Apr 17

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Apr 17, 2019 Week: 16 \ Day: 107

86004:   H 61° \ L 38° \ Average Sky Cover: 50% 

Wind:   7mph\Gusts:  9mph Visibility: 10 mi

Nearest wildfire:  522mi. Nearest lightning:  352mi

Record High: 77°[1946]   Record Low: 15°[2009]

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

Today’s Quote

A people free to choose

will always choose peace.

Ronald Reagan

Random Tidbits

The U.S. didn't institute an income tax until the time of the Civil War, as a temporary measure. It took the Sixteenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, to make it possible for the federal government to tax individuals directly.

But the story of Tax Day doesn't end there. In 1954, Congress passed nearly 1,000 pages of revision to the Internal Revenue Code. In it, Tax Day would be moved from March 15 to April 15, giving the taxpayer an extra month to recover from Christmas expenses.

Observances This Week

Passiontide: 7-20
International Wildlife Film Week: 13-19  Link
Animal Control Officer Appreciation Week: 14-20 Link 
Holy Week: 14-20
National Karaoke Week: 14-20
National Dog Bite Prevention Week:14-20 Link 
National Public Safety Telecommunicators (911 Operators) Week: 14-20
National Student Employment Week: 14-20   Link
Pan American Week: 14-20
World Irish Dancing Week: 14-21
National Occupational Health Nursing Week: 15-19 Link

Observances for Today

Bat Appreciation Day (Emerge from Hibernation)
Blah, Blah, Blah Day
Ellis Island Family History Day
Ford Mustang Day-1964
Haiku Poetry Day

Herbalist Day
International Haiku Poetry Day Link
Malbec World Day  Link
National Cheeseball Day

National Health Care Decisions Day: thru 22 Link

Nothing Like A Dame Day
Pet Owners Independence Day

World Hemophilia Day  Link
World Malbec Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Cloudy day here. Hoping for rain. Not hoping for snow.

As horrific as yesterday’s Notre Dame Cathedral fire was, today there are many encouraging stories coming out. Hundreds of Millions to rebuild has already been promised. Many relics were saved by a ‘chain’ of priests who passed the relics out of the church. No humans were seriously injured. Firefighters did an amazing job as Notre Dame still stands.

Many of my Native friends and acquaintances have posted an interesting perspective on the tragedy. There is a comparison between the loss of the sacred, no matter who you are. When Natives lose a sacred place, many non-natives just don’t understand. Now there is hope that they will understand and stop the desecration of sacred places.

An American woman married an illegal, had a child, joined the US military, and was killed. The US military gave the husband the promise that he wouldn’t be deported after he lost his wife. Now, ICE has arrested the man and deported him back to Mexico. Then our Senator and others stepped in and he was allowed to return. The daughter will not be deported. Something is very wrong for this to happen in America.

PUZZLE OF THE DAY

Answer at the bottom of this page

There is a certain family with both girl and boy children. Each of the boys has the same number of brothers as he has sisters. Each of the girls has twice as many brothers as she has sisters. How many boys and girls are there in this family?

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1300’s

1387 Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" characters begin their pilgrimage to Canterbury (according to scholars)

1397 Geoffrey Chaucer tells the "Canterbury Tales" for the first time at the court of English King Richard II

1400’s

1492 Christopher Columbus signs a contract with the Spanish monarchs to find the "Indies" with the stated goal of converting people to Catholicism. This promises him 10% of all riches found, and the governorship of any lands encountered.

1500’s

1534 Sir Thomas More confined in the Tower of London

1700’s

1704 1st successful US newspaper; published in Boston by John Campbell

1758 Francis Williams, 1st US black college graduate, publishes poems

1800’s

1860 Champion of England Tom Sayers and American John Heenan fight out brutal 2 hour, 27 minute draw near Farnborough, England; police stop fight acknowledged as first world title bout

1900’s

1905 The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York which held that the "right to free contract" was implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

1924 Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures & Louis B Mayer Co merged to form Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM)

1932 Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia ends slavery

1941 US Office of Price Administration forms (handled rationing)

1958 Brussells (Belgium) World Fair opens

1961 1,400 Cuban exiles land in Bay of Pigs in a doomed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro

1964 Ford Mustang formally introduced ($2,368 base)

1969 Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating US Senator Robert F. Kennedy

1970 Apollo 13 limps back safely, Beech-built oxygen tank no help

1978 Pulitzer prize awarded to Carl Sagan for "Dragons of Eden"

1986 Pulitzer prize awarded to Larry McMurtry for "Lonesome Dove"

2000’s

2001 A letter between Gale Norton and Jeb Bush is released, stating that the Bush administration has decided to go ahead with plans to auction 6 million acres of potentially oil-and-gas-rich seabed in the Gulf of Mexico

2009 Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark becomes the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the first woman to lead the organization

2012 The 8th century St. Cuthbert Gospel, Europe's oldest intact book, is purchased by the British Library for 9 million pounds

2013 Same-sex marriage is legalized in New Zealand

2018 Former F.B.I. director James Comey publishes his political autobiography “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership”

2018 Protests across India at the rape and murder of an 8-year old Muslim girl in Kathua, Bengalu

Birthdays Today

1620 Marguerite Bourgeoys,

(d. 1700: @79)

French founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame (first Canadian saint),

born in Troyes, France

1837 J. P. Morgan, Sr.

[John Pierpont],

(d. 1913: @75)

American financier and banker

(General Electric, Steel Corporation, AT&T),

born in Hartford, Connecticut

1916 Sirimavo Bandaranaike,

(d. 2000: @84)

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (1960-65, 1970-77 and 1994-2000)

1st female head of state,

born in Ratnapura, British Ceylon

1923 Harry Reasoner,

(d. 1991: @68: blood clot)

American newscaster (60 Minutes, ABC, CBS),

born in Dakota City, Iowa

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60’s

65- Michael Sembello,

American Grammy-award winning singer songwriter, composer and producer (Maniac, Flashdance),

born in Philadelphia

60- Sean Bean,

English actor (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, A Game of Thrones)

40’s

48- Jim Acosta,

American journalist (CNN White House correspondent),

born in Washington, D.C.

47- Jennifer Garner [Affleck],

American actress (Sydney Bristow-Alias),

born in Houston, Texas

45- Victoria Beckham [Adams],

English singer (Posh Spice in the Spice Girls),

born in Harlow, Essex

Historical Obits Today

9 0’s

@96-2007 Kitty Carlisle,

American actress and television personality

@92-2018 Barbara Bush,

First Lady of the US (1989-93) and

wife of George H. W. Bush

@90-2016 Doris Roberts,

American actress (Everybody Loves Raymond)

80’s

@87-2014 Gabriel García Márquez,

Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist

(1982 Nobel Prize in Literature)

@84-1790 Benjamin Franklin,

US Founding Father, inventor, ambassador and

writer (Poor Richards Almanac)

70’s

@70-2003 John Paul Getty Jr.,

American-born British philanthropist and oil magnate

(Getty Oil), dies of chest infection

60’s

@63-1987 Dick Shawn

[Richard Schulefand],

American character actor and comedian

(Producers, Maid to Order, Angel),

dies on stage of heart attack

50’s

@56-1998 Linda McCartney,

American-born photographer and

wife of Paul McCartney,

dies of breast cancer

@52-1974 Frank McGee,

American news anchor (NBC Evening News),

dies of cancer

20’s

@21-1960 Eddie Cochran,

American rock vocalist and guitarist (C'Mon Everybody),

dies in a car crash

Puzzle answer:

Four boys and three girls.