Dec 6

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

Dec 6, 2018 Week: 49 \ Day: 340

86004 Today: H 44° \ L 8° \ Average Sky Cover: 30% 

Wind:   20mph\Gusts:  -mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 62°[1977]   Record Low: -6°[1951]

Nov Averages: 43°\17°

Today’s Quote

Civilization began the first time an angry person

cast a word instead of a rock.

Sigmund Freud

Random Tidbits

Roman statues were often made with heads that could be removed and replaced with other heads.

***

A pieta is any representation of the Virgin Mary mourning over the dead body of Christ, not just the famous one by Michelangelo.

***

Rembrandt was his first name; his last name was van Rijn.

Observances This Week

           

1-7

Cookie Cutter Week Link
National Hand Washing Awareness Week Link  
Recipe Greetings For The Holidays Week
Computer Science Education Week  Link

2-6
International Coelenterate Biology Week Link
Older Driver Safety Awareness Week Link  

3-24
Andisop (Meterological Fiddling)   Link

3-10
Clerc-Gallaudet Week

Observances for Today

           

Faux Fur Friday 
Miners' Day
Mitten Tree Day

National “Cook for Christmas” Day

National Gazpacho Day

National Microwave Oven Day
National Pawnbrokers Day
National Salesperson Day
Put on Your Own Shoes Day

St. Nicholas Day

World Trick Shot Day  Link

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1200’s

1273 Thomas Aquinas is thought to have a mystical experience in Naples, refuses to continue his work "I cannot, because all that I have written seems like straw to me"

1500’s

1534 Quito, Ecuador, founded by Spanish

1700’s

1768 1st edition of "Encyclopedia Brittanica" published in Scotland

1800’s

1825 US President John Adams suggests establishment of a national observatory

1849 Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland for the 2nd and final time

1862 US President Abraham Lincoln orders hanging of 39 Santee Sioux Indians

1865 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery

1876 US Electoral College picks Rutherford B. Hayes as President, despite Samuel J. Tilden winning more votes

1877 Washington Post publishes 1st edition

1897 London becomes the world's first city to host licenced taxicabs

1900’s

1912 China votes for universal human rights

1923 1st US Presidential address broadcast on radio by President Calvin Coolidge

1933 Ban on James Joyce's "Ulysses" in US lifted

1941 NYC Council agrees to build Idlewild (Kennedy) Airport in Queens

1947 The Everglades National Park in Florida is dedicated.

1956 Nelson Mandela & 156 others arrested for political activities in South Africa

1964 "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" 1st airs on TV

1973 Gerald Ford sworn-in as first unelected Vice President, succeeds Spiro Agnew who resigned over corruption allegations

2000’s

2006 NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars

2012 A 243-million-year-old Nyasasaurus fossil is discovered in Tanzania

2017 Time Magazine names their Person of the Year "The Silence Breakers", people who came forward to report sexual misconduct

2017 US President Donald Trump officially recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital, announcing plans to move US embassy there

2017 "Supermassive" most distant black hole discovery announced by astronomers in journal "Nature", 13 billion light-years away, 800 x bigger than the Sun

My Rambling Thoughts

It’s first Wednesday, so it was off for groceries with a 10% old people discount. Can’t turn down a deal. A tad chilly, but not as bad as yesterday.

Watched parts of the Bush funeral and listened to more while I was heading to and from the grocery store. Well done. It was nice to be reminded of the times when politics was about policy and not about personal attacks. Back then mistakes were made but it was never personal.

A Focus group is enjoying NYC, but, so far, no pics on Facebook. I’m sure they are just too busy.

News channels have spent days telling us that the Mueller investigation will be putting out important stuff. Well, Mueller did release a bunch of updates, but anything juicy was redacted. Oh well, guess everyone just has to wait longer.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@91- Dave Brubeck,

jazz pianist/composer (Gates of Justice), born in Concord, California (d. 2012)

80’s

@86- Ira Gershwin,

lyricist ('S Wonderful, I Got Rhythm) (d. 1983)

70’s

@73- Agnes Moorehead,

American actress (Endora in Bewitched), born in Clinton, Massachusetts (d. 1974) cancer

70- JoBeth Williams,

American actress (Kramer vs Kramer, Poltergeist), born in Houston, Texas

60’s

@65- Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin,

French magician and father of modern magic, born in Blois, France (d. 1861)

40’s

@48- Wallace "Wally" Cox,

American comedian and actor (Mister, Underdog, Peepers, Hollywood Squares), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1973) heart attack

30’s

@31- Joyce Kilmer,

American poet (Trees), born in New Brunswick, New Jersey (d. 1918) killed in battle

20’s

@25- Randy Rhoads,

Heavy metal guitarist (Quiet Riot), born in Santa Monica, California (d. 1982) plane crash

25- Elian Gonzalez,

Cuban boy at the center of a heated 2000 controversy involving the governments of Cuba and the United States, born in Cuba

Historical Obits Today

@-  indicates age at death

80’s

@89-2017 Cy Young,

American athlete and only US male to win gold in javelin throwing (1952 Olympics)

@87-1990 Tunku Abdul Rahman,

Malaysia's founding father, 1st Prime Minister of Malaya (1957-63) and Malaysia (1963-70)

@85-1993 Dominic "Don" Ameche,

American actor (Cocoon, Trading Places)

@81-1889 Jefferson Davis,

President of Confederate States of America (1861-65)

@80-2000 Werner Klemperer,

German-American actor (Judgment at Nuremberg, Hogan's Heroes)

70’s

@75-1892 [Ernst] Werner von Siemens,

German inventor and industrialist (siemens electrical conductance unit and Siemens corporation)

@73-343 Saint Nicholas [Nikolaos of Myra],

Greek Bishop who became the model for Santa Claus

@70-1996 [Alvin] Pete Rozelle,

NFL commissioner, brain cancer

60’s

@68-1985 Burr Tillstrom,

American puppeteer (Kukla Fran & Ollie)

@65-1956 B.R. Ambedkar [Baba Saheb],

Indian politician, jurist (architect of the Constitution of India) and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist Movement, diabetes complications

@64-1949 Lead Belly, [Huddie William Ledbetter],

blues singer, ALS

50’s

@52-1988 Roy Orbison,

American musician (Pretty Woman), massive heart attack

Dec 5

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

Dec 5, 2018 Week: 49 \ Day: 339

86004 Today: H 33° \ L 8° \ Average Sky Cover: 85% 

Wind:   9mph\Gusts:  -mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 67°[1989]   Record Low: -1°[1953]

Nov Averages: 43°\17°

Today’s Quote

We shall never know all the good

that a simple smile can do.

Mother Teresa

Random Tidbits

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), America's most famous female poet, published only seven poems in her lifetime; all were published anonymously and against her will. It wasn't until after her death, at 56, that her nearly 2000 poems were discovered

Sharks and rays share the same kind of skin: instead of scales, they have small tooth-like spikes called denticles. The spikes are so sharp that shark skin has long been used as sandpaper.

More than 50 percent of the people who are bitten by venomous snakes in the United States and who go untreated still survive.

Observances This Week

           

1-7

Cookie Cutter Week Link
National Hand Washing Awareness Week Link  
Recipe Greetings For The Holidays Week
Computer Science Education Week  Link

2-6
International Coelenterate Biology Week Link
Older Driver Safety Awareness Week Link  

3-24
Andisop (Meterological Fiddling)   Link

3-10
Clerc-Gallaudet Week

Observances for Today

           

AFL-CIO Day
Bathtub Party Day
Columbian International Day of The Reef  Link
Day of the Ninja

International Ninja Day Link    Photo Photo
International Volunteer Day for Economic & Social Development
National Christmas Tree Lighting (DC)
National Comfort Food Day

National Package Protection Day  Link 
Repeal of Prohibition Day

Sachertorte Day Link
World Soil Day Link

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1600’s

1623 First copies purchased of William Shakespeare's First Folio, collecting his plays posthumously into one volume, bought by Edward Dering

1700’s

1766 World's largest auction house - Christie's hold their first sale in their permanent saleroom in Pall Mall, London

1800’s

1831 Former US President John Q Adams takes his seat as a member of House of Representatives

1848 US President Polk triggers Gold Rush of 1849 by confirming gold discovery in California

1893 Electric car built at the Dixon Carriage works in Toronto, could go 15 miles between charges

1900’s

1929 1st US nudist organization, the American League for Physical Culture in New York City

1932 German physicist Albert Einstein granted a visa to enter America

1933 21st Amendment to the US Constitution ratified, 18th Amendment (Prohibition of alcohol) repealed (5:32 PM EST)

1955 Historic bus boycott begins in Montgomery Alabama by Rosa Parks

1957 NYC is first US city to legislate against racial or religious discrimination in housing market (Fair Housing Practices Law)

1958 Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the UK by Queen Elizabeth II when she speaks to the Lord Provost in a call from Bristol to Edinburgh.

1967 Pediatrician Benjamin Spock and poet Allen Ginsberg arrested in New York while protesting against the Vietnam War

1991 Charles Keating Jr (Lincoln Savings & Loan fraud), found guilty

2000’s

2016 Malta becomes the 1st country in Europe to outlaw conversion therapy

2017 Online store Amazon begins operations in Australia

My Rambling Thoughts

A chilly day with lots of clouds but no precipitation. Hmmm.

Decided early to hang out around home today. I would have headed out, but it was 15°. I don’t need anything so badly that I would head out in those temps.

Just saw a post that all Federal offices will be closed on Wed. Dec. 5, in honor of President George HW Bush. Nice. Sure glad I’m not working as they are all figuring out how to get all the dorm kids home today and back on Thursday. Not an easy task. Cloudy and 12° in Pine Ridge.

Spam calls are a pain. I got a call from “Coldwell Bankers” last week. The guy says I have a refund coming from Microsoft. I hung up. The next call came a few hours later. I told the guy I don’t do business with anyone who has an incorrect caller ID and hung up. Fast forward to today. I get 3-5 calls a day. Today I decided to listen to his whole story. He told me that the company that sold me my MS Office had lost its license to sell Microsoft and I would get a refund. But first….he had to verify I was who I said I was. Really?!? So, he has me write down some 15-digit number. Then he has me go into my computer and after typing some instructions, that number showed up. Hmmm. Then he has me go to a website. This would allow him to remotely look at my computer. I told him I NEVER let anyone calling my number do that. He really tries to change my mind but after two tries I simply say, ‘Good bye!’. No more calls so far today. Hopefully no more from him ever.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

80’s

@88- Bhumibol Adulyadej [Rama IX],

King of Thailand (1946-2016), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (d. 2016)

86- Little Richard [Wayne Penniman],

Macon, Georgia, American singer-songwriter (Tutti Frutti)

@84- Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz,

American educator and the co-founder and first president of Radcliffe College, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1907)

@80- Otto Preminger,

Austrian director and producer (Laura, Exodus) (d. 1986)

70’s

@79- Martin Van Buren,

 8^th US President

71- Jim Messina,

rocker (Loggins & Messina-Your Mamma Don't Dance)

60’s

@65- Walt [Walter Elias] Disney,

animator, (Mickey Mouse), producer and co-founder of Walt Disney Co., born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1966) lung cancer

50’s

54- Doctor Dre (Andre Romelle Young),

American radio personality

50- Margaret Cho,

actress/comedienne (Face/Off)

Historical Obits Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@95-2013 Nelson Mandela,

anti-apartheid activist, political prisoner (1962-90) and South African President (1994-99)

@91-1965 Joseph Erlanger,

American physiologist (shock therapy-Nobel 1944)

80’s

@86-1926 Claude Monet [Oscar-Claude],

French impressionist (Water Lilies, Haystacks, Poplars)

@82-2008 Beverly Garland [Fessenden],

American actress (My Three Sons, Scarecrow and Mrs. King)

70’s

@72-2010 Don Meredith,

American football player and broadcaster, stroke

@71-2002 Roone Arledge,

American sports broadcasting pioneer, prostate cancer

60’s

@68-1870 Alexandre Dumas,

French writer (The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo)

@64-1951 "Shoeless" Joe Jackson,

American professional baseball player (Black Sox Scandal), heart attack

50’s

@54±-1895 Chief Gall,

Sioux chief

30’s

@35-1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,

composer, fever

@31-1784 Phillis Wheatley,

American poet and first published African-American woman