Jul 28

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Jul. 28, 2019 Week: 31 \ Day: 209

86004:   H 84° \ L 54° \ Average Sky Cover: 30% 

Nearest wildfire:  4mi. Nearest lightning:  116mi

Wind:   12mph\Gusts:  21mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 94°[1955]   Record Low: 36°[1913]

Jul Averages: 82°\542° (8 day with rain)

Today’s Quote

Laziness may appear attractive,

but work gives satisfaction.

Anne Frank

Random Tidbits

Great Wonders of the World

1. Great Pyramid of Giza in Cairo, Egypt.

It is the one and only Wonder which does not require a description by early historians and poets. It is the one and only Wonder that does not need speculations concerning its appearance, size, and shape. It is the oldest, yet it is the only surviving of the Seven Ancient Wonders. It is the Great Pyramid of Giza.

2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon just outside of modern day Baghdad, Iraq.

Fruits and flowers... Waterfalls... Gardens hanging from the palace terraces... Exotic animals... This is the picture of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in most people's minds. It may be surprising to know that they might have never existed except in the minds of Greek poets and historians!

3. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia on the west coast of modern Greece.

This is the statue of the god in whose honor the Ancient Olympic games were held. It was located on the land that gave its very name to the Olympics. At the time of the games, wars stopped, and athletes came from Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and Sicily to celebrate the Olympics and to worship their king of gods: Zeus.

Observances This Week

6-28
Tour de France

20-28

National Moth Week Link

25-28

Quilt Odyssey Week
Garlic Days Link

27-8/5
National Little League Baseball Week  Link

Observances for Today

Aunties Day  
Buffalo Soldiers Day  Link
National Hamburger Day

National Milk Chocolate Day  Link
National Waterpark Day  Link
Parents' Day Link  
World Hepatitis Day Link

My Rambling Thoughts

I was just lazy for some reason yesterday. Enjoyed the day, enjoyed the weather, really enjoyed my cooler, but did little more. Unusual for me, but enjoyable.

Our local fire is 35% contained, looking good, lots of smoke at night, burns off early each morning. Lots of prep for flooding is taking place. Mary, a friend and former colleague lives in the ‘potential flood area’. She is higher up on a hill, but below her are houses surrounded by sandbags, drainage trenches next to the closed road, and big prep. Hope it works out.

My first visit to China was a couple of years ago in Hong Kong. At the time, part of, but not really part of China. I had a great time there. Now, the demonstrations are continuing, and China is not happy, using tear gas on demonstrators. I certainly hope the demonstrators are treated fairly, and that the Chinses government listens to them instead of simply silencing them through violence.

We are having a warm day. My decade old portable cooler having problems. First one of the wheels just disappeared over the winter, I got a new wheel. Then, the plastic sleeve that holds each of the wheels began breaking. So far two have sleeves have broken and are being held together with super glue. It has been a pain, but I only use the darn thing for a few days a year, so I’m hoping it will make it at least through this season.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

Alice is walking through the forest of forgetfulness. She wants to know what day of the week it is. She stops and asks a lion and a unicorn. Now the lion lies all of the time on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The unicorn always lies on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Alice asks the lion what day it is, he says, "Well, yesterday was one of my lying days." Alice can't figure it out just from the lion's answer so she asks the unicorn and the unicorn says, "Yesterday was also one of my lying days." What day is it?

Today’s Highlighted Historical Events

1500’s

1586 Sir Thomas Harriot introduces potatoes to Europe on return to England

1700’s

1794 French Revolutionary figure Maximilien Robespierre and 22 other leaders of "the Terror" guillotined to thunderous cheers in Paris

1800’s

1821 Peru declares independence from Spain (National Day)

1858 First use of fingerprints as a means of identification is made by Sir William James Herschel of the Indian Civil Service

1866 Metric system becomes a legal measurement system in US

1868 US Secretary of State William H. Seward announces 14th Amendment ratified by states, grants citizenship to ex-slaves

1896 City of Miami incorporated

1900’s

1915 Because of virtual anarchy, US Marines go ashore in Haiti on orders from President Woodrow Wilson; this will lead to an occupation that will last until 1934

1917 Silent Parade organised by James Weldon Johnson of 10,000 African-Americans who march on 5th Ave in NYC to protest against lynching

1932 US President Herbert Hoover uses federal troops to evict the Bonus Army (WWI veterans and their families) from their encampment, 4 die

1943 US President FDR announces end of coffee rationing in US

1945 US Army B-25 crashes into 79th floor of Empire State Bldg, 14 die

1945 US Senate ratifies United Nations charter 89-2

1945 Physicist Raemer Schreiber and Lieutenant Colonel Peer de Silva arrive on the Pacific island of Tinian with the plutonium core used to assemble the Fat Man bomb used in the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9

1945 "Elevator girl" Betty Lou Oliver survives falling 75 stories after fog causes a US bomber plane to crash into the Empire State Building, breaking the cables supporting the elevator she was operating. This remains a world record for the longest survived elevator fall

1964 Ranger 7 launched toward the Moon; sent back 4308 TV pictures

1965 LBJ sends 50,000 more soldiers to Vietnam (total of 125,000)

1988 Winnie Mandella's home in Soweto, South Africa, destroyed by arson

1990 Blackout hits Chicago

2000’s

2014 UN Security Council hold emergency meeting calling for an immediate and indefinite humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas

2017 US Senate vote for "skinny" repeal of Obamacare fails 51-49 when John McCain casts deciding vote against

2018 Longest "blood moon" eclipse of the 21st century, lasting 1 hour 43 minutes

Highlighted Birthdays Today

1866 Beatrix Potter,

English children's author and illustrator (The Tale of Peter Rabbit), born in London (d. 1943: @77: heart disease)

1874 Ernst Cassirer,

German philosopher and educator (Essay on Man), born in Silesia, Prussia (d. 1945: @70)

1887 Marcel Duchamp,

French sculptor and painter (Nude Descending a Staircase), born in Blainville-Crevon, France (d. 1968: @81)

1901 Rudy Vallee,

American singer and one of the earliest crooners (Vagabond Dreams, My Time Is Your Time), born in Island Pond, Vermont (d. 1986: @84)

1907 Earl Tupper,

American-born Costa Rican inventor and businessman (Tupperware), born in Berlin, New Hampshire (d. 1983: @76)

1928 Joe Jackson,

American talent manager and patriarch of the Jackson family, born in Fountain Hill, Arkansas (d. 2018: @89)

1929 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis,

American First Lady (1961-63), born in Southampton, New York (d. 1994: @64: lymphoma)

1948 Georgia Engel,

American actress (Georgette- The Mary Tyler Moore Show), born in Washington, D.C. (d. 2019: @70: as Christian Scientist did not consult doctors)

1954 Hugo Chávez,

President of Venezuela (1998-2013), born in Sabaneta, Barinas State, Venezuela (d. 2013: @58: cancer)

70’s

74- Jim Davis,

American cartoonist and creator of the comic strips "Garfield" and "U.S. Acres", born in Marion, Indiana

72- Sally Struthers,

American actress (All in the Family), born in Portland, Oregon

40’s

48- Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Leader of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), born in Samarra, Iraq

Highlighted Historical Obits Today

80’s

@87-1996 Roger Tory Peterson,

American ornithologist and writer (How to Know Birds)

@80-2013 Eileen Breenan,

American actress (Private Benjamin)

60’s

@65-1750 Johann Sebastian Bach,

German composer (Art of the Fugue, Mattheus-Passion)

@63-741 Antonio Vivaldi,

Italian Baroque composer (The Four Seasons)

50’s

@54±-1540 Thomas Cromwell,

English chief minister for King Henry VIII, executed for treason and heresy

30’s

@36-1794 Maximilien Robespierre,

French revolutionary (President of the National Convention, Member of Committee of Public Safety), executed by guillotine

@36-1655 Cyrano de Bergerac,

French dramatist/novelist, dies of unknown disease

Puzzle answer:

Thursday.