9 Aug

 

 

9 Aug

Weather Expectations Week 33  Day 221     Flag Today  88°/52°                            

Wind 7 mph Gusts 14mph

Risk of fire: Extreme  Active Fire: 64 miles away

Nearest Lightning: 161 miles away Humidity:  21%

Air Quality: Fair Sunshine Partly Cloudy Breezy

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

Today’s Observances:

Bagel Day  Link 
Global Sleep Under The Stars Night
Book Lovers Day  Link
International Coworking Day Link
International Day of The World's Indigenous People
Smokey Bear's Birthday
The Spirit of '45 Day Link   
Veep Day

Weekly Observances:

National Bargain Hunting Week: 3-9 
National Hobo Week: 6-9

Tall Timber Days: 7-9
Twins Days: 7-9 (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

Fresh Quotation:

 

Today’s Reflection:

 Just another nice summer day. I’m enjoying this great weather. I am also happy that most of my bruised arms have healed with the balm I’m using. Nice!

 I took my vehicle to the car wash for a cleaning after yesterday's showers. 

News about the Democratic Socialists is certainly in the news. This morning I heard a commentary that this movement has many of the same beginnings are the infamous Tea Party that ultimately led to the MAGA movement. I guess we just watch to see if history repeats itself. I am watching.

It has taken over 6 weeks, but my badly bruised arms are finally looking bruise free, thanks to the balm I am using. I sure hope it keeps working this well.

Historical events

9 Aug History video

Cool to know:

Neil Armstrong didn't say "That's one small step for man."

The astronaut insists he actually stated, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." "That's the only way the statement makes any sense," Armstrong told biographer James Hansen. And for the record, no real astronaut ever uttered "Houston, we have a problem" — Tom Hanks only said that in the movie Apollo 13.

Today in Science:

Europe can become a bioengineering powerhouse with these three changes

Europe is losing ground in one of the most innovation-intensive sectors in biomedicine and health care: bioengineering¹. Many advances in biomedicine are technologically driven, for example, the use of artificial intelligence to predict protein structures and rapid genome sequencing for precision medicine.

Bioengineering produces technologies that aim to solve medical problems, by merging methods from mathematics, computation, engineering and biomedicine. Many countries, including the United States¹, China, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, understand the power of such research. Yet, the European Union has still not caught on.

The EU’s 27 member states (EU27) host fewer than ten fully autonomous bioengineering departments, compared with more than 100 each in the United States and China. Not one EU27 university made it into the 2025 ShanghaiRanking’s top-30 list of biomedical engineering departments, compared with 18 from Asia.

Investment in medical technologies in the EU27 is low (see ‘Untapped potential’). In 2023, biotechnology companies in Europe attracted US$11.5 billion in funding, compared with about $57 billion in the United States and $21 billion China (see go.nature.com/3twrfgr and ref. 2).

 

Picture of the Day:

Commended entry from the “Wildlife” category – 2021 Drone Photo Awards
Title: Fast rack Description: 

“Whether the Zebra is black with white stripes or if it is white with black stripes, it definitely stands out in the wild. I was on a photoshoot for some other species and that is when I spotted this beauty running in haste.” Thomas Vijayan

 

Harper’s Index from Funny Times:

Percent of US employees who would recommend working for their current employer: ¼

Average total value of reported CSHA penalties against US workplace each month between 2209-2024: $18,621,906

Since Trump’s second inauguration: $10,230,927

Today’s Birthdays

Whitney Houston R&B Singer [1963-2012] @48 effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use"

Birthplace Newark, NJ

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Bill Skarsgård Movie Actor 36 years old

Birthplace Vallingby, Sweden

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Gillian Anderson TV Actress 58 years old

Birthplace Chicago, IL

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Sam Elliott Movie Actor 82 years old

Birthplace Sacramento, CA

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Deion Sanders Football Player 59 years old

Birthplace Fort Myers, FL

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Eric Bana Movie Actor 58 years old

Birthplace Melbourne, Australia

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Kate Siegel Movie Actress 44 years old

Birthplace Maryland

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That’s All for Now

8 Aug

 

 

8 Aug

Weather Expectations Week 32  Day 220  Flag Today  87°/56°                            

Wind 7 mph Gusts 7 mph

Risk of fire: Extreme  Active Fire: 64 miles away

Nearest Lightning: 262 miles away Humidity: 23%

Air Quality: Fair Sunshine Breezy

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

Today’s Observances:

Dalek Day Link 
Digital Nomad Day
International Cat Day  Link   Link
The Date to Create
Global Sleep Under The Stars Night 
Happiness Happens Day Link
International Female Orgasm Day Link 
International Infinity Day Link
Middle Children's Day
National CBD Day  Link
National Bowling Day Link 

National Garage Sale Day

National Fried Chicken & Waffles Day Link 
National Mochi Day
National Pickleball Day Link
National Spam Musubi Day Link Link
National Whataburger Day  Link
Odie Day (Garfield's pal)
Sleep Under The Stars Night Link 
Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night  Link
The Wicket World of Croquet Day Link 
Wear Your Mother's Jewelry Day

Weekly Observances:

International Psychic Week: 2-8 Link 
National Exercise With Your Child Week: 2-8 Link 
Single Working Women's Week: 2-8
Knights of Columbus Family Week: 2-8
National Farmers' Market Week: 2-8 Link 

National Health Center Week: 2-8 Link 

International Assistance Dog Week:  2-8 Link 
Stop on Red Week:  2-8 Link 
Old Fiddler Days: 3-8 Li`nk

National Bargain Hunting Week: 3-9 
National Hobo Week: 6-9

Tall Timber Days: 7-9
Twins Days: 7-9 (Sturgis Rally: 7-16 Link 
Elvis Week: 8-16 Link

Fresh Quotation:

 

Today’s Reflection:

A very nice summer day.

I ordered and had some groceries delivered. This is so easy.

Late yesterday afternoon we had another nice gentle female rain. So great to have a rain that soaks in instead of being runoff.

I was working in Tonalea during much of the early days of the Benett Freeze Area between Navajo and Hopi tribes and the US gov’t. Now all these years later, the Hopi are finally getting some of their land returned. Last week they got 45,000 acres back a part of the Nava-Hopi Land Dispute. As I remember it, neither tribe wanted the dispute; it was Congress in DC that made ALL the decisions. So excited to see that this is finally being settled. As I’ve mentioned before, the Navajo and Hopi had been peacefully sharing the land for decades before the government stepped in.    

Historical events

8 Aug history video

Cool to know:

At 2.89 billion monthly users, Facebook overshadows China's (1.4 billion) and India's (1.3 billion) populations.

Today in Science:

A growing clamor of voices is calling for the United Kingdom’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, to reinstate funding for the iconic Lovell radio telescope, at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Manchester.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the country’s main funding agency, announced on 27 July that in 2028 it would cut all of its £2.8 million (about US$3.8 million) annual funding for e-Merlin, a network of seven UK radio telescopes funded by one of UKRI’s divisions, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). E-Merlin provides Lovell’s only scientific funding, and unless alternative cash is found, the telescope will stop operations.

“To close it down would be to poke out some of the world’s clearest eyes on the sky,” reads an open letter to save the telescope, which calls the move “foolish and short-sighted”. The letter is signed by stars of science and the arts, including the British astronaut Tim Peake, particle physicist and musician Brian Cox and the UK poet laureate, Simon Armitage. As well as being used to study the cosmos, Lovell tracks human-made objects, including modern space debris and, famously, the rocket that launched the Sputnik-1 satellite in 1957.

The wider Jodrell Bank site, which is owned by the University of Manchester, will continue as a site for scientific outreach and as headquarters of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a network of antennas in Australia and South Africa that, once completed, will make up the world’s largest telescope. The STFC is investing £327 million in the SKA between 2021 and 2030.

The defunding is part of a wider array of cuts that are the result of a prioritization exercise conducted by the STFC under the previous prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology. That department, which was created just three years ago, has now been disbanded and merged into a wider business department.

 

Picture of the Day:

Commended entry from the “Sport” category – 2021 Drone Photo Awards
Title: Enjoying Wrestling
Description: “On a holiday when the market is fully closed, a make-shift ring has been arranged on a narrow lane of the busiest business zone. A full-fledged tournament is on and the spectators including hundreds of market employees, are enjoying the matches in full tempo from some informal galleries. This was captured from the attic of an old high-rise structure to have a bird’s eye view.” Amitava Chandra

Harper’s Index from Funny Times:

Estimated number of Americans who worked two full-time jobs in January 2015: 172,000

In Januiary 2026: 476,000

Today’s Birthdays:

Shawn Mendes Pop Singer 28 years old

Birthplace Pickering, Canada

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Alysa Liu Figure Skater 21 years old

Birthplace Clovis, CA

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Dustin Hoffman Movie Actor 89 years old

Birthplace Los Angeles, CA

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Roger Federer Tennis Player 45 years old

Birthplace  Basel, Switzerland

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Keith Carradine Movie Actor 77 years old

Birthplace San Mateo, CA

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Princess Beatrice [UK] Princess 38 years old

Birthplace  London, England

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That’s All for Now

7 Aug

 

 

7 Aug

Weather Expectations Week 32  Day 219  Flag Today  84°/61°                            

Wind 3 mph Gusts 6 mph

Risk of fire:  Moderate  e  Active Fire: 72 miles away

Nearest Lightning: 29 miles away Humidity:  32%

Air Quality: Moderate Sunshine Partly Cloudy  

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

Today’s Observances:

Braham Pie Day or Homemade Pie Day
International Beer Day Link  
Lighthouse Day  Link
National Water Balloon Day
Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day Link
Professional Speakers Day
Purple Heart Day
Tomboy Tools Day
Twins Day-9 Link 
U.S. Postal Inspection Service Day

Weekly Observances:

International Clown Week: 1-7 Link
National Cleanse Your Skin Week: 1-7  Link
National Minority Donor Awareness Week: 1-7
Simplify Your Life Week: 1-7
World Breastfeeding Week: 1-7 Link
International Lace Week: 2-7  Link  

International Psychic Week: 2-8 Link 
National Exercise With Your Child Week: 2-8 Link 
Single Working Women's Week: 2-8
Knights of Columbus Family Week: 2-8
National Farmers' Market Week: 2-8 Link 

National Health Center Week: 2-8 Link 

International Assistance Dog Week:  2-8 Link 
Stop on Red Week:  2-8 Link 
Old Fiddler Days: 3-8 Li`nk

National Bargain Hunting Week: 3-9 
National Hobo Week: 6-9

Tall Timber Days: 7-9
Twins Days: 7-9 (Sturgis Rally: 7-16 Link 

Fresh Quotation:

 

Today’s Reflection:

A nice warm summer day.

Yesterday there was unexpected lightning and thunder for orver an hour, then a nice gentle 45-minute rain.  Nice!

I had lunch with Andy and Faith at our favorite Mexican place. Good food and great conversation. We are all surprised that Tuba Boarding was finishing up its first week of instruction. Also surprising is that they still do have a permanent Principal. Not a great look. While I was detailed over many times over the year, an unwritten directive was to finish out the school year and hire a new principal during the summer break.
The belief was that there would be better candidates and they would have a couple of weeks to set up their agenda for the upcoming school year. It worked just fine.  

Historical events

7 Aug history video

Cool to know:

M&M stands for Mars and Murrie.

Forrest Mars (son of the Mars Company founder) first spotted the British confection Smarties during the Spanish Civil War and noticed the candy shell prevented the chocolate from melting. He teamed up with Bruce Murrie (son of Hershey Chocolate's president) and the company later trademarked the "Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand" slogan.

Today in Science:

Two genetic changes in the genomes of Neanderthals contributed to the extinct hominin’s characteristic robust physique — and the differences persist in modern humans. The variants make carriers taller and more muscular than non-carriers, according to a study¹ published in Current Biology.

Neanderthals, who lived across Europe and western Asia from about 300,000 years ago to around 40,000 years ago, interbred with Homo sapiens before going extinct. Previous studies have shown that modern humans with ancestors from outside Africa inherited roughly 1–4% of their DNA from Neanderthals².

Fossil evidence shows that Neanderthals had broader chests³, thicker bones⁴ and larger muscles than most modern humans do. The latest study provides a plausible molecular pathway that contributed to the Neanderthals’ robust traits, says Bastien Llamas, a human geneticist at Adelaide University in Australia.

 

Picture of the Day:

Commended entry from the “Urban” category – 2021 Drone Photo Awards
Title: City In the Sky Description: 

“A foggy morning in downtown Dubai. Very rare conditions, caused by the cold nights and warm mornings, create the perfect scene for an aerial photo. The iconic buildings of Dubai emerging out of the low clouds creating an impression that the city is floating in the sky.” Hugo Healy

 

Harper’s Index from Funny Times:

Aaverage amount that a US worker has saved for retirement: $935

Percentage of Americans aged 30-47 who have apent aome of their retirement savings in the past months”: 37

Today’s Birthdays:

Charlize Theron Movie Actress 51 years old

Birthplace Benoni, South Africa

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David Duchovny TV Actor 66 years old

Birthplace New York City, NY

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Carl Switzer TV Actor Alfalfa on the original Our Gang [1927-1959] @31 shot

Birthplace Paris, IL

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That’s All for Now