Jun 10, 2021 Week: 24
Day: 161 |
Visibility: 10 miles Ave. Sky Cover: 60% |
Local: H 81°\ L 46° |
Wind: 9mph/ Gusts: 17mph |
EXTREME Risk of Fire:
Active fire: 23mi Nearest Lightning: 535mi. |
Jun Averages: 70°/42° (1 day w/moisture) |
Today’s Quote
Hope is like the sun,
which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us. Samuel Smiles |
Random Tidbits
The next advance in steam
engine technology involved the realization that steam itself, rather than the
condensing of steam to create a vacuum, could power an engine. In 1804,
American inventor Oliver Evans (1755-1819) designed the first high-pressure,
non-condensing engine.
Steam was successfully
adapted to power boats in 1802 and railways in 1829. Later, some of the first
automobiles were powered by steam.
Humor
An elderly Mormon visits his doctor and asks if he’ll live to be a
hundred.
“Do you smoke or drink?” asks the doctor.
“Those things have never and will never touch my lips,” says the man.
“Do you gamble, drive fast cars, and fool around with women?”
“Nope, don’t believe in doing any of that, either.”
“Well then,” says the doctor, “what do you want to live to be a
hundred for?”
Real Cities
Chugwater, Wyoming is a town in Platte County, Wyoming. As of the 2010
census, the town population was 212.
Some historians hold that the name "Chugwater" is derived
from a Mandan account of a bison hunt. According to this narrative, a chief was
disabled during the hunt and his son took charge of the hunt or "buffalo
jump". Under his direction, hunters drove the bison over nearby cliffs;
when the animals reached the ground below, a sound of "chugging" was
heard by the hunters. The story concludes with an etymology: since a stream was
near the base of the cliffs, the site of the stampede has been called "the
place" or "water at the place where the buffalo chug."
True Things
Creepy!
Samantha Hartsoe noticed
a draft in her New York City apartment and traced it to the mirror in her
bathroom, the New York Post reported on March 4. With the help of friends,
Hartsoe removed the mirror and found a hole in the wall behind it leading to
... another apartment. As she documented her adventure on TikTok, Hartsoe
climbed through the hole into a hallway leading to a room at the end and
"a whole other apartment" with three bedrooms, a disconnected toilet,
a staircase and an unlocked door (which she promptly locked). Hartsoe returned
to her own apartment, showered and vowed her landlord would get an unusual call
the next day. [New York Post, 3/4/2021]
Weekly Observations
International Clothesline Week |
5-12 |
National Lemonade Days Link |
5-13 |
Bedbug Awareness Week Link |
6-12 |
Duct Tape Days: Cancelled |
10-12 |
Today’s Observations
Alcoholics
Anonymous (Founders) Day Black Cow
Day Iced Tea Day |
My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts
It is a cloudy and nice day
with no precipitation. The fire
outside Flagstaff has grown to 2000 acres and Highway 180 is closed ‘for the
foreseeable future’. My parents were married on June
10, 1939 and had a 55-year marriage until my father passed. So many great
memories. The FBI has been busy in a
world-wide sting that collected 32 tons of drugs, 250 firearms, 50 luxury
vehicles and $14.8million in raids in various countries. The FBI handled the
US action with Interpol and others worked in other countries. Biden’s trip, along with Harris’
trip is showing the world that America has returned to the global scene. It is the time for tax reform. After
seeing the results of a recent study, the richest Americans are paying extraordinarily
little, if any, income tax. What they are doing is perfectly legal. The
Congress over the decades of Income Tax have given so many loopholes
available to the rich. I certainly used some loopholes when I was working…educators
could deduct newspapers and news magazines as a business expense, I could
deduct my government rent because it was required housing, I could deduct my
oil/gas investments for several years due to the Energy Crisis. I thought it
was weird, but I did it. While I was working, I paid in a much higher tax
bracket because I was single and had no dependents, so I took the weird
loopholes. Not everyone can pay a good tax person to find these loopholes or
have the money to invest to get the deductions. The IRS laws need to be
reviewed, get rid of the loopholes that allow multi-billionaires to pay less
tax than the secretary who answers their phone calls. I bought into the idea
that educators aren’t paid much so they should have special deductions and
that the gas/oil investment helped the country move to lower dependency on
foreign countries, so my country helped me. Everyone should pay a fair tax…no
more, no less. |
Daily Riddle
Answer: bottom of the page
I shave every day, but my beard stays the same. What am I?
Historical Events
1692 – Bridget Bishop was hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem,
Massachusetts, for “certain Detestable Arts called Witchcraft & Sorceries.”
1752 Benjamin Franklin tests the lightning
conductor with his kite-flying experiment
1809 – The first steamboat to navigate the open seas, the Phoenix
paddlewheel steamboat took 13 days to sail from New York City to Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
1845 Andrew Jackson's African Grey parrot
"Poll" is removed from his funeral for swearing at The Hermitage,
Tennessee. Funeral attendee William Menefee Norment recorded: "Before the
sermon and while the crowd was gathering, a wicked parrot that was a household
pet got excited and commenced swearing so loud and long as to disturb the
people and had to be carried from the house”
1854 – The first class of United States Naval Academy students
graduated.
1902 – The US patent (#701,839) for a window envelope was issued to
Americus F. Callahan of Chicago, Ill., which he called the outlook envelope.
1916 – An Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire led by Lawrence of
Arabia began.
1935 – Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio, United States,
by Dr. Robert Smith and Bill Wilson.
1943 – Laszlo Biro filed for a British patent (British #564172) on a
practical ballpoint pen with quick-drying ink.
1944 – 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds became the
youngest player ever in a Major League Baseball game.
1947 – Saab produced its first automobile.
1991 – 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped in South Lake
Tahoe, California; she was freed in 2009.
1994 – Pay television content descriptors which describe the varying
degrees of suggestive or explicit content in a series and movies began being
broadcast by pay channels such as HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime.
2003 – The Spirit rover was launched, beginning NASA’s Mars
Exploration Rover mission.
2007 – HBO’s critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning Mob-family
drama The Sopranos ended with a sudden cut to black and silence, leaving
many fans to wonder whether Tony Soprano was dead or still alive.
2020 Statues of Confederate figures and
explorers become focus of #BlackLivesMatter protests, with many removed
including of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and of Christopher Columbus
in Richmond
Birthdays Today
@99 – Prince Phillip,
Duke of Edinburgh (d. 2021)
88 – F. Lee Bailey, lawyer
@59 – Hattie
McDaniel, Oscar winning actress (d. 1952; breast cancer)
56 – Elizabeth Hurley, English model, and character actress
@47 – Judy Garland,
American singer, actress (d. 1969; OD)
29 – Kate Upton, American model
Puzzle Answer
A barber