16 Aug

 

 

16 Aug

Weather Expectations Week 34  Day 228   Flag Today  76°/57°                            

Wind 6 mph Gusts 7 mph

Risk of fire: High    Active Fire: 64 miles away

Nearest Lightning: 13 miles away Humidity:  37%

Air Quality: Fair Sunshine Mostly Cloudy Breezy

July Averages: Temps: 82°\51° 9 days with rain

Today’s Observances:

Joe Miller's Joke Day
National Airborne Day
National Energy Multiplier Day Link
National Rollercoaster Day
Surveillance Day Link  Link
World Helicopter Day Link 

Weekly Observances:

Sturgis Rally: 7-16 Link 
Elvis Week: 8-16 Link
Assistance Dog Week: 9-15
National Resurrect Romance Week: 9-15
Weird Contest Week: 9-15 
National Bargain Hunting Week: 9-15

Safe + Sound Week: 10-16 Link
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over: 12-9/7 Link 

World Photography Week: 12-26 Link

National Hobo Week: 13-16 Link

Great American Stamp Days: 14-17

Fresh Quotation:

 

Today’s Reflection:

A nice quiet Saturday. I changed my linens this morning and took out some trash. My grocery order arrived and is all put away. A great weekend.

Broncos beat the Falcons, even after LB Bailey broke his leg. He’ll be out for much of the season after surgery. Tough.

The crew on the USS Abraham Lincoln are sure in the news. It is a tough story to hear. Remember, the military on board are all from volunteers. This is not what they expected or signed up for. After 250+ days at sea with no getting off the ship holding 5000+ military must be extremely hard. Too bad spin is more important than mental state and physical state of these military.

I have a movie channel in my package. It shows black and white movies from the 1930’s through the 1960’s. I watched On the Waterfront, several Basil Rathbone  Sherlock Holmes, the Thin Man movies, and more. They are very enjoyable for sure.  

Historical events

16 Aug History video

Cool to know:

The lyrebird can mimic almost any sounds it hears — including chainsaws.

Wildlife watchers have recorded the Australian species copying not only other birds but other animals, like koalas, and artificial sounds such as car alarms and camera shutters.

 

Wild Animals of AZ:

Coyotes can be found statewide and occur in nearly every natural Arizona state park. Their nocturnal habits make it difficult to catch a glimpse at times, but occasionally, when they're in the midst of a hunt, can be seen looking for their next meal during daylight hours. Catalina, Lost Dutchman, Red Rock, and River Island state parks report several sightings each year and are a great place to see the quintessential desert dog in its natural habitat.

Coyotes are great hunters and really keep the rodent populations of your state parks in check. They have been known to take larger prey species, although small mammals, reptiles and birds are typically within their preferred diet. Arizona’s coyotes come in a variety of colors depending on where they live. Various shades of tan, brown, gray, and red coyotes have been spotted in the parks, although most individuals seem to have a variety of colors throughout their coats.

 

Picture of the Day:

A lucky photographer knows the feeling of pure serendipity. Sometimes, it’s being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes, the creation process is unexpected but yields a rewarding result. Other times, something completely accidental ends up elevating an image to new heights. And thus, this week’s Photo of the Day theme is all about happenstance. 

 

Harper’s Index from Funny Times:

Percentage of American males aged 16-24 who are neither employed, in school, nor in job training: 12

Average number of hours that such a male spends sleeping: 16

Of waking hours that are spent alone: 8

Today’s Birthdays:

Madonna Pop Singer 68d years old

Birthplace Bay City, MI

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Steve Carell TV Actor 64 years old

Birthplace Concord, MA

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Angela Bassett Movie Actress 68 years old

Birthplace New York City, NY

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Evanna Lynch Movie Actress 35 years old

Birthplace Termonfeckin, Ireland

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James Cameron Director 72 years old

Birthplace Kapuskasing, Canada

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Jannik Sinner Tennis Player 25 years old

Birthplace Italy

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Tim othy Hutton Movie Actor 66 years old

Birthplace Malibu, CA

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Rumer Willis Movie Actress 38 years old

Birthplace Paducah, KY

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Cam Gigandet Movie Actor 44 years old

Birthplace Tacoma, WA

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That’s All for Now

15 Aug

 

 

15 Aug

Weather Expectations Week 33  Day 227     Flag Today  72°/51°                            

Wind 18mph Gusts 21mph

Risk of fire: Low   Active Fire: 717 miles away

Nearest Lightning: 14 miles away Humidity: 46%

Air Quality: Fair Sunshine Partly Cloudy  Breezy 

July Averages: Temps: 82°\51° 9 days with rain

Today’s Observances:

Banana Day: thru 16 Link
Best Friends Day
Chauvin Day
Check The Chip Day (Those Implanted in Pets)  Link
Chef Appreciation Day   Link  
Clear The Shelters Day
Green Data Day
National Honey Bee Day Link 
International Geocaching Day
International Homeless Animals Day 
National Leathercraft Day  Link
National Relaxation Day

Weekly Observances:

Sturgis Rally: 7-16 Link 
Elvis Week: 8-16 Link
Assistance Dog Week: 9-15
National Resurrect Romance Week: 9-15
Weird Contest Week: 9-15 
National Bargain Hunting Week: 9-15

World Karaoke Championships: 10-13 Link
Safe + Sound Week: 10-16 Link
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over: 12-9/7 Link 

World Photography Week: 12-26 Link

National Hobo Week: 13-16 Link

Great American Stamp Days: 14-17

Fresh Quotation:

 

Today’s Reflection:

 Another good weather day.  Weather guy says the monsoon will be disappearing soon. I’ve sure enjoyed these daily rains.

This morning I headed out for a much needed pedicure. Another upside to my recent medical situation: I’ve been getting regular pedicures for over a decade. The only problem is when they start to massage my feet, I am extremely ticklish. I always must tell her as my foot starts pulling away. Today, I was not the least bit ticklish and had a great foot massage. A nice change for sure.

Last night the AZ Cardinals beat the LV Raiders in a decent preseason game. Tonight it will be the Broncos v Falcons. Hoping for  great game.

Today is Code Talker’s Day. Thanks for your service.

Mangione, the guy who killed the CEO of a Healthcare Insurance Company pleaded guilty. He is hoping that the Federal prison will be better for him that a state prison and that his sentence will be shorter because the case is about stalking, whereas the state case is 2^nd degree murder and can’t be pursued due to a NY law about double jeopardy. Nobody will know until December when he is sentenced.

I very much enjoy my twice daily conversations with my brother since my medical situation. This morning when I called, he was still in bed.  It was 8:30 his time. Laura had an early flight to Mexico City and he was up about 3:30 to see her off before returning to bed. He was glad I called and got him up as he has a bus day ahead. I told him that was what a good big brother does. 

Historical events

15 Aug History Video

Cool to know:

Four times more people speak English as a second language than as a native one.

While more people speak English as a second language, nearly three times more people speak Mandarin Chinese natively.
English has nearly two billion people learning it as a second language and only 350 million people speaking it natively.

Today in Science:

Around 56 million years ago, a sharp rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere led to severe global warming that transformed the planet’s surface. A detailed reconstruction of an ancient ecosystem suggests that this transformation included a widespread decline in forest cover. The study¹, published in Science on 13 August, has parallels for what could happen as a result of human-driven climate change, say the authors.

“We’re seeing that now all over the world. Many forests are in states of decline,” says co-author Regan Dunn, a palaeoclimatogist at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in California.

This sudden warming event, called the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), was one of the most notable climatic upheavals in Earth’s history. The volume of CO₂ released during that period is thought to be roughly equivalent to the total human emissions that would be released by the end of the twenty-first century under a pessimistic scenario. The ancient surge of CO₂ raised global average temperatures by between 5 and 9 °C, changing the climate for more than 150,000 years.

Using fossils, sediments and other geochemical evidence preserved from this time, researchers have begun to piece together a picture of abrupt changes to Earth’s ecosystems that took place in response to this warming. The make-up of forests changed, with broad-leafed trees in the mid-latitudes giving way to landscapes dominated by ferns. Rivers supercharged by a water-logged atmosphere carried away more sediment. Soils stored less carbon.

Dunn and her colleagues sought to get a clearer view of how these shifts changed the structure of forest canopies. This can reveal information about changes in carbon storage in ecosystems, says Dunn. “It’s really telling you something about how the forest is functioning.”

The ancient analysis was aimed at shedding light on a question ecologists have today: how will Earth’s ecosystems respond to rising levels of CO₂? Higher concentrations of the greenhouse gas trap more heat, boosting temperatures and shifting patterns of precipitation in ways that can stress plants. However, more CO₂ also acts to fertilize plants, and there’s wide uncertainty about how these opposing forces will affect forests of the future.

 

Picture of the Day:

Martin Lewis is the winner of the Our Moon category with a stunning detail image featuring Plato’s East Rim. The stark lighting and heavy shadow add an element of mystery to an otherwise well-known fixture of space.

“This close-up of the Plato crater has become one of my favorite photographs of the Moon. This image of the east rim being hit by the Sun’s rays is wondrously unique and proves that, no matter how often we look at the Moon, it always has many more wonderful sights for us to observe,” says judge Brobby. 

 

Harper’s Index from Funny Times:

Portion of 16-year-old American boys who have gambled in the past year: 1/2

Of 11 year-old boys who have: 1/3

Today’s Birthdays:

Jennifer Lawrence Movie Actress 36 years old

Birthplace Indian Hills, KY

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Joe Jonas Pop Singer 37 years old

Birthplace Casa Grande, AZ

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Ben Affleck Movie Actor 54 years old

Birthplace Berkeley, CA

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Napoleon Bonaparte Emperor [1789-1821]  @51 Stomach cancer or arsenic

Birthplace Ajaccio, France

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Anthony Anderson TV Actor 56 years old

Birthplace Compton, CA

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Anne, Princess Royal Princess 76 years old

Birthplace England

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Debra Messing TV Actress 58 years old

Birthplace Brooklyn, NY

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Julia Child Chef [1912-2004] @91

Birthplace Pasadena, CA

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That’s All for Now

14 Aug

 

 

14 Aug

Weather Expectations Week 33  Day 226   Flag Today  71°/50°                            

Wind 12 mph Gusts 21 mph

Risk of fire: Moderate  Active Fire: 64 miles away

Nearest Lightning: 22 miles away Humidity: 50%

Air Quality: Moderate Mostly Cloudy Windy

July Averages: Temps: 82°\51° 9 days with rain

Today’s Observances:

Kool-Aid Day thru-16 Link 
Military Marriage Day 
National Lizard Day Link
National Navajo Code Talkers Day
Rabi'-al-Awwal-9/11 Link
Romance Awareness Day Link
Shop Online For Groceries Day 
Social Security Day
St. Maximillian Kolbe Day (Ham Radio Saint)  Link Link
V-J Day
World Calligraphy Day Link

Weekly Observances:

Sturgis Rally: 7-16 Link 
Elvis Week: 8-16 Link
Assistance Dog Week: 9-15
National Resurrect Romance Week: 9-15
Weird Contest Week: 9-15 
National Bargain Hunting Week: 9-15

World Karaoke Championships: 10-13 Link
Safe + Sound Week: 10-16 Link
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over: 12-9/7 Link 

World Photography Week: 12-26 Link

National Hobo Week: 13-16 Link

Great American Stamp Days: 14-17

Fresh Quotation:

 

Today’s Reflection:

Another cooler, cloudier day. I even put on a long sleeve shirt before going outside.

When I was young and in school, seeing a teacher in a different public place was weird and unusual. For me, seeing today’s political pundits who are also selling products on TV is weird.  

Trump likes to talk. Here is the word count for his rants in 2026: Iran War: 56K, construction projects: 45K, Foreign policy: 42K and the Economy: 40K. No wonder some are tired of this.

Historical events

14 Aug history video

Cool to know:

A baby puffin is called a "puffling."

To feed its chick, a puffin parent will carry around 10 fish in its beak at one time, but the biggest recorded haul is a whopping 62 fish, according to Audubon Project Puffin. 

Today in Science:

Will the mRNA flu shot work better than a regular seasonal one? What the science says

Moderna’s newly approved vaccine could allow manufacturers to respond more rapidly to changing influenza strains.

On 5 August, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to Moderna’s mRNA-based flu vaccine, mFLUSIVA, for adults aged 50–64, and accelerated approval for adults aged 65 and older. Moderna say it will be available “in a few weeks” to be rolled out for the 2026–27 flu season in the United States.

Researchers welcomed the decision, noting that the vaccine’s mRNA platform allows it to be rapidly reformulated to match circulating influenza strains. “This approval is very important and can be a great game changer” because the platform could help solve the problem of slow manufacturing, says Emanuele Montomoli, a researcher in hygiene and public health at the University of Siena, Italy.

The vaccine is also being reviewed by regulatory agencies in the European Union, Canada and Australia. A related product has already been permitted for use in Europe: in April, the European Commission approved Moderna’s combined seasonal influenza and COVID-19 mRNA vaccine mCombriax.

Tests on more than 40,000 adults showed that 2% of people who received the mFLUSIVA vaccine (called mRNA-1010 before FDA approval) developed a laboratory-confirmed case of flu, verified through testing and symptoms reports¹. By comparison, 2.8% of those who received a standard dose of a comparator non-mRNA vaccine developed symptoms.

“The key questions regarding immunogenicity, efficacy and safety have been addressed, which enabled the licensure of mFLUSIVA,” said Raffael Nachbagauer, vice-president of infectious-disease research at Moderna in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who is involved in mFLUSIVA trials.

But scientists still have questions about how this vaccine will perform when it’s rolled out to millions of people. Moderna has agreed with the FDA to conduct a confirmatory phase IV trial to research the efficacy relative to an enhanced vaccine in people aged 65 and older, says Nachbagauer.

 

Picture of the Day:

The team of Utkarsh Mishra, Michael Petrasko, and Muir Evenden claimed the Galaxies category prize with Majestic Sombrero Galaxy. Upon closer inspection, you can see where it gets its unusual name: the faint galaxy does indeed resemble a hat.

“The Sombrero is a well-documented galaxy, yet astrophotographers still find ways to tease more majesty from it. To see the misty remnants of previous collisions surrounding the galaxy, itself floating alone in the void, is just exquisite,” notes judge Steve Marsh.

 

Harper’s Index from Funny Times:

Chance that an American believed that the government was concealing information about moon landings in 2016: 1 in 5

Last year: 1 in 3

Today’s Birthdays:

Mila Kunis Movie Actress 43 years old

Birthplace Chernivtsi, Ukraine

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Halle Berry Movie Actress 60 years old

Birthplace  Cleveland, OH

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Magic Johnson Basketball Player 67 years old

Birthplace Lansing, MI

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Steve Martin Movie Actor 81 years old

Birthplace Waco, TX

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Marcia Gay Harden Movie Actress 67 years old

Birthplace  San Diego, CA

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Jackee Harry TV Actress 70 years old

Birthplace Winston-Salem, NC

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Tim Tebow Football Player 39 years old

Birthplace Makati, Philippines

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Catherine Bell TV Actress 58 years old

Birthplace London, England

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That’s All for Now