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October
, 2015 Week:
44 \ Day: 304
October Averages:
62°\32°
86004 Today: H 49° \ L 37° Average
Sky Cover: 50%
Wind ave: 8mph\Gusts:
21mph
Ave. High: 57° Record High: 70°[1999]
Ave. Low: 26° Record Low: 7°[1935]
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Observances
Today:
Beggar's Night
Books For Treats Day
Day of the Seven Billion Link
Girl Scout Founder's Day Link
Halloween or All Hallows Eve
National Caramel Apple Day Link
National Forgiveness Day
National Knock-Knock Jokes Day
National Magic Day
National UNICEF Day
Trick or Treat Night
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Admission Day (Nevada-1864-36th
state)
Samhain (Wiccan) Link
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Observances
This Week:
25-31
Kids
Care Week
Red Ribbon Week Link
International Dyslexia Association Reading Week
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Quote
of the Day
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US
Historical Highlights for Today
1846 - Donner party, unable to cross the Donner
Pass, construct a winter camp
1868 - Standard uniform approved for US postal
carriers
1913 - 1st US paved coast-to-coast highway, the
Lincoln Highway is dedicated
1938 - Great Depression: In an effort to try
restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point
program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public.
1941 - Mount Rushmore Monument is completed
1953 - TV broadcasting begins in Belgium
1956 - Brooklyn, NY ends streetcar service
1968 - President Johnson orders a halt to all bombing
of North Vietnam
1981 - 1st live US radio drama in 25 years
(Halloween Story on NBC)
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World
Historical Highlights for Today
1517 - Martin Luther posts 95 theses on
Wittenberg church - precipitates the Protestant Reformation
1541 - Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes
painting The Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican
1876 - Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 ravages
British India (Modern-day Bangladesh), resulting in over 200,000 human deaths.
1888 - Scottish vet John Boyd Dunlop patents
pneumatic bicycle tire
1892
- Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
1908 - 4th Olympic Games ends in London
1921 - Federation Sportive Feminine International
forms (1st woman track & field association)
1936 - The Boy Scouts of the Philippines was formed.
1971 - The Irish Republican Army (IRA) explode a
bomb at the Post Office Tower in London
1972 - 2 Catholic children (6 and 4) playing on the
street are killed in a Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) car bomb attack on a bar
in Ship Street, Belfast
1980 - Polish government recognizes Solidarity
trade union
1982 - Pope John Paul II becomes first
pontiff to visit Spain
1984 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is
assassinated by her bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh at her home in
New Delhi
1992 - Roman Catholic church reinstates Galileo
Galilei after 359 years
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♫ Birthdays Today: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthdays Today
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My
Rambling Thoughts
Definitely ready for the warm-er weather of Cuba. Furnace turned
on about 3a—first time of the season and then came on a couple more times
before 6a. Not sure if it was the
furnace or the rain that woke me. It isn’t that cold, but the wind chill is not
helping.
Been dreading a pedicure for the last week or so as I had an
ingrown big toenail. Had a great lady who did it with very minimal pain. One
step closer to the trip. Stopped and picked up my meds and got my flu shot…another
step closer. Actually now all that is left is laundry and packing. Havana’s
forecast is high 80’s with some afternoon showers. That sounds just fine. So fortunate to have the $$ to travel and
Focus Travel Club for such great trips.
This will
be the last post until I return in mid-November. I have
a discussion group tomorrow night, so will miss the trick or treaters, but we
are discussing SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) by a guy who
knows a lot about space. Should be a good discussion. Not a lot of trick or
treaters in this neighborhood so I don’t feel bad about missing them.
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Brain
Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
It
fell from a star,
But not very far.
It seems to fly
Above you and I.
Look further down to see
Cousin Jay below us three.
Jump down further to see an empty space.
Tell me what "it" is, and where is this place?
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Found
on You Tube with some relevance to today
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…Amazing
Facts…
A koi fish, named "Hanako", was
owned by several individuals over many years and lived to be 226 years old,
dying in 1977.
The colossal squid has the largest eyes in the
world.
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…Crazy
Law…
Connecticut
For a pickle to legally be called a pickle, it
must bounce, proving Connecticut residents are also devotees of the five-second
rule.
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…Harper’s
Index…
-10—percentage
change in the past 4 decades in the size of the average American family
+60—in the
square footage of the average newly built American home
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…Instagram
Photo of the Day…
natgeoPhoto by @stevemccurryofficial //
"I shot this coal miner in Pul-e-Khumri, capital of Baghlan Province
in the north of Afghanistan. Despite the coal dust covering his face, he exudes
a sense of dignity and pride. Christopher Kremmer in his book, Carpet Wars,
said, "...they are everywhere, these individuals of undaunted humankind,
irrepressibly optimistic and proud." Please check out our current project
in Afghanistan:
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…Unusual
Fact of the Day…
The office cubicle was invented by Robert Probst in 1968. His
original design was called the Action Office System and provided “a social kind
of privacy” for the worker.
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2
jokes for the day
One Liner Jokes
Poor old Bob sent his photograph off to a
Lonely Hearts Club.
They sent it back saying they weren’t that
lonely
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Miscellaneous Jokes
Farmer picks up an American Indian hitch
hiking.
The Indian is a man of few words but
eventually looks at the brown paper bag in between them and asks, "Mmm,
What in bag?"
The farmer says, "It's a bottle of wine
that I got for my wife".
Indian thinks for a second and say, "Mmm,
good trade".
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Yep,
It Really Happened
NJ.com
(Newark)—In rare bipartisan action, the U.S. Senate is preparing a bill to
ban taxpayer funds for those military salutes at sporting events. Teams (the
legislators believe) already benefit from the fan-friendly staging of
heartwarming patriotic displays. (The Pentagon had paid $5.4 million just to
the National Football League over the last four years.) An NFL spokesman,
finally playing catch-up, said in September, "No one should be paid to
honor our troops."
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Somewhat
Useless Information
Because
the movie Halloween (1978) was on such a tight budget, they had to use the
cheapest mask they could find for the character Michael Meyers, which turned
out to be a William Shatner Star Trek mask. Shatner initially didn't know the
mask was in his likeness, but when he found out years later, he said he was
honored.
The word "witch" comes from the Old English wicce, meaning "wise
woman." In fact, wiccan were highly respected people at one time.
According to popular belief, witches held one of their two main meetings, or
sabbats, on Halloween night.
The owl is a popular Halloween image. In Medieval Europe, owls were thought to
be witches, and to hear an owl's call meant someone was about to die.
Black and orange are typically associated with Halloween. Orange is a symbol of
strength and endurance and, along with brown and gold, stands for the harvest
and autumn. Black is typically a symbol of death and darkness and acts as a
reminder that Halloween once was a festival that marked the boundaries between
life and death.
With their link to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (a precursor to
Halloween) and later to witches, cats have a permanent place in Halloween
folklore. During the ancient celebration of Samhain, Druids were said to throw
cats into a fire, often in wicker cages, as part of divination proceedings.
Trick-or-treating evolved from the ancient Celtic tradition of putting out
treats and food to placate spirits who roamed the streets at Samhain, a sacred
festival that marked the end of the Celtic calendar year.
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Birthdays
Today
“()” indicates age at death
(88) - Dale Evans,
[Frances Butts], Uvalde Tx, cowgirl (Roy Rogers Show) (d.2001)
(87) - Chiang Kai-shek,
President of Nationalist China (d.1975)
84 - Dan Rather,
journalist and news anchor (CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes)
(82) - Barbara Bel
Geddes, actress (Vertigo, Miss Ellie-Dallas, Caught) (d. 2005)
(80) - Ethel Waters,
Chester Pa, actress (Beulah)/singer (Stormy Weather) (d.1997)
78 - Tom Paxton,
folk singer/songwriter (Forest Lawn)
69 - Stephen Rea,
Belfast, Northern Ireland, film and stage actor (Crying Game)
68 - Frank Shorter,
Munich Germany, US marathoner (Oly-gold/silver-72, 76)
(66) - Juliette Gordon
Low, activist/founder (Girl Scouts of America) (d.1927)
(54) - Michael Landon,
actor (Bonanza, Highway to Heaven) (d.1991)
54 - Peter Jackson,
Pukerua Bay, New Zealand, film director (Lord of the Rings - Academy Award,
Best Director, 2003)
48 - Vanilla Ice,
(Robert Matthew Van Winkle) rapper (Ice Ice Baby)\actor
(43) - John Candy,
Canadian actor and comedian (SCTV, Uncle Buck) (d.1994)
(43) - Jan Vermeer,
Holland, painter (Procuress, Astronomer), (d. 1675)
(37) - Ferdinand I,
the wise one, king of Portugal (built navy) (d.1383)
(25) - John Keats,
romantic poet (Ode to a Grecian Urn) (d. 1821)
15 - Willow Smith,
American actress
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Historical
Obits Today
John Houseman, actor (The Paper Chase)-1988@86
Federico Fellini, director (La Dolce Vita),
stroke-1993@73
Indira Gandhi, 4th Prime Minister of India,
assassinated-1984@66
Harry Houdini, [Erich Weisz], magician,
peritonitis-1926@52
George Washington De Long, American Arctic Explorer, dies
during his disastrous expedition to the North Pole-1881@37
River Phoenix, actor (Stand By Me), OD-1993@23
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Brain
Teasers Answers
By looking at the standard US-style keyboard, you see the answer
is the number 8.
The 8 is below the asterisk, though on the same button.
It is above the letters U & I.
Underneath those is the letter J.
Skip a row down and you see the space bar.
Above the 8 are the F6 and F7 function keys.
To the left is the seven, which has the & symbol.
To the right is the number nine.
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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.
š …And That Is All for Now… š
