I detest nights like this when I can't sleep. Every time I looked at the clock only ten minutes had passed. When I'm done with this I'm going to give the sofa a try.
Anyhow, right now it's 39° outside, feels like 36°, with cloudy skies.
TODAYl Cloudy with isolated rain showers. Highs in the lower 40s. Northeast winds at 10 mph. Chance of rain is 20%.
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy. Chance of rain showers in the evening then a slight chance of rain showers after midnight. Lows in the upper 30s. Northwest winds 10 mph with gusts to around 25 mph. Chance of showers 40%/
MARINE REPORT:
TODAY: East wind 5 to 10 knots becoming north early in the evening. Slight chance of showers through the day. Waves 2 feet or less.
TONIGHT; tNorthwest wind 15 to 20 knots. Slight chance of showers. Waves 2 to 4 feet.
MONDAY; Northwest wind 10 to 15 knots with gusts to around 25 knots. Partly sunny. Waves 2 to 3 feet.
MONDAY NIGHT; Southwest wind 10 to 15 knots with gusts to around 20 knots. Mostly cloudy. Waves 2 feet or less.

DID YOU KNOW THAT your brain uses the energy of a 10 watt bulb to think. (Mine isn't even using one the size of a broken Christmas tree light today).

ON THIS DATE of October 28, 1965, construction is completed on the Gateway Arch, a spectacular 630-foot-high parabola of stainless steel marking the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the waterfront of St. Louis, Missouri.

The Gateway Arch, designed by Finnish-born, American-educated architect Eero Saarinen, was erected to commemorate President Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and to celebrate St. Louis’ central role in the rapid westward expansion that followed. As the market and supply point for fur traders and explorers—including the famous Meriwether Lewis and William Clark—the town of St. Louis grew exponentially after the War of 1812, when great numbers of people began to travel by wagon train to seek their fortunes west of the Mississippi River. In 1947-48, Saarinen won a nationwide competition to design a monument honoring the spirit of the western pioneers. In a sad twist of fate, the architect died of a brain tumor in 1961 and did not live to see the construction of his now-famous arch, which began in February 1963. Completed in October 1965, the Gateway Arch cost less than $15 million to build. With foundations sunk 60 feet into the ground, its frame of stressed stainless steel is built to withstand both earthquakes and high winds. An internal tram system takes visitors to the top, where on a clear day they can see up to 30 miles across the winding Mississippi and to the Great Plains to the west. In addition to the Gateway Arch, the Jefferson Expansion Memorial includes the Museum of Westward Expansion and the Old Courthouse of St. Louis, where two of the famous Dred Scott slavery cases were heard in the 1860s.

Today, some 4 million people visit the park each year to wander its nearly 100 acres, soak up some history and take in the breathtaking views from Saarinen’s gleaming arch.

WORD OF THE DAY: ossature (OS-uh-cher) which means the arrangement of bones in the skeleton or a body part. Ossature is a borrowing from French ossature, probably modeled on French musculature. The base of ossature is the Latin noun os (stem oss-) “bone,” which comes from the Proto-Indo-European root ost- “bone.” Greek derives from the same root ostéon “bone” (as in osteology), óstrakon “potsherd” (as in ostracize), and óstreon “oyster” (the English noun comes from Greek via Old French and Latin). Ossature entered English in the 19th century.

Posted at 8:30 a.m.

I'll bet you thought I simply slept in this morning, well, I sort of did but upon awakening I had trouble getting my webbed feet untangled from the comforter. AND it's raining again today. I think perhaps i'll need to get a Babble language learning thingy and learn duck!
Right now it's 42°, feels like 38°, cloudy skies, misting out at the moment, wind is at 9 mph from the east.
TODAY: Cloudy with a 50% chance of rain. Highs in the mid 40s. East winds at 10 mph with gusts to around 20 mph.
TONIGHT: Cloudy with a 50% chance of rain. Lows in the upper 30s. East winds at 10 mph. Gusts up to 20 mph in the evening.
MARINE REPORT:
TODAY: East wind 10 to 15 knots. Gusts up to 20 knots in the morning. Chance of rain early in the morning, then chance of showers in the morning. Waves 2 to 3 feet.
TONIGHT: East wind 5 to 10 knots with gusts to around 20 knots. Chance of showers. Waves 2 feet or less.
SUNDAY: Northeast wind 5 to 10 knots. Cloudy. Waves 2 feet or less.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Northwest wind 10 to 15 knots with gusts to around 20 knots. Mostly cloudy. Waves 2 to 3 feet.

DID YOU KNOW THAT of all the oxygen you breathe 20% of it is used by your brain.

ON THIS DATE of October 27, 1904, at 2:35 pm , New York City Mayor George McClellan takes the controls on the inaugural run of the city’s innovative new rapid transit system: the subway.

While London boasts the world’s oldest underground train network (opened in 1863) and Boston built the first subway in the United States in 1897, the New York City subway soon became the largest American system. The first line, operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), traveled 9.1 miles through 28 stations. Running from City Hall in lower Manhattan to Grand Central Terminal in midtown, and then heading west along 42nd Street to Times Square, the line finished by zipping north, all the way to 145th Street and Broadway in Harlem. On opening day, Mayor McClellan so enjoyed his stint as engineer that he stayed at the controls all the way from City Hall to 103rd Street.

At 7 p.m. that evening, the subway opened to the general public, and more than 100,000 people paid a nickel each to take their first ride under Manhattan. IRT service expanded to the Bronx in 1905, to Brooklyn in 1908 and to Queens in 1915. Since 1968, the subway has been controlled by the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA). The system now has 26 lines and 468 stations in operation; the longest line, the 8th Avenue “A” Express train, stretches more than 32 miles, from the northern tip of Manhattan to the far southeast corner of Queens.

Every day, some 4.5 million passengers take the subway in New York. With the exception of the PATH train connecting New York with New Jersey and some parts of Chicago’s elevated train system, New York’s subway is the only rapid transit system in the world that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No matter how crowded or dirty, the subway is one New York City institution few New Yorkers—or tourists—could do without.

WORD OF THE DAY: necropolis (nuh-KROP-uh-lis) which means a cemetery, especially one of large size and usually of an ancient city. Necropolis, Greek for “city of the dead, corpse city,” first appears in the works of the Greek historian and geographer Strabo (c 63 b.c.-c 21a.d.). It was originally the name of the cemetery district in Alexandria, Egypt (founded by Alexander the Great in 323 b.c.). Greek nekrós means “corpse” (its plural nekrói means “the dead”); its combining form necro- forms the first half of necromancy (divination through communication with the dead, one of the blackest of the black arts). Nekrós comes from the Proto-Indo-European root nek- “death,” with a variant nok- “to kill.” From the same root Latin has the noun nex (stem nec-) “murder, violent death” (as in internecine, whose original English meaning was “deadly”). From the variant nok- Latin derives the verb nocēre “to harm” (source of nocent and innocent) and the adjective noxius “guilty, delinquent, harmful, injurious.” Greek pólis “city," more properly "citadel, fortified high place,” is related to Sanskrit pū́r, puram “city,” as in Singapore “Lion City,” ultimately from Sanskrit siṁha- “lion” and pū́r, puram. Necropolis entered English in the 19th century.

Posted at 9 a.m.

It's 42° outside this morning, with cloudy skies.
TODAY: Cloudy with a 50% chance of rain. Patchy fog. Highs in the upper 40s. East winds at 10 mph. Gusts up to 20 mph in the afternoon.
TONIGHT: Cloudy with a 50% chance of rain. Patchy fog. Lows around 40°. East winds 5 to 10 mph with gusts to around 25 mph.
MARINE REPORT:
TODAY: East wind 10 to 15 knots with gusts to around 20 knots. Patchy fog through the day. Rain likely. Waves 2 feet or less.
TONIGHT: East wind 10 to 15 knots with gusts to around 20 knots. Patchy fog. Chance of rain. Waves 2 feet or less.
SATURDAY: East wind 10 to 15 knots with gusts to around 20 knots. Chance of showers. Waves 2 feet or less.
SATURDAY NIGHT: East wind 10 to 15 knots. Chance of showers. Waves 2 feet or less.

DID YOU KNOW THAT in a room with 23 other people, there is a 50% chance that two of the people in the room will share a birthday.

ON THIS DATE of October 26, 1881, the Earp brothers face off against the Clanton-McLaury gang in a legendary shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.

After silver was discovered nearby in 1877, Tombstone quickly grew into one of the richest mining towns in the Southwest. Wyatt Earp, a former Kansas police officer working as a bank security guard, and his brothers, Morgan and Virgil, the town marshal, represented “law and order” in Tombstone, though they also had reputations as being power-hungry and ruthless. The Clantons and McLaurys were cowboys who lived on a ranch outside of town and sidelined as cattle rustlers, thieves and murderers. In October 1881, the struggle between these two groups for control of Tombstone and Cochise County ended in a blaze of gunfire at the OK Corral.

On the morning of October 25, Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury came into Tombstone for supplies. Over the next 24 hours, the two men had several violent run-ins with the Earps and their friend Doc Holliday. Around 1:30 p.m. on October 26, Ike’s brother Billy rode into town to join them, along with Frank McLaury and Billy Claiborne. The first person they met in the local saloon was Holliday, who was delighted to inform them that their brothers had both been pistol-whipped by the Earps. Frank and Billy immediately left the saloon, vowing revenge.

Around 3 p.m., the Earps and Holliday spotted the five members of the Clanton-McLaury gang in a vacant lot behind the OK Corral, at the end of Fremont Street. The famous gunfight that ensued lasted all of 30 seconds, and around 30 shots were fired. Though it’s still debated who fired the first shot, most reports say that the shootout began when Virgil Earp pulled out his revolver and shot Billy Clanton point-blank in the chest, while Doc Holliday fired a shotgun blast at Tom McLaury’s chest. Though Wyatt Earp wounded Frank McLaury with a shot in the stomach, Frank managed to get off a few shots before collapsing, as did Billy Clanton. When the dust cleared, Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers were dead, and Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday were wounded. Ike Clanton and Claiborne had run for the hills.

Sheriff John Behan of Cochise County, who witnessed the shootout, charged the Earps and Holliday with murder. A month later, however, a Tombstone judge found the men not guilty, ruling that they were “fully justified in committing these homicides.” The famous shootout has been immortalized in many movies, including Frontier Marshal (1939), Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957), Tombstone (1993) and Wyatt Earp (1994).

WORD OF THE DAY: timorous (TIM-er-uhs) which means full of fear; fearful. Timorous, “fearful,” has several spellings in Middle English, e.g., tymerous, timerous, temerous, which all come via Old French temeros, timoureus from the Medieval Latin adjective timōrōsus “fearful,” a derivative of the Latin noun timor “fear,” itself a derivative of the verb timēre “to fear, be afraid.” (There is no further reliable etymology for the Latin.) The English and French spellings tim- and tem- betray a confusion going back to at least the 14th century between derivations of the Latin verb timēre “to fear” and adverb temere “rashly, recklessly” (the source of the English noun temerity). From the English variant spelling timerous (“fearful”), English forms the uncommon noun temerity “fearfulness, timidity,” which is also spelled timerite and temerity, the latter spelling continuing that confusion. Timorous entered English in the 15th century.

Posted at 8:15 a.m.

Rather weird out this morning when I took the dogs out. Raining on the roof and running off like crazy but the deck was bone dry. Right now I'm showing 43°, feels like 37°, partly cloudy skies, wind at 10 mph from the southwest, and humidity is at 85%.

TODAY: Mostly cloudy. Highs around 50°. Southwest winds at 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph.
TONIGHT: Cloudy. A 20% chance of rain showers after midnight. Lows around 40°. South winds at 10 mph with gusts to around 20 mph.
MARINE REPORT:
TODAY: Southwest wind 10 to 15 knots with gusts to around 20 knots. Slight chance of showers in the afternoon. Waves 2 to 3 feet.
TONIGHT: Southwest wind 5 to 10 knots. Slight chance of showers. Waves 2 feet or less.
FRIDAY: Southeast wind 10 to 15 knots. Patchy fog. Chance of showers. Waves 2 feet or less.
FrIDAY NIGHT: East wind 10 to 15 knots. Chance of showers. Waves 2 feet or less.

DID YOU KNOW THAT birds can not live in space – they need gravity or they can not swallow.

ON THIS DATE of October 25, 1881, Pablo Picasso, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, is born in Malaga, Spain.

Picasso’s father was a professor of drawing, and he bred his son for a career in academic art. Picasso had his first exhibit at age 13 and later quit art school so he could experiment full-time with modern art styles. He went to Paris for the first time in 1900, and in 1901 was given an exhibition at a gallery on Paris’ rue Lafitte, a street known for its prestigious art galleries. The precocious 19-year-old Spaniard was at the time a relative unknown outside Barcelona, but he had already produced hundreds of paintings. Winning favorable reviews, he stayed in Paris for the rest of the year and later returned to the city to settle permanently.

The work of Picasso, which comprises more than 50,000 paintings, drawings, engravings, sculptures, and ceramics produced over 80 years, is described in a series of overlapping periods. His first notable period–the “blue period”—began shortly after his first Paris exhibit. In works such as The Old Guitarist (1903), Picasso painted in blue tones to evoke the melancholy world of the poor. The blue period was followed by the “rose period,” in which he often depicted circus scenes, and then by Picasso’s early work in sculpture. In 1907, Picasso painted the groundbreaking work Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, which, with its fragmented and distorted representation of the human form, broke from previous European art. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon demonstrated the influence on Picasso of both African mask art and Paul Cezanne and is seen as a forerunner of the Cubist movement, founded by Picasso and the French painter Georges Braque in 1909.

In Cubism, which is divided into two phases, analytical and synthetic, Picasso and Braque established the modern principle that artwork need not represent reality to have artistic value. Major Cubist works by Picasso included his costumes and sets for Sergey Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes (1917) and The Three Musicians (1921). Picasso and Braque’s Cubist experiments also resulted in the invention of several new artistic techniques, including collage.

After Cubism, Picasso explored classical and Mediterranean themes, and images of violence and anguish increasingly appeared in his work. In 1937, this trend culminated in the masterpiece Guernica, a monumental work that evoked the horror and suffering endured by the Basque town of Guernica when it was destroyed by German war planes during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso remained in Paris during the Nazi occupation but was fervently opposed to fascism and after the war joined the French Communist Party.

Picasso’s work after World War II is less studied than his earlier creations, but he continued to work feverishly and enjoyed commercial and critical success. He produced fantastical works, experimented with ceramics, and painted variations on the works of other masters in the history of art. Known for his intense gaze and domineering personality, he had a series of intense and overlapping love affairs in his lifetime. He continued to produce art with undiminished force until his death in 1973 at the age of 91.

WORD OF THE DAY: dirigible (DIr- i- juh-buh l) which means an airship. Dirigible is a shortening of “dirigible balloon,” a translation of the French ballon dirigeable “steerable balloon.” Dirigible and dirigeable are derivatives of the Latin verb dīrigere “to guide, align, straighten” and the common suffix -ible “capable of, fit for.” Dirigible in its literal sense “capable of being directed” dates from the late 16th century; the sense referring to the balloon or airship dates from the late 19th century.

Posted at 8:30 a.m.

Agnes Bird Interview 2002 (3/4 hr)

Phil Gregg Interview 2006 (2 hrs)

Andy Tennison "Strangite" 2005 (3/4 hr)

BICS Boy's Basketball 1/11/18 (1 hr)

BICS Lady's Basketball 1/11/18 (1 hr)

All times are approximate. The rebroadcast will begin at 10:45 a.m.

These can be viewed by anyone, anywhere at:

http://beaverisland.tv

Joe Moore, editor
Beaver Island News on the 'Net

Clear skies, lots of stars, Orion is marching across the heavens from our back deck. Not a hint of a breeze, no leaves skittering ... just pure silence.

Right now I'm showing 37°, IF there was wind, it was from the north but I'm not picking up any, dew point is 28°, humidity is at 72%.
TODAY: Sunny. Highs in the lower 50s. southwest winds at 15 mph. Gusts up to 25 mph in the afternoon.
TONIGHT; Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming cloudy. A 20% chance of rain showers. Lows in the upper 30s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph shifting to the northwest 10 to 15 mph after midnight. Gusts up to 35 mph.
MARINE REPORT; ...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM EDT WEDNESDAY...
TODAY: Southwest wind 10 to 15 knots. Gusts up to 20 knots in the afternoon. Sunny. Waves 2 to 3 feet building to 2 to 4 feet in the afternoon.
TONIGHT: Northwest wind 15 to 25 knots with gusts to around 30 knots. Chance of showers. Waves 3 to 5 feet.
TUESDAY: Northwest wind 10 to 20 knots with gusts to around 30 knots. Mostly cloudy. Waves 3 to 5 feet.
TUESDAY NIGHT: North wind 10 to 20 knots with gusts to around 30 knots. Mostly cloudy. Waves 3 to 5 feet.

DID YOU KNOW THAT All babies are born with blue eyes.

ON THIS DATE of October 22, in a televised speech of extraordinary gravity, President John F. Kennedy announces that U.S. spy planes have discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba. These missile sites—under construction but nearing completion—housed medium-range missiles capable of striking a number of major cities in the United States, including Washington, D.C. Kennedy announced that he was ordering a naval “quarantine” of Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from transporting any more offensive weapons to the island and explained that the United States would not tolerate the existence of the missile sites currently in place. The president made it clear that America would not stop short of military action to end what he called a “clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace.”

What is known as the Cuban Missile Crisis actually began on October 15, 1962—the day that U.S. intelligence personnel analyzing U-2 spy plane data discovered that the Soviets were building medium-range missile sites in Cuba. The next day, President Kennedy secretly convened an emergency meeting of his senior military, political, and diplomatic advisers to discuss the ominous development. The group became known as ExCom, short for Executive Committee. After rejecting a surgical air strike against the missile sites, ExCom decided on a naval quarantine and a demand that the bases be dismantled and missiles removed. On the night of October 22, Kennedy went on national television to announce his decision. During the next six days, the crisis escalated to a breaking point as the world tottered on the brink of nuclear war between the two superpowers.

On October 23, the quarantine of Cuba began, but Kennedy decided to give Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev more time to consider the U.S. action by pulling the quarantine line back 500 miles. By October 24, Soviet ships en route to Cuba capable of carrying military cargoes appeared to have slowed down, altered, or reversed their course as they approached the quarantine, with the exception of one ship—the tanker Bucharest. At the request of more than 40 nonaligned nations, U.N. Secretary-General U Thant sent private appeals to Kennedy and Khrushchev, urging that their governments “refrain from any action that may aggravate the situation and bring with it the risk of war.” At the direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. military forces went to DEFCON 2, the highest military alert ever reached in the postwar era, as military commanders prepared for full-scale war with the Soviet Union.

On October 25, the aircraft carrier USS Essex and the destroyer USS Gearing attempted to intercept the Soviet tanker Bucharest as it crossed over the U.S. quarantine of Cuba. The Soviet ship failed to cooperate, but the U.S. Navy restrained itself from forcibly seizing the ship, deeming it unlikely that the tanker was carrying offensive weapons. On October 26, Kennedy learned that work on the missile bases was proceeding without interruption, and ExCom considered authorizing a U.S. invasion of Cuba. The same day, the Soviets transmitted a proposal for ending the crisis: The missile bases would be removed in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba.

The next day, however, Khrushchev upped the ante by publicly calling for the dismantling of U.S. missile bases in Turkey under pressure from Soviet military commanders. While Kennedy and his crisis advisers debated this dangerous turn in negotiations, a U-2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba, and its pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson, was killed. To the dismay of the Pentagon, Kennedy forbid a military retaliation unless any more surveillance planes were fired upon over Cuba. To defuse the worsening crisis, Kennedy and his advisers agreed to dismantle the U.S. missile sites in Turkey but at a later date, in order to prevent the protest of Turkey, a key NATO member.

On October 28, Khrushchev announced his government’s intent to dismantle and remove all offensive Soviet weapons in Cuba. With the airing of the public message on Radio Moscow, the USSR confirmed its willingness to proceed with the solution secretly proposed by the Americans the day before. In the afternoon, Soviet technicians began dismantling the missile sites, and the world stepped back from the brink of nuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis was effectively over. In November, Kennedy called off the blockade, and by the end of the year all the offensive missiles had left Cuba. Soon after, the United States quietly removed its missiles from Turkey.

The Cuban Missile Crisis seemed at the time a clear victory for the United States, but Cuba emerged from the episode with a much greater sense of security.The removal of antiquated Jupiter missiles from Turkey had no detrimental effect on U.S. nuclear strategy, but the Cuban Missile Crisis convinced a humiliated USSR to commence a massive nuclear buildup. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union reached nuclear parity with the United States and built intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of striking any city in the United States.

A succession of U.S. administrations honored Kennedy’s pledge not to invade Cuba, and relations with the communist island nation situated just 80 miles from Florida remained a thorn in the side of U.S. foreign policy for more than 50 years. In 2015, officials from both nations announced the formal normalization of relations between the U.S and Cuba, which included the easing of travel restrictions and the opening of embassies and diplomatic missions in both countries.

WORD OF THE DAY: barnstorm (BAHRN-stawrm) which means to conduct a campaign or speaking tour in rural areas by making brief stops in many small towns. The original sense of barnstorm, the theater sense, “to tour small towns and rural areas (often in barns),” dates from the second half of the 19th century. The political or campaigning sense “to conduct a speaking tour in rural areas by making brief stops in small towns,” and the professional sports sense “to tour an area playing exhibition games after the regular season” date from the end of the 19th century. The flying or piloting sense “to give exhibitions of stunt flying, participate in airplane races, etc., while touring country towns and rural areas” dates from the first half of the 20th century.

This morning we have cloudy skies, 34°, feels like 26°, wind is at 12 mph from the northwest, and humidity is at 63%.
TODAY: Mostly cloudy. Scattered snow ad rain showers in the morning then scattered rain showers i the afternoon. Highs in the lower 40s. Southwest winds at 15 mph. Gusts up to 20 mph increasing to 30 mph in the afternoon.
TONIGHT; Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 30s. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.
MARINE REPORT ...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT...
TODAY Northwest wind 10 to 15 knots with gusts to around 20 knots becoming southwest 10 to 20 knots with gusts to around 25 knots in the afternoon. Isolated rain and snow showers in the morning. Waves 2 to 3 feet building to 3 to 5 feet in the afternoon.
TONIGHT West wind 15 to 20 knots with gusts to around 30 knots. Partly cloudy. Waves 3 to 5 feet.
MONDAY West wind 10 to 15 knots with gusts to around 20 knots. Sunny. Waves 2 to 4 feet.
MONDAY NIGHT Northwest wind 10 to 20 knots with gusts to around 25 knots. Chance of showers. Waves 2 to 4 feet.

DID YOU KNOW THAT Tiger shark embryos begin attacking each other before they are even born, in their mother’s womb.

ON THIS DATE of October 21, Tiger shark embryos begin attacking each other before they are even born, in their mother’s womb.

Mining tycoon Solomon R. Guggenheim began collecting art seriously when he retired in the 1930s. With the help of Hilla Rebay, a German baroness and artist, Guggenheim displayed his purchases for the first time in 1939 in a former car showroom in New York. Within a few years, the collection—including works by Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Marc Chagall—had outgrown the small space. In 1943, Rebay contacted architect Frank Lloyd Wright and asked him to take on the work of designing not just a museum, but a “temple of spirit,” where people would learn to see art in a new way.

Over the next 16 years, until his death six months before the museum opened, Wright worked to bring his unique vision to life. To Wright’s fans, the museum that opened on October 21, 1959, was a work of art in itself. Inside, a long ramp spiraled upwards for a total of a quarter-mile around a large central rotunda, topped by a domed glass ceiling. Reflecting Wright’s love of nature, the 50,000-meter space resembled a giant seashell, with each room opening fluidly into the next.

Wright’s groundbreaking design drew criticism as well as admiration. Some felt the oddly-shaped building didn’t complement the artwork. They complained the museum was less about art and more about Frank Lloyd Wright. On the flip side, many others thought the architect had achieved his goal: a museum where building and art work together to create “an uninterrupted, beautiful symphony.”

Located on New York’s impressive Museum Mile, at the edge of Central Park, the Guggenheim has become one of the city’s most popular attractions. In 1993, the original building was renovated and expanded to create even more exhibition space. Today, Wright’s creation continues to inspire awe, as well as odd comparisons—a Jello mold! a washing machine! a pile of twisted ribbon!—for many of the 900,000-plus visitors who visit the Guggenheim each year.

WORD OF THE DAY: humdinger (HUHM-DING-er) which means a person, thing, action, or statement of remarkable excellence or effect. The origin of humdinger is speculative. It was originally American slang, first appearing in print at the beginning of the 20th century and in British English about 1926.

The wind has finally quit howling like a banshee and now just a gentle wind. I'm amazed that our gazebo withstood those winds. Right now we have partly cloudy skies, 41°, feels like 34°, wind is at 13 mph from the northwest., humidity is 72%.
TODAY: Mostly cloudy. Scattered rain showers in the morning then scattered rain and snow showers in the afternoon. breezy. Highs around 40°. Northwest winds 10 to 25 mph with gusts to around 45 mph.
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy.. Scattered snow and rain showers in the evening then scattered snow showers after midnight. Breezy. Lows in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 10 to 25 mph with gusts to around 40 mph decreasing to 4 to 15 mph with gusts to around 30 mph after midnight.
MARINE REPORT; ...GALE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM EDT THIS EVENING...
TODAY; Northwest wind up to 30 knots with gusts to around 35 knots. Scattered showers through the day. Scattered snow showers in the afternoon. Waves 4 to 6 feet building to 5 to 8 feet in the afternoon. Waves occasionally around 10 feet.
TONIGHT; Northwest wind 15 to 25 knots with gusts to around 35 knots. Isolated rain and snow showers. Waves 4 to 7 feet.
SUNDAY: West wind 15 to 20 knots with gusts to around 25 knots. Mostly cloudy. Waves 2 to 4 feet.
SUNDAY NIGHT: West wind 15 to 20 knots with gusts to around 25 knots. Partly cloudy. Waves 2 to 4 feet

DID YOU KNOW THAT in the 1940s, the FCC assigned television's Channel 1 to mobile services (two way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not renumber the other channels that's why it goes from 2 on up with no 1.

ON THIS DATE of October 20, 1947, the notorious Red Scare kicks into high gear in Washington, as a Congressional committee begins investigating Communist influence in one of the world’s richest and most glamorous communities: Hollywood.

After World War II, the Cold War began to heat up between the world’s two superpowers—the United States and the communist-controlled Soviet Union. In Washington, conservative watchdogs worked to out communists in government before setting their sights on alleged “Reds” in the famously liberal movie industry. In an investigation that began in October 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) grilled a number of prominent witnesses, asking bluntly “Are you or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” Whether out of patriotism or fear, some witnesses—including director Elia Kazan, actors Gary Cooper and Robert Taylor and studio honchos Walt Disney and Jack Warner—gave the committee names of colleagues they suspected of being communists.

A small group known as the “Hollywood Ten” resisted, complaining that the hearings were illegal and violated their First Amendment rights. They were all convicted of obstructing the investigation and served jail terms. Pressured by Congress, the Hollywood establishment started a blacklist policy, banning the work of about 325 screenwriters, actors and directors who had not been cleared by the committee. Those blacklisted included composer Aaron Copland, writers Dashiell Hammett, Lillian Hellman and Dorothy Parker, playwright Arthur Miller and actor and filmmaker Orson Welles.

Some of the blacklisted writers used pseudonyms to continue working, while others wrote scripts that were credited to other writer friends. Starting in the early 1960s, after the downfall of Senator Joseph McCarthy, the most public face of anti-communism, the ban began to lift slowly. In 1997, the Writers’ Guild of America unanimously voted to change the writing credits of 23 films made during the blacklist period, reversing—but not erasing—some of the damage done during the Red Scare.

WORD OF THE DAY: single-hearted (DING-guhl-HAHR-tid) which means sincere and undivided in feeling or spirit; dedicated; not reflecting mixed emotions. Single-hearted was first recorded in 1570–80.

Posted at 7:30 a.m.

I think that was the shortest fall on records - five or six days of autumn like weather and zip, right into the wind and cold of winter. Gotta wonder if winter will whiz past that fast although something tells me no to that question.

Right now I'm showing 51°, extremely windy from the sw at 14 mph with huge gusts, dew point is 43°, humidity is at 76%. This is not exactly a good beach day.
TODAY: Partly sunny with isolated rain showers in the morning then cloudy with numerous rain showers in the afternoon. Breezy. Highs in the mid 50s. Southwest winds 10 to 25 mph with gusts to around 50 mph.
TONIGHT: Periods of rain showers in the evening then scattered rain showers after midnight. Breezy. Lows in the upper 30s. West winds 10 to 25 mph with gusts to around 45 mph shifting to the northwest 10 to 15 mph with gusts to around 30 mph after midnight.
MARINE REPORT: ...GALE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT EDT TONIGHT...
TODAY: Southwest wind up to 30 knots with gusts to around 40 knots. Numerous showers in the morning. Periods of showers in the afternoon. Waves 8 to 11 feet. Waves occasionally around 14 feet.
TONIGHT: Northwest wind up to 30 knots with gusts to around 35 knots. Scattered showers. Waves 7 to 10 feet.
SATURDAY: Northwest wind 15 to 25 knots with gusts to around 30 knots. Chance of rain and snow showers. Waves 5 to 8 feet.
SATURDAY NIGHT: Northwest wind 15 to 25 knots with gusts to around 30 knots. Mostly cloudy. Waves 5 to 8 feet.

DID YOU KNOW THAT snails can nap for up to three years.

ON THIS DATE of October 19, 1781 hopelessly trapped at Yorktown, Virginia, British General Lord Cornwallis surrenders 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to a larger Franco-American force, effectively bringing an end to the American Revolution.

Lord Cornwallis was one of the most capable British generals of the American Revolution. In 1776, he drove General George Washington’s Patriots forces out of New Jersey, and in 1780 he won a stunning victory over General Horatio Gates’ Patriot army at Camden, South Carolina. Cornwallis’ subsequent invasion of North Carolina was less successful, however, and in April 1781 he led his weary and battered troops toward the Virginia coast, where he could maintain seaborne lines of communication with the large British army of General Henry Clinton in New York City. After conducting a series of raids against towns and plantations in Virginia, Cornwallis settled in the tidewater town of Yorktown in August. The British immediately began fortifying the town and the adjacent promontory of Gloucester Point across the York River.

General George Washington instructed the Marquis de Lafayette, who was in Virginia with an American army of around 5,000 men, to block Cornwallis’ escape from Yorktown by land. In the meantime, Washington’s 2,500 troops in New York were joined by a French army of 4,000 men under the Count de Rochambeau. Washington and Rochambeau made plans to attack Cornwallis with the assistance of a large French fleet under the Count de Grasse, and on August 21 they crossed the Hudson River to march south to Yorktown. Covering 200 miles in 15 days, the allied force reached the head of Chesapeake Bay in early September.

Meanwhile, a British fleet under Admiral Thomas Graves failed to break French naval superiority at the Battle of Virginia Capes on September 5, denying Cornwallis his expected reinforcements. Beginning September 14, de Grasse transported Washington and Rochambeau’s men down the Chesapeake to Virginia, where they joined Lafayette and completed the encirclement of Yorktown on September 28. De Grasse landed another 3,000 French troops carried by his fleet. During the first two weeks of October, the 14,000 Franco-American troops gradually overcame the fortified British positions with the aid of de Grasse’s warships. A large British fleet carrying 7,000 men set out to rescue Cornwallis, but it was too late.

On October 19, General Cornwallis surrendered 7,087 officers and men, 900 seamen, 144 cannons, 15 galleys, a frigate, and 30 transport ships. Pleading illness, he did not attend the surrender ceremony, but his second-in-command, General Charles O’Hara, carried Cornwallis’ sword to the American and French commanders. As the British and Hessian troops marched out to surrender, the British bands played the song “The World Turned Upside Down.”

Although the war persisted on the high seas and in other theaters, the Patriot victory at Yorktown effectively ended fighting in the American colonies. Peace negotiations began in 1782, and on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, formally recognizing the United States as a free and independent nation after eight years of war.

WORD OF THE DAY: ploce (PLOH-see) which means the repetition of a word or phrase to gain special emphasis or to indicate an extension of meaning, as in Ex. 3:14: “I am that I am.” The uncommon English rhetorical term ploce comes via Late Latin plocē from Greek plokḗ, a noun with many meanings: “twining, twisting, braid; complication (of a dramatic plot); construction (of a syllogism); web, web of deceit; (in biology) histological structure; (in rhetoric) repetition of the same word in close succession in a slightly different sense or for emphasis” (e.g., “A man should act like a man”). Greek plokḗ comes from the verb plékein “to weave, braid, twine,” from the Proto-Indo-European root plek-, plok-, source of Latin plicāre “to fold, bend, roll, twine” and the combining form -plex, used in forming numerals, e.g. simplex, duplex, triplex (equivalent to English -fold). The Proto-Indo-European neuter noun ploksom becomes flahsam in Germanic and flax in English. In Slavic (Polish), plek- forms the verb pleść “to plait, weave.” Ploce entered English in the 16th century.

Posted at 8 a.m., 10/19/18

Another one of those mornings that wakes you right up as soon as you step outside. I'm showing 34°. feels like 29°, mostly clear skies, humidity is at 64%, and wind is at 6 mph from the west.
TODAY: Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 40s. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 25 mph increasing to 40 mph this afternoon.
TONIGHT: Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 40s. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 40 mph.
MARINE REPORT: ...GALE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 2 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 2 AM EDT FRIDAY...
TODAY: Southwest wind up to 30 knots with gusts to around 35 knots. Mostly clear. Waves 2 feet or less building to 5 to 8 feet in the morning. Waves occasionally around 10 feet.
TONIGHT: Southwest wind up to 30 knots with gusts to around 35 knots. Mostly clear. Waves 6 to 9 feet.
FRIDAY: Southwest wind up to 30 knots with gusts to around 40 knots. Rain showers likely. Waves 6 to 9 feet.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Northwest wind 15 to 25 knots with gusts to around 35 knots. Chance of showers. Waves 6 to 9 feet.

DID YOU KNOW THAT a typical cough is 60 mph, a sneeze is often faster than 100 mph.

ON THIS DATE of October 18, 1898, only one year after Spain granted Puerto Rico self-rule, American troops raise the U.S. flag over the Caribbean nation, formalizing U.S. authority over the island’s one million inhabitants.

In July 1898, near the end of the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launched an invasion of Puerto Rico, the 108-mile-long, 40-mile-wide island that was one of Spain’s two principal possessions in the Caribbean. With little resistance and only seven American deaths, U.S. troops were able to secure the island by mid August. After the signing of an armistice with Spain, the island was turned over to the U.S forces on October 18. U.S. General John R. Brooke became military governor. In December, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Spanish-American War and officially approving the cession of Puerto Rico to the United States.

In the first three decades of its rule, the U.S. government made efforts to Americanize its new possession, including granting full U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans in 1917 and considering a measure that would make English the island’s official language. However, during the 1930s, a nationalist movement led by the Popular Democratic Party won widespread support across the island, and further U.S. assimilation was successfully opposed. Beginning in 1948, Puerto Ricans could elect their own governor, and in 1952 the U.S. Congress approved a new Puerto Rican constitution that made the island an autonomous U.S. commonwealth, with its citizens retaining American citizenship. The constitution was formally adopted by Puerto Rico on July 25, 1952.

Movements for Puerto Rican statehood, along with lesser movements for Puerto Rican independence, have won supporters on the island, but popular referendums in 1967 and 1993 demonstrated that the majority of Puerto Ricans still supported their special status as a U.S. commonwealth.

WORD OF THE DAY: cryonaut (krahy-uh-nawt) which means a person whose dead body has been preserved by the technique of cryonics. The rare noun cryonaut derives clearly and simply from the Greek nouns krýos “icy cold” and naútēs “sailor.” Krýos comes from the Proto-Indo-European root kreus-, krus- “to freeze, form a crust,” from which Greek also derives krýstallos “ice” (English crystal). Krus- is also the source of Latin crusta “a hard covering, scab, crust.” Naútēs is a derivative of the noun naûs “ship,” from the same Proto-Indo-European source as Latin nāvis “ship,” nauta “sailor,” and nāvigāre “travel by ship.” Cryonaut entered English in the 20th century.

DID YOU KNOW THAT the average person spends two weeks of their life waiting at traffic lights.

ON THIS DATE OF October 17, 1989 the deadliest earthquake to hit the San Francisco area since 1906 strikes at 5:04 p.m. and lasts for 15 seconds. The quake measured 7.1 on the Richter scale, and its aftermath was witnessed on live television by millions of people watching the third game of the World Series of baseball between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, held at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The tremor hit moments before the start of the game, and sportscasters were soon performing the duties of news anchors as they reported on the resulting pandemonium in the stadium. The earthquake killed a total of 63 people, while more than 3,000 others were injured and more than 100,000 buildings were damaged.

WORD OF THE DAY: thunderstone (thuhn-der-stohn) which means any of various stones or fossils formerly thought to be fallen thunderbolts. Thunderstone in the sense “thunderbolt” dates from the end of the 16th century; the sense “stone or fossil” dates from the late 17th century.

Posted at 8 a.m.

So quiet this morning, the only sound is my wheezing like an old steam engine. Catching a cold I think. Anyhow, at least the silence isn't due to three feet of snow since yesterday the white stuff made it's first appearance for the season. I like winter better than summer and will take snow over that horrible, driving rain we were getting. We could us some nice fall days - you know that kind, sunny, crisp air, just a light breeze not a gale.

Right now it's 43°, dew point is 36°, wind is from the WSW at 16 mph.
TODAY: Mostly cloudy. Slight chance of rain showers in the morning then a chance of rain showers in the afternoon. Breezyy. Highs in the upper 40s. West winds 10 to 25 mph with gusts to around 40 mph.
TONIGHT: Chance of rain showers in the evening then rain showers likely after midnight. Lows in the mid 30s. Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 35 mph.
MARINE REPORT: ...GALE WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING...
TODAY: West wind up to 30 knots. Gusts up to 35 knots. Slight chance of showers early in the morning, then chance of showers in the morning. Waves 6 to 9 feet. Waves occasionally around 11 feet.
TONIGHT; Northwest wind 15 to 25 knots with gusts to around 30 knots. Chance of showers. Waves 5 to 8 feet.

DID YOU KNOW THAT your fingernails grow faster when you are cold?

ON THIS DATE of October 16, 1987, in an event that had viewers around the world glued to their televisions, 18-month-old Jessica McClure is rescued after being trapped for 58 hours in an abandoned water well in Midland, Texas.

The drama unfolded on the morning of October 14, 1987, when McClure fell through the 8-inch-wide opening of an abandoned well while playing with other children in the backyard of her aunt’s home day-care center. After dropping about 22 feet into the well, the little girl became stuck. Over the next two-and-a-half days, crews of rescue workers, mining experts and local volunteers labored around the clock to drill a shaft parallel to the one in which McClure was trapped. They then tunneled horizontally through dense rock to connect the two shafts. A microphone was lowered into the well to keep tabs on the toddler, who could be heard crying, humming and singing throughout the ordeal.

On the night of October 16, a bandaged and dirt-covered but alert Baby Jessica, as she became widely known, was safely pulled out of the well by paramedics. By that time, scores of journalists had descended on Midland, a West Texas oil city, and the rescue was carried out on live television before a massive audience.

After her rescue, McClure was hospitalized for more than a month and lost a toe to gangrene. She and her family were flooded with gifts and cards from well-wishers, and received a visit from Vice President George H.W. Bush and a phone call from President Ronald Reagan. Once out of the hospital, McClure went on to lead a normal life, spent largely out of the public spotlight. She graduated from high school in 2004, married two years later and became a mother. In 2011, at age 25, she gained access to a trust fund—reportedly worth at least $800,000—that was established following her rescue and made up of donations from people around the world.

Life proved more challenging for others involved in the Baby Jessica saga. McClure’s parents divorced several years after her accident, rescue workers in Midland feuded over a potential Hollywood movie deal and in 1995, a paramedic who played a key role in helping to save McClure committed suicide, possibly as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder.

WORD OF THE DAY: linguaphile (LINg-gwuh-fahyl) which means a language and word lover. Linguist has existed in English since the 16th century. It means “one who is adept at learning and using foreign languages; one who is a student of language or linguistics; a translator or interpreter.” Linguaphile has a somewhat different meaning: “one who loves words or languages.” The originally Greek suffix -phile (“lover of”) is completely naturalized in English. Lingua in Latin means “tongue, language”; its Old Latin form was dingua, from Proto-Indo-European dṇghwā, which is also the source of Germanic (English) tongue, and of Celtic (Old Irish) teng, Baltic inžũ-, and Slavic (Polish) język (with Baltic and Slavic loss of initial d- ; ę represents a nasalized vowel). Linguaphile entered English in the late 20th century.

1.  Twisted ankle, even if fractured as long as circulation is not impaired.
2. Broken leg below the knee, as long as circulation is not impaired.
3. Chronic conditions such as arthritis not involving circulatory issues.

It's another damp morning, I'm afraid that moss is starting to grow on the bottom of my shoes when I take the dogs out, either that or my toes are beginning to webb. Some dry, sunny autumn days would be appreciated.

Right now I'm showing 37°, rain, wind is at 6 mph from the nw, dew point is 34°, and humidity is at 92%
TODAY; Rain showers in the morning then rain showers likely in the afternoon. Highs around 40°. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph the gusts to around 25 mph shifting to the the west 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 35 mph in the afternoon.
TONIGHT: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain showers. Lows in the upper 30s. West winds 5 to 15 mph with gusts to around 35 mph.

MARINE REPORT: ...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM THIS MORNING
TO 8 AM EDT TUESDAY...
TODAY: West wind 15 to 25 knots with gusts to around 30 knots. Rain showers early in the morning, then showers likely in the morning. Chance of showers in the afternoon. Waves 2 feet or less building to 4 to 7 feet. Waves occasionally around 8 feet.
TONIGHT: West wind 15 to 25 knots with gusts to around 30 knots. Mostly cloudy. Waves 5 to 8 feet.

DID YOU KNOW THAT hippopotamus milk is pink.

ON THIS DATE of October 15, Mata Hari, the archetype of the seductive female spy, is executed for espionage by a French firing squad at Vincennes outside of Paris.

She first came to Paris in 1905 and found fame as a performer of exotic Asian-inspired dances. She soon began touring all over Europe, telling the story of how she was born in a sacred Indian temple and taught ancient dances by a priestess who gave her the name Mata Hari, meaning “eye of the day” in Malay. In reality, Mata Hari was born in a small town in northern Holland in 1876, and her real name was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle. She acquired her superficial knowledge of Indian and Javanese dances when she lived for several years in Malaysia with her former husband, who was a Scot in the Dutch colonial army. Regardless of her authenticity, she packed dance halls and opera houses from Russia to France, mostly because her show consisted of her slowly stripping nude.

She became a famous courtesan, and with the outbreak of World War I her catalog of lovers began to include high-ranking military officers of various nationalities. In February 1917, French authorities arrested her for espionage and imprisoned her at St. Lazare Prison in Paris. In a military trial conducted in July, she was accused of revealing details of the Allies’ new weapon, the tank, resulting in the deaths of thousands of soldiers. She was convicted and sentenced to death, and on October 15 she refused a blindfold and was shot to death by a firing squad at Vincennes.

There is some evidence that Mata Hari acted as a German spy, and for a time as a double agent for the French, but the Germans had written her off as an ineffective agent whose pillow talk had produced little intelligence of value. Her military trial was riddled with bias and circumstantial evidence, and it is probable that French authorities trumped her up as “the greatest woman spy of the century” as a distraction for the huge losses the French army was suffering on the western front. Her only real crimes may have been an elaborate stage fallacy and a weakness for men in uniform.

WORD OF THE DAY: patzer (PAT-ser) which means a casual, amateurish chess player. Patzer was first recorded in 1955–60. It is probably from German Patzer “bungler,” equivalent to patz(en) “to bungle” (compare Austrian dialect Patzen “stain, blot,” patzen “to make a stain”).

Posted at 8 a.m.

View video excerpts of the Saturday and Sunday Masses HERE

Seven Unique IP Addresses viewed the live stream on Saturday, and four more viewed on Sunday.

Posted at 2:30 p.m., 10/14/18

"SAVE THE DATE"

Update: November 5, 2018, 7-8 p.m. the Historical Society will have a public meeting about our construction update at the Library. Our architect/board member Vince Ebersoldt will will give a presentation and answer questions about BIHS plans for the reconstruction of the kitchen addition as exhibit / education / community space.

We will also share details about a Historical Walking Trail in the planning stages for the downtown area.