‘Tis the Season
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Dec 14, 2020
Week: 51 Day: 349 |
Local: H 36°\ L 19°\Average Sky Cover: 20% |
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Wind: 9mph\Gusts: 16mph |
Nearest lightning: 983mi.; Active fire: 59mi |
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Moderate Risk of Fire |
Visibility:
10mi |
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Record: 66°[1946] Record: -14°[1962]
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Nov Averages: 44°/\17° (5 days with moisture) |
Today’s Quote
We don't see things
as they are,
we see them as we
are.
Anais Nin
Random
Tidbits
Dogs tend to make great guard
animals, but they're not the only creatures that you can count on to watch your
back. In fact, donkeys, dolphins, geese, ostriches, emus, llamas, and alpacas
are also used as guard animals around the world - doing everything from
protecting sheep to patrolling harbors for the U.S. Navy.
A
little humor
Q: Where do sheep go to get
haircuts? The baa-baa shop!
True
Things
Scores of pesky black vultures are ruling the
roost in one unlucky Pennsylvania town - harassing residents, wrecking homes
and coating entire trees with their droppings. The birds, with wing spans up to
five feet, have terrorized the town of Marietta in the past, but one resident
reported that this year is the most extreme. Residents in the town, located on
the Susquehanna River outside of Lancaster, have reported the birds have pecked
at their roofs, porch furniture and garbage cans. Trees are also almost being
completely covered with their white droppings. "I mean pure, pure
white," one resident told a local paper. Deterrence options are limited as
the black vulture is protected under federal law.
Observations
This Week
|
Human Rights Week:………………………………….. |
10-17 |
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Gluten-free Baking Week:……………………………
|
12-18 |
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Cookie Exchange Week:……………………………… |
13-17 |
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Christmas Bird Count Week Link………………… |
14-1/5 |
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Halcyon Days…………………………………………….. |
14-28 |
Observations
for Today
AKC Champtionships
Asarah B'Tevet
International Monkey Day
National Biscuits
and Gravy Day
U.K. National Postal Worker Day
Yoga Day Link
My
Rambling Thoughts
It is still chilly after a cold night. And not enough snow to even
cover the dirt. Next time, I guess.
As the sun set, my phone reported several fender benders from ‘black
ice’ on most Flagstaff roads and both I-40 and I-17 as well as the highway to
Tuba. Glad I didn’t have to be out for any reason.
I heard an interesting proposal from Chef José Andrés on CNN. He has
been feeding people in disaster areas around the world for years. Since food is
so important to human life, he believes there should be a Dept. of Food in the Executive
Branch. This department could help the hungry and food insecure people in the
country. I’m sure the Dept. of Agriculture would not give up it’s territory
easily. But paying farmers to NOT grow crops and to throw away good crops to
keep prices up makes no sense when people in our country are food insecure or
hungry.
The Cards are playing well against the Giants. In the 4th Q Broncos
are leading the Panthers. Hope they both win.
My trip to Mexico is just a week + 1 day away. I sure hope it remains
a go.
Today’s
Puzzle
Answer at the bottom of the page
He has married many women but has never been married. Who is he?
Historical
Events
1656 – Imitation pearls were first manufactured by a Frenchman, named
Jacquin.
1819 – Alabama became the 22nd US State.
1852 – Cullen Whipple, of Providence, R.I., patented (# 9477) his
“Mechanism for Pointing and Threading Screw-Blanks in the Same Machine.” Prior
to that screws were generally made with a flat tip. His machine made them
pointy.
1900 – Max Planck demonstrated that energy can exhibit characteristics
of physical matter, in certain situations, introducing quantum mechanics.
Previously, the energy was considered a form only in wavelengths.
1902 – The Commercial Pacific Cable Company laid the first Pacific
telegraph cable, from San Francisco to Honolulu.
1903 – The Wright brothers made their first attempt to fly with the
Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. They got it to work on December
17th.
1911 – Norwegian Roald Amundsen became the first explorer to reach the
South Pole.
1940 – Plutonium (Pu-238) was first isolated at Berkeley, California.
1964 – In Heart of Atlanta Motel v. the United States: The Supreme
Court of the United States ruled that Congress can use the Constitution’s
Commerce Clause to fight discrimination.
1986 – Voyager, the experimental aircraft piloted by Dick Rutan and
Jeana Yeager, took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California on the first
non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world, in nine days.
2012 – Adam Lanza entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton,
Connecticut, and shot 26 people, and then himself. 20 children were killed in
the attack.
2017 The Vatican announces it has rediscovered
the lost last paintings of Raphael in Vatican Museum, painted in 1520
Birthdays
Today
@86 – Don Hewitt, journalist,
producer, creator of 60 Minutes (d. 2009)
71 – Cliff Williams,
bassist, vocalist AC/DC
@69 – Patty Duke,
American actress (d. 2016; sepsis)
@62 – Nostradamus [Michel de Nostredame], French
astrologer, seer, and physician (d. 1566; gout/edema)
60 -- James Comey,
American lawyer and former FBI director
32 – Vanessa Hudgens,
American actress
Puzzle
Answer
A member of the clergy.
Enjoy the Holiday
