December 20, 2015

December 21, 2015

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December 21, 2015  Week: 52 \ Day: 355
December Averages: 44°\17°
86004 Today: H 41° \ L 27° Average Sky Cover: 15% 
Wind ave:   8mph\Gusts:  22mph
Ave. High: 43° Record High: 61°[1969] Ave. Low: 16° Record Low: -6°[1967]
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Observances Today:                         
Ann & Samantha Day (Summer & Winter Solstices)   Link
Celebrate Short Fiction Day
Crossword Puzzle Day
National Flashlight Day (Shortest Day of The Year)
Global Orgasm Day Link (Always on Winter Solstice and Summer Solstice)
International Dalek Remembrance Day Link

National Homeless Persons' Remembrance Day Link
Phileas Fogg Win A Wager Day
Short Girl Appreciation Day (Shortest day of the year)
World Peace Day/Winter Solstice1
Winter Solstice (11:48 pm)
Yalda
Yule

Independence Day-State of Erie (formerly Irish Free State)-1948
     
Observances This Week:
14-1/5
Christmas Bird Count Week Link  
14-28

Halcyon Days
16-24
Posadas
17-23

Saturnalia

Quote of the Day 



US Historical Highlights for Today
1620 - 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock [OS=Dec 11]
1784 - John Jay becomes 1st US Secretary of State (foreign affairs)
1804 -Two treaties the CHEROKEEs signed with Return Meigs are sent to the Senate today for consideration. The CHEROKEEs will give up over four million acres for almost $20,000.
1829 - 1st stone arch railroad bridge in US dedicated, Baltimore
1849 - 1st US skating club formed (Phila)
1864
 - General Sherman conquers Savannah, Georgia

1866 - Cheyenne, Arapaho', Sioux, Fetterman Massacre
1891 - 1st game of basketball, based on rules created by James Naismith, played by 18 students in Springfield, Massachusetts
1909 - 1st junior high school established (Berkeley California)
1913 - 1st crossword puzzle (with 32 clues) printed in NY World
1914 - 1st feature-length silent film comedy "Tillie's Punctured Romance" released starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin
1919 - J. Edgar Hoover deports anarchist/feminist Emma Goldman to Russia
1921 - Supreme Court rules labor injunctions & picketing unconstitutional
1929
 - 1st group hospital insurance plan offered (Dallas Tx)

1932 - Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, 1st joint movie (Flying Down to Rio)
1933Fox Films signs Shirley Temple, 5, to a studio contract
1937The first full-length animated feature film and the earliest in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre
1959
 - 10th largest snowfall in NYC history (13.7")

1959Tom Landry accepts coaching job with Dallas Cowboys (stays until 1988)
1962US & Cuba accord, releases Bay of Pigs captive
1970- Department store owner Harold Steinfeld and his wife, along with 27 other people, die in a fire at the Pioneer Hotel in Tucson.
World Historical Highlights for Today
1582 - Flanders adopts Gregorian calendar, tomorrow is Jan 1 1583
1898 - Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium
1906 - British Parliament pass two important pieces of social legislation: The Trades Disputes Bill, legalizing peaceful picketing, and The Workingmen's Compensation Act, broadening employers' liability for accidents
1976 - UN General Assembly passes a resolution declaring 1979-Year of Child
1991 - 95 share in Madrid Spain $1.3 billion lottery (#47996)
1991 - Soviet Union formally dissolves as 11 of 12 republics sign treaty forming Commonwealth of Independent States
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Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthdays Today 

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My Rambling Thoughts
This is the last posting until after my Christmas trip.
Stayed up way too late watching Netflix. Awoke to unexpected high winds and about an inch of the white stuff. Prior to this storm, the weatherman said all would be calm until after Christmas…now they are saying that Flag will have a white Christmas, with at least some snow falling on the Christmas Day. This storm is gone. NWS still says Chicago will be in 40’s with some rain while I’m there. Nice.
Having a little trouble with my right wrist. It has been a couple of years since that pain has been there. Actually forgot why it happens. Woke up with very sore wrist. Took a pain pill and put on my old wrist guard. Pain still there, but is very tolerable. Just a pain to do anything. My cool neighbor and his young son (3) cleared my sidewalk. They had a lot of fun. And I was very appreciative.
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
Troubling Doubling at School
Math brain teasers require computations to solve.
Read the little poem and answer its question if you can.

The number of girls who do wear a watch
is double the number who don't.
But the number of boys who do not wear a watch
is double the number who do.

If I tell you the number of girls in my class
is double the number of boys,
Can you tell me the number I teach? Here's a clue:
More than 20; below 32!

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Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
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…Bet You Didn’t Know…
The adorable language that has made the Minions globally-loved little creatures is called Minionese, which the director of “Despicable Me” wrote himself.
…Crazy Law…
Oklahoma
Bear wrestling and “horse tripping” events are strictly verboten in OK, although if you think wrestling a bear is a good idea, you have bigger problems than state penal codes.
Oregon
Carrying a person under the age of 18 on any external part of the car is unlawful. But if they’re 19, feel free to throw them on the fender.
…Harper’s Index…
4/5 Portion of anti-Muslim  discrimination and harassment in France that is directed against women
…Instagram Photo of the Day… 

A harp seal pup, about 7 days old, opens one eye during a snowstorm on the pack ice in Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence. Thinning ice due to climate change over the last decade however, has caused problems for this species for without stable ice, they cannot nurse from their moms and may fall into the icy sea before they are physically prepared. Survival long term will require adapting to the loss of sea ice if these trends continue. Photographed #onassignment for @natgeo

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2 jokes for the day
The Man and the Parrot  In Animal Jokes

One day a man goes to a pet shop to buy a parrot. The assistant takes the man to the parrot section and asks the man to choose one.

The man asks, ''How much is the yellow one?''

The assistant says, ''$2000.''

The man is shocked and asks the assistant why it's so expensive.

The assistant explains, ''This parrot is a very special one. He knows typewriting and can type really fast.''

''What about the green one?'' the man asks.

The assistant says, ''He costs $5000 because he knows typewriting and can answer incoming telephone calls and takes notes.''

''What about the red one?'' the man asks.

The assistant says, ''That one's $10,000.''

The man says, ''What does he do?''

The assistant says, ''I don't know, but the other two call him boss.''
Blind Skydivers - In Animal Jokes

Why don't blind people skydive?

Because it scares the crap out of their dogs.     
Yep, It Really Happened
ORLANDO, FL - A Florida wildlife center said two gopher tortoises were "vandalized" by culprits devoid of both artistic skills and common sense. The Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge & Education Center said a gopher tortoise with its shell crudely colored and doused in glitter was found wandering in Pine Hills and a second tortoise with a similar paint job was found suffering from a fungal infection in Orlando's Blanchard Park. Orange County Animal Services brought the tortoises to the refuge. "It will take multiple cleanings to remove the paint from each tortoise as well as healing time to get them back in good health. This is so disrespectful and we plead to you to share this with others to make it known that this is NOT OK and illegal!!" the center said. Shelter worker Debbie Helsel told WFTV the tortoise suffering from the infection is about 20 years old and was found "extremely dehydrated." "It is completely disrespectful to the animal to do something like this," she said. Helsel said gopher tortoises use their shells to help them breath, making the paint jobs extra dangerous. "Right underneath this [the shell] is just a very thin, thin shell where all their organs are," Helsel said. "It's not fun. It's not funny. It's not healthy for the animal because it causes a lot of problems and this animal could end up losing its life over something like this," she said.      
Somewhat Useless Information
December is the twelfth and last month of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. This is used in almost all the world today. It was the tenth month in the early Roman calendar. It became the twelfth month in a later Roman calendar. Until 46 B.C., December only had 29 days. But the Roman statesman Julius Caesar added two days to December, which made it 31 days. 

In the northern half of the world, Winter begins in December. Winter does not begin until December 21 or 22, and most of December is usually warmer than other winter months. The latter part of December has long been a holiday season. Christians celebrate Christmas Day, as the birthday of Jesus Christ.

The turquoise and zircon are the birthstones for December. Holly, narcissus, and poinsettia are the flowers for the month of December.

The first 10 amendments to the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, ratified, December 15, 1791.

Scientists achieved the first controlled atomic chain reaction, in Chicago, December 2, 1942.

Amendment 21 to the United States Constitution, repealing prohibition, proclaimed, December 5, 1933

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Birthdays Today
“()” indicates age at death
(88) - Kurt Waldheim, Nazi/4th UN Sec-Gen (1972-81)/Austrian pres (d.2007)
(85) - Joe Paterno, disgraced football coach (Penn State, SI Sportsman of 1986)
(85) - Ed Nelson, American actor (Peyton Place, A Long Came a Spider), born in New Orleans, Louisiana, (d. 2014)
(82) - Paul Winchell, ventriloquist (Jerry Mahoney, Knucklehead Smith), born in NYC, (d.2005)
(80) - Roger Williams, English theologian and colonist (d. 1684)
80 - Phil Donahue, TV talk show host (The Phil Donahue Show), born in Cleveland
78 - Jane Fonda, actress (Barbarella, Klute), physically fit, born in NYC
(77) - Hermann A J Kees, German Egyptologist (Problems of Egyptology) (d.1964)
(76) - Benjamin Disraeli, (Tory) British PM (1868, 1874-80) (d.1881)
67 - Samuel L. Jackson, actor (Amos & Andrew, White Sand, Pulp Fiction), born in Washington, D.C.
61 - [Christine] Chris Evert, Fort Lauderdale Florida, tennis champion (18 singles Gram Slams, 3 doubles titles)
60 - Jane Kaczmarek, American actress (Malcom in the Middle)
58 - Ray Romano, American actor (Everybody Loves Raymond, Ice Age), born in Queens, New York
(52) - Frank Zappa, rocker (Mothers of Invention), born in Baltimore (d.1993)
(51) - Thomas Becket, Cheapside, archbishop of Canterbury (1162-1170), born in London, England (d. 1170)
50 - Andy Dick, Charleston SC, actor (Matthew-Newsradio)
49 - Kiefer Sutherland, TV actor
(38) - Florence Griffith Joyner, runner (Olympic-3 gold-1988), born in LA, (d.1998)
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Historical Obits Today
@85-1994 - Dean Rusk, US Sect of State
@73-1983 - Rod Cameron, actor (Santa Fe Passage, Stampede)
@67-2001 - Dick Schaap, American sports journalist, hip replacement complication
@60-1945 - George S Patton, US General (Normandy), congestive heart failure
@44-1940 - F Scott Fitzgerald, author (Zelda), heart attack
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Brain Teasers Answers
27
Solution:
The number of boys must be a multiple of 3 (3, 6, 9...) so that it can be split in the ratio of 2:1 (no watch:watch).

The number of girls is double the no. of boys (6, 12, 18...)

So the totals can only be 9, 18, 27...

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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.

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