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Jan 21, 2018 Week: 04\ Day: 21
86004 Today: H 35° \ L 14° \ Average Sky Cover: overcast/snowing
Wind ave.: 6mph\Gusts: 17mph Visibility: 10 mi
Record High: 60°[1944] Record Low: -24°[1937]
Jan Averages: 50°\23°
Jan Records: H: 66° (1971) L: -30° (1937)
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Today’s Quote
Harper’s Index
2050-Projected year in which cargo ships will be able to pass directly
over the North Pole.
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Observances This Week
17-23
National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week
National Soccer Coaches of America Week
18-25
Week of Christian Unity
18-28
Sundance Film Festival
20-21
Bald Eagle Appreciation Days
20-28
International Snowmobile Safety and Awareness Week Link
Hunt For Happiness Week
National Activity Professionals Week
National CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists) Week
National Handwriting Analysis Week
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Observances for Today
Celebration of Life Day
National Sanctity of Human Life Day (or Pro-Life Day) Link
Stephen Foster Day
World Religion Day Link
World Snow Day Link
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Today’s Significant US Historical Events
Today’s Significant International Historical Events
1600’s
1677 1st medical publication in America (pamphlet on smallpox), published in Boston
1700’s
1749 Verona Philharmonic Theatre destroyed by fire. Rebuilt 1754.
1789 1st American novel, WH Brown's "Power of Sympathy" is published
1800’s
1813 Pineapple introduced to Hawaii
1813 Spaniard Don Francisco de Paula y Marin plants coffee in Hawaii - 1st record of coffee growing in Hawaii
1846 1st edition of Charles Dickens' newspaper "The Daily News"
1863 City of Dublin leases part of Cattle Market for 100,000 years
1887 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) forms
1899 Opel manufactured its first automobile.
1900’s
1935 The Wilderness Society is founded by conservationists
1949 1st inaugural parade televised (Harry Truman)
1976 Supersonic Concorde has its 1st commercial flights
1977 US President Jimmy Carter pardons almost all Vietnam War draft evaders
1983 President Reagan certifies El Salvador human-rights abuses have decreased making country eligible for US military aid
1987 B.B. King donates his 7,000 record collection to the University of Mississippi
1990 John McEnroe becomes 1st ever player to be expelled from the Australian Open
1991 CBS News correspondant Bob Simon captured by Iraqis in Persian Gulf
1998 Pope John Paul II visits Cuba
2000’s
2008 Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 9/11, and Asian stocks drop as much as 15%.
2017 More than 2 million people protest worldwide in the 'Women's March' against Donald Trump, with 500,000 marching in Washington D.C.
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My Rambling Thoughts
The first ‘real’ snow of the season…got about an inch in 2 hours and it should be 5” before it’s over. So peaceful and relaxing. Have nowhere I have to go, so I can just enjoy its beauty.
We are now in the midst of our 8th Federal government shutdown. They started during the Reagan administration. There is always a big buildup with a late night, elected officials standing around is tiny groups waiting for yet another vote. Then midnight arrives. The government shuts down, the elected officials continue to stand in their tiny groups attempting to find a solution into the early hours.
I was a teacher during the first two. The hardest part was getting the announcement that we had been furloughed and had to leave the campus within the hour. Why were we furloughed? Because Congress decided that we were ‘non-essential’ employees. Quite an ego blow. How can you run a school when all the teachers, aides, cooks, dorm staff, counselors, and administrators are sent home as being ‘non-essential’? We went home about 1p and were back at work the next day at 8a. Crazy. For all the other shutdowns I was an administrator and our forward-thinking brilliant BIA leaders in DC figured out a way to get us ‘forward funding’ meaning that when the government shutdown, the BIA schools remained open with no lost time, money, and suddenly we felt more ‘essential’.
From my viewpoint, all these shutdowns are simply political power struggles. In every shutdown to date, employees learn they are ‘non-essential’ to the functioning of the Agency they work for. While there are many positive things about being a Civil Servant, during and after a shutdown, the realization that you are ‘non-essential’ is a difficult pill to swallow. In the end, workers get pay as if they had worked, unless they were on leave. If they were on leave during the shutdown, they get paid, but also have to use that leave. As with all shutdowns, this one leaves employees wondering how long they will be furloughed and if they will still get paid. History says the furlough will be short and they will get paid, but with our current administration, one never knows. The frustration of this insane political shutdown continues.
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Birthdays Today
@- indicates age at death
80’s
@86- Paul Scofield,
English actor (A Man for All Seasons, Train),
born in Hurst, England
(d. 2008)
70’s
78- Jack Nicklaus,
golfer (Player of Yr 1967,72,73,75,76),
born in Columbus, Ohio
@77- J. Carrol Naish,
American actor (Charlie Chan-Adv of Charlie Chan),
born in NYC, New York
emphysema (d. 1973)
76- Mac Davis,
American country music singer-songwriter,
actor (Mac Davis Show, North Dallas 40),
born in Lubbock, TX
@73- Karl Wallenda,
German acrobat
high wire fall (d. 1978)
@72- Telly Savalas,
American actor (Kojak),
born in Garden City New Jersey,
cancer (d. 1994)
@72- Richie Havens,
American folk singer (Here Comes the Sun),
born in Brooklyn, New York
(d. 2013)
71- Jill Eikenberry,
Actress (Ann Kelsey-LA Law, Manhattan Project),
born in New Haven, CT
60’s
@68- Benny Hill [Alfred Hawthorn Hill],
British comedian (The Benny Hill Show),
born in Southampton, Hampshire, England
heart attack (d. 1992)
68- Billy Ocean, [Leslie S Charles],
Trinidad, singer (Caribbean Queen)
67- Eric Holder,
American lawyer and judge
(1st African American US Attorney General 2009-2015),
born in The Bronx
65- Paul Allen,
American entrepreneur, co-founder of Microsoft,
born in Seattle
50’s
@57- Wolfman Jack [Robert Weston Smith],
American disk jockey (Midnight Special),
born in Brooklyn
heart attack (d. 1995)
55- Hakeem Olajuwon,
Nigerian-American NBA center (Houston Rockets,
Olympic gold 1996),
French fashion designer (New Look),
born in Granville, France
heart attack (d. 1957)
40’s
@47-Grigori Rasputin,
Russian mystic
murdered (d. 1916)
30’s
@39- Stonewall Jackson [Thomas Jonathan],
Confederate general during the American Civil War,
born in Clarksburg, Virginia
pneumonia (d. 1863)
@33- Horace Wells,
dentist (pioneered use of laughing gas)
suicide (d. 1848)
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Historical Obits Today
80’s
@87-1997 Col. Tom Parker [Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk],
Dutch-born talent manager (Elvis Presley)
@81-1985 James Beard,
American chef and author
@81-1926 Camillo Golgi,
Italian physician and medical researcher (Nobel Prize in Medicine-1906)
70’s
@77-1998 Jack Lord,
American actor (Hawaii FIVE-O),
Alzheimer's, heart failure
@77-1959 Cecil B. DeMille,
American filmmaker (The Ten Commandments, Samson and Delilah),
heart failure
50’s
@55-2016 Bill Johnson,
alpine skier (first American to win alpine Olympic gold - 1984),
complications of previous ski accident
@53-1924 Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin,
Russian Revolutionary leader and Premier,
stroke
40’s
@46-1950 George Orwell,
British author (Animal Farm, 1984),
burst artery
30’s
@38-1793 Louis XVI,
French King (1774-93),
beheaded during the French Revolution
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Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.
All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site contains mistakes and sadly once the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.
☼☼☼☼…And That Is All for Now…☼☼☼☼
