Jul 21

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Jul. 21, 2019 Week: 30 \ Day: 202

86004:   H 84° \ L 54° \ Average Sky Cover: 10% 

Nearest wildfire:  11mi. Nearest lightning:  173mi

Wind:   15mph\Gusts:  37mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 92°[1937]   Record Low: 38°[1924]

Jul Averages: 82°\542° (8 day with rain)

Today’s Quote

Real knowledge is

to know the extent of one's ignorance.

Confucius

Random Tidbits

There are two suborders of whales to which all species of whales belong: toothed whales and baleen whales. Toothed whales include sperm, killer, and beluga whales, and they prey on large fish in deep waters as their main source of food. Baleen whales include blue and humpback whales, and they are filter feeders that feed on small organisms such as krill and plankton by straining large amounts of sea water through a comb-like structure in their mouth called a baleen.

While ancient fishermen used the meat of whales for food, in the modern era whales were primarily hunted for oil and whalebone, a term used for the baleen. Whalebone was used to make corsets, umbrella ribs, handles, and brushes, while the oil was used for cooking, candle wax and, much later, making margarine.

Observances This Week

6-28
Tour de France

15-21

Rabbit Week

18-21

Comic Con International
Hemingway Look-Alike Days   Link 
World Lumberjack Championships

18-25

Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week

19-21

National Parenting Gifted Children Week Link

20-24

National Scrabble Week Link 

20-28

National Moth Week Link

21-27

Captive Nations Week
International Lace Week  Link

National Independent Retailers Week Link  
National Zoo Keeper Week Link

RAGBRAI

Observances for Today

Celebration of The Horse Day: 19-21 
Robin Hood Day: 19-21  Link

Anne Hutchinson Memorial Day

Fast of Tammuz
Lake Superior Day  
Legal Drinking Age Day
Lowest Recorded Temperature Day (-128.6F Antarctica) 
National Be Someone Day Link
National Creme Brûlée Day

National Ice Cream Day

National Junk Food Day

No Pet Store Puppies Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Readings for my discussion group are impressive, but very lengthy. I’ll be able to update the Focus website tomorrow…for sure.

I have always enjoyed socializing with people with many different beliefs, different cultures, and backgrounds. I have never understood how some people want to get rid of any people who are the tiniest bit different themselves.  The readings I’m doing on Nuclear Policy, have me even more confused. It appears to many that the only way to prevent war with others is to have a bigger bomb than anyone else. The belief seems to be that we are born with enemies who are out to destroy us, and our job is to be able to destroy them before they destroy us. I find this very disturbing. I refuse to believe that were born with enemies. Just look at a group of kids playing together. I understand that there is always the kid who likes to fight, but that kid is always in the minority. When no one intervenes, that kid will gravitate to a group that also likes to fight, just like most kids gravitate to kids who don’t fight. Only time will tell if nuclear weapons will save our planet, or destroy it.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

I have two coins, one is marked George I and one is marked George IV. One is genuine but one is a forgery. Which is the forgery?

Today’s Highlighted Historical Events

1700’s

1798 Napoleon Bonaparte wins Battle of Pyramids in Egypt (Battle of Embabeh) against Mamluk rulers, wiping out most of the Egyptian army

1800’s

1846 Mormons found 1st English settlement in California (San Joaquin Valley)

1853 Central Park in New York created when New York State Legislature puts aside more than 750 acres of land on Manhattan Island

1900’s

1920 Irish Nationalist and Loyalists engage in street fighting over the issue of Irish independence from Britain, though Loyalist are reinforced by 1500 British Auxiliaries and 5800 British troops

1925 John T. Scopes found guilty of teaching evolution in the “Scopes monkey trial”, Dayton, Tennessee, fined $100 & costs

1930 US Veterans Administration forms

1949 US Senate ratifies North Atlantic Treaty by a vote of 82-13 (NATO)

1951 Dalai Lama returns to Tibet

1954 At Geneva, France agrees to independence of North & South Vietnam

1960 Sirimavo Bandaranaike becomes the world's 1st female head of state elected in modern times, as Prime Minister of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)

1969 Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to step on the Moon at 2:56:15 AM (GMT)

1983 World's lowest-ever natural temperature recorded −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F; 184.0 K) at Soviet Vostok Station, Antarctica

2000’s

2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the series by J. K. Rowling is published worldwide. 11 million copies sell in 24 hrs

2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer resigns after opposing appointment of Anthony Scaramucci

Highlighted Birthdays Today

0’s

1899 Ernest Hemingway,

American author (The Old Man and the Sea, Nobel 1954), born in Oak Park, Illinois (d. 1961: @61: suicide)

1920 Isaac Stern,

American-Ukrainian violinist (debut San Francisco Symphony), born in Kremenets, Ukraine, Soviet Union (d. 2001: @81)

1924 Don Knotts,

American actor (Andy Griffith Show, 3's Company), born in Morgantown, West Virginia (d. 2006: @81)

1938 Janet Reno,

first woman US Attorney General (1993-2001), born in Miami, Florida (d. 2016: @78: Parkinson’s)

1951 Robin Williams,

American actor and comedian (Mork & Mindy, Jumanji, Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2014: @63: suicide)

70’s

73- Ken Starr,

American lawyer who Investigated Bill Clinton (Starr Report), born in Vernon, Texas

71- Cat Stevens

[Steven Demetre Georgiou; Yusaf Islam],

 rock vocalist (Peace Train), born in London, England

71- Garry Trudeau,

political cartoonist (Doonesbury)

40’s

41- Josh Hartnett,

American actor and movie producer, born in St. Paul, Minnesota

Highlighted Historical Obits Today

90’s

@91-1998 Robert Young,

American actor (Father Knows Best, Marcus Welby, M.D.)

70’s

@75-1967 Basil Rathbone,

British actor (Sherlock Holmes), dies of heart attack

@74-1998 Alan Shepard,

American astronaut and 1st American in space, dies of leukemia

60’s

@69-1982 Dave Garroway,

TV host (Today Show), suicide

30’s

@37-1796 Robert Burns,

Scottish poet (Auld Lang Syne), dies of rheumatic heart condition

Puzzle answer:

George I. A coin would not be marked George I because at the time it was produced it would not have been known that there was going to be a George II.