May 29

 

 

 

May 29, 2021   Week: 22    Day: 149                     

Visibility: 10 miles Ave. Sky Cover: 10%

Local: H 78°\ L 41°

Wind:  0mph/ Gusts:  2mph                                                                    EXTREME Risk of Fire:  Active fire:  99mi Nearest Lightning: 341mi.

May Averages: 68°/34° (3 days w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

 

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.

Henry Ward Beecher

Humor

 

The state motto is “Live Free or Die,” which appears on license plates made by prisoners. —Jon Stewart on The Daily Show

 

Real Cities

 

Frackville, Pennsylvania is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Frackville is located near the intersection of Interstate 81 and Pennsylvania State Route 61, approximately 102 miles northwest of Philadelphia and 45 miles southwest of Wilkes-Barre. Frackville is named for Daniel Frack, an early settler.

 

True Things

 

Recurring Themes

-- Laura Rose Carroll, 50, and her daughter, Emily Rose Grover, 17, were arrested in Pensacola, Florida, on March 16 after an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found the duo had allegedly stuffed the ballot box with votes for Emily for homecoming queen last fall. Suspicions were raised when the Escambia County School District reported illegal accessing of hundreds of its students' digital accounts. Authorities said Carroll, an assistant elementary school principal, had access to the district student information system, and investigators traced unauthorized entries into the system to Carroll's cellphone and computers, where nearly 250 votes were cast. Fox News reported that investigators also said students reported being told by Grover about her mother's activity. Each of them was charged with offenses against computers and other cybercrimes, along with conspiracy. [Fox News, 3/15/2021].

 

Weekly Observations

 

National Playground Safety Week Link National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week Link	Thru 30
National African Violet Week National Backyard Games Week National Safe Boating Week World Schizophrenia Awareness Week Link	23-29
Healthy and Safe Swimming Week Link International Learn To Swim Week Link National Fragrance Week Link	24-30
Mule Days  Link  (Moved from April) Week of Solidarity With The People of Non-Self-Governing Territories:	25-31
Fleet Week (NY)	26-31
Mudbug Madness Days	28-30
Black Single Parents Week	28-6/3
National Polka Weekend Link Old-Time Player Piano Weekend Cancelled until 2022	29-31
INVICTUS GAMES Link	29-6/5

 

Today’s Observations

 

Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day (ARMAD)  Link Link  
Ascension of Baha'u'Llah
Coq Au Vin Day

International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers
International Jazz Day 

Learn About Composting Day

National Biscuit Day

National Learn To Swim Day Link
National Polka Day: Thru 30  Link 
Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day Link

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

A nice day…warm, clear sky, no wind. Great!

I get that people should clearly apologize when he/she learn they are in the wrong.  I am getting a bit concerned about the apologies that movie makers and actors are speaking to get China to show their movies. They have decided that an ‘apology’, no matter how unclear, is necessary so they can make money. Disney went out of its way to thank Chinese entities for Mulan, even though it was not filmed in China, nor did it have Chinese citizens in the movie. Now John Cena apologized to the Chinese, in Mandarin, though he never said what he was apologizing for. It is assumed it because he called Taiwan a country in the promos. One of Tom Cruise’s movies had a decal on a jacket blurred out because it could have been seen by some as a Taiwanese flag. I am so grateful that I took the Trans-Siberian trip from Moscow to Beijing before the US relations soured so much.

It is a long weekend and most of my friends are traveling somewhere…some to Phoenix, some to New Mexico, and others to California.  I’m just hangin’ out in Flagstaff to enjoy our great weather.

  

Daily Puzzle

Answer: bottom of the page

 

What would you find in the middle of Toronto?

 

Historical Events

 

1453 – Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih captured Constantinople (now Istanbul) after a 53-day siege, commonly referred to as The Fall of Constantinople.

1790 – Rhode Island was the last of the original United States’ colonies to ratify the Constitution and was admitted as the 13th US state.

1848 – Wisconsin was admitted as the 30th US state.

1913 – Igor Stravinsky’s ballet score The Rite of Spring premiered in Paris, France

1914 – Heavy fog caused a collision between cruise ship Empress of Ireland and coal freighter, the Storstad on the St. Lawrence River in Canada that killed 1,073 people, mostly tourist passengers on the Empress.

1982 – Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit Canterbury Cathedral.

1999 – Space Shuttle Discovery completed the first docking with the International Space Station.

2004 – The National World War II Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC.

2015 – One World Observatory at One World Trade Center opened.

2018 Starbucks closes more than 8,000 US stores early for racial bias training after two black men wrongly arrested in a store in April

2018 Death toll on Puerto Rico 70 times higher than official figure, likely 4,600 died from Hurricane Maria according to Harvard University study

2019 US Special Counsel Robert Mueller says charging President Donald Trump with a crime never an option as no legal means to charge a sitting president; and that his report does not exonerate the president

2019 World's smallest surviving baby, a girl, discharged from Sharp March Birch Hospital in San Diego after being born at 23 weeks weighing 8.6 ounces (245 grams)

2019 British politician Boris Johnson ordered to appear in court over claims he lied to the public during Britain's Brexit campaign

2019 Transgender no longer classified as a mental health illness by the World Health Organization

2019 Tourist boat sinks after colliding with another boat on the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary, killing 28 people

 

Birthdays Today

 

@100 – [Leslie Townes]’Bob’ Hope, English-American actor, singer, producer (d. 2003)

@71 – Tenzing Norgay, mountain climber (d. 1986)

65 – La Toya Jackson, entertainer

@63 – Patrick Henry, lawyer, politician, 1st Governor of Virginia (d. 1799; cancer)

63 – Annette Bening, American actress

49 – Laverne Cox, transgender actor

@46 – John F. Kennedy, 35^th President (d. 1963; assassinated)

46 – Mel B [Melanie Janine Brown], English singer-songwriter

 

Puzzle Answer

 

The letter “o”

 

 

May 25

 

 

 

May , 2021   Week: 22    Day: 148                           

Visibility: 10 miles Ave. Sky Cover: 30%

Local: H 74°\ L 37°

Wind: 6mph/ Gusts: 10mph EXTREME Risk of Fire:   Active fire:  374mi Nearest Lightning: 722mi.

May Averages: 68°/34° (3 days w/moisture)

 

Today’s Quote

 

Unless we remember we cannot understand.

E. M. Forster

 

Humor

 

Las Vegas: All the amenities of modern society in a habitat unfit to grow a tomato.—Jason Love

 

Real Cities

 

Boring, Oregon is an unincorporated community in Clackamas County, Oregon. It is located along Oregon Route 212 in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain range, approximately twelve miles southeast of downtown Portland, and fourteen miles northeast of Oregon City. A bedroom community. Boring is named after William Harrison Boring, a Union soldier and pioneer whose family built a farm in the area in 1856, before Oregon had received statehood.

 

True Things

 

Perspective

In March, Einstein Cafe, an upscale dessert chain with outlets across the Gulf Arab states, started a fad by selling its thick, milky drinks in plastic baby bottles, complete with nipples. The Associated Press reported the cafe was inspired by photos of trendy bottles on social media, and the idea was an instant hit. People lined up at Einstein stores, they "took photos, they had fun, they remembered their childhood," said Younes Molla, CEO of the chain, but others "were so angry they said horrible things." In Dubai, Kuwait and Bahrain, the government cracked down on the new cafe offerings, saying the bottles violate the countries' customs and traditions; in Oman, citizens were asked to report sightings of the baby bottle confections to a consumer protection hotline. [Associated Press, 3/16/2021]

 

Weekly Observations

 

National Playground Safety Week Link National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week Link	Thru 30
National African Violet Week National Backyard Games Week National Safe Boating Week World Schizophrenia Awareness Week Link	23-29
Healthy and Safe Swimming Week Link International Learn To Swim Week Link National Fragrance Week Link	24-30
Undergraduate Research Week Link	24-28
Mule Days  Link   (Moved from April) Week of Solidarity With The People of Non-Self-Governing Territories:	25-31
Fleet Week (NY)	26-31
Mudbug Madness Days	28-30
Black Single Parents Week	28-6/3

 

Today’s Observations

Amnesty International Founders Day
Ascension of Baha'U'llah
Don't Fry Friday Link
Heat Awareness Day Link   
Menstrual Hygiene Day Link
National Brisket Day Link
National Cooler Day Link
National Hamburger Day Link

National Polka Day: Thru 30  Link 
National Road Trip Day Link
National Title Track Day

National Wig Out Day
Sierra Club Day Link
Slugs Return From Capistrano Day

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

 

Nice warm day, no wind, lots of sunshine. Great!

I did some weekly shopping at Sam’s Club. I was going to get gas…$2.95/gal…but the wait was very long. I saw a friend from Tuba at Sam’s. I would have missed her, due to her mask, but she recognized me. They had queen size pillows on sale, so I got some new ones. I am really rough on pillows.

I watched the BBC news on PBS last night. They reported that there have been 230 mass shootings in the US since Jan. 1^st. Yesterday was only day 147. Congress doesn’t seem to be able to do anything, our citizens don’t seem to be able to do anything. So disappointing.

Brian Sicknick’s mother wants to meet with GOP Senators before the vote on the commission. Only 6of the 50 agreed to meet with her. Several more had her meet with their staff. Thirteen refused her invitation outright. Her son died following the attack on the Capitol. It seems strange to me that listening to her is impossible because of their schedules.

Lenny and Eleanor, my brother’s half-brother and his wife, made it back to Fort Collins. After visiting Flagstaff, they stopped at Winslow to see the statue of Standing on the Corner, then went to visit friends in Santa Fe, then back home. Very cool.

 

Daily Puzzle

Answer: bottom of the page

 

If you drop me, I’m sure to crack, but give me a smile and I’ll always smile back. What am I?

 

Historical Events

 

585 BC – A solar eclipse occurred, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales. Knowing this exact date helped historians find other exact and near-exact historical dates.

1892 – In San Francisco, California, John Muir organized the Sierra Club.

1897 – Jell-o was introduced.

1902 – Owen Wister’s The Virginian was published by Macmillan Press. The book made the American Cowboy an icon.

1928 – The Dodge Brothers, Inc. and the Chrysler Corporation merged.

1935 – John Steinbeck’s first successful novel, Tortilla Flat, was published.

1937 – Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH, later renamed Volkswagenwerk, or Volkswagon was founded.

1937 – The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco was officially opened to vehicles

1964 – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed.

1987 – Matthias Rust, a 19-year-old amateur pilot from West Germany, took off from Helsinki, Finland, in his Cessna, and landed in Red Square, the heart of the Soviet Union.

1998 – Former Saturday Night Live actor and comedian Phil Hartman was shot and killed by his wife Brynn, in a murder/suicide.

1999 – In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece The Last Supper was put back on display. It is bigger than most people think – it is life-size, almost 29 feet wide.

2002 – The last steel girder was removed from the original World Trade Center site, officially ending the cleanup with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.

2008 The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.

2016 Harambe, a gorilla at Cincinnati Zoo, is shot after dragging a 3 year old boy who had slipped into its enclosure (Cincinnati, Ohio)

2018 Coco-Cola launches its first alcoholic drink - Lemon-Do on island of Kyushu, Japan

2020 Minnesota Governor Tim Walz declares State of Emergency in Minneapolis and activates the Minnesota National Guard after protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody

 

Birthdays Today

 

77 – Gladys Knight, singer

77 – Rudy Giuliani, lawyer, politician

@65 – Jim Thorpe [(Sac and Fox (Sauk): Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as "Bright Path"], Olympic decathlete, football player, coach (d. 1953; heart failure)

@56 – Ian Fleming, English journalist,author (d. 1964; heart attack)

50 – Marco Rubio, politician

44 – Elisabeth Hasselbeck, American talk show host, author

43 – Jake Johnson, American actor

38 – Roman Atwood, American YouTuber

@20 – Cameron Boyce, American actor (d. 2019, seizure)

 

Puzzle Answer

 

A mirror