Yes, Even Here

It happens everywhere, even here.

Even in the quiet, middle class subdivision.

A gang of criminals spent a night going through parts of the neighborhood, breaking into cars and taking things that were left in the carports.

They did not try to get into houses, just very quickly and efficiently went from vehicle to vehicle on the outer perimeter of the neighborhood. Several kids who left their bikes out under the carport had those stolen, too.

That, of course, is why i leave my car unlocked and with nothing in it. If you want my old clunkers, feel free. There's nothing in them but kid's school books, papers they've dropped, and my reusable grocery bags.

But it just goes to show no one is immune. No matter where you live, lock up your house, and don't leave valuables in the car.


Today is:

Celebration of the First Week of Moonhopper -- Fairy Calendar

Distaff Day -- Medieval Europe

Fasching Carnival -- Munich, Germany (through Shrove Tuesday)

Festa del Tricolore -- Italy (Tricolour or Flag Day)

Festival of Isis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Fruitcake Toss Day

Harlem Globetrotters' Day

I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day -- declared by Bob O'Brien, Consumer Advocate, who encourages us to fight back

Nanakusa no Sekku -- Japan (Festival of Seven Herbs)

National Tempura Day

Nativity of Christ / Orthodox Christmas -- Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christians still using the Julian Calendar.

Old Rock Day -- a/k/a "St. Distaff's Day" (the distaff, for spinning yarn, was also called a "rock"; today was the day women went back to spinning after the Christmas holidays)

St. Raymond of Penyafort's Day (Patron of attornies, barristers, canonists, lawyers, and medical record librarians)

Usokae -- Kameido Tenmangu Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan (Bullfinch Exchange Day, Uso also means "lie" so when exchanging carved birds, it is considered a way of exchanging lies for the truth)

Victory Day -- Cambodia

Whittlesey Straw Bear Festival -- Whittlesey, England (through the weekend; a revival of a medieval tradition)


Birthdays Today:

Nicholas Cage, 1964
Katie Couric, 1957
David Caruso, 1956
Kenny Loggins, 1948
Paul Revere, 1938
William Peter Blatty, 1928
Jean-Pierre Rampal, 1922
Charles Addams, 1912
Butterfly McQueen, 1911
St Bernadette, 1844
Millard Fillmore, 1800


Today in History:

Calais, the last English possession in France, is taken back by the French, 1558
Boris Godunov seizes the Russian throne upon the death of Feodore I, 1598
Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia, 1608
Galileo discovers the first 3 moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa, and Ganymede), 1610
Francis Bacon becomes the English Lord Chancellor, 1618
A prototype typewriter is patented by Englishman Henry Mill, 1714
Battle at Panipat India: the Afghan army beats Mahratten, 1761
The Bank of North America opens in Philadelphia, the first US commercial bank, 1782
The first gas balloon flight across the English channel, by Blanchard and Jeffries, 1785
The modern Italian flag is first used, 1797
Liberia is colonized by Americans, 1822
The first railroad station in the US, in Baltimore, opens, 1830
Fanny Farmer publishes her first cookbook, 1896
The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS", 1904
The first steamboat passage through the Panama Canal, 1914
The Harlem Globetrotters play their first game, 1927
The first transatlantic telephone service is established – from New York City to London, 1927
"Buck Rogers", the first sci-fi comic strip, and "Tarzan," one of the first adventure comic strips, premier, 1929
Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast, 1931
The "Flash Gordon" comic strip (by Alex Raymond) debuts, 1934
President Harry Truman announces that the United States has developed the hydrogen bomb, 1952
The first public demonstration of a machine translation system, is held in New York at the head office of IBM, 1954
Marian Anderson becomes the first black singer to perform at the Met (NYC), 1955
The Polaris missile is test launched, 1960
Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off, 1968
Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), 1984
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union, 1985
The interior of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public because of safety concerns, 1990