May 18

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

May 18, 2019 Week: 20 \ Day: 139

86004:   H 55° \ L ° \ Average Sky Cover: 15% 

Nearest wildfire:  492mi. Nearest lightning:  468mi

Wind:   9mph\Gusts:  12mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 82°[1970]   Record Low: 21°[1977]

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

Today’s Quote

Remember upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all. Alexander the Great:

Random Tidbits

A male and female wolf that mate usually stay together for life. They are devoted parents and maintain sophisticated family ties.

A wolf pack may contain just two or three animals, or it may be 10 times as large.

Though many females in a pack are able to have pups, only a few will actually mate and bear pups. Often, only the alpha female and male will mate, which serves to produce the strongest cubs and helps limit the number of cubs the pack must care for.

Observances This Week

Ramadan 5/5-6/4

Food Allergy Awareness Week: 12-18 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 Public Gardens Week: 13-19  Link
National Stuttering Awareness Week: 13-19 
PGA Championship: 13-19

Cannes Film Festival: 15-26

National Foul Ball Week: 16-21

National Safe Boating Week: 18-24

Observances for Today

Armed Forces Day 

Buy A Musical Instrument Day Link  (Honor of The Music Man Creator)
Day of Vesak Link  Vesak varies per Buddhist country
Do Dah Day  Link 
HIV Vaccine Awareness Day Link
I Love Reeses Day Link  Link
Morel Mushroom Day: thru 19 
Mother Whistler Day
National Cheese Souffle Day

National Learn To Swim Day  Link
National Museum Day Link
No Dirty Dishes Day

Preakness  
Visit Your Relatives Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Yesterday our retirement group had a long lunch. Good food and good conversation.

Went out early this morning for grocery shopping. Quick and easy. Gas here is $3.02 at Sam’s, the cheapest place in town. Weatherman sez that a storm is brewing, I only hope it is rain and not snow.

This morning I updated the Focus Travel site. I now has the full itinerary for Fall Foliage in NE and the Corsica-Sardinian adventure. And a quick reminder: one female is needed for the Sept, 2019 Wales Adventure and a female needed for the Tahiti-French Polynesia adventure in Mar 2020.  

I am much more up on politics since my retirement. I have no idea how working people can keep up with the number of Dems in the race. With 24 people announced, they are filling my email with requests for money. I’ll wait until the field narrows to one before they get my money. I’m sure I am not alone.

PUZZLE OF THE DAY

Answer at the bottom of this page

What makes this number unique: 8,549,176,320?

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1600’s

1642 Montreal, Canada, founded

1800’s

1843 United Free Church of Scotland forms

1852 Massachusetts rules all school-age children must attend school

1896 US Supreme court affirms legitimacy of racial separation (Plessy v Ferguson)

1897 "Dracula" by Irish author Bram Stoker is published by Archibald Constable and Company in London

1897 Herbert Henry Dow founds Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan

1900’s

1917 US Congress passes Selective Service Act, authorizing the federal government to raise a national army for the American entry into World War I through compulsory enlistment

1933 Tennessee Valley Act (TVA) Act signed by FDR, to build dams

1934 Academy Award 1st called Oscar in print by Sidney Skolsky

1953 1st woman to break sound barrier (Jacqueline Cochran, USA)

1964 US Supreme Court rules it unconstitutional to deprive naturalized citizens of citizenship if they return to home country for more than 3 years

1967 The Butler Act, a Tennessee statue prohibiting the teaching of evolution, is repealed after 42 years

1974 India becomes the sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb

1977 US, USSR and other nations sign the Environmental Modification Convention which prohibits weather warfare having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects

1980 Mount St Helens erupts in Washington state, causing the largest landslide in history, killing 57 people and costing $1 billion in damage

1992 US Supreme Court rules states could not force mentally unstable criminal defendants to take anti-psychotic drugs

2000’s

2018 All of Chile's 34 Roman Catholic bishops offer their resignation to Pope Francis in wake of child sex scandal

Birthdays Today

1048 Omar Khayyám,

 (d. 1131: @83)

Persian mathematician, poet and philosopher

1868 Nicholas II,

(d. 1918: @50: assassinated)

last Tsar of Russia (1894-1917),

born in Saint Petersburg, Russia

1872 Bertrand Russell,

(d. 1970: @97)

English mathematician and philosopher (Nobel 1950),

born in Trellech, England

1897 Frank Capra,

(d. 1991: @94)

Italian-American film director

(Its a Wonderful Life, It Happened One Night),

 born in Bisacquino, Italy

1902 [Robert] Meredith Willson,

(d. 1984: @82)

American composer (Music Man),

born in Mason City, Iowa

1904 Jacob K Javits,

(d. 1986: @81)

American politician (Sen-R-NY),

born in NYC, New York

1912 Perry Como, [Pierino],

(d. 2001: @88)

Canonsburg Pa, singer/TV (Perry Como Show)

1920 Pope Saint John Paul II

[Karol Wojtyla],

(d. 2005: @84)

264th Roman Catholic Pope (1978-2005),

born in Wadowice, Poland

1928 Pernell Roberts,

(d. 2010: @81)

American actor (Adam-Bonanza, Trapper John MD), born in Waycross, Georgia

1939 Gary S. Paxton

[Larry Wayne Stevens],

(d. 2016: @77: liver disease)

American musician and songwriter (Monster Mash, Alley Oop), born in Coffeyville, Kansas

80’s

88- Robert Morse,

American singer and actor

(Mad Men, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying),

born in Newton, Massachusetts

60’s

67- George Strait,

country singer (All My Exes Live in Texas)

Born in Pearsall Tx,

64- Yun Fat Chow,

Hong Kong actor (Better Tomorrow),

born in Lamma Island, Hong Kong

40’s

49- Tina Fey,

American actress and comedian (Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock),

born in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania

Historical Obits Today

0’s

90’s

@92-1973 Jeannette Rankin,

American politician, 1st woman elected to US Congress (R-Montana), women's rights advocate and pacifist

80’s

@87-2013 Steve Forrest,

American actor (SWAT)

@83-2014 Jerry Vale

[Genaro Louis Vitaliano],

American singer

70’s

@77-2017 Roger Ailes,

American TV executive and CEO of Fox News (1996-2016),

dies after a fall

60’s

@62-1995 Elizabeth Montgomery,

American actress (Bewitched),

dies of cancer

50’s

@54-1990 Jill Ireland,

English actress (Carry on Nurse, Family),

dies of cancer

@50-1911 Gustav Mahler,

Austrian composer and conductor (Children's Death Songs),

dies of heart disease

Puzzle answer:

It has each number, zero through nine, listed in alphabetical order.