Apr 8

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

Apr 8, 2019 Week: 15 \ Day: 98

86004:   H 65° \ L 29° \ Average Sky Cover: 25% 

Wind:   4mph\Gusts:  9mph Visibility: 10 mi

Nearest wildfire:  797mi. Nearest lightning:  763mi

Record High: 78°[1989]   Record Low: 14°[1999]

Mar Averages: 59°\28° (3 days with rain)

Today’s Quote

Let us put our minds together and see what life

we can make for our children.

Sitting Bull 

Random Tidbits

Up until 2006, the tallest known tree in the world was a 369-foot California redwood nicknamed 'Stratosphere Giant', located in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park in California. To give you some idea about its massive size, that's twice the height of the Statue of Liberty, minus the foundation.

But the Giant lost its status when two naturalists, Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor, stumbled upon group of trees in California's Redwood National Park that were taller than any they'd ever seen before.

Observances This Week

National Cherry Blossom Festival: 3/20-4/14

Lent: 3/6-4/20

APAWS Pooper Scooper  Week: 1-7
Hate Week: 4-10
National Robotics Week: 6-14 Link
Bat Appreciation Week: 7-13 
Consider Christianity Week: 7-13 
National Blue Ribbon Week:  7-13  Link  (Child Abuse)
National Crime Victim’s Rights Week: 7-13  Link
National Library Week: 7-13  
National Public Health Week:  7-13 
National Volunteer Week: 7-13
National Window Safety Week:   7-13 
Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week: 7-14 Link
Passion Week: 7-13
Passiontide: 7-20
American Indian Awareness Week:  8-12  Link
National Dental Hygienist Week: 8-12  Link 
National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week: 8-12  Link
National Youth Violence Prevention Week: 8-12 Link
The Masters Tournament: 8-14
Undergraduate Research Week: 8-12  Link  
Week of The Young Child: 8-12 Link

Observances for Today

All is Ours Day

Buddha Day (Historical Birth Date)  Link 
Draw A Bird Day  Link
International Roma Day
National Dog Fighting Awareness Day
National Empanada Day

Trading Cards For Grown-ups Day Link

Zoo Lover's Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Busy few days with visitors from out of town. I had a great time with them and now I had to do some extra laundry and just finished cleaning up. What a great weekend. Warm temps, little wind the whole weekend. Nice to move around the town with the windows down.

I pick up my taxes tomorrow afternoon. Not all that excited, but still proud to pay my fair share.

This must be the time for visiting Paris…my retirement group friend Mary is in Paris and so is my brother’s half-brother and his wife. All are posting great shots of that beautiful town. They are doing the on-your-own trips. Whatever floats their boats.

PUZZLE OF THE DAY

Answer at the bottom of this page

A cow is tied to a 4 meter-long rope. There is food, 20 meters away from the cow. However, the cow manages to go to the food and eat it. How come?

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1700’s

1766 1st fire escape patented, wicker basket on a pulley & chain

1796 Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, proves the quadratic reciprocity law (the ability to determine the solvability of any quadratic equation in modular arithmetic)

1800’s

1820 The famous ancient Greek statue, Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos

1879 Milk sold in glass bottles for 1st time

1900’s

1910 1st race at the Playa Del Ray Motordrome near Los Angeles begins (1st US auto speedway)

1913 17th amendment, requiring direct election of US senators, ratified

1943 U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases to common carriers and public utilities.

1983 In front of a live audience of 20 tourists, David Copperfield makes the Statue of Liberty disappear

2000’s

2000 Nineteen US Marines are killed when a V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashes near Marana, Arizona

2008 The construction of the world's first building to integrate wind turbines completes, in Bahrain.

2017 Fifth day of protests by thousands in Caracas, Venezuela against the government        

Birthdays Today

480BC Gautama Buddha

(d. 400BC: @80),

the founder of Buddhism, is commonly celebrated on this day

1460 Juan Ponce de León,

(d. 1521: @47: killed by Indigenous people of FL)

Spanish explorer and conquistador who searched for the fountain of youth and the first European to discover Florida,

born in Santervás de Campos, Castile, Spain

1850 William H. Welch,

(d. 1934: @ 84)

American pathologist who founded John Hopkins Hospital,

born in Norfolk, Connecticut

1896 Yip Harburg

[Isidore Hochberg],

(d. 1981: @84)

American lyricist (Somewhere Over The Rainbow),

born in NYC, New York

1912 Sonja Henie,

(d. 1969: @57, leukemia)

Norwegian figure skater (Olympic gold 1928, 32, 36), actress (My Lucky Star),

born in Oslo, Norway

1918 Betty [Bloomer] Ford,

(d. 2011: @93)

US 1st lady (1974-77) and founder of the Betty Ford Center clinic,

born in Chicago, Illinois

1938 Kofi Annan,

(d. 2018: @80)

Ghanaian diplomat and 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations (1997-2006),

born in Comassie, Gold Coast

<><><><> 

90’s

93- Shecky Greene

[Fred Greenfield],

American comedian and actor (Love Machine, Combat),

born in Chicago, Illinois

50’s

59- John Schneider,

actor (Bo-Dukes of Hazzard),

born in Mt Kisco, New York

56- Julian Lennon,

singer (Too Late for Goodbyes) and son of John,

born in Liverpool, England

51- Patricia Arquette,

American actress (Boyhood, True Romance),

born in NYC, New York

Historical Obits Today

90’s

@96-1993 Marian Anderson,

American contralto and celebrated singer

(My Lord, What a Morning)

@91-1973 Pablo Picasso,

Spanish painter (The Young Ladies of Avignon, Guernica)

80’s

@88-1981 Omar Bradley,

American WWII General (Invasion of Normandy) and

1st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1949-53)

@87-2013 Margaret Thatcher,

British Prime Minister (1979 - 1990)

70’s

@70-2013 Annette Funicello,

American singer and actress (Mickey Mouse Club),

dies from multiple sclerosis complications

50’s

@50-1861 Elisha Otis,

American founder of the Otis Elevator Company and inventor of a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails,

dies of diphtheria

Puzzle answer:

The rope is not tied to anything but the cow, so the cow is free to go to the food.