Around This Time

Just a few years ago, right around the end of August, we watched a hurricane come through and tear apart the Gulf Coast.

Those on the East Coast now have my deepest sympathy. It's not easy living without power for weeks and with infrastructure damaged or gone.

Puts the problems we have with the car in perspective when i remember back, and think about people who have just lost so much.

On a totally different note, the tiny girl kitten, a tortie, only lived a couple of hours after she arrived here. At least she was warm and fed and safe.

Little brother is eating, but at this age, it's still too soon to tell.


Today is

According to Hoyle Day

Birthday of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar

Burning Man 2011 -- Black Rock Desert, NV, US (through Sept. 5; a radical way to celebrate the arts through desert survival and building a 50-foot statue to be burned)

Chop Suey Day

Day of Loose Talk -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist
Head Day -- Iceland (a weather omen day; whatever today's weather, it will stay the same for at least 3 weeks)

Lemon Juice Day

Liberation Day -- Hong Kong

More Herbs, Less Salt Day

Motorist Consideration Monday -- part of Be Kind to Humankind Week

National Old-Time Country Music Festival -- LeMars, IA, US (through Sept. 4)

Ould Lammas Fair -- Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, Ireland (through tomorrow)

Runic Half-Month Rad begins (Motion)

Slovak National Uprising Anniversary -- Slovakia

St. Sabina's day (Patron Saint of Housewives)

Xuedun (Shoton) Festival -- Tibet (a form of Tibetan opera; through Sept. 6)



Birthdays Today

Michael Jackson, 1958
Elliot Gould, 1938
John McCain, 1936
Richard Attenborough, 1923
Charlie "Bird" Parker, 1920
Isabel Sanford, 1917
Ingrid Bergman, 1915
Preston Sturges, 1898
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1809
John Locke, 1632


Today in History

Era of Diocletian (Martyrs), the last major time of persecution for the early Christian churches, begins with Gen. Gaius Aurelius V Diocletianus Jovius becoming emperor of Rome, 284
Japan mints its first copper coins, 708
The last Incan King of Peru, Atahualpa, is executed by order of Francisco Pizarro, 1533
The first Indian "reservation" is formed by the New Jersey Legislature, 1758
Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction, 1831
The United Kingdom legislates the abolition of slavery in its empire, 1833
Treaty of Nanking signing ends the First Opium War, 1842
The first motorcycle is patented in Germany by Gottlieb Daimler, 1885
The chef of a visiting Chinese Ambassador invents "chop suey" in NYC, 1896
The Goodyear tire company is founded, 1898
The Quebec Bridge collapses during construction, killing 75 workers, 1907
Ishi, considered the last Native American to make contact with European Americans, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California, 1911
The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, 1949
Speedy Gonzales makes his debut, 1953
The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, 1966
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party, 1991
Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, 2005