Aug 14

 

Aug 14, 2021 Week: 33 Day: 226
Ave. Sky Cover:  20%\Visibility: 10 miles
Local Temp:   83°\ 56° Wind: 3mph\ Gusts: 5mph
Low risk of fire Active fire:362 mi. \ Lightning: 59mi.
Aug Averages: 79°\50° (9 days w/moisture) 

Today’s Quote

  

 

Weekly Observations

 

National Environmental Services Week: Link	2-20
Sturgis Rally: Link	6-15
National Motorcycle Week Link  Feeding Pets of the Homeless Week Link  Link   National Resurrect Romance Week Weird Contest Week	8-14
Safe and Sound Week Link US Amateur Golf Week	9-15
Numismatic Week (World's Fair of Money)	10-14
Elvis Week Link	11-17
National Hobo Week Link	12-15

 

Daily Oberservations

 

Creamsicle Day Navajo Code Talkers Day VJ Day

 

 

Favorite Memes

 

 

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Hoping for more monsoon rain showers today. It looks like they will get here in the late afternoon.

Today is Navajo Code Talkers Day, started by President Reagan in the 1980’s. While at NAU, I took a summer class on Navajo Culture taught by a Mennonite missionary who spoke and taught a Navajo Language class at NAU. Navajos were impressed with his language skills. One morning we had a guest speaker. He was the Anglo Marine who suggested and supported the Code Talker idea. Back during the war, he met with Navajo Marines here in a Flagstaff motel room to recruit the first group of Code Talkers. After that there were several classes of Code Talkers who went to the Pacific front to send coded messages to American troops fighting the Japanese. It was the only ‘code’ that wasn’t figured out by the enemy. Code Talker Dictionary

Big story in the sports world: The first ever MLB game in Ohio. This game was the Yankees v Red Sox in a cornfield, just like the movie Field of Dreams. Only 8000 could get tickets @ $1400 each. It sold out to see the Sox beat the Yankees. Very cool.

Lollapalooza, the big music festival, was NOT a super spreader. Over 4 days some 385,000 attended. Over 90% were vaccinated. Now 2 weeks later there are only 203 cases traced to the event and none required hospitalization.

Census Data from 2020 came out. Some interesting stuff:

·        White population is down from 69.1% in 2000 to 57.8 in 2020

·        Hispanic population is up from 12.5% to 18.7%

·        Black population remained steady at 12.1%

·        Asian/Pacific is up from 3.6% to 5.9%

·        Native American remained steady at .7%

In addition, the ‘Red’ states gained more population than the ‘Blue’ states. CA will lose one seat for the first time in its history.

The Afghanistan situation is getting worse by the hour. I must wonder if sending in troops will help. It might help save American citizens still there and the thousands who helped us during the past 20 years. The success or failure of this withdrawal will fall directly on President Biden. None of his advisors expected the Taliban to move this quickly or that the regular troops of Afghans would respond so poorly. Taliban are Sunni and translates to ‘students’ or ‘seekers’. What a mess.

 

Historical Events

 

1592 – The Falkland Islands were discovered by John Davis.

1846 Henry David Thoreau jailed for refusing to pay taxes

1935 – Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired.

1945 V-J Day, Japan surrenders unconditionally to end WW II (also August 15 depending on time zone)

1945 Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh movement launch a coordinated uprising against French rule across Vietnam following the Japanese surrender

1975 – The Gager’s Diner softball team played the Bend’n Elbow Tavern team for 365 innings, to raise money for the Montecillo Community General Hospital (NY) for the construction of a softball field.

The Gagers won, 491-467. It remains the longest softball game of all time.

1975 – The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the longest-running release in film history, opened in London.

2017 US President Donald Trump condemns racist violence at the White House after criticism of his earlier response to Charlottesville violence

 

Birthdays Today

 

80 – David Crosby, American singer-songwriter

76 – Steve Martin, American actor, comedian and screenwriter

75 – Susan Saint James, American actress

74 – Danielle Steel, American author

71 – Gary Larson, American cartoonist, The Far Side

62 – Magic Johnson, American basketball player

55 – Halle Berry, model, actress, Miss World United States 1986

53 – Catherine Bell, English-American actress

38 – Mila Kunis, Ukrainian-American actress

34 – Tim Tebow, American football and baseball player