This Week in History, Feb 17 - Feb 23

Feb 17, 1904
Madame Butterfly premieres. Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly premieres at the La Scala theatre in Milan, Italy. The young Puccini decided to dedicate his life to opera after seeing a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida in 1876. In his later life, he would write some of the best-loved operas of all time: La Boheme (1896), Tosca (1900), Madame Butterfly (1904) and Turandot (left unfinished when he died in 1906). Not one of these, however, was an immediate success when it opened. La Boheme, the now-classic story of a group of poor artists living in a Paris garret, earned mixed reviews, while Tosca was downright panned by critics.

URGENT - NE WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THIS EVENING...

* LOCATIONS...BLOCK ISLAND.

* HAZARD TYPES...HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS.

* ACCUMULATIONS...SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 4 TO 8 INCHES.

* TIMING...SNOW WILL FALL THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON. THE SNOW MAY
FALL HEAVILY FOR A TIME FROM 7 AM TO 1 PM.

* IMPACTS...UNTREATED ROADS AND WALKWAYS WILL BECOME SNOW COVERED.
STRONG WINDS WILL DEVELOP THIS MORNING AND CONTINUE EVENING.
THIS MAY RESULT IN NEAR BLIZZARD CONDITIONS FOR A TIME. IN

Another Washington temporary fix which was put in place on Jan. 1st, moved the new date of the Budget Sequestration to March 1st. On 3/1/13 $85.3 billion will be automatically trimmed from the federal government’s 2013 budget unless Congress acts to avert that legislation.

The US runs out of money on March 27th and hits the debt ceiling in May, at which point we would all begin defaulting on loans.

Lawsuits and Congressional investigations are all on the way after a cruse ship ran afoul while drifting off the Mexican waters. This not love boat has been defined by some as a floating toilet, or a Petri dish on water, a floating hell...etc.

The cruise ship departed Galveston on 2/7 and three days later after it was 150 miles off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, a fire knocked out its primary power source, crippling the plumbing system and leaving the ship up a creek without a paddle, sort of speak.

The countdown continued and the time came and went as an asteroid flew near earth today at 19:25 GMT, which was 2:25PM Eastern time.

Although it missed earth by 17,150 miles, which is the closest known fly by for something so this huge. A ten ton meteorite the size of a house actually hit Russia last night and hospitalized hundreds. This happens to be close to their nuclear weapons sight.

NYPD 45th Precinct units are already in place on City Island in anticipation of the expectedc weekend 2/14-2/17 traffic.

No parking will be strictly enforced and additional "NO PARKING" areas will be added on City Island Avenue to allow better traffic flow.

Police officers and traffic agents are assigned various posts along City Island Avenue and the traffic circle to insure traffic moves as smooth as possible.

NYPD is asking the City Island community to assist in notifying business owners, employees and residents of City Island of these changes in enforcement.

AMERICAN AIRLINES AND US AIR ARE GETTING MARRIED AND THE WEDDING COSTS ARE A MERE $11 BILLION. ARE THEY TRULY IN LOVE? IS IT A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE? IS IT MORE LIKE FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS? WILL THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER? OPINE?