Note: KGB Report is published the evening before the issue date. For ongoing posts throughout the day, follow KGB Report or my personal page on Facebook.
-----
This is the KGB Report for Thursday, February 9, the 40th day of 2018 in the Gregorian calendar, with 325 days remaining.
This is the 385th day of Donald Trump's presidency, of which he has spent 93 days at golf courses at a cost to taxpayers of $50,895,318. There are 1,077 days remaining in his term, assuming he doesn't resign, is otherwise removed from office, or his unhinged, psychotic behavior results in the destruction of the republic.
-----
On this date in 1964, over 73 million Americans- about 40% of the entire population- tuned into The Ed Sullivan Show to watch The Beatles perform.
-----
Also on this date: in 1870, US president Ulysses S. Grant signed a joint resolution of Congress establishing the U.S. Weather Bureau; in 1895, William G. Morgan created a game called Mintonette, which later came to be referred to as volleyball; in 1942, year-round Daylight saving time is re-instated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources; in 1950, Second Red Scare: U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with Communists; and in 1986, Halley's Comet last appeared in the inner solar system.
More of what happened on February 9 from On This Day and Wikipedia.
-----
Among other things, today is Chocolate Day, International Winter Bike to Work Day, National Bagel Day, National Develop Alternative Vices Day, National Toothache Day, Read in the Bathtub Day, Pizza Pie Day, and The Inbox Day. (from Checkiday.com)
-----
Florida Man Arrested for DUI Does Cartwheel During Sobriety Test.
-----
William Henry Harrison Sr. (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was an American military officer, a principal contributor in the War of 1812, and the ninth President of the United States (1841). He was the last president born before the American Revolution, and died of pneumonia just 31 days into his term, thereby serving the shortest tenure in United States presidential history. He was the first president to die in office, and his death sparked a brief constitutional issue. Its resolution left unsettled Constitutional questions as to the presidential line of succession until the passage of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1967. Harrison was a son of Founding Father Benjamin Harrison V and in turn was the paternal grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd United States President (1889–1893).
Click here for the full Wikipedia article.
Quote of the day:
"I believe that all the measures of the Government are directed to the
purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer."
-William
Henry Harrison
-----
Did the U.S. Air Force bomb a rogue SpaceX booster rocket? The Falcon 9 booster had unexpectedly survived a test and splashed down mostly intact off the coast of Florida.
-----
Launching a Tesla into a trans-Martian solar orbit is quite a feat, but this seems like it has the potential to really shake things up back here on Terra:
The autonomous, passenger-carrying quadcopter has made over 1,000 test flights with human passengers, including a 984-foot (300-meter) vertical climb, a weight test carrying over 500 pounds (230 kilograms), a routed test flight covering 9.3 miles (15 kilometers), and a high-speed cruising test that reached 80.7 mph (130 km/h). Interested? The company's web site is here.
On February 6, EHANG announced that the EHANG 184 Autonomous Aerial Vehicle had aced a series of manned flight tests carrying one and two passengers, including EHANG CEO and all the firm's executives, as well as many Guangzhou government officials.
-----
In Amazon's new sci-fi series, social media destroys the world. With brains wired directly into the net, the problem is no longer fake news- it's sharing true, honest feelings and thoughts, and seeing everyone else's. Understandably, civilization disintegrates.
-----
Could the sun save us from climate change? Our star may emit seven percent less light by mid-century. It could be what caused the Little Ice Age in the 17th century.
-----
Jimmy Buffett is not really Jimmy Buffett anymore. He hasn't been for a while. Jimmy Buffett- the nibbling on sponge cake, watching the sun bake, getting drunk and screwing, it's 5 o'clock somewhere Jimmy Buffett- has been replaced with a well-preserved businessman who is leveraging the Jimmy Buffett of yore in order to keep the Jimmy Buffett of now in the manner to which the old Jimmy Buffett never dreamed he could become accustomed. And therein lies the Margaritaville®'s Mesquite BBQ Rub: The more successful you become at selling the Jimmy Buffett lifestyle, the less you are seen as believably living the Jimmy Buffett lifestyle.
-----
Unlike many developed countries, the United States largely does not regulate the sale of donated body parts. Since 2008, Reuters found, U.S. body brokers have exported parts to at least 45 countries, including Italy, Israel, Mexico, China, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Whole bodies are studied at Caribbean-based medical schools. Plastic surgeons in Germany use heads from dead Americans to practice new techniques. Thousands of parts are shipped overseas annually; a precise number cannot be calculated because no agency tracks industry exports.
-----
Remember that story from the other day, the one about a chemical in McDonald's french fries that could cure baldness? Yeah, about that... Never mind.
-----
Crushed wood is stronger than steel. A chemical bath and a hot-press can transform wood into a material that is stronger than steel, researchers report. The process, and others like it, could make the humble material an eco-friendly alternative to using plastics and metals in the manufacture of cars and buildings.
-----
What working in a dark office may do to your brain... "Dim lights are producing dimwits," remarks one researcher studying the connection between light and mental acuity.
-----
SpaceX sent a nerdy Easter egg into space, but can anyone read it? Tesla wasn't shy about advertising its launch of a Tesla Roadster on board a Falcon Heavy rocket on Tuesday. But the company was less vocal about that Roadster's secret cargo: a tiny optical disc, known as an Arch (pronounced "ark"). Theoretically, this format of disc can hold 360TB, and the one aboard the launched car contains Asimov's Foundation book trilogy.
-----
Samsung and Roku smart TVs vulnerable to hacking, Consumer Reports finds. The testing also found that all these TVs raised privacy concerns by collecting very detailed information on their users. Consumers can limit the data collection. But they have to give up a lot of the TVsi functionality—and know the right buttons to click and settings to look for.
-----
In the heat of the national anthem kneeling controversy, ESPN closed captioning displayed the words "Oer the Land of the Knee," a mistake chalked up to human error. In 2014, WeatherNation was called out at the FCC by rival Weather Channel over some nonsense captioning that included phrases such as "Some orange flames as we head to the weekend. Some nymph restaurants the sun may make for some freaking travel conditions. Nitrates found in a match." IBM thinks the solution to these gaffes is artificial intelligence, specifically its Watson product.
-----
Was former Temptations lead singer Dennis Edwards abused before his death? Court documents filed by an adult protective services investigator allege that weeks before the singer's death, Brenda Edwards abused her husband. Edwards died in a Chicago hospital on February 1, 2018, two days before his 75th birthday. He had been battling with meningitis before his death.
-----
-----
I think I saw this on Quincy M.E. in the late '70s... Indian man arrested after allegedly selling wife's kidney, which she didn't even know was gone. The sale was to make up for her family's failure to meet dowry demands.
-----
We're off until Monday. Have a great weekend!
-----
All KGB Report content is available for free, with no subscription fees or pay walls. If you're a regular reader, please consider making a donation here, with your PayPal account (credit cards also accepted)... it's secure and protected. Or, send a donation to 1512 Annette Avenue, South Park, PA 15129. Becoming a patron (donations of $25 or more) will also get you free copies of any new books we publish on Amazon or Kindle and reduced prices on any other products. Thanks for your support!
Categories: The Daily KGB Report
KGB Stuff Commentwear E-Mail KGB
Donate via PayPal
