Sep 5

 

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

Sep 5, 2020  Week: 36  Day: 249                    Local:   H 88° \ L 49° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Wind:   4mph\Gusts:  4mph                              Nearest lightning:  343mi.; active fire:  90mi. 

Extreme Risk of Fire                                        Visibility:  10mi

Record: 89°[1945]   Record: 31°[1961]                 Sep Averages: 74°\42° (5 days with rain)

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Today’s  Quote

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin,

or his background, or his religion.

People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate,

they can be taught to love,

for love comes more naturally to the human heart that is opposite.

Nelson Mandella

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Random Tidbits

There are as many as 100,000 active missing persons cases in the U.S. at any given time.

The FBI designates severe, urgent missing person cases as "endangered or involuntary." Approximately 15 percent of missing person cases are given that classification each year; most of them are applied to children.

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A little humor

"Disorder in the Court" True statements from court records

  

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?

WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.

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State Name Origins

Utah owes its origin to an Apache Indian word, "yuttahih," that means "people of the mountains" or "they who are higher up." In the Native American people's language, the word "ute" means "land of the sun."

French explorer Samuel de Champlain called the stunning Green Mountains of Vermont "Verd Mont," which is French for "green mountain."

The state of Virginia was named after England's Queen Elizabeth I, who was also known as "The Virgin Queen." The lands in North America claimed by England in the 1600s were called "Virginia." Queen Elizabeth I granted Walter Raleigh the charter to create a colony.

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True Things

 I don't know too much about South Africa except that it is where Nelson Mandela and Krugerrands come from. What I do know is that if there are crocodiles in the water hazards where you are golfing you don't go in after your ball.

I learned that from watching the Adam Sandler movie 'Happy Gilmore'. Chubbs tried it and look what happened to him! Apparently that movie is not popular in South Africa.

The South African golfer in this story didn't lose his hand, like Chubbs, he lost his life while he was retrieving golf balls from a dam called Lake Panic at South Africa's flag-ship wildlife reserve.

The crocodile grabbed 29-year-old Jacques van der Sandt in its jaws and disappeared under the water at a golf course next to a staff residential area within the park boundaries.

Oubaas Coetzer, a police officer, said the crocodile attacked van der Sandt while he was standing waist high in the water and reaching below the surface to feel for golf balls on the bottom of the dam.

Now this story is odd, to be sure, since van der Sandt had golfed many times in the park before and had probably seen crocodiles in the water, but what got the story into Bizarre News is the reason Mr. Van der Sandt was standing waist-high in crocodile-infested water searching for golf balls; his friend challenged him to see who can retrieve the most balls.

I'll bet my next paycheck 10 or 12 South African beers were involved in that decision.

Rangers killed the crocodile after a two-hour search following the attack. There is no report of who won the challenge.

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Observations This Month

National Pet Memorial Month Link
National Preparedness Month  Link
National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month  Link
National Prime Beef Month Link
National Prosper Where You Are Planted Month
National Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month  Link
National Recovery Month
National Rice Month
National Save A Tiger Month Link  Link
National Sewing Month  Link
National Service Dog Month
National Shake Month (Ice Cream)
National Sickle Cell Month  Link
National Skin Care Awareness Month
National Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month  Link
National Suicide Prevention Month  Link
National Translators Month (Moved from Feb.)  Link
National Pediculosis (Head Lice)  Prevention Month Link
National Piano Month Link  Link 
National Preparedness Month
National Wilderness Month

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Observations This Week

Chuckwagon Races: Thru 9/6 
National Sweet Corn Week: Thru 9/5
US Open Tennis Championships: Thru 9/13
International Enthusiasm Week: 1-7
National Nutrition Week: 1-7 (UNICEF-India) Link
Self-University Week: 1-7 Link
Golden Onion Week: 3-7 
National Go-Kart Week: 3-6  Link
Sweet Corn Week: 3-7
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over: 4-8 Link 
International Air Ambulance Week: 5-13  Link
Shetland Wool Week: 5-6  Link  Cancelled due to COVID-19

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Observations for Today

Bacon Day Link Link
Be Late for Something Day

Cheese Pizza Day

Cow Chip Throwing Days  Link Cancelled due to COVID-19
Franchise Appreciation Day Link
International Day of Charity Link
Jury Rights Day  Link
Kentucky Derby  (Moved from May due to COVID-19)
National Buffalo Chicken Wings Days-6  Link  
National Cowgirl Day Link
National Play Outside Day Link 
National Tailgating Day  Link Link   
National Writing Date Day Link 
World Beard Day Link 

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My Rambling Thoughts

Another warm day, and no precipitation. A long weekend is beginning. Doesn’t mean much to retired people, and certainly not during Covid19.

Third cable guy came. He said it was a network problem that has been going on for weeks. He did give me another old remote which helps a little. This guy was from Jamaica, was genuinely nice, and had been working in Colorado. He said that it was a shame Flagstaff didn’t have Comcast, because they were great! So, I am giving up on complaints to Suddenlink. Life goes on.

With all the talk about the Postal Service and mail-in voting here is a tidbit. The head of the Board of Governors for USPS has a side job, he is the head of Mitch McConnel’s Super Pac. No conflict there.

The President is trying, unsuccessfully, to deny his disdain for the US Military while he is Commander In Chief. Too bad his supporters can’t see it.

Joe Biden had a press conference this morning. He was very presidential and while he was upset by Trump’s remarks on the military, he spoke in coherent full sentences. Much of what he said described what a President of the United States should say and do. Glad I watched.

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Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

What word starts and ends with e but only has a single letter in it?

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Historical Events

1666 – Great Fire of London ended, 10,000 buildings, including St Paul’s Cathedral, were destroyed, but only six people are known to have died.

1698 – Peter the Great decreed a tax on beards. When a citizen had more than 2 weeks’ worth of growth, a tax had to be paid, and the citizens were  granted a two-sided token stating: “the beard tax has been taken” and “the beard is a superfluous burden.”

1774 – Peyton Randolph was elected as the first president of the Continental Congress, in Philadelphia.

1836 – Sam Houston was elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.

1882 – 10,000 workers marched in the first Labor Day parade in New York City.

1906 – The first legal forward pass in American football was thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider in a 22-0 victory over Carroll College (Wisconsin).

1939 – President FDR declared US neutrality at the start of WW II in Europe.

1949 – Willard Frank Libby announced his discovery of Radiocarbon dating.

1960 – Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) won the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Rome Olympics.

1972 – Eleven Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian terrorists at that 1972 Munich Olympics.

1975 – Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme attempted to assassinate US President Gerald Ford.

1987 – Dick Clark’s American Bandstand was broadcast for the 2,751st and last time by ABC, after 30 years on the network. It continued, in syndication, until October 7, 1989.

1997 – Mother Teresa died in Calcutta, India, at age 87.

1991 Nelson Mandela chosen as president of African National Congress

1993 Noureddine Morceli runs world record mile (3:44,39)

2017 Hurricane Irma becomes the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin region with winds of 185mph (280km/h)

2019 New theory the Loss Ness monster may be a giant eel after DNA study reveals no plesiosaur or sturgeon DNA found

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Birthdays Today

91 – Bob Newhart, American comedian, and actor

@85 – Jack Valenti, businessman, created the MPAA film rating system (d. 2007)

83 – William Devane, actor

@82 – Arthur Nielsen, American market analyst, founded ACNielsen (d. 1980)

80 – Raquel Welch, American actress, and sex symbol

@77 – Darryl F. Zanuck, American director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1979)

69 – Michael Keaton, American actor

47 – Rose McGowan, American actress

@34 – Jesse James, American outlaw (d. 1882; shot in the back by his gang)

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Puzzle Answer

Envelope

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