Nov 24

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Nov. 24, 2019 Week: 48  Day: 328

86004:   H 48° \ L 17° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Nearest active fire:  1406mi.  Nearest lightning:  219mi

Wind:   10mph\Gusts:  18mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 68°[1970]   Record Low: -7°[1902]

Nov. Averages: 53°\23° (3 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

“People will always have their opinions.

Only you know who you really are.

Focus on living authentically and honestly,

have integrity in all that you do,

and those opinions won’t matter.”

~ Prince

Random Tidbits

Russia has a homicide rate of 9.7 deaths per 100,000 people, which is higher than the United States rate of 4.7 deaths per 100,000 people.

About 25,000 Russian women per year participate in Mail Order Bride programs in hope of bettering their situation by marrying a wealthy foreigner. In 2014, American men spent about US$45 million on the programs alone, and an average of 10,000 mail order bride marriages occur in the United States each year.

Observances This Week

19-26

National Farm-City Week

21-28

International Games Week
Church/State Separation Week
GERD Awareness Week Link
National Bible Week
National Family Week
National Game & Puzzle Week
World Karaoke Championships Link

23-28

Better Conversation Week

Observances for Today

All Our Uncles are Monkeys Day

Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day
D.B. Cooper Day Link

Evolution Day

National Sardines Day

My Rambling Thoughts

A nice Saturday, but the wind makes it a tad chilly for my taste. Changed linens and washed them. Did a little more cleaning out in my back room. Some of the stuff found has been there since soon after I moved in. I thought I might need it ‘someday’. Well, ‘someday’ hasn’t come, so. it’s more for the donation bin. Then my body decided it was time for another angio-edema episode. Took my pill so my lip won’t swell up too much. It’s not dangerous, it’s not painful, it’s not permanent, but is sure is a big pain in the butt.

I read a positive article about the border situation. Along the border some locals have set up solar searchlights, with wi-fi microphones, and wi-fi speakers. Relatives on either side can contact each other by using the a code with the searchlight, then talk to each other with the wi-fi equipment.  The searchlight works like the bat-signal with individual codes for various families. Very ingenious.

Since my last adventure, I’ve been trying to analyze why I am so unhappy with Trump. I’ve concluded that my career taught me the importance of empathy when dealing with others. I try very hard to ‘walk a mile in the other person’s shoes’ when communicating with them. In the case of Trump, this soon became impossible. All my communication is simply from news stories on the radio or on TV, or on the internet machine. I was not raised to have ‘money’ or ‘wealth’ or ‘power’ as top goals in my life. Yes, I want to live comfortably, live a life that makes me feel like I am accomplishing good things, and that others have as much right to their beliefs as I have to have mine as long as their beliefs do not harm others because of their beliefs. What I see and hear of Trump is that he has very little empathy, if any, for his fellow man. He has lived his life that way for decades. He won’t or can’t change his way of life. If I mess up, I apologize; he doesn’t. I try very hard to tell the truth, even though I try to sugar-coat the harshest truths. He seems to simply create his own truth and say it, with no concern for those hurt by his truth. I am now looking forward to the 2020 elections where I can again make my decision as to what my life and my country really stand for. In the meantime, I’m sure I will shake my head at some of the things he does and realize that he has charisma that many follow and many change their own beliefs to be in line with his. Trump will never change, and hopefully, neither will I.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

I prevent escape or intrusion,

Yet I also preserve and protect,

Thieves use me to get money,

From me they can often collect.

I’m the practice of a sport, but not on the lawn,

Your friends may get upset when I’m sat upon.

What am I?

Historical Events

1639 - First observation of transit of Venus by Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree - helped establish the size of our Solar System.

1642 Dutch explorer Abel Tasman discovers Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)

1859 - Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. A first printing sells for around $100,000 today.

1874 - The patent (#157,124) for barbed wire was issued to Joseph F. Glidden of DeKalb, Illinois.

1877 - Anna Sewell's Black Beauty is published.

1896 - The first US absentee voting law (voting via mail) was enacted by Vermont.

1903 - The patent (#745,157) for an automobile electric self-starter was issued to Clyde J. Coleman of New York City. Prior to that, they were hand-cranked.

1932 - The FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (better known as the FBI Crime Lab) officially opened.

1940 The Blitz: Luftwaffe bombs Bristol city centre, killing 200 people in the first German raid on the city

1947 John Steinbeck's novel "Pearl" published

1950 - Broadway Show - Guys and Dolls (Musical) opened

1950 - Storm of the Century - A snowstorm, takes shape on this date before paralyzing the northeastern United States and the Appalachians the next day, bringing winds up to 100 mph and sub-zero temperatures. 353 people died as a result of the storm.

1954 - Air Force One, the first US Presidential airplane, was christened. It was the third of three C-121 Constellation airplanes, the "Columbine III." A 1953 incident where Eisenhower's aircraft was "Air Force 8610" and an Eastern Airlines plane was "Eastern 8610" created the need to devise a unique call sign.

1962 - The influential British satirical television program That Was the Week That Was is first broadcast.

1964 - For first time since 1800, residents of Washington, DC were permitted to vote.

1971 - Dan "DB" Cooper parachuted from a Northwest AL 727 with $200,000 in ransom money, somewhere over the Cascade Mountains, possibly over Woodland, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest area. He was never heard from again.

1973 - #1 Hit: Ringo Starr - Photograph

1974 Gerald Ford and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT-2 treaty to reduce each side's number of nuclear weapons

1979 US admits troops in Vietnam were exposed to the toxic Agent Orange

1979 - #1 Hit: Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer - No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)

1982 - Orioles' Cal Ripken was named AL Rookie of Year. In his creerer he compiled 3,184 hits, 431 home runs, and 1,695 runs batted in. From May 30, 1982 to September 19, 1998, he played 2632 consecutive games, another MLB record.

1988 - Mystery Science Theater 3000 premiered on KYMA, in Minneapolis, Minnesota

2012 - Gangnam Style became the most viewed YouTube video surpassing 808 million views.

2013 - Iran signed an interim agreement with the P5+1 countries, led by Barak Obama and the United States, limiting its nuclear program in exchange for reduced sanctions.

2017 Former First Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is sworn in as President of Zimbabwe, replacing Robert Mugabe's 30-year tenure

Birthdays Today

@92 – Forrest J Ackerman, American soldier

Pop Culture author

(died in 2008)

@82 – William F. Buckley, Jr., American publisher and author,

 founded the National Review

(died in 2008)

78 – Pete Best, Indian-English drummer and songwriter

72 – Dwight Schultz, American actor (The A Team, Star Trek

TNG)

@66 – Dale Carnegie, American author and educator

 (died in 1955; Hodgkin’s Disease)

@65 – Zachary Taylor, American general and politician,

12th President of the United States

(died in 1850; digestive disorder)

@64 – Lucky Luciano, Italian-American, alleged mob boss

(died in 1962; heart attack)

@60 – Walter Burley Griffin, American architect urban

planner, designed Australia's Canberra

(died in 1937; peritonitis)

@48 – Scott Joplin, American pianist and composer

(died in 1917; syphilitic dementia)

@42 – Ted Bundy, American serial killer

(died in 1989; executed)

42 – Colin Hanks, American actor

41 – Katherine Heigl, American actress and producer

29 – Sarah Hyland, American actress (Modern Family)

Puzzle answer:

Fence.

Fences keep ne’er-do-wells out and protect people inside. A fence is a person who buys stolen goods to later resell them for a profit. Those who fence practice the sport of fencing. En garde! And people don’t like it when you sit on the fence in a heated debate. (Many speak from experience)