Dec 11

‘Tis the Season

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Dec 11, 2020  Week: 50 Day: 346	Local:  H 40°\ L 25°\Average Sky Cover: 90%
Wind:   0mph\Gusts:  0mph	Nearest lightning:  165mi.; Active fire:  59mi
Low Risk of Fire	Visibility:  10mi
Record: 68°[1950]   Record: -11°[1961]	Nov Averages: 44°/\17° (5 days with moisture)

 

Today’s  Quote

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise.

Seek what they sought.

Matsuo Basho

 

Random Tidbits

The countdown Fritz Lang used to create suspense in the rocket launch scene of his 1929 silent film 'Frau im Mond' didn't just change film history - it also inspired NASA to use countdowns before its own blastoffs. It's not exactly a race against the clock though. NASA can feel free to pause the clock to check mechanical difficulties.  

 

A little humor

Q: Where do you find a turtle with no legs? Anywhere you put him

Two cheese trucks smashed into each other. Debris (the brie) was everywhere.

 

True Things

Charlene Stanton passes a book donation box in the Roxbury Park neighborhood of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on her daily walks, and told WTAJ on Nov. 18 that lately she's become concerned about the bags of raw meat she regularly sees left hanging on the side of the box. She has seen both fresh and frozen meat left at the box, and someone keeps taking them, which alarms her "because so many ... illnesses could be caused by leaving meat out unrefrigerated." Officials suggest donating food to a food bank, rather than leaving it at a book collection site.

 

Observations This Week

Andisop (Meterological Fiddling)………….	5-24  Link
National Hand Washing Awareness Week…	5-11 Link
Recipe Greetings For The Holidays Week…	5-11
Older Driver Safety Awareness Week……..	5-11 Link
Computer Science Education Week:………. (Always week with 12/9. Birthday of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper.)	6-12  Link
Human Rights Week:…………………………………	10-17

 

 

Observations for Today

Day Of The Horse 
Gingerbread Decorating Day  
Gingerbread House Day 
International Mountain Day
International Shareware Day
Kaleidoscope Day
Magnum P.I. Day
National App Day  Link
National Day of The Horse  Link 
National “Have a Bagel” Day

Noodle Ring Day
National Sobriety Day Link
Official Lost and Found Day
UNICEF Birthday [1946]

 

My Rambling Thoughts

Woke up this morning to cloudy sky, dusting of snow. By 7a, the snow was gone and it was a a gentle female rain. It’s December…I’m at 7000’, how can there be rain? Even so, any moisture is appreciated.

I’m not happy about all the ads on FB, and now Instagram. I enjoy What’s App so I can talk to my brother in Mexico. They are all free and easy to use. Yes, Facebook now owns them all. These are social media sites…not news sites. If you don’t like that they censor some content, don’t use them. No one requires you to sign up. That being said, I don’t like that FB has bought some sites to prevent competition, but they are simply a business. A boycott might work if it is large enough. [Here in Flag, years ago, we had 5 different movie theater locations around town…most had two or three screens. Then Harkin’s came to town, and they had lower prices, more screens, and over about 3 years all the other theaters closed. Few, if any, in Flagstaff were happy about this change. However, now some 5 years later, anyone can go to one location with lots of parking and lots of screens. It is sad that there are no independent theater owners anymore here, but when the pandemic ends, we still have a great theater experience. It’s the same with FB.] Let someone else come up with a new social media site, and if they don’t want to sell to FB, then don’t sell.

I find it strange that many conservatives don’t want government involvement in much of anything, but when some conservatives decide FB is not being friendly to their ideas, that want government intervention.

 

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

A man pushes his car to a hotel and tells its owner that he is bankrupt. Why?

 

Historical Events

1769 – Venetian Blinds were patented in London by Edward Bevan in England.

1816 – Indiana became the 19th US state.

1844 – Dr. Horace Wells became the first person to have a tooth extracted after receiving an anesthetic (Nitrous Oxide) for the dental procedure, by Dr. John M. Riggs.

1882 – Boston’s Bijou Theater had its first performance, the first American playhouse lit with electricity.

1911 – In Stockholm, Sweden, Marie Curie became the first person to be awarded a second Nobel prize.

1936 – Britain’s King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson.

1946 – The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was founded.

1964 – Singer Sam Cooke was shot and killed by the motel manager of the Hacienda Motel, where he was staying.

1967 – The Concorde, a British/French venture; the world’s first supersonic airliner, was unveiled in Toulouse, France.

1968 – The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, featuring the Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, the Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and the Dirty Mac with Yoko Ono, was filmed in Wembley, London.

1972 – Apollo XVII astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt landed on the moon for the final Apollo mission.

1997 – More than 150 countries agreed at a global warming conference in Kyoto, Japan, to control the Earth’s global-warming “greenhouse gases.” (The Kyoto Protocol)

2008 – Bernie Madoff was arrested for bilking clients for at least hundreds of millions, and probably billions, of dollars.

2010 – The first customer delivery of a Nissan Leaf (an all-electric vehicle) was made at by a dealer at Petaluma, California.

 

Birthdays Today

89 – Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican-American actress, singer, and dancer

@89 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, novelist, political prisoner (d. 2008)

@86 – David Brewster, Scottish physicist, inventor of the Kaleidoscope

@76 – Tom Hayden, American politician (d. 2016; stroke)

80 – David Gates, American singer-songwriter

77 – John Kerry, American politician

76 – Brenda Lee, American singer-songwriter

71 – Teri Garr, American actress

66 – Jermaine Jackson, American singer-songwriter, Jackson 5

@64 – Fiorello La Guardia, New York politician (d. 1947; pancreatic cancer)

62 – Nikki Sixx (Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna Jr.), American bass player

53 – Mo’Nique (Monique Angela Hicks), American comedian

 

Puzzle Answer

He’s playing Monopoly.  

Enjoy the Holiday