May 31

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May 31, 2020 Week: 23 Day: 152

86004: H 85° \ L 50° \ Average Sky Cover: 75%

Wind: 10mph\Gusts: 23mph Visibility: 10 mi

Nearest lightning: 35mi.; Nearest active fire: 147mi.

Extreme Risk of Fire

Record High: 89°[2002] Record Low: 23°[1988]

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

Today’s Quote

"Never let the fear of striking out

keep you from playing the game."

-Babe Ruth

Random Tidbits

Peter the Great kept the head of his wife’s lover in her bedroom

Once Peter the Great discovered his wife Catherine’s unfaithfulness to their marriage with William Mons, the ruler had the man beheaded. He asked that the head of William be placed in a jar with alcohol. It was required that the jar remains in Catherine’s bedroom until Peter’s death so that she could be constantly reminded of her affair.

Observations This Week

National Backyard Games Week: 25-6/1
Week of Solidarity With The People of Non-Self-Governing Territories: 25-31
Black Single Parents Week: 28-6/3
BookCon: 31 Cancelled due to COVID-19

Observations for Today

Bay to Breakers Race Link Note: Oldest Footrace in America! 9/20 
Macaroon Day

National Smile Day  Link Cancelled due to COVID-19
Necrotizing Fasciitis Awareness Day Link Link
Pentecost
Save Your Hearing Day

What You Think Upon Grows Day
WhitSunday
World No Tobacco Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Another very warm day here. Clouds are helping and bringing hope for moisture.

What a great launch live. So many on-board cameras. Awesome.

I was fortunate enough to have visited Hong Kong with Focus a few years ago. Lots of changes since our visit. Now Trump says that Hong Kong is Chinese because China broke the treaty. Hong Kong and its citizens have had special consideration in trade and travel since they were turned over to China. Those considerations are now gone. Not a message I was happy to hear. In the same speech he pulled US funding from the WHO right in the Codid19 world-wide pandemic. Not happy with that one either.

Yesterday the main road in East Flag was closed for the day. All three High schools had a car parade for their grads. Each principal stood on the road and handed each graduate their diploma as the vehicle passed. Everyone was masked. Each high school had a designated time for their school's parade. Very cool!

Spring always brings demonstrations. Flagstaff had one such demonstration on the murder of George Floyd. About 100 peaceful demonstrators were at city hall then moved to the town square center. Other towns and cities have not been so lucky. It is important to remember there is a difference between a demonstration and those outsiders who are looting and burning down buildings. Sadly there are people who see looting and burning the way to show their disapproval. City leaders are saying these are people from other areas, and do not represent their town or their citizens. I agree, but those cities need to identify these people and let everyone know where they came from. This has become a National Security Issue and we need leadership that will step up and correct the many underlying issues.

This morning the Lt. Gov. of Minnesota, an enrolled member of the Ojibwa Nation, gave a very moving speech calling for peace. She introduced herself to the crowd in Ojibwa before she began her speech. She has been an activist for decades and was telling the citizens that they should stay home and not demonstrate so that the people inciting violence can be arrested. The state wants peaceful demonstrations, but this is impossible right now.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

Assume there are exactly 7 billion (7,000,000,000) people alive on the planet. What would be the sum if you multiplied together the number of fingers each person had on their left hand?

For this brain teaser, all thumbs count as fingers.

Historical Events

1279 BC - Ramesses II became pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. He may have been the pharaoh involved with Moses. He was the subject of Percy Bysshe Shelly's Ozymandias. "King of Kings am I, Osymandias. If anyone would know how great I am and where I lie, let him surpass one of my works."

1223 Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River - Mongol armies of Genghis Khan lead by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus and Cumans

1578 - The Catacombs of Rome were discovered.

1790 - The United States enacted the Copyright Act of 1790.

1859 - Big Ben, located at the top London's 320-foot-high St. Stephen's Tower, began operating.

1879 Madison Square Garden opens in New York, named after 4th President James Madison

1909 National Conference on the Negro holds its first meeting in United Charities Building, New York (earlier form of the NAACP)

1911 RMS Titanic launched in Belfast

1927 - The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles. Henry took the last one home, to be with the first one and the prototype.

2005 - W. Mark Felt's family announced that assistant FBI director Felt, was in fact, 'Deep Throat' - the insider who told reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein the details about President Nixon's Watergate scandal.

2008 Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the 100m sprint, with a wind-legal (+1.7m/s) 9.72 seconds

2019 US President Donald Trump threatens to impose extra 5% tax on Mexican goods if country does not increase its efforts to curb immigration

Birthdays Today

90-Actor/Director Clint Eastwood

@85-Actor Don Ameche (d. 1993)

77-Athlete Joe Namath (1943)

77-Actor Sharon Gless (1943)

@72-Poet-Walt Whitman (d. 1892)

59-Actor Lea Thompson

44-Actor Colin Farrell

55-Actor Brooke Shields

@32-Drummer John Bonham Led Zepplin (d. 1980; alcohol OD)

Puzzle Answer:

The sum would be zero. All it would take is for one person to have no fingers on their left hand. Any number multiplied by zero equals zero.