May 12

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May 12, 2020 Week: 20 Day: 133

86004: H 76° \ L 39° \ Average Sky Cover: 20%

Wind: 7mph\Gusts: 15mph Visibility: 10 mi

Nearest lightning: 111mi.; Nearest active fire: 647mi.

High Risk of Fire

Record High: 86°[1996] Record Low: 28°[1983]

May Averages: 68°\34° (3 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

"We travel, some of us forever,

to seek other states, other lives, other souls."

— Anais Nin

Random Tidbits

Before they were famous

LBJ

Future president Lyndon Johnson taught speech at a high school in Houston, where he drilled relentlessly, putting the debate team through dozens of practice competitions. But when the team lost in the state finals, Johnson was so upset that he ran to the bathroom and threw up.

Frank McCourt

“Angela’s Ashes” author Frank McCourt taught high school in New York for 30 years before he became a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer.

Observations This Week

Ramadan: 23-5/23

National Nurses Day and Week: 6-12 Link  Link
National Public Gardens Week: 8-17  Link
INVICTUS GAMES: 9-16  Link 
Universal Family Week: 10-16
Food Allergy Awareness Week: 10-16 Link
National Hospital Week: 10-16 Link
National Nursing Home Week: 10-17
National Police Week:  10-16
National Return To Work Week:  10-17
National Transportation Week: 10-16 
National Women's Health Week: 10-16 Link  Link
Reading is Fun Week:  10-17 Link 
Salute to Moms 35+ Week: 10-16 
Salvation Army Week: 10-17 
Brain Injury Awareness Week: 11-17 Link
National Etiquette Week: 11-15  
National Stuttering Awareness Week: 11-17
Work At Home Moms Week: 11-17 
American Craft Beer Week: 11-17 Link
Cannes Film Festival: 12-23 Cancelled due to COVID-19

Observations for Today

Fatigue Syndrome Day

Free Cone Day (Haagen-Dazs) Cancelled due to COVID-19
Hug Your Cat Day Link
International Awareness Day for Chronic International Nurses Day

Immunological and Neurological Diseases  Link
International Nurses Day Link   Link
Lag B'Omer
Limerick Day

Native American Rights Day
National Nutty Fudge Day Link
Odometer Day

My Rambling Thoughts

There was a nice female rain last night for at least a couple of hours. Sidewalks were still wet at 7am. It was a much needed rain and was greatly appreciated.

South Dakota's governor is in a battle with two tribes, Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River. Both tribes set up checkpoints on their reservations. Treaties and sovereignty give them control ON their reservations. The checkpoints were set up and take about a minute to fill out a form. Vehicles with legitimate business [medical, food, …] are permitted. Vehicles of non-residents are detoured around either reservation. The tribes are attempting, successfully, of keeping COVID-19 off their respective reservations. The governor of the State of South Dakota does not agree. She also doesn't seem to understand sovereignty of Natives. She has ordered that the checkpoints be removed. The tribes, with the help of a Federal judge, have refused. Hopefully this will remain in the courts and that the ignorant governor does not call in the National Guard. Good for the tribes for protecting their people.

An update from the Navajo Nation: There are over 3100 positive cases. This is the highest per capita in the US.

Everyday for the past couple of weeks, a tow truck has been driving through our parking lot. I've only seen them two one vehicle, but they return daily. Finally figured it out what is going on. Today a couple of guys were walking around changing the signs in the parking area. Our HOA has gotten a new towing company. The new signs have their name and phone number. Also list prices: Non-commercial vehicles without a permit: $195 + $35/day; Commercial vehicles without a permit: $250 + $45/day. I have lived here over a decade and have never had a problem parking close to my front door, with or without these Draconian policies. I should add that both of my closest neighbors have 3 vehicles each with parking permits. The extra permit cost each of them $85.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

What does 'Las Vegas' mean in Spanish?

The desert The meadows The wasteland

The starlight

Historical Events

1215 English barons serve ultimatum on King John which eventually leads to the creation and signing of the Magna Carta

1551 - The National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, was founded in Lima, Peru.

1789 William Wilberforce makes his first major speech on abolition in the UK House of Commons, reasoning the slave trade morally reprehensible and an issue of natural justice

1926 Airship Norge is the first vessel to fly over North Pole, lead by Roald Amundsen and piloted by Umberto Nobile

1928 Benito Mussolini ends women's rights in Italy

1932 - The body of the Lindbergh baby was found less than a mile from the Lindbergh home in Hopewell, New Jersey.

1949 1st foreign woman ambassador received in USA (Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit of India)

1984 South African prisoner Nelson Mandela sees his wife for 1st time in 22 years

1963 - Bob Dylan walked out on The Ed Sullivan Show before his planned appearance over the lyrics to the song he would perform his song Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues.

1995 - Day time soap opera As The World Turns aired its 10,000th episode

2002 Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.

2013 Pope Francis canonizes the 813 martyrs of Otranto as Saints

2019 Cuba announced more rationing of products such as rice and beans due to US trade embargo and hoarding

2015 - A train derailment in Philadelphia killed 8 people and injured over 200.

Birthdays Today

@96-Actor Katherine Hepburn (d. 2003)

91-Composer Burt Bacharach

@90-Founder of Modern Nursing Florence Nightingale (d. 1910)

@71-Comedian George Carlin (d. 2008; heart failure)

58-Singer, actress Vanessa Williams

54-Actor, producer Stephen Baldwin

42-Actor, comedian Jason Biggs

52-Skateboarder Tony Hawk

58-Actor Emilio Estevez

50-Actor Kim Fields

Puzzle Answer:

The Meadows