Feb 16

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Feb. 16, 2020 Week: 8  Day: 47

86004:   H 55° \ L 27° \ Average Sky Cover: 10%

Nearest lightning:  1933mi.; Nearest active fire:  517mi. 

Wind:   7mph\Gusts:  7mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 70°[1977]   Record Low: -3°[1990]

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

Today’s LOVE Quote

There is always some madness in love.

But there is also always some reason in madness.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Random Tidbits

The first hydro-electric power plant in the U.S., installed at Niagara Falls, was designed by Tesla. The current from the hydro-electric power plant was used to power the city of Buffalo, New York.

This achievement made the use of alternating current quite famous throughout the world.

Observations This Week

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 
Build A Better Trade Show Image Week: 16-23
National Engineers Week: 16-22
Brotherhood / Sisterhood Week: 16-22 Link
Random Acts of Kindness Week: 16-23 Link

Observations for Today

Daytona 500
Do a Grouch a Favor Day

Kyoto Protocol Day Link
National Almond Day  Link
National Buna Day Link

My Rambling Thoughts

Great Saturday. Went out of a walk, met a neighbor doing the same, took a nice long walk. Good conversation.

For many, the cell phone has become part of their life. One of the better apps is Google Maps. It took over the market when the Apple Maps app was sending people to the wrong place…like the middle of a river. Google Maps has about 80% of the market worldwide. It was recently disclosed that Google Maps depends on what country you live in. For example, if you live in Pakistan and pull up the map, all the disputed territory with India is part of Pakistan. If you live in India, the disputed territory is part of India. The same is true for Crimea and Russia. In Japan, they see the Sea of Japan, while in China they see the East Sea or East China Sea. On maps outside the disputed areas, the maps show a dotted line to show it is disputed. Google claims this is simply to help locals recognize places by their local name. Seems like Google should tell people what they are doing. It is much like the textbook publishers who give Yankees the history of the Civil War, while giving Rebels the history of Northern Aggression. Remember the time a few years ago when truth was truth and lies were lies?

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

A man was found dead next to a 13-story building. The police say it was a suicide, but you say it was a homicide (someone killed him). To prove this, you go to each floor on the building, open the window, and toss a penny out. You do this to each floor until you reach the 13th floor, open the window, and toss a penny out. How does this prove it wasn't a suicide?

Historical Events

1852 - Studebaker Brothers wagon company was established.

1883 - Ladies Home Journal magazine began publication.

1894 - Gunslinger John Wesley Hardin is pardoned after spending 15 years in a Texas prison for murder. Hardin shot and killed a man just for snoring, by firing through the wall at the sleeping snorer.

1923 - Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

1959 - Fidel Castro was sworn in as prime minister of Cuba after leading a Communist guerrilla campaign that forced dictator Fulgencio Batista into exile.

1960 - The U.S.S. Triton began the first circumnavigation of the globe under water, and finished on May 10.

1964 - The Beatles appeared in the Ed Sullivan Show for the second time.

1968 - Haleyville, Alabama was the first town to use the 911 emergency number.

1980 - # 1 Hits: Captain & Tennille - Do That to Me One More Time

1983 - The Ash Wednesday brushfires in Southern Australia took the lives of 71 people, becoming Australia's worst fire ever.

1985 - # 1 Hit: Wham! featuring George Michael - Careless Whisper

1992 Ethiopia finds the remains of former Emperor Haile Selassie on the grounds of the Imperial Palace, under the private lavatory of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, who overthrew the Emperor

2005 - The National Hockey League canceled the entire 2004-2005 regular season and playoffs.

2006 - The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) was decommissioned by the United States Army

2016 China announces it will relocate 9,000 people in Guizhou province, before completion of world's largest telescope (FAST), designed to look for extraterrestrial life

2019 Pope Francis defrocks ex-cardinal and archbishop of Washington Theodore McCarrick for sexually abusing minors and adults. First Cardinal to be removed for sexual abuse.

Birthdays Today

@89 - Henry M. Leland, American engineer and businessman, founded Cadillac and Lincoln (died in 1932)

@75 - Edgar Bergen, American actor and ventriloquist (died in 1978; kidney disease)

@70 – Kim Jong-iI, Korean Dicatator (d. 2011; suspected heart attack)

@67 - Robert Joseph Flaherty, American 'Father of the Documentary Film' (died in 1951)

63 - LeVar Burton, German-born American actor, director, and producer

62 - Ice-T (Tracy Lauren Marrow), American rapper and actor

@62 - Salvatore Phillip Sonny Bono, American actor, singer, and politician (died in 1998; ski accident)

59 - Andy Taylor, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Duran, Duran)

@42 - Margaux Hemingway, American model and actress (died in 1996; suicide)

38 - Lupe Fiasco, American rapper

Puzzle Answer:

If the man committed suicide, he would've left the window open and you wouldn't have had to open it.