Jul 14

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Jul 14, 2018 Week: 28\ Day: 195

86004 Today: H 82° \ L 57° \ Average Sky Cover: 80% 

Nearest Lightning:  1.8 miles away

Wind ave.:   3mph\Gusts:  15mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 92°[1902]   Record Low: 38°[1962]

Jul Averages: 82°\50°

Today’s Quote

We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.

  John Dryden

Harper’s Index

19

Number of the 20 highest-grossing films worlkwide that are part of a franchise

Observances This Week

7^th-14^th

Creative Maladjustment Week Link

8^th-14^th

National Farriers Week
Sports Cliché Week

Observances for Today

Bald Is In
Bastille Day

Body Painting Day Link
Bastille Day
Carver Day  Link 
Grange Day 
International Nude Day Link
National Macaroni and Cheese Day Link
National Nude Day

Pandemonium Day

Ratha Vatra
Shark Awareness Day Link
Victims of The Nice, France Attack Day Link

Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1700’s                                         

1789 Bastille Day - the French Revolution begins with the fall of the Bastille Prison 1798 1st direct US federal tax on states-on dwellings, land and slaves

1798 US Sedition Act prohibits "false, scandalous & malicious" writing against government

1800’s                                         

1853 Commodore Perry requests trade relations with Japan

1853 US President Franklin Pierce opens World Fair - Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York

1870 The United States Congress grants Mary Todd Lincoln a life pension in the amount of $3,000 a year

1891 John T Smith patents corkboard

1900’s                                         

1914 Robert Goddard is granted the first patent for liquid-fueled rocket design

1921 Sacco & Vanzetti Trial: Sacco and Vanzetti are convicted murder and sentenced to death

1927 1st commercial airplane flight in Hawaii

1946 Dr Benjamin Spock's "Common Sense Book of Baby & Child Care" published

1951 1st color telecast of a sporting event (CBS-horse race)

1951 In his last race, 1948 Triple Crown champion Citation wins the Hollywood Gold Cup by 4 lengths, to become American racing's first millionaire horse.

1953 1st US National monument dedicated to a Negro-George Washington Carver

1969 "Easy Rider", directed by Dennis Hopper, starring himself, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson, is released

1969 The United States $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills are officially withdrawn from circulation.

1969 A 67-year-old Catholic civilian dies after being attacked by RUC officers in Dungiven; many consider this the first death of 'the Troubles'

1978 Allen Ginsburg completes "Plutonian Ode" - blocks trainload of fissile material headed for Rockwell's nuclear bomb trigger factory, Colorado

1983 Mario Bros. is first released by Nintendo in Japan as an arcade game about an Italian-American plumber

2000’s                                         

2014 The Church of England votes in favor of allowing women to become bishops

2015 Harper Lee's 2nd novel "Go Set A Watchman", an early 1957 version of "To Kill A Mocking Bird" goes on sale in 70 countries

2015 Scientists from the Large Hadron Collider announce the discovery of a new particle called the pentaquark

2015 Arms deal agreed between 6 world powers and Iran limiting Iranian nuclear arms but ending sanctions

My Rambling Thoughts

It’s been a few busy days. Each day has brought us nice Monsoon rains with the required nearby thunder and lightning. Unfortunately, it has also brought a few lightning caused fires in our forest. Luckily, they have been quickly controlled.

On Wed. I went to my SS office appointment. The appointment was for 11:30. I wasn’t seen until 12:05. Not a happy camper. Seems several government employees saw what I needed and dumped me to another person. Really! The final outcome was that I got a copy of how much SS I will get in 2018, and that Medicare or SS will bill me in October, December, or January for the $178 I will owe. Really!?

Yesterday, after a teeth cleaning, I had lunch with our retirement group at a new place…HuHot Mongolian Grill. Good food, friendly waiter, and good atmosphere. For $11 you get unlimited bowls that you fill with meats, veggies, noodles, and about 10 different sauces from mild to very hot. Then they put it on a hot grill, heat it up, cook the meat, and finally plate it. We each had two bowls. I did not try the hottest, but did use the next to hottest sauce. It was very good. This is a chain, so if you see one near you, try it…it’s worth the lunch experience.

I also watched some of the hearings yesterday. It was great entertainment as I always like a good circus.

How any world leader can deal with 45 is beyond my comprehension. He blasts PM May in the local London paper, owned by the same corporation that owns FoxNews here, then meets with her and talks about how great she is. It was entertaining to watch 45 and his wife meet the Queen. The Queen is certainly spry and a good walker for someone 92.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@93- Gerald Ford [Leslie King], 38th US President (R: 1974-77) and 41st US Vice President (R: 1973-74), born in Omaha, Nebraska (d. 2006)

@90- William Hanna, American animator (Hanna-Barbera, Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo), born in Melrose, New Mexico (d. 2001)

80’s

@89- Ingmar Bergman, Swedish stage and film director (Cries & Whispers), born in Uppsala, Sweden (d. 2007)

@89- Dale Robertson, American actor (Death Valley Days, Tales of Wells Fargo, The Iron Horse), born in Harrah, Oklahoma (d. 2013)

@84- Tom Carvel (Athanasios Karvelas), ice cream mogul (Carvels)

@82- Florence Bascom, American geologist and 1st woman hired by the US Geological Survey, born in Williamstown, Massachusetts (d. 1945)

70’s

@79- Fredrick Maytag, inventor (washing machine), heart failure

50’s

@55- Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie, folk singer (This Land Is Your Land) (d. 1967) Huntington Disease

52- Matthew Fox, American actor (Party of 5, Lost), born in Abington, Pennsylvania

Historical Obits Today

80’s

@89-1998 Richard McDonald, American fast food pioneer

@87-2005 Cicely Saunders, English Nurse, physician and writer who founded the first modern hospice

60’s

@65-1965 Adlai Stevenson, US ambassador to UN (1961-65), Governor of Illinois (1949-53) and Democratic presidential candidate (1952, 56), heart attack

50’s

@58-2000 Meredith MacRae, American actress brain cancer

20’s

@21-1881 Billy the Kid [William H Bonney], American frontier outlaw, shot by sheriff Pat Garrett 

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 11

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Jul , 2018 Week: 28\ Day:

86004 Today: H 77° \ L 55° \ Average Sky Cover: 80% 

Nearest Lightning:  8.1 miles away

Wind ave.:   6mph\Gusts:  11mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 92°[2003]   Record Low: 40°[1979]

Jul Averages: 82°\50°

Today’s Quote

Adventure is worthwhile. Aesop

Harper’s Index

60

Miutes for which a food-storage container must resist mauling to be designated ‘bear resistant’

2/3

Portion of containers tested by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee that bears are able to open

Observances This Week

7^th-14^th

Creative Maladjustment Week Link
8^th-14^th

National Farriers Week
Sports Cliché Week

Observances for Today

Bowdler's Day
Cheer up the Lonely Day
Chick-fil-A's Cow Appreciation Day  Link
Day of The Five Billion Link
Make Your Own Sundae Day
National Blueberry Muffins Day

National Rainier Cherries Day Link
Slurpee Day or 7-11's Birthday Link
World Population Day
Night of Nights: 12   (Maritime Radio)  Link
Simplicity Day: 12 Link

National Blueberry Muffins Day

Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1600’s                                         

1656 The first Quakers to land in America (Boston), Englishwomen Ann Austin and Mary Fisher, are arrested and jailed by the Puritan colonial government. After 5 years imprisonment they are deported back to Barbados

1700’s                                         

1735 Mathematical calculations suggest that it was on this day that Pluto moved from the ninth to the eighth most distant 'planet' from the Sun for the last time before 1979

1750 Halifax, Nova Scotia, is almost completely destroyed by fire.

1798 US Marine Corps established by an act of Congress

1800’s                                         

1804 Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a pistol duel

1818 English poet John Keats writes "In the Cottage Where Burns is Born", "Lines Written in the Highlands", and "Gadfly"

1864 Confederate forces led by General J Early begin invasion of Washington, D.C.

1889 Tijuana in Mexico becomes a city

1892 US Patent Office says Joseph Swan rather than Thomas Edison, invented the electric light carbon for the incandescent lamp

1895 First ever automobile race: Paris to Bordeaux 1,178 km in 48 hours, 48 minutes

1900’s                                         

1900 Charlotte Cooper beats Hélène Prévost to become the 1st female Olympic tennis champion and the 1st individual female Olympic champion in any sport

1905 Black intellectuals and activists lead by W.E.B. Du Bois organize the civil rights Niagara Movement

1921 Mongolia gains independence from China (National Day)

1922 The Hollywood Bowl opens.

1934 FDR became 1st US President to travel through Panama Canal

1936 Triborough Bridge linking Manhattan, Bronx and Queens opens

1937 Marx Brothers' "A Day At The Races" opens in NY

1955 New USAF Academy dedicated at Lowry AFB in Colorado with 300 cadets

1960 "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee is first published by J. B. Lippincott & Co.

1962 Cosmonaut Micolaev set then record longest space flight - 4 days

1969 David Bowie releases the single "Space Oddity" 9 days before Apollo 11 lands on the moon

1977 US Medal of Freedom awarded posthumously to Rev Martin Luther King Jr

1981 Sebastian Coe of UK sets record for 1K (2:12.18)

1986 Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway runs 10,000 m in world record 30:13.74

1988 Mike Tyson hires Donald Trump as an advisor

2000’s

2011 Neptune completes its first orbit since its discovery on September 23, 1846

2012 Steve Nash is traded by the Phoenix Suns to the Los Angeles Lakers

2014 The UN Security Council calls for a special meeting to discuss the current Israel–Palestinian conflict; Israel continue attacks on Gaza

2015 Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán escapes from Altiplano maximum-security prison west of Mexico City via a specially constructed 1.5 km tunnel from his cell to a nearby house

2015 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Serena Williams becomes oldest winner in Open era (33) beating Garbiñe Muguruza 6-4, 6-4

My Rambling Thoughts

Our fantastic monsoon continues. We have already had two storms today and it is still very cloudy. Water is Life.

Headed out early to get some shopping done for essentials. Made it home dry between rain storms.

So happy to see that all the young soccer players and their coach have made it out safely. What a great story.

No confetti after the announcement for the new Supreme Court Justice. Darn. However, the appointment did set off political fireworks throughout the nation.  I get that much is about politics, not the man. I also believe that a President under investigation should not be able to appoint anyone to any Federal Court.

OMG…Trump has pardoned the two guys who went to prison for starting a fire. The Bundy family took over the area on Federal land and had a 41-day standoff to protest their prison sentence. Now everyone is free.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

80’s

@86- Tab Hunter, American actor (Tab Hunter Show, Lust in the Dust), born in NYC, (d. 2018)

@86- E. B. White, American writer (Charlotte's Web, Elements of Style), born in Mount Vernon, New York (d. 1985)

84- Giorgio Armani, Italian fashion designer(American Gigolo), born in Piacenza, Italy

@80- John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States (D) (1825-1829), born in Braintree, Massachusetts (d. 1848)

70’s

@75- Eugene "Gene" Evans, American actor (My Friend Flicka, Johnny Ringo, Alamo), born in Holbrook, Arizona (d. 1998) heart faiure

@70- Thomas Bowdler, famous prude, bowdlerized Shakespeare (d. 1825)

60’s

@65- Yul Brynner, Russian-Swiss actor (The King and I, The Ten Commandments), born in Primorsky Krai, Russia (d. 1985) lung cancer

65- Mindy Sterling, actress (How the Grinch Stole Christmas)

65- Leon Spinks, heavyweight boxing champ (1978, Olympic gold 1976), born in St. Louis

50’s

59- Richie Sambora, American guitarist (Bon Jovi) and boyfriend of Cher and Heather Locklear, born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey

@54- Robert the Bruce, Scottish king (1306-1329) and national hero, born in Turnberry Castle, Ayrshire (d. 1329) leprosy

@54- Alfred Binet, French child psychologist who invented the first practical IQ test (Binet–Simon test), born in Nice, France (d. 1911)

51- Jeff Corwin, American naturalist and TV personality

40’s

44- Lil' Kim [Kimberly Denise Jones], American rapper, born in Brooklyn

Historical Obits Today

90’s

@94-2007 Claudia Alt ‘Lady Bird’ Johnson, First Lady @99-@99-2008 Michael DeBakey, American surgeon and inventor

@90-2006 Barnard Hughes, American actor (b. 1915)

80’s

@82-1989 Laurence Olivier, English stage and screen acting great (Hamlet, Rebecca), dies at 82

50’s

@56-2015 Claudia Alexander, Canadian-born American NASA Scientist (led Galileo mission to Jupiter), cancer

@50-1987 Thomas F Waddell, founder (Gay Olympics), AIDS

30’s

@38-1937 George Gershwin, American composer (An American in Paris), brain tumor 

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 10

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Jul 10, 2018 Week: 28\ Day: 191

86004 Today: H 86° \ L 55° \ Average Sky Cover: 50% 

Nearest Lightning:  18.2miles away

Wind ave.:   1mph\Gusts:  8mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 94°[2003]   Record Low: 37°[1926]

Jul Averages: 82°\50°

Today’s Quote

People only see what they are prepared to see.

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

Harper’s Index

5017

Number of US private schools receiving public funding that teach a Christian Curriculum

70

That teach an Islamic curriculum

5

That teach a curriculum inspired by L. Ron Hubbard

Observances This Week

4^th-10^th

Freedom Week
7^th-14^th

Creative Maladjustment Week Link 
8^th-14^th

National Farriers Week
Sports Cliché Week

Observances for Today

Clerihew Day
Don't Step On A Bee Day
Global Energy Independence Day Link
Martyrdom of The Bab
Pick Blueberries Day

Piña Colada Day  Link
Teddy Bear Picnic Day Link  Link
U.S. Energy Independence Day  Link

Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

900’s                                           

988 The city of Dublin is founded on the banks of the river Liffey

1000’s                                         

1040 Lady Godiva rides naked on horseback through Coventry, according to legend, to force her husband, the Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes

1200’s                                         

1212 The most severe of several early fires of London burns most of the city to the ground

1700’s                                         

1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie flees in disguise to Isle of Skye

1780 The Comte de Rochambeau and his French force of 7,000 land at Newport, Rhode Island, to join the American Revolutionary War

1800’s                                         

1800 The British Indian Government establishes the Fort William College to promote Urdu, Hindi and other vernaculars of sub continent

1866 Indelible pencil patented by Edson P. Clark, Northampton, Massachusetts

1890 Wyoming becomes 44th state of US (1st with female suffrage)

1900’s                                         

1923 2-pound hailstones kill 23 and many cattle in Rostov, Russia

1925 USSR's official news agency TASS forms

1925 Meher Baba begins his silence of 44 years. His followers still observe Silence Day on this date in commemoration.

1929 US issues newer, smaller-sized paper currency

1934 1st sitting US President to visit South America, FDR in Colombia

1938 Howard Hughes flies around the world in 91 hours

1944 "Father of Medicare" Tommy Douglas becomes the 7th Premier of Saskatchewan

1962 Telstar, 1st geosynchronous communications satellite, launched

1967 Bobbie Gentry records "Ode to Billie Joe" - single goes on to win 4 Grammys

1971 100th British Golf Open: Lee Trevino shoots a 278 at Royal Birkdale

1971 National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC) founded in US by women including Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Myrlie Evers-Williams and Gloria Steinem

1981 CERN achieves 1st proton-antiproton beam collision (570 GeV)

1985 French foreign intelligence agents blow up the Greenpeace boat Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor, New Zealand to prevent it interfering with French nuclear tests in the South Pacific. Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira is killed.

1998 Roman Catholic sex abuse cases: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claimed they were sexually abused by former priest Rudolph Kos

2000’s

2000 Coldplay release their debut album "Parachutes" (Grammy Award Best Alternative Album 2002)

2012 The American Episcopal Church becomes the first to approve a rite for blessing gay marriages

2015 The Confederate flag is taken down for the last time from South Carolina Capitol grounds 1 day after the state legislature ordered it removed.

2017 NASA's Juno spacecraft makes closest ever pass over Jupiter's Great Red Spot at 9,000 kilometers overhead

My Rambling Thoughts

I have to say that the health insurance policies here in the US are in dire need to renovation.  On Saturday I got a bill from the local hospital for my wrist surgery. The total bill was about $25,000. Knowing I had great insurance with Medicare and BCBS-Federal I glanced through the bill. At the bottom it said I owed $7000. I knew it was wrong, but spent Sunday and Monday morning wondering what could have gone wrong. Maybe it was because the injury occurred outside the US. Maybe the hospital didn’t use both my insurance cards. Maybe a broken wrist isn’t covered.

This morning I called the billing department at the hospital. A nice lady took my information and said, “how would you like to pay this balance?” I said, ‘did you process both my insurances?’ She said yes and that Medicare paid $1300, BC paid $9400, there was a $12,000 adjustment and I owed the balance. Then she said she needed to put me on hold for a minute. She came back and said that not all the information she had given me had been entered into the computer and she would have to call me back.  About 20 minutes later she called back and said my bill had been corrected and that I owed nothing. No apology. I asked her to send me a corrected bill.

My concern that leads to a revamping of the system, why was there a $12,000 adjustment? My guess is that it is because of my BC insurance. The hospital, which knows I have insurance from the get-go, overcharges and then deducts. What about the people with no insurance or less than stellar insurance? I’m very relieved to know that I don’t have to pay the $7000, but wonder about people I know who don’t have good insurance.

So the reality show presidency has a special tonight at 9p. The star will announce his pick for the Supreme Court. I wonder if lights will flash, confetti will drop, and the band will play? I’ll watch, hoping for at least some confetti.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

80’s

@86- Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist, electrical engineer and inventor, developed alternating current and the Tesla Coil, born in Smiljan, Austrian Empire (now Croatia) (d. 1943)

@83- David Brinkley, NBC news anchor (Huntley-Brinkley), born in Wilmington, North Carolina (d. 2003)

@80- Jean Kerr, novelist (Please Don't Eat the Daisies), born in Scranton, Pennsylvania (d. 2003)

70’s

@78- Terry-Thomas [Thomas Terry Stevens], British actor (It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World), born in Finchley, London, England (d. 1990)

@73- Camille Pissarro, Danish Antillean and French painter (Impressionism), born in Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas, Danish West Indies (now US Virgin Islands) (d. 1903)

@72- Donald William Sinclair, co–proprietor of the Gleneagles Hotel and the inspiration for the character Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers (d. 1981)

71- Arlo Guthrie, singer (Alice's Restaurant, City of New Orleans), born in Brooklyn, New York

@71- Jake Eberts, film producer (Chariots of Fire, Dances with Wolves), born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 2012) melanoma

60’s

@69- James A McNeill Whistler, US/British painter (Whistler's Mother) (d. 1903)

68- Ronnie James Dio, singer, Black Sabbath

@66- Sam Wood, American communist fighter and director (For Whom the Bell Tolls), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1949) heart attack

@66- Fred Gwynne, American actor (Car 54 Where Are You, Munsters), born in NYC, New York (d. 1993) cancer

50’s

@55±- Solomon Northup, American abolitionist and author (12 Years a Slave), born Minerva, New York (or 10 Jul 1807) (d. 1863)

@54- John Calvin [Jehan Cauvin], Protestant religious reformer and theologian (Calvinism), born in Picardy, France (d. 1564) lung disease

40’s

@49- Arthur Ashe, American tennis player (3 Grand Slam singles titles), born in Richmond, Virginia (d. 1993) AIDS

46 Sofia Vergara, Colombian-American actress (Modern Family), born in Barranquilla, Colombia

30’s

38- Jessica Simpson, American singer and popstar ("I Wanna Love You Forever" "I Think I'm In Love" and "Where You Are"), born in Abilene, Texas

@36- Nick Adams, Nanticoke Pa, actor (Johnny Yuma-Rebel) OD

Historical Obits Today

80’s

@84-1979 Arthur Fiedler, orchestra leader (Boston Pops)

@83-2015 Omar Sharif [Michel Dimitri Shalhoub], Egyptian actor (Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia)

@83-1863 Clement Clarke Moore, American Professor and writer ('Twas the Night Before Xmas)

@81-1989 Mel Blanc, American voice actor, comedian best known for his Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons (Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd & Porky Pig)

60’s

@63-1851 Louis-Jacques Daguerre, French inventor and photographer (daguerreotype)

@62-138 Hadrian, Roman emperor (117-138), dies at 62

50’s

@59±-1099 El Cid [Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar], Castilian nobleman and military leader and general strategist, famine

30’s

@35-1927 Kevin O'Higgins, Irish Free State VP, assassinated 

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…☼☼☼☼