Tonight's Leonid Meteor Shower, by Joe Lizura

November 17, 2014 - Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I sat down to write a blog post - yikes!  Well a meteor shower is as good a reason as any and tonight's meteor shower should be a good one.

As far as ideal weather conditions go, tonight should be nearly perfect for the Leonid meteor shower, with Santa Ana conditions bringing crisp, clear skies with virtually no humidity and not a cloud in sight for miles.

Now as far as meteor showers go, tonight's Leonid meteor show should be a fairly good one with 10 to 15 meteors an hour.  Now bear in mind that you could see a dozen of them in a fifteen minute period and then wait an hour to see the next ones, so you'll need to be patient.

The key to seeing most of the meteors will be to stay up late, which means between midnight and 5 am, California time.  Also, to maximize your viewing, try to find a wide open area away from city lights if you can.  The best spots in Southern California are usually in the desert or on the tops of the many hills or even in the mountains.

Which way should you look?  If you know the night sky, you would want to face the constellation Leo as that is the direction the meteors will be coming from - it's also why it's named the Leonid meteor show (meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors seem to originate).

The last time I went on a meteor show viewing, about 30 of us had a party at the house until midnight and then we all packed in cars and drove to a nearby park area with lawn chairs and blankets - it was a fun 'meteor shower party'.

If you want to learn more about meteor showers, here is link to Leonid Shower-http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/meteor-shower/leonids.html


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Interesting Things I Learned About The Christmas Season

As further proof that yours truly, Joe Lizura has all of his Christmas shopping finished, here are ten interesting things I learned about the Christmas Season on the internet - so I'm not one hundred percent sure they are true, but I think they are.  So on this December 24th, 2013 here are a few things you probably didn't know about the holiday season.

Number one - Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer was created by the department store Montgomery Wards in 1939 for coloring books they gave away in their stores.

Number two - Frosty the Snowman was written by Dick Smith who was in a sanitarium at the time (that explains a lot), and the word Parson in "then pretend that he is Parson Brown" means minister - therefore it actually says "then pretend that he is Minister Brown" ... makes a bunch more sense when you finish ... "He'll say are you married we'll say no man, but you can do the job when you're in town."

Number three - More than 3 billion Christmas cards will be mailed in just the United States alone this year - yikes!

Number four - There are TWO versions of the animated cartoon hit "Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer", the first one in which Rudolf does NOT come back to The Island of Misfit Toys and the second version where he does come back with Santa.  The first version only aired once and due to an avalanche of complaints it was changed before it aired the following year.

Number five - Coca Cola was the first company to use Santa in advertising and merchandising.

Number six - In 2012, "Twas The Night Before Christmas" was re-written to remove Santa smoking a pipe.

Number seven - The first state to make Christmas a holiday was Alabama, and the last was Oklahoma.

Number eight - The first Christmas Carol ever written in the United States was in 1649 and is called "Jesus is Born"

Number nine - Stockings began being hung by Chimneys when in Southern Europe a bag of gold was accidentally dropped down a chimney and landed in a stocking that was hung out to dry.

Number ten - What nationality is the Ginger Bread Man?  He is German!

Ta-Da!!  There you have it, ten things that I found on the internet about Christmas that I think are true!

Happy Holidays everyone, Joe Lizura.

Worst Movies of 2013

Okay, so here it is, December 20, 2013 and already the notorious list of worst movies for the whole year has been released.  How do they decide?  Mostly by box office receipts I think, and that would appear to be true MY family hasn't see most of these on the list.

One exception to that was The Hangover part III, which happened to just barely make it on to the list
as the number 10 worst movie of the year.  So what where the rest?  Here they are:

10.  The Hangover 3
9.    Old Boy
8.    Grown Ups 2
7.    The Canyons
6.    Machete Kills
5.    Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
4.    The Lone Ranger
3.    After Earth
2.    Movie 43
1.    A good day to die hard

Now let me just say right here that there were a couple of these that we really did intend to see, however after hearing the bad review and the bad press, I'm glad we didn't waste our money.  Those movies were The Lone Ranger and and possibly A Good Day to Die Hard.

Otherwise, most of the movies I didn't even know were released - like Movie 43 - What kind of a title is that??

Oh well, so here's the deal - I wish the list wasn't made up until after the Christmas releases come out, because I'm sure there are bound to be a few dogs under the tree there.

Happy Holidays!

Joe
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Liberty Stamp Disbelief

Here are my Joe Lizura (http://linkedin.com/in/joelizura) thoughts from December 4, 2013.  It's been two days now, and I just can't get over the story about the forever Liberty stamps. 

If you haven't heard by now, the version of the Liberty stamp that has been used since 2011 and printed hundreds of millions of times, does not actually have the picture of the Statue of Liberty on it - instead, it has the picture of the Las Vegas statue of liberty from outside the New York, New York hotel on the strip! 

For the life of me I just can't fathom the fact that somewhere, somebody thought it was okay to use a picture of the Statue of Liberty from a Las Vegas gimmicky hotel as the image on an international stamp that is the pride and joy of the United States!  Just how more embarrassing can we get in the eyes of the international community - or even our own!  I can't POSSIBLY be the only one who is absolutely embarrassed by the use of a fake Statue of Liberty on our national stamp instead of the real one!

It's almost like somebody said "Hey, let's use the Las Vegas statue because it looks like Lady Liberty

had a nose job and some cosmetic work on her cheek bones" - and hey why not?  Isn't plastic surgery an absolute trademark of our country?  So what if we don't use the real statue, let's trade her in for a younger, more beautiful one!  Ugh, how embarrassing! And we've been using it for almost 3 years now!

You know what it's like?  It's like telling all of your friends, your wife and kids, and your family members that you're going to Paris for 3 years -- but instead you go to the Paris hotel and casino in Las Vegas for 3 years . . .  AND you send postcards taken in front of the Fake Eiffel Tower and send them out to everyone just like you are in front of the real one!

Okay now, I know there are all kinds of more important problems in the world, but let's face it . .. using a fake Statue of Liberty on our stamps because it looks better than the real Statue of Liberty - and having someone approve it as a good idea -  is beyond my comprehension.

Alright, I got that off my chest - now back to your regularly scheduled web surfing.

Joe
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Joe Lizura vs. Black Friday

November 29, 2013, Flagstaff, Arizona.  Well, Black Friday is almost over and I'm happy to say that the score is Joe Lizura (www.joelizura.com) one and the stores zero.  After a long drive from Flagstaff down to Scottsdale to spend a few hours in the shopping mayhem, it actually turned out be fun.  I didn't actually buy anything, but everyone else in the family did.  I did however, get a kick out of the fact that stores were doing their best to out-do one another.  One store was 40 percent off everything, followed by the next which was 50 percent off and that was yet followed by the next one that was 60 percent off! 

It's definitely going to be a great holiday shopping season, but it's going to be a quick one, after all,
Christmas is just three and a half weeks away!  You know what that means . . . Cyber-Monday is going to be crazy!  And tomorrow isn't looking to bad either; I just saw a commercial for 10 dollars off your 25 dollar purchase at Macys!

Shop well my friends, shop well!   www.joelizura.net

Joe Lizura's turkey cooking chart

Happy Thanksgiving 2013!  It's one of my favorite days of the year (although not my actual favorite, which is Halloween) because Thanksgiving brings the family together for the official start of the entire holiday season.  Lot's of football to watch on TV and in some cases snow to shovel! 

I'm not sure about everyone else, but it seems that our family (even when I was a kid) could never get an accurate explanation of how many hours to cook the Turkey - No matter who you ask, it's always about things like "Is it a stuffed turkey or unstuffed turkey?",  "Are you cooking it at 325 degrees or 350 degrees?", "Is it a fresh turkey or a frozen one?", and on an on ... but this year, I think I found the perfect chart for cooking - here it is!

For an unstuffed turkey, place the meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh, taking care that it does not touch any bone. Roast the turkey until the meat thermometer reaches 165 degrees F. Don't forget to let the bird rest at least 30 minutes before carving to allow the juices to re-absorb into the flesh. You don't want the moisture to drain out.
Roasting times are for a preheated 325 degrees F. oven.

Approximate Roasting Times for Stuffed Turkey
Turkey Weight	Hours
6 to 8 pounds	3 to 3-1/2 hours
8 to 12 pounds	3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours
12 to 16 pounds	4-1/2 to 5-1/2 hours
16 to 20 pounds	5-1/2 to 6 hours
20 to 24 pounds	6 to 6-1/2 hours
Approximate Roasting Times for Unstuffed Turkey
Turkey Weight	Hours
6 to 8 pounds	2-1/2 to 3 hours
8 to 12 pounds	3 to 4 hours
12 to 16 pounds	4 to 5 hours
16 to 20 pounds	5 to 5-1/2 hours
20 to 24 pounds	5-1/2 to 6 hours

Sad news from the Disney Family

I was sad to learn today that Walt Disney's daughter Diane Disney Miller passed away today at age 79.  Its wonderful to know that a family you have never met has made such a dramatic impact on your life.  Walt Disney was widely credited with creating Disneyland in a large part as something to
give his daughter and we are all better off because he did.

Diane was a very generous woman who gave away millions and millions of dollars to charities and
deserving organizations - exactly as her father would have wanted her too.  Rest in Peace and tell your father "thank you".