Sep 15

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Sep. 15, 2019 Week: 38  Day: 258

86004:   H 81° \ L 52° \ Average Sky Cover: 35% 

Nearest wildfire:  19mi.  Nearest lightning:  136mi

Wind:   4mph\Gusts:  4mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 87°[2000]   Record Low: 26°[1903]

Sep Averages: 74°\42° (5 days with rain)

Today’s Quote

It is easy to sit up and take notice,

what is difficult is getting up and taking action.

Honore de Balzac

Random Tidbits

Today, bananas are so popular due to the entrepreneurial drive of the early banana barons who founded a company in the 1880s called United Fruit (which is now Chiquita.) When they introduced the banana, Americans generally didn't know what a banana was and had to be taught how to peel and determine if they were ripe.

There are more than 1,000 varieties of amazing and delicious bananas - most of them are in Africa and Asia. But in the United States, we only eat one called the Cavendish. The Cavendish is a blander banana compared to those in India where 600 banana varieties are grown.

The Cavendish, the banana we currently eat, is not the original breed that was introduced into the United States. That breed was called the Gros Michel, but was eradicated by a fungus. "Yes, We Have No Bananas," the famous song from the 1920s, may be related to that banana shortage.

Observances This Week

7-15

International Air Ambulance Week Link

9-15

Direct Support Professional Recognition Week Link
Line Dance Week

10-19

Palindrome Week 9-10-19…9-19-19

14-17

World Goat Days  Link 

15-21

Balance Awareness Week Link   
Build A Better Image Week 
Child Passenger Safety Week Link  
International Clean Hands Week
Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week Link
National Farm & Ranch Safety and Health Week
National Historically Black Colleges & Universities Week
National Indoor Plant Week 
National Rehabilitation Awareness Week 
National Security Officer Appreciation Week  
National Singles Week 
Pollution Prevention Week Link

Observances for Today

Felt Hat Day - men traditionally put away their felt hats.
Google.com Day
Greenpeace Day
International Day of Democracy
International Dot Day Link   
LGBT Center Awareness Day
Make a Hat Day

National 8-Track Tape Day Link  Link 
National Cheese Toast Day  Link
National Creme de Menthe Day

National Double Cheeseburger Day

National Linguini Day

National On-line Learning Day  Link
National Women's Friendship Day

Tackle Kids Cancer Day  Link
 Wife Appreciation Day
World Lymphoma Awareness Day  Link

My Rambling Thoughts

Another warm day. Found time this morning to complete my carpet shampooing downstairs. Having a warm day with the doors and windows open helps it dry. Happy camper. I’ll do the upstairs next week. Tomorrow is strip and wax the downstairs tile floors…entry, kitchen, bath. And laundry. Hoping for another warm day.

I got a set of covers for my love seat and sofa from an ad I saw on FB. Good price for sure. Stretch fabric that fits great. I ordered them in early August. The page said I would have them by Aug 20. I emailed them when they didn’t come. Their reply was ‘be patient, they are on their way’. I signed up for FedEx tracking. Last week I got a text that the package was in CA and FedEx was sending it via USPS. They finally arrived yesterday, via USPS, and FedEx sent me the text to tell me they had been delivered to ‘where you normally pick up your mail’. My only complaint was that they were very late, but everything else is great. I can’t figure out why FedEx didn’t deliver them, since their truck drives through our complex almost every day. A question that will never be answered.

Note to the 24 hour news channels: Please bring us some news. The last debate is over, we don’t need every news reader or commentator telling us what happened or to interview every political analyst telling us what happened. If we watched it we know, if we didn’t watch it we just want the highlights once or maybe twice.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

What are the next three letters in this combination?

OTTFFSS

This super hard question asks you to determine the relationship between the letters. They seem random: a vowel, two consonants from the tail of the alphabet, two from the front, then two more. What could they mean? What’s the pattern? In this case, think of common strings of words to get you closer. But it still seems almost impossible to hit on the solution.

Historical Events

1949 - The Lone Ranger premiered on ABC-TV, starring Clayton Moore.

1959 - Soviet Premier Khrushchev arrived in the U.S. for an unprecedented visit.

1962 - #1 Hit: The Four Seasons - Sherry

1963 - A church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, killed four young black girls. After decades of delay, Robert Chambliss, Herman Cash, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry were said to have been responsible for the crime.

1965 - The Big Valle and  Gidget debuts on ABC while

Lost in Space debuted on CBS. Green Acres premiered on CBS.

I Spy debuted on NBC

1971 - Columbo, starring Peter Falk, debuted on NBC.

1980 - Shogun, a TV miniseries, starring Richard Chamberlain, began airing on NBC.

1981 - Pope John Paul II published his encyclical "Laborem exercens" criticizing both Marxism and Capitalism.

1982 - The first issue of USA Today, published by Gannett, hit the newsstands and newspaper vending machines.

1989 - NASA published a comprehensive report on house plants that are best for cleaning indoor air pollution.

1990 - The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) renamed itself The Family Channel

2004 - The National Hockey League lockout began, cancelling the 2004-2005 season.

2012 Japan announces that it will phase out nuclear energy by the 2030s

2013 Japan switches off its last working nuclear reactor

2014 President Obama announces the US will send 3,000 troops to help combat spread of the Ebola virus

2015 EU Migrant Crisis: Hungary seals its border with Serbia with a razor-wire fence, stranding thousands of migrants

2018 Archaeologists find the oldest-known brewery and remains of 13,000-year-old beer in Haifa cave, Israel, belonging to nomadic Natufian people

2018 Swimmer killed by shark at Newcomb Hollow Beach, first fatal shark attack in Massachusetts in 80 years

Birthdays Today

Fay Wray, actor ‘scream queen’

(d. 2004 @96)

Jackie Cooper, actor

 (d. 2011 @88)

Julius ‘Nipsey’ Russell, comedian

(d. 2005 @87)

Agatha Christie, novelist

(d. 1976 @85)

Tommy Lee Jones, movie actor (73)

Oliver Stone, film director (73)

William Howard Taft (d. 1930 @72)

Marco Polo (d. 1324 @70±)

Prince Harry, 6^th in line in Britain (35)

Puzzle answer:

E N T (Each letter represents the first letter in the written numbers: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, etc.).