Nov 27

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Nov. 27, 2019 Week: 48  Day: 331

86004:   H 30° \ L 14° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Nearest active fire:  297mi.  Nearest lightning:  1205mi

Wind:   4mph\Gusts:  10mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 68°[1949]   Record Low: -5°[1984]

Nov. Averages: 53°\23° (3 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

“He who fears he will suffer,

already suffers because he fears.”

~ Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

Random Tidbits

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving to the next-to-last Thursday in November to prolong the holiday shopping season, many Republicans rebelled. The holiday was temporarily celebrated on different dates: November 30 became the "Republican Thanksgiving" and November 23 was "Franksgiving" or "Democrat Thanksgiving."

Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879), who tirelessly worked to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday, also was the first person to advocate women as teachers in public schools, the first to advocate day nurseries to assist working mothers, and the first to propose public playgrounds. She was also the author of two dozen books and hundreds of poems, including "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

Observances This Week

21-28

International Games Week
Church/State Separation Week
GERD Awareness Week Link
National Bible Week
National Family Week
National Game & Puzzle Week
World Karaoke Championships Link

23-28

Better Conversation Week

25-12/1

National Deal Week   

Observances for Today

Flossing Day Link

National Bavarian Cream Pie Day

National Tie One On Day

Pins and Needles Day

My Rambling Thoughts

I headed out this morning to get a much needed pedi. It’s chilly outside as I await the incoming storm. As I get older, I seem to want to be absolutely sure I’m prepared. The predicted storm with 1-2 feet of snow isn’t due until Thanksgiving. It probably won’t be as bad as predicted and I know that, but I don’t want to deal with Wednesday before Thanksgiving traffic and shoppers.  All morning I was thinking about March, Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Focus while getting prepared for the storm.

Thanksgiving should be great…if I can get to their house. Should have the first foot of snow by feeding time. The only Black Friday shopping I do is to pick up a couple of poinsettias at Home Depot. If the storm actually hits, I won’t be getting them on Black Friday.

When I was at Red Lake Day School, now Tonalea School, we were a K-8 school with about 250 students. Red Lake was the school, a trading post, and the Chapter House with some housing (about 20 houses) ½ mile from the school. Tuba City was 25 miles south on pavement. Kaibeto was 25 miles west of dirt roads. Even though we were only ¼ mile from the highway, we were very isolated. Today I saw a post of Facebook:

‘Due to the fatal incident in Kaibeto; Tonalea is allowing no visitors into the school building, checkouts will be only done by intercom, all sports practices are cancelled, the Thanksgiving program and meal are cancelled for tomorrow. Today is a regular school day.’  

Times sure have changed.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

What years from the 1900s and 1800s are the same year when read upside down?

Historical Events

1703 - The first Eddystone Lighthouse was destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703.

1826 - Chemist John Walker invented the friction match in England.

1834 - The direct current (DC) electric motor was invented by Thomas Davenport.

1896 - Also Sprach Zarathoustra by Richard Strauss was first performed.

1924 - Macy's department store held its first Thanksgiving Day parade down a two-mile stretch of Broadway in New York City.

1952 - CBS began broadcasting the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

1965 - Author Ken Kesey's first 'Acid Test' (parties he had where people experimented with LSD) was on November 27th, 1965 in Santa Cruz, California and featured a live performance by a band called The Warlocks. They later changed their name to the Grateful Dead.

1970 Pope Paul VI wounded in chest during a visit to Philippines by a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest

1973 - The US Senate approved Gerald R. Ford as the US' 40th vice president, after the resignation of Spiro T. Agnew, who plead guilty to income tax evasion.

1975 - Guinness Book of Records co-founder and editor Ross McWhirter was shot dead outside his North London home. Police believe it was an IRA hit.

1978 San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White at City Hall

1980 - Bosom Buddies premiered on ABC.

1982 - #1 Hit: Lionel Richie - Truly

2004 - Pope John Paul II returned the relics of Saint John Chrysostom to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

2005 - 13-year-old bat mitzvah Elizabeth Brooks had 50 Cent & Aerosmith perform at her celebration at New York's Rainbow Room.

2011 - Mexico City briefly held the world record of having the largest "zombie walk" in the world after almost 10,000 people dressed as zombies paraded through the city. Several walks have beaten that record.

2013 - Frozen, starring Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell, was released.

2018 Convicted US murderer Samuel Little confirmed connected to 90 more murders of women after confessing details

Birthdays Today

@80 – Buffalo Bob Smith, American actor and TV host

(died in 1998)

@68 - James Avery, actor

(died in 2013; surgery complications)

64 – Bill Nye, American engineer, educator, and

TV host (the science guy)

62 – Caroline Kennedy, American lawyer and diplomat

(daughter of President John F. Kennedy)

@56 – Eddie Rabbitt, American Singer/Songwriter; guitarist

(died in 1998; lung cancer)

55 – Robin Givens, American actress

43 - Jaleel White, American actor

@42 – Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer, physicist

and mathematician

(died in 1744)

@32 – Bruce Lee, American-Chinese actor, martial artist

screenwriter

(died in 1973; ‘death by misadventrue’)

@27 – James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix

(born Johnny Allen Hendrix),

American Singer/Songwriter, guitarist and producer

(died in 1970; asphyxiation/barbiturates)

Puzzle answer:

1961 and 1881

Nov 26

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

Nov. 26, 2019 Week: 48  Day: 330

86004:   H 51° \ L 16° \ Average Sky Cover: 5%

Nearest active fire:  1067mi.  Nearest lightning:  219mi

Wind:   12mph\Gusts:  19mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 70°[1977]   Record Low: -8°[1906]

Nov. Averages: 53°\23° (3 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

“Why escape your intended purpose

by copying and trying to be someone else?

You will discover who you were meant to be

only after you have shown confidence being yourself.”

~ Suzy Kassem

Random Tidbit

The Puritans came to the New World seeking religious freedom. The problem with that sentence is the "freedom" part. It all started in 1593, when the Protestant "Separatists" emigrated to Holland from England for the chance to practice their religious preferences without interference. The only problem? Holland allowed too much religious freedom, giving free reign to Judaism and Catholicism and even atheism. It was too much for their pure Puritan hearts. So, they jumped on the Mayflower and went looking for a new world.

Observances This Week

19-26

National Farm-City Week

21-28

International Games Week
Church/State Separation Week
GERD Awareness Week Link
National Bible Week
National Family Week
National Game & Puzzle Week
World Karaoke Championships Link

23-28

Better Conversation Week

25-12/1

National Deal Week   

Observances for Today

Cake Day

Good Grief Day

Shopping Reminder Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Started out as a chilly morning, but finally warmed up. An OK day except for the very chilly wind that is blowing in our Thanksgiving Day storms. I picked up a few things to take to the Thanksgiving dinner with friends.

So many of the United States norms are being destroyed. Last week National Park Rangers were ‘deployed’ to the border for temporary assignments to work with border patrol agents. Park rangers, a few of whom I know, are in the parks to protect the park and visitors. For the most part they are friendly hard-working men and women who care deeply about the National Park Service mandate to protect the parks. They are NOT trained border agents and the only things they have in common is that they both wear uniforms and work for the Federal government.

Another broken norm is that the Navy SEALS are top-notch soldiers who defend our country. Like any organization there are a few bad apples. SEALS have a clear and fair process to deal with the bad apples. At no time in the history of the SEALS has the Commander-in-Chief stepped into the process to overturn the process. Trump seems to believe that as Commander-in-Chief, he can do whatever he wants. By stepping in, it leaves the door open for any future President to do the same. This is very disappointing; it changes the role of the US in the view of the world. Now, a soldier can break military law dealing with enemy combatants and be found guilty, then exonerated by the President. This opens up a can of worms regarding War Crimes and the world is watching.

I’m busy shaking my head.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

What phrase can be made using the following letters?

A B C D E F G I

Historical Events

1703 - The Great Storm - more than 8,000 people perished and the first Eddystone Lighthouse (Winstanley's lighthouse) was totally destroyed overnight.

1716 - First African lion was exhibited in America (in Boston). It was just a single lion, which supposedly later joined a "menagerie" which was basically a traveling circus of exotic animals.

1778 British explorer Captain James Cook is the first European to visit Maui in the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii)

1789 - First (unofficial) national Thanksgiving in USA recognized by the new government. The 1621 good harvest celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts was first celebrated in North America.

1825 - Kappa Alpha fraternity was founded at Union College, NY.

1832 - The first New York City streetcar ran along Bowery Street in New York, with a 12-cent fare.

1842 - The University of Notre Dame was founded.

1865 - Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carrol, was published.

1867 - The patent (#71,423) for a refrigerated railroad car was issued to J.B. Sutherland of Detroit, Michigan.

1916 Addressing the Chamber of Commerce in Cincinnati, US President Woodrow Wilson declares that 'The business of neutrality is over. The nature of modern war leaves no state untouched'

1917 - The NHL (National Hockey League) formed, consisting of four teams - Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, and the Quebec Bulldogs. The Bulldogs were replaced by the Arenas shortly thereafter.

1922 - English archaeologist Howard Carter opened King Tutankhamun's virtually intact tomb in Egypt. Over the centuries almost every mummy tomb had been found and plundered - this was possible the greatest archaeological find of that period.

1922 - The Toll of the Sea debuted as the first general release film to use two-tone Technicolor. (The Gulf Between was the first film to do so, but it was not widely distributed.)

1941 - President Franklin D Roosevelt established that the fourth Thursday in November would be Thanksgiving Day

1942 - Casablanca premiered at Hollywood Theater, in New York City. It came out in wide release January 23, 1943.

1945 - Charlie "Bird" Parker lead a record date for the Savoy label, marketed as the "greatest Jazz session ever." Recording as Charlie Parker's Reboppers, the group included Dizzie Gillespie and Miles Davis on trumpet, Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. The tracks included during this session include Ko-Ko, Billie's Bounce and Now's the Time.

1948 1st polaroid camera sold for $89.75 in Boston at the Jordan Marsh department store. The Land Camera model 95 becomes prototype for all Polaroid Land cameras for next 15 years

1950 - #1 Hit: Frankie Laine - Mule Train

1955 - #1 Hit: Tennessee Ernie - Sixteen Tons

1956 - The Price Is Right was first broadcast, on CBS, hosted by Bill Cullen and announced by Don Pardo.

1965 France launches 1st satellite, 92 lb (42 kg) A1-capsule (Astérix), named after the popular French comic character

1970 - In Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, 1.5 inches (38.1mm) of rain fell in a minute, the heaviest rainfall ever on record

1976 - The Sex Pistols released their debut single Anarchy In The UK. It came from their only album - 'Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols.'

1982 Howard Cossell calls his last fight after being disgusted by Larry Holmes-Tex Cobb mismatch

1983 - Six gunmen broke into the Brinks Mat warehouse at the Heathrow Airport making off with three tons of gold bars valued at almost 48 million dollars (at that time). In modern perspective, it is worth over $125,000,000. Most of the gold was never recovered.

1998 Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Republic of Ireland's parliament.

2003 - The Concorde made its final flight, over Bristol, England.

2005 - #1 Hit: Chris Brown - Run It!

2012 The cost of Hurricane Sandy to New York is announced to be $32 Billion

2018 General Motors announces it will close five factories in North America, cutting 14,000 jobs

2018 Third of a species begin dying (23,000) over a two day period, the spectacled flying foxes , unable to survive heatwave of 42 degrees in northern Queensland, Australia

Birthdays Today

@96 – Katharine Drexel, American nun and saint

(died in 1955)

@87 – Ellen G. White, American religious leader and author

co-founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church,

(died in 1915)

81 – Rich Little, Canadian-American Impressionist

80 – Tina Turner, American-Swiss Singer/Songwriter, dancer

and actress

@77 – Charles M. Schulz, American cartoonist,

created Peanuts

(died in 2000; colon cancer)

@75 – Bill W.

[William Griffith Wilson],

American activist, co-founded Alcoholics

(died in 1971; pneumonia)

74 – John McVie, English-American bass player

(Fleetwood Mac)

@73 – Willis Carrier, American engineer;

invented air conditioning,

 (died in 1950)

@73 – Robert Goulet, American-Canadian singer and actor

(died in 2007; idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis)

@67 – Bartholemew ‘Bat’ Masterson, Canadian/ American

police officer and journalist

(died in 1921; heart attack)

@48 – Wayland Flowers, American actor and puppeteer

(died in 1988; AIDS)

46 – Peter Facinelli, American actor, director and producer

29 – Rita Ora, Kosovan-English Singer/Songwriter and actress

Puzzle answer:

Big-faced.