Jan 3

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Jan. 3, 2020 Week: 1  Day: 3

86004:   H 35° \ L 17° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Nearest lightning:  1050mi

Nearest active fire:  466mi.  

Wind:   7mph\Gusts:  14mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 62°[1918]   Record Low: 31°[2005]

Jan. Averages: 43°\16° (22” days with snow)

Today’s Quote

“A hundred times a day, I remind myself

that my inner and outer lives

are based on the labors of others,

living and dead,

and that I must exert myself

in order to give in the same measure

as I have received and am still receiving.”

~ Albert Einstein

Random Tidbits

About 1 million people gather in New York City's Times Square to watch the ball drop. The Times Square New Year's Eve ball drop came about because of a ban on fireworks. The first ball in 1907 was 700 pounds and was lit with 100 25-watt lights. Today, it is covered in 2,688 crystals, is lit by 32,000 LED lights, weighs 11,875 pounds and is 12 feet in diameter.

Many people ring in New Year's by popping open a bottle of champagne. Americans drink close to 360 million glasses of sparkling wine during this time. The bubbly stuff dates back to the 17th century, when the cork was invented.

Observations this Month

Financial Wellness Month
Get A Balanced Life Month
Get Organized Month
International Brain Teaser Month
International Change Your Stars Month Link
International Child-Centered Divorce Month
International Creativity Month
International New Years Resolutions Month for Businesses
International Quality of Life Month
International Wayfinding Month
International Wealth Mentality Month
Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month Link
Menudo Month  Link

Observations This Week

Diet Resolution Week: 1-7

New Year's Resolutions Week: 1-8 

Silent Record Week: 1-7

Someday We'll Laugh About This Week: 2-8

Observations for Today

Buffet Day Congress Assembles (Unless on weekend, then following Monday)
Drinking Straw Day
Festival of Sleep Day  Link
Fruitcake Toss Day

J.R.R. Tolkien Day
Memento Mori "Remember You Die" Day
National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day Link

National Cream Puff Day

Run up the Flagpole and See if Anyone Salutes Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Weatherman says the cold front will be gone tomorrow. Sure hope so, not happy about all this cold.

Flag is in the middle of a national forest. This means prescribed burns throughout most of the year. These fires produce smoke, that seems to settle in our town every night. One area is even named ‘Smokerise’. Flag is looking into a new ‘Air Curtain Incinerator’ to keep the forest healthy and reduce the smoke. The crews drop huge amounts of burn material into the machine and light it electronically. Air circulates at the top, preventing smoke from escaping. When it’s finished, the smoke has been burned, the air is clear, and the machine shuts down. Sounds like a great idea to me. They will be trying a few out during upcoming prescribed burns. More later.

The New Year is starting off a tad cold, but I have great expectations for the upcoming year. I’m not big on resolutions, but hope the world is better at the end than it is right now. I’ll try to do my part.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

Count the number of the letter ‘o’ in the sentence below:

Over on fourth street, many children found lots of fun and lots of entertainment by climbing on the beautiful trees lining the street.

Historical Events

856 (Earthquake) Tunisia

1910 - The neon light was displayed for the first time at the Paris Motor Show at the Grand Palace. The lamp was developed by French inventor Georges Claude. Advertising neon signs started showing up in 1913, notably at the Paris Opera House. The most famous neon sign is probably the Las Vegas sign.

1919 - The Quebec Bridge over the Saint Lawrence River between Sainte-Foy (near Quebec City) and Lévis, Quebec opened.

1922 - The first public Technicolor motion picture film, The Toll of the Sea, was released at the Rialto Theatre, in New York City.

1947 - A Streetcar Named Desire opened on Broadway.

1960 - The musical Camelot debuted at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway.

1967 – 54-year-old Louis Washkansky received the first human heart transplant, led by Dr. Christian Barnard, at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. He lived for 18 days.

1976 - An assassination attempt was made on Bob Marley. Shot twice, he quickly recovered.

1979 - Eleven people were killed in a stampede at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum prior to an appearance by The Who. "Festival Seating' was pretty much to blame - thousands of people has 'first come, first seated' tickets, and a sound check made many think the concert had already begun.

1984 - The Bhopal-Union Carbide disaster in India killed over 8,000 people, and injured hundreds of thousands.

1992 - The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tons of crude oil, ran aground in a storm while approaching A Coruna, Spain, spilling most of the oil.

1994 - The Sony PlayStation was released in Japan.

1997 - 121 countries signed the treaty prohibiting manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel land mines in Ottawa, Canada. Notable exceptions were: The United States, People's Republic of China, and Russia.

1999 - The Mars Polar Lander crashed into the Martian surface.

2010 - The Black Swan was released in theaters.

2012 (Typhoon) At least 475 people were killed after Typhoon Bopha made landfall in the Philippines.

Birthdays Today

@91 – Victor Borge

            Børge Rosenbaum, Danish-American pianist

            conductor (died in 2000)

88 - Dabney Coleman, American actor

@87 - Lucretia Mott/Coffin, American woman's rights advocate (died in 1880)

@81 – J.R.R. Tolkien, English writer, poet, and philologist (died in 1973)

@79 – Ray Milland

       Alfred Reginald Jones, Welsh-American actor and

       director (died in 1986)

@77 – Glen A. Larson, American director, producer, and screenwriter, created Battlestar Galactica

      (died in 2014; cancer)

75 – Stephen Stills, American singer-songwriter

@63 – Cicero, Roman philosopher, lawyer, and politician (died in 43 BC)

@60 – Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter

       (died in 1989; heart attack)

16- Greta Thunberg, Swedish Environmental activist

Puzzle Answer:

Nine