Aug 28

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

Aug. 28, 2019 Week: 35  Day: 240

86004:   H 89° \ L 55° \ Average Sky Cover: 20% 

Nearest wildfire:  27mi.  Nearest lightning:  126mi

Wind:   6mph\Gusts:  6mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 89°[1948]   Record Low: 33°[1920]

Aug Averages: 79°\50° (9 day with rain)

Today’s Quote

We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we put into it is ours.

Dag Hammarskjold

Random Tidbits

Several studies show that a plant-based diet increases the body's metabolism, causing the body to burn calories up to 16 percent faster than the body would on a meat-based diet for at least the first 3 hours after meals.

Some research suggests that if a man avoids red meats, it improves the sex appeal of his body odor.

Observances This Week

24-9/1

Chuckwagon Races: 24-9/1 

25-31

Be Kind To Humankind Week
World Water Week  Link
National Composites Week Link
National Safe at Home Week

Observances for Today

Bow Tie Day

Crackers Over The Keyboard Day

National Cherry Turnovers Day

National Power Rangers Day Link

Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day

Radio Commercials Day

Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day (lost pets) Link

Tug-of-War Day Link 

My Rambling Thoughts

Another very warm day, but the slight breeze is helping. Nice walk before it got so warm. Started about 7a. Finished in time to do laundry, have the monthly check-up on my computer, and read the paper all before 11a. Now have to put all the clothes away.

It took 2 years, but the Hollywood Fla. Nursing Home employees finally got charged with manslaughter after letting 4 elderly patients die from the heat when Hurricane Irma knocked out power. About time.

Various stories about G7, not surprised and a little alarmed, just wish it would stop. What happened to truth?

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

You measure my life in hours and I serve you by expiring.

I’m quick when I’m thin and slow when I’m fat.

The wind is my enemy. What am I?

Historical Events

1609 - Henry Hudson discovered the Delaware Bay.

1789 - William Herschel discovered another Saturn moon, Enceladus.

1830 - The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's (B&O) new 'Tom Thumb' steam locomotive races a horse-drawn car, presaging steam's role in US railroads.

1833 - The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 received Royal Assent, abolishing slavery through most the British Empire.

1845 - The first issue of Scientific American magazine was published.

1898 - Caleb Bradham invented the carbonated soft drink that would later be called "Pepsi-Cola".

1955 - Black 14-year-old Emmett Till was brutally murdered in Mississippi, for 'flirting' with a white woman, galvanizing the nascent American Civil Rights Movement.

1961 - #1 Hit: Joe Dowell - Wooden Heart (Muss I Denn)

1963 - At the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.

1996 - Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales got divorced.

Birthdays Today

Jack Kirby, comic book artist [DC Comics…]

 (d. 1994 @ 76; heart failure)

David Soul, actor, singer (76)

Luis Guzman, Puerto Rican actor (Boogie Nights) (63)

Shania Twain, country singer (54)

Billy Boyd, movie actor (51)

Jason Priestley, TV actor (50)

Jack Black, movie actor (50)

LeAnn Rimes, country singer (37)

Puzzle answer:

A candle

Aug 27

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

Aug. 27, 2019 Week: 35  Day: 239

86004:   H 86° \ L 56° \ Average Sky Cover: 20% 

Nearest wildfire:  27mi.  Nearest lightning:  814mi

Wind:   3mph\Gusts:  5mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 88°[1994]   Record Low: 36°[1978]

Aug Averages: 79°\50° (9 day with rain)

Today’s Quote

If you aren't fired with enthusiasm,

you will be fired with enthusiasm.

Vince Lombardi

Random Tidbits

The U.S. government borrows approximately $5 billion every business day.

The U.S. government pays more than $1 billion each day just on interest on its debt

In 2008, U.S. households lost an estimated 18% of their net worth, equaling approximately an $11.2 trillion loss. This collapse was the largest since the Federal Reserve began tracking household wealth after WWII.

Observances This Week

24-9/1

Chuckwagon Races: 24-9/1 

25-31 Be Kind To Humankind Week  World Water Week  Link

National Composites Week Link

 National Safe at Home Week

Observances for Today

Just Because Day

Global Forgiveness Day

National Burger Day

National Pots de Creme Day

The Duchess Who Wasn't Day

My Rambling Thoughts

I headed out early to do some needed shopping. Got it done and home in record time. It’s another warm day with 20% humidity, making it feel a lot warmer in this dry climate.

Maricopa County (think Phoenix) made Nat’l news again. Joe Arpaio, the 87-year-old former sheriff who was pardoned by the President for being unfair to Brown people and who started a tent city for inmates that were forced to wear pink underwear, has now decided he will run again in 2020. He lost last time after a 34 year reign. Only in AZ. That county is very conservative and Ol’ Joe may have a chance.

I wrote about Cyber technology yesterday and said it was scary. Then, last night on 60 Minutes, they had a piece on Cyber-crime. They were reporting on the number of cities in the US that have had their computer servers infected and then encrypted. The only way to get their data back is to pay the hackers around $80,000. The good guys say they keep the amount that low, because they figure every city will pay that much to get their data back. Other victims include hospitals where they can’t access patient records. Their fear is that computer machines that keep patients alive could be hacked also. One hospital waited 2 weeks to pay, after they had to create 10,000 sheets of paper records on their current patients.

G-7 is over and no major gaffes. Nice. He skipped the climate change session. And our leader didn’t even mention nuking hurricanes that are off shore. Probably good he skipped the climate change stuff.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

A woman was in court for killing her husband. She said she wasn’t guilty and that she dearly missed him. In the closing statement, the woman’s lawyer stands up and says, “Her husband was just missing. Everyone look at the doors. He’s going to walk through them in about 30 seconds.”

The entire jury stares at the doors waiting for waiting for this woman’s husband to walk through the doors. The lawyer and the woman stare at the jury.

The lawyer concludes by saying, “See! If you were so sure she killed her husband, you wouldn’t be watching that door!”

The jury immediately gave a guilty verdict. Why?

Historical Events

410 - The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ended after three days.

1813 - French Emperor Napoleon I defeated a larger force of Austrians, Russians, and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden.

1859 - Petroleum was discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well.

1893 - Sea Islands Hurricane, Georgia, South Carolina.

1939 - First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft, in Germany.

1955 - The first copy of the Guinness Book of Records was issued.

1962 - The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission was launched to Venus by NASA.

1967 - Beatles manager Brian Epstein died of an accidental Carbitral overdose.

1988 - #1 Hit: George Michael - Monkey

1994 - #1 Hit: Boyz II Men - I'll Make Love To You

2003 - The first 6-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, convened to find a resolution to the security concerns as a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.

2003 - Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing just 34,646,418 miles away.

2011 - #1 Hit: Katy Perry - Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)

2011 - (Hurricane) Irene struck the United States east coast, killing 47 people.

Birthdays Today

Martha Raye, comic actor, singer  

(d. 1994 @78 pneumonia)

GW Bailey, character actor (M*A*S*H movie, Police Academy) (75)

Barbara Bach, actor [Bond girl] (71)

Pee Wee Herman [Paul Rubens], actor (67)

Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36^th US President

(d. 1973 @ 64; heart attack)

Tom Ford, fashion designer (58)

Chandra Wilson, actor (Grey’s Anatomy] (50)

Ma$e [Mason Durell Betha], rapper (44)

Puzzle answer:

The woman was watching the jury and not the doors because she knew that her husband wouldn’t walk through them because she had killed him. If she has really missed him like she said, she would have been watching the doors.

Aug 26

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

Aug. 26, 2019 Week: 35  Day: 238

86004:   H 83° \ L 54° \ Average Sky Cover: 5% 

Nearest wildfire:  27mi.  Nearest lightning:  834mi

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

Record High: 88°[1974]   Record Low: 37°[1989]

Aug Averages: 79°\50° (9 day with rain)

Today’s Quote

Art is not what you see,

but what you make others see.

Edgar Degas

Random Tidbits

When the U.S. debt reached 100% of its GDP in 2011, it joined Japan (229%), Greece (152%), Jamaica (137%), Lebanon (134%), Italy (120%), Ireland (114%), and Iceland (103%) as other countries whose public debt exceeds their GDP.

The U.S. debt ceiling was created in 1917 at a limit of $11.5 billion during WWI to allow greater simplicity and flexibility during the war by allowing the Treasury to borrow any amount it needed as long as the amount was below this limit. Prior to this, Congress had to approve each issuance of debt. To change the debt ceiling, Congress needs to enact specific legislation and the President must approve the legislation.

Observances This Week

24-9/1

Chuckwagon Races: 24-9/1 

25-31

Be Kind To Humankind Week
World Water Week  Link
National Composites Week Link
National Safe at Home Week

Observances for Today

National Cherry Popsicle Day

National Dog Day Link   Link

National Toilet Paper Day Link

National Web Mistress Day   Link

Women's Equality Day

My Rambling Thoughts

I had a busy day yesterday doing the reading for our discussion group. After the readings, I had to do a little research on the internet machine. Basically the articles talked about ‘pivotal periods’ of technology in the world: The first was irrigation technology in Ancient Egypt, then the use of maritime technology that opened trade, and railroad technology across the world to move the new trade, and computer technology, which is still in its infancy.  The author looked at the US, Russia, and China in the last pivotal technology. While much of the technology out there is very exciting; it is also frightening. We can get information much faster; the information not be factual. One can learn almost anything from the internet; one person can write a virus program that will disrupt any country’s power grid. While we all need to know what the US, Russia, and China are doing with technology, we also need to know what the geek in his basement is doing. The world needs to know what is propaganda v what is factual. Everyone must stay aware of what computers are doing: everything from buying groceries, banking, vehicles, building highways and bridges, ‘knowing’ your friends and neighbors, and on and on. In its earliest reveals, computer tech was seen as a time-saver for many. While we are still in the infancy stage, people are beginning to see that there are bad actors everywhere out there and some have developed great power we never expected. The discussion was long and very frightening with some happy moments. The conclusion of our group was that computer tech is here to stay and grow and as consumers we have to remain very aware to what is actually happening. Next month we are discussing Artificial Intelligence.

I finally reviewed all the excursions for the Tahiti trip. So many choices, but have decided on 5 that my Roommate Ed is doing. Now we just have to be sure that we pick the same time for several of the excursions. Moving right along.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

A man was found on the floor dead with a cassette recorder in one hand and a gun in the other. When the police arrive at the scene they pressed play on the recorder. It was the man’s voice. He said, “I have nothing else to live for. I can’t go on,” followed by the sound of a gunshot. After listening, the police knew that this was a murder, not a suicide. How?

Historical Events

1498 - Michelangelo began his work to carve the Pieta, depicting the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion.

1789 - The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was approved by the National Constituent Assembly of France.

1791 - John Fitch was granted a United States patent (# X00028) for the steamboat.

1883 (Volcano Eruption & Tsunami) Krakatoa began. It was one of the deadliest and most destructive volcanic events in recorded history, with at over 36,000 deaths being attributed to the eruption itself and the tsunamis it created. Small eruptions, mostly of mud, continued into October 1883.

1967 - #1 Hit: Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe

1968 - Dan Bankhead became the first African American to pitch in a major-league baseball game.

1972 - #1 Hit: Looking Glass - Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)

1976 - While camping in Allagash, Maine Jim Weiner, Jack Weiner, Charles Foltz and Charles Rak claimed to have been abducted by 'four fingered beings' that performed experiments on them including alien probing.

1978 - #1 Hit: Frankie Valli - Grease

1978 - Pope John Paul I was elected.

1995 - #1 Hit: Seal - Kiss From A Rose

2000 - #1 Hit: Janet Jackson - Doesn't Really Matter

Birthdays Today

Katherine Johnson, NASA mathematician (101)

Mother Theresa

[Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu]

Albanian nun and Saint (d. 1997 @87)

Tom Ridge, former Sec of Homeland Security (74)

Melissa McCarthy, actor (49)

Thalía

[Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda], Mexican singer (47)

Macaulay Culkin, actor (39)

Chris Pine, actor (39)

Puzzle answer:

If the dead man had killed himself, he wouldn’t have been able to press the reverse button on the cassette recorder.