May 23, 2016

May 24

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
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5.24.16 Week: 21 \ Day: 145
May Averages: 68°\34°
86004 Today: H 69° \ L 39° Average Sky Cover: 5% 
Wind ave:   10mph\Gusts:  30mph Visibility: 10 mi
Record High: 83°[1983]   Record Low: 23°[1909]
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Quote of the Day
There is no substitute for hard work. ~Thomas A. Edison
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Observances Today                           
Brother's Day
International Tiara Day
Morse Code Day 

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Observances This Week
21-27
National Safe Boating Week 
22-28
Hurricane Preparedness Week Link
23-29
Healthy and Safe Swimming Week  Link
23-30
National Backyard Games Week 
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US Historical Highlights for Today
1830 "Mary Had A Little Lamb" by Sarah Josepha Hale is first published by Boston firm Marsh, Capen & Lyon
1844 Samuel Morse taps out "What hath God wrought" (1st telegraph message)
1883 Brooklyn Bridge opened by President Arthur & NY Governor Cleveland
1899 1st auto repair shop opens (Boston)
1915 Thomas Edison invents telescribe to record telephone conversations
1931 1st air-conditioned train installed-B&O Railroad
1954 IBM announces vacuum tube "electronic" brain that could perform 10 million operations an hour
1957 Anti-American riots breakout in Taipei, Taiwan
1959 1st house with built-in bomb shelter exhibited (Pleasant Hills, Pa)
1961 27 Freedom Riders arrested in Jackson, Mississippi
1965 Supreme Court declares federal law allowing post office to intercept communist propaganda is unconstitutional
1966 "Mame" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 1508 performances
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World Historical Highlights for Today
1487 Imposter Lambert Simnel ceremony crowned as King Edward VI of Dublin - Lambert Simnel (aged 10), the Yorkist pretender to the English throne, is brought to Ireland. It is claimed that he is Edward, Earl of Warwick (Clarence's son), but in fact, he is a baker's son - the real Warwick is a prisoner in the Tower of London and will be executed in 1499. Most of the Anglo-Irish believe that Simnel's claim is genuine and support him (exceptions are the Butlers, Waterford city and the Archbishop of Armagh, Octavian del Palatio); Simnel is crowned King of England as Edward VI in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on this date. Walter FitzSimons, Archbishop of Dublin, is present at the crowning; he will be imprisoned in the Tower because of this
1539 Mexican Viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoza has decided to send an expedition to search for wealthy cities north of Mexico. On March 7, 1539 Friar Marcos de Niza started the expedition from Culiacan. Accordiong to Niza’s journal, he finally sees Cibola, although he never sets foot in the pueblo. His report will lead to future expeditions looking for the "Seven Cities of Gold."
1738 John Wesley is converted, launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day.
1902 Empire Day 1st celebrated in Britain
1916 Conscription begins in Britain
1921 1st parliament for Northern Ireland elected
1941 German battleship Bismarck sinks the British battle cruiser HMS Hood; 1,416 die, 3 survive

1964 Panic in Lima Peru soccer stadium, kills 300

1986 Margaret Thatcher becomes 1st British PM to visit Israel
2001 Mountain climbing: 15-year-old Sherpa Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest.
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My Rambling Thoughts
Good start to a new week. Went in for my now weekly blood draw and the numbers just keep going down. Hopefully it will get even longer between draws. My extra walking must be helping.
Got an email from Focus today with all the stuff I need for the Rhone River Cruise in July. It is getting closer. Getting excited.
Our little mountain town had its second police officer shooting\killing someone. The first was a guy about 5 miles from me who was acting crazy. Today it was a guy with a gun walking the streets downtown and didn’t stop when officers told him too. I am not a cop, nor do I want to be one. However, it seems to me that ‘imminent danger’ is being taken a little too far. Something is wrong somewhere.
Yard crew has been here for 2 days, preparing our units for summer. Nice to see things getting a spring cleanup.
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
Eternally Joined
Riddles are little poems or phrases that pose a question that needs answering. Riddles frequently rhyme, but this is not a requirement.
Difficulty: 2.26
With pointed fangs I sit and wait, 
With piercing force I dole out fate, 
Over bloodless victims proclaiming my might, 
Eternally joining in a single bite. 
What am I?

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…Harper’s Index…
4,000-Estimated number of deaths each day in China attributed to air pollution
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…Instagram Photo of the Day… 

earthpixRiding The Wave under the stars in Coconino County, Arizona | Photo by@travisburkephotography
Note: about 90 miles from my home.
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2 jokes for the day
One morning, while shaving, a fellow started cursing and swearing so loudly it attracted the attention of his wife, who was preparing breakfast in the kitchen. 

"What's the matter?" she called out. 

"My razor -- it won't cut!" he answered.

"Don't be silly, dear!" she declared. "You mean to tell me your beard is tougher than linoleum?"

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The math teacher was giving a lesson on fractions and wrote an example on the chalkboard. He explained that the numerator was the top and the denominator was the bottom. Leaning against the board, he asked the class, "Are there any questions?"

When he turned back to face the board, laughter filled the room. "Mr. Alexander," one student giggled, "you have chalk dust all over your denominator!"       

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Somewhat Useless Information
The Placebo Effect
It's a term used by scientists to describe certain types of treatment that are not supposed to work, but are somehow, working.

A good example is how certain placebo drugs have been shown to relieve the pain of those with Parkinson's Disease. There is nothing in the placebo drugs except an insert material or sugar but they have been statistically shown to relieve people's pain. Patients who expect a certain result, for example that the placebo is a stimulant, a depressant, or a pain reliever, tend to report those results. The field of neuroscience is beginning to offer explanations for this, including the possible explanation that just by taking a pill people's stress levels are reduced so they are more likely to recover. However, this has not been proven.

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All Life on Earth is Right-Handed
All the information needed for cellular structure, replication, and metabolism is stored in each cell's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). DNA consists of long chains of chemical building blocks called nucleotides and looks somewhat like a spiral staircase. Theoretically, the DNA could wind either to the right or the left.

The odd thing is that all Earth life forms exhibit what biologists call right-handed DNA. Imagine a bolt or a screw; normally the threads are designed such that the screw will bury itself into a piece of wood when you turn it clockwise. Left-handled screws will bury themselves into the wood when you turn them counterclockwise.

Although left-handed helixes have been produced in experiments and there is a very rare left-handed version called Z-DNA, why right-handedness rules are still subject to debate. A possible explanation is that right-handed DNA is more stable.

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Why Do We Have Fingerprints?
While fingerprints have become an important means of identification, scientists really don't have any idea as to why we have them. They're not exactly just wrinkles that appear over time too since we're all born with our fingerprints that are as individually unique as we are. The initial theory was that the tiny grooves on the tips made it easier to grip dry objects. But, that theory has since been disproved, leaving us to wonder, why exactly do we have fingerprints?

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Birthdays Today
“( )” indicates age at death
(81) Queen Victoria,
Queen of the United Kingdom and Ireland (1837-1901), born in London (d. 1901)
(79) Coleman Young,
1st African American Mayor of Detroit, Tuscaloosa Alabama (d.1997)
78- Tommy Chong,
Edmonton, Alberta, comedian/actor (Cheech & Chong)
75- Bob Dylan [Robert Zimmerman],
American singer-songwriter (Blowin' in Wind, The Times They Are a-Changin') and cultural icon, born in Duluth, Minnesota
72- Gary Burghoff,
actor (Radar-M*A*S*H), born in Bristol, Connecticut
72- Patti LaBelle, [Holt],
singer (LaBelle-Lady Marmalade), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
71- Priscilla Presley,
American actress (Jenna-Dallas, Naked Gun), born in Brooklyn, New York
61- Rosanne Cash,
country singer (Seven Year Ache, I Wonder), born in Memphis, Tennessee
51- John C. Reilly,
American actor (Chicago, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story), born in Chicago, Illinois
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Historical Obits Today
@86-2008 Dick Martin
American comedian (Laugh In)
@83-1981 George Jessel,
actor (Diary of a Young Comic),
@79-1995 Harold Wilson,
British PM (1964-70, 74-76), cancer
@75-1974 Duke Ellington,
American musician, cancer  
@71-1959 John Foster Dulles,
US Secretary of State, cancer
@70-1543 Nicolas Copernicus,
astronomer
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Brain Teasers Answers
A Stapler
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Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.
All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site contains mistakes and sadly once the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.
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