Jul 24

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Jul. 25, 2019 Week: 30 \ Day: 206

86004:   H 75° \ L 54° \ Average Sky Cover: 40% 

Nearest wildfire:  4mi. Nearest lightning:  36mi

Wind:   8mph\Gusts:  8mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 92°[1931]   Record Low: 41°[1913]

Jul Averages: 82°\542° (8 day with rain)

Today’s Quote

We live in a rainbow of chaos.

Paul Cezanne

Random Tidbits

A nineteenth-century Chinese merchant was sentenced to death for murdering his wife. Sleep deprivation was deliberately chosen as the method of execution on the grounds that it would cause the maximum amount of suffering and would serve as the greatest deterrent to other potential murderers. He eventually died on the nineteenth day, having suffered terribly.

Children don't react the same way to sleep deprivation as adults: while adults get sleepy, children become hyperactive. In fact, a lack of sleep can result in ADHD-like symptoms in kids. Children need an average of nine to 10 hours of sleep each night.

Observances This Week

6-28
Tour de France

18-25

Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week

20-28

National Moth Week Link

21-27

Captive Nations Week
International Lace Week  Link

National Independent Retailers Week Link  
National Zoo Keeper Week Link

RAGBRAI

25-27

Comi Great Texas Mosquitos Days

Observances for Today

Carousel Day or Merry-Go-Round Day Link
Culinarians Day

Hire A Veteran Day  Link  Link
National Chili Dog Day  
National Hot Fudge Sundae Day

National Intern Day  Link  
National Refreshment Day  Link  
Red Shoe Day (International)  Link  Link  (Lyme Disease)
Thread The Needle Day Link
Video Games Day Link

My Rambling Thoughts

Fire control is much better. Thanks to the hundreds of first responders who have helped in this tremendous effort to protect our town’s life and property. There is much less smoke today, planes still dropping retardant, some areas close to the fire moving from GO to SET status. A very good sign…

A friend from our discussion group has invited me to a ‘boy’s night’ with some of the top astronomers here in Flag to discuss my recent adventure with them. And I get a free BBQ dinner. Excited.

Mary is back in town and I talked to her this morning. She’s happy to be home…she is also in the SET area and says that now she worries about flooding in her area. Cheryl took a bad fall while working on her raised planter. She is OK now but had to wait for neighbor’s come outside to get help getting up. Scary.

So, I listened to much of the Mueller hearings today. Maybe I should say TOO much of the hearings. Everyone had an agenda, everyone got to ask questions. No bombshells. Both sides will claim victory. Who loses? American democracy is in the process of losing.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

As defendants, we deny all involvement in the unscrupulous dealings which have come to light in the recent government investigation.  What country name is hidden in the previous sentence?

Today’s Highlighted Historical Events

1500’s

1567 Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela

1700’s

1722 The Three Years War begins along the Maine and Massachusetts border

1775 Maryland issues currency depicting George III trampling Magna Carta

1800’s

1814 English engineer George Stephenson introduces his first steam locomotive, a travelling engine designed for hauling coal on the Killingworth wagonway named Blücher

1850 Gold discovered in Oregon (Rogue River)

1854 Walter Hunt is awarded the first U.S. patent for a paper shirt collar

1868 US Congress forms Wyoming Territory (Dakota, Utah & Idaho)

1871 Carousel patented by Wilhelm Schneider, Davenport, Iowa

1897 Writer Jack London sails to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he will write his first successful stories

1900’s

1941 FDR bans selling benzine/gasoline to Japan

1952 Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing US commonwealth (Constitution Day)

1961 In a speech John F. Kennedy emphasizes that any attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO

1969 Edward Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving scene of an accident a week after the Chappaquiddick car accident that killed Mary Jo Kopechne

1972 US health officials concede African American were used as guinea pigs in 40 year syphilis experiment

1984 Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes 1st woman to walk in space

1985 Spokeswoman for Rock Hudson confirms he has AIDS

1985 Steve Cram runs world record mile (3:46.32)

2000’s

2014 Palestinian officials call for a "Day of Rage" in the West Bank and within Israel against Israel's operation against Gaza; Israeli Defense Force prepares for protests

2016 Verizon announces $4.83 billion purchase of Yahoo

2018 Liquid lake found on Mars under its South Pole by European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter reported in "Science"

Highlighted Birthdays Today

1884 Davidson Black,

Canadian paleoanthropologist and doctor of anatomy who identified "Peking Man", born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 1934: @49)

1894 Walter Brennan,

American actor (Real McCoys, At Gun Point), born in Lynn, Massachusetts (d. 1974: @80)

1920 Rosalind Franklin,

English chemist and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, born in London (d. 1958: @37: cancer

1923 Estelle Getty,

American actress (The Golden Girls, The Golden Palace), born in NYC, New York (d. 2008: @84)

1941 Emmett Till,

American lynching victim, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1955: @14: murdered)

1954 Walter Peyton,

football player (d. 1999: @45: liver disease/cancer)

50’s

52- Matt LeBlanc,

American actor (Joey Tribbiani-Friends), born in Newton, Massachusetts

40’s

41- Louise Brown,

English woman who was the first person to be born through in vitro fertilization, born in Oldham, England

Highlighted Historical Obits Today

80’s

@84-1997 Ben Hogan,

American golfer (9-time major title winner; US masters 1951, 53)

70’s

@78-2018 Judith Appelbaum,

American magazine & newspaper editor and educator, dies from ovarian cancer

@76-1865 James Barry

[Margaret Ann Bulkley],

female disguised as a man, surgeon general (British army), born in County Cork, Ireland

60’s

@62-1995 Charlie Rich,

American country singer (Lonely Weekends), dies from embolism

@61-1834 Samuel Taylor Coleridge,

British romantic poet (Rime of Ancient Mariner), dies of heart failure

@60-1934 François Coty,

French perfume manufacturer

50’s

@57-1984 Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton,

American rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter (Hound Dog, Ball & Chain, Stronger than Dirt), dies of heart and liver disorders

40’s

@47-2008 Randy Pausch,

American professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, known for his "Last Lecture", dies from cancer

Puzzle answer:

Sweden. "defendants, we deny".

Jul 24

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Jul. 24, 2019 Week: 30 \ Day: 205
86004:   H 80° \ L 56° \ Average Sky Cover: smoky 

Nearest wildfire:  4mi. Nearest lightning:  95mi
Wind:   6mph\Gusts:  6mph
Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 91°[1937]   Record Low: 39°[1995]
Jul Averages: 82°\542° (8 day with rain)

Today’s Quote

Consistency is the last refuge
of the unimaginative.
Oscar Wilde

Random Tidbits

Humans spend a third of their life sleeping (25 years or more). In fact, humans can survive longer without food than they can without sleep.

When applied patiently and systematically, sleep deprivation is said to be the single most effective form of coercion and torture.

Observances This Week
6-28
Tour de France

18-25
Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week

20-24
National Scrabble Week Link

20-28
National Moth Week Link

21-27
Captive Nations Week
International Lace Week  Link
National Independent Retailers Week Link 
National Zoo Keeper Week Link
RAGBRAI

Observances for Today

Amelia Earhart Day
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Pioneer Day Link
Cousins Day
International Self Care Day  Link
National Drive-Thru Day
National Tequila Day
National Thermal Engineers Day  Link 
 Tell an Old Joke Day


My Rambling Thoughts

Life looks much better today. The fire is still uncontrolled, but the smoke is much less than yesterday. Thank goodness I have a CPAP machine…it cleaned the air it was forcing down my throat. There is a huge DC-10 tanker, several smaller planes, and 3 helicopters dropping retardant/water on the fire. There are over 200 fire fighters on the line. The fire is now about 2000 acres of dry brush, pinon and ponderosa pine. No injuries, no structural loss. Still no official info on how the fire started Sunday. Monsoon may start in the higher mountain today…and come to town tomorrow. Sure hope so. Yesterday was frustrating, today I’m just POed at the fire, and thankful for the people helping put it out. Donated a case of Gatorade from Sam’s and a big box of protein bars to the crew.

I’m not expecting anything from the Mueller testimony tomorrow, but I’ll be listening.

Today’s Puzzle
Answer at the bottom of this page

I'm a word that's hardly there.
Take away my start, and I'm an herbal flair.
What am I?

Today’s Highlighted Historical Events
1400’s
1411 Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland, takes place

1500’s
1534 Jacques Cartier lands in Canada, claims it for France

1700’s
1701 Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founds trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, later becomes the city of Detroit

1800’s
1824 Harrisburg Pennsylvanian newspaper publishes results of 1st public opinion poll, with a clear lead for Andrew Jackson

1832 Benjamin Bonneville leads the first wagon train across the Rocky Mountains by Wyoming's South Pass

1847 Brigham Young and his Mormon followers arrive at Salt Lake City, Utah

1866 Tennessee becomes 1st Confederate state readmitted to Union

1880 1st commercial hydroelectric power plant in the world begins generating electricity in Grand Rapids, Michigan

1900’s
1901 O. Henry is released from prison in Austin, Texas after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank

1911 American explorer Hiram Bingham discovers Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas

1917 Trial of Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari begins in Paris for allegedly spying for Germany and thus causing the deaths of 50,000 soldiers

1959 US Vice President Richard Nixon argues with Nikita Khrushchev, known as "Kitchen Debate"

1961 Beginning of a trend, a US commercial plane is hijacked to Cuba

1967 First modern hospice St Christopher's founded by Dr. Cicely Saunders in London, England, beginning of modern palliative care and the hospice movement

1969 Apollo 11 returns to Earth

1985 French DGSE officers Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart are arrested and charged with murder over the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior

1998 Russell Eugene Weston Jr. bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire killing two police officers. He is later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial.

2000’s
2015 US President Barack Obama begins an historic 2 day visit to Kenya

2018 Wildfires near Athens, Greece, kill 91 with 104 injured, over 600 rescued from the coast by boats

2018 First bison born in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, in 140 years, after being reintroduced

Highlighted Birthdays Today

1783 Simón Bolívar,
Venezuelan political and military leader (freed 6 Latin American republics from Spanish rule), born in Caracas (d. 1830: @47: TB)

1802 Alexandre Dumas,
French author (The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo), born in Aisne, France (d. 1870: @68)

1892 Alice Ball,
African American chemist (developed treatment for leprosy), born in Seattle Washington (d. 1916: @24: TB)

1897 Amelia Earhart,
American aviator (1st woman to fly solo across the Atlantic), born in Atchison, Kansas (d. 1939: @41: lost)

1899 Chief Dan George
[Tes-wah-no],
Canadian Indian author, poet and actor (Harry & Tonto, Little Big Man, Smith!), born in Vancouver, British Columbia (d. 1981: @82)

80’s
83- Ruth Buzzi,
comedienne (Laugh-In, Margie-That Girl)

70’s
72- Robert Hays,
actor (Airplane!, Starman, Scandalous), born in Bethesda, Maryland

60’s
68- Lynda Carter,
American actress (Wonder Woman, Sky High) and Miss USA (1973), born in Phoenix, Arizona

50’s
54- Barry Bonds,
Baseball player

50- Jennifer Lopez,
actress and pop singer (Selena), born in The Bronx

40’s
43- Rashida Tlaib,
American politician (Rep-D-Michigan 2018-), one of the first Muslim women elected to US House, born in Detroit, Michigan

30’s
37- Anna Paquin,
Canadian-born New Zealand Oscar-winning actress (The Piano, True Blood), born in Winnipeg, Manitoba

37- Elisabeth Moss,
American actress (Mad Men), born in Los Angeles, California

20’s
21- Bindi Irwin,
zoologist, performer

Highlighted Historical Obits Today
90’s
@91-1997 William J. Brennan, Jr.
American Supreme Court judge (1956-90)

80’s
@82-1974 James Chadwick,
English physicist (Nobel 1935, discovered neutron)

70’s
@79-1862 Martin Van Buren,
8th US President (1837-41), dies of heart failure

@75-2012 Chad Everett
[Raymon Lee Cramton],
American actor (Medical Center, Airplane II), dies from lung cancer

@74-2012 Sherman Hemsley,
American Actor, dies from natural causes

50’s
@54-1980 Peter Sellers,
English actor and comedian (The Goon Show, Pink Panther), dies after heart attack

Puzzle answer:

Sparsley (No S = Parsley)

Jul 23

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Jul. 23, 2019 Week: 30 \ Day: 204

86004:   H 87° \ L 59° \ Average Sky Cover: Smokey 

Nearest wildfire:  3mi. Nearest lightning:  132mi

Wind:   7mph\Gusts:  7mph

Visibility: 8 mi

Record High: 92°[1996]   Record Low: 37°[1987]

Jul Averages: 82°\542° (8 day with rain)

Today’s Quote

Firefighters are some of the most selfless public servants you will ever encounter. Denis Leary

Random Tidbits

The United States has 71,862 tons of nuclear waste. Waste can stay dangerous for tens of thousands of years. The industry's nuclear pile of waste is growing about 2,200 tons a year. Some waste sites contain four times the amount of spent fuel they were designed to handle.

The first nuclear-powered surface vessel was the Russian icebreaker Lenin. The largest nuclear powered surface ship is the 1,100-foot-long USS George H.W. Bush, the most recent of the Nimitz Class carriers which was commissioned in 2009.

The U.S.S. Nautilus was the first nuclear-powered submarine and was put to sea in December 1954. Named after the submarine in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, she was the first vessel to travel submerged under the North Pole, on August 3, 1958. She was decommissioned in 1980 and has been preserved as a National Historic Landmark.

Observances This Week

6-28
Tour de France

18-25

Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week

20-24

National Scrabble Week Link 

20-28

National Moth Week Link

21-27

Captive Nations Week
International Lace Week  Link

National Independent Retailers Week Link  
National Zoo Keeper Week Link

RAGBRAI

Observances for Today

Gorgeous Grandma Day

Hot Enough For Ya Day

Official* Hot Dog Day

Vanilla Ice Cream Day

My Rambling Thoughts

On the top of my mind today is this 1000+ acre fire on the mountain near my place. Yesterday I learned about the ‘Ready, Set, Go’ program. First text message said ‘Get READY for an evacuation. Gather important papers, meds, cell phone and charger and pets, and know where you can go. This morning the text said, ‘Get Set’, have your papers, meds, phone, charger, pets and plan SET for evacuation. I’ve lived around here for many years. Good to know our town is prepared. I have faith I won’t have to evacuate the area but am prepared if that happens. The trash man just made his daily run, a good sign.

Today, in 1914, my father was born. He and his sister were raised by a single mom after his father had a heart attack on Christmas Eve when he was only 5 years old. He was in both the Navy (volunteered) and the Army (drafted after Pearl Harbor) He married my mom in 1939 and lived 80 good years. He worked as an accountant. He and my mom raised two adopted sons. They provided a good life for the family. He passed in 1994 and is still missed.

More on the fires…planes are finally back in the air. Seems there are idiots in our area who keep flying drones over the fire area. When a drone is spotted, all air traffic ceases. I am getting numerous messages to report any drone to 911. There are 200 firefighters on the line, numerous aircraft dropping water when they can fly.

Holy crap…local police are going door to door in my complex. Telling me to tie a white shoestring on our door if I  evacuate, so they won’t break down the door trying to save me.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

I was born in the 18th century, yet still live on today. Appearing on TV when I have something to say. Called everything from "honest" to a dirty rotten "crook", I used to wear a wig, but have had several looks. I've always had a party, but never disturb the neighbors. I've been shot at many times - major stories for the papers. What am I?

Today’s Highlighted Historical Events

1700’s

1798 Napoleon captures Alexandria, Egypt

1800’s

1829 William Austin Burt patents America's first "typographer" (typewriter)

1900’s

1900 The Canadian government reviews immigration policy, prohibiting criminals and paupers from landing in Canada

1904 Ice cream cone created during St Louis World Fair - the 1st cone reputedly by Charles E. Menches

1937 Isolation of pituitary hormone announced (Yale University)

1946 Menachem Begin's Zionist militant group Irgun bombs the King David Hotel, the then British administrative headquarters for Palestine

1967 First successful liver transplant, on 19 month old Julie Rodriguez by Dr Starzl at the University of Colorado

1973 US President Richard Nixon refuses to release Watergate tapes of conversations in the White House relevant to the Watergate investigation

1982 International Whaling Commission votes for total ban on commercial whaling (starting 1985)

1994 Goodwill Games open in St Petersburg

2000’s

2014 20th Commonwealth Games open in Glasgow, Scotland

2015 NASA's Kepler mission announces discovery of the most Earth-like planet yet - Kepler-452b, 1,400 light years from Earth

2018 International Monetary Fund predicts inflation of 1 million percent in Venezuela by end of 2018

Highlighted Birthdays Today

0’s

1892 Haile Selassie

[Ras Tafari Makonnen],

Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-74), born in Ejersa Goro, Ethiopian Empire (d. 1975: @83)

1894 Arthur Treacher,

English TV announcer (Merv Griffin Show), born in Brighton, England (d. 1975: @81)

1967 Philip Seymour Hoffman,

American actor (Capote, Moneyball), born in Fairport, New York (d. 2014: @46: accidental suicide )

58- Woody Harrelson,

American actor (Woody Boyd in Cheers), born in Midland, Texas

54- Slash

[Saul Hudson],

English-American rock guitarist & songwriter (Guns N' Roses-Sweet Child o' Mine), born in London, England

46- Monica Lewinsky,

American White House intern (improper relationship with Bill Clinton), born in San Francisco, California

30- Daniel Radcliffe,

English actor (Harry Potter in the Harry Potter series of movies), born in London, England

Highlighted Historical Obits Today

90’s

@93-2010 Daniel Schorr,

American broadcast journalist (CBS)

@92-2001 Eudora Welty,

American novelist (Optimist's Daughter-Pulitzer 1973)

70’s

@73-1948 D.W. Griffith,

American director and producer, dies of cerebral hemorrhage

60’s

@67-1951 Robert Flaherty,

American filmmaker and the father of documentary film (Nanook of North)

@63-1885 Ulysses S. Grant,

18th US President (1869-77) and Union general, dies of esophageal cancer

@61-2012 Sally Ride,

American astronaut and 1st American woman in space, dies of pancreatic cancer

20’s

@27-2011 Amy Winehouse,

British singer songwriter, dies from alcohol poisoning

Puzzle answer:

The Office of the President of the United States.