Apr 12

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Apr 12, 2019 Week: 15 \ Day: 102

86004:   H 55° \ L 31° \ Average Sky Cover: 10% 

Wind:   8mph\Gusts:  11mph Visibility: 10 mi

Nearest wildfire:  433mi. Nearest lightning:  1128mi

Record High: 75°[1904]   Record Low: 7°[1953]

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

Today’s Quote

Progress lies not in enhancing what is,

but in advancing toward what will be.

Khalil Gibran

Random Tidbits

Some snakes have hipbones, which shows they once had four legs like lizards, their close cousins.

Inside some whales and dolphins are small bones that show they once had back legs and that their ancestors walked on land. These occasionally reappear as tiny rear flippers.

Observances This Week

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

American Immigration Lawyers Association Day of Action  Link
Belmont-Paul Women's Equality Monument Day   Link
Big Wind Day

D.E.A.R. Day (aka Drop Everything And Read) Link

Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day Link  Link
International Day of Human Space Flight
International Day for Street Children Link  
National Day of Silence Link  
National Donate Life (Blue and Green) Day Link
National Day of Silence  Link 
National Licorice Day Link
National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day:  12 Link
National Teach Children to Save Day
Russian Cosmonaut Day

Walk on Your Wild Side Day
Yuri's Night

My Rambling Thoughts

Nice spring day is warming up. Tomorrow is still another snow day…1-3” the weatherman sez. Hard to deal with this bi-polar weather.

WOW…Julian Assange is now in British custody after several years of living in the Ecuadorian Embassy. He may be extradited back to the US.  Not a fan of his WikiLeaks…I’ll wait in see.

Amazon has announced that, ‘in order to improve customer satisfaction’, it has thousands of people around the world transcribing everything one says to Alexa. Right now, they say it is only after you address Alexa to do something, but with all their other stuff, I figure they can hear everything said in the vicinity of the Alexa speaker. Not a fan.

And now Facebook is developing a way to allow them to scan your photos and if the photo has a brand name in the pic, they can send that to the brand and they can increase the number of ads you see for that product. They would also be able to send your friend a ‘sponsored story’ about that brand, with your name. Not a fan of this either.

PUZZLE OF THE DAY

Answer at the bottom of this page

A person enters a pet shop and sees a beautiful parrot. The seller guarantees him that the bird repeats everything it hears, so the person buys it. However, when he goes back home and tests the bird, it turns out that it doesn’t say a word. The buyer goes to the shop to complain to the seller, but the seller argues he has not lied. How is this possible?

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1600’s

1606 England adopts the Union Flag, replaced in 1801 by current Union Flag the Union Jack

1800’s

1857 Gustave Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" published

1861 Fort Sumter in South Carolina is attacked by the Confederacy, beginning the American Civil War

1892 George C Blickensderfer patents portable typewriter

1900’s

1900 The US Congress passes the Foraker Act, establishing Puerto Rico as an unincorporated territory (effective 1 May)

1927 Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek begins counter revolution in Shanghai

1945 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office and Vice President Harry Truman is sworn in as 33rd US President

1954 Joe Turner releases "Shake, Rattle & Roll"

1955 Polio vaccine tested by Dr Jonas Salk announced to be 'safe and effective'

1961 Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to orbit Earth (Vostok 1)

1963 Police in Birmingham, Alabama, use dogs & cattle prods on peaceful demonstrators

1976 Anne Rice's debut novel "Interview with a Vampire" is published by Knopf

1983 Harold Washington elected Chicago's 1st black mayor

1987 Texaco files for bankruptcy

1988 Harvard University patents a genetically engineered mouse (1st for animal life)

1988 Sonny Bono elected mayor of Palm Springs California

1990 H. J. Heinz, Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee Seafood say they wouldn't buy tuna caught in nets that trap dolphins

1999 US President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a sexual harassment civil lawsuit.

2000’s

2012 Bodleian, Oxford University and Vatican libraries announce over 1.5 million pages of ancient texts will be made available across the internet

2014 The new drug, ABT-450, with a 90-95% success rate for treating Hepatitis C, is announced

2016 Breakthrough Starshot: Scientists and internet entrepreneurs, including Yuri Milner, Stephen Hawking and Mark Zuckerberg, announce interstellar project to send robot spacecraft to Alpha Centauri

Birthdays Today

1777 Henry Clay,

(d. 1852: @75: TB)

American politician known as "the Great Compromiser",

born in Hanover County, Virginia

1932 Dennis Banks,

(d. 2017: @80)

American activist (leader of the American Indian Movement),

born in Leech Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota

1932 Tiny Tim

[Herbert Khaury],

(d. 1996:@64: heart attack)

American musician (Tip Toe),

born in Manhattan, New York

1947 Tom Clancy,

(d. 2013: @66: heart failure)

American author (Rainbow Six, The Hunt for Red October),

born in Baltimore, Maryland

1950 David Cassidy,

(d. 2017: @67: liver failure)

American singer and actor (Keith-Partridge Family), born in NYC, New York

100’s

103- Beverly Cleary,

American writer (Ramona and her Mother),

born in McMinnville, Oregon

70’s

79- Herbie Hancock,

American pianist (I Thought it Was You),

born in Chicago, Illinois

73- Ed O'Neill,

American comedian and actor (Al Bundy-Married with Children),

born in Youngstown, Ohio

72- David Letterman,

American comedian (Late Night),

born in Indianapolis, Indiana

60’s

63- Andy Garcia,

Cuban-American actor (Stand & Deliver, 8 Million Ways to Die),

born in Havana, Cuba

62- Vince Gill,

American country singer (When I Call Your Name),

born in Norman, Oklahoma

40’s

48- Shannen Doherty,

American actress (Little House, Beverly Hills 90210),

born in Memphis, Tennessee

40- Claire Danes,

American actress (Angela-My So Called Life, Romeo & Juliet),

born in NYC, New York

Historical Obits Today

90’s

@90-1912 Clara Barton,

organizer (American Red Cross)

60’s

@67-1999 Boxcar Willie

[Travis Martin],

American soldier (USAF) and singer (King of the Road),

dies of leukemia

@67-1989 Sugar Ray Robinson

[Walter Smith],

American middle/welterweight boxer (1946-52, 55, 58),

dies of Alzheimer’s disease

@66-1981 Joe Louis, [Brown bomber],

US heavyweight boxing champion (1937-49),

dies of cardiac arrest

@63-1945 Franklin Roosevelt,

32nd US President (D) (1933-1945),

dies in office of a stroke

50’s

@55-1878 William Magear Tweed

"Boss Tweed",

New York corrupt politician

dies in prison of pneumonia

@52-1989 Abbie Hoffman,

yippie peace activist of the 60's,

dies from suicide

Puzzle answer:

The parrot is deaf.