Quote of the Day:

Money is such a wonderful thing. It's a shame you waste so much time making it. ~ Richard M. Gibson of Lafayette, LA

Then again, looking at the behavior of some people who were born with silver spoons in their mouths, maybe it's a good thing that most of us aren't given the chance to test the universe in that way.


Today is:

Arbor Day -- Samoa

Chicken Lady Day -- Miami, FL, US (in honor of The Chicken Lady, whose nonprofit organization helps people get over being "chicken" about public speaking)

Citizenship Day -- Northern Mariana Islands

Community Service Day -- Dominica

Constitution Day -- Tonga

Flag Day -- Panama

Giomo dell'Unita Nazionale e Festa delle Forze Armate -- Italy (National Unity and Armed Forces Day)

Guy Fawkes Carnival -- Bridgwater, Somerset, UK (through the 7th)

Guy Fawkes Eve -- sometimes called Mischief Night in some parts of Australia, UK, New Zealand, although that is more appropriate to April 30/October 30

Hajj -- Islam (through the 7th)

Honeymoon Day -- reminisce about your own special trip, on the birthday of Art Carney

Ludi Plebeii -- Ancient Roman Calendar (public games, through the 17th)

Medical Science Liaison (MSL) Awareness And Appreciation Day

National Candy Day -- guess they're thinking you still have some left over from Hallowe'en

St. Charles Borromeo's Day (Patron of apple orchards, bishops, seminarians, spiritual directors, spiritual leaders, starch makers; against colic, intestinal disorders, stomach diseases, and ulcers)

Unity Day -- Russia

Use Your Common Sense Day -- on Will Rogers' birthday, of course, since "Common sense ain't all that common."

Victory Day -- Italy

Will Rogers' Day

*Waiting for the Barbarians Day -- internet generated, and i thought they came and took over a long time ago!

World Championship Punkin Chunkin -- Bridgeville, DE, US (through the 6th; come watch someone be crowned lord of the gourd!)

World Community Day

Yitzhak Rabin Memorial (unofficial, but widely commemorated)


Anniversaries Today:

Mary II of England marries William, Prince of Orange, 1677 (ruled jointly as William and Mary)
Abraham Lincoln weds Mary Todd, 1842
Discovery of King Tut's Tomb -- 1922
Taking of the US Embassy in Teheran, Iran -- 1979


Birthdays Today:

Sean "Diddy" Combs, 1970
Matthew McConaughey, 1969
Ralph Macchio, 1962
Jeff Probst, 1962
Kathy Griffin, 1960
Markie Post, 1950
Laura W. Bush, 1946
Loretta Swit, 1937
Doris Roberts, 1930
Martin Balsam, 1919
Art Carney, 1918
Walter Cronkite, 1916
Will Rogers, 1879
Augustus Montague Toplady, 1740 (wrote the hymn "Rock of Ages")


Today in History:

The Flood of the Arno River causes massive damage in Florence, Italy, 1333
Joan of Arc liberates Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier, 1429
Thomas Wolsey, English cardinal, arrested, 1529
Mozart's Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria, 1783
The Erie Canal is completed with Governor DeWitt Clinton performing the Wedding of The Waters ceremony in New York Harbour, 1825
Benjamin Palmer patents an artificial leg, 1846
Dentist John Beers of San Francisco patents the gold crown, 1873
Tonga adopts a constitution, 1875
James Ritty patents the cash register, to combat the pilfering of the till by the bartenders in his Ohio saloon, 1879
London's first deep-level tube railway opens between King William Street and Stockwell, 1890
The Italian unknown soldier is buried in the Altare della Patria (Fatherland Altar) in Rome, 1921
Nellie Tayloe Ross is elected the first female US State governor, in Wyoming, 1924
The rebuilt Vienna State Opera reopens with a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio, 1955
Two-thirds of Florence, Italy is submerged as the River Arno floods; together with the contemporaneous flood of the Po River in northern Italy, this leads to 113 deaths, 30,000 made homeless, and the destruction of numerous Renaissance artworks and books, 1966
Genie, a 13-year-old feral child is found in Los Angeles, California having been locked in her bedroom for most of her life, 1970
The Netherlands experiences the first Car Free Sunday caused by the oil crisis, as the highways are deserted and are used only by cyclists and roller skaters, 1973
First conference that focuses exclusively on the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web, in San Francisco, 1994
Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated by an extremist Orthodox Israeli, 1995
Chinese authorities arrest cyber-dissident He Depu for signing a pro-democracy letter to the 16th Communist Party Congress, 2002
Barak Obama is elected President of the United States, 2008