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Jul. 19, 2019
Week: 29 \ Day: 200
86004: H 85° \ L 57° \ Average Sky Cover: 10%
Nearest
wildfire: 81mi. Nearest lightning: 100+mi
Wind: 5mph\Gusts:
6mph
Visibility: 10 mi
Record High: 92°[1989] Record Low: 34°[1987]
Jul Averages:
82°\542° (8 day with rain)
Today’s Quote
Nothing great in the world has ever
been accomplished without passion.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Random Tidbits
The
terms poison and venom are often used interchangeably, but they have very
different meanings. It is the delivery method that distinguishes one from the
other.
Poison
is absorbed or ingested; a poisonous animal can only deliver toxic chemicals if
another animal touches or eats it.
Venom,
on the other hand, is always injected. Every venomous animal has a mechanism to
inject toxins directly into another animal. Stab with tails. Slash with spines.
Pierce with fangs or stings. Spike with spurs. Shoot with harpoons. Chew with
teeth.
For
example, frogs are usually poisonous while snakes are usually venomous.
Observances This Week
6-28
Tour de France
Tour de France
14-20
15-21
Rabbit Week
17-20
18-21
18-25
Restless Leg
Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week
19-21
19-21
Observances for Today
My Rambling Thoughts
The
Trans-Siberian Rail trip is now ready to leave Mongolia, with a new
understanding of their rich culture, beauty, and friendliness.
We
say goodbye to our Russian Train Staff. We were all strangers at the beginning
of this adventure. We leave with a better understanding of Russia and Mongolia.
We leave with thanks to our new friends who worked so very hard to make our
train ride so enjoyable. Victor and his wife always greeted us with a big smile
as we re-boarded the train at every stop. The chef and his staff provided us
with great meals on board. Everything on the train was always clean. The staff
was always friendly, even with the language barriers. Thankfully our guide crew
remains with us.
In
Beijing, we stated at a magnificent hotel. The rooms were huge, after our time
on the train, anyway. Suzie Q was our guide throughout Beijing. She was a great
tour guide, full of information, understanding of our needs, and someone who obviously
loved her career. The tour company found us great sites and great places to
eat. And it all ended two days later with a magnificent show, including throat
singers, dancers, musicians, and other singers. Our hotel had an Austen-Martin
dealership right in the hotel. Lunches and dinners had unlimited Chinese food
and beer.
We
traveled to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City on a Saturday. Everywhere
we went were thousands of locals and tourists enjoying their Saturday. Standing
in Tiananmen Square, with thousands of others, was awe-inspiring. I remember
the protests there, the tanks, and the students. None of that was ever
mentioned. But we all knew that it had happened, on that very ground. The
summer palace was another beautiful site. We worked our way out of the city to
get to one of many sites to see a portion of the Great Wall. Thankfully they
have installed a cable-car to take us up the mountain to the wall. After a little
climb to one of the towers, I could see miles of the wall. Locals and tourists
were snapping pictures all the way. Standing up there, looking over the wall
and the forest below, one must wonder what it would have been like to be in full
battle gear on the wall, preparing to defend the country you love from the hordes
of insurgents.
All
in all, the Trans-Siberian Rail adventure was an amazing travel experience.
Words will never express the gratitude I have for this adventure. Ellie, Focus
Travel, Joe Green and his staff at Tumlare worked tireless hours to make this
trip possible. Thank you so much for allowing each of us to enjoy the journey.
Today’s Puzzle
Answer at the bottom of this page
One programmer draws on a sheet of paper
several circles in a line, representing coins, and puts his thumb on the first
circle, covering the rest with his hand. Then he asks another programmer to
guess how many different head-tail combinations are possible if someone flips
all the (imaginary) coins on the paper. The second programmer, without knowing
the number of circles, takes the pen and writes down a number. Then the first
programmer lifts his hand and sees that the correct answer is written on the
paper. How did the second programmer manage to do this?
Today’s Highlighted Historical Events
60’s
64 Circus Maximus in Rome catches fire
1500’s
1595 Astronomer Johannes Kepler has an
epiphany and develops his theory of the geometrical basis of the universe while
teaching in Graz
1600’s
1692 5 more people are hanged for witchcraft
(20 in all) in Salem, Massachusetts
1700’s
1760 The formal request to found the later
city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico is filed by its founders
1800’s
1845 Fire in NYC destroys 1,000 homes and
kills many
1848 1st US women's rights convention held in
Seneca Falls NY, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott
1880 San Francisco Public Library starts
lending books
1900’s
1912 A meteorite of estimated 190kg mass
explodes over Holbrook in Navajo County, Arizona, causing approximately 16,000
pieces of debris to rain down on the town
1930 Richard E. Byrd, Laurence McKinley Gould,
and their polar expedition team return to the United States following the first
exploration of the interior of Antarctica
1941 1st US Army flying school for black
cadets dedicated (Tuskegee, Alabama)
1969 Apollo 11 goes into Moon orbit
1984 Geraldine A Ferraro, (Rep-D-NY), wins
Democratic VP nomination
1985 Christa McAuliffe chosen as 1st school
teacher to fly aboard the space shuttle
1993 President Clinton fires FBI director
William Sessions
2000’s
2001 Michael Brunet discovers the skull of
Sahelanthropus tchadensis in the Djurab Desert, Chad. One of the oldest known
species in the human family tree, 6-7 million years ago years old
2015 World Health Organization puts world's
Ebola death toll at 11,284
2018 First commercial flight, the "bird
of peace" between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 20 years lands in Asmara,
Eritrea, reuniting families
2018 Largest intact sarcophagus of its kind
ever found (2000 years old) opened in Alexandria, contains 3 skeletons, not a
curse as feared
Highlighted Birthdays Today
1814 Samuel Colt,
American inventor and industrialist (Colt 6
shot revolver), born in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 1862: @47: gout)
1860 Lizzie Borden,
American woman acquitted of the murder of her
parents (gave her mother forty whacks), born in Fall River, Massachusetts (d.
1927:66: pneumonia)
1922 George McGovern,
American politician and Presidential candidate
(D-1972), born in Avon, South Dakota (d. 2012: @90)
1883 Max Fleischer,
Polish-American animator and film producer
(Betty Boop, Popeye the Sailor Man), born in Kraków, Austrian Poland (d. 1972:
@89)
70’s
78- Vikki Carr
[Florencia Vicenta de Casillas Martinez
Cardona],
American singer (Let it Be Him), born in El
Paso, Texas
75- Commander Cody
[George Frayne],
American singer and pianist (Commander Cody
& Lost Planet Airmen), born in Boise, Idaho
72-Brian May,
guitarist, song writer (Queen)
40’s
43-Benedict Cumberbatch,
movie actor
Highlighted Historical Obits Today
90’s
@93-2016 Betsy Bloomingdale,
American socialite and fashion leader
80’s
@86-2014 James Garner,
American actor (Rockford Files, Bret Maverick)
@85-2006 Jack Warden
[John Lebzelter Jr],
American character actor (Shampoo, Heaven Can
Wait, Brian's Song)
@81-2016 Garry Marshall,
American TV and film director (Happy Days,
Pretty Woman)
50’s
@59-1974 Joseph "Joe" Flynn,
American character actor (McHale's Navy,
Batman), dies of a heart attack while swimming
20’s
@28-1969 Mary Jo Kopechne,
American political campaign specialist and Ted
Kennedy's car passenger, drowns
Puzzle answer:
The second programmer wrote down “1” in front
of the first circle. When the second programmer lifted his hand, he saw the
number “10…00”, which is exactly the number of possible head-tail combinations
in binary system.
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