13 Aug
Weather
Expectations
Week 33
Day
225 Flag Today 74°/53°
Wind 12 mph
Gusts 19 mph
Risk of fire: Moderate Active
Fire: 399 miles away
Nearest Lightning: 14 miles
away Humidity: 54%
Air Quality: Fair Sunshine Partly Cloudy
July Averages: Temps: 82°\51° 9
days with rain
Today’s Observances:
International Lefthander's Day Link Link Link
Internatinal Wolf Day Link
National Prosecco 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
Fresh Quotation:
Today’s Reflection:
Cloudy and cooler here. Rain coming this afternoon. No complaints.
I jhve to day the rain ever afternoon is so relaxing…until the thunder and
lightning breaks the mood.
Congrats to BIE schools who just annouonded that 21 BIE High
Schools reached 90% or higher in their graduation rate this year.
Yesterday’s Primary results show everyone that polls are often wrong,
sometimes very wrong. It also showed that this country is very divided. It is
time to unite! Change is everywhere.
I went to the Optimum store this morning. I needed a new cable box
as somehow the old one from my office was tossed out. They said I would have to
pay for the box that was thrown out. How much? We don’t have access to that
information. Who does, and I was given a
number to call. I got a new box for my downstairs bedroom. Then it took two customer
service reps to figure out how to remove that box from my bill without fully
canceling my service. I came home & alled the number and it took over 25
minutes to push the right prompts and finally talk to a human. First, he said
he would check on the cost of the missing box. Then he said after reviewing
your account, you will not be charged. I thanked him and asked to speak to a
supervisor. Why he asked? To register my complaint on the bad customer service at
the store and in general. Just a moment he said. He came back and said all
supervisors were busy but he would send
a message to them. I asked when I would be called back. Usually within 7 days
was the answer. Talk about crappy customer service.
Historical events
Cool to know:
If you drive south from Detroit, you'll hit Canada.
Head north from Windsor, Ontario, crossing the Detroit River,
and you'll reach the good ol' US of A.
Today in
Science:
After almost two decades
of searching, a team of physicists in China says it has observed strong
evidence of a mysterious particle called a glueball that is made entirely of
force-carrying particles.
Researchers at the
Beijing Spectrometer III (BESIII) Collaboration, an international
particle-physics experiment, presented their results at the International
Conference on High Energy Physics in Natal, Brazil, last week. They say that a
particle known as X(2370) — which was discovered in 2011 — is
mostly made up of glueballs. These are clusters of gluons, which are the
elementary particles that bind quarks to form protons and neutrons and hold
them inside the nucleus of an atom.
There is no single
smoking gun that proves that this particle is made of glueballs, says Bruce
Yabsley, a particle physicist at the University of Sydney in Australia, who has
reviewed the results from BESIII. But looking at the cumulative evidence that they
have built over decades makes the current findings “quite persuasive”, he adds.
“It is quite convincing
evidence,” adds Ulrik Egede, an experimental particle physicist at Monash
University in Melbourne, Australia, who saw the conference presentation.
The discovery of
glueballs would provide direct evidence that gluons can interact with
themselves, researchers say. This is a key prediction of quantum chromodynamics
— the theory describing quarks and gluons.
Observation of glueballs
can also improve physicists’ understanding of the origin of mass itself, says
Yabsley. Although protons are made of quarks, the sum of the masses of those
quarks does not add up to the total mass of a proton. Gluons are massless, but
strong interactions between them must create mass, he says.
Picture of the Day:
Jagged chunks of
ice glow softly in the gentle light of an aurora, which streaks green against a
dark, starry night sky.
“I love this
photo because it really sums up aurorae for me: the green ‘swoosh’ reflected in
the icy lake, the clarity of the edges of the ice blocks and the looming shadow
of the mountain,” comments judge Sheila Kanani.
Harper’s Index from Funny Times:
Percentage by which Republicans are more likely
that Democrats to believe that Bigfoot exists: 19
By which Democrats are more likely that Republicans
to believe aliens exist: 35
Today’s Birthdays:
Sebastian Stan Movie Actor
Bucky Barnes in Captain
America: The First Avenger
44 years old
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ahna Mac R&B
Singer 26 years old
Birthplace Plainfield, NJ
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
That’s
All for Now
