Cassius M Clay; Muhammad Ali's Father's Namesake
On This Date In History: Muhammad Ali shocked the world with a forecast any meteorologist would love. On this date in 1964, the 22-year-old Louisvillian and Olympic Gold medal champion defeated the feared World Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston in one of the greatest upsets in sports history. The legend of Ali was well on its way and today, Ali stands as a champion to many, not just in sports but also as a living icon.
Fight Between Ali & Wilt Chamberlain Once Proposed
Born on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky as Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. His father supported his family by painting billboards while his mother worked as a domestic. Many people probably don’t know this but Muhammed Ali’s father, Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr. was named for a famous 19th century Kentuckian, Cassius Marcellus Clay, who was a stout emancipationist. When young Cassius was 12, he took up boxing under the direction of Louisville Police Officer Joe Martin. Clay was a superb athelte with a true boxing talent. But, that was not enough. He worked hard and rose through the amateur ranks, culminating with a gold medal in the 1960 Olympic games. As a professional, his speed, power and showmanship was nothing the sport had ever seen before. When he was to fight the heavyweight champion, Sonny Liston, he was a decided underdog as Liston was a big, powerful man who was feared. But, the intimidating champion refused to answer the 6th round bell and the 22-year-old Clay was crowned heavyweight champion of the world. Two days later, he announced that he had accepted the teaching of the Nation of Islam. On March 6, 1964 he changed his name to Muhammad Ali. While some may suggest that he had a controversial career and life, the man has become a symbol of
Celebrities Can't Wait To Pose with World's Ambassador, Muhammad Ali
resolve, pride, dignity and intestinal fortitude. He has become an international ambassador of peace and goodwill and is revered as one of the most beloved and respected American athletes of all time. He always called himself “the greatest” and over time that has been difficult to dispute on many levels. He is an inspiration to millions…and he’s a Louisvillian!
You can visit the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville. It is a cultural attraction and international education center with the mission “to preserve and share the legacy and ideals of Muhammad Ali, to promote respect, hope and understanding, and to inspire adults and children everywhere to be as great as they can be.”
On this date in 1928,
the Federal Radio Commission issued its first television licence to Charles Francis Jenkins Laboratories for a television station in Washington, D.C. This guy Jenkins must have been sorta experimenting…either that or he was the forerunner to PBS.
Felix the Cat 1st TV Image
1928 First Television
See…government has been getting its nose into new technology almost as quickly as it gets started, though they seemed to have hit a wall with the Internet…so far. The Wireless Act of 1910 required ships at sea broadcasting wireless transmission to have trained and licensed personnel at the radio. Did the Titanic alot of good in 1912 when the operators, trained and licensed, were more interested in sending personal messages of the passengers instead of listening to ice warnings. In the 20’s, Congress passed a bunch of laws regulating commercial stations, how much power they could use and the use of commercials and such. In 1927, the Radio Act created a new bureaucracy with the creation of the Federal Radio Commission, which became the Federal Communications Commission in 1934. All this regulation and last year on this date, CBS still switched from the Kentucky game with less than a minute to go to the Duke tip-off! There ought to be a law!! We got all sorts of calls from irate UK fans convinced that our station had a bias against UK. It was always great fun when the folks in New York flipped the switch off of either UK game, an IU game or a UL game. The complaint calls were always the same, just the team name changed.
Check Out How Low the Top Tax Rate Was and Where it Went...Give and Inch..Take a Mile!
Not long after Henry Ford’s Model T’s started filling the roads, on this date in 1919 Oregon introduced the first state tax on gasoline…and they haven’t stopped taxing since. Seems like every time we get a new invention, we get a new tax….and in fact we have been getting taxed since…
On this Date in 1913, when the US Secretary of State, Philander Knox, proclaimed that the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by the required 3/4 of the states and became the law of the land. This amendment allowed the Congress to tax the income of Americans. Now, it didn’t Require that Congress tax Americans but Congress couldn’t resist and by October of that year, President Wilson had signed into law the Revenue Act of 1913 that re-introduced the income tax on Americans. We gave Uncle Sam an inch and he thought that he was a ruler.
SPC Issues Early CYA Forecast
Weather Bottom Line: We have a couple of issues regarding the week ahead. First off, we will continue our warm-up. Mid 50’s on Wednesday and to around 60 on Thursday. We have a cold front to deal with that may bring some thunderstorms around here late Thursday. Probably not overly robust. The boys at the Severe Storms Prediction Center don’t seem too enthused but they have covered themselves with the menacing 5% risk area. I suspect the reason why its to our west is because by the time the action gets here, it will be in the evening or night time. The models are a little bit in disagreement as to when the heaviest rain will fall. Both the GFS and NAM though do have rain chances from say Wednesday through Friday. My guess is that the best chance will be late Thursday with the front. While the two models can’t agree on the timing of the heaviest rain, they both throw out about an inch overall. Following the front, our temperatures will be below average through the weekend into next week. That’s where the other issue comes in.
Both the Canadian model and the European model at 12Z Tuesday both have a big dip in the jet stream late in the weekend into next week. Very cold. They both seem to want to throw out some snow with a low swinging up from the Gulf of Mexico to our south and east throwing moisture on the cold air. The GFS has something similar but not that cold. From what I’ve seen on the TV with the longer range forecasts, my guess is that you will see the folks on the tube lowering the temperature forecasts. It remains to be seen if the jet digs as some of the data advertises. In my mind, it does make some sense, but we’ll have to wait and see how it shakes out. There are variables. If it pans out…look for very cold conditions. The truth will probably be some where in between the extreme cold of some of the models and the cold, but somewhat milder, conditions advertised by the tv outlets. After this winter, I’m not sure thats the kind of change we need. Here is the discussion from the SPC regarding Thursday morning to Friday morning:
DAY 3 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0129 AM CST TUE FEB 24 2009
VALID 261200Z – 271200Z
…NO SVR TSTM AREAS FORECAST…
…MID-MO VALLEY/OZARKS/LOWER OH VALLEY…
A SUBTLE UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH IS FORECAST TO MOVE FROM THE PLAINS
STATES THURSDAY MORNING INTO THE MS VALLEY BY AFTERNOON. A LOW-LEVEL
JET ASSOCIATED WITH THE TROUGH IS FORECAST TO MOVE FROM THE SRN
PLAINS INTO THE MID-MS VALLEY BY 00Z FRIDAY. THIS SHOULD RESULT IN
LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE RETURN NWD INTO THE OZARKS AND MID-MS VALLEY
DURING THE DAY. CONVECTION SHOULD BE ONGOING ALONG THE AXIS OF THE
LOW-LEVEL JET THURSDAY MORNING WITH FORECAST SOUNDINGS SUGGESTING
THIS ACTIVITY WILL BE ELEVATED. SFC-BASED THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD
BECOME MORE LIKELY ACROSS THE OZARKS BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON AS SFC
TEMPS WARM AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT MOVING SEWD THROUGH THE CNTRL
PLAINS. FORECAST SOUNDINGS THURSDAY AFTERNOON SHOW COLD AIR ALOFT
ASSOCIATED WITH THE UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH ALONG WITH STRONG VERTICAL
SHEAR WHICH MAY SUPPORT AN ISOLATED THREAT FOR HAIL.
HOWEVER…INSTABILITY IS FORECAST TO REMAIN WEAK SUGGESTING THE
THREAT WILL REMAIN MARGINAL. BY EVENING…THE MODELS FORECAST
CONVECTION ALONG THE COLD FRONT FROM WRN KY WSWWD INTO AR WHERE SFC
DEWPOINTS SHOULD BE HIGHER. IF THE TIMING OF THE COLD FRONT IS
REASONABLE…THIS ACTIVITY COULD HAVE A MARGINAL SEVERE THREAT WITH
WIND DAMAGE AND HAIL POSSIBLE.
Symon Sez 