February 26, 2017

Feb 27

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
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February  27, 2017 Week: 09 \ Day: 58
86004 Today: H 44° \ L 25° Average Sky Cover: 65% 
Wind ave:   7mph\Gusts:  12mph Visibility: 10 mi
February Averages: 46°\19°
February Records: H: 71° (1986) L: -23 (1985)
Record High: 64°[1921]   Record Low: -12°[1962]
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❆❆Quote of the Day❆❆
Alexander Hamilton
Learn to think continentally.
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❆❆Observances Today❆❆
Anosomia Awareness Day Link
International Polar Bear Day Link
Losar Link
Museum Advocacy Day: 27-28  Link 
National Cupcake Day (Canada) Link

No Brainer Day
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❆❆Observances This Week❆❆
26-3/4
Telecommuter Appreciation Week   
National Invasive Species Awareness Week Link

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❆❆Today’s Significant US Historical Events❆❆
   Today’s Significant International Historical Events 
   837 15th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
^^^^
   1557 1st Russian Embassy arrives in London
^^^^
1801 Washington, D.C. placed under Congressional jurisdiction
   1803 Great fire in Bombay, India
1813 1st federal vaccination legislation enacted
1813 US Congress authorizes use of steamboats to transport mail

1827 1st Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans

   1844 Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti (National Day)
1860 Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that is largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.
1861 US Congress authorizes 1st stamped newspaper wrappers for mailing
1864 6th & last day of battle at Dalton, Georgia (about 600 casualties)
1864 Near Andersonville, GA, rebels open a new POW camp "Camp Sumpter"
1872 Charlotte Ray, 1st Black woman lawyer in USA, graduated from Howard University
1877 US Electoral College declares Rutherford B. Hayes winner of the presidential election
   1879 Constantine Fahlberg discovers saccharin (artificial sweetener)
^^^^
   1901 A General Committee of National Liberal Federation meets and adopts a resolution deploring the continuation of the war in South Africa and condemning the British Government's insistence on unconditional surrender by the Boers
   1907 Psychiatrists Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud meet for the first time in Vienna
1922 US Supreme Court unanimously upheld 19th amendment to the US Constitution - women's right to vote
1939 Supreme Court outlaws sit-down strikes
   1949 Chaim Weizmann becomes 1st President of Israel
    1950 General Chiang Kai-shek elected president of Nationalist China

1951 22nd amendment ratified, limiting US Presidents to 2 terms
   1956 Female suffrage in Egypt
   1957 Mao's famous speech to the Supreme State Conference "On Correct Handling of Contradictions Among People" expounding Maoist ideals
   1962 South-Vietnam pres Ngo Dinh Diem's palace bombed, 1st US killed
    1964 The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.

1970 NY Times (falsely) reports US army has ended domestic surveillance
1972 US President Richard Nixon & Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai issued Shanghai Communique
1973 American Indian Movement occupy Wounded Knee in South Dakota
1974 "People" magazine begins sales
   1980 Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF wins elections in Zimbabwe
1984 Carl Lewis jumps world record indoor (8,675 m)
1985 Farmers converge in Washington to demand economic relief
1986 The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
1988 Bonnie Blair (US) wins Olympic 500m speed skating in record 39.1
   1988 Katarina Witt (GDR) wins 2nd consecutive Olympic figure skating
1990 Exxon Corp & Exxon Shipping are indicted on 5 criminal counts (Valdez)
1992 Tiger Woods, 16, becomes youngest PGA golfer in 35 years 
1994 17th Winter Olympic games closes in Lillehammer, Norway
^^^^
2012 Wikileaks begins disclosing 5 million emails from private intelligence company Stratfor
   2013 Pope Benedict XVI presents his farewell address to Vatican City
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❆❆My Rambling Thoughts❆❆
Heading for Vietnam on our cruise. Sea was a little rough, but not as bad as the previous storm. First stop was Ho Chi Minh City for two days. AS we learned from our guide, locals still call it Saigon, as that is its historical name. The guide also suggested that many who have lived in the South their whole lives were not happy when the war ended and the Northerners came down. Saigon is a busy, vibrant city with more motorbikes than anyplace I have been. Appears there are no real traffic rules. To cross a street, one simply steps out and slowly walks across both lanes of traffic. We were warned not to stop or to speed up, just keep a steady pace, like everyone else, and drivers would ‘work around us’. It was actually true.  We visited a wood lacquer factory where we saw people doing beautiful work. While I knew they used Mother of Pearl, I did not know they also used duck eggshells. After the tour we were able to purchase very reasonably priced items.
Then it was off to the Presidential Palace. It is no longer used as a Palace, and is quite the tourist attraction. The outer area still has two tanks that broke through the fence on the day Saigon fell. Interestingly, one was Chinese, the other was Russian. Back then, they certainly lived in style, not like the locals. There was even an underground paved road that was the escape route to the airport some 7KM away. Then off to another beautiful temple, a drive by the old CIA headquarters, and to a market shopping mall that was 3 floors with several hundred kiosks of locals selling just about anything but food.
On our second day I was going to stay on the boat was encouraged to go into town, as an escort for 6 fellow travelers. Really glad I went. We took the shuttle into town and met a guy who said he would take us anywhere we wanted to go for $10USD per person. And he would stay with us the entire time. We went back to the palace and got a private tour, including the underground bunkers and the road I already knew about, but hadn’t seen. Fascinating. One of our fellow Focus travelers had stayed at the Majestic Hotel back in 1956 when she and her geologist husband had stayed on their way back from Indonesia. Our guide took us there. She recalled her trip, we had tea in the front lounge. She is now 96 and looks and acts like a vibrant 80 year old. Another in our group, Betty, found a very cute bright yellow dress that was very nice…and after some bargaining, purchased it at a very good price. We even had a good lunch at a local noodle restaurant visited by locals and tourists. A great day for sure.

I awoke this morning to a dusting of snow here. Quite the change from our SE Asia adventure. It was gone by noon, but the weatherman says we will have 6” on Monday night/Tuesday morning. Not sure that will happen. Wait and see.
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❆❆Today’s Trivia Hive❆❆
(answers at the end of post)
Where is CenturyLink Field?
Seattle, Washington
San Diego, California
Dallas, Texas
Denver, Colorado

 68.1% taking the internet quiz got it correct.
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❆❆Harper’s Index❆❆
1,500,000→Number of square miles by which the hole in the ozone layer has grown smaller since 2000
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❆❆ Joke For The Day❆❆
What's the difference between a $20 steak and a $55 steak?

February 14th.

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❆❆Yep, It Really Happened❆❆
A pro wrestler used his head to hammer almost 40 nails and claim a world record on an Italian gameshow.

American strongman John Ferraro, also known as "Hammer Head," set the Guinness World Record for "Most nails hammered with the head in 2 minutes" by hammering a total of 38 nails during an appearance on Italy's Lo Show Dei Record.

Ferraro, who also owns the one-minute record and the record for "Most concrete blocks broken on the head with a bowling ball in three minutes (male)," has a skull that is three times thicker than the average human's.

"Preparation, training and dedication to the goal in front of me enables me to have full confidence in my abilities. When it's time to perform a stunt, its balls to wall. It's time to get in the rage zone," he said.

He also appeared on America's Got Talent in 2016 and performs as a professional wrestler under the name "Gino Martino."

P.S. the "male" in parentheses after "Most concrete blocks broken on the head with a bowling ball in three minutes" seems to suggest that there is a women's category for this event. How would you like to go on a date with THAT record holder? 

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❆❆Somewhat Useless Information❆❆
Worldwide, there are approximately 107 baby boys born for every 100 baby girls. Scientists believe the elevated birth rate in favor of boys may be linked to the higher mortality rates of boys in infancy and childhood.

The brains of adult men are about 10 percent larger in total size than the brains of women. Because men generally have a larger stature and more muscle mass than women, their brains require more neurons to control the body.


While men tend to die earlier than women of natural causes, they also account for 94 percent of all on-the-job fatalities, even though they barely represent 50 percent of the U.S. workforce.

Men are also four times more likely than women to be murdered, and 10 times more likely to commit murder.


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❆❆Birthdays Today❆❆
@  indicates age at death
@ 91- William Demarest, actor (Uncle Charlie-My 3 Sons), born in Saint Paul, Minnesota (D 1983)
^^^^
87- Joanne Woodward, American actress (3 Faces of Eve, Rachel), born in Thomasville, Georgia
@ 85- Hugo L Black, Ala, (Sen-D-Ala)/78th Supreme Court justice (1937-71) (D 1971)
83- Ralph Nader, American consumer advocate (Unsafe at Any Speed), born in Winsted, Connecticut
83- [Navarre] Scott Momaday, US author (House Made of Dawn, Pulitzer 1969)
@ 80- Van Williams, American actor (Green Hornet, Tycoon), born in Fort Worth, Texas (d. 2016)
80- Barbara Babcock, actress (Dr Quinn, Dallas, Hill St Blues), born in Pasadena, California
^^^^
@ 79- Charles Herbert Best, Washington County, Maine, American-Canadian physiologist/co-discoverer (Insulin) (D 1978)
@ 79- Elizabeth Taylor, English-American actress (Father of the Bride, Butterfield 8, Cleopatra) born in London, England (d. 2011)
77- Howard Hesseman, Salem Or, actor (Dr Johnny Fever-WKRP, Head of Class)
@ 76- John Connally, (Gov-D/R-Texas), shot in Kennedy motorcade (D 1993)
@ 75- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Portland Maine, poet (Hiawatha) (D 1882)
@ 73- Peter Stone, American writer (d. 2003)
^^^^
@ 66- John Steinbeck, American author (Grapes of Wrath-Nobel 1962), born in Salinas, California (d. 1968)
^^^^
50- Jonathan Ive, English Designer at Apple Inc. (designed the imac, ipod, iphone), born in Chingford, London
^^^^
@ 40- Lee Atwater, Republican National Committee Chairman (1989-91) (D 1991)
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36- Josh Groban, American singer (You Raise Me Up), born in Los Angeles, California
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❆❆Historical Obits Today❆❆
@99-1993 Lillian Gish, American silent film/stage actress (Birth of a Nation)
@91-2016 George Kennedy, American actor (Cool Hand Luke, Naked Gun films)
^^^^
@86-1936 Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist (reflexes, Nobel 1904)
@83-2015 Leonard Nimoy, American actor (Spock-Star Trek, Mission Impossible)
@82-2008 William F. Buckley, Jr., American conservative author and commentator
^^^^
@78-2013 Van Cliburn, American pianist, bone cancer
@78-1980 George Tobias, actor (Abner Kravitz-Bewitched), bladder cancer
@74-2003 Fred Rogers, host of TV's "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" stomach cancer
@70-1892 Louis Vuitton, French founder of the Louis Vuitton brand of leather goods now owned by LVMH
^^^^
@62-1974 Pat Brady, Toledo Ohio, actor (Roy Rodgers Show)
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@25-1968 Frankie Lymon, American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer (The Teenagers), heroin overdose
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❆❆Trivia Hive  Answers❆❆
Seattle, Washington
CenturyLink Field is designed with a 67,000 seat capacity! That means nearly 1 in every 10 people in Seattle can watch a live Seahawks game at the same time! The roof covers about 70% of the stadium which is great because it's Seattle and, you know, rain. The coolest part of CenturyLink Field is that, in addition to its naming rights for the stadium, CenturyLink also agreed to increase its support for local Seahawks charities. BOOM! Source: Seattle Seahawks Official Website
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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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