Jul 25

 

 

 

Jul  25, 2021 Week: 31 Day:206

Ave. Sky Cover: 45%\Visibility: 10 miles

Local Temp:  77°\ 56° Wind: 6mph\ Gusts: 14mph

Low risk of fire Active fire: 58mi. \ Lightning: 96mi.

Jul Averages: 82°\51° (9 days w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

  

 

Random Tidbits

 

The historical King Arthur may have been Magnus Maximus, or Prince Macsen of Welsh legend, who was one of the greatest figures in Britain toward the end of the Roman Empire. He was also an uncle by marriage of the Welsh King, Coel Godhebog, who is believed to be the Old King Cole of nursery rhymes.

Bonus Fact:

There is only a 21-mile gap between England and France, and the countries are connected by the Channel Tunnel, which opened in 1994. It is the world's second longest underground tunnel; Japan's Seikan Tunnel is the first.

 

True Things

 

But Why?

WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi, reported on June 30 that vandals have been breaking into graves in Rosemount Cemetery -- not only opening the graves, but damaging and opening caskets of people buried there. Mausoleums have also been breached, with urns and remains missing. Zach Martinez, who visited on June 29 to pay respects to a friend, said, "It's sad what's going on out here because this is a resting place for people." Martinez returned one casket to its niche. The secretary of state's office told WLBT that a complaint would have to be raised against the cemetery for an investigation to be opened. [WLBT, 6/30/2021]

 

English Language Oddities

 

There is only one common word in English that has five vowels in a row: queueing.

Soupspoons is the longest word that consists entirely of letters from the second half of alphabet.

 

Weekly Observations

 

Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week	18-25
Comic Con International	22-25
Annie Oakley Days Garlic Days Link National Parenting Gifted Children Week Link	23-25
XXXII Olympic Games (postponed from 2020):	23-8/8
RAGBRAI: Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa Women in Baseball Week	25-31

 

Today’s Observations

 

Auntie's Day Carousel Day or Merry-Go-Round Day Link Culinarians Day Feast of St. James Health & Happiness with Hypnosis Day Hire A Veteran Day  Link National Carousel Day National Chili Dog Day National Hot Fudge Sundae Day National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day Link National Parents Day Parent's Day Red Shoe Day (International)  Link  Link  (Lyme Disease) Thread The Needle Day Link (Note: This is a traditional church game played in the Spring. It really can be played anytime.) Wine & Cheese Day

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

A light monsoon rain most of the night. More showers expected this afternoon.

A friend from my Rez days is coming to town. I will probably end up taking said friend back to the Rez tomorrow, so probably no pos tomorrow.

It is official, I got the Olympic spirit after finishing the opening ceremonies. ‘Faster, higher, stronger, together. My highlight of the opening was the orb above the stadium. It was made up of 1800 drones that morphed from an orb to our rotating planet showing all the continents. [I have attempted to fly one drone and it sure ain’t easy.]

I was traveling Scotland during one of the Olympics years ago. That is when I really understood the Olympic Spirit. Bob and I would check TV every night to see the highlights. I was expecting to see and hear how the Americans were doing. The nightly highlights were recaps of the Scottish athletes and UK athletes. The only thing ‘American’ was the medal count each day and a 10-second highlight if an American got gold or broke a world record. Very eye-opening.

 

2 New Puzzles Everyday

Answer: bottom of the page

 

A ALL LL

travel c c c c c c c

 

 

Historical Events

 

306 – Constantine I (Constantine The Great) was proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops.

315 – The Arch of Constantine was completed near the Colosseum in Rome

1593 – Henry IV of France converted from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.

1788 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed his Symphony No. 40 in G minor.

1861 – The United States Congress passed the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution, stating that the war was being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.

1868 – The Wyoming Territory was established.

1925 – Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) was established.

1946 – Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team at Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

1956 – The Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria sank after colliding with the Swedish ship Stockholm in 200 feet of water 50 miles southeast of Nantucket Island, Mass.

1959 – The SR.N1 hovercraft crossed the English Channel from Calais, France to Dover, England in just over two hours.

1965 – Bob Dylan played an electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival, shocking fans of folk and rock music.

1978 – Louise Brown, the world’s first “test-tube baby” (in vitro fertilization, or IVF)was born at Oldham General Hospital, Oldham, England.

1984 – Salyut 7 cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to perform a spacewalk.

2010 – WikiLeaks published classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in US military history.

2017 167 African migrants rescued by NGO Proactiva Open Arms off the coast of Libya, 13 perish

2019 High temperature records set across Europe just one day after previous records set, Paris 42.6C (108.7F), Germany 42.6C (108.6F), Netherlands 40.7C (105.2F), Belgium 40.6C (105.2F)

 

Birthdays Today

 

@84 – Estelle Getty, American actress (d. 2008)

@80 – Walter Brennan, American actor (d. 1974)

@77 – Frank J. Sprague, American inventor (d. 1934)

66 – Iman [Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid], Somalian-English model and actress

54 – Matt LeBlanc, American actor

@45 – Walter Payton, American football player and race car driver (died in 1999)

43 – Louise Brown, first human to be born via IVF

@14 – Emmett Till, American lynching victim (d. 1955)

 

Puzzles Answer

 

All in all                                                                                travel overseas

 

 

Jul 24

 

 

 

Jul  24, 2021 Week: 30 Day: 205

Ave. Sky Cover: 70%\Visibility: 10 miles

Local Temp:  78°\ 50° Wind: 6mph\ Gusts: 15mph

Low risk of fire Active fire: 58mi. \ Lightning: 2mi.

Jul Averages: 82°\51° (9 days w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

  

 

Random Tidbits

 

Windsor Castle is the largest royal home in the world. It is also the oldest continually inhabited royal residence in Britain, having been built by William the Conqueror around A.D. 1080.

The full, official name of the Tower of London is "Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of London." It is home to the Queen of England's jewels. Among the 25,578 gems is the 530-carat Cullinan diamond at the top of the Royal Scepter, the largest part of what was (until 1985) the largest diamond ever found.

 

True Things

 

Surprise!

Colin Steer, 70, of Plymouth, United Kingdom, was replacing some floor joists in the home he and his wife bought in 1988 when he noticed a dip in the floor near the bay window in the living room. "I immediately thought someone must have buried someone under there or that we had a sinkhole," Steer told the Mirror. Instead, he found a well. Since then, Steer has been digging down into the well, having cleared about 17 feet of debris from it, including a sword that he believes could date to medieval times. While the home was constructed in 1895, Steer believes the well may be 500 years old. "At the bottom of the well is about 4 feet of water," Steer said, which he has sampled and deemed crystal clear. He hopes to dig down another several feet and then extend the structure up into the living room and use it as a coffee table. [Mirror, 6/29/2021]

 

English Language Oddities

 

“THEREIN” is a seven-letter word that contains thirteen words spelled using consecutive letters: the, he, her, er, here, I, there, ere, rein, re, in, therein, and herein.

 

Weekly Observations

 

Captive Nations Week Everybody Deserves A Massage Week Link  National Independent Retailers Week Link   National Zoo Keeper Week Link	18-24
Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week	18-25
National Baby Food Week Link	21-24
Comic Con International	22-25
Hemingway Look-Alike Days Link	22-24
Annie Oakley Days Garlic Days Link National Parenting Gifted Children Week Lin`k	23-25
XXXII Olympic Games (postponed from 2020):	23-8/8

 

Today’s Observations

 

Amelia Earhart Day Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Pioneer Day Link Cousins Day International Self Care Day Link lNational Day of the Cowboy Link   National Day of Lament  Link National Drive-Thru Day National Frozen Margarita Day  Link National Tequila Day (US)  Link National Thermal Engineers Day  Link   Tell an Old Joke Day

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

 

Monsoon is dumping lots of rain. Some localized flash flooding. Nothing like Europe or China.

I taped the opening ceremony and watch the first hour before getting busy. It sure seems strange with no audience.

I had shopping to do this morning, then my blood docs appointment, then a phlebotomy. All good. But I got a strange phone transcribed message  from my Dr. that I missed while I was driving; ‘Hi, this is….it popped up that they wanted you to have a full body me today. Please call us back so we can do it.’ After my phlebotomy, I stopped at that office to see what it meant. Turns out my magic apple phone had transcribed phlebotomy as ‘full body me’. We had a good laugh.

 

2 New Puzzles Everyday

Answer: bottom of the page

 

Returns tomorrow.

 

Historical Events

 

1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate and replaced by her 1-year-old son James VI, after the sudden death of one husband and the quick marriage to another.

1701 – Detroit was founded by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac.

1823 – Slavery was abolished in Chile.

1847 – Brigham Young brought 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, establishing Salt Lake City.

1901 – Writer O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) was released from prison in Columbus, Ohio after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank.

1935 – The Dust Bowl heatwave reached its peak, with temperatures of 109°F (43°C) in Chicago, Illinois, and 104°F (40°C) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1974 – The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they ordered him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox.

2002 – Democrat James Traficant was expelled from the United States House of Representatives on a vote of 420 to 1 (CA Representative Gary Condit didn’t vote against him).

2009 FINA Congress votes to ban all body-length swimsuits; men's suits to maximally cover from the waist to knee, and women's from shoulder to knee; fabric must be a "textile" or woven material; effective 1 January 2010

2017 Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner says he did not collude with Russia after meeting with Senate investigators

2019 Global warming is the fastest in 2,000 years and scientific consensus that humans are the cause is at 99%, according to three major reports published in journals "Nature" and "Nature Geoscience"

2019 Facebook agrees to pay $5 billion fine, largest ever for violating consumer privacy, to the US Federal Trade Commission

 

Birthdays Today

 

85 – Ruth Buzzi, American comedic actress

@77 – Bella Abzug, American lawyer and politician (d. 1998; heart disease)

75 – Gallagher [Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr.], American comedian

70 – Lynda Carter, American actress, 1972 Miss World USA

@68 – Alexandre Dumas, French novelist and playwright (d. 1870; heart attack)

58 – Karl Malone, American basketball player and coach

57 – Barry Bonds, American baseball player

53 – Kristin Chenoweth, American actress and singer

39 – Anna Paquin, Canadian-New Zealand actress

@39 – Amelia Earhart, American pilot and author (disappeared, 1937)

 

 

Jul 23

 

 

 

Jul  23, 2021 Week: 30 Day: 204

Ave. Sky Cover: 60%\Visibility: 10 miles

Local Temp:  82°\ 56° Wind: 7mph\ Gusts: 13mph

Low risk of fire Active fire: 70mi. \ Lightning: 6mi.

Jul Averages: 82°\51° (9 days w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

 

 

 

Random Tidbits

 

A fruitarian is a type of vegetarian in which a person eats just fruits, nuts, seeds, and other plant material that can be harvested without killing the plant.

Approximately 25 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of wheat. Around 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of meat. Many vegetarians argue that more people eating a meat-free diet would lower the strain that meat production puts on the environment.

 

True Things

 

Extreme Reaction

A couple in Sheffield, United Kingdom, have taken drastic measures over their neighbor's tree, which sits right on the property line and overhangs their driveway. Bharat Mistry, 56, the tree's owner, told the BBC that his neighbor had been complaining for some time about the tree, home to nesting pigeons that relieved themselves on the driveway and cars. First, the angry neighbor asked Mistry to remove the tree altogether. Mistry suggested trimming and installing netting to keep the birds out, but the neighbor called in his own tree surgeon, who completely removed the side of the canopy that was hanging over the drive. "It looks awful," said Brian Parkes, who lives nearby. "It's done, you can't undo it." [BBC, 6/24/2021]

 

N E W  English Language Oddities

 

“Rhythms” is the longest English word without the normal vowels, a, e, i, o, or u.

Excluding derivatives, there are only two words in English that end -shion and (though many words end in this sound). These are cushion and fashion.

 

Weekly Observations

 

Hemp History Week Link National Moth Week Link	17-23
Captive Nations Week Everybody Deserves A Massage Week Link  National Independent Retailers Week Link   National Zoo Keeper Week Link	18-24
Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week	18-25
International Lace Week  Link	19-23
National Baby Food Week Link	21-24
Comic Con International	22-25
Hemingway Look-Alike Days Link	22-24
Annie Oakley Days Garlic Days Link National Parenting Gifted Children Week Lin`k	23-25
XXXII Olympic Games (postponed from 2020):	23-8/8

 

Today’s Observations

 

Gorgeous Grandma Day Hot Enough For Ya Day Lumberjack Day National Pajama Day Link National Penuche Day Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony Vanilla Ice Cream Day Yada. yada yada. Day

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

Monsoon continues. That also means lightning. Yesterday, several tourists were injured at the Grand Canyon after numerous lightning strikes on Bright Angel Trail. Scary. The weather guy says lots of rain the next few days with showers during the day and showers at night. The local monsoon is usually just in the day, so this is quite a change.

My dad was born July 23, 1914, and lived 80 great years. He was a fantastic dad, husband, and friend. Still miss him.

I planned on enjoying the Olympics. Now I’m not even sure I will watch very much. There have already been 80 athletes who have tested positive for Covid since arriving. The main story looks like it will be the increase in positive cases each day. It is so discouraging for the athletes. So expensive for Japan and the Olympic Committee. Oh well, the Winter Olympics are just around the corner.

This sure sounds like a ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ story: Three reservoirs in Colorado are going to increase their output to Lake Powell, on the AZ-Utah Border. They are concerned that the levels in Lake Powell are soon going to be below the minimum for the hydroelectric process to continue. That would affect millions in California where the power goes. In other water news: a friend of mine is at the Oregon fires. He is headed there to protect archaeological sites from the fire. He reported back that the rivers in Oregon, near the fire, are very, very low. Water is life and these two stories are devastating. Now some good news: the AZ National Guard has arrived in Flagstaff to help mitigate the daily flooding from a couple of burn areas.

The NFL just announced some new rules for the upcoming football season. If a team has a case of Covid…and the player<s> is/are unvaccinated…and the game can’t be rescheduled…then the team with Covid will lose the game, and no players on either team will receive pay for the game. However, the Covid team will have to pay the salary of the non-Covid team for that game.  A tad complicated but it sure sends a message to team owners. Some teams are at 30% vaccination while the NFL overall is at 52% vaccination. This will probably increase vaccination rates before the season starts.

 

2 New Puzzles Everyday

Answer: bottom of the page

 

egg egg easy

E or not

 

Historical Events

 

1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patented (#5581X) the typographer, an early typewriter.

1926 – Fox Film bought the patents of the Movietone sound system, for recording sound onto film.

1961 – The Sandinista National Liberation Front was founded in Nicaragua.

1962 – Telstar relayed the first publicly transmitted, live, trans-Atlantic television program, featuring CBS’s Walter Cronkite and NBC’s Chet Huntley in New York, and the BBC’s Richard Dimbleby in Brussels.

1984 – Vanessa Williams became the first Miss America to resign when she surrendered her crown after (earlier) nude photos of her appeared in Penthouse magazine.

1995 – Comet Hale – Bopp was discovered, and was visible to the naked eye on Earth in 1996.

1999 – Space Shuttle Columbia launched on STS-93, with Eileen Collins becoming the first female space shuttle commander

2018 Slum homes for 30,000 people demolished to make way for a dual carriage way in Nairobi, Kenya

2018 International Monetary Fund predicts inflation of 1 million percent in Venezuela by end of 2018

2019 Boris Johnson is chosen the new British Prime Minister by the ruling Conservative Party to replace Theresa May

2020 US President Trump says he could send 75,000 federal agents to deal with violence in American cities like Portland, drawing backlash

 

Birthdays Today

 

@83 – Haile Selassie, Ethiopian emperor (d. 1975)

@81 – Arthur Treacher, English-American actor, television personality (d. 1975)

@81 – Pee Wee Reese, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1999)

@79 – Don Imus, American radio host (d. 2019; lung disease)

71 – Ian Thomas, Canadian singer-songwriter (April Wine)

@70 – Raymond Chandler, American crime novelist,screenwriter(d. 1959; uremia)

60 – Woody Harrelson, American actor

59 – Eriq La Salle, American actor

@46 – Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor (d. 2014)

39 – Paul Wesley, American actor

32 – Daniel Radcliffe, English actor

 

Puzzles Answer

 

Eggs over easy                                                                    Ready or not