Apr 23

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Apr 23, 2019 Week: 17 \ Day: 113

86004:   H 68° \ L ° \ Average Sky Cover: 20% 

Wind:   2mph\Gusts:  12mph Visibility: 10 mi

Nearest wildfire:  745mi. Nearest lightning:  307mi

Record High: 78°[2012]   Record Low: 14°[1963]

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

Today’s Quote

To get an idea of our fellow countrymen's miseries,

we have only to take a look at their pleasures.

-- George Eliot

Random Tidbits

Persians first began using colored eggs to celebrate spring in 3,000 B.C. 13th century Macedonians were the first Christians on record to use colored eggs in Easter celebrations. Crusaders returning from the Middle East spread the custom of coloring eggs, and Europeans began to use them to celebrate Easter and other warm weather holidays.

The origin of the Easter Bunny can be traced back to 13th-century, pre-Christian Germany. The Teutonic deity Eostra was the goddess of spring and fertility, and feasts were held in her honor on the Vernal Equinox. Her symbol was the rabbit because of the animal's high reproduction rate.

Observances This Week

Cleaning For A Reason Week: 18-24
Consumer Awareness Week: 18-23
Police Officers Who Gave Their Lives In The Line of Duty Week: 18-23
National Dance Week: 19-28 Link 
National Park Week: 20-28  Link
Passover: 20-27
Animal Cruelty/Human Violence Awareness Week: 21-27 Link 
Administrative Professionals Week: 21-27 
Bedbug Awareness Week: 21-27  
Chemists Celebrate Earth Week: 21-27
Festival of Ridvan: 21-5/2
Fibroid Awareness Week: 21-27  
Medical Laboratory Professionals Week:21-27  Link
National Coin Week: 21-27
National Infertility Awareness Week: 21-27  Link
National Paperboard Packaging Week: 21-27
National Pet ID Week: 21-27 Link  Link
National Princess Week: 21-27    Link
Orthodox Holy Week: 21-27
Preservation Week:21-27 Link (re: Libraries)
Sky Awareness Week: 21-27  
Spring Astronomy Week: 21-26 
World Hula Week: 21-27 
International Dark Sky Week: 22-28
National Environmental Education Week: 22-26  Link
National Playground Safety Week: 22-26  Link

Observances for Today

English Language Day Link
English Muffin Day
Impossible Astronaut Day Link and Link (Dr. Who)
Lover's Day

National Lost Dog Awareness Day Link  Link
National Picnic Day

National Zucchini Bread Day

Movie Theatre Day
Spanish Language Day
Take a Chance Day

Talk Like Shakespeare Day Link
World Book & Copyright Day  Link
World Book Night  Link

World Laboratory Day

My Rambling Thoughts

I had a great weekend with friends. Good food, good stories, good times.

I’m so tired of living in a world that has human beings killing other human beings because they have different beliefs in religion. I just don’t get it. I just want it to stop.

Dems now have 19 running for President, with Joe still awaiting to announce. I get that any child born in the US can be President, but who is going to really listen to all the candidates to pick one to run against 45? Tonight will give anyone with a TV time to listen to a bunch of them on CNN. Each will have a town hall meeting, one right after the other…for five hours. Who can sit there that long?

Got a little surprise this morning…I have been having pedicures at the local mall for quite a while. Today, I get there and there is a sign that they have moved…thankfully to another place in the same mall. Our little mall seems to be going through some big changes. The stores near the open Penny’s are moving to be near the closed Sears. Lots of boarded up stores by Penny’s. Something is going to happen. Hope it is for the good. I still like parking my vehicle, entering a mall, checking out the stores, and returning to my car. I’m not a big on-line buyer…if I buy something I want to feel it before buying it, trying it on, and taking it home the same day. Guess I’m just old.

PUZZLE OF THE DAY

Answer at the bottom of this page

Analogies are comparisons. Complete each analogy below. Here is an example: Ear is to hearing as eye is to?   Sight.

1. Cardinals is to St. Louis as Dodger is to?

2. A.M. is to before noon as P.M. is to?

3. Three is to triangle as 8 is to?

4. Tear is to tore as see is to?

5. Springfield is to Illinois as Austin is to?

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1000’s

1014 King Brian Boru of Ireland defeats Viking forces at Battle of Clontarf, freeing Ireland from foreign control

1500’s

1516 Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria endorses "The German Beer Purity Law" (Reinheitsgebot) and adds to it standards for the sale of beer

1516 The German Beer Purity Law (Reinheitsgebot), is enforced across all of Bavaria by Wilhelm IV, Duke of Bavaria, stating beer should be brewed from only three ingredients – water, malt and hops

1597 William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" is first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I of England in attendance

1600’s

1635 Oldest US public institution, Boston Latin School founded

1800’s

1867 Queen Victoria & Napoleon III turn down plans for a channel tunnel

1900’s

1900 1st know occurrence of word "hillbillie" (NY Journal)

1920 The national council in Turkey denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces a temporary constitution.

1932 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opens at Stratford-on-Avon

1932 153-year old De Adriaan Windmill in Haarlem, the Netherlands, burns down

1949 Courtesy mail boxes for motorists started in San Francisco

1968 United Methodist Church forms

1971 Columbia University operations virtually end, by student strike

1972 The Sunday Times Insight Team publish their account of the events of 'Bloody Sunday'

1977 Dr Allen Bussey completes 20,302 yo-yo loops

1982 Conch Republic is established - secession of the Florida Keys from the United States of America

1989 Wine merchant William Sokolin breaks a bottle of 1787 Château Margaux, possibly belonging to Thomas Jefferson, worth $500,000 at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York

1995 President Clinton declares a national day of mourning for Oklahoma City

2000’s

2002 Pope John Paul II meets with U.S. Catholic Church leaders at Vatican regarding sexual abuse of minors

2009 Gamma ray burst (GRB) 090423 is observed for 10 seconds, the most distant object of any kind and also the oldest known object in the universe

2013 The French National Assembly passes an amended bill legalizing same-sex marriage

2015 Loretta Lynch is confirmed as the first African-American woman as US Attorney-General, succeeding Eric Holder

Birthdays Today

1564 William Shakespeare,

(d. 1616: @52) traditionally regarded as his birthdate

English Poet and playwright (Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth),

born in Stratford upon Avon,

1791 James Buchanan,

(d. 1868: @77)

15th US President (1857-61),

born in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania

1813 Stephen A. Douglas,

(d. 1861: @48: typhoid fever)

American politician, US senator from Illinois (Lincoln-Douglas debates),

born in Brandon, Vermont

1928 Shirley Temple,

(d. 2014: @85)

American actress, famous 1930s child star (Bright Eyes, Heidi)

and diplomat,

born in Santa Monica, California

1932 (Roy) Halston (Frowick),

(d. 1990: @57: dies of AIDS)

American fashion designer (1972 Hall of Fame),

born in Des Moines, Iowa

1932 Jim Fixx,

(d. 1984: @52: heart attack)

American jogger and writer (Jim Fixx on Running),

born in NYC, New York

1936 Roy Orbison,

(d. 1988: @52:  heart attack)

American rock musician (Pretty Woman),

born in Vernon, Texas

1942 Sandra Dee,

[Alexandra Zuck],

(d. 2005: @ 62: kidney disease)

actress (Gidget, Imitation of Life),

born in Bayonne, New Jersey

1943 Hervé Villechaize,

(d. 1993: @50: suicide)

French-American actor (Fantasy Island - Ze plane! Ze plane!),

 born in Paris

1957 Jan Hooks,

(d. 2014: @57: throat cancer)

American comedienne and actress (SNL, Designing Women),

born in Decatur, Georgia

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80’s

80- Lee Majors

[Harvey Lee Yeary],

American film and TV actor ($6,000,000 Man, The Fall Guy),

born in Wyandotte, Michigan

70’s

70- Joyce DeWitt,

American actress (Janet Wood-Three's Company),

born in Wheeling, West Virginia

60’s

65- Michael Moore,

American filmmaker (Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine, Sicko),

 born in Flint, Michigan

50’s

59- Valerie Bertinelli,

American actress (Barbara Cooper Royer-1 Day at a Time,

Hot in Cleveland),

born in Wilmington, Delaware

58- George Lopez,

American actor and comedian

40’s

42- John Cena,

American professional wrestler, rapper and actor (The Marine),

born in West Newbury, Massachusetts

42- John Oliver,

English comedian

(The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver),

born in Birmingham, West Midlands

42- Kal Penn,

American actor (Dr. Lawrence Kutner-House, The Namesake) and

civil servant,

born in Montclair, New Jersey

20’s

29-Dev Patel,

actor (Slumdog Millionaire)

Historical Obits Today

90’s

@96-1996 P. L. {Pamela Lyndon} Travers,

Australian British writer (Mary Poppins)

80’s

@87±-1702 Margaret Fell,

English founder of the Religious Society of Friends

known as the "mother of Quakerism"  

@85-1951 Charles Gates Dawes,

American politician (30th Vice President of the US) and Nobel laureate (1925)

@80-1850 William Wordsworth,

English Romantic poet (The Prelude)

70’s

@79-1986 Otto Preminger,

Austrian director and producer

(Advise & Consent, Anatomy of Murder),

dies of lung cancer

@77-1995 Howard Cosell,

sportscaster (Monday Night Football),

dies of cardiac embolism

@76-2007 Boris Yeltsin,

Russian politician and 1st President of Russian Federation (1991-99),

dies of congestive heart failure

@75-1983 Clarence "Buster" Crabbe,

American swimmer (Olympic gold 1932) and

actor (Tarzan the Fearless, Flash Gordon),

dies of a heart attack

@73-2007 David Halberstam,

American journalist, historian and author (Pulitzer 1964),

dies in car accident

@70-1998 James Earl Ray,

American assassin of Martin Luther King Jr.,

dies while still under detention of complications related to kidney disease and liver failure caused by hepatitis C

60’s

@65-1907 Alfred Packer,

Colorado Cannibal,

dies of dementia/stroke

teen’s

@19-2015 Sawyer Sweeten,

American actor (Everyone Loves Raymond),

commits suicide

Puzzle answer:

1. Los Angeles

2. Afternoon

3. Octagon

4. Saw

5. Texas