May 6

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May 6, 2019 Week: 19 \ Day: 126

86004:   H 72° \ L 35° \ Average Sky Cover: 5% 

Nearest wildfire:  79mi. Nearest lightning:  244mi

Wind:   12mph\Gusts:  17mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 82°[1947]   Record Low: 14°[1975]

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

Today’s Quote

You can close your eyes to reality but not to memories.

-- Lee

Random Tidbits

In addition to their physical beauty, butterflies act as one of nature's couriers. In the case of Monarch butterflies, which pollinate milkweed, they may transfer a pollen sac to the next plant on their legs or other body parts.

Millions of Monarch butterflies, which reside in the Northeast in the summer, make a 2,000-mile migration down to Mexico for the winter months. After congregating there, they'll mate and new generations will make the return trip back north in the warmer months.

More Observances This Month

International Audit Month Link
International Business Image Improvement Month
International Civility Awareness Month
International Mediterranean Diet Month
International Victorious Woman Month
Jewish-American Heritage Month
Latino Books Month
Lupus Awareness Month Link
Maytag Month Link
Melanoma/Skin Cancer Detection & Prevention Month
Mental Health Month
Military Appreciation Month Link
Motorcycle Safety Month
Mystery Month

Observances This Week

Ramadan 5/5-6/4

Children's Book Week: 6-11 
National Pet Week: 6-12 Link  
National Nurses Day and Week: 6-12 Link  Link
National Safety Stand Down Week (Construction Falls): 6-10 Link 
National Wildflower Week: 6-11

PTA Teacher Appreciation Week: 6-10

Observances for Today

Beverage Day

International Management Accounting Day
Joseph Brackett Day
Melanoma Monday 
National Tourist Appreciation Day

No Diet Day

No Homework Day
Nurses Day or National RN Recognition Day Link   Link Link
Russel Stover Candies Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Reading the Sunday paper on my deck is very relaxing. I really enjoy this time of year.

The Kentucky Derby was interesting. I didn’t watch all the pomp and stuff, but I did see the race, over and over and over. I don’t understand all the nuisance of the call, but I’m sure there were some very excited bettors around the country with the 65:1 odds.

I have never been a big fan of Chelsea Handler. Her comedy is a little too in-your-face and she is loud. However, she has been doing a book tour and explaining her new philosophy about life. Now she finally makes sense. Now to find my trigger for my distaste of 45.

PUZZLE OF THE DAY

Answer at the bottom of this page

You are in a room that has three switches and a closed door. The switches control three light bulbs on the other side of the door. Once you open the door, you may never touch the switches again. How can you definitively tell which switch is connected to each of the light bulbs?

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1500’s

1527 Spanish & German Imperial troops sack Rome; ending Renaissance

1600’s

1626 Dutch colonist Peter Minuit organizes the purchase of Manhattan Island from Native Americans for 60 guilders worth of goods, believed to have been Canarsee Indians of the Lenape

1800’s

1837 John Deere creates the first steel plough

1851 Linus Yale patents Yale lock

1861 Arkansas & Tennessee becomes 9th & 10th states to secede from US

1889 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) in Paris opens with the recently completed Eiffel Tower serving as the entrance arch

1900’s

1937 German airship Hindenburg explodes in flames at Lakehurst, NJ (36 die)

1940 Pulitzer prize awarded to John Steinbeck for "The Grapes of Wrath"

1941 Joseph Stalin becomes Premier of the Soviet Union

1945 World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (first was on December 11, 1941).

1954 Roger Bannister of the UK becomes the 1st person to run a 4 minute mile, recording 3:59:4 at Iffley Road, Oxford

1957 Pulitzer prize awarded to John F. Kennedy (Profiles in Courage)

1963 Pulitzer prize awarded to Barbara Tuchman (Guns of August)

1994 US House of Representatives passes the Federal Assault Weapons Ban

1994 Nelson Mandela and the ANC finally confirmed winners in South Africa's first post-apartheid election

2000’s

2001 During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque

2002 Entrepreneur Elon Musk founds SpaceX

2013 Wal-Mart becomes the largest company by revenue on the Fortune 500 list

2014 Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, releases a 57 minute video boasting about abducting schoolgirls in Nigeria

2017 84 abducted schoolgirls released in exchange for Boko Haram suspects in Nigeria

Birthdays Today

0’s

1758 Maximilien Robespierre,

(d. 1794: @36: executed)

French revolutionary (President of the National Convention, Member of Committee of Public Safety),

born in Arras, France

1856 Sigmund Freud,

(d. 1939: @83)

Austrian neurologist and father of psychology,

born in Freiberg, Austrian Empire

1870 Amadeo Giannini,

d. 1949: @79)

American banker and entrepreneur (founded Bank of America),

born in San Jose, California (

1895 Rudolph Valentino,

(d. 1926: @31: peritonitis)

Italian sheik and actor (Eagle), born in Castellaneta, Italy

1915 Orson Welles [George],

(d. 1985: @70: heart attack)

American actor (Citizen Kane, War of the Worlds),

born in Kenosha, Wisconsin

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88-Willie Mayes,

Hall of Fame outfielder

74- Bob Seger,  

rock & Roll artist (Silver Bullet Band-Shake Down)

born in Dearborn Mich

66- Tony Blair,

British Prime Minister (Labour: 1997-2007),

born in Edinburgh, Scotland

64- Tom Bergeron,

American game show host

59- Roma Downey,

 actress (1 Life to Live, Touched by an Angel)

Born in Derry Ireland

58- George Clooney,

 American actor (ER, Batman, The Descendants),

born in Lexington, Kentucky

Historical Obits Today

90’s

@90-1992 Marlene Dietrich,

German American actress and singer

(The Blue Angel, Shanghai Express), dies in Paris

80’s

@89-1990 Charles Farrell,

American actor (7th Heaven, My Little Margie)

@83-2012 George Lindsey,

American actor(Goober on Andy Griffith Show)

@81-1952 Maria Montessori,

Italian physician/educationist

70’s

@73-1987 William J. Casey,

American head of the CIA during the Iran-contra scandal (1981-87),

dies of aspiration pneumonia

60’s

@65-1989 Guy Williams

[Armando Joseph Catalano],

American actor (Zorro, Lost in Space),

dies of a brain aneurysm

@62-1919 Lyman Frank Baum,

American author (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz),

dies from stroke

40’s

@44-1862 Henry David Thoreau,

US writer/pacifist (Walden Pond),

dies from TB

Puzzle answer:

Turn on the first two switches. Leave them on for five minutes. Once five minutes has passed, turn off the second switch, leaving one switch on. Now go through the door. The light that is still on is connected to the first switch. Whichever of the other two is warm to the touch is connected to the second switch. The bulb that is cold is connected to the switch that was never turned on.