Aug 14

 

☼☼☼

FYI: Any Blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Aug 14, 2020 Week: 33 Day: 227

86004:   H 88° \ L 51° \ Average Sky Cover: 40%

Wind:   3mph\Gusts:  10mph  Visibility:  10mi

Nearest lightning:  15mi.; Nearest active fire:  59mi. 

High Risk of Fire          

Record High: 89°[2002]   Record Low: 33°[1976]

Jul Averages: 79°\50° (9 days with rain)

☼☼☼

Today’s  Quote

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all."

-Helen Keller

☼☼☼

Random Tidbits

 The ferret was domesticated several thousand years ago to help hunters flush rabbits from their holes and also to catch small animals such as rats and mice.

Today, the ferret is the most popular companion mammal in the U.S. behind the dog and cat.

Ferrets belong to the weasel (Mustelidae) family. Besides weasels and ferrets, this group of animals also includes minks, otters, and badgers as well as polecats and sables.

☼☼☼

A little humor

Las Vegas: All the amenities of modern society in a habitat unfit to grow a tomato.

**

Traveling outside Taos, a man comes upon a Native American lying in the middle of the road with his ear pressed against the blacktop. “What are you doing?” asks the man.

The tribesman replies, “Woman, late 30s, three kids, one barking dog in late model, four-door station wagon, traveling at 65 mph.”

“Amazing! You can tell all of that just by listening to the ground?”

“No,” says the Native American. “They ran over me five minutes ago.”

☼☼☼

State Name Origins

Idaho, a state made famous in a B-52s song, may sound like a Native American name, but the word is made up. "Idaho" was created by mining lobbyist George M. Willing, who insisted it was a Native American Shoshone expression meaning "gem of the mountains" for the area around Pike's Peak. By the time it was discovered the name was phoney, it was already being used.

The Prairie State gets its official name from Native Americans. Illinois comes from "Illiniwek," which is what the Illini people were called. The name means "best people." Illinois is the spelling we use for the indigenous people the French explorers encountered in the region in the late 17th century.

☼☼☼

Observations This Week

Sturgis Rally: 7-16 Link 
Elvis Week: 8-16 Link
Assistance Dog Week: 9-15  Link  Link 
National Motorcycle Week: 9-16 Link 
Feeding Pets of the Homeless Week: 9-16 Link  Link  
National Resurrect Romance Week:9-16 
Weird Contest Week: 9-16 
Safe and Sound Week: 10-16 Link
US Amateur Golf Week: 10-16
Pueblo Revolt, New Mexico  Aug10-20, 1680

National Aviation Week: 15-21  

☼☼☼

Observations for Today

Creamsicle Day

Kool-Aid Days Link  
Military Marriage Day Link
National Navajo Code Talkers Day
Shop Online For Groceries Day 
V-J Day
World Calligraphy Day Link

☼☼☼

My Rambling Thoughts

No moisture yesterday, but weather guy says probably today. Hopeful.

This is high fire season. We have been lucky, so far. Coconino National Forest is concerned. Open fire restrictions are back in place after a 3-week hiatus. No moisture has consequences.

I took many classes while working on my Master’s. Several dealt with race, minorities, and assimilation. I have to admit I’m a tad confused. Kamala Harris identifies herself as African American, but her lineage is Indian (from India) and Jamaican. While about 90% of Jamaicans have African ancestry, it just seems odd to me that she does not claim Jamaican.  It really does not really matter. I am excited to hear more about the Democratic plan for defeating Trump and for the path they want to put America back on.

I listened to an interesting interview on NPR. It was regarding the opening of public schools in the US this fall. The districts are being given ‘suggestions’ on how to open the schools. Each one has a phrase like ‘when possible’.  The doctor being interviewed believed that the government should be giving a ‘playbook’ on opening schools. Science should be determining the necessary criteria to open schools. Science does not us terms like ‘when possible’. Can you imagine a scientist telling an orbiting astronaut to wear a space suit when you leave the space capsule, whenever possible. This virus has never been studied before. Mistakes will be made. Lessons should be learned. A playbook can change after new information is found. Suggestions is not now, nor will they ever be satisfactory.

☼☼☼

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

What belongs to you but other people use it more than you do?

☼☼☼

Historical Events

1888 – An audio recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan’s “The Lost Chord”, one of the first recordings of music ever made, was played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison’s phonograph in London, England.

1893 – France became the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration.

1933 – Oxydol’s Own Ma Perkins debuted on Cincinnati’s WLW and became the first successful national radio soap opera.

1935 – Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act.

1945 – Japan accepted the Allied terms of surrender in World War II. V-J Day.

1959 – Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League.

1975 – The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the longest-running release in film history, opened at the USA Theatre in Westwood, Los Angeles, California.

1980 – Lech Walesa led the first strike at the Gdansk, Poland shipyards.

1994 – Inside The Actors Studio made its debut on Bravo

2010 – The first-ever Youth Olympic Games were held in Singapore.

2013 – Egypt declared a state of emergency as security forces killed hundreds of demonstrators supporting former president Mohamed Morsi.

2017 US President Donald Trump condemns racist violence at the White House after criticism of his earlier response to Charlottesville violence

2017 Cholera has now infected more than 500,000 people in Yemen and killed over 2,000 according to the World Health Organisation

2018 2.3 million estimated Venezuelans have left crisis-hit Venezuela since 2015 according to the UN

2019 "It is raining plastic," survey published, plastic found in 90% of rain samples taken in Colorado by the US Department of the Interior and US Geological Survey

☼☼☼

Birthdays Today

@90 – [Armando Joseph ]Buddy Greco, American singer, and pianist (d. 2017)

@84 – Alice Ghostley, American character actress (d. 2007)

79 – David Crosby, American singer-songwriter

75 – Steve Martin, American actor, comedian and screenwriter

74 – Susan Saint James, American actress

74 – Danielle Steel, American author

70 – Gary Larson, American cartoonist, The Far Side

61 – Earvin Magic Johnson, American basketball player

54 – Halle Berry, American model, and actress, Miss World United States 1986

52 – Catherine Bell, English-American actress

37 – Mila Kunis, Ukrainian-American actress

@36 – Doc Holliday, American dentist, and gambler (d. 1887; TB)

33 – Tim Tebow, American football and baseball player

☼☼☼

Puzzle Answer

Your name

☼☼☼