Jul 30

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Jul. 30, 2019 Week: 31 \ Day: 211

86004:   H 86° \ L 59° \ Average Sky Cover: 70% 

Nearest wildfire:  4mi. Nearest lightning:  141mi

Wind:   7mph\Gusts:  7mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 92°[1943]   Record Low: 40°[1913]

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

Today’s Quote

Only two things are infinite,

the universe and human stupidity,

and I'm not sure about the former.

Albert Einstein

Random Tidbits

6. The Colossus of Rhodes at the entrance of the harbor of Rhodes in Greece.

From its building to its destruction lies a time span of merely 56 years. Yet the colossus earned a place in the famous list of Wonders. "But even lying on the ground, it is a marvel", said Pliny the Elder. The Colossus of Rhodes was not only a gigantic statue. It was rather a symbol of unity of the people who inhabited that beautiful Mediterranean island -- Rhodes.

7. The Lighthouse of Alexandria in the city of Alexandria in Egypt.

Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, only one had a practical use in addition to its architectural elegance: The Lighthouse of Alexandria. For sailors, it ensured a safe return to the Great Harbor. For architects, it meant even more: it was the tallest building on Earth. And for scientists, it was the mysterious mirror that fascinated them most... The mirror which reflection could be seen more than 50 km (35 miles) off-shore.

Observances This Week

27-8/5
National Little League Baseball Week  Link

Observances for Today

Cheesecake Day Link
Father-in-Law Day
Friendship Day Link
Health Care Now!  Medicare's Birthday  Link
International Day of Friendship Link    
National Chicken and Waffles Day
National Support Public Education Day Link
National Whistleblowers Appreciation Day  Link
Paperback Book Day
World Day Against Trafficking in Persons

My Rambling Thoughts

It’s Monday. Our fire is now 65% contained. Still early morning smoke. It’s only been a week + one day but seems like it’s been forever. Things look better every day, just a slow process.

I headed out around 8a to pick up some scripts and other necessities. Got what I needed and headed home. It looks like rain, so hoping it comes with no lightning.

I am happy that Congress is on a much needed 6-week break. They can now go home and listen to their voters. I can only hope that they do just that. This is also the time for the media to listen to the people. We will never come together as a country until both sides start listening to the voters.

I have started working on a little slide show of my trip on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Lots to do, but will be worth it when I finish it in a few days.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

Use all letters of this sentence once each only to spell out three animals.

'TALL ELEPHANT OR APEMAN'

Note: Elephant is not one of the three.

Today’s Highlighted Historical Events

1700’s

1729 City of Baltimore founded

1800’s

1836 First English language newspaper published in Hawaii

1863 President Abraham Lincoln issues "eye-for-eye" order to shoot a rebel prisoner for every black prisoner shot

1863 Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, promising to stop harassing the emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah

1900’s

1928 George Eastman shows first amateur color motion pictures to guests at his New York house including Thomas Edison

1935 1st Penguin book is published, starting the paperback revolution

1942 FDR signs bill creating women's Navy auxiliary agency (WAVES)

1945 After delivering the Atomic Bomb across the Pacific, the cruiser USS Indianapolis is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-58. 880 of the crew died, many after being attacked by sharks, the inspiration for the movie Jaws.

1956 US motto "In God We Trust" authorized

1965 LBJ signs Medicare bill, which goes into effect in 1966

1974 House Judiciary Committee votes on 3rd & last charge of "high crimes & misdemeanors" to impeach President Nixon in the Watergate cover-up

1975 US Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa disappears in suburban Detroit; Hoffa legally declared dead in 1982

2000’s

2013 Wikileaks discloser Bradley [later Chelsea] Manning convicted of 17 espionage charges

2017 China's President Xi Jinping heads 12,000 troop parade at Zhurihe training base, Inner Mongolia marking 90 years since founding of the People's Liberation Army

2017 Russian President Vladimir Putin announces American diplomats in Russia cut by 755 in response to American sanctions

2018 Official Malaysian investigation into the disappearance of Flight 370 is unable to determine what happened

Highlighted Birthdays Today

1818 Emily Brontë,

English novelist (Wuthering Heights), born in Thornton, West Yorkshire (d. 1848: @30: long illness)

1863 Henry Ford,

American industrialist and auto maker (Ford Model T), born in Dearborn Township, Michigan (d. 1947: @83)

1893 Fatima Jinnah,

Mother of Pakistan, sister and close adviser of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, born in Karachi, Bombay Presidency, British India (d. 1967: @73: heart failure)

1922 Henry W. Bloch,

American businessman (co-founder of H&R Block) and philanthropist, born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 2019+: @96)

80’s

86- Edd "Kookie" Byrnes,

American actor (77 Sunset Strip, Jack the Ripper), born in Los Angeles, California

80- Peter Bogdanovich,

American director and producer (Last Picture Show), born in Kingston, New York

70’s

78- Paul Anka,

Canadian/American singer

72- Arnold Schwarzenegger,

Austrian-American body builder, actor (Terminator) and politician (38th Governor of California), born in Thal, Austria

60’s

63- Anita Hill,

American academic and attorney, accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, born in Lone Tree, Oklahoma

63- Delta Burke,

American actress (Suzanne-Designing Women), born in Orlando, Florida

50’s

58- Laurence Fishburne,

American actor (The Matrix, CSI, Apocalypse Now), born in Augusta, Georgia

56- Lisa Kudrow,

American actress (Phoebe Buffay on Friends), born in Los Angeles, California

55- Vivica A. Fox,

American actress (Kill Bill: Vol. 1), born in South Bend, Indiana

50- Simon Baker,

Australian actor

40’s

49- Christopher Nolan,

British/American director

48- Tom Green,

Canadian comedian and actor

45- Hilary Swank,

American actress (Boys Don't Cry, Million Dollar Baby), born in Lincoln, Nebraska

Highlighted Historical Obits Today

80’s

@89-2007 Ingmar Bergman,

Swedish stage and film director (Cries & Whispers)

@83-1898 Otto von Bismarck,

German "Iron" chancellor

@80-1998 Buffalo Bob Smith

[Robert Emil Schmidt],

American TV host (Howdy Doody)

70’s

@75-2007 Bill Walsh,

American football coach (San Fransisco 49ers), dies of leukemia

@73-1718 William Penn,

English Philosopher, Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania (No cross, no crown)

60’s

@67-2015 Lynn Anderson,

American country singer (I Never Promised you a Rose Garden), dies of a heart attack

30’s

@31-1918 Joyce Kilmer,

American poet, dies in WWII battle

20’s

@25-1989 Lane Frost,

American bull rider, dies from injuries sustained by being gored by a bull

Puzzle answer:

PANTHER, ANTELOPE, LLAMA

Jul 29

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Jul. 29, 2019 Week: 31 \ Day: 210

86004:   H 85° \ L 57° \ Average Sky Cover: 50% 

Nearest wildfire:  4mi. Nearest lightning:  275mi

Wind:   6mph\Gusts:  16mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 92°[2002]   Record Low: 37°[1913]

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

Today’s Quote

Freedom is never given;

it is won.

A. Philip Randolph

Random Tidbits

Wonders of the Ancient World

4. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus outside of Izmir in Turkey.

Is it simply a temple? How could it take its place among other unique structures such as the Pyramid, the Hanging Gardens, and the Colossus of Rhodes? For the people who actually visited it, the answer was simple. It was not just a temple... It was the most beautiful structure on earth... It was built in honor of the Greek goddess of hunting, wild nature, and fertility. That was the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

5. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus in the city of Bodrum in Turkey.

Similar to the Great Pyramid, we are now visiting the burial place of an ancient king. Yet the Mausoleum is different - so different from the Pyramid that it earned its reputation - and a spot within the list - for other reasons. Geographically, it is closer to the Temple of Artemis... And it was the beauty of the tomb rather than its size that fascinated its visitors for years.

Observances This Week

27-8/5
National Little League Baseball Week  Link

Observances for Today

Army Chaplain Corps Anniversary  Link
International Chicken Wing Day Link
International Tiger Day  Link
Lasagna Day
National Chicken Wing Day Link
National Lasagna Day

National Lipstick Day  
Rain Day Link

My Rambling Thoughts

I had a nice Sunday morning, reading the Sunday paper on my deck. There hasn’t been any monsoon rain since Thursday, and it isn’t returning until mid- week ahead.  That means everything is drying out quite quickly. This is becoming another concern. This morning my neighborhood was taken out of SET status and returned to normal (READY).  We were in that status for a week. Long enough for me. One of my brother’s half-sisters is about 7 miles from the Oregon fire. She posted yesterday that she was very nervous because she had just been placed in SET status. I reassured her of my experience in SET and she said she felt a little better.

Most of the Rez teachers are back to work, with students returning in two weeks. Most are posting that summer was too short. I sure get that. I look back fondly on my teaching/administration career at this time of year. I still walk slowly through the school supply aisles now. That does not mean I want to work again, just great fond memories.

I washed linens this morning. The 2^nd load should be dry soon.

Looking forward to a quiet week ahead. Two friends some the Rez are spending the week. Gas prices are too high for them to commute every day. They will stay here after work each day until Thursday. Easy-Peasy for me. And they always cook.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

Can you Form a word from the letters?

A  B  C  D  E F  G  I.  (note; the word is hyphenated)

Today’s Highlighted Historical Events

1600’s

1609 Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs at Ticonderoga, New York setting the stage for French-Iroquois conflicts for the next 150 years

1655 Biggest townhall in the world opens in Amsterdam

1676 Nathaniel Bacon declared a rebel for assembling frontiersmen to protect settlers from Indians

1700’s

1715 10 Spanish treasure galleons sunk off Florida coast by a hurricane

1773 1st schoolhouse west of Allegheny Mountains completed, Schoenbrunn, Ohio

1800’s

1836 Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris

1848 Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt - an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule put down by police

1884 Society of Independent Artists founded in Paris by Albert Dubois-Pillet, Odilon Redon, Georges Seurat and Paul Signac

1899 1st motorcycle race, Manhattan Beach, NY

1900’s

1907 Sir Robert Baden-Powell forms Boy Scouts in England

1927 1st iron lung installed (Bellevue hospital, NY)

1956 Jacques Cousteau's Calypso anchors in 7,500 m of water (record)

1958 US President Eisenhower signs into law National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958

1987 Ben & Jerry's and Jerry Garcia agree on a new flavor Cherry Garcia

2000’s

2015 Over 3,500 immigrants over 2 days attempt to enter the Channel Tunnel at Calais, to cross into Britian

2015 Part of missing airline MH370 is found on the island of Reunion

Highlighted Birthdays Today

0’s

1796 Walter Hunt,

American inventor (safety pin, sewing machine), born in Martinsburg, New York (d. 1859: @62)

1805 Alexis de Tocqueville,

French statesman/writer (Democracy in America: @53: TB)

1883 Benito Mussolini

[Il Duce],

Fascist Italian dictator (1922-43), born in Predappio, Forlì, Italy (d. 1945: @61: shot escaping)

1888 Vladimir K. Zworykin,

Russian-American inventor (development of television, cathode ray tube), born in Murom, Russian Empire (d. 1982: @94)

1905 Dag Hammarskjöld,

Swedish public servant, 2nd Secretary-General of the United Nations (1953-61) and posthumous Nobel Peace Prize winner (1961), born in Jönköping, Sweden (d. 1961: @56: plane crash)

1907 Melvin Belli,

American lawyer known as "The King of Torts" and "Melvin Bellicose", born in Sonora, California (d. 1996: @88)

1910 Dorothy Hodgkin,

British chemist who developed protein crystallography, 3rd woman to win a Nobel Prize (1964), born in Cairo, Egypt (d. 1994: @84)

1914 "Professor" Irwin Corey,

comedian (Car Wash, Doc), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2017: @102)

1924 Robert Horton

[Meade Howard Horton Jr.],

American actor and singer (Kings Row, Wagon Train, Arena), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2016: @91)

1938 Peter Jennings,

Canadian-American news anchor (ABC Evening News), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 2005: @67: lung cancer)

80’s

86- Robert Fuller,

actor (Laramie, Wagon Train), born in Troy, New York

82- Charles Schwab,

American investor and entrepreneur (Charles Schwab Corporation), born in Sacramento, California

60’s

66- Ken Burns,

American director and documentary film producer (The Civil War, Baseball), born in Brooklyn, New York

66- Tim Gunn,

American television and fashion personality (Project Runway), born in Washington D.C.

40’s

47- Wil Wheaton,

American actor (Star Trek Next Generation-Wesley, Stand By Me), born in Burbank, California

Highlighted Historical Obits Today

80’s

@86-1983 Raymond Massey,

Canadian actor (Dr Kildare)

70’s

@73-1983 David Niven,

British actor (Around the World in 80 Days, Rugues), dies in Switzerland of Lou Gehrig's disease

@71-2007 Tom Snyder,

American television personality (The Tomorrow Show), dies from leukemia

50’s

@51-1986 Gordon Mills,

British songwriter (Tom Jones - "Its not Unusual"), dies of cancer

30’s

@37-1890 Vincent van Gogh,

Dutch painter (Sunflowers), dies 2 days after shooting himself

@32-1974 "Mama" Cass Elliot,

American rock vocalist (Mamas & The Papas), dies from a heart attack

Puzzle answer:

Big-Faced