Sep 2

 

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FYI: Any Blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Sep 2, 2020  Week: 36  Day:   246                   Local:   H 81° \ L 46° \ Average Sky Cover: 20%

Wind:   7mph\Gusts:  11mph                           Nearest lightning:  128mi.; active fire:  270mi. 

Extreme Risk of Fire                                        Visibility:  10mi

Record: 91°[1948]   Record: 35°[1953]                  Sep Averages: 74°\42° (5 days with rain)

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Today’s  Quote

"Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is."

-Vince Lombardi

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Random Tidbits

 Tests conducted by St. Lawrence University in New York found that there were more left-handed people with IQs over 140 than right-handed people. Famous left-handed intellectuals include Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Benjamin Franklin.

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A little humor

"Disorder in the Court" True statements from court records

  

ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?

WITNESS: Yes.

ATTORNEY: How many were boys?

WITNESS: None

ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?

WITNESS: Your Honor, I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?

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State Name Origins

The name "Oregon" might have been derived from a 1715 French map that references the Wisconsin River as "Ouaricon-sint." Another possibility is that the name "Oregon" stems from an English army officer's reference in the late 18th century to "the River called by the Indians Ouragon." Still another possibility is that the name comes from the French word "ouragan," meaning "hurricane," because French explorers called the Columbia River "Le Fleuve aux Ouragans," or "Hurricane River," because of the strong winds gusting out of the Columbia Gorge.

If you remember your high school Latin, then it's easy to deconstruct the name "Pennsylvania, meaning "Penn's woods" or "Penn's land." The state was named after William Penn, who was granted the land by King Charles II of England in 1681. The "sylvania" suffix is derived from the Latin word for forest, which is sylva.

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True Things

 A Japanese museum dedicated to the history and practices of ninjas was targeted by thieves who apparently knew something of stealth and speed themselves -- stealing $9,470 in three minutes.

The Iga-ryu Ninja Museum, located in Iga, Mie Prefecture, said there were no staff members inside when the late-night thieves broke in and triggered an alarm.

Police were summoned to the scene and determined the thieves had used a crowbar to force the door open and made off with a 330-pound safe containing admission fees from more than 1,000 visitors.

The museum said about $9,470 was inside the safe.

The thieves are believed to have been in and out of the museum in about three minutes.

The museum is dedicated to the history and practices of ninjas, who were known for their skills in espionage, assassination, sabotage, and guerrilla warfare. The practice of ninjutsu -- the art of stealth -- is believed to date back to at least the 14th century.

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Observations This Month

Children’s Good Manners Month
Childhood Cancer Awareness Month Link
Cholesterol Education Month Link
Classical Music Month  Link
Co-op Awareness Month (9/24-10/31)
College Savings Month
Craniofacial Acceptance Month  Link
Eat Chicken Month
Fall Hat Month
Global Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month  Link
Go Wild for California Wild  Rice Month Link
Great American Low-Cholesterol, Low-fat Pizza Bake Month
Gynecology Cancer Awareness Month

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Observations This Week

Chuckwagon Races: Thru 9/6 
National Sweet Corn Week: Thru 9/5
US Open Tennis Championships: Thru 9/13
International Enthusiasm Week: 1-7
National Nutrition Week: 1-7 (UNICEF-India) Link
Self-University Week: 1-7 Link

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Observations for Today

Bison Ten Yell Day
International Bacon Day

National “Grits for Breakfast” Day

National No Patrick Day Link  (SpongeBob Squarepants)
VJ Day, WWII
World Coconut Day  Link

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My Rambling Thoughts

Fall is just around the corner. Had to close my bedroom window last night.

Cable Guy arrived at 9:15; 5 minutes after the telephone guy arrived. Telephone guy unplugged my line, took it apart, changed nothing, and put it back together. I had my 80 speed back. He said there was nothing wrong and had no idea why my speed was slow before. He said to call if it slows again and I can buy a new modem. This modem is about 5 years old. The Cable guy came in, took my 12-year old DVR cablebox and put in a refurbished one. I can only rent it. Then came to the office and took my 3-year old cable box and put in a new one. Turns out he is not a cable company employee but a sub-contractor. When I asked about ‘Error 7’, he said ‘they don’t give us the codes’. He said it would about 24 hours before my On Demand would work. He said the refurbished boxes sit in the warehouse a long time and Suddenlink updates all the boxes starting at about 2am local time every night. Time will tell if either one fixed the problem I called about. I do have TV in the office again, so I am where I was when I first called on Saturday.

August was the 2^nd driest month and warmest on record for Flagstaff. There were 7 days that set new daily high temperatures.  Aug 16^th set the all-time record high at 93. The average daily temp was 4.6 degrees warmer than the normal. Flag received on 10% of its normal precipitation…receiving only 0.31”. No wonder my cooler worked overtime in August.

When I came to the Rez, Tuba City had a trading post in town, and down in valley on the highway to Flag, there was a huge store…Van’s Trading Co. They sold everything. They took pawn. They had a fresh meat counter with a real butcher. There was a huge grocery section, a clothing section, a jewelry section, a furniture secion…everything. A friend worked there in the mid-1960’s but I don’t when it first opened. The last time I was in Tuba, about 6 months ago, it was boarded up. Last night I started seeing pictures on Facebook of it burning. It is now a pile of rubble. So sad. It reminded me of the other big fire in Tuba. There was a Tourist store at the junction to Tuba. It was another big store, selling native rugs, jewelry, and snacks. One afternoon in the 1980’s, it burned down. It was never rebuilt. When you live in an exceedingly small town, losing a big store is the talk of the town for months.

I’m watching news to see how Trump handles his visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Will he meet with the victim of the shooting? Will he meet with the cop? And just wondering his idea about why he is there, since he only said it will build ‘enthusiasm’.

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Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

You may enter but you may not come in. 

I have space but no room. 

I have keys but open no lock.

What am I?

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Historical Events

44 BC – Cicero started the first of his Philippics (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony.

1192 – The Treaty of Jaffa was signed between Richard I of England and Saladin, leading to the end of the Third Crusade.

1666 – The Great Fire of London destroyed more than 13,000 homes along with St. Paul’s Church.

1752 (Julian year) – Great Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar, making the next day September 14, 1752. There was no September 3-13 in the British Empire, including the American colonies.

1789 – The United States Treasury Department was established.

1837 – General Sherman took Atlanta, after four weeks of fighting.

1837 – Samuel F.B. Morse patented his telegraph for sending messages. Ben Franklin was the first to send an electrical signal through a wire in 1750.

1897 – McCall Magazine began publication.

1901 – Vice President of the US, Theodore Roosevelt, used the famous phrase, “Speak softly and carry a big stick” at the Minnesota State Fair.

1912 – Arthur Rose Eldred was awarded the first Eagle Scout award of the Boy Scouts of America.

1944 – Future President George H.W. Bush ejected from his damaged plane in WW II.

1945 Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam independent from France (National Day)

1945 – Japan formally surrendered World War II.

1963 – CBS Evening News expanded from 15 minutes to 30 minutes, the first network to do so. NBC followed on September 9.

1963 Alabama Governor George Wallace prevents integration of Tuskegee High School

1969- Chemical Bank installed the first United States ATM in the U.S. at the branch in Rockville Centre, New York.

1974 US President Gerald Ford signs Employee Retirement Income Security Act

1985 – NBC began broadcasting in stereo.

1987 Donald Trump takes out a full-page NY Times ad lambasting Japan

2005 – On NBC’s Concert for Hurricane Relief, Kanye West stated that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”

2015 US President Barack Obama becomes the first president to visit the Arctic Circle at Kotzebue, Alaska

2018 Major fire at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro destroys most of its 20 million artifacts

2019 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatens a snap general election if rebel MPs pass bill against no-deal Brexit

2019 Violence and looting directed at foreigners in Johannesburg results in five deaths and dozens arrested by South African police

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Birthdays Today

83 – Peter Ueberroth, American businessman

@79 – Liliuokalani of Hawaii (d. 1917)

72 – Terry Bradshaw, American football player, sportscaster, and actor

69 – Mark Harmon, American actor

68 – Jimmy Connors, American tennis player, sportscaster

56 – Keanu Reeves, Lebanese-Canadian actor

@55 – Hugo Montenegro, American composer, conductor (d. 1981; emphysema)

55 – Lennox Lewis, English-Canadian boxer

54 – Salma Hayek, Mexican-American actress

@45 – Eugene Field, American author, and poet (d. 1895; heart attack)

@37 – Christa McAuliffe, American educator, astronaut (d. 1986; Challenger)

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Puzzle Answer

A computer

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