Observances for Today

Adopt A Shelter Pet Day Link  Link
Animal Advocacy Day 
Beltane
Bugs Bunny Day
Díá De Los Niños / Díá De Los Libros Day
Day of Vesak 
Hairstyle Appreciation Day

Honesty Day

International Jazz Day Link   
National Animal Advocacy Day
National Bubble Tea Day  Link
National Honesty Day
National Military Brats Day  Link
National Prepareathon Day Link
National Raisin Day
National Oatmeal Cookie Day
Spank Out Day - USA
Walpurgis Night (Germany)

My Rambling Thoughts

Cloudy day and expecting rain. Yeah!

I did some quick shopping this morning. In and out.

60 Minutes had a great piece on the Immigration situation last night. It is certainly a humanitarian crisis. Congress needs to get busy so that this mess is not the new USA.

60 Minutes also did a piece on NATO. Russia is busy in the sea north of Norway. Then today, a whale was found in those waters with a harness attached. News is saying the harness could carry spy material or a weapon. Hmmm.

PUZZLE OF THE DAY

Answer at the bottom of this page

Two people play a game of NIM. There are 100 matches on a table, and the players take turns picking 1 to 5 sticks at a time. The person who takes the last stick wins the game. Who has a winning strategy?

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1400’s

1492 Christopher Columbus is given royal commission by Spanish monarchs Isabella I and Ferdinand II to equip his fleet to the New World

1700’s

1789 George Washington is inaugurated as the first President of the United States of America

1798 US Department of the Navy forms

1800’s

1803 Chancellor Robert Livingston and James Monroe sign Louisiana Purchase Treaty in Paris at a cost of 15 million dollars, doubles the size of the USA

1812 (Eastern) Louisiana admitted as 18th US state

1857 San Jose State University forms

1859 Charles Dickens' "A Tale Of Two Cities" is first published in literary periodical "All the Year Round" (weekly installments until Nov 26)

1860 Navajo attack Fort Defiance (Canby)

1861 US President Abraham Lincoln ordered Federal Troops to evacuate Indian Territory (US Civil War)

1864 New York becomes 1st state to charge a hunting license fee

1871 The Camp Grant Massacre of Apaches in Arizona Territory, perpetrated by white & Mexican adventurers; 144 die

1889 1st US national holiday, on centennial of Washington's inauguration

1897 English physicist J. J. Thomson announces his discovery of the electron in a lecture to the Royal Institution

1900’s

1900 Casey Jones dies heroically in a train wreck at Vaughn, Mississippi, while driving Cannonball Express (immortalized in"Ballad of Casey Jones")

1904 Ice cream cone makes its debut

1911 Portugal approves female suffrage

1916 Germany ratifies bill bringing in Daylight Saving Time - first country in the world

1937 The Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% would vote in the affirmative

1939 New York World's Fair opens

1945 Adolf Hitler commits suicide along with his new wife Eva Braun in the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin as the Red Army captures the city

1947 Boulder Dam renamed in honor of Herbert Hoover

1948 Org of American States charter signed at Bogota, Colombia

1961 Premier Fidel Castro of Cuba receives Lenin-Peace Prize

1967 Ostankino Tower, the then highest free-standing structure in the world at 540m is finished in Moscow, Russia

1973 US President Nixon announces the resignation of Haldeman, Ehrlichman and others

1989 World Wide Web (WWW) is first launched in the public domain by CERN scientist Tim Berners-Lee

1993 The World Wide Web source code is released by CERN, making the software freely available to all

1996 US President Clinton approves the sale of $227 million of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; US gas prices are at their highest levels in 5 years

2000’s

2004 U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison

2013 Willem-Alexander becomes the first male Monarch of Netherlands in 123 years, following the abdication of his mother, Queen Beatrix

2018 Etienne Terrus art museum in Elne, France, reveals half of its collection are fakes

Birthdays Today

1777 Carl Friedrich Gauss,

(d. 1855: @77)

German mathematician considered one of the greatest of all time (Gaussian distribution, fundamental theorem of algebra),

born in Brunswick, Germany

1877 Alice B. Toklas,

(d. 1995: @89)

American companion of Gertrude Stein (d. 1967)

1905 John Peters Humphrey, Canadian jurist and human rights advocate (Universal Declaration on Human Rights),

born in Hampton, New Brunswick

1908 Eve Arden

[Eunice Mary Quedens],

(d. 1990: @82)

American actress (Our Miss Brooks),

born in Mill Valley, California,

1923 Al Lewis

[Alexander Meister],

(d. 2006: @82)

American actor (The Munsters, Used Cars),

born in Brooklyn, New York

1925 Johnny Horton,

(d. 1960: @35: vehicle collision with truck)

country music and rockabilly singer (The Battle of New Orleans),

born in Los Angeles, California

1943 Bobby Vee

[Robert Thomas Velline],

(d. 2016: @73: Alzheimer’s )

American pop singer (Night has a Thousand Eyes),

born in Fargo, North Dakota

1944 Jill Clayburgh,

(d. 2010: @66: leukemia)

American actress (Unmarried Woman, Semi-Tough),

born in NYC, New York

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90’s

93- Cloris Leachman,

American actress (Last Picture Show, Phyllis),

born in Des Moines, Iowa

60’s

60- Stephen Harper,

22nd Prime Minister of Canada (2006-15),

born in Toronto, Ontario

50’s

58- Isiah Thomas,

Basketball player, Detroit Pisons

40’s

47-  Akon

[Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam],

American R&B Singer

30’s

37- Kirsten Dunst,

American actress (Interview with the Vampire, Spider-Man),

born in Point Pleasant, New Jersey

Historical Obits Today

100’s

101-1983 Joel H. Hildebrand,

American Chemist whose research led to new treatments for divers with the 'bends' through the use of helium and oxygen breathing mixtures

90’s

@90-2009 Venetia Burney [Phair],

British woman credited with naming Clyde Tombaugh's discovered planet "Pluto" (1930)

80’s

@85-2007 Tom Poston,

American actor (Newhart, Mork & Mindy, Steve Allen Show, Newhart)

@85-1943 Beatrice Potter Webb,

British sociologist, economist (founded London School of Economics) and writer (My Apprenticeship)

@84--1934 William H. Welch,

American pathologist who founded John Hopkins Hospital

70’s

@74-1994 Richard McClure Scarry,

US kid book illustrator/writer,

dies from heart attack

@73-1974 Agnes Moorehead,

American actress (Endora in Bewitched),

dies of uterine cancer

@70-1983 Muddy Waters

[McKinley Morganfield],

US blues singer/guitarist (Mad Love),

dies of heart failure

60’s

@60-1989 Sergio Leone,

Italian director who invented spaghetti westerns

(The Man with No Name trilogy),

dies of a heart attack

50’s

@51-1883 Édouard Manet,

French impressionist painter (Olympia, The Luncheon on the Grass)

dies of syphilis and rheumatism

30’s

@35-1970 Inger Stevens,

actress (Katy-Farmer's Daughter),

commits suicide

Puzzle answer:

The first person has a winning strategy. First, he takes 4 sticks. Then every time the second player takes X sticks, the first player takes 6 – X sticks.