Dec 18

 

‘Tis the Season

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Dec 18, 2020  Week: 51 Day: 353	Local:  H 43°\ L 20°\Average Sky Cover: 80%
Wind:   5mph\Gusts:  9mph	Nearest lightning:  1756mi.; Active fire:  59mi
Moderate Risk of Fire	Visibility:  10mi
Record: 65°[1901]   Record: -14°[1908]	Nov Averages: 44°/\17° (5 days with moisture)

 

Today’s  Quote

A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance

when the need for illusion is deep.

Saul Bellow

 

Random Tidbits

 Osmium is the most dense metal! Many people are familiar with lead (11.3 kg/mL), but Osmium is twice as dense (22.6 kg/L)! Each liter of Osmium weighs 22.6 kg (50 lbs). For comparison, each liter of water weighs only 1 kg (about 2.2 lbs). Some other heavy metals include Tungsten and Gold (19.3 kg/L), which are almost as dense as Osmium.

The Large Hadron Collider made a matter known as quark-gluon plasma. It's a hundred thousand times hotter than the inside of the sun and denser than anything in the universe, except black holes.

 

A little humor

Q: What sound does a bouncing plane make? Boeing boeing boeing.

 

Just had twin Girls -Going to call them- Kate & Duplikate

 

True Things

A Virginia man said he had "a feeling" about some numbers he copied down from a TV show that led to his buying 160 tickets for a single lottery drawing -- and winning $800,000. Kwame Cross of Dumfries told Virginia Lottery officials he bought 160 tickets for the Pick 4's Dec. 5 night drawing and all of the tickets bore the same number combination: 7314. "I saw an address in a TV show, in the background, and for some reason it stayed with me," he told Lottery officials. "I just had a feeling." Each of Cross' 160 tickets won a $5,000 top prize in the drawing, for a grand total of $800,000. "I thought, 'This can't be real!'" he said. "I had to pull over and check like 82 times. It feels surreal!" Cross said he hasn't yet decided what to do with his winnings.

 

Observations This Week

Gluten-free Baking Week:……………………………	12-18
Christmas Bird Count Week Link…………………	14-1/5
Halcyon Days……………………………………………..	14-28
Posadas……………………………………………………..	16-24
Saturnalia…Roman Festival for Saturn……….	17-23

 

 

Observations for Today

Answer The Telephone Like Buddy The Elf Day Link
Arabic Language Day Link
Bake Cookies Day

Give A Wine Club Day  Link
International Migrants Day
National Wreaths Across America Day  Link

National “I Love Honey” Day

National Roast Suckling Pig Day

Sangria Day

 

My Rambling Thoughts

It sure looks like a storm is brewing. The weather guy says no moisture. Oh well. A good number of birds are in my Blue Spruce, so they might know something the weather guy doesn’t.

Ol’ Tom Cruise got caught in a rant, with profanity, to crew members who weren’t following COVID protocol on his set. Some are upset by his profanity. Honestly, there have been a few times I wished I could have done that for people in the stores who weren’t wearing masks.

The Dept. of Interior, which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education has never had a native Secretary. Congrats to NM Congresswoman Deb Haaland [Laguna Pueblo], for being nominated as the first Native to head the Bureau.

Nice to see the big move from MLB on recognizing the records of players from the Black League of a century ago. Our country psyche is changing slowly.

As I get the Christmas spirit, I really want to be American, rather than being labeled ‘Conservative’ or ‘Liberal’. I have friends across that spectrum. I don’t agree with everything they believe, but we are still friends.

 

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

An elevator is on the ground floor. There are four people in the elevator, including me.

When the lift reaches the first floor, one person gets out and three people get in. The lift goes up to the second floor, 2 people get out, 6 people get in. It then goes up to the next floor up, no-one gets out but 12 people get in.

Halfway up to the next floor up the elevator cable snaps, it crashes to the floor. Everyone else dies in the elevator except me. How did I survive?

 

Historical Events

1620 – The British ship Mayflower docked at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and its passengers prepared to begin their new settlement.

1787 – New Jersey became the 3rd state.

1839 – John William Draper took a daguerreotype of the moon, the first celestial photograph made in the US.

1865 – The 13th Amendment went into effect, abolishing slavery in the US.

1892 – The premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1961 – Based on an African sing called Mbube – The Lion Sleeps Tonight was the # 1 song on the Billboard Charts. It is probably the most well-known doo-wop song of all time. (#1 December 18, 1961 – January 12, 1962)

1968 – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was released. It was based on Ian Fleming’s book of the same name.

1996 – The Oakland, California school board unanimously passed a resolution for the incorporating of Ebonics in the classroom.

1997 – Comedian Chris Farley died from a drug overdose, at the age of 33.

2013 – A&E suspended Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson for comments he made regarding homosexuality and the civil rights era in an interview with GQ magazine. He was reinstated on December 27.

2018 Nevada becomes the first US state with a female-majority legislature with new appointments taking it to 51%

2018 Meteor explodes in huge fireball over the Bering Sea with 10 times the energy of Hiroshima atomic bomb, 2nd largest in last 30 yrs

 

Birthdays Today

96 – Cicely Tyson, America actress

@87 – Ossie Davis, American actor (d. 2005)

@80 – Charles Wesley, English missionary, composer (d. 1788)

77 – Keith Richards, English singer-songwriter

74 – Steven Spielberg, American director, producer, screenwriter

@74 – Joseph Stalin, Georgian-Russian politician, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1953; stroke)

66 – Ray Liotta, American actor

@59 – Joseph Grimaldi, English clown, known as “The Greatest Clown in History” (d. 1837; coroner: “a visit by God”)

57 – Brad Pitt, American actor

52 – Casper Van Dien, American actor

@50 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (d. 1914; assassinated)

42 – Katie Holmes, American actress

40 – Christina Aguilera, American singer-songwriter

19 – Billie Eilish, American pop singer

 

Puzzle Answer

I got off at the first floor.

Enjoy the Holiday