Aug 16

 

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

Aug 16, 2020  Week: 34  Day: 229                 Local:   H 88° \ L 57° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Wind:   5mph\Gusts:  14mph                           Nearest lightning:  196mi.; active fire:  59mi. 

Extreme Risk of Fire                                      Visibility:  10mi

Record High: 89°[1939]  Record Low: 37°[1968] Aug Averages: 79°\50° (9 days with rain)

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Today’s  Quote

"Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."

-Winston Churchill

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Random Tidbits

 Scientists have described the giant pool of magma sitting just under surface of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming as a super-volcano.

Exactly how giant this super-volcano is has been the subject of much speculation until recently.

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A little humor

How can you tell if an Oklahoman is married? There’s dried chewing tobacco on both sides of his pickup truck.

Howard dies and waits in line for judgment. He notices that some souls go right into heaven, while Satan throws others into a burning pit. But every so often, instead of hurling a poor soul into the fire, the devil tosses him aside. Curious, Howard asks Satan, ”Excuse me, but why are you tossing them aside instead of flinging them into hell with the others?”

“They’re from Oregon,” Satan replies. “They’re too wet to burn.”

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State Name Origins

Kansas gets its name from the Native American Kaws or Kansa people, also a Sioux tribe. They derived the name from the Sioux word for "southwind." The Kansa people are also referred to as "people of the south wind."

There are several different theories regarding the name "Kentucky," though it has a Native American origin. Kentucky comes from the Iroquois word "ken-tah-ten," which means "land of tomorrow." The other possible meanings for "Kentucky" that derive from the Iroquois language are: "meadow," "prairie," and "the river of blood."

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Observations This Week

Sturgis Rally: 7-16 Link 
Elvis Week: 8-16 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  
National Chef's Appreciation Week: 16-22  Link

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Observations for Today

Joe Miller's Joke Day
Kool-Aid Day s

National Airborne Day
National Bratwurst Day

National Rollercoaster Day Day
National Rum Day Link
Surveillance Day Link  Link

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My Rambling Thoughts

Another scorcher today. Last night it was 93 at 6p…and we are at 7000’. I have been using the swamp cooler for the past few days from noon until at least 5p. Usually there is a nice breeze that cools off the house when the door and windows are open. Not this time. The breeze has disappeared as fast as the moisture.

Q or Q Anon is a far-right group with no known leader that has more conspiracy theories than stars in the sky. Georgia Republicans just put a supporter on the ballot for Congress. One of their stories is that vaccines are only here to put chips in children so they can be controlled. They seem to have given up on their old story that vaccines cause autism, after the one study that concluded that has been disproved by hundreds of other studies. Oh and the US government is controlled by lizard people.

When the Payroll Protection Plan, started out as a grant to help employers pay their workers during the shutdown. Restaurants brought people back, to closed restaurants, to clean and work. Now, months after accepting and using the grant money, it has been discovered that these ‘grants’ were actually ‘loans’ that the employers will have to pay taxes. Many are saying that they wouldn’t have taken the money, if they had known they would have to pay taxes on the money.

In southern AZ the border wall is still being built. Turns out that to build the wall, the contractors are using local wells for the water needed to make the cement. Warnings that this could dry up ponds that are needed by a variety of wildlife and fish went unheeded. So now the wildlife and fish are dying. Great plan. Maybe Mexico will replace the water.

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Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

What kind of coat can only be put on when wet?

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Historical Events

1858 – President James Buchanan inaugurated the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria in the United Kingdom.

“Europe and America are united by telegraphy. Glory to God in the highest; on earth, peace and goodwill toward men.”

1896 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack, and Dawson Charlie discovered gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, starting the Klondike Gold Rush.

1927 – The Dole Air Race from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii. Six participating planes crashed or disappeared, only two made it to Hawaii.

1930 – The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, was made by ex-Disney cartoonist Ub Iwerks. It appeared in the music video for Eminem’s song “The Real Slim Shady.” Ub went back to work for Disney in 1940.

1954 – The first issue of Sports Illustrated was published.

1989 – A solar flare from the Sun created a geomagnetic storm that affected micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto’s stock market.

1996 – At the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield Illinois, a 3-year-old boy fell into a Gorilla enclosure and lost consciousness. Binti Jua, a female Gorilla, guarded the young boy against the other gorillas, cradled him in her arms, and carried him 60 feet to an entrance where zookeepers could retrieve him.

2008 – The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago reached 1,389 feet (423 m), making, at the time, the world’s highest residence above ground-level.

2011 World Youth Day 2011, organized by the Catholic church, begins in Madrid

2012 Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange is granted political asylum by Ecuador

2016 Wildfire breaks out in San Bernardino County, California, engulfing 15,000 acres, prompting evacuation of 82,000 people

2018 Pope Francis and the Vatican issues statement in support of the 300 victims of "predator priests" in Pennsylvania

2018 British Columbia, Canada, declares State of Emergency with 566 wildfires burning, prompting evacuation of 3,000 people

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Birthdays Today

@91 – Otto Messmer, American cartoonist and animator, co-created Felix the Cat (d. 1983)

87 – Julie Newmar, American actress

@85 – Fess Parker, American actor (d. 2010)

@84 – Eydie Gormé, American singer (d. 2013)

@84 – Frank Gifford, American football player, and sportscaster (d. 2015)

@79 – Robert Culp, American actor (d. 2010; heart attack while jogging)

67 – Kathie Lee Gifford, American talk show host

67 – James “J.T.” Taylor, American R&B singer-songwriter [Kool & the Gang]

66 – James Cameron, Canadian director, producer and screenwriter

62 – Madonna [Madonna Louise Ciccone], American singer-songwriter and actress

62 – Angela Bassett, American actress

60 – Timothy Hutton, American actor

58 – Steve Carell, American actor

@46 – T. E. Lawrence, British colonel, diplomat, writer, archaeologist (d. 1935; motorcycle accident)

32 – Rumor Willis, movie actor

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Puzzle Answer

A coat of paint.

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