Aug 5

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

Aug 5, 2020 Week: 32 Day: 218

86004:   H 85° \ L 53° \ Average Sky Cover: 10%

Wind:   15mph\Gusts:  18mph  Visibility:  10mi

Nearest lightning:  216mi.; Nearest active fire:  59mi. 

High Risk of Fire          

Record High: 90°[1944]   Record Low: 35°[1976]

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

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Today’s  Quote

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow

will be our doubts of today."

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Random Tidbits

Beer is the second most popular drink on Earth after tea. The third-most popular if you include water. In 2018, people consumed nearly 50 billion gallons of beer worldwide.

Beer is as old as human history. Beer brewing and drinking predate written language.

The earliest evidence of beer making was found in western Iran, dating back to 3,500 BC.

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A little humor

Question: What do you call a wet poodle?

A puddle.

What do frogs drink? Part 2

Croaka Cola

Puns aren't funny. They're punny.

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Observations This Week

International Clown Week: 1-7 Link
National Cleanse Your Skin Week: 1-7  Link
National Lemonade Days: 1-9 Link Moved from June due to COVID-19
National Minority Donor Awareness Week: 1-7
Simplify Your Life Week: 1-7
World Breastfeeding Week: 1-7 Link
National Exercise With Your Child Week: 2-8
Knights of Columbus Family Week: 2-8  
National Button Week: 2-8 Link
National Farmers' Market Week: 2-8  Link 
National Health Center Week: 2-8 Link  
Single Working Women's Week: 2-8  Link
Stop on Red Week: 2-8 Link
Exhibitor Appreciation Week: 3-7 Link
National Bargain Hunting Week: 3-9  
National Psychic Week: 3-7 Link  Link  
Old Fiddlers' Week: 3-8
PGA Championships: 3-9 Link Moved from May due to COVID-19
North American Organic Brewers Days: 4-8 Link   Moved from June.
Numismatic Week (World's Fair of Money): 4-8
Rock for Life Week: 4-7 Link

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Observations for Today

International Albarino Day [Wine Festival]
National Oyster Day  Link
National Underwear Day Link

Work Like a Dog Day

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My Rambling Thoughts

Primary Election Day in AZ. Made it through the construction to get to my polling place…an abandoned restaurant at our only Mall. Everyone…me and the 8 workers…all wore masks. In and out in less than 5 minutes. They had a new machine for ‘Express voting’. You get a blank card, insert it, vote to a touch screen with an individual ‘straw’ like thing to touch the screen. When you have checked all the votes, confirmed your votes, it prints a ballot that goes into the ballot box machine, you discard the straw and get the I Voted sticker. Very cool and easy. As I was leaving, another voter was coming in. It is an important primary as there are several close races this fall, and it is important to get the right people running. Time will tell if my vote helped.

I messed up the other day when I said no friends were in the hurricane path. I had a senior moment. My colleague/friend Camille returned to Florida a few months ago. She emailed and said she was in the path, but thankfully it moved enough to miss her area.

Yesterday’s clouds chose not to drop any moisture, but I’m hopeful that the monsoon will soon return.

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Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

When it is alive, all but one sings. When it dies, all but one cheers.

What is it?

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Historical Events

1305 – William Wallace, who led the Scottish resistance against England, was captured, tried, and executed near Glasgow. Mel Gibson starred in a dramatization of the story in Braveheart.

1620 – The Mayflower departed from Southampton, England, headed towards North America.

1812 War of 1812: Tecumseh's Native American force ambushes Thomas Van Horne's 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat

1861 – In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levied the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% over $800)

1864 Battle of Mobile Bay, won by the Union Army led by Rear Admiral Farragut with the cry "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" (US Civil War)

1882 – The Standard Oil of New Jersey was established. Standard+Oil=SO=Esso, now Exxon.

1884 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, was laid on Bedloe’s Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbor.

1891 world's 1st traveler's cheques issued (American Express)

1914 – Cleveland, Ohio, installed the first electric traffic light.

1921 – KDKA of Pittsburgh broadcasts first baseball game over radio, the Pittsburgh Pirates beating the Philadelphia Phillies (8-5).

1924 – 1st appearance Little Orphan Annie, Comic Strip

1926 – Harry Houdini performed one of his greatest stunts, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.

1957 – American Bandstand debuted on the ABC television network, with host Dick Clark. The show began locally on Philadelphia television station WFIL-TV Channel 6 (now WPVI-TV) in 1952.

1963 Craig Breedlove sets world land speed record of 407.477 mph in Spirit of America at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah

1981 – US President Ronald Reagan fired 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.

2011 – Standard & Poor’s lowered the United States’ AAA credit rating by one notch, to AA-plus.

2014 Obama signs The Iron Dome Bill providing $225 million in additional funding for Israel's Iron Dome defense

2019 Widespread strike in Hong Kong and demonstrations against Chinese policy towards the territory bring huge disruption, including cancelling 200 flights

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Birthdays Today

@84 – Conrad Aiken, American novelist, short story writer, critic, poet (d. 1973)

@82 – Gertrude Rush, American lawyer, founder: Nat’l Bar Assoc. (d. 1962)

@82 – Neil Armstrong, American astronaut (d. 2012)

@83 – John Saxon, American character actor (d. 2020)

75 – Loni Anderson, American actress

73 – Rick Derringer, American singer-songwriter [Hang on Sloopy]

58 – Patrick Ewing, Jamaican-American basketball player

54 – James Gunn, American director, producer, and screenwriter

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Puzzle Answer

Birthday candles

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