Dec 11

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Dec 11, 2018 Week: 50 \ Day: 345

86004 Today: H 41° \ L 19° \ Average Sky Cover: 25% 

Wind:   6mph\Gusts:  -mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 68°[1950]   Record Low: -11°[1961]

Nov Averages: 43°\17°

Today’s Quote

Some things are so unexpected

that no one is prepared for them.

Leo Rosten

Random Tidbits

The YMCA was created in response to the Industrial Revolution. Appalled by his native England's squalid living conditions during this period, Sir George Williams (1821-1905) began organizing a series of Bible meetings which later expanded and ultimately gave birth to the organization.

In its infancy, many felt that the theologically-inclined YMCA had no business getting involved with physical education-an attitude that persisted until a few American locations began producing workout courses in the late 1800s

Observances This Week

           

3-24
Andisop (Meteorological Fiddling)   Link

10-17
Human Rights Week

Observances for Today

           

International Mountain Day
Kaleidoscope Day
Magnum P.I. Day
National App Day  Link
National “Have a Bagel” Day

Noodle Ring Day

UNICEF Birthday

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1600’s

1620 Myles Standish and a group of 18 settlers are attacked by 30 Native Americans, which became known as the "First Encounter"

1900’s

1913 "Mona Lisa" recovered 2 years after it was stolen from the Louvre Museum

1936 Edward VIII announces in a radio broadcast that he is abdicating the British throne to marry Wallis Simpson

1946 UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) established (Nobel 1965)

1964 Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. An unknown terrorist fires a mortar shell at the building during the speech.

1977 Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams, leaders of the group 'Peace People' (an organisation dedicated to encouraging a peaceful resolution of 'the Troubles' in Northern Ireland) receive the Nobel Peace Prize

2000’s

2008 Bernard Madoff arrested and charged with securities fraud in $50 billion Ponzi scheme

2012 British physicist, Stephen Hawking, wins the $3 million Fundamental Physics Prize, the most lucrative academic prize in the world

My Rambling Thoughts

Either it is warming up, or I’m just getting used to these chilly temps.

My kitchen has 4-48” tubes of florescent lighting. Last night all of sudden, two stopped working and the other two were at half-brightness.  Thankfully this was after dinner, so I survived the night. Head out this morning to get 4 new tubes. The last time I did this, about 8 years ago, it was easy. Go to Home Depot, go the lightbulb section, pick up 4 lights, drive home. Ah, the good old days. Now there are ‘cool light’, ‘daylight’, LED with no need for extra stuff needed and on and on and on. I opted for the Phillip’s Daylight. I knew enough Spanish to figure out the length as all labeling was in Spanish. Can’t imagine what is ahead 8 years from now when these burn out.

My sister-in-law’s family is so damn organized. I got a text this morning laying out our visit to Chicago. It will be busy, busy, and looking forward to a great time.  Lots of ‘kids’, lots of food, lots of family, and so much more.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@94- Carlo Ponti,

Italian producer (Marriage Italian Style, Doctor Zhivago) (d. 2007)

80’s

@89- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn,

Russian writer (Cancer Ward, Nobel 1970), born in Kislovodsk, Russia (d. 2008)

@87- Max Born,

German physicist (quantum mechanics, Nobel 1954), born in Breslau, Germany (d. 1970)

87- Rita Moreno [Rosita Dolores Alverío],

Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress (West Side Story), born in Humacao, Puerto Rico

70’s

78- David Gates,

rock vocalist (Bread-Baby I'm A Want You), born in Tulsa, Oklahoma

@77- Annie Jump Cannon,

American stellar spectroscopist (Harvard-classification), born in Dover, Delaware (d. 1941)

@76- Tom Hayden,

American civil rights and antiwar activist and politician (Rep-D-Ca), born in Royal Oak, Michigan (d. 2016) stroke

75- John Kerry,

US Secretary of State (2013-17) and 2004 presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, born in Aurora, Colorado

74- Lynda Day George,

American actress (Casey-Mission Impossible), born in San Marcos, Texas

74- Brenda Lee, [Brenda Mae Tarpley],

Lithonia Ga, singer (I'm Sorry)

60’s

@66- Robert Koch,

German pioneering bacteriologist (TB, cholera, Nobel Prize 1905), born in Clausthal, Hanover (d. 1910) heart attack

60- Nikki Sixx,

Motley Crue bassist

50’s

@57- Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton,

American rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter (Hound Dog, Ball & Chain, Stronger than Dirt), born in Ariton, Alabama (d. 1984) heart attack

  

Historical Obits Today

@-  indicates age at death

90’s

@92-2012 Ravi Shankar,

Indian musician (The Pandit)

80’s

@85-2008 Bettie Page,

American pinup model considered the 'Queen of Pinups' and the 'Dark Angel'

70’s

@71-1991 Robert Q. Lewis,

American TV host (Masquerade Party, Robert Q Lewis Show), emphysema

30’s

@33-1964 Sam Cooke,

American singer and entrepreneur described as "the inventor of soul music" (You Send Me), shot to death

Dec 10

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

Dec 10, 2018 Week: 50 \ Day: 344

86004 Today: H 41° \ L 15° \ Average Sky Cover: 5% 

Wind:   12mph\Gusts:  -mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 65°[1939]   Record Low: -10°[2013]

Nov Averages: 43°\17°

Today’s Quote

There is nothing new in the world except

the history you do not know.

Harry S Truman

Random Tidbits

Piranhas are known for their razor-sharp teeth and relentless bite. True piranhas have tricuspid teeth, with a more pronounced middle cuspid or crown. Piranhas replace teeth in quarters multiple times throughout their lifespan, which reaches up to eight years in captivity.

***

A typical piranha diet consists of insects, fish, crustaceans, worms, carrion, seeds and other plant material. However, some piranhas are omnivorous, eating more seeds than meat, and some even subsist on plants alone.

***

Piranhas run in packs for safety, not strength. Traveling in shoals has the effect of protecting the inner fish from attack. Further, shoals tend to have a hierarchy of larger, older fish towards the center and younger fish on the outer edges, suggesting that safety might be the true motivation.

Observances This Week

           

3-24
Andisop (Meterological Fiddling)   Link

3-10
Clerc-Gallaudet Week

10-17
Human Rights Week

Observances for Today

           

Dewey Decimal System Day

Human Rights Day Link
International Animal Rights Day  Link
Jane Addams Day
National Lager Day

Nobel Prize Day

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1600’s

1684 Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmond Halley

1700’s

1799 Metric system adopted in France, first country to do so

1800’s

1817 Mississippi admitted as 20th state of the Union

1884 "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain is first published in the UK and Canada (US Feb 1885, due to printing error)

1900’s

1901 First Nobel Peace Prizes awarded to Red Cross founder Jean Henri Dunant and peace activist Frederic Passy

1901 First Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Wilhelm Röntgen for his discovery of X-rays

1906 US President Theodore Roosevelt is the 1st American awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

1907 Rudyard Kipling receives the Nobel prize for literature, the first English-language writer to do so

1920 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to US President Woodrow Wilson

1925 Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw awarded Nobel Prize for Literature

1931 Jane Addams (1st US woman) named co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize

1936 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Carlos Saavedra Lamas for mediating end to Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia, 1st Latin American to win

1948 UN General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights

1950 Ralph Bunche (1st black American) presented the Nobel Peace Prize for mediation in Israel

1976 Samuel C. C. Ting is the first person to deliver a Nobel Prize lecture in Mandarin, during the ceremony to award him and Burton Richter the Nobel Prize for Physics for discovering the J/ψ particle

1986 Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel accepts 1986 Nobel Peace Prize

1994 Nobel Peace Prize presented to Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat

2000’s

2009 US President Barack Obama accepts the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo

My Rambling Thoughts

I had a great Saturday, went downtown see the Light Parade. Nothing quite like a small-town parade.

Making it a lazy Sunday. Cough is almost gone. Life is good.  Broncos ain’t playing well. Cards ain’t playing at all.

Busy week ahead to get ready for my Christmas adventure in Chicago.

Birthdays Today

@-  indicates age at death

80’s

@86- Harold Gould,

American character actor (The Sting, The Golden Girls, Rhoda, Big Bus), born in Schenectady, New York (d. 2010)

70’s

77- Tommy Kirk,

actor (Old Yeller)

50’s

@55- Emily Dickinson,

American poet (Collected Poems), born in Amherst, Massachusetts (d. 1886) typhoid fever

54-Bobby Flay,

chef

40’s

@43- Dan Blocker,

American actor (Tiny-Cimarron City, Hoss-Bonanza), born in DeKalb, Bowie County, Texas (d. 1972) pulmonary embolism

30’s

@36- Ada Lovelace,

English mathematician considered the first computer programmer, born in London (d. 1852) blood letting

33- Raven-Symoné,

American actress and singer

Historical Obits Today

@-  indicates age at death

80’s

@89-2005 Eugene McCarthy,

American politician (Sen-D-Minn) and presidential candidate

@84-1979 Fulton J Sheen,

bishop (Life is Worth Living)

60’s

@66-1946 Damon Runyon,

American journalist and writer (Guys & Dolls-based on his work)

@65-2005 Richard Pryor,

American comedian and actor (Lady Sings the Blues, Stir Crazy), heart attack

@63-1896 Alfred Nobel,

Swedish chemist and founder of the Nobel Prize ceremony on this date, stroke

20’s

@261967 Otis Redding,

American singer-songwriter (Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay), plane crash