Mar 24

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Mar 24, 2019 Week: 13 \ Day: 83

86004 Today: H 52° \ L 25° \ Average Sky Cover: 20% 

Wind:   4mph\Gusts:  9mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 70°[1956]   Record Low: 0°[1984]

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

Today’s Quote

The man who is swimming against the stream

knows the strength of it.

Woodrow Wilson

Random Tidbits

Farmers today produce 262 percent more food with 2 percent fewer inputs (such as seeds, labor, fertilizers) than they did in 1950.

Livestock farming feeds billions of people and employs 1.3 billion people. That means about 1 in 5 people on Earth work in some aspect of the livestock farming.

Observances This Week

Lent: 6-Apr 20

Act Happy Week: 18-24

International Teach Music Week: 18-24

National Fix A Leak Week: 18-24 

Shakespeare Week: 18-24 

Wellderly Week: 18-24

National Cherry Blossom Festival: 20-4/14  

International Week of Solidarity with People's Struggling Against Racism & Discrimination: 21-27

American Crossword Puzzle Days: 22-24 

Health Information Professionals Week: 24-30

International Phace Syndrome Awareness Week: 24-30 

National Cleaning Week: 24-30

National Protocol Officer's Week: 24-30

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Week: 24-30

National Physicians Week: 24-30 

Observances for Today

International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for Dignity of Victims  Link

National Cake Pop Day

National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day Link

National Tortilla Chip Day

World Tuberculosis Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Taking a short break from dealing with taxes. It’s a beautiful day outside. Just needs to warm up a little so I can open the windows.

News channels seem to be speculating 24/7 on what is in the Mueller report. Even Rachael Maddow cut short a fishing trip to discuss the possibilities.  Really, just wait a while and in the meantime show us the flooding in the Midwest or anything else. The world and this country will continue, no matter what is in the report.

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1600’s

1603 Scottish King James VI son of Mary Queen of Scots, becomes King James I of England in succession to Elizabeth I, thus joining the English and Scottish crowns.

1800’s

1815 Handel & Haydn Society of Boston founded

1832 Mormon Joseph Smith beaten, tarred & feathered in Ohio

1837 Canada gives its black citizens the right to vote

1882 German scientist Robert Koch discovers and describes the tubercle bacillus which causes tuberculosis ( Mycobacterium tuberculosis)

1900’s

1937 National Gallery of Art established by Congress

1942 US government begins moving native-born citizens with Japanese ancestry into detention centres under Executive Order 9066, with intention of preventing home-grown espionage

1947 John D. Rockefeller Jr donates NYC East River site to the UN

1952 Great demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa

1960 US appeals court rules novel "Lady Chatterly's Lover" not obscene

1964 Kennedy half-dollar issued

1989 Worst US oil spill, Exxon's Valdez spills 11.3 mil gallons off Alaska

2000’s

2015 The Opportunity rover becomes the first to complete a Martian marathon

2017 US President Donald Trump and Republican party forced to pull their attempt to repeal Obamacare after internal opposition

2018 Tens of thousands attend 'March for Our Lives' rallies held in Washington D.C. and around the world to protest gun violence

Birthdays Today

1820 Edmond Becquerel,

French physicist who studied the solar spectrum, magnetism,

electricity and optics (photovoltaic effect), born in Paris, France

(d. 1891:@71)

1834 John Wesley Powell,

American geologist/explorer/ethnologist

(d. 1902:@68)

1855 Andrew Mellon,

American banker (Mellon Bank), industrialist and Secretary of

the Treasury (1921-32),

born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

(d. 1947:@82)

1874 Harry Houdini

[Erich Weiss],

Famous magician and escape artist,

born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary

(d. 1926:@52-peritonitus)

1890 John Rock,

American obstetrician and gynecologist who co-developed the

1st birth control pill,

born in Marlborough, Massachusetts

 (d. 1984:@94)

1902 Thomas E. Dewey,

Governor of NY and

Republican presidential candidate (1944, 1948),

born in Owosso, Michigan

(d. 1971@68-heart attack)

1906 John Cameron Swayze,

American newscaster (Timex, Hindenberg),

born in Wichita, Kansas

(d. 1995:@89)

1909 Clyde Barrow,

American bank robber (of Bonnie & Clyde fame),

born in Ellis County, Texas

(d. 1934:@25-shot by posse)

1910 Richard Conte,

American actor (The Godfather, Tony Rome, Hotel),

born in Jersey City, New Jersey

(d. 1975:@65-heart attack)

1911 Joseph Barbera,

American animator (Hanna-Barbera - Tom and Jerry),

born in Manhattan, New York

(d. 2006:@95)

1912 Dorothy Height,

American civil rights and women's rights activist

(National Council of Negro Women),

born in Richmond, Virginia

(d. 2010:@98)

1930 Steve McQueen,

American actor called "The King of Cool" during the 1960s

(The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape),

born in Beech Grove, Indiana

(d. 1980:@50-heart failure)

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80- Robert "Bob" Mackie,

American fashion designer

(RuPaul, Tina Turner, Judy Garland, Carol Burnett, Streisand,

Cher),

born in Monterey Park, California

67-Tommy Hilfiger,

fashion designer

66- Louie Anderson,

American comedian (Ratboy, Wrong Guys),

born in Saint Paul, Minnesota

57- Star Jones,

attorney/TV hostess (NBC, Inside Edition)

46- Jim Parsons,

actor (The Big Bang Theory),

born in Houston, Texas

43-Peyton Manning,

football Colts and Broncos

Historical Obits Today

@93-2008 Richard Widmark,

American actor (Madigan, Murder on the Orient Express,

Judgement at Nuremberg),

dies complications following a fall

@93-1984 Sam Jaffe,

American actor (Dr Zorba)

@79-2010 Robert Culp,

American actor, screenwriter, voice actor, and director

(I Spy, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice),

dies of heart attack while jogging

@77-1905 Jules Verne,

French writer known as the "Father of Science Fiction"

(Around the World in 80 Days)

@75-1882 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,

American poet (Song of Hiawatha)

@69-1603 Elizabeth I Tudor

[Virgin Queen], Queen of England and Ireland (1558-1603) and

 daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

@66-2016 Garry Shandling,

American comedian

(It's Garry Shandling's Show, Larry Sanders Show),

dies of pulmonary embolism

Mar 23

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Mar 23, 2019 Week: 12 \ Day: 82

86004 Today: H 50° \ L 24° \ Average Sky Cover: 25% 

Wind:   7mph\Gusts:  17mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 67°[1990]   Record Low: -1°[1973]

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

Today’s Quote

Success is the sum of small efforts –

repeated day in and day out.

Robert Collier

Random Tidbits

There are around 2.2 million farms in the United States.

In 1940, the average farmer grew enough food for 19 other people. In 2006, the average American farmer grew enough food for 144 other people.

Observances This Week

Lent: 6-Apr 20

American Chocolate Week: 17-23 

National Animal Poison Prevention Week: 17-23    

National Inhalant and Poisons Awareness Week: 17-23   

World Folktales & Fables Week: 17-23

Act Happy Week: 18-24

International Teach Music Week: 18-24

National Fix A Leak Week: 18-24 

Shakespeare Week: 18-24 

Wellderly Week: 18-24

National Cherry Blossom Festival: 20-4/14  

International Week of Solidarity with People's Struggling Against Racism & Discrimination: 21-27

American Crossword Puzzle Days: 22-24 

Observances for Today

Endometriosis March Day Link 
Melba Toast Day

National Chip and Dip Day

National Puppy Day  Link  Link
National Chia Day Link  Link
National Tamale Day
Near Miss Day
OK Day Link
World Meteorological Day
Be Mad Day

My Rambling Thoughts

A beautiful Spring Friday. Warm and sunny.

The news channels are on the highest alert for the release of Mueller report. I’m not expecting much. We already know that 45 has always hung with those who play loose with the law and regulations. Since only one Republican senator has made a strong statement against 45’s feelings about Sen. McCain, I doubt anything will lead them to punishment of Our very own Great Leader.

Weekend will be busy for me as I gather up tax stuff. Never my favorite activity. I think everything has arrived, so now it’s just organizing it and taking to the tax man.

The Midwest is certainly suffering from flooding. The few people I know there are OK, but many others are having a very tough time.

Today’s Significant Historical Events

1400’s

1490 1st dated edition of Maimonides "Mishneh Torah", a code of

            Jewish religious law is published

1700’s

1775 Patrick Henry proclaims "Give me liberty or give me death" in

            speech in favor of Virginian troops joining US Revolutionary war

1800’s

1868 University of California founded in Oakland, California

1900’s

1901 Dame Nellie Melba reveals secret of her now famous toast

1903 The Wright brothers 1st file a patent for a flying machine,

            which is granted 3 years later

1929 1st telephone installed at the President’s desk under the

            Hoover administration at the White House

1931 Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev embrace the gallows during

            the Indian struggle for independence. Their request to be shot

            by a firing squad is refused.

1936 Physician Joseph G. Hamilton injects a leukemia patient with a

            sodium radioisotope, first intravenous injection of a human with

            a radioisotope

1945 The Swallow Sidecar Company headed by William Lyons agrees to

            change its name to Jaguar

1950 UN World Meteorological Org established

1972 Evel Knievel breaks 93 bones after successfully clearing 35 cars

1983 US President Ronald Reagan introduces Strategic Defense

            Initiative ("Star Wars")

1990 Former Exxon Valdez Captain Joseph Hazelwood ordered to help

            clean up Prince William Sound & pay $50,000 in restitution for

            1989 oil spill

2000’s

2018 A Sahara sandstorm turns snow in Sochi, Russia, orange in one of

            the largest-ever transfers of desert sand

Birthdays Today

1823 Schuyler Colfax,

(R) 17th VP (1869-73)

(d. 1885:@61-heart attack)

1857 Fannie Farmer,

American culinary pioneer who revolutionized modern cooking

 through the introduction of precise measurements (Boston

 Cooking-School Cook Book),

born in Boston, Massachusetts

(d. 1915:@57)

1905 Joan Crawford

[Lucille Le Sueur],

American actress (Mildred Pierce),

born in San Antonio, Texas

(d. 1977:@73-heart attack)

1910 Akira Kurosawa,

Japanese director and screenwriter who was posthumously

named "Asian of the Century" in the "Arts, Literature, and Culture"

category (Rashomon, Drunken Angel, Seven Samurai, Ran),

born in Tokyo Japan

(d. 1998:@88)

1912 Wernher von Braun,

German rocket scientist (I Aim at the Stars),

born in Wirsitz, Germany (now Wyrzysk, Poland)

(d. 1977:@65-pancreatic cancer)

1922 Marty Allen,

comedian (Allen & Rossi), "Hello Dere"

(d. 2018:@95)

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67- Rex Tillerson,

American businessman (ExxonMobil) and

US Secretary of State (2017-18),

born in Wichita Falls, Texas

66- Chaka Khan

[Yvette Marie Stevens],

American singer and songwriter (Rufus, I am Every Woman),

born in Chicago, Illinois

54- Richard Grieco,

actor (21 Jump Street, Booker)

43- Keri Russell,

American actress (Felicity, The Americans),

born in Fountain Valley, California

41- Perez Hilton

[Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr],

American television personality and blogger,

born in Miami, Florida

Historical Obits Today

@91-2015 Lee Kuan Yew,

Founding father of modern Singapore and

1st Prime Minister of Singapore (1959-90)

@90-2016 Joe Garagiola,

NFL catcher and sportscaster/host (Today Show)

@87-2006 Desmond Doss,

American soldier and first conscientious objector

Medal of Honor recipient

@79-2011 Elizabeth Taylor,

English-American actress, businesswoman, and humanitarian

(Cleopatra, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)

dies of congestive heart failure

@71-2016 Ken Howard,

American actor (The White Shadow),

dies of pneumonia

@62-1983 Barney Clark,

1st artificial heart recipient,

dies after 112 days

@59-1964 Peter Lorre,

Hungarian-American actor (M, Casablanca, Beast with 5 Fingers),

dies from a stroke

@23-1931 Bhagat Singh,

Indian freedom fighter,

hanged