Aug 15

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

Aug. 15, 2019 Week: 33  Day: 227

86004:   H 86° \ L 53° \ Average Sky Cover: 15% 

Nearest wildfire:  22mi. Nearest lightning:  140mi

Wind:   10mph\Gusts:  16mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 92°[1962]   Record Low: 33°[1968]

Aug Averages: 79°\50° (9 day with rain)

Today’s Quote

Nature is indifferent to the survival of the human species, including Americans.

Adlai Stevenson I

Random Tidbits

Some of the most expensive books ever sold at auction are...

Birds Of America

This three and a half foot tall book depicts 400 life size North American bird species known to the Audubon Society in the 19th century. Only 200 complete first editions were produced, and 120 exist today. In 2010, one was sold for $11.5 million, but a 2012 copy sold for only $7.9 million.

The Gospels Of Henry The Lion

Commissioned by Henry the Lion for the altar of the Virgin Mary at Brunswick Cathedral, the German government purchased this 266 page book in 1983 for $11.7 million.

Observances This Week

11-17

National Motorcycle Week Link
Feeding Pets of the Homeless Week  Link  Link 
National Resurrect Romance Week
Weird Contest Week

12-18

US Amateur Golf Week

14-18

Navajo Nation Code Talker’s Week

15-21

National Aviation Week

15-25

Little League World Series

Observances for Today

Best Friends Day
Chauvin Day
Check The Chip Day (Those Implanted in Pets)  Link
National Leathercraft Day  Link
National Lemon Meringue Pie Day

National Relaxation Day
National No SpongeBob Day Link  (SpongeBob Squarepants)

V-J Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Got my haircut early this morning then stopped at Target. Found some good stuff. Really like the new store layout.

Hong Kong is a little more peaceful. Still not settled. The US needs to say something, now.

The other day, the President rolled out some new rules regarding immigration and endangered species:

I wonder how many current Americans would be here if their grandparents or great grandparents had to follow the new immigration rules…needing a good credit rating and having a bank account, as they arrive on our shores. Most of them came with a suitcase and the clothes on their back. Our country was built by hard working immigrants who wanted a better life. Many were discriminated against because of their background, but kept on working hard. No leader should be able to change our rules because he only wants rich people here.

After doing a lot of travel, around the world, The US has been seen as a country that makes mistakes and tries to correct them. Changing the way we identify Endangered Species and what we do to stop them from becoming extinct is not something this administration should be messing with. Just because one man or one group doesn’t see the advantage of an endangered species does not mean that that species should go extinct. Let science be the guide.

Tomorrow is our weekly Retirement Group lunch. Then on Friday I’m taking my friend to his first PT after leaving the rehab facility.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

Andy is put in a cell with a dirt floor and only one window. The window is too high for him to reach. The only thing in the cell is a shovel. He won’t be able to get any food or water and only has two days to escape or he’ll die. Andy can’t dig a tunnel because it will take him much longer than two days to do it. How will Andy escape from the cell?

Historical Events

1483 - Pope Sixtus IV consecrated the Sistine Chapel and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary.

1519 - Panama City, Panama, was founded.

1549 - Jesuit priest Francis Xavier came ashore at Kagoshima, Japan.

1843 - Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opened in Copenhagen, Denmark. It may be best known for its wooden roller coaster, Rutschebanen, or Bjergbanen (the Mountain Coaster), built in 1914

1868 (Earthquake) Ecuador

1914 - The Panama Canal opened with the transit of the cargo ship SS Ancon.

1935 - Entertainer Will Rogers and pilot Wiley Post were killed after their aircraft developed engine problems during takeoff in Barrow, Alaska.

1939 - The Wizard of Oz premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California.

1947 - India gained Independence from the British Indian Empire.

1948 - CBS launched the first network TV news broadcast.

1960 - Elvis Presley - It's Now or Never

1964 - #1 song Dean Martin - Everybody Loves Somebody

1965 - The Beatles played at Shea Stadium in New York. It is considered the first major rock concert. There were only a few hundred watts of sound for the band, who did not have monitors to hear each other, and could not be heard over the screaming of 60,000 fans.

1969 - The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opened in upstate New York. Tickets for the three-day event were $18 in advance and $24 at the gate, and there was sufficient sound for the 500,000 attendees.

1973 - The United States' bombing of Cambodia ended.

1977 - The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, received a radio signal from deep space - "6EQUJ5." The event was named the "Wow! signal" from the notation made by Jerry Ehman on the project. The signal appears to have come to the northwest of the globular cluster of M55 in the constellation Sagittarius, near the Chi Sagittarii star group.

1981 - October 16, 1981: Diana Ross and Lionel Richie - Endless Love

1985 - Michael Jackson paid $47.5 Million for the publishing rights to the Beatles’ song catalogue.

1992 - November 13, 1992: Boyz II Men - End Of The Road

Birthdays Today

Julia Child, chef/TV personality

(d. 2004 @91)

Sir Walter Scott, Scottish novelist

(d. 1832 @61; typhus)

Napolean Bonaparte, French statesman/military leader

(d. 1821 @51; harsh treatment in exile)

Debi Mazar, actress [Good Fellas] (56)

Debra Messing, actress (51)

Anthony Anderson, Comedian/TV host (49)

Ben Affleck, actor (47)

'Belinda' Peregrín Schüll, singer (30)

Puzzle answer:

Andy has to use the shovel to create a pile of dirt under the window so he can climb up onto it and escape from the cell.

Aug 14

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

Aug. 14, 2019 Week: 33  Day: 226

86004:   H 83° \ L 52° \ Average Sky Cover: 15% 

Nearest wildfire:  26mi. Nearest lightning:  257mi

Wind:   6mph\Gusts:  6mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 89°[2002]   Record Low: 33°[1976]

Aug Averages: 79°\50° (9 day with rain)

Today’s Quote

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.

If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

Dalai Lama

Random Tidbits

Some of the most expensive books ever sold at auction are...

First Folio

This book, a collection of William Shakespeare's plays, was published after his death in 1623. Seven hundred and fifty copies were published, but only 228 survived. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen purchased a copy for around $6.1 million in 2001.

The Canterbury Tales

There are only 12 known first edition copies left since its publishing in 1477, and only one is in a private collection. The book was originally purchased in 1776 and not sold again until 1998 with a purchase price of $7.5 million by Christie's of London.

Observances This Week

11-17

National Motorcycle Week Link
Feeding Pets of the Homeless Week  Link  Link 
National Resurrect Romance Week
Weird Contest Week

12-18

US Amateur Golf Week

14-18

Navajo Nation Code Talker’s Week

Observances for Today

National Creamsicle Day

National Navajo Code Talkers Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Weather is great…again. No complaints.

O got a pedi this morning. It had been 6 weeks, so it was time. Tomorrow will be haircut day along with other things.

I was fortunate enough to work on the Navajo Rez for my career. Fortunate again that there were quite a few Code Talkers in the communities that I worked. For those that don’t know, the Marines met with a group of Navajo in Flagstaff to develop a code the Japanese were never able to break. Code Talkers were assigned to many fighting units, communicated over the radios with their language, and made it possible for the US to defeat the Japanese. Enemy planes were named after various birds, tanks after various animals. The Code Talkers were not honored by anyone until the early 1970’s when their heroics became public knowledge. Before that, all was Top Secret. May of the Code Talkers were pulled out of boarding schools, including Tuba City, to serve in the Marines where they were trained in CA and sent overseas. Many were not yet 18 years old, but just said they were, since birth records were sparse. Thank you for your service to the country. At Veteran’s Day, every school where I worked honored the local Code Talkers. They gave classroom presentations, had lunch with the students, and returned year after year to share their story.

Window’s updates are a pain. Today I got a notification that updates were waiting. I clicked. It took over 2 hours.

Hong Kong airport closed again. This is getting very real. I have to wonder what, if anything, our guide Suzi Q is telling this week’s tourists to Beijing. Also have to wonder if she even knows what is going on in Hong Kong or if any tourists are even asking.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment, but never in a thousand years?

Historical Events

1888 - An audio recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan's "The Lost Chord", one of the first recordings of music ever made, was played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison's phonograph in London, England.

1893 - France became the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration.

1933 - Oxydol's Own Ma Perkins debuted on Cincinnati's WLW and became the first successful national radio soap opera.

1935 - Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act.

1936 - Rainey Bethea was hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last public execution in the United States.

1945 - Japan accepted the Allied terms of surrender in World War II. V-J Day. Be sure to thank Alan Hunter, Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, J.J. Jackson and Martha Quinn for their service to our country.

1959 - Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League.

1965 - #1 Hit August 14, 1965 - September 3, 1965: Sonny & Cher - I Got You Babe

1975 - The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the longest-running release in film history, opened at the USA Theatre in Westwood, Los Angeles, California.

1980 - Lech Walesa led the first strike at the Gdansk, Poland shipyards.

1989 - Sega Mega Drive/Genesis released, Video Game Console

1994 - Inside the Actors Studio made its debut on Bravo

2000 - Dora the Explorer premiered on Nick Jr

2010 - The first-ever Youth Olympic Games were held in Singapore.

2013 - Egypt declared a state of emergency as security forces killed hundreds of demonstrators supporting former president Mohamed Morsi.

Birthdays Today

David Crosby, musician (Byrds, Crosby-Stills-Nash (78)

Steve Martin, comedian, actor (74)

Danielle Steele, romantic novelist (72)

Gary Larson. Cartoonist [The Far Side] (69)

Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, Jr., basketball super star (60)

Marcia Gay Harden, actress (60)

Sarah Brightman. English classical crossover soprano, singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and musician (59)

Susan Olsen, actress (Brady Bunch) (58)

Halle Berry, actress (53)

Jay Manuel, Creative Director (America’s Next Top Model) (47)

Mila Kunis [Ukrainian: Мілена Марківна Куніс] actress (36)

Tim Tebow, football player (32)

Puzzle answer:

The answer is THE LETTER M.