Apr 14

 

 

 

Apr 14, 2021   Week: 16    Day: 104       

Visibility: 10 miles	Ave. Sky Cover: 20%
Local: H 68°\ L 38°	Nearest Lightning: 658mi.
Wind: 7 mph/ Gusts:  14mph	High Risk of Fire:  Active fire:  93mi
Record: 83°[1968]  Record: 19°[1973]	Apr. Averages: 60°/27° (3 days w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.

Thomas Jefferson

Random Tidbits

In 1839 the editor of the Boston Post was inspired to invent the phrase "o.k.," which he defined as "Oll Korrect." It was supposed to be a joke, perhaps on the literary competency of the Post's readership, but whether readers found it funny the phrase was picked up by another newspaper, the Evening Transcript, and o.k. was on the road to immortality.

New Words

The Washington Post's Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners:

14.  Beelzebug  (N.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

15.  Caterpallor  (N.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.

And the pick of the literature:

16. Ignoranus (N): A person who's both stupid and a jerk

True Things

BERLIN (AP) — About two dozen monkeys broke out of a southwestern German zoo and spent the day lolling in the sun near a forest before being recaptured, authorities said Thursday.

The Barbary macaques, commonly known as Barbary apes, escaped from the zoo in Loeffingen, southwest of Stuttgart and not far from the Swiss border. It was not entirely clear how they got away, but construction work at the zoo might have been a factor, police said.

The primates were spotted roaming the area in a pack, but zoo employees were unable to recapture them and eventually lost track of them.

A few hours later they were spotted, recaptured, and returned to their cages without incident, police said.

“The animals apparently took advantage of the nice weather and spent the afternoon on the edge of a forest near the zoo,” police said.

The Barbary macaque is native to the Atlas Mountains of North Africa and has a small but famous presence across the water in Europe in the British territory of Gibraltar.

Weekly Observations

 

Money Smart Week Link	10-17
Week of The Young Child Link	10-16
Animal Control Officer Appreciation Week Link  National Dog Bite Prevention Week Link   National Public Safety Telecommunicators (911 Operators) Week  National Occupational Health Nursing Week Link Pan American Week	11-17
National Student Employment Week     Link	12-18
National Youth Violence Prevention Week Link	12-16
Ramadan	Thru 5/11

 

Today’s Observations

 

Children with Alopecia Day

Dolphin Day
Ex Spouse Day

International Be Kind to Lawyers Day

International Moment of Laughter Day

Look up at the Sky Day 

National Bookmobile Day 

National Dolphin Day

National Ex-Spouse Day Link
National Gardening Day Link

National Pecan Day

National Perfume Day Link 
Pan American Day
Pathologists' Assistant Day Link
RAINN Day (Rape Abuse Incest National Network) Link 
Reach as High as You Can Day

World Chagas Day

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

Another great spring day.  I headed out this morning to pick up some essentials. So nice to be vaccinated and able to go when the mood hits me.

Another killing by cop, another school shooting, more peaceful demonstrations. This morning CNN had trouble trying to cover those events and the trial. So sad.

I updated the Focus site today. I hope those who did the virtual tour enjoyed it.  When I got the notice, I didn’t have a camera on my computer, so I didn’t sign up. Then I bought a new computer with a camera and forgot to sign up. Next time I’ll be ready.

Daily Puzzle

Answer: bottom of the page

I have a large money box, 10 inches wide and 5 inches tall.  Roughly how many coins can I place until my money box is no longer empty?

Historical Events

1775 – The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage was organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.

1863 – The US Patent (No. 38,200) for a continuous-roll printing press was issued to William Bullock, enabling two sides of a newspaper to be printed at once. It was first used by the New York Sun.

1865 – John Wilkes Booth fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play (Our American Cousin) at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC.

1900 – The Exposition Universelle began in Paris, France.

1912 – RMS Titanic hit an iceberg, killing 1514 people that evening, and into the next day.

1927 – The first Volvo car was presented in Gothenburg, Sweden.

1933 – Jack Mackay and his wife reported seeing the Loch Ness Monster – ‘Nessie’, although the earliest report was in 565 AD when St. Columbia turned away a giant beast that was threatening a man in the Ness River, which flows into the lake.

1935 – ‘Black Sunday Storm’ – the worst dust storm of the US Dust Bowl, hit from the Oklahoma Panhandle and Northwestern Oklahoma to the Texas Panhandles. The Duststorm of April 14th, 1935 is also immortalized in the Woody Guthrie song “Dusty Old Dust” aka “So long been good to know you.”

1939 – The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was first published by the Viking Press.

1953 – The CIA started to give unwitting subjects LSD in a search for a mind-controlling drug.

1961 – The man-made element 103 – Lawrencium (Lw), was produced in the US by Albert Ghiorso, Torbjørn Sikkeland, Almon Larsh and Robert M. Latimer.

1969 – Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter) and Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl) tied for Best Actress Oscar.

1971 Supreme Court upheld busing as means of achieving racial desegregation

1977 US Supreme Court says people may refuse to display state motto on license

1980 1st Cubans of the Mariel boatlift sail to Florida

1980 Pulitzer prize awarded to Norman Mailer (Executioner's Song)

2007 At least 200,000 demonstrators in Ankara, Turkey protest against the possible candidacy of incumbent Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

2019 Congresswoman Ilhan Omar at center of controversy over comments about 9/11 at speech to Council on American-Islamic Relations after tweet by Donald Trump, defended by Nancy Pelosi

2020 US President Donald Trump freezes funding for the World Health Organization pending a review, for mistakes in handling the COVID-19 pandemic and for being "China-centric", prompting international criticism

 

Birthdays Today

89 – Loretta Lynn, American singer-songwriter

81 – Julie Christie, English actress

80 – Pete Rose, American baseball player

@77 – Rod Steiger, American actor (d. 2002; kidney failure)

@70 – Anne Sullivan, American educator (d. 1936; heart attack)

@58 – Cecil Chubb, English barrister, one-time owner of Stonehenge (d. 1934; heart disease)

53 – Anthony Michael Hall, American actor

44 – Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress

26 – Abigail Breslin, American actress

Puzzle Answer

Just one, after which it will no longer be empty.

 

 

Apr 13

 

 

 

Apr 13, 2021   Week: 16    Day: 103      

Visibility: 10 miles	Ave. Sky Cover: 10%
Local: H 71°\ L 39°	Nearest Lightning: 1831mi.
Wind: 10 mph/ Gusts: 16 mph	EXTREME Risk of Fire:  Active fire:  128mi
Record: 87°[1977]  Record: 19°[1874]	Apr. Averages: 60°/27° (3 days w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.

~Oscar Wilde

Random Tidbits

The Capital of Niger is Niamey

The biggest film of 1958: South Pacific earned ~ $36,800,000

New WORDS

The Washington Post's Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners:

Dopeler effect  (N): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

Arachnoleptic fit  (N.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

True Things

According to a TTS /AAS statement, its team members who have been “operating under the shadows of top-secrecy for decades” believe that “there is sufficient credible evidence of UAP that proves exotic technologies exist that could revolutionize the human experience.”

Weekly Observations

 

Money Smart Week Link	10-17
Week of The Young Child Link	10-16
Animal Control Officer Appreciation Week Link  National Dog Bite Prevention Week Link   National Public Safety Telecommunicators (911 Operators) Week  National Occupational Health Nursing Week Link Pan American Week	11-17
National Student Employment Week     Link	12-18
National Youth Violence Prevention Week Link	12-16
Ramadan	Thru 5/11

 

Today’s Observations

Be Kind to Lawyers Day

International Plant Appreciation Day

Make Lunch Count Day
National Be Kind To Lawyers Day 
National Peach Cobbler Day

Plant Appreciation Day

Scrabble Day

Thomas Jefferson Day

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

The new week is starting great…nice weather, windows open, nice walk.

I headed out about 10am. First stop was Sam’s gas. Prices are slowing going down, today it was a mere $2.85 and the Scan & Go app was great. Then into Sam’s for some essentials. I headed over to pick up taxes. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be getting a nice chuck of change in my bank account. I earned a tad more money on my investments, so my taxes went up too. Happy camper here. One interesting note: The Feds accepted my taxes about 5 minutes after sent through the internet machine. AZ too almost 90 minutes longer to accept them. That says about all one needs to know about Arizona.

I read several articles yesterday on the amazing find of an ancient city in Luxor, Egypt. When I was there, I probably walked on the sand that buried that city. Focus is returning to Egypt soon. I hope they get to see this new ancient city.

Another cop kills a Black in Minneapolis suburb. I was not there, so I’ll wait to make any judgement. All I know is that officer is claiming that the officer thought it was his taser, not a gun when shot. Sad.

Daily Puzzle

Answer: bottom of the page

59. Two boxers are in a match scheduled for 12 rounds. (Pure boxing only. There are no kicking or takedowns). One of the boxers gets knocked out after only six rounds, yet no man throws a punch. How is this possible?

Historical Events

1204 – Constantinople fell to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade.

1360 – On “Black Monday,” a hailstorm killed 1,000 English soldiers and 6,000 horses. Edward III, fearing it a sign from God, paused the Hundred Years’ War.

1570 – Guy Fawkes was born (died in 1606)

1742 – Handel’s Messiah premiered in Dublin, Ireland.

1829 – The Roman Catholic Relief Act gave Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom the right to vote and to sit in the UK’s Parliament.

1869 – The first US Patent (#88,929) for an air brake was issued to George Westinghouse of Schenectady, N.Y., called an “Improvement in steam-power-brake devices”.

1870 – The New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded.

1902 – James C. Penney opened his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

1943 – The Jefferson Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC.

1970 – An oxygen tank exploded on Apollo13, but everyone survived. It was also the major plot for the 1995 film, Apollo 13.

1974 – Western Union, with NASA and Hughes Aircraft, launched the US’ first commercial geosynchronous communications satellite, Westar 1.

1997 – Tiger Woods became the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.

2015 Migrant ship carrying around 550 sinks off the Libyan coast, about 400 drown

2019 World's largest plane by wingspan at 117m (385 ft), the Stratolaunch, built as a flying launch pad for satellites, takes its first flight from Mojave, California

Birthdays Today

@93 – Alfred Mosher Butts, American architect and game designer, created Scrabble (d. 1993)

@83 – Samuel Beckett, Irish novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)

@83 – Thomas Jefferson, American lawyer and politician, 3rd President (d. 1826)

82 – Paul Sorvino, American actor

@76 – Madalyn Murray O’Hair, American activist, founded American Atheists (d. 1995; murdered)

75 – Al Green, American singer-songwriter and pastor

@74 – Seamus Heaney, Irish poet (d. 2013; short illness)

71 – Ron Perlman, American actor

57 – Caroline Rhea, Canadian comedic actress

51 – Ricky Schroder, American actor

@42 – Butch Cassidy [Robert LeRoy Parker], American criminal (d. 1908; shot)

@35 – Guy Fawkes, English soldier, planned the Gunpowder Plot (d. 1606; executed)

 

Puzzle Answer

Both the boxers were female

 

 

Apr 12

 

 

 

Apr12, 2021   Week: 16    Day:  102       

Visibility: 10 miles	Ave. Sky Cover: 5%
Local: H 70°\ L 35°	Nearest Lightning: 1537mi.
Wind:  9mph/ Gusts:  17mph	EXTREME Risk of Fire:  Active fire:  92mi
Record: 84°[1977 ]  Record: 12°[1874]	Apr. Averages: 60°/27° (3 days w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.

~Khalil Gibran

Random Tidbits

In 1963 when President John F. Kennedy announced in Berlin, "Ich bin ein Berliner," he did not say, as is commonly believed, that he was a jelly doughnut. While there was a popular jelly donut called a 'Berliner', the phrase Kennedy used would not only have been understood by the German audience, but it is probably the best way to express what the president had intended to say. To state, "Ich bin Berliner" would imply that he was born in Berlin, whereas the word 'ein' implied he was a Berliner in spirit.

New WORDS

The Washington Post's Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners:

9.  Karmageddon  (N): It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

10.  Decafalon  (N.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

11.  Glibido  (V): All talk and no action.

True Things

Something extraordinary was revealed today. Former high-level officials and scientists with deep black experience who have always remained in the shadows came forward on one platform. These insiders have long-standing connections to government agencies which may have programs investigating unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP/UFOs). The team includes a 25-year veteran of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, a Lockheed Martin Program Director for Advanced Systems at “Skunk Works”, and a former deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.

Today marked the official launch of To the Stars Academy of Arts & Science (TTS/AAS) an innovative Public Benefit Corporation which will advance research into unexplained phenomena and develop related technology. It has established three synergistic divisions: Science, Aerospace, and Entertainment. “We believe there are discoveries within our reach that will revolutionize the human experience,” says company President and CEO Tom DeLonge. Please see my previous story,- released yesterday - for background on today’s announcement which was live-streamed and is archived on the company website.

Weekly Observations

 

Money Smart Week Link	10-17
Week of The Young Child Link	10-16
Animal Control Officer Appreciation Week Link  National Dog Bite Prevention Week Link   National Public Safety Telecommunicators (911 Operators) Week  National Occupational Health Nursing Week Link Pan American Week	11-17
National Student Employment Week     Link	12-18
National Youth Violence Prevention Week Link	12-16
Ramadan	Thru 5-11

 

Today’s Observations

Belmont-Paul Women's Equality Monument Day  Link
Big Wind Day Link
Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day Link 
International Day of Human Space Flight / Russian Cosmonaut Day

International Day for Street Children Link  

National D.E.A.R. Day (Drop Everything And Read)
National For Twelves Day Link
National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day

National Library Workers Day 

National Licorice Day Link
Ramadan - begins at sundown, -5/11

Take Your Parents To The Playground Day  Link  
Walk on Your Wild Side Day

Yuri's Night

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Another great spring day…walk in the forest was spectacular.

Now the lawsuits begin. The Ever Given that blocked the Suez Canal for over a week is still being held. Egypt says it will release it when almost $1billion is paid for the cost of freeing it. I wonder who is going to cough up the money?

No matter what the politicians are saying, there is a crisis at the border. Last month there were 18,663 unaccompanied children picked up at the border. That is the largest number in the recorded history. They are here. They were not invited. They are here. The American people must get involved to get the politicians to protect these innocents. The American people must get involved to deal with those few are dangerous. The American people must demand that Congress deal with this NOW.

I have varied thought about Unions. As a grocery bagger no union official came to get me to join…it would have cost me $15 for a membership + $5 monthly dues. The day after I became a grocery checker the Union guy showed up and I had to join…it cost me $50 + $10 monthly dues. Not a good start. Then when I was a teacher, I was a 12-month employee. The Government decided after I was there for about 10 years, that all but the principal and a few office staff would become ‘career-seasonal’…which meant we lost $3 months of salary every year. That is when I joined the union voluntarily. The Union fought the change and won for a year until the government did it right. I got my lost salary back. Then the union fought to make our pay more equitable by using the Overseas Teacher salary from DOD…about a 20% increase. The new contract gave us 24 hours (3-days) of Emergency Leave that had to be certified. I became chief negotiator for a new contract. In the end we got 40 hours of personal leave…to use for anything, not just emergencies. Most employers and government employers are not really looking out for the employees. Those two contracts became the National Standard for all BIA educators in the US.

The employees at an Amazon Center in Georgia had a chance to vote on unionizing. After a long and sometimes bitter vote, they decided not to unionize. That is certainly their choice. In my opinion the workers made the wrong decision, but I don’t work there.

Daily Puzzle

Answer: bottom of the page

In 1990, a person was 15 years old. In 1995, that same person was 10 years old. How can this be?

 

Historical Events

1606 – The Union Jack (the Union Flag) was adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.

1633 – Galileo was convicted of heresy, for announcing that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

1892 – The first US Patent (#472,692) for a portable typewriter, the Blickensderfer, was issued to George Blickensderfer of Stamford, Connecticut.

1914 – Mark Strand Theatre opened in New York City. It was the first official “movie theater.”

1934 – The strongest surface wind gust ever recorded on Earth, at 231 mph, was measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire.

1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt died while in office and Vice President Harry Truman became President upon Roosevelt’s death.

1955 – The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, was declared safe and effective.

1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia), named NASA’s STS-1 mission.

1992 – The Euro Disney Resort officially opened with its theme park Euro Disneyland. It was later renamed Disneyland Paris.

1994 – Laurence Canter created a software program that flooded Usenet message boards with a notice for the ‘Green Card Lottery’ to solicit business for his law firm of Canter & Siegel, in an early instance of commercial spam.

1999 US President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a sexual harassment civil lawsuit.

2009 President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian National Authority makes a courtesy phone call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, restarting the Palestinian-Israeli dialogue

2016 Breakthrough Starshot: Scientists and internet entrepreneurs, including Yuri Milner, Stephen Hawking and Mark Zuckerberg, announce interstellar project to send robot spacecraft to Alpha Centauri

2020 Pope Francis calls for the world to be united in the face of COVID-19 as he delivers his Easter message from an empty St Peter's Cathedral in Rome

 

Birthdays Today

@104 – Beverly Cleary, children’s book author (d. 2021)

75 – Ed O’Neill, American comedic actor

74 – David Letterman, American talk show host

@67 – David Cassidy, American singer-songwriter (d. 2017; liver failure)

@66 – Tom Clancy, American author (died in 2013; heart failure)

65 – Andy Garcia, Cuban-American actor

@64 – Tiny Tim [Herbert Khaury], singer, ukulele player (d. 1996; heart attack)

64 – Vince Gill, American singer-songwriter

50 – Shannon Doherty, American actress

42 – Claire Danes, American actress

34 – Brooklyn Decker, American model

 

Puzzle Answer

The person was born in 2005 B.C.