Jun 27

 

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Jun 27, 2020 Week: 26 Day: 179

86004:   H 85° \ L 50° \ Average Sky Cover: 20%

Wind:   2mph\Gusts:  2mph  Visibility:  10mi

Nearest lightning:  189mi.; Nearest active fire:  100mi. 

Extreme Risk of Fire          

Record High: 94°[1974]   Record Low: 20°[1975]

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

Today’s  Quote

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count.

It's the life in your years."

-Abraham Lincoln

Random Tidbits

 Even if you don't know exactly how fast light travels, you know it moves pretty darn fast. But how fast exactly? Well, that depends on what it's moving through. If it's moving through a vacuum it's speed is 186,280 miles/second. Through clear glass it travels at about 124,000 miles/second.

But what is the slowest light has ever been clocked at?

Light doesn't necessarily travel at the speed of light. The slowest light has ever been recorded moving at is 38 mph. Although that was through an ultracold gas of sodium atoms.

The gas was cooled to nanokelvin temperatures by laser and evaporative cooling, causing the light pulses propagate at twenty million times slower than the speed of light in a vacuum.

Have a smile

Thanks to one of my readers

"It’s true hard work never killed anybody,

but I figure, why take the chance?”

– Ronald Reagan

Remember these movie quotes?

88. "Listen to me, mister. You're my knight in shining armor. Don't you forget it. You're going to get back on that horse, and I'm going to be right behind you, holding on tight, and away we're gonna go, go, go!" Katharine Hepburn On Golden Pond 1981

Observations This Week

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
National Insect Week: 22-28
National Pollinator Week: 22-28  Link 
Old Time Fiddlers Week: 22-27 (3rd Week)  Link Cancelled due to COVID-19
American Library Week: 25-30
Watermelon Thump Seed Spitting Week: 25-28 Link  Cancelled due to COVID-19
North American Organic Brewers Days: 26-28 Link   August 4.
Water Ski Days: 26-28 
*National Prevention of Eye Injuries Awareness: 27 -7/4
Tour de France: 27-7/19  Link  Moved to August due to COVID-19

Observations for Today

ARRL (American Radio Relay League) Field Day: thru 28 Link 
Decide To Be Married Day
Great American Backyard Campout 
"Happy Birthday To You" Day
Helen Keller Day

Industrial Workers of The World Day
Micro-, Small-, And Medium-Sized Enterprises Day
National Haskap Berry Day
National HIV Testing Day Link
National Onion Day Link
National Orange Blossom Day

National Sunglasses Day  Link  Link
PTSD Awareness Day Link
Summersgiving Link 
Sun Glasses Day

Tour de France- Thru 7/19

My Rambling Thoughts

It’s another warm day. Headed out to Sam’s early for some weekly shopping. Did not see one person unmasked. People are listening.

The annual events on the Navajo Rez are fairs. Each of the five regions has their own, and the Nation hosts another. It is a time for family and friends to gather, catch up on changes, enjoy a parade, traditional food, a carnival, a rodeo,  and lots of traditional activities. This year all events have been cancelled due to the virus. It is a sad, but very prudent move. The fairs usually start on the 4^th of July and take place on various weekends until Columbus (Indigenous People’s) Day. I went to the Western (Tuba City) fair every year I was on the Rez.

The AZ Governor has stated the large political rallies without masks are hunky dory…it’s their right to free assembly. In the same speech he says bars that don’t require masks will be fined and may lose their liquor license. Talk about mixed messages.

Amtrak has been dropping off and picking up travelers twice a day here in Flagstaff on their Chicago to LA run for over 40 years. Due to decreased travel because of Covid, beginning October 1 until late 2021 they will have only 3 runs a week. In a typical year, about 42,000 passengers debark at the Flagstaff stop. Guess that number will be much smaller this year, which will hurt local businesses.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

A wealthy man had an important flight the next day.  Early that morning his security guard tells the man not to take the plane because he just had a dream that the plane would crash.  The security guard then leaves as it is the end of his shift.

The wealthy man took the advice of his security guard and traveled by train instead.  Once he arrives at his destination, he learns the plane did in fact crash.  He then fires his security guard.

Why did he fire the security guard?

Historical Events

1556 - The thirteen Stratford Martyrs were burned at the stake near London for their Protestant beliefs.

1792 - Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn is coined as the first person to use the term "Canadian", in an attempt to break up a fight between a group of English and French settlers at a polling station.

1844 - Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Mormons, and his brother Hyrum Smith, were murdered by a mob at the Carthage, Illinois jail.

1898 - The first solo circumnavigation of the globe was completed by Joshua Slocum from Briar Island, Nova Scotia.

1949 - The first sci-fi TV show, Captain Video and His Video Rangers debuted. 1966 - ABC's Dark Shadows premiered.

1976 - Air France Flight 139 (Tel Aviv-Athens-Paris) was hijacked en route to Paris by the PLO and redirected to Entebbe, Uganda.

1985 - US Route 66 was officially removed from the United States Highway System.

2001 Pope John Paul II beatifies 28 Ukrainian Greek Catholics, including 27 martyrs most of whom were killed by the Soviet secret police. Beatification takes place at the service in Lviv, western Ukraine during his first visit to this country.

2005 AMD files broad antitrust complaints against Intel Corporation in U.S. Federal District Court, alleging abuse of monopoly powers and antitrust violations.

2008 Bill Gates steps down as Chairman of Microsoft Corporation to work full time for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

2017 Mark Zuckerberg announces Facebook has reached 2 billion monthly users

2018 Malaysian police announce seizure of goods linked to former prime minister Najib Razak, worth $273 million, biggest in the country's history, including 567 handbags and 14 tiaras

2018 Democrat Representative Joseph Crowley is defeated in New York Primary election by liberal challenger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

2019 US Supreme Court rules the Constitution doesn't prohibit partisan gerrymandering, allowing a ruling party to redraw electoral boundaries

Birthdays Today

@87-Blind/Deaf Activist Helen Keller
71-Designer Vera Wang

54-Director JJ Abrams

45-Actor Tobey Maguire

Puzzle Answer

Because the security guard was sleeping on his shift.