Jul 15

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Jul 15, 2018 Week: 29 \ Day: 196

86004 Today: H 77° \ L 56° \ Average Sky Cover: 75% 

Nearest Lightning:  20 miles away

Wind ave.:   3mph\Gusts:  6mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 92°[1970]   Record Low: 38°[1905]

Jul Averages: 82°\50°

Today’s Quote

History is a vast early warning system.

    Norman Cousins

Harper’s Index

64

Percentae of Americans who are concerned that Amazon is forcing brick-and-mortar stores out of business

71

Who have a favorable impression of the company

Observances This Week

15^th-21^st

Rabbit Week
Captive Nations Week1
Everybody Deserves A Massage Week Link 
National Body Piercing Week  Link
National Parenting Gifted Children Week Link 
National Zoo Keeper Week Link 
National Independent Retailers Week Link 

Observances for Today

Be a Dork Day

Cow Appreciation Day
Gummi Worm Day Link
Lake Superior Day
National Ice Cream Day 
National Give Something Away Day
National Pet Fire Safety Day Link  Link
Saint Swithin's Day 

Tapioca Pudding Day

Today’s Significant US Historical Events

Today’s Significant International Historical Events 

1000’s                                         

1099 City of Jerusalem is captured and plundered by Christian forces during the First Crusade

1200’s                                         

1205 Pope Innocent III states Jews are doomed to perpetual servitudea and subjugation due to crucifixion of Jesus

1500’s                                         

1501 Portuguese explorer Pedro Cabral arrives back in Lisbon after successfully discovering Brazil and returning from India

1700’s                                         

1795 "Marseillaise" becomes French national anthem

1799 The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign

1800’s                                         

1806 Zebulon Pike begins his journey to explore the American Southwest

1830 Indian tribes, Sioux, Sauk & Fox, sign fourth Treaty of Prairie du Chien giving the US most of Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri

1870 Georgia becomes last confederate to be readmitted to US

1898 Camillo Golgi discovers the Golgi Apparatus (a delicate network inside cells essential for the transmission and reception of information between cells)

1900’s                                         

1904 1st Buddhist temple in US forms, Los Angeles

1912 American athlete Jim Thorpe is placed in top 4 in all 10 events, for an Olympic record 8,413 points to win the Decathlon gold medal at the Stockholm Olympics, medal stripped 1913 (played pro baseball), reinstated 1982

1916 Boeing Company (Pacific Aero) formed by William Boeing in Seattle Wash

1922 1st duck-billed platypus publicly exhibited in US, at NY Zoo

1948 Alcoholic Anonymous founded in Britain

1955 18 Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by 34 more laureates

1959 The US steel strike of 1959 begins, leading to significant importation of foreign steel for the first time in United States history.

1961 Spain accepts equal rights for men and women

1971 US President Richard Nixon announces he will visit the People's Republic of China

1976 36-hr kidnap of 26 school children and their bus driver in California

1994 Hundreds of thousands of Hutus flee to Zaire in the Congo near the end of the Rwandan Genocide

1996 MSNBC begins Microsoft internet-NBC TV

2000’s

2002 "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and to possession of explosives during the commission of a felony

2002 Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan hands down the death sentence to British born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and life terms to three others suspected of murdering Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl

2014 Israel announces it has officially voted to accept the ceasefire proposed by Egypt; Hamas reject, saying they were not consulted

2016 Attempted military coup in Turkey fails, nearly 300 killed, 6,000 then arrested

My Rambling Thoughts

Monsoon continues here. Nice female rain this morning. Still cloudy, expecting more this afternoon and this evening.

Our discussion group meets tonight. It’s about Turkey and the changes that have been happening in that country in the past 10 years. Turkey is an important ally, due to its location. However, things have change since the USSR fell and now changes are happening at a much faster rate. These changes are becoming Anti-American, anti-democracy, authoritarian. Bush the younger and Obama both learned that our tight alliance with this Muslim country are not as they were before. There are at least 3 factions in Turkey and the only one that might be pro-Western are the Kurds, who need the West to survive.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

80’s

83- Ken Kercheval, Wolcottville Ind, actor (Cliff Barnes-Dallas)

70’s

@78- Inigo Jones, architect (Old St Paul's Cathedral, Coven Garden), born in London, (d.1652)

@77- Alex Karras, NFLer (Detroit Lions)/actor (George-Webster), born in Gary, Indiana (d. 2012) dementia, kidney failure

74- Jan-Michael Vincent, actor (Hooper, Tribes, Buster & Billie), born in Denver, Colorado

72- Linda Ronstadt, singer (Dif Drum)/actress (Pir of Penzance), born in Tucson, Arizona

@70- Thomas Bulfinch, mythologist (Bulfinch's Mythology) (d. 1867)

@70- Maggie Mitchell Walker, 1st woman bank director/philanthropist (d. 1934)

60’s

@69- Emmeline Pankhurst, British suffragette who formed the Women's Social & Political Union (1903), born in Moss Side, Manchester (d. 1928) stomach issues

69- Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (2006-present), born in Al Shindagha, Dubai, Trucial States

68- Arianna Huffington, Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and creator of The Huffington Post, born in Athens, Greece

67- Jesse Ventura, [James Janos], wrestler, actor and politician (Governor of Minnesota 1999-2003), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota

@63- Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch painter (Night Watch), born in Leiden, Netherlands (d. 1669)

50’s

57- Forest Whitaker, actor and director (The Last King of Scotland, Platoon), born in Longview, Texas

40’s

44- Brian Austin Green, American actor (David-Beverly Hills 90210), born in Van Nuys, California

42- Gabriel Iglesias, comedian ‘Fluffy’

Historical Obits Today

90’s

@95-2012 Celeste Holm, American actress (Gentleman's Agreement, All About Eve)

80’s

@89-2017 Martin Landau, American actor (Mission Impossible, Space 1999, Ed Wood)

@87-1948 John J. Pershing [Blackjack], American general and WWI commander

60’s

@66-1919 [Hermann] Emil Fischer, German chemist, discovered Fischer esterification (Nobel Prize 1902), suicide 

@61-1521 Juan Ponce de León, Spanish explorer and conquistador who searched for the fountain of youth and the first European to discover Florida

50’s

@57-1991 Bert Convy, American actor and game show host (Tattletales), brain cancer

@50-1997 Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (Versace), shot and murdered by Andrew Cunanan

40’s

@44-1904 Anton Chekhov, Russian writer (Uncle Vanya), stroke

@44-1883 Tom Thumb, famous small person (40"), stroke

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.

Jul 14

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

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

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

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…☼☼☼☼