#2 Son's Appetite

Never mess with a 14-year-old and his food.

Two hours after receiving permission to go out to dinner with a friend, he came in groaning.

"Oh, mom, I think I'm gonna be sick!"

What's wrong, I foolishly ask. I should know.

"We went to a Japanese seafood buffet. I had shrimp sushi, crab sushi, crawfish sushi, flounder sushi, another flounder dish, cold shrimp with this really great sauce, a couple of other kinds of fish, and a boatload of crab legs. Oh, my stomach."

"By the way," he added, "when's dinner?"


Today is:

Assistance Dog Day

Book Lover's Day

Chih Nu, China (Feast of the Milky Way)

Goblin Ugly Contest -- Fairy Calendar

Independence Day, Singapore

International Day of the World's Indigenous People

Jesse Owens Day

National Peacekeeper's Day -- Canada

National Rice Pudding Day

National Women's Day -- South Africa

St. Matthias' Day

Veep Day


Birthdays Today:

Gillian Anderson, 1968
Delon Sanders, 1967
Hoda Kotb, 1964
Whitney Houston, 1963
Sam Elliot, 1944
P.L. Travers, 1899
Joseph Locke, 1805
Amedeo Avogadro, 1776
John Dryden, 1631


Today in History:

Battle of Pharsalus, in which Julius Caesar defeated Pompey, who fled to Egypt, BC 40
Start of construction of the Tower of Pisa, 1173
Sistine Chapel opens, 1483
First horses arrive in Hawai'i, 1803
Thoreau's Walden is published, 1854
Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph, 1892
Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in Bombay by British forces, launching the Quit India Movement, 1942
The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time, 1944
Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office, 1974
The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan loses a 38-year hold on national leadership, 1993