Aug 24

 

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

Aug 24, 2020  Week: 35  Day: 237                 Local:   H 88° \ L 54° \ Average Sky Cover: 45%

Wind:   3mph\Gusts:  4mph                            Nearest lightning:  8mi.; active fire:  59mi. 

Extreme Risk of Fire                                        Visibility:  10mi

Record: 91°[1985 ]   Record: 30°[1968]               Aug Averages: 79°\50° (9 days with rain)

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Today’s  Quote

"The question isn't who is going to let me;

it's who is going to stop me."

-Ayn Rand

 

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Random Tidbits

 What is the difference between et al and et cetera?

The Latin phrase et al, short for et alia (and other things) and et alii (and other people), is more specific than et cetera (and the rest). Only et al can refer to people.

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A little humor

Sven notices his neighbor has a sign in his yard—”Boat for Sale.”

“Ole,” he says, “you don’t own a boat. All you got is your old tractor and your combine.”

“Yup,” said Ole. “And they’re boat for sale.”

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State Name Origins

Maine's name might have originated from Royal Navy mariners Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason, who received a charter for what would become Maine and used the name to differentiate the mainland from the islands around it.

The state of Maryland, which as a colony, was founded as a haven for Catholics persecuted in England, was named to honor Queen Henrietta Maria, the Catholic wife of England's King Charles I.

The name "Massachusetts" is derived from the language of the Algonquian nation and translates as "at or about the great hill." The hill refers to the Blue Hills southwest of Boston.

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Observations This Week

Minority Enterprise Development Week: 18-24
World Water Week: 23-29  Link
National Composites Week: 24-28  Link
National Safe at Home Week: 24-28

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Observations for Today

International Strange Music Day Link
Knife Day Link
National Peach Pie Day

National Waffle Iron Day Link
Pluto Demoted Day
Vesuvius Day
Wayzgoose Day Link
William Wilberforce Day

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My Rambling Thoughts

Another hazy and/or cloudy day. Nice monsoon yesterday. Hoping for more today.

Reparations is an exceedingly difficult subject. First it means an admission of previous misdeeds. Then most plans have a monetary distribution to those or their survivors who were mistreated. Those American citizens of Japanese descent were given a small [$20,000] if they were still alive in 1988. When the slaves were freed, slave owners in DC were paid $300/slave as compensation. Slaves received only their freedom. As talk of reparations for is in the news, the discussion is on Blacks and Native people. There are no answers yet, and many are questioning the admission of any bad deeds. Until there is an admission of wrongdoing, nothing will be decided.

Canada recently made it more difficult for non-Canadians to enroll in in-person educational classes [at all levels]. Since most Canadian schools are on remote learning, a foreign student must prove that they are required to have in-person classes. The bureaucracy  to have that proof obtained and granted means that many students may not be able to enroll into a class late.

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Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

I have a neck but no head.

I have a body but no arms.

I have a bottom but no legs.

What am I?

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Historical Events

79 (Volcano Eruption) Mount Vesuvius erupted. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae were buried in volcanic ash, although some scholars believe it was October 24th. Pop/Rock band Bastille wrote a song about the event in 2013.

1215 – Pope Innocent III declared Magna Carta invalid.

1456 – The printing of the Gutenberg Bible was completed.

1662 – The Act of Uniformity requires England to accept the Book of Common Prayer.

1682 – William Penn received the area that is now the state of Delaware, and added it to his colony of Pennsylvania.

1690 – Job Charnock of the East India Company establishes a factory in Calcutta, essentially founding the city.

1875 – Navy Captain Matthew Webb began his swim as the first person to swim the English Channel without a life preserver

1891 – Thomas Edison applied for his patent (#589,168) the motion picture projector (kinetograph). It was approved on August 31.

1932 – Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop, from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey.

1989 – Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life.

1998 – First radio-frequency identification (RFID) human implantation was tested in the United Kingdom.

1991 Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of USSR Communist Party

1991 Ukraine declares independence from USSR

2006 The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is considered a Dwarf Planet.

2011 Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple Inc., and is succeeded by Tim Cook, as a result of his illness

2012 Both Apple and Samsung are found guilty of patent infringement in a South Korean court

2015 Physicist Stephen Hawking presents a new theory on black holes at a lecture at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm

2015 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces that for the 1st time 1 billion people logged into Facebook

2019 Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro orders the army to help contain fires in the Amazon after widespread environmental destruction, wildlife loss and international criticism

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Birthdays Today

@83 – Louis Teicher, American pianist (Ferrante & Teicher) (d. 2008)

82 – Mason Williams, American guitarist, and composer

@81 – Kenny Baker, English actor, R2-D2 (d. 2016)

@77 – Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer, actor, surfer (d. 1968; heart attack)

@75 – Yasser Arafat, Egyptian-Palestinian politician, 1st President of the Palestinian National Authority (d. 2004; stroke)

65 – Mike Huckabee, American minister, and politician

55 – Marlee Matlin, American actress

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Puzzle Answer

A bottle

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