Aug 16

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

Aug. 16, 2019 Week: 33  Day: 228

86004:   H 88° \ L 55° \ Average Sky Cover: 30% 

Nearest wildfire:  284mi. Nearest lightning:  99mi

Wind:   15mph\Gusts:  23mph

Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 88°[1962]   Record Low: 33°[1968]

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

Today’s Quote

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Random Tidbits

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

The Codex Leicester

Da Vinci wasn't only an artist, but also a scientist. This 72 page notebook is a handwritten journal chronicling his thoughts on everything from fossils to what makes the moon glow. Microsoft founder Bill Gates purchased the book for $30.8 million and had it scanned to use as a screensaver for Windows 95

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

Brother's Day  Link 
Joe Miller's Joke Day
Men's Grooming Day 
National Airborne Day
National Bratwurst Day

National Rollercoaster Day Day
National Rum Day

Surveillance Day Link  Link
Tell a Joke Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Another hot, dry day here. Local paper mentioned this was the driest Monsoon here in history (since 1898) and so July was the hottest month on record. Neither were records we needed.

Our retirement group had a good lunch and conversation at Wildflower. I had a good Buffalo Chicken sandwich and a Caesar’s salad on the patio.

I was very happy to see the grounds crew cleaning up our pine needles this morning, before 8a. Took too long to get them here, but they did a great job, so I called the HOA and thanked them.

The silence from the Russian Federation about the nuclear thing there is very scary. As radiation levels rise in N. Europe, the Russian government must know their silence is deafening.

I shouldn’t be surprised that our President stepped into Israel policy to stop 2 of the squad from getting Visas to Israel, but I am. This was uncalled for and another horrible first. It is such a tangled mess, and our President needs to let other countries run their country the way they want to. His statement to bully Israel is not acceptable.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

Marissa and Juliana went out for drinks together. They ordered the same drink. Juliana was really thirsty and finished five in the time it took Marissa to finish one. The drinks were poisoned, but only Marissa died. How?

Historical Events

1858 - President James Buchanan inaugurated the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria in the United Kingdom.

"Europe and America are united by telegraphy. Glory to God in the highest; on earth, peace and good will toward men."

1896 - Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discovered gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, starting the Klondike Gold Rush.

1920 - Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit on the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and died early the next day.

1927 - The Dole Air Race from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii. Six participating planes crashed or disappeared, only two made it to Hawaii.

1930 - The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, was made by ex-Disney cartoonist Ub Iwerks. It appeared in the music video for Eminem's song "The Real Slim Shady." Ub went back to work for Disney in 1940.

1954 - The first issue of Sports Illustrated was published.

1985 - Madonna married actor Sean Penn.

1986 - #1 Hit: Madonna - Papa Don't Preach

1989 - A solar flare from the Sun created a geomagnetic storm that affected microchips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto's stock market.

1996 - At the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield Illinois, a 3 year-old boy fell into a Gorilla enclosure and lost consciousness. Binti Jua, a female Gorilla, guarded the young boy from the other gorillas, cradled him in her arms and carried him 60 feet to an entrance where zookeepers could retrieve him.

2008 - The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago reached 1,389 feet (423 m), making, at the time, the world's highest residence above ground-level.

Birthdays Today

Julie Newmar, actor (86)

Gene Kelly, dancer (d. 1996 @83)

Kathie Lee Gifford, TV host, author (66)

James Cameron, Canadian filmmaker, activist (65)

Laura Innes, actor [ER], director (62)

Madonna, entertainer (61)

Angela Bassett, actor, activist (61)

Timothy Hutton, actor, director (59)

Steve Carell, comedian, actor (57)

Rumer Willis, actor, singer (31)

Puzzle answer:

The poison was in the ice. Since Marissa’s ice had time to melt, she was poisoned but Juliana wasn’t.

Aug 15

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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.