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Dec. 18, 2019 Week: 51 Day: 253
86004: H 30° \ L 10° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%
Wind chill: 19
Nearest lightning:
1429mi
Nearest active fire:
468mi.
Wind: 9mph\Gusts: 18mph Visibility:
10 mi
Record High: 65°[1901] Record Low: -14°[1908]
Dec. Averages: 44°\17° (5 days with moisture)
Today’s Quote
“The frog does not drink up the pond
in which he lives.”
Sioux
~ Native American Proverb
Random Tidbits
Only two pairs of
semi-identical twins have ever been identified and the most recent pair was a
boy and a girl born in Brisbane, Australia, just a few years ago, according to
research published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2019. "The Brisbane
twins are likely the result of one egg being fertilized by two sperm cells,
resulting in three chromosomes," according to IFL Science. "These
three chromosomes were equally divided into two bunches of cells that then
became two embryos."
Human corpses can
continue to move for more than a year after death.
Observances This Week
3-24
14-1/5
14-28
Halcyon
Days
(Always
7 days before and 7 days after the Winter Solstice)
15-21
16-20
Cookie
Exchange Week
16-24
Posadas
17-23
Saturnalia
Observances for Today
National “I Love Honey” Day
National Roast Suckling Pig Day
My Rambling Thoughts
I am officially done
with the current cold spell. It’s been days of temps in the 30’s with all day
wind chill in the 20’s. Enough already.
I had to do a ‘fasting’
blood draw of 8 tubes today for my kidney doctor. I got an email last night
saying to do it now. I’ve been waiting for it to warm up, but could not wait
any longer. The guy did a great draw on the first stab. I waited until 9:30 to
go, so I was starving as my last food was about 7pm last night. I then got gas
at Sam’s as the little red light was on. When I got home, I had a message from
the Kidney office, explaining that I needed to do the draw now, due to the
holiday closings before my appointment on the 31st. I called to let
them know that I did it today and the receptionist was happy I called. I then
had a nice brunch.
One of our councilmen
does a daily podcast about Flagstaff. Today there were interesting questions
and discussion about ‘Should University students be able to vote in local
elections?’. Back in the day I had to wait to be 21 to vote, so the issues were
new to me. An ultraconservative state legislature from our area explained why
he thinks they shouldn’t. Most college students live in the college town,
Flagstaff, during each semester, but go back ‘home’ during breaks and after
graduation. His bill would say they should get an absentee ballot for their ‘home’
where they live when not in school. Certainly, college students have to pay
local taxes and our town has huge tax on everything and can say they are being
taxed without representation. There are concerns about the lack of affordable
housing in our town, and they should be able to vote for people who will address
this long-standing issue. It certainly raised some important questions. I doubt
this will every become law, but will have to pay close attention to the issue.
Flag will join many
other places with an Impeach Now rally at 5p.
Today’s Puzzle
Answer at the bottom of this page
What is the next
letter: W I T N ... ?
Historical Events
1271
Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元
yuán), marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China
1620
- The British ship Mayflower docked at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and
its passengers prepared to begin their new settlement, Plymouth Colony.
Passenger William Bradford became the first governor of the colony.
1787 - New Jersey
became the 3rd state.
1799
George Washington's body interred at Mount Vernon
1839
- John William Draper took a daguerreotype of the moon, the first celestial
photograph made in the US.
1865 - The 13th
Amendment went into effect, abolishing slavery in the US.
1878 - Joseph Swan
demonstrated his carbon filament electric light, almost a year before Edison.
1892 - The premiere
performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg,
Russia.
1961 - Based on an
African sing called 'Mbube' - The Lion Sleeps Tonight
was the # 1 song on the billboard Charts. It is probably the most well-known
doo-wop song of all time. (#1)
1968 - Chitty Chitty
Bang Bang was released. It was based on Ian Fleming's book of the same name.
1977 - George and
Kathleen Lutz purchased their new home at their home at 112 Ocean Avenue in
Amityville New York. Their 28-day adventure in the home was dramatically
portrayed in the 1977 book and 1979 film, The Amityville Horror.
1982 - #1 Hit : Daryl Hall and John Oates -
Maneater
1987 - Moonstruck,
Broadcast News, Eddie Murphy Raw, *batteries not included, Overboard, Ironweed
and Leonard Part 6 debuted in theaters.
1996 - The Oakland,
California school board unanimously passed a resolution for the incorporating
of Ebonics in the classroom.
1997 - Comedian Chris
Farley died from a drug overdose, at the age of 33.
1997 - HTML 4.0 was
published by the World Wide Web Consortium.
1998 - The Prince of
Egypt and You've Got Mail were released in theaters.
2002
Fashion designer Calvin Klein announces he is selling his company to
shirt-maker Phillips-Van Heusen for $430 million
2002 - The Lord of the
Rings: The Two Towers debuted in theaters.
2010 - #1 Hit: Katy Perry - Firework
2013 - A&E
suspended Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson for comments he made regarding
homosexuality and the civil rights era in an interview with GQ magazine. He was
reinstated on December 27.
2018 Meteor explodes
in huge fireball over the Bering Sea with 10 times the energy of Hiroshima
atomic bomb , 2nd largest in last 30 yrs.
Birthdays Today
95 - Cicely Tyson,
America actress
@87 - Ossie Davis,
American actor
(died in 2005)
@78 - Willy Brandt,
German politician
(died in 1992; colon cancer)
76 - Keith Richards,
English singer-songwriter
@74 - Joseph Stalin,
Georgian-Russian politician, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union
(died in 1953; stroke)
73 - Steven Spielberg,
American director, producer, and screenwriter
66 - Elliot Easton, Cars;
guitarist and singer
65 - Ray Liotta,
American actor
@59 - Joseph Grimaldi,
English clown, known as "The Greatest Clown in History"
(died in 1837)
56 - Brad Pitt,
American actor
51 - Casper Van Dien,
American actor
@50 - Archduke Franz
Ferdinand of Austria
(died in 1914; assassinated)
49 - DMX (Earl
Simmons), American rapper
41 - Katie Holmes,
American actress
39 - Christina
Aguilera, American singer-songwriter
Puzzle answer:
The letter L: (W)hat (I)s (T)he (N)ext
(L)etter.
