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Nov. 21,
2019 Week: 47 Day: 325
86004: H 45° \ L 26° \ Average Sky Cover: 90%
Nearest
active fire: 117mi. Nearest lightning: 219mi
Wind: 3mph\Gusts:
6mph Visibility: 7 mi
Record
High: 70°[1950] Record Low: -5°[1979]
Nov. Averages: 53°\23° (3
days with moisture)
Today’s Quote
“The suppression of uncomfortable
ideas
may be common in religion and
politics,
but it is not the path to knowledge;
it has no place in the endeavor of
science.”
~ Carl Sagan
Random Tidbits
Russia
is the largest country by land mass in the world. At 6.5 million square miles
(17 million square km), Russia is 1.8 times larger than the United States and
is slightly larger than Pluto.
The
Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, is comprised of 6 buildings with 3
million exhibits. If you spent 2 minutes at each exhibit, it would take 6 years
to see everything. The museum is also home to about 70 cats as part of a decree
first instated in 1745 by Empress Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, to
protect the priceless displays from rodents.
Observances This Week
15-21
15-22
International Restorative Justice Week Link
National Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week Link
Random Acts of Kindness Week Link Link
National Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week Link
Random Acts of Kindness Week Link Link
16-22
19-26
National Farm-City Week
21-28
International Games Week
Church/State Separation Week
GERD Awareness Week Link
National Bible Week
National Family Week
National Game & Puzzle Week
World Karaoke Championships Link
Church/State Separation Week
GERD Awareness Week Link
National Bible Week
National Family Week
National Game & Puzzle Week
World Karaoke Championships Link
Observances for Today
Family Volunteer Day
Great American Smokeout
Great American Smokeout
Guinness World Record Day Link
International Games Day (Libraries) Link
National Adoption Day Link
National Cranberry Day
International Games Day (Libraries) Link
National Adoption Day Link
National Cranberry Day
My Rambling Thoughts
A day
of clouds and rain, with expected snow tonight. Maybe 5”, maybe more, maybe
less. That’s the forecast.
I headed
to Sam’s to fill up with gas, just in case and to pick up some items. I’m
enjoying this cool rainy weather.
I’m
having a losing battle with my cable company…Suddenlink. I’m on autopay but in
their ‘system migration’ they took my old credit card expiration date. Very
long story. Here’s the short version: 4 calls to customer service, one visit to
the local store. Finally got the card thing fixed. Each call took over 45
minutes…mostly waiting for the ‘next available agent’. This company has no
customer service email address or will give out a physical address for customer
service. A decade ago, I had a problem with the previous company, before
Suddenlink bought them out. Back then that cable company had a contract with
the city of Flagstaff so they could be the sole cable provider to our city. I
had to use the city contract person to correct the problem. No such contract
now exists. So, the only way to complain is over the phone and they can say a
manager will call back, but they never do. Since I have too many trees for a satellite
connection, I’m stuck with this crappy system. Some neighbors have roof top
dishes, but I talked to a few and when we have snow piled up, there is no TV. Frustrated.
I
listened to some of the hearings yesterday and today while I’m on my computer.
Interesting if you’re are a student of political science. I’m not that person.
I am a voter and understand that a democracy can be messy. I wonder how some of
the witnesses ever got government positions, others have been true bureaucrats
with lots of notes. This has to be the messiest side of democracy I have ever seen.
I hope it ends soon. When and if there is a Senate trial, I’ll get interested
again. Until then, it’s all background noise.
Today’s Puzzle
Answer at the bottom of this page
If you carried my burden, you would be crushed.
Though not rich, I leave a trail of silver.
What am I?
Historical Events
164 BC - Judas Maccabeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family,
restored the Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the
festival of Hanukkah.
1783 - Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis Francois Laurant
d'Arlandes became the first men to make a free flight. Their hot-air balloon
lifted off from La Muettte, a royal palace in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris. Ben
Franklin was among the witnesses.
1832 - Wabash College was founded in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
1846 - The word 'anesthesia' was used by Oliver Wendell Holmes in a letter
to William Thomas Green Morton, the surgeon who gave the first public
demonstration of the pain-killing effects of ether.
1871 - The patent (#121,049) for a cigar lighter was issued to Moses F.
Gale of New York City as an "Improvement in Cigar-Lighters."
1877 - Thomas Edison announced his "talking machine" invention.
His phonograph originally recorded sound onto a tinfoil sheet phonograph
cylinder. (Patent #200,521, granted in 1878)
1905 - Albert Einstein's paper, Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its
Energy Content?, is published in the journal Annalen der Physik.
1920 - In Dublin, Ireland, 31 people are killed in what became known as
Bloody Sunday. This included fourteen British informants, fourteen Irish
civilians and three Irish Republican Army prisoners. U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday
references the event
1942 - Tweety Bird, aka Tweety Pie, debuted in Tale of Two Kitties. Bob
Clampett created the character. Tweety is a boy.
1952 - First US postage stamp (The Red Cross 3 cent) in 2 colors (with the
rotary printing process) was introduced.
1953 - #1 Hit: Tony
Bennett - Rags To Riches
1953 - Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announced the
"Piltdown Man" skull, one of the most famous fossil skulls in the
world, was a hoax.
1959 - Jack Benny (violin) & Richard Nixon (piano) play their famed
duet.
1959 - DJ Alan Freed, who had popularized the term rock and roll and music
of that style, was fired from New York's WABC-AM radio for refusing to deny
allegations that he had participated in the payola scandal.
1960 - #1 Hit: Maurice
Williams and the Zodiacs - Stay
1964 - World's longest suspension bridge Verrazano Narrows opened (New York
City - 4,260 feet). It is still the longest in the western hemisphere.
1967 Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland tells news
reporters: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was
winning, today he is certainly losing."
1969 - The first permanent ARPANET (multi computer connection) link was
established between UCLA and SRI.
1970 - #1 Hit: The
Partridge Family - I Think I Love You
1973 US President Richard Nixon's attorney, J Fred Buzhardt, reveals
presence of 18½ minute gap in a White House tape recording related to Watergate
1980 - Everyone asked "Who Shot J.R.?" in last year's Dallas
season finale. The season opener of Dallas answered the question people were
asking all summer, and well into the fall. Sue Ellen's sister Kristin (played
by Mary Crosby) shot J.R..
1980 - A deadly fire brokeout at the MGM Grand Hotel in Paradise, Nevada
(now Bally's Las Vegas). Eighty-seven people were killed and more than 650 were
injured.
1981 - #1 Hit: Olivia
Newton-John - Physical
1987 - #1 Hit: Billy
Idol - Mony Mony
1989 - Law banning smoking on most US domestic flights was signed by
President George H. W. Bush.
1999 Elian Gonzalez, Cuban boy at the center of a heated 2000 controversy
involving the governments of Cuba and the United States, departs from Cuba with
his mother
2017 Robert Mugabe's resignation after 37 years in power is read out in
Zimbabwe's parliaments during impeachment proceedings
Birthdays Today
@83 – Voltaire, French historian, playwright, and philosopher
(died in 1778)
82 – Marlo Thomas, American actress, producer and activist
@81 – Hetty Green, American businesswoman and financier
('richest miser' died in 1916)
74 – Goldie Hawn, American actress, singer and producer
71 – George Zimmer, American businessman,
founded Men's Wearhouse
68 – René Magritte, Belgian painter (died in 1967)
56 – Nicollette Sheridan, TV actress
54 – Björk, Icelandic Singer/Songwriter
50 – Ken Griffey Jr., American baseball player and actor
48 – Michael Strahan, football player, TV host
34 – Carly Rae Jepsen, Canadian Singer/Songwriter; actress
Puzzle answer:
A snail. They carry their homes on their back, and a house would crush a
person (even the tiny houses). And the trail of silver is a bit of a stretch,
but it’s the slimy, gooey substance snails leave behind them.
