Nov 30

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Nov. 30, 2019 Week: 48  Day: 334

86004:   H 28° \ L 14° \ Average Sky Cover: 99%

Nearest active fire:  297mi.  Nearest lightning:  865mi

Wind:   0mph\Gusts:  0mph  Visibility: 400 yards

Record High: 66°[1995]   Record Low: -4°[2010]

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

Today’s Quote

“Nature does not hurry,

yet everything is accomplished.”

~ Lao Tzu

Random Tidbits

The Pilgrim's thanksgiving feast in 1621 occurred sometime between September 21 and November 1. It lasted three days and included 50 surviving pilgrims and approximately 90 Wampanoag Indians, including Chief Massasoit. Their menu differed from modern Thanksgiving dinners and included berries, shellfish, boiled pumpkin, and deer.

Now a Thanksgiving dinner staple, cranberries were actually used by Native Americans to treat arrow wounds and to dye clothes.

The famous 'Pilgrim and Indian' story featured in modern Thanksgiving narratives was not initially part of early Thanksgiving stories, largely due to tensions between Indians and colonists.

Native Americans 'Unthanksgiving Day' commemorates the struggle for Native American rights. Held every year on the island of Alcatraz since 1975, 'Unthanksgiving Day' commemorates the survival of Native Americans following the arrival and settlement of Europeans in the Americas.

Witches were burned at the stake at Salem. During the witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts between February, 1692 and May, 1693, nearly 200 people were accused of practicing "the Devil's magic," including the elderly, homeless, and a 4-year-old girl who was grilled on the stand. Most were jailed, but 19 were hanged on what would soon be known as "Gallows Hill," and a 71-year-old man was crushed with heavy stones. But nobody got burned. Not a single person. Sorry.

Observances This Week

25-12/1

National Deal Week  

29-12/4

American Sand Sculpting Competition Link

Observances for Today

Computer Security Day

Day of Remembrance of All Victims of Chemical Warfare
National Mason Jar Day  Link
National Meth Awareness Day Link
National Mousse Day

National Personal Space Day Link
Small Business Saturday

Stay At Home Because You Are Well Day

My Rambling Thoughts

I had a great Thanksgiving meal with friends I have known for decades. Andy was the Superintendent for years, his wife, Faith, was a teacher and acting supervisor at Tuba. Faith’s brother and his wife from Indiana and Andy’s adult son were there. The snow freaked out Andy’s relatives from Chinle/Many Farms. I learned a very good lesson…listen and don’t overreact. Faith’s brother is a hunter. As we talked about hunting; he mentioned that they had gone hunting in Africa. I said I loved Africa and had made many trips there. I asked where they had gone. His wife named a town I had never heard of. She said it was a few miles outside Durbin. We talked about Mandela and Robben Island. She had a beautiful photograph of a memorial for him outside Durbin. He then started about his hunt. Andy signaled him, and he just mentioned he his zebra hunt. He told how hard it was to spot zebra and how difficult the hunt was. Then he added that the local tribe where they hunted used all the meat from any kill. He had pride in that. I later learned from Faith, in a private conversation, that he had also killed a giraffe but Andy had stopped that part of the story. He was a good guy, a great electrician who worked on several things for Andy, who has as much knowledge of electricity as I do.  I will never understand how anyone could hunt those beautiful animals. But they loved Africa, want to go back, and enjoyed a couple of my photo safari stories. In my younger days I would have said things, but realize at my age, that I won’t change his mind about hunting and would have put a lot of tension in the room for nothing. All in all, it was a very nice time.

As I was sitting at my computer, watching the snow fall, I saw a story about Jeffco. Seems that Jeffco is asking for volunteers to bring snow shovels to their high school football stadium to clear the seats of snow for some big state games this weekend. I attended many high school games at that stadium when I was in High School, and also to watch my brother play there. Back then, they had a crew that cleared the stands of snow before a game. Times have sure changed.

Speaking of snow, there is more than a foot out there, and it’s still coming down.  Our HOA team was on the ball and had the road cleared by 7a as well as the sidewalks. At 9:15, I really wanted my annual poinsettia plants from Home Depot…6” pots are 99cents today. It took about 30 minutes to clear off the car, I needed 4-wheel low to get out of my parking space, then just 4-wheel to Home Depot, about 2 miles away. Home Depot had a few customers, and they were giving out free hot dogs with trimmings, coffee, and hot chocolate. Nice. They had plenty of healthy poinsettia at 99cents, regularly $6.98. I got two for my place and two for neighbors. The trip only took about 30 minutes, and when I got back the crew had re-cleaned the sidewalks. That was nice, since I had dumped a nice pile on the sidewalk while cleaning my vehicle off and  that I was going to clean when I got back.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

Mr. and Mrs. Webster were on a holiday shopping excursion. On their way to the car after leaving the store, Mr. Webster complained he was tired from carrying so many packages. Mrs. Webster, the kindly thing that she was, replied, “Quit your complaining Walter! If you gave me just one of your packages, I’d have twice as many as you. And if I gave you one of mine, we’d have the same.”

How many packages were Mr. and Mrs. Webster each carrying?

Historical Events

3340 BC - Earliest believed record of an eclipse, in Ireland.

1487 The first German Beer Purity Law (Reinheitsgebot), is promulgated in Munich by Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria stating beer should be brewed from only three ingredients – water, malt and hops

1609 - Galileo Galilei realized that the moon was a landscape, not a flat surface on a circle in the sky.

1858 - The Mason Jar was invented and patented (#22,186) by Philadelphia tinsmith John Landis Mason.

1872 - First international soccer game was played. Final score: Scotland-England 0-0 (in Glasgow)

1886 - The first commercially successful U.S. alternating current power plant was opened at Buffalo, NY by George Westinghouse.

1931 - The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombaurer was published.

1936 - London's Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire.

1940 - Lucille Ball married Desi Arnaz in Greenwich, Connecticut.

1954 - First proven meteorite known to strike a woman/person (Liz Hodges, in Sylacauga, Alabama). It took a year of pleading with the Air Force, but she was allowed to keep the 9 pound meteorite.

1956 - CBS became the first network to broadcast from videotape. It was a rebroadcast to the West Coast of the 15-minute Douglas Edwards and the News program. It was recorded on 2-inch tape with an Ampex Mark IV machine.

1968 - #1 Hit: Diana Ross & the Supremes - Love Child

1971 - TV movie Brian's Song, aired for first time on ABC

1979 - Pink Floyd released The Wall double album. "If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding, how can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat!"

1982 - Michael Jackson's second solo album, Thriller, possible the biggest selling album in history, was released worldwide.

1985 - #1 Hit: Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin - Separate Lives

1991 - #1 Hit: P.M. Dawn - Set Adrift On Memory Bliss

1992 - Guns N' Roses performed their hit song "November Rain" in Bogotá, Colombia. When they started to play it, a soft rain fell over the city and stopped right after they finished the song.

1993 - The Brady Bill, requiring a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers, was signed into law.

2002 Ina Garten's cooking show "Barefoot Contessa" premieres on the Food Network

2004 - Longtime Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings of Salt Lake City, finally lost, leaving him with $2,520,700 - television's biggest game show winnings.

2006 American folk artist Grandma Moses' "Sugaring Off" sells for a record $1.3 million for the artist by Christie in New York

2009 - CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) started. "CERN's Large Hadron Collider has today become the world's highest energy particle accelerator, having accelerated its twin beams of protons to an energy of 1.18 TeV in the early hours of the morning." CERN is experimenting with things like "The Big Bang" but hopefully on a smaller scale.

2017 World's longest recorded rainbow - 8 hrs 58 min in Taipei's Yangmingshan mountain range

2018 Marriot Hotels reveal massive data breach - 500 million guests affected in one of largest-ever company hacks

Birthdays Today

@95 – Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., American actor (died in 2014)

@90 – Winston Churchill, English colonel, journalist, and politician,

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Nobel Prize laureate,

(died in 1965)

@89 – Robert Guillaume

born Robert Peter Williams,

American actor and singer

(died in 2017)

89 – G. Gordon Liddy, American lawyer, radio host

82 – Ridley Scott, English director and producer

(Alien, Blade Runner)

@82 – Dick Clark, American TV host and producer

founded Dick Clark Productions,

(died in 2012)

@77 – Jonathan Swift, Irish satirist and essayist

(died in 1745)

@76 – Richard Crenna, American actor, director and producer

(died in 2003; pancreatic cancer)

@74 – Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens,

American novelist, humorist, and critic

(died in 1910; heart attack)

67 – Mandy Patinkin, American actor and singer

64 – Billy Idol, English Singer/Songwriter

(White Wedding, Mony Mony)

57 – Bo Jackson, American football and baseball player

@52 – Abbie Hoffman, American activist and author

co-founded the Youth International Party,

(died in 1989; bipolar; OD)

@48 – Allan Sherman, American actor, comedian, singer,

producer and screenwriter; Hello Mudder, Hello Fadduh

(died in 1973; alcoholism)

@45 – John McCrae, Canadian physician, soldier and poet

In Flanders Fields,

(died in 1918)

41 – Clay Aiken, American singer (American Idol)

34 – Chrissy Teigen, American model

Puzzle answer:

Mrs. Webster was carrying 7 packages and poor old Mr. Webster was laden with 5.