Dec 12

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Dec. 12, 2019 Week: 50  Day: 346

86004:   H 45° \ L 23° \ Average Sky Cover: 70%

Nearest lightning:  1408mi

Nearest active fire:  368mi.  

Wind:   5mph\Gusts:  9mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 64°[1921]   Record Low: -16°[1961]

Dec. Averages: 44°\17° (5 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

“Don’t let yesterday

use up too much of today.”

Will Rogers

~ Native American Proverb

Observances This Week

3-24

Andisop (Meterological Fiddling  Link

10-17

Human Rights Week

Observances for Today

Gingerbread House Day

International Day of Neutrality
National 12-hour Fresh Breath Day
National Ambrosia Day

National Ding-a-Ling Day Link
National Cocoa Day  Link
National Lost Day Link
Our Lady of Guadelupe Link
Poinsettia Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Our retirement group had a great lunch at Little America here in Flagstaff. The place has been around for decades and is nice. They have redone the lobby and conference center area and the restaurant. Now is really nice. I had a delicious salad with lettuce, apricots, cheese, and great dressing along with a Tuna Melt on Rye. Outstanding. We did a gift exchange. I had given the nice knit Christmas Sock to hang on a mantle, some fancy soap and lotion, a Amaryllis, and a great pop-out card. I got a pair of fleece-lined slipper socks that are comfortable &very warm and an Amaryllis in a tall glass cylinder that is much nicer than the ones I gave. Our lunch and conversation lasted longer than usual, but well worth every minute.

The city and our local university (NAU) have been trying to define the role each plays in our town. The biggest contention is the many huge (300+bed) complexes being built off-campus to house students. Parking, traffic, and bus service are the biggest issues. Not to mention a huge change in the character of the areas where these are being built. A new bumper sticker has started appearing around town: “Welcome to Flagstaff; a suburb of NAU”. Timely and appropriate.

On a more positive spin for Arizona: Orangutan in zoos are likely to get a respiratory illness that can easily lead to their death. Recently the Phoenix Zoo had an orangutan get it. After the vet gave little hope, they called an MD who deals with similar illnesses in humans. He operated, since the anatomy is so similar. The orangutan is now thriving. The MD has since done similar operations on 3 other orangutans at other zoos in the US. After seeing orangutan on a Focus trip I was really happy to read this.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

If there is a basket of 15 apples and you take five of them, how many apples do you have?

Historical Events

1694 The Royal Society censures Edmond Halley for suggesting in a paper titled 'Some considerations about the cause of the universal deluge' that the story of Noah's flood could be an account of a cometary impact

1787 - Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1874 Hawaii King David Kalakaua is 1st king to visit the US as guest of Ulysses S. Grant at 1st US state dinner at the White House

1917 - Father Edward J. Flanagan founded Boy's Town in Omaha, Nebraska.

1925 - The Mo-Tel of San Luis Obispo, California (between Los Angeles to San Francisco) opened as the first motel. The word Motel is a combination of the words 'Motorist' and 'Hotel.'

1946 UN accepts 6 Manhattan blocks as a gift from John D. Rockefeller Jr

1953 - Chuck Yeager established the speed record (mach 2.5) record flying a Bell X-1A, a slightly larger, but much modified version of the Bell X-1

1961 Adolf Eichmann is found guilty of war crimes in Israel

1964 - #1 Hit: Bobby Vinton - Mr. Lonely

1967 - Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, starring Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier opened in theaters.

1970 - #1 Hit: Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - The Tears of a Clown

1980 - Leonardo da Vinci's Leicester Codex was sold to Armand Hammer for $5.12 million. Bill Gates later bought it from the Hammer Estate for 30.8 million in 1994.

1986 - The Golden Child, and Three Amigos debuted in theaters.

1987 - #1 Hit: George Michael - Faith

1989 - 69 year-old Leona Helmsley, the "Queen of Mean", received a four-year prison sentence, along with750 hours of community service, and a $7.1 million tax fraud fine in New York.

2000 US Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore, settling the recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election in George W. Bush's favor and thus handing him the presidency

2003 - Keiko the Orca (or killer whale), star of the Free Willy movies died in his home of Taknes fjord, in Norway.

2012 - 12/12/12/ The Concert for (Hurricane) Sandy Relief took place at Madison Square Garden.

2018 Michael Cohen, former lawyer for US President Donald Trump sentenced to three years in prison for campaign-finance violations and tax fraud

Birthdays Today

96 - Bob Barker, American game show host

@88 - Ed Koch, American politician,

           105th Mayor of New York City

            (died in 2013)

@82 - Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor

           (died in 1998)

82 - Connie Francis,

           Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero

       American singer and actress

@80 - Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter and illustrator (died in 1944)

79 - Dionne Warwick, singer, actress

@79 - Edward G. Robinson, American actor

           (died in 1973; bladder cancer)

@72 - Henry Wells, American businessman,

           co-founder of Wells Fargo and American Express

           (died in 1878)

70 - Bill Nighy, English actor

67 - Cathy Rigby, American gymnast

44 - Mayim Bialik, American actress

@22 - Otto Warmbier, American student imprisoned in North Korea

      a(died in 2017)

Puzzle answer:

5. The question was not how many were left in the basket.