Mar 16

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Mar 16, 2019 Week: 11 \ Day: 75

86004 Today: H 40° \ L 27° \ Average Sky Cover: 15% 

Wind:   15mph\Gusts:  27mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 72°[2007]   Record Low: -1°[1969]

Mar Averages: 51°\23° (6 days with rain)

Today’s Quote

A forest bird never wants a cage.

Henrik Ibsen

Random Tidbits

Benjamin Franklin wasn't only the discoverer of electricity, he was also the inventor of Daylight Savings Time. In 1874, Franklin was the U.S. ambassador to Paris, and he wrote a letter suggesting that "the sun gives light as soon as it rises" and that Parisians were wasteful with their night-owl habits.

Observances This Week

Lent: 6-20

Campfire USA Birthday Week: 10-16

Girl Scout Week: 10-16 

Termite Awareness Week: 10-16

National Agriculture Week: 10-16

International Brain Awareness Week: 11-17 

Turkey Vultures Return to the Living Sign: 11-17

Special Olympics 2019: 14-21

Sherlock Holmes Weekend: 15-17  

Observances for Today

Black Press Day
Campfire Girls Day
Corn Dog Day Link 
Curlew Day

Everything You Do is Right Day
Freedom of Information Day
Goddard Day Link  Link
International Sports Car Racing Day Link
Lips Appreciation Day
National Artichoke Heart Day

National Quilting Day

No Selfies Day
Panda Day
Play The Recorder Day  
Save The Panther Day
St. Urho's Day Link and Link
Worldwide Quilting Day  Link

My Rambling Thoughts

It’s kinda windy today. Thankfully it’s blowing out that cold spell.

Another Mosque shooting yesterday in New Zealand. So sad. The shooter said some crazy stuff about agreeing with our 45. Even sadder.

As an educator and life-long learner, I think it is time for some PSA’s regarding CIVICS…how our government works. And while they are at that, add some real, current immigration numbers to our great country. Maybe someone has an idea on how to fix our illegal immigration problem without walling off our country from the rest of the world.

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1600’s

1621 Native American chief visits colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts

1800’s

1802 Law signed to establish US Military Academy (West Point, NY)

1827 First US newspaper, "Freedom's Journal" owned and operated by

            African Americans begins publishing in New York City

1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" published by Ticknor,

             Reed and Fields in Boston

1861 Arizona Territory votes to leave the Union (US Civil War)

1861 Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston,

            who is evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of

            loyalty to the Confederacy (US Civil War)

1867 First publication of an article by Joseph Lister outlining the

            discovery of antiseptic surgery, in "The Lancet"

1881 Barnum & Bailey Circus debuts

1900’s

1915 Federal Trade Commission organizes

1920 1 Acre Park also known as Baby Park in the Bronx renamed

            Melrose Park

1922 Egypt achieves independence from Britain, but British troops

            remain

1950 1st annual National Book Awards

1955 President Eisenhower upholds the use of atomic weapons in case

            of war

1964 LBJ asks Congress to pass Economic Opportunity Act as part of his

            War on Poverty

1968 My Lai massacre occurs when American soldiers kill ~400 unarmed

            Vietnamese civilians, in one of the most controversial incidents

            of the Vietnam War

1977 US President Jimmy Carter pleads for a Palestinian homeland

1994 Tonya Harding pleads guilty to felony attack on Nancy Kerrigan

1995 Mississippi House of Representatives formally abolishes slavery &

            ratifies 13th Amendment

1998 Pope John Paul II asks God for forgiveness for the inactivity and

            silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust

2000’s

2006 The United Nations General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to

            establish the UN Human Rights Council.

2016 US college student Otto Warmbier is sentenced to 15 years hard

            labor for trying to steal a political poster, in Pyongyang, North

            Korea

2017 US President Donald Trump's second travel ban is blocked by 2

            federal courts

Birthdays Today

1751 James Madison,

4th US President (1809-17), born in Port Conway, Virginia

(d. 1836-@85)

1799 Anna Atkins,

English botanist, photographer and the 1st person to publish

a book illustrated with photographic images,

born in Tonbridge, England

(d. 1871-@72- paralysis, rheumatism, and exhaustion)

1903 Mike Mansfield,

American politician (Sen-D-Montana 1953-77) majority whip,

born in New York City

(d. 2001-@98)

1906 Henny Youngman,

American comedian and violinist (Take my wife ... please),

born in London, England (d. 1998-@91)

1912 Patricia Nixon, [Thelma Catherine],

1st lady (1968-74)

(d.1993-@81)

1926 Jerry Lewis

[Joseph Levitch],

American comedian (Martin and Lewis, MDA Telethon),

born in Newark, New Jersey

(d. 2017-@91)

77- Jerry Jeff Walker

[Ronald Clyde Crosby],

American country music singer and songwriter (Mr Bojangles),

born in Oneonta, New York

70- Erik Estrada,

actor (CHiPs),

born in NYC, New York

65- Nancy Wilson,

rock guitarist (Heart-Never, What about Love),

born in San Francisco, California

61- Jorge Ramos,

Mexican TV anchor,

born in Mexico City

Historical Obits Today

@81-1940 Selma Lagerlöf,

Swedish writer and Nobel Prize laureate

@72-2016 Frank Sinatra Jr,

American singer/bandleader,

dies of cardiac arrest

@68-1971 Thomas E. Dewey,

Governor of NY and

Republican presidential candidate (1944, 1948),

dies of a heart attack

@64-1975 T-Bone Walker,

blues guitarist (Funky Town, Well Done)

dies from stroke

Mar 15

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Mar 15, 2019 Week: 11 \ Day: 74

86004 Today: H 33° \ L 11° \ Average Sky Cover: 50% 

              Feels like 18°

Wind:   11mph\Gusts:  18mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 72°[2007]   Record Low: -3°[1962]

Mar Averages: 51°\23° (6 days with rain)

Today’s Quote

You have not converted a man

because you have silenced him.

-- Morley

Random Tidbits

In Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar," a soothsayer offers Caesar a warning, "Beware the Ides of March."

Shakespeare's account of Caesar being warned by a soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March" came originally from the Greek historian Plutarch.

Originally, the Ides were the day of the first full moon each year. The Roman year began in March.

In Roman times, March 15 was a day of celebration and festivals dedicated to Mars, the god of war.

Observances This Week

Lent: 6-20

Campfire USA Birthday Week: 10-16

Girl Scout Week: 10-16 

Termite Awareness Week: 10-16

National Agriculture Week: 10-16

International Brain Awareness Week: 11-17 

Turkey Vultures Return to the Living Sign: 11-17

Special Olympics 2019: 14-21

Sherlock Holmes Weekend: 15-17   

Observances for Today

Data Innovation Day: Thru Link
Brutus Day
Buzzards Day Link

Dumbstruck Day

 Everything You Think is Wrong Day
Ides of March
International Day of Action Against Canadian Seal Slaughter  Link
National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence  Link
National Peanut Lovers’ Day

National Shoe The World Day
True Confessions Day
World Consumer Rights Day Link
World Sleep Day Link 

My Rambling Thoughts

It is very chilly. Snow is no longer melting. Wind is not helping.

Our discussion group meets on Saturday to discuss ‘Refugees’. Lots of reading ahead. Refugees and immigrants are different and require different laws. I only have 2 refugee stories from personal experience. In the late 1950’s my grandparents rented out their downstairs apartment to refugees from behind the iron curtain. They had several families at different times. The biggest adjustment was the different tastes in cooking food. No Big Deal. The second story was on an international flight from Taiwan. As we approached our landing we got the usual cards to fill out. The couple across from me with a small baby took the cards and when the stewardess checked on all of us, the couple had done nothing. She and several other crew tried to communicate with them to no avail. I pulled out my passport, showed it to the dad and said ‘papers’. He pulled out letter, signed by Sec. of State Hillary Clinton stating that they were refugees from Miramar (Burma). The stewardess brought them a bunch of snacks and baby formula, which they didn’t want. Finally they found someone who convinced them to take it, saying that they had a very long wait ahead in the airport. There was a separate locale for them, marked ‘refugee’ passengers. Hope everything turned out well for them.

Today’s Significant Historical Events

BC’s

44 BC Julius Caesar is stabbed to death by Brutus, Cassius and several

            other Roman senators on the Ides of March in Rome

1700’s

1783 In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George

            Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh

            Conspiracy. The plea is successful and the threatened coup

            d'etat never takes place.

1800’s

1820 Maine admitted as 23rd state of the Union

1827 University of Toronto is chartered

1867 Michigan becomes 1st state to tax property to support a university

1892 New York State unveils automatic ballot booth (voting machine)

1900’s

1913 1st US presidential press conference (Woodrow Wilson)

1919 American Legion forms (Paris)

1957 Great Britain becomes the third nation to explode a nuclear bomb

2000’s

2017 French fashion house Givenchy appoints it first female designer,

            Englishwoman Clare Waight Keller

2018 Toy chain Toys R Us announces it will close all its stores after filing

            for bankruptcy

Birthdays Today

270 Saint Nicholas

[Nikolaos of Myra],

Greek Bishop who became the model for Santa Claus,

born in Patara, Asia Minor

(d. 343:@73)

1767 Andrew Jackson,

General and 7th US President (1829-37),

born in Waxhaws in the border area between North and

South Carolina

(d. 1845:@78)

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86- Ruth Bader Ginsburg,

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,

born in Brooklyn, New York

84- Judd Hirsch,

actor (Alex-Taxi, Dear John, Ordinary People),

born in The Bronx, New York

78- Mike Love,

American vocalist (Beach Boys - "Fun, Fun, Fun"),

born in Los Angeles, California

76- Sly Stone,

funk musician (Sly & the Family Stone-Everyday People),

born in Denton, Texas

62- Park Overall,

American actress (Empty Nest, Mississippi Burning),

born in Nashville, Tennessee

60- Fabio Lanzoni,

romance novels model (Fabio After Dark),

born in Milan, Italy

56- Bret Michaels,

guitarist (Poison-Talk Dirty to Me),

born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

44- Eva Longoria,

American actress (Gabrielle Solis in Desperate Housewives),

born in Corpus Christi, Texas

44- Will.i.am,

[William James Adams]

American musician (Black Eyed Peas)

Historical Obits Today

@94-1998 Benjamin Spock,

American pediatrician and writer

@91-1998 Jheri [Robert] Redding,

American hairdresser and businessman (created the Jheri curl

and hair conditioner)

@80-2007 Bowie Kuhn,

American lawyer, sports administrator

(MLB Commissioner 1969-1984)

@78-2014 David Brenner,

American stand-up comedian and TV talk show host (Nightlife)

known as a pioneer of observational comedy,

dies from cancer

@78-1959 Duncan Hines,

American restaurant guide writer (Out of Kentucky Kitchens)

@70-1990 Tom Harmon,

American football player and announcer (LA Rams, CBS 1950-62),

dies of a heart attack

@66-1988 Dmitri Polyakov,

Soviet Major General and spy for the CIA,

executed

@55-44 BC Julius Caesar,

Roman military and political figure,

stabbed to death

@45-1889 Melville Reuben Bissell,

American inventor of the carpet sweeper,

dies of pneumonia

Mar 14

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Happy Pi day!
Mar 14, 2019 Week: 11 \ Day: 73
86004 Today: H 31° \ L 11° \ Average Sky Cover: 35% 
Wind:   14mph\Gusts:  25mph Visibility: 10 mi
Record High: 69°[2007]   Record Low: -4°[1990]
Mar Averages: 51°\23° (6 days with rain)

Today’s Quote
The trouble with a diet is that
you don't eat what you like,
and don't like what you eat.
-- Anonymous



Random Tidbits
This Friday is the date known to ancient Romans as The Ides of March, which became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44BC.

The word ides comes from the Latin word "idus," which means half-division and in the Roman calendar refers to the approximate day that was the middle of the month. Ides was also used for the 15th day of May, July and October.

Most people in modern times know March 15 as the day Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C. He was stabbed to death.


Observances This Week
Lent: 6-20
National Catholic Sisters Week: 8-14 
Campfire USA Birthday Week: 10-16
Girl Scout Week: 10-16 
Termite Awareness Week: 10-16
National Agriculture Week: 10-16
International Brain Awareness Week: 11-17 
Turkey Vultures Return to the Living Sign: 11-17
Special Olympics 2019: 14-21


Observances for Today
Data Innovation Day: Thru-15 Link
International Ask A Question Day
International Day of Action for Rivers  Link
Learn about Butterflies Day
MOTH-ER Day
National Agriculture Day Link 
National Potato Chip Day
Pi Day (as in the math pie = 3.14159265 etc.) Link
Popcorn Lover's Day
Save a Spider Day Link
Write Your Story Day  Link
World Kidney Day


My Rambling Thoughts
The predicted snow was really about an inch and more rain than snow. I like our local weatherman, on Public radio, he gives nice concise forecasts with a tad of history. When on TV, he has all the big city maps, graphics, and more. However, he has really been missing his mark lately.

Not everything in this country is about politics. Duh! Yet 45 has turned a safety issue into a chance for him to look like the King he thinks he is. This morning he announced HE was grounding all the 737Max8 and 9 planes and that the FAA would have an announcement in about 45 minutes. The acting head of the FAA said yesterday, the FAA would not be grounding flights. Note: 45 has not nominated a head for the FAA since his first appointee resigned a year ago.  45 even said he wanted to nominate his personal pilot for the job, but never did. 45 is the only person in the US that sees everything as a political issue.

I guess, if you got lots of money, some think that they are above everyone, including the law. This college entrance thing is horrific. Back in my day, I was lucky enough to pay my college education by working as a grocery clerk and attending classes. If I was trying to do that today, I would have neither a Bachelor’s nor Master’s degree. Yet, rich parents ‘found a guy’ who could get their children into college for a fee. To make it worse, it seems that college athletic coaches got some of the fee. Seems to me like there is too much emphasis on athletics and not enough on a good education.


Today’s Significant Historical Events

1500’s
1592 "Ultimate Pi day": on this day at 6.53am is the largest
correspondence between calendar dates and significant digits of
pi, since the introduction of the Julian calendar (3.141592653)

1700’s
1794 Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin machine revolutionizing the
cotton industry in the southern US states

1900’s
1903 1st national bird reservation established in Sebastian, Florida

1904 In a landmark case, Northern Securities Company v United States,
the US Supreme Court finds the company has violated the
Sherman Anti-Trust Act; first case in T. Roosevelt's 'trust-busting'
campaign

1913 John D. Rockefeller gives $100 million to Rockefeller Foundation

1913 South African Supreme Court declares that marriages not
celebrated according to Christian rites and/or not registered by
the Registrar of Marriages, are invalid; all Muslim and Hindu
marriages are therefore declared invalid

1923 US President Warren G. Harding becomes 1st president to pay
taxes

1933 Civilian Conservation Corp begins tree conservation

1950 FBI's "10 Most Wanted Fugitives" program begins

1958 RIAA certifies 1st gold record (Perry Como's Catch A Falling Star)

1973 Future US senator John McCain is released after spending over
five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp

1984 Gerry Adams, head of Sinn Féin, is seriously wounded in an
assassination attempt in central Belfast

2000’s
2017 European Court of Justice rules companies can ban staff from
wearing religious symbols, including headscarves

2018 NASA twin study finds that Scott Kelly is no longer identical to his
twin brother after one year in space, 7% of his genes altered

2018 US students across American commemorate Florida high school
shooting with mass walkouts across the country


Birthdays Today

1864 Casey [John] Jones,
American railroad engineer who dies trying to save a train
(Ballad of Casey Jones), born in Missouri
(d. 1900-@37)

1879 Albert Einstein,
German-born theoretical physicist and
Nobel laureate (theory of relativity),
born in Ulm, German Empire
(d. 1955-@76-aneuyerism)

1919 Max Shulman,
novelist (Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Tender Trap)
(d. 1988-@69-bone cancer)

1920 Hank Ketcham,
cartoonist (Dennis the Menace)
(d. 2001-@81)

91- Frank Borman,
American astronaut (Gemini 7, Apollo 8) and
CEO of Eastern Air Lines (1975-86),
born in Gary, Indiana

86- Michael Caine
[Maurice J Micklewhite],
English actor (Alfie),
born in London, England

86- Quincy Jones Jr,
American composer and singer (We Are The World),
born in Chicago, Illinois

71- Billy Crystal, 
American actor, writer, producer (Soap, City Slickers)
born in Long Beach, New York,

67- Martin Dempsey,
American General, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (2011-),
born in Jersey City, New Jersey

61- Danny Meyer,
American restaurateur (Shake Shack, Union Square Cafe),
born in St. Louis, Missouri


Historical Obits Today
@83-2010 Peter Graves
[Aurness],
American actor (Mission Impossible, Airplane!, Stalag 17)

@77-1932 George Eastman,
American inventor (Kodak camera and
founder of the Eastman Kodak Company),
shoots himself in the heart

@76-2018 Stephen Hawking,
English physicist (Black Holes & Baby Universes),
dies from ALS complications

@65-1925 Walter Camp,
American, father of American football

@64-1883 Karl Marx,
German philosopher (Communist Manifesto),
dies from pleurisy

@62-1989 Edward Abbey
(environmental author),
dies after surgery

@37-2018 Adrián Lamo,
American threat analyst and hacker (NYT, Yahoo!, Microsoft)
 who reported Chelsea Manning to the FBI,
dies from “no definitive cause”