December 02, 2016

Dec 3

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
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12.3.16 Week: 48 \ Day: 338
December Averages: 44°\17°
86004 Today: H 36° \ L 21° Average Sky Cover: 85% 
Wind ave:   6mph\Gusts:  20mph Visibility: 10 mi
Record High: 67°[1977]   Record Low: -2°[1968]
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Quote of the Day
We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.
~Joseph Campbell
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Observances Today                                                  
Coats and Toys for Kids Day
International Day of Persons With Disabilities
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Observances This Week
1-7                                  3-10
Cookie Cutter Week Link     Clerc-Gallaudet Week 
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Today’s US Historical Highlights
  Today’s World Historical Highlights 
1586 Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England from Colombia
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1736 Astronomer Anders Celsius takes measurements that confirm Newton's theory that the earth was an ellipsoid rather than the previously accepted sphere
1775 First official US flag raised (Grand Union Flag) aboard naval vessel USS Alfred
1818 Illinois becomes 21st state USA (Admission day)
1828 andrew jackson elected 7th US President

1833 Oberlin College in Ohio, the first truly coeducational college, opens
1847 Frederick Douglass publishes first issue of his newspaper "North Star"
1881 Henry Morton Stanley founds Leopoldville (now Kinshasa)
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1911 Willis Carrier presents his influential "Rational Psychrometric Formulae" on air conditioning to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
1917 After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic.
1922 First successful technicolor movie (Tall of the Sea), shown in NYC
1926 Detective novelist Agatha Christie mysteriously disappears for 11 days1931 Alka Seltzer goes on sale
1947 Tennessee Williams' "Streetcar Named Desire" premieres in NYC
1950 Paul Harvey begins his national radio broadcast
1953 Eisenhower criticizes McCarthy for saying communists are in the Republican Party
1956 Wilt Chamberlain's 1st collegiate basketball game (scores 52) 1967 Assassination attempt made on Bob Marley and others during concert rehearsals in Jamaica
1971 US President Richard Nixon commutes Jimmy Hoffa's jail term
1984 Union Carbide pesticide plant leak of methyl isocyanate and other toxic compounds in Bhopal, India, kills 2,259 (official figure) - other estimates as high as 16,000 (including later deaths) and over half a million injured
1989 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George H. W. Bush, declare the Cold War over
1992 The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil, runs aground in a storm while approaching La Coruña, Spain, and spills much of its cargo.
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2014 Protests erupt in cities across the US after a grand jury decides not to charge the New York City police officer who killed Eric Garner with a choke-hold
2015 US Defense Secretary Ash Carter announces all combat roles in US armed forced will be opened to women
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My Rambling Thoughts
Last night the weatherman said a small warmup was on tap for the next few days. NOT. It is all of 36° and there is a light snow with big snowflakes. It isn’t sticking and is really nice to watch.Glad I didn’t have to do any real shopping today. I had planned to do some Christmas shopping, but decided I didn’t need to do it today.

I learned a lot last night, as Trump/Pence began their ‘Thank You’ tour. I don’t think Trump really wants to be the leader of the free world. He much prefers standing in front of huge crowds of supporters and ramble on about whatever is in his brain and listen to the cheers. When there is a heckler, as there was last night, he makes it a joke and pushes for the laughs. He probably wants the next four years to just be a continuation of the ‘Thank You’ tour.

DAPL news: The Morton County Sheriff’s Dept. posted on the internet that they needed donations and prayer, so as a show of faith and humanity. The Elders and the Headmen of the camps are donating. Presented by the Native Youth Council of the camps. Good job!
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
Unfortunate Rabbits
Language brain teasers are those that involve the English language. You need to think about and manipulate words and letters.

The following limerick has had the last word of each line scrambled. Can you figure it out?

It is the unfortunate THIAB
Of the rabbit to breed like a BIRTBA.
One can say without NOUSETIQ
This leads to TECGSONINO
In the burrows that rabbits TANIIBH.

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“Contronym”—word that is its own antonym
Screen can mean ‘to show’ (a movie) or ‘to hide’ (an unsightly view).
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…Harper’s Index…
$12,000 – Amount Douglas County, Colorado spent to arm school security with assault rifles
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2 jokes for the day
Little Johnny asked his father, “Where did I get my intelligence from?”

His father replied, “It must be from your mother... because I still have mine.”

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I was hospitalized for a few days, and my wife reported that my dog really missed me. "She spends the night at the front door, awaiting your return," she said.

"What an example of true love," I replied. "I wonder if you'd be that concerned about me?"

"Honey," my wife answered, "if you were gone overnight, and I didn't know where you were, you can be sure I'd be waiting for you at the front door."

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Somewhat Useless Information
Wishing on eyelashes was common folklore in the mid-19th century. A fallen eyelash is placed on the back of the hand before the wisher throws it over their shoulder. If the eyelash gets stuck, the wish does not come true. A Cornish schoolgirl version dictates that the eyelash should be placed on the tip of the nose; if she blows it off, she'll get her wish.
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Ptolemy, Greco-Egyptian writer and astronomer, believed that shooting stars were a sign that the gods were looking down and listening to wishes.
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The origin of society's fascination with the number sequence 11:11 is murky at best, but it's safe to say it has to do with its satisfying symmetry. Numerologists like Uri Geller believe that the number follows people and occurs too frequently to be coincidence.
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In the mid-19th century, many British children believed that if you crossed paths with a white horse, you could make a wish. Others would count the white horses they saw and would make a wish after reaching a hundred.
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Young girls commonly used dandelions in the 1800s for romantic and oracular purposes. It was believed that if you blew on a dandelion and all the seeds flew away, your loved one returned the feelings; if any seeds remained, they might have reservations or no feelings at all.
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According to European folklore, wishing wells were homes for deities, or gifts from gods. Water is a valuable commodity; many early European tribes treated wells as shrines and often placed small statues of gods nearby. People would come to the wells to pray and ask for assistance from the gods.

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Birthdays Today
 indicates age at death
85- Ferlin Husky, American country singer (Born to Lose, Gone)[d2011]
84- Andy Williams, Wall Lake Iowa, singer (Moon River, Andy Williams Show) (d. 2012)
82- John Backus, inventor (FORTRAN computer language)[d2007]
73 Samuel Crompton, English inventor (mule-jenny spinning machine) [d1827]
72- Gilbert Stuart, US, portrait painter (painted Washington) [d1828]
68- Ozzy Osbourne, English heavy metal vocalist and songwriter (Black Sabbath-Bark at the Moon), born in Birmingham, England
66- Joseph Conrad, Berdychiv, Poland, novelist (Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness), (d. 1924)
56- Daryl Hannah, American actress (Splash, Blade Runner), born in Chicago, Illinois
56- Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American industrialist (d. 1899)
56- Julianne Moore, Fayetteville North Carolina, American actress (Magnolia, The Kids are Alright)

48- Brendan Fraser, actor (School Ties, 20 Bucks), born in Indianapolis, Indiana
22- Jake T. Austin, Nickelodeon TV actor
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Historical Obits Today
@90-2009 Richard Todd, Irish-born British actor (Dorian Gray, Assassin Yangtse Incident)
@89-1910 Mary Baker Eddy, founder (Christian Science (Monitor))
@78-1919 Pierre A Renoir, French painter/sculptor
@45-1894 Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist, stroke
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Brain Teasers Answers
It is the unfortunate habit
Of the rabbit to breed like a rabbit.
One can say without question
This leads to congestion
In the burrows that rabbits inhabit.

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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.
☼☼☼☼And That Is All for Now…☼☼☼☼

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