Aug 14, 2021 Week: 33 Day: 226
Ave. Sky Cover: 20%\Visibility:
10 miles
Local Temp: 83°\ 56° Wind: 3mph\ Gusts: 5mph
Today’s Quote
Weekly Observations
|
National Environmental Services Week: Link |
2-20 |
|
Sturgis Rally: Link |
6-15 |
|
National
Motorcycle Week Link |
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 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
