Mar 8

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

Mar. 8, 2020 Week: 11 Day: 68

86004: H 58° \ L 32° \ Average Sky Cover: 10%

Nearest lightning: 2139mi.; Nearest active fire: 347mi.

Wind: 9mph\Gusts: 14mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 67°[1989] Record Low: -4°[1969]

Mar. Averages: 53°\19° (6 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

"May the strength of three be in your journey."

Observations This Week

Women of Aviation Worldwide Week: 1-8

Orthodox Lent: 2-4/10
International Festival of Owls Week: 6-8
Campfire USA Birthday Week: 8-14
Girl Scout Week: 8-14 Link
No More Week: 8-14 Link
Teen Tech Week: 8-14Termite Awareness Week: 8-14

Observations for Today

Be Nasty Day

Check Your Batteries DayDaylight Savings Time Begins Girl Scout Sunday  Link 

Day for Women's Rights & International Peace
Girls Write Now Day
International Women's Day  Link

International Working Women's Day
National Proofreading Day
National Peanut Cluster Day  Link

National Retro Video Game Day  Link
Proofreading Day

The Bikini Bottom Free (Crabcakes) Day   Link (SpongeBob Squarepants)

My Rambling Thoughts

I have an large plastic bottle of hand sanitizer, so I got a small travel approved bottle to carry on the planes, and filled it with the sanitizer. I checked the stores for a small hand sanitizer, and every store said, 'sorry, we are out, and don't know when we will get more.' WalMart and Fry's are also out of the free sanitizer towels at the carts. I'm sure that every store manager in the US that sells hand sanitizer is saying 'Never expected this run.'

I was shocked and very disappointed of the Nazi flag incident at Bernie's Phoenix rally. This was such a vulgar act to show disapproval of his very being.

WOW! A 5.5 earthquake in Baja, CA/Mexico was felt by residents in Phoenix last night about 9pm.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

A man pushes his car to a hotel and tells its owner that he is bankrupt. Why?

Historical Events

1618 - Johannes Kepler formulated his Third Law of Planetary Motion.

1669 - Mount Etna, on the island of Sicily, began erupting and over the next several weeks killed over 20,000 people.

1755 - Thomas Paine, published African Slavery in America - the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery.

1817 - The New York Stock Exchange was founded.

1950 - The 'Volkswagen Type 2', known as the VW Bus, was produced for the first time.

1968 - Bill Graham's Fillmore East opened in New York City.

1971 - Muhammad Ali lost to Heavyweight Champion Joe Frazier in the "Fight of the Century" at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

1973 Eisenhower Tunnel, world's highest and US longest, opens 60km west of Denver, Colorado

1975 - #1 Hit: Olivia Newton-John - Have You Never Been Mellow

1978 - The first radio episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, was broadcast.

1983 - President Ronald Reagan labels the Soviet Union an 'evil empire.'
2003 - #1 Hit: 50 Cent - In Da Club

2014 - #1 Hit: Pharrell Williams - Happy

2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 with 239 people loses contact and disappears, prompting the most expensive search effort in history and one of the most enduring aviation mysteries

2018 US President Donald Trump authorizes tariffs on steel and aluminium, excluding Canada and Mexico

Birthdays Today

75-Mickey Dolenz, musician, The Monkees

@68-Alan Hale, Jr (d.1990; cancer)

@67-Lynn Redgrave (d. 2010; breast cancer)

59-Camryn Manheim, actor

57-Kathy Ireland, model, entrepreneur

44-Freddie Prinze Jr, actor

43-James Van Der Beek, actor

Puzzle Answer:

He is playing Monopoly

Mar 7

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

Mar. 7, 2020 Week: 10 Day: 67

86004: H 61° \ L 35° \ Average Sky Cover: 30%

Nearest lightning: 2094mi.; Nearest active fire: 314mi.

Wind: 3mph\Gusts: 8mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 66°[1972] Record Low: -1°[1945]

Mar. Averages: 53°\19° (6 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

May your glass be ever full.

May the roof over your head be always strong.

And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.

Here's to a fellow who smiles

When life runs along like a song.

And here's to the lad who can smile

When everything goes dead wrong.

Random Tidbits

Sosigenes decided on a 365-day year with an extra day every four years to incorporate the extra hours, and so February 29th was born.

In addition to leap days there are also leap seconds. A leap second is a one-second adjustment that is occasionally applied to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in order to keep its time of day close to the mean solar time, or UT1. Without such a correction, time reckoned by Earth's rotation drifts away from atomic time because of irregularities in the Earth's rate of rotation.

Since this system of correction was implemented in 1972, 26 leap seconds have been inserted.

Observations This Week

National Words Matter Week: 1-7
National Write A Letter of Appreciation Week: 1-7
Read an E-Book Week: 1-7  Link   
Return The Borrowed Books Week:   1-7
Save Your Vision Week: 1-7  Link   
Telecommuter Appreciation Week: 1-7   
Universal Human Beings Week: 1-7 LinkWill Eisner Week: 1-7
Women in Construction Week: 1-7

Celebrate Your Name Week: 1-7
Hearing Awareness Week: 1-7 Link
LGBT Health Awareness Week: 1-7 Link
National Cheerleading Week: 1-7
National Consumer Protection Week: 1-7Link
National Ghostwriters Week: 1-7
National Dental Assistants Recognition Week: 1-7 Link
National Invest in a Veteran Week: 1-7 Link
National Pet Sitters Week: 1-7 Link
National Procrastination Week: 1-7
National Schools Social Work Week: 1-7 Link

Observations for Today

Genealogy Day

Iditarod Race begins

Alexander Graham Bell Day

National Cereal Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Being one of the youngest states, AZ does thing a tad differently. The House just passed a bill that will require signatures to be gathered from all 30 legislative districts on Citizen Initiatives before they can be on a state-wide ballot. The Republicans want the bill, the Dems don't. I'm not sure I understand why the Dems are against it. It will cost more money to get rural signatures but makes sense to me. Guess I'll have to follow this more.

Picked up my needed meds for Tahiti. I have plenty of hand sanitizer and wipes (for the plane trays/arm rests, etc.). I posted on FB about the medical clearance needed. Many of my Native friends said, 'just stay home'. I explained we would be OK, but they aren't buying it. I'm glad they care, but since only a few have traveled outside the US, their opinion is nice, but not factually based. I know we will be just fine, as long as we take precautions.

I have a shelf in my bedroom that holds stuff I only use every few weeks. That shelf is getting full, as when I use something, I now put it on the travel shelf, so I won't forget anything.

I take the virus very seriously, as I am in a higher risk category. I also trust Focus and Tumlare to keep us updated and if there have to be travel changes, so be it, but I'm not expecting that to happen.

Just realized, while I don't have to deal with DST here is this part of AZ, I now have to deal with it when I fly to Denver and beyond. Hmmm.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

I have no voice, yet I speak to you.
I tell of all things in the world that people do.

I have leaves, but I am not a tree.

I have pages, but I am not a bride.I have a spine, but I am not a man.

I have hinges, but I am not a door.

I have told you all. I cannot tell you more.

What am I?

Historical Events

321 Roman Emperor Constantine I decrees that the dies Solis Invicti (sun-day) is the day of rest in the Empire

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell received his patent for (#174,465) the telephone.
1897 - Dr. John Kellogg served the world's first cornflakes to his patients at a mental hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan.
1905 Arthur Conan Doyle publishes "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" collection in London after public pressure to revive his famous detective (Feb New York)

1911 - Willis S. Farnsworth Patented (#985,990) the first coin-operated locker.

1929 First nonstop flight made from America to Asia across the Bering Strait (Nome to North Cape) by Noel Wien and Calvin Cripe for Wien Air Alaska

1933 The board game Monopoly was created and trademarked by Charles Darrow in Atlantic City.

1946 Bikini Atoll islanders are evacuated by the US government to make way for a nuclear testing site

1955 - Peter Pan was presented as a television special for the first time.
1955 - Phyllis Diller made her comedy stand-up debut at the Purple Onion in San Francisco, CA.
1983 - TNN (The Nashville Network) began broadcasting.
1987 - Mike Tyson defeated James "Bonecrusher" Smith to unify the WBA and WBC heavyweight titles.
1994 ANC chief Nelson Mandela rejects demand by white right-wingers for separate homeland in South Africa

1996 - East End Show - The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Play) opened
2009 - The Kepler space observatory was launched.
2011 - Charlie Sheen was officially fired from Two and a Half Men.

Birthdays Today

86-Willard Scott, TV weatherman
78-Michael Eisner, Disney CEO
@65-Tammy Faye Baker (d. 2007; cancer)

64-Bryan Cranston, actor
@62- Maurice Ravel, composer (d. 1937; head injury)
56-Wanda Sykes, comedian
50-Rachel Weisz, actor

Puzzle Answer:

A book

Mar 6

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

Mar. 6, 2020 Week: 10 Day: 66

86004: H 59° \ L 31° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Nearest lightning: 1692mi.; Nearest active fire: 347mi.

Wind: 9mph\Gusts: 12mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 68°[1910] Record Low: -2°[1935]

Mar. Averages: 53°\19° (6 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

"May peace and plenty be the first

To lift the latch on your door"

Random Tidbits

A complete orbit of the earth around the sun takes exactly 365.2422 days to complete, but the Gregorian calendar uses 365 days. So every four years an extra day is added to make up for the Gregorian calendar's disparity with the solar system.

The Roman calendar used to have 355 days with an extra 22-day month every two years until Julius Caesar became emperor in the 1st Century and ordered his Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes to devise something better.

Observations This Week

Celebrate Your Name Week: 1-7
Hearing Awareness Week: 1-7 Link
LGBT Health Awareness Week: 1-7 Link
National Cheerleading Week: 1-7
National Consumer Protection Week: 1-7Link
National Ghostwriters Week: 1-7
National Dental Assistants Recognition Week: 1-7 Link
National Invest in a Veteran Week: 1-7 Link
National Pet Sitters Week: 1-7 Link
National Procrastination Week: 1-7
National Schools Social Work Week: 1-7 Link
National Words Matter Week: 1-7
National Write A Letter of Appreciation Week: 1-7
Read an E-Book Week: 1-7 Link  
Return The Borrowed Books Week:  1-7
Save Your Vision Week: 1-7 Link 
Telecommuter Appreciation Week: 1-7  
Universal Human Beings Week: 1-7 LinkWill Eisner Week: 1-7 Link
Women in Construction Week: 1-7 Link
Women of Aviation Worldwide Week: 1-8

National School Breakfast Week: 2-6
Orthodox Lent: 2-4/10
International Festival of Owls Week: 6-8

Observations for Today

Day of The Dude
Dentist's Day

Dress in Blue Day  

National Frozen Food Day

National Oreo Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Nice spring day, good day to be out and about.

Cheryl couldn't make it to town, but is feeling better. Mary and I had lunch, and she gave me my birthday present...2 mason jars filled with dehydrated stuff to make 2 different soups. Very cool. Think I'll have on tomorrow night.

Flag is a small town, but we have our crazies. Three people were arrested for the death of a 6 year old. They had kept him in a closet, with his 8 year old brother, for months. The tiny child died of starvation. The other boy is with social services. The mother, father and paternal grandma are sitting in jail on 1^st degree murder charges. So sad.

Ellie called about the Dr. Statement. I hadn't checked my email when she called. I called my doctor and will see him Tuesday morning. Good thing cause I leave early Wednesday morning to get to Denver to be ready for Tahiti. Hopefully this is an overabundance of caution.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

A man walks into a restaurant and the waiter says, “Good day, Admiral.” [Note: they have never met]
Why did the waiter call the man an Admiral?

Puzzle Answer:

Because he was wearing his uniform

Mar 5

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

Mar. 5, 2020 Week: 10 Day: 65

86004: H 57° \ L 26° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Nearest lightning: 895mi.; Nearest active fire: 350mi.

Wind: 4mph\Gusts: 8mph Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 68°[1910] Record Low: -5°[1948]

Mar. Averages: 53°\19° (6 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

The reason the Irish are always fighting each other

Is they have no other worthy opponents.

May you live as long as you want,

And never want as long as you live.

Observations This Week

Celebrate Your Name Week: 1-7
Hearing Awareness Week: 1-7 Link
LGBT Health Awareness Week: 1-7 Link
National Cheerleading Week: 1-7
National Consumer Protection Week: 1-7Link
National Ghostwriters Week: 1-7
National Dental Assistants Recognition Week: 1-7 Link
National Invest in a Veteran Week: 1-7 Link
National Pet Sitters Week: 1-7 Link
National Procrastination Week: 1-7
National Schools Social Work Week: 1-7 Link
National Words Matter Week: 1-7
National Write A Letter of Appreciation Week: 1-7
Read an E-Book Week: 1-7 Link  
Return The Borrowed Books Week:  1-7
Save Your Vision Week: 1-7 Link 
Telecommuter Appreciation Week: 1-7  
Universal Human Beings Week: 1-7 LinkWill Eisner Week: 1-7 Link
Women in Construction Week: 1-7 Link
Women of Aviation Worldwide Week: 1-8

National School Breakfast Week: 2-6
Orthodox Lent: 2-4/10

Observations for Today

American Immigration Lawyers Association Day of Action
Learn What Your Name Means Day

Multiple Personality Day

National Cheese Doodle Day

My Rambling Thoughts

I had a good lunch with my old boss Andy and his brother-in-law FN. He recently retired from being an electrician. He is really FN Lutz, Jr. and his son is FN III. His grandfather named his son FN...no name, just the letters and the name continues. I thought I had problems with being the Third, until I heard his stories. The worst one was he started his electrical business. He filled out all the applications and nothing happened, despite his calls. After waiting almost a year, he withdrew the application and reapplied using his wife's name. Two weeks later the new application was approved and he, and his wife, were in business.

I have a unit of 4 florescent bulbs in the kitchen. I replaced them a couple of months ago. About a month ago, only 2 lights were working. After lunch FN and Andy stopped by and FN fixed it. Turns out one of the 'new' bulbs had burned out. A quick trip to Home Depot and the great FN replaced two of the new ones with ones that really work. Now I need sunglasses when I turn on the kitchen lights.

So, the Dems seem to be uniting. Sure sounds good to me. Lots of memes that say 'All the Dems need is a body that can beat Trump' are showing up on social media.

The Tohono O'odham (Desert People), formerly Papago (Bean Pickers), are demanding a stop to 'The Wall' on their land. They are protesting because The Wall is destroying sacred sites, a traditional burial site, and is dividing the tribe, as some live in AZ, others in Mexico. It is a small tribe, about 35,000. So sad.

A few weeks ago I emailed Senator McSally (R-AZ) to say I didn't agree with her 'reporter hack' comment and the T-shirts her campaign site was selling. That started a barrage of posts on my social media account and two or more a day asking for money. Abut 9:30 I got a call that was having a town hall phone meeting on prescription drug prices. I put it on speaker phone and listened about 45 minutes before hanging up. Her plan does make a dent in prices, but while she claims bipartisan support, no one from either party is a sponsor. Hmmm.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of the page

A lift is on the ground floor. There are four people in the lift including me.
When the lift reaches first floor, one person gets out and three people get in.
The lift goes up to the second floor, 2 people get out 6 people get in.
It then goes up to the next floor up, no-one gets out but 12 people get in. Halfway up to the next floor up the lift cable snaps, it crashes to the floor. Everyone else dies in the lift. How did I survive?

Historical Events

Website is not working, has events for Mar 4 and Mar 6, but none for Mar 5.

Birthdays Today

@105- Soong Mei-ling [Madame Chiang Kai-shek], Chinese political figure and First Lady of the Republic of China (1948-75), born in Shanghai (d. 2003)

@76- Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China, born in Huai'an, China (d. 1976)

65- Penn Jillette, Mass, magician (Penn & Teller-Penn & Teller are Dead)

57-Joel Olsteen, televangalist

50-John Frusciante, guitarist (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Puzzle Answer:

I got out on the second floor!