Nov 12

 

 

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Nov 12, 2020  Week: 46 Day: 317	Local:  H 50°\ L 20°\Average Sky Cover: 5%
Wind:   4mph\Gusts:  8mph	Nearest lightning:  1612mi.; active fire:  59mi
Moderate Risk of Fire	Visibility:  10mi
Record: 72°[1996]   Record: 3°[1898]	Nov Averages: 53°\23° (3 days with moisture)

 

Today’s  Quote

Whatever life throws at me I'll take it and be grateful for it as well.

Tom Felton

 

A little humor

Spotted in a safari park:

ELEPHANTS, PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR.

 

True Things

Dad builds pirate ship in front yard

A New York state father took what has become a family tradition to a new level when he built a 50-foot-long pirate ship in his front yard for Halloween. Tony DeMatteo said one of his three children initially requested a Pirates of the Caribbean themed Halloween a few years ago, leading him to build a small pirate ship in front of the house in Churchville. DeMatteo said he has since been building ships every year for Halloween, and this year's is the biggest yet at 50 feet long and 20 feet tall. "I'm a big fan of Halloween," DeMatteo said. "It's been growing bigger and bigger each year. I always try to outdo myself." DeMatteo said this year's ship cost about $3,000 to build and took about a week to assemble. It features a skeleton hanging from the bowsprit, six light-up cannons, a fog machine and fire blasters. "I have no background in this, I just do it for fun for my kids, and that's what makes it so great," DeMatteo said.

 

Observations This Week

Nat’l Nurse Practioner's Week: 8-14 Link Link	World Kindness Week: 8-14 Link Nat’l Book Awards Week: 8-14
Nat’l Radiologic Technology Week: 8-14 Link	Childrens' Book Week: 9-15 Link Nat’l Seat Belt Reinforcement Week: 9-29 Link
Perioperative Nurse Week: 8-14 Link	Nat’l Split Pea Soup Week: 9-15 Link
Snowcare For Troops Awareness Week: 8-14	Nat’l Young Readers Week: 9-15 Link

 

Observations for Today

Chicken Soup For The Soul Day

Happy Hour Day

International Tempranillo Day

Fancy Rat & Mouse Day

National French Dip Day

National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day

World Pneumonia Day

 

My Rambling Thoughts

It the middle of another week. Checked on Andy’s place…no workers…no problems. Snow is slowly melting in our blistering 50 degrees.

At least 4 of my previous travel destinations are suffering with internal strife…Ethiopia is on the brink of civil war, Peru congress ousted their leader, and China is really cracking down on Hong Kong and causing problems for Mongolia. I hope the people of these areas are able to find a workable peace. My only advice to those I know is to ‘hang in and hang on. It is always darkest before the dawn.’ So many citizens in these countries depend on the tourist industry and while Covid has almost destroyed all travel, any violence will only lengthen the rebuilding process.

Politics never changes…really. While Trump claims, without facts, that there was fraud during the last election, I find it interesting that Trump lost the popular vote and the electoral college…at this point, yet is not demanding a recount where he lost and Republican down ticket candidates won. It seems strange to me that only the Presidential votes were fraudulent, while down ticket votes were good.   

 

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

A coin is in an empty bottle but a cork is in the neck. How can you remove the coin without removing the cork or breaking the bottle?

 

Historical Events

 

1799 – Andrew Ellicott wrote the about first known record of a meteor shower observed in the US. We now know they were the Leonids.

1847 – Sir James Young Simpson, the father of modern anesthetics, used chloroform (“perchloride of formyle”) for the first time as an anesthetic in an operation.

1892 – William “Pudge” Walter Heffelfinger was the first professional (paid) US Football player. He got $25 and a $500 bonus for a single game.

1922 (Volcano Eruption & Tsunami) Chile/Argentina – over 1,000 people were killed.

1927 – The Holland Tunnel connecting NY and NY – the world’s first underwater vehicular tunnel – officially opened.

1929 – Commander Richard E. Byrd made the first flight over the South Pole.

1933 – First known photo of the so-called Loch Ness Monster was taken by Hugh Gray.

1936 – The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened to traffic.

1946 – The Exchange National Bank of Chicago, Illinois, instituted the first drive-in banking service in America.

1954 – Ellis Island in New York closed after providing entrance to the US for 12 million immigrants between 1892 and 1924.

1956 – The largest iceberg on record was sighted by the USS Glacier, a U. S. Navy icebreaker, about 150 miles west of Scott Island in the Southern Hemisphere. It had broken from the Ross Ice Shelf in the Antarctic. It was about 208 miles long and 60 miles wide.

1966 – The first photograph was taken from Earth’s atmosphere by the satellite Gemini XII.

1981 – First balloon crossing of the Pacific was completed. The Double Eagle V launched from Nagashima, Japan on November 10, 1981.

1993 – The first Ultimate Fighting Championship event, UFC 1, was held in Denver, Colorado.

1997 – Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

2014 European Space Agency's Rosetta lands the Philae probe on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

2015 Out Magazine names Barack Obama 'Ally of the Year', Obama becomes 1st sitting US President to pose for cover of a gay magazine

2017 For the first time Prince Charles lays the wreath to Great Britain's war dead, replacing Queen Elizabeth

2018 Former US First lady Michelle Obama publishes her memoir "Becoming"

 

Birthdays Today

@91 – DeWitt Wallace, American publisher, and philanthropist (co-founded Reader’s Digest), (d. 1981)

@83 – Charles Manson, American cult leader (d.2017)

@77 – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor, illustrator, created The Thinker (d. 1917)

76 – Al Michaels, American sportscaster

75 – Neil Young, Canadian Singer/Songwriter, guitarist, and producer

62 – Megan Mullaly, American actress, and singer

59 – Nadia Comaneci, Romanian Olympic Gymnast

@52 – Grace Kelly, American actress, later Princess Grace of Monaco (d. 1982; stroke/auto accident)

52 – Sammy Sosa, Dominican-American baseball player

50 – Tonya Harding, American figure skater

41 – Cote de Pable, actor

40 – Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor, producer, and singer

 

Puzzle Answer

Push the cork down into the bottle and shake the coin out.

Note: a faithful reader added some more to the list of words from yesterday’s puzzle that moved the first letter to the end of the word to have the same word read backwards: add, bee, belle, egg, gala, it, logo, mama, manna, lotto, ox, pa, polo, solo, too. Very cool!