Apr 28

 

 

 

Apr 28, 2021   Week: 18    Day: 118       

Visibility: 10 miles

Ave. Sky Cover: 25%

Local: H 54°\ L 30°

Nearest Lightning: 21mi.             

Wind:  6mph/ Gusts:  13mph

Low Risk of Fire:  Active fire:  346mi

Record: 92°[1990]  Record: 25°[1947] 

Apr. Averages: 60°/27° (3 days w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

 

Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.

~Napoleon Bonaparte

 

Random Tidbits

 

Up until 2006, the tallest known tree in the world was a 369-foot California redwood nicknamed 'Stratosphere Giant', located in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park in California. To give you some idea about its massive size, that's twice the height of the Statue of Liberty, minus the foundation.

 

Humor

 

What I remember most about my dad’s jokes is my mother’s reaction. While everyone else was howling at one of his punch lines, my mom would always respond, “Bernard, no one thinks you’re funny.”

 

Real Cities

 

Volcano, Hawaii: a census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States located in the District of Puna with a small portion of the CDP in the District of Kaʻū. The population was 2,575 at the 2010 census

 

True Things

 

Job of a Researcher

Scientists studying ticks at A.T. Still University in Kirksville, Missouri, have enlisted the help of the Missouri Department of Conservation in asking the public to refrain from killing any ticks they pick off themselves and mail them to the university instead. Conservation department spokesman Francis Skalicky told KY3-TV that, while 14 species of ticks live in Missouri, "we're trying to find out ... the prevalence of species and more information on the diseases they are carrying." He asks people to put ticks in a zip-close bag with a damp paper towel before sending them in for study. [KY3-TV, 4/2/2021]

 

Weekly Observations

 

Ramadan

Thru 5/11

International Wildlife Film Week Link

17- 5/15  

Festival of Ridvan

20-5/1

National Scoop The Poop Week
World Immunization Week

24-30

Fibroid Awareness Week

Preservation Week  Link (re: Libraries)

25-5/1  

National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW) Link

Stewardship Week

25-5/2 

National Playground Safety Week Link
National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week 
Link

26-30  

 

Today’s Observations

 

Biological Clock Day
Blueberry Pie Day

Denim Day  Link
Great Poetry Reading Day

International Astronomy Day

International Guide Dogs Day Link 
International Noise Awareness Day  
Link 
Kiss Your Mate Day 

National Blueberry Pie Day

National Brave Hearts Day  Link
National Superhero Day  
Link
Occupational Safety & Health Day 
Link
Superhero Day

Workers Memorial Day
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
 Link

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

Gotta love life at 7000’. I woke up this morning…at the end of April…to light snowfall. It didn’t stick but gave a nice watering for the forest. By 9am it had stopped, and the sun had broken through the clouds.

Since it was snowing, I decided to update my iPhone, knowing it was a big update. I started the upgrade at 8am and it didn’t completely finish until 10:15am. I’m not sure if it was the snow or what it was that made the download so darn slow.

I have learned over the past few years that politicians feel an unrelenting desire to babble verbally about their party ideas. It has always, in my memory, the desire to bolster, but this has reached unbearable heights. Yesterday a CNN contributor, Rick Santorum, made a speech to young Republicans. In that speech he declared that before the Europeans arrived, this land we call the Untied States was a ‘blank slate’. Besides being untrue, insulting, and perpetrating an Anglo-centric discussion that has been proven to be false for a long time, he showed his ignorance of US history.

I fully understand that the job a CEO is difficult, and a good CEO deserves to be paid more than the average workers under his authority. Since my youth, much of the middle class has disappeared. Back during the Reagan years, it was common for CEO’s to make quadruple what the average worker in their company made. The gap has increased exponentially since those days.  In 2020, during the worst pandemic in over a century, the average worker made $50K/year while the average CEO made $23million. That is 238:1 in America’s largest companies. In order for those companies to make money for their stockholders, 20+% of their workers were laid off by the CEO. While some of those CEO’s took a pay-cut during the pandemic, they were given stock options to make up the loss of salary. As we know, much of the stock market made huge gains during the pandemic. If the companies won’t regulate these ridiculous compensations, something has to change very soon.

One of our Focus Family has been moved to hospice. Marty was diagnosed a few months ago with cancer. I did several trips with her and her husband Duane. She took so many notes on each trip. She took so many pictures on each trip. When the adventure had ended, Marty took all her notes and pictures and turned them into amazing hard bound books. She made an extra effort to make the books affordable for anyone on the trip. I hope Duane and Marty and their family find some peace in this very difficult time.

 

Daily Puzzle

Answer: bottom of the page

 

78. What do an island and the letter “t” have in common?

 

Historical Events

 

1789 – The HMS Bounty was taken over in a mutiny led by Fletcher Christian, the first mate. Captain William Bligh and 18 of his loyal supporters were set adrift in a small boat.

1919 – The first jump with the Army manually operated (jump first, then pull the chute) army parachute was made by Leslie LeRoy Irvin in Dayton, Ohio.

1923 – Wembley Stadium opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium.

1953 – The US Patent (#2,636,176) was issued for an ‘overcoat for two people’ to Howard C. Rossin.

1965 – My Name Is Barbra, Barbra Streisand’s first TV special, aired on CBS.

1967 – World boxing champion Muhammad Ali (Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.) refused to be inducted into the US Army and was immediately stripped of his heavyweight title.

1973 – The Dark Side of the Moon, by Pink Floyd, recorded in Abbey Road Studios reached number one on the US Billboard chart

1988 – Over Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle “C.B.” Lansing was blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and fell to her death when part of the plane’s fuselage ripped open in mid-flight.

2001 – Millionaire Dennis Tito became the world’s first space tourist.

2004 Shrek the sheep from Tarras, Central Otago, New Zealand, is finally shorn live on TV after 6 years avoidance; the fleece weighed 27 kg (60 lb)

2005 The Patent Law Treaty goes into effect.

2018 World's largest child sacrifice, 140 remains uncovered by archaeologists near Trujillo, Peru, dating back 550 years to Chimú civilisation

2019 Largest demonstrations since 2014 in Hong Kong over plans to change law to send suspects to mainland China for trial

2020 US confirmed cases of COVID-19 pass 1 million, while death toll of 58,365 surpasses that of US soldiers killed in Vietnam War (Johns Hopkins)

2020 Argentina bans all commercial domestic and international flights until September 1 because of COVID-19

 

Birthdays Today

 

@89 – Harper Lee, American novelist (d. 2016)

81 – Ann-Margret, Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer

@76 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor (d. 1954; heart attack)

@73 – James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, 5th President (d.1831; TB)

71 – Jay Leno, American comedian and talk show host

@69 – Saddam Hussein [Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti], Iraqi general, 5th President of Iraq (d. 2006; hanged)

@66 – Oskar Schindler, German industrialist, humanitarian (d. 1974)

47 – Penélope Cruz, Spanish actress

40 – Jessica Alba, American actress

Puzzle Answer

 

They are both in the middle of water

 

 

Apr 27

 

 

 

Apr 27 2021   Week: 18    Day: 117                        

Visibility: 10 miles

Ave. Sky Cover: 35%

Local: H 54°\ L 28°

Nearest Lightning: 1053mi.        

Wind:  7mph/ Gusts:  25mph

Moderate Risk of Fire:  Active fire:  130mi

Record: 91°[1962]  Record: 26°[1963] 

Apr. Averages: 60°/27° (3 days w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

 

Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.

~George Halas

 

Random Tidbits

 

According to the Outer Space Treaty, the moon is under the same jurisdiction as international waters. The treaty also says the moon can be used for peaceful purposes by all nations, and it prohibits weapons of mass destruction or military bases of any kind on the moon.

 

Humor

 

I loved the dress that I bought at a flea market. It fit perfectly, and the skirt was a swirl of intricate pleats. I wore it confidently to an evening party and glowed when a woman exclaimed, “Oh, how stunning!” Yes, I was grinning from ear to ear, until she added cheerfully, “Hang on to it, honey. Pleats will come back someday.”

 

Real Cities

 

Hopeulikit, Georgia: Pronounced "Hope you like it", the community’s unusual name stems from a 1920s-era dance hall located at the junction of U.S. Route 80 and U.S. Route 25, where the current-day community is located

True Things

 

All in the Family

At a wedding in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province in China on March 31, the groom's mother noticed a birthmark on the bride's hand that was similar to one belonging to her long-lost daughter. When asked, the bride's parents admitted they had found her as a baby by the side of the road and taken her to live with them as their own -- a secret they had never told. The Daily Star reported that upon hearing of the connection, the bride burst into tears, saying the moment was "happier than the wedding day itself." Bonus: The groom was also adopted, so their marriage could proceed as planned. [Daily Star, 4/5/2021]

 

Weekly Observations

 

Ramadan

Thru 5/11

International Wildlife Film Week Link

17- 5/15  

Festival of Ridvan

20-5/1

National Scoop The Poop Week
World Immunization Week

24-30

Fibroid Awareness Week

Preservation Week  Link (re: Libraries)

25-5/1  

National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW) Link

Stewardship Week

25-5/2 

National Playground Safety Week Link
National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week 
Link

26-30  

 

Today’s Observations

 

Babe Ruth Day

Freedom Day [South Africa]

Internal Medicine Research Day  Link
Little Pampered Dog Day

Matanzas Mule Day
Morse Code Day

National Devil Dog Cakes Day  Link
National Little Pampered Dog Day  
Link  Link
National Prime Rib Day

National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day:  27 Link
Tell a Story Day

World Tapir Day Link

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

Wind. Big wind. Wind. Weather guy says it is blowing in a rain/snowstorm. Hmmm.

Spring always brings wind. Today the HOA grounds crew decided to clean up the ‘commons area.’ There is a small run-off ditch across part of the area. They came with a truck and a high-walled trailer to pick up the stuff they found. Probably due to the wind, the truck driver decided to drive the truck and trailer onto the commons area. After putting lots of pine needles in the trailer he realized he couldn’t back out the way he came because vehicles had parked where he drove in. He drove the truck across the dry ditch, only to get stuck. It took them a good 20 minutes to put rocks in the ditch so they could get through.  Not sure if it was the wind or the time lost getting the trailer out, but they only did one side of the complex before leaving. I’m sure they will finish tomorrow, if it isn’t as windy.

I didn’t watch the Academy Awards last night. I haven’t seen any movies in a theater in over a year, so I didn’t really know any of the movies up for the awards. I am DVRing the 50th Anniversary of Sesame Street. It is 2 hours and I’m sure will have lots of commercials.

Tonight is a Pink Super Moon. I’ll be out there checking it out if these clouds let me.

Being in the middle of a National Forest, Flagstaff tries its best to be prepared for wildfires. The drought makes them super vigilant. Yesterday afternoon a fire broke out and the several Fire Departments called out had it contained to less than an acre. No word on how it started yet, but I know the answer will be coming. So good to know we have such dedicated people here in Flagstaff.

 

Daily Puzzle

Answer: bottom of the page

 

76. Which word logically comes next in this sequence? Spots, tops, pots, opts…

 

Historical Events

 

4977 BC – The Universe was created, according to Johannes Kepler.

1667 – Blind writer John Milton sold his copyright to Paradise Lost for 10 pounds. He needed the money because he was penniless at the time.

1865 – SS Sultana explosion, Mississippi River, near Memphis, Tennessee, killing 1800 people.

1871 -The American Museum of Natural History opened in New York City.

1936 – The United Auto Workers (UAW) gained autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.

1956 – Rocky Marciano retired as world heavyweight boxing champion.

1967 – Expo 67 officially opened in Montreal, Canada

1970 – The discovery of Hahnium (Ha), element 105, or Dubnium (Db) was announced at the American Physical Society meeting in Washington, DC. The work was done by Albert Ghiorso at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, California.

1992 – Betty Boothroyd became the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history.

2014 – Popes John XXIII and John Paul II were declared saints by the Catholic Church.

2018 Historic Korean summit, the North's Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in of South Korea agree to officially end Korean war and rid peninsula of nuclear weapons

2018 Mass protests across Spain after 5 men convicted of sexual abuse but not rape of teenage girl during Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona

2019 Pope Francis donates $500,000 for migrants stranded in Mexico trying to reach the US

2020 Global confirmed cases of COVID-19 pass 3 million with the death toll at 205,000. US has 1/3 of all new cases.

 

Birthdays Today

 

@94 – Walter Lantz, American animator and producer (d. 1994)

@90 – Jack Klugman, American actor (d. 2012)

@80 – Samuel Morse, American painter, inventor, co-invented the Morse code (died in 1872)

@78 – Coretta Scott King, African-American activist and author (died in 2006)

70 – Ace Frehley, American guitarist and songwriter. Space/Ace, The Spaceman

@63 – Ulysses S. Grant, American general, 18th President (d, 1885; throat cancer)

62 – Sheena Easton, Scottish-American singer-songwriter

@54 – Sandy Dennis, American actress (d. 1992; uterine cancer)

@41 – Wallace Carothers, American chemist, inventor of nylon (d. 1937; suicide)

@38 – Mary Wollstonecraft, English philosopher, historian, novelist (d. 1797; sepsis)

 

Puzzle Answer

 

Stop. All the words are anagrams of each other.

 

 

Apr 26

 

 

 

Apr 26 2021   Week: 18    Day:  116       

Visibility: 10 miles

Ave. Sky Cover:  5%

Local: H 67°\ L36 °

Nearest Lightning: 1585mi.        

Wind:  8mph/ Gusts:  20mph

EXTREME Risk of Fire:  Active fire:  233mi

Record: 90°[1990]  Record: 24°[1972] 

Apr. Averages: 60°/27° (3 days w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

 

We must not allow other people's limited perceptions to define us.

~Virginia Satir

Random Tidbits

 

The six Apollo crews came back to Earth with a total of 850 pounds (385 kg) of the moon.

Moon dust is said to smell like spent gunpowder.

Humor

 

Dad always bragged about the gunners on his ship. Once during target practice, an unmanned drone flew past an antiaircraft cruiser. The cruiser opened up, shells furiously flying all around the drone but not hitting it. Then came Dad’s ship’s turn. The gunners’ very first shot sent the drone into the water! Forty years later, Dad met the man responsible, and he told him how impressed he had been. “Yeah, I got in a lot of trouble for that,” the gunner said. “Turns out we were supposed to shoot around it, not hit it.”

 

Real Cities

 

Sopchoppy, Florida: a city in Wakulla County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tallahassee, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 457 at the 2010 census. As of 2018, the population was estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau to be 482.

 

True Things

 

The Passing Parade

Authorities in Sri Lanka arrested Caroline Jurie, the reigning Mrs. World, after she snatched the crown from the head of Pushpika De Silva as she was crowned Mrs. Sri Lanka on national television on April 4, allegedly injuring her. Jurie, the 2019 Mrs. Sri Lanka, claimed De Silva was a divorced woman, which made her ineligible to win the pageant, but organizers confirmed De Silva is only separated, and she has been re-crowned. The new queen reported on Facebook that she went to the hospital to be treated for head injuries after the incident, and police spokesman Ajith Rohana told the BBC Jurie was charged with "simple hurt and criminal cause." Pageant director Chandimal Jayasinghe said, "It was a disgrace how Caroline Jurie behaved on the stage." [BBC, 4/8/2021]

 

Weekly Observations

 

Ramadan

Thru 5/11

International Wildlife Film Week Link

17- 5/15  

Festival of Ridvan

20-5/1

National Stationery Week Link 

20-26  

National Scoop The Poop Week
World Immunization Week

24-30

Fibroid Awareness Week

Preservation Week  Link (re: Libraries)

25-5/1  

National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW) Link

Stewardship Week

25-5/2 

National Playground Safety Week Link
National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week 
Link

26-30  

 

Today’s Observations

 

Alien Day  Link
Audubon Day 
Link
Hug an Australian Day

International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day
Lesbian Visibility Day  
Link
National Dissertation Day  
Link
National Help A Horse Day
National Kids and Pets Day 
Link  Link
National Pretzel Day Link
Pretzel Day 
Link
Richter Scale Day

World Intellectual Property Day Link

World Pinhole Photography Day

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

Lots of wind today, meaning a pile of pine needles everywhere. Too windy to take even a short walk. It is a Red Flag Warning day.

Back in the late ‘80’s the BIA decided that every school must have accreditation. Tuba had been accredited since 1979. I was selected to be on the accreditation committee Chair for Hunters Point Boarding School, a K-8 boarding school about 10 miles from Window Rock, the Navajo Nation capital. It was a small, nice school that had worked very hard to get accredited. They passed and a year later I went to the National Meeting of NCA to nominate the school. Flash forward to 2021. Hunters Point is the school Dr. Jill Biden visited on her visit to the Navajo Nation. Very cool.

As an English/Language Arts teacher, I was responsible for the Tuba City Spelling Bee. We had a local bee, then a city bee…against the public school, and then the winner went to the Coconino County Bee. Years later the Navajo Nation was able to get a seat at the National Spelling Bee. Many do not realize that Bee, along with the state and county bees, is a commercial enterprise run by Scripts/Howard Newspapers. In order to keep the ‘National’ in their title they had to admit the Navajo Nation, even though no Scripts/Howard Newspaper were available on the Navajo Nation. Now they have changed their rules to avoid having multiple champions. Participants will now have to answer vocabulary questions during the final rounds. Before this change, they only did this on the preliminary written test. They have also added a lightning round if there is a tie. Interesting for sure.

On the pandemic front: 39% of adult AZ residents have received at least one vaccine and 27% are fully vaccinated. All my AZ friends and I are in the 27%.  Gotta get that number to increase a lot.

 

Daily Puzzle

Answer: bottom of the page

 

How far can a squirrel run into the woods?

 

Historical Events

 

1278 – Imprisoned for murder, John le F*cker sent a letter asking for bail, the earliest recorded instance of the English swear word “f*ck”.

1564 – Playwright William Shakespeare was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. People were traditionally baptized three days after birth, this is how we know his birthday was April 23.

1882 – A perpetual motion machine was Patented (#257,103) by John Sutliff. It didn’t really work.

1921 – The first US broadcast of the weather was made from St. Louis, Missouri, over station WEW. Or so legend has it. There were few rules in the earliest days of radio, so another station may have made a weather announcement. It was about 55 degrees.

1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, was established.

1978 – Ringo Starr’s Ringo a musical version of The Prince and the Pauper, aired on NBC, with George Harrison narrating.

1986 – Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster, Ukraine, sending a radioactive cloud over much of Europe. It was announced two days later.

2010 – Boobquake was envisioned by Jennifer McCreight. An estimated 200,000 people participated worldwide, and the epicenter was considered the Purdue Bell Tower in West Lafayette, Indiana.

2012 Indonesia suspends imports of American beef after a confirmed case of mad cow disease in California

2019 "No religion" tops survey of American religious identity for the first time at 23.1% edging out Catholics 23.0% and evangelicals 22.5%, in long-running General Social Survey

2019 Waorani people of Pastaza win landmark environmental case against the Ecuadorian government to protect half a million acres of their territory in the Amazon rainforest

 

Birthdays Today

 

@93 – Rudolf Hess, Egyptian-German politician, Nazi (d. 1987; suicide by hanging)

88 – Carol Burnett, American actress, singer, producer

@85 – Charles Richter, American inventor, seismologist (died in 1985)

83 – Duane Eddy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor

79 – Bobby Rydell, American singer and actor

58 – Jet Li, Chinese-Singaporean martial artist and actor

56 – Kevin James, American comedic actor

51 – Melania Trump, Slovene-American model; 45th First Lady

46 – Joey Jordison, Drummer [Slipknot]

44 – Tom Welling, American actor

41 – Channing Tatum, American actor

 

Puzzle Answer

 

Halfway. After that, he is running back out of the woods.

 

 

Followers

Total Pageviews

Blog Archive

About Me

My photo
Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.