Sep 28

 

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

Sep 28, 2020  Week: 40 Day: 272                   Local:   H 79° \ L 42° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Wind:   9mph\Gusts:  13mph                           Nearest lightning:  824mi.; active fire:  59mi. 

EXTREME Risk of Fire                                      Visibility:  10mi

Record: 83°[2000]   Record: 21°[1900]                 Sep Averages: 74°\42° (5 days with rain)

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Today’s  Quote

"Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning."

-Gloria Steinem

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Random Tidbits

 Over 240 million calls are made to 911 in the U.S. each year. Most of us take this service for granted. In fact, 15-20 percent of incoming 911 calls are not even emergencies. But we didn't always have this luxury to waste.

The world's oldest emergency phone number is the U.K's 999 number that was introduced on June 30, 1937. It was implemented after a call to the fire brigade was held in a queue with the telephone company. The delay cost five women their lives in the fire.

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A little humor

What is the dentist’s favorite movie?
Plaque to the Future.

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True Things

The world's largest robot - a giant Gundam that towers 60 feet above Japan's Port of Yokohama - has been under construction since January. Now, the beastly bot is finally ready to stretch its legs. Inspired by the fictional Japanese robot of the same name - this Gundam features a staggering 24 degrees of freedom. That means the robot can pick up its legs to walk, bend its knees, turn its head, and contort its fingers to mime hand signals. People in Japan have caught and shared a few glimpses of the engineering marvel. Considering the Gundam weighs about 25 tons, it's pretty insane to watch it raise both arms in the air and pick itself back up after kneeling. Those efficiencies are thanks to precise engineering and design work, as outlined in a series of YouTube videos. In one installment, the engineers give a tour of where they designed, built, and assembled the Gundam. The videos are a great way to really contextualize the size of this monster; from the metal fingertip to where the wrist will connect, for example, the hand is about 6.5 feet wide.

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Observations This Week

International Sand Sculpting Championships : 25-10/4  Link Cancelled due to COVID-19	National Keep Kids Creative Week: 27-10/3
Banned Books Week: 27-10/3	Remember: Register to Vote Wk: 27-10/3
International Week of the Deaf: 27-10/3	Sea Otter Awareness Week: 27-10/3 Link
National Chimney Safety Week: 27-10/3	World Hearing Aid Awareness Week: 27-10/3
National Fall Foliage Week: 27-10/3 Link

 

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Observations for Today

Ask a Stupid Question Day	National Drink a Beer Day Link
Family Day	National Good Neighbor Day
Fish Tank Floorshow Night	National Public Lands Day
Internat’l Day for Universal Access To Information	National Strawberry Cream Pie Day
International Right To Know Day Link	World Rabies Day

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My Rambling Thoughts

Nice Sunday with blue sky, warm temps, a great day for a walk around the neighborhood.

I got a call from my brother in Mexico. Things are going well for them. Lots of construction at the hacienda. They learned a few of the piles of rocks were actually the remains of the ‘offices’ of the hacienda, back in the day. They are turning them into ‘guest’ rooms. Very cool. At the same time, they are building some walls which will eventually be used as an enclosed dog run for their 12 rescue dogs + Micho, their chihuahua. Laura just got a new decorating job for a place in NYC. She wants to visit the site, but due to Covid, probably won’t. Several of their international friends have had difficulty getting home after visiting the US. [One Australian couple had an economy flight to Australia, then just before the flight got a call that the flight was full, but they could buy the much more expensive Business Class tickets.] Which also brought up Christmas. Since my brother and I have spent every Christmas together…the question is will Covid mess that up? They are staying in Mexico, so I must find a way to get there and back. I’ll start checking flights, and then hope they are not cancelled.

Amy Coney Barrett is the Trump nominee for the Supreme Court. I am not happy that Republicans would not allow Obama to have hearings on his February nominee but do allow Trump to make a nominee in late September before an election. As with most of Trump’s actions, I will just let it play out and hope.

Cards are not doing that well against the Lions…I can’t believe it with 2 Card wins this season, and the Lions none. I’m only getting internet machine scores on the Denver/Tampa Bay game.  Broncos need help but it is only halftime.

Odd: 200+ retired high-ranking military officers have signed a letter supporting Biden. It is not usual for retired Military officers to speak about politics, let alone endorse a candidate.

Carnival, the Rio tradition just before Lent has been ‘delayed’ due to Corona. Last year the event brought 2.1million visitors and $725million in revenue.

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Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

Dan, Emilie Marciano and Christina are all wearing sold-colored shirts. The colors of their four shirts are red, yellow, green, and blue. Only the person wearing blue tells the truth, while the other three only lie.

They make the following statements:

Dan: Marciano is wearing red.

Emily: Dan is not wearing yellow.

Marciano: Emily is wearing blue.

Christina: I’m going to wear blue tomorrow.

Can you determine each person’s shirt color and whether we can expect to Christina in blue tomorrow.

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Historical Events

1779 American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay

1850 – Flogging (whipping) in the Navy and Merchant Marines was abolished by the US.

1889 – The first General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defined the length of a ‘meter’ (‘metre’) as the distance between two lines on a standard bar of an alloy of platinum with ten percent iridium, measured at the melting point of ice. Since 1983, it has been defined as “the length of the path traveled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second,” about 39.370 inches.

1920 – Eight Chicago White Sox players were indicted for fixing the 1919 World Series in the “Black Sox scandal.”

1928 US acknowledge Chinese government of Chiang Kai-shek

1939 German-Soviet Frontier Treaty is signed by Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov; redraws German and Soviet spheres of influence in central Europe and transfers most of Lithuania to the USSR

1944 Theodore Roosevelt Jr., son of President Theodore Roosevelt, is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for directing troops at Utah Beach during the D-Day landings

1951 – The science-fiction classic film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, was released.

1955 – First MLB World Series color TV was broadcast on NBC. Yankees beat the Dodgers.

1967 – Walter Washington became the first mayor of the District of Columbia (DC).

1980 – Carl Sagan’s 13-part Cosmos premiered on PBS.

1984 – Miami Vice premiered on NBC

1995 Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat sign accord to transfer West Bank to the PLO

2006 – The City Council of Reykjavik and neighboring municipalities agreed to turn off all the city lights in the capital area for half an hour, while a renowned astronomer talked about the stars and the constellations on national radio.

2008 SpaceX launches the first ever private spacecraft, the Falcon 1 into orbit.

2015 NASA scientists announce the discovery of flowing water on Mars

2019 Elon Musk unveils SpaceX spacecraft Starship, designed to travel to Mars and the solar system and land back on earth

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Birthdays Today

86 – Brigitte Bardot, French actress

@73 – Ed Sullivan, American television host (d. 1974; cancer)

@72 – Confucius, Chinese teacher, and philosopher (d. 479 BC)

@70 – Al Capp, American author, and illustrator (d. 1979; emphysema)

52 – Naomi Watts, English-Australian actress

33 – Hilary Duff, American actress, Lizzie McGuire

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Puzzle Answer

Dan is wearing yellow, Emily is in red, Marciano is in green, and Christina is in blue and will be wearing it again tomorrow.

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