Dec 19

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Dec. 19, 2019 Week: 51  Day: 354

86004:   H 33° \ L 11° \ Average Sky Cover: 15%

Feels like 25°

Nearest lightning:  1557mi

Nearest active fire:  468mi.  

Wind:   6mph\Gusts:  9mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 62°[1958]   Record Low: -14°[1928]

Dec. Averages: 44°\17° (5 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

“Tell me and I’ll forget.

Show me, and I may not remember.

Involve me, and I’ll understand.”

~ Native American Proverb

Popularized by Ben Franklin

Observances This Week

3-24

Andisop (Meterological Fiddling)  Link

14-1/5

Christmas Bird Count Week Link 

14-28

Halcyon Days 

(Always 7 days before and 7 days after the Winter Solstice)

15-21

Gluten-free Baking Week Link 

16-20

Cookie Exchange Week

16-24

Posadas

17-23

Saturnalia

Observances for Today

Free Shipping Day  Link 
Look for an Evergreen Day

National Hard Candy Day

National Oatmeal Muffin Day

National Re-gifting Day  Link

My Rambling Thoughts

Merry Christmas,

Happy Holidays, and

Happy New Year.

I picked up my Mexican Pecos from the bank today. I’m almost ready. This is my last post until I return, since I have packing and stuff to do tomorrow.

Last Friday I ordered my new CPAP stuff. They said they would call when they have them. They never called, so I called this morning. The lady I called on Friday is the same lady I talked to today. She said she couldn’t find my supplies. I told I was leaving the country for Christmas and was not happy that my order wasn’t filled. I said I expect more. Her response was: Don’t shoot the messenger. I said thank you and hung up. I called the main office in Prescott. They apologized for the messenger’s inappropriate comment and asked for the date I would return. I gave it to them and they promised the stuff would be waiting for me when I returned. Then apologized again for the issue, wished me a Merry Christmas. I’ll be fine using the stuff a few more weeks.

We hear a lot about refugees here in the US. Both political parties have much to say. Here is a new fact I just found: The US is the 17^th highest with refugees in 2018. We took in 313,182 or 0.1% of our population. This is an 18.8% increase between 2013 and 2018. The main source of refugees is China.

Turns out Turkey in the #1 country accepting refugees. In 2018 they accepted 4.4% of their total population. This is a +503.6% between 2013-2018. The main source of refugees is Syrian Arab Republic.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

Which word does not fit in this list:

cop        chop          crop           shop          or drop?

Historical Events

1606 - Three ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery left England carrying settlers who founded, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.

1642 4 of Abel Tasman's crew killed at Wharewharangi (Murderers) Bay by Māori; Tasman's ships depart without landing

1732 - Benjamin Franklin published the first edition of Poor Richard's Almanack, in Philadelphia.

1843 - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was published.

1871 - Samuel Clemens received a patent (# 121,992) for "An Improvement in Adjustable and Detachable Garment Straps", a type of cumberbun/belt.

1903 - The Williamsburg Bridge, was opened in New York City.

1907 - A coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania, killed 239 workers; there was one survivor, Joseph Mapleton, in the Darr Mine Disaster.

1924 - The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, the first 'Best Car in the World', was sold in London, England.

1930 - The first autogyro pilot to carry a passenger was Amelia Earhart, at Pitcairn Field, Willow Grove, PA.

1932 - BBC World Service began broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.

1950 Tibet's Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion

1950 - Rose Marie Reid of Los Angeles, California, received a patent (#2,535,018) for a one-piece bathing suit "embodying a novel construction for causing it to snugly fit the body of a wearer in a flattering manner," using elastic fabric.

1957 - Broadway Show - The Music Man (Musical)

1964 - #1 Hit: The Supremes - Come See About Me

1974 -The Altair 8800 microcomputer was put on sale in the U.S. as a do-it-yourself computer kit, for $397.

1974 Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States

1984 Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration to transfer Hong Kong back to China in 1997

1985 - Mary Lund of Minnesota became the first woman to receive a Jarvik VII artificial heart in Minneapolis.

1986 USSR frees dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile

1986 - Platoon and Little Shop of Horrors debuted in theaters.

1997 - Titanic, now the second-largest grossing film to date, premiered in theaters.

1998 - President Bill Clinton was charged with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton, the second president in American history to be impeached, vowed to finish his term. His lie was about an affair with 21-year-old intern, Monica Lewinsky.

2007 The Lakotah people, a Native American tribe, proclaim independence and withdraw all their treaties with the United States. Establish the Republic of Lakotah, as a separate country.

2018 US President Donald Trump announces victory over the Islamic State and planned withdrawal of US troops from Syria

2016 US electoral collage votes 304 to 227 to nominate Donald Trump for President over the objections of seven faithless electors

Birthdays Today

87 - Lola Hendricks, American civil rights activist

     (died in 2013)

@75 - Leonid Brezhnev, Ukrainian-Russian marshal, engineer, and politician, 4th Head of State of the Soviet Union

      (died in 1982; heart attack)

75 - Tim Reid, American actor

75 - Richard Leakey, Kenyan Anthropologist

@74 - Maurice White, American singer-songwriter

      (died in 2016; Parkinson’s)

67 - Walter Murphy, American composer; TV theme songs

56 - Jennifer Beals, American actress

@55 - Robert Urich, American actor

      (died in 2002; cancer)

52 - Criss Angel ,

     Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos

     (Greek: Χριστόφορος Νικόλαος Σαραντάκος

     American magician

48 - Tyson Beckford, American model and actor

@47 - Édith Piaf, French singer-songwriter actress

      (died in 1963; liver disease)

47 - Alyssa Milano, American actress

39 - Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor

32 - Ronan Farrow, American journalist

Puzzle answer:

The word 'or' is the only one that doesn't end with 'op'.