February 15, 2016

Feb 16

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2.16.16 Week: 07 \ Day: 47
February Averages: 46°\19°
86004 Today: H 57° \ L 24° Average Sky Cover: 10% 
Wind ave:   6mph\Gusts:  15mph
Ave. High: 46° Record High: 70°[1977] Ave. Low: 19° Record Low: -3°[1990]
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Quote of the Day

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Observances Today                           
Kyoto Protocol Day Link
National Almond Day  Link

Westminster Dog Show »»»»
Observances This Week
14-20-Random Acts of Kindness Week Link 
          International Flirting Week
          Love a Mensch Week

14-21-National Condom Week Link
           National Nestbox Week
           NCCDP Alzheimer's & Dementia Staff Education Week

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US Historical Highlights for Today
1741 
Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine (2nd US Mag) begins publishing
1760 
Native American hostages killed in Fort Prince George, SC
1838 
Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions
1852 
Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.

1857 
Gallaudet College (National Deaf Mute college) forms in Washington, D.C.

1862 
Ft Donelson captured by General Ulysses S. Grant (1,400 confederates surrender) 
1868 
Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks forms (NY)
1878 
Silver dollar became US legal tender
1883 
"Ladies Home Journal" begins publishing
1887 
1st newspaper convention (Rochester NY)
1900 
1st Chinese daily newspaper in US publishes (Chung Sai Yat Po-SF)
1909 
1st subway car with side doors goes into service (NYC)
1946 
1st commercially designed helicopter tested, Bridgeport Ct
1950 
Longest-running prime-time game show, "What's My Line" begins on CBS
1964 
Beatles' 2nd appearance on "Ed Sullivan Show"
1968 
US 1st 911 phone system went into service in Haleyville, Ala
1972 
Wilt Chamberlain hit 30,000 point mark during a game with Phoenix Suns
1978 
1st Computer Bulletin Board System (Ward & Randy's CBBS, Chicago)
1992 
LA Lakers retire Magic Johnson's #32 uniform
1992 
Former silver Goodyear blimps are now painted yellow & blue
2006
The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the US Army.

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World Historical Highlights for Today
600 
Pope Gregory the Great decrees saying "God bless You" is the correct response to a sneeze
1659 
1st known cheque (£400) (on display at Westminster Abbey)
1859 
The French Government passes a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch.
1917 
1st synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid
1923 
Howard Carter opens the inner burial chamber of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen's tomb and finds the sarcophagus
1936 
4th Winter Olympic games close at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
1959 
Fidel Castro names himself Cuba's premier after overthrowing Batista
1963 
Beatles top British rock charts with "Please, Please Me"
1968 
Beatles George Harrison, John Lennon and their wifes fly to India for transcendental meditation study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
1983 
The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 75 people in Australia's worst ever fires.
1985 
The founding of Hezbollah.
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My Rambling Thoughts
So it’s Presidents Day…a federal holiday. Over the weekend I was having real trouble with my eyes…red, swollen, watering, etc. So this morning, I called my Ophthalmologist to get an appointment. The lady said come in as soon as possible, we are short staffed and you may have to wait, but we will get you in. I got there at 8:30 and was seen at 8:55. I apologized for coming in on a Federal holiday, but needed help. Not a problem they said. The nurse looked at my eyes and said, ‘yep, something is sure wrong.’ Doc came in and looked, said it was eye drops that I had, after about 6 years, become allergic to my eyes. Or the other way around. He gave me a different eye drop and an anti-biotic eye drop. Said it should be better in about 5 days. The old drops were $35/mo. The new drops are $1.16/month. The antibiotic drops were $35. Sure hope they work.
Still frustrated about the political talk about the appointment of new SCOTUS judge. As someone said on NPR, where does it say that the President is only elected for 3 years and 4 months? Let the process play out as written in the Constitution.
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Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
Anagram Christmas
Language brain teasers are those that involve the English language. You need to think about and manipulate words and letters.
My father gave me a brain teaser with two groups of words missing. The four words in each group are anagrams of each other. I've solved the first group, but I'm stuck on the second group. Can you help?

Time to decorate the Christmas tree! Putting up the lights was my job, but after that it was time to ENLIST some help. While the kids were busy adding TINSEL, I put on some music to LISTEN to; my favourite song is "SILENT Night".

After we finished decorating the Christmas tree, I hung the stockings on the __1__. Feeling a chill, I looked down and had to __2__ my __3__ lapse; the fire was out. I threw on my __4__ and stepped out into the cold night to gather some firewood. Upon my return, we were soon roasting chestnuts and sipping eggnog to complete a wonderful evening.

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…Business Facts…
Apple co-founder Ronald Wayne sold his 10% share in 1976 for $800. Today, it’s worth over $58 billion.

At YouTube Headquarters, employees can either take the elevator, stairs or slide.
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…Grammar Craziness…
The English language includes an interesting category of words and phrases called contronyms— terms that, depending on context, can have opposite or contradictory meanings.
Many of our everyday words have more than one meaning. Below are eleven pairs of definitions. Both definitions in each pair fit the same word. When read down, the first letters of the eleven answers will spell out the name of a beloved TV celebrity.

73. Weather: To withstand, or to wear away
74. Wind up: To end, or to start up
75. With: Alongside, or against

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…Hard to Believe…
27. The Earth is smoother than a billiard ball, if both were of the same size.
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…Harper’s Index…
+1,041-Percentgae change since 1977 in the inflation-adjusted cost of educational books and supplies
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…Instagram Photo of the Day… 

natgeotravel@JayDickmanPhoto. During the most recent National Geographic "Around the World by Private Jet" Expedition, in Morocco found this gentleman who was responsible for fueling the furnace (Farnatchi) keeping the water heated in public baths in the Marrakech souk.
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2 jokes for the day
Little Kelvin's darkest day was when he was asked by his mathematics teacher to solve a problem on the board. The question was asking for the answer to 2+3. 

He knew he couldn't solve that so he glanced towards his bright friend for help. His friend willing to help but fearing to speak out loud, showed him his palm as a silent indication to the answer. 

So little Kelvin drew the palm.

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Two young men applied for an engineering job. Both applicants, having the same qualifications, were asked to take a test by the department manager. 

Upon completion of the test, they missed only one question. 

The manager went up to one of the guys and said, "Thank you for your interest, but we've decided to give the job to the other applicant." 

The engineer said, "But why, we both got nine questions right?" 

The manager said, "We made our decision not on the correct answers, but on the one you missed." 

The engineer asked, "And how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?" 

The manager replied, "Simple, the other engineer put down on question number five, 'I don't know,' you put down, 'neither do I'."  

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Yep, It Really Happened
Great Achievements in Laziness
Globe and Mail- An 80-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman were ticketed in separate incidents in Canada the week of Jan. 18 when police spotted them driving cars completely caked in snow except for a small portion of the windshield. The man, from Brussels, Ontario, was driving a car resembling a "pile of snow on the road." The Halifax, Nova Scotia, woman's car was, a police statement said, "a snowbank with four wheels."       
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Somewhat Useless Information
Rio 2016 will be the first time in Olympic history that a South American country has hosted the Games. The city won its bid in 2009, beating out Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo.

The torch relay will begin on April 21 in the Games' birthplace - Olympia in Greece - before traveling across Brazil for more than 90 days and finishing in Rio on August 5. While in Greece, it will pass through the Eloenas refugee camp, near Athens, where one resident will be selected as a torch bearer.

Golf will return to the Olympics after a 112-year absence. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to reinstate the sport, which previously was played in the 1900 and 1904 Games. The 18 holes in Rio were designed by American golf-course architect Gil Hanse, who is based in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

The Rio games will be the first to feature Olympians born in the year 2000. Rules state that all competitors must have been been born before Jan. 1, 2003, but many sports have other age requirements for health and safety reasons. The youngest competitors are likely to be from diving and gymnastics.

The mascot for 2016 is "Vinicius," a yellow and blue creature representing Brazilian wildlife. It resembles a cat or monkey that can fly and has the power to stretch its limbs and body. It is named after Bossa Nova musician Vinicius de Moraes, one of the writers of "The Girl From Ipanema." Rio 2016 organizers say they hope Vinicius will help them raise 1 billion reais ($398 million) in merchandising.

Organizers say they will prepare 60,000 meals per day to feed the athletes. Brazilian staples like rice and black beans and barbecued meat will be accompanied by other local offerings, such as tapioca, pao de queijo (cheese bread) and acai (an Amazonian fruit and so-called super-food).

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Birthdays Today
“()” indicates age at death
(74) William Scarborough, 
Macon Ga, linguist/author (Birds of Aristophanes) (d.1926)
(73) Hugh Beaumont, 
Lawrence Ks, actor (Ward Cleaver-Leave it to Beaver) (d.1982)
(70?) Kim Jong-il, 
Supreme Leader of North Korea (1994-2011) [disputed birthdate, 1941] (d.2011)
(67) Robert Flaherty, 
Iron Mountain, Michigan Father of documentary film (Nanook of North ), (d. 1951)
65- William Katt, 
Los Angeles, California, American actor (Greatest American Hero, Carrie)
(63) Henry Wilson, 
(R) 18th VP (1873-75) (d.1875)
(62) Sonny Bono, 
Detroit, Michigan, vocalist (Sonny & Cher)/(Rep-R-Ca, 1995-98) (d.1998)
(42) Margaux Hemingway, 
Portland Or, actress (Lipstick, They Call Me Bruce) (d.1996)
59- LeVar Burton, 
Landstuhl Germany, (Roots, Star Trek Next Generation, Reading Rainbow )
58- Ice-T [Tracy Marrow], 
Newark, New Jersey American rapper and actor (New Jack City, Tank Girl, Crazy Six)
57- John McEnroe, 
Wiesbaden, Germany, American tennis great (US Open 1979-81, 84 Wimb 1981, 83, 84)
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Historical Obits Today
@90-1996 Edmund G "Pat" Brown, 
politician
@68-2015 Lesley Gore, 
American singer (It's My Party,  You Don't Own Me), lung cancer
@66-1996 MacLean Stevenson, 
actor (M*A*S*H), heart attack
@55-1967 Smiley Burnette, 
cowboy (Charlie-Petticoat Junction), leukemia
@36-1857 Elisha Kent Kane, 
Arctic explorer (Kane Basin), poor health
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Brain Teasers Answers
1. mantel
2. lament
3. mental
4. mantle

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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.
♥♥♥♥And That Is All for Now ♥♥♥♥

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