Just Goes to Prove

How's this for a Valentine's Day date? (After all, you need to make your reservations early, hint, hint.)

The Pittsburgh Zoo is having a fundraiser that night. Cocktails, dinner, and a lecture about the sex lives of wild animals. That will include, of course, details about how the males fight for females.

This reminds me of the guy who, watching a nature program with his wife, commented that it was like all TV, nothing but sex and violence.

Just goes to prove, it's the same at the zoo.


Today is:

Baptism of the Lord Jesus -- Christian

Bikaner Camel Festival -- Bikaner, Rajasthan, India (fun for people and camels; through tomorrow)

Bubble Bath Day -- remember how much fun it was as a kid? enjoy that again today

Commonwealth Day -- Northern Mariana Islands

Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka

Emperor Norton Day -- E. Clampus Vitus Society puts on a party in San Francisco's Chinatown in honor of the passing on this day of Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico

Feast of St. Gudula (Patron of Brussels; against toothaches)

Grandmothers/Midwives Day -- Bulgaria (a/k/ Babin Den; celebrating midwives, traditionally called Grandmothers, for the role they play in the traditional family.)

Gynaecocratia -- Macedonia (women's day off, the men have to take care of the house, the women get to go do whatever they want)

Justitia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of justice)

Kyoto Ebisu Matsuri -- Kyoto, Japan (Festival of Ebisu, god of business and prosperity; through the 12th)

Meitlisunntig -- Meisterschwanden and Fahrwangen, Switzerland (memorial of the Villmergen War of 1712, when the women of these towns provided instrumental help in the victory)

Midwife's Day -- Ancient Greek Calendar (still celebrated in Greece, but is now also Women's Day)

Milk Carton Day -- Sheffield Farms began packaging milk in parafin lined paper cartons on this day in 1929

National Eat Something Raw Day

National English Toffee Day

National Joygerm Day -- a day to infect others with joy; begun by Joygerm Joan, whose motto is "The only thing Joygerms allow to get depressed are their tongues!"

Old Hickory Day -- Andrew "Old Hickory" Jackson leads the victory in the Battle of New Orleans

Rock 'n' Roll Day -- on Elvis' birthday, of course

Rural or Lesser Dionysia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate, late December/early to mid January)

Stephen Foster Day -- Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, White Springs, FL, US

St. Severinus' Day (Patron of Austria and of San Severo, Italy)

Ullr Festival -- Breckenridge, Colorado (through the 14th; festival of the mythical Norse god of winter)


Birthdays Today:

Ami Dolenz, 1969
Don Bendell, 1947
David Bowie, 1947
Robbie Krieger, 1946
Stephen Hawking, 1942
Yvette Mimieux, 1939
Bob Eubanks, 1938
Shirley Bassey, 1937
Elvis Presley, 1935
Charles Osgood, 1933
Soupy Sales, 1926
Ron Moody, 1924
Larry Storch, 1923
Jose Ferrer, 1912
Galina Ulanova, 1910
Wilkie Collins, 1824
James Longstreet, 1821


Today in History:

Monaco gains its independence, 1297
Genoa, Italy expels Jews, 1598
The oldest surviving commerial newspaper begins in Haarlem, Netherlands, 1675
The New York Fishing Company is the first American commercial corporation chartered, 1675
Premiere performance of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 1734
US President George Washington delivers the first "State of the Union" address, 1790
Victor, the Wild Boy of Aveyron, emerges voluntarily from the wild in southern France (he had been captured and escaped before), 1800
The Battle of New Orleans, 1815
The first US music school, the Boston Academy of Music, is established, 1833
The US national debt hits $0 for the first and only time, 1835
Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code), 1836
Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the US Cavalry at Wolf Mountain in Montana Territory, 1877
Dr. Herman Hollerith receives the first US patent for a tabulating machine, considered by some to be the earliest computer, 1889
The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system, 1904
Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., 1963
Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched, 1973
The RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever built, is christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, 2004