Feb 14

 

Happy Valentines Day

Feb  14, 2021  Week: 7  Day: 45	Local:  H 45°\ L 24°\Ave. Sky Cover: 80%
Wind:   7mph\Gusts:  16mph	Very Low  Risk of Fire:  Active fire:  1013mi
Nearest lightning: 746 mi.	Record: 66°[2015] Record:-15°[1949]
Visibility:  10mi	Feb. Averages: 47°/19° (5 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

Love cures people - both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.

~Karl A. Menninger

Random Tidbits

Nothing is reliably known of St. Valentine except his name and the fact that he died on February 14 in Rome. His story, though, has become the paradigm for the tradition of courtly love.

There are several legends behind Saint Valentine. One is that in the 1st century AD it is said that Valentine, who was a priest, defied the order of the emperor Claudius and secretly married couples so that the husbands wouldn't have to go to war. Soldiers were sparse at this time so this was a big inconvenience to the emperor.

A Little Humor

Q What does a lawyer wear to work? A lawsuit!

Q Why did the pickle stop being a contortionist? It was to cucumbersome

Presidential Trivia

Rutherford B. Hayes started the annual Easter Egg Roll.

Hayes had a presidency full of "firsts," including the first White House Easter Egg Roll in 1878. He had reportedly been taking a walk when a group of children approached him and asked about the possibility of an Easter egg roll, on the South Lawn of the White House. Hayes liked the idea, and it continues to be a tradition today.

James Garfield was a southpaw.

Though his presidency only lasted 81 days, Garfield sticks out in many people's minds for being the first left-handed president. Apparently, he was also the first ambidextrous president.

Chester Arthur enjoyed a rather luxurious lifestyle.

While it may not seem like a lot for a president today, Arthur owned 80 pairs of pants, which was quite the extravagance for the time period. Other luxuries he enjoyed included: a personal valet, a White House decorated by renowned artist Louis Comfort Tiffany, and fresh flowers placed in front of his deceased wife's portrait daily.

Weekly Observations

Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week Link Have A Heart for A Chained Dog Week  Link National Marriage Week  Link  Link Risk Awareness Week	7-14
Love Makes the World Go Round; but, Laughter       Keeps Us From Getting Dizzy Week Love A Mench Week Random Acts of Kindness Week Link	8-14
Date (Fruit) Week Great Backyard Bird Count Link	12-21
World Irish Dancing Week National Entrepreneurship Week Link	13-20
Children of Alcoholics Week  Link  International Flirting Week   Jell-O Week   Love a Mensch Week   National Secondhand Wardrobe Week: 14-20  Through With The Chew   Link	14-20
National Condom Week National Nestbox Week NCCDP Alzheimer's & Dementia Staff Education Week	14-21

 

Today’s Observations

Shrovetide: 14-16 

Autism Sunday Link 
Ferris Wheel Day

Frederick Douglass Day  Link

International Book Giving Day Link

League of Women Voters Day

Library Lovers Day

National Have A Heart Day
National (Organ)Donor Day
National Cream-Filled Chocolates Day

National Organ Donor Day

National Women's Heart Day Link
Pet Theft Awareness Day  Link
Quirky Alone Day Link
Race Relations Day
Read to Your Child Day

Shrovetide: 14-16 

Saint Valentine's Day

(World) Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day Link
World Marriage Day  Link
World Sound Healing Day Link

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Great News for me: My appointment was at 11:00-11:30 this morning in a county park parking lot. I got there at 10:40 and was ushered into a parking space by some military guys. Several people came to my window to check my appointment card and to verify my information. The nurse showed up at 11:10 to give me my shot. She stuck a post-it on my outside rearview mirror that said: 10:25. I thanked everyone of them for working as it was windy and chilly. I drove out at 10:26 and was home in 10 minutes. It was so organized. Now to get the appointment for shot #2 by email. A quick and very efficient experience.

Snow started at 1:30 and coming down hard. It was predicted to begin at 3pm or later. Hopefully about 3” and hope it is wet. There is also thunder.

On Thursday evening about 8pm there was a helicopter near my place flying near Mt. Elden, the nearest mountain to my place. It was a rescue for a guy who had fallen. Today I found out the rest of the story. The guy had a severe broken ankle and could not walk down. The rescue team was dropped into him with blankets, sleeping bags, water, and pain meds. Everybody spent the night. In the morning it was too windy for a helicopter, so they had to carry him down the mountain. He will be OK but is in the hospital for ankle surgery. We have a great volunteer search and rescue team here at 7000’.

The trial had a couple of hours of private discussion about witnesses but worked it out and the closing arguments continue with, so far, no big hiccups. Vote taken and will stand: 57 Guilty; 43 Not guilty. He is acquitted. I hope our country can move on.

Daily Puzzle

Answer: bottom of the page

First I am dried, then I am wet. The longer I swim, the more taste you get. What am I?

Historical Events

278 – Valentine, a priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, was beheaded for performing (illegal at the time) marriage ceremonies.

1779 – Captain James Cook, the great English explorer, and surveyor in the Royal Navy, was murdered by natives of Hawaii during his third visit to the Pacific island group.

1822 – The patent (#X003456) was issued for the first practical grass mowing machine to Jeremiah Bailey of Chester county, Pennsylvania.

1876 – Both Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray applied for a telephone patent. Alexander’s was later approved.

1903 – The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (it was later split into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor).

1912 – Arizona was admitted as the 48th state of the United States.

1920 – The League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago.

1929 – Sir Alexander Fleming left a plate of staphylococcus bacteria uncovered, and noticed the mold had killed much of the bacteria. He identified the mold as penicillium notatum and shortened the name to Penicillin.

1932 – The US team won the first bobsled competition at the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid, NY.

1938 – Former silent film actress Hedda Hopper began her gossip column in The Los Angeles Times.

1949- The Knesset (parliament of Israel) convened for the first time.

1961 – Element 103, Lawrencium, was first synthesized at the University of California.

1962 – First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy gave a tour of the White House on CBS television.

1989 – Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. It was rescinded in 1998.

1989 – Union Carbide agreed to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal disaster.

2000 – NEAR Shoemaker became the first spacecraft to orbit around an asteroid, 433 Eros

2002 – The final Family Guy episode aired after Fox announced its cancellation. It came back after DVD sales indicated a huge audience for the show.

2018 South African President Jacob Zuma resigns from office

2019 JP Morgan is the first bank to create its own crypto-currency JPM Coin

2020 More than 800,000 people displaced from their homes in north-western Syria amid assault by Syrian pro-government forces on last rebel stronghold

Birthdays Today

@80 – Jack Benny, American comedic actor (d. 1974)

79 – Michael Bloomberg, American businessman, politician

77 – Carl Bernstein, American journalist, author

@77 – Frederick Douglas [Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey], former slave (d. 1895; heart attack)

@76 – Margaret E. Knight, "the most famous 19th-century woman inventor" (d. 1914)

70 – Terry Gross, American radio host

@60 – John Barrymore [John Sidney Blyth], actor (d. 1942; cirrhosis)

@57 – Gregory Hines, American actor, singer, dancer (d. 2003; liver cancer)

@53 – Vic Morrow, American actor (d. 1982; while filming)

51 – Simon Pegg, English actor, director, producer

@37 – George Ferris, American engineer and inventor, created the Ferris Wheel (d. 1896; typhoid)

29 – Freddie Highmore, Actor

@28 – Tim Buckley, American singer-songwriter, guitarist (d. 1975; OD)

Puzzle Answer

Tea 

 

Feb 13

 

 

Feb  13, 2021  Week: 6  Day: 44	Local:  H 51°\ L 37°\Ave. Sky Cover: 10%
Wind:   9mph\Gusts:  19mph	Very Low Risk of Fire:  Active fire:  90mi
Nearest lightning:  1042mi.	Record: 68°[1977] Record:-18°[1905]
Visibility:  10mi	Feb. Averages: 47°/19° (5 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

Love has no age, no limit; and no death.

~ John Galsworthy

Love isn't something you find. Love is something that finds you.

~Loretta Young

Random Tidbits

Stat
When you spill something and yell, "I need some paper towels, stat!", you're speaking Latin, and you may not even realize it! "Stat" is short for statim, the Latin word for "immediately."

A Little Humor

Q Why was the invisible man sad?

His girlfriend couldn't see him anymore.

.....

My friend keeps saying-cheer up man it could be worse-you could be stuck underground in a hole full of water. I know he means well

Presidential Trivia

Abraham Lincoln created the Secret Service only a few hours before his death.

The story of Abraham Lincoln's assassination is well known. But few people are aware that several hours before his death, Lincoln signed legislation to create the Secret Service, which is now responsible for protecting the president's life. However, it probably wouldn't have helped Lincoln: the original purpose wasn't to protect the president, but rather to investigate counterfeit money.

Andrew Johnson escaped indentured servitude as a child.

Though many presidents came from elite, well-educated backgrounds, Andrew Johnson did not. His mother sent him to work as an indentured servant when he was a child, though he and his brother later escaped. He never had a formal education, but his wife, Eliza, helped him learn to read and write.

Ulysses S. Grant was not his real name.

The 18th president's birth name was Hiram Ulysses Grant, but due to a mistake made on his West Point application, he became Ulysses S. Grant. His middle initial doesn't stand for anything and in a letter to his wife he joked," Find some name beginning with 'S' for me."

Weekly Observations

Burn Awareness Week  Link   Children's Authors & Illustrators Week	7-13
Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week Link Have A Heart for A Chained Dog Week  Link National Marriage Week  Link  Link Risk Awareness Week	7-14
Freelance Writer Appreciation Week	8-13
Love Makes the World Go Round; but, Laughter       Keeps Us From Getting Dizzy Week Love A Mench Week Random Acts of Kindness Week Link	8-14
Date (Fruit) Week Great Backyard Bird Count Link	12-21
World Irish Dancing Week National Entrepreneurship Week Link	13-20

 

Today’s Observations

Desperation Day Link
Dream Your Sweet Day

Employee Legal Awareness Day
Galentine's Day  Link
Get a Different Name Day

International Condom Day Link
Madly In Love With Me Day
National Break Up With Your Carrier Day Link
National Cheddar Day Link
National Italian Food Day

National Tortellini Day

National Wingman's Day
Self-Love Day
World Radio Day Link

World Whale Day

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

A warm, nice day. A storm is expected tonight or tomorrow or Sunday, depending on the forecast one reads. While I was out shopping for the week, I decided to wash the road dirt off my vehicle. That should help guarantee some moisture this weekend.

Before the impeachment started, I heard a great interview on NPR with the Secretary of Homeland Security. Fox and others have been claiming that Biden opened the border to all who want to cross and that there has been no Covid testing of these illegals. I am not surprised that this is not the case. While Biden did stop the holding of illegals on the Mexican side, any entering must be Covid tested, and meet the qualifications for asylum. The asylum seekers are the only ones who are being allowed in, and they still must go through normal asylum procedures. He pointed out that the Trump administration had changed the asylum requirements and that his office must write more humane criteria.  Sounds good to me.

Today the Trump team seems to suggest that a word has one, and only one, definition and does not change due to context.  If they are correct and they win, discussions throughout America will certainly change. Athletic cheerleaders and crowds will no longer be yelling ‘Fight, Fight, Fight’ for their team. It could insight violence. One who is going to ‘run’ for office will be incorrect unless they are running in a foot race of some kind. Their argument is very weak.

Daily Puzzle

Answer: bottom of the page

Which three letters can frighten a thief away?

Historical Events

1633 – Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome to face charges of heresy by the Catholic Church for advocating Copernican theory, which held that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

1689 – William and Mary were proclaimed co-rulers of England.

1741 – The first magazine was published in America – The American Magazine.

1866 – Jesse James committed the first daylight armed bank robbery in the United States during peacetime, at the Clay County Savings Association in the town of Liberty, Missouri.

1895 – Oscar Wilde’s final play, The Importance of Being Earnest, opened at the St. James’ Theatre in London.

1906 -The patent (#812,554) was issued to Alfred Einhorn for his synthesis of procaine, which was given the tradename of Novocain.

1914 -The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP ) was established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

1937 – Prince Valiant, Comic Strip began.

1946 – The world’s first electronic digital computer, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) was first demonstrated at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert.

1965 – Sixteen-year-old Peggy Fleming won the ladies’ senior figure skating title at Lake Placid, NY.

1967 – CBS’s As The World Turns was the first Soap Opera to broadcast in color.

2000 – Two days after Charles M Schulz died, February 11, the last original Peanuts comic strip was printed in newspapers.

2002 – Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.

2004 – Astronomer Travis Metcalfe of the Harvard – Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics believed he discovered the largest diamond in the known universe at the center of the white dwarf star, BPM 37093. Observations claim that the core of the star is a diamond crystal 4000 km in diameter.

2017 US President Donald Trump accepts the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn over his dealings with Russia.

2018 South Africa declares a three-year drought a National Disaster, though pushes Cap Town's "Day Zero" to June 4

2018 Israeli Police report recommends Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be prosecuted on bribery, fraud, and breach-of-trust charges.

2020 January 2020 was the hottest January in recorded history according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

2020 Scientists overturn current thought about how planets form - not by violent collision but gentle clumping, through study of Arrokoth in Kepler belt, published in "Science".

Birthdays Today

@97 – Bess Truman, American wife of US President Harry S Truman (d. 1982)

@97 – Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier (d. 2020)

88 – Kim Novak, American actress

87 – George Segal, American actor

80 – Bo Svenson, Swedish-American actor

@77 – Peter Tork, singer-songwriter, bass player, actor (d. 2019; rare carcinoma)

77 – Stockard Channing, American actress

77 – Jerry Springer, English-American television host

@72 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer and actor (d. 1991; liver failure)

71 – Peter Gabriel, English singer-songwriter and musician

@50 – Grant Wood, American painter (d. 1942; pancreatic cancer)

24 – Prince Jackson, son of Michael.

Puzzle Answer

ICU