Feb 15

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Feb. 15, 2020 Week: 7  Day: 46

86004:   H 54° \ L 22° \ Average Sky Cover: 30%

Nearest lightning:  1669mi.; Nearest active fire:  517mi. 

Wind:   5mph\Gusts:  12mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 65°[1996]   Record Low: -10°[1942]

Feb. Averages: 47°\19° (5 days with moisture)

Today’s LOVE Quote

When love is in excess it brings a man

no honor nor worthiness.

Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

Random Tidbits

The roots of St. Valentine's Day can be traced back to the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia. On Lupercalia, a young man would draw the name of a young woman in a lottery and would then keep the woman as a companion for the year.

On February 14, 1929, seven members of the North Side Gang in Chicago, plus gang collaborators Reinhardt H. Schwimmer and John May, were lined up against the rear inside wall of a garage and executed as part of a Prohibition-era conflict. This brutal gang murder became known as the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre.

Observations This Week

Children of Alcoholics Week: 9-15 Link 
International Flirting Week: 9-15 
Jell-O Week: 9-15 
Love a Mensch Week: 9-15
National Secondhand Wardrobe Week: 9-15
Freelance Writer Appreciation Week: 10-15
American Association For The Advancement of Science Week: 13-16  Link
Date (Fruit) Week: 14-23
Great Backyard Bird Count: 14-17 Link
National Condom Week: 14-21 Link
National Nestbox Week: 14-21
NCCDP Alzheimer's & Dementia Staff Education Week: 14-21
National Entrepreneurship Week: 15-22 Link
National FFA Week: 15-22 Link 

Observations for Today

Angelman Syndrome Day Link
Annoy Squidward Day (aka Your Boss) Link
Candlemas

Love Reset Day
Lupercalia
National Chewing Gum Day

National Gum Drop Day  Link
National Hippo Day Link
Remember The Maine Day
Singles Awareness Day Link
Susan B Anthony Day

World Pangolin Day  Link 
World Whale Day Link

My Rambling Thoughts

Took a short walk this morning. A little too cool and windy for a long walk.

Valentine’s is also AZ’s statehood day. We became the 48^th state in 1912. The next state to be admitted was Alaska in 1959. Most people see us as the ‘hot’ state, the desert, cacti. Yeah, we have some of that but up North, where I am, we have snow, cold, forests, The Grand Canyon, 4 real seasons, and some liberal towns. So, a belated Happy Statehood day to AZ.

Graduation is a few months away for many. Graduation ceremonies have lots of tradition attached to each ceremony. For Natives, and many others, it is a time to honor tradition and celebrate the accomplishment of the student. In Pine Ridge, SD, the high school graduates receive an Eagle Feather, beaded at the end by a close relative. Here in AZ, some Natives want a beaded graduation cap. Others want to wear visible traditional jewelry. Here is AZ, the state legislature has introduced a bill that would prohibit school boards at high schools and community colleges from banning traditional ‘regalia’ at graduation ceremonies. I find it sad, that in 2020, such a law is even necessary.  I find it awesome to see students representing their cultural traditions at such an important event. Back in the day, at Shonto and Tonalea the eighth-grade students all dressed in Navajo Traditional regalia for graduation. As the years passed, 8^th grade promotion was not that big an affair and the cost of traditional regalia became too much for many families. Times change, but I am happy to see the choice returning.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

I have a little house in which I live all alone. It has no doors or windows, and if I want to go out, I must break through the wall. What am I?

Historical Events

1758 - Mustard was first advertised for sale in America, by Benjamin Jackson, in Philadelphia, PA.

1764 - The city of St. Louis was established in Spanish Louisiana (now in Missouri, USA).

1879 - US President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.

1898 - An explosion sank the battleship USS Maine in Cuba's Havana harbor, killing 260 of the fewer than 400 American crew members aboard, sparking the Spanish-American war.

1903 - The first Teddy Bear was introduced in Brooklyn, NY.

1932 - George Burns and Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on The Guy Lombardo Show on CBS radio.

1933 President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt survives assassination attempt but Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak is mortally wounded, he would die on March 29

1950 - Disney's Cinderella cartoon feature opened in theaters. It was one of the biggest films of the year, and was theatrically re-released several times- 1957, 1965, 1973, 1981 and 1987.

1953 - The first American to win the women’s world figure skating championship was 17-year-old Tenley Albright.

1958 - # 1 Hit: Elvis Presley - Don't / I Beg Of You

1961 - The whole 18-member U.S. figure skating team was killed in a plane crash in Berg-Kampenhout, Belgium. The team was on its way to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

1965 - The red and white maple leaf was designed as the new flag of Canada. Prior to that, the official flag was Britain's Union Jack.

1975 - # 1 Hit: Linda Ronstadt - You're No Good

1986 - # 1 Hit: Whitney Houston - How Will I Know

2001 - The first draft of the complete human genome was published in Nature.

2003 - It was estimated that between 8,000,000-30,000,000 people in 600 cities worldwide... the protest of the Iraq War was the largest protest in the history of the world.

2005 - YouTube was activated online.

2011 US President Barack Obama awards writer and activist Maya Angelou the Presidential Medal of Freedom

 2013 - A meteor exploded in the sky over Russia's Ural Mountains, near Chelyabinsk, shattering glass and setting off car alarms for miles. Also, asteroid DA14 came within 18,000 miles of Earth.

2019 US President Donald Trump declares a national emergency to divert funds to build a border wall, after signing bipartisan spending agreement to avoid another government shutdown

Birthdays Today

@90 - Charles Lewis Tiffany, American jeweler (died in 1902)

@86 - Susan B. Anthony, American suffragist and activist (died in 1906)

@86 - Cesar Romero, American actor (died in 1994)

@81 - Harvey Korman, American comedic actor (died in 2008)

@77 - John Sutter, owned the property that started The Calfornia Gold Rush (died in 1880)

@77 - Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer, physicist, and mathematician (died in 1642)

@73 - Henry E. Steinway, German-American businessman, founded Steinway & Sons (died in 1871)

69 - Jane Seymour, English-American actress

66- Matt Groening, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (The Simpsons, Futurama)

@33 - Chris Farley, American comedic actor (died in 1997; OD)

Puzzle Answer:

A chick in an egg