FYI: Any blue
text is a link. Click to check it out!
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12.14.16 Week: 50 \ Day: 349
December Averages: 44°\17°
86004 Today: H 53° \
L 29° Average Sky Cover: 15%
Wind ave: 16mph\Gusts: -mph Visibility: 10 mi
Record High: 66°[1946] Record Low: -14°[1972]
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Quote of the Day
Nature was here a
series of wonders, and a fund of delight.
~Daniel Boone
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Observances Today
Yoga Day Link
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Observances This Week
10-17 Human Rights
Week
14-1/5 Christmas
Bird Count Week Link
14-28 Halcyon
Days (Always 7 days before and 7 days after the Winter Solstice)
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Today’s Significant US Historical Events
▼ Today’s Significant
International Historical Events
500’s
▼557 Constantinople,
the capital of the Byzantine Empire, is significantly damaged by a 6.4
magnitude earthquake
800’s
▼835 Chinese
Emperor Wenzong conspires with chancellor Li Xun and general Zheng Zhu to kill
all the eunuchs, but the plot is foiled. Also known as the Sweet Dew Incident
1200’s
▼1287 During
St. Lucia's Flood in Northwest Netherlands the Zuiderzee seawall collapses with
loss of over 50,000 lives. Fifth largest recorded flood in history
1500’s
▼1542 Princess Mary
Stuart succeeds her father James V and becomes Queen Mary I of Scotland at
6 days old
1600’s
▼1656 Artificial
pearls 1st manufactured by M Jacquin in Paris made of gypsum pellets covered
with fish scales
1700’s
1▼751 The
first military academy in the world, the Theresian Military Academy, is founded
in Austria
1793 1st state road authorized, Frankfort, Ky to
Cincinnati
1800’s
1819 Alabama admitted to Union as 22nd state
1849 1st chamber music group in US gives their 1st
concert (Boston)
▼1896 The
Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company
1900’s
1900 Birth of Quantum Physics: German Physicist Max
Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law
▼1901 1st
table tennis tournament is held (London Royal Aquarium)
1903 The Wright brothers attempt to fly the Wright
Flyer for the first time at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
▼1911 Norwegian Roald
Amundsen's expedition is the 1st to each the South Pole
▼1918 Sinn
Fein candidates win 73 of 105 Irish seats in UK general election, though all
will refuse to take seats in Westminster, instead meeting at a Dail Eireann in
Dublin
▼1946 UN
General Assembly votes to establish UN HQs in NYC
▼1950 UN
Gen Assembly establishes High Comm for Refugees (Nobel 1954)
1955 Tappan Zee Bridge in NY opens to traffic
▼1955 16
countries join the United Nations, including Austria, Finland, Italy, and Spain
1967 DNA created in a test tube
1975 WCPR (Brooklyn NY pirate radio station) begins broadcasting on 1620AM
1988 US agrees to talk to Palestine Liberation Org
(1st time in 13 yrs)
▼1994 Construction
begins on the Three Gorges Dam, China
2000’s
2003 President George W. Bush announces
the capture of Saddam Hussein
2008 President George W. Bush makes his 4th and final trip to Iraq ass US Presidnet and is almost struck by 2 shoes thrown by Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi durning a farewell conference in Bagdad.
2012 28 people, including 20 children, are shot to
death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut
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My Rambling Thoughts
Did
some Christmas shopping at World Market. International gifts for our retirement
group and some for my brother and his wife. Always a fun place to shop, and I
got some food for me too. Also ran to the library to pick up their calendars…proceeds
help out the library. They also have cool pictures of our locale.
I
worked with many employees and bosses in my government career. Our
President-Elect reminds me of several I worked with. They were hired from ‘outside’
the BIA, knew little of the procedures, policies, or history of the school
system, and decided that their mission was to change the system as quickly as
possible. They would quickly identify things that employees didn’t like,
promise to change them. When the change didn’t happen on their timeline they
would either leave the job and badmouth everyone concerned or get ‘angry’ and
fight the system until they crossed an imaginary line and were forced to leave.
It is an old story that I’m sure has played out at every agency within the
Federal government. Change does happen in the government but it takes a long,
very long time. Partly because of the length of time most have been there and
partly because Congress also moves slowly. In either case the road to the
future was bumpy and there were a few who fell along the way. Looks like I will
be watching the drama from the sidelines…at least I hope I stay on the
sidelines and that his changes don’t hurt my country, my family, my friends or me.
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Brain Teasers
(answers
at the end of post)
What's in a Name?
Some
people's names (such as "Will Power") suggest a certain personality
or career choice. Given below are some last names and professions (in no
particular order). For each last name, your task is to think of a common first
name, such that it suggests one of the given professions. Each last name and
profession must be used just once.
Example:
Sonny Day would suggest a meteorologist.
Last Names: Ding, Flay, King, Lynn, Payne, Peace
Professions: Musician, Author, Chef, Comedian, Architect, Politician
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“Contronym”—word that is its own antonym
Peer is a
person of equal status (as in a jury of one’s peers), but some peers are more
equal than others, like the members of the peerage, the British or Irish
nobility.
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Candy Cane Facts
The
top-selling week for candy canes annually is the second week of December, when
everyone stocks up on Christmas
supplies.
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…Harper’s Index…
346→Number of children detained by the Somalian
government last year under suspicion of involvement with rebel groups
218→Number of child soldiers recruited by the Somalian
national army last year
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2 jokes for the day
What
do you do when you see a SPACEMAN?
You
park your car in it!
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Everyone's
heard of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as the ninth reindeer, but many people
don't know that there is a tenth one whose name was Olive.
"Olive the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names..."
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Somewhat Useless Information
A
lover of wine is called a Oenophile, from the Greek for wine; oinos.
Not all wines improve with time. In fact, a vast majority of wines produced are
ready to drink and do not have much potential for aging. Only a rare few will
last longer than a decade.
Red
wines are red because fermentation extracts color from the grape skins. White
wines are not fermented with the skins present.
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Birthdays Today
▼ indicates age at death
90’s
▼97- Margaret
Chase Smith, (Rep/Sen-R-Maine) [d1995]
▼96- James
Doolittle, Alameda California, USAF General (Raid on Tokyo
1942) [d1993]
80’s
▼87- Morey
Amsterdam, comedian (Buddy-Dick Van Dyke Show), born in Chicago [d1996]
▼86- Frances
Beauvier, actress (Aunt Bea- "The Andy Griffith Show") [d1989]
▼86 Don
Hewitt, CBS news executive producer (60 Minutes), born in NYC, [d2009]
▼86- June
Taylor, American choreographer (d. 2004)
70’s
▼74- Salvador
Diaz Miron, Mexican poet (Los Cien Mejores Poemas) [d1928]
60’s
▼69 Patty
Duke, actress (The Miracle Worker), born in New York
▼62- Nostradamus,
[Michel de Nostre-Dam], Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, astrologist/prophet
(Les Propheties) [d1566]
▼62- Charlie
"Silver Fox" Rich, Colt Ark, vocalist (Behind Closed Doors) [d1995]
50’s
▼56 King George VI of
the United Kingdom Reigned 1936-52 (d. 1952)
▼55- Lee
Remick, actress (Days of Wine & Rose, Long Hot Summer), born in Quincy,
Mass, [d1991]
▼53- Spike
Jones, composer (In a Secluded Rendesvous), born in Long Beach, Ca [d1965]
30’s
32- Jackson
Rathbone, American actor (The Twilight Saga), born in Singapore
20’s
▼23- Ernie
[Ernest] Davis, American football player 1st African American to win Heisman
Trophy (1961)
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Historical Obits Today
80’s
@88-2015 Lillian
Vernon, founder and CEO of the Lillian Vernon Corporation (first company listed
on US stock exchange started by a woman)
@88-1993 Myrna
Loy, [Williams], US actress (Jazz Singer)
@85-1974 Walter
Lippmann, American journalist (Public Opinion)
@81-2013 Peter
O'Toole, Irish actor
@81-1975 Arthur
Treacher, TV announcer (Merv Griffin Show)
70’s
@74-1998 Norman
Fell, American actor (3’s Company), cancer
@70-1989 Jock
Mahoney, actor (Dallas, Cow Town, Tarzan), stroke
60’s
@68-1989 Andrei
Sakharov, Russian physicist/dissident (Nobel 1975), heart
attack
@67-1799 George
Washington, 1st president USA (1789-97)
50’s
@58-1964 William
Bendix, actor (Life of Riley), Pneumonia
@51-1985 Roger
Maris, HR hitter (61 in 61, NY Yankees), Hodgkin's lymphoma
40’s
@45ish-1476 vlad III the Impaler, in battle
30’s
@39-1963 Dinah
Washington, singer, sleeping pill overdose
@30-1542 James
V, King of Scots (1513-42), fever
20’s
@25-1920 George
Gipp, American football player, pneumonia
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Brain Teasers Answers
Bill
Ding - Architect (building)
Sue Flay - Chef (souffle)
Joe King - Comedian (joking)
Amanda Lynn - Musician (a mandolin) [also: Vi Lynn = violin]
Cam Payne - Politician (campaign)
Warren Peace - Author ("War and Peace")
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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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