May 14

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May 14, 2019 Week: 20 \ Day: 134

86004:   H 73° \ L 37° \ Average Sky Cover: 30% 

Nearest wildfire:  79mi. Nearest lightning:  470mi

Wind:   11mph\Gusts:  17mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 82°[1984]   Record Low: 18°[1953]

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

Today’s Quote

The sun, the earth, love, friends, our very breath

are parts of the banquet.

Rebecca Harding Davis

Observances This Week

Ramadan 5/5-6/4

Universal Family Week: 10-16 
Food Allergy Awareness Week: 12-18 Link
National Body Piercing Week: 12-17  Link 
National Hospital Week: 12-18 Link
National Nursing Home Week: 12-18     
National Police Week:  12-18
National Return To Work Week:  12-18
National Transportation Week: 12-18 
National Women's Health Week: 12-18 Link
Reading is Fun Week:  12-18 Link 
Salute to Moms 35+ Week: 12-18 
Salvation Army Week: 12-18 
Work At Home Moms Week: 12-18

American Craft Beer Week: 13-19 Link
National Bike to Work Week: 13-19 Link  
National Etiquette Week: 13-17  
National Public Gardens Week: 13-19  Link
National Stuttering Awareness Week: 13-19 
PGA Championship: 13-19

Observances for Today

Free Cone Day (Haagen-Dazs) Link
National Brioche Day

National Buttermilk Biscuit Day

National Chicken Dance Day Link
National Decency Day Link
The Stars and Stripes Forever Day
Underground America Day

My Rambling Thoughts

I hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day.

Another great spring day. Out and about and even found time for a nice walk.

Fighting with one bureaucracy is fine with me. Fighting two at the same time is not my cup of tea. On Saturday I refilled a script at Walgreens. It was twice the price of the same script last month. When I asked what was up, they said I had to check with my insurance. Federal BC is only open M-F so I called this morning. They informed me incorrectly that I paid the same price last month. Then the battle began. BC said that’s what they told Walgreens to charge. Then they said I could do mail order with 3 months for ½ the price I paid for one month at Walgreens. I called Walgreens and they said it wasn’t them. I called the mail-order people at BC and they said I could have my physician and they would email me to say they got the script, and again when the shipment was sent. Even though I had the first idiot at BC repeat my email, somehow it got put in wrong. I may or may not get the email, but had two people, including the supervisor repeat the email address. Only time will tell and there is no way I can get my money back on the script I picked up.

I never enjoyed my Econ classes in my undergrad days. I did learn a bit about tariffs though. When Country A places a tariff on goods from Country B, the people of Country A pay that tariff.  The wholesaler in Country A pays the tariff to get the product into their country. That cost is then passed it on to the retailer. The retailer passes the tariff on to the consumers. The government of Country A has nothing to do with paying. Today’s stock market doesn’t like the tariffs either.

PUZZLE OF THE DAY

Answer at the bottom of this page

I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1600’s

1607 English colonists establish the 1st permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown. Unknown to them they have landed amidst the worst drought in 800 years.

1700’s

1787 Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up US constitution

1800’s

1804 Meriwether Lewis & William Clark's expedition commissioned by Thomas Jefferson sets out from St Louis for Pacific Coast

1853 Gail Borden, land surveyor, newspaper publisher and inventor, patents his process for condensed milk

1894 Fire in Boston bleachers spreads to 170 adjoining buildings

1900’s

1932 "We Want Beer!" parade in NY

1948 Golda Meir [Goldie Meyerson] is one of the signatories of Israel’s independence declaration

1955 Warsaw Pact is signed by the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland & Romania

1969 Last Chevrolet Corvair built

1970 Cops kill 2 students in racial disturbance (Jackson State U, Miss)

1973 Skylab launched, 1st Space Station

1974 Symbionese Liberation Army destroyed in shoot-out, 6 killed

1980 Department of Health & Human Services begins operation

1986 Netherlands Institute for War Documentation publishes Anne Frank's complete diary

1991 Winnie Mandela sentenced to 6 years for complicity in kidnapping & beating of four youths, one of whom died, She is freed pending appeal

2000’s

2012 Stanford University scientists develop prototype bionic eye

2018 Chinese mountain climber and double amputee Xia Boyu reaches the summit of Mt Everest

Birthdays Today

0’s

1727 Thomas Gainsborough,

(d. 1788: @61: cancer)

English painter (Blue Boy), baptized

1936 Bobby Darin

[Walden Robert Cassotto],

(d. 1973: @37: following heart surgery)

American singer (Mack the Knife),

born in The Bronx, New York

70’s

75- George Lucas,

American director (Star Wars, Indiana Jones),

born in Modesto, California

60’s

69- Jill Stein,

American physician, activist and

Green Party nominee for President (2016),

born in Chicago, Illinois

50’s

50- Cate Blanchett,

Australian actress

(The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Lord of the Rings),

born in Melbourne, Victoria

30’s

35- Mark Zuckerberg,

American internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Facebook,

 born in White Plains, New York

20’s

29- Rob Gronkowski,

football player, (NE Patriots)

26 Miranda Cosgrove,

American actress and singer

Historical Obits Today

100’s

@108- 1998 Marjory Stoneman Douglas,

American conservationist

80’s

@89-2015 [Riley B.] B.B. King,

American blues guitarist and singer (The Thrill is Gone)

@88-2018 Tom Wolfe,

American journalist and author (The Right Stuff)

@85-1970 Billie Burke,

[Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke]

American actress (Glinda-The Wizard of Oz)

@84-2003 Robert Stack,

American actor

 (The Untouchables, Unsolved Mysteries, Written on the Wind)

@82-1998 Frank Sinatra,

American singer ("My Way") and actor ("Guys and Dolls")

70’s

@77-1991 Jiang Qing,

widow of Chinese leader Mao Zedong,

commits suicide in prison hospital

@74-1919 Henry John Heinz,

German-American entrepreneur who founded prepared-foods company (H.J. Heinz Company-57 varieties),

dies from pneumonia

@73-1982 Hugh Beaumont,

American actor (The Mole People, Leave it to Beaver),

dies from a heart attack

60’s

@68-1987 Rita Hayworth

[Margarita Cansino],

American actress (Gilda, Cover Girl, The Lady from Shanghai),

dies of Alzheimer's disease

@62-1997 Harry Blackstone Jr,

magician,

dies of cancer

40’s

@43-1992 Lyle Alzado,

NFL defensive linesman (LA Raiders) and

actor (Oceans of Fire, Hangfire),

dies of cancer

Puzzle answer:

An echo