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FYI:
Any Blue text is a
link. Click to check it out!
Aug 24, 2020 Week: 35 Day: 237 Local: H 88° \ L 54° \ Average Sky Cover: 45%
Wind: 3mph\Gusts: 4mph Nearest lightning: 8mi.;
active fire: 59mi.
Extreme Risk of Fire Visibility: 10mi
Record: 91°[1985 ] Record: 30°[1968] Aug Averages: 79°\50° (9 days with rain)
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Today’s Quote
"The
question isn't who is going to let me;
it's who is
going to stop me."
-Ayn
Rand
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Random Tidbits
What
is the difference between et al and et cetera?
The
Latin phrase et al, short for et alia (and other things) and et alii (and other
people), is more specific than et cetera (and the rest). Only et al can refer
to people.
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A little humor
Sven notices his neighbor has a sign in his yard—”Boat for
Sale.”
“Ole,” he says, “you don’t own a boat. All you got is your old
tractor and your combine.”
“Yup,” said Ole. “And they’re boat for sale.”
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State Name Origins
Maine's
name might have originated from Royal Navy mariners Ferdinando Gorges and John
Mason, who received a charter for what would become Maine and used the name to
differentiate the mainland from the islands around it.
The
state of Maryland, which as a colony, was founded as a haven for Catholics
persecuted in England, was named to honor Queen Henrietta Maria, the Catholic
wife of England's King Charles I.
The
name "Massachusetts" is derived from the language of the Algonquian
nation and translates as "at or about the great hill." The hill
refers to the Blue Hills southwest of Boston.
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Observations This Week
Minority Enterprise Development Week: 18-24
World Water Week: 23-29 Link
National
Composites Week: 24-28 Link
National
Safe at Home Week: 24-28
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Observations for Today
International Strange Music Day Link
Knife Day Link
National Peach Pie Day
National Waffle Iron Day Link
Pluto Demoted Day
Vesuvius Day
Wayzgoose Day Link
William Wilberforce Day
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My Rambling Thoughts
Another hazy and/or cloudy day. Nice monsoon yesterday. Hoping for
more today.
Reparations is an exceedingly difficult subject. First it means an
admission of previous misdeeds. Then most plans have a monetary distribution to
those or their survivors who were mistreated. Those American citizens of
Japanese descent were given a small [$20,000] if they were still alive in 1988.
When the slaves were freed, slave owners in DC were paid $300/slave as
compensation. Slaves received only their freedom. As talk of reparations for is
in the news, the discussion is on Blacks and Native people. There are no
answers yet, and many are questioning the admission of any bad deeds. Until
there is an admission of wrongdoing, nothing will be decided.
Canada recently made it more difficult for non-Canadians to enroll
in in-person educational classes [at all levels]. Since most Canadian schools
are on remote learning, a foreign student must prove that they are required to
have in-person classes. The bureaucracy to have that proof obtained and granted means
that many students may not be able to enroll into a class late.
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Today’s Puzzle
Answer at the bottom of the page
I have a neck but no head.
I have a body but no arms.
I have a bottom but no legs.
What am I?
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Historical Events
79 (Volcano Eruption) Mount Vesuvius erupted. The cities of
Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae were buried in volcanic ash, although some
scholars believe it was October 24th. Pop/Rock band Bastille wrote a song about
the event in 2013.
1215 – Pope Innocent III declared Magna Carta invalid.
1456 – The printing of the Gutenberg Bible was completed.
1662 – The Act of Uniformity requires England to accept the Book
of Common Prayer.
1682 – William Penn received the area that is now the state of
Delaware, and added it to his colony of Pennsylvania.
1690 – Job Charnock of the East India Company establishes a
factory in Calcutta, essentially founding the city.
1875 – Navy Captain Matthew Webb began his swim as the first
person to swim the English Channel without a life preserver
1891 – Thomas Edison applied for his patent (#589,168) the motion
picture projector (kinetograph). It was approved on August 31.
1932 – Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the
United States non-stop, from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey.
1989 – Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life.
1998 – First radio-frequency identification (RFID) human
implantation was tested in the United Kingdom.
1991 Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of USSR Communist Party
1991 Ukraine declares independence from USSR
2006 The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term
"planet" such that Pluto is considered a Dwarf Planet.
2011 Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple Inc., and is succeeded by
Tim Cook, as a result of his illness
2012 Both Apple and Samsung are found guilty of patent
infringement in a South Korean court
2015 Physicist Stephen Hawking presents a new theory on black
holes at a lecture at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
2015 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces that for the 1st time
1 billion people logged into Facebook
2019 Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro orders the army to help
contain fires in the Amazon after widespread environmental destruction,
wildlife loss and international criticism
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Birthdays Today
@83 – Louis
Teicher, American pianist (Ferrante & Teicher) (d. 2008)
82 – Mason
Williams, American guitarist, and composer
@81 – Kenny
Baker, English actor, R2-D2 (d. 2016)
@77 – Duke Kahanamoku,
American swimmer, actor, surfer (d. 1968; heart attack)
@75 – Yasser
Arafat, Egyptian-Palestinian politician, 1st President of the Palestinian
National Authority (d. 2004; stroke)
65 – Mike
Huckabee, American minister, and politician
55 – Marlee
Matlin, American actress
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Puzzle Answer
A bottle
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