Jun 21

 

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Jun 21, 2020 Week: 26 Day: 173

86004:   H 85° \ L 47° \ Average Sky Cover: 25% Smoky

Wind:   5mph\Gusts:  7mph  Visibility:  10mi

Nearest lightning:  506mi.; Nearest active fire:  83mi. 

Extreme Risk of Fire          

Record High: 92°[1936]   Record Low: 25°[1972]

Jun Averages: 80°\43° (3 days with rain)

Today’s  Quote

 I love being wrong because

that means in an instant,

I learned something new that day

Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Random Tidbits

 The summer solstice isn't exclusive to Earth

All the planets in our solar system have summer solstices. Mars's solstice occurs a few days after Earth's in June. On Uranus, the summer solstice happens once every 84 years. The next one will occur on October 9, 2069. Each season lasts for 21 years. Talk about a never-ending winter!

"Solstice" comes from the Latin word for "sun stand still" because the sun will reach its highest point at noon on that day and briefly appear not to move.

In northern Europe, the summer solstice is often referred to as Midsummer, while Wiccans and other Neopagan groups call it Litha. Some Christian churches recognize the summer solstice as St. John's Day to commemorate the birth of John the Baptist.

According to pagan folklore, evil spirits would appear on the summer solstice. To ward them off, people would wear protective garlands of herbs and flowers. One of the most powerful of these plants was known as "chase devil," today referred to as St. John's Wort.

If you are somewhere in the Tropic of Cancer during the solstice, you'll note that at the stroke of noon, you won't see any shadows. That's because that is the precise time when the sun is directly overhead at a 90-degree angle to the earth.

 

While the Northern Hemisphere receives more sunlight on the summer solstice than on any other day of the year, that doesn't mean the first day of summer is also the hottest. Even though the planet absorbs a lot of sunlight on the summer solstice, it takes several weeks to release it. As a result, the hottest days usually occur in July or August.

Another popular misconception is that during the summer solstice, Earth is the closest it can get to the sun. In reality, the planet reaches this point, also called the perihelion, about two weeks after the winter solstice. On the summer solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is actually near the furthest point from the sun or the aphelion.

Plains Indians in Wyoming tracked astronomical events

Have a smile

Thanks to one of my readers

"I live by my own rules

(reviewed, revised, and approved by my wife)…

but still my own.”
– Si Robertson

Observations This Week

Meet A Mate Week: 15-21
Men's Health Week: 15-21 Link   Link 
US Open Golf Championship: 15-21 Note: Canceled due to the COVID19
National Week of Making: 17-23  Link
National Nursing Assistants Week: 18-25  Link

Carpenter Ant Awareness Week: 21-27 
Fish Are Friends, Not Food! Week: 21-27 Link  
Lightning Safety Awareness Week: 21-27 Link   
Nat'l Craft Spirits Week: 21-27 Link Canceled due to COVID-19
National Mosquito Control Awareness Week: 21-27 Link
Universal Father's Week: 21-27  
Windjammer Days: 21-27 Link Cancelled due to COVID-19

Observations for Today

Atheists Solidarity Day Link
Cuckoo Warning Day 
Daylight Appreciation Day

Dollars Against Diabetes Day(s) Link

Father's Day  Link Link
Family Awareness Day 
Global Orgasm Day Link 
Go Skateboarding Day Link
Husband Caregiver Day
International Day of Yoga  Link
Make Music Day Link
National Daylight Appreciation Day
National Day of The Gong 
National Peaches & Cream Day

National Sea Shell Day  Link
National Selfie Day Link
National Turkey Lovers Day

Tall Girl Appreciation Day 
Turkey Lovers Day  Link 
World Giraffe Day  Link
World Handshake Day Link 
World Humanist Day
World Hydrography Day  Link
World Music Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Happy Father’s Day. My dad has been gone for since 1994. He lived 80 years, was a Navy and Army vet, married his HS sweetheart, adopted my brother and I, kept working until he was in his late 70’s, and watched over the family. My brother and I will always remember the great times.

Our sun is being partially  blocked by smoke from the fires so far away. It looks like we are having an eclipse today. AZ currently has 11wildfires covering over 448 square miles. Thousands have been evacuated. Every year there are more fires to deal with here in AZ.

While we are dealing with the smoke, the gulf states will soon be dealing with a huge dust storm from the Sahara Desert that will deteriorate air quality. This is one of the largest in years. Every year some smaller storms work their way to the US.

During the Covid thing and the protests, Flag now has a busy tagger. He hit the Catholic Church, a code talker statue on campus, and several businesses. Our police were able to identify him and arrest him a day after the last tagging. Good for them.

To be honest, I never learned about Juneteenth in school. When I started this blog, I learned a little, but I still didn’t understand its significance. Now, thanks to Trump, I understand the reason for celebration. Never too old to learn.

Colorado is talking about renaming Columbus Day. They want it to be Mother Cabrini Day…after the Catholic Saint/Nun who cared for orphans in Colorado. When my grandfather was the groundskeeper at Marycrest Convent, he also drove them to the Shrine when out of town visitors came to Marycrest. I took several trips with them during school vacations. The nuns loved to pray and loved children.  Seems to me an odd choice…especially with the harm the Catholic Church did to Indigenous people in many countries.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

There is a room full of 100 politicians. Each one is either honest or a liar. You know to facts about these politicians:

1. At least one of them is honest.

2. If you pick any two politicians, at least one of them is a liar.

From this information, can you determine how many politicians are honest and how many are liars?

Historical Events

1834 - Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent (#X008277) for his grain reaping machine,

1877 - The Molly Maguires, ten Irish immigrants convicted of murder, were hanged in Pennsylvania prisons, in Schuylkill County and Carbon County.

1893 - The first Ferris wheel premiered at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition, and could hold up to 2000 people on 36 cars, and was 264 feet tall.

1913 - The first successful parachute jump from an airplane by a woman was made by Georgia Broadwick, age 18, over Griffith Field, Los Angeles, California.
1940 - The first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage begins at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

1948 - Columbia Records introduced the long-playing record album (33 1/3 revolutions per minute) in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, New York. The first was released in 1949 - ML 4001, Nathan Milstein performing the Mendelssohn violin concerto.

2006 - Pluto's recently discovered moons were officially named Nix and Hydra.

2012 Moody's downgrades 15 major banks in the UK, US, Canada and Europe

2012 A boat of 200 asylum seekers headed to Australia capsizes and 110 survivors are rescued

2015 Hackers ground 1400 passengers by attacking IT system at Warsaw Chopin airport in Poland

2018 Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is charged with fraud

2019 UK police called to house of leader contender Boris Johnson over alleged altercation with his girlfriend

Birthdays Today

87-Actor Bernie Kopell

69-Musician Nils Lofgren (E-Street Band, Crazy Horse)

63-Cartoonist Berkley Breathed

56-TV Actor Doug Savant 

47-Actor Juliette Lewis

44-Musician/Producer Mike Einziger

38-Prince William

Puzzle Answer

One politician is honest and 99 are liars.  We know from the facts at least one politician is honest.  If more than one was honest you could potentially pick two politicians that would both be honest.  However, fact number two tells us that at least one of the politicians would have to be a liar.