Dec 19

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

Dec. 19, 2019 Week: 51  Day: 354

86004:   H 33° \ L 11° \ Average Sky Cover: 15%

Feels like 25°

Nearest lightning:  1557mi

Nearest active fire:  468mi.  

Wind:   6mph\Gusts:  9mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 62°[1958]   Record Low: -14°[1928]

Dec. Averages: 44°\17° (5 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

“Tell me and I’ll forget.

Show me, and I may not remember.

Involve me, and I’ll understand.”

~ Native American Proverb

Popularized by Ben Franklin

Observances This Week

3-24

Andisop (Meterological Fiddling)  Link

14-1/5

Christmas Bird Count Week Link 

14-28

Halcyon Days 

(Always 7 days before and 7 days after the Winter Solstice)

15-21

Gluten-free Baking Week Link 

16-20

Cookie Exchange Week

16-24

Posadas

17-23

Saturnalia

Observances for Today

Free Shipping Day  Link 
Look for an Evergreen Day

National Hard Candy Day

National Oatmeal Muffin Day

National Re-gifting Day  Link

My Rambling Thoughts

Merry Christmas,

Happy Holidays, and

Happy New Year.

I picked up my Mexican Pecos from the bank today. I’m almost ready. This is my last post until I return, since I have packing and stuff to do tomorrow.

Last Friday I ordered my new CPAP stuff. They said they would call when they have them. They never called, so I called this morning. The lady I called on Friday is the same lady I talked to today. She said she couldn’t find my supplies. I told I was leaving the country for Christmas and was not happy that my order wasn’t filled. I said I expect more. Her response was: Don’t shoot the messenger. I said thank you and hung up. I called the main office in Prescott. They apologized for the messenger’s inappropriate comment and asked for the date I would return. I gave it to them and they promised the stuff would be waiting for me when I returned. Then apologized again for the issue, wished me a Merry Christmas. I’ll be fine using the stuff a few more weeks.

We hear a lot about refugees here in the US. Both political parties have much to say. Here is a new fact I just found: The US is the 17^th highest with refugees in 2018. We took in 313,182 or 0.1% of our population. This is an 18.8% increase between 2013 and 2018. The main source of refugees is China.

Turns out Turkey in the #1 country accepting refugees. In 2018 they accepted 4.4% of their total population. This is a +503.6% between 2013-2018. The main source of refugees is Syrian Arab Republic.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

Which word does not fit in this list:

cop        chop          crop           shop          or drop?

Historical Events

1606 - Three ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery left England carrying settlers who founded, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.

1642 4 of Abel Tasman's crew killed at Wharewharangi (Murderers) Bay by Māori; Tasman's ships depart without landing

1732 - Benjamin Franklin published the first edition of Poor Richard's Almanack, in Philadelphia.

1843 - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was published.

1871 - Samuel Clemens received a patent (# 121,992) for "An Improvement in Adjustable and Detachable Garment Straps", a type of cumberbun/belt.

1903 - The Williamsburg Bridge, was opened in New York City.

1907 - A coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania, killed 239 workers; there was one survivor, Joseph Mapleton, in the Darr Mine Disaster.

1924 - The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, the first 'Best Car in the World', was sold in London, England.

1930 - The first autogyro pilot to carry a passenger was Amelia Earhart, at Pitcairn Field, Willow Grove, PA.

1932 - BBC World Service began broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.

1950 Tibet's Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion

1950 - Rose Marie Reid of Los Angeles, California, received a patent (#2,535,018) for a one-piece bathing suit "embodying a novel construction for causing it to snugly fit the body of a wearer in a flattering manner," using elastic fabric.

1957 - Broadway Show - The Music Man (Musical)

1964 - #1 Hit: The Supremes - Come See About Me

1974 -The Altair 8800 microcomputer was put on sale in the U.S. as a do-it-yourself computer kit, for $397.

1974 Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States

1984 Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration to transfer Hong Kong back to China in 1997

1985 - Mary Lund of Minnesota became the first woman to receive a Jarvik VII artificial heart in Minneapolis.

1986 USSR frees dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile

1986 - Platoon and Little Shop of Horrors debuted in theaters.

1997 - Titanic, now the second-largest grossing film to date, premiered in theaters.

1998 - President Bill Clinton was charged with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton, the second president in American history to be impeached, vowed to finish his term. His lie was about an affair with 21-year-old intern, Monica Lewinsky.

2007 The Lakotah people, a Native American tribe, proclaim independence and withdraw all their treaties with the United States. Establish the Republic of Lakotah, as a separate country.

2018 US President Donald Trump announces victory over the Islamic State and planned withdrawal of US troops from Syria

2016 US electoral collage votes 304 to 227 to nominate Donald Trump for President over the objections of seven faithless electors

Birthdays Today

87 - Lola Hendricks, American civil rights activist

     (died in 2013)

@75 - Leonid Brezhnev, Ukrainian-Russian marshal, engineer, and politician, 4th Head of State of the Soviet Union

      (died in 1982; heart attack)

75 - Tim Reid, American actor

75 - Richard Leakey, Kenyan Anthropologist

@74 - Maurice White, American singer-songwriter

      (died in 2016; Parkinson’s)

67 - Walter Murphy, American composer; TV theme songs

56 - Jennifer Beals, American actress

@55 - Robert Urich, American actor

      (died in 2002; cancer)

52 - Criss Angel ,

     Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos

     (Greek: Χριστόφορος Νικόλαος Σαραντάκος

     American magician

48 - Tyson Beckford, American model and actor

@47 - Édith Piaf, French singer-songwriter actress

      (died in 1963; liver disease)

47 - Alyssa Milano, American actress

39 - Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor

32 - Ronan Farrow, American journalist

Puzzle answer:

The word 'or' is the only one that doesn't end with 'op'.

Dec 18

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

Dec. 18, 2019 Week: 51  Day: 253

86004:   H 30° \ L 10° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Wind chill: 19

Nearest lightning:  1429mi

Nearest active fire:  468mi.  

Wind:   9mph\Gusts:  18mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 65°[1901]   Record Low: -14°[1908]

Dec. Averages: 44°\17° (5 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

“The frog does not drink up the pond

in which he lives.”

Sioux

~ Native American Proverb

Random Tidbits

Only two pairs of semi-identical twins have ever been identified and the most recent pair was a boy and a girl born in Brisbane, Australia, just a few years ago, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2019. "The Brisbane twins are likely the result of one egg being fertilized by two sperm cells, resulting in three chromosomes," according to IFL Science. "These three chromosomes were equally divided into two bunches of cells that then became two embryos."

Human corpses can continue to move for more than a year after death.

Observances This Week

3-24

Andisop (Meterological Fiddling)  Link

14-1/5

Christmas Bird Count Week Link 

14-28

Halcyon Days 

(Always 7 days before and 7 days after the Winter Solstice)

15-21

Gluten-free Baking Week Link 

16-20

Cookie Exchange Week

16-24

Posadas

17-23

Saturnalia

Observances for Today

Answer The Telephone Like Buddy The Elf Day Link
Arabic Language Day Link
Bake Cookies Day

Give A Wine Club Day  Link
International Migrants Day

National “I Love Honey” Day

National Roast Suckling Pig Day

My Rambling Thoughts

I am officially done with the current cold spell. It’s been days of temps in the 30’s with all day wind chill in the 20’s. Enough already.

I had to do a ‘fasting’ blood draw of 8 tubes today for my kidney doctor. I got an email last night saying to do it now. I’ve been waiting for it to warm up, but could not wait any longer. The guy did a great draw on the first stab. I waited until 9:30 to go, so I was starving as my last food was about 7pm last night. I then got gas at Sam’s as the little red light was on. When I got home, I had a message from the Kidney office, explaining that I needed to do the draw now, due to the holiday closings before my appointment on the 31^st. I called to let them know that I did it today and the receptionist was happy I called. I then had a nice brunch.

One of our councilmen does a daily podcast about Flagstaff. Today there were interesting questions and discussion about ‘Should University students be able to vote in local elections?’. Back in the day I had to wait to be 21 to vote, so the issues were new to me. An ultraconservative state legislature from our area explained why he thinks they shouldn’t. Most college students live in the college town, Flagstaff, during each semester, but go back ‘home’ during breaks and after graduation. His bill would say they should get an absentee ballot for their ‘home’ where they live when not in school. Certainly, college students have to pay local taxes and our town has huge tax on everything and can say they are being taxed without representation. There are concerns about the lack of affordable housing in our town, and they should be able to vote for people who will address this long-standing issue. It certainly raised some important questions. I doubt this will every become law, but will have to pay close attention to the issue.

Flag will join many other places with an Impeach Now rally at 5p.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

What is the next letter: W I T N ... ?

Historical Events

1271 Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China

1620 - The British ship Mayflower docked at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and its passengers prepared to begin their new settlement, Plymouth Colony. Passenger William Bradford became the first governor of the colony.

1787 - New Jersey became the 3rd state.

1799 George Washington's body interred at Mount Vernon

1839 - John William Draper took a daguerreotype of the moon, the first celestial photograph made in the US.

1865 - The 13th Amendment went into effect, abolishing slavery in the US.

1878 - Joseph Swan demonstrated his carbon filament electric light, almost a year before Edison.

1892 - The premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1961 - Based on an African sing called 'Mbube' - The Lion Sleeps Tonight was the # 1 song on the billboard Charts. It is probably the most well-known doo-wop song of all time. (#1)

1968 - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was released. It was based on Ian Fleming's book of the same name.

1977 - George and Kathleen Lutz purchased their new home at their home at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville New York. Their 28-day adventure in the home was dramatically portrayed in the 1977 book and 1979 film, The Amityville Horror.

1982 - #1 Hit : Daryl Hall and John Oates - Maneater

1987 - Moonstruck, Broadcast News, Eddie Murphy Raw, *batteries not included, Overboard, Ironweed and Leonard Part 6 debuted in theaters.

1996 - The Oakland, California school board unanimously passed a resolution for the incorporating of Ebonics in the classroom.

1997 - Comedian Chris Farley died from a drug overdose, at the age of 33.

1997 - HTML 4.0 was published by the World Wide Web Consortium.

1998 - The Prince of Egypt and You've Got Mail were released in theaters.

2002 Fashion designer Calvin Klein announces he is selling his company to shirt-maker Phillips-Van Heusen for $430 million

2002 - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers debuted in theaters.

2010 - #1 Hit: Katy Perry - Firework

2013 - A&E suspended Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson for comments he made regarding homosexuality and the civil rights era in an interview with GQ magazine. He was reinstated on December 27.

2018 Meteor explodes in huge fireball over the Bering Sea with 10 times the energy of Hiroshima atomic bomb , 2nd largest in last 30 yrs.

Birthdays Today

95 - Cicely Tyson, America actress

@87 - Ossie Davis, American actor

      (died in 2005)

@78 - Willy Brandt, German politician

       (died in 1992; colon cancer)

76 - Keith Richards, English singer-songwriter

@74 - Joseph Stalin, Georgian-Russian politician, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union

     (died in 1953; stroke)

73 - Steven Spielberg, American director, producer, and screenwriter

66 - Elliot Easton, Cars; guitarist and singer

65 - Ray Liotta, American actor

@59 - Joseph Grimaldi, English clown, known as "The Greatest Clown in History"

      (died in 1837)

56 - Brad Pitt, American actor

51 - Casper Van Dien, American actor

@50 - Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

       (died in 1914; assassinated)

49 - DMX (Earl Simmons), American rapper

41 - Katie Holmes, American actress

39 - Christina Aguilera, American singer-songwriter

Puzzle answer:

 The letter L: (W)hat (I)s (T)he (N)ext (L)etter.