Daniel E Wolf
This Day in History, October 26, 1881 – Shootout at the OK Corral.
I’ve only been to Arizona once and that was several years ago – to the Superstition Mountains in the Tonto National Forest. The landscape there is both striking and unforgettable.
Also, no shortage of colorful stories, both with and without firearms.
Hmmm – think maybe I will dress as Doc Holliday for Halloween this year.
The results are in. Did you win? More importantly, did you play?
5-28-62-65-70 (5)
Washington Post story here.
Mega Millions officials count on enormous jackpots to draw in players who would ordinarily avoid participating. Last October, those officials made two big changes: They doubled ticket prices to $2 — and tweaked the formula to make it easier to win smaller prizes but harder to win the jackpot.
Here’s how Mega Millions used to work: Players picked five numbers from 1 to 75 and a Mega number from 1 to 15. The odds of winning the top prize were 1 in 258,890,850.
Since Mega Millions modified the formula, players now pick five numbers from 1 to 70 and a Mega number of 1 to 25. The odds of winning the jackpot are now 1 in 302,575,350.
In other words, reducing the number of balls for the first five numbers increases the chances of winning a smaller prize. But raising the number of Mega Balls makes it harder to win the jackpot. (Powerball made similar changes to its rules in 2015.)
“The lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.”
Check this out. Way cool. NPR story here. Not far from where our youngest daughter lives, in Shenzhen, China.
On This Day in History, 1797.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-first-parachutist
An inevitable end, I suppose. Why am I not surprised?
And for those who like Google Doodles, see here from 5 years ago.
Happy Alaska Day!
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-takes-possession-of-alaska
At the head of Waterton Canyon stands Strontia Springs Reservoir which provides drinking water for many Denver residents.
Downstream, the South Platte River flows toward Chatfield Reservoir. This provides additional opportunities for fishing, boating, and swimming. Beyond, 20+ miles distant as the crow flies, lies downtown Denver.
Waterton Canyon is home to many residents, including dozens of bighorn sheep, scores of mallards and other birds, and both rainbow and brown trout.
There are even a few humans living here. These fortunate folk are employed by Denver Water to manage natural resources. They live year round on site. But such humans tend to be much more camera shy than bighorn rams. These guys seem to treat the roadway as their own and have no problem posing for pictures.
Visitors (like me) ride mountain bikes or hike the 6.5 miles of dirt road from trail head to Strontia Springs Reservoir. Beyond, for the more adventurous (or for those with better lungs and legs – and more time!) lies the 567-mile Colorado Trail which terminates near Durango. See here for a great Denver Post piece on the woman whose efforts brought this trail to life. And see below for me at the trail head: Though I’ve done the first 6.5 miles many times, I never hiked the whole thing. But it’s definitely on the bucket list.
Not a good day for faded celebrities.
On This Day in History, 1940 – about 17 miles south of Florence, AZ.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-cowboy-actor-tom-mix-dies-in-an-arizona-car-accident
Also this, from 1997 – somewhere over Monterey Bay, CA.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-denver-dies-in-an-aircraft-accident
Some stories are just, well, timeless.
On This Day in History, 1992.
Other stories, well, not so much.
If homeboy come through with the new Bella Hadid meme, he can, like, get it
“Bella Hadid talk like a undercover cop.”
And, there are just some images it’s impossible to un-see.
https://twitter.com/Whimzy__/status/917304802731855872
That is all. Have a nice day.
Today’s post posed a real quandary. On the one hand, today is the 147th anniversary of Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicking over her lantern in the barn that started the great Chicago fire of 1871. On the other hand, I just got another Covenant Notice from our HOA suggesting some additional exterior maintenance on our townhouse. And since I don’t do political wrangling anymore, this got my latent creative juices flowing…
So, Chicago Fire?
Or, Roxborough Homeowners Association?
Aw, hell: Caution to the wind. You can read all about the Great Chicago Fire here. But nowhere else than in these pages can you read about my travails with the Covenant Nazis.
Enjoy, gentle reader.
Dear Sir or Madam:
Yours in “maintaining a wonderful community,”
Etc, etc, etc.
Don’t worry, I didn’t send it. Yet. But I thought about it.
Amazing bonus photos here.
You know what? That carpet really does look a little frayed.
😉
ADDENDUM: Just talked with my neighbor who is on the HOA board and found out that the HOA’s management company has been given a notice of termination as of January 1, 2019. Oh, also, in the meantime all further snooping is halted and all existing covenant notices have been declared null and void. Woo hoo! Gotta love that frayed carpet, for at least a little while longer…
