Jul 8

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Jul 8, 2018 Week: 28\ Day: 189

86004 Today: H 87° \ L 56° \ Average Sky Cover: 90% 

Nearest Lightning:  5.7miles away

Wind ave.:   11mph\Gusts:  23mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 92°[2002]   Record Low: 32°[1955]

Jul Averages: 82°\50°

Today’s Quote

Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs. Susan Sontag

Harper’s Index

4/5

Portion of Cabinet departments whose permanent staff shrank over the first nine months of 45’s administration.

-1737

Net change in permanent staff at Dept. of Justice

+1190

At the Dept. of Homeland Security

Observances This Week

4^th-10^th

Freedom Week
6^th-8^th

Rosewell UFO Days Link
7^th-14^th

Creative Maladjustment Week Link
7^th-9^th

National Tom Sawyer Days
8^th-14^th

National Farriers Week
Sports Cliché Week

Observances for Today

Body Painting Day

Coca Cola Day  Link
Math 2.0 Day (Founding Day)  Link
National Blueberry Day

SCUD Day (Savor the Comic, Unplug the Drama)

Video Games Day

Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1000’s                                         

1099 First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on

1600’s                                         

1693 NYC authorizes 1st police uniforms in American colonies

1700’s                                         

1796 US State Department issues 1st US passport

1800’s                                         

1822 Chippewas turn over huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom

1853 Commodore Matthew C. Perry sails his frigate Susquehanna into Tokyo Bay, opening Japan to Western influence and trade

1870 US Congress authorizes registration of trademarks

1900’s                                         

1907 Florenz Ziegfeld staged 1st `Follies' on NY Theater roof

1913 Alfred Carlton Gilbert's patent for the Erector Set is issued, it becomes one of the most popular toys of all time

1923 Warren G. Harding becomes 1st sitting US President to visit Alaska (Metlakahtla)

1933 Public Works Administration becomes effective

1941 All Jews living in Baltic States are obligated to wear a Jewish Star

1944 Japanese kamikaze attacks on US lines at Saipan

1975 Quake damages over 2,000 temples in Pagan Burma, 20-foot-high seated Buddha of Thandawgya decapitated

1996 British girls group the Spice Girls release their debut single "Wannabe" in the UK

2000’s                                         

2012 Tens of thousands protest over election corruption in Mexico City after Enrique Peña Nieto's win in the country's presidential election

2017 Unesco declares Asmara, capital of Eritrea, a world heritage site for its Art Deco buildings

My Rambling Thoughts

What a great Saturday. The monsoon finally arrived in our mountain town. It’s been playing with us for the past few days, but this is the real deal…lightning, thunder, rain bouncing off the streets. Three storms so far today, so time for some to soak in. Our monsoon is nothing like the ones in SE Asia.

I sure hope they get those soccer players, coach, and rescuers out before their monsoon hits hard.

MAGA seems to be faltering again. First on the N Korea front with two different opposing news stories coming from each side. The on the home front where it seems Homeland Security didn’t really keep records as they pulled small children from their immigrant parents. Seems some parents were deported while their kids were left here in the care of foster families they are living somewhere in the US and no one in HHS seems to know exactly where. Then there are the news stories from reliable sources that say ICE is deporting law abiding green card holders and someone else is deporting some who joined the US military to stay. How long will Americans allow this to occur? Looking at the treatment of Indigenous people here or the Japanese Americans during WWII, way, way too long.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@97- John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and founder of Standard Oil, born in Richford, New York (d. 1937)

80’s

@83- Jerry Vale [Genaro Louis Vitaliano], American singer (Arriverderci Roma), born in NYC (d. 2014)

83- Steve Lawrence, American singer and actor (Go Away Little Girl, Lonely Guy), born in Brooklyn

@81- Craig Stevens [Gail Shikles Jr.], American actor (Craig-Dallas, Peter Gunn), born in Liberty, Missouri (d. 2000)

70’s

@78- Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and inventor (rigid dirigibles) who founded the Zeppelin airship company, born in Konstanz, Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany (d. 1917)

74- Jeffrey Tambor, actor (Jeffrey-Ropers, Larry Sanders), born in San Francisco

@71- Roone Arledge, American President of ABC Sports (Monday Night Football), born in NYC, (d. 2002) prostate cancer

71- Kim Darby, American actress (True Grit, Enola Gay, Rich Man Poor Man), born in Hollywood

@70- Nelson Rockefeller, American politician (Vice President: 1974-1977; Governor of New York (R), 1959-73), born in Bar Harbor, Maine (d. 1979) heart attack

60’s

69- Wolfgang Puck, Austrian-born celebrity chef, born in Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria

67- Anjelica Huston, American actress (Prizzi's Honor, The Adams Family), born in Los Angeles

@66- Louis Jordan, American musician, songwriter and bandleader (Caldonia), born in Brinkley, Arkansas (d. 1975) heart attack

60- Kevin Bacon, actor (Diner, Footloose, She's Having a Baby), born in Philadelphia

50’s

@57- John Pemberton, American pharmacist (inventor of Coca-Cola), born in Knoxville, Georgia (d. 1888) stomach cancer

57- Toby Keith, American country singer and actor (Boomtown, Blue Moon), born in Clinton, OK

50- Michael Weatherly, American actor (Cooper Alden-The City/Loving), born in NYC

40’s

@48- Marty Feldman, comedian (Young Frankenstein), born in London, England (d. 1982) heart attack

48- Beck [Bek David Campbell], American singer (Morning Phase), born in Los Angeles  

20’s

20- Jaden Smith, American actor (The Karate Kid), born in Malibu, California

Historical Obits Today

90’s

@95-2012 Ernest Borgnine, American actor (Ice station Zebra, Marty)

@93-2011 Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States (1974-77) and founder of the Betty Ford Center clinic

80’s

@82-1994 Kim Il-sung, Founder, dictator and Supreme Leader of North-Korea (1948-94)

70’s

@78-1957 Grace Goodhue Coolidge, American First Lady (1923-29)

@76-1990 Howard Duff, American actor (Flamingo Road, Knots Landing), heart attack

@71-2015 James Tate, American poet (Pulitzer Prize 1992)

60’s

@69-2015 Ken "The Snake" Stabler, NFL quarterback (Oak Raiders, Super Bowl XI), colon cancer

@64-1994 Dick Sargent [Richard Stanford Cox ], American actor (Darren in "Bewitched"), cancer

@63-1538 Diego de Almagro, Spanish conquistador of Chile and Peru, executed 

50’s

@57-1991 James Franciscus, actor (Mr Novak), emphysema

@53-1967 Vivien Leigh, English actress (Gone with the Wind & A Streetcar Named Desire), TB   

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…☼☼☼☼ 

Jul 7

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Jul 7, 2018 Week: 27\ Day: 188

86004 Today: H 85° \ L 58° \ Average Sky Cover: 25% 

Nearest Lightning:  23.8 miles away

Wind ave.:   11mph\Gusts:  19mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: °92[1905]   Record Low: 32°[1955]

Jul Averages: 82°\50°

Today’s Quote

Laws are like sausages, it is better

not to see them being made.

  Otto von Bismarck

Harper’s Index

120

Number of hand grenades seized by Ukrainian police from civilians in 2013

2200

In 2017

More Observances This Month

Tour de France Month (1-23)
Wheat Month Link
Women's Motorcycle Month
World Watercolor Month Link
Worldwide Bereaved Parents Month

Observances This Week

1^st-7^th

Beans and Bacon Days Link 
National Unassisted Homebirth Week
Be Nice To New Jersey Week
4^th-10^th

Freedom Week
6^th-8^th

Rosewell UFO Days Link
7^th-14^th

Creative Maladjustment Week Link
7^th-9^th

National Tom Sawyer Days 

Observances for Today

Chocolate Day Link
Father-Daughter Take A Walk Together Day
Global Forgiveness Day Link
International Day of Cooperatives 
International Cherry Pit Spitting Day  Link 
National Strawberry Sundae Day

Tell The Truth Day
Victims of The Dallas, Texas Attack Day  Link

Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1400’s                                         

1456 A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death

1500’s                                         

1520 Battle of Otumba Mexico: Hernán Cortés and the Tlaxcalans defeat a numerically superior Aztec force

1550 Traditional date Chocolate thought to have been introduced to Europe

1600’s                                         

1668 Isaac Newton receives MA from Trinity College, Cambridge

1700’s                                         

1753 British Museum founded by an Act of Parliament (opens in 1759)

1754 Kings College in NYC opens (renamed Columbia College)

1800’s                                         

1802 1st comic book "The Wasp" is published in Hudson, New York criticizing Republican politicians

1863 Orders barring Jews from serving under US General Ulysses S. Grant are revoked

1900’s                                         

1905 127°F (53°C), Parker Ariz (state record)

1908 The Democratic Party meets in Denver at the start of their convention; William Jennings Bryan is nominated as presidential nominee

1923 University of Delaware invents "junior year abroad" (at Sorbonne)

1928 Sliced bread sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company, Missouri, using a machine invented by Otto Frederick Rohwedder. Described as the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.

1942 John Maynard Keynes takes his seat in the British House Of Lords as Baron Keynes of Tilton after being knighted

1958 President Eisenhower signed a bill approving Alaskan statehood

1977 12,000 police occupy university in Mexico City

1990 First Three Tenors concert featuring Plácido Domingo, José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti at Baths of Caracalla in Rome - recording of is world's best-selling classical record

1996 Nelson Mandela steps down as President of South Africa

2000’s

2017 United Nations nuclear weapon ban treaty adopted in New York, without participation of nuclear countries

My Rambling Thoughts

It’s been a few busy days with visitors, visiting others, enjoying the 4^th, and on and on.

The 4^th was nice. Several people dropped by for a visit. I didn’t head out to the casino for the fireworks…it’s too dry here for fireworks. Glad I didn’t. The people who did had to deal with huge crowds and an only a 15 minutes show.

Yesterday I headed to another friend’s house who was having a get together for my former Financial Advisor. Nice to see Mary Ellen. Her husband, Charles, is suffering from dementia and while he is still mobile, he didn’t join in any of the conversations beyond ‘hello’ and had trouble figuring out how the buffet line worked. Sad. We had a nice cold buffet and I met several people who have very interesting lives, as is mine.

I’m back to wearing my wrist brace. Maybe I’ve been too active without it. I don’t have pain, just a constant aching that the brace seems to help. I can’t wait for this whole adventure to end.

Surprisingly I received a call from Medicare today. Turns out none of the employees I’ve talked to are government employees, they are all contracted out. The lady I talked to today said I must go back to SS and tell them I’m an S-9 and demand to talk to a supervisor to figure out how much I owe.  Of course, it was SS that told me to call Medicare. A typical case of the left hand not knowing or caring what the right hand is doing.

I’ve been following the Thai kids in the cave. Finally looked up where the cave is and discovered it is in the very north of Thailand, nowhere near the places we visited.  

As a child I always enjoyed summer. Now, not so much. It’s hot everywhere…very hot most places around here. There are fires everywhere, especially Colorado. Our little mountain town made it through the 4^th celebrations with no wildfires. Still a long way to go before the fire danger diminishes.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

91- Carl Hilding ‘Doc’ Severinson, [Carl], bandleader/trumpeter on the Tonight Show, born in Arlington, Oregon

80’s

@81- Robert McNeill Alexander, British zoologist (estimated speed of dinosaurs, born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland (d. 2016)

@80- Otto Frederick Rohwedder, American engineer (invented the bread-slicing machine), born in Davenport, Iowa (d. 1960)

70’s

78- Ringo Starr, [Richard Starkey], Beatles drummer (Magic Christian), born in Liverpool, England

60’s

69- Shelley Duvall, actress (Popeye, Faery Tale Theater), born in Houston, Texas

30’s

38- Michele Kwan, figure skater (Olympics 1994, Olympic silver 1998), born in Torrance, California

Historical Obits Today

80’s

@83-2016 Rokusuke Ei, Japanese author and lyricist (Sukiyaki)

70’s

@75-1890 Henri Nestlé, German-Swiss industrialist (founder of Nestlé), heart attack

@71-1930 Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (Sherlock Holmes), heart attack

@70-1990 Bill Cullen, game show host (Price is Right), cancer

60’s

@65-2001 Frederick Neil, American folk singer-songwriter and dolphin conservationist (Everybody's Talkin'), skin cancer

@61-1647 Thomas Hooker, American colonial clergyman (known as "the father of Connecticut") epidemical sickness

@60-2006 Syd Barrett, English guitarist and early vocalist of the band Pink Floyd, pancreatic cancer 

50’s

@53-1967 Vivien Leigh (Vivian Mary Hartley), actress (Scarlet-Gone with the Wind), TB

@50-1973 Veronica Lake [Constance Ockleman], American actress (Sullivan's Travels, I Married a Witch), hepatitis and acute kidney injury 

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…☼☼☼☼

Jul 4

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Jul 4, 2018 Week: 27\ Day: 185

86004 Today: H 82° \ L 54° \ Average Sky Cover: 10% 

Nearest Lightning:  291miles away

Wind ave.:   8mph\Gusts:  23mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 96°[2007]   Record Low: 32°[1912]

Jul Averages: 82°\50°

Today’s Quote

Give me liberty or give me death.

   Patrick Henry

Harper’s Index

60

Estimated number of accidental gun deaths attributable to a surge in firearm purchases after Sandy Hook.

More Observances This Month

Sandwich Generation Month
Self Care Month  Link  
Smart Irrigation Month
Social Wellness Month

Observances This Week

1^st-7^th

Beans and Bacon Days Link 
National Unassisted Homebirth Week
Be Nice To New Jersey Week
4^th-10^th

Freedom Week

Observances for Today

Boom Box Parade Day
Fourth of July or Independence Day (U.S.)
Independence From Meat Day
Indivisible Day Link

National Country Music Day

Sandwich Generation Month
Self Care Month  Link 
Sidewalk Egg Frying Day

Smart Irrigation Month
Social Wellness Month

Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1600’s                                         

1636 City of Providence, Rhode Island form

1700’s                                         

1754 George Washington gives Fort Necessity to France

1776 According to popular legend the Liberty Bell rings for the Second Continental Congress

1776 US Congress proclaims the Declaration of Independence and independence from Britain1789 1st US tariff act signed by President Washington

1796 1st Independence Day celebration is held

1800’s                                         

1802 The 1st US Military Academy at West Point opens

1803 The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people

1817 Chief Engineer James Geddes begins construction on the Erie Canal, (Rome, New York), one of the first great engineering works in North America

1831 "America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)" is 1st sung in Boston

1836 Wisconsin Territory forms

1838 Iowa Territory is organised from Wisconsin Territory, lasting until 1846

1838 Huskar Colliery Mining Disaster in Silkstone England: mining pit floods drown 26 children, leads to 1842 'Mines and Collieries Act' bans women and children working underground

1845 Henry David Thoreau moves into his shack on Walden Pond

1845 Texas Congress votes for annexation to US

1855 In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, "Leaves of Grass" is published

1862 Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) creates Alice in Wonderland for Alice Liddell on a family boat trip on the river Isis (Thames) in Oxford

1863 Boise, Idaho founded (now capital of Idaho)

1863 General Lee's army withdraws from Gettysburg

1865 First edition of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll is published

1866 Firecracker thrown in wood starts fire destroying half of Portland, Maine, US

1876 1st public exhibition of electric light in San Francisco

1881 Booker T. Washington establishes Tuskegee Institute (Alabama)

1883 Buffalo Bill Cody presents 1st wild west show, North Platte, Nebraska

1884 1st US bullfight held (Dodge City Ks)

1884 Statue of Liberty presented to US in Paris

1888 1st organized rodeo competition held, Prescott, Arizona

1892 Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4

1900’s                                         

1901 William Howard Taft, former Federal judge, is installed as first governor-general of the Philippines and declares amnesty for all insurgents who take an oath of allegiance

1910 The US Congress pass the Mann-Elkins Act, an important piece of railroad reform legislation

1914 1st US motorcycle race (300 miles, Dodge City Ks)

1917 Troops of the Russian Provisional Government open fire on protesters in Petrograd during the 'July Days' of unrest 1933 Work begins on Oakland Bay Bridge

1939 Lou Gehrig is first MLB player to have his number (4) retired on his "Appreciation Day" at Yankee Stadium, makes iconic "luckiest man" speech

1950 Harry Truman signs public law 600 (Puerto Ricans write own constitution)

1950 The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe.

1960 America's new 50-star flag honoring Hawaiian statehood unfurled

1966 LBJ signs Freedom of Information Act

1970 Casey Kasem's "American Top 40" debuts on LA radio

1993 Pizza Hut blimp deflates and lands safely on W 56th street in NYC

2000’s                                         

2006 North Korea tests four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile, and a long-range Taepodong-2. The long-range Taepodong-2 reportedly fails in mid-air over the Sea of Japan/East Sea.

2009 The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after 8 years, due to security reasons following the World Trade Center attacks

2017 North Korea tests first successful intercontinental ballistic missile into Sea of Japan

My Rambling Thoughts

Still patiently awaiting the arrival of the Monsoon. Lots of clouds yesterday…no rain. Lots of wind today…no rain. Hurry up Monsoon. Hopefully, rain will come on the 4^th as a birthday present for the country.

Good things still happen. About 2 months ago the lady who has been cutting my hair for decades called. Her son had just had a liver transplant and was coming to back from Phoenix to stay with her. She needed to borrow $100 to get to and from Phoenix. I lent her the money. She promised to pay it back in 2 weeks. Then he needed to stay in Phoenix a few more weeks because Flag had no facility to monitor his progress. She has kept me updated. He finally got home last week. He is doing well and his now at his own place with his wife and kid. She just dropped off the $100 with an extra $10 for making me wait so long. Nice!

On this nation’s 242^nd birthday I was saddened to learn that when ICE separates parents and children things get complicated. Usually the parent is held locally, but the child is sent out of the area. Then when the mother is released, she must pay upward of $2000 to have her child and an adult flown from whatever city they are in back to where the child was taken and have the adult who was traveling with the child returned to their home city. And flying is the only transportation allowed, no bus, no train.

Back in the early 90’s I bought an inexpensive electric leaf blower that I used several times a year to remove leaves in Tuba and loaned out quite a few times to neighbors. Since moving to Flagstaff (12 years ago), I use it at least twice a week, year-round to remove pine needles from my deck. This morning I decided it was time…as I haven’t used it since I returned from the Amazon in early May. Plugged it in, nada, zilch, nothing. Checked all the plugs, still nothing. So, after almost 30 years the cheap thing died.

I headed out to Home Depot to find another one. The shelf tag said $49.95 so I bought it. I wasn’t into those that were electric and cost over $100. So, I pick up some flowers for the pots on the deck and head to the check-out. My blower rings up at $55.99. I told the young clerk that it was $49.95 on the shelf. He said, “All I can do is take off $10, is that OK?” Hmmm. I now have a new blower that was only $45.99. Interesting business tactic to say the least. The old one was about $30 back in the 1990’s.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

100’s

@100- Gloria Stuart, American actress (Titanic) and founder of the Screen Actors Guild, born in Santa Monica, California (d. 2010)

90’s

@99- Mitch Miller, sing along with Mitch (Yellow Rose of Tx), born in Rochester, New York (d. 2010)

@94- Abigail Van Buren [Pauline Phillips], American columnist and radio show host known for "Dear Abby" advice column, twin sister of fellow advice columnist Ann Landers (Eppie Lederer), born in Sioux City, Iowa (d. 2013)

94- Eva Marie Saint, American actress and producer (On the Waterfront, North by Northwest, People Like Us), born in Newark, New Jersey

91- Neil Simon, playwright (Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, Biloxi Blues), born in The Bronx, New York

91- Ruth Westheimer, German psychosexual therapist (Dr Ruth), born in Frankfurt, Germany

80’s

@87- Rube Goldberg, cartoonist (who made the easy outrageously difficult) Pulitzer Prize 1948, born in San Francisco, (d. 1970)

@86- Virginia Graham, TV personality (Girl Talk, Where Was I), born in Chicago, (d. 1998)

@83- Ann Landers [Eppie Lederer], American advice columnist "Ask Ann Landers," twin sister of fellow advice columnist "Dear Abby" (Abigail Van Buren), born in Sioux City, Iowa (d. 2002)

@82- Hiram Walker, American grocer and distiller (d. 1899)

@80- George Steinbrenner, American businessman and owner of the NY Yankees, born in Rocky River, Ohio (d. 2010)

80- Bill Withers, soul singer

70’s

@74- Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and nationalist (Risorgimento) who helped unify Italy, born in Nice, First French Empire (d. 1882) arthritis that confined him to bed

60’s

@62- Stephen Mather, organized US National Park Service (d.1929) stroke

@60- Calvin Coolidge [Silent Cal], 30th US President(R) (1923-29), born in Plymouth Notch, Vermont (d. 1933) heart attack

50’s

@59- Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author (House of 7 Gables, The Scarlet Letter), born in Salem, Massachusetts (d. 1864), Stomach disorder

40’s

@46- Koko, sign-language gorilla (d. 2018)

30’s

@37- Stephen Foster, American composer (Oh! Susanna, Swanee River), born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania (d. 1864) accidental fall and fever

Historical Obits Today

90’s

@90-1826 John Adams, 2nd US President (1797-1801)

80’s

@83-1826 Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US President (1801-09)

70’s

@73-1831 James Monroe, 5th US President (1817-25), heart failure / tuberculosis 

60’s

@67-1995 Richard "Pancho" Gonzalez, tennis great, stomach cancer

@66-1934 Marie Skłodowska-Curie, French-Polish Physicist/Chemist, 1st woman to win Nobel Prize (1903, 1911) radiation poisoning

50’s

@58-2003 Barry White, American singer, stroke

@53- Karl Ferdinand von Graefe, German surgeon who helped create modern plastic surgery

30’s

@39-1902 Swami Vivekananda, Indian Hindu spiritual leader and a key figure in the introduction of Yoga to the Western world, stroke while meditating

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…☼☼☼☼