Jan 16

 

2021…at last

Jan 16, 2021  Week: 2  Day: 18	Local:  H 54°\ L 25°\Ave. Sky Cover: 5%
Wind:   10mph\Gusts:  17mph	Today’s Ave. Temp.: H 42°\ L 17°
Nearest lightning:  1572mi.; Active fire:  59mi	High Risk of Fire           Visibility:  10mi
Record: 60°[1974]   Record: -8°[1975]	Jan Averages: 44°/16° (4 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit.

Anton Chekhov

Random Tidbits

Britain is the second-largest nation of tea drinkers per capita. Ireland is the first.

The United Kingdom drinks about 165 million cups of tea a day, or 62 billion cups per year.

A Little Humor

People need to start appreciating the effort I put in not to be a serial killer.

If brains were lard, that dude wouldn’t have enough grease a skillet

True Things

Different areas are dealing with the pandemic in different ways. In Los Angeles they're havng "super-spreader" parties, while in Quebec they have an 8 p.m. curfew for all residents. But for every rule there is an exception, and the exception for the curfew rule is that you can be out and about if you have to walk your dog. One couple took a metaphorical approach to this exception, a metaphor the police did not appreciate.

A Quebec husband and wife were handed sizeable fines for violating curfew, despite the wife's protests that she was walking her dog and the fact the husband was wearing a leash.

The woman and her husband were each given $1,500 fines by Sherbrooke police for violating curfew. The pair was caught walking at 9 p.m. on Saturday evening.

Police said the two were walking towards downtown and did not cooperate with the officers. When questioned by police, the couple claimed they were following the rules.

Quebec officials have said people may walk their dogs after the 8 p.m. curfew, provided they stay within one kilometer of their house.

Over the first weekend under curfew, police officers across Quebec handed out 750 tickets worth thousands of dollars in fines to people caught out after 8 p.m.

Interestng facts about AZ

Ø Oraibi, a Hopi village located in Navajo County, Arizona, dates back to before A.D. 1200 and is reputed to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in America.

Ø Built by Del Webb in 1960, Sun City, Arizona was the first 55-plus active adult retirement community in the country.

Ø Petrified wood is the official state fossil. The Petrified Forest in northeastern Arizona contains America's largest deposits of petrified wood.

Weekly Observations

National Mocktail Week	10-16
Cuckoo Dancing Week	11-17
No Tillage Week	15-21
International Snowmobile Safety and Awareness Week Link	16-24

 

Today’s Observations

Appreciate a Dragon Day

Bald Eagle Appreciation Days: 16-17
Civil Service Day
International Hot and Spicy Food Day

National Fig Newton DayLink  Link
National Nothing Day

National Quinoa Day
National Use Your Gift Card Day Link
Religious Freedom Day Link  
Without A Scalpel Day Link  Link

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

If I was still working, I’d be getting ready for a 3-day weekend. AZ lost a chance to host the Super Bowl when they refused to honor MLK Day years ago.

I went in for a blood draw this morning, but they were unable to find a vein. Disappointed, but will return next week to try again. I was told to wear a jacket, gloves, and drink more the 32 oz of water I drank this morning. I wish they had access to sonograms. The hospital is the only place that can do that, and the COVID-19 restrictions are extremely strict.

DC is busy getting ready for the inauguration. Events like this are always inconvenient for residents, but this year is so much different. I’m sure workers who have to walk a lot more, and the workers who use the park nearby hope that all this security makes the inauguration a success. Even some workers can’t get to their employment and are losing their pay. Also, rehearsals for the event have been delayed by one day as more security is brought in. A group of Veterans who were upset about the mob, including some Vets, decided to join forces and helped clean up the mess left at the demonstration site. Good to hear.

 

Daily Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

Two men are playing chess. They play five games. Each man wins three games. How is that possible?

Historical Events

1219 & 1362 – St. Marcellus Floods or Grote Mandrenke (Great Drowning of Men), Netherlands. Over 25,000 people drowned in 1362 and 25,000 in 1219.

1547 – Ivan the Terrible crowned himself 1st Tsar of Moscow.

1581 – The English Parliament outlawed Roman Catholicism.

1605 – The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid, Spain.

1894 – Theodore Witte of Chilliwhack, British Columbia, was issued a U.S. patent (#512930) for a “Puttying-Tool” (the first caulking gun)

1920 – The 18th Amendment, Prohibition began, and alcoholic beverages were made illegal in the United States. (Effective one year later)

1936 – The first photo finish camera was installed at a US racetrack, at Hialeah, Florida.

1939 – The Superman newspaper comic strip debuted.

1941 – War Department forms 1st Army Air Corps squadron, The Tuskegee Airmen, for black cadets.

1964 – Broadway Show – Hello, Dolly! (Musical) opened, starring Carol Channing

1991 – All major television networks were pre-empted with Gulf War coverage right after evening news broadcasts.

2001 US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish–American War

2002 UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and freezes assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the members of the Taliban

2006 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.

2019 Egyptian city Cairo is engulfed by a sandstorm turning it orange

2020 Impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump begins in the Senate

 

Birthdays Today

86 – A.J. Foyt, American race car driver

@76 – Ethel Merman [Ethel Agnes Zimmermann], American actress and singer (d. 1984; brain cancer)

@73 – Andre Michelin, founder of Michelin Tire Company (d. 1931)

73 – John Carpenter, American director

@71 – Susan Sontag, American novelist, essayist, and critic (d. 2004; rare cancer)

70 – Debbie Allen, actress

@64 – Dizzy Dean (Jay Hanna Dean), American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1974; heart attack)

62 – Sade (Helen Folasade Adu), Nigerian-English singer-songwriter

46 – Kate Moss, English model

41 – Lin-Manuel Miranda, stage actor

Puzzle Answer

They were not playing each other.