Hot Under the Collar

Eight children died the first week of August in the US this year, because they were left in hot cars.  It's a record for any one week.

When i read that, i was tempted to be angry.  Then i realized that, yes, it can happen to any parent, even a very good one.

You get out of the car and start to think about all of the stuff you have to do.  You get moving on things, grabbing a briefcase or grocery bags or getting something out of the trunk.  Your mind is elsewhere.  This is typical of me, i'm generally juggling stuff getting out of the car, wondering how long i will have when i step in the house before the kittens begin to scream for food, thinking about whether i have time to do another load of laundry, going over the menu plan for the week in my head, etc.

Next thing you know, it comes to you with a sickening feeling that you've forgotten something extremely important -- your child, in a car.

That never happened to me, but with my brain going a mile a minute, it could have.

The outside temperature can be in the 60's Fahrenheit, too, so don't think it's only during a heat wave.  If the car is directly in the sun, the internal temperature can still get up too high.

All of us have to think, not let ourselves get distracted, pay attention.  Remind any parents you know.

Remind "pet parents," too, as pets are equally susceptible.  No, leaving the window open a bit doesn't help.

Kids and pets are too important for us not to keep our wits about us.  There's plenty of time to menu plan later.


Today is:

Anniversary Day -- Tristan da Cunha

Assumption Eve -- France

Carnival Tuesday -- Granada

Day of Peace between Horus and Set -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Defense Forces Day -- Zimbabwe

Faradda di li candareri (Descent of the Candlesticks) -- Sassari, Sardinia (beginning of the celebration of the Assumption)

Festival for Fortuna Equestris -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Fox Hill Day -- Nassau, Bahamas

Independence Day -- Pakistan(1947)

International Nagging Day -- ignore this one if you have any sense

International Tango Festival and World Championship -- Buenos Aires, Argentina (through the 28th)

La Torta dei Fieschi -- Genoa, Italy

Liberty Tree Day -- Massachusetts, US

Mantoro Lantern Lighting -- Kasuga Taisha, Japan (through tomorrow; 3,000 lanterns light the shrine, and the main hall is open for visitors, with Bugaku and Kagura performed in the apple garden)

National Creamsicle Day

National Navajo Code Talkers Day -- Navajo Nation; US

Oued Ed-Dahab Day -- Morocco; Western Sahara (celebrating the recovery of this area from Spanish occupation in 1979)

Pramuka Day -- Indonesia (Scouting Day)

St. Maximillian Kolbe's Day (Patron of families, imprisoned people, journalists, political prisoners, prisoners, recovering drug addicts, the pro-life movement; against drug addictions)

St. Werenfrid's Day (Patron of vegetable gardeners; Arnheim, Netherlands; Elst, Netherlands; Westervoort, Netherlands; against gout and stiff joints)

Wiffle Ball Day -- the wiffle ball was introduced this day in 1953



Anniversary Today

V-J Day


Birthdays Today

Halle Berry, 1966
Earvin "Magic" Johnson, 1959
Gary Larson, 1950
Danielle, Steel, 1947
Susan Saint James, 1946
Steve Martin, 1945
Lynne Cheney, 1941
David Crosby, 1941
Alice Ghostley, 1926
Russell Baker, 1925
John Ringling North, 1903
Doc Holiday, 1851
H.C. Oersted, 1777
Emperor Hanazono of Japan, 1297


Today in History

The young Emperor Antoku and three sacred treasures are taken by Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan, fleeing to western Japan to escape pursuit by the Minamoto clan, 1183
Kublai Khan's invading fleet disappears in a a typhoon near Japan, 1281
Three years after Gutenberg, the oldest known exactly dated printed book is published, 1457
Queen Elizabeth I refuses sovereignty of the Netherlands, 1585
Great Britain annexes Tristan da Cunha (remotest occupied island), 1816
Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida to Oklahoma, 1842
Oregon Territory created, 1848
Magazine "Field and Stream" begins publication, 1873
Construction of Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, is completed, 1880
Japan issues its first patent, for rust-proof paint, 1885
A recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan's The Lost Chord, one of the first recordings of music ever made, is played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison's phonograph in London, 1888
France begins requiring motor vehicle registration, 1893
The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21, 1901
Mt. Rushmore project first proposed, 1925
United States Social Security Act passes, creating a government pension system for the retired, 1935
British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland, 1969
Longest game in softball history begins, as The Gager's Diner team takes on the Bend'n Elbow Tavern; the game was played to raise money for a new softball field in Monticello, NY, went to 365 innings over two days, and the Gagers won 491-467, 1976
Lech Walesa leads strikes at the Gdansk, Poland shipyards, 1980
Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada, 2003
As a sponsored event of the IOC, the 2010 Summer Youth Olympic Games, first ever Youth Olympics for athletes age 14-18, officially starts in Singapore, 2010