Jun 22

 

 

 

Jun 22, 2021   Week: 26    Day: 173

Visibility: 10 miles Ave. Sky Cover: 5% very hazy from fires

Local: H 86°\ L 52°

Wind:  10mph/ Gusts:  19mph

EXTREME Risk of Fire:  Active fire:  30mi Nearest Lightning: 567mi.

Jun Averages: 70°/42° (1 day w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

 

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. Edith Wharton

 

Random Tidbits

 

The health benefits of rice include its ability to provide fast and instant energy, regulate and improve bowel movements, stabilize blood sugar levels, and slow down the aging process, while also providing an essential source of vitamin B1 to the human body. Other benefits include its ability to boost skin health, increase the metabolism, aid in digestion, reduce high blood pressure, help weight loss efforts, improve the immune system and provide protection against dysentery, cancer, and heart disease.

 

Humor: Robots

 

Whatever you do, don’t upset Sophia!

It’s pretty clear that robots are not perfect. Still, they’re not going anywhere. After all, they’re here to serve us, right? Take Sophia, a social humanoid robot developed by Hanson Robotics. She/it has the face of an attractive woman and the ability to hold a conversation, much like Apple’s Siri, making her/it eerily human-like. When CEO David Hanson and Sophia appeared on CNBC’s The Pulse, he himself asked the AI what was clearly on the mind of many people in that studio: “Sophia, do you want to destroy humans?” Without hesitation, Sophia—smiling a tad too broadly for our taste—responded, “OK, I will destroy humans.”

 

True Things

 

Inexplicable

Natasha Harris of Lillian, Alabama, called the Baldwin County Sheriff's office on Feb. 28 after her granddaughter's pet goat, Billy the Kid, returned home from one of his frequent adventures around their rural neighborhood painted from head to toe. Harris told Fox 10 News she suspected local teens had stolen and abused the goat, but investigators followed the goat's trail to Erica Farmer, who was visiting relatives nearby, and arrested her for theft of property and animal cruelty. Farmer has since apologized for dying the goat with colored shampoo and food coloring, and Harris now wants the charges dropped, telling the district attorney's office, "I'm really sorry for wasting your time." [Fox 10 News, 3/2/2021]

 

Weekly Observations

 

National Week of Making Link National Nursing Assistants Week Waste and Recycling Workers Week Link	17-23
Animal Rights Awareness Week Link    Link Greencare For Troops Awareness Week National Play Catch Week  Old Time Fiddlers Week Link Carpenter Ant Awareness Week  Fish Are Friends, Not Food! Week Link   Lightning Safety Awareness Week Link  National Craft Spirits Week Link  National Mosquito Control Awareness Week Link   Universal Father's Week	20-26
Old Time Fiddlers Week	21-26
National Insect Week National Pollinator Week Link	21-27

 

Today’s Observations

 

HVAC Technicians Day Link National Chocolate Eclair Day National Columnists Day National Onion Ring Day Positive Media Day Link Stupid Guy Thing Day World Rainforest Day Link  Worldwide VW Beetle Day Link

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

Had a quick tooth cleaning today. All good. The billing is still all crazy, but I did pay the amount that was on my EOB from Blue Cross. The dentist office tried to get all the money on the bill, not what I owed. I just stood there while she punched buttons until the number matched the EOB. The hygienist is moving to Phx so next time it’s a new hygienist…maybe it is time to change dentists.

I stopped at the bank on the way to the Dentist. The ATM was being worked on by the company. On my return trip, I stopped again. Waited for 3 cars, pushed all the right buttons, and got a message that there was a ‘technical error’. Tried again, same thing. Just came home.

Good news for players in the NCAA. Athletes can now earn relatively modest payments. It’s about time. The colleges and universities make millions every year from their athletes. It is only fair.

There are so many wildfires in AZ it is hard to keep up. While driving home the radio had an alert for the people about 15 miles south of me to SET status on a fire that just started yesterday. Instead of fighting in Congress, they need to get more money for fire prevention to the western states. Most fires have been on Federal land. The entire Coconino National Forest, the largest pine forest in the US, will be CLOSED at 8a Wednesday morning. They are currently in the process of notifying campers to leave. I hope it works.

 

2 New Puzzles Everyday

Answer: bottom of the page

 

All All WORLD All All

PERSO                           NALITY

 

 

Historical Events

 

1633 – The Holy Office in Rome forced Galileo Galilei to recant his view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the Universe.

1937 – Joe Louis won the world heavyweight boxing title when he defeated Jim Braddock.

1950 – The publication Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television listed many suspected communists in American media, including Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Lena Horne, Pete Seeger, Artie Shaw, and Orson Welles.

1969 – Cleveland, Ohio’s Cuyahoga River caught fire.

1978 – Pluto’s Moon Charon was discovered by James W. Christy, at the Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

2009 – Eastman Kodak Company announced that it would discontinue sales of the Kodachrome Color Film.

2011 After hiding for 16 years, Boston gangster Whitey Bulger is arrested outside an apartment in Santa Monica, California

2015 South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley calls for the removal of the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds in wake of killings in a Charleston church

2020 US government data shows African Americans four times more likely than whites to be hospitalized for COVID-19 highlighting racial disparities for the pandemic

 

Birthdays Today

 

85 – Kris Kristofferson, American singer-songwriter, actor

72 – Todd Rundgren, American singer-songwriter

72 – Meryl Streep, American actress

72 – Elizabeth Warren, politician

69 – Graham Greene, Canadian [Oneida] character actor

68 – Cyndi Lauper, American singer-songwriter

48 – Carson Daly, American radio, television host

@22 – Freddie Prinze, American actor (d.1977; suicide)

 

Puzzles Answer

 

All around the world                                            Split personality

 

Jun 21

 

 

 

Jun 21, 2021   Week: 26    Day: 172

Visibility: 10 miles Ave. Sky Cover: 30%

Local: H 91°\ L 56°

Wind:  9mph/ Gusts:  16mph

Low Moderate High EXTREME Risk of Fire:  Active fire:  23mi Nearest Lightning: 87mi.

Jun Averages: 70°/42° (1 day w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

 

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men. Herman Melville

 

Random Tidbits

 

Rice is a symbol of life and fertility, which is why rice was traditionally thrown at weddings.

Brown rice is whole grain rice, with the inedible outer hull removed; white rice is the same grain with the hull, bran layer and cereal germ removed. Red rice, gold rice, black rice and purple rice are all whole rices, but with a differently pigmented outer layer.

 

Humor: Robots

 

Quick, get me a broom!

What’s the worst a robotic vacuum cleaner can do, right? Let Jesse Newton count the ways for you. Newton took to the Web to share that his new puppy had pooped on the floor at 1:30 in the morning while he and his wife were asleep. How did he know the exact time? “Our Roomba runs at 1:30 a.m. every night,” he wrote. “And it found the poop. And so began the Pooptastrophe. The Poohpocalypse. The Pooppening.” The robot vacuum spread the puppy’s load throughout the house, decorating floorboards, furniture legs, and rugs, “resulting in a home that closely resembles a Jackson Pollock poop painting.” Another potentially scary thing? Here’s what your robot vacuum might know about your house.

 

True Things

 

Animal Antics

EuroWeekly reported that on Feb. 24, a routine Sudanese Tarco airline flight from Khartoum to Doha, Qatar, was forced to turn around about a half-hour after takeoff when a stowaway cat caused a midair emergency. The cat gained entry to the cockpit and became aggressive, attacking the crew, who were unable to restrain it, prompting the pilot to return to the airport. Officials believe the cat got onto the airplane while it was parked overnight in a hangar in Khartoum. [EuroWeekly News, March 2021]

 

Weekly Observations

 

National Week of Making Link National Nursing Assistants Week Link Waste and Recycling Workers Week Link	17-23
Animal Rights Awareness Week Link    Link Greencare For Troops Awareness Week National Play Catch Week  Old Time Fiddlers Week Link Carpenter Ant Awareness Week  Fish Are Friends, Not Food! Week Link   Lightning Safety Awareness Week Link  National Craft Spirits Week Link  National Mosquito Control Awareness Week Link   Universal Father's Week	20-26
Old Time Fiddlers Week	21-26
National Insect Week National Pollinator Week Link	21-27

 

Today’s Observations

 

Cuckoo Warning Day  Daylight Appreciation DayGo Skateboarding Day Link Go Skateboarding Day International Yoga Day Link Make Music Day Link   National Daylight Appreciation Day National Day of The Gong  National Energy Shopping Day  National Peaches & Cream Day National Sea Shell Day National Selfie Day Link Tall Girl Appreciation Day  World Giraffe Day  Link World Handshake Day Link  World Humanist Day World Hydrography Day  Link World Music Day

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

Another HOT day.

A nice Father’s Day. I was invited to Andy & Faith’s for lunch. His adopted daughter brought her son to spend a week with Andy. Good to see Kayla and Logan again. Good food and good conversation.

We also watched the first half of the Suns v Clippers game. Phx looked good and got the win.

And another small brush fire behind Sam’s Club in Flag. Only 1/3 acre and stopped quickly. That is about 5 miles from my place.

 

2 New Puzzles Everyday

Answer: bottom of the page

 

look       U leap

AGENT AGENT

 

 

Historical Events

 

1834 – Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent (#X008277) for his grain reaping machine,

1877 – The Molly Maguires, ten Irish immigrants convicted of murder, were hanged in Pennsylvania prisons, in Schuylkill County and Carbon County.

1893 – The first Ferris wheel premiered at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition, and could hold up to 2000 people on 36 cars and was 264 feet tall.

 

1913 – The first successful parachute jump from an airplane by a woman was made by Georgia Broadwick, age 18, over Griffith Field, Los Angeles, California.

1940 – The first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage begins at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

1948 – Columbia Records introduced the long-playing record album (33 1/3 revolutions per minute) in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, New York. The first was released in 1949 – ML 4001, Nathan Milstein performing the Mendelssohn violin concerto.

 

2004 –SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.

2006 – Pluto’s recently discovered moons were officially named Nix and Hydra.

2015 Hackers ground 1400 passengers by attacking IT system at Warsaw Chopin airport in Poland

2020 New archaeological discovery announced near Stonehenge of a large circle of shafts surrounding a village 2500 BC, largest prehistoric structure in Britain

2020 Saudi Arabia bans international visitors from making the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage in 2020 due to COVID-19

 

Birthdays Today

 

@89 – Jane Russell, American actress (d. 2011)

42 – Chris Pratt, American actor

 

Puzzles Answer

 

Look before you leap                                                       Double Agent

 

Jun 20

 

 

Jun 20, 2021   Week: 26    Day: 171

Visibility: 10 miles Ave. Sky Cover: 45%

Local: H 91°\ L 56°

Wind:  7mph/ Gusts:  11mph

EXTREME Risk of Fire:  Active fire:  23mi Nearest Lightning: 4mi.

Jun Averages: 70°/42° (1 day w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

 

Many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased. John Steinbeck

 

Random Tidbits

 

Rice is the seed harvested from the long, grass-like stalk of the Oryza sativa plant (Asian rice) or the Oryza glaberrima (African rice).

As a cereal grain, it is the most widely consumed staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in Asia.

From East Asia, rice was spread to South and Southeast Asia. Rice was introduced to Europe through Western Asia, and to the Americas through European colonization.

 

Humor: Robots

 

Party for one

One night in Hamburg, Germany, one Amazon Alexa took the evening’s entertainment into its own, er, hands. At about 1:50 a.m., this particular Alexa started playing music at such exceedingly high volume that neighbors were forced to call the police. The police arrived and knocked, but, of course, no one was there to answer the door. They broke in and pulled the plug on the device. As a parting gift, they left a new lock on the door, for the homeowner to discover when he returned. He was forced to head to the police station to pick up the new key—and pay the considerable locksmith bill. He and his Alexa have since parted ways, after this “U-turn” in their relationship.

 

True Things

 

The Foreign Press

Diplomats and their families from the Russian embassy in Pyongyang, North Korea, worked around extreme COVID-induced travel restrictions by pushing themselves across the border in a rail trolley to reach their home country on Feb. 25, the BBC reported. The group of eight, including children, traveled 32 hours by train and two hours by bus to reach the Russian border, but trains and wagons cannot enter or leave North Korea, so the embassy's third secretary, Vladislav Sorokin, completed the last half-mile of the journey by pushing the trolley filled with the group and their baggage on train tracks over the Tumen River, where they were met by Russian officials at the border station. [BBC, 2/26/2021]

 

Weekly Observations

 

National Hermit Week	13-20
Meet A Mate Week Men's Health Week  Link   Link  US Open Golf Championship	14-20
National Week of Making Link National Nursing Assistants Week Waste and Recycling Workers Week Link	17-23
Animal Rights Awareness Week Link    Link Greencare For Troops Awareness Week National Play Catch Week  Old Time Fiddlers Week Link Carpenter Ant Awareness Week  Fish Are Friends, Not Food! Week Link   Lightning Safety Awareness Week Link  National Craft Spirits Week Link  National Mosquito Control Awareness Week Link   Universal Father's Week	20-26

 

Today’s Observations

 

American Eagle Day Link Ann & Samantha Day Link Dollars Against Diabetes Day(s): 18-20 Link Family Awareness Day  Father's Day Link Link Flitch of Bacon Day Link  Link Global Orgasm Day  Husband Caregiver Day   Ice Cream Soda Day International Nystagmus Awareness Day Link Lambrusco Day Link Litha National Bald Eagle Day National Hike With A Geek Day  Link National Kouign Amann Day Link National Sea Shell Day  Link   National Turkey Lovers Day National Vanilla Milkshake Day Midsummer Summer Solstice Turkey Lovers Day Link   World Juggling Day World Productivity Day World Refugee Day

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

Parts of our mountain town got some rain, sadly, none here at my place. It is still hot and dry.

I cleaned the bedroom, flipped the mattress, and got ready for the first day of summer tomorrow. Washed two loads of linens, now just waiting for them to dry.

A recent survey shows that 1 in 4 parents of children 6-12 refuse to sign consent for the vaccine even after the child has asked for it.  We will never get to herd immunity if this trend continues. I’m sure glad I’m not working in a school. I would have a hard time dealing with the non-vaccine parents as it would be exposing all the other children.

As we pull out of Afghanistan, we must protect those who served as translators, guides, and their families. The pro-American Afghans helped and if we don’t evacuate them, they will be dead. The US has done this in every war and this one is no different. Congress needs to appropriate funds NOW so they can get out by the Sept. deadline. If we do not evacuate them, the next time we get into a conflict/war, word will spread rapidly that we don’t protect locals who help us. Vets are pushing Congress to do this, but so many in Congress don’t think it is necessary. So short-sighted and sad.  

 

2 New Puzzles Everyday

Answer: bottom of the page

 

FIVE	SOMEWHERE RAINBOW

 

Historical Events

 

1214 – The University of Oxford received its Royal charter.

1782 – Congress adopted the Great Seal of the United States, with the Bald Eagle clutching both an olive branch and thirteen arrows.

1837 – Queen Victoria, age 18, ascended the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV. She ruled for 63 years to 1901.

1840 – Samuel Morse received the patent (#1647) for the telegraph.

1893 – Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother.

1944 – The German experimental MW 18014 V-2 rocket reached an altitude of 176 km, becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space.

1945 – The United States Secretary of State approved the transfer of Wernher von Braun (and other Nazi rocket scientists) to America.

1948 – Toast of the Town, a variety series hosted by Ed Sullivan, premiered on CBS. It was later renamed The Ed Sullivan Show.

1963 – The United States and the Soviet Union agreed to establish a “hotline” communication system between the two nations.

1975 – Hollywood’s first major summer ‘must see’ blockbuster, Jaws, opened in theaters.

1988 Supreme Court upholds a law that made it illegal for private clubs to discriminate against women and minorities

1990 Nelson Mandela lands in NYC to begin a tour of US

1991 The Bundestag (German parliament) decides to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin

1995 Space probe Ulysses begins 2nd passage behind the Sun

2018 US President Donald Trump signs Executive Order ending family separation at the border for illegal immigrants

2019 Chinese President Xi Jinping meets Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, the first Chinese president to visit North Korea in 14 years

2020 Highest-ever temperature recorded in the Arctic circle, 38C (100F) in Verkhoyansk, Siberia

 

Birthdays Today

 

@86 – Danny Aiello, American actor (d. 2019)

79 – Brian Wilson, American singer-songwriter and producer [Beach Boys]

75 – Bob Vila, American television host

72 – Lionel Richie, American singer-songwriter

69 – John Goodman, American actor

54 – Nicole Kidman, American-Australian actress

53 – Robert Rodriguez, American director, producer, and screenwriter

@50 – Errol Flynn, Australian-American actor (d. 1959; heart attack)

@45 – Audie Murphy, American lieutenant and actor, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1971; private plane crash)

 

Puzzles Answer

 

High five                                                                   Somewhere over the rainbow