Jan 5

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Jan. 5, 2020 Week: 1  Day:5

86004:   H 54° \ L 24° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Nearest lightning:  1724mi.; Nearest active fire:  346mi.  

Wind:   8mph\Gusts:  12mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 61°[1948]   Record Low: -22°[1910]

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

Today’s Quote

Ethical axioms are found and tested not very differently from the axioms of science. Truth is what stands the test of experience.

     Albert Einstein

Random Tidbits

After horses became domesticated around 4000 B.C., many Indo-European cultures regarded horses as a supreme sacrifice to their gods and often ritually entombed horses.

Famous owner/horse partnerships that helped change world history include Alexander the Great and his horse Bucephalus ("ox head"), El Cid and Babieca ("stupid"), and Napoleon and Marengo (named after a battle) who after its death, had its skeleton displayed in London.

Observations this Month

Oatmeal Month Link

Self-help Group Awareness Month

Self-Love Month

Shape Up US Month

Teen Driving Awareness Month

Train Your Dog Month Link   Link

Thyroid Awareness Month Link

Unchain A Dog Month Link

Walk Your Pet Month Link  Link

Worldwide Rising Star Month

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

Home Office Safety and Security Week: 5-11 

National Folic Acid Awareness Week: 5-11

Dating & Life Coaches Recognition Week: 5-11

National Lose Weight/Feel Great Week: 5-11

Observations for Today

Bird Day Link
Earth at Perihelion
Golden Globes
Krampusnacht (Krampus Night)

National Keto Day Link
National Screenwriters Day  Link
National Whipped Cream Day

Monopoly Game Day  Link
No Pants Subway Ride Day Link
Twelfth Night
Whipped Cream Day  Link

My Rambling Thoughts

Finally, a winter heat wave. So nice outside. Took a short walk into the forest after it warmed up.

Lots of news about the problems between our local university and our local town. The latest is that the University President and her husband made several international ‘business’ trips for the University but did not provide required documentation of the trips. With her salary and bonus, she made about $500K in 2019. She and her husband traveled first or business class to Russia and Israel. The cost of her trips was about $40K. As any bureaucracy, documentation regarding each trip is required. The audit suggested that tax-payers paid for all the trips. Policy allows the husband to travel with her at his expense, but does not cover first class flights, expensive hotels, etc.

The city mayor recently earned an advanced degree at the University, and has worked tirelessly to keep close ties between the city and the university. She is in her second, and last, term as she is running for state rep. Long-time locals have been upset for a little over the year at the way NAU is dictating city growth. This ‘trip thing’ is heating up the water, and there is talk about auditing the mayor also. Some are saying it looks like entitlement, others that power begets power. Tine will tell, and small-town politics can get pretty dirty.

Watching and waiting to see the blow-back from Trump’s order to kill of an Iranian military leader. Along that line, some new documents show how Carter was tricked by the Right to allow the Shah of Iran to land in NYC for a false ‘medical emergency’. This led to the Iranian hostage crisis back then. The Right, with the head of Chase bank and Kissinger, convinced Carter that the Shah needed to be in the US. Chase wanted his money. Then as Carter was negotiating the release of the hostages, the Right added candidate Reagan to their plan to stop the negotiations or at least slow them down substantially. It worked, Carter lost, Reagan won and just as Reagan was getting ready to take the oath, the hostages were released and Reagan took credit for the release. Dirty politics in action.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

How many animals of each species did Moses take on board the ark with him?

Historical Events

1455 (Earthquake) Naples, Italy, killing an estimated 40,000 people.

1854 - Aaron H. Allen of Boston, received U.S. patent# 12,017 for a folding chair as an "Improvement in Self-Adjusting Opera-Seat" for theatres or other public buildings. You have probably sat on his invention, if you have gone to a movie theater.

1876 - A fire at the Brooklyn Theater killed 295 people and injured hundreds more.

1876 - The Stillson wrench was patented by Daniel Chapman Stillson. The device was the first practical pipe wrench, the design is still in use today. (Patent #184,993)

1933 - Prohibition ended, thanks to the 21st amendment Utah being the last state needed to ratify it. When the 21st Amendment was passed to end Prohibition, American journalist H. L. Mencken celebrated with a glass of water, calling it "my first in 13 years."

1945 - Five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers (Flight 19) went missing in the Bermuda Triangle after leaving Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida.

1964 - #1 Hit: Lorne Greene - Ringo

1984 - Beverly Hills Cop, starring Eddie Murphy, opened in theaters.

1987 - #1 Hit: Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is a Place on Earth

1997 - Good Will Hunting was released in theaters.

2005 - In the UK, the Civil Partnership Act granted civil partnerships "which include same sex partnerships" in the United Kingdom with rights and responsibilities identical to civil marriage.

2008 - Frost Nixon debuted in theaters.

2008 - O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted for the well-known double murder in Los Angeles, was sentenced for up to thirty-three years in prison for robbing a pair of memorabilia dealers.

December 5, 2013 - The Sound of Music Live! starring Carrie Underwwod aired on NBC.

Birthdays Today

@100 - Strom Thurmond, American politician, 103rd Governor of South Carolina (died in 2003)

88 - Little Richard

       (Richard Wayne Penniman), American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor

@80 - Otto Preminger, Austrian-American actor, director, and producer (died in 1986)

@79 - Martin Van Buren, American politician, 8th President of the United States (died in 1862)

73 - Jim Messina, American singer-songwriter

@65 - Walt Disney, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founder of The Walt Disney Company (died in 1966; lung cancer)

51- Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner, singer

@36 - George Armstrong Custer, American general (died in 1876; Little Big Horn)

35 - Frankie Muniz, American actor

Puzzle Answer:

0.  

According to the Book of Genesis it was Noah that built the ark not Moses.