Jul 19

 

 

 

Jul  , 2021 Week: 30 Day: 200

Ave. Sky Cover: 60%\Visibility: 10 miles

Local Temp:  82°\ 56° Wind: 6mph\ Gusts: 13mph

Low risk of fire Active fire: 58mi. \ Lightning: 3mi.

Jul Averages: 82°\51° (9 days w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

 

 

 

Random Tidbits

 

Dogs can smell about 1,000 times better than humans. While humans have 5 million smell-detecting cells, dogs have more than 220 million. The part of the brain that interprets smell is also four times larger in dogs than in humans.

Dogs like sweets a lot more than cats do. While cats have around only 473 taste buds, dogs have about 1,700 taste buds. Humans have approximately 9,000.

Honeybees navigate by using the sun as a compass.

 

True Things

 

The Passing Parade

Deer are not native to Australia, which might explain why two nude sunbathers in Royal National Park, south of Sydney, ran into the bush when a deer startled them on a nudist beach on June 27. The two men, 30 and 49 years old, became lost and called for help, summoning a police rescue helicopter to pluck them from the forest, Reuters reported. Unfortunately for them, they were found to be breaching a COVID-19 lockdown instated in response to the delta variant, and both were charged with fines. [Reuters, 6/28/2021]

 

Idioms Origins

 

Thagomizer

We’ve all seen those Dinosaur Tails with the Four or Eight Spikes; they’re officially called a Thagomizer, thanks to a 1982 strip Far Side. RIP caveman Thag Simmons.

 

Weekly Observations

 

Rabbit Week	15-21
Hemp History Week Link National Moth Week Link	17-23
Captive Nations Week Everybody Deserves A Massage Week Link  National Independent Retailers Week Link   National Zoo Keeper Week Link	18-24
Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week	18-25
International Lace Week  Link	19-23

 

Today’s Observations

 

Eid-Al-Adha Flight Attendant Safety Professinals’ Day Global Hug Your Kid Day National Daiquiri Day National Get Out of the Doghouse Day National Raspberry Cake Day New Friends Day Stick Out Your Tongue Day

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

Cloudy and nice. Looks like more monsoon this afternoon. Our commons area which is mostly weeds and dirt with lots of pine trees is greening up from all the rain. It has been many years since I have seen this much green. Nice.

Belgium and Germany are dealing with lots of flooding. From the news reports it looks much worse than our tiny Flagstaff floods.

In the US, right now, there are over 70 wildfires currently burning over 1 million acres of land. So tragic. When I was working on the Rez I knew several wildland fire fighters and fire protectors of archeological sites. I am still in contact with a couple of them. They have a very tough life as fire season keeps getting longer and longer every year. Most have full time jobs and their boss has to give them permission to fight fires. As the season lengthens the time off is affecting their regular jobs severely. Scientists have answers, but Congress, states, and others don’t like their answers. Even more tragic.

I read an interesting article on the current Cuban demonstrators. The main point is that Cubans have a wide variety of reasons for protesting: lack of food, lack of vaccine, the central government, the economy, and the embargos that are devasting their lives. Since there is not a centralized issue that unites them, their demonstrations may not accomplish much. Sad.

 

2 New Puzzles Everyday

Answer: bottom of the page

 

gravity

SUBMARINE

 

 

Historical Events

 

64 – Great Fire of Rome occurred, destroying half of the city. Contrary to rumors, Nero did not play the fiddle while it burned, but he did blame “the Christians.”

1553 – Lady Jane Grey was replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England after only nine days on the throne.

1799 – Identified today: The Rosetta Stone, which was found July 19, 1799, is now the most visited object in the British museum.

1845 – The last great fire (Great New York City Fire of 1845) to hit Manhattan began early in the morning and was subdued that afternoon. The fire killed 4 firefighters, 26 civilians, and destroyed 345 buildings.

1848 – A two-day Women’s Rights Convention opened in Seneca Falls, New York.

1952 – The Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were opened in Helsinki, Finland.

1954 – Elvis Presley’s first single was released. That’s All Right Mama

1969 – Senator Ted Kennedy crashed his car into a tidal pond at Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, killing his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.

1977 – The world’s first Global Positioning System (GPS) signal was transmitted from Navigation Technology Satellite 2 (NTS-2) and received at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

1984 Geraldine Ferraro (US Representative, New York), becomes the 1st US female major-party vice-presidential nominee, officially joining Walter Mondale's Democratic Party ticket

1985 Christa McAuliffe chosen as 1st school teacher to fly aboard the space shuttle

1993 President Clinton fires FBI director William s. Sessions

2017 US scientists calculate total amount plastic ever produced - 8.3 billion tons, equal to weight of 1 billion elephants

2018 Airbus Beluga XL, painted to look like the whale, makes its first flight, landing in Toulouse-Blagnac, France

2020 Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says 25 million Iranians already infected with COVID-19, 35 million at risk (official figure just 269,440)

 

 

Birthdays Today

 

@89 – Max Fleischer, Austrian-American animator and producer (d. 1972)

@83 – Edgar Degas, French painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 1917)

80 – Vikki Carr [Florencia Bisenta de Casillas-Martinez Cardona], American singer

74 – Brian May, English singer-songwriter, astrophysicist, guitarist[Queen]

@66 – Lizzie Borden, acquitted for the murder of her parents in 1892 (d. 1927; pneumonia)

59 – Anthony Edwards, American actor

@47 – Samuel Colt, American businessman, founded the Colt’s Manufacturing Company (d. 1862; gout)

45 – Benedict Cumberbatch, English actor

39 – Jared Padalecki, American actor

 

Puzzles Answer

 

Center of gravity                                                                Yellow submarine